#lord voldemort/hermione granger | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

slavicdelight · 11 months ago

Text

METANOIA

Pairing: Tom Riddle x f!reader

Summary: Metanoia - the journey of changing your mind, heart, self and way of life

Warnings: slightly ooc Tom, pureblood ideas, hits of murder

ღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღ

Tom Riddle was a name recognized by everyone at Hogwarts. The infamous Slytherin Head Boy commanded respect from every student and even from professors, thanks to the aura surrounding him. However, what most people didn't know, or perhaps didn't care to notice, was that there was something sinister lurking behind his captivating gaze and mannerisms.

His friend group, constantly present by his side, consisted of members from the most well-known pureblood families. Tom considered himself superior to them because he possessed the blood of the noble Salazar Slytherin. By the age of 19, he had already committed horrifying acts, such as opening the Chamber of Secrets during his 5th year, resulting in the death of Myrtle Warren. He also murdered his remaining family around the same time. Furthermore, he created Horcruxes in order to reach immortality, which was one of his goals and the initial step towards becoming the greatest dark wizard in history.

Tom was a skilled manipulator. He had the ability to hide his true emotions, always putting on a mask of politeness. In addition, he was brilliant and could be described as an over-achiever. Tom thoroughly planned everything and never allowed setbacks to hinder him. There was only one person who saw right through him - Dumbledore, the person Tom despised the most in the entire school.

Tonight, Tom was strolling through the hallways of Hogwarts, carrying out his patrols as a Head Boy. Although it was generally a mundane duty, it had its advantages. One of them was being out after curfew without anyone questioning it. The corridors were dimly lit, so Tom had to cast a spell to produce light to see clearly."Lumos." he muttered, before continuing on his way. It appeared to be another uneventful night, where nothing of particular interest occurred.

As he was heading back to the Slytherin dorms, someone bumped into him, causing both teenagers to fall to the ground. "I'm so sorry," said a girl who appeared to be about the same age as him, possibly a year younger. He was about to reprimand her for running into him and give her detention for breaking curfew, but then he looked at her and was instantly captivated by the most beautiful pair of eyes he had even seen. They were warm and welcoming, but what truly enthralled him was their enchanting violet color, which sparkled under the light emerging from his wand.

"I should've watched where I was going," continued the witch. He cleared his throat and gave her a cold stare, trying to hide his intrigue. "Why aren't you in your dorm? It's past curfew," Tom questioned the girl. Another surprising thing was that he had no idea who she was. He only noticed the Ravenclaw emblem on her robes, indicating that she was a member of the eagle house. The Slytherin prided himself on knowing almost everyone at school, from students to professors, yet he didn't know her. How could someone with such captivating eyes escape his attention? "Oh, right. I got caught up in the library and forgot about the curfew," she explained. "I'll go straight to bed." With that, she tried to pass him and walk away.

She wanted to end the interaction as quickly as possible, knowing that Tom Riddle was trouble. Despite his perfect student persona, she sensed a hidden darkness beneath the surface and wanted to avoid getting involved. "Now, now. I can't possibly let the witch with such incredible eyes leave without knowing her name, can I?" he asked, causing her to freeze. "I fail to see how my name is of any interest to you, Riddle. I would prefer you not knowing it and allowing me to go.”

Tom didn't expect his charm not to work, but he hid his surprise. He wondered if the girl was brave or stupid, perhaps both. She didn't know that she piqued his interest, and that was something dangerous. "It hardly seems fair that you know me, but I don't know you, don't you think?" He took a step closer to her but didn't predict what she would do next. "No, I don't," she said, while taking a step back and bolting in another direction. The Head Boy simply stood there and let her get away. 'Let her run,' he thought. 'I shall find her anyway.' And with that, he continued on his way to the dorms.

The next morning, during breakfast, he scanned the Great Hall in search of her. Tom tried to be discreet, but his best friend, Abraxas Malfoy, noticed. Abraxas was his most reliable follower, someone Tom could trust. "What are you looking for, Riddle?" he asked. The boy with raven hair turned to glare at him and said, "It's none of your business, Malfoy." He was becoming increasingly frustrated that the witch from the previous night was nowhere to be found.

Finally, the girl made her entrance, walking into the hall accompanied by another girl. They both headed towards the Ravenclaw's table and took a seat. He couldn't help but gaze at her. It was as if she sensed his gaze, as she turned and looked directly into his eyes. Their staring contest continued until Headmaster Dippet began greeting students and wishing them a good day.

After finishing his meal, Tom made his way to the Potions classroom, his first subject of the day. He enjoyed this class, despite Professor Slughorn being a bit overwhelming. Tom was the professor's favorite student, excelling in this class just as he did in every other. He was an exceptionally talented wizard.

It turned out he shared the class with the violet-eyed witch. He wondered why he hadn't noticed her before. He took his usual seat and waited for the Ravenclaw student to enter, which didn't take long. She sat two rows ahead of him, accompanied by a boy he recognized as the Ravenclaw's seeker. Shortly after, Slughorn entered and the lesson began. Today, they had to brew an advanced potion called the Elixir to Induce Euphoria in pairs. As always, Tom was the first to finish his potion, with the help of his partner, Rosier. The potions professor, impressed with their work, allowed them to leave early. Tom decided to wait outside the classroom to talk to the girl who had sparked his interest and learn more about her.

As the girl walked out, he quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the abandoned broom closet across the hall. She protested, but wasn't strong enough to break free from his grasp. Tom pushed her inside and blocked the entrance.

"Hello again," he said, noticing the anger on the girl's face. "What do you think you're doing? Let me go!" she yelled, attempting to escape from the classroom.

"No, I don't think I will," Tom replied. "What do you want, Riddle?" she questioned, gritting her teeth. Her captivating eyes locked with his, and he could swear they had the power to melt a man. But he was no ordinary man, and he wouldn't allow that to defeat him. "I already told you what I want," he started, before she interrupted, "and I already told you that you won't have that." The girl had some nerve, he had to give her that. "Listen, darling, either you tell me your name yourself or I'll find out on my own. But I would prefer to hear it from your beautiful lips.”

"And what?" she spat, her eyes narrowing with a mix of defiance and fear. "Will you force it out of me?" If looks could kill, he would already be six feet under. Tom's lips curled into a malicious smirk as he leaned in closer, his voice a low, dangerous whisper. "You'll soon discover that I can be very..." He paused, relishing in the anticipation he was building. "...persuasive." The words hung in the air, sending a shiver down her spine. As he observed her reaction, he couldn't help but notice the subtle trembling of her breath, a sign that his presence and words were affecting her.

“If I tell you my name, would you stop pestering me about it?” she asked not looking into his eyes. Tom grabbed her chin and forced her head up, just enough for him to see her eyes. The Slytherin just nodded and took a step back. “Fine. My name is Y/N” she finally answered and moved past him, heading straight for the door. As Y/N was walking away she heard him say “Such a beautiful name, for someone with such extraodrinary eyes.”

Y/N felt a chill run down her spine as she left the broom closet, the encounter with Tom Riddle leaving her unsettled. She couldn't shake the feeling that she had just opened a door to a world of complications. Her day continued with classes, but her mind kept wandering back to the mysterious encounter with the enigmatic Head Boy.

Days turned into weeks, and Tom's fascination with Y/N only deepened. He started to make subtle attempts to engage her in conversation during Potions class or whenever their paths crossed in the hallways. Y/N, however, remained guarded, careful not to reveal too much about herself. She sensed danger around Tom, but there was also a part of her that felt an inexplicable connection, an undeniable intrigue that kept her from avoiding him completely. She didn’t like it, preferring to stay away from the drama that would undeniably follow her once she got too involved with the boy.

As time passed, Tom's pursuit became more relentless. He would show up unexpectedly in places where Y/N was, asking about her interests, her family, and her background. Y/N, althrough in the beginning sheltered and slightly annoyed, soon found herself drawn into conversations that danced on the edge of forbidden topics, and Tom, turn, discovered that there was more to Y/N than met the eye.

One evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, Tom found Y/N sitting by the Black Lake,reading a book . He approached her cautiously, and for the first time, his demeanor seemed less calculated, more genuine."You're a puzzle, Y/N," he said, his voice softer than usual. "I can't quite figure you out." Y/N turned to look at him, her violet eyes searching his face for any sign of deception. "Maybe some puzzles are meant to remain unsolved," she replied cryptically. Tom chuckled, a sound that sent shivers down her spine. "Maybe so, yet here we are. Both of us puzzling each other. But I do enjoy the challenge." he admitted. "And you, my dear, are the most intriguing challenge I've found at Hogwarts so far."

As the weeks turned into months, their interactions became more complex. Y/N found herself reluctantly drawn to Tom's charisma and intelligence, while Tom, discovered a more vulnerable side of himself. He couldn't quite understand why Y/N had such an effect on him, but he was determined to find out.

Their dynamic took a turn one evening in the Hogwarts library. Tom, managed to convince Y/N to join him in exploring the restricted section. As they looked through ancient tomes and hidden spells, Y/N couldn't ignore the growing tension between them. In the quiet space of the library, Tom leaned in, his dark eyes locking onto hers. "There's something about you, Y/N," he murmured, his breath sending shivers across her skin. "Something that both intrigues and unsettles me." Y/N looked at him curiously and asked “What is so unsettling about me?”. Tom only looked at her and leaning closer said “You’re making me feel things I’ve never felt before.”

As they continued their meetings, the lines between friend and enemy slowly became blurred. Tom’s past and his ambitions started to rub off on her, making her question everything. But she wasn’t weak and wanted to stay true to the right side. She wasn’t about to go down the same path as the Slytherin boy, and wanted to make him see that it was wrong. Little did she know that the choices made in the upcoming months would shape the destiny of the wizarding world.

As the weeks unfolded, Y/N found herself in a dangerous position. The more time she spent with Tom Riddle, the clearer it became that he was wavering on the edge of darkness. His thirst for power, his relentless pursuit of immortality, and the shadows of his past painted a grim picture. Yet, among all this darkness, Y/N saw moments of vulnerability, moments where the mask slipped, revealing a fractured soul. Y/N couldn't ignore the pull she felt toward Tom, a pull that went beyond fascination. Beneath his charming facade, she noticed loneliness that mirrored her own.

One evening, as snowflakes danced outside the castle windows, Y/N found Tom alone in the library. The fire cast a glow on his face, making him appear more handsome than ever. Y/N hesitated but she knew she had to ask the next question. "Tom," she began softly, "there's something I've been meaning to ask you." He looked up, his piercing gaze meeting hers. "Ask away, Y/N."

"Why are you so afraid of letting people in?" she inquired, her voice gentle but filled with genuine curiosity. Tom's eyes moved towards her, she could see suffering behind them. He took a deep breath before replying to her."People often betray and are fake in order to get what they want from you. After they get it, they leave and never come back.” Y/N took a step closer, closing the distance between them. "But it's also lonely, isn't it? To carry the weight of responsibilities on your shoulders without anyone to share it with."

Tom's mask wavered, revealing the boy beneath the facade. "Loneliness is a small price to pay for greatness," he stated, but a small amount of doubt could be seen in his eyes. "Maybe attaining greatness isn’t meant to be done alone." Y/N suggested. "Maybe it's in the connections we make, the people we let in"

In the days that followed, Y/N continued to challenge Tom's perspective. She introduced him to the joy of laughter, the warmth of genuine friendships, and the beauty of simple moments. As the walls around his heart slowly crumbled, Y/N became a beacon of light in his world, a reminder that there was more to life than power and darkness.

One evening, beneath the sky covered in stars, Y/N and Tom found themselves strolling through the Hogwarts grounds. Tom, usually composed, seemed uncertain, as if something was bothering him. "You don't have to be alone, Tom," Y/N whispered, her words carrying the weight of sincerity. "There's goodness in you, which you only have to choose." For the first time, Tom Riddle looked genuinely conflicted. The darkness within him warred with the flickers of light that Y/N had ignited. He was standing on the crossroads where the choices made would shape the future.

In the quiet of the night, Y/N extended her hand, a silent invitation to choose a different path. Tom hesitated, his gaze locking onto hers. And in that moment, the boy who had been consumed by shadows took a small step toward the light, changing the course of history forever. The journey towards redemption would be a long one, but with Y/N by his side, Tom Riddle was confident in succeeding. He realized that greatness could be found not in the pursuit of power but in the capacity to love and be loved.

ღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღ

A/N: let me introduce you to my first ever Tom Riddle imagine. The obsession I have with this man is unhealthy. Anyway let me know if you enjoyed it. Thank you for all the support ♡

367 notes · View notes

slitheringghost · 3 months ago

Text

Unweaving Canon Lily: Master Of Death

Part 2 of this meta is here.

In this meta I wanted to explore how the text portrays Lily as Death.

Dumbledore tells Harry, “You are the true master of death, because the true master does not seek to run away from Death. He accepts that he must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying.”

Since Harry mirrors Lily in his sacrifice (“I’ve done what my mother did”), and since Lily is the reason Harry survived the Killing Curse and Voldemort was vanquished (IMO due to deliberate planning by Lily), what goes unsaid, but what readers are meant to weave together, is that Lily too is the Master of Death, and Death itself.

1.0 Lily as Death

If you pay close attention to the scene of the Potters’ deaths, you’ll see that it parallels the story of Death and The Three Brothers, with Lily as the main one playing Death, and I'll be weaving the two together below to illuminate this (from DH 21 and DH 17):

There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight And along a new and darker street he moved, and now his destination was in sight at last - In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across. He could hear her screaming from the upper floor, trapped, but as long as she was sensible, she, at least, had nothing to fear... He climbed the steps, listening with faint amusement to her attempts to barricade herself in... - However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. He forced the door open, cast aside the chair and boxes hastily piled against it with one lazy wave of his wand - They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure. ...and there she stood, the child in her arms. At the sight of him, she dropped her son into the crib behind her and threw her arms wide, as if this would help, as if in shielding him from sight she hoped to be chosen instead... - “‘And Death spoke to them —’” “Sorry,” interjected Harry, “but Death spoke to them?” “Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!” “Stand aside, you silly girl... stand aside, now.” “Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead —” “This is my last warning —” “Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please — I’ll do anything —” “Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!” ‘Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way, and they did so, talking with wonder of the adventure they had had, and admiring Death’s gifts.

(The line about the river being too deep to wade through etc. could probably apply to some other lines too) The most notable connection is Voldemort repeatedly telling Lily to “stand aside” and the line “Death stood aside”.

The connection to the line “Death stood aside” is reiterated in the language surrounding Voldemort, Lily, and Harry as a trio, with the three of them described as “standing” - because the three of them are Death, and are (one variation of) the three brothers who conquered Death:

He forced the door open, cast aside the chair and boxes hastily piled against it with one lazy wave of his wand... and there she stood, the child in her arms. The child had not cried all this time: He could stand, clutching the bars of his crib, and he looked up into the intruder’s face with a kind of bright interest And now he stood at the broken window of Bathilda’s house, immersed in memories of his greatest loss (DH)

More on these lines in my meta about Lily and Harry as Voldemort’s Mirror Of Erised.

Additionally, Voldemort who also plays Death is described explicitly as a “hooded figure” - “He saw the small boy’s smile falter as he ran near enough to see beneath the hood of the cloak”; but Lily too is a “hooded figure” in a more subtle way, because her face covered by her long hair evokes the hood of a cloak - "the mother entered [...] her long dark-red hair falling over her face." More on this in section 4.0.

2.0 Lily’s arms are Death’s arms

Lily's arms are repeatedly emphasized, especially in the scene of her death where they open towards Voldemort, because they're Death's arms wrapping around both Harry and Voldemort - welcoming for Harry, crushing and choking and drowning for Voldemort.

But though gashes appeared in their sodden rags and their icy skin, they had no blood to spill: They walked on, unfeeling, their shrunken hands outstretched toward him, and as he backed away still farther, he felt arms enclose him from behind, thin, fleshless arms cold as death, and his feet left the ground as they lifted him and began to carry him, slowly and surely, back to the water, and he knew there would be no release, that he would be drowned (HBP 26) “Death’s got an Invisibility Cloak?” Harry interrupted again. “So he can sneak up on people,” said Ron. “Sometimes he gets bored of running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking" (DH 21) Thrashing, suffocating, he scrabbled at the strangling chain, his frozen fingers unable to loosen it, and now little lights were popping inside his head, and he was going to drown, there was nothing left, nothing he could do, and the arms that closed around his chest were surely Death’s… (DH 19) […] Harry understood at last that he was not supposed to survive. His job was to walk calmly into Death’s welcoming arms. (DH 34) - Harry saw Sirius move up the bench to make room for her. She took one look at him, seemed to recognize him from the train, folded her arms, and firmly turned her back on him. (DH 33) It was nighttime. Lily, who was wearing a dressing gown, stood with her arms folded in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, at the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. (DH 33) there was a statue of three people: a man with untidy hair and glasses, a woman with long hair and a kind, pretty face, and a baby boy sitting in his mother’s arms. (DH 16) and there she stood, the child in her arms. At the sight of him, she dropped her son into the crib behind her and threw her arms wide, as if this would help, as if in shielding him from sight she hoped to be chosen instead… (DH 17) Flitwick’s spell hit the suit of armor behind which Snape had taken shelter: With a clatter it came to life. Snape struggled free of the crushing arms and sent it flying back toward his attackers: Harry and Luna had to dive sideways to avoid it as it smashed into the wall and shattered. When Harry looked up again, Snape was in full flight (DH 30)

The suit of armor Snape hides behind is implied as the one by the door where Harry first found the Mirror of Erised, thereby tying it to Lily, who is both Harry and Snape's Mirror of Erised (For more on this, read my meta When Lily Cast Her Life As A Shield”: Analysis of the Shield Charm).

3.0 Lily’s ties to the Deathly Hallows

Since Lily is portrayed as Death, the text gives Lily links to all three Hallows, and I'll go through them below.

3.1 The Elder Wand

The scene with Snape, Lily, and Petunia by the Cokeworth river and Lily picking up the fallen twig evokes the imagery of the river of Death and the Elder Wand:

“‘So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So Death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother .” (DH 21) He was now in a small thicket of trees. He could see a sunlit river glittering through their trunks. The shadows cast by the trees made a basin of cool green shade. Two children sat facing each other, cross-legged on the ground. [...] “...and the Ministry can punish you if you do magic outside school, you get letters.” “But I have done magic outside school!” “We’re all right. We haven’t got wands yet. They let you off when you’re a kid and you can’t help it. But once you’re eleven,” he nodded importantly, “and they start training you, then you’ve got to go careful.” There was a little silence. Lily had picked up a fallen twig and twirled it in the air, and Harry knew that she was imagining sparks trailing from it. Then she dropped the twig , leaned in toward the boy, and said, “It is real, isn’t it?" (DH 33) There was a crack: A branch over Petunia’s head had fallen. Lily screamed: The branch caught Petunia on the shoulder, and she staggered backward and burst into tears. (DH 33)

3.2 The Resurrection Stone

An important implication is that it's specifically Lily's soul that came out of the Resurrection Stone and created the versions of James, Sirius, and Remus, the way the Tom Riddle locket horcrux soul piece creates Riddle-Harry and Riddle-Hermione.

Several details point to this - Sirius and Remus look much younger, rather than how they looked when they died; presumably their shades match their appearances in 1981, because they match when Lily last saw them and how she remembers them; likewise, James is stated to look exactly how he did the day he died, because that’s how Lily remembers him.

Lily's shade’s eyes being emphasized is a huge clue that it was Lily’s soul, as eyes are windows to the soul; this idea is echoed in Tom Riddle's eyes in the locket:

Behind both of the glass windows within blinked a living eye, dark and handsome as Tom Riddle’s eyes had been before he turned them scarlet and slit-pupiled. Ron raised the sword still higher, and as he did so, Riddle’s eyes gleamed scarlet. His [Ron’s] eyes were wide, and the Riddle-Harry and the Riddle-Hermione were reflected in them, their hair swirling like flames, their eyes shining red, their voices lifted in an evil duet. Ron looked toward him, and Harry thought he saw a trace of scarlet in his eyes. (DH 19) She pushed her long hair back as she drew close to him, and her green eyes, so like his, searched his face hungrily, as though she would never be able to look at him enough. (DH 34)

Lily’s stated as looking at Harry hungrily - because Lily’s soul has been separated from Harry.

Interestingly, Lily’s shade and Harry both speak to each other the least - Lily only says four words “You’ve been so brave”, and Harry likewise only tells her “Stay close to me”. This is because Lily's speaking through the others to Harry. The strongest evidence towards this is the echoing here:

“And what use would that be to anyone?” said Dumbledore coldly. “If you loved Lily Evans, if you truly loved her, then your way forward is clear.” [...] “You know how and why she died. Make sure it was not in vain. Help me protect Lily’s son.” (DH 33) “I didn’t want you to die,” Harry said. These words came without his volition. “Any of you. I’m sorry —” He addressed Lupin more than any of them, beseeching him. “— right after you’d had your son ... Remus, I’m sorry —” “I am sorry too,” said Lupin. “Sorry I will never know him... but he will know why I died and I hope he will understand. I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life.” A chilly breeze that seemed to emanate from the heart of the forest lifted the hair at Harry’s brow. (DH 34)

Lily also died right after she’d had her son, and this is Lily telling Harry that she’s sorry that she’ll never know him, and he’ll never know her, but she hopes he understands why she sacrificed herself - to vanquish Voldemort and create a better world.

The breeze lifting Harry’s hair echoes Hermione doing the same thing earlier, who also echoes the gesture of Lily pushing her hair back to look at Harry - AKA that breeze is Lily’s hand brushing Harry’s hair, perhaps kissing his forehead (for more on how Hermione performs the part of Lily, read my meta Hermione As Teacher And Connections To Lily):

She picked up the book and then walked back past him into the tent, but as she did so, she brushed the top of his head lightly with her hand. He closed his eyes at her touch […] (DH 18) “Hermione!” She stirred, then sat up quickly, pushing her hair out of her face. “What’s wrong? Harry? Are you all right?” (DH 19)

Other connections include:

1. Harry’s dream with Nagini (Voldemort's symbolic mother) going through the Gaunt ring with the Resurrection Stone and then Lily's grave - in the same chapter the Silver Doe appears, and only a chapter after he visits Lily's grave and sees the memory of her murder, and

2. the Lily from the Resurrection Stone parallels Morfin while he's wearing the Gaunt ring with the Stone in it:

Harry’s dreams were confused and disturbing: Nagini wove in and out of them, first through a gigantic, cracked ring, then through a wreath of Christmas roses. (DH 19) Lily’s smile was widest of all. She pushed her long hair back as she drew close to him, and her green eyes, so like his, searched his face hungrily, as though she would never be able to look at him enough. (DH 34) Morfin pushed the hair out of his dirty face, the better to see Riddle, and Harry saw that he wore Marvolo’s black-stoned ring on his right hand. (HBP 17)

As fandom has pointed out, the real James, Lily, Sirius, and Remus never would’ve told Harry to die and so it’s a theory that it was Death purposely luring Harry - but if you accept that the Resurrection Stone’s shades were all Lily, and that Lily is Master of Death, it would make sense that they all tell Harry to sacrifice himself, because unlike Dumbledore who can only guess, Lily knows that Harry will come back to life, as it was her magic in the first place that caused it to happen (of course, in a way it was Death, because Lily is Death, etc).

3.3 The Invisibility Cloak

Despite the Cloak belonging to James, Lily is implied as the "true owner" as the Master of Death. For more on the Cloak’s link to Lily and how it represents the Aegis which is sometimes featured as a cloak, Lily passing the Cloak onto Harry as Zeus gives Athena the aegis, see the Shield Charm meta.

An important detail regarding both the 1981 flashback and the shades from the Resurrection Stone is that Voldemort, Harry, James, Remus, and Sirius's clothes are mentioned, but what Lily was wearing is never mentioned - because we're meant to make the connection that Lily is Death and Death wears an Invisibility Cloak:

“Nice costume, mister!” He saw the small boy’s smile falter as he ran near enough to see beneath the hood of the cloak, saw the fear cloud his painted face […] Beneath the robe he fingered the handle of his wand (DH 17) he saw them quite clearly in their little sitting room, the tall black-haired man in his glasses, making puffs of colored smoke erupt from his wand for the amusement of the small black-haired boy in his blue pajamas. (DH 17) James was exactly the same height as Harry. He was wearing the clothes in which he had died, and his hair was untidy and ruffled, and his glasses were a little lopsided, like Mr. Weasley’s. Sirius was tall and handsome, and younger by far than Harry had seen him in life. He loped with an easy grace, his hands in his pockets and a grin on his face. Lupin was younger too, and much less shabby, and his hair was thicker and darker. He looked happy to be back in this familiar place, scene of so many adolescent wanderings. (DH 34)

Note that mentions of Remus's "shabbiness" throughout the series are often references to his clothes ("The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard’s robes that had been darned in several places"), so his clothes are referenced, if obliquely.

The text also emphasizes that Voldemort can "see James and Harry clearly", as well as see the child’s face clearly, with the unsaid implication being that he can't see Lily clearly - because her face is covered by her hair that resembles a cloak, perhaps because she's wearing Death's Invisibility Cloak around her shoulders (in a metaphorical sense) or has Disillusioned herself and therefore only part of her body is visible.

Additionally, one way to read the Three Brothers story is that Lily is the third brother who met Death as an old friend - and Harry is the third brother’s son, who she passes down her Cloak to; and when the text tells us that Harry is descended from the Ignotus Peverell, the hidden meaning behind this is that he's descended from Lily.

4.0 Additional details

“Death’s got an Invisibility Cloak?” Harry interrupted again. “So he can sneak up on people,” said Ron. “Sometimes he gets bored of running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking" (DH 21)

Death “running at” people is echoed in Voldemort’s words about Lily, and “flapping his arms and shrieking" is evoked by Lily’s arms opening wide and her screams:

“Dumbledore’s favorite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like an old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter — and nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time and take my curse. So what will stop you dying now when I strike?” (DH 36) He could hear her screaming from the upper floor, trapped, but as long as she was sensible, she, at least, had nothing to fear (DH 17) At the sight of him, she dropped her son into the crib behind her and threw her arms wide (DH 17)

As for Death sneaking up on people. Lily and Voldemort mirror each other here - as Voldemort is sneaking up on the Potters, so Lily is sneaking up on him (from DH 17).

And he made less noise than the dead leaves slithering along the pavement as he drew level with the dark hedge, and stared over it A door opened and the mother entered, saying words he could not hear The gate creaked a little as he pushed it open, but James Potter did not hear.

The wording also echoes Lily’s shade in Priori Incantatem:

She walked close to Harry, looking down at him, and she spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear… (GoF)

More on this in future metas.

The part with the small child going up to Voldemort and running away is echoed by Voldemort and Lily, with Lily taking Voldemort’s role and Voldemort playing the child:

“Nice costume, mister!” He saw the small boy’s smile falter as he ran near enough to see beneath the hood of the cloak, saw the fear cloud his painted face: Then the child turned and ran away... (DH 17)

Remember, Voldemort turns into a child after he’s vanquished, as we see in GoF, and Harry compares him to a child in DH ("Harry […] thought absurdly of a child counting in a game of hide-and-seek", "His head was still tilted to one side, like a curious child, wondering what would happen if he proceeded.")

As mentioned before, Lily’s hair covering her face is meant to evoke the hood of a cloak and echo Voldemort's face being covered by his cloak, and it’s heavily implied that Voldemort never sees Lily's face or her eyes beneath the hair (remember the Lily from the Resurrection Stone pushes her hair back to see Harry, drawing a contrast to the Lily in the 1981 memory that Voldemort sees).

This is Voldemort first smiling with amusement like that child:

He could hear her screaming from the upper floor, trapped, but as long as she was sensible, she, at least, had nothing to fear… He climbed the steps, listening with faint amusement to her attempts to barricade herself in (DH 17)

When Voldemort murders Harry, he finally sees beneath the hood of Lily’s Cloak (AKA sees Lily's eyes) through Harry, because he’s looking into Harry’s eyes, which are exactly like Lily's, as he casts the Killing Curse on him (Lily and Harry’s eyes also being the color of the Killing Curse):

He pointed the wand very carefully into the boy’s face: He wanted to see it happen, the destruction of this one, inexplicable danger. The child began to cry: It had seen that he was not James. He did not like it crying, he had never been able to stomach the small ones whining in the orphanage — “Avada Kedavra!” (DH 17)

And now Voldemort’s amusement is replaced by fear, and he runs away, exactly like that child:

And then he broke: He was nothing, nothing but pain and terror, and he must hide himself, not here in the rubble of the ruined house, where the child was trapped and screaming, but far away... far away... (DH 17)

This is what Remus tells Harry about dementors:

“If it can, the dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself... soulless and evil.” (PoA 10)

Similarly to that quote, Voldemort turned Lily into someone like himself - turned her into Death.

The description of the street getting darker in the 1981 memory echoes the description the dementor's darkness, indicating that Voldemort is walking closer to Death:

And along a new and darker street he moved, and now his destination was in sight at last, the Fidelius Charm broken (DH 17) They turned right down the narrow alleyway where Harry had first seen Sirius and which formed a shortcut between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk. It was empty and much darker than the streets it linked because there were no streetlamps. (OoTP 1) Something had happened to the night. The star-strewn indigo sky was suddenly pitch-black and lightless — the stars, the moon, the misty streetlamps at either end of the alley had vanished [...] They were surrounded by total, impenetrable, silent darkness, as though some giant hand had dropped a thick, icy mantle over the entire alleyway, blinding them. (OoTP 1)

Additionally, we never get an explanation to why Harry and Voldemort see this full memory - it’s the same memory Harry relives with the dementors, however it’s much stronger. Dementors don’t show visual memories, only emotions and voices - and the only thing stronger than dementors is Death itself, so presumably it’s actual Death that made them both view the memory.

Dementors are implied as created by Death and are “Death’s servants”. Therefore the effect of the dementors on Harry (making him relive the moment of Lily’s death and vanquishment of Voldemort, which is the same memory Voldemort and Harry both relive when they get near the site of murder) may be related to Lily’s role as Death.

5.0 Veil of Death

Lily’s role as Death might also be the reason for Harry’s attraction to the Veil of Death, with the implication that it was Lily whispering to Harry being the Veil, as Lily in the Mirror of Erised and the Veil are similarly described:

He had the strangest feeling that there was someone standing right behind the veil on the other side of the archway. Gripping his wand very tightly, he edged around the dais, but there was nobody there. All that could be seen was the other side of the tattered black veil. (OoTP) There he was, reflected in it, white and scared-looking, and there, reflected behind him, were at least ten others. Harry looked over his shoulder — but still, no one was there. Or were they all invisible, too? Was he in fact in a room full of invisible people and this mirror’s trick was that it reflected them, invisible or not? He looked in the mirror again. A woman standing right behind his reflection was smiling at him and waving. He reached out a hand and felt the air behind him. If she was really there, he’d touch her, their reflections were so close together, but he felt only air — she and the others existed only in the mirror. (PS) - He took several paces back from the dais and wrenched his eyes from the veil. (OoTP) He tore his eyes away from his mother’s face, whispered, “I’ll come back,” and hurried from the room. (PS)

This implication is also weaved in via it being specifically Luna’s mother who is emphasized regarding the Veil, as well as Lily’s letter in DH described as “a friendly little wave from behind a veil”.

Lily's long hair covering her face in her death scene also evokes the Veil, and Lily enters the memory through a door - which echoes both the Mirror of Erised and the Veil described as an "ancient doorway".

6.0 Draught of Living Death

JKR describes characters’ clothes often, and I expanded on Lily's tie to the Invisibility Cloak, but notably the only time Lily’s clothes are explicitly mentioned in the series is when she’s wearing a dressing gown outside of Gryffindor tower at night time, about to go to sleep. This is partially an allusion to Lily being in an “enchanted sleep”, like the state of the Draught of Living Death, which includes asphodel as an ingredient, a type of lily - again tying Lily to Death. When Harry needs her, her spirit is awoken from her death-like slumber and she comes to save him.

The Draught of Living Death’s connection to Lily is further shown in HBP, where it’s the potion that wins Harry Felix Felicis, or Liquid Luck - and other than the alliteration with Liquid Luck and Lily, “luck” is constantly used to describe Lily saving Harry from the Killing Curse:

“But Harry — what if You-Know-Who’s with him?” “Well — I was lucky once, wasn’t I?” said Harry, pointing at his scar. “I might get lucky again.” (PS)

(Harry does "get lucky" again - Lily's blood magic saves him from Quirrelmort right after this.)

So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that’s a powerful counter-charm. […] But after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. (CoS) “Harry Potter escaped me by a lucky chance.” (GoF)

But of course, it wasn’t luck, it was Lily. (The Draught of Living Death’s modification also includes the number 7, the magically significant number of horcruxes, and the amount of times Lily says “Not Harry” in her final words).

This ultimately threads to the scene where Harry, under the influence of Felix Felicis, uses the graphic details of Lily’s death - and Lily’s eyes - to manipulate Slughorn into getting the real horcrux memory. More on this link in future metas.

7.0 Conclusion

To summarize, Lily is portrayed as Death itself and is linked to everything surrounding Death - to the three Deathly Hallows, Death’s arms, dementors, the Veil of Death, the Draught of Living Death.

She’s the one whose magic conquered Death and caused both Voldemort and Harry’s death and resurrections, the one who keeps reaching out from beyond death to save Harry again and again - the true Master of Death.

Thank you to @artemisia-black for helping me with this meta, and credit to slashmarks fics for some of these realizations.

Part 2 of this meta is here.

133 notes · View notes

saintsenara · 2 months ago

Note

THE AUDIENCE CLAMOURS FOR YOUR VOLMIONE TAKE!!!!!!!!! In all seriousness the curiously is piqued tenfold by the fact that you go hard to bat for the other two voldemort/golden trio ships

i've definitely been putting this one off, anon, but it's hermione's birthday, and since the requests have kept coming...

maybe i have to grit my teeth and get through it.

i am, like my good pal @yorickofyore, broadly a tomione/volmione disliker - which is a spoiler for what follows. there are - obviously - huge numbers of people who are not, and they may sit happily in their ecosystem while i flop around photosynthesising in mine.

and the reason why i don't like tomione/volmione is right there in the last three screenshots: it relies - like several other hermione pairings, snamione and sirimione chief among them - on a portrayal of hermione's intellectual expression which bears absolutely no relation to how this is written in canon.

across all seven books in the series, hermione's intellect primarily manifests itself in a sincerely impressive ability to retain and repeat information [very usually verbatim from the source she got it from]. she is able to use this ability to retain information to understand the theoretical components of magic in a way neither harry nor ron ever manage, and she is then able to apply this retention - that is, to repeat the information she has acquired - of knowledge to the performance of magic which is [often considerably] ahead of her expected level both in terms of the hogwarts curriculum and in terms of what would be seen as the median ability of an adult witch or wizard.

but hermione is never shown - at any point in canon - to be a particularly radical, creative, or experimental thinker.

she places an enormous amount of intellectual trust in disciplinary authority - not only in the respect she has for following textbooks and teachers to the letter [hence why she won't attempt any of the modifications in the half-blood prince's textbook, she thinks it's offensive that they contradict the "official" peer-reviewed and sanctioned instructions] but also in her agreement with the gatekeeping imposed by the state and/or its authorities on academic inquiry.

[hence her disliking the invented spells in the half-blood prince's textbook because they're not ministry approved, or her easing her discomfort at having read the books from which voldemort learned to make a horcrux by insisting - undoubtedly correctly - that dumbledore wanted her to do it and she therefore has the permission of an intellectual authority].

she's immediately mistrustful of anything she can't find [something she regards as] an empirical source for - which is why harry's mental connection with voldemort frightens her so much, or why she thinks that harry's lost his mind when he begins to insist the deathly hallows are real and important, or, most famously, why she thinks divination is bullshit.

she's never shown to be able to synthesise her knowledge [she never answers questions in class in her own words, she always goes massively over word limits], or to use it in ways which are considerably removed from its typical application.

[the protean charm on the da coins, for example - the magic she's using is sophisticated, and is being applied in a way which wouldn't necessarily be classroom-sanctioned, since she's using it to defy umbridge, but the evidence of canon is that it's not magic which is being used in a way which is removed from the spell's original purpose. terry boot is impressed because he's looking at a flawless execution of newt-level magic by a sixteen-year-old, rather than because hermione is using that magic in an unusual way. the same is true of the polyjuice potion - it's impressive because she brews it flawlessly aged thirteen.]

this is a very logical, rational, and scientific approach to learning - and one which the series, which tends to take a dim view of anything which deviates too far from the status quo, views extremely positively - and it is intelligence. i know some people think that when i say this about hermione i'm saying that she isn't clever - or that i'm saying she's less clever than the characters [all of whom are male] that the series permits to be "brilliant" - but that's not the case. hermione is clearly extremely clever - and her logical, empirical, careful approach comes in clutch for the trio throughout the series, right from philosopher's stone. her intellectual expression just isn't the only way intelligence can manifest itself - and it isn't an intellectual expression which will automatically mesh with another very clever person's approach.

which is to say... lord voldemort, both as a teen and an adult, is - intellectually - the complete opposite of hermione.

he is someone - as he tells us - who thinks of magic as a creative force he has every right to shape as he sees fit, something whose boundaries he has the inherent right to smash through. he rejects disciplinary authority [his loathing of dumbledore - as an adult, at least - is because he thinks that dumbledore is a petty-minded gatekeeper who attempts to repress the dark arts - magic, snape tells us, which is inherently ever-changing, unfixed, mutating - because he's afraid of them and their refusal to be neatly contained in disciplinary boxes; his appeal to slughorn's authority is purely a manipulation technique]. he is an adaptor and inventor, and he uses magic in ways which radically deviate from its intended purpose.

and so the common "teen tom riddle and hermione are at school together" trope that they'd both get off on being academic rivals is, in my view, impossible to justify while keeping either of them remotely canon-coherent. she's going to think he's a cunt. he's going to think she's irrelevant.

indeed, i genuinely think the most likely scenario if the two are at school together is that the teen voldemort wouldn't be able to pick hermione out of a line-up - not least because she has very little to offer him when it comes to his plans for world domination.

when it comes to those he's "nice" to, the teenage tom riddle targets the socially prominent, rich, and influential, whom he can use parasitically to his own ends.

he's happy, undoubtedly, to have minions who are less useful to him from a social-advancement perspective, but who come in handy as pawns in his schemes - as dumbledore puts it, "the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty" - but this is the only thing he sees them as. hermione has a capacity for cruelty he would undoubtedly see potential in [even if he would probably be wary of her "run and tell teacher" vibe], but as someone who does his bidding only, rather than anyone for whom he's willing to fake [or, indeed, to actually feel] any degree of mutual affection.

and i do think this - in and of itself - is interesting. hermione is someone - as i've said elsewhere - who has a tendency towards blind loyalty, which often causes her to accept people she likes and/or respects treating her cruelly [something we see in canon particularly in how she reacts to snape's behaviour towards her]. she's also someone who is incredibly deferential to authority, fairly naive, convinced she's always right, convinced she's not irrational, superstitious, or emotionally-driven, and capable of pretty egregious cruelty in pursuit of being rational and correct.

or, in other words, she's very easy for a flesh-and-blood voldemort to manipulate.

[she's not at risk from a horcrux because she's possessed of the empirical fact that they can't hurt you if you don't let them get emotionally close to you, which impacts how she behaves around the locket.]

on the rare occasions when i've enjoyed fics with this pairing, then, they've tended to be ones which actually acknowledge this - and which have hermione completely destroyed by a voldemort [usually in adult form] who has never cared one iota about her, all because she was convinced she'd be far too clever to fall for his tricks.

[my rec: enigma by devdevlin.]

and this is the main way my view of tomione/volmione deviates from my view of tomarrymort or ronmort - i don't think there's any circumstance where it can ever work as something mutual, whereas the entire point of tomarrymort is that the relationship is something voldemort perceives as equal, and ronmort sees the dark lord running headfirst into ron's ability to disarm and confuse him by possessing a crumb of emotional intelligence. i don't think voldemort would hate hermione - or even be particularly irritated by her - but nor do i think he'd find anything about her interesting enough to make him want to keep her around for any longer than she was useful.

but - like so many hermione pairings - the default in tomione/volmione tends to be "omg, hermione is so hot, brilliant, and fascinating that [insert man here] becomes completely obsessed with her". whether the story leads to voldemort becoming a better person or hermione going over to the dark side, the way the pairing is written always assumes that hermione is someone voldemort would consider [often very quickly] important to him [even in circumstances where she is a prisoner]. only very rarely do fics ever explore the much more canon-justifiable - and, in my view, much more interesting - idea that voldemort is somebody hermione could and would consider important, while he wouldn't give a single fuck about her.

[neither of them give a shit about dead rabbits though. it's the only thing they have in common.]

#asks answered #asenora's opinions on ships #hermione granger #tom riddle #lord voldemort #not tagging the ship for obvious reasons

79 notes · View notes