#whats the name for harry and albus fucking

[dufferpuffer]

Concept I don't want to forget: One of those time travel fics where Harry goes back in time to help Tom not become Voldemort. Basically: + Harry teaches DADA and Albus teaches Transfiguration. + Harry is at odds with Albus, wanting to take over 'watching over' Tom with his own methods - but Albus won't be pushed out. + Albus is obsessed with Harry, who is a suspicious enigma. It isn't the first time a younger man with a mysterious past and skills in dueling has stormed into his life... as worrying as it is captivating. + Tom gets two dads who are both very intense about him.

Dippet is like "Albus you can't be DADA teacher next year either - we need a Transfiguration teacher too badly" or whatever. Albus sad... he wants to do DADA... if only he wasn't multi-talented... :'^(

Some young adult man with messy black hair, scruffy beard, sparkling green eyes and a scar on his forehead enters the room. "We've hired Professor Harry Potter to fill the role - he has proven more than capable. I expect you to show him the ropes, Albus."

Harry has been 'traveling', apparently, between the wars... Gellert has also been traveling... not a member of the 'main' Pureblood Potter family, but Potter is a relatively common name... "Didn't go to Hogwarts, home-schooled - please show me around, Professor Dumbledore." Harry lies - but Albus notices he seems extremely comfortable trotting around the halls... Harry is extremely comfortable with high-difficulty dueling spells, even some Dark Magic - but average at everything else. A warrior...

Harry is DEDICATED to his goal: 'fix' Tom to stop him before he can do any damage. He has big sympathy for him and isn't really thinking of anything else. This leaves him being a bit cold, serious, focused, confident - lacking hesitation... dark, mysterious, handsome man.

For Harry, Albus is a means to an end. He does feel more comfortable with him than most - but this isn't HIS Albus. He will cozy up to him enough to ensure he can tag along to Tom Riddles orphanage.

Albus is a sharp man. He can tell something is off with this guy, nothing quite adds up... and he is hooked. He justifies it as being suspicious this has something to do with Grindelwald. He has a conspiracy wall - acts friendly, passive and charming and at the end of the day adds another pin to the board of "Who is Harry Potter? Where did he come from? What are his goals?"

Albus does his regular Orphanage routine - trying to calmly connect with this special boy, enamor him to the Power of magic but insist it is at the price of Responsibility - while also giving him freedom and trust to do things himself... ...but Harry came with him, agreeing to let him do most of the talking: but goes all 'Strict Parent' about it: "No, Tom - I think we should go around now and give back all these toys. Then we will take you to get your school supplies - No, Albus, we CAN'T let a young boy shop on his own." (Harry suggested the suit he wore. The one he compliments in HBP.)

Albus' 'keep an eye on someone' is incredibly hands-off. Harry knows what Tom will become and intends to step in and do differently, even if he has to drag a then-innocent boy by the ear. Honestly he is a bit too strict with it - but he is haunted by the deaths he causes in the future.

As Albus is HELLA suspicious about Professor Potter focusing on this only slightly odd boy... he inserts himself into Toms life more than he ever had before, while Harry is trying to push him out.

Basically Tom suddenly has two dads that are intense about him... but even more intense about eachother. Harry gets Albus as the friend he never quite managed to be in life. Albus is 'fixed' by a hot man who came into his life like a storm.

Something happens with the war idk haven't thought that far

Harry definitely stops Riddle from opening the Chamber alone. He was going to stop the death of Myrtle and the expulsion of Hagrid at any cost. He goes in with him and they have a bonding moment in Parseltongue they agree not to tell Albus about. When Albus finds out Harry can speak Snake and knew about the Chamber etc - ?????WHO IS THIS MAN????? is refreshed.

Harry is weird about romance because this is DUMBLEDORE... but its also NOT Dumbledore... understandably difficult to process.

Albus thinks Harry is weird about it because Homosexuality. Albus is weird about that, too - he pretends to not feel anything. Also last time Albus fell for a mysterious younger man adept at dueling who stormed into his life from a mysterious past it didn't go very well. His nose is crooked to remind himself how well it didn't go.

[sanjiafterhours]

there's gotta be a zoro sasuke martinez somewhere out there i can feel it

[ihatehomework]

albus severus potter doesnt exist. HOWEVER arthur l. rubeus potter does exist and he goes by al and idk what the l stands for but it is important to me that harry didnt name his son after dumbledore and snape and completely disregarded ginny's father and BASICALLY HIS OWN FATHER LIKE CMON HARRY DID YOU SERIOUSLY FORGET ABOUT HAGRID

[graycious-tea]

I feel like I just had an epiphany… canonically spells don’t work (especially unforgivables) unless you truly mean them. So like I’m just saying say someone uses kadavra but the recipient doesn’t die… the angst potential y’all THE ANGST my mind rn is thinking Jegulus.. or like spy regulus who has to keep up appearances OR fucking Peter or snape given an order but the spell doesn’t work omg what about grindaldor (idk their ship)!? Like the only reason grindlewald is in prison was because dumbledore tried to kadavra BUT IT DIDNT WORK and vice versa

[violet-phoenix-nebula]

Okay, I considered using a sideblog for this like I would my alt on reddit and then I remembered... Jesus christ, this is tumblr, nobody here actually gives a flying rat's ass about weird fandom shit.

So, that being said, are there any Albus/Hermione shippers out there? Like, any at all? Even as a crack ship? Time travel, anything? I mean, Hermione/Voldemort exists in surprising amounts so there has to be somebody and my guess is that anyone who ships it is probably here on our beloved hellsite.

Anyway, if you're out there then sound off in the notes or in asks/DMs cause I'm curious and I also kinda have a fic idea (don't ask me where it came from, I have no answers) that I'm searching for both brainstorming help and a potential audience.

[billy-babs]

YES, THANK YOU. People be out here defending Dumbledore saying ‘aw he was just looking out for harry and he had no way of telling him’. SHUT UP ALBUS SUCKS AND USED HARRY AND EVERYONE NEEDS TO ADMIT THAT.

Lot of things to criticise about Dumbledore, but honestly, the thing that actually pisses me off the most is when Harry is upset, talking about Snape, and Dumbledore's all like "Professor Snape, Harry"

Like how about you shove it up your fucking arse Mr "he has to die at precisely the right moment"

[metalomagnetic]

After seeing about 50 'Dumbledore is evil' and 'everything is Dumbledore's fault' and 'but why didn't Dumbledore did this or the other' posts in a row, I find myself wishing Dumbledore just fucked off to somewhere nice and sunny in '81, early retirement (or is it early if he's already 100?) and washed his hands off magical Britain entirely.

Some of y'all sound like Fudge with your Dumbledore bashing. I wish, at least, Dumbledore would have left when Fudge and that corrupt as hell Ministry did their best to ruin his name and his image.

Pack up his ancient shit and move to a nice beach somewhere, with his pet bird and a huge bag of candy.

This way, my man Voldemort could have won in like five minutes, and Harry would be dead, Voldemort would rule supreme, Bella would keep being the queen she is, and my little Voldemort shaped heart would be happy.

But no, Dumbledore stayed, orchestrated Voldemort's downfall by giving Harry step by step instructions, gave up his own life in the process, made sure Harry would keep his, because apparently that's what 'evil men' do instead of retiring in comfort.

Not only Harry wouldn't have survived without Dumbledore, but he most likely wouldn't even exist without Dumbledore. Because, you know, this evil man is also the one that took down another dark lord back in the day; if Grindelwald would have won, there would be no Lily, most likely. Thus no Harry.

But yes, go get your 'Dumbledore is evil' badges- I hear Fudge and Umbridge are leaders of the hate club, I'm sure they'll receive new followers with open arms. Draco is probably the secretary, because he hates Dumbledore, too, and he likes making badges.

Also, can someone explain to me how Dumbledore, the only gay man in canon, became the fandom's resident homophobe? That's just weird, my friends. Very weird, to say the least. It gets even nastier when you say he 'groomed' students. That's an awful thing to throw around about a gay dude, you know?

There are so many reasons one can dislike Dumbledore for, but you do have the option to not like a flawed character without turning them into a ridiculous caricature of themselves.

P.S: I am not talking about fics. Write your fics and your characters however you want, whatever makes you happy. Your fic is your domain, and you do whatever you want in there, hopefully with no asshole to attack you in the comments. Same with reading- read what you want, bashing or no bashing. Have the best of fun!

I am talking about these 'meta' type posts on social media, tagged with "Albus Dumbledore", where they act as if canon Dumbledore was legit evil, incompetent or homophobic.

[firendgold]

"dumbledore wants to control--" hush

Thinking about how irritating it is that people still believe that Albus Dumbledore (the person people should argue is maybe too lenient with letting every teenager in his school become Sherlock Holmes or Harry Houdini as it suits them) wants to control every single move any teenager makes under his roof or relationship they have, especially Harry.

Y'all. Albus does not care. He sure will prod you in one intellectual direction or the other, help you along toward whatever conclusion he's already drawn about goings-on, but this man is not gnashing his teeth or doing disapproving frowns over his glasses because one of his students keeps their guardian informed of Hogwarts happenings or wants to visit their vault in the middle of the year for some reason or what-the-fuck-ever.

Equally irritating, the fanon idea that Albus wants Harry to only live the life the headmaster plans or wishes (and that's IF they clear the hurdle of even realizing Albus wanted Harry to live at all).

"oh, Dumbledore doesn't want Harry to have power!" HE DOESN'T??? the same guy who said that Harry was a better man than him and a worthy master of the Hallows?

"Dumbledore only wants Harry to do X/be a sacrificial lamb!" He did not want Harry to die. He had no other choice thanks to the actions consistently taken by y'all's problematic fave, Voldemort. It's only a twist of irony that Voldemort also unintentionally rescued Harry as well. If Dumbledore had taken some of the actions y'all wanted him to by pretending he had the power to override an age-old Goblet that Barty used to put Harry in the tournament, then Harry would have perma-died at any point where an otherwise-resurrected Voldemort got his hands on him.

And Albus never expresses any desire for Harry to do or be anything besides what he is. Harry decides he wants to be an Auror because a Death Eater in disguise told him he'd be good at it. He never challenges this career path even when he honestly should.

Albus' actual wishes for Harry's future boil down to this:

is he alive?

is he safe?

is he happy?

If these conditions are filled, the real Albus Dumbledore is ecstatic.

So no, there's no universe where Albus is trying to block Harry from meeting with Ministry officials (unless they're losers like Rufus Scrimgeour, who was actively more interested in arresting randoms and getting photo shoots with the teenager he should have been PROTECTING from Voldemort, not holding in front of himself like a human shield).

The real Albus does not even lift an eyebrow at your fanon Harrys deciding they must meet with The Heads of Prominent Magical Families who previously didn't give a single shit about them. (And fandom, why is this dumb idea STILL A THING two decades later?? Who gives a shit what the dude whose name you found on Pottermore and whose personality you made up has been doing during the Voldemort years, when it was likely just sitting around with a thumb up his ass twittering about Family Honor while fascist terrorists were murdering people across the country?)

Albus likes Harry more than anyone else. He wants Harry to live a fulfilling life. If Harry became Minister for Magic, Albus would be thrilled. It would give him an excuse to actually visit the Ministry more often.

If Albus could be said to have an endgame or desire for Harry's career at all, it would be making Harry a professor at Hogwarts. Did you see how much he teared up when he found out the resistance was named after him? Or how he spent the whole next year giving Harry 'lessons' he had to know were being passed right to Ron and Hermione? Albus' passion is teaching; it's the one thing he feels he hasn't completely screwed up or corrupted. He'd die happy if Harry became the Defense professor and they could share meals and classroom anecdotes every day.

[soup-of-the-daisies]

“Harry didn’t name any of his kids after Remus because he’s saving that option for Teddy!”

Wrong. Harry didn’t name any of his kids after Remus because it wasn’t personal enough.

James Sirius is named after his two fathers; Lily Luna is named after his mother and one of his and Ginny’s best friends. Albus Severus is named after two wizards who were incredibly influential for Harry’s development and safety (I have a HC on why on earth Harry decided to name his child after Dumbledore and Snape, but that’s a separate post entirely). None of his and Ginny’s kids are named after Remus, not (just) because they wished to save the name for Teddy, but because of Teddy.

Harry looks his orphaned godson in the eyes one day, a year or two after the Battle, and realises how fucked up it was that Remus, despite technically being able to, never visited him. He can’t imagine leaving Teddy all alone like that, in a family he might know doesn’t look favourably upon magic. There’s a chance that Lily may have told Remus about Petunia and Vernon and their bigotry, their hatred. And Remus, for some reason, didn’t come look.

Harry looks that little boy in the eyes and realises how weird it was that Remus didn’t admit to having been the best of friends with James Potter until late into Harry’s third year. Harry can’t fathom that, if Teddy was Ron and Hermione’s kid and both Ron and Hermione died, he’d be able to talk to the spitting image of Ron with Hermione’s eyes (but starved, intense, broken, thirteen years old and remembering his parents’ murders) and not say, “Your parents were my best friends. Let me tell you about them; let me tell you all that you want to know.”

Harry figures he’d move mountains to keep Teddy safe and happy. Harry figures that Sirius would’ve done the same, considering he mustered up the strength to break out of Azkaban after twelve years and swim to Britain to ensure Harry’s safety at the smallest sign of danger. Sirius lived in a cave and ate rats for Harry with dementors breathing down his back: Harry knows with utmost certainty that, if Sirius had had the freedom to do so, he would’ve burnt the country down for Harry.

Remus didn’t do that for him, wouldn’t have, be it for a lack of freedom or a lack of want. Remus was ‘Lupin’ to Harry even in death, even after being named godfather to his son. Harry had to convince thirty-seven year old Remus to stay with his pregnant wife at seventeen. Harry got blown into a wall for his efforts, was given the honour of becoming godfather months later. Harry liked Remus, still loves him even, but there’s nothing Harry wouldn’t do for Teddy and there was very little Remus did for Harry, and there’s that.

Later, Harry doesn’t even suggest naming a child after Remus. Ginny doesn’t even ask. None of their children are named after Remus, because Harry is a man who is quick to anger when it’s about innocents, a man whose forgiveness only goes so far. He’s never been truly bothered by his own situation, but he’s bothered by the mere idea of Teddy ending up in a similar one and him doing nothing.

Remus did nothing. That’s the crux of it. That’s why.

(After Lily Luna is born, Teddy asks if ‘Luna’ is for his dad. Harry looks at Ginny, and Ginny looks at him, and Harry does what Remus taught him: he swallows his apprehension and lies.

“Yes,” he says, raking his fingers through Teddy’s fluffy, turquoise hair. He thinks he’ll raze cities for this child. “But we saved ‘Remus’ for you.”)

[foursaints]

“I don’t care what [Barty] says, Dumbledore’s not stupid”: On Barty as Machiavel

i think we're all forgetting the moment where harry explicitly draws a parallel between barty & remus and i wrote the world’s longest post about it 

under a close reading, moody!barty operates in a manner that is SO distinct from canon!moody, and i think it’s made especially apparent in the way he interacts with students & the virtues he emphasizes in his lessons. even when disguised, barty has a machiavellian tendency that comes through consistently in several different moments. 

i think this quote is a weaker example, but “very tactful” is NOT something that would be used to describe canon!moody under any circumstances. c!moody’s lack of social tact is a known characteristic, and barty uses his tactless reputation to get away with his machinations (see: the dustbin excuse, breaking into snape’s office, even the ferret to an extent).

on the other hand, BARTY is clever and subtle and manipulative, and we see this coming through in how he handles neville. the biggest difference between him and c!moody is the way that barty!moody tends to openly value or praise Cleverness & Craftiness above more moody-ish virtues like bravery, loyalty, or Taking Care of His Students’ Safety… but i think the most interesting part of all this is the way that harry reacts to it.

the hp books notoriously do this clumsy thing where the morality is starkly Black/White (as ursula leguin rightfully criticized). but seemingly arbitrary categories like “gryffindor” or “slytherin” are also conflated with this strict Good/Evil dichotomy. which results in these random-ass traits like “brave 😎🦁” and “cunning 💀🐍” also taking on moral associations within the world of the text (jkr has also done this with physical traits & racial stereotypes, which is vile) 

but an overarching theme in hp is harry grappling with this dumbass in-world black/white morality & unlearning part of it (ex: snape, the epilogue w albus severus about slytherin). but i think it’s sooo interesting that one of the few characters (aside from snape & dumbledore) to demonstrate & valorize a machiavellian tendency AND be admired for it (by harry) is LITERALLY barty jr. 

like! barty’s tact is not a good thing in-canon! he uses his tact to get away with murder & torture & elaborate terrorist plots (he’s part of a group of death eaters described as having "managed to talk their way out of azkaban” p. 527) but i looove that the same trait which allows him to do all sorts of Dastardly Evil is cast as positive and remus-like in this moment. obviously i don’t think jkr was doing of this on purpose, but i love how these little things are unintentionally more compelling than whatever the hell she was trying to do with snape. and it goes deeper!!

this moment is especially telling of barty’s character, to me. subbing out the names, “I don’t care what [Barty] says… Dumbledore’s not stupid” is a CRAZY line. 

it’s lowkey THE barty!moody thesis in comparison to c!moody: nothing we’ve seen from c!moody would even remotely suggest that he’d EVER imply that dumbledore is stupid. (c!moody adopts the “it’s imperative that we blindly trust dd’s mysterious plans” attitude that most of the adults in harry’s life take, that hermione re-emphasizes here). but barty’s attitude is something that harry heavily fucks with in this moment!! 

that’s all i really have to say about The Implications or whatever. but i want to call more attention to moments in canon where barty’s tendencies shine through his disguise because (unlike most marauders characters) his personality is really fleshed-out. especially this aspect of it. my silly 

i. "mind works the right way, granger"

barty speaking about dumbledore like he’s stupid (💀) is enjoyable for several reasons up to & including how big-dicked it is of him, but most importantly i think it’s symptomatic of an overarching theme of his character. in GOF, barty has a tendency to take stock of the people around him, according to what appears to be a really concrete & consistent set of internal values: he values cleverness matched with a certain degree of ruthlessness. 

this bit with hermione is fun. there are about ~6-7 other instances where he praises cleverness, but that’s not really a unique or noteworthy thing to value? but the phrasing in this quote is my favorite. i know that it’s in reference to the skillset required of an auror, but the phrasing of “mind works the right way” can be applied to so much of barty’s character if you reach hard. i love that barty’s language almost casts the mind as something rote & mechanical which can function right or wrong. 

but anyway it only becomes interesting when placed in context of THIS earlier interaction: 

there are endless ways barty could have gone about guiding harry to use his firebolt here, so his specific phrasing holds a lot of weight to me. (keep in mind: he’s prompting harry to feel that he came up with the firebolt/accio idea, but this whole plan was concocted by barty himself much earlier. he’s on the “convince harry to do my broomstick dragon thing” step of his overarching scheme) 

in a sense, by “inspiring” harry to do what HE already independently decided was best, he’s sort of… giving away his own reasoning, a little? the italicized emphasis on enabling oneself to “get what you need” feels… unnecessary, in context? i love that THAT is where emphasis slips into his voice because it betrays his values. 

barty’s Revenge Scheme is insanely fucking convoluted, but at every stage i think that logic is there. in his villain monologue where he rehashes the deranged level of micro-managing he was doing to get harry to resurrect voldemort, at every individual step he was following his own advice. to barty, sometimes murder is just the Simplest Spell to Get What He Needs. 

according his own advice, barty sees the clearest path between two points, and generally has 0 ethical qualms about closing that distance by the Simplest means possible. he later confirms this by describing harry’s morality introducing complications as “contend[ing] with [his] stupidity” (676) 

ii. “good boy,” growled [barty]. “i can make good use of this…”

the scene where barty acquires the marauders map is CRAZYY.. for a moment, barty is so excited & taken aback that we see a few of his genuine reactions. i love that absolutely nothing manages to faze him EXCEPT genuine delighted shock over an interesting new tool he can implement in his schemes. (sidenote: he probably recognized the marauders’ nicknames, which is so funny)

that fact that we have a canonical barty crouch jr “good boy” makes me claw at the walls. anyway. i feel that i don’t need to explain how “i can make good use of this… this might be exactly what i’ve been looking for” supports characterization of barty as a scheming little machiavel because it’s pretty much explicitly stated right there. 

but this quote stands out for his genuine preoccupation with it. from the instant that barty sees the map, his eyes don’t leave it— his eye “whizzed over [it’s] surface” (491), he questions harry about how his name appeared when he searched snape’s office (”’Crouch,’ he said. ‘You’re— you’re sure, Potter?’” (491))— all while harry is sinking into a trick staircase & getting concerned that moody is ignoring him.

“penetrating glare” ← top barty rights! 

the image of him getting new information, questioning harry about it tactfully, and then spending A FULL MINUTE silently integrating it, is one of my favorite instances of him in the book… it’s like you can hear the gears in his head whirring. i like that we can see this type of assessment that he does extends to other people, when he turns it on harry and “size[s] him up”. 

AND ALL OF THIS IS WITHOUT EVEN GETTING INTO WHAT HIS LESSONS WERE LIKE

this post is long enough as it is! but all that’s left to say is that barty will always be at his most interesting when you pay attention to canon… there’s another longpost that could be written about barty!moody’s differences in disposition. the jokes he cracks, his relative lightness, and the sheer number of times he was openly like “FUCK the law i do what i want” (while literally masquerading as a literal wizard cop) are so intriguing. but that’s for another time 

[halfbloodgf]

Can we talk about the fact that Severus Snape left everyone, both the characters and the readers, like this: 🤡🤡

I mean, no one knew wtf was going on with him. One moment u think he's bad, the next u think he's good. And then u think he's the villain again. But then he gives his memories to Harry and we all realize that he was the fucking hero all along.

In hp1, we think it's Snape who was trying to steal the philosopher's stone, or who tried to knock Harry off his broom. But then comes the end, and we find out that he stopped Harry from falling (saved his life) and was protecting the stone...🤡

We still hated him in hp 2 and 3...

In hp4 Harry suspects that Snape had the Dark Mark, and ends up discovering that he did. There's even the scene that Harry sees: Igor Karkaroff accuses Snape in court in front of the Wizengamot, saying he was a Death Eater, and we're all like😯😃 (finally know the truth!!). But then Dumbledore defends him😐🧍����‍♀️, and no one, not Karkaroff, not Harry, not us readers, understand anything. We don't know whether to trust him or not. So, again...🤡

In hp5 everything is confusing with him. We don't know if he wants to help Harry (occlumency lessons) or not. He calls Voldemort "Dark Lord" (only Death Eaters do), we see his worst memory, which, again, leaves us bewildered and not knowing what the hell to think of him now. Harry himself doubts that his father was a good person, even wondering if James didn't force Lily to marry him, and empathizes with Snape. Then the whole thing with the prophecies, and Harry trying to warn Snape about Sirius and his supposed kidnapping. The Order arrives to save Harry and his friends, which suggests that Snape warned them.

But along comes hp and the Half-Blood Prince, Snape appears to be helping Draco Malfoy with what the Lord entrusted him with —The scene where Bellatrix accuses him, tells him that she doesn't trust him, and then she is surprised:

In the books:

[...]Do you really think that the Dark Lord has not asked me each and every one of those questions? And do you really think that, had I not been able to give satisfactory answers, I would be sitting here talking to you?”

She hesitated. “I know he believes you, but…”

“You think he is mistaken? Or that I have somehow hoodwinked him? Fooled the Dark Lord, the greatest wizard, the most accomplished Legilimens the world has ever seen?”

[...]

“And through all this we are supposed to believe Dumbledore has never suspected you?” asked Bellatrix. “He has no idea of your true allegiance, he trusts you implicitly still?”

“I have played my part well,” said Snape.

In the movies:

The line where he says “Dumbledore is a great wizard”, Snape is actually being smug and subtly saying he’s such a good actor (I mean, come on, the man deserves a fucking Oscar), he’s managed to deceive Voldemort so well that he has revealed his grand plan to him. He practically seems to be laughing at the double meaning of his own words, mocking and lying to the black sister's faces like the fucking boss he is. The way he's literally drinking a glass of wine while laughing at the Dark Lord. The whole scene is just excellent.

So at the end of hp6, Snape reveals to us that he was the half-blood prince for whom the fucking book is named, ends up murdering none other than ALBUS DUMBLEDORE, and we all learn that all this time his true loyalties were with the dark side...🤡

Oh no, wait! Hp7 arrives, Voldemort kills Snape :0 (Yes!), gives his memories to Harry, and Harry sees his memories and... (NOO😦😨😰😭💔💀). We found out he wasn't the bad guy. That, in fact, he was IN LOVE WITH HARRY'S MOM —"always" still hurts :')— That all this time he was our ally...🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

He practically played with all of us, with LORD VOLDEMORT, the Death Eaters, the Order of the Phoenix, Harry... well, WITH EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE WIZARDING WORLD. And he did it as if he were:

Harry fucking Potter named one of his sons after him, which must have made a lot of people roll in their graves (James and Sirius out of anger, Snape out of laughter).

This mf literally woke up one day and said: "okay, here begins my reputation era bitches.😎 Let's leave a few of them looking like🤡🤡"

PD: Sorry if something is written wrong, english is not my language.

[rewritingcanon]

What would you say are your more controversial opinions about the hp characters?

ohhhh okayyy. i feel like my opinions on a lot of the characters aren’t controversial because i dont feel super strongly towards anyone in any negative light but here are some i could think of at the top of my head:

i’m glad the malfoys faced more extreme backlash after the second wizarding war. a lot of people in the fandom seem to be very sympathetic towards draco and scorpius for getting dogpiled with the brunt of it (which yeah, it sucks, especially for scorpius) but the prejudice makes complete make sense to me. if i was someone who didn’t know scorpius’ character, and had someone from my family get killed in the second war due to death eaters or something— seeing the malfoys still be wealthy and walk around freely without any jailtime, i would be bitter too. they’re hated on but they’re still one of the richest families ever, so they’ll live LOL

another anon has asked about this and i haven’t responded to them yet but when i do i will link it here for my reasons. basically: the best character in the cursed child is harry potter. i think the way they wrote his character and ptsd carried the play. it was def his story, not albus’.

i do think dumbledore has some aspects of him that may be considered morally gray, but mostly i dont think he is. he does everything for the good of the world, and his complete selflessness leads him to sacrifice anything for it— even himself and the people he loves, when necessary. i completely understand why people wouldn’t agree with his methods though.

james potter isn’t a sunshine character he’s a dickhead. fans of him made him a golden retriever character to be more palatable for modern times. i like him the way he is: an asshole and then less of an asshole 👍 this is what true stanning looks like

pansy parkinson is racist and out of all the female side characters, developing HER is so questionable from fandom

harry had questionable descriptions about a lot of male characters to make people think he could be a little 🏳️‍🌈 there was bill, there was sirius, there was cedric. but draco is not a part of that list. harry was not feeling draco whatsoever throughout the series but drarry shippers cling to that one ‘obsessed’ line

furthermore, harry rejecting draco’s offer of friendship wasn’t a sad or a ‘what if’ scene. draco was being a classist piece of shit and harry didnt want to fuck with that, there isnt any way in any timeline he wouldve accepted draco’s friendship.

slytherin sucks just generally lol. people want so bad to pluck anti-heroes out of a series that was written specifically with the mind to make all the characters suck.

hermione and ron’s drama isn’t as toxic as people make it out to be. yes, this includes the time hermione sent birds after him. people act like its the end of the world but she was tackling puberty and the end of society soooo i give her a pass to tweak out.

mostly every harry potter character has horrific names. like literally mostly everyone. even the name harry potter 🙁

movie romione wasn’t that bad LOL

severus snape’s ‘redemption’ or whatever was so ass. he bullies kids for five years and then everything is chill because… true love? on harry’s mum? are you kidding me 💀

weasley family angst goes hard but people (especially percy stans and some ron&ginny stans) acting like they’re the most toxic family to walk the earth make me want to rip my hair out and eat it. molly loves her kids guys shes not evil. jesus.

genuinely trying to think of more but i can’t right now…. maybe i will reblog and add to it. i feel like most of my opinions aren’t that controversial though 😭

[lemonagrios]

I've been thinking of an Au like this for a couple of months, so I made some shitty drawings to get some of it out of my system, lol

Me yapping about this Au ⬇️

So when I say "Logan" or "Runaways" Au I don't mean like literally swapping the characters and putting NextGen characters in the existing story, it's more like the general idea of the movie/comics with some plotpoints but not the exact same(?) I hope what I said makes sense lmao 😭

In this Au mutants are still relatively unknown and hidden from the population, but the Malfoys, who are very known and loved for their contributions to medicine and all of the other businesses they own, have known about mutants for a very long time now, and they actually are part of a big anti-mutant organization where they test possible "cures" and weapons for when mutants decide to "rebel" against humanity, even more now that some mutant called Harry Potter has been making some noise they have already tried and failed to silence.

17 year old Scorpius Malfoy, oblivious to all this tries to be the perfect son for his father while also grieving the (suspicious) death of his mother, he's been feeling weird lately, and he also has a big interest in genetics, not only because he knows he'd have to work in Transigen when he grows up like the rest of his family, but because of some weird sightings of interesting people in the past year.

Some stuff happens, and he discovers the truth about his family's business, the inhuman experiments tried on mutant kids, and a deadly weapon called X-19 that they created and actually have been using for a couple of years to kill important people like politicians and mafia lords while earning enormous amounts of money with it.

This "weapon" is actually a teen around the same age as Scorpius, and somehow he ends up running away with him, albeit kinda not on purpose, on top of all that he also very recently discovered that he himself is a mutant, so things are not looking good.

Some more things I've thought about 🥸

Albus and Scorpius are both 17, and their bond is definitely going to turn romantic at some point in the future bc I love them, they're boyfriends in every universe, I don't make the rules.

Albus name is X-19 as a reference to the epilogue begging with "19 years later" lmao.

Also, since his name was X-19, someone in Transigen who was part of the crew in charge of him and felt bad for him started calling him "Severus" in an attempt to give him a real name, I won't give too much details about this but that's the reason Scorpius says "Severus" in my fanart, "Albus" is a name he'd get later.

Albus was created in a lab, BUT I want him to have both Harry and Ginnys genes, I want Ginny to be the one who has the same mutation as him, so since this is kinda a gender reversal, she has claws like Laura's while Albus has Logan's, and we all know Albus looks a lot like Harry, so I like the idea that he was made specifically to resemble him, just to fuck with their heads when a teen that looks just like Harry and has Ginnys mutation is used against them.

As for Scorpius powers, I mostly made them up lol, it's a pretty basic teleportation with the fact that his skin becomes white the more he uses his powers bc I really wanted him to develop a physical mutation that would eventually (propably) out him as a mutant, also he can only teleport to places he has already been to before, if he hasn't been to a place he cannot go there, but since he's so new to his powers he can't control where he's going yet lol.

I think that's it 🤓 I still have nothing set since this is just for silly fun and I could change my mind at anytime, tbh I doubt anyone would read all that, but I had to let it out, I do want to write a fic someday, but if I draw slow, I write even slower 😭 I hope my English didn't fail me cause lately I haven't been Englishing very well lmao, byeee.

[bonniesfamiliar]

DIMENSION TRAVEL STORY IDEA: Summary: Harriet "Harry" James Potter has travelled to an alternate dimension during a spell gone wrong (Kreacher's actually responsible cuz he cares about Harry since she's the Lady of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black) Harriet knows it's an alternate dimension cuz she finds a newspaper stand and lo and behold, who's on the front cover? Tom. Fucking. Riddle. But not the ugly Voldemort Tom Riddle she killed. No this is young Tom Riddle who grew up FINE AS HELL.

And he's on the front page cuz he's The Minister of Magic and guess what he's talking about.

Dumbledore.

He's talking about Dumbledore.

And not manipulative gramps Dumbledore whose beard is longer than my hair.

No.

We're talking about this one

You know why he's talking about this Dumbledore?

Because Albus. Percival. Fucking. Dumbledore decided to become the epitome of "Be Gay, Do Crime," with Gellert Grindelwald, his husband.

DUMBLEDORE IS A DARK LORD WITH HIS HUBBY

So Harriet is obviously freaking out and does the right thing.

She goes to a pub and drinks her sorrows away in Scottish Whiskey, (Thank you, Minny)

But Harry never makes reasonable decisions so when she finds a quill and paper, guess what she does.

She writes to Misinter Riddle.

But the drama doesn't end there.

Whenever Harriet does anything, whether she writes or talks about Tom Riddle, she doesn't speak in English.

She talks in Pareseltongue.

(Cuz she and tom are the only Parselmouths. I think.)

So Parseltongue.

Harriet writes in parseltongue to the Minister of Fucking Magic on his wrongdoings in her universe.

The letter literally looks like this:

ssss ssss sssssssss ss ssssss s sss ssssssss ssssss sss sss ss ssss ssssssss ssssssss ssss ssssss sssssss ss ss sssssssss and that transcribes to 

"Dear Lord Voldemort, or should I say Minister Riddle, you are an ugly noseless hairless evil snakey bastard in my dimension,"

and cuz she's spiteful, she signs it off with "You-Know-Who"

But the thing is Harriet never mentioned her name or who her parents were.

So when Minister Riddle receives this letter, he freaks out and then does everything he can to find this person.

Not to kill them.

But to woo them.

This kind, thoughtful person has travelled from another dimension just to stop him from becoming evil.

AND THEY'RE A PARSELMOUTH.'

THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY HIS SNAKE MATE. (cuz he killed all of the Gaunts and Riddles so they're not family)

You can bet ur ass he was squealing to Nagini at the thought of having another Parselmouth in the world with him.

He's obsessed.

(He's not tom riddle if he doesn't have possessive issues and his jealousy issues are just as bad.🤭🤭🤭🥰🥰🥰😩😩😩)

Like it's not a want.

It's a need.

He needs the writer of this letter to be with him forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and-

You probably get the idea.

Anyway, 1 year goes by.

Tom Riddle: I MUST FIND THIS PERSON AND MAKE THEM MINE

Harriet Potter: *forgets about even writing the letter* 

Tom is growing more obsessed as the days go by and then he meets a woman at a charity ball held for idk an organisation for potieneers? Potion Masters?

She's chatting up with Lord and Lady Dagworth-Granger cuz she's been working with them cuz they remind her of Hermione and she needed a job.

Anyway, he approaches the couple in hopes of talking to them and Harriet sees Minister Riddle approaching and quickly moves away to head to the drinks table.

And then lets out a breath of relief when she realises he wasn't heading for her.

She schmoozes for a few more minutes before calling it quits and heading out for fresh air.

The party is at the Dagworth-Granger's manor so she goes out to the gardens.

And hears a cry for help.

Her Gryffindor instincts push her to run towards the sound of danger.

But her Slytherin side made her hide behind the wall from where the cry of help had come from.

It was a witch being harassed by two wizards.

One of the wizards was holding her wand, taunting her.

While the other had begun to take off her outfit.

Before it could go any further, she brought the men's attention to her and with a flick of her wrist, Harriet had the men on their knees.

She then walked over to the one holding the witch's wand and grabbed it out of his hand, accidentally snapping his wrist in the process.

She gave the witch her wand back and accepted the shaky hug she received.

Harriet waited until the witch was out of sight before she turned to the men and smiled, watching as their faces fell into horror as they saw the fangs in her mouth.

(I'm in love with the prompt by a post on tumblr where  Basilisk!Harry is hugging Kneazle!Hermione and Dragon!Ron also wants his cuddles. I can't find the person who made it but I've lived by the idea that these would be their animagus forms if they ever performed the spell like James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew had done to become illegal animagi for Remus Lupin)

Harriet rips into their throats, feeds on them and then turns their bodies into ash with the fiendryfire spell.

She grabbed a mirror from her purse to erase the blood from her face and clothes and began to walk away lest anyone come looking for the wizards.

But, Harriet suddenly slammed into what felt like a wall.

A very warm wall.

Regaining her bearings, Harriet looked up to notice that the "wall" was MINISTER RIDDLE.

AND HE WAS HOLDING HER ARMS.

"Minister Riddle, what are you doing here?" She said pasting a smile on her face.

Shift of POV:

Minister Riddle internally sighed at being stuck in another ball instead of being at home, analysing the letter once again.

He was certain it was a woman who sent it as there was a red lipstick kiss on the paper after it was signed sss-ssss-sss (You-Know-Who)

His thoughts are cut off when Lady Dagworth-Granger asks her husband where Harriet is.

Who is Harriet? he muses but when Lord Dagworth-Granger offers to look in the gardens, Tom leaps at the chance to run away from the party.

He goes into the gardens aimlessly walking around for a few minutes, lost in his thoughts of his mysterious parselmouth when a witch comes out of nowhere and collides with him.

He uprighted her by placing his hands on her arms and looked on curiously as she seemed to freeze in place when she looked up to see that it was he she bumped into.

Tom Riddle is the one to freeze when she speaks.

"Minister Riddle, what are you doing here?" She says an innocent smile on her face as if she had no idea his whole world had just flipped on its axis.

Parseltongue.

She's speaking in parseltongue.

She's his parselmouth.

The one from another dimension.

But he had to clarify so he replies honestly for the first time in his life, in parseltongue, "I've been looking for you," 

"Searching for me? Whatever for?"

A boyish smile widens on his face before he forces it into a polite smile.

"The Lord and Lady Dagworth-Granger have been searching for you, Miss Harriet I believe you are?" He reverts to English to test if she notices the change but she doesn't.

She just replies in English, "Ah, I see. I disappeared for too long with my break from the stuffiness of the ball and yes, I am Harriet."

Harriet, he muses in his mind, no last name to give for me.

She extends her gloved hand for him to shake but Tom riddle reaches for both of her hands and turns them over to kiss them gently and forces himself not to give into the urge of nuzzling into her hands (well not yet at least) and without letting them go, he straightens to his full height to tower over her (giving him a thrill at knowing she was shorter, meaning he could easily pick her up and carry her, be it over his shoulders or bridal style) and replies, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Harriet. No last name?"

(Harriet has been wearing gloves cuz of the 'I must not tell lies' scars that cover her hands.)

Harriet smiles teasingly towards him and his cold heart thaws ever so, "I couldn't decide on a last name and I've decided I like the mysterious aura it gives me,"

Or maybe she couldn't risk using her real last name because she was from a different dimension, Tom muses in his mind, Nevertheless, Harriet Riddle has a lovely ring to it.

Harriet Potter: *staring confused at Tom Riddle as he smiles down at her

Tom Riddle: *Winter would be a lovely time to get married, wouldn't it?

I'm stopping here cuz it's a summary, not a story. Yes, I'm Evil.

Tell me if you like it tho.

I was this close *makes an inch between her fingers* to making this a Soulmate AU story.

Think of the angst that Harriet would go through all her life knowing that her soulmate's words to her are:  I've been looking for you

And it's an alternate hotter version of Tom Riddle, AKA THE BAD GUY WHO MURDERED HER PARENTS 

And think of how Harriet's words had motivated Tom his entire life to do his best to work hard (and cheat death) to live long enough for his soulmate to see him one day at a place be it a library or a gala or a hallway and ask him: Minister Riddle, what are you doing here?

Huh.

Maybe I should make them soulmates.

I need a timeline. fuck.

Um.

Riddle was educated at Hogwarts from 1938 to 1945, and was sorted into Slytherin House, a nod to his ancestor Salazar Slytherin.

Making Tom 34 cuz 1927 is the year Tom was born in if he went to Hogwarts in 1938 which would make him 11 in 1938 and 38-11 is 27 so 1927 is when he was born.

61-27=34 so Harriet is in 1961 but cuz of the time skip tom is 35 years old in 1962

Harriet was born in 1980 

The Second War technically began on 24 June, 1995, though was not officially announced by the Ministry until nearly a year later on 17 June, 1996, and ended on 2 May, 1998, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, after the death of the Dark Lord.

Which made Harriet 18 in 1998, 24 in 2004, 24 in 1961 and 25 in 1962

 but she deserves peace so the year Kreacher sent her back was 2004 which would make her 24 cuz he's horrified that she hasn't attempted to romance anyone since Cedric Diggory.

Tbh, if he was my bf I would never love again.

But then hubby "I would burn the world down for you and rebuild a new one from its ashes" tom riddle is here and I'm like Cedric who?

But none of them compare to (long list of titles, I'll research later.) Harriet James Potter.

[blueberrymash]

james sirius potter - the star boy

·˚ ༘ just some headcanons on what I think harry potter's eldest son would be like

·˚ ༘ 1.4k words

- he's a big marvel fan and he lovess miles morales (he literally wants to be him), if he had a girlfriend he'd beg her to go as miles and gwen for halloween. literally don't talk to him about any superhero stuff though, he'll talk your ear off he's such a fanboy and gets like a little kid whenever he talks about batman, spiderman or captain america.

- he's extremely popular like almost ridiculously so. he has a huge friend group and everyone except maybe for the slytherins like and respect him. nobody says that they don't like james sirius potter and if anyone within the gryffindor house would even utter one bad word about him, they would definitely be frowned upon

- some say he's like a carbon copy of his father, because they're so similar in so many aspects (they're both sassy boys).

- OH he's absolutely a fuck boy. there's not a single doubt in my mind that he is. he's not against having a girlfriend but she'd definitely have to be super popular as well and stand out from the masses. he'd never date someone shy or introverted, since he's like "if the word 'extroverted' was a person" if you know what I mean. he just wants somebody to match his freak and do crazy irresponsible shit with. he's also the type of person who loves to go out & socialize so he'd need to date somebody who's also like that. he also needs to release the pent up energy inside him so staying in all of the time just isn't an option for him. but he would have introverted friends.

- he likes to make out with hot girls at parties and forget their name in the morning. he likes to drink and sometimes smoke as well. he's the life of the party, always animating everyone to dance and drink and play games, always doing smalltalk with everyone and remembering little details about them but forgetting the big things (like their name lmao). he's a beer pong champion and in general really good at all the party games. he's just like a party animal

- he always knows the right things to say at the right time and people adore him for it. he genuinely cares about everyone in his year, even the slytherin outcasts. if he sees someone crying or hurt he doesn't care who you are or which house you're in, he's cheering you up

- he likes to be the center of attention. whenever his dad is followed by paparazzi or journalists, he makes a show out of talking to them, posing for the cameras until he's pulled away by ginny. she's honestly so done with him by now because he's such a sucker for attention lmaoo. but then he ends up in like famous wizard magazines (even the daily prophet) and he just has the biggest, most smug grin on his face when he sees his picture, it definitely encourages him to keep giving the paparazzi what they want

- he's also a family guy even if he doesn't get along with albus that well. he loves his little sister lily though and his mom and his dad. christmas with his family is his favorite thing because he loves their little traditions. he always puts great care in what he gets eveyone as a present and he loves it when lily's face lights up when he gets her that exact thing she wanted. he also loves his grandmother (slayy grandma molly) and he always proudly wears the sweaters that she knits him! the whole weasley-potter-delacour and whatnot family always has a big get-together ont the 25th or 26th of december and that's where james whips out his guitar and performs the christmas songs he's been working on perfecting all season.

- he lovesss quidditch and dancing and he'd actually be the type to start kpop dancing or something and he'd be AMAZING like actually breathtaking. he's the only thing you can look at while he performs on stage, he's just the golden boy. he'd go to training like everyday when he's at home and while he's at school he'd practice on his own! he really looks up to celestia warbeck and wants to be the male version of her when he's older! definitely he's really dedicated and I can imagine him being in like a boy group when he's older or going on to be a solo performer

- he can also sing and play the guitar, bro writes his own songs! his voice is the one of an angel and whenever he sings at a gryffindor bonfire or party, the whole room is drawn to him, falls for him. he dreams of being an entertainer or professional quidditch player later in his life and he's honestly made for it as well. the scouts who watch him play or dance always eat whatever he does up. he's literally destined to be a superstar, plus he also has great advantages from being a nepo baby.

- he's not that good at school though, except maybe for flying class and some random subject like divination (let's be honest, only because he flirts with professor trelawney), he'll just get some ravenclaw girl to tutor him though

- he's the type to take feminist literature to a café and pretend he's reading it lmaoo. it's not like he's not a feminist or doesn't support women's rights (he loves women), the boy just doesn't read books, like at all. he just wants to pick up women with the feminist literature and he'll pretend like he's read the book.

- honestly he'd even listen to lana del ray or taylor swift and he's not embarrased or scared he'll be seen as gay or soft. he knows he's straight (maybe even a little heteroflexible) and cis and he doesn't feel threatened in his masculinity when a gay boy comes and flirts with him, he sees it as an honour and politely declines, I mean, he even has gay friends and gay cousins and bro let's be honest, even though he isn't out yet, his brother's definitely a bit fruity for his best friend scorpius. he's not scared of rumours about his identity or sexuality, people can misinterpret him, he literally doesn't care.

- unbothered king!! you either love him or you hate him but he literally doesn't care, he can be so nonchalant and can definitely break a girl's heart cause he literally DOES NOT CARE TUT and he's definitely gotten himself into a lot of situationships (like I said, he's a fuckboy) but he will only ever get with a girl he is in love with, he doesn't just bring any girl home to his momma, she'd have to be special

- apropos, he is such a mama's boy! not like those boys who's momma is in love with them and hates every girlfriend their son brings home, no, that's obviously not ginny, but he just honestly loves his mom! he likes to go shopping with her and lily or go get their nails done with them (yes, he also loves those pretty nails with designs, not the long acrylic ones obviously but the short ones. he practically advanced from just painting his nails black to getting designs on them)

- the best way to be in james' life is honestly to either be one of his cousins or friends. his friends are literally like family to him and he's so loyal to them. also he's such a fun friend and always comes up with the best ideas, it's never boring with him. he's also open to doing so many different things, depending on what his freinds are like. if you're introverted and like staying in, he'll literally just do that with you and yes, he'll even watch gossip girl and do face masks, he doesn't mind, he just likes spending time with his friends. he'll enjoy whatever he does as long as its with a friend. and if you're one of his cousins he'll literally treat you like a sibling / best friend because all of his cousins are his best friends

- he's sooo generous and caring. you haven't eaten all day and feel like you're about to die from starvation? have his entire sandwich and let him bring you a plate of food from the house elves kitchen to your room. you feel like throwing up? bbg he'll hold your hair while you're puking and give you back rubs. you don't have anything to do in the summer holidays? come with him on the potter family holiday to spain! he literally just wants his loved ones to be happy and he'll do anything for their happiness

y'all want more?

[dufferpuffer]

Hi it's me again sorry to spam your inbox. I had PoA in the background while working and it just hit me: how was Remus immediately so good at teaching? As far as we know, he never was a teacher before. He worked little odd jobs to survive that he barely kept for a few months. Yet, he starts at Hogwarts and immediately his first lesson is a success. The students love him so much to the point they still talk about him books later, actively defend him (in front of Snape and Umbridge), to the point that Hermione, who figured out he was a werewolf, decided to trust him and defended him as well.

How did this happen? It also didn't seem like Remus wanted to teach so much, it even sounded like he was coerced into it by Dumbledore who tracked him down. Yet, he came prepared, with his neat little suitcase he carefully repaired and sewed together, he even stamped "Professor R.J Lupin" on it (ACTUALLY CANON OMG). He even received praise from Madam Pomfrey "So we've finally got a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies?". He was PREPARED. He gave hands on lessons (there is a whole paragraph in the beginning of Chapter 8 describing how good his lessons are), a fun practical exam, he always deflected conflicts (regarding Malfoy's snarky remarks and rage baits), he immediately spots Neville as anxious and puts him forward in the first class to give him a little confidence boost (literally the first professor to ever praise Neville), he had a subtle but funny humour (I'm referring to the time Harry had tea in his office "I've only got teabags, I'm afraid -- but I daresay you've had enough of tea leaves?"). The CUTEST THING is him giving Harry a set of very nice, useful books for Christmas in OotP along with Sirius. Like, how thoughtful???

We often refer to him as "grey" but to me he seems more polarized. Like he is ALL or NOTHING. Fatherly yet cold, caring yet distant, supportive yet absent. Tbh sometimes I just wanna grab his shoulders and give him a shake. How does one spot a student like Neville so easily, boosts him up, and then just goes and does exactly what Neville is doing (cowarding away, throwing self-confidence out the window).

He makes me so mad. I love him so much. Sorry I didn't mean for this to turn into such a rant (expect another msg on Remus' interactions with Severus in a near future).

no this isn't spam this is delicious yum yum yum I've thought for awhile that I wanna go through Remus and Severus' teaching methods. I'm reading POA right now, a chapter a night or so to my boyfriend (He was 'a bit too old' for HP when it came out, so he's enjoying it now) So I'm paying attention lol

Whether Remus didn't want to teach and Albus had to beg him - or teaching did appeal to him but he thought as a werewolf it would just never be a possibility... he really took to it, didn't he? His suitcase AAHHHH how can one man be SO FUCKING CUTE

I think it's down to being a good mix of skills for him:

He manipulates people to like him. He makes himself pleasant, helpful, positive, charming... that's a good quality for a teacher! To be able to control a whole class of kids takes some sort of manipulation - and Remus is already practiced. He is good at reading people, who they are and what they need... His best quality as a teacher is the fact he can connect to his students emotionally - a rare quality for Hogswarts staff.

That and he just seems to like the kids. He is a bit of a kid himself at heart - while also enjoying being a mentor. Being nurturing. Impressing them. Learning all their names. Showing off his skills. Helping them. Making class fun and engaging. A practical as their first lesson: where he shows them they are capable of handling even their worst fears...

DADA is a good subject for him - he is a strong spellcaster (can cast a patronus effortlessly), Was a spy amongst dark creatures and Death Eaters in the first war - and has a father that specialized in the field. Lyall studied boggarts, poltergeists and dementors - what does Remus do on his very first few days...? Scare off a dementor, show off against a poltergeist - and teach the kids how to deal with a boggart. Just like his own dad. Probably where he knows the chocolate remedy from too, imo Also was the dementor there for him because it could sense he was a werewolf?

Snape mentions later that Lupin lacks organization, is 'hardly over-taxing' the class teaching them first year stuff - that the class is very behind. He might be exaggerating because he hates Lupin (though why say anything at all...?) - but Snape is a good teacher. Not perfect, but despite demanding a high bar for his NEWTs classes they are always well populated. He is good at his job. If he says Lupin is disorganized, behind and focusing on the easy stuff, I believe him at least partially. Maybe his standards are just too high, made worse by hating Lupin and being desperate in the one class he might have with the third years to get them warned about werewolves.

But if those are Lupin's only failings in his first year...? Lupin's a natural at teaching. He is just a bit behind and disorganized - when he spends multiple days a month disabled. And he excels at the area Snape struggles most in: Being able to alter how he teaches to support struggling students. Considering the fact the classes last two teachers were a very distracted Quirrell (underrated character) and an incompetent Lockheart - teaching first year stuff and going easy is probably the best option. He has assessed the level of the class and matched it.

Calling Lupin all-or-nothing is... pretty apt, really. I often think of him as lukewarm, but you're right: It's not that he mingles around half-doing things. he does shit 100% or he is gone. Teacher, 'mentor', Order member, spy, partner... all either done brilliantly - or he is someone Albus needs to track down.