#also hagrid should of course be allowed to learn and use magic

[hiddenmoonbeam]

Magical law sure makes sense. You get expelled from school so they snap your wand and thereafter you’re not allowed to perform magic...... except a little bit maybe.

This is all Dumbledore of course, and he can for some reason do and decide whatever he wants, but like... there’s a reason kids need to learn magic properly before being allowed to use it outside of school. It’s dangerous when not done right. And Hagrid can obviously not do magic right since he intended to transfigure Dudley into a pig but only managed the tail.

(Hagrid does however perform other spells that seem to work as they should, and he never says any words when doing them. So does that mean he’s actually really powerful?)

Not to mention... he’s not only breaking one law but two when doing magic in the Muggle world, against a Muggle child. But it seems pretty easy to get away with breaking both of these laws - as long as no one at Hogwarts finds out, no harm done. Doesn’t matter that the Dursleys have to remove Dudley’s tail at a hospital.

[queercapwriting]

All Aboard The (Trans) Hogwarts Express: Ft. Hermione

There are very few things that Hermione Granger isn’t good at.

Flying is one of them. 

It’s hard to fly when you’re always so focused on keeping your feet firmly on the ground.

Casting a Patronus is another one.

It’s hard to find hope when your anxiety gets in the way all the time.

And, despite a summer frantically researching and watching videos on YouTube - which Ron still is utterly baffled by, despite Hermione and Harry’s best efforts to explain - she can’t quite get the knack for doing her own hair.

Her mother helps, and her father, too. They’re dentists - their fingers are skilled and since the day Hermione told them that they had a daughter, and she wanted to grow her hair out, they’d made it their mission to learn how to twist her hair out and crochet it and any and every style she’d always wanted to have.

But her fingers are skilled with a wand and the pages of a book. She still fumbles with her own hair

A few weeks after school starts again, Ginny sits on the edge of her bed and stares at her.

“You’re going to need to take your twists out soon,” she says, calm and casual and making sure Hermione doesn’t think she’s telling her she looks bad. She doesn’t.

But when Hermione mentioned (for half an entire parchment) in one of their weekly summer letters that she was frantically trying to learn what to do with her hair now that it was finally as long as she wanted it to be for the first time in her life... well, Ginny had spent the entire summer doing research, too.

So, she tapped on the floor in front of her, motioning for Hermione to sit between her legs. “We can do it now, if you’d like. I asked Fred and George to send me some jojoba oil and other stuff I figured you might need.”

She dug into a bag she’d hapharzardly shoved into her trunk - which was haphazardly shoved under her bed - and used her wand to arrange everything out, spray bottles included, on the floor in front of her.

Hermione did not cry. She did not cry. She did not cry.

(She cried. She had felt loved, so loved, when she came out last year and Harry had done nothing but hug her and Ron had congratulated her and Hagrid had whisked her up in his arms and told her that Hermione was a beautiful name, and Luna had woven her a crown of flowers. And now, this? She definitely cried.)

But an hour and a half later, she wasn’t the only one.

Ginny had gotten the twists out of Hermione’s hair, learned the marvels of a wide-toothed comb, and done a decent enough job oiling her scalp and roots. But when it came to trying to retwist them - because Hermione wanted to keep the style, but they’d started to come loose - she was utterly failing.

Ginny had done all the research she could, but her, her mother’s, and Bill’s hair were all too thin to properly practice on (she’d tried).

And, just like Hermione, Ginny was pretty used to getting things right on the first try.

That was when McGonagall came to the rescue.

“Professor, how did you -?” Ginny started to ask when McGonagall appeared at the foot of the dormitory stairs, asking Ginny and Hermione to bring their supplies down to the common room.

“The castle walls themselves could feel your frustration, Ms. Weasley, and heavens knows that Ms. Granger doesn’t need the added stress.” 

But her smile was obvious.

“You... know how to help Ginny with my hair, Professor?” Hermione asked as she and Ginny levitated their supplies down to the common room, mostly deserted at this hour.

McGonagall, in her nightgown and cap, nodded efficiently and conjured up a pillow for Hermione to sit on on the floor in front of her.

“I can transform myself into a cat and back in the blink of an eye, Ms. Granger. Black hair care may be an art, but I like to think I am a worthy artist.”

Hermione’s eyes sparkled. She knew Professor McGonagall used everyone’s last names, Mr. this and Ms. that and Mx. the other. But she always felt the added weight of eye contact, of beautiful significance, whenever her teacher called her Ms. Granger.

She settled quietly in front of her.

“Come closer, Ms. Weasley, so I can teach you. I can’t swoop down to the tower every time Ms. Granger’s hair needs touching up.”

It still took a couple of hours - “you can speed it up with magic, of course, but you’ll be able to guide the spells best when you can also create the desired style with your own fingers” - but by the time two in the morning rolled around, Hermione’s hair was all twisted out, even tighter than her and her mother had been able to do. 

A few twists were loose and a bit bumpy in the back - Ginny was, indeed, still learning - but her effort made Hermione’s heart flutter.

She allowed herself to wonder, only briefly, if Ginny might be into girls.

“Thank you, Professor,” she said softly, touching her curls gingerly in the mirror McGonagall had conjured for her.

“My pleasure, Ms. Granger. Now both of you, go on to bed.” Her eyes locked onto Ginny. “I appreciate your friendship to Ms. Granger, Ms. Weasley, and I’m awarding ten points to Gryffindor for your efforts. However. Those points will be taken away should I find that your Transfiguration essay tomorrow is less than what I know you’re capable of producing.”

“That’s due tomorrow?” 

Hermione laughed, and even Professor McGonagall let the ghost of a smile cross her lips.

“Come on, Ginny,” Hermione sighed, her entire body buzzing with contentment, with gender euphoria, not a single cell in her body tired. She settled back into the armchair Professor McGonagall had just vacated, “let’s get your essay done.”

When Harry came downstairs a few hours later, hoping to sneak off to the Quidditch pitch to get some flying in before breakfast, Hermione was fast asleep in Ginny’s lap. Both of them were curled up by the dying fire, parchment all around them.

He smiled and bent gently to adjust Hermione’s head scarf, which had come all askew in sleep.

He wondered, still smiling as he tiptoed past two of his best friends, if they knew they were falling in love.

[snapefiction]

#21. Christmas Present - Snapemas Challenge

A/N: Day 21 of Snapemas! I hope you like it! This one is a little bit longer. I hate proof reading so much it stops me from uploading  Christmas is so close now! I can't wait! ahhhhhhhh I will upload more - I promise (I just dunno when)

Idea from @deepperplexity ´s Writing Challenge ! Check her Writings and the other Snapemas posts out! :)

❤️ Please remember that English isn’t my native language and that my Writings will include Mistakes and maybe weird formed sentences. ❤️

Pairing: Severus Snape x Professor!Teacher

Warnings: Mention Cursings, Slight NSFW mention of cookies - might make you hungry - atleast I got hungry - I love cookies

Word count: 5941

Y/N - Your Name, Y/L/N - Your last Name, Y/H/C - Your Hair Colour

#21.Christmas Present

,,O-Oh Professor Snape, before you leave I uh wanted to ask you something." In response he just rose his eyebrow and stared down on you. You laid down the Silverware on your Plate as the other Professors continued to eat their lunch.

,,I saw that you have quiet a big collection of books and I wondered if you're in possession of one I have been looking for to read for very long." Sighing he wetted his lips. He wasn’t even hiding his boredom. What a great Start, you thought to yourself.

,,Which one are you looking for?" Smiling you set your drink aside. ,,It's a rare one from Scotland. ,The correct way of Potion brewing and wild Herbology'." Now his face looked like your answer might actually have impressed him. ,,I am able to call one of these copies mine."

,,Oh really?" Your excitement seemed to confuse him slightly so you fixed your posture, flattened down your dress and collected your words together. ,,Would you mind if i would borrow it?" You followed him like a lost Puppy as he kept walking down the great hall.

,,You can pick it up tomorrow after lunch at my chambers."

,,Thank you, Professor!“ Smiling you first thought about hugging him but as your arms almost flew around him you backed up and held out your hand. ,,Sorry." Thinking about wether he should take my hand or not he finally decided to get up only to turn around on his heels. As always he vanished within seconds into the dark corridors. The Butterflies in your stomach went crazy now so you just tried to hide your smile as got up yourself to walk the other way leading towards your classroom.

In the next Morning you hurried your whole way up to the mountain where you just recently found a dead Acromantula. It has been two days ago when you have had spotted her. Actually you intended to let her rest in peace but you really wished you could give Severus something in return of his grace. So you quickly pulled out something out of your bag to catch the rare venom dripping from it's teeth. Actually it could become quiet dangerous up in here but since you went there almost everyday you felt more than just safe.

After the jar was full you went on your way back to the castle. It wasn't a too long way. It only took an hour and a half and you also got to take some ingredients you needed for your classes with you too. After you got everything secured in your class stocks  and changed your dress you went to lunch. Severus already sat at the unpredictability long table. Smiling you sat down next to him trying to hide your excitement. A good Book was always making you nervous. Not to mention a Book you have been looking for since so long and loaning it from a person you truly kind of liked?

,,Hello Professor Snape, I hope you're doing alright?" You chattered but got interrupted as the food appeared on the table. He wouldn’t have continued the Conversation anyways. After something that felt like an eternity but turned out to just have been 20 minutes you walked next to Severus towards his chambers. You told him about the new Paper you got from the Ministry about magic beasts - even if he didn't asked for it. But you knew if you didn't want to walk in silence you would have to talk yourself.

,,Theres even an article about Muggle Medicine in it. They test it on animals. Did you knew that? That’s so cruel.“ You noticed how he rolled his eyes on your words but you just simply knew he didn't dislike you as much as he disliked Gilderoy Lockhart. As you reached his door he quickly opened it with his wand. ,,Enter." Allowing you to step into his chambers. Nervously you closed the door after you. As he went to his shelf to look for the book you quickly opened your bag. He was quicker than you were so he just stood in front of you and held out the book.

,,One second - I almost got it!" And just by that you were able to grab the small jar. After you held it into the light and put it in his hand you took the book in return. Already admiring the Front Cover.

,,I know it's not much, but I just wanted to give you something as appreciation for the loaning." You Mumbled while scanning the little details stencilled in the edges.

Curious he inspected the label. ,,Where did you get it? So freshly?" Professor Snape quickly asked now, surely interested.

,,I uh - from the left Mountains. I found a dead Acromantula two days ago. I thought the Venom might come in handy for potions." You now looked back up at him. Your smile was wider than usual, you were just so happy about the possibility to finally read this book.

,,It - uh - yeah. Do you know the value of it?" His eyebrows arched.

,,Of course I do. But there's nothing as value as finding something you've been looking for since a long time." You smiled mumbling as you now opened the first pages of the book. Small golden details shined into your eyes. ,,Wow." You mumbled. He didn't even try to hide his stares at you as you looked through the pages and you could feel how he tried to be nice for once.

,,Would you like to sit down and have some tea? You can read it here while I'm brewing and prepare my-“

,,I'd love to." You admitted. Your eyes connected instantly as you closed the book to press it on your chest while sitting down on his couch. The first few moments as you sipped your teas remained silent until you just couldn't take it anymore.

,,Where did you get it? The book I mean." His beautiful dark eyes finally dared to look back at mine and he explained.

,,Hagrid is friends with someone who knew the Author. So as I once helped him out in his garden he just gave it to me." You felt like his voice was more quiet than usual and you had to listen even more carefully. His voice made something blossom inside of you. Butterflies flying, Flowers blooming, Sunshine finally hitting my skin? It felt all the same- incredible sweet and addictive.

,,That's very Kind." The Afternoon continued. Your Conversations were really short but you enjoyed every word. He chooses his words wisely which was the total opposite to you. You spoke as soon as a small thought came to your mind trying to fill the silence. It was like you balanced the Smalltalk out. Spending time with him meant learning to worship his words and worship a peaceful silence. As the Clock strikes 7pm he looked up to you. You grabbed your Coat. ,,Are you going to eat Dinner tonight?“

Shaking his head he pointed to a tower of Notebooks, meaning he was still to intertwined in his Job Tasks.

,,I See.“ Chuckling you pushed a strain of your Hair behind your ear. ,,Thank you for letting me read the Book and the Tea. I really enjoy it.“ For a second he just looked at you before his lips parted.

,,You can stop by and read anything you want, whenever you want.“ Listening close to his voice you noticed how his Perplexity from earlier hasn’t faded yet. But before he’d cancel his Offer you accepted.

,,I’d love to. I´ll see you tomorrow then, Professor.“ Waving over to him you turned around to walk to the great hall. Your Cheeks still beheld the pink touch you got from when you were around him. It was calming you to spent Time with him. You felt more relaxed than sleeping out, hearing rain or hearing your favourite song. He made it all better, he made you feel more safe than anyone else by just offering you tea. Dear Merlin, do you even listen to yourself? How can you be so in love with him after just 5 Months working at Hogwarts?

As your seventh Month at Hogwarts began so did the Winter Time. Christmas was only three weeks ago by now. It was till too long for you liking. Yesterday, a rainy Sunday you started to bake cookies and slightly decorate your room more festive. The Holiday Spirit already took you over in July and now it was finally your favourite time of the year. Smiling you walked over to Severus Classroom to meet him for your daily Meetings. You came here daily to read, grade Papers from your students or just drink some tea with him. It became a loved habitat of yours and he seemed to enjoy it himself as he grew to become a friend of yours. Knocking he almost instantly let you in.

,,I´m already making Tea. I´ll be right there.“ You heard him shout from the Kitchen.

,,Okay.“ You responded as you quickly laid down all your Notebooks you still had to grade and placed the box filled with cookies on his Table. You made some just for him knowing he has a sweet Tooth. Who else would drink their Tea with at least two or three tablespoons of sugar if it wasn’t their sweet tooth speaking out of themselves. Slightly chuckling you sat down on one of the Students Desks to start grading. You could simply work better on one of these as on one of the Teachers Desks. They just seemed too tall and too uncomfortable for your liking.

,,What is that?" Curious you turned around. ,,What's what, Professor?" He rolled his eyes as he heard the name you used. ,,On my desk."

,,I made cookies for you." As he continued to stare at you, you began to explain it to him. ,,I made some chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon ones and some plain ones. I know you like pumpkin so I bought some special cookie cutters at Hogsmead last week." Smiling you went up to the box, opened it up for him and showed him the small pumpkin shaped cookies.

,,See? Do you want to try some?" With caution he carefully took one and bit the half of it off. Waiting for his reaction as he chewed then putting the box aside and going back to your seat. ,,Do you like them?" He still kept chewing.

,,Actually- yes." A small smile made it's way across his lips and he ate the other half too.

,,I really hoped so." Sitting back down you waited until your Cup of Tea which now flew towards you sat in front of you. Severus always made the best tea.

Grading the last Homework you walked over to Severus huge Library Wall only to take the Book you used to read in the Daily. With butterflies in your chest you continued to read the few last pages of the book. You only had one third of the book left and by all means you wouldn't want to lose your tradition. So it happened that you started to reread the pages twice so you would have to spend more time with him or just in his chambers. Actually it’d only take you around 3 days to finish this big book but you didn’t wanted your shared time to end. The time has passed so quickly that you could feel how your body resisted to leave as it was time for dinner.

,,Are you coming with me for Dinner today?“ Severus just smiled. He was already done with his Papers and laid aside the Newspaper he just began to read.

,,Sure.“ He said only to follow you. He told you about something that had happened in his class today and about what he just read in the Newspaper.

,,No way!“ You Laughed grabbing his Arm in disbelief. ,,Imagine this happening to you- Merlin!“ Now he had to chuckle as well. He could make you laugh louder than anyone else. His dry Humor was just the best. After Dinner he walked you to your Chambers and you thanked him as always.

,,Good night, Severus. I see you at Breakfast.“ He put on a slight smile.

,,I´ll see you at Breakfast.“ His dark silhouette faded in the corridors and so did you in your chambers.

The weeks until Christmas was just a few days ago were just stressful. You and Severus almost never talked and just worked which was kind of tiring  you but you knew as closer as Christmas was around as closer was the Relief of all this Stress. After Lunch you planned to head straightly back to Hagrid helping him taking care of new magical Creatures he cared for. The small Bowtruckles were new here in this Region and you were too eagerly happy to get a chance to study them and present them in your classes next year. After downing your Tea you wanted to say goodbye to Severus before leaving but he stopped you at the end of the great hall.

,,Um err- would you mind meeting me later in my chambers? I've got something for you and - err- maybe I can cook dinner for us.“ Severus nervously stuttered while hiding his face with parts of his hair. He always made pauses while talking but you could tell he was acting a little bit shy and nervous. Smiling you nodded in agreement. That’s be a great opportunity to give him his Christmas Present you just finished.

,,I'll be there by 8." He quickly left your side in his well known manner. With his flying cape, showing off his presence. As he was gone and you couldn't hear his footsteps anymore you began to notice how red you turned. Your whole face was warm and your heart flattered. That always happened when Severus is near you. You had to admit, you like him. More than just a regular coworker. More than a friend. Maybe that's why you hurried the whole day to be there perfectly on time in front of his Chambers. Your heartbeat crawled up into your head and your hand was slightly shaking. Nervously you fixed your hair one last time and knocked ever so slightly.

,,Come in.." Severus quickly opened the door. ,,Please, come in." He tried his best to smile warm-hearted but you could see him being nervous again.

,,Good evening." He kept his Head low. You'd love to see his face.

,,Good evening , how are you?“ The both of you talked about your day and silently took a seat on the couch after finishing the smalltalk. The warmth of the Cabin reached you to the armchair. Severus sat across of you and began to rumble with his words.

,,I - Yesterday I went to Hogsmeade. I had to get some books and ingredients. And erm I - I came across the jewellery store and uh something catched my eye. I bought it for you." You felt your cheeks glow again. Severus stood up to grab a small package from above the cabin. For you?

,,But Severus- you didn't have to." Flustered you accepted the package as he handed it to you.

,,But it's almost Christmas and I really wanted to get you something." He almost whispered. With slightly shaking hands you opened it up. A small silver Hair needle fell into your hands. It was very pretty handcrafted and at the top was a green stone. It looked like it belong to a Slytherin and you couldn't help but smile. It was the prettiest thing you have gotten since a long time and it really made your heart flatter. The beautiful silver and the pretty green made it look like it belonged to someone royal.

,,It's so pretty." You looked up to his curious eyes. ,,Thank you so much , Sev. I don't know what to say." Small tears formed in the corner of your eyes and you couldn't help but cover your mouth while looking at the beautiful accessory. The Stone seemed to shine because of the dim light from the cabin. He really got something for you.

,,You like it?" Severus asked and his nervousness faded.

,,I love it." With a bright smile you stood up and fell into his arm. Crossing your arms around his neck and thanking him a million times. As you slightly let go of him you looked at him joking. ,,But you know those aren't my house colours right?" Again he smiled.

,,I know. I - I wanted to give you something that uh reminds you of me." Your smile faded and now the first tears started to roll down your face. It was such a thoughtful gift with a great meaning. You couldn't remember getting such a thoughtful and nice gift ever before.

,,Is everything okay,dear?" He hasty insured while checking your face.

,,Yes." You took a deep breath. ,,Yes. I will just dearly miss you over the holidays." He softly cupped the side of your arms and petted them before pulling you close again. This Time you could directly listen to his heartbeat. It was the first time he hugged you. You always hugged him but he never tried to hug or touch you.

,,I'll miss you too, I guess." He said almost cooing. ,,But maybe we can meet sometime? I mean only if your schedule allows and you're willing to-"

,,I'd love that, Sev." Now he pushed you away a few inches to look into your face. Your Tears already have stopped now by the feeling of being flustered taking over.

,,Sev?" He asked now.

You chuckled. ,,I think that's a cute nickname." You stated and he couldn't help himself but smile as well. He liked it too. ,,Are you ready for your Present?“ As you sat down again , took out the present of your small bag you began to nervously smooth out the edges of your wrapping paper. ,,I feel like I should have get you something else after receiving your gift." Embarrassed you turned red and handed it to him. But Severus didn’t mind, excited he opened it up. After holding it in his hands he began to smile widely. A black scarf which- for once- matched his height and wasn’t way too short like the regular ones.

,,Did you made it yourself?" He asked after noticing his small initials stitched into the fabric as he brushed over them with his fingertips.

You nodded. ,,Yes.“ Smiling he moved closer to you and pulled you into a hug. ,,That's the best thing I've ever gotten." He admitted and enjoyed being close to you in this intense Moment.

,,I'm glad you think so." Feeling relief you noticed how short your breath has gotten by now.  What’d you give to be even closer to him by now. Seconds passed and you didn’t let go of him, you simply didn’t dared to. The Moment he’d let go of you, you’d miss his touch instantly. But when his tall hands slowly stroked over your back you didn’t  felt like he’d want to let go as well.

A loud knock made you both tear apart. Scared you looked back to Severus. He looked as confused as you did.

,,Enter.“ Grabbing your Wand you got up, walking together with Severus to the door to see who interrupted you.

Hagrid almost tripped into the Chambers. ,,Ms. YLN, here you are. I need ya help! It’s about the Babies.“ He looked so panicked and your heart almost ripped apart but you just gave Severus a quick smile.

,,I´m sorry, I erm it’s urgent. .. I uh can be back in an hour. Is that alright?“ He quickly nodded and by that Hagrid grabbed your Hand to rush after him. Following this Giant Man you sighed. There was no worse timing right now. He pulled you right out of your Bubble of being close to Severus.

,,What happened to them?“ You asked him as he continued to hurry towards his hut.

,,Somethin´ in da forbidden Forrest bid them. Dunno know what to do!“ Pressing your Lips together you thought about Spells which could help you. If they were so small it could quickly be too late for any help if they didn’t got the right help. Quickly running to the small Baby Bowtruckle laying on Hagrids Table you inspected their wounds.

,,Shh, it’s okay. Let me have a look.“ The tiny leg was bent in weird directions and a small bite was visible. Taking out your wand you quickly healed the wound and took care of the small lad.

,,Do you have an idea what could’ve bitten them?“ Hagrid just shook his head. Sighing you let the Bowtruckles walk over your hand.

,,I can take them with me. It’s not the same like the forrest but they could grow up being safe.“ Hagrid helped you bringing them to your classroom before you quickly hurried back to Severus. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too mad.

Knocking you flattened the wrinkles on your dress. Severus opened the Door rather slow. He nervously scratched his head. His black hair was now tucked behind one of his ears.

,,I wasn’t expecting you to be back so quickly. Or to return at all.“ He admitted and you could already smell the Dinner he was cooking.

,,It was about the Bowtruckles I told you about. I brought them to my Classroom. Now I’m all yours, I promise.“ He let you slide inside and as you watched his movements you noticed that he was as flustered as you were.

,,If you want to you can keep reading until I’m done cooking?“ His Insecurities were still visible but as you smiled at him his tension faded.

,,Sure.“ Approving his idea you made your way to his living room as he continued cooking. As you watched him buzzing around in his kitchen from afar you opened your hair to adjust the hair needle he gifted you earlier. It fitted perfectly. A lot of hair needles were to short for your long yhc Hair but this one could hold everything in place easily and made you feel like a princess. You walked over to the mirror on the wall to look at your hair. You really liked it more this way. He got you the perfect present. Happy about the present you sadly realised how you forgot to bring your present for him at your chamber. You knitted him a scarf because you noticed how he never had one besides him. The green and black matching the house he was the head of.

,,You truly are beautiful." You slightly got scared as you didn't noticed how he stepped behind you. Your cheeks directly became red again. ,,Thank you.“ He took the Book from the top of the shelf where he lastly placed it only to put it in your Hands.

,,I´ll try to hurry.“ He assured before heading back to the kitchen.

If your students would hear his voice right now they would highly doubt it was him. His usual demanding voice now was low and casual and by that he went into the kitchen. Sitting down on his Armchair you could sometimes hear him mutter some small words like ,Fucking garlic' or something else which made you smile even more.

Who would have thought that you would sit on his Armchair on a peaceful night , reading a book as he was cooking for the both of you? It was almost like a date. Well actually that wasn't true. It felt like the future you wished so deeply for as a kid. The only difference was that you imagined it to be your husband but you didn't mind it being Severus. You knew he would never feel the same as you do. It was okay. It truly was. Sometimes you wished you could show him some affection- but he wouldn't like it. Being friends - which was obviously a huge step to make - was totally enough. You could hide your feelings if you had to. Having a good friend was all you ever asked for so you shouldn't bother yourself or even him with feelings who could ruin it all in a minute.

,,In 10 Minutes Dinner will be ready." He loudly announced from the kitchen. Surprised you looked up. He still hurried around the kitchen. Slowly you turned back a few pages. As you were lost inside your thoughts you couldn't remember what you just have had read. Putting a small paper in the book between the pages and closing it you had to sigh. Soon it will be Christmas and it would be your third one in Hogwarts. Maybe Severus would be here? Lost in your thought you walked over the kitchen where you spotted Severus opening some Wine. His arms pulled the cork without any sign of effort.

He scanned my face with his eyes and then made his way over to the oven where he pulled out some casserole. It smelled like heaven and soon the whole kitchen had it in the air. His movements made your Thoughts wander. His Arms were so strong- you never seemed to notice before.

,,Whats on your mind?“ Carefully he added a few last ingredients to the food as he pulled you out of your thoughts.

,,I erm was wondering how you celebrate Christmas?“ You lied blushing as he caught you thinking about him.

,,Actually I don't celebrate it. I don't celebrate anything." Shocked you now looked at him.

,,Not even your Birthday?" He shook his head which made his hair whip.

,,Not even my Birthday."

,,Severus! Who hurt you?" He had to laugh about your unbelievable expression. While pulling out a chair for you.

,,There's no sense in celebrating alone." Severus simply stated, pushing your chair slightly towards the table.

,,Thanks.“ Mumbling you thought about this nonsense. ,,Of course it is! I do it too." You added.

,,Then how do you celebrate it?" He now asked curiously and looked at you sitting down across of you.

,,I always celebrated it with my Family but since I work at Hogwarts I just.. spend it alone. Anyways firstly I get all the presents for everyone and make sure they arrive at the right place. Then I get a Christmas tree and decorate it. Afterwards I bake some cookies and in the evening I sit down to read a book and eat all those cookies. As simple as that." As you finished you expected him to say something but he kept on listening to you. ,,It sounds a little bit sad but it isn't that bad. I uh I try to enjoy my own company." Severus felt a little bit of pity. He knew you are really attached to other people and knowing you spend days which are important to you alone made his heart sink. He simply knew too well how being alone feels like.

,,As I already said, I uh would love to see you.“ He tried to uplift the Mood and placed some Food on your Plates. Nodding you thanked him. ,,I can’t wait.“ You admitted again and held up your Glas of wine.

,,Thank you for cooking for us and thank you for your present.“ He copied your movements and you slightly pushed your Glasses together. After you both took small sips from your wine you began to dine. His eyes always made sure you weren't spitting it out or something but actually you haven't had any reason for it.

,,It's really delicious. I never knew you were such a great cook?“ He chewed up and answered chuckling.

„I haven’t cooked for you before. Or anyone in general, so how would you know?“ You joined his chuckles and took a sip of wine again. As you tried to stretch your legs a little bit you accidentally touched his leg. Instantly his glance got up to yours and you pulled back your legs. It was like a small electric shock. A good one indeed.

,,S-Sorry." Blushing you locked my eyes with your plate. Your heart was pumping so fast you couldn't taste anything  of the food in your mouth anymore. Your nerves got foggy and your hands numb. Carefully you pushed around some broccoli on your plate. You liked touching his leg but he did he too? Did you reveal yourself? Carefully looking up he did the same thing you did a few seconds ago. Moving around some veggies on his plate. Was he bored of you? You didn’t knew. The air filled with so much tense it got harder to breathe. Biting on your lip you got an idea. It would cost some courage but it wasn't impossible to do. If it would fail you could simply excuse yourself by it being an accident but right now you had to know how he'd react. Laying down the silverware silently you carefully stretched out your leg towards his.

Now your legs were touching and you didn't dare to look up. The silence thickened and as it almost got too much he laid down the silverware himself and put one of his hands on your knee. Too excited your breaths got irregular and you could feel his heat storming through your body. With his thumb he started to draw small circles on your leg and as he continued for a while you looked up to him. Your face was probably fully blushed but he didn't seem to care. His dark eyes which have never looked this dark locked with yours. His expression didn't reveal anything. Was he enjoying it? Was he doing it because he thought it was what you wanted? Well, it was what you wanted but he just isn't the type of guy who'd do anything just because he think you’d expect it. Slowly his hand started to wander. A few millimetres upwards and you almost couldn't help yourself. Your thoughts wandered to things you could never say out loud. Imagining his fingers on places of your body you usually only touch myself.

As you realised how shaky your breath left my throat you grabbed your Glas of wine and flushed it all down. A small smirk appeared on his face.

,,Some more?" Quickly you nodded. You´d say yes to anything he would ask you to right now. He had the full control over you, you thought. How could a simple man make you so weak within seconds?

,,Want to continue this on the couch?“ Quick your legs pushed yourself up from the chair and you walked over to the living room. Not being able to answer him with your words. The whole Situation just became more interesting than you firstly anticipated beforehand. The mood has completely changed. There was something else in the air which you haven't felt before that intensive. Severus again opened another bottle of wine and now sat down directly next to you. He never did that. Usually there was atleast one pillow size distance between you or he sat in his Armchair. But now his legs touched yours and his arm touched yours as he leaned forward to the desk to reach for our glasses.

,,Thanks." You whispered and you felt like as if this wasn't anything you could dream of. The smell of his Aftershave filled your nose and the fabric of his trousers against your bare knees got you shaking. Silently you drank the first glass in silence. But at our second Glas he laid his hand on your leg. Not on your knee. On your Leg. Right before the fabric of your skirt started to hide your skin. Did he knew what he did to you? Could he feel your heartbeat? Could he feel your butterflies?

Closing your eyes I felt the alcohol hitting your nerves. It wouldn't take much to make you drunk but right now you felt like you would need every drip of any type of alcohol you could possibly get. Carefully you moved your head to your side to look at his face. He softly swung his wine in his hand and drank it too. His pink small lips cupped the Glas corner  and his hair flew a few inches back as he put his head into his neck and drank up. As he stood his Glas back down you wanted to be more offensive. He seemed to be interested, you thought. Slowly and with my glance on the cabin you widened your neckline to reveal more of my chest. His eyes hushed over to see what you were doing. Slowly, torturing slowly you revealed a small part of your throat. Continuing you showed him more and more. His hand on your leg clutched his fingers a little bit stronger into your flesh. You continued until you almost revealed your bra. As you looked over to him now he smiled slightly.

,,You're beautiful." He whispered. ,,I can only repeat myself.“ Slowly you pushed your weight a little bit up to sit down on his lap. His Hands instantly guided you. Making sure you were comfortable. Now you could hear his irregular breath as well.

,,I really like you, Severus." You admitted as you hugged him closely again. His Hands again rubbed your back and as you felt him stiffen under you you almost inaudible moaned. Hoping instantly this wasn’t the day he’d break your heart by telling you to back off.

,,The last few months uh I felt like I was acting like a freak and it took me some time until I understood that I maybe just got confused by something. Or someone." You now stopped in your tracks to look at him again.

,,Someone?" You asked.

,,You." His cheeks were red. ,,I really like you." He didn't knew where his courage came from but he knew it was the right time to finally admit it.

,,Really?“ You couldn't move out of fear of scaring him and his feelings away. Your heart beat so hard you feared he could see it banging from your chest. Did he really just say that? Or did the wine you had at dinner fogged your senses. Did he really just admit that to you?

,,You Don't have to feel the same but I wanted to let you know that i like you more than just friends.“ As he intended to back up a little bit you quickly moved towards him and pressed your lips against his. In your chest was a firework exploding and butterflies from the night escaping to your stomach. Softly he kissed you back and put his hands on your hips where they used to rest until the kiss was paused so the both of you could catch some air.

,,I like you too. More than just friends“ You whispered smiling.

His lips brushed against your earlobe. The words he spoke made your emotions going even more crazy. You could scream out of tension, happiness and even more out of lust. Being this close to him made you go crazy. You wanted to have Sex with him all night and at the same time you felt like this was an even more intimate Moment than you ever had before.

,,Would you like to stay for the night?" His raspy dark voice sounded like it just got even darker than before.

,,I’d love to.“ And again his Lips touched yours. Slowly and more passionate this time. The Night continued in more and more Intimacy. The Both of you wouldn’t spent Christmas alone this year nor the following ones.

Taglist: @deepperplexity , @monstreviolet , @wow-life-love4 , @lizlil

Let me know if you want to be added in my Taglist. :)

[hogwartsfirebolt]

Ways you said I love you prompt: Without needing to say the words

I couldn’t find this prompt on the list, but it was so beautiful the story started writing itself in my head. Thank you very much for asking ❤️

Ways you said I love you: Without needing to say the words.

Draco dreams of the forest. A forest, he supposes, but it feels like the forest.

In the dream, he’s holding a stone and looking at the ghostly figure of Harry Potter. In the dream, he’s crying. He can hear his parents calling out for him, he can hear, still, the echo of bombardas that he knows should have ended hours before.

He knows, in the dream, that things had gone the way he always knew they had to. He knows that he wishes they hadn’t. That, in the dream, he’s devastated.

That heartbreak follows him into daylight, drapes itself over him like a cloak. He feels it when he wakes, feels it as he walks the halls of the manor he commands, feels it as he’s told by his house elf that his father has called by floo and is waiting for him. He feels it as he hears him say, ���the Potter boy was seen in Dorset three days ago. You know what to do if you find him.”

The heartbreak follows him all day, because he knows if he sees Harry Potter, he has to kill him. He knows that he will. And he mourns him already, the man he has never met, the man who is more legend than man, because he remembers himself standing in that forest. Because, in a dream, he knew him.

He also knows what’s expected of him, and he will follow through. Even if it kills him.

-

But this is not that kind of story.

-

What happened was this: the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord was born as the seventh month died.

And so, one fateful Halloween night, the man who called himself Lord Voldemort aimed his wand at that baby, after killing everyone standing on his way. He didn’t flinch or bat an eye, way past the point of hesitating before taking a life, even if it was the life of an innocent, wide-eyed one year old who stared at him with his arms outstretched, looking for comfort. He aimed his wand and said the words that would kill him.

The babe, defenseless, just sat there.

...but killing off a child would not be very PG-13 of us, would it, and so what happened was this: the little boy broke the Killing Curse as it slammed against him, turned it into endless fragments of green light, tendrils of black magic that floated up into the ceiling like dancing fingers, fading into nothing. Some of it slipped inside of him through his weeping little baby mouth, through his wide green eyes, through the jagged crack the impact put on his forehead, but most of it – gone.

And yes, the boy was nestled in a cocoon of protective magic strengthened by his parents’ sacrifice, but he was an actual baby, and a powerful curse slamming against him was certainly enough to knock him out, even if he did have a bit of a magical force field. He passed out. He did not die.

The man who called himself Lord Voldemort – perhaps not much of a man after all –  did not die that day, either, in any way, shape or form. There was no rebound to the spell. From his side of the wand, it appeared as if it had hit the boy and done what it was due.

He peered into the crib that held the unconscious baby and, being a Dark Lord and therefore not knowing the first thing about babies, assumed his work there was done. Satisfied, he turned on his heel and stormed down the stairs, ready to continue his pursuit of power, now unstoppable. That’s what he thought.

But the boy had not died, as we’ve established. What happened to him was this: a devastated young man in a flying motorcycle found him and, you know, like a regular person, thought to shake him around a bit before assuming he was dead. And the baby knew him, so he sighed with relief upon waking, lay against the man’s chest and fell back asleep clutching his battered jacket in his tiny fists.

When Hagrid came for the boy, Sirius insisted on accompanying him, and together they met Albus Dumbledore in Surrey. Yes, unfortunately that still happened.

We know how this story could have gone. But it is not how it went.

What happened was this: young Sirius Black now had an alibi. Even though the baby was still left in a terrible home with his terrible aunt and uncle, his godfather, a free man, visited him in the form of a dog – against Dumbledore’s orders, but, in young Sirius’ words, he did not give a shit – and taught him about magic all through his childhood. Harry Potter was a happy boy. He knew his stay in Privet Drive was momentary, he knew as soon as that man “Dumbledore” allowed it, his godfather would take him.

A few things changed, of course. This is not the story we knew. Let us try to break it to you… gently.

  1. Harry James Potter received the “you’re a wizard” talk at 4 years old, as soon as Sirius thought he’d be old enough to understand it.

  2. Sirius Black told him all about his parents as well. Showed him pictures and books and sometimes cried while he cradled Harry to sleep.

  3. Sirius Black, unbeknownst to Harry, once slipped into the Dursley’s bedroom at night, let them think he was a demon, and threatened to unleash hell’s wrath upon them if they weren’t nice to their nephew. It worked.

  4. Lord Voldemort didn’t die that Halloween night.

  5. Lord Voldemort continued his campaign for power and immortality.

  6. Lord Voldemort gained terrain over the Ministry, terrorized and devastated magical villages, established governors in each of them –  Death Eaters, all of them.

  7. Lord Voldemort directed a series of attacks against ministry facilities.

  8. On Christmas Eve, 1986, the Ministry fell. Millicent Bagnold was killed in her office, and Pius Thicknesse was appointed Minister in her place.

  9. Lord Voldemort gained full control of magical Britain.

  10. Albus Dumbledore visited when Harry turned 7 and told him the story of Tom Riddle, the man, and Voldemort, the monster. Harry was 7, and Dumbledore let him know he was a soldier. He let him know he was the most powerful wizard of all time, probably. He let him know he was their only hope. Harry was 7.

Everything was different.

Harry was whisked away from Privet Drive and taken to Grimmauld Place. He was 7, and his transformation into a warrior, a bringer of hope, began.

-

Harry Potter is, at 20 years old, a first priority criminal, wanted by a corrupt government for treason and criminal disloyalty.

The tips of his fingers hold more power than many wizarding folk see in their entire lives, charged with years of training, charged with light and dark magic, balanced inside of him like night and day. And what he does is this: he walks. There’s a member of the Resistance next to him, always, a different one each day as he walks through the country, feet calloused, refusing to apparate anywhere before he sees it all. He walks, passes villages in his search for horcruxes, and bestows small miracles upon those who need him.

He comes and goes, more legend than man. In places where governors reign wielding terror as their weapon, the people await him. His name is whispered in taverns, held close like a secret, like something precious, and when he appears, white hooded cloak shadowing his face, it’s as if rain poured after centuries of drought. He smells of dirt before a storm, of fresh grass, and every house welcomes him in secret in the middle of the night.

His hands brush over burning foreheads, over broken arms, through strands of hair, and his touch is curative. His words slide smooth like a balm over wounded souls, his message — we will win this, I will win this, worry not, fear not, for I will end this — the love everyone feels for him, deep in their hearts. He’s a stranger, but he’s not. In places where fear has become a living, breathing thing, villages where everyone cowers before their leaders, people bow down for their warrior, kiss his calloused hands, his scarred forehead, and what little they have they give him so he can continue his trip.

At night, after he has left, the air smells different, smells like him, like rain and lightning, and his message of love is whispered into the night with the certainty that he will free them, he will free them.

Harry Potter, the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. The boy who lived, the man destined to become a savior.

At night, people come together in secret and say, “long live Harry Potter, savior of all.”

-

He’s just a boy, too.

He flies over Dorset, broom held tight between his legs as he makes his way to the Resistance’s refuge in East Devon. The hands that cured a man of blindness earlier, now push through a wooden door and find their way around the back of his godfather, who was up waiting for him. Desperate times, but that man always has a smile for Harry.

“News of civilization?” He asks then, holding him tight, letting him know it’s okay to share the burden of his responsibilities if only for a minute.

“Yes. A man knows of a man who bought the cup. We need to move to Wiltshire.”

That’s how he lives. Just a boy who happens to be a savior, who lives nowhere and everywhere, who knows his duty, who has trained his whole life to achieve it.

And Sirius goes with him. “We’ll hit the road tomorrow.”

-

When Harry Potter knocks on his door, Draco almost sicks up on the spot.

Piercing green eyes stare at him, ready for a fight. But Draco is smart. He knows Harry Potter has come looking for something. Draco reads the paper, talks to his father daily about the information they have on Potter at the Ministry. He wouldn’t come, unless he was looking for something.

Draco should kill him, should end this, win the Dark Lord’s favor.

But he dreamt of a forest, and of knowing this man who carries the wild in his eyes.

He lets him in.

-

Malfoy Manor is full of secrets. Harry coaxes them out of hiding, cradles them near his chest and learns about darkness by stumbling into it in every corner.

The cup calls for him from the heart of the house, and he finds it on the second day of his stay, unearths it from a coffin in the depths of the dungeons. He destroys it on the spot, unspools the layers of iron with the magic contained beneath his fingernails, and destroys it.

When he turns, Draco Malfoy is in the corner. The child of a Death Eater.

But Harry has been in many places, seen enough repentance to recognize it in downcast grey eyes. He lowers his cloak and walks to the child of a Death Eater, holds his head between his hands.

“You can tell me.”

“There’s more where that cup came from,” Draco mutters, as if Harry had forced it out of him. He could have, but he didn’t.

“Will you show me?” And he can tell this man whose beautiful face he holds between his fingertips knows little of gentleness, knows it because he sees him flinch at Harry’s uncomplicated love and soft words.

“I should turn you in.”

“Will you show me?”

Draco shows him.

-

He learns more from Harry Potter the first two weeks they spend together than he did in 7 years at Hogwarts.

In the mornings, he steps out the door to find Harry kneeling by the flower beds, and when he turns to Draco his smile is wide and gentle, “Look at this,” he says, and with a touch to their petals, he makes the buds shake off their stupor and bloom, nurses them back to health. “Every living thing is ready to thrive, if you ask nicely.”

In the evenings, when they share a meal by the fire, he can’t stop himself from thinking about his father. About the fact that he’s betraying him. And Harry knows, because he always knows. In the short time they’ve spent together, he’s always seemed to know.

“Once you’ve passed your own limit, punishing yourself for love, you will start hating yourself, Draco,” he tells him as if he could read his mind, and then reaches for his hands and plays with his fingers, traces an outline of vines and flowers along Draco’s arms with magic, with locks of pure, blue light. “And if you think you know what’s right, that’s what you should do.”

And it’s nothing Draco doesn’t know. He knows what’s right, knows the magic of Harry’s hands, knows his heaving chest after an evening looking through the libraries for clues of where he needs to go next, he knows his profile, has been staring at it for days, he knows what he feels after Harry kisses his hands and tells him he can join them if he wants, they have room for him, he has room for him.

He knows what’s right. Harry’s message of love, of life is what’s right. And he would walk through fire if Harry asked, but right now, he’s simply asking him to thrive, if he’s ready.

He’s ready.

-

“The locket is in Inverness,” Harry says. He can see Draco flinch, and he knows the reason. “We have a fortress there. Will you come with me?”

He knows the reason.

-

This is what it’s like, walking with him: there’s magic where Draco never thought to look before. In the eyes of a child, who feels hope for the first time, in the lips of a mother that kisses Harry’s hands and Draco’s forehead. There’s magic in Harry’s feet as they touch the ground and make flowers bloom around him, as he brings life to everything around him, offers tenderness and words of love in places where authoritarian brutality is the norm.

It’s this: walking into prisons at night and melting out the iron keeping innocents locked in. It’s colors seeping into grey, it’s Harry reaching into a tree and it producing a perfect, ripe apple to gift to him, it’s Harry pressing it to Draco’s lips with a smile and saying, “here, you’ve earned it.” It’s Draco biting into it and being certain of the fact that he loves this man, tasting it in the sweet, sweet juice after breaking the skin of the fruit.

He knows, now, that Harry is the legend he has always heard about. He’s infinite, raw power poured into the purest vessel it could find, he’s gentleness to his core, he’s magnetic and good. He makes it impossible not to love him.

And he knows, now, that Harry is also the boy everyone forgot used to hide underneath that cloak. That for all the life he brings everywhere he walks, there’s a solemnity he carries in his chest, the burden of hope heavy between his shoulder blades, crushing him even if he does not know.

Sirius comes and goes, joins them on their trip and disappears on recon missions, over and over. Once, when they’re alone, Draco tells him about it, says “he’s just a boy” and Sirius sighs because he knows what it’s like to love him, to love this boy who is both young and ancient, like Draco does, and can’t even assure him, because there’s many ways this could end, and only one of them, the least likely of them, lets them keep him.

So he gives Draco a stone.

-

It takes them a year. Harry makes his way through England and Scotland, brings hope and freedom to the people as he searches for the items he needs to destroy the Dark Lord.

Draco guides him into Hogwarts, hand in hand, the moment they know where to find the last one. As Harry destroys it, he sees Draco cry.

He hasn’t told him what Harry has always known, that the way this ends for him is in sacrifice, but he thinks Draco must suspect. So he holds him in his arms and smooths his hands through his hair and over his eyelids. “It’s almost over, my beloved. Now let him come to me.”

He makes himself sound more confident than he feels. For the first time, as he holds Draco close, he doubts his own faith, for entirely selfish reasons.

But he remembers his lessons, and he remembers Dumbledore, and the Order, and reminds himself that this is what he was born for.

“Let him come to me.”

-

Draco knows what Harry is going to do, and sees him try to hide it. He sees him fight, sees him help every single witch and wizard to cross paths with him, the way he always does.

And when they part ways in the midst of the battle later that night, when Draco sees his mother, he feels something shatter inside of him and knows it’s happening. So he runs.

-

“The boy who lived, come to die.”

“You think this ends with me, Tom, but it doesn’t. The people’s pain is more powerful than their fear, and they won’t be silent. Do not think they’ll be silent. From the other side, I will see them bring you down.”

And then a curse, finally doing what it was due all those years before.

-

He stands in the forest, a stone held tight between his fingers. He can hear his parents’ cries for him in the distance, running towards him, echoes of bombardas that should have stopped hours before. He stares at the ghostly figure of Harry Potter.

“Why?”

“This was the only way he would die. I know you don’t understand, Draco, but this was the only way.”

“But he’s not dead, he went back to the castle, he’s making everyone pick sides. Harry, it’s over, it’s over.”

-

Harry stands in Kings Cross.

He’s given a choice, and he thinks of the burden, thinks of what his life might look like now, what will be expected of him next.

He thinks of the boy with the grey eyes.

He makes his choice.

-

In the morning light, a hero is reborn. Draco tosses him a wand and runs to fight next to him. Where he always belonged.

Afterwards, when the withering body of a man who was a monster hits the ground, they walk into the Hall, hand in hand, covered in dust from head to toe. Harry touches every bloodstained forehead, every dead body, presses his forehead to them and whispers words in the ancient language of the magic that runs through his veins, through underground streams and every living, breathing thing.

Everywhere in the Hall, eyes begin to open, and look into a new world.

-

“The change is only starting,” Draco tells him, as they stand with their foreheads pressed together outside the castle.

“It has started, my beloved.”

He doesn’t say he loves him, but Draco has known from the beginning, hears the words in the spaces between, slowly, dripping from every pore of Harry’s skin.

“We should go away for a while, just… while the dust settles.” Harry doesn’t protest, but Draco sees it in his eyes, and so, he interrupts his thoughts with a soft press of cracked lips, rough to touch, tender to heart. When he pulls away, Harry’s smile is nearly blinding. “You deserve it, for once. Besides, I know of a place in Wiltshire where the flowers sing your name.”

“And you?”

“And I sing it, too. I sing it, my love.”

[senadimell]

If you've got time to share, I'd love to hear more about your thoughts around Snape and Lupin.

@deathdaydungeon, here you are!

After a conversation with @frederick-the-great, I’ve been thinking about Lupin, Snape, and what they say about morality in HP. I’m not talking about the troublesome white hats, black hats morality, but am instead looking at from this angle: Lupin is nice and well-liked, but often lacks a backbone, whereas Snape is mean and disliked, but incredibly brave. Which is more important? I find Harry’s last sacrifice to be a useful point by which we measure their impact.

Lupin and Snape useful to compare on several important fronts.

As foils for each others’ teaching methods

The way they deal with social disadvantage

Their connections to Harry’s father and how they pass on James’ legacy

1) They both teach at Hogwarts, and are foils for each other in many ways. Snape is mean and takes away points. He’s seen as selfish. His classes are hard and unpleasant for Harry. He’s mean to Neville, and rather than encouraging him, mocks him and belittles him, which just adds to the overall disaster of Neville’s poor self-esteem mixing badly with potions class.

However, even Umbridge admits that Snape’s teaching methods work, and she’s working for Fudge who doesn’t like Death Eaters and has been defied by Snape in GoF, so we know he’s effective for a lot of people, if not Neville.

Yet, for all that, Snape saves Harry’s life multiple times. On top of that, Snape wants to keep the fact that he saved Harry’s life a secret.

“Very well. Very Well. But never--Never tell, Dumbledore! This must be between us! Swear it, I cannot bear...especially Potter’s son...I want your word!

My word, Severus, that I will never reveal the best of you? Dumbledore sighed, looking down into Snape’s ferocious, anguished face. “If you insist...”

DH 679, The Prince’s Tale

Conversely, Lupin is nice and rewards points. He’s seen as generous. His classes are fun and interesting for Harry. He’s kind to Neville, and expresses confidence in him that leads him to succeed and do well. That confidence is a huge part of Neville’s character development. I doubt he’d grow into the resistance leader in DH if not for the many times teachers expressed confidence in him, like Dumbledore in PS, Lupin in PoA, Fake!Moody in GoF, and Harry in OotP. Harry certainly approves of his methods:

“You’re the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we’ve ever had!” said Harry. “Don’t go!”

PoA 424, Owl Post Again

However, it’s worth noticing that Hermione does worse on his exam than we ever see. She fails the Boggart test, and she and Harry were the only two people not permitted to experience the Boggart in class. Lupin’s teaching methods aren’t foolproof. Despite that, he’s overall seen as a nice guy and good teacher.

Yet Lupin endangers Harry’s life. The secrets he keeps are dangerous: his secret to keep is that he’s a werewolf and  actively endangered three students lives with his negligence, as well as the fact that he hid a secret about a believed and convicted mass murderer to save face with Dumbledore.

“That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you’d given the others the slip, and bitten somebody?”

“A thought that still haunts me,” Lupin said heavily. “And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless--carried away with out own cleverness.

“I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore’s trust, of course....he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other headmasters would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others’ safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month’s adventure. And I haven’t changed...

Lupin’s face had hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice. “All this year I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn’t do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I’d betrayed his tryst while I was at school, admitting that I’d led others along with me...and Dumbledore’s trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using Dark Arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it...so in a way, Snape’s been right about me all along.”

PoA 355, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

Plan is emphasized because those trips that ended in “near misses” weren’t some impulsive romp. They were planned and coordinated in advance.

“I just saw Hagrid,” said Harry. “And he said you’d resigned. It’s not true, is it?”

“I’m afraid it is, said Lupin. He stared opening his desk drawers and taking out the contents.

“Why?” said Harry. The Ministry of Magic don’t think you were helping Sirius, do they?”

Lupin crossed to the door and closed it behind Harry.

“No. Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives.” He sighed. “That was the final straw for Severus. I think* the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him hard. So he--er--accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast.”

“You’re not leaving because of that!” said Harry.

Lupin smiled wryly.

“This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents ....They will not want a werewolf teaching their children, Harry. And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you...That must never happen again.

“You’re the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we’ve ever had!” said Harry. “Don’t go!”

PoA 424, Owl Post Again

What strikes me about this conversation is how Lupin shifts the blame around. This doesn’t start with an admission of guilt. He’s not leaving because the parents are right. He’s not leaving because he’s seen how dangerous he can be, or because he owns up to making an incredibly dangerous decision. He’s leaving because Snape forced his hand. If Snape didn’t do that, he would do the same thing he’s always been doing: sweeping his misdoing under the rug and promising himself privately that he’s going to change, but never doing it.

It’s always someone else’s fault for Lupin. That’s a neat tie in to the next point of comparison:

2. Lupin and Snape both experience marginalization in wizarding society, but in very different ways. Lupin faces socio-legal** marginalization and Snape faces socio-economic marginalization.

Lupin’s a werewolf. We see how prejudice affects his life, from his inability to find a job and his worn out clothes to his people-pleasing nature. He’s always acting nice and harmless. He does nothing to play into the condemning stereotypes he’s faced since childhood. Despite that, he still can’t find a job. Nobody will hire him, and people are scared to interact with him. From the way he talks about werewolves, it’s implied that this prejudice is held blindly across Wizarding society. Both Ron and Hermione are horrified to learn Lupin’s a werewolf. *** Later on, he’s legally limited in the kinds of jobs he holds and the kind of magic he’s allowed to perform. Lupin has no control over his transformations, and did not choose his condition.

Lupin’s not really wrong when pities himself. The odds really are stacked against him when he’s treated as if he’s a wolf 24/7, not just a few predictable times a month. His prospects are honestly awful.

The problem is, his condition is dangerous. Thus, the issue of victim blaming is particularly thorny for Lupin. He can’t just accept that he’s a monster for something he has no say over, and yet he can’t escape the fact that sometimes he is monstrous for reasons out of his control. He feels guilty for the people he could have hurt, but also seems to resent that people blame him for something that’s not his fault. The problem is that he carries that lack of accountability into spheres where he should be accountable, like not taking his medication and endangering children because of it.

Snape’s story is very different. He is poor in both the wizard and muggle worlds, and half-blooded, and was sorted into Slytherin as a child. He doesn’t have one condition against him, but checks boxes that make it hard for any one side to accept him. He’s too impure and poor to survive on his own for the Slytherin, but is a Slytherin with Death Eater friends and housemates interested in dark magic, which means he’s never going to fit in with the Order of the Phoenix crowd, especially when some of its members torment him at school. ****4

 This essay makes a convincing point that the wizarding world is not a meritocracy, and that people like Snape need powerful patronage to advance if they don’t have the money to support themselves.

I don’t consider the sorting a proper choice. I know Harry does, but I’m of the opinion that at age 11, very few people have been taught how to analyze different perspectives and make an informed decision. Most 11-year-olds are trained to obey their parents and accept their family’s ideology. Harry’s choice rests on very little evidence--most of what he knows is what Hagrid told him, and that he doesn’t want to be sorted into Voldemort’s house along with Draco Malfoy, someone who reminds him of Dudley. I don’t think Snape was very informed either (I’d love to know why), because he doesn’t realize why it Lily wouldn’t be sorted into Slytherin.

“You’d better be in Slytherin,” said Snape, encouraged that she had brightened a little. DH 671, The Prince’s Tale

Either the pureblood rhetoric just wasn’t strong in those days, or his mother didn’t tell him about that.

...“Where are you heading, if you’ve got the choice?”

James lifted an invisible sword.

“’Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!’ Like my dad.”

Snape made a small, disparaging noise. James turned on him.

“Got a problem with that?”

“No,” said Snape, though his slight sneer said otherwise. “If you’d rather be brawny than brainy--”

DH 671-2, The Prince’s Tale

It seems that most people just follow familial preferences. As to why Snape wants to be in Ravenclaw over Slytherin, my preferred interpretation is that he had a family legacy, knew that Slytherin rewarded the ambitious and clever, and that Slughorn, the head of Slytherin house, had a knack for making the kind of connections that a poor, clever boy would need to succeed.

Nevertheless, once Snape was in Slytherin, the odds were stacked against him. The house in that era was full of people who would later be Death Eaters. “Dark Magic” wasn’t frowned upon among his housemates, and siding with Voldemort wasn’t yet widely acknowledged as a transgression by wider society.

“No, no, but believe me, [Sirius’ parents] thought Voldemort had the right idea, they were all for the purification of the wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having pure-bloods in charge. They weren’t alone either, there were quite a few people, before Voldemort showed his true colors, who thought he had the right idea about things.…” OotP 112

Additionally, people like Bellatrix were in the years above him, and given how Fred and George acted with younger students, I think it’s highly likely younger students had to find a place in the hierarchy or be the target of ‘pranks.’ He was a halfblood, after all, and dirt poor.

Snape knew these people. He ate with them, slept with them, and went to class with them. It is so much easier to understand and befriend someone you spend time with. I’d say that most people who subscribe to problematic ideologies aren’t just awful to be around all the time, or else these movements wouldn’t gain any traction. They’re likely funny and nice to be around if you’re not on their bad side.

In addition to strong peer pressure to befriend the people who would be death eaters, he was also bullied four to one. His bullies received protection from the headmaster when he was nearly killed or permanently maimed. They were popular and well liked.

The best analogy I’ve heard to describe Snape's Hogwarts situation is that he’s a kid in a rough neighborhood who joins the local gang. It provides protection and the hope of social mobility, and from his perspective, the other gang fights just as dirty (his treatment by the marauders). He doesn’t stop to think that the system is flawed, or that the gang’s very existence indicates the failure of authority and threatens its members. He just sees himself as a kid with nothing who needs help with protection and advancement. We know that Voldemort hasn’t shown his true colors, and it’s possible he showed different faces to different people.

‘Now, yer mum an’ dad were as good a witch an’ wizard as I ever knew. Head Boy an’ Girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst’ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get ’em on his side before ... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin’ ter do with the Dark Side.

‘Maybe he thought he could persuade ’em ... maybe he just wanted ’em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Hallowe’en ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an’ – an’ –’ (“The Keeper of the Keys”)

Dumbledore’s cited as the reason they turned him down, not their blood status. I think there’s evidence that the wholesale anti-muggleborn campaign wasn’t a huge part of the first wizarding war, and wasn’t implemented until the second, even if there was anti-muggle propaganda. (Muggle=/=muggleborn). It’s implied that Tobias is abusive and that Snape hates him for what he did to him and his mother; it’s implied that faced class prejudice by the muggles around him as well:

“I know who you are. You’re that Snape boy! They live down Spinner’s End by the river,” she told Lily, and it was evident from her tone that she considered the address  a poor recommendation.

DH 665, The Prince’s Tale

When you read stories about people who are able to escape cycles of gang violence and poverty, there’s almost always someone who lifts them out. There’s someone who pushes them, or extends a hand, or believes in them. There are community outreach programs, or churches, or an English teacher that pushed them to do better and try out for a scholarship. That person is usually someone who knows what it’s like and knows how hard it is to get out.

Snape doesn’t seem to get that support anywhere. Slughorn doesn’t seem to notice him, for whatever reason. Lily doesn’t approve of his friends, but also doesn’t understand at all what the pull is--that it’s hard to swim against the current of what everyone else is saying, despite the fact that she feels the same pressure to end her friendship with Snape.

“… thought we were supposed to be friends?” Snape was saying. “Best friends?” “We are, Sev, but I don’t like some of the people you’re hanging round with! I’m sorry, but I detest Every and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev, he’s creepy! D’you know what he tried to do to Marry Macdonald the other day?”

DH 673, The Prince’s Tale

In the very same conversation, the fact that Snape is not allowed to share what happened to him with Lupin and the werewolf incident means that Lily will never be able to understand what Snape is facing: That the leader of the good guys makes excuses for and protects people who recklessly endanger the lives of others.

“And you’re being really ungrateful. I heard what happened the other night. You went sneaking down that tunnel by the Whomping Wollow, and James Potter saved you from whatever’s down there--”

Snape’s whole face contorted and he spluttered, “Saved? Saved? You think he was playing the hero? He was saving his neck and his friends’ too!...”

DH 674, The Prince’s Tale

Later in the year after SWM, she tells Snape this:

“None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you.”

DH 675 The Prince’s Tale

She expects him to reject all of his classmates and stand against the tide, despite the fact that she knows how hard it is to do that and can’t comprehend why he sticks with his classmates. She expects him to be grateful to James Potter as if what he did was altruistic, because the Headmaster swore Snape to secrecy and he keeps his promises, despite the fact that someone else was spreading the story. (The fact that she says she heard it instead of talking about it like its common knowledge implies that she heard it from a friend, so our friends the Marauders likely weren’t keeping their lips zipped even if Snape was.)

I don’t say this to shift the blame away from Snape to Lily in regards to Snape joining the Death Eaters. I just want to point out that Lily wasn't someone who could help him break the cycle. He didn’t squander some chance she offered him. She just wasn’t enough to break him out--not empathetic, motivated, or well-informed enough. (I think the fact that they were peers plays a big role in that).

Ultimately, Snape did choose to join the Death Eaters. He did yield to peer pressure. He did obey his assignment and report the prophecy to Voldemort. He spent his youth yielding, following the path in front of him, and choosing what was probably the easier choice: stick with your group, find powerful friends, do what they want, and don’t ask too many questions about their methods. That’s what makes his decision to betray Voldemort so powerful to me.

Here’s part of the passage when Snape betrays Voldemort:

...The adult Snape was panting, turning on the spot, his wand gripped tightly in his hand, waiting for something or for someone...His fear infected Harry too, even though he knew that he could not be harmed, and he looked over his shoulder wondering what it was that Snape was waiting for--

Then a sliding, jagged jet of white light flew through the air. Harry thought of lightning, but Snape had dropped to his knees and his wand had flown out of his hand.

“Don’t kill me!”

DH 676, The Prince’s Tale

He was terrified. He knew he was caught between the world’s two most powerful wizards, but it was worth it if he could save his childhood friend.

Then when Lily dies:

“Her son lives. He has her eyes, precisely her eyes. You remember the share and color of Lily Evans’s eyes, I am sure?”

“DON’T!” bellowed Snape. “Gone...dead...”

“Is this remorse, Severus?”

“I wish..I wish I were dead....”

“And what use would that be to anyone?” said Dumbledore coldly.

DH 678, The Prince’s Tale

Whatever motivation Snape had before is gone. A person’s life who is not his own is worth more than his own, and he’s drowning in guilt. From now on, Snape works to be useful in saving Harry’s life, and later many lives, at risk of death. His choices are a black mark on his record, likely making it difficult for him to get a job when he’s been tried as a Death Eater, and all of his wizarding connections are Death Eaters or their associates. He has no money or influence. Dumbledore hires him.

So Lupin has a single ailment and faces constant social and legal discrimination. He constantly tries to undermine people’s expectations about werewolves by being mild, but unfortunately is too afraid of rejection and its consequences to stand up against bad behavior or take full responsibility for his failings. He has friends who support him, but do it by engaging in risky behavior. He does not stop them. Perhaps he fears exposure and expulsion. Perhaps he just likes belonging for once. Either way, he does not come clean until forced to.

Snape is different; instead of facing outright rejection, he’s from a poor background and grows up surrounded by peers who join something somewhere between a gang and a cult while being bullied by people groomed by a rival organization. The headmaster of his school supports the rival organization and swears him to secrecy about an incident when they endangered his life, sending the message that his life is worthless. That same group continues to publicly bully him. He continues down this path until he realizes that it endangers something he cares about, and makes a decision that puts him at risk of being killed by the two most powerful wizards alive. He changes course.

Snape seems to view his problems as challenges facing him, whereas Lupin sees his problems as part of who he is, and not something he can change. Lupin seems to accept what happens to him in a fatalist kind of way. He sees what happens as inevitable and somewhat out of his control, whereas Snape never seems to blame his circumstances for him becoming a death eater, even though they clearly limited his options. I think that attitude matters. However, because Lupin’s facing a fictional magical malady, it’s difficult to fully blame him for that attitude.

Both Lupin and Snape have to react to powerful societal pressure that makes it difficult for them to succeed. Comparing them is apples and oranges at best, because their circumstances were so different. I don’t think you can judge either’s morality based on group identity, though.

3. Finally, they both act as a window on James: who he was, and what he means to Harry, who never knew him. That means in some way, they help pass on his parental legacy to orphaned Harry.

Hogwarts is Harry’s home, which means that the teachers are more than just teachers, but play a symbolic parental role in his life.

Hogwarts was the first and best home he had known. He and Voldemort and Snape, the abandoned boys, had all found home here.

DH 697, The Forest Again

You can’t understand Harry without realizing what he lacks: a loving home and living parents. He’s always looking into the past to find his parents, and is saddled with a legacy he struggles to understand--why did he live, who were his parents, and what does he need to do now?

Lupin and Snape also share a connection with Harry that goes beyond a normal teacher-student relationship, unlike McGonagall or Flitwick. Snape and Lupin are more personally connected to Harry than the other professors because they know Harry’s parents and went to school with them. I will mostly focus on James from here on out since we know so little about Lily personally and Harry mostly tries to emulate or avoid his father’s behavior and legacy.

They’re also the last people who knew James to survive, and they die almost at the same time. They’re the only teachers apart from Dumbledore who give Harry private lessons. More importantly, these lessons are all tied thematically to Harry’s past. Harry’s experience with dementors and the patronus charm are his first re-encounter with his parents and his past.

Terrible though it was to hear his parents’ last moments replayed inside his head, these are the only times Harry had heard their voices since he was a very small child. But he’d never be able to produce a proper patronus if he half wanted to hear his parents again.

PoA 243, The Patronus

In the end of PoA, Harry sees himself and mistakenly thinks it’s his father.

“Come on!” he muttered, staring about. “Where are you? Dad, come on--”

But no one came. Harry raised his head to look atet he circle of dementors across the lake. One of them was lowering its hood. It was time for the rescuer to appear--but no one was coming to help this time--

And then it hit him--he understood. He hadn’t seen his father--he had seen himself--

Harry flung himself out from behind the bush and pulled out his want.

“EXPECTO PATRONUM!” he yelled.

PoA 411, Hermione’s Secret

So the patronus itself is linked up with Harry’s past, and his coming-of-age. He doesn’t rely on others to save him, but must do it himself. (Though Harry’s never really trusted the adults to save him.)  It’s interesting to note that Harry actually learns the Patronus charm under Lupin’s tutelage.

On the other hand, Snape introduces Harry to the unpleasant side of his father’s legacy. Through Snape, we see that James wasn’t just a little cocky, but a bully.

“Apologize to Evans!” James roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at him. “I don't want you to make him apologize,” Lily shouted, rounding on James. “You're as bad as he is.” “What?” yelped James. “I'd NEVER call you a--you-know-what!” “Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can--I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK.” She turned on her heel and hurried away.

....

He had no desire at all to return to Gryffindor Tower so early, nor to tell Ron and Hermione what he had just seen. What was making Harry feel so horrified and unhappy was not being shouted at or having jars thrown at him; it was that he knew how it felt to be humiliated in the middle of a circle of onlookers, knew exactly how Snape had felt as his father had taunted him, and that judging from what he had just seen, his father had been every bit as arrogant as Snape had always told him. OotP, Snape’s Worst Memory, emphasis added

It’s interesting note that Harry fails to learn Occlumency from Snape. (In fact, we never see Harry use magical skills he learned from Snape apart from Expelliarmus, which is...important). At the same time, he gains an important perspective.

You can’t have James without this part of him. However kind James was to Lupin, however brave James was when he saved his wife, he was neither kind nor brave when he bullied Snape. It’s uncomfortable and awkward, but it’s important.

When he had finished, neither Sirius nor Lupin spoke for a moment. Then Lupin said quietly, “I wouldn’t like you to judge your father on what you saw there, Harry. He was only fifteen —”

“I’m fifteen!” said Harry heatedly.

OotP

Harry rejects the idea that actively bullying someone is just folly of youth. He knows what it’s like to be disenfranchised. Regardless of what Snape and James’ relationship was, he didn’t deserve that kind of humiliation. And Lupin watched, and defends him. Harry has to grapple with that.

Ultimately, Snape and Lupin do more than just connect him to his past. They also teach him his two signature spells, Expelliarmus and Expecto Patronum. One saves his soul, and one saves his life and frees the wizarding world from Voldemort because of Voldemort’s fractured soul.

Snape and Lupin as moral counterpoints

How do we evaluate this:

“I’d never have believed this,” Harry said. “The man who taught me to fight dementors--a coward.”*****5

DH 213, The Bribe

and this?

“Albus Severus, you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.

DH 758, Seventeen years later

Ultimately, I don’t think it’s really that useful to pit two people with different backgrounds against each other. At the same time, they represent two different halves of a question: when it comes down to it, should we try to be kind or brave? I don’t think you have to pick one, but when pursuing the two, there are bound to be moments of conflict.

I always come back to the lyrics to Last Midnight from Sondheim’s Into the Woods.******6

You're so nice You're not good You're not bad You're just nice I'm not good I'm not nice I'm just right I'm the witch You're the world

Snape doesn’t care about being nice. I think this is where most non-Snape fans start pulling out the pitchforks and torches. Snape isn’t nice, and he’s not nice to kids. He’s not nurturing.*******7 He’s abrasive, allergic to coddling, and petty when he can get away with it. In fact, most of the people he’s ‘nice’ to are significantly more powerful than him, or someone he needs to be on good terms with.

Lupin is nice. He’s mild. He’s often kind. However, he often picks being liked over standing up for something.

What does that result in? He doesn’t stand up for Snape. The bullying continues and keeps Snape firmly on his path. He wins the respect of the Gryffindors with the Snape Boggart incident but loses whatever credibility he had to tell Snape to ‘put their past behind him.’

On the other hand, Neville’s bravery in DH was nurtured by Lupin’s confidence. Neville kept hope alive and led a rebellion. Lupin is one of the few adults that Harry fully respects and trusts up until the Grimmauld place confrontation. (He likes Hagrid and Molly, but doesn’t necessarily trust them to make decisions in their best interest, while he usually respects Lupin’s judgement). Harry loves him, and it’s because he loved him and watched him die that he needs to act and fight back against Voldemort.

Ultimately, Harry’s relationship with James and the adults who pass on his legacy is one of the most important symbolic relationships in the book. The thematic resolution of the series is Harry’s act of sacrificial love.

He did not know what to feel, except shock at the way Snape had been killed, and the reason for which it had been done....

...He could not bear to look at any of the other bodies, to see who else had died for him. He could not bear to join the Weasleys, could not look into their eyes, when if he had given himself up in the first place, Fred might never had died...

He turned away and ran up the marble staircase. Lupin, Tongs...He yearned not to feel....He wished he could rip out his heart, his innards, everything that was screaming inside of him.

To escape into someone else’s head would be a blessed relief....Nothing that even Snape had left him could be worse than his own thoughts.

DH 660-662, The Prince’s Tale

He rushes to the headmaster’s office to escape into Snape's memories. His memories convince Harry that sacrificing himself is the expedient thing to do, and he heads to the Forbidden Forest. To enable is last sacrifice, he uses the Resurrection stone to witness his parents and his father’s friends. Their combined testimony is enough to ameliorate his personal fears about following through with this final act.

Lupin and Snape leave entirely different legacies behind. Lupin encourages and inspires. As an authority figure, he gives people like Neville space to grow and his compassion towards Harry gives him the strength to face his demons. Harry’s decision in DH to die must have something to do with the kindness he was shown, and the sacrifices people who loved him made for him, of which Lupin is a part. Despite what he saw in Princes’ Tale, Snape wasn’t one of the people who’d make an appearance with the Resurrection stone.

Yet Snape sacrificed his life for Harry and the wizarding world, entities that Snape didn’t seem to like and that certainly weren’t kind to him. His form of bravery is about endurance, tenacity, and willingness to do what is right even when you hate your allies and no one else is going to credit you for what you do. And that’s very Harry. Even if he hates Draco, he’s not about to let him die if he can help it. Harry has much more in common with Snape than Lupin, I think.

Since this is about souls, let’s return to the Patronus charm. Snape’s not the kind of person who typically inspires that kind of emotion required to cast a Patronus in others, at least from what we see in Harry’s perspective. Yet because he has experienced that love, he can cast it and shows Harry what needs to be done. Snape enables Harry to dive under the ice. Lupin’s the kind of person who can inspire a patronus, but isn’t the one to make the sacrifice play until after Harry confronts him about his duty to his family. Ultimately, though, they both sacrifice themselves in the Battle of Hogwarts.

* Ever since I realized how blatantly tangential Order of Merlin must be to Snape’s character motivation, that line has frustrated me to no end. There’s no way frothing-at-the-mouth PoA Snape just really coveted that Order of Merlin. He’s often petty, yeah, but if Lupin believes it’s just about that and has nothing to do with Snape’s real conviction about how dangerous Lupin’s actions were, he’s deluding himself. I hate that he passes it on to his students.

**Yes, I am making up words today. Lupin’s faces prejudice and discrimination on a social level enforced by increasingly powerful discriminatory laws.

*** It’s worth noting that if we take every book as equally valid canon, then there’s either widespread ignorance towards lycanthropy, as Lockhart convinces everyone he was able to “cure” the Wagga-Wagga werewolf, and as teenage Horcrux!Riddle said Hagrid raised werewolf cubs under his bed, or else lycanthropy is actually a wide range of conditions under a wolfy umbrella ranging from treatable to incurable. Lupin is our primary source for lycanthropy: he’s the one who tells us about Greyback, for example. If we hold the first two books as equally valid, then perhaps we only know about Lupin’s particular type of condition. That’s the Watsonian analysis, anyways.

****4 These footnotes are getting ridiculous. Basically, there’s no consensus on what Dark Magic is, and on what basis it’s Evil. This essay goes into things that are labelled as curses. I’m inclined to believe that the vast majority of Dark Magic is just Magic We Don’t Like for Reasons.

The definition of what is and isn't considered Dark Magic is never explained: often it just seems to mean "a curse I don't approve of".  Even "curse" has never been satisfactorily defined, but we can certainly say that not all curses are regarded as evil, since some appear to be on the Hogwarts curriculum, and are certainly performed without censure.

*****5 While I paired the quotes at the top of this section together for dramatic effect, it’d be a shame not to look at the context of the Lupin fight.

“I thought you’d say [that your mission was top secret],” said Lupin, looking disappointed. But I might still be of some use to you. You know what I am and what I can do. I could come with you to provide protection. There would be no need to tell me exactly what you were up to. Harry hesitated. It was a very tempting offer.

Hermione then asks about Tonks.

“I’m pretty sure my father would have wanted to know why you aren’t sticking with your own kid, actually”... ...“I’d never have believed this,” Harry said. “The man who taught me to fight dementors--a coward.”

...“Parents shouldn’t leave their kids unless--unless they’ve got to.”

...“I know I shouldn’t have called him a coward.”“No, you shouldn’t,” said Ron at once. “But he’s acting like one. “ “All the same...” said Hermione.

“I know,” said Harry. “But if it makes him go back to Tonks, it’ll be worth it, won’t it?”

He could not keep the plea out of his voice. Hermione looked sympathetic, Ron uncertain. Harry looked down at his feet, thinking of his father. Would James have backed Harry in what he had said to Lupin, or would he have bene angry at how his son had treated his old friend?

DH 213, The Bribe

Harry feels personally betrayed that someone who has a family and child would abandon them. Here he is unyielding and accusing to someone he cares about in the hopes that they re-evaluate what matters. It’s a rather Snape-like tactic, actually. Or else a Dumbledore one.

I love the dialogue in this scene, but have some major issues with how Harry’s internalization drops out the window for shock value. JKR does the same thing when has Harry pull the Veritaserum trick in HBP. I don’t like it.

******6 The witch and Snape aren’t perfect analogues, since she’s decidedly more amoral in my opinion, but they’re both contractually-motivated characters whose humanity is shown by their (platonic/familial) love for a more “innocent” character and the guilt at the innocent character’s sacrificial death. Guilt doesn’t lead the witch to do anything productive, and for Snape it does, which is where they diverge on the character path.

*******7 Draco may be an exception to this. However, watching Snape struggle to build rapport with Draco in HBP leads me to think that while Snape’s been on Draco’s side, he’s still not “nurturing,” or in other words, good at cultivating trust and encouraging the strong and wholesome parts of someone’s personality to grow.  

[notquitedickens]

Harry Potter if Petunia left Vernon

Enjoy this! I may do a part two of Petunia and her reactions to Harry vs Voldy over the years and May also have a “What if Narcissa Left Lucius” in the works. Or if I can find the effort in me I’ll write this as an actual fic instead lmk what you’d prefer!

Ps sorry this is quite long and not prof read I did this on mobile because I couldn’t get it out of my head.

Petunia did love her sister she was just neglected by her parents in favour of her magic sister.

She was jealous when she was young because her sister had such a perfect life and the only man she seemed to be able to get was a sexist pig.

It took Harry showing up on her doorstep that day to show her that her life wasn’t perfect.

It took accepting that fact for her to go to her parents for the first time in years with the boy in her arms.

It took Vernon not allowing her to take Dudley and himself with her to the funeral for her to realise that he didn’t care about her feelings.

She stuck with him until the two boys were gargling out the occasional word and adventuring as toddlers do. It was only when Harry was disciplined far more firmly that Dudley was for her to pack up and move in with her parents again.

The one thing she couldn’t tolerate was children being treated differently because they were different from each other. She wasn’t going to let her sisters son be treated like a stranger like she was.

It was throughout those few tedious years with Vernon preventing her sister contacting her that she realised how much her sister cared for her even if their parents played favourites.

She understood her parents too, magic was something they were new to and she was amazed by it too at first.

So she stayed with them until the boys went to school and she got herself a stable job, it was only a secretarial job at an insurance company but it was a good enough wage for her and her two boys.

The two boys got treated equally, they each got the same pocket money and had one night a week each where they could choose the dinner. Every other night Petunia decided what it would be.

Dudley and Harry did have their fights, especially when Dudley got back from weekends with his father.

Harry and Dudley couldn’t be more different in their interests, Harry enjoying sports while Dudley preferred video games.

They did get along though, each of them retreating to their own rooms when arguments broke out.

Petunia would’ve been more stressed if her parents hadn’t taken Harry on the weekends when Dudley went to Vernon.

It made things fair again, the most important thing to Petunia. She made sure to listen to both boys and praise each of them as much as she could.

She lived quite happily with her boys until the arguments over secondary schools began with Vernon.

He was adamant that Dudley would go to Smeltings while she argued that both boys would go to the same school if she could help it.

She certainly wouldn’t let the boy go to the school that Vernon went to. That was until the letter arrived.

When the letter arrived her stress came back.

She’d have to let Harry go to Hogwarts, she had read in the letter what happens when you suppress magic as a child.

It was at that point that she caved and let Vernon send Dudley to a private boarding school. As long as it was not smeltings. In that way the boys would still be equal.

She couldn’t express the fear she experienced when Hagrid showed up at her door ready to take Harry to get his supplies. This man was larger than Vernon and he was a rather large man.

She did, however, invite him in for a quick cup of tea so he could explain to both boys what Hogwarts is.

Petunia had been open to the boys about what happened to Harry’s parents when the letter came, opting to raise the boys as normal as possible.

Hagrid couldn’t quite understand why she did this, to him Harry was a legend but to Petunia Harry was her sisters boy and more importantly HER boy.

Petunia had debated for days after Dumbledores letter about Hagrid taking them to get supplies wether she and Dudley would join or if they would go to get his supplies instead.

It wasn’t until she saw Dudleys excited face that she agreed to go, saying that they’d all go get Dudleys school supplies the day after.

The trip to Diagonal Alley was uneventful but exciting, she had had many wizards thank her for raising Harry and she couldn’t quite understand why. She’d done what anyone would’ve done.

Dudleys eyes were wide the entire time and she’d allowed him to buy a few of the wizarding sweets after a plump Ginger witch pointed her to the ones that were safe and not going to do something like turn her hair pink.

She quickly bonded with the witch after learning about her seven children but was quite quickly drawn back out of the shop by Hagrid standing at the door with an owl.

The trip to get Dudleys supplies was much less interesting, Dudley getting disappointed by the lack of ability to take a pet but he had been assured by Hagrid the day before that the owl was for the boys to share and that Harry could take care of it at Hogwarts, much to Petunias relief.

Harry was dropped off at the station a few days later, with the intention of Vernon driving Dudley to school after.

Much to Petunias surprise she bumped into the plump witch from yesterday who was dropping off her children.

“I’m sorry, could you show us where the platform is?”

“Oh you! Yes of course just run straight through that wall.”

“T-the wall?” Dudley asked.

“Yes, best to do it at a bit of a run the first time.” The witch smiled kindly pushing her twin boys through first “See? No harm done.”

Dudley gripped his mother’s hand.

“Why doesn’t Harry go through with my Ron, it’s his first year at Hogwarts too, maybe then you could follow through with your mum?” The witch suggested, looking at the two boys who were now chatting eagerly. “There’s no need to be scared of magic, it’s all around but you just don’t see it.”

“Off you go then boys,” Petunia urged them on. “Myself and...”

“Molly, Molly Weasley.”

“Mrs Weasley will follow through after with these two.” She smiled, stopping her hand from shaking in Dudleys.

She watched the boys go through and quickly followed with Molly, Ginny and Dudley.

Her eyes widened in shock when she saw the platform bustling with witches and wizards and a couple of equally confused muggle parents like herself.

She hugged Harry goodbye and stood at the back of the platform with Molly until the train departed.

“What’s your address we should really meet again without the kids?” Molly asked calmly leading Ginny by the hand as Petunia followed.

Petunia gladly gave it, happy for have someone she could talk to about all the madness that magic had brought into her life.

Neither her nor Molly missed the dirty look of Vernon who was tapping his foot in front of the station next to her parked car.

She and Molly did meet quite quickly after a happy letter from Molly about Ron getting sorted into Gryffindor with Harry.

They opted for Molly to come to her the first time just to make adjusting to life with a hint of magic a little simpler. Although it took a lot of persuasion to keep Arthur away.

Ginny had come with her mother and was more than happy to sit with an old colouring book that Petunia had lying around as the women chatted.

It wasn’t long before the two were bonding over mutual memories of chaotic children.

Petunia couldn’t help but giggle about the time Fred and George accidentally turned their mothers tea into a thick slime. Molly couldn’t help but chuckle at the haircut situation with Harry.

They soon evolved into regular meetings for tea and after a couple of summers Mrs Granger was involved in it.

It was the Christmas of third year that Mrs Granger had suggested renting a large holiday home down in Cornwall for them all to stay in.

Petunia then thought about Dudley and how he would be the only child without magic and expressed her concerns before Molly reminded her that the others couldn’t use magic outside of school.

They eventually decided it would be more fun if the adults also didn’t do magic. They made it a no magic holiday and it was the most hilarious but fun holiday and of them had ever experienced.

[halothenthehorns]

FLIGHT OF THE FAT LADY

Lily took the book with very mixed emotions. Harry was only one week into this school year and already she felt as wrung out and emotionally drained as his other two years. She would also keep a lid on her emotions and not blow up at Snape like she knew they were all expecting. Hoping it just couldn't get any worse, she hesitantly began to read.

After that, Defense became hands down the best class for the majority of students.

Remus couldn't help but beam with pleasure, while James and Sirius were unsurprised and smirking.

Only Malfoy and his select Slytherins found anything to bad mouth Lupin about.

Lily's lips formed a sneer of annoyance; she found it horrid anyone would say something about someone else because of the way they dressed, especially when he couldn't help it.

She saw the boys clench as they fought their disgust, only Remus rolled his eyes, not looking very concerned. He doubted this kid could say anything he hadn't already heard before.

He laughed loudly in the corridors even as said teacher passed, mocking him for dressing like their old house elf.

"I like to think I'm a little better off than an old pillow case," Remus said lightly.

"Wonder what happened to Dobby anyways," James said with interest, still rather wound up at anybody insulting one of his friends, but recognizing it couldn't really be handled right now.

"I'm rather sure I find out," Harry said with as much confidence as he ever could when talking about his future, but he did seem rather sure on this matter, so the others let it go for now.

This didn't concern any of the other students though,

"The good people never do care about such trivial things," Sirius nodded in agreement, always wishing he could help his friend out more if he'd allow it, but grateful that the students had looked past his physical appearance to see the real friend and good person beneath.

as they eagerly anticipated and were promptly delivered the next set of interesting lessons, ranging from all manner of magical beasts over the next several weeks.

However much they all forced themselves to continue ignoring the issue, they all felt just that little bit worse when they realized time was still dragging on and Remus very clearly wasn't going to have that talk with Harry. Why though, what possible reason could he have for ignoring him like this? If it really was Dumbledore stopping him, then what motive could the Headmaster have? Harry deserved an adult wizard in his life, one that would make sure to look after him like Dumbledore himself clearly hadn't. No one could bring themselves to say anything aloud about this topic though, having no more answers now than when this had first come up.

Instead, Harry at least tried to push past that awkward part and asked, "why were you focusing on the dark creatures though? Were we that far behind?"

Remus gave himself a hard little shake, uneasily meeting Harry's eyes as he explained, "well, yes and no. I do specialize in dark creatures, as Dumbledore well knows I enjoy studying them in my spare time. Mostly though that's just what the third year curriculum focuses on, scattered in with the spells used to combat them."

Harry nodded in understanding, while James and Sirius tried not to share an uneasy look. On top of Remus' odd behaviour so far in this, they were also well aware that this was the year when most students focused on how to spot werewolves. That wouldn't be an easy lesson for Remus to teach, and it wasn't any more pleasant to wonder how Harry was going to react to that. He seemed fine with it now, but could they stand it if he had an initial bad reaction to their friend? Of course they were just assuming Harry figured it out like they had, but what if Remus sat Harry down and explained that before hand, it could even be the reason why he was so unsurprised to relearn the news here with them.

More questions than answers, and still none of them dared speak any of this allowed.

Harry just wished that his other classes were going as well, like Potions.

Lily grit her teeth in frustration, before reading on forcefully, already having to use a lot of self-restraint to read in a normal tone.

Snape was acting even worse than usual.

"Bitter old bat," Sirius huffed.

"I wish I struggled to imagine it," James sneered.

He'd clearly overheard the story of his boggart.

Here James and Sirius again didn't bother hiding their laughter one little bit, dearly hoping they never would have to again.

He'd also taken to giving Lupin a death look whenever they were in the same vicinity, while if ever his name was spoken in ear shot that student would receive the same treatment.

"Glad he blames me for that rather than Neville," Remus frowned, "at least I can handle him."

His treatment of Neville had doubled up in bad.

Lily wasn't the only one seething by the end of this; they all wanted to strangle this overgrown child for treating a student like that. It was Snape's own damned fault he was Neville's worst fear, and the subsequent boggart form. It was infuriating for him to still not have learned his lesson. His continuation of the treatment to Neville and the other students was doing nothing to stop future boggart incidents. Lily was going to give him a not very pleasant visit soon.

Divination wasn't going any better, as that teacher now watched Harry with dew filled eyes.

"Oh please," James scoffed with perhaps a bit more acid than normal, still distracted and peeved at Snape's actions.

Unlike Harry though, some of the other students had taken to revering Trelawney.

"Ah the easily fooled youth," Sirius said lightly, finding her rather annoying as well.

Parvati and Lavender in particular began spending their lunch breaks with her, and proceeded to then speak to their fellow students with knowledge bound smirks.

"And Hermione has to share a dorm with them?" Lily asked in disgust, "I feel bad for her now."

They'd also jumped on the bandwagon and began treating Harry like they were at his wake.

"That must get annoying, considering how loud the school can get. Could you even hear them?" Remus asked.

Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes, finding those girls antics rather annoying as he said, "I hardly spoke to them anyways, and no, not really. By that point I didn't care."

Care of Magical Creatures had lost its fun as well,

"Oh no," Sirius frowned, "what happened?"

as Hagrid had lost all charisma after the debauched first class, and had spent the remainder of time teaching them how to take care of flobberworms.

"Ouch," Remus winced in sympathy.

"Poor Hagrid," Lily agreed with a frown.

"Guess I can see that happening," James admitted.

Ron found these classes the most boring thing of all, pointing out how useless the wriggling creatures were while shoving lettuce down its gullet.

"Ron's also got a point," Sirius rolled his eyes, "flobberworms are very self-managing, and they're pretty much just grub for a few creatures. Hagrid's doing the class a real injustice for lingering on these things longer than five minutes."

"I can only imagine the seventh years appreciating this, as if he carries on too long their NEWT's will be a breeze," Remus agreed with a slight wince.

October though brought something new to Harry's plate, as the Quidditch season was set to begin.

"Yes," all four boys brightened up at that, and then Sirius narrowed his eyes dangerously at Lily and said, "I swear if you get to read his Quidditch chapter, I'm going to have a fit. It's high time I've gotten my turn at that."

Lily rolled her eyes at him; personally she was hoping she didn't get it too since she had hardly enjoyed the sport even before it seemed to have gone out of its way to pulverize her son every chance it got. She'd gladly hand over the book to Sirius if he really wanted to read it.

Oliver Wood was well aware of this, using his first bit of practice to go over brand new skills and tactics he'd been thinking on. The narration began to explain that there were seven players in Quidditch,

"Oh here we go again," James rolled his eyes, "the book explaining something we've already gone over."

"Yes well, since it's about Quidditch, I'm willing to allow this," Sirius smirked.

and gave a small overview of the game.

"At least it was brief," Remus shrugged without concern.

Wood was now a seventh year in school,

"Oh that's right," James nodded, "this will be his last year there. Poor kid hasn't won the Cup once as captain has he?"

Harry shuffled a little, feeling personally to blame for this, but the others still wouldn't hear of it and spent a few more minutes telling Harry why this was ridiculous of him to think so. He did look slightly better by the end of it, and still had a personal conviction that nothing should happen this year, he and his team would win that Cup, he hoped.

Hoping to make Harry feel at least a little better Sirius also pointed out, "besides, it's not like anyone who would review him for a professional team could blame any of that on you. They'd look at his statistics of how many goals he's saved, and other such stats."

Harry did look a little better at that reminder, thinking he had won Wood every game he'd been in so far, and ignoring an odd little feeling like he should correct that statement.

and as this was his last year to win the Quidditch Cup for their team, he kept up a constant reminder of that. He began by addressing some of the reasons they hadn't won the last two games, due to unpreventable circumstances,

"See, that wasn't your fault at all, just paranoid teachers," Sirius said bracingly.

"Rightly paranoid," Lily corrected, "but I'll admit you're still right too."

but they had the best team by far of the school, stating the names of the three best Chasers, the unbeatable Beaters the Weasley twins, who kindly flattered themselves at his praise,

"Well they're not modest are they," James chuckled.

and their Seeker who'd won them every game.

"Damned straight," Sirius and James both grinned, having called this way back when Harry started playing, and still convinced until otherwise proven that Harry would never lose a match.

Wood finished with a furious pride staring down at Harry.

"Err, gee, thanks," Lily muttered, though she was smiling a bit too at how happy Harry seemed at such praise.

Then he tacked himself on at the end. Fred and George were quick to agree his own praise was well deserved.

"Glad they gave him his credit," Remus approved.

Then Wood carried on, reminding that this was his last chance to get that Cup before he left school, and he looked so desolate by saying it even the twins turned sympathetic.

"Aw," James and Sirius said with concern.

"Okay, now I'm really hoping you win this year just because of that," Remus agreed.

The team rallied, promising it would be an easy victory, and they began the team practices three times a week, with Harry now dreaming of that Cup himself.

While the boys were still giddy with excitement as well, Sirius was personally hoping this match got put off for another two chapters, feeling it was high time he got his Quidditch game.

Harry returned from one particularly wet flying practice to find Ron and Hermione eagerly looking over something, a flyer stating when their first Hogsmeade trip would be.

Harry went from pent up excitement at the prospect of winning the Cup like he so dearly hoped, to disgruntled at once. In all the excitement of finding out Sirius and Remus were alive, right now he was more than distracted by the matter, but he knew his thirteen year old self would still be beyond upset at this turn of events.

Which would be taking place on Halloween.

Then the four of them winced, having a rather bad track record of that holiday in their opinion, but still more than convinced nothing too bad could happen to Harry this year, or any more years for that matter. Remus and Sirius would get this whole mess figured out, why they hadn't already was still too touchy for anyone to bring up. The point was Harry now had two great protectors who wouldn't let anything too bad happen to him again.

Hermione caught sight of Harry's down turn of a mood, and tried to sooth him he might could go on the next one,

"Did someone magically sign his form?" Lily asked redundantly.

that Black was sure to be caught sooner rather than later.

Sirius winced, but still said in a forced light tone, "that's not why he's not allowed to go, come on Hermione should be able to keep up better than that."

"She's probably so distracted by her butt loads of homework," James reminded.

Ron brought up the old argument that Black wasn't stupid enough to try anything in such a public place like Hogsmeade,

Sirius was making goofy faces at the baby again and refusing to allow himself to react negatively to this continued topic.

telling Harry he should still ask McGonagall if he can go anyways.

"She'll say no every stinking time," James grumbled, "because he doesn't have his stupid form."

Hermione told Ron off for that, saying Harry was supposed to be staying inside.

"They really can't keep him locked up forever," Remus rolled his eyes.

Ron pointed out Harry would literally be the only person who couldn't go, and Harry agreed he'd at least try his head of house. Hermione looked about arguing,

"Argue what?" Lily demanded.

"That I shouldn't," Harry shrugged.

"Hermione's being a bit paranoid this year," Sirius noted, "really, I'm with Remus, she can't expect you to stay cooped up forever."

but was cut off by her cat jumping into her lap, a pre killed spider clamped in its mouth. Ron looked disgusted as his yellow eyes watched Ron while he ate it up.

James couldn't help but snort with laughter at that, the cat was hardly being subtle about its feelings towards Ron.

He told Hermione to keep the cat away from him, he had Scabbers stowed away in his bag. Harry wasn't paying them much attention as he began to dig out his homework, but Ron pushed his finished copy towards his friend.

"Not going to say anything Lily?" Sirius asked, still trying to get a provocation out of her, and being more amused the longer this went on. She was trying so hard not to react to anything.

"No," Lily shrugged without looking up, "I'm not perfect, and I'll willingly admit I had to sometimes get help from others on some homework. I think Harry should have tried first, but there's nothing for it now."

Harry wasn't the only one who gave her a surprised look at that, but he did look the most grateful.

Hermione may have said something about this as well, but then Crookshanks pounced on Ron's bag, claws extended.

"Dang," Remus winced, "is he still after Scabbers?"

"Apparently," James grumbled, feeling all the more annoyed at both cat and girl now.

Ron tried to wrench his bag away, and Hermione told him not to hurt her cat.

"Really?" Sirius demanded. "He's trying to eat Ron's pet, and that's her response."

"Both of them need to learn to keep their pets separated," Lily agreed.

"Kind of hard to do when they spend so much time together," Harry sighed.

Everyone in the room was watching as Ron flung his bag hard, trying to dislodge Crookshanks, but instead sent Scabbers flying away.

"Uh oh," they all muttered, knowing Scabbers was much safer in Ron's bag, not that the rat could understand that.

Ron tried to grab up the feline, but missed, and yelled at someone to catch him! George made a swipe for his tail, but missed.

"Good thing he's not a Chaser then," Sirius muttered without any real humor, feeling just as uneasy as anyone else at how this might turn out.

The rat made quick work of darting between everything and flashed under a wooden chest.

"Where the cat hopefully can't follow," Remus nodded happily.

Crookshanks tried to follow, smashing his face as low as possible and batting at the available carpet, but then the owners arrived as Hermione pulled him into her arms, and Ron had to shove his arm clear up to his elbow to pull Scabbers out by his bald tail.

"At least that went better than I feared," Lily sighed in relief.

"Yeah, but how many more times is it going to happen," James was still frowning, "Hermione should have realized it was a bad idea to buy that particular cat back when this happened before."

None of them could think of anything else to say, all having a very bad feeling this was going to get worse before it got better.

Ron was yelling at Hermione already, saying that cat was slowly killing his rat from stress! Hermione shot back that it wasn't Crookshanks fault, it was in his nature.

"True," Lily nodded, "but she should have thought of that back when she bought him, and not bought him."

"Buying a cat when one of your best friends owns a rat feels like a recipe for disaster," Remus agreed.

Ron insisted it was Hermione's cat though, how it had heard him say Scabbers was in his pack.

"Now he's just being a little ridiculous," Sirius smirked. "'Heard'? Nah, he smelt him obviously."

"Not the point," James reminded.

Hermione told him he was being ridiculous, but Ron wouldn't hear it, telling her off that Scabbers was sick and here first!

"A very good point," Lily huffed, while Remus cocked his head to the side, thinking over that sentence. Scabbers had been getting sick before Hermione bought Crookshanks, so Ron was obviously exaggerating that part as well. This also couldn't be the first time Scabbers had interacted with a cat; surely some other Gryffindor owned one. The truth probably was; Scabbers was getting old, and Ron was projecting his fear of his pet dying of old age on his hatred of the cat.

Then he stamped off towards the stairs, and refused to come down until next morning's class, Herbology, where Hermione's first question was to ask how Scabbers was doing?

"At least she asks," James said still a little stiffly.

"Hermione cares," Lily snipped at him for the tone, "perhaps she's not showing it that well, but it's not like she set that cat on Scabbers on purpose. She'd be just as upset if an accident did happen and Crookshanks ate him."

James backed off slightly, noting that at least Hermione's asking was an attempt at the start of an apology.

Ron snapped that he was cowering at the foot of his bed, while knocking over a tin of beans in his rage.

"And Ron's clearly still holding a grudge," Sirius noted.

Sprout told him off for that, as he ruined a whole plantation that sprouted to life as they watched.

Harry's startled look was enough to make the others laugh, never getting tired of his constant surprise of the magical world.

On the way to Transfiguration, Harry was stewing over how to ask McGonagall if he could go into Hogsmeade

"Know the answer to that already," Remus sighed.

"He's got a point," James nodded when Harry looked like he might try and argue his point. "Unless you outright tell McGonagall why they hadn't signed, which by your track record you won't," he finished in a rather grumpy tone.

Harry sighed, knowing full well he'd never tell a teacher something like that, so remained silent and hoped anyways.

but was distracted outside of the class by Lavender in tears.

"Oh no," Lily frowned in concern.

"She's a girl," Sirius scoffed, "I'm sure she's just exaggerating."

"And here I thought you actually had a heart," Lily snapped at him at once, ignoring his eye roll. Whether he meant it or not, he really needed to stop making jokes like that.

Parvati was clearly trying to comfort her while talking to Dean and Seamus, who looked rather serious.

"Shut it Sirius," Lily snapped at him before he could open his mouth.

Sirius pouted at her, grumbling that she was kind of proving his point about how dramatic girls were, but then James nudged him and convinced him to let it go.

When the three of them approached, Parvati explained for them that Lavender had gotten a letter from home saying that her rabbit had been eaten by a fox.

"Aw," Sirius winced, "okay, poor kid."

"Thank you," Lily acknowledged.

Sirius made sure she could see his eye roll this time, stating, "come on Lils, I'm not heartless. I own an owl; I'd be pretty upset if anything happened to him too."

Lily still didn't think he'd gotten her point, that he shouldn't have made the joke in the first place, but decided to let it go.

Lavender was wailing that she shouldn't even be surprised, today of all days! It was October sixteenth, and the thing she'd been dreading happened, she was right!

"Oh crap," Remus said, blinking in shock.

"I'd honestly forgotten about that," James admitted.

"Wow, honestly, I think that Trelawney might have some real Seer's blood," Sirius said in surprise.

"Really Sirius? One right prediction and that's what you go with?" Lily asked, not bothering to try and hide her disbelief.

Sirius shrugged, personally he found the odds that not only had she chosen the death omen that was dogging Harry this year, but now this? No, he truly was beginning to believe this woman might really have a power, even if she did still annoy him for her use of it on his pup. He said as much aloud, and while he didn't really seem to convince anyone but Harry, the others found the argument to become rather circular after a time. Sirius wasn't letting up and he wasn't convincing anyone else so Lily decided to forcefully read on past him.

The rest of the class looked shocked and downed at the news, but Hermione began hesitantly asking if Lavender had really feared her rabbit Binky being killed by a fox? Lavender stuttered that it wasn't a fox exactly, but she'd feared for him! Hermione then asked if Binky was an older rabbit.

"Really Hermione?" Remus said with a frown. "Now, really?"

"I can see what she's trying to do," Lily nodded in agreement with both the girl and Remus, "but, yeah, wrong time and place."

Lavender moaned back that he was just a baby. Hermione then asked why she was so afraid of him dying. Parvati was now giving Hermione a dirty look.

"A fair reaction honestly," James sighed.

Hermione turned away from her and began addressing everyone as she pointed out that Binky hadn't even died on this day, but Lavender had just gotten the news of it.

"Harry, now would be the time to be a good friend and drag Hermione away," Remus pointed out.

"Before she continues making an arse out of herself like this," Sirius agreed. While he still would have argued the point on the probability of this happening on this day, he more than agreed Hermione wasn't doing it the right way.

Harry just sighed, he'd only observed the scene and hadn't really put an opinion on the matter, but he had felt rather bad for his friend as the rest of the class had been giving her harsh looks.

Plus, Lavender couldn't have been too surprised, since she was so stunned by the news.

"Now that was just tactless," Lily winced.

Ron cut in, telling Lavender to ignore Hermione, since she held no regards for how other people felt about their pets.

"And that was just heartless," Remus huffed.

McGonagall arrived then, cutting off a haughty glare between the two normally friends.

"Finally I can count on her good timing again," Sirius said weakly, more than happy himself to have avoided that fight, and they weren't even his friends.

They marched into class and sat on either side of Harry without looking at each other, and remained this way until class let out. It was McGonagall herself though that brought up the Hogsmeade trip, reminding that no one was allowed entrance without a form. Neville raised his hand hesitantly, beginning to explain he lost his,

"Ouch," all five of them winced, though none of them would admit rather selfishly pleased if Neville wouldn't be permitted to go either. They could hardly get mad at Hermione and Ron for wanting to go, but it would certainly make them feel a little better if Harry wasn't left behind on this.

but McGonagall explained that Neville's grandmother had mailed it to her personally.

"Smart woman at least," Lily said aloud, ignoring the internal wince.

Then she dismissed the class, and Ron told Harry to go and talk to her. Hermione tried to say something,

"Still don't understand why she's arguing that one," Lily shook her head in disbelief. "Harry deserves to have a little fun."

but Ron cut her off by insisting Harry should try. Harry went up to McGonagall's desk, and began to explain that his relatives had forgotten to sign his permission form,

"Forgot," the four of them muttered in disgust, eying Harry in disbelief. They honestly wondered if Harry had told her what really happened if she would have done something about it, but they couldn't say they were surprised at this point either. Harry's bad habit of glossing over this clearly hadn't gotten any better now that he was older.

but stuttering out by asking if he could still go anyways?

"And stammering on top of everything," Remus sighed.

"I could already tell her answer from the look on her face before I finished," Harry sighed.

McGonagall replied as expected, telling him that no form meant no visit, it was a rule. Harry tried to protest, saying that his muggle relatives hadn't understood it,

"That's what you're going with," Lily groaned, "just tell her the truth, and let's sit back and see how quickly they continue living."

Harry gave her a rather edgy look for her tone of voice but chose not to comment on that.

but if McGonagall gave him permission- she cut him off by saying she wasn't going to. The form stated it had to be Harry's parent or guardian.

"And now I want to cry," Sirius hissed, looking far more deadly than upset in that moment at that stupid reminder they were all Harry had to claim as guardian right then.

Then she gave Harry an odd look, which sort of resembled pity.

"I'd like to think more like confusion," Remus huffed, "since she'd probably be wondering why you really hadn't gotten your form signed."

"With any luck she'll bring it up to you, and you'll investigate," Sirius murmured to him, causing a vindictive smirk to appear on both of their faces.

Then she told them to get along to their next class, and once they were gone Ron spent the time walking calling McGonagall a couple of things that annoyed Hermione.

"The worst part is, McGonagall's still in the right," Lily sighed.

Said girl had a look on her face though that made it clear this was the best outcome, only angering Ron further.

"Yeah, she's not exactly being helpful this year," James sighed.

As the weeks crept on and this was the sole topic of everyone's conversation though, Ron tried to cheer Harry up that at least they would enjoy the holiday feast.

"Not exactly the worst consolation prize," Sirius offered bracingly, and Harry tried his best to give him a smile he didn't really feel.

The rest of the Gryffindors tried to cheer up Harry as well when they found out, Dean offering to forge someone's signature as he was a pretty good artist,

"Now there's an idea," James said, going bright-eyed.

"Except that Harry just got done saying he hadn't had his form signed," Remus reminded.

"Harry could have mailed it back and had it signed," Sirius said, mind now churning with possibility as he came up with a story for this. "He shouldn't give it to her until the day before, gives some credibility to the idea, and he'd have to mail himself something that looks like that in case McGonagall notices how often he gets mail. Most likely she doesn't, but it's a safe backup."

"You are putting way too much thought into this," Lily told him.

"Nonsense," Sirius scoffed at the same time James said, "no such thing."

While Harry didn't disagree with them, he had a sinking feeling that all of Sirius' planning didn't actually come true then, and hardly looked happy about it as Lily read.

Harry turned down the idea though, reminding he'd told McGonagall he hadn't had anyone sign it.

"Well dang, clearly no one in your dorm thinks outside the box," Remus sighed.

"Wish you'd go to the twins for help," James grumbled, "they could sneak you in no problem."

Harry perked up suddenly, his dad's words finally gave him that feeling he'd been missing, and he had a very good feeling this just might be what happened at some point. Still too worried about being wrong on the matter though, he didn't say this.

Ron offered for him to use the invisibility cloak,

"Which might have worked if not for those bloody dementors," Sirius grimaced.

but then Hermione reminded they didn't work on dementors. Percy offered the least helpful advice of all.

"Oh this can't be good," James groaned.

Telling Harry that everyone made a big deal about Hogsmeade in a serious tone of voice,

"Not as Seriously as I could have," Sirius said quickly, clutching the baby to his chest to prevent either of his friends from smacking him.

"You shouldn't be allowed to do that," James grumbled, looking rather disappointed that he didn't have a chance to get at him.

"I think I should claim rights," Remus huffed, eyeing the baby, "you've been holding him long enough."

"I might share if you didn't look like you were about to slap me once I did," Sirius smirked.

listing some of things that were worth seeing, but then adding on at the end that it wasn't that much fun.

"He only listed like a fourth of the good stuff," James huffed under his breath, making sure Harry didn't hear that one so he really wouldn't feel worse.

Halloween dawned with Harry feeling the lowest he had in a long time, but he attempted to act normally, though unable to fool his friends as Hermione promised to bring him back loads of sweets, while Ron agreed. They'd clearly put the fight over their pets aside in favor of trying to make Harry feel better.

"That's when you know you have some good friends," Sirius smiled brightly, "when they put aside their differences for you."

Harry couldn't help but beam right back, trying his very best to smother how much he really missed his friends.

Harry tried to reassure them in an offhand voice that he was going to be fine,

"I get the feeling it wasn't actually an offhand tone of voice," Remus said lightly, "but good effort for trying."

and promised to see them that night. He watched them leave, with Filch checking names off of a list to make sure no one was getting out who shouldn't,

'Which was basically every third year and up, aside from Harry,' they all sighed in their head, but kept that comment to themselves.

and did his best to ignore Malfoy who laughed when he saw Harry wasn't going, asking if he couldn't stand the idea of going past the dementors.

"Of all the bloody rotten timing for him to-" Sirius began, using a bit more of a threatening growl than normal because of his depressed mood for his little pup being left behind.

Harry went back to his common room and went inside, only to find the place diminished to second years and below, and the few older students who had no want to go to Hogsmeade.

Harry grumbled something about he really couldn't picture that. Honestly the other four really couldn't either, it was never worth passing up an opportunity getting out of the castle, with permission the three trouble makers mentally added on.

He was just wondering what to do with himself now when Colin came up to Harry, a boy a year below Harry who always talked to him whenever he could.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about him," Remus said in surprise.

"Well he clearly wasn't dogging you that year, or he would have been mentioned by now," Sirius pointed out, preeing even more he got to make his own pun again and still no one could retaliate.

"No, thankfully he hadn't memorized my schedule again," Harry said in relief, but repeated, "but he still went out of his way to talk to me." He didn't exactly look pleased, but he had to admit this was still better than last year.

He asked Harry why he wasn't in Hogsmeade, then offered Harry to come sit with him and his friends.

"I don't see that as being at the top of his to do list," James smirked.

Harry told him he'd forgotten to go do some homework.

"Pretty good on the spot lie," Remus appraised.

Then he turned back around and left, with the Fat Lady calling behind him that what was the point of getting her up?

"Because you deserve it for sleeping in the middle of the day," Lily snapped right back.

Harry began wandering through the hallways, but didn't get very far before he decided homework wasn't going to help.

All four of them were wincing in pain, hating how truly upset and lonely he seemed to be right then. 

Harry at least tried to keep their spirits up by refusing to let his own mood sink that low, he had a funny feeling he got some sort of interest happening to him on this day. Maybe he and Remus finally talked? Or he learned something about Sirius? Neither option left a very good omen for him for some reason though, so he still kept it to himself. 

He didn't backtrack too much when he ran into Filch, who snapped at Harry what he was doing? Harry just said 'nothing.'

"You can't ever really be doing nothing," James said loudly, trying to get at least a small smile out of Harry again.

Sirius noticed at once and continued, "yeah, like technically right then you were walking, that's something. Or you were standing, that's something too. You can't ever really be doing nothing."

Harry recognized what they were doing and really did give them a small smile for the effort.

Filch said back that he didn't believe that one bit.

"Funny part is he actually wasn't doing anything wrong right then," Remus chuckled.

"Probably had another flashback to when he caught James like that," Lily pointed out lightly.

Then he demanded why Harry wasn't out with the rest of the miscreants buying everything possible to destroy this castle.

"He just thinks so much of all of them doesn't he?" Sirius snickered.

Harry didn't answer, and Filch told him to get back to his tower.

James rolled his eyes and pointed out, "it's not like it's curfew or anything; Harry can go wherever he wants to in that castle."

"Like that's ever stopped Filch," Remus pointed out.

Harry walked off, but had no intentions of going back there. He was now thinking of going to see Hedwig,

"At least that'll be something pleasant," Lily sighed.

when another voice called him back and Harry turned to see Professor Lupin.

"Yes!" All five of them brightened at once. Surely the fact that Remus had just called out to him meant he really couldn't ignore him this time! Why he had waited until now, months after school had started they still couldn't guess, but now would be the most perfect time to finally have that talk Harry so desperately deserved.

He asked what Harry was doing, in the opposite tone Filch had used.

"Well I should hope so," James agreed.

Then he asked where Harry's friends were, and Harry told him. Lupin watched Harry for a second,

"Remus I will give you all of the gold in my vault right now if you bloody ask him about this," Sirius said, nearly bouncing around in anticipation for what this could mean.

"And Harry actually tells him the truth," James noted.

Remus couldn't help the pessimistic little niggle that Harry had known him for far less a time then he'd even known McGonagall, so why would he tell him something like that? He looked so dejected Sirius finally gave up the baby and passed him along to Remus, which put a smile on his face at once.

then he offered Harry to come inside his office and have a look at his new grindylow.

The two boys refused to let them get their hopes down. So Remus hadn't started off like they would have preferred, but it was finally happening. He and Harry were completely alone with the best amount of time no one would walk in on a conversation that was so desperately needed. If Remus didn't get to it this time, they would know something was up.

Harry walked in to see an odd creature floating in the tank, green in skin color with spiky little horns jutting out of its forehead and trying to hide in some weeds. Lupin explained it was a water demon,

"I always get those confused with kappas," Lily said absently.

"Kappa is Japanese for cucumber," Remus said randomly.

At Lily's blank look he shrugged and said, "when I was first learning about them, I found that a random and interesting fact, so when I got to grindylows it was an interesting distinction."

"Okay then," Lily said with a shrug and a small smile, not having actually expected an answer.

telling that after they'd dealt with the other creatures, this one should be easy to handle, noting its weakness in the strong but brittle fingers. The grindylow gave them a dirty look and dug itself into the sand.

"You are the only person who would actually keep that thing in his office," Sirius snickered.

"It's not that weird," Remus defended. "Where else would I keep it?"

"In the staff's supply room, where all the other teachers keep their stuff, like live animals, they plan on using for class," James said in a duh like voice. "Did it never occur to you why McGonagall and Flitwick don't have a bunch of random animals around their offices?"

Remus rolled his eyes; he wasn't going to argue the point. Sirius only wished they had their own supply office for all the random beasts Remus kept bringing home to study, it was a wonder he didn't come home to find him cuddling in bed with a diricawl.

Then he offered Harry some tea, and Harry agreed with some lingering awkwardness.

Remus grimaced and turned his attention back to the child, hating just how awkward it clearly was for the two of them to be in the same room. He felt lucky Harry had accepted at all, considering the past two DADA teachers had attacked him.

Harry tried to catch his eye and give him a reassuring smile now, to prove he didn't still feel that way, but Remus was clearly ignoring everyone else in the room now.

He began to set up a pot, making the joke that all he had were teabags, but he'd heard that Harry would prefer that to leaves.

Sirius couldn't help but give a little surprised laugh, Remus had obviously been checking up on Harry's other classes.

He caught Harry's eye then, trying to suppress laughter as he explained that McGonagall had told about his first Divination class, and asking if he was worried about that Grim?

"I'm sure you two had a nice long conversation about him," James snickered, having quite the amusement at McGonagall telling Remus all the things Harry had been up to the past two years at school.

Harry looked mildly annoyed at this, not really appreciating the thought of teachers sitting around gossiping about him, but couldn't find it in himself to be to mad at Remus for this, knowing now that he probably just wanted to know more about him.

Harry admitted he wasn't, while considering thinking about telling him that stray dog he'd seen months ago.

"Now that would have been interesting," Lily said, eyeing Remus who did look mildly entertained at how that reaction would go. Most likely, if his assumption was correct, Sirius would have already told him that he'd seen Harry then; but he certainly wished Harry would tell him. It would help ease into the conversation they were all wanting to hear about Harry's past really being explained to him by someone who really knew.

He didn't though, wondering if bringing this up would only reinforce what a coward he was sure Lupin already thought he was after that boggart mess.

Which popped any form of happiness Remus was feeling, and he turned as if to quickly say something to Harry, who waved him off and said, "I know, you already said it now. I didn't know then."

Remus still didn't look very happy, but admitted there wasn't much else he could say right then.

It must have been clear enough on his face though, as Lupin asked if anything was on Harry's mind? Harry's first instinct was to say no,

Remus winced and began bouncing his leg in high agitation now, greatly amusing the baby at least though it didn't seem to be helping him now. He would never not hate just how little Harry seemed to trust him, Harry should have been able to come to him with any of his worries since he could talk, not this nonsense where he was lucky Harry was talking to him at all!

His emotions were written all over his lined face, so Sirius took pity on him and tried to put some comfort into his words as he said, "Let it go Remus. Yeah this sucks, but there's no sense in dwelling on this now that we're going to fix it." Sirius was still rather torn about Remus in the future. His actions were more annoying than anything; what could be holding Remus back, from stopping him from seeing Harry like he should have. But he'd decided to wait until that reason was revealed before he fully passed a judgment on Remus' actions.

Remus didn't exactly look comforted, but Lily decided to read on anyways.

but then he said yes before he could reconsider.

Which made them all perk up as if Christmas had suddenly been announced. It didn't matter what had changed Harry's mind about telling Remus, the fact that he was meant more to all of them then they could have put into words.

He finally asked why Lupin had stopped him from tackling the boggart, and Lupin said he thought it was obvious.

"No, sorry, not really," Harry told him, still smiling faintly.

Remus fidgeted around a bit, but shrugged all the same, still unsure what to say about his future actions.

Harry had been expecting Lupin to deny his actions altogether,

"Now that would have been just stupid, one thing Remus usually isn't," James noted.

"Usually?" Remus snapped without any heat, to which James ignored him.

but still asked why? Lupin explained he hadn't wanted a Voldemort to appear in class, boggart fake or not.

Remus rolled his eyes, he still didn't think this was a good enough reason to publicly deflect Harry the way he had, though his classmates clearly hadn't noticed, he still didn't like the way it had made Harry feel. Then Sirius leaned over and whispered in his ear, "glad to see you obviously still know him so well, even then." Which caused him to smile in spite of himself.

Lily was watching them curiously, noting the change in Remus' demeanor, but kept going when it didn't look like they were about to explain.

Harry was stunned not just because he'd partially guessed his actions right, but because he'd called Voldemort by name.

"I can see why you'd find that so surprising," James said fairly, "since, aside from Dumbledore, you've yet to see anyone else do that."

The only person Harry had ever known to do that, apart from himself, was Dumbledore.

"Whom Remus idolizes, so even if he didn't have his own brain, he'd still do whatever that man said," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Remus scowled lightly at him. Yes he was eternally grateful to the headmaster for everything he'd done for him, but Sirius had made it sound like he had blind faith in the man, which he didn't. Mostly. Okay, maybe a little, a lot, before they had read this, but after all the things the book had implied Dumbledore had done to Harry he wasn't one hundred percent sure on that anymore.

Lupin easily read Harry's face and said he must have misinterpreted it wrong, but it really would have been a bad thing if even a fake Voldemort had come to life in the school, it would cause quite the chaos.

"I can see that," Harry said fairly.

"But it still wouldn't do you any good, even if I had been right. You still should have had practice at it just like anyone else," Remus argued back.

James suddenly burst out laughing, causing Remus' annoyed look to double up on him. "What?" he snapped, his tone far sharper than Harry would have thought.

James hardly looked offended, or even surprised, as he admitted, "you do realize you are arguing against yourself right. How is that not funny?"

Remus paused with his head cocked to the side as he realized what James meant, then gave a wane smile and sat back and cuddled the baby as he gave up on the pointless argument.

Harry then admitted what he had been thinking at the time, dementors. Lupin found that intriguing, telling Harry that meant that he feared fear itself, which was very smart.

"Glad to see you agree with yourself on some things," Sirius snickered, causing Remus to stick his tongue out at the pair.

Then Lupin asked if Harry had really thought he wasn't up for the job of going at a boggart?

"Well you can't blame him for thinking that," Lily defended.

"Oh I know," Remus said at once peaceably.

Harry admitted he had, then began to ask about the dementors, but was interrupted by a knock on Lupin's door.

"Dang it," they all muttered, wondering who on earth could be interrupting them now when they were finally talking!

"What were you going to ask anyways?" James inquired.

"I was going to ask him about the effects dementors could have on people," Harry admitted. "Wanted to ask why I passed out and Ron didn't."

They looked all the more annoyed now, very much wanting Harry to be able to get that answer, so even before the person came in they were in a disgruntled mood.

Lupin called for them to enter, and Snape came in.

"Gah! Can't go one bloody chapter without wanting to hex him lately," Sirius snapped.

"What's he even doing there?" James frowned, "I sincerely doubt it's a casual visit."

Harry was just as curious as the others, thinking back and wondering why something significant might be fixing to happen, so eagerly asked his Mum to go on.

He was holding a goblet, which was smoking at the brim, but froze when his eyes landed on Harry.

"Try something in front of Remus you slimy little git," Sirius growled.

Remus couldn't help but agree this time, if he started in on Harry he'd have every reason to step in, though he somehow doubted Snape was that stupid.

Lupin greeted him pleasantly, asking him to leave the drink on his desk.

"Say what now?" James demanded, doing a double take on that.

Lily was looking down at the page, clearly just as confused as anyone else.

"What would you be accepting from him?" Sirius demanded, looking at his friend like he'd just declared he and Snape were the best of friends.

"Whatever was in that goblet I guess," Remus shrugged, looking just as perplexed as anyone else.

This was such an odd interaction, they were still pretty stunned and no one protested when Lily decided to carry on and hope for a better answer.*

Snape did as told, still watching the pair of them with narrowed eyes.

"Probably wondering if he's concocting some mad scheme with you," Lily smirked.

"He might have been having a flashback to be honest," James agreed with a laugh.

Lupin told Snape that he'd been showing off his new grindylow.

'Wish he was joking' Sirius noted sourly, wanting very much to grumble about how Snape shouldn't have shown up for hours so these two had a better chance to talk, or not at all preferably.

Snape didn't react to the news, telling Lupin to drink whatever was in that cup as soon as possible. Lupin agreed he would,

"Well I obviously know what it is," Remus observed quirking a brow in surprise.

"Wish you did now," James frowned.

then Snape added on he had more and it should be drunk as well tomorrow, which Lupin also agreed to, and thanked Snape.

"The fact that you two are being so polite to each other honestly scares me," Sirius grumbled.

"I'm just waiting for Harry to ask what's going on," Lily sighed.

Snape said it wasn't a problem, but Harry was getting a prickling feeling from the look on Snape's face.

"I don't like any look from him," James agreed, his eyes still narrowed suspiciously. Snape wouldn't do anything too bad to Remus in reaction to that Boggart mess, and Remus clearly wasn't bothered by the interaction in the future. Then again, Harry wasn't the best eyes to go on for that, as he might not have even noticed Remus' tells.

Then Snape left the room by walking backwards, still eyeing the pair of them mistrustfully.

"Be a little more scared if he was smiling," Sirius snapped.

Harry looked back at the drink and Lupin explained Harry's look saying that Snape had just made him a little pick-me-up. He picked up the goblet and gave it a dissatisfied look, telling that sugar didn't make it taste any better as he drank some and shuddered.

"But what is it?" Lily huffed, her eyes narrowed in high agitation that she didn't know the answer to that, though she couldn't help a sneaking suspicion of something it could be.

"Wish I knew," Remus answered with a shrug.

"I don't like this," James and Sirius said in sync, still frowning in concern that Snape might be trying to get some sort of payback at Remus for that boggart stunt. Then again, Remus didn't seem very concerned for this, in fact if they were hearing this right he seemed rather grateful to Snape for whatever that potion was. It was driving them all crazy none of them could figure it out.

Harry began to ask why, but Lupin cut him off by stating he'd been feeling off-color, and he was lucky Snape had done this for him when most wizards wouldn't bother.

Sirius and James exchanged wide-eyed looks at that. 'Off-color' was a kind of inside joke that Remus said when he wasn't feeling well around the full moon, and the 'many wizards aren't up to making it' bit sort of made it seem like it might be about the same thing. Had a potion actually been discovered to help with his lycanthropy? If so, then this was a miracle as much as it was mind-blowing. Neither voiced their suspicions though, wondering if it would give Remus false hope.

Lupin took another drink, and Harry had to fight down the want to throw that cup across the room.

"Can't blame you on that one," Sirius agreed, "I wouldn't trust him not to poison me any farther than I could throw him."

"He wouldn't do something like that right under Dumbledore's nose," Lily said at once, and all of the boys noted she had just so phrased that in the way she hadn't exactly said he wouldn't poison Remus. It was far from reassuring, even if it did mean she really wasn't exactly in Snape's corner anymore.

Instead Harry told him that Snape loved the Dark Arts.

"Which is not a surprise to me, I can assure you," Remus rolled his eyes.

Lupin didn't look very interested, but Harry kept going, stating that he'd heard rumors Snape would do anything to get Lupin's job.

"Glad Harry's so trusting of his potions teacher, really makes me feel all warm and fuzzy," James said with only mild amusement, still stuck on the potion itself.

Lupin downed the rest of it and made an ugly face at the taste, then he told Harry that he would see him later.

Then they all pulled a face remarkably close to how Remus had looked finishing off that potion, Harry noted, but didn't need to ask why. He knew they were just as disappointed as he was that their little talk was clearly over, and they actually walked out with more questions than answers.

Recognizing he was being excused, Harry did indeed leave, though still watching that goblet that still had smoke curling out of it.

"Ominous," James drew the word out, still giving the book a significant and haughty look.

Time skip to Ron and Hermione returning, looking like they'd had the time of their lives as they bestowed Harry with a shop's worth of sweets.

"Please, do anything but tell him what all you did," Lily sighed without any hope.

Harry thanked them for it all, then asked how it had gone, where all did they go?

"Well Harry's not helping anything," Remus grumbled.

Pretty much everywhere.

"And Ron and Hermione clearly weren't pulling any punches," Sirius winced.

They told Harry every detail of the village, all the shops you could go into, and their favorite the Three Broomsticks, where they swear they'd seen an ogre.

"That would have been a fun sight to see," James chuckled, remembering sneaking into there all the time just to watch who came and went.

Then Hermione changed subject to asking if Harry had done any homework.

"Oh yeah, he really sat around and hit the books," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Honestly, doesn't Hermione know him at all?"

Harry instead told them his day, and Ron asked if Lupin was mad when he heard he'd drank that stuff.

"That's actually a fair question as of right now," Sirius agreed sagely.

Remus rolled his eyes at him, stating in as sane a voice as he could muster, "despite my friends, I actually like to argue that from time to time." Even his own face though was showing his misgivings at this fact currently.

They were heading down to dinner now, while Hermione put in that Snape wouldn't have tried to kill Lupin like that, not with Harry sitting there as witness.

"Don't think Harry could really have done much to stop him," James frowned, "or known to do otherwise."

"I still kind of agree with Hermione," Lily said thoughtfully, "Snape's not so stupid to do that in front of someone like Harry, even if he didn't understand what was going on."

"If you're all done deciding whether I'm going to die or not," Remus pleasantly mocked Harry, the pair exchanging amused looks.

James and Sirius frowned, not finding that funny in the least. They'd only just found out he was actually going to survive, the thought of him being killed right now made them want to lash out at anything even slightly threatening. Whether they were right in their guess or not, they still didn't trust Snape to do a damned thing for Remus for any reason.

The feast was as pleasant as always, but Harry felt distracted the whole time as he kept an eye on Lupin through the night, who was acting no different than usual.

"I'll admit, I do find that rather comforting," James nodded in agreement, suddenly putting the date with the act and remembering all over again Harry's spectacular bad luck with this particular holiday. If something bad was going to happen to Remus, he wouldn't even be surprised if it had happened on this day.

Then he switched to watching Snape, who also seemed to be watching the DADA teacher with more interest then was called for.

"Please tell me you are exaggerating," Sirius groaned, "cause otherwise, that is creepy."

The show for the night turned out to be Nick showing off the way he'd died.

"Glad to see they still think that's funny," Harry said, trying to move on to lighter topics, and ignoring the mounting feeling he'd had earlier. He was still so sure something did happen today, but it clearly didn't involve Remus and Snape, so what could he be thinking of?

As they were leaving the halls, Malfoy got one last crack in about how the dementors missed Harry.

"That joke is still not funny," all three boys on the couch snapped, thinking this kid really needed to get a grip, or at least a new book of jokes.

They made it all the way up to Gryffindor tower, but met most of the house crowded up in the hallway. Harry tried to crane over heads to see what was up with the portrait, which was still shut.

"Did McGonagall change the password without telling anyone?" Lily asked in confusion.

"She's only ever done that to us, not the whole house," James disagreed with a frown in place.

Harry was starting to get fidgety again, instinctively knowing something bad was about to happen, and trying his hardest to keep that feeling suppressed.

Percy was shoving his way through, announcing his position for them to move,

"Yes, because that will make them move out of the way so much faster," Sirius rolled his eyes, thinking that even if their unlikely guess was right; Percy would know the new password at least.

but when he reached the front, he froze up as well, before hollering for someone to go and get Dumbledore!

"What, why, what happened?" The boys demanded at once.

Lily desperately wanted to pause and bite at her lip again, fearing that anything that made Percy upset couldn't be good, but read on quickly anyways for her answer.

Said headmaster arrived soon enough, and the parting of the crowd finally revealed that the Fat Lady's painting had been torn to shreds, little bits of canvas all over the floor.

James was blinking spastically like someone had just shined a bright light in his eye, while Sirius' mouth was hanging open in shock. Remus and Harry leaned forward, not wanting anyone to pause and try to guess what had happened, but encouraging Lily to keep going and try to get an answer already.

The rest of the teachers arrived with Dumbledore, and he quickly instructed them all to spread out and find the Fat Lady, but then Peeves arrived and told that would be a chore, laughing at all of them.

James was getting jittery all over, and keeping a paternal eye on Harry as he watched him continually rub at his temple, a sure sign something important was fixing to happen. Who, or what, on earth would have attacked that painting?

Dumbledore asked what he had seen, and Peeves put on an air of respect, even he wasn't stupid enough to mess with Dumbledore.

"Found the other person, besides the Bloody Baron, who Peeves won't mess with," Sirius said, but was ignored by the others.

He began to explain that it had started as a nasty little argument, and the end results was the poor woman running through paintings crying and screaming.

"Running from what?" Remus muttered, though not loud enough Lily stopped to acknowledge it.

Dumbledore asked who had done this, and Peeves told that of course it was none other than Sirius Black.

The book slipped out of Lily's numb hands and landed on the floor with a thunk.

HPHPHP

*I would just like to note before anyone says anything, in chapter eighteen Remus says that the invention of the Wolfsbane potion is 'very recent' which makes me think that it possibly wasn't even discovered until after the events of their deaths. So no, they really don't have any idea what Remus drank.

[official-weasley]

The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 1, Ch. 8

PART 1: WHERE IT ALL BEGAN Chapter 8 - The Potions Hero

Penny

It was about a month before we would have to take our first-ever final exams. I was so excited as I was good all year, did all my homework plus some extra credit work in Potions, of course, and I just couldn't help to feel prepared.

Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same for my friends who were oblivious to the fact that the final exams were coming. I have been warning them for about 2 weeks now but the replies I got back, made me think that they were going to be in big trouble if I don't nag them even further.

“Oh, come off it Penny, we still have plenty of time.” Tonks said to me one morning as I tried to slip the final exams into our conversation as we were meeting our friends for breakfast in the Great Hall.

“Penny, you are overreacting.” Tulip rolled her eyes over dinner the next day. “We have plenty of time and besides we are not doing so horrible at school that we ought to be worried about exams! How much harder than a few essays can they be?” She sounded really confident.

Charlie and Nova gave me the most trouble as I could hardly catch them as they spent more and more time outside. Nova kept relying on my notes more and more and when I heard that they are thinking of skipping a History of Magic lesson to go to Hagrid's I flipped.

You should have seen the look on their faces when the whole Courtyard turned in our direction as I was practically yelling at them that they simply can't be that irresponsible.

Nova's mouth was open and I could see guilt in her eyes and Charlie blushed so much that he looked like a tomato with red hair.

After I've threatened them that I will not lend them my notes for the final exams, they finally started to listen to me and now I take every opportunity we spent together as a group to remind them of the exams.

—

One morning, when I woke up and Tonks' bed was already empty and nobody was outside the Hufflepuff Common Room entrance and nobody was at the Courtyard or in the Great Hall, I was beginning to think that they have started avoiding me for nagging them so much.

Then an idea came to my mind that was almost impossible to believe. Could they be in the Library? I thought incredulously. I grabbed a quick bite in the Great Hall and hurried to the Library.

I've made sure to be as quiet as possible entering as Madam Pince would have my head if I spoke a word too loud. I looked around and at first thought that they weren't there after all. But then I spotted 2 redheads at the table in the far back. Charlie and Tulip were sitting with Nova and Tonks. They were all facing the bookshelves, their heads stuck together.

For a moment I felt proud as I thought they were finally studying but as I got closer...

“Okay, so what's the plan?” I heard Tonks whisper to the best of her ability.

“I reckon we should just ask her nicely.” Nova said, scratching her head.

“Are you mental, did you forget how she yelled at us in the Courtyard for being irresponsible wanting to skip History of Magic that one time, because I haven't? Her voice is still haunting me at night.” Charlie's voice shook a little.

“Well, what else can we do? It's not like we can force her?” Tulip said and gasped as if she couldn't believe what she just said.

“We can try!” Tonks already warmed up to the idea.

“Tonks, don't be ridiculous! Penny is our friend.”

“Shhhh!” Madam Pince shushed them as Charlie said the last sentence a little too loud for her taste.

“I am confident that if we apologize to her and ask her nicely, she would love to help us.” Nova felt confident.

“Hi guys, what are we whispering about?” I decided to play a little joke on them and stuck my head next to Tulip's who was on the left side of the head-sticking group.

“Ahhh!” There was a loud bang as they all jumped up and Tonks hit her knee at the table, their hands on their chests as I scared the living ghosts out of them.

I had to put both hands over my mouth not to laugh too loudly but it was in vain as Madam Pince was next to our table so quickly as if she has apparated.

“You either leave right now using your legs,” she glared at every single one of us, whispering, “or I will drag you out by your loud mouths.” She crossed her hands on her chest and pointed her long finger to the door.

I followed the lot to the Courtyard, them looking quite embarrassed but for me, this was the pranks I wanted to pull on people, not the ones Tulip, Tonks and Jae usually had in mind. Mine at least won't get us to lose House Points.

Tulip, Tonks, and I sat on the bench while Charlie and Nova sat on the ground in front of us.

“Soooo,” Tonks looked as if she swallowed a chili pepper, “how much have you heard?”

“You are planning something that might or might not be forced upon me.” I giggled, still amused, their faces frightened.

“Well,” started Nova, while scratching the back of her head. I bet she got that from Charlie, as he did it every time he was too shy to say something, “it has dawned on us that the final exams are approaching.”

“Oh, really?” I responded in a sarcastic tone.

“And we were,” Charlie continued, doing the same scratching motion as Nova, “we were wondering if you could help us study for our Potions exam?” He said as quickly as his tongue allowed him.

“Just for the Potions exam?” I was skepticalabout that.

“Yeah, we were talking and we are doing pretty good with Herbology. We are already doomed in History of Magic as even you haven't been taking notes. Nova will help us with Transfiguration and Charms, while Charlie helps us with Flying and Defense Against the Dark Arts and I will lend everybody my notes and hand when it comes to Astronomy.” Tulip revealed their plan.

“So you have all been studying?” I couldn't believe that they actually had a plan.

“Of course, we have, Penny!” Charlie exclaimed. “You've nagged us so much that we didn't have a choice, now did we.” He chuckled.

“As much as we don't want to admit it, we do care for school and our exams, Penny.” Tonks grinned.

“Tonks and I have been studying Herbology and Astronomy in the Kitchens for the past week.” Said Tulip proudly.

“That's what you've been doing in the Kitchens?” I couldn't help but be startled.

“Mischief isn't the only thing we do, you know.” Tonks sounded offended.

“Yeah and Hagrid has been helping Nova and I study for the Defence Against the Dark Arts. We studied so many beasts this year and he knows so much about them. That's why we were planning to go to Hagrid's the day you yelled at us at this exact place.” Charlie pointed a finger behind him to the middle of the Courtyard.

“You weren't going to go to Hagrid's to ask him again if he can take you into the Forest?” I asked incredulously.

“Nah, we gave up on that. It's almost the end of the year and he did promise to do it once we are in our Second Year so we decided to give it a rest. Make him forget about it a little.” Nova grinned.

“Sure!” Tonks and Tulip replied at the same time, giggling.

“Wow, I didn't think you were taking me so seriously.” My hand on my mouth as I couldn't help but be astonished at their achievements. “You even wanted to skip a class to study for another class.” I extended my arms at Nova and Charlie, proudly.

“We got your hint, Penny.” Chuckled Tulip.

“So will you help us study Potions?” Asked Tonks, now all 4 of them looking at me like Fang when he wanted scratches.

“Of course I will help you study!” I exclaimed. “I would help you lot even if you didn't start yet.” I admitted and they squeezed me into a tight hug.

We decided that we would start the next day and I stayed up all night to make them each notes on the most important things that I was confident are going to be on the exam. I also made them sheets that would help them remember potion ingredients and their most common uses. As for myself, I've made a plan what I would teach them, how, and where.

Obviously, Madam Pince wouldn't let us in the Library all together probably until the next year. So, in the morning when we all met for breakfast and I gave them everything I've prepared for them, we decided that staying at one of the tables in the Great Hall was going to be our best option.

After a few days, Nova and Tulip were doing the best. Nova had all the potion ingredients for all 3 major potions we worked on this year memorized. Tulip exceeded my expectations as she gave me not 7 but 8 reasons why Firecrab cauldrons are not as important as one might think. As much as Tonks was trying she still couldn't memorize the right ingredient sequence for the Sleeping Draught and Charlie was struggling to understand why do we need 5 reasons why a potion has to be stirred in a specific direction and why the other way around could be very harmful.

—

Later that week we got our Final Exam Schedule.

I've read it aloud:

“Monday – morning Charms theoretical exam, afternoon Charms individual practical exam

Tuesday – morning Herbology exam, afternoon History of Magic exam

Wednesday – morning Flying practical exam, midnight Astronomy practical exam

Thursday – no exams

Friday – morning Potions theoretical exam, afternoon Potions practical exam

Monday – morning Defense Against the Dark Arts theoretical exam, afternoon Defense Against the Dark Arts individual practical exam

Tuesday – morning Transfiguration theoretical exam, afternoon Transfiguration practical exam”

“Defense Against the Dark Arts practical exam?” Repeated Charlie. “We didn't even do any practical spell work in class!” He felt offended.

“I guess Rakepick assumed we would learn them on our own.” Nova shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, to be honest, we did learn some of the same spells in Charms, haven't we.” I thought out loud.

“I guess.” Charlie rolled his eyes. “It's nice to know that we have until Friday to study Potions, though.” His mood recovered.

—

I have to say that I was very proud of every single one of my friends as they were all fairly prepared for their Potions exam on Thursday night. We did have to shake Tulip awake a couple of times when her eyes started to shut as she was repeating different kinds of cauldrons in her head.

Of course, our study group didn't go unnoticed and by Wednesday afternoon Murphy, Jae, and Andre, who stopped to talk to Tulip and Nova as he was a Ravenclaw, joined.

On Friday, nobody except me and Charlie, who was obviously a nervous eater, ate breakfast as others rather nibbled on their nails, lips, or mumbled words to themselves as they were revising before the hardly anticipating Potions exam.

Nobody wanted to talk about the theoretical part, they saw it as a waste of time as they wanted to prepare themselves for the practical part of the exam. I was leaning on my hand in the Great Hall, looking at them as I was listening to their murmurs, counting on fingers, and rubbing the sides of their foreheads. I knew I had amazing and smart friends but I couldn't help but smile as I was so proud of how much effort they actually put into their least favorite subject.

[nyadversary]

asking since your harry potter post was really interesting and made me wonder - are there any magic systems you really like or think are well-constructed and consistent? what are the traits of a good magic system?

oh i definitely don’t feel qualified to make any broad statements about what makes a magic system Good, it depends so heavily on what kind of story you’re trying to tell. i do want to say more about why i think the magic system in HP is ultimately bad though, and i have at least one example of a system i like to compare it with. under cut

very very early on in the HP series — i’m talking about the first few chapters of book 1 — we get the impression that magical ability does symbolize something? like think about how the series opens. the first chapter of the first book follows vernon dursley, a man who lives an extremely mundane life, likes it that way, and is highly perturbed by anything unusual happening or by anyone who seems out of the ordinary. he’s, what, CEO of a drill company or something? some comically boring but well-paying job. petunia is a housewife who passes the time spying on the neighbors. their infant son is already being spoiled and treated more like a prized possession than a human being. and these people hate anything they think is weird, which of course includes anything to do with magic. the dursleys know for a fact magic is real and it pisses them off and they hate it. 

when harry is left at their doorstep, mcgonagall protests and says the dursleys could not possibly have less in common with magical people like them. either she or hagrid says something to the effect that the dursleys are the biggest muggles around, which stuck with me because it implies that magical ability lies on a spectrum and the dursleys, who are outright opposed to anything the slightest bit unusual, are the furthest from magical anybody can be. this implies all sorts of things about what magic could represent for the series going forward — creativity, rejection of social norms, etc. — and, since these people are harry’s only living blood relatives but he winds up finding community for the first time once meeting other witches and wizards, it appears to be setting up a found family theme. which all sounds perfectly good, and people will still cite this as being a theme of the books. the main problem with that is it isn’t the intended theme going forward at all. 

JKR’s weird obsession with blood lineage honestly needs to be unpacked in a whole other post and i don’t think i’m the guy to do it but... obviously as the series goes on, the importance of blood family gets underlined again and again. it turns out harry is being protected by some sort of sacred maternal blood magic (which is never explained) and this is why he has to live with the dursleys, people he hates and has nothing in common with. the fact that they’re his blood relatives trumps anything else. magical ability generally is passed down within families, and in the later books much time is spent going over various magical lineages (voldemort’s family, dumbledore’s family, sirius’ family, the malfoy family, the hogwarts founders and their descendants, etc...). any notions of magic symbolizing creativity is undermined by the lack of actual creativity in how the magic is presented going forward (like i said in the other post, it winds up serving mainly utilitarian functions in the story) and as for rejecting the status quo, the series embraces the status quo. the happy ending the characters work 7 books to achieve just has everything “returning to normal” — voldemort is killed and the remaining death eaters dealt with, the ministry gets a new PM, hogwarts gets a new headmaster, and things continue on as they were before. issues of systemic injustice are left unaddressed, the subplots about magical beings fighting for full personhood status (centaurs, merpeople, house elves, etc) are left unresolved, slytherin house is allowed to continue on as an institution and presumably many wizards are still just as bigoted towards muggle-borns as they always were, and — oh yeah — the idea that muggles are innately inferior somehow? never explained or addressed. the takeway is just that if you can’t do magic, you suck. it’s so disappointing. all the pieces are there for a way better story (hey guys i think there might be some systemic problems with your magic school and your magic government do you wanna try fixing that maybe?) but JKR was never gonna write that story because it’s one she doesn’t believe in.

to summarize how magic works in harry potter just so i can really make it clear how boring it is:

magic ability is innate and the vast majority of people lack it. with relatively few exceptions, the ability runs in families — it’s rare for someone without magical ancestry to have the ability and it’s also rare for someone with magical ancestry to not have the ability

with only a few exceptions, all wizards are able to learn all spells. some wizards are stated to be unusually powerful but how much of this is due to raw magical potential and how much comes down to other factors like education, general intelligence and ability/willingness to learn, desire to cause harm in the case of the unforgivables, etc is unclear. some magical abilities, like being able to speak parseltongue or being a metamorphmagus (or whatever the fuck shapeshifters are called in this series) or being a seer, are innate and can’t be learned by most wizards. like magic itself, whether or not you have any extra ability seems to be genetic (these are all traits we know run in families)

in order to perform magic, devices like wands, cauldrons, etc are used as instruments or vessels to direct the user’s innate powers. there is no summoning, channeling, or ritual use involved and spells typically only go wrong if the wizard in question is inexperienced or something is wrong with their wand. with very few exceptions (the main one i can think of is divination, which is handled very ambiguously and most of what trelawney teaches is implied to be complete crap), magic works in very predictable and straightforward ways

so it all boils down to “you’re either a wizard or you aren’t, and you almost certainly aren’t unless you come from a magic family, but if you are — good news! you have basically the same abilities as any other wizard. don’t worry there’s nothing even vaguely pagan involved.”

which, like. how utterly dull. there are so many other ways one can approach these issues and nearly all of them that i can think of / have seen done are more interesting than this:

you could have a magic system where magical ability is much more specialized. instead of all magic users being all capable of more or less the same stuff, let’s say person A, B, and C are all magic users but each has a unique magical ability (say A can fly, B can talk to animals, C can become invisible) and, while they might be able to develop their individual talents and become stronger, they can’t learn each other’s skills. charlie bone, which is a crap series overall but which i do think has a more interesting magic system, falls into this category, as does a lot of superhero stuff although it’s generally not called “magic” in those stories.

another, similar, approach would be to have more specialized branches of magic that characters train under — say pyromancy, necromancy, etc. — and so, while it might be possible for a water mage to learn a fire spell or two, characters have much more individualized skillsets. RPG magic tends to be this, obviously. harry potter kind of vaguely gestures in the direction of this trope in that the professors obviously specialize in their particular subjects, but it’s not as if snape doesn’t know charms or whatever — it doesn’t amount to much of anything in practice as all the adult characters are capable of performing a diverse range of spells.

how does one wind up with the ability to do magic in the first place? is it innate, and, if so, is it random or does it run in families? is it associated with any other traits? are there drawbacks to being a magic user? can non-magical people acquire the ability to do magic through some other means, and, if so, does this represent an irreversible change? are magic users really “human” or are they something more? are non-magic users lesser? is there any loss of humanity associated with magical ability? do magic users channel their own innate power or are they channeling something else — if so, is it a godlike entity, demonic, or does it defy moral classification? is there “good” magic and “bad” magic, and, if so, is the delineation clear? if these are different branches of magic, are they wholly distinct in how they work or is there overlap? etc, etc, etc.

ultimately i don’t think anyone should be worried about finding the most unique combination of these tropes, because they’ve literally all been done 10 billion times — if i started off listing popular examples of how these tropes are handled in other media pandemic will have ended before i’m done. what’s important is how writers choose to handle these questions when telling their story. like, what does magic mean to the characters? what does their use of magic say about them? what does magic symbolize? etc... these are opportunities for the story to have Themes and Meaning and impart something to its audience! tbh i think it really says something that the magic in harry potter is so ultimately unimportant to the story that people didn’t bother asking the usual questions about what magic itself / the magic system might symbolize... if you look at what rowling might actually be trying to say with any of that, well, it’s not good.

i guess to end off with an example i like. in the bartimaeus trilogy, which is an extremely good YA series and i highly recommend, magic ability isn’t innate at all. magic in this universe is all done via summoning “demons” (energy beings from another plane of existence basically) and binding them to one’s will, which as you might expect is very dangerous if you fuck it up and summoning is on such extreme levels of academic bullshit that you basically have to study your entire life to do it safely (learning dead languages, being able to draw elaborate pentacles with perfect accuracy, etc etc). in practice, this means magic is something only the ruling class does / can afford to do. anyone in any significant position of power is a wizard, while everyone else — the “commoners” — is a second-class citizen under the thumb of what are essentially superpowered politicians. while the fact that magic exists isn’t a secret, the majority of commoners have no idea how it actually works, that it’s really just summoning and anyone can learn it. they’re being encouraged to think of wizards as innately superior/gifted and to defer to them as their betters. yknow, Or Else. there’s much more i could say about this but it’d wind up being its own post and i’d probably have to just break down the entire plot of the trilogy, but i think from what i’ve said you get a sense of the themes / commentary here. 

this has run long but point being, magic systems Can be used to say something about the story and the characters and to make some sort of thematic point or provide social commentary perhaps, and i think it’s cool when they do. harry potter tries its best to avoid having the magic mean anything and when you do try and analyze what it means, you just get a story about how some people are just way better and cooler than others because of. uh. their blood. so rather than further unpacking that suitcase i say you could just throw it away and, as they say, read another book

[bush-viper-cutie]

“The Smoking Goblet” || YEAR 3 – Ch.14 (HP au)

                              Chapter List

<-- Last Chapter                          Next Chapter -->

Day posted: 8/25/2020

Word count: 3,776

Relationship: EVENTUAL severus X oc (slow burn)

Rating: E for everyone

Warnings: none

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A/N: This is my first fan fic I’m writing mainly as a way to practice. This is a retelling of the hp books with an inserted character. Although most every character will be written about, this is mostly for the pro snape fandom. Please do not fear, although this is a severus x oc story, it is an incredibly slow burn as I do not intend for them to get together at all until after the final book events. Chapters will be posted twice a week.

This derivative work follows the events of the Harry Potter books by Jk Rowling and is intended as a fun way to practice my writing. Thank you for reading :D

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~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~

Within the month Defense Against Dark Arts class had become every student’s favorite class, and Professor Lupin everyone’s favorite teacher. Even Heather had to give in and accept him as her favorite after he’d let her sneak her way to the back of every line when they practiced with boggarts. She made up for it during their Red Cap lessons, allowing him to use her for demonstrations around the little nasty creatures that liked hanging out wherever blood was spilled.

Draco, however, couldn’t miss a day to snicker behind Professor Lupin’s back about the state of his robes. Most Slytherins friends with Draco would join in on the bullying, but Professor Lupin and most everyone else would just ignore them. No one cared if Professor Lupin’s robes were old and frayed with patches that were coming undone, or that his clothes had little holes at the seams around his shoulders and cuffs.

From Red Caps they moved onto kappas, more creepy creatures except they lived underwater with webbed hands used for strangling those who wandered in their pond. He had brought in a murky tank with a single lilypad floating on top of the muck. The kappa had given Neville a real scare after he’d tapped the glass and woken it up.Everyone had laughed at Neville, but that was nothing compared to the torment he was facing in potions with Professor Snape.

After word had spread about Neville’s boggart, Professor Snape had been judging people’s potions harder than he ever had before. Heather was feeling like a total failure in potions now, and Neville could barely breath with Professor Snape breathing down his neck, making sure he was following the steps exactly as he had written them out.

Professor Snape assigned extra inches to the essays he had been assigning every class time at the mention of Professor Lupin’s name or boggarts in general, except to Draco and his band of loyal Slytherins who very publicly and shamed Professor Lupin at every opportunity.

It was very hard for Heather not to accept Professor Lupin had become her favorite teacher, and Defense Against the Dark Arts her favorite class.

Along with potions, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures were becoming everyone’s least favorite classes. The only people who liked Divination were the very few students who seemed to have ‘the Sight’ for it and constantly joined Professor Trelawney in extra readings and work during breakfast and lunchtime. A couple of Ravenclaws were now giving people readings and few Hufflepuffs giving others friendly warnings. The two Gryffindor girls Heather now knew as Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil had taken it upon themselves to give Harry advice every now and then to help him with his death omen. Heather found those two particularly annoying, more annoying than the only Slytherin giving out death omens.

Care of Magical Creatures was disliked in a very different way. Everyone who was friendly with Hagrid had to pretend to like learning about the very boring magical creatures known as flobberworms. Ron especially hated the flobberworms, reminding him of the slimy slugs he had upchucked last year after his failed hex.

Before the month of September ended, Draco and Heather received the very wonderful news that they had made it onto their team again. It turned out Marcus was stricter than even Professor Snape when it came to being captain of the Quidditch team. After giving Cassius a chance to try out with the beaters, he’d told him on the spot he didn’t make it and that next time he should ignore any teacher who got in the way of Quidditch.

Unfortunately, this meant Cassius was now extremely mad at Heather and had made a few attempts at cornering her in the common room but she had successfully dodged him and clung onto the unknowing Draco and Pansy for safety.

On the first day of October Marcus had called their first Quidditch team practice, telling them their new schedules and going over new tactics he’d thought of over the summer. Four times a week they met up to practice which just about killed Heather every day. Her muscles were so sore and tired constantly, she was going to bed at Dudley hours.

“No,” she groaned. She had been laying on the grass just outside the locker rooms waiting for Draco to come out.

He was standing over her with his arms crossed telling her to get up. “Let’s go already, Potter.”

She groaned as she sat up and held up her hand for assistance, which of course Draco ignored, choosing instead to nudge her with his foot. She stood and they walked together to the broom shed, talking about the most recent play they had practiced.

“They’ll have a hard time getting around us that way.”

Draco nodded. “The Quidditch cup is easy. We’re already the best in the school. It’s the House Cup that’s hard.” He looked at her with a frown, no doubt thinking about exactly why the House Cup was so hard to earn.

“I don’t control who Dumbledore gives free points to at the end of the year.” The grassy slopes were pushing Heather’s legs to their limit and all she wanted was to collapse on the ground again.

“You can control your stupid brother and his friends. Make sure they don’t do anything heroic that will give them any points.” Draco rubbed is hands together and gave her a sly look, “And I’ll make sure the Gryffindors lose as many points as possible.”

As they reached the castle entrance, Heather’s guilt was eating at her. She didn’t feel very good about being a part of Draco’s plan to lose the Gryffindors their points. It seemed extra mean, but she had stopped telling him off ever since they became ‘friends’ after Cassius tried hexing her in the charms corridor.

“And how will you do that?”

He shrugged. “I’ll think of something.” He slid his sling back on his arm as they went the long way to their common room, down the dungeon stairs passed Professor Snape’s office door.

They turned a corner and Heather almost smacked right into Professor Snape again, making her stumble back. He looked down at her and frowned. She could feel the hatred emanating off him. He looked at Draco and stepped aside.

“Draco, your father has asked me how your arm is doing.”

Draco clutched his arm. “It’s healing up, Sir,” he grinned.

Professor Snape raised his eyebrow, “Still in pain?”

Draco nodded. “It’s hard to reach for the Snitch during practices without feeling how much it hurts,” he pet his arm, “but I power through it.”

Professor Snape gave a slight smile. “How admirable. I’ll let your father know of the lasting damage you’re dealing with.” He frowned at Heather one last time and swept away into his office.

“Why was he coming from the common room?”

Draco shrugged, whispering the password and stepping in. Heather followed and saw the large giddy crowd that had formed around the notice board. Draco pushed people aside and Heather followed close behind him until she could see the paper that had just been pinned up.

The first Hogsmeade visit was October thirty-first all day until dinner time. Her shoulders slumped and she pushed her way back out and sat in one of the cushion puffs by the fire, drawing her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms around them. She stared at the fire for a few minutes, trying to think of any way to get permission to go, but none that didn’t involve speaking to Professor Snape.

The next morning she was still moping next to Ron who was also extremely quiet during all of Herbology. She held the puffapod mouths open while he pulled out the pink sacs and handed them to Harry to squeeze the glass beans into Hermione’s wooden pail.

Hermione was the first to break the silence. “How’s Scabbers doing, Ron?”

“He’s hiding under the bed, shaking, after your stupid cat nearly gutted him.” He threw the sac a little too hard, missing Harry’s hand.

The pink sac burst on the floor and the glass beans started sprouting immediately on the little bit of dirt and dust on the floor.

“Weasley!” Professor Sprout cried out. “Clean that up before they grow lips!”

They headed to Transfigurations in silence and were about to line up when Parvati pushed aside a couple of Hufflepuffs to make room for a crying Lavender to come through. She was wiping her tears on her sweater while Seamus walked beside her, nodding at the muffled words she was saying.

Heather followed them as they joined the growing group of concerned Gryffindors around Lavender, Parvati, and Seamus.

“Lavender? What’s wrong?” Hermione put her hand on her shoulder.

Lavender shook her head and Parvati started explaining what had happened.

“She just got a letter from her parents. Her rabbit, Binky’s, been killed by a fox.”

Hermione looked back at them and bit her lip before turning back. “That’s awful. I’m sorry about that.”

“She was right! I should have known!” Lavender sobbed very loudly.

Harry gave Heather a weary look and poked Hermione on the back.

“Er… Who was right?”

Lavender looked up at Hermione like she was missing the big picture. “Professor Trelawney! Its October sixteenth! She said the thing I would be dreading the most would happen today! I was dreading Binky dying and now it’s happened!”

Harry crossed his arms.

“Was Binky old?” Hermione couldn’t help pushing on despite Ron, Harry, and Heather trying to pull her back.

“No. He was… Only a baby!” she sobbed into Parvati’s shoulder.

“So then why were you dreading him dying?”

“Hermione!” Heather whispered, trying to get her attention.

Parvati glared at her and Seamus was shaking his head.

Hermione turned to everyone. “I just mean that he didn’t really die today. You’ve only just received the news of his passing. And you’re clearly in shock so it’s not like you were really dreading it too much – ”

Parvati gasped and Lavender glared at her behind watery eyes.

Ron pulled Hermione back and stepped in. “Don’t mind Hermione. Other people’s pets don’t matter very much to her.”

Hermione and Ron stared daggers at one another when the class door opened. They filtered in and Hermione took her seat at the front while Ron kept them in the back. The lesson went by like normal and before they knew it the bells were ringing and the lesson had come to an end.

“Excuse me,” Professor McGonagall held them up. “Gryffindors please stay seated.”

Everyone else filtered out and Heather decided to stay put as well.

“Please make sure to turn in your Hogsmeade forms before the thirty-first. No signature, no visiting the village.”

Neville’s hand floated up. “I-I think I’ve lost my – ”

“Your grandmother has already owled it to me.”

“Oh.” Neville went red.

“Ask her now,” Ron whispered to Harry as the Gryffindors were getting up.

“Ask her what?” Heather turned to Harry and frowned. “No! Don’t leave me here alone.”

Harry stood and looked at her gloomily. “It’s the only way to go.”

“Without me?” Heather stayed seated and crossed her arms. “I wouldn’t go without you!”

“He has to go! Its Hogsmeade Village!” Ron looked desperate. “I don’t wanna go alone!”

Hermione was standing behind them now. “You’ll manage just fine, Ron.”

Heather turned to her. “Does that mean you’re staying with me?”

Hermione looked away and wrung the strap of her bag. “Oh, well… Actually I was going to still go – ”

Heather rolled her eyes and turned to watch Professor McGonagall shake her head at Harry who sulked back to them.

“At least we still have the feast,” Hermione smiled.

They all glared at her and exited the classroom.

Halloween rolled around and Heather joined Harry in the Great Hall for mushy oats as Hermione and Ron assured them they’d bring back loads of sweets for them. They accompanied Hermione and Ron to the front entrance and watched them line up to leave. Mr. Filch was checking off names and Malfoy noticed them as they left.

“Hey, Potter!” he called out. “Not going? Afraid of passing the dementors?”

Several people laughed and all they could do was walk away. They decided to head to the library but got bored quickly, being just the two of them and needing to stay extra quiet because of Madam Pince.

“This is boring.” Harry scribbled tiny circles on the corner of his textbook. “Let’s go visit Hedwig or something.”

They got up and left, bumping into Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris halfway down the entrance hall steps.

“And where do you think you two are going?” He bared his teeth at them.

“The owlry.” Harry replied curtly.

“The owlry,” Mr. Filch spat back. “Can’t fool me! Think I don’t know what you two are up to? Turn around and head back to your common rooms where you belong!” Mrs. Norris hissed as if to emphasize his command.

They turned around and headed up the stairs, getting off at a random floor and walking down the corridor with their heads hung low and arms crossed. They passed by several classrooms and kept walking until their names were called.

“Harry? Heather?”

They turned around and saw Professor Lupin leaning out of his office looking at them.

“Where are Hermione and Ron? You’re all usually together.”

Harry sighed, “Hogsmeade.”

Heather nodded, “We couldn’t get our permission slips signed.”

Professor Lupin nodded and drummed his fingers on the doorframe. “Why don’t you two come in? You can see the grindylow I just had delivered for next week.”

“The what?” Harry looked at Heather.

“Don’t you ever read ahead?” She shook her head at Harry who stuck out his tongue at her after Professor Lupin had disappeared back into his office.

They followed him in and looked at the creature in the tank behind Professor Lupin’s desk. It was sickly green and had long spindly fingers and sharp horns on its head. It made faces at them from behind the glass.

“Heather, why don’t you inform your brother on what this creature is.”

Heather smiled down at Harry who had taken the only seat. “It’s a water demon. They live in bogs and lakes and grip onto things very tight. Unless you want to be dragged down and drowned, you need to break it’s grip, literally. They have very brittle fingers,” she wiggled her fingers and looked back at Professor Lupin.

He smiled, “Precisely, Heather. Five points to.. Slytherin.”

She smiled and stuck her tongue out at Harry as Professor Lupin turned around to make them some tea. She watched him set the kettle next to the tank on some cleared off table space and tapped it with his wand. Steam shot out of it like an explosion, ready to serve.

“I figure you’re both tired of tea leaves, so how’s tea bags? Harry?”

Harry nodded, “How did you know about – ”

“Professor McGonagall told me about it,” he handed them each their teacups. “Not worried about all that, are you, Harry?”

Harry shook his head and looked up at Heather who knew exactly what he was thinking. She shook her head slightly and sipped her tea. The last thing Harry should do is go around saying he saw a death omen back home.

Professor Lupin saw their exchange and asked again. “You sure there’s nothing you want to tell me?”

“No.” Harry sipped his tea and then set it down on his desk. “Actually…”

Heather looked down at him.

“When we were doing the boggart exercises, I never got to practice… You stopped the lessons just before it was my turn.”

Professor Lupin pressed his lips together and nodded slowly.

“Why?” Harry pressed on.

He gave a small chuckle, “Well in all honesty I thought it’d cause a panic if Voldemort suddenly materialized in the classroom…” He looked at Harry’s surprised face. “Would it not have turned into Voldemort?”

Heather was surprised to hear him say Voldemort’s name so casually. Everyone else seemed to be too afraid to. She looked down at Harry intrigued.

He shook his head. “I thought of Voldemort at first… But then I remembered that… dementor… from the train and…”

She hadn’t realized Harry was actually afraid of the dementors. To her it was just something stupid Draco was saying, but maybe he had picked up on it better than Heather had. If that was the case, Draco was a lot more dangerous of a bully than she had previously thought.

“I’m impressed,” Professor Lupin set his tea down.

“Impressed?” Heather echoed.

“Dementors are nothing compared to Voldemort. So, fearing the dementors only shows you’re afraid of fear itself. That’s very wise, Harry. A true Gryffindor.”

Harry beamed.

Heather wasn’t quite understanding what was so brave about fearing what had clearly spooked him on the train. She was afraid of spiders and they are nothing compared to Voldemort, does that make her brave too? She felt Harry was just getting more special treatment and retreated to behind his chair, annoyed.

“You must have been thinking I didn’t believe you brave enough to face your boggart then?” Professor Lupin gave a weak smile.

Harry shrugged, “Well I just… Yeah…”

There was a sharp knock on the door.

“Come in,” Professor Lupin called out.

The door opened and Professor Snape stood in the doorway, looking at Heather and Harry with a frown. He was holding a large goblet very carefully to his chest, which smoked faintly. His eyes narrowed at them as he turned to look at Professor Lupin.

“Severus. Thank you. You can just leave that here on the desk for me.” Professor Lupin cleared out an area and pointed at the spot expectantly.

Heather watched Professor Snape creep inside slowly, careful not to spill the liquid smoking inside the goblet. He stood back, facing them, and let his eyes wander over to her and Harry, glancing back at Professor Lupin.

Professor Lupin looked down at the goblet and back up at Professor Snape. “I was just showing them the grindylow.” He pointed at the tank behind him.

Professor Snape stood watching him. “Fascinating.” He kept watching him as Professor Lupin folded his hands in front of him. “You should drink it before the smoke’s gone out.”

Professor Lupin looked at them and back at Professor Snape. “Thank you, Severus. I will.”

“The rest of it is in the cauldron is in my office. I’ve made extra… should you need it.” Professor Snape continued standing there, eyeing him.

Heather’s curiosity was getting the better of her and she wanted to ask what the potion was, but she wasn’t sure how personal it was. She decided not to ask.

“Thank you – I’ll likely be taking more tomorrow – Again, thank you… Severus.”

Professor Snape’s brows pulled down in a frown again and his eyes glanced over at Heather and Harry again. “Not at all.”

Possibly the awkwardness had finally been too much because not soon after he backed out of the room, very watchful and unsmiling. Heather watched him reach for the doorknob without taking his eyes off Professor Lupin, until he started pulling the door closed when his eyes met hers before closing the door.

She had never seen Professor Snape like that, and there was something in his eyes that had urged her to ask about the potion, but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to be rude in front of her new favorite teacher.

She looked down at the goblet and back up at Professor Lupin.

He smiled. “Professor Snape’s very kindly concocted my potion for me.” He laughed, “I’ve never been much of a brewer…” He picked up the goblet and sniffed it, shuddering. “If only sugar didn’t make it absolutely useless.”

Harry was on the edge of his seat as Professor Lupin drank the liquid, almost gagging. “But… Why?”

Professor Lupin set down the unfinished goblet. “Oh, I’ve just been feeling a bit… off color. And this is the only thing that helps with that. I’m very lucky Professor Snape works here, seeing as not many master potioneers would be up for making such a complex potion.

Heather was growing more intrigued. Was Professor Snape really that good? She suddenly regretted not trying as hard in his class lately, even if he was being particularly vindictive as of late.

“Snape’s very interested in the Dark Arts!” Harry blurted out.

Heather stared down at him confused but he avoided her eyes and stared directly at the goblet that was still smoking on the desk.

Professor Lupin looked at Harry with an interest. “Really.”

Harry nodded, “Some people think… well – that he’d do anything to get the Defense Against Dark Arts position.”

Professor Lupin nodded, and drank the rest of the contents, banging the goblet down and trying not to make a face. “That was unpleasant.” He stood up and headed to the door, opening it. “I should get back to work. I’ll see you both at the feast later.”

“Alright.”

Heather pulled Harry up and dragged him out with her. Professor Lupin closed his door and she pulled him away.

“Why would you say that? You don’t know if he likes the dark arts? And so what if he wants the position? Maybe he really wants to teach everyone how to defend themselves!” She wasn’t sure why she was so heatedly defending Professor Snape who had spent the last two months yelling at every student, but she did feel something for any Slytherin constantly being painted as some horrible person.

Harry crossed his arms. “Snape’s evil. He could have poisoned that goblet then! Everyone hates him for a reason.”

Heather scoffed. “He’s my favorite teacher. And just because Voldemort was a Slytherin doesn’t make everyone else evil like him! …And Professor Lupin didn’t even care to believe you.”

“That’s because he doesn’t know him.”

She wanted to hit him and stormed away instead, heading down the stairs and to her common room.

She sat down on a cushion and crossed her arms and legs. She decided she wouldn’t let a few months of hard potions lessons change her mind, even if it was just to spite Harry. She had a few hours before dinner and decided to catch up on her potion studies at one of the desks.

“Only a few hours until Hermione and Ron come back with treats,” she told herself. “Just focus on the feast.” That calmed her down and she was able to get to studying just fine, pushing Harry out of her mind.

~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~

                        Chapter List

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[brave-braveman]

PS chp 6: The Journey From Platform Nine and Three Quarters

- I feel like more information should have been passed out in the Hogwarts letters - primarily how to get on the platform. Okay, muggleborns must be told when a teacher goes to explain everything to their parents but surely there are halfbloods that would need that information, too. What about kids whose parents were homeschooled or went to a different school? They should just put directions in the letter just in case. Plus basic info like food will available for purchase on the train and to wear muggle clothing before boarding the train.

- I love the image of Harry reading his textbooks late at night. Even if Harry might not be the most academically driven person his curiosity really is unrivalled. It’s certainly something we will see more of but it is interesting how Harry’s interest in studying magic does get dulled by teachers. He’s interested in history until he meets Binns and he found the apothecary fascinating in chapter five but his interest in Potions vanishes after his first lesson with Snape. In fact, it isn’t until his third year that Harry becomes interested in his classes again and that is because of Lupin. It says a lot about the need for good teachers who care.

- Harry’s friendship with the twins is something that generally gets overlooked, especially in the early books, but something I realised during this chapter is that yes, the toilet seat Fred and George promise Ginny gets sent to Harry but it really made me think of how the twins see Harry. They were going to send the toilet seat to Ginny because she was sad. That is, they wanted to cheer up their little sister. At the end of PS Harry is left in a coma for three days ad the twins try to send him a toilet seat to cheer him up. They use the same tactic because they’re already viewing Harry as family.

- “He didn’t know what he was going to - but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind” - and this is why Death’s waiting room resembles Kings Cross for Harry. Because he associates the train station with leaving pain behind and going onto good things.

- “[Harry] found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him” - Harry and Ron’s friendship is super important for a lot of reasons but I think this idea here really cements the friendship as being vital to Ron, in particular. Ron, who was the last of six boys and born just before the longed for daughter, Ron who was overlooked and never considered the popular one or the smart one or funny one. He’s not naturally brilliant at Quidditch or school work. And yet here is someone who finds Ron interesting, who genuinely thinks Ron is the best. Ron doesn’t see himself as being important but he is the number one person in Harry’s life. This line only hints at everything that is ahead for the both of them but that’s why it’s important.

- The Weasley’s poverty is something that was actually done well in the books and is something that you don’t really see much of in media. Ron’s insecurity stems from being the youngest boy but also because of his family’s lack of money. It’s something that causes friction between Harry and Ron later but at this point it allows them to connect - Ron is able to see Harry as an equal rather than the Boy Who Lived and Harry is able to sympathise with and validate Ron. It allows them to truly see each other.

- “I’ve learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough”. This line always hurts me. Hermione’s worst fear is later revealed to be failing all her classes - she only sees herself as worthy if she’s smart and, later in the series especially the concept of her being “enough” is tied so closely with how she’s perceived due to her blood status. I’d say now it’s more an issue for her because Hermione has nothing else but her academic success. It’s something she’ll later learn isn’t the most important thing in the world and ultimately is something she sacrifices but, for now, it’s the thing that allows Hermione to view herself as worthy.

- There’s some more House rivalry revealed here as Hermione tells the reader the names of the last two Houses. She says she’s been asking around and according to what she’d been told, Gryffindor “sounds by far the best” and is immediately linked to Dumbledore who has been put up on a pedestal thanks to Hagrid. Ravenclaw is left to be described as not too bad, The bias is very, very clear.

- I love Harry’s thoughts concerning Voldemort vs You-Know-Who. he admits to feeling scared when people say ‘You-Know-Who’ and would feel more comfortable just saying Voldemort. It’s interesting as it suggests that by calling him ‘You-Know-Who’ everyone is feeding the myth of Voldemort. That is, they are building up their own fear and giving him an almost mythic status. It feels more like a grand legend than an actual person. By having Harry be unafraid to tear some of that grandness away by calling him Voldemort offers us out first glimpse at the hero Harry will become.

Other Observations

- Hedwig’s name came from A History of Magic - It’s not a brick wall they run at to enter the platform - it’s a metal ticket box - The gateway back into the muggle world is a wrought-iron archway - Lee Jordan had a pet tarantula - Percy’s prefect badge is red and gold with the letter P on it - this design will change in book five - Arthur bought Hermes for Percy - Dumbledore enjoys tenpin bowling - Ron has Charlie’s old wand which has a core of unicorn hair - Maximum of four people to a boat

Favourite Quote: The narrow path had opened on to the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

[strawberrysunrisewitches]

Amara Profile

template made by @hogwartsmysterystory​

Identity

Name: Amara Jade Caplan-Shields

Gender:Female

Birth Date:4 January 1999

Species: Human

Blood Status: Half-Blood

Sexuality: Bisexual

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Ethnicity: Vietnamese African-American

Nationality: British-American

Residence: North Yorkshire, England?

Myer Briggs Personality Type: ENFP-A / Campaigner

The Mage

Wand: Black Walnut 11” ¾ Swedish Short-Snout horn

Animagus: Maine Coon cat with a dragon mark on the stomach (was made an animagus by Chaotic Official Aunty Lucia)

Misc Magical Abilities: N/A

Boggart Form: Her sisters dead surrounded by thestrals 

Riddikulus Form: Her parents in clown suits

Amortentia: (What do they smell like?) Cherries, bbq smoke, morning dew, 

Amortentia: (What do they smell?):Honey, Lavender, Roses, chocolate, cinnamon on whipped cream 

Patronus: Swedish Short-Snout

Patronus Memory: Getting to hold Layla for the first time

Mirror of Erised: Her adult self as the CoMC professor

Specialized/Favourite Spells:

Reducio(Because carrying a giant blanket is no fun)

Draconifors (Cause she likes dragons)

Accio (Don’t want to lose a shrunken blanket)

Incendio (Good way to get warm and roast marshmallows)

Diffindo (Cut a blood supremacist time is always with this spell)

Appearance

Faceclaim: Hailee Steinfeld

Height: 4’6(Year 1), 5’9(Year 7)

Weight: 156 lbs(by year 7)

Physique: Well muscled (thanks Quidditch) but quite curvy

Eye Colour: Hazel

Hair Colour: Very Dark Brown

Skin Tone: Light Tan

Body Modifications: Two studs on both ears, when she is 15 she gets the tips of her hair dyed green to match her Mama

she gets multiple tattoos when she is older; 

Going down her right side from just below her chest to her thigh is a dragon with wisps of red fire placed around various parts of it(16)

Between her shoulder blades is a tattoo of two wyverns one red and one blue forming a heart with their bodies with the name of her significant other in it whoever that may be (17)

Wrapping around her left arm are four pink flowers with blue magic swirling down their stalks from a blue butterfly(17) 

On her stomach. She has a tattoo of a white and blue snowy owl with six blue and purple flowers on the wings, three on each one.(18)

Scarring:Scar going vertically down the middle of her right eye

Inventory: (what do they carry on them?) Wand, hair ribbon, stetson, magical creatures books, butterfly book, five person blanket, a hot water bottle in a butterfly cover

Fashion: Amara is always wearing at least two layers of clothing, preferring warmth over fashion; merino wool clothing is her immediate go to for anything; hoodies, sweatshirts you name it if there is a version made of merino wool she will like it. If there’s no merino wool then she will settle for polyprop clothes but never wears skirts or dresses, she is also never seen without her green hair ribbon given by her Mumma or stetson from her Mama

Allegiances 

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Ilvermorny House: Thunderbird

Affiliations/Organizations:

Hogwarts

Slytherin

Prefects

Professions: CoMC Professor(Future)

Hogwarts Information

Class Proficiencies:

Astronomy: D

Charms: O

DADA: E

Flying: O

Herbology:A 

History of Magic:O

Potions: A

Transfiguration: O

Electives:

CoMC O

Magical Theory E

Music E

Quidditch: Beater

Extra Curricular: Magical Creatures Club

Favourite Professors: Hagrid

This should be obvious why she likes Hagrid but it’s solely because of his teaching style allowing the students to get up close and personal with the creatures to understand them better and learn how they act in an environment they are comfortable in.  

Least Favourite Professors:Professor Sinistra

Amara dislikes Professor SInistra due to the fact that Astronomy requires them to stay up past midnight when its cold and Amara hates the cold due to its effect on her and how she isn’t allowed to wrap herself in her big blanket in class

Relationships

Sisters:

Reyna Andrea Caplan-Shields(Rara) @cursed-ice-spirits​

Halfblood

Hufflepuff

Two years older

Brown hair, tan skin,  hazel eyes

Amara looks up to Reyna and will seek her guidance for problems that she believes her parents cannot help with but does wish Reyna will take a break from everything she does every day for her sanity’s sake. Amara would do anything for Reyna if it meant she’s safe and healthy even take a curse for her.  

Layla Ida Caplan-Shields

Halfblood

Hufflepuff

Two years younger 

Brown hair, tan skin, and blue eyes

Amara is very protective of Layla and would prefer she let her fight her battles for her but will relent if Amara can see it’s something Layla truly believes in and wants to fight for it, despite this protectiveness Amara knows Layla is a better dueler than her but it’s hard to remember that when Layla is in a situation where she could get hurt. 

Mother 1:Lauren Karina Caplan-Shields(Mama)

Half-Blood

Gryffindor 

Brown hair, dark tan skin, and hazel eyes 

Out of all of her parents, Amara is closest to Lauren and is the first one she will confide in when it comes to any problems that she has. It is because of Lauren that Amara first wanted to become the CoMC professor of Hogwarts. Lauren is always willing to tell Amara about the new species of creatures that aren’t in books and of course the obsession with butterflies came from Lauren.

Mother 2: Rebecca Vivian Caplan-Shields(Mumma) @cursed-ice-spirits​

Pureblood

Hufflepuff

Black hair, light tan skin, and hazel eyes

Rebecca loves Amara as much as she loves the rest of her daughters although they might not be as close as Rebecca and Reyna. She likes showing her how to care for creatures since she knows that Amara wants to be the COMC Professor when she’s older

Father: Diego Caplan-Shields(Papa)

Halfblood 

Hufflepuff 

Brown hair, tan skin, and dark hazel eyes

Despite not actually being biologically related, Diego and Amara are very close, he taught her to stand up for her friends and what she believes in no matter whoever or whatever she is facing. Diego also instilled a love of music in her that she will never lose.

Love Interest: *shrug*

Best Friends: Grace Winger

Rival: *Shrug*

Enemy: ALL BLOOD SUPREMACISTS

Dormmates: 

Grace Winger

Roxanna Firahel

Pets:

Nieve, her snowy owl, big fan of sitting on heads and not a fan of bird cages at all. Very bitey if you try to put her in one

Cici, a wolf that lives in the Forbidden Forest that Amara nursed back to health when it was injured which eventually is adopted by Amara when she graduates

Closest Canon Friends: TBD

Closest MC Friends:

Alaire Whitecross @hogwartsmysterystory​

Alissa Firahel

Amaranth Winger @thecursedvaultchild​

Grace Winger @thecursedvaultchild​

Hannah FIrahel

Penelope Auraine

Rebecca Firahel 

Rhett Winger @thecursedvaultchild​

Roxanna Firahel

Selene Firahel

Background/History

When Amara was about 9 years old, she escaped her parents watch and wandered around a nearby forest where she came upon a couple called Henry and Michelle Auraine who were attacked by some wolves which they were able to kill but not before Michelle died and Henry close to it, Amara was able to comfort Henry in his final moments assuring he will see his wife again. This event gave her the ability to see thestrals which unfortunately instilled in her a fear of thestrals

In her first year Amara befriended Penelope Auraine, the daughter of Henry and Michelle. the two became quick friends despite being in different houses

In her third year, Penelope fell into the Black Lake and didn’t know how to swim, only problem was it was winter so if Amara went to rescue her she would very quickly get hypothermia. Amara didn’t even hesitate and jumped in hoping to be quick enough to rescue her. She was able to do so thanks to quidditch but just barely before she fainted from hypothermia, she was of course saved but it was very close 

It was also in her third year that Reyna collapsed from the demon afflicting her which increased Amara’s worry for Reyna and desire to ensure Reyna relaxes for once in her life.

In her fifth year, Amara became prefect and started trying to get rid of any and all traces of blood supremacy she can find

In her seventh year is when Amara comes upon Cici and nurses her back to health

After Hogwarts Amara became the professor of CoMC once Hagrid retired but before he did, she worked at Lauren’s magical creatures zoo for awhile 

Personality

Amara is the complete opposite of the stereotypical Slytherin, she's emotional, very empathetic, loyal to a fault and very smart but at the same time she uses everything she has at her disposal to accomplish her goals whether that be schoolwork or shutting up pureblood supremacists it matters not to her. She is also a absolute 100% mess when it comes to romance and it's very obvious to everyone including herself when she has a crush on someone

Misc

Her scar was from when she fell while holding scissors with the blade facing upwards when she was young

She’s very susceptible to the cold to the point that she can get hypothermic much more faster than normal people hence her carrying the big blanket and hot water bottle with her most of the time

Is VERY cuddly to her friends and family and will very quickly doze off when doing so, and you are not allowed to move because it's the law

She wakes up early to watch the sunrise with Lauren along with some hot chocolate and her blanket to keep warm in the morning air

Her first name means Everlasting and Her middle name is from her late grandmother, Eliza Jade Shields

She is fluent in English and Spanish

Her side tattoo looks like this, her dragon heart tattoo looks like this, her arm tattoo looks like this and her stomach is this

Generally puts her hair up in the same way as Lauren

Is a bit obsessed with butterflies

Knows how to play the guitar and drums

[alindakb]

Letters to my Parents - Friday 19 May 1995 - by Alinda

Friday 19 May 1995

Dear mom and dad,

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. I don’t know where to begin so I’ll just start at the beginning. I’ve found out what the third and final task for the TriWizard tournament is going to be. I had to go down to the Quidditch field one evening together with the other champions. I met up with Cedric at the Entrance Hall and we walked to the field together. We don’t hang out that much, but we’ve become friends over the last couple of months. He’s the only other student who knows what it feels like to be a champion. And he was a bit taken aback when he heard how hard the second tasks was for me. And a little jealous of the fact that I’ve found the one I would love till the end of my days already. He’s been dating Cho Chang. He says he likes her, but that it would be nice to know if it was going to last.

We were both shocked when we reached the Quidditch pitch. The pitch was no longer smooth and flat but filled with hedges. At that moment still small and easy to step over, but in a month time they will be about twenty feet high, turning into a maze we’ll have to navigate for the third tasks. When I told Draco about the hedges on the Quidditch field he was just as upset as me. I assured him that Mr Bagman assured us that the field will be back to normal after the tasks and that we would be able to play Quidditch on it again. Not that Draco believes this. Adrian and Miles told him it would all be fine, but Draco just keeps shaking his head and complaining about how unbelievable it is that the pitch has been destroyed. Adrian joked that Draco is turning into a real captain, stepping into Marcus footsteps.

But back to the maze. The TriWizard Cup will be placed in the centre of the maze and whoever gets there first will receive full marks. And of course, the maze will be filled with obstacles, like creatures and spells. Cedric is allowed to go in first, together with me, as we have the most points at this moment. Viktor will follow ten minutes later and finally, Fleur will be allowed to enter. I’ve told Hermione and Draco about the tasks and they’ve made this impressive list of jinxes, curses, spells and charms I should learn to get through the maze. I don’t think I can learn them all in time, but Draco is positive and keeps telling me that he’ll help me and will reward me for every spell I master. And I can say, I love the rewards he gives me late at night when our roommates are asleep.

When we were dismissed, Viktor asked to talk to me and we headed out towards the forest. Viktor didn’t want to be overheard he said and I was fine with that. I wanted to talk to me as I was Hermione’s best friend and he wanted to know what was going on between her and Ron. He said that she talks about him just as much as she talks about me and Draco. I told him that they are dating and was surprised to see that Viktor didn’t like this news. He asked me if I thought he might have a chance with her, that she might leave this redheaded boy for him. I didn’t like to crush Viktor’s hopes, he’s a nice guy, but after all the pining towards each other I’m glad Ron and Hermione are back together and I don’t think Viktor will be able to come between them.

Viktor nodded his head and then changed the subject. He told me that I was a really good flier, that he watched me during the first tasks, and that he would love to fly against me one day. I told him I saw him at the Quidditch World Cup and that I wasn’t near as good as him. He disagreed and we made a deal that after the last tasks we would find time to set up a little Quidditch match with some of his friends and my Quidditch playing friends. Miles and Adrian are all up for it and already started to think who they should put on the team. I think they even approached Fred and George to asks if they would be the beaters.

I thought this was a nice way to end the evening, but all went a bit crazy. Viktor and I heard someone in the forest and when we looked around it turned out that Mr Crouch was staggering through the forest. He looked awful. The knees of his robes were ripped and bloody, his face was scratched, and he was unshaven and grey with exhaustion. He was muttering and gesticulating. It looked like he was talking to someone that only he could see. And then he fell to his knees, grabbed my robes and gasped the headmaster's name. He said he needed to see headmaster Dumbledore, that he’d done something stupid. And then he let go of me and started talking to the tree again.

Viktor promised to look after him while I got the headmaster. I ran back to the castle and up the stairs towards the headmaster's office. And just when I reached the stone gargoyle it opened and professor Snape stepped out. He wanted to know what I was doing there and I told him all about how Viktor and I found Mr Crouch in the forest and that he looked mad and wanted to talk to the headmaster. Professor Snape told me to calm down and explain myself clearly. So I took a deep breath and told Snape all about Mr Crouch. And just when Professor Snape said we should get headmaster Dumbledore the gargoyle moved again. The headmaster stepped out and as soon as Professor Snape told him I found Mr Crouch we all set off towards the forest.

When we reached the forest it was all quiet. Professor Snape and headmaster Dumbledore lit up their wands and searched the ground. It didn’t take us long to find Viktor laying on the forest floor. He was knocked out, but the headmaster woke him up with a simple spell. Then he used another spell to call for Hagrid and Snape went to fetch Karkaroff. Karkaroff was angry, he called it treachery and went on and on at Dumbledore about who unfair the tournament was with Hogwarts having two champions and ministry workers attacking the competition. And then spitting at the headmaster’s feet. This pissed of Hagrid, who lifted Karkaroff off the floor and slammed him against a tree. Dumbledore told him to let Karkaroff go and escort me back to the castle, to the dungeons. And lucky for Karkaroff Hagrid listened to the headmaster and let go of him.

Back in the common room, I spend half the night speculating with Draco, Blaise, Greg, Daphne and Millicent about what happened to Mr Crouch and what was wrong with him. Draco said it looked like he was under the imperious curse and was fighting it to warn us about Voldemort. All I know is that we hardly had any sleep that night and that I fell asleep on Draco’s shoulder during History of Magic the next day.

I’d also written a letter to Sirius about it all. He wasn’t very impressed with me, taking off with Viktor in the middle of the night. I had to return him a promise that I won’t go wandering around at night and that I make sure I keep myself safe. He told me again that my name didn’t get into the Goblet of Fire by accident and that the person responsible is on their last chance of attacking me. He told me to go and practice stunning and disarming spells. And maybe some hexes. His message was clear, focus on the third task and forget all the crazy business with Mr Crouch. He told me again to trust Dumbledore and Professor Moody, and asked me please to not break any more school rules and to keep myself safe.

From that moment on Draco, Hermione, Ron and I have been looking up hexes in the library or practising the Stunning Spell. Draco says he doesn’t mind, but I don’t like stunning him all the time. He always falls in the wrong direction and misses the cushions. Ron suggested to kidnap Mrs Norris and stun her. Hermione and Draco both agreed that was just a stupid idea, that we don’t need Filch to come after us for hurting his cat and that Ron could be my test subject for some time. He didn’t last long, complaining his back was killing him from falling onto it.

I felt like things were going back to normal. Well at least as normal as life can be with being a champion in the TriWizard tournament. But of course, I was wrong. It all started in divination. Professor Trelawney had her perfumed fire burning, even though it was a hot day. I cracked a window open to get some fresh air and set down next to Draco. Professor Trelawney dimmed the lights to show us her impressive solar system in a jar and explain something about the position of Mars. I didn’t catch much of it, as the heat and the nice breeze from the window made me doze off. Before I knew it I was flying on an eagle owl, soaring through the clear blue sky towards an old house set high on a hillside.

Inside the house, I ended up in a room with boarded-up windows. There was a chair, a giant snake and that traitor Wormtail. A cold, high-pitched voice spoke to him. Told him he was lucky, that his blunder hadn’t ruined everything. He still got tortured, but I didn’t felt sorry for him. I hate that man. He’s worse than the Dark Lord for betraying the both of you. But I did feel his pain as my scar burned on my forehead. I screamed until I heard Draco’s voice, screaming my voice, telling me to wake up.

The whole class was looking at me and I was glad that Draco pulled me to my feet and dragged me out of the room. He told Ron to go tell Hermione after class that we’re going to see Professor Snape, knowing she would worry if we wouldn’t show up for dinner.

During our walk down to the dungeons, Draco made me repeat my dream. He asked questions about every little detail. Like what kind of owl, how did the house look like, could you identify where it was, did you see the Dark Lord, etcetera. I know Draco worries, and answered all his questions, but all I really wanted to do was forget about the awful dream. It felt like the dream I had during summer and I don’t like that. It was like I was there in the room with Voldemort.

Professor Snape dragged us to the headmaster’s office when Draco told him that I had a dream again that hurt my scar. (it was funny to hear that the password for the headmaster’s office is Cockroach Cluster). When we reached the big oak door we could hear voices on the other side. The headmaster was having a conversation with the minister of Magic and Professor Moody. Snape shook his head and motioned to us to be quiet. It was a bit strange, listening in on a conversation because Professor Snape wanted to eavesdrop.

It turns out that Headmaster Dumbledore thinks that the disappearance of Bertha Jenkins and Mr Crouch are connected. Only the minister doesn’t see it that way. He thinks that Mr Crouch has finally cracked and lost his mind.

We didn’t hear much more, because it turns out that Professor Moody’s magical eye can see through doors, and he warned the room that Professor Snape, Draco and I were standing at the door because we wanted to talk to the headmaster. We entered but were told to wait until they had investigated the grounds. Professor Snape joined them, asking the minister all kinds of questions when they departed. I think he doesn’t trust Professor Moody and is still afraid the man will say terrible things about him.

Draco and I first took some time to talk to Fawkes, the headmaster's phoenix. He is a beautiful creature and we both enjoyed watching him. Draco wished he could have his own phoenix one day. And then all we could do was wait. But our attention was captured by silver light coming from a cabinet that wasn’t closed properly. We opened the cabinet and found a shallow stone basin. Draco told me it was a Pensieve, a device that can hold memories. His father also has one in his office at their home.

The silver light and strange liquid or gas (I’m still not sure what it was, it looked like light made liquid and like wind made solid at the same time) was fascinating. I couldn’t keep my eyes from it, and neither could Draco. We bent over the basin and looked into the liquid. I expected to see the bottom of the basin, but instead, we saw a room. And then my nose toughed the liquid and I was pulled into the room. Draco followed me and we both ended up on a bench next to headmaster Dumbledore. I tried to talk to him, but Draco told me he couldn’t hear me, that we were pulled into a memory and could only observe.

So observe we did. The memory was in a room filled with witches and wizards. In the middle was a chair with chains and everyone was looking at the door in the corner. After some time a man was brought in through the door, accompanied by two Dementors. I shivered and Draco took my hand. He whispered in my ear that they weren’t real, only a part of the memory.

The man we saw was Karkaroff and he was brought in for questioning from Azkaban. Mr Crouch was there and asked him for the names of Death Eaters. Karkaroff mentioned multiple names, but most were already captured or dead. Until he mentioned a wizard working for the Department of Mysteries. But he was still sent back to Azkaban, even after he mentioned professor Snape’s name. But it was agreed that Snape had turned sides in the war and was no longer a Death Eater.

Then we were moved to a differed memory. This one was the trial of Ludo Bagman. He was found guilty for passing information to Lord Voldemort’s supporters. Mr Crouch wanted to send him to Azkaban, but the crowd protested and they brought it to a vote. Nobody voted for imprisonment, they even complimented him on his win with Quidditch. Draco muttered that it was a disgrace, that Mr Bagman got away with his crimes just because he was a famous Quidditch player. I told Draco he could do the same once he became the star player for the English team. But Draco answered that he would never help the Dark Lord and therefore would never need to be acquitted.

The last trial we saw was for four people. When they were brought in Draco told me the woman was his aunt, his mother’s sister. And that one of the men was her husband. They were sentenced for torturing Frank Longbottom and his wife. Draco and I looked at each other and mentioned Neville at the same time. He was raised by his grandmother because of what Draco’s aunt did to his parents. Draco feels bad about this, I know. He says it’s fine, but he started to be kinder to Neville ever since we saw the memory of his aunt’s trail.

There was a boy that was sentenced for the same crime. He begged Mr Crouch to believe he didn’t do it. He called Mr Crouch his father. But this didn’t stop Mr Crouch to sentence him to Azkaban for the rest of his life.

When the boy was being dragged out of the room, Headmaster Dumbledore showed up next to us and told us it was time to return to his office. He pulled us out and we both started to apologise straight away. But the Headmaster only smiled and told us it was fine, that he shouldn’t have left the cabinet open, knowing full well how tempting the light is.

Headmaster Dumbledore told us a bit about the Pensive, but it wasn’t any new information that Draco hadn’t told me already. And then he asked me why Professor Snape had brought us to his office. I told him about the dream, with Wormtail and Voldemort. And that it hurt my scar when Voldemort tortured Wormtail.

Draco asked him if he knew why my scar hurts and he wasn’t happy with the answer. Dumbledore said he had a theory and no more than that. He thinks it’s because of the failed Killing Curse from when I was a baby. Because of my scar, I feel pain when Voldemort is near and when he feels a strong surge of hatred. Draco hates this, he doesn’t want me to be connected to the Dark Lord in any way. He says that one soul biding connection is enough for a person. I told him it’s not the same as our connection. I don’t feel Voldemort all the time, as I feel Draco. This calmed Draco down a little, but he is still upset about it all.

After that, we asked him if he thought that Voldemort was getting stronger. He said he thinks so, as there are more and more strange disappearing, just like the first time he rose to power.

I also asked him why he was so sure back then that Professor Snape had switched sides, but he didn’t want to answer that. He said it was between him and Professor Snape.

That was the end of our conversation and Draco and I left to go get dinner at the great hall. Everyone wanted to know if I was fine, as they all had heard I had fallen down screaming during Divination. I told them all that I was fine and we agreed to meet up later at a private spot to discuss what had happened.

That is about all that has happened. I now need to go and prepare for the third task and try to survive it. If I don’t, Draco has promised to kill me personally. I told him I would already be dead if I don’t survive, but this made no difference to him. He just said he would raise me from the dead with dark magic, just so he could kill me again. I know he doesn’t mean that, that he’s just worried, but I’m glad we can joke about it from time to time.

Love you both,

Harry James Potter

[raywritesthings]

Dog’s Best Friend 4/6

My Writing Fandom: Harry Potter Characters: Sirius Black, Rubeus Hagrid, Cornelius Fudge, Albus Dumbledore Summary: When Rubeus Hagrid is placed in the cell next to notorious murderer Sirius Black, truths are revealed and events are changed. *Can be read on my AO3 or FFN, links are in bio*

It felt strange walking up to the gates of Hogwarts in his Animagus form in broad daylight. Stranger still to see his own face staring down at him from the wanted posters pinned up everywhere; he didn’t even remember that photo being taken. He’d stayed at Hagrid’s side all through Hogsmeade village, and not one person had given them a second glance. Hagrid was known to keep pets, after all.

They veered left once on the grounds instead of continuing up the path to the castle. Hagrid led them up to his front door, getting out his keys as he did so. Before he could place it in the lock, there came a loud thud and a booming bark.

“Get back, Fang, let us through! He misses me is all,” Hagrid added over his shoulder to Sirius, who waited with some apprehension for the door to open and this Fang to be revealed. Things would be much more difficult if he found he wasn’t welcome in Hagrid’s home.

“Hullo, Fang!” Hagrid greeted as the door swung wide.

Fang was huge and black much like Sirius’ own form when in better health — but he slobbered all over Hagrid with a joyful yowl. Hagrid chuckled and scratched him on the head.

“Yeh bin good while I was away? Look who I’ve brought with me. Fang, this is Grimm.”

They’d realized just before breaking camp that morning that Hagrid would need to give him a name. Sirius had decided against the old nickname he’d used with his friends — too risky that Peter might catch wind, or that one of the other professors might remember. They hadn’t exactly been discrete about calling each other the names, at any rate. 

Hagrid had decided on Grimm as his own little joke. “People think Grims are terrible things, but they’re not at all — just like you!”

In the moment, Fang clambered down the steps towards him, an intense look of concentration on his face. Sirius knew that other animals could sometimes tell there was more to him than met the eye, even if they didn’t know exactly what.

So he dropped and rolled onto his side to show he didn’t want a fight or to displace Fang; he was a guest here for at least the time it would take to capture Peter, not a usurper. Fang came up and sniffed him, then slowly lowered to the floor as well, his tail wagging. Were he younger, Sirius suspected that the boarhound would wish to play.

“See? Knew yeh’d both get on just fine. Alright, let’s have a cuppa.”

Sirius jumped up and followed behind Hagrid and Fang into the little one-room cabin. Hagrid pulled down a couple mugs and set about preparing a fresh pot.

Hagrid’s Hut had a couple high-set windows with curtains drawn partially across them. He clearly thought that meant Sirius was safe to transform, and Sirius felt inclined to agree. Now that he was free of the Dementor’s ever-looming presence, he wanted to experience some of his life as a human rather than just a dog — Yet a knock sounded on the front door, and he shrunk back on all fours while Fang rushed forward.

Hagrid cast a nervous glance in his direction before striding over. “Back, Fang. Oh! Professor Dumbledore!”

Sirius, if anything, tried to make himself even smaller. He hadn’t wanted to attract the Headmaster’s attention so soon. Did he perhaps already know? Of course he knew, and now Sirius was going straight back to Azkaban where he’d receive the Dementor’s Kiss, and Pettigrew would be free to do whatever he liked to Harry—

“Hagrid, welcome back,” Dumbledore greeted warmly. “I trust you had a relaxing time on your holiday?”

“Er, yeah. Very good time. All set ter be back ter work.” Hagrid was practically exuding nerves as he allowed Dumbledore past him. This was not going to go well at all.

“I see you’re expecting company,” Dumbledore said, gesturing to the two mugs sitting out. Sirius did his best not to wince.

“Oh, that!” Hagrid hurried to pick one of the mugs up. “Thought one of ‘em might’a bin chipped. But they’re fine. Er, would yeh like some tea, Professor Dumbledore?”

“Why, thank you, Hagrid.” Dumbledore sat at the table, scratching the top of Fang’s head when the dog sat beside him. His eyes cast about the room and landed on Sirius, widening in surprise for a moment.

“Made a new friend, have you, Hagrid?”

“What?” Hagrid nearly dropped the teapot. “Oh. That, er, that’s Grimm. Got him off a friend who found him. He thought I might like looking after him. He’d bin abused, yeh know?”

Dumbledore nodded. “He does seem quite thin for his size.”

“That he is. So don’ take no offense if he doesn’ come up to greet yeh. Nothin’ personal in it.”

“Of course.” The Headmaster’s curious gaze left Sirius at last, and he turned to the half-giant with a smile. “Hagrid, your capacity for seeing the good in all things is a gift I admire.” He quite happily accepted the mug of tea set before him, and Hagrid sat in his own chair as well. “As I recall, you have accepted the position of Care of Magical Creatures Professor for this upcoming term. I am happy to say that we have also secured a new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.”

“Yeh did? Figured it’d be slim pickin’s after Lockhart.”

“Yes, well it did take some convincing, but after the recent news I had thought it best to reach out, and we naturally came around to the subject. Our latest addition to staff is none other than Remus Lupin.”

It took everything in Sirius not to yelp in astonishment, and he sank down low to the floor. Remus was coming here? Of all the rotten luck.

“He’ll be a good one. Remus really knew his stuff in school.”

“Yes, I’m very happy with his acceptance. And with the latest advancements in potion making, there will be no need to use the Willow. Severus has agreed to brew the Wolfsbane Potion for Remus.”

Severus? Surely not the same one — yet it had to be, for what were the chances two parents would inflict that name on someone let alone one? But if it was the same, Sirius didn’t see how Snape could be at Hogwarts, let alone in a position to agree to brew something for Remus’ benefit. He’d be more likely to poison him instead!

“He’ll sleep locked in his quarters during the full moons and likely require a substitute if it should fall on nights before classes, but — I say, Hagrid, is Grimm quite well?”

Sirius only realized then that he had started growling.

Hagrid gave a much louder laugh than necessary. “Jus’ hungry is all! I better get him somethin’. Let me just—” Rather than finish, he simply turned around and started searching about his cabinets.

“Well, I believe I’ve taken up enough of your time. I’ll leave you to settle in.” Dumbledore sipped once more at the mug — he couldn’t have gotten through half of it, but it was giant-portioned after all — and rose from the table. “Thank you very much, Hagrid.”

“An’ thank you, Professor. I’ll come up fer dinner one of these nights and bring some lesson plans, eh?”

“That would be lovely.” Dumbledore smiled down at Fang, who had walked over to see him out, and glanced once more at Sirius before departing.

Hagrid abandoned his search for food to watch out the window, relaxing after a few minutes with a sigh. “It’s all fine.”

Sirius transformed back. “That was too close.”

“Nah, it wasn’t. Course, didn’ help none when yeh got yer hackles raised abou’ Snape,” Hagrid said, frowning down at him in disapproval.

“What’s he doing here?” Sirius demanded. As if he didn’t already have Peter to worry about.

“He’s a teacher, that’s what.”

Sirius snorted. “As if. Snape couldn’t stand watching his own peers make the slightest mistake. It offended his sense that he could and should be the one doing it better. No way he’d sign up to preside over a bunch of children struggling to learn.”

“He didn’ have much choice after the war. Professor Dumbledore vouched for him turning spy fer our side, an’ folks wanted Dumbledore to keep an eye on him.”

“So they wanted him put in charge of their kids?” Even growing up in this world, Sirius often wondered where other wizards and witches kept their brains. “I shudder to think what a beast he’s been.”

“Never mind him,” Hagrid told him. “What abou’ Remus? He knows yeh can transform, don’ he?”

Sirius sank down into Dumbledore’s vacated chair. “He does. I’ll have to leave before he gets here.”

“I can’ lose me dog jus’ after I got him,” Hagrid argued.

“But he’ll tell Dumbledore! Or he has, or — but then Dumbledore would’ve known it was me,” he reasoned. And Dumbledore would have acted, not just left him with Hagrid.

So Remus hadn’t said. Not even now, when Sirius had escaped. He had to know his Animagus form was at least part of how he was staying hidden. Was it possible he thought Sirius might be innocent, that he still cared about their friendship?

But no. Sirius realized it in the next instance. Revealing what he knew about Sirius meant revealing James and Peter’s own crimes in becoming illegal Animagi. He was protecting their memories — never mind Peter was alive — and possibly his own freedom. His condition could in all likelihood come out, too. It was good, still, that Remus hadn’t said in that case. Sirius would hate to be the cause of more suffering to him.

“Alright, I’ll stay. But we’ll have to be careful Remus doesn’t see me. Don’t invite him round, don’t talk to him about your new pet. Don’t give him any reason to suspect something.” As soon as Remus came across evidence he couldn’t in good conscious ignore, he would feel forced to act. So long as it never came to that, they wouldn’t have to worry.

“The professors don’ tend to come round here fer much. Think it’ll be alrigh’. Besides, we’ll be catchin’ that rat before Remus can catch wind o’ yeh,” Hagrid assured him with a smile.

Sirius sighed wearily. “I wish I could share your confidence.”

Perhaps it was the effect of Azkaban on him after so long, but Sirius couldn’t bring himself to hope. If they didn’t catch Pettigrew when they had the chance, Sirius would be caught and Harry would be vulnerable. He’d already failed once. Was history only destined to repeat itself?

---

It was a bit strange cohabitating in his Hut with another person, even if that person was a dog most of the time. But he and Sirius were fairly used to each other after their time in Azkaban.

Sirius slept on the floor still. There wasn’t much room to put in a second bed, and after the near-slip with Professor Dumbledore and the extra mug, Sirius refused to risk leaving any evidence of a second human’s presence in the place. He ate out of a bowl like Fang and slept curled up near the fire with him, too. 

It didn’t feel right in a way, or perhaps undignified. The way Fang lived was perfectly fine for him, of course, but Sirius wasn’t fully a dog, and in some ways Rubeus wondered if he was just keeping him in a slightly nicer prison. At the least, his frame was filling back out, and he looked far more healthy for a dog his size.

The rest of summer seemed to fly by. He filled the time with writing out his plans and arranging for some of the creatures he wanted to show the students. Rubeus also picked out the textbook he wanted them to use.

“It’s funny, isn’ it?” He asked his guest. “All it takes is just a stroke down the side, then it’s calm as can be.”

“You might want to include that in the directions,” Sirius suggested, never taking his eyes off the wildly snapping book. “It can be lesson number one.”

“Yeh think so?” Rubeus shrugged and added a postscript to the letter he was composing to Harry for his birthday. He stroked the book’s spine and wrapped it in some packaging. It likely wouldn’t wake again till it was opened.

“Want ter send somethin’ yerself?”

“Send something?”

“To Harry. His birthday’s next week, yeh know?”

“I do. But I haven’t got anything. Anyway, he wouldn’t understand.” Sirius turned and slunk off in his Animagus form before Rubeus could reply. He tended to do that when he wasn’t in a mood to talk.

It was strange. Sirius seemed to care about Harry, but there was a distance to it. Maybe because he’d only known the boy from a distance. Or maybe he thought that, even if they succeeded in catching Pettigrew and clearing his name, Harry wouldn’t want much to do with him. He’d grown very quiet the one time Rubeus had mentioned Harry was living with his relatives during the summer. But Harry hardly liked them, and for good reason! And he was the welcoming sort; he’d be happy to know Sirius.

So Rubeus took to spending the last few weeks of summer loudly recollecting all his favorite stories and memories about Harry, whether Sirius was in his Animagus form or not. He could tell they were heard; Sirius’ ears always perked up at the first mention of Harry’s name.

During the last week of summer, all the staff present was called to a meeting. Not among them was Remus: the full moon had been the previous night, so he was no doubt recovering before making the journey to Hogwarts.

Professor Dumbledore looked uncharacteristically grave as they all sat down. “I’ve just had word from the Minister. I’d been hoping this precaution could be avoided, but as Sirius Black has yet to be caught, he is adamant about increasing Hogwarts’ security. Despite my advisement to the contrary, Dementors will be placed around the school as guards.

Several gasps went around the room.

“No!” Rubeus stood, knocking into the table roughly. Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey both looked at him with sympathy. Slowly, he retook his seat.

“Cornelius has assured me they will not come into the grounds. They are to stay outside of the gates to ensure that Black does not slip through Hogwarts’ defenses.”

“How can we be sure the students will be safe, Albus?” Professor McGonagall asked.

“I will be keeping a close watch on the situation, Minerva. Unfortunately, that is the best we can do with the Minister so determined.”

Rubeus hardly paid attention to anything else spoken about at the meeting, which he knew wasn’t the right thing to do as a new teacher, but he found he could focus on little else but the fear. The Dementors were coming here to where Sirius was. What if they sensed him? What if they came to his home? He couldn’t imagine feeling the way he had on the island again, the complete lack of anything but loneliness and despair, only abated by Sirius’ company.

As soon as Professor Dumbledore adjourned the meeting, Rubeus headed back home, panting by the time he climbed the steps and slammed the door behind him.

“The Minister’s sendin’ Dementors ter Hogwarts!”

Sirius leapt up, changing form. “They’re coming for me?”

He shook his head. “Just want ter protect the students. Can they sense yeh from the gates?”

“No. Not so long as I stay in my Animagus form.” Sirius’ shoulders sagged a little in relief. “This will mean that the plan is entirely up to you. My life in your hands, Hagrid.”

He gulped.

Sirius gave a bracing smile, one that Rubeus wasn’t sure either of them believed. “Good luck.”

Dog replaced man, and Rubeus found himself shakily pulling the kettle out for another pot of tea. So much was counting on him: a man’s innocence; a criminal’s capture; a boy’s happiness. He couldn’t let them all down. He just couldn’t.

[calligraphist-artemisia]

Of Family and Unexpected Friendship

Summary:  It's Christmas break and Harry is having a difficult time sleeping in the silence of the boy's dorm, so he goes down to the Common Room where he can better relax. There he finds a third year student named Leona Black, who surprises him with the knowledge that their parents were best friends when they attended Hogwarts. He latches on to the chance to learn more about his mom and dad, and the foundation of a new friendship is born.

Also posted on AO3 under the username kishirokitsune.

--

Of Family and Unexpected Friendship

It was the first day of the winter holidays and Harry Potter could not sleep. Whether it was because he was too excited about being able to stay at Hogwarts for the duration or because of the lack of Ron's loud snoring, he'd be hard pressed to say. Either way, it left him tossing and turning until he decided it would be far better to go down to the common room.

He wasn't surprised that most of his fellow students chose to go home over the holidays, his new best friend included. After all, they had loving families to spend time with, so why would they choose to stay at school?

Harry didn't think he could name any of the others who remained behind in Gryffindor. They were all older than he was, and outside of the Weasley's, he hadn't taken the time to talk to them.

The point was, Harry thought for sure that he'd be walking into an empty common room and wouldn't have to deal with any unwanted questions, but when he got there he discovered that he couldn't have been more wrong.

Sitting at the window was a girl with brown hair, loosely braided over one shoulder. She looked startled by his appearance, but quickly recovered to give him a nod and a soft smile. “Hello, Harry,” she greeted.

“Hello,” he responded carefully.

He did recognize her, though he didn't know her name. He'd seen her frequently around the Weasley twins and their friend, Lee Jordan, so he assumed she was in their year. Harry had never had a reason to talk to her, nor her to him.

Harry shifted his weight, fighting the impulse to turn right around and go back up to his dorm. “Sorry if I'm bothering you.”

She immediately shook her head, as though surprised by the notion. “You're not! Of course you're not! Want to sit with me? You don't have to, of course, and I won't bother you if you'd prefer to sit by yourself.”

Harry shrugged, seeing no harm in sitting with her, and was soon settled at the window with her.

“I'm Leona Black,” she introduced, holding out her hand.

And, not knowing how else to respond, Harry grasped her hand and uttered a simple: “Harry Potter.”

Leona grinned at him as she released his hand. “It's nice to meet you, officially. I'm sorry I didn't approach you sooner, I just wasn't sure how. You seemed so lost your first few weeks that I didn't want to overwhelm you.”

Harry frowned in confusion. “Sorry?”

“You don't need to apologize,” she said, mistaking his meaning.

“No, I mean...” Harry shook his head, his confusion building to mild frustration. “I don't understand. Overwhelm me with what? Have we met before?”

“Well, I only have vague memories of it, but it may just be that I've seen pictures and heard stories that I can imagine it pretty well.” She paused, tilting her head as she regarded him, her smile slipping away. “You... you have no idea who I am, do you? No one ever told you? Our parents were best friends.”

Best friends.

Harry hadn't put much thought into it. He knew there had been a war. A war that his parents and a great number of others had died in. Any passing thought about their friends or people they knew when they were alive had been quickly dismissed, especially when Hagrid didn't mention any of them. Then again, the mere mention of James and Lily made Hagrid start to tear up, so maybe that was the reason why.

Leona suddenly stood. “Wait here, I'll be right back!”

Harry watched, completely mystified, as Leona sprinted up to the girls' dorms, returning minutes later with a thick, leather book in her arms. She was beaming as she sat down next to him again and opened the cover to reveal the first page, turning the book so Harry could see as well.

It was full of photographs, Harry realized as he gazed down at a picture of four Hogwarts students, three boys and one girl, all wearing Gryffindor colors. One of them, with his darker skin, wild black hair, and thick-framed glasses (all-in-all, a striking resemblance to himself), could only be James Potter.

“My dad...”

“Uh huh,” Leona said, nodding. She pointed to the dark-haired man next to James. “And that's my dad next to him. They became friends on the train ride to Hogwarts. It's where they met my mum too. And Uncle Peter shared a dorm with them.”

Harry watched her point out each person as she named them. Her mum was a tiny brunette girl, whose second-hand robes stood out against the newer robes of her friends. Uncle Peter was a chubby boy with blond hair, who looked at his friends with awe in his eyes, as though he was surprised they were including him.

“They had this one taken at the end of their first year. Mum has the rest labeled, if you want to look through it. And if you want to know more, I remember most of the stories she told me about them! I can't tell them as well as she can, of course, but I bet she'd love to tell them to you herself if you'd rather hear them from her,” Leona said.

Harry drank in the images of his dad – it was the first he'd ever been allowed to see him and there was a craving to know more, a craving he never expected to have.

Family. A family who loved him. A family who wanted him. And there was someone alive who could tell him more. More importantly, someone alive who wanted to tell him more.

“I... I don't... Would she want to?” Harry asked, hardly daring to believe it.

“Harry, she would love to hear from you,” Leona said seriously. “I can write to her and double check, but the number of times she has asked about you so far this year tells me that a letter from you personally would be the best Yule present anyone could give.”

Harry wordlessly stared at the moving photographs as he took a moment to decide. As his dad beamed up at him, he knew what his decision was.

||

He and Leona sent off two letters at breakfast the next morning; Leona with an explanation to her mum about why Harry was writing, and Harry with a simple letter asking for stories about his parents. It took him several revisions to get it right, but even then he felt nervous about handing it over.

A thousand-and-one worries bounced around in his head, ricocheting off of one another, never staying still long enough for him to dwell on them. Harry watched as Hedwig flew away with the letters carefully attached to her leg and knew that it was out of his hands.

“Hey,” Leona said, gently nudging him with her elbow to get his attention. “Fancy a game of snap?”

Harry was grateful for the distraction and nodded.

They passed breakfast that way as the few other students staying over the holiday break filtered into the Great Hall. Some of them sat down at their houses tables to eat slowly and enjoy their meal, while others came in and gathered up a few things to take with them.

“Fifth and seventh years like to use the peace and quiet of the holidays to study without interruption. I suppose near-unrestricted access to the library helps with that as well,” Leona mentioned as a trio of Ravenclaws walked into the great hall.

Harry crinkled his nose. “Why would anyone spend their holiday studying?”

“It's better to keep up a consistent pace rather than trying to cram everything in at the last minute. Less stressful that way,” Leona answered. “I learned that the hard way during my first year, and had to deal with Fred and George trying to entice me with adventures on top of that.”

Harry considered her words for a moment and had to admit that she had a good point. After all, he'd gotten all of his homework done in the first few days because of the lack of distractions. “Can I ask why you stayed?”

“Mum hasn't been feeling well lately, so she said I should spend time with my friends at school instead of staying with my cousins. And I might have had an ulterior motive for agreeing.” Leona gently set down a card as she glanced up at Harry.

It took Harry a moment to catch on. “You stayed for me? But why?”

“I was hoping to get the chance to talk to you. I figured if we were two of the few Gryffindors staying over break, you'd be more like to approach. And besides, I haven't been keeping up with my etiquette studies as well as I should be, so I'm avoiding cousin Andy for now. She'll be so disappointed in me.” Leona flinched as one of the cards exploded, flinging the others into the air. She and Harry ducked to avoid the rest of them.

“Etiquette studies?” Harry asked once things settled, his curiosity getting the best of him.

Leona tilted her chin up. “I am a daughter of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, and furthermore, it's eldest heir. My sister is too, but I'm the one expected to take up the mantle of Lordship once I graduate, so Andy gives me lessons. She was a Black before she married,” she explained, dropping all regal pretense once she was done. “It's pretty standard for pureblood families. Your lessons aren't much different, I'm sure.”

Harry's confusion must have been obvious, because rather than set up another game of exploding snap, Leona set the cards to the side and gave him her full attention.

“You... haven't been approached about lessons. Whoever introduced you to the magical world should have given you the contact information for someone capable of giving you those lessons. I'm not entirely sure who it would be for the Potter family. Maybe Lady Longbottom?” Leona winced in sympathy at anyone having to take lessons from the intense witch. “No, there has to be someone closer, just let me think for a moment. I haven't studied the Potter family tree in depth before, but I know you're related to a number of pureblood family's. We're all related someway or another.”

“We're related?”

“Mmm hmmm. Your great grandmother was Dorea Black before she married Charlus Potter,” Leona responded, her brows furrowed in concentration.

It was too much to handle over breakfast. Harry felt a little numb as she rambled on about a few other familiar names, all of which were apparently too distant or didn't have the resources to help him. He listened to her without really taking any of it in, letting her words wash over him, until he heard a more welcoming and familiar name.

“...Prewett family, but that would just be Molly Weasley now. And again, it's a distant relation, but the Potters and Prewetts came from similar backgrounds, so she would likely have the easiest time with it.”

He was related to the Weasley's.

The thought came as a comfort to him and he latched onto that above all else. While he'd only met her for a brief moment at Kings Cross, he got the sense from Ron and the twins that she was a caring woman who loved her children very much.

“I have an idea. You can stop me if you're not interested, but I figured, well, I should offer, since no one else has,” Leona told him. “If you'd like, I can teach you the basics. It would be a good review for me and a good starting place for you until you find someone more capable. I can help with that too, so don't worry about that. I'm just surprised no one has talked to you about this before. You're muggle-raised, right? That means one of the professors should have come to talk to you and introduce you to the magical world. Who was it?”

“Er, Hagrid?” Harry responded hesitantly.

Just another oddity of his life, being fetched from the muggles by the groundskeeper rather than a professor like everyone else.

Leona gaped at him, her eyes flickering to the mostly empty Head Table as she struggled to compose herself. It took her a moment and then she took a deep breath and looked at him as seriously as she ever had. “Harry, I know it's our holiday break, but I need you to come with me to the library today. I won't make you study for hours, but there are some good resources there that I'd like you to see. And after that, I won't bother you. I'm sure you have more interesting things to do than hang around with me all day.”

Not really, but he appreciated her for giving him the option to sit by himself for a while. It seemed he had a lot to think about.

[talesoftxt]

TXT Hogwarts AU

So this is my first time publicly sharing my writings and I'm really nervous and also kind of excited. Please bear with me, English isn't my first language however I do try to do my best in my works. Anywhos here's my first post I hope you guy enjoy!

Yeonjun

•Slytherin

•pureblood

•was shunned his whole life due to his parents being deatheaters in the second wizarding war

•raised by his grandmother who he loves to pieces

•don't tell anyone but grandma choi actually raised him muggle style so he's very knowledgable when it comes to them

•his one and only friend is soobin, that is of course before he met the three other boys

•the sorting hat barely even touched his head before it announced "slytherin"

•worked his way up until he became what he is today

•his goal is to erase the stigma of slytherins being evil

•intimidates everyone with his sharp eyes and blank face but don't be fooled, he's as extra and wild as the others

•once dared himself to wrestle with the black lake's giant squid

•always aims to be the best at everything, probably to the point of overworking himself

•as a first year flying had come naturally to him and easily became his favourite subject but was soon replaced by defence against the dark arts

•the boy is a quick thinker and could disarm his opponent in a matter of seconds, though he is good at casting other spells he opts for a defensive style of duelling

•ever since he was young he dreamt of being an auror

•the team captain of slytherin's quidditch team, his swiftness and agility earned him the title "best chaser"

•dubbed as "slytherin's prince" his housemates respect and look up to him

•don't cross him.just don't.

•very cautious when it comes to picking his friends and is very protective of soobin because he's just too damn precious

•gets along with kai really well because theyre both crackheads and kai is too cute not to like

•isn't one to share his feelings but because of his friends he's getting more and more open

•his greatest fear is becoming evil and hurting his friends

•he's really just a tiny bean who loves his friends and would do anything for them

Soobin

•pureblood

•Ravenclaw

•coming from a very traditional pureblood family, he doesn't really understand muggle lifestyle

•a straight A student prefect and athlete, he's the epitome of model student

•doesn't like to break the rules but somehow always finds himself staying up with taehyun or getting dragged to the dark forest by kai

•takes away points by decimals just because he thinks its funny

•can get pretty scary when someone questions his authority

•"out of bed past curfew? 4.23 points from gryffindor" "is that even allowed??"

•he's a responsible prefect and shuts everyone up with one stern look

•number one on the school's boyfriend material list (because c'mon he's like perfect)

•a perfect gentleman who's ready to help with a dimpled smile on his face

•takes muggle studies because he likes muggles and wants to know about them more

•still doesn't know what the function of a rubber duck is

•can cook up a potion even without the help of a guide and can recognize a herb by it's texture alone

•his favourite subjects are potions and herbology

•probably because the two are kind of connected in a way

•literally has a journal where he writes down everything he's learned about muggles

•nearly cried when he received a toaster from taehyun as a gift because he's always wanted one for his bread

•wants to be a healer in the future

•his future career also helps because all his friends can't go a day without injuring themselves

•keeper soobin (you gets?because the boy is such a keeper?hehehehe)

•his tall stature and quick reflexes helps him block quaffles from the opposite team

•recognizes hueningkai as his number one cheerer and never fails to wink at him before the start of every game

•always makes sure taehyun gets enough sleep, beomgyu and kai stay out of trouble and keeps yeonjun from overworking himself

•they always make sure to bring him back little muggle trinkets after they come back from the holidays

•the boys are just really thankful for soobin existance and love him so much

•choi soobin is a lovable and amazing bunny (that's the tea sis)

Beomgyu

•gryffindor

•half-blood

•gets himself into pretty stupid situations just bc he's too damn heroic

•always stirs up trouble but somehow charms himself out of it

•he's like,really charming

•made mcgonagall blush that one time

•he's absolutely cunning,his ability to hide his true intentions behind an angelic smile scares the crap out of the boys

•just don't mess with his friends

•bc of this the sorting hat actually took longer to sort him than usual wondering whether it should put him in slytherin or gryffindor, he had almost been a hatstall but after a silent debate between the two beomgyu had chosen gryffindor bc they had and i quote 'pretty colours'

•had to be physically restrained by soobin and yeonjun after he tried to fight a student who had called taehyun a "mudblood"

•Charms and transfiguration are his areas of expertise

•favourite spell is "accio" and practically uses it for everything

•"accio yeonjun hyung's clothes "beomgyu!"

•"accio taehyun's love of his life" "bold of you to assume i have any I-" "accio taehyun's books" "you little shi-"

•takes muggle studies just for the hell of it and because it's easy

•gryffindor's seeker,this boy could spot a snitch from miles away

•has his own fanclub with members from all four houses

•yes that's how charming he is

•no one really knows how but beomgyu always manages to enter all three other houses' common rooms

•his favourite hang out place would probably be ravenclaw's common room

•annoying taehyun is this guy's favourite past time, he just finds it cute when the younger glares at him

•if he's not annoying taehyun he's probably off pulling pranks and causing trouble all around the castle

•is currently grooming kai to become a prankster like him, he just has to figure out a way to stop the boy from being so goddamn loud everytime they prank someone

•in general he's a chaotic mess but everyone still loves him

Taehyun

•Ravenclaw

•muggleborn

•once something catches his eye he makes it a goal to learn everything about it

•no one really knows what to expect with taehyun probably bc he was so quiet and introverted

•as he gets used to life in the magical world he starts to become more confident and bold

•"why do we still use quills when ballpens literally exists?''

•''are you serious?a letter?kai you have a phone use it''

•his wisdom and good advices remind people why he's in ravenclaw

•his two favourite subjects are transfiguration and history of magic

•transfigured soobin into a bunny once at kai's request (well probably just to shut him up)

•history nerd and draco malfoy enthusiast

•''he was only a child!''

•doesn't even bother to answer the riddles' properly

•"where do vanished objects go?" "somewhere other than where they were vanished from,duh."

•usually found in the common room late at night cramming homeworks he's been putting on hold bc he found something much more interesting to do

•legend says prefect soobin always stays up with him (no one knows if its true or not no one has ever tried to find out in fear of facing choi soobin's wrath if he finds them out of bed)

•an excellent beater, taehyun's one of the best in their team even at such a young age

•rumours are he's one of the candidates for next team captain

•is soobin's source of muggle knowledge, probably bc kai only teaches them memes and popular vines and beomgyu just cant be bothered with

•claims he loses braincells every time kai opens his mouth but deep down he loves the boy like his brother

•looks up to his yeonjun and soobin hyungs

•unbothered king 24/7

Kai

•hufflepuff

• the boy literally dragged taehyun with him and introduced himself to nearly everyone during the train ride

•half-blood

•never fails to say "me dad's a muggle; mam's a witch,bitofanastyshockforhim

whenhefoundout" every time he introduces himself

•and i mean EVERY.SINGLE.TIME

•excels in care of magical creatures (probably bc every single creature falls in love with the boy on sight) and almost always accompanies hagrid to the dark forest

•let's be real ya'll the dark forest probably isn't so dark anymore with the amount of sunshine kai emits

•nearly gave soobin a heart attack when he had dragged the elder into the dark forest

•at the age of 13 the dark forest was just a forest to kai, "wild centaurs?bitch please i braid baby centaurs hair on saturdays"

•idolizes newt scamander and wants to be a magizoologist because he wants to change people's minds about magical creatures and show them how beautiful and precious they actually are

•'pet a dragon's belly' is listed number 1 in his bucket list

• 'ohmygod hueningkai don't you even dare try to rock that mandrake' 'but hyun its so cute!it looks like an ugly baby!'

•takes a liking for divination and unlike others actually appreciates and pays attention in class

•probably because of his close relationship with the forest's centaurs who also use divination in their day to day lives

•is a skilled flyer and was invited to try out for his house's quidditch team but turned it down

•he prefers to cheer for people rather than getting cheered on

•people don't really know who he cheers for most of the time bc he's like present in every game

•mysteriously gets louder and more energetic when ravenclaw plays most people think it's bc his bestfriend taehyun is playing but taehyun knows the truth

•"you did great hyun!" "i literally saw you stare at soobin hyung's ass the entire game"

•no one can hate this guy,it’s physically impossible

•even the meanest kids don’t pick on him,he’s THAT lovable

Anyways that all for today! That's my opinion on the txt's hogwarts houses,don't be shy and tell me what you think! See you later guys!