#slytherin culture

[apathetic-kiss]

The Rosier Family being social outcasts amongst the rest of the Sacred 28, not out of disgust or betrayal, but rather due to how the other families hold a morbid curiosity and slight fear towards the pure-bloods who seem to isolate themselves more than any other family.

For as long as anyone could remember, the Rosiers produced peculiar looking heirs; they all shared the same bone-white hair and gaping eye-bags, facial structure like fine china and long, bendy limbs. The children were always strange, seemingly intellectual and wise beyond their years, darkened pupils that seemed to stare into your soul if you made eye-contact for too long. They would chatter amongst themselves, rarely talking to the other pure-blood youths, preferring to whisper to each other in soft mumbles and squeaks. The Rosier children were never sent to Hogwarts, and rarely attended pure-blood banquets and balls. If they did, they trailed behind their parents and hid away in corners, blending in with the cryptids and ghosts which seemed to haunt every old wizarding mansion. When they aged, the Rosier offspring tended to become even more hermit-like; there was no presenting a daughter to society, no celebrations of a boy coming-of-age in the same way there was in other pure-blood families. They instead would disappear from pure-blood society for years at a time, their parents or aunts or siblings airily mentioning that they were abroad at the time.

In adult-hood, it was said the Rosiers only had one path of employment, and that was none. The blood-line was made up of inventors, of researches and explorers and users of dark magic, of witches and wizards who travelled the world and did unspeakable things in the name of discovery. Whispers existed amongst the Sacred 28 in regards to what the Rosiers had managed to uncover, invent, and twist their magic into, with rumours of anything from successful immortality, inter-species breeding, artificial life, and spells, hexes, and potions beyond one's wildest imagination. Whenever a Rosier died (as very few of them seemed to make it to old age), it was usually due to a tragic accident, a spell gone wrong or being mauled to death by a mysterious creature, a mix-up of potions or something along the lines of accidental, self-inflicted insanity. The private events such as funerals were barred from anyone outside the family line, preventing any further investigation into the births, lives, and deaths of the Rosiers.

The exception was if there ever was to be a union of two families when a wedding was held on the mysterious lawns of the Rosier mansion. Even then, it was kept relatively private, with only the immediate family of the non-Rosier spouse allowed to be in attendance, and the presence of a single writer to detail the events of the ceremony for the Sacred 28's records. However, weddings only ever seemed to happen once every forty years or so; there was only usually a single sibling married in a generation, the others dying mysteriously young or pledging themselves to their work for all eternity. It was as though the Rosiers only ever interacted and joined with another family for the sake of continuing the blood-line, and other than that would rather stay hidden away on the acres of property and endless wealth accumulated by the family over the generations.

The birth of twins Evan and Pandora Rosier was kept a secret from the rest of the Sacred 28 until their fifth birthday, when their mother brought them along to a morning tea hosted at a pure-blood mansion for the women to discuss the current political sphere of the wizarding world. The other women were shocked when Céline Rosier floo-ed into the mansion, her first public appearance in almost six years (they always invited her and her husband to events out of obligation and politeness, but the two very rarely showed to events. Secretly, the other family members were always slightly relieved when they didn't.). They were even more surprised at the addition of two white-haired children clinging to her robes, who she whispered to softly and sent outside to the court-yard to see the other children. Céline's sister, Druella Black, embraced her tightly, though the fury at her exclusion from her sister's life ever was apparent on her face; the family had cut her off both socially and financially after she chose to move to the Black family mansion instead of raising her children on the Rosier ancestral land. People had whispered about how this apparent betrayal to her roots and her aligning with the Black family instead would place a curse on her and her children, the rumours already whirling after her boys were born and were missing the signature pale hair; Druella had dyed her hair black the day after Sirius was born, a sign of rebellion against anyone who dared question her allegiance to the Blacks. Still, as they grew older, the lack of resemblance between the Rosier twins and the Black boys became more and more apparent regardless of the closeness in blood relativity. Nobody dared bring up the curse again, and Druella's maiden name and the history of her roots was never mentioned in Sacred 28 circles again.

Evan and Pandora grew up the same way generations of their ancestors had; isolated, surrounded by books, and most of all, alone. Their parents spent most of their days locked away in their own workshops, the job of child-rearing left to various members of staff and random family members who lived around the property. There were always wizarding scientists and researchers and medical professionals popping in and out of the mansion, some staying for tea and some staying for six months at a time, some who ignored the children and some who taught Evan everything he knew about potions. Though some would argue that this was no way for children to grow up, the twins would disagree; they had free-reign of the giant house and surrounding property, no bed time or limitations and complete access to their family library which had been accumulated over centuries to house over twenty-thousand books and manuscripts. When Pandora was eight, she decided she was going to read everything in the library before she died, even if it took her reading all day every day of her life (she gave this up not even twelve days into it, when had Evan begged her to put down the books and come camp down at the creek with him. She had obliged). They spent the first eleven years of their lives reading constantly and desperately, devouring novels and spell books and potion guides and studies on muggles and wizarding magazines and whatever they could get their hands on. They made potions and taught themselves non-verbal magic, experimenting with animals and transfiguration and manipulated all kinds of elements and metals and objects. They never learnt the distinction between light and dark magic, it all seemingly just a tool for them to learn how to further their skills. It was an incredible way to grow up according to them, and they wouldn't have changed it for the world. But before their shared eleventh birthday, everything had changed.

When the pair woke up and received their Hogwarts letters, they had simply tossed them to the ground and gone on with their day; Hogwarts was irrelevant to them, and only existed vaguely in their peripheral thoughts as something that other magical children were a part of. However, that night when they sat down for a very rare family meal, Céline had announced that the twins would be starting at the boarding school in September. That decision was final. After some push-back from her children, she had shut them down with a no-arguments look and the twins fell silent. They looked at each other with slight hesitation, not knowing what the hell to expect from this switch-up in the routine and life-style they had known all their life. That summer, Pandora had buried herself in books and journals written about Hogwarts and by Hogwarts students, attempting to learn and memorise everything she could about the school and its history. Evan on the other hand, was in complete denial; he shut down any mention of the school by his mother or sister, and refused to engage in Pandora's discussion about aspects of the curriculum or what their experiences at the school may be. He spent most of his time leading up to their departure for Hogwarts locked in the upper rooms of the mansion, experimenting on frogs and rats and mice as he perfected more spells and potions he was working on (though he did occasionally allow Pandora to join him and help work out the flaws in his potion-work, as long as she promised no mention of their upcoming time at the educational institute that will not be named).

The first problem that came along at Hogwarts was the expectation that they mingle with the other pure-blood families; they had only very rarely interacted with other children, and so the idea that they were supposed to befriend and talk to these other pure-bloods was an alien concept to them. Evan and Pandora had spent a little time with Regulus and Sirius as kids, but the brothers were already sitting with Sirius' Gryffindor friends in another carriage. However, this did mean the twins had an excuse to sit alone together and bury themselves in books (Pandora in her now-battered copy of Hogwarts; a History, and Evan in a definitely illegal book on the anatomy of various creatures and how to best butcher them for black-market sale).

The second problem that arose for the twins was the discovery at the sorting ceremony that they were to be in different houses. Evan was called up first, and the whispers had already begun about which house the first Rosier to ever attend Hogwarts would be in. The hat barely touched his head before shouting out Slytherin, and he had made a bee-line for where Regulus was seated with the other first years on the table. However when the hat was placed on Pandora's head, it had deliberated for a few seconds before calling out Ravenclaw. Evan had felt his face drop and the his look of horror matched Pandora's own; there was nothing wrong with Ravenclaw of course, but the awfulness of not being in the same house as his sister was something that hadn't even crossed his mind. They had spent their whole lives together, they were attached at the hip, they were practically the same person, right? Right? He watched Pandora drift over to her house table with a mournful look on her face, nodding with fake reassurance at her when their eyes locked. They would make this work.

The third problem Hogwarts presented the twins was the issue of their apparent disconnection from the rest of the wizarding world. Though this was something that had never bothered them before, and something they had in fact felt proud of in their childhood, it was now becoming a problem. Evan had never shared a room with anyone aside from Pandora, and his social skills... left room for improvement. His room-mates, Regulus and Barty, thought he was a total asshole who hated the both of them, when in reality he simply didn't understand the premise of politeness; he and Pandora had always been brutally honest to one another and to their parents, and this just seemed like the norm until he arrived at Hogwarts. Pandora's roommates on the other hand seemed to catch on to her apparent otherness immediately, and quickly shunned her from their group for being weird and creepy (it actually took Pandora a few weeks to catch onto the fact that they were being mean to her; she just figured the other girls were ignoring her out of nerves, the same way she was anxious every time she tried to start a conversation with them. She discovered this was not the case though after the fifth time she had tried to talk to one of them, and they had all left the room giggling and pointing at her). Neither of them made any real friends in their first year, and were utterly miserable.

Things perked up in their second year. Regulus had gotten into a fight with Sirius over summer and the two were no longer on speaking terms. Barty's presence had started to become truly annoying to Regulus, so Evan and Pandora became the only ones Regulus deemed appropriate company as the two were happy to sit in silence and read together. Pandora also managed to befriend an older Slytherin girl, Dorcas, as the two had striked up a conversation about Herbology in the library and become study partners. Dorcas was struggling in her third-year potions, a subject Pandora was well-versed in and knew all kinds of tips and tricks in. Pandora was barely passing Defence Against the Dark Arts as the theory was mind-numbingly boring to her, but luckily it was Dorcas' best subject. Evan and Regulus were quickly added to their study group due to their proficiency in other subjects, and when he could be convinced to shut up, Barty would sometimes lounge on a nearby table and pretend to do work. How he managed to have the highest grades of all of them, that was the true mystery.

Their little rag-tag group of five only grew closer over the years at Hogwarts, and stuck together through all the triumphs and traumas. They were there for each other when Dorcas was made quidditch captain, when Sirius ran away and Regulus was left alone, when Evan and Pandora's mother died in fifth year, when Regulus was made a prefect, when Dorcas' sister contracted a terminal illness, when Barty came back from Christmas break with red marks up and down his back. They were there for each other through it all, and Evan never knew the meaning of found family until their group of five found each other; to the Rosiers, family was blood and blood was family, end of story. He had never known there was an alternative, but he didn't care; his mother and father had never held him when he cried, but Dorcas had wrapped her arms around him after he broke down thinking of his mother being lowered into the ground.

And, after everything went down and everything went to shit, Regulus and Barty had held him in the shower as his shoulders shook, terror and fear and mourning wracking his body as he thought of Pandora. His beautiful sister, the most important person in his life, the other half of his soul had denounced him, had said she would kill him herself if she ever saw him again, had screamed at him with ferocity unseen ever before after seeing the tattoo that now decorated his forearm. She'd refused to listen to him and his pleas to join him, to follow him into the darkness of discovery, to become powerful together. After everything they had been through, they'd each chosen family in their own way; Evan, in following Regulus and Barty into the darkness Voldemort's growing allegiance, and Pandora, in remaining isolated from the affairs of the outer wizarding world, in separating herself from anyone who was not blood or who betrayed their blood, and in cutting off their apparent found family at the drop of a hat.

At the end of the day, it all came back to family, to the Rosiers, and to the endless, relentless isolation.

Evan died alone on a battle-field, his body left on a beach to be reclaimed by the elements as his soul departed for the afterlife. Pandora felt the second he left this plane of existence, a string inside of her cut and leaving her forever longing for the brother she had lost a long time ago. She had looked out her kitchen window after the day of his death, seeing a pair of two dark-haired men standing in the paddock across from the Rosier mansion, the empty space left for her twin apparent in the middle of the two men. They had all looked at one another for a moment, before her old friends had disapparated into the winds of the day. Pandora sighed quietly, a tear falling down her face as turned back towards the bubbling cauldron she was minding. She wiped her face quickly as she heard her husband walking up the stairs, and fixed her face with a soft smile.

Pandora died alone in the backyard of her childhood home, a flash of blue light being the last thing she saw before her body fell to the ground. Her last thought was not of her twin, but rather of her daughter he never got to meet, and the regret she felt at subjecting her to seeing her mother die like that. As she felt herself cross into the afterlife, it was as though a part of her soul let out a sigh of relief. Though she was leaving behind her family, she was to join Evan and her parents once again. Maybe that was for the best.

Xenophilius locked up the Rosier mansion for good after his wife was buried in the family graveyard, moving his young daughter away from the house which had always rubbed him the wrong way. The halls, the bedrooms, workshops, and library would stay empty for many years, preserved with spells and protective enchantments keeping the mansion pristine and untouched by the years gone by. If one were to visit now, it would look as though the Rosiers were still there, and perhaps had simply gone for a walk, and would return any minute. They say the ghosts of the Rosier bloodline still haunt the house, the chatter of laughter and the sound of scribbling and the turning of pages echoing through its empty, abandoned hallways.

Another family lost, forgotten to the magic of time passing.

[shunrehihosumedha]

Something inside of me healed today… I cried for few seconds because I mean my teenage self would have gone batshit crazy if she ever laid her hands on this.

[ The Tales Of Beedle the Bard, translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger ]

[hailstorm1816]

OKAY, OKAY, PLS HEAR ME OUT

Gen Z Marauders, right? But only the Muggles and other people who grew up in Muggle places act like that. What I'm saying is that the Wizarding world is basically the same with its lack of technology, but here comes all of the Gen z kids walking into Hogwarts.

As soon as the school year starts, all of the Gen z kids are chaotic as f in class. They're reciting every meme known to mankind, moaning out of nowhere, and doing TikTok dances.

And I like to think that a lot of them snuck their stuff in like phones and tablets, and somehow Remus gets them to work.

All of the things mentioned above happen in less than a literal week, and all the Purebloods are traumatized (mostly because they cant even walk down a crowded hallway without Cakecup songs playing on blast, and they mostly don't say anything because who tf wants to mess with a kid who ate Tide Pods for fun?) but also interested in the internet and modern technology. So, here come Remus and Lily showing everyone everything to know about the internet and the Purebloods are in awe because how the fuck can you do that without magic?

(Please can we talk about Gen z marauders more? It's so fucking funny especially if the Wizarding world is the same as it always has been so they're just traumatized by Muggles now.)

[chaotic-gremlin-27]

Working with Regulus Black 🐍🖤

All info in this post is purely my own opinion since there isn’t a canon for marauders. If anyone has anything they would like me to add I would love to hear it!! /gen

Media: The Marauders Fandom

Type of Character: Depends on the media you’re interacting with but since this is for my birthday post we’re focusing on my fav type of him which is the Main Protagonist

Description: Regulus Black is the younger brother of Sirius Black who gets sorted into Slytherin. Canonically, he becomes a death eater young and then decides to revolt against Voldemort and dies trying. In the fandom, he’s often portrayed as a trans gay man who falls in love with James Potter. He’s characterized as snarky, sarcastic, smart as fuck, and traumatized as hell.

Domains

Surviving Abuse

Mental Health

Drug Addiction/Abuse and Recovery

Sexuality

Knowledge/Wisdom

Standing up against oppression

Epithets

The Horcrux Hunter

The Lover

The Haunted

The Forgiven

The Savior

The Forgotten Child

Things to work with them on

- Recovering from abuse

- Reconnecting with family and friends who help you be a better person

- Discovering your sexuality and gender identity

- Working on your mental health

Associations

Color: Black, Silver, and Dark Green

Elements: Air

Tarot Cards: The Hanged Man, Four of Swords, Seven of Swords, and Ace of Cups

Food: Sweet food (like candy, chocolate, baked goods, etc), Blueberry Pancakes (iykyk)

Herbs: Lavender, Mint, Cinnamon, Raspberry Leaf, Jasmine, and Chamomile

Animals: Cats, Sparrows, Corvids

Crystals: Obsidian, Serpentine, Onyx, Bloodstone, and Black Tourmaline

Incense: Basically herb list but as incense

Devotional Acts

- Interacting with the Marauders Fandom and their work

- Visiting you local libraries and small bookstores

- Reading classic literature

- Learning about topics that interest you

[hp-hcs]

it’s 1am, i just took 30mgs of adderall, and here’s a deep dive into an insignificant plot hole in the Harry Potter series

retroactively fix this now, joanne, you dumbass terf bitch

I stumbled across something interesting while doing some research for a new fic. While on the Wizarding World website (formerly Pottermore), I was perusing the page The Sacred Twenty-Eight when I noticed something interesting.

——

——

The Zabinis. Where are they?

We know virtually nothing about them canonically, but according to the Blaise Zabini’s Mother page on the Harry Potter fandom Wiki, “It is unknown if Zabini was her maiden name or one of her married names.” However, this page gives us literally nothing else of importance about her besides stating, “It is possible that she killed each of her husbands to gain their inheritance, given the "mysterious" nature of their deaths” which, no shit.

But if we’re under the assumption that wizarding pureblood society is patrilineal in nature, as is shown in both the films and the books, then wouldn’t Zabini be Blaise’s biological father’s last name that he inherited? Unless it belonged to one of his stepfathers, in which case, is Zabini even a wizarding family?

The list of the Sacred Twenty-eight pureblood families doesn’t list Zabini as one of them, but surely Blaise must be a pureblood if Draco’s willing to associate with him, right?

So if we can suspend our disbelief for a moment and make the pretty decent assumption that Ms. Zabini was married to strictly purebloods for all seven marriages, doesn’t that mean that she was probably responsible for the ending of (at least one) pureblood family line(s)? Or at least doing significant damage population-wise to this shrinking gaggle of people?

Which means, at least to my interpretation, that there are three possible options here.

It’s Blaise’s biological father’s last name. Is his bio dad a pureblood or not then?

It’s one of his stepfathers’ last names. Then who is his bio dad? What pureblood families is he related to by blood?

It’s his mother’s maiden name. Still raises the question of what pureblood family his dad was from, and a matrilineal society in the pureblood world seems pretty damn unlikely.

But at the same time, a bitch bad enough to slaughter seven of her husbands (allegedly) for their money is a bitch bad enough to keep her damn last name. With that being said, in this essay I

[03junkie]

russian barty crouch jr who’s an alcoholic and evan rosier who enables that shit

[moutainrusing]

fire

When Dorcas was a kid, she burnt the carpet.

She had always been drawn to fire. On each of the seven nights of Kwanzaa, a harvest celebration derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” which meant “first fruits” in Swahili, her family gathered in their living room together, and a child lit one of the candles on the Kinara, the candleholder. After the candle had been lit, a daily principle, one of the Nguzo Saba, was discussed. For example, on the first night, they had to light the black candle in the centre of the Kinara, and discuss the principle of Umoja, unity.

Dorcas loved it when a candle was lit. The flame flickered, orange, white, emitting warmth, a soft glow, and it was mesmerising. Her eyes were hooked on its movement, tracing its trails in the air, the tendrils of ashy smoke, the shine it made in her family’s eyes. It was fuzzy around the edges, blurry, almost as if it were an illusion, a splotch of light seared onto the backs of her eyelids. She felt like she could watch it burn forever.

Then it was her turn to light the green candle, the furthest to the right of the centre, on the seventh and last day, to discuss the principle of Imani, faith, and she took the lit match between her thumb and forefinger. But it was hot, and the flame was creeping along the thin, wooden stick, closer and closer to her fingers, which were barely gripping it anyway, because she couldn’t let the fire come near her. She loved fire, but she couldn’t be near it, because it was scorching, yet she couldn’t bring herself to move, to light the candle… the match slipped out of her fingers.

And now, more than a decade later, there was still a black, sooty scorch mark distorting the red and gold geometric patterns on the carpet. Her mother had immediately quashed the flame with the heel of her sandal to stop the spread, and after a thorough telling off, she wasn’t allowed near a match. She wasn’t complaining. She and fire weren’t meant to be, and she could only ever love it from afar.

The same obviously applied to the fire that was Marlene. Because, damn, that Gryffindor burned. She was hot and fiery and truculent, craving fights and arguments and danger. And unfortunately, Dorcas was in love with the way Marlene flickered rapidly, the way she scorched her mark into the skin of the Earth, the way she glowed with her warm colours, her rosy cheeks and golden hair. She could watch Marlene burn forever. From afar.

Unfortunately, Slughorn and Mary had other ideas. Firstly, it was Slughorn’s fault for always pairing Potions partners up alphabetically by surname. Secondly, it was Mary’s fault for not taking Potions at NEWT level, meaning instead of Mary Macdonald being partnered with Marlene McKinnon, Marlene McKinnon was now with Dorcas Meadowes.

“Hi,” Marlene nodded, unceremoniously dumping her textbooks and quills on the desk. Dorcas nodded stiffly in response. Marlene spared her a glance, probably deeming this as unreasonably rude. But Dorcas didn’t really care. A girl such as herself didn’t have time for girls like Marlene.

Today they were practising how to brew Amortentia, the strongest love potion, for their final exams. Which was funny, because Dorcas didn’t need any love potion; she was already thoroughly enamoured with the girl beside her. She grimaced at this ludicrous thought process. Just to her luck, Marlene turned to face her again, saw the sour look, and scowled in return.

“I’ll get the ingredients from the cupboard, you prep the equipment,” she snapped, stomping off. Dorcas shook her head in amusement. Marlene was such a lovely flame. Then she shook her head again, because she really shouldn’t be thinking that, and went to grab a heat mat, a tripod stand, a gauze mat, a cast iron bowl, and a gold cauldron from the shelves.

The fact that Amortentia had to be brewed in a cauldron made from a real, solid gold alloy just went to prove how potent it was. No wonder Slughorn wanted them in pairs; it was far safer, with two sets of eyes keeping vigilance, making sure the powerful, dangerous infatuation-inducing potion wouldn’t be used with malicious intent. Although perhaps the safety had been significantly reduced when Dorcas was paired with the fire she was terrified of. Honestly, Dorcas’s obsession with Marlene should’ve really been a factor considered when assigning pairs.

She cleared space for the heat mat in the centre of the desk, then placed the tripod stand upon it, with the gauze mat atop of that, and the cauldron on top. Lastly, she kept the cast iron bowl beneath the tripod stand, and while in the midst of dreading what it would be used for, Marlene returned, dumping a pile of muddled ingredients onto the table.

She frowned, “You haven’t put the firewood in the cast iron.”

“I was getting to that,” Dorcas muttered. She quickly grabbed a handful of wood from a nearby shelf, and threw it into the bowl.

Marlene raised an eyebrow. “Easy there.” She then looked at Dorcas critically, “Are you still scared of fire?”

Dorcas froze in the middle of sorting out the ingredients. “What?”

Marlene grinned slightly, seeming happy to launch into a story and leave Dorcas to weigh out the Ashwinder eggs. “In third year, James and Sirius thought it’d be hilarious to release Boggarts in the castle for Halloween. And before they were punished and given a very appropriate amount of detentions, because they were absolute dickheads for that, the castle was in chaos. I remember your Boggart. It was fire.”

Dorcas’s cheeks felt very hot. She was extremely glad for her dark skin tone, or else the blush would’ve been obvious. “You remember that?”

“Well, duh. You were the only one who didn’t run away screaming. You seemed kinda hypnotised with it, actually. It was strange.”

Dorcas felt her blush increase out of embarrassment. “Oh, thanks,” she muttered, gaze firmly fixed to the rose petals she was crushing in the mortar.

“Not in a bad way. Like, it was interesting.”

Dorcas hummed. Finally, she said, “Yeah, I’m still scared of fire.” She put all the prepped ingredients into the cauldron, and continued, “So would you mind if you lit it and heated this up while I stood over there?” She jabbed a thumb towards a shelf at least two metres away.

Marlene gave her a very unimpressed look. “Face your fears,” she ordered, before casting, “Incendio,” and setting the firewood below the cauldron ablaze. Dorcas yelped, and jumped back from the desk.

Marlene burst out laughing. “Aw, don’t worry, it can’t hurt you.” She curled her hand around Dorcas’s wrist to drag her closer, which only made more flames erupt across Dorcas’s skin as Marlene’s touch practically set her alight. She yanked her hand away, yet it was still hot and tingling from the burn.

Not realising her hellish effect, Marlene simply rolled her eyes. While the potion heated, or burned actually, because the heat Amortentia required was ridiculous (really, why couldn’t they just use basic heating charms, why fucking Incendio), she casually started, “Y’know, I also noticed your Boggart because you’re always staring at me. You’re hidden amongst the Slytherin crowd, all gathered ‘round each other ‘cause you can’t bear being near the filth that is Muggle-borns and half-bloods, but I can make out your eyes, and they’re glued to me.”

“I—” Dorcas dumbly responded. Marlene saw her staring? She genuinely thought she hid it pretty well, amongst the “Slytherin crowd.” Not just Slytherins, actually. Her eyes always sought out Marlene, no matter the crowd she concealed herself within. But Marlene didn’t know that bit. She just thought Dorcas was being a typical “Slytherin.” So Dorcas clenched her jaw, and instead focused on, “I’ve never thought Muggle-borns and half-bloods are filthy.”

“But you’re a pureblood Slytherin, who’s always staring at me, a half-blood, and who, when paired with me, reacted with the utmost disgust.”

“Just because I’m a pureblood Slytherin doesn’t make me automatically prejudiced. The fact that you assume that is prejudice in itself. And I don’t stare at you ‘cause I hate you. Really, if I hated Muggle-borns and half-bloods, shouldn’t I be staring at all of you in disgust? Why would I only stare at you?”

Marlene looked increasingly frustrated. “I don’t bloody know! And when I noticed you staring, I started looking at you! And so I saw your Boggart, and then I fucking remembered it, because— because, well, I don’t stare at you ‘cause I hate you either!”

Dorcas blinked. Who knew fire was so hyperactive and confusing? Marlene was a complete blur of unrestrained emotion, and Dorcas didn’t understand half of it. “Sorry?”

Marlene just grumbled under her breath. She spoke up, “So you don’t hate me then?”

“No.” Of course not, Dorcas wanted to laugh.

“Right. Okay. Good.”

Dorcas nodded amusedly. Although her amusement soon faded when Marlene grinned wickedly. “Oi, Remus,” she called to the desk in front, where for some reason, Remus Lupin had decided to roast some fluffy Muggle sweets over the flame in front of him with his stirring rod. His partner, Jabari Kimani, was looking on with the well-known expression of confusion, exasperation, amusement and concern, typically worn when dealing with a Marauder.

Remus turned around, slowly chewing one of his roasted creations. “Yeah?” He mumbled around it.

Marlene nodded to the packet in his hand. “Could I have some of ‘em?”

Remus shrugged, and dumped a couple in her hand. “Don’t be obvious,” he advised sagely, turning back to roast another for himself.

Marlene waved her successfully acquired sweets in Dorcas’s face. “Marshmallows,” she grinned. “Remus is a bloody sugar-addict, but we love him.”

“We do?”

“Mhm,” Marlene nodded vigorously. “Okay, taste one.” She proceeded to jam it into Dorcas’s mouth.

Getting over her initial shock, and the breach of personal space, because she couldn’t really blame a fire for being invasive, Dorcas chewed thoughtfully. “I don’t see the appeal.”

For some reason, Marlene only looked happier. “That’s ‘cause they need fire.” She stuck one onto her stirring rod, and brandished it over the flames. Then she blew on it for a few seconds and stuffed it into Dorcas’s mouth.

And wow. It tasted like a molten miracle. Marlene smirked. “Want another?” Dorcas nodded enthusiastically. Marlene’s smirk seemed to soften at that, and she stuck another one onto the rod. Then she passed it to Dorcas. “Make it yourself.”

“What?” Dorcas’s eyes widened at the rod in your hand. “But then I have to go near the…”

“Exactly. Go on. It’s tasty, innit?”

And maybe Dorcas was a little bit addicted. To Marlene, to marshmallows… so she took a hesitant step forward. Okay, it was a tip-toe. Then another millimetre shuffle. And even though she was moving at the pace of a snail crawling through syrup, Marlene was still smiling at her encouragingly, and finally, she held the rod above the flames. They were hypnotising.

An arm yanked her back. “Alright!” Marlene cheered. “That’s well cooked!” She looked at the marshmallow held between both their arms proudly, blew on it, and pushed it towards Dorcas’s lips. And while Dorcas chewed, she looked at Marlene’s lips, and wondered if they would taste as meltingly delicious as the molten marshmallow.

Maybe she could be near fire. Maybe Marlene could always be there to pull her back. Maybe Marlene could wrap her arms around her and roast her like a marshmallow, because even if she ended up a little scorched, the outcome was only sweeter, softer, lovelier.

“Guys!” Remus had turned around. “Your potion’s gonna overheat!” Frantically, he cast, “Aguamenti,” at their flames, and a jet of water extinguished them. He waved a careless hand, gesturing vaguely at their bodies, “You can do whatever mating ritual this is later.” Then he turned back around and muttered, “Honestly, turning my marshmallows into foreplay, I question what this world has become.”

Marlene winked at Dorcas, before leaning over the desk and whispering, “Like you wouldn’t kill for some marshmallow foreplay between you and Sirius.” Without sparing her a look, Remus flipped her off, and she cackled.

“So, Dorcas,” she suddenly faced her, eyes gleaming with… something. “Meet me in the third floor broom cupboard if my lil’ mating ritual worked.”

Dorcas opened and closed her mouth like a gobsmacked fish. She finally managed to say, “Okay.” And then she whispered into Marlene’s ear, “Set me alight.”

- - -

They were twenty, and she and Marlene were celebrating their first Kwanzaa together. Dorcas clicked a lighter, and lit the black candle in the centre of the Kinara.

She stepped back, and Marlene grinned at her, “Umoja today?”

Dorcas smiled. “Yeah. The principle of unity.”

Marlene wrapped a hand around Dorcas’s waist, eliciting flames across her skin, and pulled them together. “Like how you and I are united,” she breathed over Dorcas’s lips.

“Yeah. And how every human on this planet is united, no matter their race, skin colour, magical ability. The unity between families and friends.” She looked at Marlene. “The unity between lovers.”

“I love you too,” Marlene whispered, pressing their lips together. Uniting their lips. Making them one. Spreading the heat to Dorcas until they both went up in flames. Who knew fire could be so sweet? (Dorcas did.)

[predatoryseasnail]

Wizarding Blood-Purity is a Sham

I think that a lot of people forget that Salazar Slytherin wasn't racist.

And no, before you go all crazy on me just remember in the second book, when fear and anger and all kinds of emotions were running wild and everyone distrusted Slytherin House, students asked a teacher about what happened. And that teacher, a ghost who for all we know could have been there when it actually happened, gave an honest answer.

"Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy."

Look at the language. Look at it, and understand that Salazar didn't see Muggle-borns as inferior, as worse. He saw them as untrustworthy.

Why, you ask? Well Professor Binns answers that as well!

"[The founders] built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizard suffered much persecution."

Salazar didn't like Muggles because they were hunting his family, his people, and persecuting them with horrific violence. He didn't trust Muggle-borns because how could he know that they wouldn't betray the magical world and tell their families that the kid two villages over practices magic with him on Tuesdays?

And yes, witches and wizards had ways to make it look like they burned at the stake when they actually survived, such as the Flame-Freezing Charm. But young children, with little control over their magic? If they were caught or exposed, well, it probably wouldn't end well for them.

Plus, wizardkind is outnumbered by Muggles, by a huge amount. If a village of Muggles who hated and feared magic discovered that a family of wizards and witches was among them, the parents would be burdened with trying to flee from a few hundred people while protecting their kids (who can't control their magic).

Salazar Slytherin didn't like Muggles or Muggle-borns. He hated them and feared them, not because they were inferior, but because they were dangerous. And while murdering children with a giant snake is not a good way to solve this danger to his family, people, and culture, it HAS to be seen that his actions were born not from arrogance, but from fear.

And there were Slytherins who knew this, long before Muggles had become so othered from wizarding society that some families started to believe that Muggles were inferior to those with "pure blood." Like Merlin, Prince of Enchanters, arguably the greatest wizard of all time, who founded the Order of Merlin to protect and aid Muggles, whose name has become synonymous with Muggle rights activisim. Merlin, a Slytherin.

If Salazar Slytherin was alive in the 20th century, he would laugh at the idea that Muggles were inferior. He would be the first to point out that Lily Evans and Hermione Granger, the brightest witches of their age, were Muggle-born. He would scorn the idea that pure-bloods were better, saying if that's true, why is Draco Malfoy, a pure-blood, second to a Muggle-born?

Salazar had questionable morals, to be sure (anyone who doesn't think so can re-read the Chamber of Secrets, where he hid a giant snake in a school full of children to murder the ones he deemed dangerous). But he never, never once thought that Muggles were inferior to wizards.

[gods-graveyard]

THE BRITISH ARE COMING!! (But its just wizards)

FINALLY- I have finished this christmas update for Slytherin Harry "Into the den of snakes" (link below) Also reposting the fanart that goes with it because im lowkey very proud of how it came out

For those of you who don't know about my fic

Slytherin Harry (featuring Cassius + Marcus)

"Silver Squad" of Harry, Blaise, Theo, and Daphne (Neville is there too)

Percy/Oliver/Marcus is the only canon ship rn (rest are spoiler or babies)

Ambigious Snape, Evil Dumbles +Moldy

Pureblood culture, politics, and a lot more emphasis on magical WORLD (I have researched so many cultures its not even funny-)

Future Marauders/Slytherin Skittles content

Lots of found family, friendships, and a fun dabble of mystery here and there

CHECK OUT WIZARD WILL SMITH + PINNED POST FOR MORE INFO

LINK- (WARNING, THIS FIC IS 80K RN)

[serpentsillusion]

✨🐍✨slytherin nails✨🐍✨

I by no means am a nail artist. In fact I can't paint my own nails to save my life. 💚

Garden green color: custom color "Seb" by blank beauty

Green glitter color: "Elysian" by revel mates

(plz don't pay attention to the desk of destruction or I'll cry.)

[remus-poopin]

Question for the brit’sh folks: I was thinking about hogwart houses and their value systems and about how JK shows her bias towards these value systems. She holds Gryffindor values in very high regard but seems to look down on Slytherin. One of her biggest issues seems to be that of the ambition trait. Ambition is almost always portrayed as a negative quality to the point that those who aren’t even in Slytherin with this trait are treated quite poorly by the narrative (Percy you deserve better).

I’ll admit right now that I don’t truly understand the class system in the UK. (I’ve found myself asking “wait what jobs do the Malfoys and Blacks even have? Where is this money coming from” And then I have to remind myself that they’re old money aristocrats types). I’ve made attempts to get it but I’m still a bit perplexed. So as an American reader some things in the series completely went over my head and I’ve had to have them be pointed out for me to even notice them (thank you Snape meta writers!).

As an American reader it is a little strange that ambition is held in such contempt in this series. The whole thing about America is to try to do better than your parents did, to move up in life, to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and achieve that American dream! So when you start analyzing the series with that perspective it is a bit puzzling.

So I guess my questions are: Is JKR’s aversion to ambition a “her problem” or is this a general view that the British class structure encourages. Or to put it a different way, does British society look down upon upwards economic mobility? And if so what are other ways this is reflected in the series?

For a more general question: Is the idea of the American dream in contrast with traditional British values? If so, what do these culture clashes look like?

(Also I’m not asking if you personally as a British citizen have a problem with ambition but more trying to understand UK culture and society)

[sunshinemarauders]

Why do people babygirl-ify Death Eaters?

Hi everyone! I'm back with more of my research!

After returning to the marauders fandom to study it, I was particularly interested in why fans were drawn to characters that were canonically death eaters. I understood the obsession with Regulus Black and Draco Malfoy- they were canonically children and they canonically defied the Death Eaters, but I was curious about Evan Rosier and Barty Crouch Jr. To my (pretty extensive) knowledge, all we know about them is that they're Death Eaters, they're Wizard Nazis. So why did I, in doing my research, keep finding people saying these two characters were their "babygirls"? It concerned both me and my professor, who thought it indicated a bigger problem within fandom as a whole. The ability to think that making a character queer erases them of their ties to the Death Eaters is, in my opinion, dangerous. How will this be played out in the real world? Will we see actual Nazis, or actual terrorists, or actual war criminals be called babygirls?

This is a short summary of why people said they think people "babygirl-ify" Rosekiller (Evan Rosier and Barty Crouch Jr.) from my research. As always, if you have any questions or if you want to chat about any of this, reach out to me! My asks are open

Because its fun

I truly think it has less to do with their evilness, and more to do with what we have in canon. We know characters Draco Malfoy, we know what they're like, what they've done. Then, we see something 'uncharacteristic' and it stands out, like a literary uncanny valley. It stands out, and if someone was to try, I know I'd just swipe past it. However, when you compare them to "empty vessel" name-only characters, because we don't have many fully-fleshed out evil characters in the material, it's easy to slap a babygirl sticker all over him, and be like oh its my headcanon. A popular character, with facts and details about them, will stand out when you make a new headcanon that doesn't fit inside what we know about HP. I think characters like Barty, Evan, and even Regulus, are ragdolled around and basically original by the time nearly anyone writes them. This isn't a condemnation! Just how I understand it.

People started to realize that Regulus was an interesting character himself, rather than him being a bratty younger sibling to Sirius. Therefore he had to have friends, so we started to see a surge in Evan and Barty. In the early Reggie appreciation era (early 2022) we saw quite a bit of Bartylus, but that has died down as people like to think of Jegulus as their endgame now. I also think that fanfiction greatly shapes the minds of the fandom, especially well written popular ones. The first and most prominent one that Rosekiller character appears in is Just Lovers (like we were supposed to be) on ao3 by bizarrestars. Here, they are playful and sarcastic best friends of Reggie who help him through his lil emotions. Everyone loved them so much that the zar (the author) gave us their own lil intermission of it.

Because it's fun! I really don't think it's deeper than that. People started liking Regulus and then they decided that his friends could be nice too, and then they decided that his friends could be queer or even dating each other and they could be babygirls and who cares it's just fun. I'm not a big Rosekiller shipper and I'm more of a Wolfstar girl lately (but that's just because most of the Jegulus fics are sooo poor quatlity, like yes I know that Regulus is mean, but if you make him an absolute ass with no redeaming qualites I'm not gonna want them to get together) so I might not have the most insight on this, but I don't really with there's a deeper reasoning here other than the fact that it's fun.i guess because people just wanted to see them as "normal teenagers" like the marauders, like to remember that before they became death eaters they were boys as well doing stupid things and getting in trouble like everyone else did, and also because they fit well into regulus' potential circle of friends, idk i like the idea that the three of them (evan, barty and reg) were friends in school and then they took different paths where regulus "got" his redemption arc and the others just went insane following voldemort's ideals, i guess i just love angst and it would be a tragic story of how their friendship ended tbh

For a long time we had very few Slytherin students in the Marauders era, and whether we like it or not Slytherin is the most popular house of Harry Potter, people love characters with tragic pasts and dubious morality and also they are characters with very poor description and easy to shape in their personal desire, I don't think that's wrong, but I have no interest in them as characters, to me they're just irrelevent, occasionally appearing in my ideas for fanfics I'll never write, usually as future death eaters

i think the current fandom is less inclined to read/write self-insert fics or OCs, and evan and barty are essentially blank slates that authors can overlay whatever personality they want to that will help fill out their story. also, it’s fun to add characters to the slytherin house during years we don’t know much about. also x2, most fics aren’t writing about them killing people and enjoying it. i don’t think the fact that they were death eaters is the reason people are babygirl-ifying them or wanting to ship them.

this is a very interesting question, and i haven’t thought about it in these terms. personally, as i mentioned briefly in the last question, i hate babygirl-ification in general. i don’t like the way that it infantilizes men, and despite the fact that in this case they’re fictional, i’ve seen it happen with real people several times (dan and phil, crankgameplays, even markiplier a little bit). it has very weird connotations and i just don’t vibe with it at all. he’s not your softboy cinnamon roll babygirl, he’s a man in his 20s. it’s just odd to me, and i’m FTM transgender, so i’ve seen it happen to trans men too and it just feels gross to me. like i’m not softboy cinnamon roll i’m just. a guy. i am literally just a guy. but like in general i hate the concept of babygirl-ifying anyone, as for it being characters without a redemption arc, i think it’s because they got popular in a fic where they were never evil in the first place. i could be wrong, but from what i noticed barty and evan only became liked characters in Just Lovers, which is a no-voldemort AU, meaning they were never death eaters. and they were given nicer roles in the story to serve the plot and further regulus’ character development. like they only got a better reputation because the author needed them to for the plot and they were in a setting where that made sense, and ever since then they’ve been big characters. like i don’t think it’s necessarily about them in canon at all. i think people liked who they were in that one story and it just kind of exploded from there and now they’re being written with redemption arcs in other works too. and really, i don’t see anything wrong with that. i will say i am Not A Fan of those AUs where someone joins the death eaters to save someone else, like james joining for reg, i refuse to touch them. that’s icky to me. but yeah idk. i don’t like babygirl on the whole, i think it’s gross and infantilizing and weird, but as for why these characters are getting that treatment, i think it’s literally just because of a fic they read where they were interesting characters and weren’t morally reprehensible and it’s snowballed from there.

[whorecrux-of-slytherin]

Drastoria headcanon (halloween edition)

SUMMARY - Astoria convinces Draco to dress up as a couple.

(this can also be read as a y/n or oc pureblood but muggle tolerant reader x Draco if you don't like drastoria. Can also be read as a dramione headcanon but I've mentioned a small part about Astoria's family being pureblood and her fascination towards muggle traditions but you can ignore that)

I just feel that wizards wouldn't celebrate Halloween the muggle way. They might have a different sort of tradition. Draco coming from an especially pureblood supremacist family, would find muggle traditions foolish

He thinks it's foolish how muggles think of how a witch or wizard would dress or live. That their idea of a witch is either someone who is an introverted creepy / gothic person who lives alone in an abandoned house with a garden with overgrown grass or a person who has mythical ideas & collects stones, crystals and whatnot to make potions using dried flowers and spices and live in the woods. This perception of wizards angers Draco and is one of the reasons for his resentment towards them.

Astoria on the other hand is rather muggle friendly in spite of being brought up by a pureblood supremacist of a family. She finds it rather amusing of how muggles celebrate the same holiday but follow different traditions than the wizarding community.

Astoria is fascinated by the muggle idea of dressing up as characters or concepts for Halloween. So obviously when she learns that couples dress up together, she convinces Draco that they must dress up for Halloween that year (which was coming up soon).

Astoria plans a couple's costume idea that would suit both their personalities and their relationship. She decided on the theme of the Devil and Angel (Draco obviously being the devil and herself as the angel). She decided she'd wear a white dress & Draco could wear his signature black suit (because that way he'd complain less about participating in 'a stupid muggle tradition') and she'd charm a halo & wings for herself and set of horns for him to sell the look.

On the day of halloween, Draco keeps throwing a tantrum every few minutes about having participated in a muggle tradition; but doesn't complain much about his costume since he got to stay in his comfort zone- his signature all black suit apart from the horns that Astoria charmed for the evening. But he would constantly keep complimenting Astoria for her choice of dress and how beautiful & charming she looks in it; because to him, she's no less than a real life angel.

Astoria really enjoyed dressing up for Halloween that year & over the years they continued to do so and it kind of became their own little tradition much to Draco's dismay. They would have small dress -up parties even after they graduated with just their friends group. Draco would never admit this in his life but he enjoyed dressing up every halloween just because it was for Astoria.

(I used this pic as an inspo for their costumes. Actually this picture is what gave me the idea for this headcanon 😅😂.You can imagine him wearing a suit instead of the leather jacket . It's totally up to you 🤍)

Thanks for reading! 🤍

Also sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors, if there are any . Do comment down below about your thoughts about my headcanon 🤔💭

[somnipax09]

The PRINCE of Slytherin

[chocfrog-enjoyer]

Finally made myself a lil display! This character is not an Oc lol, it’s me, I drew myself ^^

And ofc the blog pet/my Hogwarts pet ( I finally named it )

Also finally I have more time so more art coming! Yay!

I already have a cute Romione sketch that I just need to finish. Also I’m thinking about making small comics but I first need to figure out how haha

[shaddowsong]

A super fancy Tom Riddle inspired by @ellorypurebloodculture and @snake-queen7