#hp meta

[trothplighted]

what I’m trying to do in my conceptual examinations of wizard fashion is break down the really intense Western European gender presentation that we see in the the films, in fanart, in moodboards and collages, in fanfilms, in edits using fancasts, and in fanfiction. I think that’s worth doing, because the books have a high degree of normalized androgyny and crossdressing-adjacent clothing. Blending in with Muggles is hard because it involves wearing tighter pants! This is something we see acknowledged in the text! Wearing Muggle clothes is either a political or a fashion statement! I would like to see a conception of wizard masculinity that doesn’t involve reliance on 20th century gender presentation, and of wizard femininity that’s equally different, and of wizard androgyny, too!

We know there’s a concept of crossdressing according to wizard norms (see: Mundungus) and we also know that this is distinct from Muggle crossdressing (see: the man in GoF who arrives to the campground in women’s clothing and refuses to change; he doesn’t seem to register what he’s wearing as gendered in the same way Molly registers what Mundungus is wearing as gendered.)

we’re missing out on so much by going Man Trousers Girl Skirt, people

[fangirljas]

Okay, did anyone think? -Harry used apparation for the first time to bring delirious Dumbledore back to Hogwarts from the cave.

Man, he surprises me with his practical learning all the time.

[velvet4510]

People tend to swing back and forth to extremes regarding Lucius Malfoy as a father.

Some fics characterize him as a flat-out child beater who disowns Draco post-war, and some fics characterize him as the best and most loving dad Draco could ever hope for.

Neither extreme fits what he is shown to be.

Is he the kind of dad who spanks or whips his child? Absolutely not.

Is he entirely innocent of all potential forms of child abuse? Absolutely not.

He runs wandless through a battle in search of Draco. That does not change or undo the fact that his own choices and values are the reason Draco was sent down a child soldier’s path.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

hi! so i read your post on percy as the minister of magic and i definitely understand your point of view. i'm curious who you think would be a good minister of magic?

(Referring to this post about Percy as the minister)

The honest answer, I don't think any of them is an ideal minister. At least, not anyone I could think of. If you can take the Golden Trio and make them a minister together like some Roman Trimuvirate, we have something we could work with:

Like, Harry got the charisma, the fame, he draws attention and would be brilliant at telling people to shut the fuck up in the sassiest way possible. When tough things happen, and things get stressful, Harry keeps his calm and keep them moving forward. Plus, he has great instincts.

The thing is, Harry doesn't really care about the bigger system or politics at all. He'd find Wizengamot frustrating and dull, and wouldn't want anything to do with them unless he felt responsible to put in the effort (which he would if he were put in the position). But, like, it won't be something he wants to do. He doesn't have a passion for it.

Ron is more realistic and strategic and is best at looking at the wider situation and its consequences. He is also the most connected with the Wizarding World itself and the culture there. He is the trio's insider, who knows the culture like a native. He is more concerned with the system at large than Harry. He isn't a great liar, but he is strategic and can stay calm under pressure. And Ron post-war is more charismatic than we give him credit for, I think. (And he's the most hinged, emotionally balanced member of the trio, which is very important when dealing with other important people you want to cooperate with you). And, yes, he's lazy about school work, but when he needs to research something, all three of the Golden Trio sit their asses in the library and research when they need to. Hermione just enjoys it.

And Hermione is brilliant at research and bureaucracy. She can get things done, and Ron and Harry would mitigate her idealism. Hermione is very "my way or the highway" and can cause people who agree with her to not want her in charge. While something needs to be done regarding the house elves, her approach ends up offending the house elves she is trying to help instead of getting them to support her (which I think is possible with the right approach). What I'm saying is Hermione is not that subtle or that good of a liar and would struggle navigating the less obvious sides of politics, especially if she'd need to think fast. Hermione is good when she has time to plan, not so much when she is panicking and needs to think on her feet (that's when Harry's in his element).

But, basically, Hermione would get things done, Harry would lead people, and Ron would mitigate both of them, remind them of the reality they live in, and make the whole dynamic work. So, the golden trio together, as a unit, would be a pretty good option (from the ones we have).

Though, writing all the above made me think that Ron, as minister with Hermione helping him out with research and such, and Harry backing him, is slept on in this fandom. I think it could work. (Plus, he'd want it more than Harry would be happy without more attention)

I think Kingsley isn't a bad choice for a minister. I think he would do an alright job, all in all. He's realistic, cool under pressure, charismatic, and knows how to work within the limits of the ministry well. My only problem with him as minister would be that he'd stick pretty closely to the existing ministry's status quo. He does remove the dementors from Azkaban and probably improves the state of muggleborns, but, unfortunately, the wizarding world needs more than that. (Not to mention the anti-Slytherin sentiment that seems to be present in the epilogue spells another dark lord in the near future)

Amelia Bones would probably be pretty similar to Kingsley as a Minister of Magic, tbh. She'd just, realistic, cool under pressure, but probably not see the deeper problems in the very system she works in.

Couldn't really think of anyone else when writing this, but if you think I forgot someone obvious, tell me.

[jmagnabo92]

Defending the Dursleys

I saw this post:

"The Dursleys were victims of a magical geopolitical Game and no one ever asked them if they wanted to play"

And it pissed me off because all thees "reasons" ignore one thing - Petunia could've dropped him off at some orphanage and didn't.

It also ignores the fact that HARRY IS A VICTIM, Too. THEIR Victim. He didn't ask for it, anymore than they did and they had a responsibility to do right by him when they accepted being his guardians.

No matter how much it sucks, no matter how much you hate your sister, no matter how much this isn't what you wanted - you made a choice and you continued to make choices regarding abusing an innocent child and nothing - no reason - could ever make that okay.

[fannedandflawless]

Everyone thinks Spinner’s End was a tragedy. What if it was the last act of defiance? Related posts in the same series:

Part I: Resentment Was the Flame, Not Rage Part II: The Door Wasn’t Opened—It Was Unlocked Quietly Part III: The Years Unspoken; Finances & Survival

Spinner’s End Wasn’t Poverty—It Was Privacy

📌 Disclaimer: This analysis is based on publicly available information about historical UK tax structures and property trends. While every effort has been made to maintain accuracy and respectful tone, this is a speculative piece. I am not a UK resident or financial advisor—just someone deeply interested in the finer details of fictional worlds.

— A Breakdown of Severus Snape’s Finances, Property, and Survival Strategy. Poverty. It’s a word that lingers around Severus Snape like smoke. But what does it really mean?

He wasn’t wandering. He wasn’t destitute. He had a house. He had a salary. He had control.

After returning to Hogwarts, he lived with the kind of restraint that wasn’t born of lack—but of choice. And when viewed through the lens of property, taxation, and cost of living, the story shifts.

This wasn’t poverty. It was curation. Containment. Privacy, not pity.

And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about Severus Snape—it’s that the quiet spaces hold more truth than the loud ones.

—

📍 Where is Spinner’s End?

While J.K. Rowling never names the exact town, the description paints a clear picture:

A Northern, industrial town

Situated near a canal or polluted river

Likely somewhere in Lancashire or Yorkshire—the post-industrial belt of England

Rows of soot-stained brick houses, smokestacks, and the ghost of mills long shut

It’s never placed on a map, but the setting suggests a fictional stand-in for towns like Rochdale or Oldham—places shaped by coal, textiles, and decline. The kind of town where property is cheap, the windows stay shut, and ambition feels like an imported luxury. —

💷 What Would Inheriting That House Cost Him? Let’s assume Severus Snape inherited Spinner’s End—likely after his parents’ passing, sometime before 1981—making him the sole owner.

1.) 🧾 Inheritance Tax (UK Rules – 1980s Context)

Inheritance tax in the UK is a one-time tax, applied when someone inherits an estate above a certain value.

Threshold: £325,000

Rate: 40% on anything above that

However, family homes passed to direct heirs—such as a child—often qualify for relief or exemption.

If Spinner’s End was modestly valued at around £90,000–£150,000 in 1980s money, Severus likely paid little to no inheritance tax. Especially as an only child with no competing claims.

✔️ Inheritance tax = minimal, if anything

2.) 🏡 Council Tax & Maintenance (Ongoing Annual Costs)

Unlike inheritance tax, council tax is paid annually for as long as one owns the property.

Assuming 1980s–1990s North England housing:

Council Tax Band (likely A or B): £600–£800/year (adjusted to 1990s rates)

Utilities + minor upkeep on an ageing home: £1,000–£1,500/year (conservative estimate)

🧮 Estimated Annual Cost to Maintain Spinner’s End: £1,600–£2,300/year, give or take —

🧪 Would His Hogwarts Salary Cover That?

Let’s be realistic—and a touch precise.

💼 Hogwarts Salary (Potions Master, 1990s): Canon gives us no numbers, but Slughorn calls it “meagre.” This estimate is based on two sources:

Slughorn’s complaint in canon, suggesting the position isn’t highly paid

Real-world UK academic pay scales in the 1990s, particularly for lower-tier university lecturers or independent school masters, which hovered between £25,000–£35,000/year when adjusted for inflation

Even at the low end, that puts him in the lower-middle income bracket, especially considering:

✔️ Room & board at Hogwarts likely included ✔️ No daily expenses if he rarely stayed at Spinner’s End ✔️ Private potion commissions were almost certainly a thing

So yes—he could more than afford the property. He didn’t live lavishly. He lived strategically. Possibly keeping the house for legal ownership, privacy, or… brewing.

🖤 Realistic Summary:

Spinner’s End likely sits in the post-industrial North, quietly inherited in full

No inheritance tax, or very little

Ongoing maintenance: ~£2,000/year

Hogwarts salary easily covers it—especially for someone who brewed off-record

Modest? Yes. Poor? Absolutely not. It was never about luxury. It was about control. —

📊 Adjusting for 2025 (Currency Context)

To understand what those figures would mean today:

£1 in 1995 ≈ £2.20 in 2025, accounting for inflation

£1 GBP ≈ $1.25 USD (rounded average exchange)

So if Severus spent ~£2,000/year to maintain Spinner’s End in the 1990s, that’s about:

£4,400/year in today’s money

≈ $5,500 USD/year, for upkeep alone

—

Related post: The Rise of Severus Snape (Part III)—The Years Unspoken; Finances & Survival

[pangaeaseas]

thinking again about how Ginny is both central and peripheral to the war effort' in both the context of the war as an interpersonal mystical conflict between Harry and Voldemort and the context of the war as a war. like she is harry's girlfriend but when Harry goes off on his hero's journey his quest he leaves her behind (despite the fact that she might have had important insights as the person who knows best what it's like to be possessed by voldemort's horcrux....but she must remain a peripheral character) she is this person who's had a formative relationship with Voldemort but is utterly peripheral to him he has no idea who she is she has this deep intimacy with both of them but Voldemort doesn't know it and Harry doesn't take it seriously. she would probably have the most Thoughts of any person living about the mystical Harry/Voldemort conflict have really intense and complex feelings and connections and understandings but she cannot take part in it she has to watch and not know what's happening. even though the story of the horcruxes is so central to what made her her....(harry my boy you BETTER have told her about the horcruxes post war. you better damn well.)

and then ofc she literally lives in the official order headquarters in OOTP and then the burrow her familial home becomes a de facto order headquarters and a center for war planning (especially as Harry is central to the war effort' and also a peripheral member of the weasley family unit) but she isn't allowed any information at all. she fights in a battle that changes the course of the war bc Voldemort publicly reveals himself at it and then it's just like..it makes her cool at school I guess? it doesn't transform her role in the conflict. she is sent back to Hogwarts in DH as though she's an ordinary student. and then she becomes a leader of the resistance in Hogwarts, a center of the war in hogwarts but peripheral to the outside conflict....

[constitutionalweasleymonarchy]

I insist on believing that the wizarding world has managed to develop a contraceptive potion for the sperm-contributors as an alternative or in addition to one for the egg-contributors.

[trothplighted]

Wizard Fashion History 1/?: Mantuas and the Statute of Secrecy

This is the last point at which wizard fashion and Muggle fashion were completely in step.

1692 is the point at which the Statute came into full effect, and is therefore our point of divergence. We’re starting here in our more historically grounded discussions of wizard fashion because until this point wizard fashion was Muggle fashion, wizard gender norms were Muggle gender norms. There’s some holdout from this period as late as the 90s - the pointed hats that are required for school and are to some extent normalized as unisex are probably intended to be derivatives of the brewster’s or alewife’s hat worn by Muggle women who brewed and sold beer out of their home. (This iconography has something of a murky origin point in our world, with a number of arguments for and against alewives-as-witches, but I think in-universe for this story we can safely say the link is there as an inspiration for wizard fashion.)

(left: 1624 woodcut, artist unknown; right: Arthur Weasley in a pointed brown hat, Chamber of Secrets (MinaLima illustrated edition))

Before I delve into menswear of the period, I want to look at womenswear, because I know more about womenswear and I can talk about it for hours I just think it’s neat.

The mantua (right) was a women’s garment consisting of a single overrobe worn over a stomacher and a contrasting petticoat. It originated as a women’s version of the banyan (left), a men’s robe inspired by kimonos and other robe-style garments encountered in Japan by European traders. Both the banyan and the mantua were originally intended to be “undress” wear, the kind of thing you wear at home when you’re lounging around. Mantuas, though, proved exceedingly popular, and sort of took over women’s fashion. (You’ll notice that both of these are robe-style garments worn as ordinary clothing, and that by the late 17th century the skirts of a mantua were very simple and didn’t involve farthingale or panniers - I don’t think Joanne did this on purpose, but it is interesting that our point of divergence already includes a degree of normalized “robes”.) As shown in the photos up top, court mantuas or fancy-dress mantuas could be cut back to showcase the lady’s stomacher and spiral-laced stays and petticoat, with the overrobe held in place by ties or pins.

(Salmon stays and busk, V&A - this is a little earlier than 1692 but illustrative of the kinds of bright colors you could see in stays meant to be seen.)

Making a mantua involved creating a single garment made to measure that was draped and pinned across the body rather than cut from an existing pattern. Mantua-makers, rather than dressmakers, became the norm for womenswear across much of the 17th and 18th centuries, and their style of garment construction was distinct from tailoring. Most mantua-makers were women, and most of the women working in garment construction as proprietress of their own establishment were mantua-makers. This is significant because Madame Malkin does her robemaking in the same manner - she works with each client individually and drapes and alters as she goes. Her shop is a descendant of the mantua-making tradition, a further indicator of ties between wizarding fashion of the 1990s and Muggle fashion three centuries earlier.

The elephant in the room, so to speak, is that I’m discussing upper-class fashion. I’m also only discussing Western European and particularly English fashion, but that’s because of where HP is set more than anything else. The class distinction is also one I’m doing on purpose, though, because upper-class wizards were the ones most involved in political arguments about the Statute, and their tastes in clothing would be just as aspirational and trendsetting as the upper class’s fashion choices are today. Since the wizarding world entered into a period of intense isolation after this point, those aspirational fashions are the aspirational fashions for some time. Almost for the rest of time.

Next time: the banyan, “undress” wear, and what men were doing

Further Reading on Modern Reconstructions:

1690s Mantua Ensemble - The Modern Mantua Maker

1690s Striped Mantua - Fashion Through Herstory

[petals2fish]

re: Azkaban- The Geneva convention they do not know her.

I actually view it as a death sentence/ judicial murder where the ministry get to keep their hands clean by claiming it’s a prison sentence and not an execution.

It's so fun that we all have these different ideas.

I've always seen Azkaban as a wizarding version of Alcatraz — the "inescapable islands." Alcatraz was deemed inescapable, yet people escaped. Azkaban was deemed inescapable, yet Sirius Black escaped.

Alcatraz was a maximum-security prison, sure, but it never had facilities for executions. If an inmate committed a capital offense while on the island, they were sent to federal court, sentenced to death, and transferred to a state penitentiary for the actual execution.

The wizarding world, though, does have execution methods — the Dementor’s Kiss and the Death Cell in America. America, unsurprisingly, seemed to throw around capital punishment a lot more than England did. Sirius is the only major character we ever hear about being seriously threatened with the Kiss. A lot of Voldemort’s followers — like Bellatrix — got away with lighter sentences, mostly by claiming they were under the Imperius Curse. Sirius even points this out. And honestly, JKR never seemed to realize what a huge legal nightmare that is: if you can just say you were Imperiused, it becomes nearly impossible to prove anyone guilty or innocent.

So what do you do with all these "maybe guilty, maybe not" witches and wizards? You stick them on the island, of course. Somewhere they can't escape from. And if by some miracle they do escape? That's when the Dementor’s Kiss comes into play. But until Sirius, nobody ever had.

Even Grindelwald wasn't sent to Azkaban — he was locked up in Nurmengard, his own fortress, until he died. And it's wild to think Grindelwald, for all the damage he did, never got a death sentence. Makes you wonder where Voldemort would've ended up if horcruxes hadn't been a thing and the Golden Trio had still won the war.

Anyway — about Azkaban supposedly offering things like showers, tattoos (whooooo decided that was a good idea for movie Sirius??), and letting prisoners help prep food or do other basic jobs — that's actually not that far off if you think about it in terms of Alcatraz.

In Alcatraz, even though it was this grim, maximum-security nightmare, inmates could still earn certain "privileges" through good behavior. Things like getting to shower regularly (who wants stinky inmates), help prep food (you still have to feed prisoners), and more.

If Azkaban really is the wizarding world’s version of Alcatraz, it makes a twisted kind of sense. It’s like, "Congrats, Sirius, you went a whole week without screaming that you're innocent — here’s a rusty hairbrush and fifteen minutes of sunlight!" Or "Great job not threatening to murder anyone today, Bellatrix, — your reward is peeling potatoes for the Dementors’ soup kitchen."

(I'm cackling rn imagining Bellatrix in a cap peeling potatoes.)

Structurally? The reward system lines up with how Alcatraz operated: brutal baseline conditions, tiny crumbs of humanity offered only when you played nice. Showers every month if you're good. A newspaper for the crossword if you're polite. Bread and butter instead of gruel. Little good things, to continue to torture them with the bad things.

[scarheadferret]

I dont understand the motto after Ron Hate Train. Like what he has he done to deserve all this hate . Even molly ?!

ppl be saying that he was obnoxious and rude . Mind you , they were teenagers?! Were you all saints when you were a kid ?! movies butchered his character but i m sure that if you guys have read them books then y’all wouldnt be hating him this much. I just dont get it ?!

It wasnt like potter was a saint either ?! no one was and trust me , on one is especially in real world. Everyone is morally grey . Every single person.

Yes, he left harry when he needed him the most but he realised it and came back . Didn’t he? Realising your mistakes and taking steps to improve is what matters. Plus we dont know what he was going through at that time, what was the state of his mind.. neither we know what was goin inside harry’s and mione’s mind. It was a tough time for everyone. Keep in mind .

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never felt any harsh feelings toward Ronald Weasley. Coming from what I would describe as not exactly a low-income, but definitely a modest, middle-class family with multiple siblings, Ron grew up surrounded by constant comparisons — both within his own family and outside of it. Also Being Harry’s best friend, someone who was constantly in the spotlight, only amplified Ron’s insecurities. It’s not that Harry ever made him feel like a sidekick — Harry always valued and relied on Ron — but when the people around you keep treating you like you’re second best, it inevitably starts to affect the way you perceive yourself. and yes, it took him some time to realise that his friends value him more than he thought they were and that he, himself values more than what he thought he was.

Goin through all this whirlwind of chaos of emotions, acceptance, self discovery and self worth is something everyone can relate to imo .

Yes, everyone has their opinion but i have been meaning to say this for quite some time now because i have genuinely never understood the reason behind this .

[hollowed-theory-hall]

I find it baffling that in CoS, almost all of the Hogwarts students were so quick to turn on Harry (of course, they do it again in the later books), thinking he was the Heir of Slytherin just because he spoke parseltongue. Yeah, that's the language that Salazar Slytherin, the founder that the wizarding world feared the most. But c'mon, just a year ago, everyone praised Harry for surviving Voldemort's attack AND defeating Quirrell. The same boy who was marked for death as a baby by the descendant of Slytherin and had to go through a lot of suffering because of that same dark wizard. You'd think the students would give Harry more empathy instead of wrongly assuming he's the Heir of Slytherin.

See, it actually makes a lot of sense to me that they turn on him that quickly (and in the later books). And it comes down to two main things:

1. The Wizarding World, at large, sees Harry as a public figure, not as a person (or a child).

2. The impression Harry gives of himself to people who don't know him is very different than how we see him when we're in his head. (talked about here)

I talked about both before, but the short of it is that Harry comes off as arrogant, confidant, cold, and distant to most people. Most characters don't see Harry's awkwardness and compassion. They see a kid who laughs at the idea of a corridor being so dangerous it would kill you, and then, later in the year, he kills a teacher, who was also You Know Who — that's crazy. Harry is a cool, mysterious, dangerous, and fearless student no one knows all that well. For all they know, he is dark. And he speaks Parseltongue, a connection to the dark lord he supposedly killed. It raises the question of why Harry killed him, because again, the average student/wizard doesn't know Harry.

Don't forget, no one knows how he survived the Killing Curse. For all they know, there was dark magic involved. It sounds like something that could be dark. They don't really know how Quirrellmort died either, for all they know, it was dark magic. They don't know Harry well enough to know.

Add to that the fact that all students at Hogwarts, while Harry is there, have grown up hearing the story of Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived, Vanquisher of You Know Who. They look at Harry as a public figure, as a celebrity, not a person. They don't treat him like any other student; it's as if you went to school with a young Jesus, but he came back from the dead as a year-old infant.

They don't think of him as a person. It's why everyone feels so entitled to gossip about him, or his time, and Harry feels like he needs to give them that. I mentioned here how he politely shakes hands with everyone who fusses over him in PS. Adult wizards feel entitled to invade the personal space and time of an 11-year-old kid they don't know. The Wizarding World feels Harry's love life is their business and article material. He is treated like a public figure — a symbol — not like a human being. Which makes turning on him much easier, because he isn't really a person (or a child) in their mind.

[chilledcitrus]

I don't know how people can say Draco is incapable of loving someone when he's the same boy who loved his parents with all his heart. He got angry when someone insulted his mother. He lashed out at Snape, someone he had always respected, because he thought Snape was responsible for his father's loss of favor. He became fiercely protective when his family was threatened.

He was raised with love. He grew up seeing the deep bond between his parents. It's not far-fetched at all to believe that he, too, would become a devoted and passionate partner.

While I know most people don't consider Cursed Child canon (I don't either), Draco’s portrayal in it really reflects how I imagine he would be as an adult. Draco, when he fell in love, would love deeply. His loyalty would be unwavering. His emotions would run deep. He would protect his loved ones at all costs and would always put them above himself.

[duchessdulce]

Ollivander: Good news! I sold the first wand I made with one of your bird’s feathers!

Dumbledore: How exciting! Who did the wand choose?

Ollivander: A boy called Tom Riddle.

Dumbledore: Oh, gross.

————

In the 4th book, we find out that Harry’s wand feather came from Fawkes, and that all seems nice and tidy and fitting. But that means that Voldemort’s feather also came from Fawkes, and he got his wand long before Harry got his own.

We also find out that Ollivander told Dumbledore when Harry bought his wand. That implies that Ollivander would have told Dumbledore about Tom too! And Tom would have bought his wand right after making such a lovely impression on Dumbledore at the orphanage. Dumbledore clearly disliked this kid from the start. I’m just imagining his reaction to finding that the first wand made from his phoenix’s feathers (and he only gave two, so they’re super special!) went to this creepy kid that Dumbledore is sure is up to no good.

[pangaeaseas]

was rereading the Tottenham court road scene from DH and a couple things stuck out to me: the Death Eaters being able to blend into Muggle society ok (which makes me think there was probably some kind of task force where death eaters who could blend were assigned to missions where they'd have to. and that there were probably more muggle-passing death eaters than we might assume--more Snapes than Luciuses potentially. at least dolohov and thorfinn Rowle are at least able to briefly pretend to be muggles.)

and also the trio dynamics.

Hermione was the one who initially took control by packing and planning and disapparating them. Ron is the one who immediately wants to connect with his family and the broader WW (foreshadowing obvs but also he's the one with the most ties to society and the one who has yet to let go of his family while Harry never had a family and Hermione has ruthlessly cut hers off). But when the Death Eaters attack Harry is the one who takes the lead, not Hermione. She and Ron are unprepared whereas Harry immediately realizes something is off because he has good instincts, and he's the only one who's really useful in the fight--Hermione lands a spell but it's in the throes of panic. Ron gets immediately incapacitated and Hermione panics and ends up hurting Ron by accident. And then in the aftermath Hermione's still panicking and dismisses ron's actually useful point about identifying the death eaters. while Harry pretty calmly takes control and comes up with a human solution to what to do with them (obliviating them). Ron suggests killing them, but is clearly relieved when Harry comes up with the idea of obliviating them instead (which makes me think that a lot of the Ruthless!Ron portrayals are missing the mark! he doesn't WANT to kill and is happy to do something else if he can avoid it!). and Hermione shudders at the thought of killing them but handles obliviating them just fine--it actually calms her down when she'd been freaking out. And then Harry is the one who continues to lead the group by deciding to go to Grimmauld in the face of the others' objections, even though they suspect there may be a Trace on Harry which caused the death eaters to summon them. just interesting to think about in terms of trio characterization and dynamics!