#slitheringghost

[juniperpyre]

🤍💚 !!

as always these are long lmao

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

to be fair lily is soooo up to interpretation since we only see her through the lens of men (mostly snape). it's hard to say anything is particularly wrong besides flat portrayals. but seriousbrat who's analysis (x x) I always love has been talking about how the boys are often not written like teenage boys, in favor of woke feminist heros, and I think the same can be said for lily.

I think even people that like her use her as the moral compass. but she does almost laugh when james is bullying snape in SWM. so I see her more as someone who wants very badly to be good and kind, but it's at odds with her own desires/wants and sometimes needs (she needed to drop snape before it got to the point of him calling her a slur fr fr).

not that i don't think she's kind. I think she grows to balance the over-empathetic parts of her with her own needs, and dating James is linked to that. in the sense that she's doing something that she used to think would be wrong, but now is like "fuck it I want to".

so yeah back to her almost laughing, I think lily has an instinct towards cruelty to some extent. we know that severus, sirius and james all have a talent for cruelty, and those are the three people we see her befriending in the text. her being a woman also plays into her being the moral compass, but i would say that the pressures of her two societies necessitated her to be more mindful of her behavior. she had less options for recklessness, but, again, we know james and sirius are reckless! and severus is taking some sort of risk by signing up with the death eaters. she doesn't fuck with people who play it safe.

so yes i think there is this part of her she sees as bad that is interested in dark magic and being a bitch bc it's fun (oversimplification) that all three of those relationships allow her to explore in different ways. usually she keeps it locked away unless she deems it acceptable to use as a weapon. i think being a mom brings this part of her out, more, for better or worse.

🤍: Which character is not as morally bad as everyone else seems to think?

this is kind of random but molly weasley. I think she was adored uncritically in early fandom and now she's just bashed both of which I think are two sides of the misogyny coin.

In general people project their own relationships with their parents onto characters like molly & walburga. molly is not super emotionally mature, she's cruel to hermione in book 4, she yells at her children and she plays favorites.

she also is the sole caretaker for all of her children, her husband, and then in 5, 6 and 7 the whole of the order. do we see anyone else taking the lead on household management? no! that's an enormous amount of stress. it's clear she feels responsible for the well being of her children and they are constantly in danger.

her two brothers died in the first war. she births all of her children during a war (ginny is born a few months before jily die). her whole adult life has been shaped by this conflict, and I'm sure it's impact what she believes care should look like. she's desperately afraid of her children making the wrong choices and ending up in a bad situation. I know this comes in the form of nagging about grades and making good career choices, but it's impossible for there not to be something deeper there

like I did not grow up with war in my country but I've had an incredibly unstable life up until age 25/26 (I am 27). my younger sibling (22) who I raised also has! and when she makes choices, there is a deep level of anxiety for me. there's a looming fear that something will end with extreme harm, even if that doesn't seem connected to that choice. I can only imagine how much that's multiplied when it's 1) your own children 2) active war & 3) your brothers died in the active war.

plus she makes me think of all the invisible labor women do to help war efforts. I don't think she's a great mom but I don't think she's horrible, she loves her children & is trying very hard and sometimes falling short or even failing. to err is human tho.

[sk1fanfiction]

💝💌 !

Thank you for the ask!!

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

Oh my god. It has to be myocardial infarction. That thing is the bane of my existence, because in my senior year of undergrad (during the COVID lockdown) I wrote a ~1.5k oneshot right after my very last final of the semester, human physiology (this explains the title).

I had been reading a lot of Tomarry fic so that was the particular brainworm that I had, and it's basically this Muggle AU, mildly OOC, where Tom is a biology grad student, Harry's OC sister (from RFMD, my longfic) is an undergrad in his lab and his roommate, and Harry comes over to watch The Exorcist.

It's my second most kudos'd fic. It has 245 kudos, and I know for some people that's not a big number, but for me it's wildly high. Every time I feel bad about the 'metrics' on one of my fics I remember myocardial infarction and what a terrible fic it is and how it's also my only fic that meets the 10% rule.

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

Not quite up-and-coming (just in development hell), but A Conspiracy of Ravens, my Juniper Tree!AU is something I'm really hoping to get back to as I get more organised. It features Harry versus his 'evil stepmother' Bellatrix, Tom as Bellatrix's angel demon child, and James as a clueless fairytale dad.

[riddlesmoon]

honestly, i dont think thats a misread of the original post. it literally says "One of the most absurd things that can be said in my opinion is that Bellatrix was a victim of Voldemort."

"the point is not that it isn't a toxic relationship or that he is not abusive. The point is that she was not some groomed or brainwashed victim"

if you agree that Voldemort was toxic or abusive to Bellatrix, that means he did inflict some suffering upon her, which by definition makes her a victim of his actions. like thats just what the word means, it just means they were on the receiving end. you can acknowledge that someone is a victim without undermining their agency.

perpetuating the notion that an abuse victim must look a certain way - usually meek and quiet and pitiful, one who takes all the abuse lying down - is what causes real victims to fly under the radar.

oh, theyre violent, theyre aware ("so why didnt you just leave?"), they protect or love their abuser ("if you cant see how bad he is then you deserve what you get"), they continue the cycle and abuse someone else ("youre just as bad!"), they lash out at those attempting to help them... it doesnt erase the fact that they suffered abuse (aka, are a victim)

of course this is all just extrapolation from the text, but since yall acknowledge that he is being abusive, then acting like she cannot be a victim because she is lucid and aware of her actions/his abuse is really weird.

"it's being able to recognise a remarkably strong female character and celebrate her as such, without the compulsion to take away her agency."

why does someone being a victim mean they cant be strong? this is just insulting. if anything they are incredibly strong for surviving and enduring abuse.

why does being a victim mean you have no agency? also extremely insulting. are all victims just helpless puppets who cant make choices for themselves? or is it because you think that a victim cant possibly have agency, because if they did, they would just leave?

One of the most absurd things that can be said in my opinion is that Bellatrix was a victim of Voldemort. I mean, we are talking about a ruthless and absolutely lucid and aware murderer, she is certainly not very well but this does not make her less aware. She chose Voldemort precisely because she saw someone as sick as her if not more.

[grossdyke]

two truth & a lie !!!

Rules: make a poll where the options are two truths and one lie and have your followers guess the lie.

mwah thank you for the tag @lifeisabitch-butimcute 💖💖

np tags @stillagoodwitch @sugarsnappeases @sixlane @velanavis @veryinnovative @kaaaaaaarf @thistlecatfics @slitheringghost @static-radio-ao3 @transsexualpriest @starsworth @inevitablestars

[pangaeaseas]

WIP Ask Game

thanks to @thistlecatfics for tagging me!!

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. People send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

Let's see...I have a lot of WIPs that I haven't touched for literal years since I only recently got back into fic writing, so this should be interesting. They are listed in chronological order from most recent to oldest.

Edge of Seventeen (this is posted but I have future material written as well as some material set in the universe so you can ask me about that)

Petertha oneshot

Mythology

crack fic

Keeper

this is not going anywhere

Outtakes from a novel that will never be written

something

While the Other Survives

Ewig

evans in australia

Cassiopeia Malfoy

slytherin!Hermione longfic that may never be finished

asterope lily black

tagging (no pressure obviously only do if you want to) @ragana62, @vulcajes (already did this but idk you can do it again if you want, @chemicalwildflowers, @slitheringghost, @juniperpyre,@wisteria-lodge, @enbysiriusblack,@artemisia-black, and anyone else who wants to play!!

[riddlesmoon]

yeah i need to sleep but tomorrow i will getback to reading every meta that links to another that links to another meta

some of these metas are kind of insane how do you guys come up with this????? some of it also feels like a reach but ykw youre clearly having fun, and im having fun reading it, so, SURE ill incorporate that into my belief system.

[midnightstargazer]

❤️🤍 !!

thanks @slitheringghost!

unpopular opinion ask game

Took me a while to find the red heart, I think it's the one that's showing as plain solid-colored black for me, but please let me know if you meant something different.

❤: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

Barty Crouch Jr.

I like the idea that he had a tense relationship with his father going back several years before he got caught as a Death Eater. And I like the idea that he was close to Regulus Black and Evan Rosier, whether romantically or just as friends - although that's purely headcanon that I think could make sense, not actually something with canon evidence to back it up.

But that's about where fanon Barty and I part ways.

Canon Barty is, first of all, incredibly intelligent. Both in terms of book smarts (twelve O.W.L.s!) and in terms of cunning and manipulation (see: literally everything he does in GoF). Fanon Barty often seems like he doesn't have a coherent thought in his head.

In canon, he comes across as someone who nobody - Crouch Sr. included - would have suspected, so I doubt he was openly rebellious. More likely he was sneaking away to meetings and hanging out with bad influences at school while still toeing the line at home.

He was right up there with Bellatrix as one of Voldemort's most loyal followers. He definitely wasn't in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was caught, and he absolutely did join of his own free will.

I'm not a big fan of making Frank and Alice involved with Evan Rosier's death and framing what Barty did to them as revenge.

And I'm going to be petty here: he has straw-colored hair, i.e., dirty blond or light brown, and there's no indication he had tattoos or piercings.

🤍: Which character is not as morally bad as everyone else seems to think?

The difficult thing about this question is that in such a huge fandom, there are so many conflicting opinions, and morally ambiguous characters tend to be polarizing rather than overwhelmingly hated or loved.

But I think criticisms of Kreacher in OotP often fail to take into account his circumstances. I'm not talking about his role in Sirius's death so much as just his attitude in general. Sometimes, I think people tend to forget he's a house-elf, or forget what that means.

Like, yes, he calls people mudbloods and blood traitors and is generally very unpleasant. But he's probably never interacted with a Muggle-born before, or anyone who wasn't a bigot, except for Sirius and maybe Andromeda before they were disowned. He's repeating what he's always heard, and he's certainly never been encouraged to think for himself. He's loyal to the Blacks because that's how house-elves generally are, and also possibly because they treated him better than comparable families like the Malfoys would have. He's been completely alone for about ten years, interacting with no one but Walburga's portrait. And he's reacting to a situation where his whole world has been turned upside down overnight, not to mention suddenly belonging to someone who clearly hates him.

He has no power over his own life, he's probably frightened and upset, he's very indoctrinated, and he comes around eventually. While it's not good, I think something gets lost when people act like there's no context, as if he's just awful for no reason or as if he's coming from the same sort of position of power that a pure-blood wizard would be when they act in similar ways.

[blitheringmcgonagall]

2, 16 for Lily!

Thank you @slitheringghost☺️☺️

2 When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them, if you've sent me a character I don't like)

Ha! From the very start! I frankly LOVE the idea of this teenager who is reportedly cheeky and popular and has a hot temper, and takes zero bullshit from this good-looking, confident jock who clearly thinks he’s God’s gift? The guy doesn’t have a clue how to deal with her at all (I mean she didn’t even seem remotely impressed by his throwing and REPEATEDLY CATCHING that stolen snitch!? At all?!

Add in that she’s from a discrimated against minority to boot, while big-headed jock is the opposite and I am ALL OVER THIS!! (Of course James isn’t an idiot, he’s very smart which fyi is extremely hot in my book, and we all know he’s brave and can be very supportive and kind and saves his nemisis etc so ofc when he deflates his head a bit I can completely see why she likes him 🙄🤣!)

16 A Childhood headcanon

Petunia and Lily were close as young sisters. Lily was cleverer than her sister; she was funnier, more lively, as Italians would put it - more simpatica! And this was hard on Tuney. In a way, at least when Lily disappeared to Hogwarts she got more attention from her parents which she craved. But parents always wrote to Lily, were overjoyed when she came home and Mr Evans was a bit like Arthur Weasley when it came to Wix - he was endlessly fascinated by them and never really got the hang of any of it.

But Tuney missed her, despite the ambivalence - when Lily returned home from Hogwarts on year very lucky to be alive after an attack by wannabe mini Death Eaters on the train, she spent the next few weeks cleaning the house from top to bottom, which Lily recognised as her sister’s coping strategy for when she was very stressed 🥺❤️

[juniperpyre]

10 and 32!

ty ty for the ask!

12: what was the first fandom you wrote for?

i think when i was like in 2nd grade i was writing self insert portal harry potter fanfiction in my 5 subject spiral notebook. but my first published fanfiction is on ff.net and it's from the inkheart fandom! it's actually pretty good for what it is, i was like 15 when i wrote it

32: a character you enjoy making suffer

james <3 i love that man and i love him even more when he's being confronted with the deficiencies in his world view and suffering for it. realizing he was wrong bc he's doing a bad thing :) and still doing the bad thing bc he's never had to deny himself anything! i think that's the arc i give him in most aus

[sk1fanfiction]

for the ask game: 25, 14, 6!

25. a book that had you bawling your eyes out

I don't think I've ever bawled my eyes out at a book (or movie), but the last time a book made me cry was when I was reading the end of The Golden Enclaves, specifically that one scene with El and Orion where she spoiler had to mercy kill him.

14. an overrated book?

Anything by Charles Dickens, sorry not sorry, but most of his books have the same tropes (down on his luck MC, scoundrel, nice lady who dies etc) and meandering plots. I know he's one of the major authors of English-language canon but I have to say this. He got better as he went along though, Great Expectations is the best of all his books, but none of them (for me) were worth a re-read.

6. your fav book trope?

I love a good red herring, it's my favorite thing in a mystery. I think I'm pretty genre-savvy, so I love when a book keeps me guessing or leads me to the wrong conclusion, then reveals the answer in a way that makes sense.

[sk1fanfiction]

Lily Evans is good!Tom Riddle, argue with the wall.

[pangaeaseas]

4-7 for Sirius please

I already did 7 for Sirius so I'll just do 4-6.

4. Stares at character with most bookmarked fics on my ao3...

Again, some of these I haven't reread for a while as I only recently got back into fic reading so I might not agree with all the characterization now.

Obviously the starting point is brilliant difficulty by @slashmarks. The fic that got me back into HP. God tier. And they are one of the best writers of Sirius, anything they write about him is excellent.

I just discovered this one today but I really like it.

This one made Lilypad my BROTP.

This fic by @artemisia-black GETS that Sirius knew how to play the game, he just didn't want to.

And here's an excellent take on Bring Back Black (trope of all time....) by @slitheringghost

This is a good take on Ginny and Sirius bonding.

And this is a classic and good first war fic.

5. hmmm....soooo many....(I am SUCH a Sirius fan LMAO). Let's see: Sirius was a genuine magical genius and the thing he did to be able to Floo Harry from Grimmauld Place was a genuinely revolutionary magical development. After his death the new method of Flooing he invented was used by the Order to destroy the Floo system to deny it to the Death Eaters.

Had he not gone to Azkaban he might have become an Unspeakable. Before he was sent to Azkaban he worked at a motorcycle repair shop.

6. I've very often seen and enjoyed the headcanon that he learned how to duel from Bellatrix and was remembering their old practice duels at the DoM battle.

@slashmarks headcanons him dating Lily for a while which I can get behind though I generally see him as gay or ace myself.

[fugamalefica]

Bellamort is canon. Even if you ignore the extremely obvious subtext of the books its made clear in cursed child. Also what are these hate anons on you have to be nice to me even though im sending you hate. If the anons dont like how you respond they should just stop looking at your blog.

Exactly. Ignoring the subtext is stupidity in itself, but not even stupidity is a justification for Bellamort denial after Cursed Child.

The anon is a hypocrite who likes playing the victim. I can't even tell anymore if they're Rose or slitheringghost because of how similar both of them are.

[fugamalefica]

Yeah, I know you don't like severus but slitheringghost has been harassing snape fans for years. It's a pattern with them now. Just block them yourself.

I don't hate Snape as a character! He was my first favourite before Bellatrix and Voldemort showed up lol. He's a very interesting character. I just don't like some of his fans who claim he meant more to Voldemort than he actually did, and sometimes I take it out on Snape himself, but I have nothing against him as a character.

I'm sorry to hear that Snape fans are being harassed by slitheringghost. That person needs help. If it's any consolation, Snape is a better character than Lily will ever be lol.

[albi-bumblebee]

@slitheringghost did Lily as master of death!

There’s a hp blog that i’ve come across a couple times, I don’t remember their blog user, and they talk about like Lily being death or the master of death (or something like that), and I think it’s just about the coolest meta/theory ever. Another blog went on about Harry being the master of death and being able to go through the veil (or something similar to that?), and I adore that one as well.

If anyone knows their blog names please share em.

I recommend checking them both out, if you guys haven’t already.

~

[fugamalefica]

Lol which Lily stan? I think I know which one you're talking about

Slitheringghost :/

I really don't want anything to do with this person, but she keeps posting about me passive aggressively, and it's extremely annoying. I don't know why she craves my attention so much. She also recently unblocked me for no reason, which is something Rose does whenever she's dying to interact with me. They really are birds of a feather.

I bet she secretly enjoyed the harassment she was getting because of the attention it brought her, not that she got much. She constantly posted about how she was a poor victim and how awful everyone was to her. It was sad to see and I almost felt sorry for her. Lesson learnt, I suppose.

I wish she would just directly address whatever issues she has with Bellamort fans instead of acting like a middle schooler with her passive aggression.