#this is A Lot

[grapehyasynth]

I really feel tremendous grief for friendships that kind of petered away in the face of life's currents. There are people with whom I formed deep, unique, vibrant, life-changing connections, and then we had to go our separate ways and it was too hard to maintain long-distance. There wasn't a fight, it just sort of faded. And I feel like I have more friendships like this than friendships that have endured, so maybe I just have to get used to it. But if grief is all the love we have left over - well, I never did get to finish loving them. I love them, and I miss them, and I probably always will.

[alexiapp]

𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐃𝐀𝐘

𝖠𝗅𝖾𝗑𝗂𝖺 𝖯𝗎𝗍𝖾𝗅𝗅𝖺𝗌 𝗑 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐦𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐭. (𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠)

Summary: you and Ale have a little fun at the beach !!

You and Ale decide to go on a walk to get some fresh air, what seemed to be a a harmless activity turned into 𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐲. Today was a hot day in Barcelona not used to such hot weather made the whole walk a struggle, for you in particular

and a whole lot of 𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 came from you.

“𝐀𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐭, 𝐢𝐟 𝐢 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐢 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮“ you said fanning your face as you continued your whining. One thing you couldn’t stand is hot weather. You just weren’t used to this kind of environment, you’re used to the cold of England. Alexia chuckled and playfully rolled her eyes “𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐚 𝐢𝐟 𝐢 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐢 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥“ she did as she continued her teasing. You rolled your eyes, you were far from annoyed you were starting to get pissy that was always a given for you when your in such weather conditions, you were 𝐍𝐎𝐓 fond of this heat at 𝐚𝐥𝐥.

You spoke up, “𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐚, 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐞“ you said as you started dragging your feet on the concrete of the Barcelona side walks. Ale’s walking came to a halt “𝐢 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐫“ she said trying to reason with you. You turned around and asked “𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐀𝐥𝐞“ you replied the blonde haired woman raised a her eyebrows and smiled with a ‘𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞’ look on her face and said “𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐟���“ with a rush of your feet you grabbed Alexia by her wrist and urged her to quicken the tan women’s pace adamant to get back to there shared flat.

Fast forward you guys arrived to your flat. You went into your drawer looking for a bathing suit wise Alexia gathered things we may need in our beach bag. You settled on a black bikini thong for the bottoms and a basic black bikini top. you put it on, and decided to wear a sheer black skirt to cover up a little. As you stared in the mirror trying to fix anything out of place the door opened and Alexia walked in. She snuck up behind you wrapped her arms around your body and whispered in your ear “𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐦𝐢 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐚“ she muttered as she picked her head up to start kissing your neck.

You started to giggle from the pecks she gave you on your neck and you said “𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐲𝐞𝐭 ?“ she nodded and said “𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐡 𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬“ she said with a smile. you guys checked around to make sure you had everything you needed in case of a emergency and after you decided you did you picked up your stuff and headed to the car. Wise driving on the way to the beach Alexia put her hands on your thigh and rubbed her thumb and kept looking between you and the road smiling to herself. “𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞?“ you said as you saw her constant eyes on you. “𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐦𝐢 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐫?“ she said laughing shaking her head as she pulled in close to the beach, you slapped her hand away from your thigh in a playfully manner and shook your head at her antics.

Ale quickly got out of the car and jogged around to open your door to help you out of her cupra “𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮“ you said to her thanking her for her gentlewoman like behavior she nodded and smiled and opened the back door to get you guys beach bag. she shut the door and locked her car and grabbed your hand as you guys walked down to shore. You were excited to finally feel cool after this hot day.

As Ale set our things down she started to take off her shirt and shorts revealing a white and black zebra print, bikini you admired everything about her from head to toe. her strong arms, her chiseled abs ,strong legs and lastly her beautiful face, being caught in your day dream Alexia decided to play with you for a little bit. you felt your body lift into the air as your instinct told you to wrap your legs around Alexia’s waist to your surprise you let out a squeal as she started to run and bring you closer to shore.

You looked at alexia with a warning look “𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐲𝐞𝐭“ you said with a knowing looking. Ale gave a mischievous smile in response and said okay, using one hand to hold you up and the other to untie the knot of the mesh skirt and threw it somewhere on the sand and quickly ran you guys deeper into the water out of nowhere.

“𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐚 𝐢 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮“ you said after you were thrown in the water you jumped up water trying to catch you breath. Alexia thought it was the funniest thing ever and let out a long chuckle, you began to show a face with disapproval crossing your arm. Ale laughed and said “𝐜𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫?“ she said as she slowly glided her way through the water towards you as the taller tanned women wrapped her arms around your waist trying to hug you.

You pushed her hands in protest “𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞“ you said in a playful tone trying to act annoyed. “𝐀𝐦𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫“ she said as she reached down to pull you into a passionate kiss even making the effort to move her kisses down to your neck, sucking a little. you guys decided to swim close around the shore moving around trying to cool off. You finally felt relaxed in the cool water, as the sun began to set. After you started to get a little chilly you guys decided to dry off and set a towel down from the beach bag onto the sand to relax.

You grabbed a random book Alexia brought for you and she decided to go on her phone scrolling through social media and replying back to messages. After you guys laid down, the tanned women had other thoughts. she slowly scooted towards you pushing the book down as she started to kiss your neck “𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠“ you said in a whining protest, as she continued and even gotten to the point where she reached her hands down into your bikini bottoms until you pulled her hands out to stop her, she frowned at you. “𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐞“ you said as you looked her in the eyes.

She groaned in annoyance as she tried to protest “𝐜𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐢 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐚“ she said in a whining tone. “𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞“ you said in a lecturing tone. Alexia laughed at the comment and as you also laughed at her in amusement and surprise. You guys laughter died down as you two just stared at each other. Her pupils dilated looking into your eyes as she said opened her mouth and said “𝐢 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮“ she said to you wise cupping your face. you leaned into her touched and looked back up at her and said “𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐨“ she replied back “𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐨“ she said in a love dazed tone.

[guzhufuren]

sad that ateez dedicated themselves to musical careers. they could have made millions as a travelling circus troupe

[yousaygoodbyeandisay]

Hold up. Pete's power is to read minds. Back in the past, back to back with Kenta... Pete knew Kenta wanted to kiss him. And he turned around so it happened

Additionally, during the fight with the knife, Kenta was thinking back to that moment. And Pete knew.

[danrifics]

this used to be a 1D blog, Liam really was my first fave waaay back when i first started getting involved in the fandom. he really was someone i looked up to when i was 14. im so sad for teen me right now

[spookymulder01]

Horrible things happening in the groupchat today.

Bonus:

[menanceofacookie]

This is a very rough sketch and I have a very bad writing skill

I'm sorry If you can't read the words, I'm gonna name it from the top left to right

Sou Hiyori, Kanade Yoisaki/Yoisaki Kanade, Stele, Russell Seager, Pigula, Karakoro, Wadanohara, Madotsuki, Sara Chindouin, Hatsune Miku, Corme, and Zoya

All of them are from their perspective owners

[lord-m]

Things Colin will have to grapple with in Part 2:

- his wife is Lady Whistledown and has used her connections to his family for both ill and good

- his wife planned on keeping her secret from him, even after the wedding

- Penelope has a clear purpose in her life, and he has not (or at least a purpose that isn’t solely his wife)

- she will not give up her purpose, even for him (I don’t know if show!Colin will even ask her to, except for her own safety)

- she has and continues to endanger herself on a daily basis

- he now shares one of London‘s biggest secrets and is responsible for keeping it that way, even from his family perhaps

- she is a prolific writer, and he does not hold his own writing in high esteem. Some jealousy for her talent will surely play a role

[stawpny]

I’m bored and ao3 is kinda dry (atleast for the wttt ny tag)

so here are some NY ships I NEED to see more of 🙏

—

MassYork: ok, I used to be almost totally opposed to this, seeing them having more of a brotherly relationship but with history n stuff it’s kinda not possible. But anyway, probably my main ship for now, bc OHMYGOD “nobody can kill you but me”? GET OUT, GET MARRIED, PLEASE.

like if it’s Mass/Cali/York or Mass/Jersey/York I will eat it up.

no questions, it is already in my mouth. I am eating the fuck outta this.

GeoYork: in my mind they have a cute dynamic. I feel they would be best friends as younger colonies and then have a very complicated relationship until they finally get together. Slowburn kinda, also kinda they have been in relationships dozens of times but something always happens. and isn’t Georgia called the “Empire State of the South”? or am I just hearing things

peach + apple? cobbler + pie? idek but I love them

TexYork: guys pls. southern gentleman and city boy? literally perfect for each other. they would make fun of each other endlessly. accents, vocabulary, actions, plus so much more because they’re very different.

TX taking York to his ranch to meet bro’s cows??? yes please. I’d like to meet Betsy too .

^TexaCaliYork: also a fire ship (see what I did there?) like the ship above, but with the hipster in it aswell. Texas and Cal constantly bicker like children and York sorts it out like a teacher would.

NY: you hurt his feelin’s, go apologize.

TX, scoffing: fine, but don’t expect me to get along with him after.

(spoiler alert!! York forces them into a cuddle pile afterwards to get over there lifelong beef)

IlliYork: they’re enemies, they’re lovers, the whole kit-and-caboodle. they’d switch hats sometimes and hold each others hand when they’re in their cities. they’re idiots and the Midwest and the Northeast hate them for it. It’s kinda gross but in a good way.

they’d be the couple who like hold hands in public but not make a single move other than that to show that they love the other. absolutely no kissing in public, they would just sit there in silence with a death grip on the other’s hand. they would totally insult each other to the face and then say, “Love you, tho.”

FloYork: fun fact: they are absolutely insane together. They influence each other and constantly say stupid shit. Florida would force York outta his comfort zone from time to time but the inner extrovert masked by New York’s fake introvert personality will do it almost willingly. he puts up a “fight” but he would deadass do it bc he thinks this shit is hilarious.

NY would be a little like Florida even if they weren’t dating. like NYC is absolutely batshit so that would mean York would have to be a little too.

NY/CA/TX/FL/LA: little crazy, ik, but I remember reading fics abt these five (including gov, but I’m still questioning if he would be in here or not) and absolutely devouring them. spectacular ship. it’s like a little bit of everything, except the Midwest and the other western states, but almost everything. I would love to see more of them.

they would def fight over each other. (who got to hold hands with who, who got to sleep/cuddle with who, etc.)

—

I’m not forcing you to give into my opinions, but if u like these, I like you 😼

some of these hc’s are not entirely mine, some were influenced, tho most are from the rotting part of my brain

I hope u use these ships in the future or I might spontaneously combust

(spoiler alert 2!! I will still explode [out of love] if u write about them)

ily guys

[ascendingtostardust]

someone help me

[moltengoldveins]

so it’s a random Friday evening, I’m hanging out with my sister, when she asks me something, and I feel the bottom drop out of my perception of reality:

“hey, did you ever notice that there were other rooms in that chain of challenge rooms before the Philosophers Stone? Like, other than the three that corresponded directly to the golden trio? And that said rooms corresponded pretty directly to Neville and Draco?”

I sat there in shock for a second. She’s right btw, there are two other big challenges and they DO correspond weirdly well with Draco and Neville: the magical plant right at the beginning and the potions that they have to identify. I have a moment where I wonder “huh. I wonder if Dumbledore maybe put those there just in case the Golden Trio picked up some extra friends-“ before she starts going on about how the story would have changed if Neville and Draco were friends. I will absolutely elaborate on this (Fantastic) AU fic premise in a bit but the important thing is what I realized while she was describing this story to me.

I have struggled with explaining to people why I dislike Harry Potter for a really long time. Problems with the author’s behavior aside, I found myself just…. Soured to the books. I grew up loving them and one day they just lost appeal, and as I thought more and more about them I liked them less and less. And I’ve used a ton of different reasons to explain why I don’t like them over the years, but until this conversation I couldn’t really articulate it, not fully. There was Something Wrong, and I couldn’t find the root of it. But I figured it out:

Harry changes nothing. That’s what it is. That’s what bothers me. And it’s deeper than that: the story changes nothing. The story is lukewarm at best in its defense of the good and the true and it rewards wrongdoing and punishes and mocks those who do what is right.

Now, I’m not saying that every story needs to give good things to characters who do good things: that’s not how real life works, it’s not how fiction needs to work. But there is a difference between watching a fictional character try and fail to do good and receive nothing but punishment for it, and then a story that deliberately portrays the efforts of a character to affect positive change as stupid or wrong.

Ostensibly, the ‘point’ of Harry Potter is that discrimination is wrong and people shouldn’t make assumptions based on someone’s upbringing. Hermione’s status as a muggleborn is defended as ‘just as worthy’ as everyone else’s, and discrimination against muggles and muggleborns is the main form Voldemort’s evil takes. The main evil of the story is this insistence on one specific social system in which the pure bloods are valued above all else and everyone else falls into pariah or servile statuses beneath them. THIS IS WRONG. We establish that this is wrong!

BUT. From literally day one, Harry is making assumptions about Draco based on his birth and upbringing, and the story is making assumptions about Hagrid (well, a lot of characters but Hagrid is the most obvious) because of HIS birth and upbringing. And none of these assumptions are ever proven false!

like, how does this actually go down? Draco is rude to Harry in a robe shop - unideal, but he is a stressed child in a wealthy environment, this behavior isn’t out of place. It’s Hagrid who tells Harry about the Malfoy’s, tells him they’re the ‘wrong sort.’ Draco introduces himself later on, apologizing for the interaction at the robe shop: it’s Ron who laughs at Draco’s name first. Draco claps back with the insult about Ron’s name after his name has already been insulted.

My sister pointed something really interesting out to me: Draco and Hermione don’t have beef for a While. It only starts in the second book, when he calls her a Mudblood. But Hermione starts that fight. Hermione insults his blood status, saying that he had to buy him way onto the team because it’s the only thing he has: his family’s wealth. Draco insults her back IN THE WAY HE WAS INSULTED. This is legitimately fascinating to me, I NEVER noticed this.

so that’s already interesting: Harry is all for bridging differences and forgiveness when it comes to people in a ‘lower’ social or moral class than he is, as a Griffindor pureblood. He’s nice to half-giants, house elves, and muggleborns, and those demographics are portrayed by the story as morally good. But anyone above Harry? Anyone in Slytherin? Anyone who is pureblood and rich? They’re not just biased and affected by their cultural upbringing: the STORY ITSELF portrays them as evil and untrustworthy, and Harry never makes an effort to change that. In fact, he actively encourages it with his relationship with Draco. The divide between pure blood Slytherins and the rest of wizard kind is never breached: Harry never changes anything. Voldemort dies, and everything else returns to exactly the same as it was before him. Harry does exactly nothing to the status who.

So what about Hagrid? Hagrid, and by extension giants, are implied by the story to be full people with cultures and feelings, and yet none of Harry’s interactions with Hagrid or Hagrids efforts are rewarded with positive change: the giants join Voldemort in the end, proving people like Umbridge correct about them. Hermione’s efforts with the house elves lead nowhere: Harry dismisses them as foolish from the get-go, and never takes the extra step to viewing Kreacher like a friend and fellow person.

Harry Potter is a deeply allegorical story: this kind of stuff MATTERS. What the story says about one person is what the story is saying about People Like This Person. So, what is it saying?

The story is saying that people like Hagrid, whether you read him as an allegory for kids with Down’s syndrome or autism or a learning disability or they’re mixed-race or whatever? Are exactly as useless and stupid and flawed and burdensome as you think they’d be. It doesn’t say “oh, they have their flaws but we accommodate and love them anyway and they can with accommodation be full contributing members of society with relationships that are just as deep and meaningful and worthy of respect as those of the people around them” no. It says “these people are easy to trick. They’re loud and inappropriate in social settings. They can’t keep secrets and they cause problems without ever fixing them. Their love is comedic, or futile, or both. They are a burden on the people who tolerate their company.”

None of Hagrid’s efforts ever come to fruition. None of his traits that are originally assumed to be bad turn out to be useful. His relationship with his giant brother never goes anywhere: the giants still follow Voldemort, even though his brother does support him in the end. His affection for madam Maxime is played as a joke. He never gets justice for being unfairly expelled or given a chance to take classes again, even though dumbledore KNEW that Hagrid was falsely accused and had EVIDENCE of it after the third book. He gets to teach, yeah, but the gap in his knowledge is never addressed; it’s just mocked and belittled as he fumbles and struggles to be an effective and safe teacher.

This is not an isolated case. This is EVERYWHERE in this story. You just have to look.

The story says that people like Sirius, people who lost everything when falsely accused and put in prison, don’t deserve second chances when they get out. They don’t deserve to reconnect with the kid they should have raised and build the parental relationship they should have had. They don’t get second chances like their oldest friend making them the godfather of his new baby: no, instead that honor goes to Harry, who gets little to no narrative meaning from that decision. They don’t get second chances, but people like Peter Pettigrew do. People like Sirius die soon after they’re released, having regained none of what they lost. The best people like Sirius can do is die for someone fit for decent society.

Molly says, in one of her nastiest moments, that Harry isn’t Sirius’s son: she’s right. But the hatred and disrespect towards Sirius in that comment is never addressed by the story, which really does make it feel like the story is implicitly supporting her.

The story says that people like Remus are sad unreliable and ultimately tragic lost causes. That people who were horribly wounded at a young age in a place they should have been safe (wow. I wonder what that could possibly be an allegory for.), or people who are disabled, or people with ptsd and survivor’s guilt, or people who have lost every person they’ve ever loved, don’t get absolution. They don’t get a second chance, or a place in society, or a future. They’re discriminated against, and nothing changes. They don’t rebuild their relationship with their surviving friends. They die, and their children aren’t even taken in by the person they asked to take them. Remus’s kid isn’t raised by Harry: he’s raised by Molly.

Nothing changes at the end of this story. Harry has not changed anything about the world these people lived and struggled in other than removing Voldemort from it. Werewolves still can’t get jobs. The few people related to the original Marauders are still scattered and unrelated. The giants and half giants are still on the margins of the wilderness. The house elves are still oppressed, and no solution has been offered to them. The purebloods haven’t been brought into the fold: they still think the same things they always have, because none of them have been taught differently. Slytherins are still the ‘evil’ house. No camaraderie has been built: no walls destroyed, no relationships developed, no prejudice dispelled.

Draco isn’t just a character, he is the representation of the Child of the Regime. The Child of Wealth, of Privilege. If he cannot be taught, then you are saying, implicitly, that kids who have been “corrupted” by their rich parents are beyond saving. You are saying that the world cannot change, that those in power cannot be taught compassion, that anyone born into wealth is inherently evil or cowardly or unfriendly or unreachable.

The world of Harry Potter reenforces Draco’s biases and prejudices all the way through. He’s never shown that he’s wrong, that the good guys are good, that love is the answer, that kindness is the right choice. Instead, the trio assume at every turn that he is worse than he already is, and that motivates him to be worse. Instead, they only character watching out from him is Snape, even as Dumbledore continues to manipulate him. Instead, nobody thinks to wonder how a child might be faring in the house of two known death eaters now that Voldemort has returned, they just assume he’d immediately and enthusiastically joined up because he’s a Malfoy. Instead, every Slytherin is asked to leave before the battle of Hogwarts, because they ‘can’t be trusted.’ Not because theyre children who might come face to face with their parents on the other side of the battlefield, no: they can’t be trusted. They’re inherently evil. And everyone else is inherently good.

and all of these statements are backed up by Harry himself. This is how Harry sees his world, and how the narrative treats its characters. This return to the status quo, this complete lack of growth and reconciliation is what the story treats as the ultimate win condition. This disgusting lack of regard for the allegory of your characters, especially when it comes to those who represent the disabled or neurodivergent or racially diverse is what the story treats as fine and normal. EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER who represents a minority has horrible things happen to them and either dies or ends the story worse than they started. Sirius, Remus, Dobby, Hagrid, Tonks, Mad-Eye, even people like Snape and Draco. This is not a narratively satisfying story of growth and positive change, it is the story of a young child being manipulated by the adults in his life to think in binary black and white about the people around him and long desperately for the ‘good old days’ he never experienced, and then being forced by circumstances outside his control to fight for the return of those good old days, completely ignorant of the fact that those ‘good old days’ weren’t that good for most of the people he knows and loves because they’re members of minorities those ‘good old days’ treated like shit.

How on earth were we surprised by JKR’s political and personal opinions? How were any of us blindsided by this? I’m so confused as to how we all looked at this story and went “yeah that looks like a good old fashioned coming of age ‘discrimination is bad’ story to me.” It’s not. It never was. It actively promotes that mentality at nearly every turn. You don’t get to make your villain cartoonishly hate muggles and your heroes heroic muggleborns and then say your story is about being anti-racist when there are eight or so other demographics your main character discriminates against, mistreats, misunderstands, or ignores entirely without narrative consequences. That’s just a story about discrimination being good with a shoddy Halloween costume on to trick the easily distracted.

The story my sister told me, the one where Draco and Neville were friends? It was a story about change and growth. It was a story about how someone’s dogged insistence on kindness could reveal that even the apparent nastiest of people were actually just as human as everyone else; that they too had fears and flaws and loves and strengths, that they too wanted love and respect and affection. It was a story where the good guys were kind, and it made a difference; it taught the misguided about the truth, brought the fallen into the fold. It made whole what was broken and gave second chances to those who felt discarded by the world.

It was, and I cannot stress this enough, absolutely nothing like the books JKR actually wrote.

.

Edit: a commenter mentioned two things I wanna address, the first of which being Harry’s status as a half blood. This is true! I forgot about it :/ I don’t think it changes the point I was making about the story, but it’s good to bring up as I did forget. And second, Remus’s being a werewolf is an allegory for AIDS: I did not know this at all! Thank you for telling me, that’s actually really cool and makes a lot of sense, I don’t know why I didn’t pick up on it. I think that might make things worse though. Like…. That takes the fandom’s confusion over how Remus’s character was treated from ‘frustrated that this allegory doesn’t seem to make sense’ to ‘holy crap you did that on purpose what the heck-‘ so….. yeah. Thank you for telling me op! If anyone knows of any references or information about the different things the characters represent in this story please let me know?

[desi-yearning]

Every 19th November has its 29th June.

Bittersweet. That’s the word I had been using to describe the ODI World Cup 2023. I'd use the same to describe this T20 World Cup 2024 too. But for reasons that are poles apart.

Very few people would know and understand how much this win means to me. 19th November has done some irreparable damage, I’ve had breakdowns for months about this, wrote poems that’ll never see the light (or you’ll never know it was written about this), but most importantly, I had given up hope, completely. This one compares nothing to that world cup but this brought back the hope to me that life won’t be as good as I want it to be, but maybe it won’t be as bad as I thought it would be.

I’ve grown up. I turned 18 this month and I also had to begin saying goodbye to my hero. From defending Virat in classrooms, carrying his pictures in my bag to defending Virat on online platforms yesterday and having a poster of him in my room, I’ve come a long way with him as an idol. I know that he is going to play the other formats but this is the beginning of a series of goodbyes. I’m not ready for this. I don’t think I’ll ever be too. I love him beyond expression.

Rohit. I still do not get how people who like Virat do not like Rohit. How can you *not* like Rohit? Rohit had been one of the players I liked previously but when cricket came back to me after a few years, he came back to me stronger. Rohit started to mean so much to me especially after seeing him embrace his ‘Bhaiya’ role in the best way possible. I’ve written so much about him in the last few months, maybe more than I’ve ever written about Virat. I love him so much.

Jasprit Bumrah. The only God I believe in. The game changer. The point of difference. I could write an entire book about how amazing he is and that'll still be less. That man is the sole reason behind me starting to watch the bowling innings too. And now, I'll gladly admit that I enjoy the bowling innings more than the batting one. All because of one man, the man, the myth, the legend.

So many moments yesterday that brought me tears but nothing compares to seeing Hardik cry and talk about it all. I'm so proud to have never trolled that man for whatever has happened, it's a flex to say that I've defended him during that time. People put him through so much and I think he was the one of the people who deserved this win the most. He's a gem.

I could go on and write paras about every single one in this team. All of them are phenomenal and like Rohit and Rahul say, they played their roles exceptionally well. How Sky’s catch changed the winning probability, Arshdeep’s last over, Axar’s contribution with the bat, Kuldeep throughout the tournament. I couldn't be anymore grateful to this team for making this day possible.

It was an insane game. One of the greatest comebacks ever. I’m glad to have never stopped believing in this team. They’ve done what felt impossible at one point. This is a story I’ll tell people for generations to come. I feel so blessed to be supporting and cheering for a team like this and having the good fortune of having watched it live on a screen. I’ll never shut up about this. I’ve witnessed history.

This was my first world cup win ever since the time I started watching cricket. I still don’t think there was a specific someone who got me into cricket, this game just happened to me. And I’m so glad it did because I cannot imagine my life without cricket playing one of the biggest parts in it. Most of my best and worst memories are from watching cricket. If I had to divide my life into phases, it'd always be using cricket. Thank you Team India for all these memories. I will love you forever.

This one’s for my Tumblr people. I love each and every single one of you all so much. I was watching the match all alone in my room but yet I felt like I was celebrating with everyone else with all the live-blogging that we did. Celebrating with people is still a big dream for me as I always watch the matches alone and no one in my house really cares. But you guys made it possible, partially at least. I don’t think I’d have enjoyed the match as much as I did if not for you, my dear Tumblr mutuals. So, a big thank you to you too! <3

Love, A.

[laineystein]

Came for Selichot. Stayed because I’m tired.

Anyone else awake? How’s everyone doing? Anyone else just trying to keep it together but a weird mix of sad and angry?

My heart hurts.

[ladyyatexel]

😬

[ali-da-demon]

chat what?

I think I might be gender fluid. It seems right. Sometimes I heavily want to look like a pretty girl, then other times I want to look just like my older brother. Then other times I want to be a rotting walking corpse. Also came to this conclusion bc I like it when people say/use he/him pronouns (I really like it and I found it weird that I did at first) and I don’t really mind people using they/them pronouns (my school father usually used they/them pronouns for me)

would appreciate it if any of y’all would use he/him, and they/them pronouns along with she/her whenever y’all feel like it :)

sorry if this is a lot, you don’t have to do anything for this if you don’t want to and only use she/her pronouns for me if you rather do that.