#october 31 1981

[syrcinus]

October 31st, 1981.

[toorumlk]

a beautiful little family.

He was about to go home, about to return to the place where he had had a family […] The life he had lost had hardly ever seemed so real to him as at this moment, when he knew he was about to see the place where it had been taken from him. (chapter 16, dh)

[messervixen]

Lily should have survived.

“Harry was saved by his mother’s love-“ Let me stop you right there.

I present to you: James Fleamont Potter.

You’re telling me that James didn’t love Lily and Harry enough to evoke the ancient love magic that Lily saved Harry with?

Mr. “Had an ego the size of a lake but a heart to match it?”

He loved both of them so much that he literally died trying to give them a chance to escape and that wasn’t enough?

I don’t buy it.

The only semi-logical explanation I can come up with is that he didn’t have his wand and maybe you can’t do something like that wand-less but did Lily have her wand?

Even then we’re talking about a guy who literally became an illegal animagus at the ripe age of 15.

He also loves and cares for people so deeply and it was LOVE MAGIC.

Look me in the eyes and tell me James Potter couldn’t have just saved BOTH of them without his wand.

Exactly, you can’t.

Honestly I could go on about all of the reasons James and Lily dying didn’t even make sense.

This is just another thing that makes me question why they died the way they did.

Them dying on an order mission would’ve been more realistic. There were just too many plot holes in them dying in Godric’s Hollow.

In conclusion, the ending of the first war didn’t make sense. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Edit:

Guys this post is not that serious I just mean that everything about what happened that night and the explanation for all of it felt like a stretch and kinda vague to me 😭

Even with the stuff about James not having a choice. Like yeah Voldemort didn’t verbally give him the option to back off but James still made the choice to try and hold him off.

Also James was a Pureblood and Voldemort made it known that he would spare them if they didn’t fight him because his whole thing was blood purity.

So like the “Lily was given a choice” still feels so vague to me.

Also Voldemort making the promise to Snape feels weird. Snape asked him not to kill Lily but Voldemort said that he wouldn’t as long as she didn’t get in his way. And Lily did get in his way of killing Harry so he didn’t break that promise by killing her.

Yeah he probably could’ve just knocked her out or something but he still didn’t break any promises.

And the whole reason Snape joined Dumbledore before the end of the first war is because he didn’t think Lily would just let Voldemort kill her son. He didn’t make an unbreakable vow or anything so Snape knew that Voldemort would probably kill Lily.

[lucyxlz]

as a fandom, i think we’ve all agreed that remus’ favourite artist was david bowie and sirius’ favourite band was queen.

david bowie and queen made a song together called “under pressure” and was released in november 2nd, 1981.

two days after sirius and remus’ best friends passed away.

they couldn’t even enjoy it together because sirius was already sent off to azkaban.

i’ve never known a day of peace in my life.

[percyweasleyapologist]

James: Well, needless to say. Uh-oh Spaghetti-os. 

[xotrashratxo]

don’t think about how Lily never got to listen to Slipping Through My Fingers by ABBA but Remus did and he had to stop the record cause it reminded him of Sirius and Lily

[Slipping Through My Fingers came out in The Visitors album on November 30, 1981, essentially an exact month since Lily and James died and Sirius went on the run/was arrested]

[loonyloopylupin96]

A thought on Peter...

We know James and Lily died in October 1981. We also know Peter was passing information over for more than a year before that.

What happened in 1980 that made Peter feel disenfranchised from his friends enough to turn his back?

Well... I've had a thought about that.

Harry was born in 1980.

What if the reason Peter felt more disconnected from the friends who were already far superior to him academically (and even in animagus size tbh) was because they had something new and all-consuming to focus on?

James had Lily, he now had Harry, Sirius was Godfather...

Remus could cope with not being the centre of attention because he had friends, and because as a werewolf he was grateful for anything (except in HBP when he finally pushes against relationships but anyway), but Peter... didn't have that. He wasn't down on himself enough to think 'this is all I'm going to get, so it's fine' (or 'I love these people and seeing them happy makes me happy').

He didn't know why he wasn't quite there with them, but...

Take a look at reddit child free threads, or similar spaces online, and see how long it takes you to find a post about someone saying they've lost their friend to the friend's new child (or something to that effect). It happens. Combine that with what Peter does say - their side was losing people, they were losing generally - perhaps he felt he had already lost James by that point. Sirius, too. He couldn't 'lose' Remus because Remus wasn't that kind of person (until y'know 1993 but my boy is not a doormat - he has limits!) but then... he only hurt Remus by hurting the others, he didn't physically hurt Remus.

So, what if that was the turning point?

(I just checked PoA to see... and pointing out that Harry looked like James was almost the last thing he did in that room. Everyone else starts a conversation by pointing it out, but Peter didn't bother. Is that indicative of disregard, or just a by-product of watching the boy grow up for three years?)

[muggleborn-slytherpuff]

James: Tonight, one of you will betray us.

Sirius: Is it me, James?

James: No, it’s not you.

Remus: Is it me, James?

James: It’s not you either.

Peter: Is it me, James?

James:

James, mockingly: Is IT mE James?

[ladystardustblack]

Think about how differently things would’ve gone if Sirius hadn’t went after Peter. If for once he didn’t give into impulse and his desire to handle everything himself.

[summerboybabe]

me when i remember october 31st 1981

[accio-sriracha]

See it to the end.

James repeated this in his head like a mantra.

See it to the end. Don't give up. It's one match. You can win this.

He swallowed hard, the wind blowing his hair in all separate directions as he caught the quaffle and flew across the pitch.

One more goal. Just a few more points.

They could do this.

See it to the end.

~~~ ~~~

See it to the end.

James stood, his back to his wife and child with his wand somewhere in the sitting room downstairs. He didn't have enough time.

"Take Harry and go!" He shouted, drawing himself up, putting on the brave front that is only ever worn by a man in terror.

See it to the end. Don't give up. It's one match. You can win this. You can fight.

He heard the explosion before he felt it. The door had been knocked clean off it's hinges.

His heart began to race.

See it to the end. See it to the end. See it to the end.

[st4rboyloser]

slaying for Halloween because the marauders cant

[marylily-my-beloved]

beachboy is so peter bc wdym 'i know you think that i dont care about the friends i left behind, the ones who stay up late at night, screaming out their shattered minds' isn't him thinking about remus and sirius after Halloween 1981

[crymeacriver]

Happy Halloween to everyone thinking about how James potter fell like a marionette whose strings were cut !! And also rip the 80s you would’ve loved Sirius black (he wasn’t dead just in jail)

[spiritstar477]

Happy 43rd anniversary to the time James Potter forgot his wand on the couch!

[moony-mars-bars]

Them*dressed as a rat*: trick or treat?🍬🎃🧺

Me: trick.

Their parents: oh that's not..

Me: it's fucking October 31,1981 all over again!

Them: ...

Me: it's just like how James died because he left his wand on the couch!

Them: ...

Me: and how Lily didn't survive!! MY WIFE DIDN'T SURVIVE!!

Them: I think we're just gonna leave-

Me: oh no wait here have some Mars bars