#First war with Voldemort

[mexicanpadfoot]

Peter betraying the Marauders because Gilderoy’s bullshit is gaining the wrong kind of attention from Voldemort and becoming a spy is the only way to ensure the safety of his love???

[slitheringghost]

Death Eater Recruitment Age During The First War

In this meta I'll talk about Voldemort's strategy in recruiting underage Death Eaters. Fandom often portrays teenage Death Eaters like Snape, Evan Rosier, etc as officially joining Voldemort after they graduate or, at best, their 7th year.

But the most logical conclusion is that Death Eaters recruited as teenagers would have been required to take the Mark at 16 and no later - at earliest Christmas break of 5th year and at latest the summer after 5th year. Regulus joining at 16 wasn't an exception or an anomaly - it was the expectation and the norm.

Additionally, younger Death Eaters’ age during the First War is cited as reasons they couldn’t have committed violent war crimes in the short time they were Death Eaters, but this too is contradicted by canon. I’ll go through the evidence for these points below.

1.0 Voldemort’s strategy

Firstly, I really don't know why people think Voldemort would have qualms about making 16 year olds murder and torture - given that Tom Riddle himself had murdered 4 people by the time he was 16 (killing the Riddles summer after his 4th year at 15 years old) as well as tortured students ("nasty incidents") with his gang.

Yes, many characters in HBP claim that there’s no way Draco was marked because he’s only 16 and still in school - but the whole point is that they’re wrong, that Draco WAS Marked at 16, that Voldemort thought Hogwarts was a good recruiting ground, that he was creating child soldiers. The whole point is to recruit them young - when they're most vulnerable and malleable.

On the other hand, it's unlikely that they were allowed to be Marked younger than 16 - Regulus was eager to join years before he was Marked, so if there was a way for him to be initiated sooner, he would've taken it. From Voldemort's POV, he'd want the Black heir under his control, so he would've Marked Regulus as early as was possible under Death Eater protocol. (Sirius also runs away at 16, so it’s a possibility that this had to do with Voldemort recruiting him at that age.)

So presumably, Voldemort chose an age where they're young enough to be easily manipulated, but old enough to be competent as Death Eaters.

(While Tom killed his family a year earlier, his proto-Death Eater gang was involved in their first murder together at the same age - Myrtle end of their 5th year; which imo was accidental but fits the tradition).

But once they reach that age - there's no stalling. Future teenage Death Eaters would be trained for maybe months, maybe years, before finally taking the Mark at 16.

Voldemort wants his army and he wants it now. You don't get to wait around to take the mark. Even marking a Death Eater at 17 vs. 16 is a whole entire year of the war wasted where Voldemort could have them under his control and doing useful things for him.

(It's possible the recruiting pace was a bit slower pre-war, but once the war started Voldemort needed as many Death Eaters as he could get.)

Certainly no important pureblood heir would be marked later than 16. Marking an heir means Voldemort has solidified his control over that family’s wealth and political/magical resources (at least in future).

Despite being Hogwarts students, teenage Death Eaters still have substantial windows of time when they could be committing crimes for Voldemort - 2 months of summer; 1 month combining Christmas/Easter breaks; Hogsmeade weekends; maybe ways of sneaking out other weekends. (Even many adult Death Eaters do have day jobs and keep up appearances of normal lives.)

They could also get a lot done at Hogwarts itself - spywork (i.e. out muggleborns hiding their status, similarly gather info on political enemies via other students), magical research (esp. given they have access to the Hogwarts library which Voldemort doesn’t - presumably, this is a library as coveted as pureblood libraries), invent things and experiment (i.e. Snape inventing Levicorpus which we know the Death Eaters used), and most notably, commit war crimes on campus.

Examples include Mulciber and Avery torturing Mary Macdonald with Dark Magic - which clearly wasn’t an isolated incident - and Snape having used Sectumsempra so often at Hogwarts it became known as his specialty. This is the kind of terror junior Death Eaters would be expected to perform on campus during the war.

Then there's the Dark Mark itself. The way the Death Eaters are bound to Voldemort parallels house-elf enslavement contract, and the Dark Mark is the main way of enforcing it - it’s a tracking device (per Karkaroff), a communication device, a means of control, a way to make sure you don't escape. So of course Voldemort would want to brand his followers as soon as he could. (see also: this meta on the Dark Mark by @artemisia-black)

2.0 Examples

Regulus (waiting to join years earlier) took the Mark at 16. Draco, Marked the summer after his 5th year, only a month or two after he turned 16. Barty Jr. was 19 in 1982 during the Longbottom trial, so it's a reasonable extrapolation that he too was Marked at 16, particularly since he was very dedicated and loyal to Voldemort and would've been desperate to join ASAP. As Lucius was clearly instrumental in recruiting Snape (and logically there have to be Death Eaters on campus recruiting), I assume he was Marked by the time the Marauders entered Hogwarts, so likely Marked at 16 too.

Then there's the fact that the Death Eaters is a multigenerational cult and that Voldemort expects the kids of his Death Eaters to join - examples are Mulciber, Avery, Rosier. These kids were essentially born into the cult and inherited being a Death Eater, they've known since childhood that they would be expected to take the Mark, and perhaps were trained for it very early, so there's no reason they wouldn't be Marked at 16.

Of course, not all Death Eaters are recruited underage, there are plenty recruited as adults - when you're recruited matters when Voldemort actually notices you, or when he needs you (i.e. Peter was recruited much later on, purely as a spy). Other exceptions to the “Marked at 16” rule would be if the Death Eater isn't politically useful enough (heirs from less powerful pureblood families etc) and if they weren't talented enough by 16 and would require more training.

Regarding Snape specifically, he became friends with Lucius Malfoy as soon as he entered Hogwarts, and stayed friends with the Malfoys long into his adult years. Lucius would've been the main one to bring him into Death Eater circles (particularly since Lucius would've graduated Snape's first or second year, and the rest of their contact had to be out of school, perhaps Lucius inviting him to events with Death Eaters, etc.)

His friendship with his gang - Mulciber, Avery, Rosier - would function likewise, especially because they're not just any junior Death Eaters, they're the children of Tom Riddle's original gang. So, Snape was pulled into the network of pretty high ranking Death Eaters from the very start.

Snape's talent was also apparent to everyone from the get go (i.e. Sirius’s statement that Snape was famous for the Dark Arts at school, and as a first year knew more curses than half the kids in 7th year). Therefore, he would’ve been on the Death Eaters’ radar long before SWM, and there’s no reason for them to wait until then to recruit and train him. Most likely he was training under Voldemort as his student his 5th year, perhaps even 4th year, and then took the Mark summer after 5th year. (In this fic, he's already taken it by SWM, because teen Death Eaters take the Mark their first school holiday after turning 16, which was 5th year Christmas break for Snape, which is an interesting and believable scenario).

And no, his status as a poor halfblood wouldn't be an issue - canonically Voldemort makes poor Death Eaters high ranking (Snape, Amycus, Alecto), as well as female Death Eaters.

This, of course, conflicts with a certain narrative parts of fandom want to push about Snape being driven to the Death Eaters due to the Marauders’ bullying and Lily breaking off the friendship - because in any realistic scenario the Death Eaters would have recruited him long before this happened.

Regarding the level of violence teenage Death Eaters commit, it makes sense to me that you'd have to kill to be Marked - Voldemort is not going to have his Death Eaters hesitate before killing and mess up his missions (Additionally, once they’ve committed crimes for him he could use exposing them as a threat to keep them in line). I HC that you have to cast all three Unforgiveables on a victim to be Marked.

So, this means that all your faves like Regulus, Snape, Evan, Barty, that fandom often whitewashes, did in fact commit many violent war crimes while they were Death Eaters. Potentially Draco is the exception to this wrt actual murder (we know he's using the Imperius and Cruciatus 6th year), though it's always possible Voldemort made him murder someone off screen and we just didn't see it. (ETA: It’s also a misconception that Draco being Marked was only to punish Lucius - the punishment was that Draco was assigned a suicide mission that he couldn’t possibly succeed at in being ordered to kill Dumbledore. It’s likely he would’ve been Marked even without those circumstances.)

As more examples of this, even Crabbe and Goyle - who were not Marked or trained as official Death Eaters - are torturing first years with the Cruciatus their entire 7th year under the instruction of the Carrows, and presumably students in the years below them were also forced to do the same. (Crabbe also tries to cast an Avada Kedavra, so it's possible he murdered someone for the Death Eaters outside of campus.) This is further proof that Death Eaters have no issue making underage students commit violent war crimes.

3.0 Conclusion

We can extrapolate from the known numbers we have - Lucius Malfoy in his year, 3-5 Death Eaters in the Marauders' year (Mulciber, Avery, Snape, Rosier, Wilkes), Barty Jr. in the year below, Regulus in the year below that - that there were a few wannabe and/or actually Marked Death Eaters in every class year during the war.

So, Hogwarts during the first war wasn't just full of Wannabe Death Eaters - it was also full of actual Death Eaters who were already actively murdering and torturing others.

And this contextualizes the Marauders' actions in their Hogwarts years, and why they would've been pushed to that kind of violence to protect others on campus. (read more about that in this meta)

[pandorasopenedbox3]

Regulus surviving the cave but losing all of his magic as a result of the potion is my favorite first war headcannon and I stand by that

[pangaeaseas]

my favorite version of 'how rich are the potters' is that fleamont was nouveau riche, made a lotttt of money like tech entrepreneur levels of money....and then James blew most of it supporting the order of the phoenix, which was likely funded primarily by its members. in fact maybe part of the reason James was recruited was for his money??as well as for other qualities of course. Sirius as well for whatever alphard's inheritance was. because the order has a lot shallower pockets than the death Eaters--note the difference between the weasleys and the malfoys ---and order members seem to either need to work or need to be paid by the order to do order work bc they don't have jobs (since being a paramilitary is like a full time job lol). some of the death eaters are extremely wealthy and likely subsidize the others, while the order seems to be much less broadly wealthy. in fact I also like to think second war sirius spent a lot of his money on the order as well, as recompense for bellatrix's role in the death eaters. so Harry is not actually that rich <3

[sliebman10]

Veritaserum

“You understand, Mr. Black, that veritaserum is a powerful truth potion and you agree to let us administer it?” Moody said, meeting Sirius’s steely gaze.

“Yes,” Sirius said shortly. He was done waiting and wanted to get on with it. 

“Very well,” Moody said, Summoning the clear vial. He gave Sirius a dropper which he drank from. They waited a few moments. “Now then. Were you the Potters’ Secret Keeper?”

“No,” Sirius said. 

“Then who was?”

“Peter Pettigrew.” 

Moody raised his eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“When was the last time you saw Pettigrew before 31 October?”

“The full moon a few nights before. We met in the forest.”

“With Lupin?”

“Yes,” Sirius said. He knew he was going to give away their animagus secret. It couldn’t be helped. 

“And after?”

“After the moon? I took Remus home and healed him. I don’t know where Peter went. I thought he went home to his flat.”

Moody nodded. “And what about Lupin? Was he part of the plan?”

“No,” Sirius said. “I convinced James to switch to Peter.”

“But not Lupin.”

“No,” Sirius said again. And here it was, he thought. 

“Why not?”

Sirius sighed. “We…we wanted someone who wouldn’t be suspect. Remus was already…under suspicion because of his condition.”

“Did you suspect him of working with Voldemort?”

“No…not directly. But he went on these undercover missions…” Sirius said. “We didn’t know what he had to say or do to maintain his cover.”

Word Count: 242

@wolfstarmicrofic

[odillisea]

You ever think about how Remus and Sirius both thought each other was the traitor because of the very thing they wanted to be seen as more than? And how they both thought that the other was that one person that could see past it? A werewolf and a Black, both doomed to never be more than their curse and their blood.

[pain-in-the-riri]

OH HELLO Everyone say thank you to @burningaurora and @flowerhawk-highinthesky for turning my fic Same Old Fire into a TTS Podfic!

So everyone go listen to these assholes get together hehehe i'm so excited about this, it's my first fic that's been podficced!!! tysm friends 😭

Same Old Fire Podfic

Wolfstar, 8k words, Explicit, Getting Together Fic :)

(Check out the written fic for more drawings also)

[mrstellmeafuckingsecret]

How would the Dark Lord react if his death eaters were gay, bisexual and/or queer? He loves to discuss other people's intimate lives. He talked about Snape's personal life, talked about Tonks and Lupine's child, and talked about Merope and Tom.

i think back in the og time period he'd def use it as a weapon. not publicly calling them out or anything, more as a constant way to humiliate someone or show how them being queer and him knowing it is just power play. he would have a personal prejudice, too, with how he was raised, and he'd treat them with way more disgust, i'm positive. in a modern au, i think he'd be too logical to have a personal prejudice, though he would still blackmail and manipulate said death eater with the threat of outing them, etc.

[wizardingworldlibrary]

First War With Voldemort Masterlist

A Dream Carved in Stone (ao3) - diadelphous Lily/Snape M, 101k

Summary: AU: When an unmarried Lily Evans joins the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore gives her a simple mission: meet with the Death Eater Severus Snape and tell him what she's done.

All the Young Dudes (ao3) - MsKingBean89 Sirius/Remus M, 526k

Summary: LONG fic charting the marauders’ time at Hogwarts (and beyond) from Remus’ PoV - diversion from canon in that Remus’s father died and he was raised in a children’s home, and is a bit rough around the edges. Otherwise canon-compliant. 1971 - 1995

And, By Opposing (ao3) - GotNoJamsss James/Lily, Remus/OC, Sirius/OC M, 65k

Summary: Amid the chaos of the First Wizarding War, Remus and his friends rescue Persephone Ward from Death Eaters, only to discover her tangled history with Sirius and the complexities of pureblood society.

Distrustful and fiercely independent, Seph wants no part in the war, but her growing ties to the Order—and the men who fight within it—draw her further into the conflict.

Plot twists promised. Happily-ever-afters are not.

anti-hero (ao3) - rweoutofthewoods Regulus/James, Sirius/Remus M, 237k

Summary: Regulus Black dies on a Tuesday.

Somewhere in the countryside of Italy, another man lives.

Hero of the Story (ao3) - kimmy_writes (WickedlyAwesomeMe), WickedlyAwesomeMe Hermione/James M, 364k

Summary: Maybe, fate didn't want Hermione Granger to run away. Maybe, fate wanted Hermione Granger to change the world instead. || In which, with another chance at life, Hermione unexpectedly made heroes out of the usual villains.

Marauders Era | Time Travel-ish/Alternate Universe | Slow burn James x Hermione

Interlude (ao3) - Nefaria_Black Bellatrix/Voldemort M, 4k

Summary: Lord Voldemort was attending an important dinner party, striving for more allies to his cause. It wouldn’t do for him to leave early, but the summons were becoming more and more insistent. His Bella was crying for him across the ether, in a carnal way it seemed. He followed the summon, and the view that greeted him was glorious.

I Want To Be Good (ao3) - mightyd0lphin Sirius/Remus, James/Lily M, 453k

Summary: Long fic of Sirius' years at Hogwarts until 1994, dealing with his blood-supremacist family, a brewing war, and some not-so-platonic feelings for one Remus Lupin.

Let Slip the Dogs of War (ao3) - itallstartedwithdefenestration Sirius/Remus E, 54k

Summary: Remus can't seem to escape certain parts of his life. The worst is being a werewolf. The second worst is Sirius Black.

Lethe and Mnemosyne (ao3) - montparnasse Sirius/Remus E, 26k

Summary: Winter '79. Looking to get out from under the black-hole overhang of wartime, Sirius and Remus take off to play house on the Cornish moors. It goes downhill from there.

Promises. Betrayals. (ao3) - puuvillaa Sirius/Remus T, 6k

Summary: The morning after the full moon, Remus wakes up alone and knows he’s about to die.

Remain in Light (ao3) - veeagainst Sirius/Remus E, 175k

Summary: What if Sirius Black didn't die? It's been done many times. Here's my take on it.

Runaway Spare (ao3) - WideEyesAtNight Regulus/James, Sirius/Remus E, 451k

Summary: Later, when Regulus was safer, healthier, no longer actively bleeding, Regulus would accept that Sirius hadn’t meant to. He was naïve and careless with Regulus’ safety in a way Regulus had never been with his, but it wasn’t malice that led Sirius to make his mother question. When Sirius had spit those hateful things at Regulus he hadn’t known that his mother could overhear. He hadn’t known that his words, which were meant to hurt only his feelings, would cause this. But they did.

A slip of the tongue leads Regulus, Sirius, and their friends down a different path. This fic deals with themes of surviving an abusive household, a realistic progression of healing/ rebuilding relationships, and navigating new relationships in the context of trauma. Sometimes people's action impact us even when they don't mean to and just because someone doesn't mean you harm doesn't mean you walk away unscathed.

This fic runs from the middle of Regulus' 5th year through to the War.

that’s the art of getting by (ao3) - sarewolf Sirius/Remus M, 40k

Summary: “What do you want me to do?” Remus says, tiredly. All he wants is to curl up on his bed. Smoke a pack of cigarettes. Get drunk. He can’t stop looking at Harry.

“Remus...” Dumbledore is gentle. Remus hates when he has that tone. Hates that he knows it will hurt. “There is no one else left.”

A bitter laugh escapes him. “So you’ll curse the poor thing with a werewolf for a guardian?”

The Trees Have Eyes (ao3) - MissMarauder35 Sirius/Remus E, 34k

Summary: When what should have been a standard mission goes terribly off-course, Sirius and Remus find themselves stranded with no idea where they are. There’s a cabin, a forest, and they are alone. As they attempt to fathom what went wrong and how they are going to get back home, they realise that there might be something else out there with them, something beyond in the snow…

The Weather Inside (ao3) - earlybloomingparentheses Sirius/Remus, background James/Lily E, 43k

Summary: Sirius rides a flying motorbike, and snogs strangers in pubs, and strikes moody poses Remus finds irritatingly attractive. But for Remus, who drinks milky tea and wears flannel pyjamas, there's a chasm cracked right down the fault line between wanting and doing.

How he wants, though. How he wants.

This Is Not Your Year (ao3) - montparnasse Sirius/Remus E, 17k

Summary: 1979, year of war and obsession and sleep loss and sexual frustration. Sirius is hoping to go out with a bang and not a whimper; enter Remus, stage left.

us traitors never win (ao3) - EnbyHighMage Marlene/Dorcas, etc. T, 16k

Summary: The missing story of the First Wizarding War, from Dorcas Meadowes' point of view.

We're both fractured, baby (ao3) - FinnTheWorm_1975 Marlene/Dorcas M, 6k

Summary: Marlene's struggles with alcohol abuse come to light after Dorcas is sent on a long contactless mission with the Order. When near death strikes Dorcas during the expedition, Marlene is thrown neck deep into her addiction without her girlfriend there to comfort her. With Dorcas's life on the line and Marlene a shell of herself, Sirius tries as hard as he can to sew their frayed relationship back together.

[eden-writes-stuff]

can i pretty please have dorlene angst maybe one of them snapped on the other or or just jealousy type angst your choice ofcourse

tysm

Tags: dorlene, first war, angst, mention of a wound and blood, loads of crying, argument word count: 605

"Why won't you let me go?! This is important work we're doing here." Dorcas followed her girlfriend into the kitchen.

"Is it though? I mean, what we've been fighting for over a year and Voldemort just keeps getting stronger." Shocked, Dorcas took a step back. "So what, you're saying we should just give up?"

Marlene shrugged. If that's what it took to keep Cas from going back into the battlefield...

"Marls, we almost got killed yesterday!" The girl with the pink hair turned away and started making tea.

"Exactly!" "Exactly..." They both looked at each other for a moment.

"I feel like we have different 'exactly's there", Dorcas said, stepping next to the fridge.

"We almost got killed yesterday, so you can't go. What if today they are just a second faster? What if it isn't almost anymore?" Dorcas sighed, shaking her head. "If this is happening to us, this is happening to the others in the Order as well. We can't let them down. We signed up for this when we agreed to fight. We knew what it might cost. We said to do it no matter what it would take."

"Not you!" Marlene put the cup down harder than necessary, causing the porcelain to break apart. The good tea set she had inherited from her mother. Her hands were shaking. Dorcas knew that she was scared, they all were. But Marls had never let it show before. She wiped across her forehead, staring at the broken cup.

"I will not let it cost you. I can't... I already lost my family and I don't know where Remus is and Lily has to go into hiding, and-", she let out a pathetic cry. "You're all I have left."

Dorcas stepped forward, taking her hands into her own. One of them was wet. Blood.

She turned the tab on, carefully holding her girlfriend's hand under the warm water.

"I will be okay. I would never leave you. I'd rather die than die", she tried, but Marlene didn't laugh. She just kept on shaking and leaned her head against Dorcas' shoulder.

With a quiet sigh, she wrapped her arms around her, holding her close as the tears started.

Marlene was an ugly-crier. While Dorcas needed to have control over herself, even when she was vulnerable, Marlene was all red eyes, loud sobs, snorts and spit.

Dorcas was never bothered by it.

She softly stroked her back, while Marlene held onto her so tight she thought she was sure to hear her ribs crack. But it didn't matter.

"Oh, sweetheart." Dorcas carefully led them both into the living room, where she sat down on the couch, pulling Marlene into her lap.

"I don't want to lose you. I can't. If anything happens to you." She let out a heartbreaking wail, that almost had Dorcas crying herself. She hated seeing her beloved like this.

"I won't die. I'd never leave you alone. It's okay. I'm right here, sweet", she said, holding her tighter.

It took a good thirty minutes until Marlene had calmed down and stopped crying.

"We could just run off together. Somewhere nice. I always wanted to go to California." Cas smiled sadly at her. "Could you do that? Just leave the rest alone here? Deal with Voldemort by themselves?"

Sighing, Marlene shook her head. "I want that sick Bastard to die. Painfully would be good, but I'll take anything if that means we're rid of him."

"There we go. That's my Lene." She kissed the tip of her nose, while Marlene giggled quietly. "Shut up, you know I hate that name." 

But at least she was smiling again.

[thestralsofspinnersend]

An Ever Fixed Mark

Chapter 2

here on ao3!

She wondered what the difference was in the muggle and magical world when it came to despotic maniacs. What it took to overthrow a dictator. Was it so hard to combat Voldemort and the Death Eaters because there were just so few magical people? Was it a question of sheer numbers?

Or was there something else at play? Why could they not storm Malfoy Manor, where they knew he was, and just— shoot him? Death by firing squad. How insultingly and appropriately muggle. Hell, she thought she might even have the nerve to do it herself if given the chance. 

She tried to shake the troubling thoughts from her mind but being back in Cokeworth brought all of these bubbling, churning worries and memories to the surface as she continued walking towards the chapel at the end of Cherry Street, hoping she hadn't made a monumental error in judgement.

Half the block she walked down was cast in shadow, and she ducked into it, shielding herself from the unseasonably hot sun of late September. Passing the Railview Hotel with its white washed brick facade and peeling shutters, she felt a train as it passed just on the other side of the line of buildings, out of sight, rumbling the windows.

If she turned left at the corner, it would take her to her childhood home, and she had a moment’s wistful urge to go look at it. To go see the tire swing she and Petunia used to play on, where she first realised she could manipulate the energy in the air around her to force the swing higher and higher than it ought to go. To see if the door was still painted that dark purple her mother loved so much. To see if the agapanthus were still planted beneath the windows. 

But a different family lived there now. Since— well. 

[hp-fanfic-archive]

Hold On a Little Longer by Spork_in_the_Road Pairing: James/Lily, Alice/Frank Rating: T Word Count: 2k Podfic available here Read by: @ellamcsmellbella Length: 10-30 minutes It’s almost midnight when James says it, the thing that will consume their thoughts for the next five months. “Well it’s simple, isn’t it?” he says, eyes bright and cheeks flushed. It’s the look of a man who’s maybe a bit manic, a bit desperate. “We’ll defy Voldemort a fourth time and the prophecy won’t apply to us anymore.” In which the Potters and the Longbottoms both try to outsmart the prophecy before their sons are born

[pandorasopenedbox3]

I’m not sure if someone’s said this before but I’ve always felt that Regulus could’ve very possibly been groomed as a child (And many other children that joined the death eaters upon adulthood).

Can you imagine Riddle visiting the Black’s when Sirius and Regulus were young to gain support. Can you imagine him targeting not the adults of the house but the children that were going to inherit it in probably less than a decade. Can you imagine little 10 year old Regulus Black, who’s advanced at magic and often quiet in contrast to his older brother who fights back. Imagine how Riddle would see this impressionable but powerful child from one of the greatest pure blood families in the UK and immediately seize that opportunity. Especially after Sirius starts at Hogwarts and Regulus is stuck there scared and alone. Riddle showing up randomly to play with him or take him for ice cream or whatever Regulus wanted. Him pretending to care and listen to Regulus and Regulus finally feeling like someone loves him. Seeing a second preferred father in Riddle.

When Regulus starts school he writes to him sharing everything and Riddle writes back short replies and keeps an eye on him. Regulus and Sirius starting to fight because of their family’s ideals. Riddle starts planting doubt in regulus’ mind about how much Sirius truly loves him, picking James over him etc.

The years go on, Riddle is the one there when Sirius leaves. Regulus beleives every word he says bc he truly thinks he’s the only person to have ever truly cared about him.

Regulus starts getting scared by the war. He doesn’t want to kill people, he knows it’s wrong, but when someone you idolize is constantly putting in your head that this is the right thing and those people are actually hurting you then you start to believe them.

The thing with manipulators tho, is they tend to get paranoid. Regulus starts getting really close with Dorcas Meadows who is a blood traitor. Riddle makes him take the dark mark. Oh his best friend Pandora Rosier leaves her pure blood family to get away from the war. Forces him on his first mission and to physically kill a civilian which Reg has protested against adamantly. His one thing is he didn’t want to have to kill someone. He starts using all these threats on Reg, but he does it slowly enough that he doesn’t notice. Still Reg is beginning to get cautious around him and go behind his back (as teenagers do, he still sees Riddle as this person who loves him so he’s not necessarily afraid but he starts to fight back little by little)

But oh the kicker is when Reg stays friends with Pandora, behind his back. Oh now this time Riddle takes Kreature. And that just happened to be one step too far.

Imagine 17 year old Regulus lending his beloved house elf out to his mentor, his idol, his father figure and expecting for him to treat this person regulus loves more than anything well and send him home safely only to find out how awful that person is. Imagine Regulus sobbing on his bedroom floor because nothing he thought was true in the last 7 years were real. Riddle never cared about him, he was a weapon, a thing to be controlled. Finding out everything he was taught was a lie and wrong and he should’ve just trusted his gut god damn it and left with Dorcas and Pandora. Imagine regulus realizing his brother was right all along and he loved something that would never give him anything real back. Imagine Regulus Black putting all of his hatred and spite into killing the man that had ruined his life. Imagine him signing that letter knowing Riddle was the one who taught him how.

I could say so much more about this situation and how much it hurt him. And now I’m just sad for that poor lil boy. They were children.

[pangaeaseas]

dumbledore revealing Snape as his spy after the end of the first war is so interesting and so reflective of his character: it's an act of mercy and also a saw trap. BC I doubt anyone else, or any other strategy, would have been able to get Snape out of Azkaban: the other death eaters would be focused on saving their own skins, and without the protection of being a Death Eater Snape becomes just another poor half-blood, probably the exact kind of person who would make an easy scapegoat for Death Eater activity (in scapegoat terms he's just like Sirius! For different reasons obviously. See my Sirius the perfect scapegoat meta). So Snape is spared the horrors of Azkaban. BUT: Dumbledore burning Snape as a spy--in full knowledge of two things, that Snape is more motivated now than ever to attack Voldemort after Lily is dead, and that Voldemort hasn't been fully defeated, means that Snape MUST become a double agent. Otherwise he will be useless in the next conflict --a spy in Voldemort's ranks is much more valuable than another fighter, even one as skilled as Snape, and I think at this point in his life he would have wanted to cause the most damage to Voldemort by any means necessary. And being a double agent is no perfect redemption: it means having to betray both sides of the war. Snape can never be fully welcomed into the Order's side because every Order member knows he might have to get them killed so Voldemort will trust him. So by being revealed as Dumbledore's spy, Dumbledore ensures Snape will never have a full place on either side of British society.

[sliebman10]

Blood Replenishing Potion

As soon as Remus came through the Floo, heavily leaning on James, Sirius sprang into action, shouting instructions in full Healer mode.

"He's going to need Pain Killing and Blood Replenishing Potion. Dose and a half," he said as Lily started measuring and pouring.

He helped James carefully lie Remus out on the sofa. "We got ambushed," James said quietly. Sirius froze for a second, willing himself not to feel anything until Moony was stable.

Later that night though, he sat on the end of the sofa, with Remus's head in his lap. He ran his fingers through his curls, unsure if he was comforting Remus or himself.

Then Remus gave a cough and tried to sit up. "Moony? Oh thank Merlin," Sirius said a strangled voice, finally letting his emotions catch up to him.

Word count: 135

@wolfstarmicrofic

[corinnesamuels]

Guarding the Gates

Chapter 19: Half Past Ten

“You can’t be serious.” Lily laughs as James shrugs.

“Ask Remus when we get back to England. He threatened to hit me with a silencing jinx after a while.”

They’ve spent most of the morning in bed after Mr. Phillips’ security meeting. The Prime Minister didn’t have any obligations until the evening and decided to spend his day enjoying the grounds of the estate. Lily had to swat James’ leg after hearing him mutter something about having some ideas of what he’d like to spend his day enjoying. James, the lecher, only smirked.

They’ve been together all of ten hours, and he’s already driven her half insane.

Now they’re in bed—in bed!—sharing stories of all the times they’d sworn the other knew about their feelings. All the missed signals and all the times they’d gone out of their way to spend time with the other. Including the time James apparently tried to convince Remus to give up a few locks of hair so that James could make a Polyjuice Potion and go on rounds with Lily.

“And he never budged? Good on him.” 

James rolls his eyes. “Well, I offered him an obscene amount of Honeydukes once that made him hesitate. But he couldn’t be bought, turns out.” Then he looks down at her with a soft smile, and Lily feels her breath catch. 

This is really happening, she thinks. Her eyes flutter closed as he leans down to kiss her, his hands wandering across her bare skin as if he’s trying to memorize the feel of her.

“Do you know what else I’ve been wondering about?” Lily asks as James pulls her even closer to him, tracing lazy patterns across her hip before trailing his nose up the column of her neck and nipping at her ear.

“What’s that?” 

Lily is so distracted that she has a difficult time remembering what it is she’d been wondering about. “That muggle restaurant we went to before we left England, our server whispered something in your ear but I didn’t catch it.”

James pauses for a moment, furrowing his brow as he thinks. “You mean after we went to Gringotts? Neil?”

“That’s his name.” Lily nods. “He whispered something to you, and you looked at him and said ‘tell me about it.’” She imitates James’ voice at the end, pulling a laugh from him.

“He said you were the fittest fucking thing he’d ever seen.”

“You’re lying.” Lily gives him a playful shove. “Really, James. What did he say?”

“I’m being serious. That’s literally what he said. Verbatim.” James assures her. “And I couldn’t agree more. The boy has excellent taste. In women and in quidditch.”

Lily snorts and shakes her head. “He seemed like such a sweet kid.”

“He probably is love, just a sweet kid whose hormones have kicked in.”

Lily can only shake her head.

They’ve been quiet for a moment when James laughs again. “Is that what you think I sound like?”

“What?”

“Tell me about it.” James echoes Lily’s earlier impression of him.

“It’s a very good imitation! Even Marlene says so, and she’s not easy to impress.”

“Oh? You’ve done impressions of me before, then?”

Lily blushes, and the smile on James’ face turns mischievous. 

“Tell me.” He grabs her wrists, rubbing tantalizing circles around the inside of them with his thumbs.

Lily rolls her eyes and, with a dramatic sigh, begins to tell him about how frustrated she would find herself being after rounds during their seventh year. How she would complain to her friends about how she just wanted James to walk into the Head's office and say, “Alright, Evans?” before kissing her senseless. 

James shakes his head before letting out a laugh so loud Lily nearly jumps. She finds herself a bit miffed at it until he speaks again. “As hard as I worked to get on a first-name basis with you, it’s ‘Alright, Evans’ that gets you going? You should have just said so.”

Lily blushes again. “It’s not you using my name that does it. It’s the way I imagined you saying it, drawling, with that lazy grin of yours.” She bites her bottom lip as she imagines the scenes her 17-year-old mind used to create about him. And though they haven’t slept much, as she looks at his tousled hair and lips and hands … she finds herself wanting to act a few of them out.

They spend the next hour getting James’ ‘Alright, Evans?’ just right, practicing on parts of her body until they found themselves otherwise occupied.

“What time is it?” Lily asks later as she indulges in a languid stretch. She smiles as relief seeps into her tired muscles and even more as her skin brushes against James in the process.

James rubs a hand over the elongated angle of her body before she curls back into him. His glasses are sitting on the nightstand next to the bed, tossed there haphazardly as they’d returned from the morning’s staff meeting. She isn’t sure how well he can actually see her (I’ve got you close enough to see you just fine. He’d told her, before demonstrating what all he could do with their closeness), but the look in his eyes makes it seem as if he could almost see through her.

“Not telling.”

Lily laughs. “Why not? I wasn’t aware that the time was a secret.”

“If I tell you what time it is …” James trails his fingers across her skin, slower than before, as he dips his lips down to her neck. “Then you’ll want to put your clothes back on. And I’m trying to avoid that at all costs, you see.”

Lily’s hand goes into his hair as he continues his ministrations, allowing her eyes to drift shut for a few more moments. But as much as she’d like to continue James’ current pursuits, they still have a job to do. As her sense of duty pushes its way to the forefront of her mind, she tightens her thighs around James and flips them over so he is now lying beneath her. Lily doesn’t miss the way James’ face—and a few other things—light up at this new positioning. But she merely smirks as she reaches over to grab his watch from the nightstand.

“Half past ten.” She says as James groans in disappointment.

“I thought we agreed to not checking the time?”

“I never agreed to that, love.” Lily leans over to kiss him, sighing as James wraps one hand around her back and tangles another into her hair. “I’d say we have a little more time, though.”

But their time is cut short by a heavy knock at their door, strong and loud enough to jolt them away from each other and send them both reaching for their wands. 

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