#i never want to see hermione headcanoned as a poc again

[calliopesburn]

it's funny bc i used to think harry potter was a story about inclusivity - a girl is excluded because of where/how she's born, a boy is excluded because his mom is the same way and he grows up in an abusive household where he's impoverished and ignored

but like. ive been thinking about it and this is a story about exclusivity

i never understood why magic had to be a secret - and it's never really explained, but i think i get it now - magic only belongs with the select few who deserve it, jk rowling is just saying that hermione is a unique special snowflake and she deserves it because she's so smart and brilliant in spite of being a girl, and harry deserves it because his mom is just like hermione, and his dad is a legacy - harry is what she sees as the ideal - a boy born from a woman so smart that she worked hard and "made her own success" and a father who was Right and Belonged the whole time, who chose that brilliant girl, in this world that JKR is so desperate to be included in

voldemort is just the epitome of like. nazis. the way white people like to pat themselves on the back for being oh so evolved and being the great big heroes of the story

you see this with hermione and the way she insists on helping the elves even though the elves never ask her for help. she leaves clothes lying around literally trying to trick them into homelessness and poverty, because by living in hogwarts and depending on them, they're weak, lesser beings that she needs to help. you also see that she moves on and gives up basically, instead of becoming an activist or starting a non-profit, she joins the ministry of magic and uses her intelligence to help the people she eventually realizes are the people who truly deserve her help - wizards (and witches) even the trio that she becomes a member of is a trio of two boys, and they are the only cross-gender friend group in the whole series - because hermione is so great that she can evolve beyond gender standards and reach past her "level" and become one of the boys (oh yeah and all the girls hate her)

even when they do eventually defeat voldemort - it's like, the death of nazism in the magic community, but they still keep magic a secret. the world never learns that someone tried to take it over, because harry and the good wizards were such great heroes at protecting them the whole time that they don't even need to know! and they don't deserve to know. because they don't have magic.

oh and the whole "love" ideology - we are the truest and best and most special beings because we know how great and amazing we are and how much we deserve magic and to benefit from this exclusive community we've created for ourselves

it's like the slytherins are the big bad nazis of their exclusive white community, the ravenclaws are the smarty pants who are brilliant but don't actually do anything, the hufflepuffs who are like, nice, but stand back and watch, and the Gryffindors. the big great Gryffindors are the amazing heroes who act and accomplish things and save the world

not to mention the consistent lack of poc and queer ppl, and the antisemitic themes, i mean, even the other two magical academies introduced are all white people; the human-like magical creatures are poc coded and always need the help of the wizards because they just can't seem to sort out their own problems

like, i can't believe i was ever into these books

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

How do you imagine Draco, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Tom look physically in base of what is write in the books??

Tom is described as handsome but I want to see him form your eyes.

Well, a picture paints a thousand words and since I like to think myself something of an artist, I’ll throw those in. (Note that as I’ve never actually sat down to draw Draco, Hermione, or Ron none of those are in any way finished. Same with Harry as I mostly end up drawing the Death variety of him which is, well, something I made up.)

And, I fully expect to offend quite a few people with this. I actually have from time to time when expressing my opinion of what I think these characters look like to reviewers. So... heads up for that.

With that, let’s go.

Draco Malfoy

I never pictured Draco as particularly attractive. The books describe him as having very pinched features and generally having an unpleasant sneer on his face.

I always pictured a Richie Rich type looking kid. Very blonde, great hair cut and clothes, would look okay but that sneer just takes it up to eleven. In Hogwarts I imagine he goes through a gangly period much like everyone else and as an adult looks like some mixture of Lucius and Narcissa (but as those two look weirdly like siblings it makes really no difference).

Harry Potter

The first two are Harry as a child, pre-Hogwarts, and the last is Harry somewhere in the midst of Hogwarts as a teenager.

I always pictured Harry very dweeby looking and not particularly attractive. The glasses certainly don’t help his cause but, in general, I just picture him looking... Well, like the above. Not unattractive, but just very dorky and teenager looking. People have actually gotten upset with me about this, insisting Harry is very attractive.

The square glasses are more of a preference thing. 1) I’m a bit contrary so if everyone else goes with the round glasses I go with the square 2) for me it places him more in his time period. In the 80′s those giant square glasses were all the rage, and probably what Harry would have been wearing. Later in the 90′s the Dursleys are just too cheap to get him new frames.

Hermione Granger

I picture Hermione as not as pretty as Emma Watson but not bad looking either. She could clean up very well but she doesn’t want to for the most part. So you get her ridiculous, out of contorl, hair as well as small things like unkempt eyebrows.

Ron Weasley

If there’s a Wizarding World equivalent of a bowl cut, Ron Weasley and all his brothers have it. Enchanted Scissors, the cheapest pair, and Mrs. Weasley buys them for all her boys (and Ginny until she reached the age of eleven and burst into tears). Otherwise, again, not a super attractive guy, very gangly teenager looking for the most part. Very expressive face, freckles, oversized clothing that’s also always rumpled.

Tom Riddle

I picture Tom Riddle very classically handsome, I tend to use Peter O’Toole as a reference, with very British/refined features. I go for the light eyes because, again, I’m contrary and I got tired of people always describing Tom Riddle with very dark eyes (or else eyes to match Harry’s because that’s a thing I guess).

Misc Thoughts

I personally don’t headcanon POC!versions of the characters, though kudos to those who do, because I just didn’t see it in the source material. It didn’t come up for Hermione or Harry, even with things like SPEW or the general treatment of Harry by the Dursleys, and so to me there’s just not enough evidence to support it being a thing. 

But that’s also not the point of making POC versions of the characters, but oh well. 

[thevampirelestat]

tl;dr - for the record i'm perfectly fine with them casting a poc to play louis, but that doesn't mean i'm gonna watch the show; i never planned to in the first place

i feel like i should say this now just in case i get misconstrued later on, but me not wanting to acknowledge/watch the vc tv show has nothing to do with them casting a poc to play louis and everything to do with the fact that i never had any faith in the plot actually being well executed in the first place (which you can see the evidence of if you go back into my personal posts/tags on the subject im sure lol)

ive also never been shy about my negative opinions of the series; the history is messy, i only care about the first few books for a reason (i'm picky), and i was resigned to the notion that i was never going to get a perfect tv adaptation well before it was in the works, let alone any of the cast was announced. especially considering all the drama with bryan fuller dropping the project (say what you will about the guy, but i at least trust him to make a good show - i love hannibal)...

so in reality the moment they started talking about there being a tv show, i was already thinking "oh no, here we go again..." because i'm content with what i have, and im the type of person who likes to just let things end. i hate watching the media i love get beat to death just because someone wants to squeeze every last penny out of it.

so, no, i never wanted the show to begin with. but on that note, ill also take this moment to denounce the racist rhetoric that is definitely going to gain momentum among some ppl following the announcement of louis's casting: if you're actually mad at the series simply because he's not white, then you should probably get therapy and/or reassess your priorities in life...

that being said, is my personal headcanon of louis still white? yes. do i care if he's portrayed as a poc in the tv show? not in the least.

imo it's like the "is hermione granger black?" debate all over again; the conclusion should be that she's not real, so who cares? she's whatever you want her to be. fandom is supposed to be a place where you can be creative and have fun.

therefore my approach to the tv show has always been and will continue to be the same as my approach to the later books in the series; watch it unfold from the sidelines, ignore the parts i don't like, and write fanfic about the parts i do

[lalalaartje]

Fair warning: rant coming up!

Yesterday, I had a friend sending me two screenshots of fellow Harry Potter fanfic authors complaining about the fanfiction content being available out there.

One was about the lack of canon compliant fic, and the overload of "weird sex" fic. The other was about the "overused trope" of character bashing as a means to get your mc with someone else than they're with in canon.

Let's break this down.

Canon compliant fic. I don't think I've ever written completely canon compliant fic. I don't like writing high school children, and I hate the HP epilogue with a passion (I could write another rant about that) so, even if it's not a full AU, I will mostly ignore the epilogue and do my own thing with the characters. Also, especially in HP, canon is lacking a lot of things. Representation, for instance. And no, she didn't make up for that by making Dean Thomas a poc or casting Hermione as a poc in her own fanfic Broadway rendition. Or by tweeting that of course Dumbledore is gay.

I will never back down from the idea that Harry Potter is at the very least bisexual, I love the headcanon that Hagrid is a trans woman and honestly, can we honour the creativity and all the great content this fandom is putting out there? Not just in writing, but man, the fanart I've seen in the HP universe is fantastic!

The overload of "weird sex". The OP clarified their stance by listing a bunch of things they classify under weird sex, going from slash to bdsm and a/b/o.

First of all, calling it weird is awfully offensive. Fanfiction is and has always been a way for people too explore their sexuality (there are some beautiful essays on the topic, I highly recommend looking into it) in a safe way, in a safe space. You calling that weird is NOT OKAY. The op stated that they were ace and therefore uncomfortable with sexual content. Which is fine, really. But everyone I know tags their smut appropriately so it's quite easy to steer clear of it. And I assume you wouldn't like people calling your being ace "weird" so please don't do that to others' sexuality and the way they choose to experience it.

Second of all, yes, there is a lot of sexual content out there. A lot of fanfic focuses on the development of personal relationships between characters. In most of the stories, the characters are adults, and as the relationship develops, there is often a sexual side to it. As it often goes in adult romantic relationships. Not always, of course, but there is also ace content around and again, if you don't like it, don't read it. And, if you want to see more of your preferred brand, write it!

Then, the character bashing. Personally, I see a lot of people asking for character bashing fics. I don't like it as much, and I will definitely never go looking for it. But apparently, a lot of people do like it. Someone commented on it that character bashing is lazy writing bc characters should be nuanced etc.

In a perfect world, everyone would have a mild, gentle and nuanced view on others, but honestly, nobody looks like that at everyone. Also, the original characters are very much cardboard in many cases, so I find it a bit cheap to throw out insults to hobbyist writers when even professional writers aren't doing a great job. If anything, all of my friends who write, never hate a character and/or bash it without being able to back up their point of view extensively.

What I actually wanted to say, most of all, is that we should probably be kinder to each other. And it's easy enough not to read what you don't like. If anything, get angry at people for not tagging their fics properly, but not for what their fic is about.

And please, do write more of what you like, more content is always better.

[pauleonotis]

Why you think hermione is black? I agree, but can you explain it? And harry? Im curious. Thank you! :) i love your blog btw

Thank you! <3 And okay so I uh... well I don’t really know how exactly I can explain it but I will try.

So first off I think I only have uploaded one drawing of Hermione, as far as I remember. With a light skin colour because I referenced Emma Watson but funnily enough I‘m currently drawing her again and from now on I do want to draw her with a darker skin tone too. You also can see in my older drawings that I basically referenced everything from the movies- but I won’t do that anymore.

Now as to why I stopped referencing everything from the movies. I’d say overall I simply fell in love with the headcanon of Harry and Hermione being a person of colour. I probably should mention that when I was younger I‘ve only seen the movies and never read the books up until 1-2 years ago (shame on me lmao). But I‘ve always found the fanart of them with dark skin so so gorgeous! (Even though back then I didn’t really understand why people were picturing them this way). And when I finally did read the books and afterwards also read some posts about parts in the books where it would make sense that Harry for instance doesn’t have light skin I then thought about it a lot and it then just made sense to me.

Also I wanna say that if I remember correctly it was never mentioned which skin colour Harry and Hermione have, which makes both versions (poc or not) somehow canon for me. (I btw found one of the textposts about why Harry could be poc again. I‘ll link it >here<).

But yeah idk what else to say. I’m so sorry if you maybe expected a more detailed reason...?And I hope my rambling does make any sense at all? ;-;

I feel like this is a really sensitive topic because I did notice that some people still argue over it (it happens more on IG than here but still-) so I hope I didn’t offend anyone with this post—!

[the-potter-analyst]

Chapter 12 - The Mirror of Erised

One can never have enough socks!!

Harry Potter and the Sacred Text word of the day: (White) Privilege

When I learned that this was the word that the hosts would use for chapter 12, I was.... intrigued to say the least about how they would connect the concept. But once again, I was amazed on what they found! Basically the invisibility cloak was a symbol for both having privilege and not having privilege. The original word(s) of the day is “white privilege” but the idea can also work for privilege in general, which is why I have white in parentheses. Just to put it out there, I’m an asexual black woman which right off the bat puts me at a disadvantage for the top categories of privilege lol, so this topic is something very close to home and I will not sugar coat anything. istg if I get any defensive replies or asks

The invisibility cloak having a double meaning around privilege is so fascinating to me. It reveals how invisibility can be good or bad depending if a person is privileged or not. For example, if you’re white, you will largely be ignored on the things you do; you can get away with almost anything. This is the positive side of the invisibility cloak, as Harry can roam around the castle without being noticed, particularly at night, and not be caught. On the flip side, a white person will be seen as an individual, their actions defining themselves and not an entire group. Alternatively, this is the complete opposite of any minority. Any black person walking down the street will be noticed because they are black, my people literally can’t do anything without the cops being called on them. And a black person’s actions ends up being a collective definition of the entire race. Like... a white shooter will always be talked about as an individual and the event being an isolated case. If the shooter is black or Arab or whatever? The media will spin it like the entire minority is evil. But if a black person is successful, their efforts are ignored. Can you name any black inventors? Because technology wouldn’t have been the same without them, yet you never learn about them in history books.

Harry notes that the cloak doesn’t stop him from being solid, which made me think about how being invisible and ignored in a negative way doesn’t make a person any less of a human, no matter how they may be treated as such. Just food for thought I guess.

Something Sacred Text host, Vanessa, said really struck me. She talked about how she was literally side stepped by someone so they could tap her black friend on the shoulder and compliment her outfit. And Vanessa, connecting it with invisibility and visibility, commented how the person probably (unintentionally) gave the compliment because her friend looked nice, for being black. And... I’ve never thought about that stuff quite in this way. I just assumed (white) people just tried to go out of their way to be nice to a black person, but to be honest I never gave much thought about it or its meaning in the first place. I get compliments from complete strangers everywhere for articles of clothing to my hair. Like just yesterday this white man walked up to me at a restaurant to say he loved my hair, which was in an afro. I’ve always thought it was weird to compliment random strangers like that, not in the way that you’re standing in line or something and compliment a girl’s purse who’s right in front of you, but literally walking up to someone who’s just minding their own business to do it. And cause this happened after listening to the podcast, I kept thinking is he trying to be encouraging to people with natural hair? does he really think his opinion is going to boost my self esteem like that? (normally I’d just brush it off and think that person’s weird) I know that wasn’t his intentions, but this is what those actions imply when it comes from a white person who’s a stranger.

Dumbledore says something that really holds true about privilege: “Strange how nearsighted being invisible can make you.” When you have it, you aren’t always aware of what your privilege gives you or what others without it experience. Like for me, I admittedly don’t think about ADA regulations all the time because I have an abled body, so it’s not something that I personally have to worry about unless I get an injury. But someone in a wheelchair, someone with a cane, someone with an invisible disability has to think about these things, because that’s their life. They need an accessible doorway for example just to get in a building. As a female, I can’t go out alone at night or even the bathroom at a bar without worrying I might be assaulted, but this isn’t something that men have to think about. So next time you’re defensive about something that someone of a minority group says about your privilege, think about this quote. Think about how your privilege makes you nearsighted. And then fucking listen.

Another long post lol I can’t not rant about this topic The rest of the chapter will be analyzed under the cut.

I kinda wonder if Hermione wasn’t in Harry’s friend group, if he and Ron would be as motivated to find out who Nicolas Flamel was. Obviously the constant searching in the library was her idea lol, because that’s her thing. When she doesn’t know something, she consults books AKA goes to the library. Though I think because Harry knew he read the name somewhere, he would have been searching in books as his curiosity had hit an all time high, but it would’ve probably been limited to his school books. Ron probably would’ve only joined occasionally to help Harry out, or done the same and look through his own books. I find it funny that the trio only looked through books about modern or recently famous wizards, which makes sense because you don’t exactly expect someone to live over 600 years lol.

Christmas morning of Harry’s first year always gives me so much joy to read (and watch). He gets so excited that he has presents!! Even the 50 pence that the Dursley’s sent he responds with that’s friendly lmao. I will also never get over the fact that Mrs. Weasley, after learning from Ron that Harry didn’t expect to get presents, made him a goddamn sweater and some fudge 😭 I also love how the Weasleys basically adopt Harry, and it’s not just Mrs. Weasley, it’s Fred and George too. Fred pulls wizard crackers with Harry during Christmas dinner.... they played in the snow until they were cold and wet.... not to mention the twins look after him in Quidditch.

The contrast between Christmas morning and Christmas evening is so interesting to me. Harry wakes up to presents from many people, eats all he wants for dinner, spends the day having fun with the Weasleys, and then after an adventure with his invisibility cloak, finds the Mirror of Erised. And this scene is so heartbreaking. I can just feel the empty silence as Harry longingly looks at his family, I can feel his ache for the people he never got to know. The hosts brought up how white/western culture is very individualistic, but at the expense of feeling disconnect with one’s own heritage. I also want to add how the same disconnect happens with a diaspora. This topic is a little interesting when considering that there’s a widespread headcanon that Harry is half Indian or just poc, so the feeling of disconnect might be even more powerful.

For what Ron sees, I’ve said previously that Ron’s insecurity is being the odd one out in his family, the one who doesn’t have a special thing because all his older brothers have already done it. So in the Mirror, he sees himself being the best of all of them combined. And he’s alone. He wants to stand out. So far I’ve seen a lot of signs that Ron takes his family for granted, which I get since he’s 11 and one of the youngest in a large and loving family: he’s embarrassed about their class status, he pushes away his mother when she tries to clean dirt off his face, he tells Harry he can see family any old time. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing since Ron’s still fairly young though (he also didn’t resist being told to wear his Weasley sweater like Percy), but again and again we’ll see moments like this where it’s apparent that Ron and Harry’s desires are the complete opposite of each other. Ron is also less obsessive than Harry, which is why I think he had a bad feeling about the mirror  while Harry didn’t despite the two fighting over it while in the empty classroom. And he gets so worried about Harry! He tries to get him to eat, or play games, or even visit Hagrid, anything to get Harry out of his depressive state.

I wonder why the Mirror was moved to the empty classroom for anyone to stumble upon though. Maybe Dumbledore needed space to tamper with it? And the best time would be the holidays when most of the students were away? Why not do it in the Room of Requirement where is was probably kept before this? And was Dumbledore invisible every night while modifying the mirror? Or just to keep an eye on it? I can’t stop thinking about his comment on not needing a cloak to be invisible.

Small things

The Weasley twins bewitching snowballs to basically hit Voldemort ahaha

I will always laugh at the “Gred and Forge” joke xD

What time do they have Christmas dinner.... afterwards it says they spent a “happy afternoon” playing outside, which I don’t know if they would do at night when it’s cold and snowy lol. And being in Scotland, the sun will set pretty early. So was this actually a Christmas lunch? I’m so confused

ONE CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH SOCKS CAN I GET AN AMEN

hjsdfhsjkdf but actually, as an adult that’s all I want for Christmas (even though I have no room for them anymore haha)

Scabbers why are you sleeping on Harry’s pillow you creep

Special shout out to all the Hogwarts house elves that make Christmas magical, as well as every other day at Hogwarts :)

Previous: Chapter 11 - Quidditch

Next: Chapter 13 - Nicolas Flamel

[kedavranox]

For your Pansy question- I headcannon her as asian, (Japanese? I haven't thought about it much, more of a general idea than anything) and I fit how she behaves into that mostly by the concept of blood purity. I haven't read the books in a while, but i don't remember her making any comments about race/physical appearance. With the blood purity, magic doesn't care about race and i think their beliefs reflect that. Pureblood is pureblood, race regardless. I haven't found any pics that address this.

So I have a lot of thoughts about this!

I have to say that it bothers me that while you headcanon Pansy as a woc, you’re vague about her ethnicity and what it means for a her character.

Please don’t take this as a personal attack, this kind of arbitrary/casual racebending headcanon is actually a massive and accepted trend in our fandom that’s both concerning and genuinely baffling to me and part of the reason I made my original Poc HP post in the first place.

However, I’ve talked about that enough and I’m not going to get into that again. It’s also fair to note that in general, I’m thrown by headcanons that go far left field from what canon has demonstrated, and it’s a deeply personal thing. I’m aware people are free to headcanon what they want.

Anyway, that aside, I kind of address a few of your points in this post about Crimes of Grindelwald. In short: I’m also pretty baffled when people seem to miss the connection between blood purity/race in the canon.

Now, maybe this is just my reading, but I have always thought that there was not only a correlation between the discrimination of half-bloods and Muggle-borns & racism as we define it in the real world, but also that even purebloods of colour like Blaise Zabini, his mother, Leta Lestrange and her mother, experienced discrimination/dehumanization from their peers because of the colour of their skin.

To me, Blaise was aloof and never really a part of the Slytherin Pureblood circle because of his race. His mother is oversexualised and portrayed as some kind of ‘harlot’ and the Zabini’s seemed to be viewed as Pureblood, yes, but… not one of ours. Laurena Kama was seen by a fellow Pureblood as a *thing* to be possessed regardless of her blood status.

This is why the insistence that wizards/the Magical world ‘doesn’t see race’ (whatever that means) confuses me and always has.

This is also why I associate blood purists with racists, because essentially I think that’s what they are supposed to represent. A form of racism within the context of the HP world. So when I say ‘Pansy’s demonstrated racism’ I’m talking about her discrimination against Muggles and Muggle-borns. If that wasn’t clear.

This association is also why I think a lot of people like to fantasize that Hermione is Black. The similarities between discrimination of Muggle-borns and discrimination of Black people makes it easy to portray a Hermione who has experienced discrimination while not attempting to tackle actual racism at all. (While at the same time portraying a wizarding world that doesn’t see race… I know it’s confusing to me too).

Anyway. Is this just me? Does anyone else see these connections? Do you see the wizarding world as somehow, ‘blind to race’? Lmk!

[ellendean-intheflesh]

Prisoner of Azkaban Reread, Chapters 4-6

Chapter 4 - The Leaky Cauldron

“It took Harry several days to get used to his new freedom. Never before had he been able to get up whenever he wanted or eat whatever he fancied.” Aww honey :(

“What looked suspiciously like a hag” #same

Florean Fortesque is a gift and we don’t deserve him. He however, deserved better.

Again with the solid gold possessions

The Invisible Book of Invisibility, which cost a fortune and they never found.

I never imagined Hermione as POC when I first read the series, but I certainly have no objection to her and I’m enjoying reading through the series and imagining her that way, I kinda love it tbh

I’m so uncomfortable with Ron trying to get a full grown man looked at in the Magical Menagerie. Everything about Peter freaks me out ew.

Hermione, the true impulse/pity buyer

I would’ve bought Crookshanks too tbh

Seriously they never say dementors until they search the hogwarts express

Percy, the undignified tattle-tell

Focused on the real problems there, Harry. No Hogsmeade. Honestly.

“He scowled at the dark ceiling. Did they think he couldn’t look after himself? He’d escape Lord Voldemort three times; he wasn’t completely useless...” ah to be 13

They know you can take care of yourself they just don’t want you to have to.

“I’m not going to be murdered”

“That’s the spirit dear.”

Chapter 5 - The Dementor

The Percy’s got a girlfriend sideplot that disappeared after book 3 finger gun if you agree

“Harry, you must be very scared”

“I’m not.”

“Go away, Ginny.” Ginevra Weasley is such an underappreciated character.

Literally started crying at “only one occupant, a man sitting fast asleep next to the window” and didn’t stop for the rest of the chapter

“I don’t go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me.”

Stupid Peter. Stupid never listening to the sneakescope. Stupid rats.

The most haunted building in Britain yeah okay

“But if we’re with him,” said Ron spiritedly to Hermione, “Black wouldn’t dare —“

Yeah alright, Ron. Two thirteen year olds are very intimidating to a convicted murderer.

Draco Malfoy and Co. afraid even of sleeping professors.

Harry does NOT want Ginny sitting on his lap...

“None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.” Iconic.

OF COURSE GINNY WAS SHAKING LIKE MAD YOU BLOODY IDIOTS

She’s literally the only person who can say she understands what Harry went through.

Ugh

Hmm 🤔 let me see...how would Lupin know Harry’s name? Could it have been him waking up suddenly feeling an intense utter despair and looking straight into the face of none other than a 13 year old James Potter? Realizing after a second that it couldn’t be him, realizing it could be none other than the baby boy he held in his arms over 12 years earlier, realizing that of all the students, of all the compartments, James and Lily’s son chose the one he’d been asleep in to sit.

I always remember the “you fainted? You actually fainted?” line with the “shove off, Malfoy” “I’m just checking up on my boyfriend, Weasel. Are you okay babe?” meme.

“I’m not delicate!”

“Of course you’re not.”

They literally have not seen a sorting ceremony since their own

*Snape glaring at Lupin*

“Professor Kettleburn retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs.” Every year he says something terrifying like this. Imagine the first year muggleborns. Like what kind of crap school is this?

Chapter 6 - Talons and Tea Leaves

I agree with ravenclaw-headcanons this is a beautiful chapter title

Its also extremely long which is dumb

“He wasn’t so cocky last night when the dementors were down at our end of the train...nearly wet himself.”

“...headed off to the staff table, still swinging the polecat.” Off topic but there’s a witch who was turned into a polecat by Hecate in Rick Riordon’s House of Hades

I relate strongly to Professor Trelawney

#scary fake predictions

“There’s a blob like a bowler hat...maybe you’re gonna work for the ministry of magic...”

Ron again with his just knowing things. Lokhart, Harry’s predictions, ministry of magic, multiple other things I don’t remember.

“When you’ve all finished deciding whether I’m going to die or not!”

“Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?”

So many “shut up, Malfoy”s

Granted, it was probably a bit too dangerous, but I mean Malfoy was the one that didn’t listen

“I’m dying! I’m dying, look at me! It’s killed me!”

“I’m not worth that!” Is one of the saddest lines in the series that is disguised as something else :(

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

Recently I am hearing ppl say that white characters can still be coded as POC? Even when POC exist and are present already in-universe? Is that a thing? I’m genuinely ignorant to it if it is. I thought that might be the same as giving a creator credit for diversity that isn’t earned? Like if you only see CoC in small background roles but fandoms insist the MC who are white are coded to be otherwise? I just was hoping I could get a better understanding as I really want to learn about this

An explicitly white character cannot be “coded as poc”. I’ve seen this kind of thing multiple times in fandom, usually to justify the bad behavior of different characters and deflect criticism from them, but I’ve never seen a creator say their white character is poc-coded. You’re right that saying they are a person of color or coded as such would be giving credit for rep that is not there, and it’d be incredibly racist above all, after all, if the character was meant to be brown or black, why didn’t this person make them such? why the coding and not explicit? it’s not the same as, say, coding a character as gay (or not straight) because, for example, children’s media usually doesn’t allow non-cis het characters, or certain countries don’t allow lgbt+ rep, etc, so “coding” or subtext is as far as creators can go.

It’s another thing, though, when the character is ethnically ambiguous in written media, like is the case of Hermione Granger, Katniss Everdeen or Mare Barrow. To know their ethnicities you have to be aware of what the author says - JKR says about Hermione that “white skin was never specified”, which is as close to claiming “poc-coding” as you can get, because for years she was always depicted as white, with black!Hermione a popular headcanon that started years after the book were published and sold. Suzanne Collins said her book was “post-ethnic”, basically, so she gave a non-answer, but -again- while NA Katniss sounds  great, her canon depictions are always white, and the role was given only to white women. Victoria Aveyard was the only one that explicitly said that Mare Barrow is Latina (and even then, she’s supported white-washed fanart and face-claims, but I digress), so even with ethnically ambigouos characters you have to be careful, because in all the examples I can think of, the author fucks up the depiction. Out of those three, the only one I’d give some sort of credit to would be Aveyard. 

However, if the first two authors had shut up and there had been no adaptations in which they had participated, depicting the characters as black or NA would be as canon as depicting them as white (or asian, or mena, etc). In the case of ethnic ambiguity, defaulting as white is another problem on itself: why can’t a witch in a magical Britain be Black, especially when physical description points to it being a possibility? Why can’t an olive-skinned girl in a post-apocalyptic society from a region with a big population of Native Americans be Native, too? Why would you think they are white, and white only?   

Another thing, before I forget: keep in mind that maybe what you’re seeing is a biracial character, or a white-passing character, in which case this wouldn’t be a case of “white person coded as poc” but just “white looking person being non-white and the fandom erasing their canonical ethnicity” (like, to keep the same examples, Gisa Barrow from Red Queen, who’s white-passing but always depicted as white). ~mod ara