#urupotter

[saintsenara]

I’m curious why you loathe the implication that wizards are immune to muggle diseases. Is it because it reinforces the idea that they aren’t really the same species as muggles?

thank you very much for the ask, @urupotter!

and the answer is - yes, pretty much.

how the body is understood, how illness and disability are thought about, how the medical system works etc. are all questions that i am primed to obsess over in any piece of media - even when they're not actually significant parts of the story.

which is to say, i completely understand the reason why the harry potter series treats these topics in the way it does. magical medicine isn't one of the themes the story is designed to focus on - which means that its purpose is as incidental worldbuilding detail which reinforces the whimsical vibe of the earlier books and the darker vibe of the later ones, and which means that its treatment in the text makes sense within the setting and genre conventions of canon. harry being able to take a bludger - a cast-iron cannonball moving at speed - to the head and living to tell the tale is the same as john wick being able to fall from a great height, land on his back, and then get up and walk around: he's an action hero in a fantasy.

and so wizards being more physically durable than muggles - and also wizards having their own magical diseases, and being immune to muggle ones - all makes sense within the context of the books as literature. kids don't want to read about harry having a cold. they want to read about him being a wizard.

but when i'm deciding to enjoy myself by taking the question of just how fucked-up wizarding society is much more seriously than canon does... the implication that wizards are immune to muggle diseases and that they are broadly unaffected by physical trauma unless that trauma has a magical cause really bothers me. entirely - as you say - because it directly undermines the series' thesis that the purity of magical blood is irrelevant and that the wizarding world's dehumanisation of muggles and muggleborns by treating them as, essentially, separate, lower species is wrong.

the main canon example of this which i detest is dumbledore's suggestion in half-blood prince that merope gaunt could have survived childbirth if she'd simply "raised her wand to save her own life". after all, if a little bit of magic makes one immune to experiencing complications during childbirth [unlike thousands upon thousands of muggles throughout history, who would probably have very much liked to have lived to see their children grow up]... then voldemort is completely justified in thinking merope's death was a selfish, shameful, deliberate choice.

[i do understand that the idea merope chose to die is primarily included in the text so dumbledore can segue into saying that lily "had a choice too", contributing to the gradual reveal in half-blood prince and deathly hallows that she's the key to the whole mystery. but i still think that jkr could maybe have though a little bit harder about what she was suggesting with this than she evidently did...]

and so i think in fandom it's both fun and important not to accept the idea that wizards are automatically resistant to anything which might kill, injure, or disable a muggle - especially because it lets us really play with some of the big worldbuilding questions surrounding the conventions and institutions of wizarding society.

what do disability rights look like in a world which is so rabidly intolerant of difference, and which appears not to have any sort of welfare state? the nhs is a recent invention, created in a muggle britain which is culturally and institutionally separate from the wizarding one: so is treatment at st mungo's free - and, if not, what happens to those who can't pay? how is queerness understood in a society which appears to have views on sexual expression which are fairly conservative - and how does this mean the wizarding state responded to the aids crisis? what do reproductive rights look like in this kind of society? if the dementor's kiss results in - essentially - a vegetative state, what is done with the people the kiss has been performed on? what might it be like for your relative to develop dementia at 100... when you know they might live to 250? what impact do biases about blood status have on how muggleborn patients are treated?

i just think it's interesting!

[remus-poopin]

where do you even find all the meta you use for the masterlist?? (asking because i really enjoy them haha)

Oh yay I enjoy them a lot too!

Well I mostly go to the snapedom to get a lot of the meta because I find that they usually have some of the best literary analysis in the hp fandom ( @raptured-night is INCREDIBLE)

But I mostly just stick to certain blogs across the fandom as a whole that can acknowledge their faves flaws and don’t whitewash them. Not only because that is my number one fandom pet peeve, but because I feel like they tend to write and share better meta because they aren’t bogged down by canon not presenting that character in the best light all the time. I feel like when you don’t have that holding you back you can look at that character more honestly and analyze them from more angles and get a bigger, more interesting picture of them.

Off the dome here are some amazing incredible meta writers you should definitely follow!

@ashesandhackles

@princesideprince

@saintsenara

@said-snape-softly

@elvendorx

@bluethepineapple

@urupotter

@fortheloveofsnorkacks

@indigo-scarf

@artemisia-black

[maria-de-salinas]

thanks for the tag @logicgunn and @marshmallowmcgonagall <3

list 7 comfort films and tag 7 people

Sense and Sensibility

A League of Their Own

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Best in Show

Addam's Family Values

Planes Trains and Automobiles

Kiki's Delivery Service

tagging @celta-diabolica, @ashesandhackles @writer-or-whatever, @typingkeys-11, @scattermeamongthestars @urupotter and anyone else who'd like to do it, no pressure

[ashesandhackles]

Prisoner of Azkaban reread (Part 2)

Chapter 17,18,19,20

The details of how furniture being gouged out makes you think of adolescent werewolf that Remus was (cooped up and aggressive), and why he would enjoy the full moon runs with Marauders. ('best times of his life' as he says. Whatever feelings he has of the near misses, his spirit in Forest Again is "happy to be back in place of adoloscent wanderings". This is important for Remus' characterisation)

Ron standing on a broken leg to yell at Sirius ("if you want to kill harry, you'll have to kill us too!") moves him (show of loyalty? After all of these years?) but also makes him feel guilty: "Lie down. You will damage that leg even more."

Hermione, who was petrified and asking Harry to be quiet - the moment she spots Harry is in danger from Sirius, she kicks the person she was petrified of moments before (book Hermione is nuanced!) XD And Ron throws himself on Sirius' wand hand. Basically Sirius is getting beaten up by kids.

"Going to kill me, Harry?" - ah, Sirius. He feels enormous amount of guilt for their deaths and doesn't deny that he "killed them". Sirius goes completely silent when Harry says, "You never heard her, did you? My mum trying to stop Voldemort from murdering me". He tried to plead his case before Harry said this, and now, he basically hands over the power to Harry in the scene and let Harry do whatever he wants. He even tries to push Crookshanks off, to get him out Harry's wand's way. (Crookshanks' love for Sirius is deeply endearing btw)

I know people focus a lot on the cracks in Sirius and Remus' friendship, but this wordless communication where Remus figures out who was the actual traitor (Sirius doesn't say a word, btw - he just points at Scabbers, and Remus immediately gets it) is… utterly radical after 13 years of suffering.

"Get away from me werewolf" - to show Ron say this, a child from largely progressive Weasley household, is to show deeply prejudiced the wizarding world is.

The fact that Remus is on his side after 12 years, makes Sirius sit on bed with a "shaking hand". It is similar to Remus' voice that was shaking with "suppressed emotion." (Crookshanks goes to comfort Sirius, and goes to his lap)

One of the ways Remus' guilt at not telling about Sirius' animagus form manifested is that he watched Harry on the map, in a way to handle the untoward incidents that may happen himself. (i mean he would have done it regardless, but this is way to keep his secrets as well)

There are two desires in Sirius - the desire to protect Harry, the desire for vengeance against Peter. The stronger desire, we see, even in the smaller moments is to do right by Harry. It is exactly what Remus invokes when Sirius tries to grab Scabbers from Ron - "You owe Harry the truth, Sirius" and he immediately stops struggling.

"My mind seems to be less so when I was with them" - the Marauders granted a very deep-seated need in Remus, a way to experience his wolf as not a terrible monstrous thing, but a source of joy, a way of integrating that self into his identity without shame.

Remus uses "err" when he is minismising the severity of a situation. "Sirius thought it would be - er - amusing to tell Snape.." (adding @urupotter and @thecat-isblogging-blog thoughts on this when we discussed )

Also, Hermione's role as an advocate in these chapters begins here - she asks Remus the right questions, and she will continue to do so in coming chapters, making sure everyone's story is heard. It is in keeping with the book's ideas of justice and mercy - and while Hermione is the advocate, Harry is the deliverer of justice - one who decides what to do.

Chapter 19 - POA

Snape having to play nursemaid by bringing Lups his goblet of Wolfsbane would not have endeared Lups to him. XD (But it also shows Snape's gritted teeth approach to things he considers danger and how to neutralise that danger)

Snape's first set of dialogue is "I told Headmaster again and again you have been helping Black into castle..". Translation: My father figure that I unfortunately projected onto has been dismissing my feelings and my concerns and now I can spitefully show him the proof. ("I will be very interested to see how Dumbledore takes this")

And Remus lets his anger show up more openly and it is cold and dismissive: "You fool. Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"

Hermione tries to advocate for Lups, saying he should be heard. This is her role in the chapter - when Harry is too emotional and Ron is too confused, she takes over as the advocate in the chapter, while Harry is the judge.

Harry sees that Snape is beyond reason, so he decides to follow Hermione's lead and advocate for Lups instead.

"You would have died like your father too arrogant to believe that he was mistaken in Black" hints to what Snape is feeling in this scene, not to mention being inside the Shrieking Shack where he was sent by Sirius once as a trick, make him regress even more. (Also he dies in Shrieking Shack in Deathly Hallows)

When Snape threatens Harry, "Get out of the way or I will make you" - the trio try to disarm him at once and he gets knocked out. I love Ron and Hermione don't hesitate to do this (even though Hermione panics, "we attacked a teacher"). They are truly ride or die for Harry.

Sirius breaks, and Remus in response "gets a steely note" in his voice ("give me that rat"). The moment Peter appears, Remus will begin to grow colder and colder in the scene.

"His wet eyes seemed to be burning into his face". "fathomless eyes" "sunken eyes suddenly overbright". There is so much emphasis on Sirius' eyes for his emotion - even in GOF, his eyes "shuttered" when talking about his imprisonment. Such a powerful description of his energy and emotionality. It makes you feel his presence as a character.

"Well hello Peter, long time no see" "You might have missed finer points when you have been squeaking around on bed" LMAO. the passive aggression in this man.

Voldemort's closest supporters, most likely the Lestranges, are aware that Peter is the informant. Not everyone seems to be aware - Snape clearly isnt. This is to show hierarchy within Death Eaters. There is also an implication that Lucius may be aware - which is fun again when you look at power dynamics in his "friendship" with Snape. The implication in DH is that Lucius took him under his wing, something that Snape is clearly grateful for (he reacts unconsciously to him being named as DE in GOF), but Snape is not in on the Chamber of Secrets plot, nor about Peter. Also Snape is working against the Malfoys. So many criss-crossing loyalties. XD

"Throat too tight to speak, Harry nodded." - an indication that Harry is near tears too.

Remus rolling up sleeves to get ready to kill Peter. What a gentleman.

When Peter speaks to Harry, Sirius loses it. And then when Peter invokes James to manipulate Harry is when Remus comes forward along with Sirius to throw Peter to the floor. (it's a subtle detail because Remus is quiet and asking polite-sarcastic questions - but it shows how angry he is). For me, the interesting part about Remus' behaviour in the chapter is that he is already on Sirius' side without question. So all the questions he is asking Peter is almost like he is working up his rage more and more.

"You should have died, died rather than betray your friends, as we would have done for you!" "You should have realised, if Voldemort didnt kill you - we would." Sirius is talking about the loyalty Peter refused to show (that they would have showed), and Remus is doling out what would be the expected punishment for that lack of loyalty: "Goodbye Peter"

I am in awe of the fact that Sirius, who was in prison for 12 years and has much right to decide what to do with Peter as much as Harry does, immediately hands over the decision to Harry when Harry asks it. And even when Sirius is threatening Peter, "if you transform, we will kill you", he checks with Harry, "you agree Harry?"

The chapter ends with this sentence, "Crookshanks led the way out of the room, his bottle brush tail held jauntily high." LOL, he has been vindicated!

Chapter 20 - POA

the awkward way Sirius offers Harry a home. He is so unsure! He dominates the scenes of previous chapter, and he is a powerful personality despite being pretty much a walking corpse with alive eyes. And then he turns into something very endearing, when he is all: "of course I though you wouldnt want to -I understand. I just thought-"

And then - when Harry assures him he wants to live with him, "Sirius' gaunt face broke into the first true smile Harry had seen upon it. The difference made it startling, as though a person ten years youngers was shining through the starved mask" . I imprinted on this relationship right then and there, and there is no other dynamic that moves me as much as this in the series.

Harry gropes in the mist for Sirius' arm, and grabs onto him when Dementors come. "They werent going to take him". Adding link to my meta which explains in more detail the beginning of the intense bond between Harry and Sirius.

Chapter 21

Madam Pomfrey having a chocolate the size of a boulder that she has to break apart with the hammer. XD And then she tries to shut Harry up by forcing a chocolate down his throat.

"You surely dont believe a word of Black's story?" "Sirius Black proved he was capable of murder at 16. You havent forgotten he tried to kill me?" Ah, Snape. Dumbledore is siding with Marauders again in his head, and that, among other things, will trigger his final lash out.

Harry understands Dumbles' broader intention (fly Buckbeak to Sirius' window) and Hermione thinks of bigger plans: "If we steal him now, the committee is going to think Hagrid set him free." And Harry spots immediate threats: the werewolf that might run right at them.

"How can you stand this? How can you stand watching it happen?" - Harry doesnt know how to not act. It is one of the reasons in Deathly hallows that when he decides to not go after the wand, it is the scariest thing he had done in his life. He could not remember not acting.

"Get your filthy hands off it" - Harry's dislike for Snape deepened in this book, and gains even more personal edge than before. (it is also in reaction to Harry's anger when Snape suggests they have been confunded. "We' re not confunded!" Harry roars)

"Where are you Dad? Come on" : Harry realising he had seen himself, but conjures a Patronus in the shape of his father's Animagus form is just poetry. Legit one of the most beautiful moments in the series. (And Harry realised… "Prongs," he whispered). This book is also the most contained and stand alone when it comes to Harry's development.

Chapter 22 - POA

It is interesting here that Dumbledore is a bit amused by Snape's meltdown, Snape incensed - but by middle of GOF, their dynamic develops to this ("Sometimes I think we Sort too soon"). It was pointed out by econteacher on discord about how Barty Crouch Jnr as FakeMoody would play this book's fracture against Dumbledore and Snape, since they dont seem to be properly communicating in GOF ("Dumbledore happens to trust me. I refuse to believe he gave you permission to check my office" and how Jnr arrives at the scene of his father's murder: "Snape said something about Crouch."). The Dumbledore-Snape relationship is reaffirmed and repaired by end of GOF book, by Snape's show of loyalty to Dumbledore in front of Fudge (where Snape straight up shows his Dark Mark to Fudge to stop him from mouthing off Dumbledore), and him going to Voldemort on Dumbledore's orders.

Lups confirming to Hagrid he didn't eat anything in the night points to interesting stuff about his memory when he is transformed.

Lups wanting to leave as quickly as possible because he feels he has let down Dumbledore - by keeping Sirius' animagus form a secret back in school to now, and the fact he was loose on the grounds in the night.

Ron takes Pidwidgeon out of harm's way when he notices Crookshanks eyeing him. XD And then he gets Crookshanks to sniff him. "What do you reckon? Definitely an owl?" this moment is so adorable. Crookshanks purrs, and Ron decides, "Thats good enough for me"

"I only hoped to get a glimpse of you before starting my journey " ahhhhhh kill meee

Sirius gifting Ron an owl as an apology of what he put him through.

Harry threatening Vernon cheerfully with Sirius name rofl "He's a convicted murderer, but he's broken out of wizard prison and is on the run. He likes to keep in touch with me though.. keep up with my news.. check I'm happy"

POA ends on such a bittersweet hopeful note.

[elvendorx]

Hi! I really like your blog! I was just wondering, how do you manage to find canon-based marauders content? I’m pretty new to Tumblr and while I follow the main tags, I’m tired of the short and shallow Siriuses, activist Jameses, and naive Lupins that don’t seem anything like the marauders I fell in love with. And the hatred for Snape and the condescension towards his fans makes me super scared to interact with blogs since I have posted Snape content on my main blog and I feel like I’d be eaten alive. I’m so overwhelmed! Do you use filters to help you? Or is it just finding and following the right people? Thanks for any and all advice!

hello and thank you! <3

a lot of it honestly is just finding and following the right people. the exact balance of that is personal that it will take a while to feel like you're consistently seeing things on your own specific wavelength but it's definitely doable. i think once you find one blog you really align with, see who they interact with regularly, check out those blogs, then check out who those blogs follow, etc etc. i used to systematically go through likes and reblogs on posts i liked, but once you find a few blogs you really enjoy, you'll end up finding more like-minded people quite naturally. and honestly, anyone who expects you to have the exact same tolerances for different characters as they do is probably not going to be much fun to interact with anyway.

i use filters for things i absolutely never want to see but not everything gets tagged/not everything that is tagged is the thing you don't want to see (so much sirius solo art/gen marauder stuff is tagged wolfstar) but it works and i would recommend it for absolute no-gos.

the main tags unfortunately are not safe spaces anymore and tbh if there's anything worth seeing in there, someone else will reblog it so it ends up on your dash anyway. sometimes i look in the prongsfoot tag but if anything look at anti (ship)/anti (character) tags lol and sometimes finding people who dislike the same things as you is also a good way to find like-minded people - hating can work, kids.

specifically for mwpp stuff, in my broad experience, snape fans are often more comfortable with the morally grey thing so they have solid views on snape AND sirius, james and remus, tho obviously you get the ultra protective stans too. but def follow snape fans if you are even slighty interested in snape, it's a great way of seeing how other pockets of hp fandom function. also, you could have identical views on a character as someone but you love them and they hate them, for the same reasons, and i feel like the joy is in finding the same interpretation, it's very fun and just in life it's good to see different perspectives. i got unfollowed a while back for a snape post i can't even remember but it was like 5 people and honestly the right people will probably be cooler than you think about it :)

so really my advice boils down to:

know what you do and don't want to see

know what you can and can't tolerate seeing (things that annoy you or more serious triggers)

find connections through sources you trust

try finding a mix of people who like the same things as you do/people who dislike the same things you do/people who you might not always agree with in judgement but whose analyses and approaches are objective

and eventually you'll have a great balanced lil circle <3

anyway a few recommendations of people i follow who i think offer great hp ideas:

@remus-poopin @narcissa-black-supermacy @ashesandhackles @urupotter @act-more-like-a-dog-sirius

but also consider anyone i follow/interact with a lot an endorsement! hope u have fun exploring :)

[senadimell]

I was tagged by @frederick-the-great! Thanks

relationship status - single, unsurprisingly

favourite color - blue, generally. I am very fond of colors generally, except green and red together.

song stuck in my head - Your Obedient Servant, because apparently I cannot see a username and remain unaffected

last song i listened to - Screech In, from Come from Away

three favourite foods - Chinese-style dumplings, a casserole my mom makes, and an italian pasta dish my dad edited

last thing i googled - uh...probably a Russian ambassador. Or something stupid like which country a city is in.

dream trip - Camping at a state park. I am currently homesick.

anything i want right now - sleep. but I also do not want to go to sleep, and therein lies the problem.

@urupotter @that-homoerotic-blouse @clove-pinks

[thecat-isblogging-blog]

Getting To Know You Tag Game

Rules: Tag 10 people you want to get to know better. Thank you for tagging me, @ashesandhackles !!<3!

Relationship Status: Married

Favourite Colour: Green

Song Stuck in My Head: The Hanging Tree (Hunger Games)

Last Song You Listened To: Kept in the Dark - KAWALA

Three Favourite Foods: Fasolada, Pap and Chakalaka, Pasta

Last Thing I Googled: My friend's sun and moon sign because we wanted to see which celebrity shared her signs lol the results were not good.

Dream Trip: Anywhere with the sea <3 @kald-dal-art @bluethepineapples1 @urupotter @dragonlordette @alohaemora @merlins-sequined-hotpants

[urupotter]

Worst childhood fad by far was having every birthday party be a sleepover where you watched horror movies. Little fifth grade urupotter should NOT have seen Sinister, I don't think any other movie has ever scared me so much.

Also remember seeing SAW V. Wasn't scary exactly, but the images were gruesome enough that they're burned into my brain.

[ashesandhackles]

Films I tend to re-watch:

1. Seven Years in Tibet

2. Death of Stalin

3. Piku

4. Dil Chahta Hai

5. Newton

(no gifs made on this underrated movie, so you get a trailer instead)

6. Manichitrathazhu

7. Black Swan

Tagging @thecat-isblogging-blog @dragonlordette @bluethepineapple @hinnyfied @lanaturnergetup @somesunlitdays @urupotter

List 7 comfort films and tag 7 people:

Tagged by @taffee23 Tysm baby! 💖💖

I have a lot but these are some of them:

1. Lotr trilogy (it always feels like home)

2. Mulan (1998)

3. The road to El Dorado

4. Your Name

5. The Land of Steady Habits

6. Love Actually

7. The Greatest Showman

Tagging (if you want to) @edegrev @nihilizzzm @sweetfictionalworld @mysterioustrashadventures @ashifloof @montyc and @thetempleofthemasaigoddess 💖

[ashesandhackles]

Penultimate Chapter of Beyond the Veil

... is UP!

@thedreamermusing and I started this beast of a WIP two years ago - May 2021. And here we are, more than 91k (!!) words later, only the final chapter to go. This is such a weirdly emotional space to be in.

So going to thank few people: @urupotter for always being up for beta reading and plot checking, for @thecat-isblogging-blog for always be willing to soundboard Remus' internal life (Beyond the Veil's Remus is a grittier and more raw Remus, but she helped us refine that). So much of what the WIP has become has been shaped thanks to the two of you.

And also to @yletylyf - there are times in writing a long WIP that you run out of steam, or you are too overwhelmed by the sheer ambition of what it wants to do and you want to give up. But then, you get insightful readers and reviewers like Lety, who really can pick out the bones of everything you tried to do, so you push yourself to write through blocks so you can find out what they think of your work. Thank you, your feedback and words have immense impact on both of us and you should know this WIP sustained thanks to you (and the encouragement of all our regular readers and commenters!). (Moral of the story: Let authors know what you think! It helps lot more than you know <3)

So here it is: Chapter 19: A Lament in the Ashes. Enjoy!

[shostakobitchh]

1, 15 for the fic writer asks

thanks for the asks!! :D :D

1. What's something you've written that you know is OOC and you just don't care?

I think the entirety of Aim & Ignite is outrageously outlandish LOL -- for one thing, I don't think Lily would've really slept with Snape after talking for one night. I remember slamming my head against the wall trying to figure out how to put them together, and that was the most realistic without building an entire fucking relationship. there's some stuff in the future planned that is OOC (first year is pretty tame because Snape is still learning he has feelings and a kid who will soon depend on him so I didn't go crazy with the plot points).

15. We all project onto our characters. Where has your personality or life choices leaked onto the page the most?

honestly, I've tried very hard not to do this, and it's been pretty easy since the kids are lil babies still, and I am the polar opposite of Snape LOL. I think the only time it kinda leaks is when Snape is lamenting the horrors of teaching, sometimes I take my woes after I've had a particularly bad day and let him lay into the students more than I might have originally. that's NOT to say I hate my kids at all, 99.9% of the terrible things about being a teacher are administration or parent-related, but I think some of Snape's bitterness over it is definitely an extension of mine. the only other thing I can think of is Dumbledore's love of poetry, he's obviously been the one leaving them around for Ariel to find as a little "keep trying kiddo!" and I am VERY guilty of putting them in because I am obsessed with Eric Whitacre and WILL put his music anywhere I can. most of my writing is influenced by the music I listen to, and I try and make it flow and lyrical, just like music! to give you an example, I just finished watching Bo Burnham's "Inside" and I have been SEARCHING for a point to put in "are you feeling nervous? are you having fun? it's almost over, it's just begun" because everything I do is music-based and I can't control it.

[senadimell]

Re: the death post, is it wrong to ask why you see it as a bad ideal for society to aspire to? I agree that coming to peace with death is healthy for individuals but I don’t think we should have that attitude as a society. The ideal of immortality, of being physically ~26 forever, seems a noble one to aspire to. Our deaths should ideally be under our control. That they aren’t is probably not changing in the near future (hence the need to come to peace with it as individuals) but it doesn’t make it any less of a tragedy imo. Plus as an ideal it doesn’t seem that impossible in comparison to others, we have real life examples of immortal organisms, we have no indication that it goes against the laws of physics (unlike, say, teleportation).

Sorry for the long delay in answering @urupotter. It's not wrong to ask, but the answer is complicated because it's deeply personal and touches on my moral convictions, so it's emotionally taxing to discuss. Also, my religious upbringing likely plays a part in how I see things and I don't expect that to be universal.

The short of it is this: I cannot imagine a society that seeks immortality that is not deeply, deeply ableist.

I live in a country that used to be renowned for its eugenics and those attitudes didn't go away after the second world war, we just focused it on health and beauty and perfect babies and anti-miscegenation.

Literally, there's a supreme court ruling still on the books that upholds state-decided compulsory sterilization. Legally, it's just fine for the state to decide who's allowed to reproduce because "three generations of imbeciles is enough."

I already live in an ableist society, and I live in a society that's terrified of and ignorant towards death. We are phobic towards aging and disease. We bury and hide those things. Parents go to live in nursing homes when they're sick and unless someone dies in hospice in your home or you were in an accident or the military or work in hospice or mortuaries etc., most people have literally not seen an unembalmed corpse. You also don't see fragile, elderly people in public, and multigenerational households are rare.

I don't know if I'm communicating this well, but for us to pursue immortality, I have a really hard time believing we could do that without denigrating mortality, aging, and disability.

So if we have a system where those things are looked down on, then we think about who has access to life-extending treatment, and that's where class comes in. Even if we could technically come up with something that makes you immortal, I highly doubt that everyone would have equal access to it. So you end up with an amplified version of the society we live in now, where youth and beauty is praised and age is feared or disparaged, and even more than now, access to beauty and immortality is tied to wealth and power. (ageism in hiring is already a huge problem!)

Do I think it's a good use of societal resources? Not really, no. Even if we put aside all of the problems for the policymakers, I think there's other things I'd rather medical researchers be focusing on.

Now, there are definitely age-related things that I think are great to focus on fixing. Coming up for some ways to get rid of arthritis = great! would make lots of people's lives easier! Getting rid of Alzheimer's and other kinds of dementia? Absolutely! While we're at it, let's cure Parkinson's.

It might seem contradictory that I'm totally find with finding cures for degenerative diseases but am not okay with treating death, perhaps the ultimate degenerative disease. But I guess that's the thing, I don't see death as a disease, and I don't see disability as inherently bad (some kinds of disability are just bad—there is nothing redeeming about migraines. Or Alzheimer's). I'm not sure how to describe why those two goals feel different, but it just seems like hubris to pursue eternal youth, whereas stopping specific kinds of suffering seems noble.

Here's where I get into the fuzzy philosophical side of things. I think aging and death have a whole lot to teach us as a society. I think we learn compassion through caregiving. I think we learn humility and patience. I think there's tremendous wisdom to be found in aging and dealing with aging and death. I don't think we should go around inflicting it, obviously, but I do think that we have so much to learn.

This is the part where I'm speaking purely personally, and don't expect others to have to agree with me, but I don't think in a perfect world we would have control over our deaths. This has to do with what I understand the purpose of life to be.

(I'd rather not get into a public discussion on assisted suicide; the short of it is that I'm not blanket opposed to it but I think it's a very very delicate issue and I lack the life experience to know if it's something I would ever pursue, so I'm not the one who should be setting policy)

And maybe this is silly or morbid or crass, but tbh it does give me a sense of relief to know that we all die because there are some sucky people in the world with a lot of power and money and I don't think it would be a better world if they were immortal.

So in conclusion, I think it's actually worse for a society as a whole to be pursuing immortality (as opposed to individuals) because of all the attitudes that go around with it. Also, there's enough preventable deaths to go round and I think we should focus on that.

[fortheloveofsnorkacks]

so I meant to talk about magic in HP but mostly I talked about worldbuilding weaknesses.

I’ve made the case for the HP magic system as one that works well, and I do think it works well enough. I do wish we’d gotten a little more context, though. A lot of what I alluded to was unfortunately subtextual. We are told that some wizards are better or stronger than others, but not why. We are told about childhood magic but not told what happens to it. I don’t think there’s a grand, thought-out unifying theory secretly written into the series. I just think there are a lot of interesting hints.

I guess I wish I saw people talking about the really interesting stuff that is there, because I for one am personally fascinated by many off-hand remarks and small mentions that are not explained. I’m fascinated by the fact that kids do wild magic, and I’m fascinated by Dumbledore and Voldemort’s wordless transfiguration duel. I’m fascinated by the magics introduced later in the series, which more and more rely on intent and focus. Occlumency and Legilimency are really interesting, as is childhood magic, and given how they’re repeatedly mentioned, even in the latter books, I wish we heard more about them. Patronuses and the Cruciatus and Imperius curses all require a lot from the user. Sure, there are technically spells in the backdrop, but you get the sense that they’re only there by precedent, much like Quidditch.

It’s just that people talk about the magic I guess they wished was there in a magic boarding school story and not the magic that’s actually there? Harry killed Quirrell by touching him. Spell-ghosts came out of Voldemort’s wand, and sure maybe that’s Priori Incantum, but given the fact that the ghosts have personalities, give Harry advice, and make requests of him, even those who are long-dead, I think there’s a little more going on than that. Voldemort Pair Dadeni-s himself back to life by cooking some human remains. Harry comes back to life because he went willingly to the slaughter, and breaks all the magic rules in the same way that happened in the first book. Harry Potter literally begins by breaking a magic rule and ends by re-breaking it but now with a more full explanation as to why.

There’s a thematic consistency to these elements and I kinda wish they’d been explored more overtly instead of being hinted at once a book after Harry nearly died again. It’s only ever hinted at that adult wizards may be able to use instinctive magic like children can, and while I think the Department of Mysteries can bear a lot of weight, I would love to get just a little bit more explanation as to why wizards are so attached to wandwork. Or at least a more satisfying, less colonial-justification way of explanation. Unfortunately that would require actual history, which as I’ve mentioned, is incredibly weak.

and yes, there are definitely elements of the hard magic system that I wish had been just a little more explained, because Bellatrix and Sirius both seem to have been killed by spell placement (we are not told of a lethal spell with red light). See also Time Turners. But honestly, those are fairly isolated complaints when it comes down to it.

Anyways, I guess the tl;dr is that people criticize HP for not having things they think it should have had, but they often overlook what it does have and whether or not that works.

[suffer-my-displeasure]

Hi, I''ve come back to the Snape fandom recently (I've never stop being a fan, I was just caught up on other stuff) and sadly a lot of pro-Snape blogs are now inactive. Could you recommend some current pro-Snape tumblrs that almost only blog about Harry Potter and Snape, please? I love your blog, btw!

Heyo welcome back and thank you!

I'm not at the top of my game following the newest & hottest blogs due to lack of time lately and this is by no means an exhaustive list - please add your blog if I left yours out or feel free to add more

In no specific order here are a few:

Meta - snapedefender, thecarnivorousmuffinmeta, casasupernovas, urupotter, pet-genius

Art - chipartwork, mrvirian, myobscureimaginarium, foxyx, dranna, serpenera, kedroboiz, serosvit, zeiame, starn707, cavedogman, girilimoni, luendland, potion-papa, ham-tuitui, momo-t-daye, turpinsimp-blog

Miscellaneous - snapecelebration, sneverussape, dementedlollipop, snapecentric,  prosnapeblogging, snapeslips, sayssnape, tiphprince, the-witches-son, keister-meister 

[thedreamermusing]

Thanks for the tag @butter--peanut . So many great tropes. I've put 'and' instead of 'or' where I couldn't choose and not emboldened anything when I don't like either of the tropes lol.

slow burn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers AND best friends to lovers // oh no there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence // hurt-comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // smut or fluff // canon-compliant or fix-it // reincarnation AND character death // one-shot AND multi-chapter // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high school romance or middle aged romance // time travel AND isolated together // neighbours or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // body swap or gender bend // angst or crack // apocalyptic or mundane

I tag @ashesandhackles @bluethepineapple @thecat-isblogging-blog @shes-a-gryffindor @urupotter @dragonlordette @phantomeo

[thecat-isblogging-blog]

Thank you for the tag @desidarling123 <3

Post the last line you wrote (from any WIP) and tag the same number of people as there are words.

It was clear to Remus that he was the only one in the Order who did not like Tonks. The pink haired Auror seemed to have become friends with almost everyone, except himself and Kreacher. And that was hardly someone Remus was happy to have on his team.

If he kept this on, it wouldn't look good on him in the slightest. If you feel like doing this @urupotter @ashesandhackles @thedreamermusing @fightfortherightsofhouseelves @dragonlordette @shes-a-gryffindor @lazyweekendmornings @bluethepineapple @mrs-stubby-boardman