You're named after that spell I'm really good at

25 He/Him. Profile pic by blvnk-art.

[forcekenobi]

this fuckn sorting hat quiz is a little too real sometimes what the fuck

[forcekenobi]

THIS QUIZ BOUTTA SHAKE THE FOUNDATIONS OF WHAT I THOUGHT WAS MY TRUE HOGWARTS HOUSE

[forcekenobi]

(the quiz)

[ravenheart-and-lionsmane]

Wait what I’m a Gryffindor primary with a Slytherin secondary and I model Ravenclaw both primary and secondary but also model Gryffindor secondary?

Why has no one ever told me I’m a freaking Gryffindor who acts like a Slytherin but loves and tries to be a Ravenclaw? What is going on.. I’m confused

[tired-lupine]

I don’t want you to abandon Ravenclaw (no seriously don’t leave me alone here) but are you shocked? are you? Your entire vibe is chaotic, impulsive, righteous and in love with swords

[actinganimagus]

This quiz just restated what I already knew.

Gryffindor through and through with Hufflepuff tendencies.

I’m happy with that :)

[the-ginger-magician]

Well, my Hufflepuff-ness has now been extra confirmed, but I also now have the label “Burned Hufflepuff.” And honestly? That is the most accurate description I have ever felt.

[pan-n-proud-deactivated20211203]

Burned Gryffindor. Primary Hufflepuff

[transaurus]

APPARENTLY I’M A GRYFFINDOR PRIMARY, BURNT HUFFLEPUFF, AND MODEL SLYTHERIN????????

[mr-flamed-maple-deactivated2020]

……I’m just a Hufflepuff through and through WHOMP

honestly not surprised 😂😂

[matteli-moony-deactivated202005]

Slytherin primary and secondary and no one’s shocked

[accio-firebolt-potter]

Gryffindor or Burnt Hufflepuff primary, Ravenclaw secondary.

I think in this system I’m probably a Burnt Hufflepuff modeling Gryfindor with a Ravenclaw secondary with a Hufflepuff secondary model.

One thing is for sure, I am burnt as fuck to the point where whatever I was is hidden under layers of ashes. But that’s what having literal burnout will do to you baabyyyy.

[c-is-for-circinate]

…hey Harry Potter fans, we’re all in agreement that Dumbledore brought the Philosopher’s Stone to Hogwarts in Harry’s first year as a test to see whether Voldemort was paying attention and what sort of state he was in, now that Dumbledore’s chosen champion was old enough to hold a wand, right?

Like, Harry learns what magic is and it’s time to start moving towards the full and final destruction of Tom Riddle Junior, so Dumbledore has a chat with his long-time alchemy friend who’s been keeping this thing safe for literally six centuries straight, and ‘borrows’ the easiest source of immortality he can find as bait for a trap to lure Voldemort out into the open so Dumbledore can get the lay of the land to prep for the next seven years.  This is canon, right?

[c-is-for-circinate]

This post just passed 50,000 notes, which is way more than I expected when I first made it, and can I just say, the tags and notes are full of so much vitriol against Dumbledore.  People loathe him so much.  I don’t think I ever realized how much before this!

I find that so interesting, because god knows Tumblr and fandom and fans at large tend to love tricksy bastards who play chess games in their heads.  Dumbledore’s far from the first old man who sent other people to die for his war.  He’s not the first character who’s manipulated kids, or raised children to be warriors because he believed they had to be.  He’s a long, long way from the first desperately flawed mastermind we’ve seen.  But god, do fans hate Albus Dumbledore.

And I wonder: how much of that is because we feel like Dumbledore betrayed Harry, and how much of it is because we feel like Dumbledore betrayed us?

Most of us were so young when we started reading the Harry Potter books.  The world was magic and Harry’s home was terrible, and a kindly old man with twinkling eyes and a white beard winked, and seemed to know everything in the world, and we thought he’d promised to take care of each and every child given unto his care.  We thought that meant us too.

There’s a thing that happens as kids grow up, when they begin to realize that their parents and the adults around them are flawed and broken and making things up as they go, and sometimes make very real mistakes.  Sometimes as grown-ups we find ways to forgive the adults that raised us for all the good and bad they did, and sometimes we cut them out of our lives forever.  But there’s always that feeling of betrayal, with the realization that a trusted adult did actually cause us harm–and not just because they used their best judgment and tried their best to protect us and it wasn’t enough, but because they decided something else was more important than our well-being and meant it.

As a human and a character, Albus Dumbledore is fascinating, flawed, fallible, with complicated priorities and a chess board for a brain, and he’s motivated by guilt and big-picture thinking and ego and a very real desire to do good for the world in the broadest possible sense all at once.  As an adult that Harry trusted he failed rather badly, but it’s up to Harry to decide how he feels about that, and Harry has plenty of complicated feelings of grief and forgiveness and self-sacrifice of his own.

We trusted Dumbledore to be the Good Adult.  The kindly man who had his students’ best interests at heart.  And he wasn’t.  He wasn’t what he promised us he’d be, and I think that’s what so many readers can’t forgive him for.

[tlbodine]

Finally some good fuckin’ Harry Potter discourse.

[accio-firebolt-potter]

And now I’m going to log out for the day. So if you send me a message and I don’t respond I’m not ignoring you. I just need a break for the night. My heart rate has been over 120 since this morning. I’m not some big meany. Just a guy trying to look out for his friends.

[accio-firebolt-potter]

sorry to make you explain this but what is happening with these larger account creating fear?

Nah it’s probably a good thing to explain.

To be clear the bigger blogs absolutely weren’t doing anything malicious on purpose. That’s not what I’m saying at all.

But a bunch of folks felt like they weren’t free to express their opinions or their fear and have it taken seriously, and blogs (big and small) were talking over them about how nowhere on the internet was safe, or that they should make their blogs private. (Sound advice but the wrong time for it.)

This is hard enough to deal with from smaller blogs and peers as someone who is scared and panicky to begin with. But coming from someone with a lot more following who also has the ability to make that choice for you (even if they never would) is intimidating. Even if they have the best intentions doing it. (Which to be clear I 100% think they did.)

[accio-firebolt-potter]

Also to be clear TT doing the poll was absolutely the right move. And that’s to be respected. Not everyone would. And my post wasn’t solely directed at them far from it, but it was read that way. My primary concern making the post was everyone’s debate around privacy and how that was a little misguided.

TT and the other bigger blogs were also doing their best to try to stop it from becoming a shit storm.

The only thing TT and other bigger blogs did that I had a problem with was talking over the issue of online safety. And reaching out privately to people, which while well intentioned fails miserably on the receiving end without them being aware of it. Everyone was doing that, and should not have been. But the power imbalance of the bigger blogs doing it with the best of intentions was what rubbed me the wrong way. It reads as intimidationary whether it is or not. It’s an unfortunate side effect of having a following, the power balance gets out of whack and personally approaching people doubly so because they have even less confidence to stand up for themselves when they’re in a personal forum than they do in a public one. Particularly when they’re approached with an explanation rather than an invitation to talk.

And again this wasn’t a jab at TT, this was how I saw the situation folding out on a number of fronts from the perspective of someone who could see how silenced people felt and help express it clearly.

That’s not intuitive when you’re the person with the power. You think you’re reaching out to help. It’s a hard thing to adjust to. You don’t get to see the other person freaking out about it or being uncomfortable. You just get to see them be nice because you’ve approached them personally. That’s where the bit at the end of the post about discussing things publicly at the end came from.

The whole thing was a shit show of the best intentions going wildly wrong and I’d rather not perpetuate that further by painting anyone as malicious and I definitely should have moderated my tone around that better, it’s a complex thing to talk about and it’s easy to sound like you’re casting blame. At the time my concern was for friends who felt their case wasn’t being heard.

I promise this is the last I’ll say on the matter. I just wanted to try to explain my stance calmly and not unintentional throw any more hate towards the big blogs and particularly TT who seems to be copping all the shit because they’re the most visible. To be clear I don’t believe in any way shape or form they were acting maliciously or intimidating people on purpose. But people were feeling intimidated by how the situation played out.

Everyone involved with the whole Buzzfeed escapade from the reporter, to TT, to the folks involved in discussing and putting the poll forward came at it with the best intent and care for the community and not everyone would. There’s no excuse for twisting them into villains here. They were in a tough position and anyone else put in it probably wouldn’t have handled it any better and could have handled it a lot worse.

TL;DR: No one is at fault of being malicious here. It’s just a complex system of power to navigate. I won’t stand for hate being throw at the big blogs any more than I will guilt being thrown at the little ones.

[accio-firebolt-potter]

Also, not going to White Knite myself, half the reason my post was taken more seriously and challenged less than people defending their own positions is because you’ve all got a penchant for eloquent skinny white men with tenuous claims to authority and a flair for asterisks and the dramatic, and are less likely to challenge them (whether by perceived authority or silent eye rolling) than THE ACTUAL FUCKING PEOPLE THE ISSUE AFFECTED.

[accio-firebolt-potter]

The long and the short of that last post is this:

People had as much right to be scared and angry as TT does now to be upset.

For a lot of people this had dire real world consequences and many of them were about to apologise away their right to defend that, and were being told either that they were foolish or mistaken. Both by TT and other similarly sized blogs.

Having a prominent position in this community (or any) whether knowingly or not gives you a lot of power that is easy to misuse with the best of intentions. When people with power listen I believe they have to do it quietly, that means not trying to bring people who disagree around to their side, and making sure their followers don’t try to do that in their stead. The same goes for when people in power have emotional responses to things. Those are private issues to be kept private. In public they wreak chaos.

When the shit hits the fan, sometimes you’ve got to stand up and be the prick in between a wave of that going desperately wrong and the people who won’t be the prick they need to be in the face of it to defend themselves. Or just to add a stubborn voice in the fray who is on their side.

My post helped the people I intended it to help. And given they’re the more vulnerable ones in this situation I am a-okay with that.

[accio-firebolt-potter]

I think that you took part in the Buzzfeed debate with too much passion to be a dormant blog. And with all too much anger, too. It seems to me, as a by-stander, that you managed to direct much of the collective shit towards asktheboywholives and sirussly by making your own passionate and angry conclusions about their intentions. It seems that they weren't the right conclusions. I do hope you know that your angry remarks were gasoline to the fire directed to them. TT at least took a hard hit.

I may not be active. But I have plenty of friends that still are. Also all of like 15 people reblogged that post. It was barely a drop in the pool. I’m very sorry if folks got their feelings hurt but it doesn’t change my stance on the matter.

I am very sorry that TT has had a rough time of it. My tone may have been too harsh in the original post but I’d spent the morning with a wave of friends freaking out about their safety and being spoken over and having their fear put up for debate.

The trap of feeling like you have to make everyone agree with you is an easy trap to fall into. Especially when a lot is going on that the community is debating. But whether TT and the other big blogs know it or not they wield a lot of power here. And that can lead to people hiding their concern, downplaying it or rolling back their own thoughts for fear of fallout. If not from TT and the big blogs (who I genuinely believe have good intentions, even if they land massively wrong) then from the thousands of people that follow them.

A lot of the people I know who had issues with the move are too nice for their own good and I could see them getting railroaded a bit. I on the other hand don’t have many issues with being a grade-A prick, and know how to state a case fairly well. And so I did that, because sometimes you’ve got to get a bit angry and be a bit of a prick and push back rather than nice-ing yourself out of the right to an opinion.

Again I’m very sorry TT is having a rough time with the blow back. Being in such a prominent position is hard and witch hunts are easy. This doesn’t change my stance on the issues, and I really don’t feel personally responsible for it, and kind of resent the type of message this is.

To begin with, these kind of messages from well meaning and concerned followers of the big blogs is exactly the kind of silencing bullshit I was being a prick to stand against.

The transition from community member to community leader is a hard one to adjust to, but it’s a dangerous game to play to bring your personal emotions into the issue. Not because they’re not valid, but because expressing them in the public sphere only brings more chaos and discord and makes it real easy for other people to wield your power by proxy against the people they perceive to have wronged you.

TT, if you do ever read this, which I doubt because I’m such a tiny blog, I am very sorry you’ve had a rough time of it. It’s an impossible game to play and there’s no right move, only the least wrong one. I hold absolutely no animosity towards you even if my opinions about this stuff are strong.

And to whoever sent this question (my words here are strong not because I’m angry but because I’m firm, I believe you think you are doing the right thing, but don’t agree that you are) and anyone else doing similar. If you’re a small blog going around trying to make other smaller blogs who stood against the change feel bad because TT feels bad, you’re making TT’s life harder, and whether you realise it or not wielding their power against the rest of us. TT isn’t the only one feeling shit right now. A bunch of the small blogs who felt like they were in danger and being pushed out of their community are feeling bad too. And you messaging them and pointing out that they’ve made TT feel bad is fucking bullshit, even if you had the best of intentions.

This isn’t a battle. It was an event and people got scared and emotional and angry. It happens. We all need to step away now and let the flames die down.

To the people spreading love and joy right now instead, I see you and I love that.

If you’re someone who feels like everyone was too rough on TT and it wasn’t fair (which to be clear it wasn’t—there’s no recourse to fairness at the centre of a shitstorm like that,) throw your energy at supporting TT as they’re going through a rough time instead.

Being popular on the internet is hard because you’ve got to worry about not just your actions but influencing the actions of everyone around you, whether that being unknowingly railroading people into agreement with you, or unknowing unleashing a hoard of rabbid followers on them. And the worst part is *everyone* in that situation thinks they’re doing the right thing.

For my part I acknowledge it’s a hard job. But I’m going to use my stubborn prickishness to stand between that chaos and anyone I see who is being too nice to be as stubborn as they need to be in the face of it. I’ll wear the blowback. It really doesn’t bother me.

[masksofmickey]

Any advice for New Years? What's your favorite class?

I’d definitely recommend nervously singing karaoke with a stranger in a ski lodge, it might just be the start of something new.

[accio-firebolt-potter]

The take away from this is that Mickey has no class.

[magiclookingmirror]

Fuckin’ oath, what gave it away? 

[accio-firebolt-potter]

Hanging out with me was the first giveaway.

[masksofmickey]

True, I’ll stop doing that then.

[accio-firebolt-potter]

Please don’t. I’d actually die. We’re a perfect classless pair.

[accio-firebolt-potter]

Guys, get on it.

Inbox us your best ship names.

[masksofmickey]

The more creative the better.

[masksofmickey]

(( @accio-firebolt-potter IT WAS THE START OF SOMETHING NEW))

[accio-firebolt-potter]

Oof. Right in the feels. Now I’m definitely not going to get anything done today.

[randomhptheories-blog]

[accio-firebolt-potter]

Entering the fray even though I’m a dormant blog. But I have *opinions* on all the bullshit commentary flying about regarding online safety.

As someone who has studied both the anthropology of web spaces and works in tech and has infosec experience, I just want to say that *yes* everyone posting online is taking a risk. And they are aware of it. If anyone wanted to guarantee their safety they would not be online at all. But that is impractical and isolating in the world as we know it today.

Some people are taking a *calculated* risk being here. And the equation might be about to *radically* change.

And they absolutely have the right to be upset about that, ask that it not happen, and choose to leave if it does.

And tertiariarily to that they should also have the right to do this without being subject to interogation and forced discussion from the folks who claim to be listening, while being talked down to about their approach to internet security. I can guarantee you that anyone who is in a position to be worried about their security here has thought about and considered the risks far longer than you have.

A poll is a way to seek opinions, *not* an opportunity to identify your dissenters and try to recruit them. This isn’t a democracy, and everyone here is free to do as they please. But that doesn’t mean that people aren’t entitled to an opinion on the spaces they care about. And it doesn’t mean anyone else is entitled to try to change that opinion or seek validation when doing something that a large chunk of the community isn’t cool with. If you want to listen listen quietly and actively. Otherwise do what you wanted to do and wear the fucking repercussions if the shit hits the fan.

If anyone wants to discuss this with me, feel free to reblog this and add your thoughts so they’re in the public sphere where they belong on this issue rather than sliding into my DMs.

[accio-firebolt-potter]

Like the community has all expressed their positions. The work of listening now isn’t discussion and convincing it’s to weigh up the pros and cons as they’ve been expressed by the community and decide what to do in light of them.

[accio-firebolt-potter]

Entering the fray even though I’m a dormant blog. But I have *opinions* on all the bullshit commentary flying about regarding online safety.

As someone who has studied both the anthropology of web spaces and works in tech and has infosec experience, I just want to say that *yes* everyone posting online is taking a risk. And they are aware of it. If anyone wanted to guarantee their safety they would not be online at all. But that is impractical and isolating in the world as we know it today.

Some people are taking a *calculated* risk being here. And the equation might be about to *radically* change.

And they absolutely have the right to be upset about that, ask that it not happen, and choose to leave if it does.

And tertiariarily to that they should also have the right to do this without being subject to interogation and forced discussion from the folks who claim to be listening, while being talked down to about their approach to internet security. I can guarantee you that anyone who is in a position to be worried about their security here has thought about and considered the risks far longer than you have.

A poll is a way to seek opinions, *not* an opportunity to identify your dissenters and try to recruit them. This isn’t a democracy, and everyone here is free to do as they please. But that doesn’t mean that people aren’t entitled to an opinion on the spaces they care about. And it doesn’t mean anyone else is entitled to try to change that opinion or seek validation when doing something that a large chunk of the community isn’t cool with. If you want to listen listen quietly and actively. Otherwise do what you wanted to do and wear the fucking repercussions if the shit hits the fan.

If anyone wants to discuss this with me, feel free to reblog this and add your thoughts so they’re in the public sphere where they belong on this issue rather than sliding into my DMs.

[masksofmickey]

a formal apology gif for @storieshidingintheshadows

[accio-firebolt-potter]

I am not okay.

[muggle-on-main-deactivated20200]

Listen….

I always thought I was just a nerd who would never be in shape. But I’m 15 lbs lighter than my last Spartan and I ran it in a record time for myself. I’ve worked out to every Marvel soundtrack, watched Lord of the Rings and Star Wars on the treadmill, worn Wonder Woman pyjamas to the gym… basically been the biggest nerd at the gym. I wanted to look like the powerful women portrayed in movies and I pushed myself until I became one. I’m super proud of myself and how far my wee arthritic body can go!!!

That said… sorry for the Spartan spam, I’ll be done in a few hours!

[accio-firebolt-potter]

Marcus if you keep this up Mickey is going to leave me for you and I wouldn’t even blame her for it.

[blvnk-art]

Harry always wanted to play video games in his childhood - only doing so when the Dursley wasn’t at home - and when he got older he bought one to himself, and Ginny got (too) involved as well.

[blvnk-art]

tired

[accio-firebolt-potter]

13, 14, 5, 71.

13: Name 3 TV character I relate to: The Cabbage Guy from AtLA, the guy who dials the star gate in SG-1 and any background extra that’s been caught sipping coffee and has forgotten they’re on camera. (The older I get the more I want to be a background extra, being a protagonist is exhausting tell me where to stand and what to do. I don’t want to be in charge of my life.)

14: A haiku about my day:

Did not leave my bed,Except the break in the rainI went to buy milk.

5: Witches or aliens? Witches. Always witches. Aliens probably don’t wear cute coats.

71: Red lipstick or black lipstick? On me or someone else? On someone else either is good. On me black, but only because red is too much for my face, neither are particularly my colour.