#tom riddle snr

[capriddle]

I really think that Voldemort (the one we read about in Half-Blood Prince) is a very interesting and complex villain. We are shown a broken child with a dangerous temper and fine intelligence. This child sees his few certainties crumble but new ones build quickly. He ends up in a world he doesn't know, in the most racist house, and discovers that he is the heir of the founding Lord of that house. From nothing he discovers that he has the nobility of his mother and then the muggle one of his father. Tom breaks down, deceives and then gets back on his feet several times, trying to belong to his two families involuntarily and yet desperately trying to distance himself from the normality of his father and the squalor of his mother. He has his father's face and ways, his mother's magical power and parseltongue. He has great potential but, despite his coldness, he lets himself be overcome by anger.

[ashesandhackles]

For @hprecfest Day 1: A favorite fic under 5k words

A wilder beast from West than all were by eldritcher

Mature. Rufus Scrimgeour/Andromeda Black Tonks

This fic has me in a chokehold and I will take every opportunity to rec it. Myth of Andromeda breakdown, social commentary and everything else in this restrained, beautiful prose.

Summary:

Scrimgeour investigates the myth of Andromeda.

2. The Snow Child by @saintsenara

Merope Gaunt/ Tom Riddle Snr.

My first introduction to Asenora was this fantastic (and vastly underrated among her work) folklore horror!

Summary:

Once upon a time, there was a girl who wished for a child with hair as black as a raven's wing, and skin as white as snow, and eyes as red as blood.

3. Runaway Boys by Delphi

Delightfully surreal and strange fic of Snape experiencing his puberty, with characters from Peter Pan.

Summary:

Severus dreams of pirates, and Lily closes the nursery window.

4. Entracte by @shes-a-gryffindor

Sirius' visit to Godric Hollow the night Lily and James died - the prose is so masterful with building tension, and how it seamlessly moves from Sirius' anxiety, to shock to grief and to rage.

Summary:

Sirius Black visits Godric's Hollow for the last time.

[wookiecookiesfactory]

hold on, didnt merope literally date-rape tom's dad? with the love potion? is ur art in an au, or????

I have always been open about how the au is simply a merope lives/voldemort reborns AU, everything else previously is the same, as this au requires tom jr to be there and I simply dont think that tom snr would engage with merope willingly lol and I dont feel like whitewashing merope, it erases part what I think its interesting abt her character, that she commited a terrible crime that one cant sugarcoat, much like her son.

Its abt voldemort having a new chance and merope redemption (even when I dont think merope can ever make it up to her victim, directly) as person, If that makes you uncomfortable I totally get it.

[slytherinshalo]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 & 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐁

parts: 𝐈, 𝐈𝐈, 𝐈𝐈𝐈

「 𖤐 MORANA 𖤐 」

𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑, me and tom have grown closer, and I think I like him like, like him like him, and I might be thinking to much into it but I think he likes me too, we’ve been going on dates a lot too.

He’s even taking me with him on family trips, we’ve been all over Europe and I can say it’s been the best time of my life, i’ve never been this happy before and I don’t want it to end.

𝐀 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐘𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋, he asked be to be his date to the yule ball, me and the girls are going to go dress shopping soon, I can’t wait, I wonder if he’ll like the dress I pick, will he like the dress on me, maybe I shouldn’t go all the other girls will probably look way prettier than me, maybe he’ll even ditch me for one of them.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐘𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋, merlin I look horrendous in this dress I why did I buy it. Tom will definitely ditch me tonight salazar i’m so stupid for think he would actually like me. as I walk downstairs the stairs to the common room I see him talking to our friends, james then nudge Tom and he looks at me, merlin I think i’m gonna throw up.

「 𖤐 TOM 𖤐 」

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐘𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋, salazar slytherin she looks so beautiful, no she looks divine in that dress, I watched as she walked down the stairs, I got up to greet her, meeting her at the end of the stairs I take her hand kissing the back of it, keeping eye contact with her while doing so. I noticed she’s wearing the bracelet I got her two days ago it looks so beautiful against her skin.

I have to do it tonight, I have to ask her to be my girlfriend, I hope she accepts, I’ve been in love with her since second year, before I even knew what was happening to her, before I saw the blue and purple bruises, before I saw the various size cuts, I only saw a girl who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

the moment the doors opened and we walked down the stairs all eyes were on us, I grabbed her hand rubbing my thumb up and down it to calm her nerves, since I know she’s not the biggest fan of large crowds.

as the night went on we danced together, to say she looked beautiful would be a understatement, the whole night I couldn’t take me eyes off of her. But she looked like something was bothering her and I couldn’t help but ask her, “little lamb what’s on that pretty mind of yours?”, she looked at me then looked way “I just-i” “take your time love” I say while moving a lose strain of hair. “I feel like you don’t like how I look in this dress, you probably want to ditch me for some other girl”

I looked at her before pulling her close, something she only lets me do. “Little lamb you look so divine in this dress, and I would never leave you for another girl, I wanted to come here with you tonight because I don’t want anyone else but you, morana” she stopped dancing and just started at me, oh merlin I think I just messed up shit.

「 𖤐 MORANA 𖤐 」

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐘𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋, did he just- did he just confess that he likes me.. holy salazar slytherin he did, ok ok morana calm down keep cool just tell him how you feel back.

“I- Tom-I like you too, and I’m sorry if my overthinking ruined the night for you I didn’t mean to I swear-“ he cut me off before I could start rambling thankfully, “morana, you didn’t ruined the mood, my love you could never do that” as the night went on we danced until my feet started hurting, me and tom sat and talked until the late night and we had to go back to our common rooms.

No way he just fucking carried me to my dorm room and took off my heals, undid my hair and removed my makeup, hell he even undid my dress and ran me a bath and carried me to my bathroom. He didn’t even protest when I told him I would be fine and he didn’t need to stay in the bathroom with me. Once I was done I was getting into my bed I heard a knock on my door, going to see who it was.

「 𖤐 TOM 𖤐 」

𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐘𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋, I can’t believe I actually did it, bloody hell she’s-she’s my girlfriend morana gaunts is my girlfriend. After pulling myself together I went to her dorm.

“I wanted to see if I could possibly stay here with you tonight, if you’re comfortable with that”I anxiously waited for her answer. “Sure yea I’m comfortable with that”

One more part after this

© 𝐬𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐨 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒. do not copy, translate or claim any of my writing or works as your own.

[curioushabitforarivergod]

I LOVE the historical context you add to tom riddle meta. im curious. at that time how important and wealthy would tom riddle sr likely have been? i.e. how nice was the life that Tom missed out on by growing up in the orphanage instead of with his dad?

Omg thanks so much!

We don't actually know much about the Riddles. They likely lived in Yorkshire, Lancashire, or the very west of Cornwall (200 miles from Surrey as per Goblet of Fire), but I think it's more likely they lived in the North, specifically in Yorkshire. The Riddle's name is probably locational rather than profession based, and from a village called Ryedale in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It was probably mutated over time because spelling wasn't standardised or even close to standardisation when last names were beginning to become a thing (roughly 11th century in Britain).

Okay, now the reason I went into that is because I believe the Riddles were the big guys back in the day (by which I mean late medieval period c. 1100s until the late 1500s) and were the kind of wealthy landowners who employed serfdom potentially even past the Peasant's Revolt of 1381. I know a lot of people place them as merchants who made money from trade but based on their name and location (Yorkshire is famous for its sheep) I think it's more likely they were landowners. They probably had pretty solid generational wealth, potentially even being landed gentry (a class of gentry who made their money on leasing land and known as lords of the manor), although I'm fairly certain they lost most of this later. I don't think they ever were part of the peerage (the level above gentry in the British aristocracy who hold hereditary titles) but gentry usually married into peerage and vis versa so they were likely quite connected despite never being "Lords" themselves. They got their name through their association with the village as the big whigs.

Even if the Riddles had kept up serfdom for a century or so after the Peasants Revolt (entirely plausible), serfdom was abolished by Elizabeth I in 1574. Whenever they stopped working as part of the feudal system, I don't think it had major impacts on their wealth. Like I mentioned above, they were probable landed gentry, making their money by leasing out land and still profiting off the lower classes.

With the Industrial Revolution and the Agricultural Depression of the 1870s, I think they would've lost quite a bit of money, potentially even their place as landed gentry. They would've still been quite rich, but their wealth was probably in decline and they had to look elsewhere. Maybe they never succeeded in this.

The thing is, we know next to nothing about the Riddles and the family we see through Tom Riddle's eyes is one that's lost status and connections because of the scandal of Riddle Snr. having run off with Merope without being married and (rumours have it!) having a child out of wedlock. The Riddle family probably declined economically with WWII (and to a lesser extent WWI) as well, although they never got a chance to really see the era through properly due to their… untimely deaths.

I think if Tom had been raised by the Riddles, they may not have fallen so far, providing Riddle Snr. married Merope before her death, or at least had falsified documents that he did. Tom would've still grown up in declining wealth, but more than enough money still to not have to work. Life for Tom would've been far better, what without starvation, disease, poverty and later, bombs and would've remain largely untouched by the war. The Great Depression wouldn't have it so hard, and Tom, not being surrounded by so much death, would've been fundamentally altered. I'm not sure what the Riddle's reaction to Tom being magic would've been like, but I'll leave that to any writers. All in all, Tom missed out on a far better life.

Thank you so much for the ask! It really made my day!!

[mauveberries]

common consensus is that voldemort got his magical power from the gaunt line, but i have a headcanon that he got his capability to kill from the riddles.

merope wasn't a murderer, even if she easily could have been. she was abused and taken advantage of by her father and brother, yet all she did was endure. she didn't poison them, even if she was good at potions (good enough to make strong doses of amortentia) she didn't kill them in their sleep with a venomous snake (even though she could speak parseltongue) and she didn't turn vengeful and kill tom riddle snr. when he left her (whether it's because she loved him too much, or if she even tried, it is unknown).

morfin wasn't a killer, either. all he did was attack muggles, even though he could have easily killed them. he thought jinxing and hexing was funny, and didn't do any lasting damage. other than, well, painful hives.

and, like, marvolo wouldn't stoop that low to go out and look for muggles to kill, because he thinks them filthy and unworthy of his time.

but the riddles? oh, the rich, posh, snobby neighbours in that town? the family that was infamously disliked? you cannot tell me they don't have a kill count. they probably owned several guns, and voldemort's paternal grandfather probably worked in the army. it was war time, too, so he would have had experience with callously killing people.

like, the chances of the riddles murdering people are much higher when compared to the chances of the gaunts murdering people.

and then, boy oh boy, tom riddle jr. came along...

[severus-snaps]

'Mudblood' and Muggle-borns

back again with some late-to-the-party observations that I want to talk about (ah, the perils of becoming obsessed with snape in 2024)

So, I think by now that most people are aware of this tweet and/or the idea that it wasn't just Muggle-borns, but half-bloods as well, who were called 'Mudbloods' by blood supremacists:

And I don't know about anyone else, but I took this with a grain of salt because JKR is known to... make statements sometimes, some more realistic within her own canon than others.

I know that some people (on Quora especially, but probably elsewhere) outright claim that JKR said this to make Snape's use of 'Mudblood' in SWM 'more acceptable' or less bad or something because the term applied to him, too, and not just Muggle-borns - and literally until today, I thought the same. Now don't get me wrong, I love Snape and will usually jump at any chance to make his backstory and characterisation more complicated and sympathetic. I felt almost that JK was sort of... backtracking, because in the series we only see people use 'Mudblood' against Muggle-borns, with Hermione and Draco the most frequently seen Muggle-born and blood supremacist (respectively) in the series.

So I've rounded up a few examples where Mudblood is arguably used against people who are not Muggle-born.

We're first introduced to the term "Mudblood" in CoS:

The smug look on Malfoy’s face flickered. “No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood,” he spat.

Ron describes the term shortly afterwards as follows:

"Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born — you know, non-magic parents"

And that is how we see Draco use it most often, to refer to Muggle-borns (most notably Hermione). But it has been used on others who are probably not Muggleborn.

Exhibit A: Bob Ogden

Over to Potter-Search I go, searching 'Mudblood' - only to find someone called Bob Ogden. Now, having not read the later books in quite some time I had no idea initially who Bob Ogden was, so I head over to the wiki page. For those of you like me who haven't read the later books in a while, Ogden appeared in one of Dumbledore and Harry's trips into the Pensieve:

Bob Ogden (fl. 1925) was a British wizard who worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, a department of the Ministry of Magic, and led the Magical Law Enforcement Squad in the 1920s. As part of his duties, he once visited the Gaunt Shack, as the Department believed that Morfin Gaunt had not only performed magic in front of a Muggle but also accosted that Muggle, Tom Riddle Snr, and performed a dark charm on him.

Marvolo Gaunt, Morfin's father, asks him this:

“Are you pure-blood?” [Gaunt] asked, suddenly aggressive. “That’s neither here nor there,” said Ogden coldly, and Harry felt his respect for Ogden rise. Apparently Gaunt felt rather differently. He squinted into Ogden’s face and muttered, in what was clearly supposed to be an offensive tone, “Now I come to think about it, I’ve seen noses like yours down in the village.” “I don’t doubt it, if your son’s been let loose on them,” said Ogden.

Harry I think interprets this interaction as a Pureblood/Half-Blood Ogden rejecting Pureblood/blood supremacist ideology. Personally, I'm more inclined to think he's being cagey because he has definite Muggle ancestry, but we just don't know. I suppose it doesn't really matter. And then:

“So!” said Gaunt triumphantly, as though he had just proved a complicated point beyond all possible dispute. “Don’t you go talking to us as if we’re dirt on your shoes! Generations of purebloods, wizards all — more than you can say, I don’t doubt!” ... “Mr. Gaunt,” said Ogden doggedly, “I am afraid that neither your ancestors nor mine have anything to do with the matter in hand. I am here because of Morfin, Morfin and the Muggle he accosted late last night.

And finally:

“And you think we’re scum, do you?” screamed Gaunt, advancing on Ogden now, with a dirty yellow-nailed finger pointing at his chest. “Scum who’ll come running when the Ministry tells ’em to? Do you know who you’re talking to, you filthy little Mudblood, do you?” “I was under the impression that I was speaking to Mr. Gaunt,” said Ogden, looking wary, but standing his ground.

On the Wiki page, under Ogden's blood status, I find this interesting note:

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 10 (The House of Gaunt) Ogden is shown wearing "the strange assortment of clothes so often chosen by inexperienced wizards trying to look like Muggles," which indicates that he was not Muggle-born, as a Muggle-born would have at least some experience with putting together a Muggle outfit.

The outfit in question was described as a "frock coat and spats over a striped one-piece bathing costume". I know shit all about clothes, so I had to google a frock coat, and here's some examples (conveniently also featuring spats on the feet in the first image); and also a one-piece bathing suit (vintage, since it was the 1920s and I'm assuming a men's):

[Images from Lily Absinthe, State Library of Victoria and vintag.es]

What a look. Deliberate in its farcicality. So... no, even the most out-of-touch Muggleborn in the 1920s probably wouldn't put that together in combination, because even assuming he was like 100 or something (seeing as he died at some stage before the events of HBP), I don't think a Muggleborn with two Muggle parents could've been that out of the loop on Muggle clothing to confuse swimwear for casual daywear.

Ogden is, obviously then, of magical enough heritage not to have any idea how to dress like a Muggle. And yet here he was, in my 'Mudblood' search. Admittedly, that might only be a generation or so removed; Tonks is also clearly clueless:

“Very clean, aren’t they, these Muggles?” said the witch called Tonks, who was looking around the kitchen with great interest. “My dad’s Muggle-born and he’s a right old slob. I suppose it varies, just like with wizards?”

Marvolo's comment about Ogden's nose also can be taken several ways; a jab/joke about the pus nose curse that Ogden's just had put on him by Morfin, or a real, thinly veiled accusation of Ogden having Muggle heritage (possibly the same as those in the surrounding villages). For his own safety, if Ogden was indeed Pureblood, he probably should've said so (for all the good it might have done him).

At any rate, Ogden obviously, whatever his family history, is 'wizard' enough to not know how to blend with Muggles - he's definitely not Muggleborn himself. If he did have Muggle heritage, which makes him a dubiously-named half-blood (dubious in that "half-blood" more or less refers to anyone who isn't 'Pureblood' or 'Muggleborn' rather than indicating a half-and-half split), it's likely to have been a grandparent or something, if not further removed (do we see Tonks struggle to wear Muggle clothes? I can't remember. I vaguely remember McGonagall wearing a Muggle dress, and she's supposed to be half-blood - but she's not described as looking odd for what she's wearing but I got more of the impression that Harry found it odd to see her out of the ususal robes she wears at Hogwarts).

Anyway, the real point of it is that it doesn't matter how magical Ogden is, because he is marked out as not Muggle-born by his clothes, and yet he still gets called a Mudblood. Gaunt wasn't necessarily suggesting Ogden's parents hadn't been a witch and a wizard, but that overall he had a bit more Muggle in him than a wizard should have (which, according to Gaunt, is none).

It's worth noting that the Gaunts were a family "noted for a vein of instability", possibly as a result of consistently marrying their cousins, so perhaps only their view on 'Mudblood' is anyone who isn't a Pureblood. And, of course, they are the proud, cousin-marrying descendents of Salazar Slytherin, who "started all this pure-blood stuff", and so were likely especially zealous about who 'counted' as Pure:

"They [Hogwarts founders] built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution." (Binns, CoS) "Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy." (Binns, CoS)

Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those Whose ancestry is purest." (Sorting Hat, OotP)

In any case, this is the strongest example of a dedicated blood supremacist calling someone with any suspected (real or otherwise) Muggle heritage a Mudblood.

Exhibit B: Walburga Black

Walburga Black was Sirius Black's mother, a proud pureblood supremacist, and she thought that Voldemort had the 'right idea' about things. Her portrait at Grimmauld Place calls the inhabitants of her house "filth" "creatures of dirt*", "scum", "stains of dishonour", and "mudbloods".

"MUDBLOODS! SCUM! CREATURES OF DIRT*!" “Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers — ” "Mudbloods, filth, stains of dishonor, taint of shame on the house of my fathers!"

* Creatures of dirt is apparently another word/turn of phrase for Mudblood, according to the wiki.

Obviously the portrait is screaming and overexcited, and not especially prone to nuance, but it does seem to be calling multiple people in the house Mudbloods - when, in theory, only Hermione would fit that description. Walburga is also capable of distinguishing between different people and offering specific insults, such as to Sirius:

“Yoooou!” she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of the man. “Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!”

Andromeda Tonks (nee Black) was blasted off of the Black family tapestry by Walburga for marrying a Muggleborn:

[Sirius] pointed to another small round burn mark between two names, Bellatrix and Narcissa. “Andromeda’s sisters are still here because they made lovely, respectable pure-blood marriages, but Andromeda married a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks, so — ” Sirius mimed blasting the tapestry with a wand and laughed sourly.

I expect having an actual Muggle in the family (aka an actual half-and-half Half-Blood) would've been seen as just as bad, if not worse, than marrying a Muggleborn to dedicated blood purists.

But in any case, with an Order primarily made up of Pureblood blood traitors (e.g. Weasleys, Sirius, Moody) and Half-Bloods (generally consisting of at least two magical parents like Harry, Tonks, and Dumbledore), and one Muggleborn (Hermione), Walburga just calls them all Mudbloods.

I'm also curious, as Hagrid wasn't there at 12 Grimmauld Place and a werewolf isn't technically a half-breed (but is sometimes conceptualised as such e.g. by Umbridge and her ilk), whether Walburga calls half-bloods "half-breeds", or whether she was yelling more generally at Lupin. Perhaps Muggles are "a different creature" in her eyes. We know that this line of thinking isn't uncommon:

"We’ve all got to listen to [whichever DE was in charge of Muggle Studies in DH] explain how Muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty..." (Neville, DH)

Exhibit C: Penelope Clearwater

Examples start to get a bit more sparse and interpretive from here on out.

In Chamber of Secrets, Voldemort describes the people petrified as Mudbloods:

“Haven’t you guessed yet, Harry Potter?” said Riddle softly. “Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib’s cat.”

The "four Mudbloods" in question were:

Colin Creevy

Justin Finch-Fletchley (with Nearly-Headless Nick as collatoral damage)

Hermione Granger, and

Penelope Clearwater

But we're not certain that they're all Muggleborn. In CoS, Justin is confirmed; he was headed to Eton and was waiting for Harry (the supposed Heir of Slytherin) to attack him in CoS for being Muggleborn. Colin is confirmed; "I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad’s a milkman...", and Hermione is obvious.

And then there's Penelope. Unlike the other confirmed Muggle-borns, we don't hear much about her, apart from the fact that she's Percy's girlfriend and probably likes Quidditch; but Hermione uses her as her 'cover' when the Trio gets caught by Snatchers in Deathly Hallows:

“Penelope Clearwater,” said Hermione. She sounded terrified, but convincing. “What’s your blood status?” “Half-blood,” said Hermione.

And the note about it on the Wiki says:

However, it is possible that the fourth Muggle-born in addition to Colin, Hermione, and Justin (who are all definitively identified as Muggle-borns at some point) was Nearly-Headless Nick, and that Penelope was simply petrified because she was with Hermione when she encountered the Basilisk. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 23 (Malfoy Manor), Hermione posed as Penelope when under interrogation by Snatchers, and claimed to be half-blood. Although, Hermione may have only lied about Penelope's blood status because mentioning she's Muggle-born would have possibly made things worse.

To me it seems unlikely that Voldemort would set the Basilisk on a ghost. It also seems unlikely that, after Harry has offered up "Vernon Dudley" as his name (more on that in a moment), and Ron has called himself first Stan Shunpike and then Barney Weasley, that Hermione would choose someone who she knew wasn't going to be a safe bet. Snatchers are "gangs trying to earn gold by rounding up Muggle-borns and blood traitors", so why offer a name that's likely to be on their list of Muggle-borns? It's also possible that it was just the first name she thought of, then lied about the blood status; but given that Hermione and Penelope would have woken up in the hospital wing together at the end of the events of CoS, it may well have come up in discussion.

And then there's this:

“You checked their names on the list yet, Scabior?” he roared. “Yeah. There’s no Vernon Dudley on ’ere, Greyback.”

So, the list is being checked by the Snatchers to see if the 'disguised' Trio are "wanted" - aka if they are Muggleborns/blood traitors/truants. I doubt they even checked Ron's name since the Weasleys are well-known blood traitors, but they picked up on Vernon Dudley not being a real name, and their list certainly seems to include Muggleborns, since they say they've captured a "Mudblood (presumably Dean Thomas), a runaway goblin, and three truants (the Trio)". Yet they don't mention Penelope.

So, Penelope was not on their list, and if it hadn't been for the Snatchers recognising Hermione in the paper, they might have gotten away with it. Maybe Penelope was Muggleborn and "presented herself for interrogation", which is something that Ron mentions Hermione hasn't done earlier in the book, and therefore that's why Penelope wasn't on the list - or that Penelope is not Muggleborn, but Half-Blood, and she got called a Mudblood in CoS anyway.

(Yes, JK probably forgot - but I'm sticking in-universe).

Exhibit D: The Muggle-Born Registration Commission

“Will the old hag [Umbridge] be interrogating Mudbloods all day, does anyone know?”

Shortly followed by:

“No, no, I’m half-blood, I’m half-blood, I tell you! My father was a wizard, he was, look him up, Arkie Alderton, he’s a well-known broomstick designer, look him up, I tell you — get your hands off me, get your hands off—” “This is your final warning,” said Umbridge’s soft voice, magically magnified so that it sounded clearly over the man’s desperate screams. “If you struggle, you will be subjected to the Dementor’s Kiss.” The man’s screams subsided, but dry sobs echoed through the corridor. “Take him away,” said Umbridge. Two dementors appeared in the doorway of the courtroom, their rotting, scabbed hands clutching the upper arms of a wizard who appeared to be fainting. They glided away down the corridor with him, and the darkness they trailed behind them swallowed him from sight.

So, the Muggle-Born Registration Commission was supposed to be rounding up, interrogating and imprisoning Muggle-borns, but arguably was also rounding up (and referring to) possible half-bloods, too. The same possibly happened to Dean Thomas, a half-blood (according to his official page) mistaken for a Muggle-born, as he had no record of his wizard father.

“Muggle-born, eh?” asked the first man. “Not sure,” said Dean. “My dad left my mum when I was a kid. I’ve got no proof he was a wizard, though.”

Summary of Exhibits

So, we've seen half-blood-or-more Bob Ogden and potentially half-blood Penelope Clearwater be referred to as Mudbloods by Gaunts/Voldemort. We've seen an entire house of people of different magical heritage between them, all collectively called Mudbloods by Walburga Black. And we've seen some random Ministry witch call a whole collection of (assumed but not confirmed) Muggle-born wizards and witches Mudbloods.

I think what we can gather from this is that the distinction between half-blood and Muggle-born hardly matters to some blood supremacists. If you're a Pureblood supremacist, anyone who isn't Pure is, obviously, impure. Arguably, "Mudblood" wasn't always strictly about being Muggleborn; it's about 'impure' heritage. The stronger examples (Bob Ogden, Walburga Black) are older examples; Voldemort and Walburga's generation (born ~1920s) and even before (Marvolo's generation had an even more ambiguous use). I think it's safe to say that the meaning of the word may have evolved or tightened by the time Harry is in school to primarily refer to Muggleborns, but obviously that's a matter of opinion;

Silent Half-Bloods in the Hierarchy of Pureblood Supremacy

Wizarding society is sort of divided into Pureblood, Half-blood, Muggle-borns, Muggles, and... Squibs, somewhere.

Obviously, in an ideal pureblood society, Purebloods are at the top:

[Sirius' parents] "thought Voldemort had the right idea, they were all for the purification of the Wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having purebloods in charge." (Sirius, OotP) "For years [Regulus] talked of the Dark Lord, who was going to bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns..." (Kreacher, DH)

Setting aside the knowledge for a moment that Voldemort was half-blood, and instead perceiving him as the Pureblood he pretended to be, this is what he touted, and this is what his Pureblood followers from the "ancient and noble" families like the Malfoys and the Blacks aspired to.

So indisputably, here excluding for brevity's sake the complexities of intelligent nonhumans/magical beings and 'half-breeds' (being its own meta that's probably been written somewhere), Muggles are at the bottom of a blood supremacist's list. Muggles and Muggle-borns are seen as a threat to Wizarding society, and as (potentially dangerous) outsiders. We can see it in the explanation given (quoted somewhere way, way above) about Salazar Slytherin's reasonings; it started with mistrust, as Muggles in the early days were persecuting wizards.

This mistrust (and disgust) obviously was kept alive and well in Tom/Voldemort/blood supremacists: "I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch?" (Voldemort, CoS).

But it's also an element of exclusionary attitude; Muggle-borns have grown up outside of magical culture, which we can see reflected in the first interaction between Draco and Harry in PS:

“But they were our kind, weren’t they?” “They were a witch and wizard, if that’s what you mean.” “I really don’t think they should let the other sort in, do you? They’re just not the same, they’ve never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What’s your surname, anyway?”

It'll come as a surprise to literally nobody that the problem as blood supremacists see it is that Muggles, and by extension Muggle-borns, as well as being outsiders, are viewed as dirty/disgusting, and common. In CoS, post slug-heaving, Ron describes "Mudblood" as meaning:

"Dirty blood, see. Common blood".

We see these descriptors a lot in the series. Gaunt describes Merope as a "dirty Squib", "disgusting little Squib" and a "filthy little blood traitor" (and she's a Pureblood witch, albeit struggling with her powers); and in CoS of course Voldemort calls his father "a foul, common Muggle". We also see throughout the books "Mudblood filth", and "filthy little Mudblood" in particular reference to Muggle-borns such as Hermione and Lily (and to Bob Ogden).

[Side note: I have seen some arguments that say 'filthy' is sometimes used in the series instead of the word 'fucking', e.g. "that fucking Mudblood" - but obviously it's a kid's series, so the word was replaced. I think it could work in terms of this replacement in some contexts, but I'm not sure that was the purpose. Filthy just means disgustingly dirty, and has an interesting extra context from the etymology I just found out:

filthy (adj.) late 12c., fulthe, "corrupt, sinful," from filth + -y (2). Meaning "physically unclean, dirty, noisome" is from late 14c. Meaning "morally dirty, obscene" is from 1530s.

You can get a sense of a more 'moral' objection in the later books, e.g. Neville discussing their Muggle Studies during the events of DH:

We’ve all got to listen to her explain how Muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty, and how they drove wizards into hiding by being vicious toward them, and how the natural order is being reestablished.

And especially this, from Voldemort:

"Not content with corrupting and polluting the minds of Wizarding children, last week Professor Burbage wrote an impassioned defense of Mudbloods in the Daily Prophet. Wizards, she says, must accept these thieves of their knowledge and magic. The dwindling of the purebloods is, says Professor Burbage, a most desirable circumstance. … She would have us all mate with Muggles …"

I feel like there's a few points to be made about this quote.

First, obviously Voldemort has the DEs convinced that he's also Pureblood; he's the Heir of Slytherin after all, the Dark Lord, greatest wizard of all time, etc. Even Harry telling Bellatrix that Voldemort was half-blood at the end of OotP hasn't made a difference. (And why would it? Question or defy him and he'll kill your whole family and make you watch, probably).

Second, we can see also in the Muggle-Born Registration Commission chapter, where Umbridge asks Mary Cattermole where she stole her wand from, that Muggle-borns are accused of somehow... stealing magic?

"Nevertheless, unless you can prove that you have at least one close Wizarding relative, you are now deemed to have obtained your magical power illegally and must suffer the punishment."

Anyway, I think there's another point here, one I can't quite reach with my brain. The quote starts with viewing ostensibly only Muggleborns as the issue; as the thieves of knowledge. But Voldemort's point ends up with the disparaging of half-bloods (as they're the wizarding 'type' to arise from Muggle-Magical Mating™️). That's nothing to do with Muggle-borns at all.

But we hear next to nothing about half-bloods, despite their having Muggle and/or Muggle-born heritage; the same heritage described so often as dirty, disgusting, and filthy. We hear more outrage about blood traitors, Pureblood families who sympathise with Muggles or Muggle-borns: "blood traitors are as bad as the Mudbloods", "Blood traitor is next to Mudblood in my book", and wizards/witches who are tolerant of Muggles are called "Muggle-lovers". (I hesitate even to say that 'Muggle-tolerant wizards' like, support, or even accept Muggles - because even Muggle 'tolerant' wizards (e.g. like Hagrid and the Weasleys), the Order and the like, the allies to the "champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles, Albus Dumbledore", also look down on Muggles to an extent, but I digress again).

The only disparaging references I could find to half-bloods were Bellatrix to Harry:

"You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood’s tongue, you dare -" " — He stands there — filthy half-blood —"

And one about Mundungus:

“That mangy old half-blood has been stealing Black heirlooms?” said Phineas Nigellus, incensed.

In the few examples we see, they're subject to the same dehumanising, dirty/disgusting and animal comparisons as "Mudbloods" and Squibs.

But there are few examples. The lack of attention paid to half-bloods is probably, in part because of the dwindling population of Purebloods:

"Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn’t married Muggles we’d’ve died out." (Ron, CoS) “If you’re only going to let your sons and daughters marry purebloods your choice is very limited, there are hardly any of us left.” (Sirius, OotP)

Half-bloods are accepted purely by necessity, because unlike Muggle-borns they do have magical lineage to draw on, and because there aren't enough Purebloods left. It's for the same reason that blood traitors are allowed to keep on being traitors but aren't punished to the same degree as Muggle-borns, per this note from the wiki:

"They don’t want to spill too much pure blood, so they’ll torture us a bit if we’re mouthy but they won’t actually kill us.” Given this statement, as well as the fact that the Weasleys were only in direct danger after Ron Weasley's help of Harry Potter was revealed to the Death Eaters, it seems that they were hesitant to kill blood traitors unless they were very rebellious.

Half-bloods sort of escape the Pureblood rhetoric entirely, between these reasons and being the most common type of witch or wizard. The term “half-blood” is ambiguous, and practically meaningless, after all; it refers to anyone with one Muggle parent (like Seamus Finnegan; Severus Snape), or anyone with one Muggle-born parent (like Harry, Tonks), and (I'm not sure if we learn this in the books, but) it also applies if you have a Muggle or Muggle-born grandparent, and presumably any recent traceable Muggle or Muggle-born lineage.

While half-bloods do have 'impure' Muggle ancestry, they are often viewed through the lens of their magical parentage, which can sometimes afford them a degree of acceptance or a different (almost nonexistant) level of scrutiny. In the hierarchy of blood purity, they are less offensive to purists compared to Muggle-borns, but not as esteemed as pure-bloods.

Sort of absent but for different reasons are Squibs. In broad terms, Squibs are generally more likely to be straight up ignored or disregarded, in contrast to the outright hatred and contempt directed toward Muggleborns and Muggles - the issue is a relation to non-magical Muggles, rather than magical skill itself. Because Squibs have magical ancestry, perhaps they fare slightly 'better' within this belief system. Of course, I expect it's all interrelated and decidedly more nuanced (as are all systems of prejudice/oppression), but as I say - in broad terms. Filch liked to help Umbridge, after all - like so many others in wizarding society (and wider, real-life society), his acceptance was conditional, and arguably based on either pity or what he could bring to the table.

In a similar way, being half-blood is only 'advantageous' when magical heritage can be proven and played upon - like Voldemort; like Umbridge:

“That’s — that’s pretty, Dolores,” she said, pointing at the pendant gleaming in the ruffled folds of Umbridge’s blouse. “What?” snapped Umbridge, glancing down. “Oh yes — an old family heirloom,” she said, patting the locket lying on her large bosom. “The S stands for Selwyn. … I am related to the Selwyns. … Indeed, there are few pure-blood families to whom I am not related...”

"It was Umbridge's lie that brought the blood surging into Harry's brain and obliterated his sense of caution; that [Slytherin's/Voldemort's] locket she had taken as a bribe from a petty criminal [Mundungus] was being used to bolster her own pure-blood credentials."

... and even like some Death Eaters probably do:

"The Death Eaters can’t all be pure-blood, there aren’t enough pure-blood wizards left," said Hermione stubbornly. "I expect most of them are half-bloods pretending to be pure." "I got this one," [Neville] indicated another slash to his face, "for asking [Carrow] how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got."

... and unlike the son of Arkie Alderton, the well-known broomstick designer, who got carted away by Dementors. Purebloods could and would just as easily turn on half-bloods.

"First they came for the Socialists…" as the poem goes. Muggles and Muggle-borns will be the first witches and wizards targeted, face the worst discrimination, but half-bloods too are only safe so long as they can prove themselves as 'magical enough', dedicated enough, or useful enough; and they'll never be magical enough for the likes of true believers.

Severus Snape: Mudblood?

I don't think it's a stretch, then, to say that some Purebloods did use the term "Mudblood" for people other than Muggle-borns. Unlike most of the half-bloods we see in the series, with two magical parents, Snape was actually the son of Tobias Snape, a Muggle, with a clearly Muggle name that sets him apart from the well-known and interconnected Pureblood families. As a student, and sometimes as an adult, Snape to some extent 'fit' the stereotypes of Muggles in that he would be perceived as common, dirty, and disgusting; throughout the series he's described as "greasy", with "yellow, uneven teeth"; he hails from Cokeworth, likely from a two-up-two-down house, described as though set in a Northern industrial area; he is scrawny, skinny, as a child wears mismatched clothes, and is likely neglected and grew up in poverty. (Contrast with Purebloods Sirius, who is regularly described as handsome, James, who had the "indefinable air of having been well cared for and even adored that Snape so conspicuously lacked", and the Malfoy family, who are also regularly described as being attractive).

If we use Draco as a benchmark for Slytherin Pureblood behaviour, then imagine how much worse Snape would be received; he's poorer than a Weasley, more Muggle than Harry Potter (and absolutely not the chosen one), and at least half as Muggle as Hermione. It's questionable whether Eileen Prince/Snape was herself even a Pureblood; whilst I was traversing for all the quotes here, Hermione talks about reading through Nature’s Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy, that "lists the pure-blood families that are now extinct in the male line" - which, if Prince was a Pureblood name, might have crept up in passing conversation since Hermione seemed to struggle to find anything out about the HBP in the previous book.

During a war in which Voldemort rose to power, with an identifiably Muggle name and not one of the vastly interconnected and still-powerful Pureblood families, Snape would be noticed for being different. He was about a year apart from Regulus after all, who had a whole collage on his wall of Voldemort's press cuttings, favoured son of enthusiastic blood supremacist Walburga Black - so I find it hard to believe that Slytherins were... fully accepting.

In CoS, when a basilisk was going around attempting to kill Muggle-borns on behalf of the Heir of Slytherin, the Slytherin common room password was pureblood. I feel like there's a whole point there, but it's nearly 4am here, so I can't brain it right now. (But like... did Snape set the passwords? Did the entrance do it magically?? Did a Head Boy/Prefect do it?? Either way, there's a strong sense of pureblood supremacy communicated in that password that's only strengthened by the timing, echoing the Heir's agenda). In any case, it speaks to the entrenched nature of pure-blood ideology of Slytherin as a house.

"my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal . . . my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them" (Sirius, OotP) "as far as [Marvolo] was concerned, having pure blood made you practically royal" (Harry, DH)

The Purebloods of Slytherin house in any generation - who considered themselves "practically royal" in their superiority - would surely ridicule a self-styled, half-blood Prince.

[capriddle]

One fanfiction I've never read (and would love to read or even write) is about a What If where Tom Riddle Snr raises his son. I think it would be incredibly interesting and have potentially devastating twists, both good and bad.

[ashesandhackles]

Fic recs

I read a couple of fantastic fics recently, and they all deserve some love. So, giving them a shoutout. As Moments Do by @thecat-isblogging-blog

Canon compliant. Remus Lupin centric fanfic that follows him through OOTP and HBP. Chapter 3 has been updated and here is a chilling excerpt of Remus channeling his "Goodbye Peter" side:

Keep up, Peter. You’ll get lost. James would say. Wrong way, Peter.

Reaching the end of the platform Lupin called out in unison with James’ ghostly voice:

“Wrong way, Peter.”

Peter stopped in his footsteps, shoulders tensed just as Lupin pointed his wand to his exposed back.

Peter’s rat sense seemed to be keenly threaded to him. He turned to peer over his shoulder, the sliver of moonlight catching his nervous, watery eyes.

The Sultan and Scheherazade are One by eldritcher Grindeldore, with the most fantastically careful imagery. I am so taken by the prose of this author. Excerpt:

"I will build you a Rome," I promised him. 

"We will build us a Rome," he corrected me, placing an easy hand on mine.

"The Rome that the ancients yearned for, egalitarian," I murmured.

Our dreams were one, and our wills twined.  

Albus's hands came to clasp mine in his. The magic of him seeped into me, and mine unto him. 

Trothed became he and I, to man and cause, under a yew tree. 

The Snow Child by @saintsenara

A short folk horror story with Merope Gaunt, Tom Riddle Snr, and of course Voldemort.

Excerpt:

Merope has seen the little boy too. 

He comes to her window - she sleeps on the floor of the kitchen, while Morfin and Marvolo sleep in their one, tiny bedroom - and peers in. He has his father’s face, and his father's jet black hair, but his skin is unnatural, waxy and snow-pale, and his eyes are as red as blood.

‘I created you,’ she says to him. ‘I dreamed of you and now you are real.’

The boy shakes his head. ‘I am not yet real, because my father does not believe. You must make him.’

Merope nods. 

Bistable by TheDivine Comedian

Always a sucker for OOTP era Sirius and Remus, and I adored this one shot.

Excerpt:

James, he thinks. James. I am walking to my grave.

The train stops with a shudder and he nearly loses his precarious footing. Turn around , James says. Turn around now. You’ll go mad in there again.

Sirius laughs under his breath. Like anyone would notice. Besides, this is for you.

The James in his mind huffs and shuts up. Spilled out onto the platform, Sirius once again comes face to face with his own mugshot, a faded print on a tattered wanted poster.

Think/ Hope by @whinlatter

Post break up, bittersweet Hinny, with RON cameo? Sign me up. Cutting out an excerpt from the larger rhythm (you'll know when you read it) of this fic feels blasphemous, but I committed to the format:

He flops down on the sofa, feet up on the coffee table, eats straight from the hot plastic as he flicks through channels. The nine o'clock news is all budget this, Hong Kong that, Tim Henman out at Wimbledon. The nine o’clock news is not Dumbledore's dead, Snape murdered him, there’s a war on, Harry Potter's dropped out of school to go hunt bits of Voldemort's dismembered soul.  

Dropped out of school, he thinks. Scandalous, delinquent. What d'you reckon? he asks the Ginny in his head. Harry Potter, troubled dropout? Do anything for you? The Ginny in his head laughs. 

I also recently made other fic recs here: Nymphadora by @bluethepineapple and a bunch here for a rarepair tag game

[shrimpalbuspotter]

I was thinking sad Albus thoughts (as one does) when I went to thinking about the Prophecy Rodolphus gives Delphi, specifically the line,

"when unseen children murder their fathers"

At first I was just thinking, "huh, that really is sad! Albus was destined to be the blacksheep of his family!"

...And then I thought deeper. I thought very loosely about Voldemort, which caused me to think about Tom, which caused me to make a connection that I'm 100% sure people have made before, and I'm 80% sure wasn't on purpose.

That specific line in the prophecy is comparing Albus Potter to Tom Riddle. "When unseen children" aka, Tom being an Orphan and cast off from the Gaunts and the Riddles, "murder their fathers" because, as we all know, Tom did indeed kill Tom Riddle snr!

It's such a stupid thing for me to be happy about realising but it's simply because it piles onto the list of people/scenes comparing Albus to Voldemort. And I am a sucker for a good "Albus becomes the next Dark Lord" trope when it's done correctly.

It doesn't help that RIGHT after this the line is "then will the Dark Lord return." It's all just such an insane thing that I wish I saw other people mentioning so I could've freaked out about it earlier. I love you CC

[slytherinshalo]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 & 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐁

This is gonna be cut into two-three parts cause I wrote a lot

tw:mentions of off page abuse, religious symbolism

parts: 𝐈, 𝐈𝐈, 𝐈𝐈𝐈

「 𖤐 MORANA 𖤐 」

𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐀 ��𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇 𝐆𝐀𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐒, born to a hispanic pureblood family, the second oldest of three was the families sacrificial lamb, tormented by the family that was supposed to love her, her father abused her, and her siblings used her as their scapegoat.

𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑, morana was sorted into slytherin, and quickly made friends with Narcissa Black, nadia petrova, olivia manning, and aurora zabini. As the girls shared a dormitory with one another they grow to think of each other as sisters, which she was grateful for as her own hated her. morana became the top student in her year quite quickly.

As the first few months of the semester passed, the winter break was rapidly approaching and that’s what morana hated the most, not wishing to endure the abuse of her family once again. Thankfully narcissa had invited her to stay with her and her family for the break. morana was grateful for this but she knew her family wouldn’t be happy about this, but nevertheless she still spent her holiday with the Black family.

「 𖤐 TOM 𖤐 」

𝐓𝐎𝐌 𝐏𝐀𝐗𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐋𝐄, born to a wealthy British halfblood family he was the oldest of him and his sister nathaira. His father was a muggle born wizard and his mother was a pureblood witch and a descendant of Salazar slytherin.

𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑, tom was sorted in to slytherin, he made friends with Theodore Nott, Lucius Malfoy, charles Washington, and Rodolphus lestrange, as they all shared a dormitory together. Tom was at the top of his year.

First year went by fairly quickly for the young riddle and so he and his fellow housemates would be starting second year soon.

「 𖤐 TOM 𖤐 」

𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑, tom had seen her around, he thinks her name was morana gaunts, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, he noticed that she was shy unless she was with her dorm mates. He also noticed the cuts and bruises on her body, which he was very concerned about as he’s never seen something like that before.

He watched her like a hawk, he studied her every move, even tried to listen in on her conversations to understand what was happening. Soon being caught by morana herself after Lilly Evans told her she show Tom watching her and listening to her conversations.

“Why have you been watching me and listening to my conversations riddle”

her voice was like honey he was enchanted by it, “I-I um was um” he couldn’t speak he knew what he wanted to say but he couldn’t say it. “I saw the cuts and bruises on you and I wanted to know what happened” morana was taken aback by his words, she didn’t know what to do or say as no one except her dorm mates and lilly knew about what had been happening behind closed doors.

“It’s none of your business riddle” she said not looking at him. “Little lamb is someone hurting you” she finally looked at him and saw that he was actually concerned about her, that still didn’t mean she was going to tell him, she barely knew him.

“It’s not your business what anyone is doing to me” she was now looking at him taking in his appearance and she must say he was very handsome. “Little lamb Slytherins protect our own, and last I recall you little lamb, are a Slytherin” she broke eye contact not wanting him to see the tears forming.

“Please don’t call me that and stop trying to figure me out, what’s going on in my personal life is none of your business plus, you probably don’t even care” he was taken aback by this he stepped closer to her, using his thumb and index finger to lift her chin so she was looking at him.

“I know you probably don’t think I care about you, since this is the first actual conversation between us, trust me when I say this, morana gaunts I care about you, yes we don’t know each other enough for us to discuss personal matters but I want to help you anyway I can, those cuts and bruises aren’t natural, meaning someone gave those to you”

「 𖤐 MORANA 𖤐 」

𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑, a year, a year since my encounter with Tom, a year since I told him about my family’s abuse, I still can’t believe I actually told him, I mean I barely knew him but something about him made me want to let him in to bring down my walls.

The day I told him was the day I told him to meet me at the astronomy tower, and there I broke down, telling him everything. The look he had in his eyes was the same I see in my father’s eyes when he beats me, but this angry, this rage wasn’t directed at me, no it was directed at my family from my father to my younger sister he hated all of them for what they had done to me.

He started bringing me gifts, things that I always wanted but never received as my family thought that I didn’t deserve them, but when he explained that I never did anything to not deserve them.

And for my eighteenth birthday he threw a birthday party for me with all of our closest friends, not wanting me to get too overwhelmed.

Sorry for cutting it off there I know it’s a weird spot these will be posted back to back

© 𝐬𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐨 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒. do not copy, translate or claim any of my writing or works as your own.

[hogwarts-1930s-1940s]

Q&A

//Before I go back to posting, this blog has received more attention when I was gone so I will be answering any questions you have about any of the characters ((check pinned))

[aethon-recs]

HP Rec Fest, Day 16 ❄️

@hprecfest daily prompts running through Dec 31. Goal is to find lesser-known or underrated works, even by well-known authors, to feature here.

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Day 16: A Fic that Made You Laugh

Make a Wish by @crowcrowcrowthing (E, 3k, complete)

Summary: Tom Riddle is wasting away in his hospital bed, far too young to succumb to such a terrible and mysterious illness. The only thing that gives him solace is the hope that football star Harry Potter might visit him in his final days. Why I rec it for this prompt: Tom's utter audacity in this fic is so true-to-character, and so funny. Also, I love that this is told from Riddle Snr's POV, which adds an extra layer of comedy (or horror, depending on how you look at it.) And! There are 3 alternate endings for this fic, and they each get better and better.

Do You Want Fries With That? (part 1) / Tom's Time Has Fry-nally Come (part 2) by jellybeantarot (T, 16k, complete)

Summary: Harry really needed some money, Dumbledore needed someone to dress up as Wendy, and Tom was the only one with the desperation to be Ronald McDonald. Why I rec it for this prompt: Harry and Tom as high school-aged fast-food workers is too good of a brilliant, absurdist crack scenario. Everything from the banter to the plot arc to Tom's SoundCloud rapper name had me in stitches. I can't continue describe this fic without ruining it — just go read it if you're in search for a good laugh.

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Running list of recs:

Day 1: Favorite under 5k | Such a Noble Villain Day 2: Comfort Fic | In Somno Veritas | Ouroboros Day 3: Podfic | a taste so good (i'd die for it) Day 4: Fic with Art | A Soulmate Like You Day 5: A Non-AO3 Fic | The Anti-Midas Day 6: Unreliable Narrator Fic | Anabiosis Day 7: A Canon-Compliant Fic | In Your Soul is Sealed a Pleasure Day 8: A Canon-Divergence Fic | Thirst Day 9: A Rare Pair Fic | dust in your pocket | A Breed Apart Day 10: A Fest Fic | In Your Image Day 11: A Dark Fic | As Portioned from a Whole Day 12: A WIP Rec | Lover's Spit | Revolution of Configured Stars Day 13: A Fic >100k Words | One Year In Every Ten | if we were lovers Day 14: A Favorite Series | The Immortal Duties of Lord Voldemort Day 15: The Most Recent Bookmark | Creatures of the Dark we are Day 16: A Fic that Made You Laugh | Make a Wish | Do You Want Fries With That?

[dracomort]

hello! what would you say is the best draco characterisation you’ve ever read in a fic? and what have you read recently that you really liked and would read again?

also, i love everything you write :) thanks in advance!

I once saw this fanart that depicted the three main forms of Draco in Drarry and I have to say it's the most accurate thing I've ever seen lmao. My personal preference is somewhere between 'nutcase' and 'fake it till you make it' Draco. For light-hearted fics, I like those that capture the meanness of Draco's humour and his difficult personality; for serious fics I enjoy those where he truly wavers on the line of moral ambiguity.

Away Childish Things by lettered

Harry gets de-aged. Malfoy has to help him.

A great exploration of all the parts that make up the whole of Draco Malfoy.

any day now by oknowkiss

Draco Malfoy considers the circle.

I like this Draco for his moral greyness, self-preservation, internal conflict and risk aversion

Temptation on the Warfront by alizarincrims0n

Draco Malfoy is forced into hiding with the Golden Trio and dragged into their search for horcruxes. What ensues is a journey of redemption, unexpected friendships and an unwanted, turbulent romance with Harry Potter. Warnings for swearing, sexual content, and dark themes.

This is probably one of the most plausible DH-era Draco's I've ever read. The way he speaks to Hermione alone is enough to put it on this list. It's rare to find contemporary Drarry fics that are willing to commit to his nastiness and bigotry.

Such Great Heights by aideomai

Draco Malfoy, wide-eyed and pale and in a decidedly ragged shirt, was crouched next to the pile of whatever the dragon had been eating. Harry threw himself to a halt and yelled, “Merlin, how many times do I have to save your life?”

Draco's crabbiness and difficult personality here is so good. This Draco has always been a major influence for me. This line in particular is iconic:

“Due respect, sir,” Draco said, because apparently even weird romantic feelings or whatever they were weren’t enough to keep Draco from throwing Harry under the bus the moment an authority figure appeared, “I haven’t done anything. I’ve been working nearly non-stop the past few weeks - you can ask Mr Borgin—”

Lorelei in the Menagerie by BelladonnaLee

"I think my dead son is haunting the manor," says Draco when Harry runs into him in an antique book shop. Driven by yearning and suspicion, Harry offers his help and is drawn into a web of secrets and half-forgotten nightmare.

I think anything I say about this fic would be a spoiler but I really enjoy Draco's twisted grieving here. Also considering my usual character preferences, I think you'll see why I like this one so much if you read it.

Heal Thyself by astolat

"Are you going for the course?" Lovegood asked. "You have the NEWTs.”

“What course?” Draco said, then, “No, don’t be ridiculous,” when he realized she meant the notice pinned up on the board he’d been staring at: Applicants To The Introductory Mediwizard Course For The Coming Term Shall Present Themselves In The Chief Mediwizard’s Office By August 24th.

“Oh, I thought you might,” she said. “Well, goodbye.” And off she wandered again in her addled way.

Amoral, ambitious character accidentally becomes a good person in their pursuit of status/money/power is one of my favourite tropes. It's also why I like Tom Riddle Snr in In the Bleak Midwinter so much. Astolat in general writes a great Draco.

What We Pretend We Can't See by gyzym

Seven years out from the war, Harry learns the hard truth of old history: it’s never quite as far behind you as you thought.

Despite the heavy sounded summary, this is actually a crackish humour fic. Certainly an excellent example of nutcase Draco. The villain reveal at the end is 100% my favourite part I stg.

[wookiecookiesfactory]

Aaaa! I've been stalking your pages ever since I saw your tiktok about Tom riddle, it's such a new concept and I'm just inlove with Merope and Tom, they're so cute and they deserve hugs! Both aren't good people but I pity them so much, I just hope they have a calm and happy ending!

Your are is so beautiful!!!

thank you!

Bad people being able to feel deep love for each other (whatever its nature) is one of my favorite trope. Although obvs merope is evil in a different way from her son, I think it comes more from ignorance than sadism but still you are right!

And yes! In the after life they reunite, they grow a garden together. His reunion with tom snr however, haha, its more awkward I suppouse

[sofoulandfairaday]

Hi! I love your Rodolphus HC. Do you have any Lestrange Snr HC?

Thank you for the ask, anon, and sorry for the late reply! More than you'd think, actually, so much so I had to put them below the cut.

It's canon that Lestrange Snr was part of Tom Riddle's Slytherin gang, although we don't know if they were in the same year. I headcanon that they were, the two of them shared a dormitory. Rodolphus and Rabastan are clearly both devoted to Voldemort (the two of them spend 14 years in Azkaban for LV too, lest we forget, and even Bellatrix says it - we alone were faithful, we alone tried to find him), and I like to think that their father played a key role in this.

So. Roland Lestrange, heir to the English branch of the Lestrange family, whose grandfather was Minister for Magic, who lives in a huge Cornish castle and whose Vault in Gringotts is amongst the best guarded meets Tom Riddle, dirt-poor son of a nobody with a cockney accent, who comes from East London and is more than rough around the edges on his first night at Hogwarts. And he knows that he will be eaten alive in Slytherin. This is the 1930s-1940s and I admit that I'm not an expert on all-boys boarding schools for rich kids at the time but I somehow don't think it'd be the easiest ride for someone like young Tom.

But boy, is he wrong.

Because by the end of Tom Riddle's stay at Hogwarts that boy is just a pale memory. I am firmly convinced that Tom MyFairLady-ed himself and made himself into one of them, just better. And one, all of his classmates fall in line. If he cannot charm them, he manipulates them; if that fails, he threatens them and when he still doesn't get his way he resorts to outright violence. He rules them with both love/admiration and fear. Voldemort's a natural leader. I headcanon Roland to be something of a right-hand-man while in Hogwarts. (That title is then snatched away by Antonin Dolohov, who accompanies Tom in some of his continental travels, and later on by Bellatrix herself.)

What's this man like?

Not as pretty as Rodolphus (but then again, few men are <3), but easy on the eyes, and he has an elegant bearing, hard features, and lots of money. He's also Tom Riddle's friend and all the ladies want a chance to at least sit next to him.

Generally a cold man. Dutiful. Tom found him easy to rely upon, and obedient enough, but without a true spark (that both Rodolphus and Rabastan do have, in different ways).

He marries Margot something (that's a headcanon I still have to figure out), who was a first/second year when he was in seventh, as soon as she finishes Hogwarts. He's known this was the case for his whole life and when the time comes he does what's expected of him. They do end up with a surprisingly successful marriage, based on duty that becomes companionship that becomes a sort of comfortable love. She's truly, honestly heartbroken when he dies.

And he does die. Before (or shortly after) he turns fifty.

The culprit?

Lord Voldemort himself.

It is a huge headcanon of mine that Voldemort is directly responsible for the deaths of several of his former classmates, the only people who would remember Tom Marvolo Riddle before he was Lord Voldemort. He poisons them, curses them, inflicts a pandemic of Dragon Pox on the country to get rid of them. Roland Lestrange was ill for some time before he died, so was Druella Black. Orion Black dies suspiciously early after his son's disappearance - many would have taken it as suicide. Alphard Black dies around that time as well- he wasn't old at all. An accident, they said. (This is one of the most callous things he does, in my personal headcanons, because he knew these people as a young man and has no (0) mercy in disposing of them.) After they are gone, no one except for Dumbledore (and maybe Borgin and Slughorn) remember who Tom Riddle was before.

His children.

He does love his children, but you guys know me. You know how much I love dysfunctional families and family systems, and The Crown and Succession etc etc. I've spoken at length about the Blacks.

Rodolphus is very much the golden child. The eldest son, the heir, the perfect one, bright and more powerful, the strong one. Rodolphus only ever made one mistake - marrying Bellatrix. He chose her, pleaded with his father to have her, got his wish. And the thing is, Roland likes Bellatrix (especially after discovering that the Dark Lord likes Bellatrix), he can understand the appeal. But he dislikes that she cannot (or will not) give his son children, that he dies without there being Lestrange heirs.

Rabastan is younger, and born after a difficult birth, and I imagine him as a sickly child. In my headcanons, he's bisexual with a preference for men. Now, he never confesses this to his father but Roland can pretty much sense that there is something queer about him and dislikes it immensely. He loves his son very much, but he doesn't like him. He mislikes that he refuses to marry, the way he conducts himself, the complete lack of duty, especially since his brother has no children. (Rabastan feels this deeply, this lack of love, of physical affection, hurts him. He's a mama's boy. He's a bit of a Roman Roy.)

There's a portrait of him in what was once his study (the recurring gag here is that everyone in Rodolphus' life will always refer to it as Roland's study) and he is cranky. Portraits aren't precise reflections of who the wizard/witch was when they were alive and Roland's portrait's personality is cheerless at best.)