#hp meta

[hollowed-theory-hall]

In terms of wizarding fashion is it more traditional wizards that are wearing the robes outside of a professional setting? Like are the Weasley kids all wearing wizarding robes around the Burrow or do they don muggle clothing for leisure wear?

I talked a bit about what I think wizarding fashion would look like more or less throughout the decades here.

There is this article from Pottermore as well:

By and large, wizard clothing has remained outside of fashion, although small alterations have been made to such garments as dress robes. Standard wizard clothing comprises plain robes, worn with or without the traditional pointed hat, and will always be worn on such formal occasions as christenings, weddings and funerals. Women’s dresses tend to be long. Wizard clothing might be said to be frozen in time, harking back to the seventeenth century, when they went into hiding. Their nostalgic adherence to this old-fashioned form of dress may be seen as a clinging to old ways and old times; a matter of cultural pride. Day to day, however, even those who detest Muggles wear a version of Muggle clothing, which is undeniably practical compared with robes. Anti-Muggles will often attempt to demonstrate their superiority by adopting a deliberately flamboyant, out-of-date or dandyish style in public.

(From Pottermore)

Which gives a general indication.

That being said, I wanted to do a more proper rundown since we know they're not really frozen in time considering Ron's Yule ball dress robes were "out of fashion". So I did some outfits rundown for various characters on various occasions to get the mental image of how common muggle clothing is in wizard fashion and who's wearing robes vs muggle clothes and when:

Formalwear

Formal robes are worn in all formal occasions by both men and women:

“What?” said Ron, looking horror-struck. “Dress robes!” repeated Mrs. Weasley. “It says on your school list that you’re supposed to have dress robes this year... robes for formal occasions.”

(GoF)

however; his dress robes didn’t have any lace on them at all — in fact, they were more or less the same as his school ones, except that they were bottle green instead of black.

(GoF)

“Hi,” said Padma, who was looking just as pretty as Parvati in robes of bright turquoise.

(GoF)

Malfoy was in front; he was wearing dress robes of black velvet with a high collar, which in Harry’s opinion made him look like a vicar. Pansy Parkinson in very frilly robes of pale pink was clutching Malfoy’s arm. 

(GoF)

Mrs. Weasley was wearing a brand-new set of amethyst-colored robes with a matching hat. A moment later Bill and Charlie stood up at the front of the marquee, both wearing dress robes, with large white roses in their buttonholes; 

(DH)

I assume the cuts of the robes are different, and that women's dress robes tend to be longer, which is true according to the books:

tried to sell Hermione wizard’s dress robes instead of witch’s

(HBP)

So wizard robes and witches dress robes are designed differently. I assume robes for daywear do have different cuts for wizards and witches but there are some unisex designs (like Hogwarts robes).

Daywear

Most wizards seem to wear casual robes in their daily lives and are unaccustomed to trousers and find them odd or uncomfortable, especially the older wizards who are unfamiliar with muggle culture:

“Muggle women wear them, Archie, not the men, they wear these,” said the Ministry wizard, and he brandished the pinstriped trousers. “I’m not putting them on,” said old Archie in indignation. “I like a healthy breeze ’round my privates, thanks.”

(GoF)

Hogwarts Professors also wear robes on a daily basis:

Lockhart, wearing lurid pink robes to match the decorations

(CoS)

Snape whirled about, robes swishing behind him, and stormed out of the ward.

(PoA)

Professor McGonagall had broken away from the spectators, marched straight up to Professor Trelawney and was patting her firmly on the back while withdrawing a large handkerchief from within her robes.

(OotP)

Dumbledore, of course, is more extreme in his robes choice:

He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots.

(PS)

Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, his sweeping silver hair and beard shining in the candlelight, his magnificent deep green robes embroidered with many stars and moons.

(GoF)

For the most part wizards seem to wear full muggle outfits only when trying to fit in among muggles like in the first example in this section or Dumbledore's plum suit from HBP:

This younger Albus Dumbledore’s long hair and beard were auburn. Having reached their side of the street, he strode off along the pavement, drawing many curious glances due to the flamboyantly cut suit of plum velvet that he was wearing. “Nice suit, sir,” said Harry, before he could stop himself

(HBP)

Mr. Weasley was sitting at the table, checking a sheaf of large parchment tickets. He looked up as the boys entered and spread his arms so that they could see his clothes more clearly. He was wearing what appeared to be a golfing sweater and a very old pair of jeans, slightly too big for him and held up with a thick leather belt. “What d’you think?” he asked anxiously. “We’re supposed to go incognito — do I look like a Muggle, Harry?”

(GoF)

So it seems most wizards own at least one "muggle passing" outfit for extensions in the muggle world (to varying degrees of success depending on their muggle knowledge):

There was Mad-Eye Moody, looking quite as sinister with his bowler hat pulled low over his magical eye as he would have done without it, his gnarled hands clutching a long staff, his body wrapped in a voluminous traveling cloak. Tonks stood just behind him, her bright bubble-gum-pink hair gleaming in the sunlight filtering through the dirty glass station ceiling, wearing heavily patched jeans and a bright purple T-shirt bearing the legend THE WEIRD SISTERS. Next to Tonks was Lupin, his face pale, his hair graying, a long and threadbare overcoat covering a shabby jumper and trousers. At the front of the group stood Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, dressed in their Muggle best, and Fred and George, who were both wearing brand-new jackets in some lurid green, scaly material.

(OotP)

Tonks who is more familiar with muggle fashion, clearly knows what to wear better than the Weasleys. That being said, we do see wizard-produced muggle clothes; like Tonks' Wierd Sisters T-shirt and Fred and George's jackets. So, it is accepted in the WW to wear "muggle-inspired" clothing in terms of cut, but with magical flare when it comes to materials or prints (which are way more colorful and whimsical).

Harry, who was raised in the muggle world, still wears muggle clothes on the breaks up to 5th year at least, but is very used to robes by this point:

“What?” said Ron, looking amazed (Harry wanted to stamp on Ron’s foot, but that sort of thing was much harder to bring off unnoticed when you were wearing jeans rather than robes).

(OotP)

We also know Ron owns at least one pair of jeans in DH:

“D-diffindo,” she said, pointing her wand at Ron, who roared in pain as she slashed open the knee of his jeans, leaving a deep cut. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Ron, my hand’s shaking! Diffindo!” [...] “It’s no wonder I can’t get it out, Hermione, you packed my old jeans, they’re tight.”

(DH)

But Hermione packed said pair for him with the expectation they'll be hiding in the muggle world potentially, so I'm not sure if you could count it since it is implied Ron owns just one pair of jeans that actually fit him. It could be his one jeans for a muggle excursion or a comment on the Weasleys' finances, ��🏻‍♀️.

Wizards sometimes mix and match muggle and wizard clothes, like with the jumpers Mrs. Weasley knits.

So, while it seems most wizards do own some muggle clothing for when they go into the muggle world. We mostly see the Wesleys (and even Harry) in robes and cloaks even when not at school, but sometimes they are combined with muggle-inspired clothes (since they are clearly wizard-made due to color and pattern choices):

When he’d found his scarlet team robes and pulled on his cloak for warmth

(CoS)

‘Tm sorry, sir,” said Harry, emphasizing the last word as he stowed his wand inside his robes.

(HBP) - on a weekend.

“Keep it safe till we work out how to destroy it,” Harry replied, and, little though he wanted to, he hung the chain around his own neck, dropping the locket out of sight beneath his robes, where it rested against his chest beside the pouch Hagrid had given him.

(DH) - when on the run

More examples of mix and matching muggle-inspired clothes appear later in this post.

But to your question, I'd say the Weasleys probably don't wear muggle clothes around the Burrow usually. They don't seem that knowledgeable about muggle fashion. Molly and Arthur seem to only own the one set of muggle clothes for going into the muggle world. Their children do seem to own some muggle-inspired jackets and shirts and jumpers, but they are probably worn with robes more often than with jeans.

Workwear

For Potions, Herbology, and other manual labor there are work robes that are worn by Hogwarts students and teachers alike:

Professor Sprout put the pink, fluffy pair over her own ears, rolled up the sleeves of her robes, grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard.

(CoS)

First-year students will require: 1 . Three sets of plain work robes (black) 2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear 3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar) 4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings) 

(PS)

So, contrary to the Pottermore article (which I suspect was written to justify the movies' choices a bit), it seems "robes" are the go-to for working around and not muggle trousers for most wizards and witches.

Sportswear

Yawning and shivering slightly, Harry climbed out of bed and tried to find his Quidditch robes.

(CoS)

They were robes for Quidditch and sports.

Professional wear

Ministry personnel wear either robes:

“Morning, Reg!” called another wizard in navy blue robes as he let himself into a cubicle by inserting his golden token into a slot in the door.

(DH)

The man’s scowling, slightly brutish face was somehow at odds with his magnificent, sweeping robes, which were embroidered with much gold thread.

(DH)

Or more muggle-influenced suits, as shown by Fudge:

Fudge took off his pinstriped cloak and tossed it aside, then hitched up the trousers of his bottle-green suit and sat down opposite Harry. “I am Cornelius Fudge, Harry. The Minister of Magic.”

(PoA)

This is an example of mixing muggle-inspired wizard clothes with more traditional cloaks. Umbridge also does this with her pink cardigan over more traditional robes:

squat, with short, curly, mouse-brown hair in which she had placed a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes.

(OotP)

But it's clearly not quite muggle fashion as they mix and match muggle-inspired and wizard clothing. Again, these more muggle clothes are still wizardwear and have the typical whimsy of wizard fashion when it comes to colors (like the bright green scales of Fred & George's jackets) and fabrics (scales on the aforementioned jackets & Umbridge's fluffy cardigan is probably more extreme than the muggle version of it because wizards are extra like that).

Hats

Wizards are often mentioned wearing hats (mentioned in many of the quotes I brought up and other quotes I didn't copy here), in contrast to muggle fashion in the 1990s where hats were largely out of fashion. So when imagining wizard fashion in formal or professional settings, imagine a matching hat to the robes they are wearing. Hats in daywear seem to be quite common too, especially among older characters.

As you can tell, I love talking about wizard fashion.

[toorumlk]

im drafting a fanfic where the golden trio go back to the marauders era and meet and i was wondering if you have any opinions on time travel aus?

i actually don’t have any opinions on time travel aus bc i’ve never read one!

i’m doing my umpteenth order of the phoenix reread through audiobook and i just finished the snapes worst memory chapter so it’s really fresh in my mind right now and i think if 15 year old golden trio were to meet 15 year old marauders, the trio would think “wow we have this friendship thing figured out way better than these guys”

[poetryandbloods-blog]

I find it funny that people say that the popularity of Harry Potter from 2010 to now is largely due to the new fandom of the marauders responsible for “leaving the brand alive”, it could be true if the fan bought HP products, consumed the material of origin. But they live off fanfics, tiktok edits and Pinterest and refuse to interact with the source material.

Harry Potter is one of the most profitable franchises in history and the only products we regularly see featuring characters from the Marauders era are from Severus Snape. We see almost nothing of the looters and I say that with a little sadness because I like Sirius. What I'm trying to say here is that a Marauder fan base may keep the idea of ​​the Marauders alive on the Internet, but outside of it, those who keep the brand alive are the original fans of the work itself and not the idea of ​​bad fanfic.

[oflights]

i have been laughing about this to myself all day

[dream-with-a-fever]

i love the silver trio so much but it always grinds my gears when i remember that while neville and luna still don’t have that much screen time, you still get an essence of who they are as people. their personalities, their morals, their relationship dynamics with other characters (like harry) and yet ginny, despite being a bigger character than both of them, and being harry’s future partner, mother of his children, most important person in his life (to name a few), ginny has exactly ZERO opportunity to shine. unlike her pals, she gets little to no screen time, let alone scenes one-on-one with harry (which both neville and luna have), her entire personality is erased. everything that makes ginny who she is is removed.

it’s absolutely infuriating to watch. as an audience, how are we supposed to get to know her? to understand her? to understand why she is the woman harry wants to spends the rest of his life with? like i love luna and neville, they’re wonderful characters and additions to the story, but prioritising them over ginny in the films (and giving them additional scenes like luna and harry in the forest alone?? it’s a sweet scene but also??? harry & luna don’t interact like that in the books, not to mention luna is much more eccentric and unintentionally amusing in the books, more so than she is perpetually wise and friendly… like we couldn’t have the library scene or the ‘lucky you’ scene in ootp - arguably the most important scenes for ginny (and harry’s) development but we have time for luna to share some nice slightly ooc wisdom with harry? again, i love luna, and i love that scene too, but cutting other important scenes…?)

i could go on and on about this. but i just hate that she is so sidelined, and discarded in the films, despite being such an important character as an individual and in relation to harry. i’ll never understand you david yates. ginny, sweetie, i’m so sorry.

[fandoomrants]

The only acceptable part about Effie and Monty dying is that:

1. They didn't get to see their boy die.

2. They didn't get to live with the thought that their other boy was responsible for it.

[curioushabitforarivergod]

i think remus has always been a very emotionally distant person, probably out of fear that his lycanthropy would effect the people around him. you see it with his relationship with the marauders — in snapes memory, remus hangs back, doesn't speak up, etc. hes not equal to james and sirius, hes another follower like peter; you see it in his relationship with harry — does not attempt to contact harry after third year and overall maintains that distance throughout the rest of the series; you see it in his relationship with tonks — willing to leave her when she's pregnant.

beyond that, i think you could read this as a suggestion that wolfstar wasn't together during hogwarts/youth. theres not that trust that comes from relationship and it seems that remus and sirius are more friendly with each other now bcs they realise the other is all they have left. thats not to say they couldnt have gotten together after poa, but i dont think wolfstar was romantically involved before harry's 3rd year (although that could easily be my bias — im really not a fan of wolfstar)

I’ve noticed a lot of Wolfstar fics ignore that Sirius and Remus truly and fully believed the other was a spy. Remus was unaware of the switch because Sirius (and likely James and Lily as well since this whole thing would be their decision as the ones actually affected by it) did not believe Remus could be trusted. Remus spends 12 years wholeheartedly believing Sirius betrayed everyone he claimed to care about and everything he believed in, only changing his mind upon spotting Peter on the map; up until that point, Remus believed Sirius was guilty. I can’t recall off the top of my head if they ever say if Remus also suspected Sirius of being the spy in the First War or if it only happened post-Halloween, but it is entirely possible he did (which would help explain why James goes along with keeping Remus ignorant of the switch. If Remus has fallen so far to distrust Sirius and believe Sirius could ever hurt James, then I could see James thinking Remus never knew either of them at all). Regardless, I’ve never really seen Wolfstar fics address that Sirius and Remus did not have any faith in each other with the First War

(Tangentially related, do you know if they say if Remus distrusted Sirius during the war or if it was only after that Halloween?)

the distrust is a MASSIVE part of remus and sirius' dynamic and i think the fact that they could be part of a close group at school and still suspect each other of murderous and extremist ideals is HUGE. it suggests to me that they were never really that close or that their trust of each other was on the floor - or both. you don't just know someone for seven years and think "yeah they're probably spying for the other side" if you have a generally good relationship. especially if you're suspecting a friend over other members in the order that you don't know as well. this is why wolfstar, especially hogwarts or first war wolfstar, is absolutely wild to me. it crumbles. there's nothing to stick it together. i'm open to like a complex friendship between remus and sirius (because that's what it was) but there's quite an easy to reach line of how far their actual intimacy and endurance of each other's company goes.

and yeah, remus CONTINUING to believe that sirius betrayed james for thirteen years is another layer to this. i can see why he would, given the supposed evidence. but he didn't once question it? also remus perpetuates james and sirius' closeness when he talks about their teenage years so it's extreme to see and acknowledge that kind of bond and to still think that sirius would betray james. like how low is his estimation of sirius? i know that sirius and remus get on post-poa but i really think thats an "everyone else is dead or a death eater" situation. they're united in their lost years post james' death but i think they're still very much personal versions of that loss that they don't resolve or deal with together.

i don't think that james or lily directly suspected remus or truly believed he was a death eater but i think james definitely trusted sirius enough to go with his word, and i don't think either of them would be like "i trust him 100%" but i also don't think they'd be as far convinced that he was the spy as sirius was. i just think that they unequivocally trusted sirius and they put their son first.

also yes, this exchange in poa suggests it was a mutual suspicion at the same time during the war but it's not as explicit or as established as sirius' distrust of remus (which stands alone even if remus never suspected sirius imo):

"Remus!" Pettigrew squeaked, turning to Lupin instead, writhing imploringly in front of him. "You don't believe this, wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?" "Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter," said Lupin. "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?" he said casually over Pettigrews head. "Forgive me, Remus," said Black. "Not at all, Padfoot, old friend," said Lupin, who was now rolling up his sleeves. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"

the use of 'the spy' is significant here i think because remus wouldn't have believed that sirius was the spy if he had had no suspicion towards him prior to halloween 1981, he would have said 'traitor' or 'for believing you betrayed james and lily'. 'spy' suggests a longer standing trajectory of suspicion.

so maybe remus had a hint of suspicion that he felt was vindicated when james and lily died or maybe it was fully realised but i always got the impression that remus was more distant from sirius & james (and lily) post-hogwarts and this distance let things fester. idk whether i got this from suggestions in the text tho or whether i just think that's a likely occurrence that allows for james to go along with the suggestion that remus might not be completely trustworthy.

[blorger]

yes, hello, please let the record show that when Harry and Draco meet at Madame Malkin's and Harry is reminded strongly of Dudley Draco hasn't done anything that is particularly vile, he's just

been blond (technically "pale", we can't yet make the Dudley to Draco connection via hair color)

talked about having two involved parents

I direct the jury to this exchange:

Draco is just behaving like a kid, even if he uses the world "bully" ( he's clearly using it hyperbolically) and drawls (the Malfoy Special, if you will). This is not exactly villain foreshadowing 101.

Something could be said for how Draco's words suggest a power dynamic wherein he's in control of his parents, like Harry views Dudley and the Dursleys's relationship, but also... Draco is a child making boastful remarks to another child, one would expect exaggeration as par for the course.

I fail to see any signs of Great Evil; Draco's phrasing may have triggered feelings of inadequacy and maybe also envy, (Harry wants a family most of all as per the mirror of erised) but also, Harry has presumably been going to school and has met plenty of parented children, this can't be a new situation.

What I'm saying is that jkr is doing a bit of a tell don't show, she is giving us the key with which we are to interpret every one of Draco and Harry's interactions from this moment on but kind of falls flat in the execution.

What I (and others beside me) read in their following interaction is just two people not understanding eachother. One boy feels confused, insecure and out of his depth and the other one doesn't know this is happening. Draco is trying to make a good impression on a schoolmate by saying any and all impressive things he can think of, not knowing that by repeating his father's greatest hits he's inadvertently alienating Harry.

In conclusion, your honor, I posit to you that upon their meeting Harry immediately feels strongly about Draco but, in his inexperience (and lack of emotional development see: cupboard), he is unable to identify the origin of said strong feelings and attributes them to dislike (the Dudley Connection). Thus a scene meant to highlight their incompatibility ends up foreshadowing Harry and Draco's unusual bond instead.

tldr: drarry is a great ship, jkr is an idiot savant who managed to write the greatest enemies to lovers storyline of all time without meaning to and also I know I'm reaching but I've decided this is the bible truth since truth is what you make of it.

[bookwormangie]

Harry and Snape’s Clashing Communication Styles

It's interesting to think that Harry and Snape don’t have longer conversations in the series, but when they do, their communication styles are so different that they often clash.

Harry’s way of communicating is practical and straightforward. He tends to break down complex ideas into simpler terms that he can easily understand. This makes sense, given his upbringing in a non-magical world and his tendency to rely more on gut instinct than deep theoretical knowledge. For Harry, things are usually black and white, and his directness shows his desire to cut through the confusion and get straight to the point.

Snape, on the other hand, has a more complex and layered way of speaking. His language is precise and often sarcastic, which reflects not just his intelligence but also his disdain for what he sees as Harry’s lack of subtlety. Snape’s use of imagery and metaphor, especially when he describes consepts, gives his speech a poetic, almost philosophical quality. He takes pleasure in showing off his superior knowledge and uses this as a way to belittle Harry.

We see this clash clearly in OOTP during Harry’s first Occlumency lesson:

Snape looked back at him for a moment and then said contemptuously, “Surely even you could have worked that out by now, Potter? The Dark Lord is highly skilled at Legilimency —” “What’s that? Sir?” “It is the ability to extract feelings and memories from another person’s mind —” “He can read minds?” said Harry quickly, his worst fears confirmed. “You have no subtlety, Potter,” said Snape, his dark eyes glittering. “You do not understand fine distinctions. It is one of the shortcomings that makes you such a lamentable potion-maker.” Snape paused for a moment, apparently to savor the pleasure of insulting Harry, before continuing, “Only Muggles talk of ‘mind reading.’ The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by any invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing, Potter . . . or at least, most minds are. . . .” He smirked. Whatever Snape said, Legilimency sounded like mind reading to Harry and he did not like the sound of it at all.

For Harry, when Snape mentions Legilimency, it immediately sounds like “mind reading,” which is a reasonable but overly simple way to understand such a complex concept. His quick jump to this conclusion shows his need to make sense of something that feels threatening, but it also reveals his limited grasp of the deeper nuances.

Snape, however, can’t resist mocking Harry’s lack of subtlety. His response is laced with condescension as he insists on the complexity of the mind and dismisses the idea of “mind reading” as something only muggles would think of. Snape’s explanation is detailed and philosophical, contrasting sharply with Harry’s desire for a straightforward answer.

Another great example of their different communication styles comes in HBP when Snape puts Harry on the spot, asking him to explain the difference between an inferius and a ghost:

“Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost.” The whole class looked around at Harry, who hastily tried to recall what Dumbledore had told him the night that they had gone to visit Slughorn. “Er — well — ghosts are transparent —” he said. “Oh, very good,” interrupted Snape, his lip curling. “Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. ‘Ghosts are transparent.’ ” Harry took a deep breath and continued calmly, though his insides were boiling, “Yeah, ghosts are transparent, but Inferi are dead bodies, aren’t they? So they’d be solid —” “A five-year-old could have told us as much,” sneered Snape. “The Inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark wizard’s spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard’s bidding. A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth . . . and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent.” “Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we’re trying to tell them apart!” said Ron. “When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we’re going to be having a shufti to see if it’s solid, aren’t we, we’re not going to be asking, ‘Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?’

Once again, Harry demonstrates his practical and straightforward approach. He gives a simple, clear distinction based on what would be most useful in a real-life situation—whether the entity is solid or transparent. This shows how Harry tends to focus on what’s immediately relevant and actionable, and Ron’s defense of Harry’s answer highlights this practicality. Ron even points out that in a real-world scenario, Harry’s answer is actually the most helpful, contrasting it with Snape’s more academic approach.

Snape, though, dismisses Harry’s answer as too simplistic and mocks him for stating what he sees as the obvious. Snape’s communication is more about the theoretical and precise understanding of magical concepts. He emphasizes the deeper, more complex nature of an Inferius, which, while academically accurate, is less practical in the context that Harry is thinking of. Snape’s disdain shows that he values this deeper, nuanced understanding more than the direct, practical knowledge that Harry offers.

These moments really bring out the deeper divide between Harry and Snape. Harry approaches things with instinct and a straightforward mindset, while Snape is all about nuance, precision, and seeing the layers in everything. Because they see the world so differently, they struggle to communicate, which only adds to the distrust and misunderstanding between them—a tension that echoes throughout the entire series.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hi there, love your metas. Wanted to bring something else to your attention which I think is severely overlooked by the HP fanbase and that is Harry's quidditch skills. I mean, the boy made it to the team at 11, and McGonagall herself was an excellent quidditch player so her eye would obviously catch the best potential players which means he exhibited some serious skills when he caught that rememball.

I think it was in the second book (?) when that bludger went crazy and literally broke his arm and it was raining cats and dogs yet he still managed to local and catch the snitch. Imagine catching a high speed tiny flying ball with a broken arm. He won the quidditch cup for Gryffindor after a decade or so. He was also a very firm quidditch captain and had impressive authority over the players in his team and the ones who came for tryouts. He was in control of the situation and was not standing around awkwardly like in the movies.

He caught Ravenclaw's tiara while flying through a room being engulfed by a raging inferno, he defeated a whole dragon by imagining it as a mere opponent team. He was complimented by famous professional players, I think he would've flourished very well if he pursued quidditch professionally. I think he is one of the best players in the series, What's your take on this ?

Hi, thank you! 💖

Yes, Harry is so incredibly naturally talented in Quiditch. Even if we look at his first-ever game, his broom is jinxed and Harry succeeds in holding on until Hermione sets Snape on fire and then catches the snitch in his mouth, like, that's pretty insane for an 11-year-old.

And yeah, the crazy bludger was in second year, enchanted by Dobby.

Book Harry is so incredibly superior to movie Harry in every way. Personality, skills, humor, intelligence, talent, magical prowess, just being an interesting engaging character — everything.

I think Harry could definitely give Krum a run for his money in terms of Seeker skills, definitely if he had the same training Krum surely has. He has insane natural talent.

Harry could've probably been a very successful professional Quidditch player, one of the best ever probably, I just don't personally see him going for it. Mostly because I don't think Quidditch is as important to him at the end of the books as at first. I mean, Harry loves flying, he isn't actually all that passionate about professional Quidditch.

He doesn't have a favorite Quidditch team, he doesn't follow match results, he doesn't really care if Gryffindor wins or not when he's the team's captain in his 6th year. Sure, he'd rather they did, but we don't see the same heat and obsession with it we see from Oliver Wood or Angelina Johnson. He isn't as intense about the sport as Ron or Ginny. Ron actually knows the broom market and follows it, Harry, not so much.

Harry loves flying for the freedom, for the sensation, for the rush, he doesn't actually care for the professional game. Harry is an insanely talented Quidditch hobbyist to the misfortune of all Quidditch teams in the UK and Ireland who would've loved to have the Boy-Who-Lived who happens to be the youngest Seeker in a century on board.

[black-occamy]

Ohh, this is going to be fun! I too am of general opinion that the plotholes overall reveal lack of detailed plan for the story and I'm excited to see more of your findings!

The Goblet of Fire

I started reading Harry Potter with the very simple goal to prove that the reason it has so many plot holes is because JKR planned out the Marauder's era A: too late and B: not nearly enough.

This book has a lot and most of it's to do with more general characters which makes sense. Because of this I'm probably going to separate the info into more characters than just the Marauders and Lily.

But let's get into it. I'm getting my page numbers from the Raincoast Books publisher with the cover made by Micheal Wildsmith.

Lily Evans:

She refused to stop shielding Harry when Voldemort told her to move (pg. 238).

A trace of her sacrifice stayed on Harry (pg. 707).

James Potter

James died first while trying to hold Voldemort off and telling Lily to take harry and go (pg. 238).

Snape loathed James while they were in school (pg. 523).

He died straight backed and proud (Voldemort pg. 715).

Sirius Black:

He was sent to Azkaban without a trial because of Crouch (pg. 572).

Peter Pettigrew:

He gave up James and Lily's location to Voldemort (pg. 238).

Bertha Jorkins:

Bertha Jorkins was very nosey and didn't have any brains. She was a few years older than Sirius and James (pg. 366).

Bertha Jorkins had an excellent memory for gossip and never knew when to keep her mouth shut, it got her in a lot of trouble (pg. 580).

Bertha followed someone behind the greenhouses or at least said she saw someone (referred to as he) kissing Florence behind the green house and that he hexed her (pg. 650).

Voldemort / Tom Marvolo Riddle:

He killed his floolish muggle father (pg. 700).

His mother was a witch who lived in the village, she fell in love with his father but he left her when he found out she was a witch (pg. 700).

His mother died in childbirth, leaving him in a muggle orphanage (pg. 700).

Voldemort vowed that he would take revenge on the fool who gave him his name (pg. 700).

He says that it appeared that one or more of his experiments for immortality worked because he didn't die (pg. 708).

Death Eaters:

Barty Jr. was caught with a group of death eaters who'd talked their way out of Azkaban, apparently they were trying to find Voldemort and return him to power (according to Sirius pg. 573).

Barty Jr. could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time (according to Sirius pg. 574).

Barty Jr. was no older than 19 and a few cells away from Sirius, he died a year later, no one came to collect the body and it was buried by dementors (pg. 575).

Snape was famous for his fascination with the dark arts at school, he knew more curses when he arrived at the school than half of the seventh years. He was part of a group of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be death eaters (according to Sirius pg. 577).

Part of Snape's group were Wilkes and Rosier who were both killed by Aurors before Voldemort fell (pg. 577).

The Lestranges are a married couple who are in Azkaban (pg. 578).

Avery said he was imperiused and isn't in Azkaban (pg. 577).

Snape was never accused of being a Death Eater, but he's clever enough to get out of it and a lot of them were never caught (pg. 577).

Crouch's Son (Barty Jr.) got twelve owls (Debatable, crouch said this after escaping Voldemort, so his mind isn't really intact pg. 604)

Igor Karkaroff was in Azkaban, and tried to sell out other Death Eater's to get out (pg. 637).

Moody spent 6 months tracking Karkaroff down (pg. 638)

Voldemort had the Death Eaters organized so that no one never knew who all of his supports were except for him (pg. 639).

Karkaroff gave the names of important supporters, people he saw doing Voldemort's bidding with his own eyes (pg. 639).

Antonin Dolohov tortured countless muggles and non-supporters of the dark lord, he was caught shortly after Karkaroff (pg. 639).

Evan Rosier was killed in a struggle with aurors, he took a large chunk out of Mad-Eye's nose in the process (pg. 640).

Travers helped murder the McKinnons (pg. 640).

Mulciber specialized in the imperius curse and forced countless people to do horrible things (pg. 640).

Rookwood was a spy and passed information to Voldemort from inside the ministry (pg. 640).

Augustus Rookwood had a network of spies inside and outside the Ministry to collect information. But the Ministry had already caught Mulciber and Travers (pg. 641).

Snape was a death eater but he was cleared by the council after being vouched for by Dumbledore. He rejoined the ministry's side before Voldemort fell at great personal risk (pg. 641).

Barty Jr. was put on trial with three other Death Eaters who were caught with him, he was shaking and milk white when he was brought in (pg. 645).

Barty begged his father not to send him back to the dementors, and when that didn't work begged his mother claiming his innocence (pg. 647).

The heavy lidded woman (Bellatrix, probably?) declared that Voldemort would be back, and that he would let them out of Azkaban (pg. 647).

In response to 18 in general information Harry then asks if Barty Jr. might have been innocent (pg. 655).

Barty Jr.'s mother saved him from Azkaban, she came and took his place using polyjuice potion and then kept taking it until she died there (pg. 740-741).

The house elf nursed Barty Jr. Back to health and once he regained it his father put him under a number of spells including the imperius curse, once he broke that control all Barty Jr. could think of was returning to service of his lord (pg. 741).

Barty Jr. loved quidditch (pg. 742).

General information:

Aberforth was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat and went about his business as per usual (according to Dumbledore pg. 495).

When Voldemort was first in power it was a very stressful time. people didn't know who was or wasn't working for him. You knew that he could make people do horrible things against their will. People were scared for themselves and their family. Every week there were more reported deaths, disappearances, and torturing. The ministry was a mess and didn't know what to do, they're trying to keep everything hidden from muggles. Muggles were dying too (pg. 572-573).

Crouch rose quickly in the ministry, he started ordering harsher measures against Voldemort's supporters. Giving Aurors permission/power to kill rather than capture. Sent multiple people to Azkaban without a trial. authorized the use of Unforgivable curses against suspects (pg. 573).

Crouch became as ruthless and cruel as anyone on the Dark side (according to Sirius pg. 573).

Crouch had plenty of supporters, they wanted to make him the minister of Magic, but once his son was found to be a death eater he lost most of his support (pg. 573).

Sirius says that Crouch should have spent more time out of the office and got to know his son (pg. 574).

Crouch cared about his son just enough to give him a trial, and even then it was a public display of how much Crouch hated him (according to Sirius pg. 574).

Being high ranking in the Ministry allowed Crouch and his wife a deathbed visit, his wife died shortly after their son (according to Sirius pg. 575).

Crouch attended a concert with Mr. and Mrs. Fudge with his wife and son, he was very proud of Barty for getting 12 O.W.L.S. (debatable we only find this out after Crouch escapes Voldemort pg. 604).

Ludo Bagman passed information to one of Voldemort's supporters, but he didn't know what he was doing. Rookwood was one of his father's friends and had promised to help get him a job at the Ministry (pg. 643-644).

Crouch looked upon his son with pure hatred (pg. 645).

Barty jr. and the three other Death Eaters captured Auror Frank Longbottom and subjected him to the cruciatus curse because they thought he had information on where Voldemort was. They then tortured his wife Alice the same way when he wouldn't give up the information (pg. 646).

Crouch disowned his son when he was sent to Azkaban, he didn't notice his wife faint when he made the declaration (pg. 647).

The years of Voldemort's rise to power were marked with disappearances (pg. 653).

The Longbottoms were very popular and the attack on them happened after Voldemort's disappearance which caused a wave of fury and demands for the perpetrators to be caught (pg. 655).

Mrs. Weasly once got told off by the Fat Lady for coming back to the common room at 4 in the morning, she was out for a stroll with her now husband. He however got caught by Apollyon Pringle the then caretaker. Mr. Weasly still has the marks (pg. 669).

Crouch loved his wife like he had never loved his son (according to Barty Jr. though he was under Veritaserum so it's likely he truly believed this pg. 740).

The old crowd included Remus Lupin, Mndungus Fletcher, and Arabella Fig (pg. 773).

Questions:

Did Regulus exist when this book was being written? I think not because I feel like Sirius would have mentioned him when he was talking about Snape's friends.

Were other innocent people that Crouch sent to prison when he wasn't giving out trials?

Where are the theoretical repercussions from sending more innocent people to prison?

[arkadijxpancakes]

Yes. The Weasleys had too many kids. An analysis. (Part 2 of 2)

So, where were we? Right. The Weasleys have so many kids that it fucks with their family dynamic and with the mental health of everyone involved. Last time, we looked at Molly and Arthur during the war. We ended in 1981, which means that all kids are born, now. Molly is still nursing. (It’s common to nurse kids up to two or three years, while slowly weaning them, so I assume that this is what Molly does.) She’s finally done with becoming pregnant every other year, however. And it’s about time, because her workload is bigger, than any single person can handle. And while it will decrease over time, it will stay enormous for the next couple of years.

1982 – Bill (who will be 12 at the end of the year) starts Hogwarts. It’s his first lick of freedom. There is no babysitting-duty at Hogwarts. All he has to do is stay out of trouble and earn good grades. Other than that, he is free to do what he wants. He will be the only Weasley-sibling in Hogwarts for two years. Because of this, his parents probably have enough money in reserve to buy him a full Hogwarts-kit without resorting to second-hand-stuff too much. (He might get second-hand books, but his robes and wand are probably new.)

At home, life is still hard for Molly. She has one less kid to take care of, but the kids who are still in her care are a handful. She still needs to teach Charlie. Percy got 6 over the summer and is a little nerd, so she is likely teaching him, too. Fred and George are still chaos incarnate. (And they are just getting started, really.)

Bill’s duties (chores around the home and watching his younger brothers) get passed down to Charlie. Percy might try his hand on this, too, because he is still in direct competition with the twins and Mum gives him attention when he helps her.

The war is over and the Weasleys start to feel the effects of this. As Death Eaters are captured and sentenced, the Wizarding World starts to feel safe, again. The stress eases off (but Molly is probably still grieving.) 

Arthur’s work schedule slowly goes back to more normal levels, allowing him to spend more time at home. However, he missed out on a big chunk of his children’s childhood. It’s also hard to return to his role as a parent, because at this point, the roles of the family are pretty much established: Molly is in charge and does most of the work. Some of the easier chores are passed down to her kids (first Bill, now Charlie, later Percy). This includes watching over his younger brothers while Molly takes care of her toddlers. It’s kind of hard for him to integrate himself into this dynamic. (Just imagine him doing the laundry or the dishes – it’s very likely that he has a different way for doing this, which could easily disrupt Molly’s workflow or simply just annoy her.) 

I think he will mostly stick to the stuff he did when Bill and Charlie were little. So he’s taking his kids out for trips on the weekends. But this is difficult, too, because it’s not Bill and Charlie anymore, but Charlie, Percy, Fred and George. Their dynamic is entirely different, and it’s hard to keep an eye on all of them, while also satisfying their needs equally. (Especially because Percy, Fred and George start to clash.) As a result, the trips are probably not as frequent as they once were.

It’s also possible that Arthur picks up his Muggle-hobby at this point. (Picking up this hobby causes him to spend at least some evenings in his shed, tinkering with Muggle-stuff instead of helping his wife. I imagine him to fade into the background a little bit, while he leaves the household and child-rearing to his wife.)

1984 – Charlie starts Hogwarts.

There are now two Weasley-Siblings at Hogwarts, but things are still pretty chill for them. It’s still just Bill and Charlie, after all. Bill is probably considered trustworthy enough by his teachers to receive a time-turner, so he can take all electives Hogwarts has to offer. (I do wonder how much Molly’s expectations are playing into this. She clearly expects her children to do well at Hogwarts, both in terms of grades and behavior. At this point, he is either a massive nerd like Hermione, trying to perform well to fulfill his mother’s expectations, or both. He is also setting a standard for his siblings here, whether this is on his own accord or because of pressure he receives from Molly.)

At home, Percy (now 8) takes over Charlie’s duties. He tries to control Fred and George. It’s likely that he fails miserably. They are just too close age-wise for this to work. 

Fred and George are 6 now and start to play rough. Last year, Fred turned Ron’s teddy bear into a giant spider (which probably caused Ron to develop arachnophobia). Next year, they will try to talk Ron into making an Unbreakable Vow with them. So keeping an eye on them is getting harder, not easier.

At this point in time, Scabbers exceeds the life span of his species. Rats can get up to two or three years old. (And Rowling knows this. This information is included in book 3, when Ron takes Scabbers to the pet store to have the witch there check on him.) This is Scabbers third year with the Weasleys, so his time is up. No one seems to notice, though. I don’t blame Percy (or the other kids) for this, but Molly and Arthur should notice that they don’t have to replace a rat or have a talk about how Scabbers is happier in the great rat heaven. They don’t and I wonder why. My suggestions are: a) They are either not paying any attention to Percy and his pet (which would suck) or b) Scabbers is turning into Peter and uses a wand (his own or Molly’s) to confund them as needed (which would suck even more).

1987 – Percy starts Hogwarts.

At the end of the 1986/87 school year, Bill (who is a prefect now) takes his OWL in all 12 courses Hogwarts has to offer. It’s possible he returns his time turner after this or keeps it until his graduation to deal with his NEWT-workload. He now starts his sixth year. Charlie is in his fourth year and is already on the Quidditch team. Molly is very, very proud of both of them.

Percy is a wee first year and doesn’t have to watch out for any younger siblings for once. He can focus on learning instead. He is probably the first boy in the family to end up with hand-me-down robes, as he has a similar build as Bill and Bill has probably outgrown his first set.

Scabbers is six, now. So he has lived twice as long as a normal rat would. Still, no one has caught up to the fact that he is awfully old for a rat. It’s very likely that he accompanies Percy to Hogwarts. (It should be noted that Hogwarts only allows cats, owls and toads as pets, so Percy probably got a permission to bring a rat instead. However, no one at the school notices Scabber’s age either.)

Life at home is still chaotic. Fred and George are 10, Ron is 8 and Ginny is 7. Molly is probably teaching all of them. Her workload is slowly going down to a more manageable level, but keeping the twins in check is still a challenge.

She probably doesn’t expect Fred and George to do chores and watch over their siblings. (At least not in the same way she expected from her older kids.) Mostly, because she can’t trust them to do it. (Remember the Unbreakable Vow? Yeah, that.) Additionally, Ron simply has no authority over them, so that’s not an option either.

1989 – Fred and George start Hogwarts.

In his seventh year, Bill was made Head Boy. By now, he took his NEWTs and left school. He probably returns home for a little while, before he takes the first chance he gets to fuck off to Egypt and play with cursed tombs. (We should probably talk about English wizards, Egyptian treasures and colonialism here, but that’s a completely different can of worms.)

Charlie took his OWL and is now in his sixth year. He’s still on the Quidditch team and should be Quidditch Captain by now. He’s also a prefect. So between them, they got all the big achievements Hogwarts has to offer: Prefect (both of them), Head Boy (Bill) and Quidditch Captain (Charlie). Bill also got 12 OWL, which is an achievement on its own. Molly will measure her other children against this later.

Speaking of Molly: While her home life is going to relax a lot this year, her expectations are still around. She is still expecting her kids to do well in school. Considering that Fred and George are now at Hogwarts, the old demand “Watch over your younger siblings!” is back and in full swing. I can’t see Charlie doing it – he has his head full of dragons and Quidditch and lived five blissful years in Hogwarts without the need to look after anyone all that much. Sure, Percy was at school, but he has already learned to look after himself. I don’t think Charlie will start with this now. Not unless the twins interfere with his prefect- or Quidditch-duties or are completely out of line.

Percy is a different story, however. He is in his third year and still taking after Bill. Just like Bill he takes all electives, so it is likely that he also gets a time turner for this. At this point, Percy has ingrained the idea that he needs to perform exceptionally well at school and Bill set an incredible high bar to reach, but he is willing to do just that. He also spent a lot more time at home dealing with the twins. Molly’s expectations for him to be a good boy and to look after his younger brothers will now put pressure on him again. He will probably try to control their chaotic behavior, but they are 11 now, and they will listen to him even less than before.

For Fred and George, this is heaven. They finally escaped the watchful eyes of their mother and have a whole new world to explore. So many secret passageways and even more victims to play pranks on. Percy is annoying, but they can play pranks on him, too. They will soon steal the Marauder’s Map from Filch’s office, which will open up even more possibilities. It’s great. 10/10, no notes.

Life at home is finally manageable. It’s just Molly, Ron and Ginny (and also Arthur and his Muggle-stuff). This is probably a nice time for Ron, because there are no older siblings around to steal his limelight. However, at this point he has the family dynamic internalized and his self-esteem is pretty low overall.

1991 – Ron starts Hogwarts.

By now, Charlie has left Hogwarts. It is unlikely that he actually finished his education, however. When Harry becomes a member of the Gryffindor team in Philosopher’s Stone, Fred says: “We haven’t won since Charlie left, but this year’s team is going to be brilliant.” Had Charlie finished his education, he would have left in summer 1991. The quote is from autumn 1991. In this case, the quote would make no sense, because there were no matches for Gryffindor to lose between Charlie leaving and Harry becoming Gryffindor’s new seeker. So he must have left before then, probably sometime in his sixth or seventh year, after his seventeenth birthday.

It’s important to note that we don’t read about any fights over this. I can’t imagine Molly being happy with this, but he must have had her permission. (Otherwise we would know about it. Molly can’t shut up about the failures of the twins, she would not shut up about Charlie’s failures either.)

Percy is in his fifth year and a prefect. By now he is the career-driven rules lawyer we meet in canon. He will end this school year by taking all 12 OWL – just like Bill. (When Ron is made prefect in OotP, Molly makes sure to tell everyone that he is now a prefect, just like his older brothers, and she seems very comfortable doing so. I assume, Percy heard his fair share of this, when he was made prefect.)

The twins are in their third year and members of Gryffindor’s Quidditch team. By now, they have earned themselves a reputation as pranksters.

Ron is the sixth Weasley-kid to enter Hogwarts. While his older siblings might have gotten some second-hand stuff, everything he owns was basically handed down to him: Bill’s old robes, Charlie’s old wand and Percy’s old pet rat. To be clear: none of those things make much sense to hand down (or at least not to Ron).

Bill’s old robes should have gone to Percy after Bill left Hogwarts. They should be of a similar height, while Ron (as an eleven-year-old) should be somewhat smaller. Instead of handling it that way, Percy got new robes as a reward and Bill’s robes were handed down to Ron. This is clear favoritism on Molly’s part. It’s no surprise that Ron (who already feels overlooked by his parents) feels upset about it.

Giving him Charlie’s old wand makes even less sense. We know, that the wand chooses its wizard. Charlie’s wand did not choose Ron, so it would not perform as well for him. In addition, in book 1 the wand is described as follows: “He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.”

That thing is basically falling apart. That was either a lot of wear and tear during Charlie’s time at Hogwarts (considering the fact that we have not heard anything about this with other wands, this is unlikely) or the wand was already a hand-me-down when Charlie got it. In either case, giving Ron a wand that has its core more or less poking out, doesn’t sound very safe. I wonder why Arthur and Molly decided to do this. Did they expect Ron to have a great learning experience with a damaged wand? Did they want Ron to use the wand until it eventually did break, saving them another year or two before they had to buy a new one? (And yes, they would indeed need to buy him a new one in his third year, but they had no way of knowing that. Unless there are prophecies for that kind of shit. And even then. The fuck?)

Money is tight, of course. But is it really that tight? They could afford to get Percy an owl, after all. And buying a wand for their son is an expense they've had 11 years to plan. I understand getting second-hand robes and cauldrons, as they see a lot of wear and tear. But this should not apply to a wand in the same way. This is just really, really odd.

And then there is the elephant – and with elephant I mean rat – in the room: Scabbers. Firstly, that rat should be dead for at least seven years by now. No one seems to notice. No one cares. What the fuck.

Secondly, why is Percy giving his pet to Ron? There just isn’t a great explanation for this. Scabbers has been his pet for ten years. TEN. Percy should be attached to his pet like glue. After all, he has Scabbers since he can remember. Why is he willing to part with his rat? The only reasons I can think of:

1) He does it because Molly asks him to. She is clearly playing favorites, here. Not only does he get new robes when he becomes prefect, but he also receives his very own owl as a gift. It’s possible that this owl comes with strings attached, and Percy is required to give Scabbers to Ron to get the owl. Which would be a pretty fucked up situation for every child involved and should’ve been handled differently.

2) Percy wants to get rid of Scabbers. He doesn’t know about Scabbers’ Peter-shaped secret, of course (otherwise he would’ve reported this). But it is possible that he feels, on a subconscious level, that something about Scabbers is off. Not in a dangerous way (again, he would’ve reported this), just in an unpleasant way. (This would still be odd. Especially when we consider that no one noticed Scabbers age.)

3) Scabbers has decided that it’s time to jump ship. Percy just turned fifteen this year. He is old enough to grow suspicious of his seemingly immortal rat. It’s possible that he cozied up to Ron to manipulate both boys into making the switch. Or he turned into Peter and confunded some Weasleys. Who knows. He’s still a Death Eater and mass murderer on the run, after all.

1992 – Ginny starts Hogwarts.

The flock has left the nest. Molly’s work is mostly over. It’s just her and Arthur who stay at the burrow. She still takes care of the household, but the responsibility for her kids rest on other people’s shoulders, now. There is nothing left to do, except knitting, sending care packages, worrying about her kids careers and hexing the occasional howler. Molly could get a job now or pick up a hobby or two. I mean, she does read Gilderoy Lockhart’s shitty books. She is a fan of his, after all. But she doesn’t seem to enter any community over this (no fan club, no reading circle, no nothing. It’s just her). And there are no other hobbies outside of that. 

Apropos community: We don’t really see her having a community. She is a pretty important side character, but the books never mention that she has friends or other contacts outside her family. It seems like she is focusing on her kids and only on her kids.

Which would explain her meddling. Because Molly meddles a lot, when it comes to her kids and their futures. She keeps putting pressure on Percy to look after his younger siblings – this will expand to Harry after she gets to know him. Percy (still a good boy) does as she wishes. It’s not healthy, neither for him nor for his relationship with his siblings (who are mostly annoyed by him), but Molly either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. In the future, she will be very cross with Hermione after reading Rita Skeeters articles about her. She will also be upset about the twins' career choice and Bill's choice of girlfriend…

And yeah, that’s basically it. At this point, the family dynamic is firmly established and ingrained in her children’s heads. Percy is already set up to explode in the near future. Being Molly’s Golden Child is neither good nor healthy, especially considering all the pressure that comes along with it. His relationship with his siblings isn’t all that great, either.

Fun fact: We don’t know if anyone ever told him about Scabbers’ Peter-shaped secret. If it did happen, it was probably pretty traumatic. That shit-show was his pet for ten fucking years and he handed it down to his younger brother. That’s nightmare fuel, even if Peter never hurt any of them.

The twins have firmly established themselves as troublemakers. At least some of their “jokes” really aren’t funny and border on cruel, neglectful and/or harmful. (Remember the Unbreakable Vow? Yeah, still not funny. In 1993, they also tried to lock Percy in a pyramid. Yes, I don’t think they wanted to hurt him, not really, but that thing was still a cursed tomb. Things could have gone wrong, and at that point they were old enough to know better. In their last year they tested their joke-sweets on younger students who were neither adequately informed nor old enough to consent for something like this. Yes, they tested the sweets on themselves first, but something could still have gone wrong because of allergies and all that stuff. And after they left Hogwarts and started their joke shop, they do sell love potions to students, complete with options to smuggle that shit into school. Additionally, instead of going bad/losing their potency, those love potions get stronger with age. This alone is a horror story waiting to happen.)

Ron is affected, too. His self-esteem is pretty low when he starts Hogwarts and it will stay that way throughout the series. This will inform a lot of his decisions (especially the bad ones) in the future. 

We don’t know much about how all of this affected Bill, Charlie and Ginny. Bill and Charlie just aren’t as involved in the narrative, and Ginny stays kind of… bland and love interest-ish… throughout the story.

So… yeah?

Am I saying that the Weasleys did not love their kids? No, of course not. Especially Molly shows her love regularly. (Her love is more like a water hose than a watering can, however. Very intense and focussed on a single spot at a time, instead of reaching all her kids equally.)

What I am saying is that the Weasleys, as a family, are pretty dysfunctional. Many factors are playing into this – Molly’s and Arthur’s dynamic as a couple and as parents, the number of their kids, the war, etc. It’s impacting all of them negatively. Molly is stressed out, Arthur is out of touch and some of their kids lose their trust (either in their parents, in their siblings or in themselves.) It also makes their love feel conditional. The twins feel this whenever Molly is comparing them with their older (more well-behaved) brothers. Percy feels this when he comes home with that promotion and is demoted from Golden Child to family-traitor within a heartbeat. Ron has internalized it and desperately seeks attention and affection elsewhere.

They still love each other, but it’s a difficult position to be in for most of them.

And the worst thing: I don’t think Rowling notices any of this. She did not intend the family to be as dysfunctional as it is. She keeps portraying the Weasleys as this great, loving family who took Harry in when he needed it the most. And of course they did – but that’s not all there is to it. There are so many issues that go unresolved in the books. Molly never learns to back off. The responsibility for the conflict between Arthur and Percy is placed entirely on Percy, despite Arthur being at fault, too. The twins never really learn that a prank can go too far. Ron doesn’t really solve his self-esteem-issues. Rowling does start to give him some character development regarding his self-esteem-issues multiple times, but he always seems to revert back over the course of the summer holidays. 

The family really deserved more effort to go into the writing.

Note: This analysis is not meant to say that stay-at-home parents are bad or that Molly should have gotten a job while having seven little kids at home. What I am criticizing is the way we treat care work. Because it is work, and a lot of work. A stay-at-home parent is often on call 24/7. A stay-at-home parent never really gets to take a break, never can take a day off, and never just can leave their work for another day. But they do deserve breaks and days off, just like any person with a day job. And that is where their partners and the rest of their families come in.

And this is the other thing I wanted to criticize here: The way we glorify living as a nuclear family. It’s said that you need a village to raise a kid and I do think this is true. Having more people involved in child-rearing (be it relatives, neighbors or professionals like teachers) is a boon. Families had access to this for millennia. Raising your kids with the help of your family and your village was normal, up until very recently. And it’s a shame that the Weasleys seemingly had no help like this. And yes, I do see the fault with Rowling, who wrote them that way. She basically took the concept of the nuclear families of the 1980s and 1990s and slapped it onto the family, without any world building at all.

(Please also note, that I consider stay-at-home parents to be different from tradwives. When I use the term “tradwife”, I am specifically referring to stay-at-home mothers who do not just take care of their household and their kids, but who also commit themselves to having as many kids as possible and who tend to take on other duties (like homeschooling) as well. The most common examples of this are probably families who belong to fundamentalist Christian churches or cults.)

[luminarystag]

Harry Potter, the “Perfect Victim” mentality, and the fandom’s treatment of him in Order of the Phoenix

“Harry is an asshole in Order of the Phoenix!”

“Harry is so unlikable in book 5.”

“My enjoyment of Order of the Phoenix was killed by Harry’s attitude.”

Odds are that if you are part of the Harry Potter fandom, you’ve seen a version of these sentiments echoed many times. A large part of the fanbase seems to hate Harry in this one book, even going as far as ranking this book last in book rankings because they can’t stand his “attitude”

But in this book, Harry is suffering from severe C-PTSD. He meets all of the diagnostic criteria, and it’s clear that he’s struggling immensely throughout this book. But there seems to be a lack of empathy for Harry in this book. Why?

The “Perfect Victim” Mentality

For those who do not know, the “perfect victim” is a mentality where people seem to only believe and/or empathize with victims of trauma if the person is a “perfect victim.”

But what is a “perfect victim”? Since we will be focusing on the treatment of Harry after his trauma, I’ll be focusing on the perfect victim mentality post trauma

A “perfect victim’s” trauma isn’t visible from the outside, and if it is, it only results in the victim crying and having nightmares. All of their trauma just results in them being sad and anxious after their trauma. All of the messy parts of PTSD are not present

Harry is not a perfect victim

As you can tell from the description above, Harry is not a perfect victim (because no one is). Harry gets angry and screams at his friends. He becomes hyper vigilante; always ready to pull his wand out and fight to defend himself. He keeps his wand tightly in his hand around Snape or Malfoy. His PTSD is what actual PTSD looks like, not the “acceptable” trauma response looks like

There is definitely an empathy gap between Goblet of Fire (when Harry gets his trauma) to Order of the Phoenix. Because honestly, in Goblet of Fire, one could argue Harry was a perfect victim. He is weaker than Voldemort, he was vulnerable, he fought back, he reported it immediately. That fits the criteria for perfect victim when the trauma actually happens. Yes, in universe by Fudge he’s not a victim at all for specific reasons, but we, as the audience that actually saw what happened, he comes across a perfect victim

Even in Goblet of Fire afterwards, Harry is still a perfect victim post-graveyard. His trauma results in him being sad and distant for the rest of the school year. As I stated above, that is the perfect victim’s response to trauma

This is why the audience has no trouble feeling empathy for Harry at the end of book 4. He was a child who got kidnapped, watched someone be killed and tortured by someone much older, stronger and more powerful than him. He tells someone (Dumbledore) what happened as soon as he got back. And then he spends the small amount of time at Hogwarts being sad and disassociating. What happened to him, and his response, is easy to digest, so everyone feels bad for him

But then in Order of the Phoenix, when the PTSD truly sets in, Harry is no longer a perfect victim. He gets angry and lashes out, at Dudley at first, then Ron and Hermione later, and then Dumbledore way later. He is ready to defend himself at all times, thinking about cursing Dudley, clutching his wand in Potions, etc. Suddenly, the messy parts of his PTSD rise to the surface

The fandom’s treatment of Harry in Order of the Phoenix

This causes the fandom to say all kinds of things about OOTP: That Harry is cold, Harry is a bully to Ron and Hermione, Harry is unsympathtic

The fandom’s treatment of him does a 180 compared to Goblet of Fire, because his trauma is no longer digestible. He is no longer a perfect victim, so he no longer gets empathy

I think this plays into why people say they like the movie more. In the movie, Harry stays a perfect victim. The movies remove him screaming at Ron and Hermione, remove his anger and jumpiness, remove him destroying Dumbledore’s office. He is just sad and distant. The movie’s were afraid to show just how deep Harry’s PTSD is in favor of the perfect victim narrative and in turn, people prefer the movie

The most disturbing thing about this is the implication behind it. If people can’t even have empathy for a fictional child, who is the main character of the most beloved children’s series of all time, who got kidnapped and tortured, what does that say about their response to real people who have trauma?

[indigo-scarf]

Did you know?

Hermione doesn't actually call Ron "Ronald" like he's an idiot and she's a nagging wife from a 2000s heteropessimism comedy.

She only calls him "You — complete — arse — Ronald — Weasley!" the one time when he comes back after leaving in DH.

[arliedraws]

Part of my Sirius headcanon is that he never killed anyone during wartime, but James and Remus did. Remus accepts quietly that it's simply a part of war, James agonizes over it and is forever changed, but Sirius is never faced with the necessity to kill someone.

While I do think Sirius would torture someone/kill for someone he loves, I reeeeeeally like the idea that he ends up in Azkaban with his soul completely intact. Just the irony that he's one of the few people in the Order who's never killed anyone but ends up incarcerated for murder... too tasty.

[superfallingstars]

snape is such a fun character to make headcanons for because i feel like there’s so many ways you can go with it. like, i’ve seen a lot of people say that snape doesn’t take care of himself, like not eating well or washing his hair (lol), and i think that definitely makes sense considering his martyrdom/guilt complex and being raised in poverty. but i’ve also seen people imagining that snape is like really good at cooking and baking, which makes sense with him being a potions master but also kind of conflicts with the other point of view. i think the happy medium is that snape knows how to cook and bake but wouldn’t take the time to do them for himself, only for other people. however there’s a secret fourth option that i want to know people’s opinions on

i like the idea that snape actually does take care of himself, but he’s just kind of bad at it. like i think he tries to make his hair look decent, but it just gets greasy really fast and he tends not to notice until it’s already in pretty bad shape. and i also kind of like the idea of snape not only cooking and baking for others, but also for himself – not out of any real love or care for himself, but as a way of chasing success and distancing himself from his childhood and from poverty. like i can just picture him at the malfoys trying some fancy hors d’oeuvres and being like, oh, so this is how the other half lives. i want to get good at this. and there’s something wonderfully ironic (and let’s be real, kind of pathetic) about the idea of snape carefully preparing a charcuterie board of expensive delicacies to eat by himself in the dungeons or the drafty old sitting room in spinner’s end.

in this case, his hair and his eating habits are really symptoms of the same problem – he’s trying to run away from his past, but he just keeps failing. he tries to fit in with the upper class and the purebloods, to the point he acts like them even when he’s alone, but there’s always something that betrays him as an outsider, whether it’s his body, his loneliness, or the fact that he still lives in his childhood home. no matter what he does, no matter how hard he tries to escape himself and his memories, he just can’t succeed.

…almost like how even when he’s trying to be a good person, he still has to kill someone he cares about to be one. he’ll never be free of his past, he’ll never be firmly on one side or the other. he’s just kind of doomed.

basically the takeaway here is that any headcanon can be true if you frame it the right way. also we should read way too much into everything forever. ok byeee