Call me Kalkaros

Obviously, not my real name. i'd rather not put that online. The profile picture is Paapa Kwaakye Essiedu, one of my favourite actors. Go atch Royal Shakespeare Company: Hamlet which was published in 2016. It's great!

[ghostbatt]

happy world goth day 🖤🦇

[gayleafpool]

wanted to do my version of nico’s unsettling smile + i think hazel should also do it. strange children

[eileenkalkaros]

Death Siblings staring! ☠️🖤💎

[bazes]

this artist does not condone the feeding of wild birds

[eileenkalkaros]

Death Siblings sitting on a bench. ☠️🖤💎

[eileenkalkaros]

Siblings (both ones who are blood-related and ones who share no blood) who platonically love each other so much that they do great things (such as saving lives) because that's what the other would want is wonderful! ✨

[eileenkalkaros]

Severus & Lily's sisterhood was imperfect, but their platonic love for each other saved the world.

[ladyfluff]

Lily: I love you so much Sev!

Severus: *Gasp*

Lily: You’re like the brother I never had!

Severus: *Gross Sobbing*

[pro-lily-pro-snape-anti-snily-d]

That is beautiful. Snape is crying in happiness

[saxophonechihuahua]

feeling like part of a family ❤️

[eileenkalkaros]

I grossly sob too every time my parents or siblings or platonic best friends or anyone else in my family tells me that they love me. It happens rarely, since everyone I know tend to show it more than say it. But saying it is important too, so those rare moments are such gems that I get overwhelmed by joy. I bet Severus is the same way.

[severusdefender]

Eileen: Is there a particular reason that the bathtub is on fire?

Severus and Lily at the same time: Potions!

Eileen: … fair enough.

[sneverussape]

random hc: harry sets up a trust in lily’s name that would benefit wizarding children who would need a safe space in case they are growing up in less-than-ideal circumstances. the trust is funded by royalties and proceeds from the sales of Advanced Potions Making, revised edition by Severus Snape, which is now a required textbook for hogwarts students. (in the early years after the war, harry and hermione had painstakingly gone through all his notes and had written down all the details he remembered reading in the book, then tested all the methods, including the spells, to make sure they all worked. neither of them requested credit in the end)

[eileenkalkaros]

I love this!

[severusdefender]

Given that Snape is canonically good at a wide range of magic, including difficult branches like Occlumency to the point he's a better Occlumens than Voldemort is a Legilimens, and subtle branches like Potions (which even ordinarily bright students like Hermione struggled with because following the recipe strictly doesn't always give the best results), I think it's safe to say he's among the better wizards (if not the best) of his age

He really is. He’s great at combat magic, dark magic and invented his own spells. His own potential was derailed by the Prophecy, yet another sacrifice he was making to protect and then avenge Lily. While the position of Professor (and later Headmaster) of Hogwarts is prestigious (with the exception of DADA and Divination), he never really got to apply his genius the way he should have. No spells were patented, no books on improved potions were published, no paper on the dark arts were put in journals. I bet by the end of the war, people think his greatness went as far as his spying and it’s pretty disheartening.

[eileenkalkaros]

Agreed.

[evilbeanghost]

About Lily and Potions

I have a question for you’ll: I always read Slughorn praising Lily’s ability in the art of potions in book 6 as a hidden clue about her friendship with Severus. For me it has always been there for us to remember it later on and go “oh.”

Apparently there are some people who are thinking that Lily was better at Potions than Severus because of Slughorn?

What are your thoughts on this?

[littl-prince]

I agree with @hbprincealice​ in the notes of this post, and I do want to briefly touch on why Slughorn spends more time in the book praising Lily than Severus, even if Severus was a better student.

I think one of the clues to the reason why can be found in the first potions class with Slughorn, where he asks Hermione her name, and then immediately asks her if she’s connected to “Hector Dagworth-Granger”. We all know that Slughorn likes to have connections with famous people, and in this example in particular I think it’s made obvious that he cares a lot about bloodlines. That he believes that Hermione’s interest and knowledge in Potions probably means that she’s connected to a prominent potioneer.

The main reason people think Lily was better than Severus at potions is (first, let’s face it, because some of them would like any reason to discredit Severus, but) because Slughorn mentions Lily a lot more. If I remember correctly, he only mentions Severus’s skill in the subject once, at the Slug Club party.

Since the POV character is Harry, we see Slughorn talk about Harry’s mother’s skill in potions a lot, and I don’t think that’s very surprising given his tendency to regard magical skills as something that you inherit. (Hence why he’s so surprised at Hermione being as skilled as she is.) So I think the reason he talks about Lily so much when he praises Harry is because he thinks Harry “inherited” his “skill” in potions from his mother, because he thinks Lily, Harry’s mother, is more relevant to Harry’s skills than Severus, the person who taught him for five years. And that does tell us a lot about Slughorn as well.

Also, under Slughorn’s tutelage, there’s no way Lily could become a “dab hand at Potions” if she’d just followed the Hermione way of studying. So I also agree that Severus probably helped her a lot, shared his improvements, and perhaps even shared how he got to his improved conclusions, which gives Lily the opportunity to try her own spin on things based on what she learned from Severus.

[evilbeanghost]

Thank you @littl-prince for your thoughts!

Your post made me think even more and I totally see now that talking about Lily’s skills when assessing Harry’s own is clearly the logical thing for Slughorn to do. I will even cut him some slack because I feel like connecting an orphan skill to his dead mother can be a nice thing to do, it’s giving Harry a legacy somehow. (Of course, it’s moot here since Harry is just cheating… somewhat emulating more his father than his mother, but that’s not relevant here).

I dug up my old copy of HBP in order to see exactly what Slughorn had to say about Snape’s abilities at Potions and it is cementing my first take that Severus was indeed the exceptional student while Lily was “just” very good.

This is from the chapter “The Unbreakable Vow” in HBP, the scene during the Slug Club where Slughorn is praising Harry’s skills to Trelawney just before Snape appears:

‘But I don’t think I’ve ever known such a natural at Potions!’ said Slughorn, regarding Harry with a fond, if bloodshot, eye. ‘Instinctive, you know — like his mother! I’ve only ever taught a few with this kind of ability, I can tell you that , Sybill — why, even Severus –’

That last bit clearly illustrate for me that for Slughorn, there were a handful of very good instinctive students – Like Lily –, and then Severus Snape above them. 

And a little bit further, while raving about Harry’s Draught of the Living Death to Snape himself:

‘You should have seen what he gave me, first lesson, the Draught of the Living Death – never had a student produce finer on a first attempt, I don’t think even you, Severus –’

Again, it sounds as if Severus Snape was, until Harry, the unchallenged best student Slughorn ever had.

It also illustrate how biased Slughorn is… because why would Harry be better than the one who provided him with the instructions that secured his success here… Harry just followed instructions but clearly Severus knew what he was doing even more, it doesn’t make sense for Harry to produce a better draught right?

My hypothesis is that despite Snape’s obvious genius, he wasn’t a palatable student for Slughorn little collection, not like Harry who is clearly the crown jewel… and this is clearly influencing Slughorn in his assessment here…

Anyway, if someone has something to add to this, I’m still very interested. 

[snapeaddict]

Just some thoughts.

This seems to be so representative of the Wizarding Society as a whole, in a way. It doesn’t seem to let much chance to people from a poor social background/unknown family; I don’t mean they already arrive in the school system with a disadvantage, which they do like in our societies, but really that their family name seem to have an extraordinary importance. The Slug Club being something considered as normal is one clue, James Potter and Sirius Black, both coming from rich and ancient families, favorited to such an extent, is to me another; Snape being bullied, a third one. If you have no name, you have to prove yourself to such extent it makes the competition unfair from the start, and in the end no one gives you a chance unless you have the beaming, fascinating personality of a Tom Riddle as well as his lack of empathy and psychopath tendacies, so useful to make yourself a place in any society.

It’s still interesting to notice that despite Lupin’s claims of James and Sirius being the best students at everything and originating from famous families, their weren’t part of the Slug Club and Slughorn never praised James as a student. Other elements that can remind us of everyone’s biased POV.

Also interesting, Severus Snape is never mentioned as a member of the Slug Club. Like you say, perhaps not worthy of Slughorn ’s collection? It still is interesting that Lily, who had no name and was a muggle born, still made it to the club. I think she was Slughorn’s show exception, the radiant and pretty and clever headgirl everyone described, and as she clearly granted a lot of importance to her image, she would have accepted his invitations as they weren’t usually exclusive to Slytherins (oh my, I was thinking about some similitudes between Slughorn and Lily…) And of course Slughorn would use her as a tool to win Harry’s estime or affection, as he certainly was the most famous student he would ever add to his collection. Certainly praising Snape in front of him would have had the opposite effect.

It’s incredible how Severus came into this world with all the disadvantages possible and it shines, again, through Slughorn’s words in those instances where his talent is put in second place again when it is in fact his talent that is praised through Harry; and perhaps, his pedagogical abilities (as a teenager) and his teaching (as Harry’s teacher).

That’s another interesting thought I had, how the Half-blood Prince seems to have pedagocial and teaching skills Snape, as a teacher and adult, lacks. Perhaps Snape had teaching potential after all, screwed by life, but also more easily expressed when teaching does not include human contact. I wish he had been given the opportunity to rewrite all potions manuels… Knowing his students mistake so he could anticipate a lot more.

The fact Slughorn holds Harry, who has no talent for potion, in higher estime than Snape who became a Potions Master at 21 and was his most talented student, is so telling of Snape’s life. He is the one hiding in the shadows behind Harry’s success. And, really, isn’t this something he must be used to, by and large?

[scverussnape]

I don’t remember where, but I’ve read a post once about how much Severus must’ve reminder Slughorn of Tom Riddle, at least in the beginning. Boy living in poverty and with a less than ideal upbringing, bright and curious and so interested in learning. It would immediately turn off any desire Slughorn might’ve had in cultivating any sort of relationship with him, not even factoring Severus’ bad personality (which in turn would just cement his views that he wasn’t someone to focus on anyways. There were better options, less dangerous, to cultivate, to push forward. It’s not like the Snape boy had good prospects anyway.) 

Lily was the polar opposite of whatever Severus represented. Outgoing, charming, pretty and well cared for, very talented and promising. Slughorn would’ve latched on that, the same way he took one look at Ginny in the train while she hexed someone and invited her to the Club (strong AND pretty, damn I hate Slughorn, he gives me the creeps).

 @thatawfulsnapeboy if that’s just the beginning of your fic just send me a virtual slap, my memory is shitty 95% of the time.

[evilbeanghost]

@scverussnape: you’re not so far from the beginning of my fic, except for the Tom Riddle thing. In my fic Slughorn can see the “that awful Snape boy” potential with Potions but is indeed put out by his personality and lack of prospect, as you said the fact that he’s not an attractive child at all is also playing a big part here… while Lily is smart sure, but also very charming and pretty as you put it, her future seems already bright.

About Tom Riddle… I tend to not really see the parallel — personality wise – with Severus as I imagine young Severus to be a very emotional child (the Marauders are calling him “Snivellus”, I can imagine there is a story behind the horrible name calling). Tom Riddle seemed much more calculating and master of his emotions, even as a child (the scene with Dumbledore before Hogwarts is already very chilling on that point…). We see Severus very prompt to anger and “easily” baited and humiliated. For me Tom Riddle was already more of a predator than prey like Severus and on top of the food chain despite his background, by cheer charisma alone, which set them apart as Severus seems very lacking in charisma and unpopular at school. 

But it’s an interesting discussion!

[urupotter]

Yeah, there are definitely a lot of differences between how people (and Slughorn, specifically), would view Snape and Tom Riddle. For one, Tom Riddle is handsome. So handsome that even Harry, who detests him, even more than he does Snape, can’t help but comment on it every time he sees him. He’s a lot more charismatic. Riddle is remarkable in that the mask he puts up is impenetrable until and unless one sees under it. The only person who ever sees through it as a student is Dumbledore, who met him before he put it on.

I think that what tends to be forgotten in discussion about Snape’s abilities in Potions is that comment by Slughorn where he puts him as the standard of excellence in the craft as all the more impressive. Considering how many students he taught. Slughorn taught Tom Riddle, who Dumbledore calls “the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen”. And Snape was better than him (at Potions, in general Tom curb stomps him). While I tend to get annoyed at people who dismiss Lily’s abilities, as I definitely think she was talented in her own right, the text does establish her as being a tier below Snape in regards to Potions.

And yes, Tom was definitely more dangerous as a teenager than… basically anyone really. At eleven years old the child already had control of his magic, and was using it to hurt people. Not just party tricks either, he knew some sort of rudimentary Legilimency (“tell me the truth!”) among other abilities. For example, if instead of Snape, James and Sirius had encountered Tom, and decided to bully him (I doubt they would, but in the spirit of science lets assume they would), then I doubt it would have ended well for them. I really really doubt it. Most probably, they would have ended up eaten by a werewolf in a tragic “accident”.

[eileenkalkaros]

I agree with all of this.

Also, Severus is not as ruthless as Voldemort. Voldemort is implied to have tortured Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop (I always imagine by ordering a shit ton of crabs to crawl all over them both in that cave) when he was 10 or 11 years old, and at 15 or 16 years old he murdered Myrtle Warren (with the basilisk, possibly by accident but it's still murder because of how Voldemort had been using the basilisk all school year to petrify muggleborns) then did it again at 16 or 17 years old to all three muggle Riddles.

In contrast, Severus thought that Sirius was a mass-murderer and a traitor who'd sold Lily and Harry (and James) out to Voldemort and Sirius had already broken into Hogwarts and nearly stabbed one of Severus' students with a knife and it's a fact that Sirius did break that same student's leg. Yet, despite all of that on top of Sirius having attempted to murder Severus himself and having abused him for 7 years and literally less than an hour before having injured Severus' head, Severus still put Sirius on a stretcher and took him into Hogwarts to be given a trial instead of leaving him to die. It honestly astounds me how merciful Severus was towards Sirius after everything Sirius had done. There was no revenge, just wanting the criminal (which Sirius was, on account of being an illegal Animagus who has attempted to murder someone and physically assaulted 2 children) to be arrested again. That's so much more mercy than I ever would have given Sirius if he had done to me even half of what he did to Severus and his students.

On top of that, Severus risked his position as spy once to save Remus manipulative-bully-who-chooses-himself-over-the-lives-of-his-students Lupin's life. Despite Remus having once been used as a weapon to attempt to murder him, despite Remus bullying him as a child and an adult, despite Remus having risked all of the 2's students' lives. Severus still saved Remus' life. That's mercy too.

If it had been Voldemort in Severus' position at any point, none of the Marauders would have lived a single day longer after whichever wrong they did to him.

[severusdefender]

Different take: the answer to "who was better at Potions, Snape or Lily?" is that their friendship was the reason for their passion for Potions. It's not a question of who was better, they were both excellent because Potions was the one time they could hang out together. They were partners, not rivals. It was probably a combination of Lily's creativity and Snape's methodical nature that led to all the breakthroughs in Snape's textbook.

i would honestly love for snape's case that he had someone he could collaborated with

[eileenkalkaros]

YES! I interpret Severus and Lily's canon friendship as a siblinghood, so them working together to get their homework done (even before Hogwarts, at muggle primary school) and innovating together is amazing to me. They improved on potions recipes together as Third, Fourth, and Fifth Years. And I bet Severus' spell inventions were the result of bouncing ideas back and forth with Lily, not Sev working completely alone banging head against a wall trying to think of a new angle when a theory turns out to not work. I actually have a headcanon that Lily's accidental magic inspired her and Sev as First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Years to work on inventing broomless flight and that is how both Voldemort (who learned it from Severus in 1980 shortly after Sev got the Mark for bringing Voldemort the prophecy, as Sev wanted to keep being useful to one of the few people who acknowledged and respected his skills) and Severus (who immediately after finding out who was getting targeted because of the prophecy sorely regretted both telling Voldemort about the prophecy in the first place and teaching Voldemort how to fly without a broom or any other item). It gives the flight skill this whole tragic story, you know?

[severusdefender]

Do you think Snape let Lily copy from his Potions book and homework? Slughorn praised Lily as an incredible Potioneer. It seems fishy to me that she'd be so adept at Potions by herself when it was likely Snape was her partner. Loving your Tumblr posts, btw. Take care.

tbh i’m in the middle. severus’ genius came from innovation something jkr has refused to give to her female characters. i think lily was as good as the text books, maybe even better, but severus was definitely better than her and everyone else. her true talent was charms which people think severus sucked at.

also thank you. i love your fanart.

[eileenkalkaros]

I like to imagine Eileen sucking at everything involving magic except potions, so she taught Severus the basics of it (and how to cook) ever since he was 7 years old. I view potions-brewing as a combination of cooking and chemistry, with some biology (especially botany) added in because the ingredients are magical animals, non-magical animals, non-magical plants, and magical plants. Lily as the younger Evans child in a middle-class family most likely was never taught how to cook (unless her parents used logic and knew that everyone should know how to cook regardless of age, gender and sex, and anything else). So, Severus has a head-start on potions that Lily doesn't and neither of them has a head-start on spell-casting. I think Eileen's potions lessons would have occurred only a few times per year, so 9-11 years olds Severus & Lily wouldn't have gotten many chances to practice together. (Almost nothing is known about Eileen, but I like to imagine that she had nothing against muggles and muggleborns. She definitely would have been vary of Lily for being richer than the dirt-poor Snapes and because Tobias had turned out to be a much worse person than she had thought, but I'm sure Eileen would give Lily the benefit of doubt for being Severus' only friend.) At Hogwarts, the 2 kids are potions-brewing partners without caring about the House rivalry (until things implode during OWLs near the end of their Fifth Year). However, Severus manages to be more innovative with potions than Lily. Not her fault. Some people are simply more skilled at 1 thing or another. I bet Lily was a natural broom-flyer while Severus struggled to learn it. As for spell-casting, it would be interesting if Lily managed to pick up Charms much quicker than Severus yet all the extra practice results in Severus being the one who becomes a spell-inventor.

[rennydraws]

Potions lesson back in 1971!

[deathdaydungeon]

This is gorgeous.  

[eileenkalkaros]

ADORABLE! This whole comic (Severus ✨🦌🐍🦇 & Lily ✨🐻🍓🌸 in the middle of brewing a potion during a lesson, Lily's goes wrong, Sev notices it and panickedly fixes it, and they exchange a smile then a laugh) is so precious, and the soft and round art style really adds to the feeling of them being First Years. The whole comic has siblings/platonic best friends vibes and I love it so much!

[borsukuje]

Lily Evans.

[eileenkalkaros]

✨🐻🍓🌸

[nicolillies]

crimson rivers marylily

my gorgeous girls 🫶 fanart of ‘crimson rivers’ by bizarrestars on ao3

[eileenkalkaros]

They're so pretty! And I have a lot headcanons about their relationship. 💓🤍🌸🤍💓 Will probably read the fanfiction one day after writing my own Mary x Lily fanfics.

[myrows]

Happy Pride month part 1🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

[eileenkalkaros]

The drawing of Mary Macdonald x Lily Evans in the left lower corner is really cute! 💓🤍🌸🤍💓 Sapphic women!

[lupinflowrs]

the women of marauders era 💫

[eileenkalkaros]

Dorcas Meadows, Mary Macdonald, Andromeda Black, Alice Fortescue, Pandora Lovegood, Emmeline Vance, Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon.