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vivithefolle · 4 years ago

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Not sure if you already talked about this. (I’m pretty sure you have) but someone seemed to notice that when the trio get into fights, Hermione’s always in the right. Even when she’s supposed to be wrong she always seems to be half right. That kind of bothers me. Especially since it’s evident in the whole Scabbers situation.

I have indeed, on Quora, so let’s move yet another answer of mine to Tumblr!

Hermione is seldom wrong in the Harry Potter books. Sometimes she makes mistakes but those mistakes are either completely swept under the rug or downright ignored.

It’s partly due to lazy writing and partly due to Rowling’s own growing bias in favour of her Author Avatar that was fuelled by Steve Kloves, the primary advocate of the Hermione Granger Is The Perfect Girl Ever line of thinking (an utterly ridiculous line of thinking mind you).

Lizo: Steve, Hermione is a character that you have said is one of your favorites. Has that made her easier to write?

Steve: Yeah, I mean, I like writing all three, but I've always loved writing Hermione. Because, I just, one, she's a tremendous character for a lot of reasons for a writer, which also is she can carry exposition in a wonderful way because you just assume she read it in a book. If I need to tell the audience something...

JKR: Absolutely right, I find that all the time in the book, if you need to tell your readers something just put it in her. There are only two characters that you can put it convincingly into their dialogue. One is Hermione, the other is Dumbledore. In both cases you accept, it's plausible that they have, well Dumbledore knows pretty much everything anyway, but that Hermione has read it somewhere. So, she's handy.

Now this, right here, is the exact core of the problem.

Rowling herself admits it: if she wants the readers to have information, she puts Hermione in the scene. Hermione is our primary means of exposition because, like *grits teeth* Sssssteve puts it, it’s easy to assume that she’s read about it somewhere and it makes sense.

That’s all well and good but at first, if you notice, Ron also gave us exposition about the wizarding world, mostly about its culture. He was able to recall the exact year of the Wizarding Confederation that outlawed dragon breeding in Philosopher’s Stone! He explained what were respectively a “Mudblood”, a “Squib”, and Parseltongue, Hermione doing a little exposition about the history of that last one! He was also able to identify Sirius, after being dragged into the Whomping Willow, as an Animagi!

But then Goblet of Fire happens and you can notice the first change that will exponentially grow through the books: instead of Ron, pureblood Ron, born-before-the-end-of-the-war Ron, lived-through-the-aftermath-of-the-war Ron, identifying the Dark Mark, it’s instead Hermione, muggleborn Hermione, lived-as-a-Muggle-for-most-of-her-life Hermione, has-no-idea-about-the-emotional-impact-of-the-Mark Hermione who looks terrified as the Dark Mark shoots into the sky!

And it only will get worse, by the end of the series, Hermione pretty much knows about everything the plot needs her to know, instead of having to work with things she knows but can’t always apply to the situation:

Suddenly has a deep knowledge of Magical Law (in the will of Dumbledore’s chapter, while we had Rufus Scrimgeour who could have provided it to us, or to a lesser extent, Ron could have explained how a wizarding will basically worked)

Is suddenly an expert at finding edible plants and mushrooms. Apparently books are always the goddamn answer in JKR’s world, you can literally learn anything from them

She can decipher all the Tales of Beedle the Bard (may I remind you that they were written in Runes, okay Hermione may have a few years of Ancient Runes education BUT I once tried to translate a 3k+ story I had written for fun, from French to English, which means I knew what the subtleties and intentions were, I knew which turns of phrase I had to preserve so it would make sense in the end, and it still took me two gruelling weeks to get a satisfying result!)

Has suddenly grown a sense of quick-thinking (escaping Xenophilius’ house, using the jinx to make Harry’s face weird-looking) despite it being the only remaining flaw she had at the time (remember when she turned her back on her enemy while he was still conscious just to compliment Harry, and almost died as a result, even though she had been training in the DA to learn how to fight Death Eaters?) Quick-thinking under pressure can be learned, but it takes time and a lot of work to force your brain to override its instinct - and it’s fine because we’re all human and different. But no suddenly Hermione is the Greatest Strategist Evah™ and those silly boys (who actually were the original quick-thinking ones, and one of them was established as the strategist early on) better be grateful for this literal goddess because she protects them from all harm with her superhuman brain.

Somehow knows about Quidditch stuff - she knows about a Snitch’s “memory-touch”. Why should she give all the answers? Why can’t Ron give us this particular tidbit of information?

And then when we come to something Ron actually knows, the damn narration itself goes “woah a book that Ron has read but Hermione hasn’t??? shocking!! incredible!! Ron is not dumb, somebody call the news channel”. But… is that really so surprising? We’ve never seen Hermione read wizarding fiction or even Muggle fiction. We’ve never seen Hermione with anything other than schoolbooks in her hands. Of course Ron has read books she hasn’t read since she doesn’t seem to read fiction at all!

Sorry, bit of a tangent over here.

There are only two characters that you can put it convincingly into their dialogue.

So, that’s one part of the problem: the fact that Rowling, after making Ron our insight into magical culture and Hermione our provider of knowledge, ended up saying “eh whatever I guess Hermione can tell us everything we gotta know because it’s more convenient for me”. Which is a decision that was not based on Hermione’s character, but simply lazy writing. Long story short, it probably went: “Could Ron explain this bit of trivia? Meh, better make Hermione say it cause she’ll have read it in a book. It’s convenient and I won’t need to bother myself with exploring Ron’s characterisation.”

(And thus completely forgetting that Ron could maybe ask his big brothers via owl and provide us with a good heap of extra advanced knowledge - Bill is supposed to have aced his NEWTs after all.)

The other part of the problem is quite simply that Hermione is more often than not, either painted as a victim by the narrative (which makes more people take her side, classic manipulation tactic), or made to be right anytime it’s about a plot point.

Hermione’s mistakes are never explicitly stated, corrected, or even pointed out as being unethical.

Hermione only gets one mistake expressedly pointed out as being a mistake: her misadventure in Polyjuice Potion. The rest of them? Even her crush on Lockhart can’t be counted as a mistake - people get crushes all the time, based solely on physical appearance, it’s not something awful or terrible (Except when it’s Ron who crushes on someone. Ron crushing on someone is absolutely forbidden, and he must be punished with much ridicule and humiliation if he thinks he can get away with not worshipping Hermione like the goddess she is. The nerve of him, really.).

Throughout the books Hermione eventually morphs into Rowling’s Powerful Angel of Vengeance, that punishes the people who dared to do something she disliked - Rita is silenced but at a very ethically dubious price; Marietta gets scarred for life because she was more loyal to her mother than to a bunch of people her friend insisted she hang out with; Umbridge is led to a very, very alarming fate that is never made clear but some people have ideas and they’re not all very kid-friendly; Ron first is “helped” without knowing it because Hermione can’t be bothered to have faith in his capabilities, then when he fails to dutifully reward her for “helping” him, she causes him bodily harm before actively bullying him for not mind-reading her interest in him; causes even more bodily harm to Ron because that’s how feminism works; etc.

Hermione’s mistakes are always justified through the plot itself (which is lazy writing).

Turning into a cat? Only affects her.

The Firebolt? Scabbers? Well, in the end, it was really sent by Sirius Black and Crookshanks really wasn’t the culprit. Therefore all the feelings that were hurt and all the trust lost are irrelevant because Hermione was right all along.

Trying to free the house-elves? Well, it’s the intent that counts, right? And we’re never told enough about house-elf lore to know whether they’re poor brainwashed victims or powerful Penate-like symbiotes who need to serve a wizard to survive?

Kidnapping Rita Skeeter, trapping her and blackmailing her? Rita may be one foul little beetle, but that’s going a bit far, isn’t it? Harry approves? Oh, well, I guess it’s okay then…? A main character can’t have a dubious morality, right?

Manipulating Harry into forming Dumbledore’s Army and forcing him to relive a traumatic event with the same woman she’s kidnapped and blackmail and that she knows he hates? In the end, it all works out for the best and Harry’s hurt feelings don’t matter since it’s all about the greater good.

Using the centaurs to get rid of Umbridge (which poses the highly distressing question of what did the centaurs do to her?), realizing that the centaurs aren’t nice little horsies that are going to gently obey her every orders like good Disney princess’ companions, my goodness could this be an opportunity for character growth - nevermind, here comes Grawp the Giant Ex Machina, saving her arse and protecting Hermione from all that scary possibility of introspection. Thanks, Grawp Ex Machina.

Trying to dissuade a highly stressed-out and irrational Harry from rescuing Sirius by telling him exactly what he needed not to hear, a.k.a. “you have a saving people-thing” which causes Harry to completely go bonkers and go save his godfather without thinking twice? Well she was right after all, it was a trap! Nevermind how mind-boggingly insenstive and inadept at dealing with someone else’s feelings she was being, she was right! That means it wasn’t Hermione’s mistake!… probably. (Geez, I’m sensing a pattern here…)

Endangering Cormac’s life (Confunding him WHILE HE’S ON HIS BROOM) to promote Ron’s success? Oh but that’s so romantic! (Yeaaaah, how romantic to display exactly how much faith you lack in your crush. Top it off with a broken neck and that’s a picture perfect first date!)

Assaulting Ron with magic and causing him even more scars than he already had? But he was being cold with her first, right? And he totally should have known she was asking him out! It’s not like her invitation was even worse than his attempt to ask her out two years earlier! Plus she’s just a teenage girl expressing her emotions, anyone who tries to find fault in this is a disgusting abusive misogynist pig! Ha!

Getting all jealous that Harry is better than her at Potions, then pretending she’s not jealous by claiming that TEH BOOK IS EVIL, HARRY, and giving him the cold shoulder too? But no, she’s right, look, Harry used Sectumsempra and he almost killed Draco, nevermind that he’s very horrified about it! Hermione was right, like she always is!

Hermione Obliviating her parents, which pulls her from the “ethically dubious” zone into the “wow okay I’m pretty sure that this counts as a violation of basic human rights” zone, makes her one of those quirky wizardfolk who have the privilege to control those simple-minded Muggles because it’s for the greater good? But nooo she’s crying about it so it’s obviously very sad and angsty and it shows her devotion to the cause!

Splinching Ron while fleeing from the Ministry? Eeeh, but he’s fine, they’ve got Dittany, he’s good as new!… blood loss? Anaemia? What’s that?

Hermione was wrong about the Deathly Hallows not existing? Um, um, that doesn’t matter, LOOK DOBBY IS DEAD AND HARRY IS BACK TO LOOKING FOR THE HORCRUXES!! Therefore Hermione was right, the Hallows weren’t important for their quest, therefore the Hallows might as well not exist, HERMIONE WAS RIGHT NO REALLY I’VE GOT RECEIPTS -

The books never forget to remind Harry and Ron of their own shortcomings and moments of weakness.

Harry’s wrath and recklessness cost Sirius his life. This is the lesson he has to learn from his entitled behaviour in OotP: actions have consequences, and the greater your responsibility, the greater the cost will be.

Ron’s envy and insecurity lead him astray; they’re used to humiliate, ridicule and torture him throughout the books. They’re supposed to teach him that he’s worth something - but how is he supposed to believe that, when nobody ever tells him he’s worth anything? When nobody ever apologizes to him? When his feelings are taken for granted over and over? When his two friends seem to discard him whenever he does one thing wrong?

Hermione is never punished. Hermione is never said to be wrong, never shown to be wrong, never called out on her behaviour. From Prisoner of Azkaban to mid-Deathly Hallows, she stays exactly the same character. She doesn’t grow up. She doesn’t learn. She doesn’t change. She has virtually no character arc.

The only time, THE ONLY TIME IN SEVEN BOOKS, the only time we have something remotely resembling a call-out of Hermione’s horrible behaviour is with this sole quote in HBP:

Harry was left to ponder in silence the depths to which girls would sink to get revenge.

Note how it’s about “girls” and not Hermione in particular, which implies that any girl would do what Hermione does to Ron. Thanks for the generalization, JKR, but I like to believe I’m actually a decent sort of person that doesn’t resort to petty cruelty and exploits my friends’ insecurities whenever I’m angry with them.

Hermione NEVER has to apologize. Hermione NEVER has to learn from her mistakes because she’s always presented as a victim when she really isn’t. Hermione NEVER develops into something more - she’s emotionally stuck at fourteen years old. Even less than that when you consider that her reaction to Ron’s return in Deathly Hallows is to trash him with her fists - and she was going to get her wand!! The utter psychopathic b- wanted TO THROW BIRDS AT HIM AGAIN!!! - and this reaction is an appropriate one for a four-years old girl, but certainly not for a supposedly “mature” seventeen-years old.

(Yes, because what separates a child from an adult is the ability to reign in your emotions and not succumb to your impulses. Exactly what Ron did when he left the tent (notice that he had drawn his wand, then he left before he could start hexing Harry), he left to calm himself down. Exactly what Hermione fails to do when Ron returns (she has the impulse to strike him and immediately succumbs to it, which proves to us that The Brightest Witch Of Her Age has all the maturity of a very small child).)

All of that, on top of the awful portrayal in the movies which removes all of Ron’s characteristics to stuff them into Hermione and turns her into some impossible epitome of perfection, eventually contributed to the portrayal of Hermione as the one who is always right and knows everything.

Add to it JKR’s own ridiculous bias (“Ron was quite emotionally immature compared to the other two”, yeah right I don’t see him trying to force freedom onto unwilling creatures or making Harry fly into an irrational rage with mere words but you do you, Jo) and the sexist misconception that “girls are innately more mature than boys”, and you get yourself this apparent behemoth of righteousness that was literally the sole reason why those two silly boys survived everything, and don’t you dare criticize this angel of perfection OR ELSE.

#vivi answers #ask #hermione granger critical #hermione granger #hermione critical #harry potter series #ron weasley #jk rowling #anti jk rowling

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arewelonely · 4 years ago

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hogwarts sixth year, slow dramione (edit: titled wait for me)

it’s really important to me to say that I do not condone or agree with any of the hatred JKR is spreading or has spreaded. You are all so full of worth. Every part about you deserves to be loved and treated with care. please feel free to send me a message if you want to chat <3 i love all of you so much. here is

part one

—

He had been staring at her for a year now. At first she had thought it was her acne, but then her cycle moved on and the oil died down and he would still look at her, sometimes in Potions, and then turn back to his cauldron, stoically stirring and occasionally chuckling at his friends’ jokes. But other times she saw him ducking away in the Great Hall, at dinner, the white-blond hair hiding behind his friends’ dirty messes when she met his eyes. And there was no way he could overhear their conversations from that far away, like Harry claimed he could–

“It’s just not possible, Harry,” she insisted. “And we were talking about Ron’s latest crush, so why would he even care?”

Ron shoved her. “‘Mione, everyone’s gonna hear, hush it.”

“Oh, it’s not like you’re not obvious or anything, the little blush and all,” she waved her hand in front of his face and Harry shoved Ron, grinning as that peachy blush took over his cheeks and he glared at them both.

The conversation, as it always did, drifted on to happier topics–Quidditch, and Ron’s pure puppy-dog love for a witch in the year above–but his pointy face remained in her head as much as she tried to banish it.

There was just no logic here: why would Draco Malfoy, the perfect picture of pureblood power, spend all of this time watching, listening, remaining quiet without action? Where was his lackluster insult, his attempt at wedging the Mudblood knife in a little bit more? Where was the violent action aimed in her direction?

Hermione tugged on one of her curls, winding it around her finger again and again, Harry and Ron’s conversation drifting in the back of her mind. She wished she could concentrate and banter with them–

“Ask her to Hogsmeade, why don’t you?”

“Harry.”

“Ron.”

“That is frightening!”

“You’re a lovely lad, you’ll do great.”

–and she hated that she couldn’t. Hated that he had to take up space in her brain, the bastard who taught her about Wizarding slurs and who turned her love of school into a fucking race where she could never catch up. Bastard who had been reading their school textbooks since diapers and who grew up speaking fucking French and flying around on his state-of-the-arts broom while she had arrived excited and giddy at age eleven and had been on the receiving end of only one of his laughs before she could barely contain the desperation in her heart to run to the train back home.

So she hated that she had to give space in her head to this troublesome nuisance, when she could learn so much more, be so much better if she could instead focus on her N.E.W.T.s. Oh, if she could succeed excellently and do something good for herself, something that she wanted to do…

And she would have time to figure out what that was once Malfoy stopped bothering her, yes, she would have time to think and ponder what she really cared about once she was out of this race and, of course, had finished first, leaving that prick of a Pureblood in her dirty Mudblood dust.

---

Hermione poked Ron’s and Harry’s backs as she walked, robes swishing between her strides, “come on, I will not let another Potions Master blindly favor the Slytherins again, stop your chatting and hurry on up–”

“Yeah, Hermione, we know,” Ron rolled his eyes, nudging her in the side. “Harry was just talking Quidditch strategies through, you know we’ve got that game–”

They didn’t feel her heart rate, though, didn’t have her tunnel vision down this hallway towards that door. “Yes, but you are just going to chat about that during class anyway, and he might actually treat me fairly this year and I might actually be able to–just, come on–”

She linked her arm through Ron’s and pulled, Harry trailing behind them until they finally reached the door and Hermione burst it open.

A new year, a new chance, new professor. The room still smelled the same, though, faintly burnt parchment and crushed ginger. Same bastards who sat on the right side of the classroom, but that wasn’t where she sat, so it was okay. Hermione could sit on the left side, spread out her parchment and textbook and quill on her desk, could pretend for half a second that it was just her and Harry and Ron, all together in this class, thanks to this new professor, who Harry said was odd but he was new, and he had liked Harry’s mum, so maybe–

Professor Slughorn strode in the room and beamed at them all. “Hello, class! Aha, here’s the boy who dragged me out of retirement!”

Hermione exhaled as Harry raised his eyebrows and a warm blush fluttered across his cheeks.

“Oh, I don’t blame you, dear boy, I just had to come and teach Lily Potter’s son! And oh, who do we have here, Longbottom? Neville, is it?”

Harry sat back in his chair and chewed his lip, sliding a glance over Ron and Hermione’s way. Hermione raised her eyebrows and Ron stifled a laugh, turning to watch Neville flush at the sudden attention.

“Uh, yes, sir.”

“Well, I knew your parents!”

Hermione was pretty sure she could see where this was going. She crossed a leg and watched as the professor made his way around the room, spotting something in each student that made him rise up on his toes, snapping his fingers as he remembered the name of a parent who he had taught. At least, he appeared to be giving equal attention to the Gryffindors as the Slytherins. Malfoy, of course, did not blush when he was called upon–

“The Malfoy boy, eh? Slytherin, I assume?”

–instead, straightened and gave a sharp nod of his head, “yes, sir. I hear you were Head of Slytherin when you taught here last?”

“Why yes, I was. Quite enjoyed it, but of course Professor Snape–one of my students, naturally–is doing an excellent job at that now, hm?”

“Yes, sir, he is.”

Hermione scoffed quietly, hands clasped on the table in front of her and her thumbs tapping her knuckles. An excellent job?

Professor Slughorn paced across the room to stop in front of Hermione’s desk. “And, by Merlin, I cannot figure out your name! Do tell.”

She lifted her chin, heartbeat resuming a quicker thud in her chest. “Hermione Granger, sir.”

“Granger!” Slughorn inclined his head and tapped at his chin. “When were your parents here?”

“They did not attend Hogwarts; they’re Muggles.”

“Ah,” he shifted his gaze to Harry again. “Well, now, Harry, is this the friend whose praises you were singing?”

Harry nodded. Malfoy shifted positions in his seat.

“Well, you know,” Slughorn nodded at Hermione, “Lily Potter–” he waved in Harry’s direction, “–she was one of my most talented students, and Muggleborn, of course.” He looked down for a second, falling silent, then picked his head back up and clapped his hands. “Alright class, well, today we’re going to be starting off with a Euphoria potion. Just a little way to set the mood for the year, no?”

Hermione blinked. She turned to catch Harry’s eye and cocked her head. Singing her praises?

Harry grinned and shrugged.

The rest of the class passed in a haze of smoke and clouds and prayers that her potion would just do what it was supposed to, like the book said… Ron grumbled under his breath and Harry’s book had scribbles all over it and Hermione’s was pristine clean, newly bought with her parents at Flourish and Blotts’, and Hermione huffed when she was stirring it exactly as the book said but her color wasn’t exact yet, chest tightened when she thought about her parents so eagerly awaiting her first owl…

She tucked her hair roughly behind her ear, and shook her head when Professor Slughorn called out time, siphoning her potion into the bottle. Her potion had a beige color instead of the golden sunshine it should be, but at least it was homogenous, while Ron pouted at her, holding up his cloudy orange potion.

“Harry’s got a fancy book, it has different instructions,” Ron muttered, nodding over at Harry who was cleaning his cauldron with… Merlin, a shiny orange-yellow potion sitting on his desk.

“Different instructions?”

“Yeah, we got them from the cupboard, his was used before or something, like really well used.” Ron passed Harry’s book over, showing the scratches across the Euphoria potion instructions: altered ingredient amounts and different stirring instructions “for a more generous outcome”.

“Hey, pass it,” Harry hissed, scooching out of his chair to lean over Ron and grab the book out of Hermione’s hands–

She frowned, “Harry, the book is–”

“Ah, everyone, look here!” Professor Slughorn had stopped in front of Harry’s desk, looking as if he had already taken a Euphoria potion himself. “Very well done, boy, must have your mother’s talents! And of course, benefited from Professor Snape’s excellent teaching–I’ll let him know what a good job he’s done, I can only imagine how it was to watch the two of you work together all these years!”

Harry’s wide eyes and small smile were plastered on his face. Hermione tried to block out Ron’s low chuckles to run through what could possibly be happening with this book… It was a Potion book. And it had made a really accurate, really good potion.

Slughorn wasn’t the only one to notice; the Slytherins had mixed results with their potions as well, and they all gazed in awe at Harry’s glistening vial, except for Malfoy, whose nostrils were flaring as he glanced between his potion and Harry’s. Hermione squinted at his… it wasn’t bad, just a tad more orange than yellow, but the consistency and composition looked right. She lifted her eyes to find Malfoy staring at her desk. She looked down, but it was clear except for her books and her potion…

“...on behavioral changes for next time!”

Malfoy jerked his eyes up to hers as the classroom began to move, with students picking up their books and small chatter starting. His cool grey eyes blinked once, twice, and Hermione felt her nose twitch before his gaze dropped to his own books.

She exhaled and slowly stood up from her desk, pushing in her chair.

“What about that, eh, Hermione?” Harry muttered with a grin as he passed her, eyebrows raising.

Hermione brushed her hair behind her ear again, turning and following him out of the room. The halls were just beginning to fill with students exiting their classes. She cleared her throat. “Okay, firstly, we need to talk about that book, and secondly, singing my praises?”

Harry turned around, walking backwards, wide grin and somehow managing to balance holding a conversation and refraining from bumping into anyone behind him.

“Yes, Miss Granger!” His voice echoed down the hallway and Hermione’s laughter escaped from her chest. “I felt your praises needed to be sung!”

Ron laughed, saying something about now having two teacher’s pets on his hands, calling out a warning when Harry almost bumped into a second year right behind him. Hermione shook her head… Merlin, her boys. This year might be alright.

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sellyoursoulforagoodfic · 5 years ago

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JKR 3: BRC 2

Part 3 of my Joker x reader series, Bruce Wayne x reader

Word Count: 1593

Summary: Bruce Wayne, is this a date?

Note: Just a little something to entertain our boredom during the apocalypse

It hadn’t escaped your notice that when Wayne told you to meet him at his penthouse he hadn’t given you the address, and it may come as a surprise to him, but you didn’t stalk him just because you knew he liked to dress up as a flying rodent at night. Like, it wasn’t hard to figure out where he lived, but you didn’t like the implication. The ribbing you’d taken from J about dressing in sweats as you were preparing to leave didn’t help better the mood you’d been put in by that assumption, either.

Upon arriving, you were quickly ushered around by his (delightfully honest about his employer) butler, Alfred. “He’s told me about you, Miss,” he informed you casually as you approached an elevator.

“Oh? Nothing good, I hope?” Your eyebrow was raised as you looked pointedly at him.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” he chuckled. “No, he told me what it is you do for a living, and that you know about his nightlife.”

Well, that doesn’t sound like he’s about to kill me . . . “Ooh, is this the shovel talk?” You channeled the Joker’s teasing voice to distract from your sudden nervousness. The elderly man didn’t look like he’d put up much of a fight, but you expected there was more to him than meets the eye. “Been a while since I”ve gotten one of those.”

“Partially, yes, but it’s also a warning. Master Wayne may like you, but I know you’ve still been seeing the Joker.”

You froze mid-step.

“And I know you’ve been keeping him somewhat under control, inadvertently keeping them apart. Come along, dear; you have to get ready. Anyway,” he resumed once you were mobile again, “your choice of company will remain our little secret because of that.”

“I hope you realize that I can’t keep him laying low forever.” Well, relatively low, anyway. He’s still being a bit of a menace to the general public.

“Of course. When he spirals out of control again, consider my inaction as a thank you for trying. Though, in that situation I would ask that you not get caught in the crossfire; I doubt either of them would walk out whole if something happens to you.”

“I’ll do my job. Nothing less.”

“Fair enough.” His sigh, however, spoke volumes about his opinion on that one.

“But I do feel like I should point out that Mr. Wayne and I don’t exactly get along,” you stated as the two of you finally exited the elevator on what you assumed was the floor you were supposed to be on.

“I’d argue that we don’t know each other well enough to know that,” said the man in question as he lounged in a chair. He was dressed in the same outfit as earlier, the casual one that made your eyes roam his body for a lingering second., “and you should probably call me Bruce since you’re going as my date.”

You crossed your arms. “The first time we met, you broke into my apartment and threatened me.” Good looks aside, that was still a line that he’d crossed that you weren’t particularly happy about. “Pardon if that didn’t exactly endear me to your boyish charms.”

“I prefer roguish,” he grinned, somehow knowing that you weren’t truly angry about the matter, “but that was just business. I had to make sure you wouldn’t talk. Clearly, that isn’t a problem since here we both are months later. Now, I’d like to get to know you better personally.”

Your eyes narrowed as you read something new between those lines, but you kept quiet for now. “Then you should probably stop breaking into my apartment, Brucy.”

“Literally twice.”

“One of those was while I was in my underwear, so it counts as at least two.”

“Master Wayne!”

“She was wearing a shirt!”

“That wasn't mine! And I had a guy in the literal next room over!” You were laughing even as you protested. Maybe all that time with J is fucking with me after all. But then again, life had been a bit strange ever since you came to Gotham, and flirting with a man that broke into your home just to talk didn’t seem that strange anymore. Maybe it’s just living in this city.

“Alright!” Bruce was laughing, too. “I’ll knock or call from now on.”

Part of you couldn’t help but wonder how this admittedly cute interaction would be going if he knew just who the other man was.

“Come on,” Bruce called your attention back to him. “I’ll show you where you’ll get ready.”

Alfred took that as a dismissal and said, “I’ll go prepare the car, sir. Do keep in touch after tonight, Miss; Bruce could use another good influence.” He was gone before you could really register that last statement.

You stared at Bruce in redirected confusion. “He said he knew about my job, and there he is, calling me a good influence? How the fuck does that work?”

“He thinks I need to loosen up, and while we don’t like your methods, we respect your code. You have a sense of honor Gotham lacks most of the time.”

“So basically I don’t have to worry about the Bat coming after me until the more dangerous criminals are off the streets?”

“Well, I’m hoping I can change your evil ways.”

“Aaaand that leads us into our next point,” you waved one finger in the air as you spun around on your heel to lean back on the door frame the pair of you stopped in front of to look at him. “If we’re doing . . . whatever this,” you gestured between you, “whole thing is, you can’t do the whole possessive/overprotective thing.”

“What do you mean?” Again, you were annoyed by how attractive he looked doing something as simple as scrunching his eyebrows.

“I know how it was with Rachel, Bruce. You jumped out a building for her. If we are going to be doing literally anything that’s not me working for you, you have to promise to avoid doing shit like that no matter what happens.”

You could see his jaw clench; whether it was at the mention of his old love (and her subsequent death) or at your insistence in this matter specifically, you weren’t sure. “If you know about Rachel, you know I’m not good at . . . what you want.”

“And unlike her, I can take care of myself,” you argued. Some part of your mind was screaming somewhere in the back of your head, What the fuck are you doing?! You don’t know this guy! You’re being too serious too fast! but this conversation needed to be had promptly. Things could only go badly if it wasn’t. You looked him dead in the eye when you said, “I will always have things you can’t know about; there will always be secrets between us on both sides. I’m being open to this, but you need to understand where my boundaries are. I just want you to respect me and my privacy.”

He nodded seriously. “I can do that.” There was a pause. “It probably won’t be smooth sailing all the time, though.”

“As long as we can talk this calmly about the problem, that’s fine.” You hesitated this time. “And as a last thing, I need you to be honest with me about jobs involving me. Always. I can promise to try and stay out of your way if we’re on opposite sides; hurting each other wouldn’t exactly be conducive to . . . whatever we’re going to be to each other.”

“Agreed.”

“And I refuse to be hired by you.”

His smirk came back the tiniest bit. “Oh?”

“Personal life mixing with an employer is always stupid, and you know it.” You decided to bring up the point you’d realized not long before. “For instance, this isn’t a job tonight, is it? You just paid me to be your date as an incentive.”

He held up both hands in mock surrender. “Busted.”

“Keep the other half of your payment, then. If you want me to come to things like this, all you have to do is ask. I’m a mercenary, not an escort.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And, just to be clear--”

“Full of stipulations, aren’t you?”

“I like to know exactly where I stand with people. Believe me, Jack and I had the same conversation.” You didn’t worry about using Joker’s real name since it was so common, and you couldn’t keep calling him ‘the other guy’ forever. Especially since Bruce was technically the other guy.

“And is he . . . okay with you doing this with me?”

“We have a different kind of relationship,” you handwaved verbally, “but yes. Which leads me into my last question for the time being: Is this a date?”

“If you’re alright with that, I’d like it to be.”

“Then it is. Me on a date with a billionaire; I’ve got friends that would shit themselves at that one. I assume you’re okay with me having another guy based on that?”

“‘Last question’, huh?” he teased. “Yes, I’m alright with it.”

You nodded, mostly to yourself, and chose to ignore the jab. “Alright, Bruce. Leave me alone so I can get ready in peace.”

A kiss was suddenly pressed to your cheek. “See you soon.”

All you could really think about as you slunk into the obscenely nice bathroom was how J was right . . . somehow. For some reason his archenemy was into you despite your job . . . and you were more than a little okay with that.

#joker x reader #the joker x reader #heath ledger joker x reader #joker imagine #the joker imagine #bruce wayne x reader #bruce wayne imagine #batman imagine #batman x reader #dark knight imagine

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raywritesthings · 5 years ago

Text

A Little More Love

My Writing Fandom: Harry Potter Characters: Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger Pairing: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, R/Hr (implied) Summary: When Harry, Ron and Hermione happen upon someone unexpected during their camping out, their fortunes in the Horcrux hunt turn out for the better. Notes: This is yet another canon AU for HP, this time set in Deathly Hallows. It diverges with the chapter "The Goblin's Revenge" when Harry, Ron and Hermione overhear a conversation between Griphook, Gornuk, Ted Tonks, Dirk Cresswell, and Dean Thomas. In my version, I've added another character as well as changed some key events. Simply put, I always felt JKR cheated us of a truly awesome Ginny moment in DH, so I decided to try my hand at writing my own take. I hope you enjoy it! Title is borrowed from a line McGonagall has in Half-Blood Prince, and several lines from "The Goblin's Revenge" in Deathly Hallows have been either used or paraphrased. None of that is my own. Additionally, for anyone who might have a discord, I made a Hinny server for sharing fic/art recs, talking about the characters and pairing, and just chatting in general. Feel free to join! Here's the link: https://discord.gg/SSpsYcP *Can also be read on AO3*

Harry sat with Ron and Hermione in the tent, listening with the Extendable Ears Hermione had packed as the unknown men and goblins settled into their impromptu dinner twenty feet away or so. They each exchanged some of their stories of why and how they’d ended up on the run. Harry recognized Ted Tonks, the goblin Griphook, and all three of them were pleased to hear their old classmate Dean Thomas’ voice.

Judging by the shadows being cast over the tent from the travelers’ fire, there was perhaps one other witch or wizard present who’d yet to be named.

“And what about you, little lady?” The man named Dirk asked. “Arthur’s aren’t you?”

“Guilty,” said a voice that went straight to Harry’s heart, seizing it in a vice grip. Ginny. He and Ron both started up at once, and Hermione had to reach out and pull them both down.

She was right there, not a stone’s throw away. Sitting out in the cold with strangers. With Dean, Harry couldn’t help noticing with a twinge of pain.

“I’d wondered what had happened after — well, is it true what you did?”

“It is, yeah.”

“Sorry, what’s this?” Ted asked. “You never did get round to explaining why you’re out here, you being pureblood and all.”

“Yeah, you just told me Snape chased you off the grounds,” Dean added.

“That he did.”

There was a snort, which turned out to be Dirk’s. “After she tried stealing the sword of Gryffindor from his office.”

There were a few exclamations of astonishment that Harry couldn’t bother to parse out, too surprised himself. He could see Ron and Hermione exchanging wide-eyed looks, and it was taking everything for all of them to remain quiet in order to hear. He stood and went to the mouth of the tent, not stepping out but hovering just on the edge.

“Wasn’t successful, was it? I never heard anything in the Prophet, ” said Ted.

“Well you wouldn’t even if we had been, would you?” Ginny countered in her easy way. She sounded just like she always had, and yet it was music to Harry’s ears. Like her voice carried the power of phoenix song.

“True,” Ted remarked.

“Well go on, Ginny, what happened?” Asked Dean.

“I heard you got the case smashed open but Snape caught the other two on the stairs,” said Dirk.

“He was coming up just as we got it out, yeah. So I figured that about did me in what with my family being blood traitors and all. I smashed a window and took off on my broom.”

“Your broom?” Ted asked with a laugh. “What did you have it on you for?”

“Everyone on the Gryffindor Quidditch team’s taken to carrying theirs around. There were rumors the Slytherins were planning to jinx them.”

“And you were able to get off the grounds that way?” Asked Dirk.

“I was flying high enough that most of the Death Eater’s spells went wide,” Ginny answered. “That was after they even realized someone was making a break for it. Had a time of it getting past some Dementors down by the gates. They flew up to meet me. If Harry hadn’t taught us Patronuses in the D.A., I don’t think I’d be here.”

“I’ll say,” Dean agreed. “You haven’t...heard from him, have you?”

“Not a thing,” said Ginny on an unhappy sigh. Harry felt it like a physical weight on him. He longed to just step out of the tent and run to her, but even he knew how foolish it would be to show up in front of that many people, most of whom he didn’t know very well.

“You should not have troubled yourself,” Griphook spoke up. Then he laughed. “The sword was a fake.”

“Was it?” Ginny asked sharply.

“The sword of Gryffindor!” Ted shouted.

“Oh yes. It is a copy — an excellent copy, it is true — but it was Wizard-made. The original was forged centuries ago by goblins and had certain properties only goblin-made armor possesses.”

“Snape put the copy in Gringotts a few days after your attempt,” Dirk continued. “Suppose he’d gotten the say-so from You-Know-Who by then.”

“And you didn’t tell them it was a fake?” Ted asked.

“I saw no reason to trouble them with the information,” Griphook stated with a smug undertone. All the other men laughed. Harry couldn’t hear Ginny’s among it.

“What about my friends? Neville and Luna, did you hear anything about them? They say they’re alright, but…” she trailed off.

“They suffered no serious injury, so far as I am aware,” the goblin answered.

Harry looked back to Ron and Hermione and could tell they were both glad to hear that. Hermione still had a hand on Ron’s arm, ostensibly to keep him from rising and doing anything rash while wearing the locket; Harry didn’t miss how her thumb was rubbing circles over his wrist.

Ginny and the others were talking about Snape now, about whether or not he really had killed Dumbledore. Dirk seemed to be doubtful.

“You know, a lot of people haven’t believed Harry over the years,” Ginny remarked coolly. “And they’ve all pretty much been proven idiots. Were you interested in joining them?”

“Alright. I only mean to ask, if he is this Chosen One, or whatever you call it, where is he? Gone off to hiding. You’d think he’d be gathering a resistance or something.”

“There wouldn’t be many people resisting if he got killed while trying to organize it.”

They talked some more, and Dirk even floated the idea that Harry was in fact already dead and the Prophet was simply withholding that information, too. Eventually they all left the spontaneous campsite to sleep under the cover of the trees, and they footsteps and voices started to fade away.

The three of them pulled the Extendable Ears, Harry’s mind racing. “Ginny— the sword—”

“She’s there. She’s right there,” Ron practically moaned.

Harry reached into the mokeskin pouch Hagrid had given him for his birthday and dug around.

“Harry, what are you doing?” Hermione asked, her voice pitched high in worry.

His fingers finally closed around the slippery fabric of the Invisibility Cloak, and Harry hurriedly threw it around his shoulders. “I’m going to get her.”

“I’m coming with you,” Ron said immediately.

“We’d barely fit the two of us, and not at all with Ginny,” Harry argued. “Besides, you’re still wearing the locket.”

Ron looked down at the thing with a scowl.

“Look, you can help bring us back to the tent,” Harry said. “Once I leave the protections, I won’t be able to find the specific spot again. Just the general location. We’ll need you to bring us back in.”

“Oh, alright,” Ron agreed with a grumble.

“Harry, are you sure?” Hermione asked, and the two of them turned towards her in surprise. “I’d be happy to see Ginny, too, but how much can we really tell her? You did break up with her because we were going on this mission.”

“To keep her safe, and she’s not any safer out there,” Harry replied tersely. He did not want to think what would happen to Ginny if she was caught out there with rogue goblins and Muggleborn Dean Thomas and Dirk who’d been on his way to Azkaban before he’d escaped. Determined, he pushed back the flap of the tent and strode out into the dark, following the noises he could hear up ahead through the trees.

It didn’t look as though any of the wizards or goblins had a tent like the one they’d borrowed from Perkins. Harry slowed his pace as he came upon the first bedroll, and made his way around the perimeter of the spot they’d scoped out.

Ginny stood silhouetted by the tiny amount of moon visible through the foliage above. Her slight figure was only an arms’ length from him now. Whether she was not tired or merely waiting for the men to finish preparing their own sleeping arrangements before seeing to her own, he couldn’t tell.

“Mufflilatio," Harry whispered as he let the tip of his wand poke out of the cloak towards the others in the forest. Then, only slightly louder, he said, “Ginny.”

She whirled around, her hair fanning out as she did so, and her wand pointed just inches to the left of him. Harry carefully took the hood down part of the way, and he could tell the moment Ginny recognized him by the widening of her eyes.

He beckoned her to come with him through some more trees to better hide themselves. Even if the others couldn’t overhear them, they could still catch sight of him if he remained here.

“What’s your tattoo?” She asked him scarcely before he’d turned back around to face her again. Her wand was still raised.

“Er, I haven’t got one,” he answered. Then it hit him. “Oh, but Romilda Vane thinks I’ve got a Hungarian Horntail on my chest.” Harry held up a hand to stop her approach. “What did you give me when I fell off my broom in my third year?”

“A singing card.”

He hadn’t really been in doubt that it was her, but it was relieving to hear all the same. Ginny smiled, and it was radiant. Her hair was a barely combed mess and he doubted she’d had a wash in the last few days, but she was the most beautiful thing in the world. When she threw her arms around him in a hug, Harry was quick to return it. There was no flowery scent to her hair now, but it did not diminish in the least how fiercely Harry had missed her.

She was still wearing her broom strapped to her back with a bit of cord tied to each end, so it made it a bit awkward.

“I’m so glad you’re alive.”

“You thought I wasn’t?”

“No. But I couldn’t be sure. None of us could.” She pushed out of his hold. “Why didn’t you take your Galleon?”

“My what?”

“The D.A. Galleon, you prat. That’s how I was able to meet up with Dean once I got to the outside. Seamus wanted me to see if he was alright.”

A second wave of relief hit him upon hearing that Ginny was with Dean on behalf of someone else and not as her first choice. He thought she could tell what he was thinking judging by the shrewd look she was giving him.

Harry opened up the Invisibility Cloak for her to get under. “C’mon. Ron and Hermione are waiting.”

It was the most natural thing in the world to take her hand and lead her back the way he’d come. Harry told himself it wasn’t inappropriate; it was dark and the ground was uneven. They might trip or lose the other otherwise.

“We’re nearly there. Hermione’s got enchantments up, but Ron’s waiting,” Harry muttered under his breath.

“How’s he going to find us if we’re invisible?” Ginny muttered back.

Harry froze. “Er, right.”

A soft giggle left her as he took the cloak off both of them. Harry hoped he had stayed true in their course. He didn’t like standing out here without any sort of protection or disguise.

But an arm reached out and pulled both him and Ginny through an invisible barrier of sorts. Harry saw the tent and Ron embracing his sister hard enough to lift her off her feet.

“Careful!” Ginny yelped.

“Merlin, you wouldn’t believe how much I’ve missed you!” It was amazing to see the transformation that Ron had undergone. Even with the locket around his neck still, he was beaming from ear to ear, and some color had risen back into his cheeks if only for the moment. “Come on, we’ve got Perkins’ old tent. There’s not much in the way of food, mind.”

Harry followed the two Weasley’s in through the tent entrance.

“Oh, Ginny!” Hermione was standing just inside and quickly embraced the other girl as well. “I’m so glad you’re alright. What were you thinking?”

“Yeah, wouldn’t be Hermione if you didn’t start right in on the lecture,” Ginny remarked with a grin over her shoulder at Harry. “What are you three even doing here? How’d you know to be?”

“We didn’t,” Harry answered truthfully. “We’ve been moving locations every few days. Thought we’d been found when we heard you lot approaching.” He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes off her, real and standing in the tent with the three of them. They’d been so long without anyone else’s company that she seemed to brighten up the place just by being there. He wanted to hug her again, kiss her the way they had on his birthday. There was an ache in his jaw just standing there and holding himself back.

“Well, that’s luck for you.”

“You certainly did get lucky after trying to steal from Snape,” Hermione pointed out once again. “And all for a fake!”

“That’s the funny thing. I don’t know why Snape would’ve sent a fake sword to a vault in Gringotts,” said Ginny. “Because he’s got to know it’s a copy.”

“What d’you mean?” Asked Ron.

A sly grin played around the corners of Ginny’s lips as she reached around her back and under her robe. It turned out a broom wasn’t the only thing she was carrying on her back.

Hermione gasped. “You got it?”

For the first time in nearly five years, Harry was once again in awe as he stared at the ruby-encrusted sword of Gryffindor. It seemed to shimmer extra bright in the light cast by their lamps as Ginny held it out for their inspection. The sword, the real sword of Gryffindor, in their possession just as Dumbledore had wanted. Finally, something had gone right.

“Took it with me when I jumped. I wasn’t letting Snape have it. That was the whole point of the stunt. It’s Harry’s.” Her smile faded a little. “I heard from Fred and George that they’ve all gone on the run now. Mum and Dad are hiding out at Great Auntie Muriel’s.”

“But they’re okay?” Ron asked.

“Yeah, better than you. How come you’re so pale?”

“Ron got splinched a few weeks back,” Hermione explained to her own shoes. “It was my fault.”

“Alright, well have you been eating? Resting?” She sounded a little like her mother fussing that way, Harry privately noted.

“Not much eating around here,” Ron grumbled, closer to the moods he’d been exhibiting of late.

“Oh, really,” Hermione huffed, turning to busy herself with clearing away the tins of fish she had tried to cook.

Harry checked his watch. It wasn’t quite time to switch off yet, but he didn’t want to hear another row just as soon as Ginny had joined them. He didn’t want her thinking he was lost with no idea of what to do and little control over their group. “Alright, Ron, give me the locket.”

Ron pulled the chain from around his neck and rolled his shoulders, relaxing as he held it out to Harry.

Ginny raised an eyebrow. “Wasn’t that one of the things we threw out in Grimmauld Place that summer?”

Harry laughed humorlessly as he put it on. “Yeah.” He glanced at Ron and Hermione. There wasn’t much room for privacy in the tent to discuss, but how much were they going to tell Ginny? Dumbledore had only ever given him permission to speak to his two friends about it.

And that had gone well, hadn’t it? Asked a voice in Harry’s head. Ron and Hermione were close to their breaking points, they were no further to defeating Voldemort than they had been after their breakin at the Ministry, and even now that they had the sword, Harry still had no idea what he was supposed to do with it. Because Dumbledore had never told him.

“Look, it’s sort of complicated. But basically, this used to belong to Vol—”

“DON’T!” Ginny dropped the sword with a clang and lunged forward, pressing her palm flat over Harry’s mouth to stop the rest.

He ripped away from her. “What?” Sure, Ginny had never quite said the name herself, but she’d never objected to Harry saying it.

“There’s a taboo on his name,” she explained, still breathing harshly from the sudden movement. “Anyone who says it trips an alarm that sends Snatchers to their location. Kingsley almost got caught that way.”

“Snatchers?” Ron echoed.

“Death Eater wannabes. They get money from the Ministry for rounding up Muggleborns and blood traitors. Anyone against You-Know-Who.”

“Oh, of course,” said Hermione. “Because only the really brave witches and wizards use his name, and they’re the ones they want to catch. Did Kingsley get away?”

“Just barely, was what I heard. I don’t know what protections you’ve got, but best not to chance it out here.”

Harry swallowed down his irritation and nodded. He was suddenly quite glad that Ron often insisted he not say Voldemort’s name, as that had probably unknowingly kept them safe the last several weeks.

Ginny pushed some of her hair that had fallen in her face back from her forehead. “Anyway, go on. You were saying about the locket?”

“Right. Well it was- er, his, and if we destroy it we’re closer to stopping him.”

“How so? It’s not enchanted is it?”

“It is. Sort of like — well, the diary,” Harry realized. All at once he felt rather stupid for not wanting to tell Ginny; she had just as much experience with Horcruxes as any of them, even if she didn’t know it. “See, this thing and the diary, they’ve got bits of- of his soul in them—”

“What?” Ginny took a step back, clearly horrified.

Hermione gave him a reproachful look, and Ron didn’t seem very happy either.

“She had a right to know! Look, the point is until these are all taken care of he can’t be killed. Not fully. He’ll just be a shade, like last time.”

“So how many of these has he got? How many of them have you gotten?” She asked.

“Just this one,” he admitted. “There’s only three more, we think.”

“You think or you know?”

“Well it’s not as if he told us himself!” Harry snapped. It figured that as soon as someone else got here they would start interrogating his leadership and find it lacking. Ginny would probably take off on her broom with Ron and Hermione to have brilliant adventures where they pranked Snape and everything was fun, while he was left behind in the tent. “The whole point of this thing is he has secret safeguards in place to keep himself from dying!”

“Oi, lay off her,” Ron growled.

Ginny held out an arm as her brother stepped up next to her, keeping him from moving forward. “It’s fine, Ron. Harry, take that locket off.”

“I’m fine,” he said stiffly. He’d only been wearing it a few minutes.

“You’ve been wearing a bit of his soul, and you really think that wouldn’t affect you?” She asked with one eyebrow arched. “Why would any of you wear it?”

“We don’t have a way to destroy it,” Hermione tried to explain. “We had to keep it safe.”

“And you couldn’t keep it in your bag? Wearing it’s probably what this thing wants you to do, just like writing in it’s what the diary wanted me to do.”

“It hasn’t talked or anything,” Harry protested.

She gave him a pitying look that made him feel rather thick. “Because you haven’t opened it, probably. It’s a locket.”

“But it doesn’t open,” said Ron. “We all tried that summer, remember?”

But Harry picked the locket up and stared at the snake on the lid. “Maybe because it only opens for some people,” he murmured. He stared at the snake, entranced by it.

“Harry.” Ginny’s hands were on either side of his face, wrenching his gaze up to meet her eyes. “Take it off. Please.”

Shakily, he did, holding it out to Ginny. She dropped it onto an empty chair, and suddenly it felt easier to breathe. He thought even Ron and Hermione both looked less tense

“Okay, so, destroying it. How do these things get destroyed?”

“There’s a few ways,” Hermione said, taking over and reverting to lecture mode. “Using the Killing Curse or Fiendfyre can work, but we’re not sure any of us could cast the first and the second is far too dangerous.”

“Tell that to Crabbe,” Ginny remarked with a shake of her head. “He’s been practicing it down in the dungeons supposedly.”

“So we’re dropping the locket off in the dungeons? Brilliant,” said Ron. Only when Harry looked and saw the twinkle in his friend’s eyes did he realize he was joking. It was a good thing he’d checked, because Harry had been about to snap again.

“Right, well the third way is with Basilisk venom,” Hermione continued. “But obviously, that’s very hard to get.”

Ginny blinked and straightened up slightly as she picked up the sword again. “Well then, here you go, then.”

Harry stared at it. “Er, not following.”

“Yeah, Ginny, that’s a sword, not a Basilisk fang,” Ron pointed out.

She rolled her eyes. “Well, you never had to listen to Great Auntie Muriel go on about her goblin-made tiara.” She cleared her throat and said, in rather good imitation of her great-aunt’s nasal voice, “Goblin silver never needs cleaned, dear. It repels all dust and dirt, only imbibing that which strengthens it. Not once in fifty years have I had need to polish it.”

“So?” Asked Ron.

But Harry got it. As did Hermione, with a shout of, “Harry!”

“I know!”

“Know what?” Ron asked with annoyance.

“Harry stabbed the Basilisk with the sword, which means it’s impregnated with Basilisk venom since that would make it stronger,” Hermione explained in a rush. “It can destroy Horcruxes!”

“That must have been how Dumbledore took care of the ring,” Harry realized. Finally the pieces were coming together, and his frustration with Dumbledore banked just as his gratitude and love for Ginny swelled. He took the sword by the hilt from her, then turned to face the locket.

“What are you waiting for, mate?” Ron was now just as invigorated as the rest of them, and Harry wondered if perhaps the worst of this quest was about to be behind them all.

Still, looking at the locket and thinking of Ginny’s words, he realized Voldemort probably had one last protection in place. “I have to open it.”

He looked up at Ginny, who was staring at the snake as well. She met his eyes after a moment, and Harry wondered if she had felt his gaze. “Parseltongue?”

He nodded.

Ginny blew out a breath. “Right.”

“I think the rest of us should all keep back,” Hermione suggested, moving over to both Weasleys and guiding them to the edge of the tent. “The less distractions the better.”

Harry turned back to the locket and placed it on the ground as he watched the snake on the front, willing it to seem real and alive. He thought of how cold and hungry and miserable he’d been the last several weeks, of his friends’ fraying tempers and all their anger at not knowing what Dumbledore had wanted them to do, at this first glimpse of hope they’d had since having to abandon Grimmauld Place.

The hope that Ginny had provided.

What was it that Dumbledore had once said? Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat.

“Hang on,” he said, facing them all again. “I think it has to be Ginny.”

“Sorry?”

She looked perhaps even more stunned than Ron or Hermione. Harry walked over and held the sword out. “You’re the one who risked going into Snape’s office to get it. Fleeing Hogwarts, making your way here. It will work best for you. At least this first go.” If Dumbledore were here right now, Harry was confident he would say the same, if in more eloquent terms than Harry had.

“Harry, I- I’m not good with these things.”

“No, but you learned from them. Better than any of us did. Ginny, you held Vol- Riddle off for a whole year, and you’re stronger now. I know you can do this. You’ve already beaten him.”

Ginny held his gaze for a long moment before stepping up to meet him, her hand closing around the hilt of the sword again. He let go and walked with her back over to the locket.

“I’m going to tell it to open, and then you stab it. Okay?”

Ginny nodded, expression grim as she raised the sword. “Do it.”

He looked back at the snake and tried to visualize it moving again. Then he hissed, “Open.”

The golden doors of the locket opened wide, revealing an eye — Tom Riddle’s eye, before it had turned red and slitted like a snake’s — behind the glass windows inside.

That was all Harry saw, for the sword crashed down into it a moment later. The hiss of Riddle’s voice that had only just started to emanate turned into a scream only matched by the clang of metal. The locket shattered and a bit of smoke rose from the inside. The Horcrux was no more.

He looked up at Ginny, who was breathing harshly, her eyes fixed on the shattered pieces. Then, slowly, her blazing eyes rose to his.

The sword fell with a thump, and Harry met her halfway, their lips melding together. Ginny’s hands were everywhere at once, while Harry found his buried in her hair. How could he have ever believed he could give this up? Wanted man or no, what was the point of living without this to live for?

“Oi,” Ron protested, far more weakly than he had on Harry’s birthday. They broke apart anyway. “You can’t keep doing that if you’re not dating her. It’s not right.”

Harry looked down at Ginny, still in the circle of his arms. Her gaze was softer now, but still held some of that fire from before. How could she be this utterly brilliant and still want to be here?

“I’m sorry,” he told her without a second thought. It was easy, effortless. “You were right, it was stupid.”

Her lips quirked upwards in a small smile. “Well, it is noble of you to say so.”

He felt his own smile return. “I guess we do still have some time.”

She nodded and lifted up onto her tip-toes to kiss him sweetly once more.

“And that’s it, then?” Hermione had her hands on her hips, and Harry thought she couldn’t decide between being cross or amused at the pair of them. “You’re just back together now? That’s all it takes?”

Harry and Ginny shared a look before saying at once, “Yeah.”

Hermione shook her head while Ron shrugged. “Who cares? We’ve gotten rid of one Horcrux, and now that Ginny’s here she can help with the food. Mum’s taught her loads.”

“Except I can’t use magic, prat. Still sixteen. The other reason traveling with someone else made sense.” She gave a start and reached into her pocket. “Speaking of, I’ll have to send Dean a message to let him know I haven’t been carted off in the night. I’ll leave your names out of it, shall I?”

“Yes, that would be best,” Hermione agreed. “And honestly, Ron, Ginny doesn’t automatically have to help with the cooking just because she’s the only other girl.”

“I only meant she knows more than all of us.”

As Ron and Hermione started up, Harry couldn’t find it in himself to get annoyed; their bickering was now far more reminiscent of their school days than the fraught arguments they’d been having only half an hour ago. The pall of Voldemort’s presence had momentarily been lifted from their tent.

Harry knew that could really only last so long. They still had three Horcruxes to go and no idea where two of them were, not to mention Voldemort himself. Dumbledore’s hints still only made a vague amount of sense. But as Ginny ducked under his arm to fit into his side while she worked on the message on her D.A. Galleon, he thought he could maybe start to see his own way through this.

#hinny #harry potter #ginny weasley #hp #ron weasley #hermione granger #my writing

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preserving-ferretbrain · 6 years ago

Text

What The Fucking Fucking Fuck JK Rowling?

by Dan H

Monday, 17 March 2008

Dan Learns That He Should Just Stop Listening To That Damned Woman

This isn't an article, this is a rant. Hopefully that should be obvious from the title.

That title again.

What the Fucking Fucking Fuck JK Rowling. I mean really what the Fucking Fucking Fuck.

Unless you've been distracted by little trivial details like the disintegration of Afghanistan and the US Presidential election, you're probably aware that JK Rowling announced some months ago that Dumbledore Is Gay.

Okay, fine, whatever you say you stupid, sanctimonious hack. Dumbledore's gay, I'll file that with "Harry is a Hero" and "It's all about choices" under "Shit I've been told about Harry Potter which is totally unsupported by the text".

Her latest statement on the subject goes like this:

"I had always seen Dumbledore as gay, but in a sense that's not a big deal. The book wasn't about Dumbledore being gay. It was just that from the outset obviously I knew he had this big, hidden secret, and that he flirted with the idea of exactly what Voldemort goes on to do, he flirted with the idea of racial domination, that he was going to subjugate the Muggles. So that was Dumbledore's big secret. Why did he flirt with that?" she asks. "He's an innately good man, what would make him do that. I didn't even think it through that way, it just seemed to come to me, I thought 'I know why he did it, he fell in love.' And whether they physically consummated this infatuation or not is not the issue. The issue is love. It's not about sex. So that's what I knew about Dumbledore. And it's relevant only in so much as he fell in love and was made an utter fool of by love. He lost his moral compass completely when he fell in love and I think subsequently became very mistrusting of his own judgment in those matters so became quite asexual. He led a celibate and bookish life." Clearly some people didn't see it that way. How does she react to those who disagree with a homosexual character in a children's novel? "So what?" she retorts immediately "It is a very interesting question because I think homophobia is a fear of people loving, more than it is of the sexual act. There seems to be an innate distaste for the love involved, which I find absolutely extraordinary. There were people who thought, well why haven't we seen Dumbledore's angst about being gay?" Rowling is clearly amused by this and rightly so. "Where was that going to come in? And then the other thing was-and I had letters saying this-that, as a gay man, he would never be safe to teach in a school."

Where to begin. I mean seriously, where to begin.

Okay, let's start from the beginning.

In fact, let's go through the execrable bullshit line by fucking line.

"I had always seen Dumbledore as gay, but in a sense that's not a big deal."

By "always seen Dumbledore as gay" she presumably means "had always seen Dumbledore as fundamentally asexual, and like all middle class fucktards I assume that anybody who isn't married by the age of thirty is a woofter."

Seriously. Look at the quote again. Notice how she says that she had "always seen Dumbledore as gay" but then makes it clear that she had never intended for him to actually be involved in any variety of homosexual relationship. More than that, until she pulled Gridelwald out of her arse in order to explain how Dumbledore could possibly have made a mistake, she clearly had no intention of his ever having been in a homosexual relationship.

So what can she possibly mean by "I had always seen Dumbledore as gay"? It's simple really. She means she'd seen him as having no sexual life whatsoever, as being without sexual desire or motivation. As not fancying women. Of course she'd also seen him as rather funny, rather quirky, somewhat outrageous in a non-threatening kind of way. An eccentric old duffer with a funny line in velvet suits. The fact that JK Rowling characterises all of these personality traits as "gay" is profoundly, profoundly offensive. You are a hack, JK Rowling, a small-minded, bigoted hack.

A couple of people, after the announcement came out, suggested that they "should have guessed after they saw him in that purple velvet suit". It's a joke, of course, but it's a joke based on an offensive homophobic stereotype. An offensive homophobic stereotype which appeared to be at the heart of JKR's conception of Dumbledore as a gay man.

Right. On to the next line then.

"The book wasn't about Dumbledore being gay. It was just that from the outset obviously I knew he had this big, hidden secret, and that he flirted with the idea of exactly what Voldemort goes on to do, he flirted with the idea of racial domination, that he was going to subjugate the Muggles. So that was Dumbledore's big secret."

Okay, where to begin with this little section. "He had this big, hidden secret, and he flirted with the idea of exactly what Voldemort goes on to do". So he's got a big secret and he wanted to take over the world. So Wizard society is institutionally homophobic then? Hence his keeping his sexual orientation a secret? In that case, you'd think his enemies would have found out and used it against him. Except of course that he never actually had any variety of homosexual experience, so maybe that would have been quite difficult for them.

Or maybe Wizarding society is totally okay with homosexuality, maybe it's completely acceptable for Wizarding men to bang each other. In that case why did he keep it secret? Either way, isn't "he's gay" significantly less important than "he tried to take over the world". Why mention them in the same breath? It's not like the two are directly causally related.

After all, a woman whose works are a protracted plea for tolerance wouldn't deliberately set out to establish a causal link between homosexuality and acts of evil and violence.

Oh wait.

"Why did he flirt with that?" she asks. "He's an innately good man, what would make him do that. I didn't even think it through that way, it just seemed to come to me, I thought 'I know why he did it, he fell in love.'

I'm going to take the cheap shot now and highlight the fact that she just blithely says that having introduced this really quite significant element into a character's personal history (he seriously considered the idea of subjugating humanity) she then blithely states that she "didn't even think it through."

Excuse me while I rant again. For fuck's sake JK Rowling it's the entire fucking plot of the seventh fucking book, what do you mean you didn't think it through you fucking talentless moron. I mean seriously, what does this woman get paid for. You're fucking well supposed to think things through particularly if they're, y'know, important.

There is just so much, so very very much, about this line that reveals JK Rowling's weakness as a writer. Dumbledore, apparently, is an "innately good man". I've

already talked about how JK Rowling's personal morality seems weirdly Calvinist

(or rather, weirdly similar to the way a complete outsider who doesn't really understand the doctrine of the elect would characterise Calvinism). Again we see the pathetic simplicity of Rowling's moral world. Dumbledore is "innately good" it is therefore completely inconceivable that he could ever do anything wrong ever unless he was being actively influenced by an evil external force.

And what force could be more evil than homosexual desire?

Okay, I know, it's another cheap shot. But - and yes I'm going to say it again - for fuck's sake. For fucking fucking fucking fuck's sake. For fuck's sake. Not only is she too pathetic and cowardly to let her precious, precious heroes show any signs of complexity or make any mistakes that aren't attributed to supernatural compulsion (any scene where Harry acts irrationally is the fragment of Voldemort's soul. The scenes in DH where Ron acts completely rationally are the influence of the Horcrux). Not only that, but Rowling then chooses to declare that the external compulsion which stops Dumbledore from following his otherwise infallible moral compass is homosexual love.

She elaborates, of course.

"And whether they physically consummated this infatuation or not is not the issue. The issue is love. It's not about sex. So that's what I knew about Dumbledore. And it's relevant only in so much as he fell in love and was made an utter fool of by love. He lost his moral compass completely when he fell in love and I think subsequently became very mistrusting of his own judgment in those matters so became quite asexual. He led a celibate and bookish life."

Again, she begins by reiterating the fact that as far as she is concerned "being gay" is in no way contingent upon having any kind of actual physical homosexual encounter. Again it seems that in Rowling's world "gay man" doesn't mean "a man who is sexually attracted to other men" but rather "a man who wears outrageous purple velvet suits."

Then she goes on to make it very, very clear that Dumbledore was in love with Wizard Hitler. The word "love" appears four times in the above paragraph. JK Rowling is totally obsessed with the concept of love. Lily's love for Harry, Harry's love for his friends, Snape's love for Lily. Voldemort seems to be doomed to be evil pretty much from his conception, because he wasn't born of a loving union.

Crucially, though, "love" in Harry Potter is an unambiguous force for good. All this stuff about how Dumbledore was "made an utter fool of by love" and "lost his moral compass completely" is at odds with the way that the great, redeeming power of love is shown to work at every other point in the Potter books. That, indeed, is the whole damned point of the books. Harry so loves Hogwarts that he sacrifices his only begotten ... sorry, I mean "himself" to save them, thereby protecting them all from Voldemort's curses with his Big Love Mojo.

In this context, Dumbledore/Grindelwald becomes quite horribly offensive (up there with HP Lovecraft presenting the Evils of Miscegenation as a supernatural threat in Innsmouth, or Enid Blyton casting the Gollywogs as the villains of the Noddy books). We are now presented with a great wizard, a truly good man (innately good in fact), who is debased and corrupted because he falls in love with another man. Love, which between a man and a woman, or between friends, or between a parent and child, brings out nothing but goodness and the finest qualities in all parties, between Dumbledore and Grindelwald however was baleful and destructive. In fact, you could almost say that JK Rowling presents homosexual love as an inversion of beautiful, uplifting, heterosexual love.

I'm quite sure this isn't deliberate. Prejudice never is. Nobody wakes up in the morning and thinks to themselves "hey, I think I'll be homophobic today!" Contrary to Rowling's simplistic portrayal of the issue, prejudice is not simply a matter of people being deliberately horrible to minorities. The most dangerous and pernicious forms of prejudice are, in fact, the things which people don't even think about. Things like perpetuating outdated, destructive stereotypes of a particular group and then trying to pass it off as empowering. The idea that an elderly gay man has to be a quirky, faintly outrageous basically asexual eccentric is hugely, hugely insulting.

Look. It really is this simple. You can't be both "gay" and "asexual" any more than you can be simultaneously "Catholic" and "Atheist". The moment you become an atheist, you stop being a Catholic, the moment you become a Catholic, you stop being an atheist. A man who has a single homosexual infatuation at the age of eighteen which might not even be consummated or requited and then lives an utterly sexless existence is not "gay" no matter how many brightly coloured suits he wears.

I've had about as much of this shit as I can take, but there's still more to deal with.

What's next, ah yes. Our sycophantic interviewer points out that some people were hostile to the idea of a gay character in a children's book. Rowling has this fabulous insight:

"It is a very interesting question because I think homophobia is a fear of people loving, more than it is of the sexual act. There seems to be an innate distaste for the love involved, which I find absolutely extraordinary. There were people who thought, well why haven't we seen Dumbledore's angst about being gay?"

Again, she is keen to stress that it is the love that homophobes object to, not the sex. First and foremost, this is bullshit. When the Christian Right has a go at homosexuality it's not "love" they complain about it's sodomy. You know, sodomy, from Sodom and Gomorrah, the bit of the bible which tends to be used to explain why some people think it's wrong, not for men to feel strong bonds of affection towards one another, but to actually fuck each other up the arse.

Sorry, that was crude, but Rowling seems to want to completely divorce the idea of "being gay" from the actual, physical act of homosexual sex. She wants the kudos of having a "gay character" in the book (because they're all about tolerance remember) without having to think about any of that dirty, nasty bumsex.

Indeed I might even suggest that maybe, just maybe, the reason JK Rowling is so keen to declare that homophobes are afraid of the love not the sex is because she, herself, is actually kind of afraid of the sex. Why else would she be so adamant that Dumbledore never, never, never, never had any kind of actual homosexual impulse or encounter other than his "infatuation" with Grindelwald.

Are you honestly telling me that if Dumbledore had been straight (that is to say, had dressed more conservatively and not kept saying things like "that flighty temptress, adventure!") and he had fallen in love with a woman that (a) it would have led him down the path of evil when all other heterosexual relationships in the series have been nothing but redemptive and that (b) he would have become completely asexual afterwards?

Now okay, I admit, that part of what makes this so creepy is JK Rowling's totally fucked up attitude to love, which stipulates that you meet the One Person Who Is Truly Meant For You In All The World at roughly the age of eleven, and then you are never allowed to feel anything for anybody ever again. Presumably once Dumbledore had pursued his disastrous infatuation with Grindelwald, the Monster in his Chest died a horrible lonely death, and Dumbledore never looked at anybody sexually ever again. Ever. For a hundred and twenty years after his eighteenth birthday.

And in fact, I think that's the basic problem with the whole "Dumbledore is gay" thing. Homosexuality (and - much like my

last Fb article

- this is going to sound really obvious) is contingent upon sexuality, a factor which is notably absent from the Harry Potter books. Oh sure, there's "snogging" (which appears to be the only verb fictional teenagers are allowed to use to describe kissing) but nobody in Harry Potter has any real sexual impulses. There's no sex in Potter, only "love". That's why when the mermaids take "the thing that is most important to you in the whole world" in GoF, they take the person the contestant is dating. No doubt if the tournament had taken place a year later, Ginny would have been in Ron's position under the lake. The idea that Krum might have been dating Hermione, not because he thought she was Wonderful and Special and Amazing, but because he fancied some tight muggleborn pussy ("You know vot zey say about muggleborn girls, Victor?") simply didn't enter into it.

In a world completely void of any sexuality whatsoever - homo or hetero - where children seem to be produced magically out of thin air after two people have avowed their devotion and married (hell, maybe that's how Wizards do it, they seem to use magic for everything else, it wouldn't entirely surprise me if they had an inferior magical substitute for sex to go along with their inferior magical substitutes for everything else us muggles have invented to make our lives better) it simply makes no sense to say "Dumbledore was gay and was in love with Grindelwald".

What, precisely, about Grindelwald was Dumbledore attracted to? Was it - as it is presented in the actual novel - a meeting of the minds? The thrill of meeting another young wizard who was his equal in ability and ambition? In that case how is it functionally different from a heterosexual friendship (one of the things that really annoys me about fiction in general, actually, is the way that friendship is portrayed as utterly meaningless compared to romantic love - it's why I love the Denny Crane/Alan Shaw relationship in Boston Legal)? If Dumbledore "fell in love" with Grindelwald for purely intellectual reasons, then how does that explain why he was attracted to Grindelwald in the first place? Surely if Dumbledore's attraction to Grindelwald was based on an intellectual simpatico he must have been open to the whole idea of subjugating the muggle race already. On the other hand, maybe he was just attracted to Grindelwald's long blonde hair and boyish good looks. In that case the relationship was overtly sexual, and Dumbledore shouldn't have just been able to switch off those sexual impulses because he "didn't trust his judgement". Just because you get burned once at the age of eighteen, that doesn't mean that you then stop fancying people. But Dumbledore (like most of the adults in Harry Potter) is portrayed as an utterly sexless being (which isn't inappropriate, adults in children's stories are normally played as asexual). It is simply meaningless to say "Dumbledore is gay" just as it is meaningless to say "Professor McGonagall is heterosexual". People who don't have sexual appetites don't have sexual orientation, it really is that simple. Yes, we live in a society which happens to assume that a person of nonspecified sexual orientation is straight, but that's simply incorrect. Sexuality isn't like race, you don't just get one automatically. If a character in a work of fiction is not presented as having any kind of sexual or romantic impulses, that character cannot be considered "straight" or "gay" or anything else.

In this sense, in fact, sexuality is very much the opposite of race (as I discussed in my previous article - I'm afraid I'm turning into a bit of a Joss Whedon wannabe with all this standing up for minorities I know nothing about). Race affects everything about a person's physical appearance, and if a character's race isn't specified, they'll wind up being white by default. You have to imagine a character looking like something, after all, and odds are what elements of description the author does give will wind up implying a white person rather than a black person.

Sexuality works rather differently. If a character's sexuality is not defined in the text, then it really is entirely up to the reader to decide. While it doesn't really make sense to imagine Professor McGonnagall as black (it just doesn't fit the description of the character, and besides, Rowling tends to mention when her characters have black skin) it's perfectly reasonable to imagine her being straight or gay or bi or whatever as you choose. There is simply no evidence in the text to support most of the characters having any sexuality whatsoever (at least the unmarried ones). Starting to declare that any given character is straight or gay makes no sense at all. (This is exactly why the girly posters on Sirius' wall were so annoying).

Rowling expresses her amazement that people wonder why we "haven't seen Dumbledore's angst about being gay." No Jo, that's not what they're wondering. They're wondering why we haven't seen Dumbledore's "angst" about the fact that the only person he ever loved was an evil mass murderer who he was eventually forced to face down and lock in his own prison. Particularly when - during Harry's Second year - he hires a teacher who looks exactly like the his lost love, only to have the guy turn out to be evil, and get driven mad. All it would take was one sentence in which Dumbledore admits that Lockhart reminds him of somebody he used to know. As it is the idea of Dumbledore having any kind of past at all comes kind of out of left field. The idea of him having a tragic past is even more surprising and the idea of him having a tragic past of thwarted homosexual love is utterly unsupported by the text.

Rowling's final word on the subject is this:

"And then the other thing was-and I had letters saying this-that, as a gay man, he would never be safe to teach in a school."

Again, she expresses surprise at this, but again, her surprise rings hollow. Clearly the only way she herself was comfortable with portraying a gay man was to make him completely celibate. Obviously Dumbledore was safe to teach in a school, he had no sexual drives whatsoever. Certainly there is nothing about Rowling's portrayal of homosexual love that could lead us to believe that she felt it was harmless in general. It was a destructive force in Dumbledore's life, it caused him to lose his otherwise infallible moral compass and flirt with the idea of racial domination.

To be - well perhaps fair is too strong a word - but to at least admit that there exists doubt of which miss Rowling could theoretically be given the benefit, I am sure that she did not deliberately create a situation in which her only canonical homosexual relationship was primarily sexless and ultimately destructive. I am sure she did not mean, by "outing" Dumbledore, to perpetuate the idea that homosexuality is only acceptable so long as it is not acted upon. That doesn't change the fact that this is exactly what she did, and by repeatedly asserting that Dumbledore's flirtation with genocide was not attributable to a flaw in his character, but only to his "infatuation" with Gellert Grindelwald, she makes matters worse.

Ultimately, this article concludes much the same way my last article began. It is all very well for Rowling to say that Dumbledore's sexuality "shouldn't matter" just as it is all very well for the Sci Fi channel to say that it "shouldn't matter" whether Ged is played by a white actor. But the fact is that it does matter and it matters deeply, and the fact that Rowling cannot tell why it matters, why maybe the fact that her books - albeit accidentally - send the message that homosexual love is perverse and unnatural might cause problems, is only further evidence of her failure as an author.

A plea for tolerance indeed.Themes:

J.K. Rowling

Books

Minority Warrior

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~Comments (

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Arthur B

at 11:31 on 2008-03-17A pet theory: Rowling only decided that Dumbledore was gay after she finished writing the series. She was giving a question-and-answer, someone asked about Dumbledore's love life, she was vaguely aware that a lot of internet people would be made very happy if it turned out that one of the HP characters were gay, so she blurted out that Dumbledore was gay and reeled out the Grindlewald connection as spurious evidence. Pretty much everything she says in that quote strikes me as someone rationalising, improvising, and retconning, retconning, retconning into the future, essentially making shit up on the spot to try to explain why a) we never saw any sign that Dumbledore was gay in the actual books and b) why Dumbledore being gay is at all important or worth mentioning.

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Rami

at 11:49 on 2008-03-17The more I read from you, Dan, the less I want to ever read Harry Potter.

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empink

at 13:21 on 2008-03-17@Rami

At this point, I'm right there with you. This is one of the worst things about being a fan of anything written by hacks-- if you wait long enough, they'll rip apart everything that was marginally good about it and scribble all over it with fuckwit pens. I'm not sure when I decided to stop listening to JKR's stupid public announcements, but I'm firmly set on doing that as much as possible now.

I don't know if you're familiar with how anal fanfic writers can be about what does and doesn't belong in canon? Well, the movies don't count for me (on account of them mostly being SHITE), and no word that JKR says after the fact counts, ESPECIALLY everything she's said after the last book came out. I half wish I could strike books 7, 6 and maybe 5 (and what the hell, how about 4) from the list as well, because though they're spread-your-hands-and-sigh okay, just about every plot point introduced in those books is rushed and unedited and stinky.

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Arthur B

at 18:28 on 2008-03-17I think cutting the series off at book 3 is a reasonable stance. Rowling was always at her best when she was straining against the bounds of the 300-page large type children's novel format; book 3, in particular, is my favourite in the series. Once she became big enough that her editors either didn't dare say "no" to her or realised that the books would sell like crazy whether or not they actually bothered to edit them, the downhill slide began. Book 4 is good and fun, but I still feel that it's a step down from the first three; aside from the tri-wizard tournament and the little glimpses we had of the wizarding world beyond the UK, I can't think of any cool elements in it which weren't introduced (and handled more effectively) in the earlier books.

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empink

at 20:34 on 2008-03-17Book 3 was my fave one as well. Man, I just wish some editor had just hung in there, you know? I still love the HP world (well, more like I love it as it was in the first three books) of yore. It was flawed and there were some gaping holes in it if you knew where to look, but it was also a really fun read way back when. Now, with chest monsters and Undying Love and rampant intolerance all over the place...eeurgh.

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Dan H

at 22:22 on 2008-03-17

A pet theory: Rowling only decided that Dumbledore was gay after she finished writing the series.

Weirdly, "it was completely pulled out of her arse" is - to my mind at least - the

generous

interpretation. I'd rather believe that she made up "Dumbledore was gay" on the spot than believe that she intended him to be gay from the start, and decided to express this by making him wear outrageous purple suits and

never never mention being sexually attracted to another man

Certainly there's evidence that she sent a "Dumbledore is gay" note to one of the film producers, when he was going to have Dumbledore reminiscing about an old girlfriend.

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Arthur B

at 22:46 on 2008-03-17

Certainly there's evidence that she sent a "Dumbledore is gay" note to one of the film producers, when he was going to have Dumbledore reminiscing about an old girlfriend.

Yeah, I think this has been confirmed by the director in question, now that I think about it.

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Sister Magpie

at 14:05 on 2008-03-18Somebody mentioned recently how there's no interest in sex or romance but a lot of interest in playing house. I remember being struck by JKR using similar phrasing to describe Charlie and Sirius and whether Charlie was gay or Sirius had a girlfriend. It was something like "He's not gay. He's more interested in dragons than girls/He's too busy being a rebel to have a girlfriend."

Setting up again a situation where either you're one of the characters who are meeting their true love and marrying for life, or else there's a lack of interest in girls, iow you're asexual. (They're interested in girls enough not to be gay, but not interested enough for a relationship. Teen!Sirius has pictures of girls on the wall, but in the one scene where we meet him attention is specifically drawn to him being disinterested.) Since she's giving out everybody's future you start to notice there's no such thing as divorce or living with somebody without being married, or dating people without ever getting married or being in a committed gay relationship. It's who they married, or else how they're not interested in something else instead of that.

Characters are supposed to date others in a superficial way (snog them, at least) before settling down with the true love, but that's about it.

Of course some would say it's a kids book (when they're not saying it's a book that dares to be gritty and realistic and the way life really is!) and it's not about the soap opera lives of the characters. And that's true of the books. But the interviews have become about that in large part and it's consistent with what little is in the books.

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Arthur B

at 17:15 on 2008-03-18

Somebody mentioned recently how there's no interest in sex or romance but a lot of interest in playing house.

To be fair to Rowling, she's not exactly free to frankly explore the sex lives of the Harry Potter character. If she'd been able to stick to her original plan - of writing books which would grow for the readers, pitched at kids around the same age (or perhaps 1 or 2 years younger) than Harry is in the book in question, it'd have been different: publishers are much more comfortable about discussions about people's sex lives in books for older teenagers than they are in books for 11-year-olds.

As it is, Potter unexpectedly became a publishing phenomenon, and it took more than 1 year to write each book, and Rowling realised that each book would have to cater not only to people who'd been in the original target audience and were reading from the beginning, but anyone aged 5 to 85 who had jumped on the bandwagon since. It's no surprise that boyfriends and girlfriends don't do much more than kiss and hug, and it's kind of unreasonable to suggest that Rowling should have made the characters interested in more than that.

Where Rowling horribly fails, as you point out, is in the romance angle. It's entirely possible to write romantic subplots which are kid-safe and yet nuanced enough to engage with a teenage and adult audience. (At their creative peak, the guys at Disney were able to do so, repeatedly, for movie after movie.) Rowling doesn't even

try

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Arthur B

at 17:17 on 2008-03-18(I tell a lie: she

does

try, once, in

Goblet of Fire

, with the big dance and Harry and Ron's hilarious failure to be gentlemen leaving their dates weeping by the end of the night: I think that part was really nicely observed. It's one of the few genuinely interesting parts of the fourth book. Of course, it was funnier in the movie than in the novel.)

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Sister Magpie

at 18:31 on 2008-03-18

It's no surprise that boyfriends and girlfriends don't do much more than kiss and hug, and it's kind of unreasonable to suggest that Rowling should have made the characters interested in more than that.

Absolutely--no point in criticizing an author for what she's not doing in the first place. I would say another place where "romance" is done well is with Harry and Cho's date in OotP--another place where everything just falls flat for both parties. And one reason it does is that you've got two specific, different people actually trying to have a conversation and connect.

With the "real" romances they're more just magically zapped onto the characters like a love potion. It's not really about these two people having stuff in common and getting to know each other, it's just picking out, as a reader, who their intended is going to be.

The romance plots are more like the mystery plots that way--for instance, you don't see Harry growing to like Ginny as a character, you figure out the clues like Harry randomly watching her, or feeling annoyed when she leaves him, or she responds correctly when he's almost killed someone, or has a chest monster, or her smell is in the love potion. Along with telegraphed stuff like "Ginny was the most awesome person on the team" etc.

I actually doubt she ever planned on dealing frankly with sex or this kind of romance since it doesn't really seem to interest her, at least in this series. I don't get the feeling she's really holding back.

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Wardog

at 10:55 on 2008-03-19I guess I'll just throw a couple of pennies into the discussion fountain. I think what annoys me most is the media song and dance routine that accompanies each book (you can say that this isn't Rowling's doing but she interacts massively and voluntarily with her fanbase), the disparity between what the books actually *are* and *do* with what Rowling seems determined to *insist* they are and do. You see, I don't care a damn about Dumbledore's sexuality and if Rowling had just said in passing "well, I guess, I always thought he was gay" that would be fine: what drives me up the wall is the fact that we're meant to take this as yet further evidence that the Harry Potter series isn't just a bunch of kid's books about a boy wizard but Serious Literature addressing Meaningful Issues. It's basically just cheating. It's like she wants the kudos of being open minded about gay people without actually having to face the fact that being so noticeably in fiction - especially children's books - is likely to make her unpopular in a few circles. Have some fucking courage.

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Dan H

at 11:01 on 2008-03-19

Absolutely--no point in criticizing an author for what she's not doing in the first place

As Kyra points out, while I don't think there's any point in criticizing somebody for not doing something they were never trying to do, I think it's totally okay to criticize somebody for not doing something that they were not trying to do but which they never the less claimed they were doing.

I'm not going to complain that somebody doesn't cook me dinner if they haven't offered to, but if somebody offers to cook me dinner, and then does an enormous poo on a plate and serves it to me, I think I have the right to be peeved, and I don't think "but I wasn't trying to cook a meal, I was trying to take an enormous poo" isn't really a defence.

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Sister Magpie

at 16:14 on 2008-03-19

I don't think "but I wasn't trying to cook a meal, I was trying to take an enormous poo" isn't really a defence.

LOL! Words to live by. But yeah, that's why I don't think it's a problem when she doesn't write detailed romance or get too deeply into sex, or the sex lives of adults, since she doesn't really claim to be doing more than matching people up for plot reasons anyway.

But the plea for tolerance, the "right versus easy," the choices stuff--all that is set out as what the books are supposed to be admired for or at least what they're saying. So you can't help but question places where they don't actually do that. Or since DH, whenever she talks about Dumbledore it's like it sounds like she's talking about her choice to do something realistic or daring with a gay character that strikes a blow against homophobia in children's lit, when she didn't even write the gay character to begin with. She could talk about hypothetically what she'd think about a writer who actually did put a gay teacher in a YA book (and there are plenty), but what she did was after-the-fact say a character was gay and then kind of add, "Sure he was gay. That's why he went evil. Wasn't that clear?"

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http://baihehua.livejournal.com/

at 05:37 on 2010-01-01Here's another item to be added to the "shit I've been told about Harry Potter which is totally unsupported by the text" list:

"The world isn't divided into good people and Death Eaters."

It's stated once by Sirius, and never backed up by anything else.

(I've been showing my brother the world of HP sporks, where I found this item.)

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http://fintinobrien.livejournal.com/

at 06:23 on 2010-01-01

"The world isn't divided into good people and Death Eaters."

Let's give Rowling some credit here. The world is divided into good people, Death Eaters, and incompetent Ministry heads. :-)

(And since I can't post in the Playpen, I'll say this here - Happy New Year! Maybe one of my resolutions should be to get an account here. :-P)

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https://me.yahoo.com/a/gNLVidA.xeLuPiOU_2B_USM.HYNFjA--#b0b6b

at 04:28 on 2010-02-13Hi there! I discovered this site fairly recently, and I'll be sure to hang around when I can. Being a disillusioned Harry Potter ex-fan, I'm enjoying your opinions and insights tremendously. I hope it's not too late to add a couple of words to the discussion?

This article's raised some points I find very interesting. At first I brushed off Dumbledore's coming out as a ploy to keep Harry Potter in the media spotlight, but I have to agree with you that there is, on closer sight, so much to take offense about.

There's one thing I'll quibble about, and that's your point that "people who don't have sexual appetites don't have sexual orientation." I don't fully agree that being gay is contingent on physical consummation/requitement of a homosexual relationship, because of how I've heard asexuals relate their experiences. According to the

Asexual Visibility and Education Network

, many asexuals do feel attraction to members of a specific gender (see the paragraph on 'Attraction'), even though they don't characterise this as something sexual. Consequently, there are people out there calling themselves 'gay-asexual' or 'straight-asexual' without any sense of contradiction.

I don't know if this concept of 'romantic orientation' has been deeply or widely studied - this information comes more or less entirely from personal anecdotes. But it seems to be pretty widely accepted in the asexual community. So, I'm wondering whether you knew about this and don't buy it, or just hadn't heard about it before?

Personally, I'd always thought of Dumbledore as plainly asexual. In any case it still stands that making him gay in any sense, only to have his one gay relationship founded on something dangerous and irrational and leading to destruction, is no real validation of homosexuality.

Could it be said that Dumbledore is another Snape in this sense? Snape, too, had that one tragic love affair, the outcome of which left him celibate for the rest of his life. I'm inclined to take this as evidence that neither Dumbledore nor Snape were really ever capable of forming healthy long-term relationships with other people.

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Arthur B

at 17:03 on 2010-02-13

I think the crucial thing there is that, as the AVEN site makes clear, asexuals don't feel any need to take the attractions they feel into a sexual dimension. You can't really call it a "sexual" orientation if there is, in fact, no sexual component to it - it would be like calling atheism a religion (as certain maddening fundamentalists are wont to do) because you "have to have faith in something, even if you have faith in nothing". "Romantic orientation" is probably a much better term for what AVEN are describing there.

Either way, it seems a moot point because Dumbledore doesn't show that sort of attraction to anyone in the series either.

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Melissa G.

at 17:48 on 2010-02-13I think that the problem with what JKR was saying was that she was asserting that asexual Dumbledore was, in fact, a homosexual not a homosexual-asexual. It goes into that whole "safe gay" stereotype that happens in the media a lot. You'll see gay characters but they'll never be given relationships and love interests portrayed with equal action to the straight ones. It's like, "We have no problem with you being gay; we just don't want to hear about any of that nasty buttsex!" It comes off like JKR basically wanted to get all the praise for having a gay character without having to *actually* portray a true gay character.

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https://me.yahoo.com/a/gNLVidA.xeLuPiOU_2B_USM.HYNFjA--#b0b6b

at 07:44 on 2010-02-14Yeah. I was just picking at Dan's point that a functionally celibate character can't be called 'gay' in any sense, since perhaps they can, if you look at them a certain way.

As you've said, the problem is that Rowling was out to create a homosexual, not an asexual of any colour, and went about this by effectively neutering him and sweeping any signs of sexuality under the carpet. But then, Dumbledore isn't a great example of your everyday asexual, either. (They're not

all

geeks, freaks and/or figures of towering genius isolated from the common crowd ...)

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Melissa G.

at 15:57 on 2010-02-14It was definitely an interesting point/idea! Thanks for sharing it! :-)

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Sister Magpie

at 15:17 on 2010-02-19Had to link you to this:

http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/j-k-rowling-explains-grindelwald-dumbledores-relationship-dracos-wand-transfer-71142/

She's explaining the DD/GG relationship more clearly--iow, making it even more clear there was no sex ever. Also, she claims the big wand transfer moment with Harry yanking the wand out of Draco's hand was supposed to show that Dumbledore's plans came to nothing because it came down to two teenaged boys tussling, but I still think it's because by doing it that way Harry doesn't even have to notice anybody else to acheive victory. The alternative would have probably required somebody taking spotlight off of Harry in his big moment.

And also, Dumbledore's ridiculous chess game *does* work via author machinations far too much for it to come down to chance. If she wanted to show it coming down to chance she should have used the events of HBP where Draco completely overturns Voldemort's and Dumbledore's plans for him and have everything be a crap shoot from there. Imo.

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Arthur B

at 15:36 on 2010-02-19I think the best way to respond to Rowling's pronouncements these days is to scratch your head and say "Harry Potter? I think I remember that. Wasn't it inspired by Twilight?"

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Frank

at 16:04 on 2010-02-19Wow. I remember a time when a JKR interview would be dissected and discussed. Now, hardly anyone even knows she's talking. I wonder if it's because of the end result that's book seven or if it's fans finding other things to squee about.

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Dan H

at 16:28 on 2010-02-19Sorry, haven't checked comments here for ages:

@Person Using OpenID: I'll freely admit that asexuality is one of those things I know very little about. I'm totally okay with people self-defining as "straight-asexual" or "gay-asexual" or even as "bi-asexual polyamorous" but there's a difference between real people and fictional characters. If I thought JKR had researched Asexuality as an orientation, and had deliberately constructed Dumbledore as a canonically gay-asexual character, that would be great, but there's a big difference between that and her saying "Dumbledore is Gay" and then following it up with "but he certainly never had any of that dirty bumsex".

To use an analogy, it's like when male comic artists insist that the hyper-sexualised outfits of their female characters are actually signs that they are strong women who are comfortable with their sexuality who have chosen to dress that way, and that it would be sexist to deny them their choices. Fictional characters don't make decisions, and they don't really have sexual orientations. Dumbledore, and a great many other canonically "gay" fictional characters doesn't shy away from homosexual activity because he's "gay-asexual", he does it because Rowling, like a great many other writers, is squicked out by homosexuality.

@Sister Magpie: No no no no no no no. I think the "aha, that is the final irony" thing was around a long time ago. It was stupid back then and it's stupid now. The sad thing is that it would almost be cool if there was *any* textual recognition of the fact that Harry won by dumb luck, but there wasn't. We are instead supposed to accept the mutually contradictory ideas that Harry *at one and the same time* won because of an ironic fluke *and also* because of his personal virtues.

Again, it's alarmingly Calvinist - good luck in and of itself is evidence of moral superiority.

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http://lunabell14.myopenid.com/

at 23:20 on 2010-07-27I don't know if being a lesbian helps to validate your opinion at all, but regardless, I can agree that making Dumbledore gay is offensive at worst and silly at best.

Now, I don't have problems with the idea of Dumbledore being swayed to do bad things due to his attraction to someone or being in love with them. It's something that really happens, and would actually be a kind of cool layer, to show that love doesn't always create good things. The fact that Dumbledore's gay, which isn't even supported as being gay in the books (btw, he could have shown "angst" it at King's Cross when he was re-telling this story. Why not add that if you're going to throw in the whole stupid backstory anyway? Probably because there was a fear of controversy. But hey, she still wanted credit for being tolerant.) is ridiculous. Why did this horrible evil have to come from a gay crush? A woman could also have been the motivation to be all Nazi-like (and he could've been straight). Or even just a friendship (as it's presented in the fucking books)!

Although honestly, the whole muggle-ruling dream of Dumbledore's was a waste of space. He's evil enough by being a manipulator who knew about Harry being a horcrux and not telling him about it. We don't need the backstory to do any of that.

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Ashimbabbar

at 14:05 on 2014-04-12"HP Lovecraft presenting the Evils of Miscegenation as a supernatural threat in Innsmouth"

considering the protagonist finds out he is one of the Deep Ones actually, and that it pretty much rocks to be one ( " we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory for ever" i.e. as close to Heaven as possible for an avowed atheist like HPL ), you could make a pretty good case for the opposite.

Otherwise, I wondered whether Dumbledore's gayness would not "explain" in Rowling's worldview ( such as it is… ) his covert manipulative strategies ?

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Arthur B

at 15:04 on 2014-04-12Given how hostile the Deep Ones are shown as being to humanity in

Shadow

, and given that in general having the otherwise calm and rational narrator who's been telling the story abruptly start talking like a dyed-in-the-wool cultist feels deeply creepy, I think you would have to work very hard to say that

Shadow Over Innsmouth

is a pro-miscegnation story.

I mean, you could give it a pro- reading if you were really wanted to, but it'd require you to ignore a hell of a lot of stylistic and narrative choices before that reading was remotely supported by the text.

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Ashimbabbar

at 12:26 on 2014-04-13Not exactly hostile - they claim they'd rather not wipe out mankind… and they appear to use it as a source for sacrifices and a breeding-ground. It's more an utilitarian approach.

But I understand your point that it is a deeply racist story, that is, that people's actions are basically defined by their genes. As long as the upstanding New England genes predominate the narrator is all for exterminating the eldritch fishmen, and when the long-recessive Deep One genes take over his mind changes correspondingly…

( and it WOULD be a pretty disgusting story, I agree, if it was about white and black instead of human and deep one ).

Still what in my opinion makes it worthwhile as a story ( besides HPL's style if one likes it ) is the tension that is, I think, in the narrator's and was HPL's own - the need for a community that would accept him, and his problems with the actual communities he had to deal with*. Here, although I agree in a very twisted way, the narrator finds his family and his place…

* which overlaps here with the other tension in his works, between attraction and repulsion for the eldritch

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http://mary-j-59.livejournal.com/

at 16:09 on 2014-04-17Coming to this discussion very, very late, because I wanted to comment on it back in the day and somehow never did. Three points (I think):

1. Being celibate in no way negates a person's basic sexuality. I feel strongly about this as a practicing Catholic. Sexuality is a continuum, and it is something ALL human beings have, celibate or otherwise.

2. That said, I was always completely puzzled by how gay readers of Harry Potter embraced Rowling's statements as promoting tolerance. They absolutely don't, for two reasons (these are things two and three-)

A. Dumbledore, as depicted in the later books, is NOT a good person. He is arguably a sociopathic narcissist. He is certainly self-absorbed, secretive, cruel, and manipulative, and he also makes errors of judgement. The "epitome of goodness" he is not!

B. Also, and all too obviously, his homosexual love leads him into evil. He only becomes "good" (for those who think he's ever good - I don't) when he renounces his love. In what way does this promote tolerance?

I think 2B is Dan's main point, and it's dead on the money. A livejournaller called Raisingal has a whole analysis of love in the books and her conclusion, if I'm remembering correctly, is that they are completely anti-gay. But 2A has been my main point from the time the last book was published. I can't see how Dumbledore is a good example of anything.

My two cents!

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Daniel F

at 03:38 on 2014-04-18A few more thoughts in response. ;)

Being celibate in no way negates a person's basic sexuality. I feel strongly about this as a practicing Catholic. Sexuality is a continuum, and it is something ALL human beings have, celibate or otherwise.

Two things there, I think.

The first is that the word 'sexuality' is somewhat ambiguous in its definition, and can be used to refer either to a behaviour or to an orientation. In one sense your sexuality is your sexual life; in another sense your sexuality is a set of instincts and internal psychological markers you have. It can easily be true that Dumbledore's sexual life is one of celibacy while whatever internal sexual instinct he has is directed towards other men.

The second and probably more important is that it works a little differently for fictional characters. Real people have immense depth, and a nigh-infinite number of psychological layers that we can never truly come to grips with. I daresay most of us don't even understand our own thoughts and desires, much less those of others.

But a fictional person is not a real person. While we understand that a real person has countless character traits we will never experience, a fictional person is only those traits which are depicted. Dumbledore the literary construct is not depicted as having a sexuality. It's pointless to speculate about Dumbledore the real person, because he is not a real person. He only has reality as this construct.

He only becomes "good" (for those who think he's ever good - I don't) when he renounces his love. In what way does this promote tolerance?

It promotes tolerance in a very milquetoast, lazy way that doesn't care to actually engage with people who are different. Whatever you think about homosexuality, bland platitudes aren't tolerance. It seems to me that a social conservative who thinks homosexual behaviour is morally wrong but who sighs and lets people get on with it is showing more genuine tolerance than such a marketer of platitudes.

But yeah, the dominant picture of romance in the Potter series is "You meet your One True Love at age sixteen, court them through school, get married shortly after graduating, have children, and spend the rest of your life in faithful marriage." There's not much to argue there; Rowling isn't exactly subtle. I suspect the idea might be that that's the only sort of romance appropriate to show children.

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http://mary-j-59.livejournal.com/

at 17:00 on 2014-04-18Oh, Dan, I don't think there is anything milquetoast about it. I don't think Dumbledore's having been led to evil by his gay love promotes tolerance at all! And I don't think you do, either.

You're absolutely right about the extremely conservative picture of love in the Potterverse. And I understand you now - you're also right in saying that Dumbledore, as depicted throughout the series, is asexual, not gay.

BTW, for a really good SF/Fantasy with a genuinely asexual heroine, may I recommend R.J. Anderson's "Quicksilver"?

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Daniel F

at 21:00 on 2014-04-18Um, before we go any further: I am Daniel, not Dan. Entirely different people. Sorry if there was any confusion! I just wanted to throw my hat in as well.

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http://mary-j-59.livejournal.com/

at 04:38 on 2014-04-19Sorry, Daniel! I should have noticed. And I'm glad you chimed in. It's true that the sort of lukewarm "tolerance" these books exemplify isn't awfully praiseworthy.

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Daniel F

at 10:20 on 2014-04-19No problem. I noticed the potential confusion shortly after posting. Just the risk of sharing a name, I guess.

Still, the whole area of sexuality is difficult. It seems to me that there are a lot of contradictory impulses guiding this sort of text, and they’re all locked into a particular idea of what sexuality is. Rowling does give us a very middle-class-romanticised picture of the sexual life, but I do think she probably honestly wants to be tolerant. When she said that the Potter series was a protracted plea for tolerance, while I don’t think that’s a true statement about the series, as a statement about what Rowling wishes the series, or about the sort of person Rowling wants to be, it’s got more meat to it.

I’m in an odd position here, because I’m a bit of a horrible old social conservative myself, and while I think Rowling’s version of tolerance is pretty worthless, neither do I particularly agree with the opposite line. Honestly, I think the very behaviour/orientation distinction I just made is flawed. Sexuality is a set of internal psychological markers and it is behaviour out in the world, but it’s also a social construct. A person’s sexuality is always expressed in and mediated through shared social ideals. And I’d better leave it there before we get too deep!

In any case, I really don’t think that having a gay lover will turn you evil, and I agree with how problematic it is to imply that in the context of a series where heterosexual love is almost always ennobling and redemptive (cf. Snape). I suppose I’d also jump on Rowling’s constant link between love and sexuality. Dan touched on this point in the article, and it might be worth further exploring. The idea that sexual interest might not be accompanied with love seems alien to the series. In a sense, the Potter series doesn’t include any sexuality at all: it only has

love

. Or ‘heteroromantic attraction’, if you prefer, but I think the word ‘love’ gets to the bottom of it.

The climax of

Deathly Hallows

is the exposition of Dumbledore’s theology of love, if you’ll pardon the term, where living ‘without love’ defines Hell. As demonstrated by Voldemort, it’s a sort of self-maiming of the soul. So much, so watered-down-secular-Christianity, but what's annoying is that Rowling’s exemplars of what love is are… rather messed up. Even if we leave aside the identification of love with heterosexual family romance, the way love is expressed in the series is incredibly passive or invisible. Harry going to his death, Snape pining over Lily, Ron doing absolutely nothing to pursue Hermione, and so on. Hermione even asserts ‘Dumbledore loved Harry’ a few chapters from the end. What’s important is that you love, not that you ever express that love.

Hence also, I imagine, why it can be significant that Dumbledore ‘loved’ Grindelwald despite never doing anything to express that love, sexually or otherwise. In the Potter series, loving someone is something that you do quietly inside you which doesn’t have to be expressed.

(And then if you’re good you’ll get a happy middle class nuclear family somewhere down the line. That's what happy endings look like, right?)

Whereas… I don’t know, I’d like to believe that love is a little more

dynamic

than that.

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Tamara

at 11:35 on 2014-04-20The odd thing is, I think that while I largely agree that HP is a bit mincing when it comes to Grindlewald/Dumbledore, it's also kind of interesting in a way the rest of the series often isn't. The whole lovers-enemies, subtexts and contradictions, blurring of moral and personal lines and assumptions in the D/G dynamic is just much more complex and compelling than most of the tepid, somewhat fiat-y relationships in the books. (This with the caveat that I haven't actually read since I was the 'right' age to be reading it and may have emphasized aspects I now find more interesting as an adult. That said, I did spot and find them interesting as a kid/teen too.)

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Robinson L

at 18:30 on 2015-02-19Coming in waaaaay late, but I thought I might as well point out that author Seanan McGuire also believes that Rowling doesn't deserve any points for gay representation with Dumbledore, for

broadly the same reasons cited in this article

#Ferretbrain #Harry Potter #J.K. Rowling #Dan H #Minority Warrior

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