I had a thought: Neville’s greatest fear was Snape. And for ten months of every year for seven years, he went back and faced that fear over and over and over again. It would be like tossing Ron into a nest of spiders every day. Or pitching Harry against a Dementor every day. Neville went back for Potions every time, never skipped out, never ran away. Kid was braver than anyone ever noticed from the very beginning, even before he started standing up for himself.
So I know the whole “Albus Severus” controversy has been going on FOREVER now but I just saw an interesting post about it which got me to thinking. I agreed with a lot of the points it made but much like many other posts it implied that Harry somehow neglected people like Molly and Arthur and Remus by naming his kid after Snape and Dumbledore.
But I really disagree with this? The thing about most of the people (apart from Hagrid) who the fandom consider “more worthy” of being the namesakes of Harry’s children is that they all have other people who can name their children after them.
I see people complaining that Harry never called any of his children “Fred”, but wouldn’t Fred II have been born by then anyway? Same goes for Molly. Teddy’s middle name is “Remus” and honestly if I were Harry I would want to leave Remus to Teddy, should Teddy wish to name any potential future children after his father.
But the thing about Albus and Severus is that they have no remaining family. They have no decedents who will remember them. They will both be mentioned in the history books, but they nonetheless remain very lonely figures, and I think Harry identified with that.
I’m not saying that they aren’t both deeply flawed (though I think the tumblr attitude to both of them is very one-sided and I dislike it), but in a way I feel like it made total sense for Harry to name his son after them.
Dumbledore did some deeply sketchy things regarding Harry’s treatment during the war, but the strain put on him was massive. He was the one person everyone looked to for the safety of the wizarding world and Harry knows that pressure. He knows how isolating that can be.
When Harry sees Snape’s childhood he sees himself – lonely and abused, but finding solace in the magic of Hogwarts. There, of course, the similarities between them essentially end, but again that feeling of loneliness is something that Harry knows all too well.
Its not about shunning those who loved him in favour of people who treated him poorly, it’s Harry knowing that most of those people have other family to remember them. Snape and Dumbledore don’t have that, and despite all the other shitty things they did, both of them did help Harry in their own ways.
So Harry wants to ensure they are remembered, because if he doesn’t do it, who will?
I just read “Hufflepuff isn’t a house where you can stick people who don’t fit in the other houses”
But the thing is? It literally it is, Helga Hufflepuff said she would take the rest.
She preferred the loyal and hardworking for her house, but felt that everyone should have a chance. Not a Gryffindor, a Slytherin, or a Ravenclaw? Not a loyal, hardworking Hufflepuff either?
Well that’s okay. Helga Hufflepuff founded her house believing anyone should be given a chance at Hogwarts. Those four archetypes aren’t all that matter, and if you don’t fit any of them Hufflepuff will still welcome you.
Godric/Rowena/Salazar were perfectly happy to say “You don’t fit into our houses, you can’t come to Hogwarts” and it was only Helga who was willing to say “You might not fit my ideals of a student, but you can still be in my house”
Like. I think that’s super cool. I don’t like it when people shoehorn Hufflepuff into being one and the same like the rest of the houses, sure, loyalty, hardworking, kindness.. that’s the priority.. but it’s truly a place for everyone. And that’s where Hufflepuff’s kindness shines the most.
‘I’ll teach the lot And treat them just the same.’
‘Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest and taught them all she knew’
Hufflepuff’s pride as a house comes not only from loyalty, hardworking, toil, and kindness, but from diversity. Something the other founders did not realize the importance of.
I never really thought about this- but you are 100% right.
JK Rowling only said Dumbledore was gay because there weren’t any risks, the books were finished. Now she’s decided they aren’t, there are risks again and she’s chosen the same spineless path she’s used to. She is no LGBTQ ally.
Okay but like actually this is the most thoughtful gift IN THE WHOLE WORLD.
It might seem to make more sense to give Ron the precious family heirloom (remember that Molly’s brother Fabian died in the First Wizarding War; Molly has held onto his watch out of sentimentality since then). But Ron is the sixth son in his (canonically financially-struggling) family. He’s been forced into hand-me-downs his whole life. If he’d gotten the watch with a dent in the back, he wouldn’t have appreciated it; he’d only have seen the flaw. And if his mum bought Harry a new watch instead of getting Ron one, Ron would have resented that. A new watch was a worthwhile expense to get Ron a rare taste of the luxury and individual attention he has always craved.
Harry, though. Harry has money; Harry has new things. What Harry does not have is family. Harry is an orphan. Other than one photo album and the invisibility cloak, he doesn’t have anything that came with family history attached. What Molly does here is give him that; she makes him part of the family, symbolically, by giving him an emotionally significant if physically imperfect item. She gives him love in a tangible form.
This is why I will fight anyone who insults the Weasleys.
sometimes i mourn the fact we will never see what harry would be like if sirius had been proven innocent and raised him but then i remember that potter puppet pals is a thing that exists
It comes for her, as it came for her husband, so many years ago. It comes for her, as it came for her Headmaster, the price of his ambition. It comes for her, as it came for far too many of her friends and students, in one war then another.
Death comes for her.
Minerva McGonagall Looks at Death, and raises an eyebrow.
Death pauses, then nods and backs away. “We’ll call this number three then, shall we?”
She smiles as she turns back to her paperwork. There is a reason her animagus form is a cat.
Single best thing ever in my life have I ever read about my one true babe Minnie.
Why is the ambition of Slytherins always translated as hunger for power?
What if my ambition is to look super cute today? What if it’s to write a book? What if it’s to someday own ten cats? What if I just wanna see how much ice-cream I can eat in twenty-minutes?
jinlinli 