#some may say that this would actually be Bellatrix

[here-for-a-good-time-hopefully]

Anger management coach: What brings you to the class?

Andromeda: Because I got into a fight with my sister’s boyfriend

Coach: Tell me about this fight, what going on?

Andromeda: He’s a douche lord so I hit him

[bluerosefox]

Bellatrix Star

A TaliaxDanny idea that came to me.

Damian, Bruce, and the rest of the bats discover the Talia al Ghul they had been fighting against, the one that cloned her own son, had the clone kill him, plant a control device in him when he broke his spine, etc etc was actually not the real Talia al Ghul.

Turned out Ra's had cloned her and killed the original when she discovered his little plans to take over Damain's body and she confronted him about it. Ra's had to make a clone when after tossing a dead Talia into the pits but never returned (he meant to kill her as a warning, as a "you may be my blood but will not hesitate to end you Talia.") It explains so much to Damian when remembers how out of nowhere his mother changed, her training him changed from harsh to deadly, the soft motherly love she would give him when behind closed doors suddenly stopped, the tales she would spin for him about his father no longer whispered to him for bed.

How this was find out?

Well it's hard to ignore the facts that when your foolish grandfather in his quest for immortality summons an eldritch being known as the Ghost King into the Mortal Realm and uses Damian as a sacrifice while his (not) mother watches emotionless.

When the being appeared, plunging the room from green glowing flames and the glow of the Lazarus Pits into darkness before a cosmos exploded to life, its glowing green eyes snapped open in the stars and stared at them all. Making every single one of them feel small, so very small.

It took a single glance around the room before stopping on the al Ghul's. It's eyes widen before a steel and firm look entered them. Just as quick as the cosmos sprang to life, it suddenly swirled away into a ball, putting them all back into the Lazarus room,and reformed in front of them to a more humanish height and body.

When the body, around the height and build of Batman, was done forming it took a step forward and suddenly as one blinked a man stood in front of them. Or rather floated. Snow white hair that flickered and wisped towards a crown made of fire and ice, glowing green eyes that held none of the madness but all of the power the Lazarus Pits could give. His clothing were tailored made that were tastefully a mixture of black and white with some silvers and greens, clothes fit for a King one would say. The cosmos that once engulfed the room had shifted into a cloak that hanged around his body, on one side more than the other (think like how CW wears his only the hood is down).

This, this was no doubt the Ghost King, he stood tall and regal and made everyone in the room feel the need to look down, to bow ones head for even just a moment. Even Ra's had trouble disobeying the urge to do so.

"Well..." the being said, his voice deep but not as gravely as Batman's was "What an interesting way to meet my In-Laws and Step-Son..."

He has said that as he looked towards the al Ghul's. Damian flinched back with a frown of confusion and disbelief while Ra's looked panicked for a second when the words registered into his mind, meanwhile Talia... looked emotionless and barely even twitched.

"What the fu-?" Someone began only to stop when the King lifted his hand and with a snap of his fingers a green portal appeared, it looked almost like the Lazarus Pits but it felt... cleaner? Less angry?

"My Bellatrix, my warrior star. I believe I've been summoned to your home dimension. And judging by the looks of it your father created a barely functioning Mirror of you and planned on using your son as a sacrifice to me." He spoke out towards the portal before holding his hand out.

A hand appeared from the portal, a slender hand and with green and black painted nails manicure to perfection before someone walked through it as they took hold of the Ghost King's offering hand.

Standing in front of them was another Talia, only this one looked a tad older than the one in the room. She wore clothing that matched the King to a T but even then, as always, Talia looked deadly in it. Beautiful but very deadly. From the heels she wore to the crown upon her head, a crown made of not ice and fire but of stars and black jewels. Her eyes were sharp as she stared at everyone in the room, frown on her painted lips, but her eyes lit with a small soft joy when she saw Damian only for them to turn poisonous when they landed on Ra's and the other Talia nearby.

"I should had know you would had created a Mirror of me instead of admitting to my son you killed me Father." Queen Talia spat out. "The least you could had done was not make my Mirror so cheaply, it doesn't even have a proper soul attached to it."

[ameriatenebrae]

Updated version

Why was Bellamort always canon

Delphini Riddle;

I actually don’t believe Delphini was born in 1998. I think it was in 97.

The reason is that in the books, Bellatrix is absent from the entire book. (Except that event in Spinner’s End, which happened in the summer-autumn of 96 and after that we see Bellatrix at the Death Eater meeting, which happens in July 97 but that's in the Deathly Hallows).

That means Bellatrix was absent for at least nine or ten months in that book. You think that’s just a coincidence? And where was she?

In my opinion, after rereading the books for I don't know how many times now (xD) she was glued to LV, who was in my opinion, fully aware of her pregnancy. And since he was traumatized by his mother dying in childbirth (which is also implied in the books), it also makes sense that he wanted her by his side. Another thing is that he certainly didn’t want anyone to see her pregnant. Because I think the death eaters were aware of something going on between them two and LV didn’t want anyone to know that Bellatrix is, indeed, pregnant with his child.

Bella wasn’t there, when Dumbledore was killed. Which I consider strange, because if you like it or not, Bellatrix was a very powerful witch and the highest ranking death eater, considering Lucius failing LV over and over. And no, Snape wasn't the highest ranking either, since LV didn't trust him 100%. LV sent Peter Pettigrew to Spinner's End so he and Snape could spy on each other basically (xD, very mindful, Tom, very demure). (And do you know why? Because Bellatrix had been telling Tom constantly that she doesn’t trust Snape, it seemed like LV ignored her opinion but I think he rethought it and sent PP there just to be sure.)

So why on earth ?! From a strategical point of view, it doesn’t make sense for Bellatrix not to be there?! And LV was aware of that so it must’ve been his meant decision to not send her there.

Just think… It had to be something really, really important… She would’ve been there if it wasn’t.

Delphini could be born in May – June 97. (It would be actually ironic, if she was born the same day Dumbledore died, 30th June 1997… Just a thought!)

Bellamort;

Secondly, I know it’s hard for some people to accept this, but Voldemort did CARE… He maybe didn’t love her or maybe he did, in his own twisted way, because we aren’t talking about fairytale love with these two. But he certainly wasn’t ignorant towards her. (opposite of love). It was unhealthy and toxic but at the same time they were kindred spirits who just accepted each other and even tho LV would never say it out loud, they also needed each other.

“But hE TrEaTeD hER BaDLy”

When exactly did Lord Voldemort treat Bellatrix badly? I can’t recall one time he was harsher to her than to other death eaters. And if you want to bring up that scene at Malfoy Manor, when he humiliated her and the Malfoys. You're right, he did, he enjoyed humiliating people. And yet, he took the shame from her in the next few sentances and focused solely on the Malfoys, because Lucius failed the Ministy mission, not Bellatrix. And he even made it up to her in the next paragraph. He didn't have a reason to be mad at her.

He actually treated her with the most respect he could.

He never punished her badly. Not so harshly like the Malfoys. She is described as unharmed after that fiasco at Malfoy Manor. And what’s more, she is by LVs side in public shortly after, whereas the Malfoys are home prisoned and I think Lucius might've been tortured even. He personally trained her, put his energy and time into her, because he saw potential in her. He saw her madness as a source for her powerful dark magic, not something she should suppress, that’s also why she was so devoted to him. Because he was the only person who respected her for who she was. Because in the end, they were both just two extremly broken souls (pun intended).

Further:

He was the happiest he had been in 14 years when she escaped from Azkaban. You may try to say that he was happy because he had 10 more death eaters. That would make sense if the other page wasn’t talking mainly about Bella. (Remember, JK Rowling was intentional when writing, it’s not a coincidence, that she’s focusing on Bellatrix after that statement. She chose every word of all their interactions and Harry's perspective on them intentionally).

He called her “Bella”, a short version of her name, that only few wizards, mainly her family used. He even called her Bella when he was angry about the borken prophecy.

She was the only one, who wasn't scared to speak first when talking to him or touch him even when he said no.

He entrusted her with his soul, whereas he gave the diary to Lucius just to get it to Hogwarts, never telling him that it’s his horcrux. But the cup was given to Bellatrix for protection. And it’s even symbolic, because that cup was Helga Hufflepuff’s, the founder of the Hufflepuff house which stands for loyalty… and who’s the most loyal servent of the Dark Lord?

He rescued her from the Ministry, I think that’s obvious. He certainly didn’t have to. And yet he did risk the whole operation and exposed himself to the whole Ministry. And we’re still talking about the most selfish man here… but he did it… and he did it just for HER, because he CARED. There’s no other logical explanation to this. He came the second she called him and rescued her because he didn’t want her in Azkaban again.

And you can see the difference in LV's behavior towards Bellatrix, Lucius and the other DEs. He didn't help Lucius to get out of Azkaban right away. Instead, he tasked his only son to kill a man, he himself wasn't able to kill simply to mock and torture him mentally.

Yes, from Dumbledore’s words, we were made to think that Tom really doesn’t care for anyone other than himself. But Dumbledore wasn’t aware of Bellatrix’s status at all! Because he didn’t suspect that Voldemort would give his horcrux to her. But we know, Voldemort did just that. And another problem with Dumbledore's preception on this is that he didn’t know much about Tom’s life (certainly not his private life) after his years at Hogwarts, so he couldn’t know about Tom’s realtionship with Bella. It was just his opinion, not a fact. He said, he *thinks*.

And Voldemort’s reaction to her death… That made everything clear, He cared for Bellatrix more than for the piece of his own soul living in Nagini. He had a worse reaction to Bellatrix's death than to, mind you, Nagini’s death… and she was HIS LAST HORCRUX. He lost the control of his magic (which doesn't happen often, since we're talking about THE Lord Voldemort here). He was so furious that McGonagall, Kingsley and Slughorn (all three very powerful wizards) were blasted through the air because: "Voldemort's fury at the fall of his last best lieutenant exploded with the force of a bomb. Voldemort raised his hand and directed it at Molly Weasley" he even tried to avenge her death and kill Molly. If Bellatrix hadn't meant so much to him, why would he waste his energy and time on killing Molly? Have you seen him avenging the death of someone else except Bellatrix? And if Harry didn't intervene, he would do just that. Because he lost it at that point. Death took another person (first his mother), who loved and admired him uncoditionally. All of his other DEs fleed or died. He knew he was alone and mortal. A human.

In my opinion they led, let's call it a Dual Relationship. As Bellatrix implies that LV tells her everything and yet he tells her to be quiet often. He calls her Bella when they're is just the two of them and mocks her in front of others. There's a disconnect between his behaviour towards her. So, in my deduction; there was Bellatrix Lestrange, the most loyal sevent of Lord Voldemort: which was basically their work mode. (And I'm a bit sad we didn't get more of their team work while fighting because I think they made an excellent work duo.) And then there was Bella and her Lord and their private life. Bellatrix wouldn't be against it being public, I'm sure about that. But I think LV didn't want others to know about him having some feelings or a soft spot for her, it would make both of them more vulnerable = since as you can see above, he lost control over his magic because of her dying. But he didn't manage to hide it that well because even Harry (from whose perspective are the books written) notices that there is something between them; "As to a lover"...

And on top of that, Bellatrix was the ideal match for Tom; a very beautiful, powerful witch from a pureblood family. Devoted solely to him.

So Bellamort had been canon even before the CC was released.

But the biggest question is; Why would Lord Voldemort want a child? A hard one… yes

Some explanations:

a) to continue with the Slytherin bloodline.

b) it was an accident, but he let Bellatrix keep the child, so she could be later trained into really powerful weapon (just like Bella)

c) it was that reward beyond Bellatrix’s dreams, he mentioned earlier in the series. He talked about it in the fourth book when he said that the Lestranges will be rewarded beyond their dreams.

d) last possibility, the most out of Voldemort’s character; In the case horcruxes failed, he would be still “alive” through his daughter. – I personally don’t believe this was the case… but who knows?

To sum it up: Bellamort makes more sense than people think. And the CC just confirmed it. period.

Delphini could be conceived around October 1996 and could be born, not in 1998, but in 1997 (before the Battle of Hogwarts). THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS <3

[saintsenara]

Not disputing you ofc but do you remember the exact line about ron looking like bill perchance? I would love it for referencing purposes

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

and i am afraid that you're getting a more long-winded answer than you may have been hoping for...

male weasleys are split down the middle into two camps, physically:

charlie, fred, and george are described as being short and stocky [although "short" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, since they're all taller than harry: fred and george shrink when they take polyjuice potion to transform into him in deathly hallows].

the implication - i think - is that charlie and the twins look like molly, who is described several times as short and plump in build. ginny is also described numerous times in the books as short and is said in chapter thirty-three of order of the phoenix to resemble fred and george facially, which, since's she's described in deathly hallows as having her mother's brown eyes - which probably triggered some sort of freudian shudder in harry - means i think we can conclude that this half of the family all look their mam.

[and also that molly is a hottie herself. she often gets turned by the fandom into a fairly sexless being - even though she didn't have those seven children immaculately, did she? - with a strict, prudish vibe. and - to do some discourse for a moment - we all know that the fact that she's described as fat is the direct cause of this. but several men are canonically ready to risk it all for ginny - and it's time we all acknowledged this is because she inherited her bonafide baddie powers straight from molly.]

percy and ron - on the other hand - are, like arthur, described as being tall, thin, and gangly. bill is never explicitly said to be slender, but he is described in the fifth chapter of goblet of fire as "tall" immediately after harry has stated that charlie is short[ish] and broad - which allows us to reasonably infer that he's on the arthur-weasley-skinny-legend side of the family.

and we can also assume - since ron is never said to resemble molly, nor [to harry's great relief] ginny, facially - that his features - his long nose and blue eyes - come from his father, who is also the source of percy's short-sightedness.

and, while harry [the narrative perspective] never says that he thinks arthur is hot - because why would he? - nor percy and ron [although i think it's worth noting that he doesn't consider it ridiculous that both of them manage to pull - and it's never suggested that penelope clearwater and lavender brown aren't cuties] it's actually possible to justify the idea that they are canonically fit using more than pure hot air...

[harry does - obviously - think bill's a babe. he sees fleur checking him out and immediately thinks... same.]

because a very striking narrative choice that the series makes is the idea that all pureblood nuclear family units look identical to each other - which serves as a visual metaphor for the importance of blood-status and lineage within the wizarding world. this is why narcissa malfoy is as pale and blonde as lucius and draco [even though bellatrix and andromeda are dark haired] and why molly is a redhead even though red hair and freckles are stated in the text to be weasley - rather than prewett - traits. harry's resemblance to his pureblood father eases his passage through wizarding society. voldemort's lack of resemblance to his pureblood mother does the opposite.

the weasleys and the malfoys are narrative mirrors within the series - with the fact that ron and draco are both so near-identical to arthur and lucius as to be immediately identifiable as each man's son by anyone who meets them part of this mirroring. it makes sense, then, that since the non-ron weasley children don't have a specific malfoy mirror, the same general principle applies, and the three weasley brothers who are built like arthur also strongly resemble him facially - and that bill also has a long nose [and a long something else, i'll wager!] and a cracking pair of baby blues.

or that if bill is hot, arthur is hot - and therefore if arthur is hot, ron is hot.

[where bill outpaces his brothers, i fear, is that he clearly has rizz - whereas ron's seduction skills are famously weak before he gets his hands on a copy of twelve fail-safe ways to charm witches - i.e. when he cockblocks harry spectacularly by beefing with cho unprovoked about the quidditch team she supports, which always sends me - and percy is... percy.]

[if ron had simply played it cool he could have finessed going to the ball with fleur, and i'll die on that hill...]

[slytherinboysappreciation]

This Dance - T. R. x male!Reader

This is just a self-indulgent little fic for week four of @thatdammchickennugget’s hogmarch challenge, using the prompt ‘May I have this dance’. This is my first time writing for a male reader so please be nice 💛 Fic is unedited with no use of Y/N

CW: reader is a Hufflepuff with some insecurities and doubts, slight hurt/comfort, and mentions of Bellatrix Black

957 words

“Excuse me. May I have this dance?”

You look up, eyes wet with tears. Your suit is stained with melted snow from how long you’ve been out here. Your face is blotchy from crying. You’re sure whomever’s asking is doing it as a prank.

But your breath catches. There, in front of you, majestic in his suit, is Tom Riddle

You stare up at him blankly. “What?”

Tom blinks down at you, as if not expecting your question. “May I have this dance?”

You look around, as if expecting to be laughed at. But there’s no one. You can barely hear the music from inside.

“You… want to dance… with me?”

Your incredulity is not hard to understand. Tom is the most popular guy in school, and the most handsome and charming guy you know. So why is he asking you to dance?

As far as anybody’s concerned, you’re a nobody. The too-quiet Hufflepuff boy on the outskirts of several friend groups, but never actually in the middle of one.

You’re the boy people pick on, the butt of jokes when no one else is around. You’re not popular or special, though your friends certainly are. Maybe one of them sent him out here as a favor.

“Yes.” Tom’s answer interrupts your depressing thoughts. You blink, having forgotten you’d asked him a question at all.

“I want to dance with you,” he continues, arching a perfect eyebrow. “That’s why I asked.”

“But… why?” You slowly pick yourself up and wipe at your eyes. Even when you’re standing up, he still towers over you. Just another reason his fangirls love him.

“Dance with me,” he says, “and I’ll tell you.”

Slowly, you nod. You weren’t really going to say no anyway. He is the most popular boy is school, after all. A dance with him is a rarity some people would kill for.

You think of Bellatrix Black specifically.

“So,” Tom’s smooth voice again interrupts your thoughts. You don’t really mind it. “What are you doing out here alone?”

“My date dumped me,” you mutter. Thinking about it makes your heart hurt. You’d been so over the moon that your crush had said yes to going to the Yule Ball with you, only for them to ditch you once the dance started.

“Hmm.” Tom’s eyes narrow. “How unfortunate for them. You’re quite a good dance partner.”

“Thanks.” You can’t deny the spark his compliment ignites in you. You try to temper it with the knowledge that he’s probably just being nice.

You dance in silence for a while after that. Tom’s gaze keeps lingering on you and it makes you nervous. So you keep quiet while frantically trying to think of something to say.

Finally, with an air of uncomfortable awkwardness, you ask, “So… why’d you want to dance with me?”

Tom’s gaze flickers with amusement. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well,” you hesitate. “I mean, I’m a guy, first off… and I’m not very popular or anything… and we’ve barely ever spoken to each other.”

“I’m aware you’re a guy,” Tom says, tilting his head a little. “That’s why I asked you to dance.”

You pause. You’d never really considered the possibility before that Tom was into guys. It makes your stomach flutter a little.

Thankfully sparing you from having to respond, Tom steps back and bows gracefully, ending the dance. You bow back, relieved and disappointed. You want to hang out with him more.

“Would you like to come inside with me?” Tom asks.

You blink in surprise and nod. “Uh, sure.”

Tom holds out his hand. You take it, trying so hard not to smile. It’s dumb; the way your stomach flutters at such a simple gesture.

Tom leads you back inside. You’re expecting him to drop your hand as soon as you get inside the castle, but he doesn’t let go. He just continues holding your hand all the way to the Great Hall.

A few people stare when you enter. Tom’s fangirls, no doubt; with venomous looks on their faces. You’re not really surprised but it still makes you nervous. You start to let go, but Tom grips your hand tighter.

“Ignore them,” he says firmly. Your cheeks warm.

You look up at him. “You’re sure you wanna be seen with me?”

“Of course.” Tom looks down at you. “Why wouldn’t I wish to be seen with you?”

“I—“ You don’t know what to say to that. Your insecurities seem laughable in the face of his smooth confidence.

“I just wanted to make sure,” you mumble, gripping his hand a little tighter. You feel like he can see right through you, and you don’t want him to let go.

Tom smirks a bit. He leans down, close enough that his breath ghosts over your ear. It makes your body shiver and your stomach flutter.

“I’d rather be seen with you than with any of the girls here,” he whispers, voice soft and silky. Practically dripping with charm. “My reasons are my own, but do not think that’s cause for you to doubt me. I chose you.”

Your heart feels like it’s about to burst. Your face is hot, your stomach filled with butterflies.

“Oh,” you say softly. “Okay.”

Tom smiles, a thin smile but a genuine one. He holds out his free hand to you. “Shall we dance?”

You take his hand with a shy nod. Perhaps it’s his effortless charm, or the way his words soothe your anxieties, or even just his good looks themselves; but something about him is irresistible.

You’d say yes to anything he asked. The smirk on his face shows he knows it. You’re done for, and you don’t think you've ever been more excited for anything in your life.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

you already told us that if TMWWBK!Tom went back in time, he'd become little Lilly's tutor. but what would Alphard do?

if he went back to his hogwarts years, would he really kill Myrtle before Tom had the chance to prevent Tom making the diary horcrux like he thought about?

or if he didn't go that far in time, maybe just to the Black sisters' hogwarts time, would he just pack up all their things and go "alright kids, we're moving to France/wherever"? or would he just send the girls to some french/whatever second cousin while he'd stay in Britain trying to convince Tom to stop his plans? or something else?

The Man Who Would Be King by me and @therealvinelle

The Myrtle Thing

... you take what Alphard says when he doesn't have to put his money where his mouth is very seriously, anon.

Especially since Myrtle's death was one of those entirely avoidable ridiculous things that only happened because Tom opened the Chamber. Killing Myrtle would not necessarily stop anyone else from accidentally dying.

Alphard may think such things offhand in a moment of despair and desperation but it's a far different story to actually do it.

If Alphard went this far back I imagine he'd confront Tom directly which would get very weird for Tom.

The Girls Are in Hogwarts

Hogwarts wasn't the problem.

The problem was when they got out of Hogwarts and one had her dalliance with a Muggle-born, another marries Lucius fucking Malfoy, and a third joins a terrorist organization.

Hogwarts didn't help all of those things but it wasn't the root cause of all of their misfortune and sending them off to France could just mean Andromeda is now with a Muggle-born Frenchman which is somehow even worse than Ted and Narcissa with an Frencher Malfoy which is... probably about the same as Lucius.

Alphard probably tries to keep them in Hogwarts and thinking he can have it all under control. He will come down harder on Andromeda about Ted before things spiral out of control and remind her "are you really willing to lose your entire family just to date this dude", break up Narcissa and Lucius, and stop Bellatrix from going to parties where she'd be radicalized by the Dark Lord in the first place.

Of course, as you can imagine, this all fails horribly as Andromeda and Narcissa both rebel and do what they want, Bellatrix no doubt hearing about the Dark Lord from somewhere and getting very into it, and Regulus still becoming a Death Eater and Walburga still disowning Sirius for something.

"My life is purposeless and I affect nothing" Alphard says as he realizes he's changed nothing.

[rewritingcanon]

Honestly I love the interpretation of the Greengrass’s having some Greek heritage (I’m of Greek descent) and it honestly kind of lines up. Due to their surname definitely not being Greek I’d have to assume it’s on their mothers side, so the side that’s cursed.

I also love this because unlike every other character having Roman names, Daphne and Astoria (and Hyperion) are definitely Greek in origin no questions asked. I seriously doubt Scorpius’ middle name is from a Malfoy, and honestly it would make more sense if it was Astoria’s maternal grandfather or uncle.

Daphne the nymph had a connection to Apollo and Astoria’s original form Asteria has a connection to Artemis and Apollo, Apollo having taken over for Helios, Helios having taken over for Hyperion as sun gods. And Scorpius (Skorpio) the constellation also has a connection to Artemis and Orion! All of their names somehow relate and I love this detail.

Daphne was a naiad, a nymph of the river Ladon of Arkadia (more on Ladon later) or Peneios of Thessalia. Famously Apollo was attracted to Daphne and pursued her endlessly until in her exhaustion she asked for Gaia’s help. Gaia turned her into a tree, the laurel tree that Apollo is heavily associated with, and also — and I’m not kidding — was used as a symbol in the Festival of Delphi!

Asteria (the Titanesse of falling stars, prophetic dreams and the nighttime) has a surprisingly similar story, although with a lot more going on. Asteria was — like many Greek women — caught the eye of Zeus. He chased her around a bit until she became a quail, went into the water, and became the island of Delos. Delos is also the birth place of Artemis and Apollo, and Hera had done a very thorough job of trying to prevent Leto from birthing these twins, making it a whole big thing that she finally managed to birth them. So, Asteria has that motherhood connection too, specifically to the sun and moon.

Daphne and Astoria essentially both come from stories regarding a man wanting a woman and her becoming part of the wilderness when he can’t take no for an answer. Make whatever theories regarding their blood curse from that theme that you want.

Hilariously, Scorpius’ name sort of ties into this theme. Most constellations as we know them come from a corresponding Greek or Phoenician myth and Scorpius is no different. Orion the giant was harassing either Artemis herself, some of her hunters, or the Pleiades, and Artemis did not like this. So she created a horrifying monster to kill Orion, called the Skorpios. Orion died, and was placed among the stars to honour his valiant deeds, but the Pleiades were also in the stars and he promptly started harassing them again, so Skorpios (or Scorpius) was also placed among the stars to get this guy to knock it off. Astrologically speaking the Scorpius constellation even chases Orion through the night sky.

This has the hilarious effect of naming Daphne and Astoria after harassed women and Scorpius after the consent monster that’ll kill you if you don’t back the fuck off. Also the fact that so many of the Black family names relate back to Orion (Sirius is his dog, and Bellatrix is his shoulder) should not be missed.

So basically, don’t harass women when Scorpius is in earshot of you. Or, conversely, Delphi leave that child the fuck alone, Scorpius will ruin your day.

(I could say more, because there is actually a surprising amount to analyse when it comes to just these guys names, but I think this is enough for now.)

yknow what the greek greengrass family is slowly growing on me and i think this may be the last nail in the coffin for anything else because i have quite literally never heard a better exploration to the super frustratingly vague ‘blood curse that attacks greengrass women every few generations’ thing besides an ancient magic tied to greek myth. i remember someone else headcanoning this too.

idk how big of a deal this is in ur greek family but in mine names are HUGE and are especially big because its a greek thing to name ur kids after ur parents. like me, and my other firstborn cousins are all named after my papou, and my sister and secondborn cousin are named after my yiayia. so does that mean there was a scorpius greengrass 👀 most greeks i know typically dont have middle names but i guess there are some that do. one of my childhood friends had one for instance, and her middle name was her yiayia’s name so maybe that’s what hyperion is as you said (maybe i am reading too much into it since greengrass is certainly not a greek name so if the curse was greek than that line would probs be very diluted).

also rip scorpius if you were actually greek you wouldve loved kourabiedes. it wouldve done more for you than chocolate frogs ever did.

[addsalwayssick]

@wolfstarmicrofic day 4- avada kedavra- word count- 303

Remus couldn’t hear. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t feel. He just got him back. He held Harry tight in his arms, for fear if he let go, he may let himself go. Harry screamed, finding the same kind of anger.

He barely heard Bellatrix screaming “I killed Sirius Black!” And cackling down the halls. Remus let go of Harry, grabbing his wand. Harry began to chase after her, but he held him back.

Harry saw some kind of fire lit in Remus’s eyes, ad he agreed to stay back reluctantly. Remus raced down the hall. His limbs and joints hurt, but he couldn’t seem to care. The sun is a star and Sirius was his sun. It was gone. All light had escaped from his grasp in the short time he held it. He held onto it tightly. Not tightly enough.

He found Bellatrix soon enough, and as he knew exactly what spell to use, he imagined Bellatrix saying it straight to her cousin moments before. He remembered holding Sirius the nights after they came back from Winter or Summer hols. Remus would kiss over the untreated cuts as he wrapped them a put balm on them. He remembers Sirius telling him about the family dinners, and how if he were bad, his mother and father would just tell his cousins to take him. Bellatrix was the only one who actually did anything.

All this fueled the anger he felt growing inside of him. He swished his wand while shouting the curse he never thought he’d hear himself say. “Avada Kedavra!”

He watched in slow motion as Bellatrix fell to the ground and lied limply. He turned as his friends looked at him in such shock. He didn’t care. His light was gone. The brightest star in his night sky was no longer.

[blorger]

fellow nerds I seek your counsel:

Does the Black family tapestry actually do anything?

Like, it's a magic item in a magical world, it seems kind of a missed opportunity that it doesn't seem to actually do anything. I'm pretty sure it doesn't even work like the Hogwarts registry (automatically recording all new Blacks). I can't think of a way to know for sure since Draco, the last addition to the map, was born before Walburga died (and the families of people burned off the map aren't recorded so no Tonkses).

I'd have thought being burned off of the tapestry would formally disinherit you but Sirius still became the owner of Grimmauld place (and the Black vaults) after Walburga's death instead of, say, Narcissa (or Bellatrix, if we ignore the whole pesky prison thing).

Do they even count as Official Blacks since they married into other families ? Are magical inheritance laws so terribly outdated and sexist that it's easier for property to pass to a disinherited man in jail rather than to a woman with a different last name (or an imprisoned one) ?

According to Dumbledore, yes:

For some reason JKR treats the inheritance of a building like the line of succession to a throne. Also, note that it says "Black family tradition". Still, said tradition doesn't actually appear to be magically binding since Harry did inherit Grimmauld.

(also when did Sirius write a will? Was it during the first war? who magically notarised it?)

Is the magical world still working off of 16th century British inheritance laws? If so, why? The wizarding world is, for all intents and purposes, not a monarchy; why not change the laws to reflect that? Do wizards not have inheritance laws at all?

Having said all that, my queries are thusly:

Is the Black family tapestry functionally useless?

Am I missing some key lore aspect or did JKR just wing it vis à vis legal matters?

Kindly help out so that I may be put out of my misery, please and thank you.

xoxo

[meowsgirldrawing]

Fellow Bioware fans, specifically for Dragon Age Inquisition- Hear me out on this idea ive had

So what if Bioware did a DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition, similar to Mass Effect's Citadel DLC

(And for those who don't know the Citadel DLC, its an...expansion pack? Or something similar that allows the crew of ME3-Mass Effect 3- to have a shore party on the Citadel. It has mini games to play of all kinds, small scenes with our favorite characters, love interest or not, and even a bit of a quest line to follow that is very hilarious and even more exciting, plus a bit more dialogue added to the game I believe)

Anyhow-What if, despite the circumstances, the inner circle of the Inquisition got something similar. Maybe not a whole vacation in itself but still something, y'know? I know Tresspasser may have did something similar but this is just me imaging fun and more comical with the potential chaos of the Inquisition crew.

Imagine this- romance scenes with the love interests like-

Seeing a more playful side of Cullen as we volunteer to help with dog training. Perhaps finally seeing him without a suit and in some casual clothes for once. I can just imagine a scene of him getting tackled by dogs as our inquisitor is laughing their ass off on the side.

Seeing Cassandra get pulled into relaxing for a bit by reading a story together, maybe her indulging in some fun by voicing the dialogues as our inquisitor is the one to act them out more.

Seeing Solas take us through a bit of an art gallery and pointing out his favorite pieces as he explains the meanings behind it. Then deciding at the end of it that he would like to make a peice with us or paint something in our quarters by our asking.

Seeing our favorite mage, Dorian go out on an actual date with his boyfriend and easing his nerves about being public about it. Him waving them off and saying thats hes fine, but obviously melting once he realizes that no one cares that its two men. And not just that- but him being sassy and playful, flirting with his Amatus as they dine together freely.

Piggybacking off the previous one, if your inquisitor is female and bestfriends with him instead, then the two having a nice day out together. Maybe if he isnt romanced to Bull in that playthrough, then helping him get a small date with someone. Maybe he fails a bit, but is able to laugh about it cause it was less terrifying than he thought compared to home. (You can plainly tell how much I adore this man)

Going to see a Jousting match with The Iron Bull. Maybe not as exciting as Dragons but perhaps Bull can read into the body language and tell whos going to loose, and instead of just telling us, he makes it a game that WE have to guess instead. Romanced version- if we win, hes laughing a bit, saying "Thats my Kadan!" (Jfjsjffs)

Blackwall probably can't do a whole lot, considering after his real identity problem, so maybe he makes pulls together a nice dinner instead. (Mostly for romance version) And somewhat saying towards the end, "You may be the Inquisitor, but you're still a lady, and you should be treated as such."

Look, I havent romanced Black wall that often, but boy- from the scene on youtube, the man can sure show his gentleman side.

And the fact that you can romance him as any race? OOO- Just imagine how much more tender that'll feel for a qunari or eleven inquisitor, LIKE-DKDJSOWNAK MAN WANTS HIS LADY TO BE TREATED LIKE THEY DESERVE

Anyhow, im gettin' off subject-

Helping Cole on a task he asked from us. It could be something so simple as flower picking cause he felt a little girl nearby feeling real upset about something and wanted to help.

I know alot of people have different views of Cole, just like any character, and people see him as either the son or little brother depending on how you go about it. So maybe this can go either way. Especially if your character is elven, they can give him tips on which flowers may be more appropriate or safer to leave for the little one.

(Ignore this if you want- My main Inquisitor is an elven chick named Bellatrix and ive always imagine her having a small soft side for Cole, treating him like a little brother in some areas cause he reminds her of her siblings. )

There are so many ways to go about this whole idea, honestly. And while I don't have many ideas for Sera, Josephine, Leliana, Varric, and Vivienne, I would have loved to see scenes with them in playful moments like these. Like Vivienne shopping with the Inquisitor or Sera going on that promise to make cookies with them and it turns into a whole mess but both end up laughing on the floor, flour caked on.

Out of all the Dragon Age games, Inquisition has to be my l, above all, favorite because of the outright love the characters bring to your character. Whether they are a steel on the outside, light hearted qunari, a playful and chaos making elf, or a soft but proud decision making dwarf with a bit of clumsyness. You cant really say that it doesnt matter what or how your character is, but its true how much it does matter cause it brings just another side of possibilities with such a character.

I apologize for my ranting but if you've taken the time to read this, please share your ideas with me cause even though hasn't made something like this for Dragon age, fans surely bring that idea to light in any way they can💜

[il-predestinato]

Elle, you are actually writing a Hogwarts AU???? 🙈🙈🙈 When is it set timeline wise? What year are they in? Houses I think I know, but the rest???

Hi Pi! Oooh, I mostly have notes on this one and not much written! Except for this little snippet (probably a cut scene rather than part of the fic). I'll share another super short snippet and then some rambling answers to your questions: 😁

Before Max could blink the sleepiness out of his eyes, he was already soberly aware that he was - most unfortunately - alone in bed. After a disgruntled rub across his eyelids, he was able to crack open enough of a slit to glare at the empty pillow beside his own. A head-shaped indent stared back at him mockingly. A torn piece of parchment sat neatly at the centre of the indent.

He snatched it up and frowned at Charles’ offending penmanship:

‘Had to take care of a secret Slytherin thing something’ followed by a creepy scribble of a smiling niffler (or perhaps a Dementor - Max couldn’t be certain, no matter how long he squinted at the poorly drawn lines; no one would ever accuse Charles of possessing artistic talent).

‘Meet in the Prefect's bathroom at 0800!’

“Maybe I won’t,” grumbled Max as he crumpled up the piece of paper. Of course you will, he can almost hear Charles’ self-assured, scoffing rebuttal.

He grabbed his wand from under his pillow and casted a silent “Incendio.” The Silencing Charm that Charles cast around Max’s four poster bed from the previous evening had likely worn off by now. He couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face as he watched as small embers transformed the parchment into ash. While Charles may be uniquely gifted at wandless magic, Max still had him beat in nonverbal spells - much to the chagrin of his Slytherin rival (sometimes friend always thorn in the side occasional bedmate).

-

Some notes:

Timeline wise: 2013-ish because they are 15 (fifth years)

Both are still born in 1997 (kind of cool that canonically both would be born at the height of the second wizarding war)

Max is a Gryffindor and Charles is a Slytherin

Story is a long-ish one shot. Title is "Unforgivable"

My base storyline is borrowed from a quest in the Hogwarts Legacy game (minor spoiler alert):

Charles has a sick family member at St. Mungo's who is suffering from a blood curse and is basically beyond all magical help. There is a secret Slytherin spell book hidden in the Scriptorium (think Chamber of Secrets, but a different room) rumoured to lead to a spell/artifact that cures dark curses, so Charles wants to retrieve it. Max is ... not a fan of this idea, because Slytherin was a pretty dark wizard and all around bad guy, so nothing good can possibly come out of this. But it's Charles so of course he chooses to help and goes down to the Scriptorium with him. There are a few tests (e.g. puzzles, speaking Parseltongue, etc.), each unlocking a set of gates, but you can't turn back because the gates lock behind you as well. At the last gate, there are a bunch of creepy skeletons (because people died here after getting stuck) and tortured faces on the gate/the world "Crucio" engraved on the floor. Max and Charles figure out that in order to pass the final test and not starve/die down there, they must successfully cast Crucio. And that's really the climax of the story. Who is going to cast it on who? Also, as Bellatrix explained in the books, you must have intent and truly want to cause pain and suffering to succeed in casting it... In the Hogwarts Legacy game, three characters are involved in the story: Sebastian Sallow, Ominis Gaunt, and Y/N [aka. player character] (yes, don't worry, I'm laughing at myself for using this term given my well known 'love' for uh... imagines 🤢). Ominis refuses to cast Crucio. It comes down between Y/N vs. Sebastian. In my fic, Charles would be loosely based on Sebastian, and Max is a combo of Ominis and Y/N (sorry, I can't keep a straight face whenever I type this.) Let's just say I have an entirely DIFFERENT idea as to how this plays out between Max and Charles (can anyone guess?) compared to the game.

Other super random details from my notes:

Charles and Max have a fierce quidditch rivalry (yes, there was an inchident with a puddle, because the puddle is a universal constant, a fixed point in time and space if you will).

Both are Chasers (but they do like challenging each other to one-on-one seeker games).

Max made the Gryffindor team in his first year (just like the Boy Who Lived) which irks Charles (who made the Slytherin team in his second year).

Charles' Slytherin teammates include George (beater), Lando (chaser), and their new seeker (Oscar).

Max's teammates include Carlos (chaser, Head Boy) and used to include Lewis (chaser, graduated).

Max really likes the grass flavour of Bertie Bott's every flavour beans and one time, Charles bought like - 200 boxes of every flavour beans and spent all night picking out all the grass flavoured ones to put into one box to gift to Max.

Charles is better at wandless magic - raw and uncontrolled power - but Max is better at nonverbal magic - precision and controlled power.

Charles is great at Charms and [hilariously] Divination (umm... he IS called 'il predestinato'), Max is great at Transfiguration and Potions. Both are excellent at Arithmancy (math nerds) and DADA.

Max's wand is vine, 12 ¾ inches, phoenix feather, reasonably supple. Charles's wand is yew, 12 ½ inches, dragon heartstring, fairly stiff. And yes, I spent like 30 minutes reading up on wandlore until I was happy with the choices. 🤣

[greenerteacups]

Possibly risking spoiler territory... but, Draco has started using Occlumency without realising it, right? Is this something you envision as being potentially a Black family talent (as canonically Snape assumes Bellatrix taught Draco in HBP and fans assume Narcissa may also be fairly skilled at it as she managed to lie to Voldemort in DH) and do you see him potentially also being able to use Legilimency? 👀

I don't know if I would describe what he's doing as Occlumency, because that would imply that someone's trying to use Legilimency on him, which was not something I intended to suggest (although don't let me kill your reading. As I've said before, everything the author says outside of the text is speculation). I will say that Draco has an unusually advanced talent for compartmentalization, as evidenced by the sheer number of times that he goes "well, we're certainly Not Thinking About That," and then it actually works, at least for a chapter or two. That comes from his upbringing, as we see Narcissa do it quite often, and though other purebloods seem to have similar tendencies/skills for it, Draco and Narcissa are both noted by others to be some of the most buttoned-up and reticent of the bunch. They keep their cards close. This is the other side of the "emotionally stunted" and "repressed" coin: yeah, they're not great at emotional communication, and it fucks their relationships pretty badly, but it also keeps their heads safe. So I see it as a genetic/familial inclination toward Occlumency.

On that basis, I would say that Narcissa actually is a fairly talented Occlumens (without getting into spoilers!) — but that makes Snape's assumption about Bellatrix kind of interesting, because if Lucius or Narcissa could do it, it'd be reasonable to assume they'd teach him. Which leaves two options: (1) either Snape knows that Bellatrix is taking a special interest in Draco, so inferred it from that (reasonable guess, plus evidenced by the HBP prologue) or (2) Lucius and Narcissa can't Occlude. Snape, being a Legilimens who spends a ton of time around the Death Eater faction, should know exactly who the Occlumenses are. Because Narcissa lies to Voldemort in DH, option 2 becomes almost impossible to believe (and this is the problem with introducing literal Mind Reading as a plot device in your fantasy narrative, but I digress).

My favorite resolution to this goes as follows: Occlumency is a Black/Malfoy family talent, but Legilimency is incredibly rare, draws on some well of natural ability (kind of like the Sight in Divination) and neither Lucius nor Narcissa has it. Snape does, Voldemort does, and Bellatrix does. But they're the only named characters who can. That explains why it has to be Snape teaching Harry, and that explains why Narcissa and Lucius can't teach Draco. It's just easier to teach Occlumency if you have a Legilimens on-hand. (That does raise the question of where Narcissa and Lucius learned, but if Narcissa grew up around Bella, then she would've probably learned quickly how to protect herself, and she could've conceivably taught Lucius.) By that theory, Draco might have it — especially if we take it to be genetic — but de minima, I think it's safe to say that Draco has canonically learned Occlumency by seventh year, because he tries to lie about recognizing Harry to Bellatrix. Which also implies that he's fairly good at it, in my opinion, because this is magic that Harry (not to mention Hermione, by the way) never learns how to do.

How much of this fanlore will make it into Lionheart? Not sure yet! But it will certainly be fun to play with the parameters of all the things you can do with mind magic, going forward.

[saintsenara]

16 33 50 for tom/voldemort

work has been terrible, i crave angst 😈

then you shall have it, anon.

[character ask game here]

16. what is their deepest darkest secret, which they won’t even admit to themselves?

that he’s profoundly, profoundly lonely.

in half-blood prince, dumbledore presents voldemort’s friendlessness as - in essence - an active choice. he tells us that voldemort loathed the other children in his orphanage, that he saw his "devoted" school-friends as mere tools for his wrongdoing, and that he has no interest in his death eaters beyond their service to his aims.

this, i’m afraid to say, is classic dumbledore-chatting-shit-on-the-basis-of-his-own-self-loathing. dumbledore may have virtually no true friends by choice, but voldemort would clearly love some. the issue, as always, is that he’s constrained by his cataclysmic childhood trauma.

it’s clear that - much like harry! whose trauma is treated very differently by the narrative! - voldemort has enormous trust issues, caused by the fact that he grew up without any safe adult role models. this will have had a huge impact on his ability to make friends, since he undoubtedly has no understanding of affection which is honest, unconditional, or reciprocal - much like harry! who takes seven books to get it through his head that ron and hermione aren’t lying when they say they’re with him no matter what!

but - unlike harry, whose capacity for forgiveness is astonishing - voldemort’s trust issues evidently also come with a whole tranche of resentment. his profound dislike of liars and hypocrites - no matter how ironic this might be - must arise from this childhood feeling that he can’t actually trust anyone.

but he would obviously like to. the canonical voldemort is clearly desperate to be understood - he needs virtually no prompting to start spilling his deepest secrets to harry on more than one occasion, the same is true of his first meeting with dumbledore - and, crucially, to be understood as he is. dumbledore’s poor handling of how excited he is to discover he’s magical [which i’ve written about in more detail here] upsets him and sends him back behind the mask of the cold and confident tom riddle he’s clearly been working on since he was very young; his pleasure at discovering - through ginny - that harry is also an orphaned parselmouth is so significant that he gives up on his plan to murder as many muggleborns as possible and focuses exclusively on meeting his new bff; his need to make harry understand that his father - as he sees it - abandoned him and he’s furious about it occupies a sizeable portion of their interactions in chamber of secrets and goblet of fire.

but he can’t get there. he can’t be vulnerable enough to admit to this; he hasn’t been paid enough attention in his life to know how to have a relationship where he doesn’t dominate; he would rather be feared than loved, because fear is an emotion he can control.

and it backfires on him. he hints - although he couches it in the camp performance of his graveyard speech - in goblet of fire at just how devastated he was to end up in a tree in albania in 1981 and have nobody [except the love of his life - not that he’s ever told her that - bellatrix] try to come and find him. his obviously cooled relationship with the death eaters who pretended not to have supported him during his exile from order of the phoenix onwards masks the pain he feels at their abandonment of him and all the long-buried feelings that brings up about the other people in his life [especially his mother] who, in his view, have abandoned him too. it doesn’t occur to him that this is his own fault - making people feel no emotion for you other than terror isn’t a great way to get them to be your ride-or-die - because he thinks it’s the way of the world; what good are friends? he doesn’t have any and he has no need of them anyway. 

or so he tells himself. right up until the moment he lands with a splat on the floor of the orphanage - having been killed by harry seconds earlier - and discovers that nobody has come to meet him.

33. what's something guaranteed to make them cry?

lord voldemort never cries, as we know [and if there’s a more devastating example of the casual cruelty of the institutionalisation of children than dumbledore and mrs cole treating the fact that, as a baby, tom riddle had learned that crying was futile as nothing more than a bit of odd gossip, i’ve never seen it].

but learning his mother’s real name - something which all the evidence of canon is that he doesn’t know - and getting to see her face would probably do it. maybe dumbledore could have tightened up and let him have a little look at bob ogden’s trip to little hangleton.

50. what's a memory they’ve blocked out?

literally fucking everything about his childhood.

above all, if you’d like something with a sinister implication to think about, whatever it was that happened to him which gave him his extreme canonical fear of doctors.

[crookshanksagentofowca]

Push and Pull

@microficmay Day 20

As soon as Bellatrix learned that the Dark Lord was a Legillimens, she made learning Occlumency a priority, fearing what he might do if he became aware of her more disrespectful thoughts about him. With intensive study and hard work, she made her mind an impenetrable fortress, but she still sometimes felt the Dark Lord’s mind trying to creep in. It would encircle her walls, test her defenses, and then eventually back off and he would give her a curious look. She was certain that, if he really wanted to, he could break down her shields and likely her mind along with them, so she worked on advancing her skills until she mastered a cleverer, more subtle form of Occlumency. Instead of hiding all her thoughts behind a giant wall, she locked a select few that would be the most embarrassing were the Dark Lord to see them in a vault that she buried deep beneath a bustling city inhabited by the rest of her thoughts. Now, when she felt the Dark Lord’s mind begin to probe her own, instead of repelling him altogether, she could lead him down certain streets, showing him approximately what he was looking for while keeping him away from the vault without him even realizing she was hiding anything from him. It was extremely difficult, but it allayed any suspicions he might have had.

Then one day, after their affair had been going on for a while, he suddenly said, “Bella, I have to ask. Is your…attraction towards me the reason you’ve always gone to such effort to conceal your thoughts?” Bellatrix blushed scarlet but tentatively admitted that that was in fact the reason. He chuckled. “I should have realized sooner. I couldn’t fathom what someone so unquestionably faithful in every other respect could possibly have to hide from me.” “Well, now you know.” “Indeed. You were probably wise to hide it in the beginning. If I’d known exactly what sort of fantasies you were having about me when we’d only just met, it may have frightened me off.” “I think you know them all now. Not only that; you’ve made them come true!”

(Except for the ones where he told her he loved her but she wasn’t going to mention that.) “You know,” he mused, “if you let me into your mind and I let you into mine—not all the way, of course, but a bit—we could possibly use it to…communicate. Silently.” This instantly piqued Bella’s interest. “So, we could have a private conversation in the middle of a crowd?” “Potentially. I’ve never actually tried it before—there’s never been anyone else I wanted to share thoughts with rather than steal them from or torture them with—but theoretically it should work.”

Legillimency was easier with eye contact, so they turned so that they were face-to-face, staring into each other’s eyes. They also placed their palms against each other, which probably wasn’t necessary but felt nice. Simultaneously, they each took a deep breath and then, for the first time since they had developed them, relaxed their mental boundaries. She felt the Dark Lord’s mind nudge her own, more gently than ever before; asking rather than demanding to be let in. Slowly, carefully, she pushed her own consciousness forward so that their minds met, their edges blurring together. Rather than one invading the other, they simply joined together. A sense of awareness of the Dark Lord and everything he was filled Bella, shocking her with how intimate it felt. Somehow, it was a hundred times more intimate than anything they had done before—which was saying something.

There was a push and pull of thoughts between the two minds, as each scrambled to explore each other’s. Images flashed rapidly between them, some familiar moments the two of them had shared now seen from the others viewpoint but others Bella had never seen before—the Dark Lord as a child, sitting in his room at the orphanage or as a teenager, opening the Chamber of Secrets for the first time. There were things from her past too—running through the woods with her sisters or her Aunt Walburga teaching her how to wield a knife—that the Dark Lord was seeing for the first time. Overlaying all of it was burning, heavy feeling that crackled like the air before a thunderstorm or perhaps before a volcano erupted which could only be the passion the two of them felt for another colliding and combining like two rivers joining to form a mightier one, which swept them up in its current. It was wonderful and exhilarating and so overwhelming that they broke the connection after less than a minute, both gasping for breath. But they kept practicing and overtime they adjusted to the intensity of sharing thoughts until they could do it with ease. Eventually, they were able to have a private conversation in a crowd or send each other warnings in battle faster than they could be shouted or even (and this was the best part) show each other exactly how much they were loved without ever having to use the word.

[fresiants]

The Lestrange couple is actually interesting.

Bellatrix does come from an extremely messed up family. Not only do they behead their slaves after they become too old to carry tea and stuff their heads and hang them on the wall, you know, normal stuff. Then, according to the Black family tree, her father was only 13 when she was born. So you know, clearly healthy stuff. Also, if Filch is to be believed, hanging students days on end by the thumbs was common practice not too long ago from the 90s, and torture instruments are manufactured with enough regularity (I don't believe those things would have survived Fred and George, nor the Marauders).

In his forth year, Arthur was punished badly enough so that he has scars he keeps well into adulthood despite the wonders of magical medicine. (Most scars do fade away after a decade or so, which makes me think the whipping was either extreme or their was some Black Magic involved) for being out of his dorm.

We don't know much about Rodolphus, but his father or uncle was one of the first associates of Tom Riddle, and he would also in all likely hood attended school to taste this kind of extreme discipline that left Arthur scared for life. Also, according to Sirius they were part of a gang of bullies.

So is it any surprise that Voldemort was able to recruit followers who if not violent themselves, where quite desensitized to violence. So, even if Voldemort is extremely sadistic and does not treat his followers well to put it mildly, to people like Bellatrix, it must have seemed not that bad and normal. Also, their hatred for Muggleborn might have also mixed with envy. During the second half of the XXth century, corporal punishment was on the decline, and frankly, six of the best cannot in honesty be compared to the strappado. I would imagine members of these pureblood Slytherin gang of bullies viciously mocking muggleborn students and their inability to keep up with what they would perceive as normal things. It would probably like humiliation through babying, escorting them to "safety" while constantly mocking them:

"Twenty and already dizzy ? How adorable ! Let me take pictures of you. See, we don't hate muggles, we find them so wee!" (proceed to wrap them in frilly stuff before taking pictures).

Is this a response to my post about Severus and Lily? If it isn't, please ignore this whole post lol.

I agree that in the wizarding world, these acts were perceived as normal, as evidenced by the prevalence of bullying and violence that went unpunished and ignored everyone, even by the teachers who were responsible for safeguarding them. Regardless of the gravity of the situation, students were only ever subjected to detention as a form of discipline.

But we must consider that Severus hated the Marauders for bullying him and always tried to persuade Lily to stay away from them for this specific reason. It's understandable that, given his character, he might find it difficult to empathize with others. However, it's still a shame that he couldn't see the similarity between the Marauders and Mulciber's group. If you see your housemate bullying other kids, shouldn't it remind you of your own bullies? I think this situation was also heavily influenced by the house rivalries at Hogwarts.

Severus probably harbored a "serve them right" attitude when Mulciber bullied Mary McDonald, as if attacking a Gryffindor student was a form of avenging his own bullying. This is a childish mindset that many victims adopt, seeking to hurt their bullies by wishing harm on those around them. You may have heard people say things like "I hope your child experiences bullying in the future, then you'll know how it feels" or "I hope your daughter gets cheated on, so you'll feel the pain you caused others." It's the same type of mindset where you can't hurt the bully, so you hope someone they care about gets hurt instead. As someone who was once a victim of bullying, i totally understand why some people might think this way, but I refuse to defend this behaviour as it is wrong in my book.

Hence, I truly believe that even if Severus hadn't called Lily 'Mudblood', their friendship wouldn't have lasted long. Severus cherished Lily because she was the first person to ever show him kindness, and he loved her deeply to the point that he thought she was the only friend he needed. He only cared about his and Lily's well-being (as an individual) He couldn't care less about other Muggle-borns and this didn't sit well with Lily.

Things were already looking bad for Severus. But here's where things got worse. Lily Evans... the only person Severus ever care about... failed to comprehend why Severus refused to let her to associate with the Marauders. In fact, she felt offended by it.

Snape’s whole face contorted and he spluttered, “Saved? Saved? You think he was playing the hero? He was saving his neck and his friends’ too! You’re not going to— I won’t let you— ”

“Let me? Let me?”

Lily’s bright green eyes were slits. Snape backtracked at once.

But we also shouldn't ignore the fact that Severus called everyone(muggleborns) aside from Lily 'Mudblood', which mean she had probably tolerated him a lot, hoping that he would finally get a grip and realised what he was doing was wrong.

But of course, that never happened. Doesn't really help that his only friend wasn't very understanding herself and already had feelings for James even when he was bullying Severus, which was confirmed by JK Rowling herself in an interview. (I mean... why would Severus feel the need to remind Lily that James wasn't a good lad if she wasn't interested in him?)

Interviewer: How did they get together? She hated James, from what we’ve seen.

JKR: Did she really? You’re a woman, you know what I’m saying. [Laughter.]

She was referring to the stereotype that women are attracted to 'bad boys' *puke*

[moonystarman]

i have some words abt neville’s hoggart that i think needs to be addressed because people seem so pressed abt and it’s frustrating.

As we all know, the boggart scene takes place in hp3. There are a few reasons why it would make more sense to make snape his boggart rather than bellatrix. None of them have to do with snape being a “terrible person”.

Logistically it doesnt make sense to introduce bellatrix in that content. At the time of the scene, it is unknown to both harry and the audience that bellatrix is responsible for the fate of alice and frank.

I may be wrong on this (its been a little bit since ive read the books) but im fairly certian that the first actual mention of neville’s parents even being attacked was in hp4. (according to me and fact-chacked by the wiki (if im wrong feel free to correct me))

Two reasons why the logistics dont make sense:

Joanne didnt have his dtory line planned yet. While we have known sknve hp1 that neville lives with his grandmother, it is never specified what happens to his parents. A boggart scene isn’t necessarily the best time to introduce neville’s backstory (especially considering the significance of scene in regards to Remus’s story and how it foreshadowed his lycanthropy)

The timing just isnt right. I know i said this already, but the boggart scene isn’t necessarily the best time for introductions. Bellatrix becomes a supporting antagonist later in the series and is a significant character in the plot, it doesnt make sense to introduce her in that scene. (if she had it would’ve either taken away from the significance to remus, or it would have had to been a passing comment which would have left a lot of people confused)

Many (all of my reasons) focus on how the scene isnt meant to be focusing on neville but rather remus and harry.

There is definitely a comedic aspect to the scene that helps juxtapose what comes at the end.

I think the simplest explanation is that Joanne thought it would be funny to take a serious, tightly-wound character, and make him look silly by wearing grandmother clothes.

To be honest I think this can really just be chalked up to bad writing. I can’t fault her for not having neville’s backstory completely planned out ahead of a time, but it does leave a bit of a plot hole. The point im trying to make is that I do not believe that the scene was written to make Snape look bad or mean.

That being said of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Of course I don’t mind if you disagree with me or still believe Snape was overly harsh to his students. (clarifying this because this post was only prompted by a friend being spammed in her cc abt it and i felt the need to say something)