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heidi891 · 4 days ago

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So you don't want to see indecent fanfiction

But you want to read nice stories about your favourite character surviving his canon death or about your ship falling in love without any explicit details. I get it, I'm a devout Catholic. There're many stories I don't want to read; I dont even want to know they exist.

First and foremost: don't harrass authors. That's gravely immoral, truly. Don't do that.

There's a better way! Have you heard about site skins on AO3?

Here's my site skin:

1. No porn

.blurb:has(.rating-explicit), .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/RapesNon-Con/works"]), .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Underage/works"]), .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Sex/works" i]), .blurb:has(a[href="Sexual%20Content" i]), .blurb:has(a[href="Smut" i]:not(a[href$="/tags/No%20Smut/works" i])), .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Masturbation/works" i]) { display: none !important; }

2. No immorality

AKA stuff some people believe to be sinful like slash, polyamory and incest. You can delete some or add your own.

.blurb:has(.category-slash), .blurb:has(.category-femslash), .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Polyamory/works" i]), .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Incest/works" i]), .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Omegaverse/works" i]) { display: none !important; }

3. Mature and not rated - partially hidden

I don't look for mature and not rated fics on my own, but sometimes a nice fic with such a rating/warning gets recommended to me and I want to be able to look it up and see it in my bookmarks. So I hide freeform tags and summary, because sometimes they're too explicit, but the title and basic tags are visible.

.blurb:has(.rating-mature) .tags .freeforms, .blurb:has(.rating-notrated) .tags .freeforms, .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Choose%20Not%20To%20Use%20Archive%20Warnings/works"]) .tags .freeforms, .blurb:has(.rating-mature) .summary, .blurb:has(.rating-notrated) .summary, .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Choose%20Not%20To%20Use%20Archive%20Warnings/works"]) .summary { display: none !important; } .blurb:has(.rating-mature) .tags:after, .blurb:has(.rating-notrated) .tags:after, .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Choose%20Not%20To%20Use%20Archive%20Warnings/works"]) .tags:after { content: ''; display: block; margin: 1em 0 0 0; border-bottom: 2px dashed #2a2a2a; }

4. No reader insert

It's technically not against my beliefs, but it doesn't give me good vibes, especially when it's about falling in love.

.blurb:has(a[href="sReader" i]), .blurb:has(a[href="sYou" i]), .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Reader/works" i]), .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Reader-Insert/works" i]), .blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Reader%20Insert/works" i]), .blurb:has(a[href="Ys*n%20-%20Character" i]) { display: none !important; }

5. Fandom specific ships and tags

Some fics aren't tagged with 'Incest' or they're marked as multi, which can mean an F/M ship and a platonic friendship - or many different ships you don't necessarily want to see. And sometimes it's my NOTP and I just don't want to ever read about them. For example if I don't want to see Harry Potter and Hermione Granger ship, I can click on the relationship tag and copy the adress from the browser without AO3 domain (so without https...archiveofourown.org)

https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Hermione%20GrangersHarry%20Potter/works

And copy it here:

.blurb:has(a[href$="/tags/Hermione%20GrangersHarry%20Potter/works" i]) { display: none !important; }

6. Other

Things that have nothing to do with my beliefs.

(6A) Language

I speak Polish and English, so I want to read only fanfics in these languages.

.blurb:not(:has(dd[lang$="en"], [lang$="pl"])) { display: none !important; }

en means English, pl means Polish. You can change 'pl' to other language code or delete it:

.blurb:not(:has(dd[lang$="en"])) { display: none !important; }

(6B) No big crossovers

.blurb:has(h5.fandoms):has(a.tag:nth-of-type(5)) { display: none !important; }

5 means that crossovers with at least 5 fandoms won't be displayed. You can change that number.

(6C) Completed vs unfinished

.blurb:has(span.complete-yes) { border-color: #78a700; }

Completed fics get green (like the symbol of a completed fic) border.

(6D) Like a paper book

I changed the default font of the chapters to a serif font (like in paper books) and make paragraphs on a computer narrower.

#chapters { max-width: 800px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 110%; }

#catholic church #christianity #fanfiction #archive of our own #ao3 site skin

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heidi891 · 10 days ago

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Character Analysis – Edmund Bertram

I have a better opinion of Edmund Bertram than much of the Jane Austen fandom has, and I am going to try to explain why. It comes down to several things:

1) He probably makes more sacrifices for people other than a woman he is in love with than any other Jane Austen hero.

He has to sacrifice a great deal of the economic condition he would normally expect in order to enable Tom’s debts to be paid, and Tom doesn’t even care about this or feel guilty for it. At no point does Edmund show hostility to or resentment of his brother over this, nor does he ever bring it up to Tom to guilt him, not even when Tom is doing something Edmund considers immoral and disrespectful to their father; Edmund makes his arguments against the play on the merits, as best he can. Nor does he bring it up to Tom when the (relative to expectations) small income he can expect is one of the principal barriers to him marrying the woman he loves.

He goes out of his way to be kind to Fanny from the start (seriously, how few 16-year-old boys would take the time to listen and be kind to and help a ten-year-old girl? Most 16-year-old boys are dreadful, from my experience of high school.)

He sells one of his horses to buy one that Fanny can ride, when riding is recommended for her health. This is no small thing, given how frequently-used horses were in that time. This isn’t like, say, selling one of your three cars; it’s more like choosing to give up either your computer, tablet, or cell phone, and never (or, well, for many years) have a replacement again. Lending the horse to Mary Crawford for a couple days is a fault, but to me a fairly minor fault in light of this.

He is determined that he will live in his parsonage rather than – as would be done by many members of the clergy in that day – live at Mansfield Park and ride over once a week to preach. It is important to him that he do his job well and live among the people he is ministering to, and he is not tempted to try to modify his parsonage into a much fancier house when Henry Crawford tries to talk him into it. Nor is he willing to pursue a career that Mary Crawford would be more favourable to. He genuinely cares about his vocation as a pastor, and is willing to make sacrifices both of love and of comfort in order to do so. I don’t generally have a high opinion of the 19th-century Anglican clergy, Edmund is genuinely dedicated.

He tends to Tom gently and fairly continuously when Tom is sick, despite Edmund having plenty of worries of his own. The book says, “when able to talk, or be talked to, Edmund was the companion he preferred.” Edmund put off a proposal to the woman he loves in order to tend to Tom – and that tending is a duty that would, I think, usually have been considered as one for the women of the family. It really highlights how Edmund is the only Bertram with real feeling and care for his family members.

In light of this, I think that some of the things readers heavily criticize him for, like losing track of time one afternoon when he’s on an outing with his girlfriend, are comparatively minor and forgiveable. Edmund seems to me to put more concerted effort into doing the right thing than most other men in Jane Austen.

2) His ability to act is constrained relative to most other Austen heroes by the fact that he is a younger son, living at home, with two parents and an aunt still living. He does not have the authority to spend Sir Thomas’ money, and filial duty means he cannot outright denigrate Mrs. Norris to Fanny. The only other Jane Austen heroes who do not have their independence are Edward Ferrars and Henry Tilney (and both of them have rather different relationships with their family).

This means anything he does for Fanny, he has to do at his own expense – as when he sells one of his horses to buy one for her; as when he offers to stay with his mother while the others go to Sotherton so that Fanny can go. It’s the most effective way he has of addressing the way they treat her: oh, so you think it’s okay if this happens to Fanny? Well then, it’s happening to me instead. In the case of the Sotherton expedition, it quickly flips people to seeing that as unacceptable, making them bother to find another (fairly simple) solution that they hasn’t cared about finding before.

In a few ways, Edmund is placed in a more feminine role in the story than any other male leads: his principal good qualities are a strong moral sense and the provision of emotional support and care; he’s the bedrock of his family in the same way that Elinor Dashwood is for hers; he’s held back from the person he loves by economic precarity; and he seems to have a limited social circle outside his family (the drinking-and-gambling habits common in young male society among students of his class and time likely didn’t suit him).

In short, Henry Crawford does not care for and value Fanny Price more (or nearly as much) as Edmund does; his financial and familial position simply make it easy for him to do things, at insignificant cost to himself, that Edmund cannot do without behaving in a way that would, in his time, be deeply disrespectful to his parents and aunt. Edmund knows Fanny far better, understands her far better, and when he gives her gifts (like the necklace) it’s ones she likes and appreciates.

3) I don’t blame Edmund for being in love with Mary Crawford for much of the book because, frankly, she’s an appealing person, especially given Edmund’s narrow social circle. The combination of wit, liveliness, comsistent good humour, interesting conversation, and beauty (plus harp-playing) that she beings are not something the Bertrams encounter every day. He wants to think better of her than she is because her other characteristics are so appealing. I think that’s a very human reaction when in love. (Elizabeth Bennet falls for Wickham and makes excuses for him based on little more than good manners, good looks, flattery, and a mutual dislike of Darcy, and people don’t criticize her nearly as much.)

By the same token, I don’t blame him for being oblivious to Fanny’s love for him because absolutely everyone is and Fanny is very deliberately and determinedly concealing it. And given that, liking to spend somewhat more time with your girlfriend than your bestie is also, I think, quite forgivable in a young person.

4) On one area of frequent critique, that Edmund doesn’t listen to Fanny on several notable occasions (mainly about the Crawfords), I think their dynamic over several years is an important consideration. It’s somewhat a flipped version of Emma in that you��ve got a mentor-mentee relationship between the leads, but in this case it’s the mentor who is mistaken and the mentee who is right. Edmund has been supporting and advising and encouraging Fanny for many years, and many of those times he was right. For example, she was afraid of learning to ride when she first started with a pony, and Edmund encouraged her and comvinced her to do it, and she came to love it.

“Ah! cousin, when I remember how much I used to dread riding, what terrors it gave me to hear it talked of as likely to do me good; – (Oh! how I have trembled at my uncle’s opening his lips if horses were talked of) and then think of the kind pains you took to reason and persuade me out of my fears, and comvince me that I should like it after a littl while, and feel how right you proved to be, I am inclined to hope you may always prophesy as well.”

Fanny also, in another conversation, describes herself to Edmund as “foolish and awkward” and he insists “you have not a shadow of either, but in using the words so improperly.” The narrative is clear about how consistent and important his care, sympathy, praise, and advoacy have been for her, for many years:

Edmund’s friendship never failed her: his leaving Eton for Oxford made no change in is kind dispositions, and only afforded more frequent opportunities of providing them. Without any display of doing more than the rest, or any fear of doing too much, he was always true to herinterests,and considerate of her feelings, trying to make her good qualities understood, and to conquer the diffidence which prevented their being more apparent; giving her advice, consolation, and encouragement.

Kept back as she was by every body else, his single support could not bring her forward, but his attentions were otherwise of the highest importance in assisting the improvement of her mind, and extending its pleasures. He knew her to have a quick apprehension as well as good sense, and a fondness for reading, which, properly directed, must be an education in itself…he recommended the books which charmed her leisure hours, he encouraged her taste, and corrected her judgement; he made reading useful by talking to her of what she read, and heightened its attraction by judicious praise.

The nature of this relationship also helps explain some of Edmund’s reaction to Henry Crawford’s proposal: while Edmund is very much at fault for disregarding her doubts about Henry Crawford’s morality, he is very used to Fanny being nervous and anxious about things that, once she is used to the and no longer afraid of them or uncertain of her abilities, she enjoys. (Such as riding.) So he is seeing her reaction in part through that frame.

The basic difficulty in Mansfield Park that affects perceptions of Edmund is that it is occurring at a moment of transition: the first time Fanny has been eclipsed in Edmund’s life, combined with a transition from him being a mentor and guide to them becoming equals, and her in fact surpassing him in perception and being willing to go against even his opinion in her choice to reject Henry Crawford. It’s the story of Fanny growing up, whereas Edmund (the mentor) is put in the place of Emma (the mentee) in Emma, in being mistaken in key assessments of people, and biased into seeing what he wants to see. This reversal is what allows them to be on equal footing, and for Edmund’s benefit from Fanny’s companionship to be as apparent or more apparent, to everyone, as his from her.

However, this means that for most of the novel we’re seeing Edmund and Famny’s relationship at the weakest point it’s ever been, which can’t help but affect readers’ attitudes to him; and I do think it’s a flaw that we don’t get an actual conversation at the end between Edmund and Fanny that deals with his recognition of his errors in judgement and the value of her perception and principle.

#mansfield park #edmund bertram

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heidi891 · 14 days ago

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doodle~

#harry potter books #severus snape #pro snape #hp fanart #fanart

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heidi891 · 29 days ago

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And that's what fandom is about 😂

What kind of underwear does Snape wear? 🤔 Boxers? Or maybe something more old-fashioned, like long johns?

So I had to dig a bit into underwear History (what a life) because tbh every time I hear or read the word 'boxers' in a fic it sounds so modern to me?? (We use the same word in french) But apparently boxers shorts with elastic waistbands were invented in 1925 and started to be eclipsed in the 30s by briefs. Both styles seemed to compete for popularity until the 80s when a Levi advertising featuring a model wearing boxers gave them a boost in popularity.

Please enjoy men's underwear advertisement in the 70s and 80s.

We can see it's mostly briefs (can we talk about the fishnets ones? I'm dead) and very colorful ones. As much as I immediately imagine James with bright red briefs we then have to ask ourselves the following question. Would wizards wear similar undergarment as muggles? I want to press F to doubt because they're kinda stuck in the Victorian era BUT I had a very enlightening exchange with @wisteria-lodge💚 which brought to my attention that historically, one would wear close-fitted underwear if wearing tight-fitted clothing, like trousers. So:

Pureblood wizards would most likely wear long chemises under their robes and that's it. They would have pants made for Quidditch or regular broom riding but said chemise would be then tucked in.

Halfbloods and Muggleborns would, however, be more likely to wear muggle underwear.

In SWM, James actually uses the words 'pants' which, as we know, refers to muggle underwear. If he uses the word then he must be familiar with it (otherwise he might have pointed it out and made fun of it as well) so he knows what it is and what it looks like. This means that clothing styles were maybe starting to mix a bit more at this time period or had been for a little while.

(We know that Sirius is embracing muggle 'culture' for his rebellious agenda and this might have rubbed off of James as well. Both of them were trying to look or feel progressive (we got a werewolf friend! fuck the DE! James is in love with a muggleborn!) in their own privileged way so enjoy the mental image of them going to a muggle store together to try and buy briefs and be super awkward. And also think about the hilariously problematic implications of James wanting to 'look all cool and muggle' for Lily during sexy times (you're welcome).

A few years later we also have Tonks embracing muggle culture openly and then during Harry's time, jeans seem quite common)

Okay good. Let's go back to Snape now.

We know from the text that when he was 15yo he wore 'pants'. These could either be: boxers, boxers-briefs or briefs. Have a drawing of each cuts so we don't get mixed up.

Now Snape is not a brief guy. There, I said it. With that out of the way, we should be taking into consideration that he's a half-blood from the slums and very poor. Apparently boxers were considered a bit 'old-fashioned' at the time as it was worn by older men. I wouldn't be surprised if Tobias Snape wore boxers, so it would make sense for his son to wear the same thing. So I would say that the pants in question were probably an old pair or white boxers, possibly with one or two buttons.

What about later on then?

Well...*gestures vaguely* if we leaned towards the idea that Snape never really took interest in fashion nor wanted to spend money on possibly pricier underwear (why change something that works perfectly well?) or just felt comfortable in it and didn't want to change well... it wouldn't be too out of character now, would it?

This being said we could also argue that he might have upgraded to boxer-briefs. Both are fine I think. I would personally tend to think he kept on wearing boxers.

Two things are clear tho:

It's black now. He definitely wears black underwear. OR grey maybe (he has a grey nightshirt, which is another item of clothing nobody is supposed to see so why the heck not)(if you want to be wild he might have a few green ones but I doubt it).

I don't think he ever got comfortable enough to wear chemises. First of all because I suppose it could be a pretty uncomfortable change if you didn't grow up wearing it and second, it could be downright triggering after SWM. So muggle underwear it is, thank you very much.

Is this making us think about the fact that if wizards do wear chemise then using Levicorpus on anyone is - in fact - automatically exposing them? Yes. Could we then get even more mad at James and theorize that this had been his goal all along?Maybe.

So here you go, anon!~ 🩲🐍

#harry potter books #severus snape #severus snape meta #pro snape

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heidi891 · 29 days ago

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I wonder if Snape wanted to say more, i.e. "I see no difference. Go to the hospital wing as well and stop bothering me with your teenage nonsense, everyone", but Hermione, who was sensitive about her teeth, misread that and run before Snape could finish talking.

Okay, so I was rereading the famous "I see no difference" episode, and remind me, why do we so unanimously connect Snape's comment to Hermione's teeth at all? I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, and I have no problems with loving a character who made a mean lookist comment on their student in Snape's conditions, really, but I analyzed it, and it appears.... at least not as straightforward as it's most often described. Let's remember how the scene goes first:

"For a split second, they looked into each other’s eyes, then, at exactly the same time, both acted. ‘Furnunculus!’ Harry yelled. ‘Densaugeo!’ screamed Malfoy. Jets of light shot from both wands, hit each other in mid-air, and ricocheted off at angles – Harry’s hit Goyle in the face, and Malfoy’s hit Hermione. Goyle bellowed and put his hands to his nose, where great ugly boils were springing up – Hermione, whimpering in panic, was clutching her mouth. ‘Hermione!’ Ron had hurried forwards to see what was wrong with her. Harry turned and saw Ron dragging Hermione’s hand away from her face. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Hermione’s front teeth – already larger than average – were now growing at an alarming rate; she was looking more and more like a beaver as her teeth elongated, past her bottom lip, towards her chin – panic-stricken, she felt them, and let out a terrified cry. ‘And what is all this noise about?’ said a soft, deadly voice. Snape had arrived. The Slytherins clamoured to give their explanations. Snape pointed a long yellow finger at Malfoy and said, ‘Explain.’ ‘Potter attacked me, sir –’ ‘We attacked each other at the same time!’ Harry shouted. ‘– and he hit Goyle – look –’ Snape examined Goyle, whose face now resembled something that would have been at home in a book on poisonous fungi. ‘Hospital wing, Goyle,’ Snape said calmly. ‘Malfoy got Hermione!’ Ron said. ‘Look!’ He forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth – she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape’s back. Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, ‘I see no difference.’ Hermione let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heel and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight."

First of all, was the spell intended as a comment on Hermione's teeth, or bullying of her? No. It was directed at Harry. It was just a coincidence that Hermione's front teeth were naturally prominent. Did any slytherins or Snape directly connect the effect of the spell to Hermione's teeth? Also no. The girls giggle silently behind Snape's back, but whether that's because they make fun of Hermione's own teeth, or they just think she looks funny with the spell taking effect right now, is unclear. No-one laughs after "I see no difference", too, even tho Slytherins often giggle at Snape's comments, and previously mentioned girls could've stopped hiding if Snape supported their fun – but it hadn't happened. The only person who connects the effects of the spell with how Hermione normally looks is Harry in his head, imposing that view on a reader with that notion: "already larger than average". But that is never voiced anywhere during the scene but in Harry's private thoughts.

Now let's look at what was said out loud:

'Explain.’ ‘Potter attacked me, sir –’ ‘We attacked each other at the same time!’ ‘– and he hit Goyle – look –’ 'Hospital wing, Goyle,’ ‘Malfoy got Hermione! Look!' 'I see no difference.’

When we see the dialogue itself, the fact that "I see no difference" is connected to Hermione personally is more than unclear. It literally can mean "I see no difference between what happened to her and to Goyle". It can mean “I see no difference between what Goyle and Granger should do”. He could say "she looks the same" or "I don't see what's wrong" if jkr wanted to make it clear it's a comment on Hermione's appearance.

Okay, but how it was said? Was Snape smirking or speaking in a sarcastic, snide voice? No. He gave Hermione a cold look – well, sorry, I do not see such a difference between descriptions "examined" and "looked coldly". It's not like he kissed Goyle's forehead – he also just looked at his traumas, with his eyes that we know generally look "cold and empty" according to Harry. His tone isn't described here – we can assume it was also cold, and considering that Snape previously spoke in a "deadly" and "calm" voice, that's not a drastic difference as well.

Did Snape punish anyone unreasonably? No. He didn't punish Harry for attacking Goyle, which is what happened according to Draco (Snape is so prejudiced though, right?), and he didn't punish Hermione for leaving the class without permission. If Snape insulted her, then she ran away without him letting her go, yet no points were taken from Gryffindor for that – except if he wanted Hermione to do exactly what he told Goyle to do, that is go to the Hospital Wing, and that's why he didn't have problems with it. Snape only took points and gave Harry and Ron detention for publically cursing and screaming at the teacher, which is more than fair, if you ask me.

Would Snape even notice Hermione's unusual teeth at all? Harry, Hermione's best friend, didn't notice that they became shorter for a couple of months, nor did Ron. We don't ever have Snape's POV, so we don't know if he tends to notice details like that about people, but we know that his own teeth were uneven as well, and he didn't care enough to change them, or anything else about himself; and we know that he didn’t insult anyone's appearance in the books on any other occasions, making mean comments on skills or moral qualities instead. I personally quite often am perplexed when a person shares that they are insecure about some part of their body, because I don't pay much attention to that, so I wouldn't even know it's "unconventional" if they didn't tell me. What for Hermione was a feature she saw in the mirror every day and was well aware of, for Snape was a minor detail in the appearance of one of the hundreds of students he teaches. We know that Draco did notice Hermione's teeth, but Draco also makes comments on Lupin's old robes, for example, it's not unusual for him. Even if Snape noticed that Hermione's teeth looked unconventional before, "I see no difference" still totally could apply to the parallel between Hermione and Goyle, because without Harry’s commentary, the ISND connection to teeth is not only vague – it's almost non-existent.

"But Harry got mad at him! Harry and Ron cursed and screamed at him, they clearly thought he insulted her!" Well, Harry and Ron also thought that Snape was trying to kill Harry, or poison Lupin, or that him giving Neville a detention where he worked with ingredients for melting 6 cauldrons in a very short period of time was somehow unreasonable. Like I literally do not care what those boys assume about Snape, they are incorrect 90% of the time.

"But Hermione cried and ran away and was upset!". She was already "whimpering in panic" and "letting out a terrified cry" before that. Whether Hermione had taken it as a comment on her natural teeth or not, it doesn't necessarily mean that's what Snape was saying. She also got over it, and kept telling Harry he's unfair to Snape.

The only other times when Snape voiced his problems with Hermione in unprofessional ways was when he called her an "insufferable know-it-all" for speaking out of turn for the third time, and called her a "stupid girl" in a middle of a mental breakdown, reliving his near-death expierience and trying to save her. That's it.

So that's my take on it. You can agree or disagree, but frankly, I think this interpretation is at least as valid as that he made a comment on her teeth, if not making more actual sence.

#harry potter books #severus snape #severus snape meta #pro snape

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heidi891 · 1 month ago

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There is a thing that deeply disturbes me about Severus' behaviour in SWM. He just wrote a very important exam on a subject that we know he loves and deeply cares about. He probably had been diligently preparing for it for a very long time, was anxious and aspiring how all the studious kids usually are. A normal teen behaviour is sharing how you wrote it with your friends – this is exactly what the Marauders do. But Severus approaches no one, talks to no one. Lily is hanging out with her other friends – he isn't invited to spend time with them, nor is he exchanging at least a couple of words with Lily personally. While she clearly has other people to chat with, Severus doesn't talk to any slytherins, not Mulcibier or Avery or anyone else. And he doesn't seek anyone out too, he just settles with reading alone like it's normal. Yes, he is introverted, but even the most introverted person would like to share such an important event with someone close to them.

It's like Severus had absolutely no one in that school who cared enough to hear about his pride and joy of writing the exam well, or his worries on getting something wrong. It's like he didn't even expect anyone to care. It is clear from everything in that scene that he is painfully lonely and largely ostracised, that him and Lily aren't particularly close at that point, and that he doesn't have any "gang" or any good friends in slytherin either.

#harry potter books #severus snape #severus snape meta #pro snape

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heidi891 · 2 months ago

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I think people often see a competent character and assume that must cancel out any lingering effects of neglect, for instance. Like, just because someone is high-functioning- capable, disciplined, good at their job and the things they do, etc. - that doesn’t mean they haven’t internalized deep patterns of selfneglect or detachment from their own physicality. You can keep a classroom spotless and still not look in the mirror. You can be controlled and meticulous in your work, you can scrub your speech, master your walk, and still carry the weight of never being cared for- and the belief that your appearance isn’t worth the effort, because that’s what you learned growing up. Being “high-functioning” doesn’t mean you’re healed. It often just means someone learned how to get by, by excelling outwardly, while quietly abandoning parts of themselves they were never taught to value.

Snape’s hair isn’t nessesarily a sign of “poor hygiene,” in my opinion, but a reflection of how someone raised without care might treat their own appearance. He doesn’t nurture himself in the ways others expect. That doesn’t make him incompetent, but it speaks to what’s been internalized, to how care wasn’t modeled or prioritized in the world he came from.

I mean, yeah, he’s refined and changed certain things, but emotionally, he’s still stuck. Still spending summers in the same house he grew up in. Still lashing out from the same place of resentment. And his appearance, especially his hair, has not changed. It’s the one external detail that’s stayed the same from childhood to adulthood. That’s not something I think is accidental. It reflects something frozen, something unprocessed. That continuity is the point. It’s thematically consistent. And frankly, it makes more sense to me than chalking it up to potions fumes or practicality.

#harry potter books #severus snape #severus snape meta #pro snape

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heidi891 · 3 months ago

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I love your meme <3

I ended up using FreeOffice as a replacement for Google Docs and Sheets. It isn't perfect, but it works and that's what's most important. I also installed Privacy Badger extension in Firefox.

My Digital Minimalism Journey

Doomscrolling. Smartphone addiction. Google this, Google that. Sounds familiar? I've begun a journey to untangle myslef from American megacorps and declutter my digital life.

I consider Google the worst big corporation, because while Microsoft and Apple sell products (hardware, software), Google's basically an advertising company. We are Google's products—that's why Google can give us so much for free and still make so much money. "But I have nothing to hide." Me too. I don't commit crimes, I don't watch pornography, I don't do anything classified. If everyone suddenly could see everything I do online, I'd just be slightly embarrased, that's all. But monopolies are illegal and dangerous for a reason. They erode freedom, shape our reality, leave us no alternative, influence our beliefs. I know I'm not immune to this, even though it's easy to believe otherwise.

Another factor I take into account is using local products to support my country's (Poland's) and Europe's economy and security.

Google Search

I noticed long time ago that Google Search became far from ideal, full of ads and focused on shopping. For example, when I looked for information about a medicine, I saw a long list of online pharmacies. I started using Bing, because it gave me information I was looking for—the medicine's description and side effects. (My husband is happy with Google, but his searches involve more shopping, like buying things for his hobbies and renovations.) Recently I've started using Qwant—a French search engine that uses their own index to some extent and Bing. Some people like German Ecosia that uses Google search results AFAIK.

Browser

The problem with browsers is that most of them are based on Chromium (not to be confused with Google Chrome). Chromium, Safari's Webkit and Mozilla's Gecko are like engines beneath the hoods that are browsers. Browsers may have different functions like adblocks, tab management or favourites, but those three are what allows browsers to read and display websites. While Chromium is open source, it's controlled and developed by Google.

I decided to use Mozilla Firefox with turned off telemetry and Qwant and uBlock Origin extensions. Mozilla, though American, is open source and non profit.

E-mail

Almost twenty years ago, as a teenager, I set up my mailbox on Onet—a Polish news portal. When I got married and changed my last name, I changed my mailbox too, to Gmail. Recently I've started using my old mailbox again when I discovered that I could create an alias for my current last name. In my Gmail I set up my mail to be forwarded to my current mailbox and deleted from Gmail. It isn't perfect, because the mail still reaches Google servers, but I changed most logins and I hardly get any mail there.

If you're from Poland, you can check out wp.pl and O2, they have mailboxes too. Otherwise, Swiss Proton and German Tuta are popular, especially amongst those who care much about privacy. Swiss Infomaniak offers a mailbox in Western Europe. There may be some good mailbox providers in your country, you can look it up.

Contacts

I deleted my contacts from Google and store them locally on the phone. I have backups saved on a pedrive and in a cloud.

Calendar

I've started using a paid Polish app called Domownik (dom means home, so the name means it's an app for home, for household matters). I keep my private calendar there and tasks, and recipes, and weekly menu, and a shopping list that I share with my husband, and some notes that I used to keep in Google Keep and Microsoft OneNote. It's Polish and family oriented, so it isn't a good choice for everyone. Some mailbox providers offer calendars too. You may also think about a paper calendar.

Google Drive, OneDrive

I still use them to some extent. We pay for a family plan on OneDrive. Unfortunately, when I checked European providers like Filen, Proton, Koofr, Cryptee, kDrive, Jottacloud, Hetzner... (if you just want a few GB of storage for free, check them out), it turned out OneDrive is cheaper. My husband loves photo remainders there too. I want to use Swiss pCloud where you can pay once for a lifetime. They also offer nice photo gallery and playlists made from your files. I hope I manage to change it this year.

Google Maps

I checked out a few navigation apps like HERE WeGo, Magic Earth and Organic Maps, but eventually decided to use mapy.com (former mapy.cz). You can download one country's map for free and they have great hiking trails map. I know it works best for Czech Republic and its neighbours (which I happen to be), so I'm not sure if it's as good in other countries.

There's an option to share location, but currently I'm the only one in my family who use it, so I haven't had a chance to try it out. Location sharing is the only reason why I'm still keeping Google Maps on my phone. Next time we're visiting my parents I'll try location sharing in WhatsApp and if it works, I could get rid of Google Maps.

For public transport I use Polish app jakdojade.pl.

Google Docs, Microsoft Office

I've used LibreOffice for years (and OpenOffice before that), so I don't need to change much on my PC. However, I used Google Docs and Sheets on my phone. I had a Google Sheets file for recording my weight. I decided I'm going to keep a digital version of that as ODS (LibreOffice file) on my PC (with a backup in a cloud) and I'll start noting my weight and pressure in a notebook, so if I ever have to show it to a doctor, I can just bring it with me. I used to write fanfiction in Google Docs, so I'm either coming back to writing on my PC in LibreOffice or I'll try French Cryptpad.

Google Translate

I've started using German DeepL instead.

Social Media

I have a blog and used to have fanpages on Facebook and Instagram. I don't offer any services or sell any products; it's a project born out of passion. Running a fanpage was so time consuming and hardly anyone was interested in my work, so I decided to stop doing it. I still have my blog; I started running a small blog on wordpress.com with updates and interesting links, so that anyone who's interested can subscribe to it via newsletter or RSS app. I write an update only once in a while when I change something on my main website or if I find something interesting. I deleted Instagram and Facebook (I changed there some settings though, to get some most important notifications to my mailbox), and Tumblr too (too much mindless scrolling).

I downloaded an RSS app instead (I chose Bulgarian Inoreader, but there're others). I follow news sites and blogs I like. It's a feed, but it's my feed, in a chronological order, without ads, sponsored content, algorithms and stupid or hateful comments. Just news and blog posts in a chronological order. I noticed I started to actually read articles! On social media apps it was so easy to read a title and go to the comment section immediately.

Podcasts and Music

I follow my favourite YouTube channels in the RSS app and I got rid of YouTube. I listen to my favourite podcasts in Swedish Spotify. We used to have a family plan in Spotify, but we use American Tidal for music now, because it's a little cheaper, there aren't so many YouTube-like podcasts that my son watched (and I don't want him to), and Tidal pays artists three times more than Spotify. Personally, I'd love to come back to having my mp3 files and playing my own music (I only listen to my own playlists anyway), but my family isn't on board. I'll try to buy my favourite songs to support artists a little and find a way to convert my CDs to digital files (I did it years ago, but I got rid of them...).

Films and TV shows

We had Netflix, Disney+, HBO and Prime at one point. Currently we only keep Netflix (where we have lots to watch) and Prime (my husband says it's cheap enough to keep; I'd just get rid of it if it were up to me). We may pay for i.e. HBO for a month when there's something we want to watch.

I love watching TV shows, so I don't want to give up streaming altogether.

Phone

I use an old iPhone. Android is controlled by Google and iPhone is the only Apple thing I use. Degoogled Android like Graphene OS or Dumbphones are too much for me (just like self-hosted cloud).

What Is Difficult To Get Rid Of

I keep Google Family Link and Microsoft Family Safety to have parental control over my children's computers and phones. My children keep using Microsoft Edge browser too because of that. It's less about time limits and mostly about blocking some websites (I want them only to use websites and download apps that I allow them to). I haven't find a better way yet.

#digital minimalism #degoogle #buy european #buy from eu #poland

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heidi891 · 3 months ago

Text

My Digital Minimalism Journey

Doomscrolling. Smartphone addiction. Google this, Google that. Sounds familiar? I've begun a journey to untangle myslef from American megacorps and declutter my digital life.

Another factor I take into account is using local products to support my country's (Poland's) and Europe's economy and security.

Google Search

Browser

I decided to use Mozilla Firefox with turned off telemetry and Qwant and uBlock Origin extensions. Mozilla, though American, is open source and non profit.

Update: I also installed Privacy Badger extension.

E-mail

Contacts

I deleted my contacts from Google and store them locally on the phone. I have backups saved on a pedrive and in a cloud.

Calendar

Google Drive, OneDrive

Google Maps

For public transport I use Polish app jakdojade.pl.

Google Docs, Microsoft Office

Update: I ended up using FreeOffice. It isn't perfect, but it works and that's what's most important.

Google Translate

I've started using German DeepL instead.

Social Media

Podcasts and Music

Films and TV shows

I love watching TV shows, so I don't want to give up streaming altogether.

Phone

I use an old iPhone. Android is controlled by Google and iPhone is the only Apple thing I use. Degoogled Android like Graphene OS or Dumbphones are too much for me (just like self-hosted cloud).

What Is Difficult To Get Rid Of

#digital minimalism #degoogle #buy european #buy from eu #poland

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heidi891 · 3 months ago

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Also, he’s more irritable ("Professor Snape, who seemed to have attained new levels of vindictiveness over the summer"), because his Dark Mark is growing stronger.

The next two days passed without great incident, unless you counted Neville melting his sixth cauldron in Potions. Professor Snape, who seemed to have attained new levels of vindictiveness over the summer, gave Neville detention and Neville returned from it in a state of nervous collapse, having been made to disembowel a barrel full of horned toads. “You know why Snape’s in such a foul mood, don’t you?” said Ron to Harry as they watched Hermione teaching Neville a Scouring Charm to remove the frog guts from under his fingernails. “Yeah,” said Harry. “Moody.”

Harry says Neville melted SIX cauldrons at the start of the year (I wonder if Nev himself buys the new ones and they are sent to him via owl post or if he uses the school ones after fucking up his own or what), and Harry is like "oh yeah Snape is so vindictive he gave Neville detention because of Moody and not because Neville melted six cauldrons which is dangerous for the whole ass class, and he also made Neville work with potions ingredients on the detention, how vile of him". Like we literally see that even spilling one of the simplest potions they make on their first class is dangerous enough it can ruin students' boots, and Snape seemingly let the first five (!) cauldrons slide without a detention, but sure, he is evil and excessive.

And a horned toad isn't even a frog, it's a lizard, Harry probably just doesn't know what the hell is it. Even if for some reason it's a totally different species of animal in HP – we know toads are used in potions widely, Snape literally doesn't choose what is a potions ingredient and what isn't. Make a boy who fucks up his potions work with (unpleasant) potion ingredients is a reasonable detention. Snape generally gives adequate detentions for fair reasons.

#harry potter books #severus snape #severus snape meta #pro snape

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heidi891 · 3 months ago

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Severus has greasy hair because he doesn't wash it. You idiots. You absolute buffoons. That is part of his characterization, he doesn't have good hygiene! Because of THE HORRORS! And also because j.k. rowling probably views uncleanliness as a moral failure, and wanted snape to be seen as a bad guy.

But we, as a fandom, can extrapolate that Snape probably didn't wash his hair a lot when he was still in school because he was poor and depressed and abused. And as an adult, he didn't heal from his trauma and instead made his mental health worse by joining a fascist regime, and then he became a spy and was even more stressed out and pressed for time and energy and the will to shower, and THEN IT WAS THE PTSD AGAIN.

There is NO room for arguing that he just has "naturally greasy" hair because of genetics. Yes that is a thing, BUT IT IS NOT HIS THING. He is a beautiful but fucked up man and part of that is having a hard time showering. Fuck you.

#harry potter books #severus snape #severus snape meta #pro snape

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heidi891 · 4 months ago

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#harry potter books #severus snape #pro snape #snape fanart

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heidi891 · 4 months ago

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hi! Who do you think was the most special person for Sirius? I love your analysis

James. No question.

Okay, now more seriously: Hi, thank you so much!

But yeah, it was James and later Harry, but Harry was never James in Sirius' eyes. I think I talked about it a bit in various posts in the past but I low-key think one-sided Prongsfoot (as in Sirius was in love with James) is canon. There isn't like, much textual evidence, it's mostly a vibe thing, so I consider it a canon-based headcanon more than a proper theory, but I think there's something there if you want to read into it.

I kind of wanted to make a post about it for a while, so this ask is as good an excuse as any:

So, I want to start by saying James and Sirius are not normal about each other. Their friendship is kind of insane and it's mutual. There's a reason in PoA whenever someone talks about them they forget Remus and Peter and just talk about James and Sirius and how inseparable they are:

“You say you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta,” murmured Professor McGonagall. “Do you remember who his best friend was?” “Naturally,” said Madam Rosmerta, with a small laugh. “Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here — ooh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!”

(PoA)

Their names are on the same breath for all their teachers & Rosmerta. So much so, that they had to place them in separate detentions. Not that it helped because these two found a way to not be separate for even a second:

This is a two-way mirror. I’ve got the other. If you need to speak to me, just say my name into it; you’ll appear in my mirror and I’ll be able to talk in yours. James and I used to use them when we were in separate detentions.

(OotP)

They literally couldn't spend an hour apart from each other when in school. I completely understand why you "never saw one without the other".

Every photo they took, they took so they were flush next to each other at the center of the Mauraders:

With a leap of pleasure, Harry recognized his father; his untidy black hair stuck up at the back like Harry’s, and he too wore glasses. Beside him was Sirius, carelessly handsome, his slightly arrogant face so much younger and happier than Harry had ever seen it alive. To Sirius’s right stood Pettigrew, more than a head shorter, plump and watery-eyed, flushed with pleasure at his inclusion in this coolest of gangs, with the much-admired rebels that James and Sirius had been. On James’s left was Lupin

(DH)

He was the best man in James and Lily's wedding, right there next to James the whole wedding:

He stopped on a picture of his parents’ wedding day. There was his father waving up at him, beaming, the untidy black hair Harry had inherited standing up in all directions. There was his mother, alight with happiness, arm in arm with his dad. And there ... that must be him. Their best man ... Harry had never given him a thought before.

(PoA)

Sirius was Harry's godfather and as I mentioned here, it appears Sirius lived with James and Lily when they were married before they went into hiding. JKR stated Sirius & Lily were living on James' inheritance — not Remus who couldn't get a job, not Peter who didn't get an inheritance from Uncle Alphard — Sirius.

When Sirius had enough of his family at 16, he went to James. It's always James for him. He probably felt he was able to leave his family because he knew he could go to James.

Sirius' plan with the Secret Keeper switch was that everyone would think he was the Secret Keeper so they'd torture and kill him and he wouldn't be able to tell them anything. His plan was to die for James, Lily, and Harry. Sirius didn't think he'd survive the first war if Voldemort really wanted to get to the Potters and it was worth it for him. Because James, Lily, and Harry would be safe, and he expects everyone else to do so too:

“You don’t understand!” whined Pettigrew. “He would have killed me, Sirius!” “THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!” roared Black. “DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!”

(PoA)

Lily was well aware of how codependent James and Sirius were:

James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell—also Dumbledore’s still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much.

(DH)

She knows that Sirius can talk James into things she can't. She knows how inseparable these two are and how important it is to Sirius to be on Harry's birthday, as she comforts him about it in her letter. I think Lily was more consciously aware of the insanity that was James and Sirius than either James or Sirius. I mean, it speaks volumes that Lily feels the need to write Sirius to talk sense into her husband becouse she knows it would work and that Sirius would do it. Because I'm sure the moment Sirius saw this letter he made the time to come over because it was for James. And Sirius would die for James in a heartbeat, without a second thought. Becouse, yes, it is how his loyalty works, but there aren't many people Sirius Black is loyal to to that degree. Even though he says he'd die for Peter, I don't think he'd do it as quickly and as readily as he would for James or Harry (after all, he makes fun of Peter in SWM in a way he'd never dare to when it comes to James).

When Sirius talks about James in the books, there is so much reverence. The same reverence Snape has for Lily and more. James is on a pedestal on which he can do no wrong in Sirius' mind — and it might've been that way when James was alive too, if perhaps to a lesser degree.

“He kept messing up his hair,” said Harry in a pained voice. Sirius and Lupin laughed. “I’d forgotten he used to do that,” said Sirius affectionately.

(OotP)

When talking to Harry about James' negative traits and behavior with in OotP, Sirius is incapable of seeing James in a negative light. While Lily disliked James' cruelty (I think she was fine with the arrogance somewhat, contrary to what she says), Sirius loved James' cruelty becouse it was James. (Sirius is probably also a crueler person than Lily, but that's a different matter). But Sirius isn't willing to see any faults in James' behavior or traits. James is a good person and his best friend and he knows, objectively, that James did bad things, but he would rather call it being an "idiot teenager" than what it was. Like, this fandom talks a lot about Snape putting Lily on a pedestal, but what about Sirius with James?

James could murder someone in cold blood in front of Sirius for no reason and Sirius would start making excuses for him on why he was actually right to do so. ("no auror, see, this was actually completely justified and the right thing to do!")

“Look, Harry,” said Sirius placatingly, “James and Snape hated each other from the moment they set eyes on each other, it was just one of those things, you can understand that, can’t you? I think James was everything Snape wanted to be — he was popular, he was good at Quidditch, good at pretty much everything.

(OotP)

(I love that while excusing the bullying he sings James' praises, I can just hear the 'good-looking' he isn't saying out loud)

And even when he confesses they were berks for what they did, he spreads the blame on all of them:

“I’m not proud of it,” said Sirius quickly. [...] “If we were sometimes arrogant little berks, you mean,” said Sirius. [...] “Well . . . I thought he was a bit of an idiot.” [Harry] “Of course he was a bit of an idiot!” said Sirius bracingly. “We were all idiots! Well — not Moony so much,” he said fairly, looking at Lupin, but Lupin shook his head.

(OotP)

Sirius doesn't blame James without blaming all of them. And, he continued to justify James as he said it. (I'll add Remus is doing just as much to defend James and excuse all of his behavior, so it's not just Sirius)

“She didn’t know too much about it, to tell you the truth,” said Sirius. “I mean, James didn’t take Snape on dates with her and jinx him in front of her, did he?”

(OotP)

I wanted to note this above quote because it's interesting to me. Yes, it's Sirius not minding James' behavior again, but I find it interesting that James didn't reform completely and hides it from Lily, but not from Sirius — never from Sirius. Kind of goes with how in the letter Lily mentions how James is trying to act strong in front of her, but he probably wouldn't in front of Sirius. Their friendship was just the most important connection to both of them. James keeps secrets from Lily, the love of his life, but not from his best mate Sirius who lives with them.

(Also the "took Snape on dates with Lily" made me think James had Sirius hide nearby on at least one date with Lily to help him out and Lily, obviously, caught them. Either as Padfoot for moral support or sitting in the bushes with the two-way mirror as James holds his under the table at Madam Puddifoot's)

Sirius outright says himself James was the most important person to him:

Sirius frowned at Harry, who was still looking unconvinced. “Look,” he said, “your father was the best friend I ever had, and he was a good person. A lot of people are idiots at the age of fifteen. He grew out of it.”

(OotP)

I also think Sirius had zero experience pre-Azkaban, contrary to some fanon. I mean:

With another shock of excitement, Harry saw Sirius give James the thumbs-up. Sirius was lounging in his chair at his ease, tilting it back on two legs. He was very good-looking; his dark hair fell into his eyes with a sort of casual elegance neither James’s nor Harry’s could ever have achieved, and a girl sitting behind him was eyeing him hopefully, though he didn’t seem to have noticed.

(OotP)

Harry instantly notes how hot Sirius is and how he is getting girls' attention, and yet, Sirius only has eyes for James. He doesn't notice the girl (or any other) because he's looking at James. This is practically text at this point (mostly joking, but also, not really).

And Sirius' fixation on James started from day one, from the moment these two met:

“Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?” James asked the boy lounging on the seats opposite him, and with a jolt, Harry realized that it was Sirius. Sirius did not smile. “My whole family have been in Slytherin,” he said. “Blimey,” said James, “and I thought you seemed all right!” Sirius grinned. “Maybe I’ll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you’ve got the choice?”

(DH)

Sirius and James just met, the train barely even moved out of the station, and Sirius was upset at the possibility James wouldn't like him now because of his family history in Slytherin. It's the opposite reaction Harry had to Draco about the "wrong sort of wizard" where Harry would rather be disliked by an arrogant berk, Sirius wanted James to like him. Sirius wants James to like him so much that when James says he thought Sirius was "all right", Sirius jumps at the opportunity to prove why James should like him because he won't be a Slytherin like the rest of his family.

I low-key think this conversation affected Sirius' sorting. I think that, loath as he is to admit it, Sirius has some Slytherin characteristics, he has the cunning, the arrogance, and try as he might, he is still, so clearly, a rich pureblood from the House of Black. And he acts it. I think he was a borderline sorting and the hat took his preference. I can see young Sirius going "not Slytheirn" the same way Harry did (I like the mirroring). I think he considered that before, I think Sirius' started drifting from his family before, but I think James' words really cemented it to him.

and, just look how Sirius is with Harry. Listen, I'm the first person to jump to Sirius' defense when anyone claims he sees Harry as a James replacement — he doesn't. But Sirius' devotion to Harry (which is insane, I mean, he lived in a cave and ate rats for months, he returned to his family home which he both loathes and misses becouse it'll help the Order keep Harry safe) is an extension of his devotion to James. Sirius would do anything for Harry becouse he'll do anything for James. He sees Harry as his own person, I don't think he treats him the way he treated James at all, but his love for Harry and loyalty to him is tied to his love for James. James is the initial connecting tissue.

This post was a bit more of a rambly one than a proper essay, but I think the point comes across.

#harry potter books #Sirius Black #prongsfoot

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