i've said it before and i'll say it again, andromeda is president of the hating remus lupin club. you won't convince me otherwise, there's no universe where you're tonks's mum and don't loathe that guy (i believe him when he says tonks's family are disgusted he's a werewolf - i just don't think it's the only reason they'd hate him). she'd just started to soften to him slightly after teddy's born, but after the battle it's easier to blame it all on remus than to admit she's angry with her dead child, so that's what she does.
dean thomas goes and visits andromeda a couple of months after the battle of hogwarts. he tells her as much as he can about ted's months on the run with him. he makes it sound a lot more pleasant than it really was - she can tell, but it's comforting anyway to hear that it wasn't all misery. unfortunately dean was also #1 professor lupin fanboy and makes the mistake of saying so... which goes down like a lead balloon.
years later when she's racking her brain trying to come up with non-negative things to say about remus to teddy that aren't "well he had surprisingly good table manners", she remembers how effusive dean was about him and is at least able to say his students loved him. this isn't especially useful to teddy as he's heard this anyway from harry etc, but she does try!
Something I had to unlearn: giving your character a tragic backstory is not the same as giving them a wound. A backstory is just information. A wound is the thing that makes them flinch at something totally unrelated fifteen chapters later and the reader goes "oh." If the backstory doesn't leave a nerve ending somewhere in the present-day plot, cut it. Nobody needs the trauma. They need the flinch.
Two unpopular opinions for this; #1 is about Remus and Sirius's friendship, #2 is arguing that Remus was involved in James and Sirius's attacks on Snape.
one.
(ignoring Peter's incoherent existence in this lmao) Fandom portrays the Marauders as more imbalanced than they are - talked about this before but, the golden trio also has an imbalance; until HBP Ron is closer to both Harry and Hermione than the latter two to each other (Harry liked Hermione very much, but she just wasn’t the same as Ron. There was much less laughter and a lot more hanging around in the library when Hermione was your best friend), as likely Sirius and Remus were closer to James, but I wouldn’t say any are only friends through one party or Harry necessarily loves Hermione less; he says she’s like a sister and sometimes you don’t want to spend all your time with or really understand your sister. Etc. (well ok Ron also his symbolic brother but he's in love with Ron).
Similarly about them believing each other was the spy. There's many examples of complicated family/friend dynamics that fell apart partially due to the war or other factors - Snape & Lily, Sirius (& Andromeda) with his brother/cousins, even Dumbledore & Grindelwald lmao - and given how the Blacks as a family are split over the war with 3 DEs, 2 on the other side, there likely were similar situations across wizarding society. These indicate major dysfunction, but don't guarantee lack of closeness (or at least, at one point). And R/S had Peter deliberately causing mistrust (and LV's ability to turn people against each other and cause rifts is an explicit theme).
I often see Sirius not leaving Remus anything in his will pointed as evidence too, but there has to be a reasonable explanation; Sirius clearly wouldn't hesitate to support his friends, particularly when he mentions Umbridge's bill and Remus ranting about it in the same book.
While Sirius and Remus realize better than many that LV returning means no one's safe, Sirius was stuck in the house the whole of OoTP/for the foreseeable future, so possibly he still didn't expect to die quite so soon and planned to adjust it at some point.
We know the will was created in part for Order security too, so maybe that was the immediate priority. Or there was some magical (and/or legal) limitation that'd take more time and effort to counter given Sirius had to undo complex enchantments to allow Harry to inherit at all. Or Sirius and Remus discussed it and Remus refused for some reason (Remus's pride seems unlikely tho; he's at least staying at 12GP in OoTP, is willing to have Snape brew Wolfsbane, etc).
two.
It's consistent with canon to read Remus and Sirius as unreliable when they say Remus didn't take part in the Marauders' attacks on Snape(/other DEs), if less often (and maybe less violently, less getting carried away for the fun of it, etc.):
“Sirius, who was right beside Harry, let out his usual barklike laugh.
“No one would have made me a prefect, I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge.”
“I think Dumbledore might have hoped that I would be able to exercise some control over my best friends,” said Lupin. “I need scarcely say that I failed dismally.” (OoTP)
It was, as Harry had anticipated, useless, boring work, punctuated (as Snape had clearly planned) with the regular jolt in the stomach that meant he had just read his father or Sirius’s names, usually coupled together in various petty misdeeds, occasionally accompanied by those of Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. And while he copied out all their various offenses and punishments (HBP)
“We were all idiots! Well — not Moony so much,” he said fairly, looking at Lupin, but Lupin shook his head.
“Did I ever tell you to lay off Snape?” he said. “Did I ever have the guts to tell you I thought you were out of order?”
“Yeah, well,” said Sirius, “you made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes.... That was something...” (OoTP)
Was Remus the good boy though? He engaged in full moon jaunts, joined a war a year or two after SWM same as the rest, and absolutely loathes Snape.
Remus's immediate instinct after meeting Snape after years is to retaliate to his humiliating Neville (terrible but not exactly DE violence) by humiliating him back (I like the HC that he was slipping back into Marauder speak when he tells Snape "I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation"). Even Remus's minimal regret about the Prank in PoA is colored by his self loathing (his justified resentment of Snape is clear in his insult on the Map).
Remus’s real thoughts come out when he calls Snape a fool and the rivalry a schoolboy grudge, or has the harshest immediate response to Snape betraying them and killing Dumbledore vs. Mcgonagall or Tonks even before Harry mentions the prophecy, or says Sectumsempra was Snape's specialty and wishes he'd paid him back in kind, etc. There's no way Remus wasn't paying him back in kind during their schooldays too. (Adult Remus is much more war weary so very different level, but still we see his ruthlessness with Peter, Shunkpike, etc.)
That Sirius and Remus frame Sirius as The Deranged One (along with James) and Remus as The Good One two decades later thinking back on Their Youthful Insanity despite it being a massive simplification/not really true is believable.
Plus that year they gift Harry books for the DA (Sirius also says "D’you think your father and I would’ve lain down and taken orders from an old hag like Umbridge?" then later "you should hear Remus talk about her"). They're more apologetic than they would be (which isn't that apologetic), as they're embarrassed the trio's showing them up by starting an actual organized resistance, and the Marauders were comparatively deranged and violent (Dumbledore's defense of Snape also colors Remus's outward attitude after his PoA actions bc Daddy Issues, and maybe Remus's feelings of debt for Wolfsbane. And Sirius frankly may have Harry-approval issues a bit).
Remus in general is also unreliable about how much others (including his friends) like him, and I don't take it seriously when he claims it's only James and Sirius who were "the height of cool".
molehill-to-mountain blogging: this is why we've all decided there was a depressing remadora christmas shag, right? i definitely have. staring into the fire (just a floo away…), brooding and ragged and miserable with the sexy cauldron song playing, bill and fleur all over each other in the background (as ever when tonks and remus come up), knowing he’ll have to go back to the werewolves ("my fellows, my equals” as he bitterly puts it) whether he gives into the impulse tonight or not. could so see him stopping by the hogs’ head later, telling himself and her it's “just to see if she's ok” and neither of them really believing him.
1. this is the day after the brooding-at-the-fire interlude but also he doooeees like his little fibs doesn't he, so a brazen “no i haven't been in contact with her” the morning after is hypothetically in-character tbh.
2. i suspect that fleur and molly have both decided they're going to torment remus on tonks’s behalf by bringing her up and making him sweat, but they're taking quite different approaches to this (which annoys molly because ofc it does, let fleur live molly you're such a #boymom, fleur's not trying to be rude most of the time, she's just blunt). wonder if they've actively conferred and decided they are going to do this to him in advance, or if it's just unspoken solidarity in the face of bad manbehaviour lol. either way i like it.
3. remus internally like “fuck sake does harry know about my love life now too? let me be evasive real quick and say things that conveniently apply to both grief and heartbreak and hope to god he drops it” lmaoooo
4. didn't highlight but “tonks has got her own family to go to” - and the implication that he doesn't (…and that he’s already decided he would not be welcomed into her family). </3. he mentions his father in this chapter when he tells harry about how greyback bit him because his dad “had offended him” - i think this is the only time remus mentions his family at all, correct me if i’m wrong. operating under pottermore circumstances (which i dislike doing on principle btw because that's not how books fucking work it's in the text or it's irrelevant - except i do unfortunately love the expanded family backstory for him - not the point), his dad's still around, but remus doesn't consider his dad to be a place he can go for the holidays. last year he was at grimmauld place so he likely didn't see his dad that christmas either, but having just spent months in proximity to greyback (and knowing he's going back to it soon) would be extra reason to be avoidant about whatever's going on in that relationship imo.
teenage tonks who's never felt inclined to bother with make-up because she can just like, make her lips a different shade if she ever wants to, or morph away spots or bags under her eyes etc. she mostly doesn't bother doing any of that - she's more interested in practicing creative/weird morphs, having a laugh with it, getting the animal faces as close as she can get them. maybe she's a total nlog about it and thinks her friends are really annoying for caring so much about being pretty. she'd rather be seen as amusing than attractive - it feels a bit safer but she'd never admit that.
I was going to just put things in the tags, but my tags got silly because I am excited.
Elsewhere, Tonks would be the male-gaze character - by which I mean can you possibly imagine this (thus far) unique ability to change one's appearance at will written by and for young men?
And instead, we get beaks and snouts and pink, spiky hair. We get an old lady escorting the kids to school. (Which? This has to be a joke, doesn't it? This has to be a response to "too old"? Please god don't let this just be me because I really do feel it's too good.)
She's not afraid to be undesirable. I actually get the impression she revels in it and I think that relates to "it feels a bit safer". There is an element of fear to being thought of as attractive. It can put a woman in harm's way and not just in the usual ways you'd expect.
Because when you're perfectly usual looking, you're largely invisible. Quite handy for an auror, but also for a teenage girl trying to manoeuvre the highs and lows of female relationships.
You're less vulnerable to those who immediately determine who you are by how you look. If you aren't desirable, you aren't a threat to other girls. You can just swim on past the sharks.
Because, you see, I'm not sure Tonks is average-looking. I think, given her genes, there might be the hint of natural good looks under that snout and, Your Honour, I have two witnesses.
Ron Weasley. Ron is quite a scathing creature, certainly not a boy I would describe as kind in a face-to-face interaction, let alone behind somebody's back. In a direct comparison with Fleur, we get Tonks as "okay-looking when she's not doing stupid things with her nose". If Tonks were not quite pretty, I do believe we would find out exactly how not pretty right here. Ron is not one for holding back on a cheap laugh.
Remus Lupin. This one is an inference, I grant you, and it's a difficult one to prove because it is based on his own perception of Tonks' attractiveness and one must assume one would find one's chosen spouse appealing. However, Lupin is genuinely despondent when he thinks her affections lie elsewhere which leads me to believe he really does think she would appeal to Sirius. And what do we know about Sirius?
That he can enjoy so many admiring glances from members of the opposite sex that he can afford to ignore every last one of them at sixteen. Yes, it's been many years of unbridled horror and I imagine the pool of admirers is quite a bit shallower these days if only due to proximity, but still.
All this to say that I have wondered a lot about teenage Tonks and her relationship to the ability to change her physical form when everybody has a changing body. And yes, I fear she may indeed be a total nlog about it, maybe as a coping mechanism? Because, from what I know of teenage girls, when they envy you, they hate you.
As everyone who read Louise Rennison remembers, "Boys don't like girls for funniness." So this talent is going to single you out and it has the potential to make life very difficult. But it's safe to be quirky, to use it for hair in shades unknown to nature, for eliciting snorts and honks of laughter. After all, it's the girls that she must live alongside.
And when you combine a face pretty enough for everyday use with the ability to turn yourself into the tastiest morsel at the buffet at a moment's notice, other people's obsession with their looks must become a dreadful bore.
Tl;dr: the most Tonksian take on it would probably be, anybody with this ability can conform to a generalised beauty standard. Funny though? Funny is an art.
i do get why it's not especially well-liked lol. it's not well executed at all canonically, but i think that's a real shame because the ingredients are fascinating. i kind of think that's why, even. they turn me into charlie from it's always sunny at the corkboard. i want to put them in a jar and study them and shake them like a snowglobe. in the right hands (ie fic) they're so fun, especially when you lean into the angst and let them be complicated and a bit sad.
thinking about tonks's enhanced bodily autonomy as a metamorphmagus as a foil for remus's inherently compromised bodily autonomy as a werewolf and gnawing the bars of my enclosure about it.
but i think he might not feel very positively about his parents
he'll be hearing all the time about how they're heroes who died fighting voldemort and that he should be proud of them, but to teddy they're the people that chose to have him then chose to go off to die weeks later - and that might be admirable in a detached idealistic sense but for the kid in question it might feel more like abandonment.
teddy going to hogwarts for the first time and not being able to be fully excited about it because is this where it happened? what about here? is he standing on the spot his mum or dad died on without ever knowing?
I know we’re all used to the whole Scabbers is Pettigrew thing but can you imagine getting kidnapped by some dude and then your very professional teacher appears and points a gun at your dog and goes “Mr. Sprinkles is a war criminal”
bc I was talking to tsukiko31 about Tonks's canonical middle name being Vulpecula?? (I think it came from an old radio interview so it falls into that gray area of canon adjacent to me)
Cause here are my thoughts, right? There's something about Andromeda running away from the Black family but maintaining the family tradition of naming your babies after constellations?? I don't know bc it's NOT a first name, but it's still very much there,,
Also VULPECULA?? Little fox? Best nickname, possible Animagus form??? there's something there about metamorphagi and foxes both being seen as shifty creatures, that sort of old trickster god untrustworthiness about them
is this something you have a take on? I need more opinions,,
Can - can we talk about Tonks?? At this point, just try and stop me, honestly. This is great timing because I mentioned this on tiktok yesterday and now I wanna talk Nymphadora Vulpecula Tonks - in that order. I have accidentally written you an essay.
Nymphadora
Like ‘Narcissa’, ‘Nymphadora’ comes from Greek literature rather than a star (Nymphodorus of Athens is mentioned in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War) and from Andromeda’s pov Tonks is likely the ‘gift of the nymphs’ because she was a born shape shifter [something I think becomes even more interesting if you think about how metamorphmagi are likely treated, Andromeda accidentally dehumanised her own damn daughter because of it (something something changeling something something)].
But Tonks actually emulates the most famous Nymphodora - a saint from the 4th century, who is said to have laughed in the face of her capturers after they told her to give up her beliefs. Very Tonks-esque. Perhaps not in the way Andromeda planned.
Vulpecula
Naming Tonks after a star, even if it’s her middle name, ties Tonks to the Black family tradition - there is no escape for Tonks despite not actually growing up in the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, because there was no real escape for Andromeda either. “Nice mental health issues. did your mummy pick it out for you?”. I think Andromeda brought some of the values of the Black family with her when she left, because a lifetime doesn’t just vanish like that. She liked some of the stuff and forgot to unpack others - and that ended up on Tonks. The name proves it.
And the idea of the little fox star is great, and I think the whole vibe works great for Tonks. Like fuck yeah little fox — gives me this sense of someone small but quick and clever, underestimated but able to prove themselves, like Tonks is. but the idea it’s because foxes are shifty?? heartbreaking right there and I’m not going to be able to STOP thinking about it ever.
Tonks
Being a descendant of the Black family, having a name that befits that, and CHOOSING to go by the name of your muggle-born father who is the sole reason you’re not still part of that family??? ICON. TONKS IS THE MOMENT.
Beyond just not liking the name (and like yeah nympho- dora, I can see why), every time Tonks says calls me Tonks she goes ‘I am not with that family, I am the daughter of Ted Tonks.’
Tonks is so damn proud to be Ted’s daughter. She could have changed her name at 18, and instead she CHOOSES to stick with Ted’s as her first name -- because it means that much to her.
Tonks’ name sheds so much light on her, and Ted, and Andromeda and I just …ugh i love it.
Im thinking about this again. The power of a name that you choose, the weight of the ones that you don't.
Being a rare metamorphmagus and being called 'gift of' mythical beings, something not quite human, something...else.
And perhaps for some other metamorphmagus, some other daughter, that might fit. But it doesn't fit Tonks. Or, the very least, Tonks does not want it to - and doesnt that make all the difference?
There are expectations for nymphadora vulpecula and Tonks defies so many of them.
I said I'd stop, but I can't not reblog this. Because this is the take for me. I love this with every fibre of my being. "The power of a name that you choose, the weight of the ones that you don't." Ooft.
I have some tiny, insignificant little things to add and I don't think I can let them live in my tags because they will be too much.
(Hoping not to doxx myself here) I have a big name. At least a big name for the area I'm from. In its country of origin, my name would be pretty usual, I think. (It's a family name. My great-grandmother emigrated when she married a Welshman after he was stationed abroad in WWI.) But in a small Welsh town, my name raised eyebrows. (It doesn't sound great in a Welsh accent either, it must be said.) It was infamous. I used to feel like it walked into a room before I did. And when I got there, I was a tragic surprise.
I hated it. For a little while, when teenagers laughed at me and called it after me in hallways because I can only assume they were not very comfortable with wit and this was the best they had, I hated my very identity. I hated everything that made me "other". I hated the mother who gave it to me.
My mother, who had a perfectly usual name and therefore I felt would never understand my torment, could probably not be "Andromeda" in this context, but oh lord was I her Nymphadora.
See, my name is a feminine variant of a very masculine one. There is no shortening of it without making me sound like a middle-aged man. Or a Victorian child last seen up a chimney. So while I went by (and indeed, in some circles still go by) one of those boyish nicknames, my mother insisted on using my name in its entirety. And at the time, this really pissed me off. I guess I see now that she wanted to feminise it. She wanted me to feel pretty when I felt anything but because that was what she knew. She had selected her beloved (and beautiful and exotic) grandmother's name and she could not understand why I didn't love it too and wanted to be called the equivalent of Dave.
(I grew to love my name when I grew into it. But I really did have to grow into it. It's not a name for a child; one cannot imagine leaning over a cot and saying, "Look at wee ___ ".)
And I'm telling you all this rather personal information because I went from being 100% Team Tonks to coming round to Andromeda's side of this one. Or at least, an understanding of what is in a name; why the child hates it and the helpless, confused parent only wants them to understand why it has been chosen.
What is in the weight of the name Andromeda has chosen? I think it's the "dora". Yes, Tonks is born with a gift but she is born as a gift too. Her very existence is its own little miracle. She's born to Ted and Andromeda in the middle of a war that Andromeda is personally caught in the middle of. Targeted by. In the same way we see Tonks herself later mocked and scorned by Bellatrix, Andromeda would have faced the same fears and threat.
And Tonks cannot hide. As a child, she is going to be immediately identifiable, likely by an inability to control her innate gift. Based on how quickly we see Tonks' child display metamorphmagus abilities, I think we can assume Ted and Andromeda would have experienced a similar timeline with their baby. I cannot even begin to imagine the horror of loving and protecting and planning for a baby only to find that not only have I not been able to have the safe pregnancy of other people, but this child is going to have to live in complete secrecy until they can be taught exacting control.
What a terrible thing to have to teach a child. You must hide. You must swallow your pain and your joy lest they be reflected in your face or your hair. You must understand that we love you, but out there, you are loathed.
And teach it they must. Tonks is eight when Voldemort is (temporarily) defeated. She's aware.
(Separate essay, but why can't Tonks sit at home with her child when her husband goes off to die in battle? I really believe it's that exact mentality. What if we lose? What if I could have swung it? What must I pay for your childhood? What if I can kill Bellatrix?)
And as she grows up, she is going to come to understand that she represents danger for her parents. Because when she is born (and crucially, for my point, named) Andromeda and Ted can have no idea that the end is in sight.
This gift is its own curse, but in naming her Nymphadora, Tonks can literally never escape the fact that, for Andromeda, who has risked everything for this love, she herself is a gift.
And a gift of the nymphs too; a deep association with the earth, the woods, the springs. Her child, that her own sisters will refer to as unnatural.
As for the Black family tradition, personally, I absolutely fuck with Vulpecula. That's two fingers way, way up. You might wish she wasn't, girls, but she's one of you.
And my favourite, favourite, favourite thing about the ensuing relationship between Andromeda and Tonks is that this name of enormous importance sits between them. This ethereal name for an elfin girl that quirky, clumsy Tonks can simply never live up to.
And then there's "Tonks"; the glottal surname that Andromeda chose to take and had to hide from and "Tonks" the name her daughter could choose to take and find her own identity within.
Andromeda who, based on all the above theory, has to have chosen her name, cannot understand why this graceful, flowing first name cannot be treasured. And Tonks cannot see that it has not been chosen for her to morph into.
I'm really not sure either would ever come to see the other's point of view and as someone with a similar experience, this gets me right in the chest.
I kind of love the interpretation that Regulus didn’t leave the Death Eaters because he had a sudden moral awakening. He left because Voldemort offended the dignity of the House of Black by mistreating Kreacher.
It fits perfectly with my belief that the Black family, including the non-evil ones, are fundamentally a bunch of petty bitches. Regulus dying over a point of pure aristocratic offence is honestly very on brand 😂
How many DEs were there at the height of Voldemort's power in the first war?
With some help of @tedwardremus and @siriuslychessi, I've been geeking out again.
In short, I think there were about 50-100 dark mark bearing Death Eaters at the height of the war. So let's get into it:
Those we know escaped punishment: c30 DEs
…and what use would it be to deprive Voldemort of his wand, even if he could, when he was surrounded by Death Eaters, outnumbering at least thirty to one?
In the graveyard in GOF, there were about 30 DEs (if we take Harry’s 30 to 1 statement literally). Of those, we know the following seven were present: Lucius Malfoy, Walden Macnair, Avery, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, and Peter Pettigrew.
Additionally, in ‘Spinner’s End’ (HBP) we learn from Snape that he was among the many Death Eaters who did not go to Azkaban for their crimes. The three(/four) examples given were: Lucius Malfoy, the Carrows, and Yaxley. Apart from Lucius, that adds three more Death Eaters that, since they weren’t in Azkaban, would likely have Apparated to Voldemort's side in the graveyard; the Carrow siblings, Alecto and Amycus, and Corban Yaxley.
Those we know got killed: c 3 DEs
“Rosier and Wilkes — they were both killed by Aurors the year before Voldemort fell.”
“[Evan] Rosier is dead,” said Crouch. “He was caught shortly after you were too. He preferred to fight rather than come quietly and was killed in the struggle.”
Evan Rosier is a separate Rosier from "Rosier and Wilkes" because Evan Rosier was killed after the McKinnon's and the Prewetts were murdered.
Those we know got imprisoned and escaped Azkaban in OOTP: 10
…she spread the newspaper on the table in front of them and pointed at ten black-and-white photographs that filled the whole of the front page, nine showing wizards’ faces and the tenth, a witch’s.
Of those, seven are referenced/seen in ‘The Pensieve’ (GOF) being sent to Azkaban: Antonin Dolohov, Augustus Rookwood, Mulciber, and Travers; as well as the three Lestranges, Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan.
Defectors: 3
Igor Karkaroff—was a Death Eater during the first war, but chose to make a deal with the ministry and ran for it when Voldemort returned.
Severus Snape—was a Death Eater during the first war, turned spy for Dumbledore
Regulus Black—was a Death Eater during the first war, died trying to destroy a horcrux
Death Eaters we don’t know the origin of
We also know the name of some Death Eaters that either might have gone to Azkaban, or might have been present at the re-birth of Voldemort or might have joined in the second war.
If the four were part of the first wizarding war, they would have either been in the graveyard or they would have been imprisoned, and therefore does nothing to the total count of Death Eaters we know operated during the first war. I've merely added them for completeness:
Jugson—Jugson was definitely either at the rebirth or in Azkaban because he’s mentioned in passing when Lucius yells out every Death Eater’s name when chasing Harry and the group in the DOM. At this point, Voldemort is operating in secret, and there’s no way he will have recruited new DEs yet.
Gibon—Remus recognises him during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, which some take to believe means he was likely on a wanted poster of the Azkaban escapees more than a year previous, and I am inclined to agree this is probable. In any case, I suspect he must have been part of the first wizarding war for Remus to recognise him so easily (unless Remus ran into him at school or something).
Throfinn Rowle—”That’s Dolohov. I recognize him from the old wanted posters. I think the big one’s Thorfinn Rowle.” (Ron, DH) The fact that Ron recognises Dolohov from the wanted poster, and not Rowle, suggests he wasn’t amongst the ten escapees, but I’ve heard the counter argument that there’s no other way for Ron to have recognised Rowle but the wanted posters.
Selwyn—”Behind him came another scream, ‘Your wand, Selwyn, give me your wand!’” (Battle of the seven potters, DH) We know Selwyn was an active DE in the second war even before the Ministry fell, but we have no idea if he was part of the first wizarding war.
Total bottom-up count:
We know there are at least 40 Death Eaters in the second war, who were active during the first war, plus 3 defected (Karkaroff, Snape, Regulus) plus 3 Death Eaters that got killed (Rosier, Rosier and Wilkes).
There is also the case of the potentially missing Mulciber. We know there’s at least one Mulciber active during the second war, but there were two in the first war—Muliciber Snape’s friend and Mulciber Sr who went to the Hogs Head with a group of Death Eaters back when Voldemort cursed the DADA position.
“Then if I were to stop in the Hog’s Head this evening, I wouldn’t find Nott, Rosier, Mulciber and Dolohov waiting for your return?”
It’s possible one of the Mulcibers got killed or arrested (if so I’d bet on it being before Karkaroff’s trial, as Crouch never asks him to specify which Mulciber), and subsequently died in prison.
In any case, we’re looking at about 46-47 Death Eaters.
Total top-down count:
However, we also have this number from Remus:
“... you weren’t in the Order then, you don’t understand, last time we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one...”
Which begs the question: How many members were there in the Order of the Phoenix?
In the Order Photograph: 20
Alastor Moody; Dedalus Diggle; Marlene McKinnon, Frank and Alice Longbottom; Emmeline Vance; Remus Lupin; Benjy Fenwick; Edgar Bones; Sturgis Podmore; Caradoc Dearborn; Rubeus Hagrid; Elphias Doge; Gideon Prewett; Aberforth Dumbledore; Dorcas Meadows; Lily and James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black
The old crowd: +2
“You are to alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher — the old crowd. Lie low at Lupins for a while; I will contact you there.”
In addition to the Order photo, we know Figg and Fletcher were part of the Order
Others: +2
And let us not forget Albus Dumbledore. Plus, I think we all assume Fabian Prewett was part of the Order, but just not available for the picture.
Meaning there are about 24 Order members in the original order.
If we take Remus’ statement literally there should be c480 Death Eaters. Given about 30 escape punishment, and 10 survives Azkaban long enough to escape it in OOTP, that would mean 440 Death Eaters got caught and either killed or died in Azkaban. The maths isn’t mathing. But it doesn’t have to.
Now, given Death Eaters are often described as Voldemort’s inner circle:
“And when You-Know-Who disappeared,” said Fred, craning around to look at Harry, “Lucius Malfoy came back saying he’d never meant any of it. Load of dung — Dad reckons he was right in You-Know- Who’s inner circle.”
“Malfoy’s dad must have told him,” said Harry, ignoring Ron. “He was right in Voldemort’s inner circle — ”
Harry thought he knew why Greyback was not calling Voldemort. The werewolf might be allowed to wear Death Eater robes when they wanted to use him, but only Voldemort’s inner circle were branded with the Dark Mark: Greyback had not been granted this highest honor.
I don’t think we can assume Remus is being entirely literal when he says they were outnumbered 20-1 with Death Eaters. It’s more likely he is referring to the broader group of Voldemort’s supporters: Werewolves, giants, snatchers and those allowed to wear Death Eater robes (like Fenrir) without bearing the mark. That does probably amount to about 500, given:
By the time the four friends [Remus, Peter, Sirius and James] left school, Lord Voldemort’s ascendancy was almost complete. True resistance to him was concentrated in the underground organisation called the Order of the Phoenix, which all four young men joined.
If we can't take Remus' number literally, we're going to have to rely on logic. My guess is that we’re looking at about 50-100 Dark Mark bearing/inner circle Death Eaters.
At 100, then 70 got caught, 60 got killed or died in Azkaban, 10 escaped and 30 evaded punishment to begin with. But you can see why it was such a headache for the Ministry! There might have been upwards of 500 wizards, witches and magic beings who operated under Lord Voldemort’s command, and about 50-100 who were part of an elite inner circle. That’s not nothing to try to take down in the aftermath, especially with stuff like the imperius curse.
i talk a lot about how my favorite missing moment in the hp series is the one referenced when harry mentions umbridge and sirius says “you should hear remus talk about her” but like, here is the reason for that.
remus spends the whole series speaking so cautiously, hesitating before he talks, choosing his words so carefully; something i think about a lot is the rarity with which he uses contractions in his speech, i.e. its always “he will” instead of he’ll,” etc. what that says to me is that he speaks slowly, he thinks before he talks, he is measured and careful in his speech. everything he says out loud he has already gone through in his head.
and there’s a reason for that, yeah? he does this on purpose, he does it because he has to maintain this exacted control or else people are going to be afraid. if he loses it, it is going to scare people. anger from remus – a raised voice, an aggressive movement, anything – is going to be perceived as corroboration of every stereotype and prejudice that he encourages people to resist with his constructed performance as a Good Werewolf. he can’t afford to trust that he can drop that emotional wall, because the reality of it is, maybe he can’t. maybe he drops it and people say “here it is, here is the proof that he is a monster, and now we must do what has to be done to monsters.” and so through the entire series, remus is characterized largely by his restraint: what he does not say, what he does not show, what he does not let himself feel.
twice harry (and the reader) sees remus lose control: when dumbledore dies (triggered by grief) and during their fight in grimmauld during deathly hallows (triggered by shame, fear, anger, self-loathing – a lot of things). extreme situations and emotions are the only things that shake him, right, thats when he breaks, that’s when he drops that shield: when he himself is so broken that he does not have the strength to keep it up any longer.
but here is the point in the long-winded rant where i wrap myself back around to the point:
whensirius says ‘you should hear remus talk about her,” there is (to me, anyway) a clear implication that when remus talks about umbridge, he’s pissed. he’s angry. he gives himself permission to be angry around sirius and that is important to me because it means that he trusts sirius. he trusts that sirius knows who he is, and he trusts that around sirius he does not have to maintain this constant charade of being a Good Werewolf. he can be angry, and sirius will think no less of him.
there is trust there, and that’s important to me, to know that remus does trust sirius again. it’s not a shipping thing or whatever, it’s just, the fact of the matter is that remus does not perform this self-protective act around sirius. that means there is one person who remus trusts himself with, and he needs that, and he deserves that. and i’m glad that it was sirius, for a very short period of time. i’m glad that they had one another back again, that they both had somebody who understood them fully again.
and that’s my piece about it, y’know, i don’t expect everyone to care that much about this one-off line, but for me it’s important. take it or leave it ya feel me?
Again, the other time we see Remus even remotely angry is the Shack, and for a man ready to commit murder he’s still pretty damn put together. Just saying.
all of this!! that “you should hear remus talk about her” moment is, to me, definitive proof that remus and sirius are pretty damn comfortable with each other behind the scenes in ootp.
this is why i can’t get behind “remus and sirius aren’t close actually” - that’s an assumption you can make about them as teenagers from what we see in swm, sure, but their adult interactions do paint a different picture.
hard agree around remus’s usual considered speech patterns and restraint being about feeling pressure to perform the Good Werewolf - i’m always struck by this in the dh confrontation in grimmauld place:
Lupin sprang to his feet: His chair toppled over backward, and he glared at them so fiercely that Harry saw, for the first time ever, the shadow of the wolf upon his human face.
like… when remus’s unrestrained anger comes out (at the [correct] suggestion he’s being a coward), this is what harry thinks!! harry doesn’t even have the ingrained werewolf prejudice of wider wizarding society, but that’s still the association he makes upon witnessing remus’s anger. remus really can’t express his emotions fully without running the risk of enforcing societal prejudice, and that informs so much of how he interacts with the world.
the fact that he’s willing to express anger about umbridge around sirius speaks volumes about the level of trust that exists in that relationship.
So, I like making floor plans, so, I decided to go back to the books to find all the information I could regarding the layout of 12 Grimmauld Place. The following post is all the collected quotes divided into floors and rooms and notes about some additional rooms that are likely part of the layout due to it being a 19th-century townhouse in London. I also added a quick sketch of the floor plan, it's very basic, but it gets the point across, I think.
This is something I made for my own fic purposes, but anyone writing HP fics might find it useful too.
Basement
This is the floor we know the least about. See, the upper floors of townhouses were usually smaller, while the basement sprawled way more since it needed to include various rooms for all the servants, a pantry, a scullery, a still room, a kitchen, a cellar, a coal room to power the gas lights and more.
1. Kitchen
Harry, who had expected a better welcome, noted how hard and bitter Sirius’s voice sounded. He followed his godfather to the bottom of the stairs and through a door leading into the basement kitchen. (OotP)
I assume next to the staircase there is a door leading to the basement stairs and that the Impervious Charm was cast on it for this to make sense:
“Tonks told me how to find out,” said Ginny. “You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can’t make contact the door’s been Imperturbed. I’ve been flicking Dungbombs at it from the top of the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there’s no way the Extendable Ears will be able to get under the gap.” (OotP)
2. A pantry exists and connects with a door to the kitchen:
Mrs. Weasley was the only person in the basement when they arrived there. She was standing at the stove and sounded as though she had a bad head cold when she wished them Merry Christmas, and they all averted their eyes.
“So, this is Kreacher’s bedroom?” said Ron, strolling over to a dingy door in the corner opposite the pantry which Harry had never seen open. (OotP)
3. Opposite the pantry there is Kreacher's "room":
Harry peered inside. Most of the cupboard was taken up with a very large and old-fashioned boiler, but in the foot’s space underneath the pipes Kreacher had made himself something that looked like a nest. A jumble of assorted rags and smelly old blankets were piled on the floor and the small dent in the middle of it showed where Kreacher curled up to sleep every night. (OotP)
I assume the "old-fashioned boiler" is a copper boiler/wash copper (used for washing clothes at home before the washing machine) and that this is the scullery. The scullery was often attached to the kitchen or close to it and used to wash dishes and/or launder clothes, hence why the washing boiler is there.
4. Coal Cellar / Coal Vault
Since Harry mentions gas laps:
He heard a soft hissing noise and then old-fashioned gas lamps sputtered into life all along the walls (OotP)
These gaslamps would need to be poured by combustion, in the UK, the type of gas most often used was coal gas, which was still used in the UK into the 1970s. Many Victorian houses in London had a vault/cellar for storing coal in the basement to power these gas lights.
The basement is likely larger and probably includes a:
5. Wine Cellar
6. A still room (Was used to make household concoctions, from distilling alcohol, making candles, smoking foods, making medicine to literally anything else you need in your home. It's possible in a wizard house this room is basically a small Potion's lab).
7. Larder(s) (cold rooms to store perishables like meat or milk but also pastries and bread by the 18th century).
Potentially any other number of store rooms.
Ground Floor
1. Narrow entrance crridor:
He heard a soft hissing noise and then old-fashioned gas lamps sputtered into life all along the walls, casting a flickering insubstantial light over the peeling wallpaper and threadbare carpet of a long, gloomy hallway, where a cobwebby chandelier glimmered overhead and age-blackened portraits hung crooked on the walls. (Ootp)
2. Staircase Hallway (large opening above that the kids look through)
The three of them looked cautiously over the banisters. The gloomy hallway below was packed with witches and wizards, including all of Harry’s guard. They were whispering excitedly together. (OotP)
The staircase is at the end of the entrance corridor:
Pressing her finger to her lips, she led him on tiptoes past a pair of long, moth-eaten curtains, behind which Harry supposed there must be another door, and after skirting a large umbrella stand that looked as though it had been made from a severed troll’s leg, they started up the dark staircase, passing a row of shrunken heads mounted on plaques on the wall. A closer look showed Harry that the heads belonged to house-elves. All of them had the same rather snoutlike nose. (OotP)
The entrance to the kitchen (and basement as a whole. Likely it's just the door to the servants' staircase) is across the staircase hall:
“We’re eating down in the kitchen,” Mrs. Weasley whispered, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs. “Harry, dear, if youll just tiptoe across the hall, it’s through this door here — ” (OotP)
And visible from the Entrance Hall:
There were hurried footsteps and Ron’s mother, Mrs. Weasley, emerged from a door at the far end of the hall. She was beaming in welcome as she hurried toward them, though Harry noticed that she was rather thinner and paler than she had been last time he had seen her. (OotP)
3. Dining Room
They moved from the drawing room to a dining room on the ground floor where they found spiders large as saucers lurking in the dresser (Ron left the room hurriedly to make a cup of tea and did not return for an hour and a half). The china, which bore the Black crest and motto, was all thrown unceremoniously into a sack by Sirius, and the same fate met a set of old photographs in tarnished silver frames, all of whose occupants squealed shrilly as the glass covering them smashed. (OotP)
4. Possibly a parlor.
A drawing room is basically the family living room (although it could be used for hosting larger company), but it tends to be less grand than the parlor. The parlor would be a sitting room, usually on the ground floor that is meant to show off to guests. It's usually grander and more polished. And you know, the Blacks would have an ornate sitting room to show off to guests.
5. Maybe a library, but a library could also be on the first floor or even in the basement if they wanted a particularly large one.
First Floor
1. Drawing Room (essentially the living room)
Harry and Ron, who had dressed and breakfasted quickly, entered the drawing room, a long, high-ceilinged room on the first floor with olive- green walls covered in dirty tapestries. (OotP)
2. Bathroom
Harry hurried up the stairs to the hall and then to the first landing, where he dashed into the bathroom and bolted the door again. Grunting with pain, he slumped over the black basin with its taps in the form of open-mouthed serpents and closed his eyes. . . .
(DH)
Depending on when this bathroom was installed, it's very possible it's a larger room (the size of a bedroom) and not a small bathroom as that's what they did in the 19th-century when indoor plumbing was first introduced — transformed less used rooms into water closets.
As Harry, Ron, and Hermione all comfortably stand inside, it is a larger bathroom for sure (I'm just, not sure how large):
He had shouted out, he knew it. He got up and unbolted the door; Hermione toppled inside at once, regained her balance, and looked around suspiciously. Ron was right behind her, looking unnerved as he pointed his wand into the corners of the chilly bathroom. (DH)
3. The bedroom shared by Hermione and Ginny:
“Asleep, yeah, right,” said Fred in an undertone, after Hermione bade them good night and they were climbing to the next floor. “If Ginny’s not lying awake waiting for Hermione to tell her everything they said downstairs, then I’m a flobberworm...” (OotP)
4. Probably an office/library.
Second Floor
This floor likely has multiple smaller bedrooms. My guess is 4 (2 at the front of the house, 2 at the back):
1. Harry and Ron's bedroom. It could be on the first floor from text alone, I placed it on the second floor to: a) limit the number of bedrooms so they'll have a reason to share in the first place. b) due to how Harry describes the drawing room as being on the first floor, it gives the vibe the room he stays in is on a different floor.
He led the way out of the door and onto the landing, but before they could descend the stairs — “Hold it!” Ron breathed, flinging out an arm to stop Harry and Hermione walking any farther. “They’re still in the hall, we might be able to hear something — ” (OotP)
The following bedrooms are likely on this floor, one of them might be on the third floor though:
2. Bedroom used by Arthur & Molly.
3. Bedroom used by Remus.
4. Bedroom used by Bill.
Third Floor
There are likely 3 bedrooms on this floor.
1. The large master bedroom on one end of the house:
said Sirius, who had just entered the room carrying a bloodstained bag of what appeared to be dead rats. “I’ve just been feeding Buckbeak,” he added, in reply to Harry’s inquiring look. “I keep him upstairs in my mother’s bedroom. Anyway ... this writing desk ...” (OotP)
2. The bedroom Fred and George slept in, as it's mentioned to be upstairs from Harry & Ron's room:
“It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs,” said Ron. (OotP)
And when Harry looks down the banister at the Order, he looks up to see Fred and George on the landing above the one he and Ron are on:
A thin piece of flesh-colored string descended in front of Harry’s eyes. Looking up he saw Fred and George on the landing above, cautiously lowering the Extendable Ear toward the dark knot of people below. A moment later, however, they began to move toward the front door and out of sight. (OotP)
This also means there is a large opening around the stairs up to the third floor (and perhaps above).
3. Another bedroom for other Order members to crash / one of the bedrooms I placed on the first floor is actually here and the spare bedroom is on the first floor (or it's a bathroom). As Hermione says they cleaned most of the bedrooms:
“We have,” said Hermione quickly. “We’ve been decontaminating this house, it’s been empty for ages and stuff’s been breeding in here. We’ve managed to clean out the kitchen, most of the bedrooms, and I think we’re doing the drawing room tomo — AARGH!” (OotP)
It's possible this is one of the bedrooms they haven't cleared out yet (along with Sirius and Regulus' rooms upstairs).
Fourth Floor
This floor only has two bedrooms across from each other:
1. Sirius' bedroom
Harry continued up the stairs until he reached the topmost landing, where there were only two doors. The one facing him bore a nameplate reading SIRIUS. (DH)
2. Regulus' bedroom
He agreed, but grudgingly, and followed her out onto the landing and past the second door that led off it. There were deep scratch marks in the paintwork below a small sign that he had not noticed in the dark. (DH)
They moved over the threshold together, gazing around. Regulus’s bedroom was slightly smaller than Sirius’s, though it had the same sense of former grandeur. (DH)
It's possible this fourth floor has more rooms. This floor was often used for the nursery and the maid/nurse who took care of the children there. In a wizard house, there will be no need for a maid room, though, so it's possible Regulus' room was originally meant to be a maid room.
Floor Plan
I made a quick sketch of more or less what Grimmauld Place's floor plan would look like. More or less, this isn't perfect (Maybe I could make it in the sims, or make a better plan and edit/reblog it here later).
Some notes:
Usually, the basement would have rooms for the servants. As wizards don't really give their house-elves rooms, I just added a large library underground.
I added a library/office on the first floor since it's kinda functioning as both. It's an office with bookcases basically in my headcanon, but it can be whatever you want it to be.
The rectangular "area" that exists on all floors right above the main staircase is an open area where daylight can enter and allow windows for light in interior rooms that weren't on either end of the house. And ventilation for the larders.
I also included a small garden and the attached stables and coach house, which I assume isn't used as a stables/coach house. I put a greenhouse there that is in a unusable state by OotP, but it could really be anything.
I have no idea what they did with the loft above the coach house/stables if they had one, hence why I left it empty.
The bedrooms for the adults (Remus, Arthur & Molly, and Bill) can shift between their locations and also one of them could be the spare bedroom on the third floor. I change who's where often enough, this sketch is just to get the idea of how much space I'm working with.
Harry mentioned hearing footsteps of the Order coming upstairs after their meeting, so I put his and Ron's room next to the stairs.
Regulus is room can be passed by on the way to the stairs from Sirius' room, so I tried to get that to work.
No but like. Where did Harry's scar come from? Because it didn't come from the Killing Curse. 1) The Avada Kedavra curse doesn't leave a mark and 2) Harry wasn't ever struck by the Avada Kedavra curse in Godric's Hollow; Voldemort was. Whatever Lily did that night caused the spell to rebound and kill Voldemort (though not permanently bc of the Horcruxes) instead of Harry.
So where did the scar come from? One option is that it is the mark left by the shattered bit of Voldemort's soul entering Harry's body. But like, why in that spot particularly? Another option is that it's connected to whatever powerful protection magic Lily invoked to save Harry. I personally subscribe to the theory that whatever she did involved some pretty scary and powerful dark blood magic, with herself - and possibly James and Voldemort as well - as blood sacrifices.
We know in the Harry Potter universe that runes are associated with ancient and powerful magic. For example the Pensieve has runes carved around the base. In book 5 a particular rune - Eihwaz - gets mentioned and Hermione says it means "defense." Now Eihwaz is a real rune in the Futhark alphabet and guess what it looks like:
...Yeah.
I think Lily was willing to go beyond the normal bounds of magic in terms of what she was willing to sacrifice. I think she cast a spell and I think her death sealed it and then Voldemort's killing curse activated it - a spell of protection so deadly and powerful that it deflected a killing curse, ripped Voldemort apart on a metaphysical level to the point his very soul shattered, and carved an indelible and visible mark of protection in Harry's skin where the killing curse should have struck him.
It's also notable that Tom Riddle resurrected himself with 3 blood sacrifices, so I kind of like the parallel of Harry also having 3 sacrifices (not just of blood but of life) protecting him - his father, his mother, and his enemy.
Also. In addition to the fact that canonically in the HP universe it is specifically mentioned that Eihwaz means "defense" it can also IRL be associated in some traditions with meanings having to do with protection as well as the barrier between life and death (and with yew trees).
AND it's literally a lightning bolt. Here's another image of it below. It's literally his scar. LOOK AT IT:
And we KNOW that runes have power in the HP universe. Sorry but whatever JKR says Lily Evans absolutely got one of the highest scores ever on her Ancient Runes NEWT and if Harry had ever taken the class Professor Babbling would've lost it.
Also, let's take a moment to think about the similarities between the sacrifices at Voldemort's resurrection ritual and the deaths at Godric's Hollow. In both cases the sacrifices probably fed powerful blood magic enchantments and in both cases there are three offerings made. One unknowing sacrifice (Tom Riddle Senior's bones & Jame's life), one unwilling sacrifice (blood of the enemy from Harry & and life of the enemy from Voldemort, and one willing sacrifice (flesh of the servant from Peter and life of the mother from Lily). The similarities are really quite striking.
We know that powerful dark magic seems to look a lot more like traditional medieval conceptions of witchcraft (involving sacrifices or killing of some sort). And it stands to reason that very powerful spells can't just be used all the time and that it's more than skill and power that are gating factors (although that is required too). I also think the particular emotional state plays a role - so Lily's feelings when sacrificing herself impacted things as well; this isn't just a recipe that can be replicated in a lab.
Tom knows a lot about blood magic and seems to have figured out what Lily did, at least to some extent, because he comes up with a partial solution that involves a blood magic ritual. He obviously believes in the power of what she did because he goes to significant lengths to mitigate its effects, but still says he has seen no evidence of the power of love. This could be because as a blood magic practitioner and expert he recognizes blood magic when he sees it. (Of course, Lily going to such lengths and giving her life for Harry is still very much an act of love, just in a more roundabout way.)
How has it taken me THIS LONG to get on tumblr - where I can find a corner of the internet where people don't think I am weirdo for my controversial HP opinions, such as:
The Marauders in the book were pretty cool! I am all for some other takes and stuff, but honestly, there's nothing I enjoy more than a story that has canon-compliant characterisations.
Sirius and James were best friends, brothers, inseparable - and everything else my imagination is free to add on top of the canon.
The obvious m/m marauder ship has to be James and Sirius, surely!?!?! Jegulus proves this, doesn't it? That's just Prongsfoot except it misses the beauty of the best friends to lovers storyline I am here for!
Remus is the kindest bundle in the world and I LOVE HIM, but this boy/man DID NOT stand up to his friends because he had too much to lose from a fall out - and that's a really sad story I wish was explored more often.
I LOVE Sirius to bits, but the idea that James and Remus needed Sirius to be friends pisses me off. There's nothing to suggest Remus were closer to Sirius than James when they were young.
As many future posts will suggest, this list is by no means exhaustive and these topics will come up again and again!
