HP Fan

I love the world of Harry Potter I read all kinds of FF, and I'm not a censorship. I don't support J.K. Rowling or her transphobic views. Everyone is welcome here.

[the-most-faithful]

Bellatrix is ​​not Mad

Today we're talking about an interesting aspect of the saga: there are many antagonists who stand between Harry and a peaceful life in the wizarding world. We know this well: that poor, shaggy-haired boy can't even walk around the castle without a mad criminal trying to kidnap him. But beyond Voldemort, who is clearly obsessed with killing Harry, many of his followers have other goals. As Dumbledore explains:

"They were a motley collection; a mixture of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty."

But Bellatrix Lestrange is a special case. Many fans over the years have called Bellatrix mad, perhaps misled by Helena's portrayal in the films, which, as much as I adore her, made the character more explosive in certain moments. By analyzing her, we can see that there's a certain logic behind everything she does. Certainly, in some cases, her logic is distorted and unacceptable, but there is no madness in her, no more than in Lucius Malfoy or other Death Eaters like her husband Rodolphus. The only thing that drives Bellatrix is ​​her fanaticism towards Voldemort and the pure-blood cause. Her distorted love for the Dark Lord leads her to destruction; even after he has been defeated, ending the First Wizarding War, she tries to discover his whereabouts, tortures the Longbottom Aurors to the point of madness, and never renounces Voldemort, unlike other fellow Death Eaters. She is imprisoned for 14 years in Azkaban, yet she is not mad, as canon proves. The first time Bellatrix appears is in a memory of Dumbledore's inside the Pensieve in the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. CHAPTER 30

“Bring them in,” he said, and his voice echoed through the silent dungeon. The door in the corner opened yet again. Six dementors entered this time, flanking a group of four people. Harry saw the people in the crowd turn to look up at Mr. Crouch. A few of them whispered to one another. The dementors placed each of the four people in the four chairs with chained arms that now stood on the dungeon floor. There was a thickset man who stared blankly up at Crouch; a thinner and more nervous-looking man, whose eyes were darting around the crowd; a woman with thick, shining dark hair and heavily hooded eyes, who was sitting in the chained chair as though it were a throne; and a boy in his late teens, who looked nothing short of petrified. He was shivering, his straw-colored hair all over his face, his freckled skin milk-white. The wispy little witch beside Crouch began to rock backward and forward in her seat, whimpering into her handkerchief. Crouch stood up. He looked down upon the four in front of him, and there was pure hatred in his face. “You have been brought here before the Council of Magical Law,” he said clearly, “so that we may pass judgment on you, for a crime so heinous —” “Father,” said the boy with the straw-colored hair. “Father . . . please . . .” “— that we have rarely heard the like of it within this court,” said Crouch, speaking more loudly, drowning out his son’s voice. “We have heard the evidence against you. The four of you stand accused of capturing an Auror — Frank Longbottom — and subjecting him to the Cruciatus Curse, believing him to have knowledge of the present whereabouts of your exiled master, He- Who-Must-Not-Be-Named —” “Father, I didn’t!” shrieked the boy in chains below. “I didn’t, I swear it, Father, don’t send me back to the dementors —” “You are further accused,” bellowed Mr. Crouch, “of using the Cruciatus Curse on Frank Longbottom’s wife, when he would not give you information. You planned to restore He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named to power, and to resume the lives of violence you pre- sumably led while he was strong. I now ask the jury —” “Mother!” screamed the boy below, and the wispy little witch beside Crouch began to sob, rocking backward and forward. “Mother, stop him, Mother, I didn’t do it, it wasn’t me!” “I now ask the jury,” shouted Mr. Crouch, “to raise their hands if they believe, as I do, that these crimes deserve a life sentence in Azkaban!” In unison, the witches and wizards along the right-hand side of the dungeon raised their hands. The crowd around the walls began to clap as it had for Bagman, their faces full of savage triumph. The boy began to scream. “No! Mother, no! I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it, I didn’t know! Don’t send me there, don’t let him!” The dementors were gliding back into the room. The boys’ three companions rose quietly from their seats; the woman with the heavy-lidded eyes looked up at Crouch and called, “The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us, he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!”

After this sentence, Barty Jr. again begs his father to spare him, but the four are taken out by the Dementors and taken back to Azkaban. Here, Bellatrix is ​​quite lucid, confirming her loyalty to Voldemort but not appearing mad. The fact that she doesn't bow, that she doesn't appear fearful, but rather sits in the chair to which she is chained as if it were a throne, perfectly captures her personality. She is a proud woman, convinced of her own beliefs; she doesn't deny what she did, which, however terrible, was right in her eyes. She tortured enemies to find her master, to save him, at least in her mind. The fact that she drove the Longbottoms mad doesn't make her mad, but rather, ready for anything. She is shown to us as a sadistic and unscrupulous person, yes, but she isn't in a state of derangement, in fact, as we will see later in the saga, Bellatrix seems to tend to take command of the situation when there is danger. We see it in Deathly Hallows, when at Malfoy Manor she fears that Voldemrot will discover the theft in her Gringotts vault. She doesn't think twice and begins issuing orders to the Malfoys. Even during the trial, it's she who speaks, not her husband or the other two companions. She displays a mask of confidence that requires extreme clarity. Another interesting point that is too often overlooked is her implicit attitude towards Kreacher. The second time Ballatrix is ​​mentioned is in the fifth book, where Harry discovers her relationship with Sirius and shortly thereafter sees the house-elf's hiding place, where he is desperately trying to hide photos and mementos belonging to the Black family, to prevent Sirius from throwing them away. We are explicitly told that his favorite photograph is precisely the one of Bellatrix alone. It's the photo he cleaned and tried to repair most carefully, placing it on the top shelf of her hiding place. This point is very fascinating: Kreacher is not an evil creature, he is a house-elf who has been mentally manipulated for decades; his entire species has been enslaved for centuries to serve wizards. To a certain extent, he has inherited the Blacks' racist and classist heritage, but it's interesting to discover how loyal he actually is to Regulus, who treated him with respect and literally sacrificed himself for him. Just as Kreacher was loyal to Walburga, who, although portrayed in fandom as a madwoman who tormented her children, was not in canon. Kreacher tends to be loyal to those who are kind to him; just look at how his behavior drastically changes in Deathly Hallows when Harry gives him Regulus' fake locket and he begins to treat him with respect. This, combined with his desperate desire to belong to Bellatrix after Sirius's death, as made clear at the beginning of the sixth book, are a clear indication of Bellatrix's attitude toward him. Even though the house-elves have been manipulated, they can still tell if someone is being kind to them. This means Bellatrix wasn't mistreating Kreacher for fun. Then, Bellatrix's first real interaction with Harry shows her mocking the boy for falling into Voldemort's trap. She uses a childish tone and mocks Neville, but once again, she's very clear-headed. The only time she explodes is when Harry dares to mention Voldemort's name and reveals that he, too, is a half-blood. This triggers her, so much so that she is about to strike Harry, but Lucius stops her.

She demonstrates her understanding of Voldemort's plan when she explains to Harry why he didn't come to get the prophecy himself. Shortly afterward, she threatens Ginny and then Neville with torture to convince Harry to hand over the prophecy. She is described as: “possessed, quivering with excitement, as her gaze went from Harry to Neville.” This is how Harry sees her, but in practice she doesn't do anything truly senseless. Her sadism drives her to be very skilled at using the Cruciatus, but in the context of war or battles, this works in her favor. Every time she threatens to torture someone in the series, she does so to convince someone else to do what she wants. The Longbottom Aurors were tortured for information, and in the first draft, it was written as if Alice, Neville's mother, had been tortured to force her husband to cooperate. Just like when Bellatrix threatens Ginny and Neville here, or later, as she will with Hermione. What she does is functional. In the next book, the Half-Blood Prince Bellatrix appears only in the second chapter, and here she shows concern for her sister Narcissa, who has decided to disobey Voldemort's secrecy order and actually goes to Snape for help, revealing the task assigned to Draco. Here Bellatrix interrogates Snape to understand why he didn't try to reunite with Voldemort sooner. She asks sensible questions that all fans have asked at least once. Snape tries to deflect the questions, answering without ever providing any concrete proof, justifying himself by saying he gave them to the Dark Lord, and Bellatrix notices. She's smart enough to figure out what Snape is doing, but her sister's desperation prevents her from continuing to bombard Snape with questions, because apparently she's had all the answers. Furthermore, it's Bella who changes the subject after Snape reminds her that they owe Sirius's death to her. He offers her a silent toast for this, but she doesn't smile, doesn't appear pleased, but instead changes the subject, as if she doesn't want to think about it.

Throughout the scene, Snape subtly insults her and denigrates her actions. She responds by insulting him back, but doesn't threaten violence. Of course, it could be because Snape enjoys Voldemort's favor at this point in the story, but he's clearly capable of controlling himself; he doesn't throw unprovoked outbursts, even against someone he openly despises like Snape. What's more interesting, however, is that she admits to Narcissa that she thinks Voldemort is wrong to trust Snape. She, his most loyal Death Eater, openly questions her master, and despite not trusting Snape, she follows Narcissa and helps her forge the Unbreakable Vow. This is a betrayal, as she herself reminds us in the book:

"We were told not to discuss the plan with anyone. This is a betrayal of the Dark Lord..."

She is willing to "betray" Voldemort to some extent, or go against his direct orders, if it means protecting her family, which in this case is Narcissa and, by extension, her nephew Draco. And she is unwilling to raise her wand against her younger sister, even after she has clearly threatened her.

“Let go, Bella!” snarled Narcissa, and she drew a wand from beneath her cloak, holding it threateningly in the other’s face. Bella merely laughed. “Cissy, your own sister? You wouldn’t —” “There is nothing I wouldn’t do anymore!” Narcissa breathed, a note of hysteria in her voice, and as she brought down the wand like a knife, there was another flash of light. Bella let go of her sister’s arm as though burned. “Narcissa!” But Narcissa had rushed ahead. Rubbing her hand, her pursuer followed again, keeping her distance now, as they moved deeper into the deserted labyrinth of brick houses.

Bellatrix Lestrange, the cruel, heartless Death Eater who could have easily stunned her sister so she wouldn't betray the Dark Lord, simply begs her to come back and lets her threaten her openly? She clearly shows that she can and will hold back; if it had been anyone else, she wouldn't have allowed the wand to be held under her chin. After this chapter, Bellatrix doesn't appear again throughout the book; contrary to what is shown in the film, she doesn't take part in the raid on Hogwarts at the end of the year, she doesn't witness Dumbledore's death in the Astronomy Tower, she doesn't destroy the Great Hall, or set fire to Hagrid's hut; in the book, another Death Eater does the latter. The fact that she doesn't appear here, in the book canon, could lend support to the theory that she was pregnant at the time. In hindsight, after the release of The Cursed Child, this might be credible, but a hypothetical chronology of events would need to be studied to judge its credibility. It remains that in canon, Bellatrix is ​​not present on the night of Dumbledore's death, nor does she attack the Burrow during the Christmas holidays. These are scenes created by the film but which in no way reflect their book counterparts. And so, all that remains is for us to move on to the last book in the saga, in which Bellatrix appears significantly more. We see her from the first chapter at the Death Eaters' meeting, here she appears eager to lean forward towards Voldemort, unlike her sister, who is clearly intimidated, she hangs on the dark wizard's every word, seeks his consent and when he taunts her using as a pretext the recent marriage of her niece Nymphadora with Remus Lupin who is a well-known werewolf she is quick to repudiate that relationship.

“Many of our oldest family trees become a little diseased over time,” he said as Bellatrix gazed at him, breathless and imploring. “You must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy? Cut away those parts that threaten the health of the rest.” “Yes, my Lord,” whispered Bellatrix, and her eyes swam with tears of gratitude again. “At the first chance!”

This is why Bellatrix will kill Tonks during the Battle of Hogwarts. When she confronted her at the Ministry years earlier, she didn't kill her, nor her sister Andromeda, who was disinherited shortly after finishing Hogwarts. As much as Bellatrix believes in the purist cause, she never truly "pruned" her family tree as Voldemort intended. She simply distanced herself from those she deemed impure traitors, but she didn't kill them. Sirius's death wasn't intentional at the Ministry. After Voldemort's order, however, it becomes urgent for her, at least on the surface. But for years, she didn't have this desire. During the pursuit of the seven Potters, it seems that Bellatrix specifically pursued Nymphadora:

“So what kept you? What happened?” Lupin sounded almost angry at Tonks. “Bellatrix,” said Tonks. “She wants me quite as much as she wants Harry Remus, she tried very hard to kill me. I just wish I’d got her, I owe Bellatrix. But we definitely injured Rodolphus. . . . Then we got to Ron’s Auntie Muriel’s and we’d missed our Portkey and she was fussing over us-” A muscle was jumping in Lupin’s jaw. He nodded, but seemed unable to say anything else.

Now I'll venture my own interpretation: "Bellatrix tried her hardest to kill me." As much as I LOVE Tonks and as much as she is canonically an excellent duelist, it seems incredibly unlikely that Bellatrix, despite trying her hardest, couldn't finish her off, or at least unseat her without a wand. Let's remember that they were all flying, and the reason Harry was recognized was because he decided to disarm Stan Picket but not to kill him, because if he had dropped him without a wand, the boy would have died. Do you really mean to tell me that Bellatrix wasn't even able to knock Tonks off her broom despite trying with all her might? This seems unlikely to me. It looks more like a measured use of force, which, let's reiterate, requires self-control. There's no sign of madness here, but rather a clear attempt to circumvent Voldemort's order. And even if she succeeds at the end of the book, it's interesting to see how months pass. Nymphadora, from what Remus tells us, was staying at her mother, Andromeda,'s house while she was pregnant, and the Death Eaters knew where they lived. Nymphadora was stigmatized for having married a werewolf. It doesn't seem like she was hiding, but rather, like Mr. Weasley, she continued to appear in public to keep up appearances. The Death Eaters then visited Tonks' house after Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran away from Bill and Fleur's wedding. Remus tells us on the call:

“...they (Death Eaters) used the Cruciatus Curse on Tonks’s family. Again, trying to find out where you went after you visited them. They’re all right — shaken, obviously, but otherwise okay.”

They tortured them but didn't k**l them, this is an important point. Although Bellatrix professes to Voldemort that she wants to eliminate her family's traitors, even though she has the chance, she doesn't do so unless she finds herself in direct conflict with Voldemort nearby. Bellatrix is ​​no stranger to this; throughout the saga, she speaks differently to the Dark Lord, almost having to flaunt her devotion and loyalty, but the facts speak for themselves. The next time we see her, she's again at Malfoy Manor when the trio is taken there by the Snatchers. (Chapter 23) And this is the moment when she seems most upset. If when she first appears, she's merely curious and later argues with Lucius about who should summon the Dark Lord, as soon as she realizes that a Snatcher has Gryffindor's sword, she becomes agitated and, as she has done in the past, takes control of the situation, attacks the Snatchers and has Draco throw them out, silencing her sister's complaints. Here Bellatrix is ​​described as frightening and mad, but precisely because she knows the whole family is in grave danger. She tortures Hermione for information, does the same with Griphook, and only when she's sure the sword is a copy is she ready to call on Voldemort. If it hadn't been for Dobby's intervention, her behavior would have led to the trio's demise. Killing Dobby, after he actively tried to harm them all to free Harry and his friends, is also consistent with her character. She insults him and orders Narcissa to kill him, but this doesn't conflict with her aforementioned relationship with Kreacher. She certainly considers other creatures inferior according to pureblood education, but she is wise enough to treat Kreacher kindly, out of a sense of mutual respect, something that is clearly lacking with Dobby. Simply put, like the elf in the Black family's service, she is also kind to him, who, obviously, from Harry's perspective, are very few people in the saga. And here, too, Bellatrix is ​​far from mad.

Before the final battle, we learn (chapter 32) that Remus was dueling Dolohov, and Tonks rushes to help him. We don't know exactly when they died, but initially it seems that Dolohov killed them both, which would suggest that Bellatrix never obeyed Voldemort's order to kill them. At no point is Bellatrix seen fighting her niece or her niece's husband during the final battle. Only later, in an interview, did the author state that it was Bellatrix who killed her niece, without explicitly stating this in the book. This would be one of those details that is still taken as canon, like many others.

We meet Bellatrix in person in Chapter 34 as she waits with Voldemort and the other Death Eaters in the forest for Harry's arrival. Here, she's shown sitting next to Voldemort, and later, worried as he passes out in Chapter 36, when Narcissa lies and says Harry is dead. Bellatrix rejoices like everyone else, but nothing more. Even later, as they face the resistance of Hogwarts, she doesn't react particularly, and when it comes to the final battle, she engages in a duel with three opponents near Voldemort. Molly takes the place of Ginny, Luna, and Hermione and barely manages to kill Bellatrix, who has made the same mistake as Sirius: underestimating her opponent. Throughout the entire saga, there's never a single moment in which Bellatrix behaves insanely or without motivation. She always has reasons for what she does, and in her mind, they're more than legitimate. I find it vaguely sad that many fans over the years have distorted her character by describing her as a maniac, but she isn't. On the contrary, she's a very interesting character who deserves to be explored more deeply, not trivialized. So no, Bellatrix Lestrange isn't crazy.

@observerssegion @inthemoodforblastt

Youtube video:

[oldhpfan]

Perfectly said 👏👏👏

[the-most-faithful]

MARAUDERS ERA CANON INFORMATIONS

I'm really tired of hearing people say: "There's nothing canon from the Marauders era!" Partly because some people are dishonest and use it to shield themselves from criticism and have the freedom to distort the entire story, but also because there are so many people who actually believe this. Perhaps due to a lack of information or simply because they trust those who shout loudest and claim there's nothing canon. This creates real damage to the entire fandom, I've talked about it HERE and HERE. And it's really difficult for those who want to write canon-compliant FF, given that finding reliable information has become increasingly difficult. So I've decided to publish a "book" on Wattpad or AO3 (I'm still deciding) in which I'll include all the canonical information from the Marauders era. Just to give you an idea of ​​how false "There's nothing canon from the Marauders era!" is, here's a preview of just the first few pieces of this collection:

Biography, Personalities, and Relationships of:

JAMES POTTER

LILY EVANS

REMUS

PETER

SIRIUS

SEVERUS

LUCIUS

NARCISSA

ANDROMEDA

MULCIBER Jr.

AVERY Jr.

WILKES

EVAN ROSIER

REGULUS BLACK

Dorcas Meadowes

Aurora Sinistra

Charity

MARLENE MCKINNON

MARY MACDONALD

DOLORES UMBRIDGE

BARTY JR.

PETUNIA EVANS

Kingsley Shacklebolt

Sybill Trelawney

FRANK Longbottom

ALICE Longbottom

WALBURGA BLACK and her relationship with her children

BELLATRIX BLACK

RITA SKEETER

Patricia Rakepick

RODOLPHUS LESTRANGE

Molly Prewett

Arthur Weasley

Fabian and Gideon Prewett

John Dawlish Cornelius Fudge

Alastor Moody

Minerva McGonagall

Emmeline Vance

Sturgis Podmore

Edgar Bones

Benjy Fenwick

Caradoc Dearborn

MINISTS IN POWER

Nobby Leach

Eugenia Jenkins

Harold Minchum

Millicent Bagnold

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 1960 - 1981

BACKGROUNG EVANTS

The Cabal "R"

Late 1977 The first meeting between James Potter and Vernon Dursley (along with Lily Evans and Petunia Dursley)

THE PREQUEL during the First Wizarding War, and tells an adventure experienced by Sirius Black and James Potter who are chased by Death Eaters and escape on Sirius' motorbike

BIRTH AND DEATHS

Again, this is just a small fraction of all the canonical information we have from this period. I'm really curious how some fans can say: "There's nothing canon from the Marauders era!" You call that nothing?

Don’t claim that we know nothing about canon just because you know nothing about canon

[fugamalefica]

God, the irony.

[oldhpfan]

""Fans"" who don't know the canon are so ridiculous 🤣🤣

[oldhpfan]

I'm part of a community dedicated to the Marauders fandom, I joined because I love that era and I would really like to discover new FF and fans, but the other day I republished this post

and before it was removed (they still have to explain to me why) I received this comment here but I couldn't respond, so I'm doing it here: @camisadoes

I don't dislike this fandom in fact, I love it. I reposted the post because I find the hypocritical tendency of some fans amusing, and others, too, are amused by the reactions and comments.

Criticizing an aspect of the fandom with irony doesn't mean you despise it. If this type of post can't be brought up in a community full of fans who can start constructive discussions (as was happening), perhaps even to change this trend, where should I do it? In a group in another fandom? It's not ragebait at all, but a way to start a discussion. Which, however, it seems isn't allowed in that community, since the post I wrote asking for explanations was also removed.

There are other similar posts in the same group, yet those haven't been removed, and there's no explanation. For a fandom that preaches freedom, it seems rather closed-minded to only accept certain types of opinions and posts from specific people.

[oldhpfan]

MFan: Nothing in the Marauders fandom is canon!!!!! We can do whatever we want!!! Me: Okay, then I'll make James and Sirius terrible bullies who choke, beat, use illegal spells, and SA their classmates. MFan: HOW DARE YOU?!?!?!?!

Spoiler, these are the real CANON MARAUDERS

[snulcibersdaughter]

bro what???

ok, no. James canonically started the bullying but getting into severus’ conversation and started shit talking Slytherin. Both him and Sirius were mocking him. Severus didn't say anything bad but expressed his opinion. He was already being abused and Hogwarts was supposed to be a new started for him but no James had to fuck it up. He joined the death eaters because they were the only ones who had his back at the time. yeah obviously Snape isn't a perfect victim, seeing he was part of a group that harassed Muggle-borns and he used the m slur on all of them, but that doesn't mean he brought the abuse onto himself. Saying that is victim blaming and there would be no reason for Severus to make SWM up considering he wanted no one to see it. “Oh, but Rae, he called Lily a mud blood!” ok??? I love Lily but she can be a hypocrite and fucking annoying at times. She literally almost smiled while he got physically (or sexually?) assaulted by the marauders then insulted him after. If I were him I would've called her shit way worse than the m slur. And then when he almost got MURDERED she's like “but the marauders don't use dark magic and they saved your life!” cuz apparently if you don't use dark magic your automatically superior. “But he was obsessed with lily!” no he wasn't, James was more obsessive when it came to his crush on Lily, black mailing by harassing Severus so she could go out with him. Meanwhile sev respected her and left her alone. Feeling remorse for your actions and losing the only sun in your life and still loving them is not creepy. “But he only switched sides for Lily!” and you stan Regulus for switching cuz voldy ws mean to his slave???

Look I also really like James and I truly believe he matured. He was a loyal friend and a wonderful father (for a bit). But if you're denying he was a bully or that Snape deserved to get abused, then you didn't understand the point of these characters or you're allergic to morally complex ones. And fun fact: Severus is not the only person the marauders targeted. They targeted anyone who was poor, “ugly”, or in Slytherin.

But hey, ig what I say doesn't matter because we don't give a fuck about canon in the marauders fandom, am I right?

[the-most-faithful]

The true birth of the Marauders fandom and why the new one is problematic

I'll explain how the Marauders Fandom really born

I found a posts from someone who asked how to join the Marauders fandom, and these are some of the replies they received. I'm not including names because this isn't meant to be an attack on those who gave these replies; they're clearly in good faith. I'm only using them to clarify a point I addressed a few days ago in THIS post.

just read All the young dudes and the rest will fall into place. There's also an audio book on yt

The biggest marauders community is on tiktok, so that's a good place ig. I stumbled along it on there when I still had it years ago and that's how I got into it. Also reading noteble fics definitely

Yeah, it's 90% fanfic based and mostly centered around shipping them with each other.

Yes, it's mostly fan fiction. I think "All The Young Dudes" is generally considered the best of the Marauders fanfiction, and my guess would be that it's where a lot of the things people consider to be canon come from.

Welcome to the fandom :D ATYD is definitely a cornerstone, as well as Choices, ATYD - Sirius' Perspective, and another fic that has been getting pretty popular recently that I definitely recommend, marginalia.

When I say that the modern Marauders fandom (a part of it) is damaging the HP fandom, I'm referring to precisely this. If someone who only read the books years ago and obviously doesn't remember them well asks how they can join the fandom, the first answers they receive cannot and should not be recommendations of non-canon compliant FF. It's obvious that they also make up the fandom, some of the most famous (which I'll talk about soon) have greatly influenced the fandom and the way of seeing certain characters, but they are alternative versions that can be read later. They shouldn't be the first approach to fandom. It would be like telling someone who has never read the HP books and knows practically nothing about them to read FF, where Harry is raised by Voldemort.

When I say that the modern Marauders fandom (a part of it) is damaging the HP fandom, I'm referring to precisely this.

If someone who only read the books years ago and obviously doesn't remember them well asks how they can join the fandom, the first answers they receive cannot and should not be recommendations of non-canon compliant FF. It's obvious that they also make up the fandom, some of the most famous (which I'll talk about soon) have greatly influenced the fandom and the way of seeing certain characters, but they are alternative versions that can be read later. They shouldn't be the first approach to fandom. It would be like telling someone who has never read the HP books and knows practically nothing about them to read FF, where Harry is raised by Voldemort. It would give the new fan a totally distorted idea of ​​the characters. Even worse if they then decide not to read the canon books. They'll end up thinking that Harry, son of Voldemort, is the actual version. Therein lies the damage. And I know some have a totally different idea and see the Marauders fandom as something separate, a bit like the Slytherin Boys, but the two are totally different. The fact that the idea of ​​the Marauders and their era is distorted today comes mostly from TikTok. Many new fans became interested during Covid and discovered the world of FF and fandom without the slightest knowledge of the rules. This is why more and more fans have problematic attitudes. People who censorship, people who attack other fans just because they ship canonical couples, fans who use FF as if it were publishing material and demand new chapters instead of respecting the authors and understanding that every story is a gift, etc... all these new fans have no education whatsoever on fandom rules but have problematic attitudes. and claim to dictate the law by force of numbers.

You really have no idea how many times I've read things like: "But we collectively decided that Mary is black and was obliviated after the war" "We decided that James Potter fanon is totally different from canon and is POC" "We decided that Regulus was forced to take the Dark Mark." And my reaction is always: WHO ARE WE? Who really are we? The fandom doesn't have people with more authority than others, no one can dictate the law, the only thing that truly has more authority is the canon, and if "WE" decides not to respect the canon, then it's unacceptable for them to impose their own ideas.

I repeat it for the umpteenth time: it's okay to read and write stories that don't conform to canon, but it's not okay to pass them off as the version to start entering the fandom with, it's not okay to pass them off as canon-compliant. It's also not fair to spread falsehoods like: "We created the Marauders era, there's nothing canonical about it, it all started thanks to TikTok." Because no, that's not true at all. I've been in the fandom for years, I've seen how it started, I've seen the birth of the first fancasts and the first ships (when the term was still weird, like: "What do I do with a boat?" really xD).

I'll explain how the Marauders Fandom really born:

Curiosity about the Marauders era exploded with the release of the third book and chapter 18, in which Lupin talks about his time at Hogwarts with his friends, his relationship with Snape, and so on. Fans began to fantasize, writing interesting short stories with unique styles that stuck to the little we knew. The author (you know who) then answered some questions about the Marauders over the years, and that information was added to the canon. Then, with the fourth book, the Slytherin Gang (now called the Snape Gang/the Obsidians) was added thanks to ONE LINE Sirius says to Harry (CHAPTER 27):

he (Snape) was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be Death Eaters.” Sirius held up his fingers and began ticking off names. “Rosier and Wilkes — they were both killed by Aurors the year before Voldemort fell. The Lestranges — they’re a married couple — they’re in Azkaban. Avery — from what I’ve heard he wormed his way out of trouble by saying he’d been acting under the Imperius Curse — he’s still at large. But as far as I know, Snape was never even accused of being a Death Eater — not that that means much. Plenty of them were never caught. And Snape’s certainly clever and cunning enough to keep himself out of trouble.”

(oh look there are the em dashes, it's definitely AI, oh no, it's just English grammar, look at that)

At the end of the same book, we discover that Snape has the dark mark and was a Death Eater, and this further layered that era. Before then, between the third and fourth books, it was unknown who Snape's friends were. For this reason, everything focused on the Marauders, and the name was precisely Marauders Era.

Then came the fifth book, and new details were added. Snape's memories of Harry spying against his consent give us a glimpse of the Marauders' behavior towards each other and towards Snape. We see the moment when Lily and Severus's friendship ends (even though we didn't know they were friends at the time) and from there the first theories were born. In fact, there were people who had already theorized that Snape was in love with Lily, and the author explicitly said: "I can't tell you." Sirius and Remus tell Harry how James and Lily started dating in their senior year, not before. and how James lied to Lily about his ongoing clash with Snape behind her back.

And then we discover other names from the Marauders era or earlier thanks to the photo Moody gives Harry from the original Order of the Phoenix. Here we have characters who are mentioned only once, like Caradoc, Benjy, Dorcas etc., and it gives rise to the convenient idea for the FF writers that they were all, or almost all, at school at the same time, even if in different years. Because based only on canonical information, we had to grasp every nuance. Something like "they were all so young" was enough to make us understand that they were all barely over 18 to join the Order, that Neville's parents were Aurors and therefore were canonically at least three to five years older than the Marauders (since the author said that the Auror course lasts at least three years), and since the Longbottoms are respected Aurors, they must have had at least a few years of career.

All of this was sensible reasoning, respectful of canon, and it took time and attention. It wasn't like someone would wake up one day and say something like: "Sturgis Podmore was definitely the school's cigarette dealer!" No, we stuck to the canonical information and then built believable fantasies from it. We then got illustrations of characters not described in the books, and we got other small pieces of information about the Marauders through the punishments Harry reads in the sixth book when he's in detention with Snape. Slughorn talks to Harry about Lily, and we see the professor's relationship with Severus during a Slug Club party. And finally, with the seventh and final book, we get more juicy information.

All of this was sensible reasoning, respectful of canon, and it took time and attention. It wasn't like someone would wake up one day and say something like: "Sturgis Podmore was definitely the school's cigarette dealer!" No, we stuck to the canonical information and then built believable fantasies from it. We then got illustrations of characters not described in the books, and we got other small pieces of information about the Marauders through the punishments Harry reads in the sixth book when he's in detention with Snape. Slughorn talks to Harry about Lily, and we see the professor's relationship with Severus during a Slug Club party. And finally, with the seventh and final book, we get more juicy information. Harry finds letters at Grimmauld Place that Lily sent to Sirius when she and James were in hiding. We discover more details about their relationship, their behavior, about Harry as a child, and how Lily feels about Marlene's death. From here, we add new pieces to the timeline, making it coherent. Kreacher tells us about Regulus and his tragic death, his devotion to Voldemort and his watch when he joined the DE, and his desire to protect Kreacher, so much so that he himself decided to drink the potion in the cave when he discovered that Voldemort had created a Horcrux.

We have a wonderful little snippet of the night of October 31, 1981, from Voldemort's POV, which finally shows us how events unfolded. Finally, we arrive at Chapter 33 "The Prince's Tale" where we actually see the meeting between Lily and Severus, their behavior, their friendship, and how it develops over the years and its tragic end. We get a glimpse of Snape's sins, the first war, and the years he served as a spy and protected Harry and all of Hogwarts, as well as helping Harry during his last year on the run in search of the Horcruxes. Everything is like a puzzle, where the pieces fit together little by little until the bigger picture is achieved. The author then added other canonical information, such as who Sirius gored on the night of October 31st, who killed Remus during the Battle of Hogwarts, and a short canonical prequel story featuring James and Sirius during the First World War. Then, on Pottermore (the first), we had a true expansion of the canon with in-depth stories. The author reveals the disastrous meeting between James, Lily, and Petunia, along with her boyfriend Vernon. All this canonical information gave birth to the Marauders-era fandom. Everything then expanded; some fans focused on the Marauders, others on the Snape Gang, and still others tried to create credible interpretations of names mentioned only once, and everything expanded wonderfully. So no, as you can see, everything was born long before TikTok, long before even most of the new fans were born.

And no, not even Wolfstar created the fandom. Even though it is a very famous ship today, it is not the one that drove the fandom. (Leaving aside that canonically it makes zero sense and Prongfoot is much more believable) was not born as a crack ship, that is, deliberately absurd ships made popular because, however, how was Jegulu born. No, Wolfstar was born from a misunderstanding, from a nuance that the actors of Remus and Sirius are said to have given to the characters by imagining them as homosexual. But this is not entirely true, it is really a common example of how a story told many times becomes exaggerated and distorted. The truth is that in just one interview, Remus actor David Thewlis stated this:

O.K. but what about the revelation that Albus Dumbledore is gay? Thewlis concedes that threw him for a loop, but not for the reasons you might think. "The funny thing when Alfonso Cuaron directed "The Prisoner of Azkaban, the first film that I appear in, he had the idea that Lupin was gay and he described my character like a 'gay junkie' .And of course Lupin turns out not to be gay because he marries Tonks and has children."

So this interpretation isn't even from the actors, but from the third film's director, Alfonso Cuarón, and refers only to the character of Remus. However, this interpretation turns out to be incorrect given how the character evolves in the canon.

Furthermore, Sirius actor Gary Oldman said that if he had been able to know more about his character, as Alan Rickman did, he would have interpreted the role drastically differently. Indeed, if we had had a faithful representation of how Sirius interacted with Remus as a young man and The Prank had been explained, Wolfstar wouldn't have had all this "success." So I hope you now understand, at least a little, the annoyance some of us feel these days at seeing everything distorted and passed off as the product of a single, non-canon-compliant but poorly tagged FF, with OOCs and absurd distortions, or edits that, however beautiful, are the product of a much older commitment.

It's frustrating, like watching a classmate show up late, haven't studied, and then steal your homework, hand it in to the teacher, pretending it's theirs, and steal all the credit. And the worst part is that when this is pointed out, the responses are terribly immature, like: "Don't ruin the fandom, it's our space, we can do whatever we want" and there are still people who continue to say that only a small portion of fans made the fandom great, fans who weren't even born when the first books were released. I honestly know I'm going to sound old when I say this, but today's fandom can only run free because the first-generation fans worked on it. The new fans are left to their own devices, but instead of respecting their work, they kick them in the back, even trying to bully them and disown the canon.

This is all terribly unfair.

[ottogatto]

I think it’s telling that to prove Snape wrong about Harry's nature as a person, Dumbledore says "in appearance he looks like his father but inside he's more like Lily".

He doesn’t even say "James had good qualities that reflect in Harry".

He's admitting that James was a bad person and that if Harry's good then it must be his mother's influence.

[groovypalacehorselover]

"Severus was still a piece of shit and didn't convert for a noble cause! He was a creep and wanted Lily to himself"

Incorrect. Severus's only mistake was selling his soul for a girl who never gave two shits about him. In fact, he should have begged Voldemort to come along so he could dance on their bodies and tea bagged James.

[oldhpfan]

Oh no, what a tragedy. Now I want whoever says this to name me even ONE CHARACTER who changed sides just out of the kindness of their heart. Really, just one is enough for me, I'll wait.

[inthemoodforblastt]

What the fuck are the “Slytherin Skittles,” and why the hell aren’t Snape, Mulciber, Averyand Wilkes among them, while a bunch of random people who didn’t even overlap with them at school are? Bring back the real Slytherin Gang and fuck off with the cheap knock-offs.

[oldhpfan]

They're the Temu version of the Snape Gang, but with ridiculous combinations of fictional characters. The idea that Dorcas, Evan, Barty, Regulus, and Pandora (where did that name come from? I don't know) were all friends is so absurd.

Okay, you can have it as a fantasy canon divergence, but this really goes against canon. Evan Rosier was Snape's friend, that's canon. Marauder Fans need to stop stripping Snape of everything: friends, history, personality, childhood, etc. MFans really have no creativity.

[the-most-faithful]

Edmund Avery HEADNCANONS

He has a younger brother named Everett Avery (the character is canon, although we don't know the relationship).

He was friends with Aurora Sinistra and Bruce Mulciber since childhood.

He suffers from a chronic illness that has weakened him since childhood; it's unclear whether it was related to a blood curse or not. The fact is that he was always tired during his school years, even though he managed to get excellent grades. His friends, especially Bruce Mulciber, were there for him and helped him.

He struggled with an addiction to a painkiller potion. Shortly after graduating from Hogwarts, he was so sick he couldn't leave the house. Mulciber and Snape supported him in fighting the addiction and helping him detox, thanks in part to Severus's potions.

He believes in the purity of blood, but he has learned to appreciate Charity in fact he is very protective of her, at least until Second Wizarding War.

He was responsible for the deaths of Olivia Gleaves and Iola Hillicker during Second Wizarding War.

He had a relationship with Timothy Hale; his disappearance in 2015 as one of the London Five destroyed him.

I love all of Edmund's fancasts (and all of the gang members). I just think Paul Wesley is perfect, but I respect everyone.

If you have any other headcanons, let me know and I'll add them to the list.

[winters-on-the-wing]

reminder that if james potter is a sexual abuser, then severus snape is a sexual abuser too because he invented the spell that james used to “sexually abuse” (LMFAO) snape and because of how the magic system works, james would have to have heard somebody else say the spell at least once, more likely more than once, in order to understand the pronounciation and wand waving technique. and since nobody knows that snape invented the spell, it’s likely that he didn’t teach it to anybody else, which means that it’s likely snape who james saw do the spell. and even if it wasn’t, creating a spell invented to turn someone upside down and cause their robes to fall over is absolutely more sexual abuse than using it one time. snape would have to test out the spell to see if it worked. therefore, if james is a sexual abuser, which he isn’t, then snape is much more of one. :)

[monty-reborn]

We reiterate that this is one of the most distorted arguments in existence. First, because it's a clear attempt to blame the victim, and that's terribly wrong. Second, because it contains a terrifying logical flaw. The fact that Snape invented spells doesn't make it any less serious or deserved that he's bullied with them. Levicorpus isn't a spell created for bullying; rather, like many other spells, it's a tool that's neither good nor bad, depending on how it's used. Like a knife, whoever invented it for cooking intended it to be used for cutting tomatoes, not for hurting someone. If the person who invented it is hurt by the knife, what do we do? We tell them: "Hey, Bob, see? It's your fault if that person hurt you; they used your invention." Come on, this is obviously ridiculous. Levicorpus is a spell that lifts people up. It's not like everyone who uses it automatically becomes an SA, otherwise, by the same logic, anyone who cuts tomatoes becomes a m**de**r. Levicorpus doesn't have the effect of taking someone's pants off, it simply lifts you up. James in TWM not only lifts Snape up but also intends to undress him. This is the SA, not Levicorpus itself.

And then this constant attempt to justify bullies using unproven assumptions is truly ridiculous

since nobody knows that snape invented the spell, it’s likely that he didn’t teach it to anybody else, which means that it’s likely snape who james saw do the spell.

You're imagining that Snape used the spell to bully someone and that James learned it from him, but in what situation? Do I need to remind you that James has the Marauder's Map and an invisibility cloak? Since you like to theorize, can I do the same? James could have followed Snape to spy on him and watch him practice on a friend (as Harry did with Ron). Levicorpus is described as widespread among students: “It was a very popular jinx.” And who, between Snape and the Marauders, is known for casting spells on anyone in the corridors? The Marauders, or more precisely, James and Sirius, who popularized the spell by using it on several students.

creating a spell invented to turn someone upside down and cause their robes to fall over is absolutely more sexual abuse than using it one time.

Once again, false. I repeat, Levicorpus doesn't have the effect of stripping someone na*ed, it simply lifts them by the ankle. What you decide to do next could become SA, as James did. Furthermore, you're arguing that the intentional act outweighs the abstract potential. The fact that James only used it once is false. We're told it's used often, and yet the fact that someone SAs someone only once makes it less serious? I don't think so. Snape, on the other hand, when in canon does anyone have SA? Never, But I'm used to seeing Mstan use unproven assumptions to justify the Mrauders. Your entire argument falls apart, especially because if you really want to argue that what happens in TWM isn't SA, then trying to blame the victim isn't the right approach.

[charlotterhea]

Sometimes I forget just how unbelievable all the things Snape did were, especially in sum. He wasn't only a teacher of a core subject and Head of House in a boarding school, meaning he had to teach at least 36 lessons a week plus marking essays plus doing rounds at night plus attending staff meetings plus being available for his students 24/7, he was also a spy, a position compelling him to attend meetings from both sides regularly, always keeping focused and his guard up, at DE meetings running the risk of being killed or - worse - tortured first until he spilt all of his knowledge, and at times or permanently providing the infirmary (and Lupin) with potions, all while trying to keep a boy with literally no survival instinct alive.

And that was only until the end of book six. After that, he was even stripped of everybody he could ever show a tiny bit of his true self, forced to lead a school that was suddenly following DE rhetoric and teaching (and using!) unforgivables to/on the students.

It's an absolute mystery to me how this man persevered as long as he did. How he was mentally, but especially physically, able to accomplish all of that without slipping up even once. I'm burnt out only from thinking about going through that. What an unbelievable accomplishment...

And the saddest part of all that is that he wouldn't even accept anybody calling it the miracle it was. Like, no, honey, everybody would not have been able to do that, sit down and take your praise, will you?

[moonlightdancer26]

and I still see them categorise him as “that character who did one good thing at the end of the story”

[monty-reborn]

Normal conversations between the Dark Triumvirate

Voldemort: If Muggles stopped infiltrating our world, there would be no war. Caradoc: But Muggle-borns are victims of the system, they are not to blame. You too were born among Muggles.

Voldemort: When you say things like that, I just want to cruciate you. I mean, you know, you deserve it. Caradoc: This really just highlights your lack of reasoning. You know I'm right.

Bellatrix: Not this topic yet, please.

[oldhpfan]

I love it, I really want to read some AU scene about the three of them 😂😂😂

The Dark Triumvirate my new obsession

[oldhpfan]

EMERGENCY (Snapedom and the-most-faithful Blog)

My friend @the-most-faithful (Monty) just found out their blog was deleted without warning because of a report.

They're appealing but aren't sure they'll get their blog and posts back.

They told me they'd received strange private messages before this deletion. I don't know about you, but I can think of a few people who might have tried to harm them.

Sorry to tag you, but if you can't find their posts anymore, you know why

@maxdibert @capriddle @sevinagreatergoodsnap @gaystergangster @inthemoodforblast @snapedefender @moonlightdancer26 @mistressofamberandink @maruke2003 @poitionsprince @sevwords @sevinagreatergood

Do you know of any way to save old posts or interactions? All the work they've done over the years to dismantle ATYD, his collection in defense of Snape, his posts on fandom issues have been lost otherwise 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[maxdibert]

I know youre from Spain and all but apparently Charlie Kirk got shot??

It’s kind of ironic that a defender of the free use of firearms died during a debate where he was defending the free use of firearms from a gunshot wound. It’s somewhere between ironic and poetic, really. I don’t feel sorry at all, but the neoliberal right will probably turn him into a martyr, and that’s never a good thing.

[gaystergangster]

Ngl, I only feel bad for his children, who literally saw him get shot. That's serious trauma 🤷‍♀️

But other than that, Ion think I'll ever feel bad for Kirk, in any shape or form

[oldhpfan]

Exactly how I feel. I have no empathy whatsoever for him, for his children, for his wife, certainly, but not for him. The ideals he derided and attacked would have protected him from what happened to him, while what he stood for is what led to his end. He defended the Second Amendment, and it's what finished him off. Charlie himself would have shrugged his death because he was "collateral damage."

[fugamalefica]

Voldemort saving Bellatrix in the Department of Mysteries is something out of a fairytale romance. She is trapped under the statue, helpless and crying, and Voldemort storms in to save her. He literally sweeps her away from danger while enemies close in around them, risking attack or capture and blowing his cover for her.

It's textbook fairytale romance, complete with the sobbing maiden, the hero's dramatic entrance, and the escape into the night lol.