Fully Automatic Luxury Gay Space Communism

Eris she/her trans supportive. anti jkr. my queer sideblog is @stephthedmgingrich I post a lot about Fire Emblem, Persona, Steven Universe, Metal Gear Solid, Evangelion, Kill la Kill, Pokemon, JoJo, Fullmetal Alchemist, Avatar, the Super Best Friends, Scott Pilgrim, Studio Ghibli, feminism and lots of anime and movies and video games. I hope you enjoy.

[sydsketch]

hey look! it’s the fantasy high sophomore year illustration i made for the 2026 worlds of dimension 20 calendar!

[starcrossedkayla]

Corruption at the Ministry

This time through reading Harry Potter, I'm noticing more how corrupt the Ministry is. In Goblet of Fire, Mr Weasley says

‘I like Ludo,’ said Mr Weasley mildly. ‘He was the one who got us such good tickets for the Cup. I did him a bit of a favour: his brother, Otto, got into a spot of trouble – a lawnmower with unnatural powers – I smoothed the whole thing over.’

And then later with Moody

‘– it’s a real stroke of luck I heard about it,’ said Mr Diggory’s head, ‘I had to come into the office early to send a couple of owls, and I found the Improper Use of Magic lot all setting off – if Rita Skeeter gets hold of this one, Arthur –’

....

‘Arthur, you know Mad-Eye,’ said Mr Diggory’s head, rolling its eyes again. ‘Someone creeping into his yard at the dead of night? More likely there’s a very shellshocked cat wandering around somewhere, covered in potato peelings. But if the Improper Use of Magic lot get their hands on Mad-Eye, he’s had it – think of his record – we’ve got to get him off on a minor charge, something in your department – what are exploding dustbins worth?’ ‘Might be a caution,’ said Mr Weasley, still writing very fast, his brow furrowed. ‘Mad-Eye didn’t use his wand? He didn’t actually attack anyone?’ ‘I’ll bet he leapt out of bed and started jinxing everything he could reach through the window,’ said Mr Diggory, ‘but they’ll have a job proving it, there aren’t any casualties.’

So even the good guys are involved in the system of corruption where the justice system depends on your social connections.

We know that there's no defense lawyers and Sirius was thrown in Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit, but I didn't realize how bad it was.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Yep, the ministry was always incredibly corrupt. I want to add Arthur drafting laws with loopholes built into them so he could do what he wants to this discussion:

“Well, dear, I think you’ll find that he would be quite within the law to do that, even if — er — he maybe would have done better to, um, tell his wife the truth. . . . There’s a loophole in the law, you’ll find. . . . As long as he wasn’t intending to fly the car, the fact that the car could fly wouldn’t—” “Arthur Weasley, you made sure there was a loophole when you wrote that law!” shouted Mrs. Weasley. “Just so you could carry on tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in your shed! And for your information, Harry arrived this morning in the car you weren’t intending to fly!”

(CoS)

Everyone who works at the ministry seems very aware of its corruption. They don't even treat it as unusual. Harry's farce of a trial in OotP is another example of Fudge calling a hearing over nothing and ministry officials rolling with it because they exchange in favours, they'd do this for him, and he'd help them out later. Fudge also helps out Lucius for generous donations. It's the game they all play.

There's a reason Arthur’s first assumption about Percy getting a promotion was that Fudge wanted him to spy on the family and Dumbledore — he works at the ministry and knows that's how it works.

That's why the Slugclub is actually so important for muggleborns to create these ministry connections they otherwise wouldn't have. It's the reason there were very few muggleborn ministers of magic or muggleborns in important ministry positions in general — they lack the connections to operate in the ministry because the whole system is corrupt from the root.

Not to mention, the only "wizard scientists" are called "unspeakables" because they operate in secrecy and all their research is meant to remain out of the public eye unless the ministry deems it suitable for people to know about. That's a recipe for fraud and corruption if I've seen one.

(Sorry for hijacking the post and rambling a bit. I just feel a lot about corruption in the ministry of magic).

[starcrossedkayla]

It is not possible to hijack my posts in my opinion, so comment away!

In trying to figure out how the wizarding world works and how the Minister is selected, I'm pretty sure there's no elections for a legislative body composed of citizens in the wizarding world either.

Now, it may be that since the series is from the perspective of a child, there are elections, and Harry just never mentions them because he never even thinks about the elections, but it seems to me that the Wizengamot members may not be elected except by other members or perhaps appointed by the Minister.

Perhaps it is just my political perspective, but it seems a bit insane to me that there's only the Wizengamot serving as both court and parliament. I'm not British, but in researching for my fic and trying to figure out the system of government within that world, I get the impression that Wizengamot is a bit like the House of Lords and there is no wizarding equivalent of the House of Commons.

This would explain a lot about why there's so much corruption in the wizarding world, especially if the Wizengamot was based around representatives from Pureblood families, rather than elected by the populace at large.

If Wizengamot members held lifelong appointments and wizards regularly lived over 100 years, and the average age is 87 (from the WOMBAT test), this results in a government incredibly slow to change.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

I have so many thoughts about politics in the Wizarding World and the Wizengamot. And yes, it appears they are like an older version of the House of Lords (some laws did change the inheritance of positions there in recent years, I believe, but I'm not a brit either. I just do a lot of research). I wrote a bunch about it in this post, if you want some inspiration, though it's just my reading of things.

As for elections, Lee outright mentions them having elections in DH:

“I’d say that it’s one short step from Wizards first’ to ‘Purebloods first,’ and then to ‘Death Eaters,’ ” replied Kingsley. “We’re all human, aren’t we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.” “Excellently put, Royal, and you’ve got my vote for Minister of Magic if ever we get out of this mess,” said Lee. “And now, over to Romulus for our popular feature ‘Pals of Potter. ’ ”

So, they seem to have elections, and Harry never got a chance to be involved in them because he is a child.

[wisteria-lodge]

That line about "my vote" is so weird, because we also know that the position of Minister of Magic has been "offered" to Dumbledore multiple times and he's turned it down, so clearly he wasn't running in some sort of general election. I think it's very possible that the Wizangamot are the only ones who vote (house of lords style...) which does square with the very quick turn around we get on Scrimgeour's and then Thicknesse's rise to power.

But then Lee seems to be talking about voting himself? Honestly this feels like a mistake, but if I want to get Doylist about it, maybe Lee Jordan means like "you have my vote of confidence" in a more general sense. Or maybe the Jordans are part of the Wizangamot/what ever ministry body elects the minister.

(There's also the interesting implication that Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is a feeder position for Minister of Magic. That seems to be the case with Barty Sr., Scrimgeour, and Kingsley.)

[hollowed-theory-hall]

My personal headcanoned solution to this is that usually they have general elections in which all wizards/witches in the UK, above the age of 17, can vote in, but they're not normal elections and that the Wizengamot has some veto power over who's the minister. As in, they can offer someone the position (but it will be dependent on a confidence vote by the general public) or vote someone out of the position after they've been voted in by the general public.

In the Pottermore article about the ministers, it is said the ministers usually don't have what we think of as elections, but votes of confidence in a literal sense, as in, whether the population trusts the minister to stay in their role or not:

There is no fixed limit to a Minister’s term of office, but he or she is obliged to hold regular elections at a maximum interval of seven years.

Like, this implies the vote is mostly to check if the minister stays or not, since they don't really have political parties and there are no term limits. Some of their elections likely have multiple candidates (all candidates are likely Wizengamot approved), but it's also possible (and how I headcanon it usually works) these elections only have the one candidate the Wizengamot liked or that was already in position and the public just votes "yay" or "nay" about said candidate, and if the result is "nay" the Wizengamot picks someone else.

And ministers would generally only be replaced if they fucked up. Looking through the list of ministers in the aforementioned article, most of them aren't replaced at the end of their 7-year terms, but mid-term due to some crisis or another (as in, they were booted out by the Wizengamot and not voted against by the general public).

What we saw with Scrimgour and Thicknesse, in my opinion, was a war-time emergency transfer of power, so I don't think it's indicative of how elections usually go. Basically, these quick switches were due to the ministry/Wizengamot taking emergency authority due to the war. At least, that's what I assume. The Pottermore article on the subject, kinda suggests this too:

The Minister for Magic is democratically elected, although there have been times of crisis in which the post has simply been offered to an individual without a public vote (Albus Dumbledore was made such an offer, and turned it down repeatedly).

It's a bit wonky about Dumbledore's timeline. If he was offered the position while Grindlewald was in power, this would make sense as a war response, but I remember from the books he was offered the position post-Grindlewald's defeat too. That's why I think the Wizengamot, in general, can offer the position, but that the new minister will need to have this vote of confidence from the general public I mentioned earlier, if they weren't placed in the position under emergency war-time laws.

(Yeah, the thing about the DMLE really seems to be the case, especially as Scrimgour got to be the minister because Madam Bones (former head of the DMLE) was killed between books 5 and 6. It really suggests a hierarchy between the departments in the ministry, and the DMLE is at the top)

(I kinda doubt Lee himself is a member of the Wizengamot, considering the WOMBAT test mentions a joke about the average age in the Wizengamot being 87. This average is false, but Wizengamot members tend to be old, that's the joke. But it's possible someone in his family is)

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hermione's Appearance

I'm writing this becouse a lot of fans like to headcanon Hermione as dark-skinned, and even JKR has stated that in the books Hermione was never mentioned to be white outright (for CC), but, contrary to JKR and the popular notion, Hermione's skin tone was mentioned in the books, multiple times, and it's white.

(I don't really care if anyone headcanons her as not white, and you can draw/write whatever you want, but I do want to mention what the canon actually is since it seems many of the fandom (and JKR) have forgotten like with Harry's height and appearance).

First, I want to talk about the skin tone, and then the rest of her features since many insist her skin color was never mentioned (including JKR). But Hermione's face is described as white multiple times:

Hermione’s white face was sticking out from behind a tree.

(PoA, ch21)

“Saw it. Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam.” “But — but where? How?” said Hermione, whose face was white.

(OotP, Ch32)

Hermione gave an almost inaudible sniff. She had been exceptionally quiet all day. Having hurtled, white-faced, up to Harry outside the hospital wing and demanded to know what had happened

(HBP, Ch19)

And pale:

There were footsteps down the passageway and Hermione and Ginny came into the kitchen, both looking pale and drowsy.

(GoF, Ch6)

Hermione was wrapped in a borrowed dressing gown, pale and unsteady on her feet; Ron put an arm around her when she reached him.

(DH)

Hermione is pale enough to visibly tan over the summer:

They were there, both of them, sitting outside Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor — Ron looking incredibly freckly Hermione very brown, both waving frantically at him.

(PoA, Ch4)

This line about Hermione looking brown is usually used as evidence for her skin being brown, but the context is that she returned from summer vacation in France. The context and why Harry mentions it is because Hermione is tanned. This is the only way it makes sense her skin is referred to as white in literally every other context and why her skin being darker is something Harry comments on in this way (when he usually doesn't. He doesn't call any dark-skinned character "very brown". This is because it's different from Hermione's norm. And yes, some white skin can tan to the point of appearing brown and not just get a sunburn).

And when she blushes her face turns pink, not something usually described with darker skin, since blushing would usually not appear pink:

Hermione threw her book aside. She was still pink in the face, but stood up and faced Ron defiantly.

(PoA, ch11)

“Of course, they want to be free!” said Hermione at once, though her face was turning pink.

(OotP, Ch13)

We all know she has bushy hair and large front teeth (at least until later in GoF):

Harry looked up and saw Hermione Granger standing at the top of the white flight of steps to Gringotts. She ran down to meet them, her bushy brown hair flying behind her.

(CoS, Ch4)

One, with very bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth, was Harry’s and Ron’s friend, Hermione Granger.

(GoF, Ch5)

Hermione's bushy brown hair is always said to be bushy, not curly (the term JKR uses whenever a character does have noticeably curly hair and never once used for Hermione's hair). It means her hair is thick and likely quite dry. This actually could exist with straight hair, but I think Hermione's hair is more voluminous. The book illustrations (left) and the old Pottermore art (center & right) of her give her hair some waviness, but it's not really curly:

I usually imagine her kinda like the main character from the beginning of the Princess Diaries movie:

(The image on the right is not from the movie, but a good irl example of wavy dry frizzy hair)

It has volume and is bushy, dry, and wavy rather than curly. It just seems more in line with her book descriptions and official illustrations. Basically, it's wavy, dry, thick, and frizzy, but not curly-curly.

(Bellatrix, notably, is also never mentioned to have curly hair. Her hair is described as long and thick, not curly, and it's likely her hair isn't curly either).

Hermione's eyes are brown:

Her spirits were greatly improved by the fact that all the hair had gone from her face and her eyes were turning slowly back to brown.

(CoS, Ch13)

Honestly, I mostly made this post for the hair and skin, since Harry mentions nothing regarding her eyes beyond "brown". Nor does he mention any of Hermione's facial features besides her large front teeth, so we don't really have much to go on there.

Regarding her height, as I mentioned in my post on Harry's height, both Harry and Hermione are about 5'1 (155 CM) when they are 13 (shorter than Pettigrew).

By book 7, she is shorter than Harry noticeably and mentioned alongside Mondungus, so I think they're likely similar in height:

Hermione and Mundungus were shooting upward;

(DH, Ch4)

In book 5, she is clearly taller than Ginny (who's around 5'1 even when she's 17):

“Very well — take the smallest one,” she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. “Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I’ll do it.” Harry felt the others close in around Ginny.

(OotP, Ch35)

So, I estimate her to be around 5'4 (163 cm) or 5'5 (165 cm).

Again everyone can headcanon/write/draw whatever and I'm gonna be the last person to tell you what to do, but I just want to remind everyone what canon actually says.

[amethystandemma]

Regency AU with @honeycaksy in a nutshell

Alphie and Ernie will be the most iconic duo I fear 😩

[amethystandemma]

The snippet I had written a WHILE ago that I wanna get back to! (Consider this my WIP Wednesday post lol)

Alphie (obviously) belongs to the amazing @honeycaksy

As dull as Viscount Alphard Black found most balls he was forced to attend, there were highlights to every evening. Yes, he might get asked by four different suitors every hour for his cousin's hand in marriage; or be roped into dance after dance with ladies he could not care less about, but there was always something he could find to keep him entertained.

Like now.

Standing in a darkened corner like a hound kicked out of his home was a key to his sanity, Alphard's cousin Mr Ernest Macmillan. Not only was the idea of him trying to hide despite his well above-average height humermous to Alphard, but the expression on his face which could only be described as disgust made him slip a chuckle.

"Rough night, Ernie?" Alphard asked.

"Don't you know it," Ernie muttered. "Two, Alphie. Two. If I get asked for her hand one more time tonight, I'm going to take their first and shove it up their ars—"

"Only two? And here I thought you were the most approachable of the two of us."

"Oh, shut it."

Even if his words were cross, Alphie knew that Ernie meant no ill will. Not towards him, at least. No, they'd had very few issues between them ever since Ernie and his older sister Victoria joined his family.

They were practically brothers.

Alphie tidied up his jacket, brushing a thread from one duchess's gown off the black fabric. "Who was it asking this time?"

"Lord McLaggen was rather subtle about it." Ernie pulled a strand of black hair off of Alphie's shoulder, letting it fall to the carpeted ground. "Said he was asking for his mother's sake. Of course, you and I both know if Lady McLaggen was wanting to know something, she would find it out herself."

"McLaggen?" Alphie raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth lifting into a smirk he knew made countless ladies swoon for. "Funny, he came by to ask me for her hand too."

"And what on Earth did you say, your lordship?"

"Told him he was drinking too much cheap brandy to even consider it. I could smell it on his breath from a meter away."

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hello, I love your blog

Do you think that a lot of people at hogwarts had a crush on Harry? Do you consider him a dreamboat? I like to think that Parvati, Dean and even Neville had a crush on him at some point

Hi 👋

Thank you so much 💕

Honestly, yes. We know Harry was considered a catch at Hogwarts.

In 4th year before the Yule Ball, multiple girls ask him out (even older ones that didn't need a date to go to the ball):

“Why do they have to move in packs?” Harry asked Ron as a dozen or so girls walked past them, sniggering and staring at Harry. “How’re you supposed to get one on their own to ask them?”

(GoF)

A curly-haired third-year Hufflepuff girl to whom Harry had never spoken in his life asked him to go to the ball with her the very next day. Harry was so taken aback he said no before he’d even stopped to consider the matter. The girl walked off looking rather hurt, and Harry had to endure Dean’s, Seamus’s, and Ron’s taunts about her all through History of Magic. The following day, two more girls asked him, a second year and (to his horror) a fifth year who looked as though she might knock him out if he refused.

(GoF)

Cho Chang seems to have been open to it when he asked her out she declined becouse she already agreed to Cedric:

“D’you — d’you want to go to the ball with me?” said Harry. Why did he have to go red now? Why ? “Oh!” said Cho, and she went red too. “Oh Harry, I’m really sorry,” and she truly looked it. “I’ve already said I’ll go with someone else.”

(GoF)

And in OotP, Cho clearly was interested in Harry (not in his personality, but in who she thought he was):

“Yes, it’s on Valentine’s Day. . . .” “Right,” said Harry, wondering why she was telling him this. “Well, I suppose you want to — ?” “Only if you do,” she said eagerly.

(OotP)

Parvati was all for going with Harry Potter to the ball. So much so she dragged her sister to be Ron’s date so she could bag the Boy Who Lived:

“Parvati? Will you go to the ball with me?” Parvati went into a fit of giggles. Harry waited for them to subside, his fingers crossed in the pocket of his robes. “Yes, all right then,” she said finally, blushing furiously. “Thanks,” said Harry, in relief. “Lavender — will you go with Ron?” “She’s going with Seamus,” said Parvati, and the pair of them giggled harder than ever. Harry sighed. “Can’t you think of anyone who’d go with Ron?” he said, lowering his voice so that Ron wouldn’t hear. [...] “Well . . .” said Parvati slowly, “I suppose my sister might . . . Padma, you know . . . in Ravenclaw. I’ll ask her if you like.”

(GoF)

Who ended up being a disappointing date. Harry being a lousy date didn't stop Parvati and Lavender from thinking Harry is hot though:

Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, the last two of whom gave Harry airy, overly friendly greetings that made him quite sure they had stopped talking about him a split second before.

(OotP)

And in HBP we see many girls trying to get Harry's attention:

Then he blinked and looked around: He was surrounded by mesmerized girls. “Hi, Harry!” said a familiar voice from behind him. “Neville!” said Harry in relief, turning to see a round-faced boy struggling toward him.

(HBP)

The second group was comprised of ten of the silliest girls Harry had ever encountered, who, when he blew his whistle, merely fell about giggling and clutching one another. Romilda Vane was amongst them. When he told them to leave the pitch, they did so quite cheerfully and went to sit in the stands to heckle everyone else. The third group had a pileup halfway around the pitch. Most of the fourth group had come without broomsticks. The fifth group were Hufflepuffs. “If there’s anyone else here who’s not from Gryffindor,” roared Harry, who was starting to get seriously annoyed, “leave now, please!” There was a pause, then a couple of little Ravenclaws went sprinting off the pitch, snorting with laughter.

(HBP)

While I don't think Harry is Hermione's ideal romantic partner, she thinks he is a catch too:

“Oh, come on, Harry,” said Hermione, suddenly impatient. “It’s not Quidditch that’s popular, it’s you! You’ve never been more interesting, and frankly, you’ve never been more fanciable.” Ron gagged on a large piece of kipper. Hermione spared him one look of disdain before turning back to Harry. [...] “And it doesn’t hurt that you’ve grown about a foot over the summer either,” Hermione finished, ignoring Ron. “I’m tall,” said Ron inconsequentially.

(HBP)

And I don't really ship Drarry, as in, I don't really like the dynamic, but I have eyes and I can see Draco can very much be read as having a crush on Harry. I mean, he seeks out Harry on the train literally every year except 6th (& 7th), he seeks Harry out whenever he can in general, and his wand (with a super loyal unicorn core that tends to wilt rather than work for another owner) works for Harry perfectly — which says something about Draco's feelings for Harry. (His behaviour towards Harry kinda reads as pulling pigtails — he just, really wants Harry's attention and goes out of his way to seek it out way too often).

Not sure if Neville had a crush on Harry (I see him as straight), but he definitely looks up to him:

Neville Longbottom, who gave a roar of delight, leapt down from the mantelpiece and yelled. “I knew you’d come! I knew it, Harry!”

(DH)

Harry is who all the DA look to lead them, though, to know what to do:

“Look who it is! Didn’t I tell you?” As Harry emerged into the room beyond the passage, there were several screams and yells: “HARRY!” “It’s Potter, it’s POTTER!” “Ron!” “Hermione!”

(DH)

The DA are happy to see Ron and Hermione, but Harry is first, Harry is their figure-head and source of hope, so it's not just Neville and I wouldn't really call it a crush. You can headcanon it, but, it didn't read that way to me.

Dean is a possibility, honestly, but I don't really have any evidence for it, so you could headcanon that too if you want. (It could be funny that Dean and Ginny are dating each other to make Harry jealous because both of them like Harry. They spend their dates talking about Harry).

And obviously, Ginny thinks Harry is a catch.

The point of all of this, is yes, Harry is good-looking by the later books and is considered a catch to various students at Hogwarts since his 4th year. The majority of them, though, don't really know Harry as a person. They see the Boy Who Lived, not Harry, and that's who the majority are attracted to.

[getocurse-deactivated20250608]

Considering Harry's looks, yk with his messy black hair, beautiful almond eyes, small nose, his father's brows and lips, pale complexion, tall stature coupled wtih his slightly brooding nature, daring wit and mysterious adventures, it's no wonder so many people had a crush on him or looked up to him.

As readers, we know Harry as who he is but to characters in the hp universe, he would appear untouchable. He holds a certain appeal as the mysterious, handsome, atheletic hero in their eyes. Unless they take an effort to get to know him as a person, they wouldn't really know Harry. Why he doesn't get any credit in the fandom beats me.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

100%

He's the mysterious handsom savior who appears like he has everything under control (since he doesnt really show his emotions much to others prior to book 5, and even in it), of course, about half the school would be a little into him.

[prunelya]

Lea O'Connell

Le Grand Hôtel Campo del Fiori abandonné à Varèse, en Italie, construit en 1912.

[adamtotscomix]

[asidewalksymphony]

[herpsandbirds]

[mortalityplays]

it is truly astounding how unembarrassed people are to have less basic curiosity about the world than a rural peasant from the 1400s

[mortalityplays]

someone figured out how to eat tapioca and you won't boil an egg

[mortalityplays]

I don't like the phrase 'learned helplessness' bc I think 90% of what we use it for right now isn't learned helplessness at all, it's learned refusal. Nobody actually thinks they are too stupid and incompetent to try boiling an egg or to click on the second page of google results, they just can't be fucking bothered and have learned all kinds of cargo cult structural inequality talking points to justify it.

Ohhh schools don't teach critical thinking any more ohhh my parents never taught me how to boil water ohhhhhh not everyone is privileged enough to have the time and energy to read two whole wikipedia articles I have no choice but to go through life with the accumulated knowledge of a dead beetle.

[bisexuel]

[thepromiscuousfinger]

[floof-ghostie]

"You only like this character because she's a woman!" okay and you hate her because she's a woman, knowing that she has all the traits you would enjoy in a male character.

[theehorsepusssy]

[squipedmew]

this is like 50% of tumblr’s user base summarized

[creatingblackcharacters]

Adding "you would be friends with Hitler if he liked vocaloid" to that same list as "y'all would fuck a fence if it was white"

[theconcealedweapon]

[ibetteracethatinterview]

[spockwithacat]

A race riot sparked by a horrific act committed by someone of one racial group is still actually race riot. That is actually how historically a lot of them started.

So I’m not sure why so many are trying to act like this is somehow not a race riot. Like actually you aren’t allowed to indiscriminately attack minorities because of a crime committed by one person. It’s not like anyone does then when a white person commits a crime.