Untitled

The unfinished story

[multismusa-deactivated20170218]

What she says: I’m fine.

What she means: I understand the Chronicles of Narnia was at its heart a fairytale with theological analogies for children. But why did Lewis never address how they had to adapted to life on Earth again. Why does no one talk about how the Pevensies had to grow up with a kingdom of responsibilities on their shoulders, only to return to Earth and be children. Take Lucy, she was youngest and perhaps she adapted more quickly-but she had the memories and mind of a grown woman in an adolescent body. Edmund literally found himself in Narnia, he went from a selfish boy to mature and experienced man. He found a purpose and identity through his experiences to come back as just Edmund, Peter’s younger brother. Did people wonder why the sullen, sour boy came back, carrying himself like a wisened king? Did his mother wonder why he and Peter suddenly got along so well, why they spent so much time together now? And Susan, the girl of logistics and reason came back with a difference in her. She learned how to be a diplomat and ambassador, Susan the Gentle had to live to endure not-so-gentle circumstances. She had the respect she wanted, only to be just another teen girl. And Peter, he entered the manhood and maturity he so wanted. He earned the responsibility and stripes he yearned for. He learned to command armies and conduct the menial tasks demanded of a king to rule a nation. But he came back, appearing to be just anther glory-hungry boy. Not to mention the PTSD they must have struggled with. Especially Edmund. How often did he wake up in a sweat, screaming a sibling or comrade’s name? His parents believe it’s the war, but it’s an entirely different one he has nightmares about. How often did he have trouble with flashbacks and mood swings? And how many times did he and Peter sit over a newspaper or near the radio listening to reports on the troops. How often did they pour over lost battles and debate better strategies. Did their parents ever wonder why they seemed to understand flight war so well? How long was it before they stopped discussing these things in front of people? Why does no one talk about this??? 

[cocoartistwrites]

Why am i fucking crying

[limblogs]

Why does no one talk about how the Pevensies had to grow up with a kingdom of responsibilities on their shoulders, only to return to Earth and be children

It’s not addressed because it’s understood. It was the shared experience of the generation. You are describing coming home from World War One, battle wearied and aged beyond belief, but walking around in the body of a youth. C S Lewis went to the front line of the Somme on his nineteenth birthday and went back to complete uni in 1918 after demob.

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

Not seen it with this very very pertinent addition before

[little-prongs-deactivated202111]

What would you respond to the people who says that Ron is not emotionally mature or intelligent to be compatible with Hermione?

It’s simply not true. To me this sounds like another example of Hermione’s sort of intelligence being the only kind really recognized. He even does rather decently in class, if I recall correctly, but people tend to assume otherwise just because he isn’t fond of studying things he doesn’t care about.

Ron is very intelligent. He’s the tactician, the strategist. He’s frequently described as being a brilliant chess player. It’s his specialty. Just because he isn’t whipping out facts a mile a minute doesn’t mean he isn’t smart.

Also discussion of whether he is or isn’t aside… Does it really matter? Would it really be a problem for the girl to be the smarter one in a relationship? I’m not sure I like the implications of that. In fact, props to Ron for being so encouraging and supportive of her! He knows she’s brilliant, and he’s proud of that. Especially as someone who is insecure and has a tendency to get jealous. We never see him act that way with Hermione. And I’ve heard enough about douche bags breaking up with girls because they were ‘too smart for them’ and their starved ego couldn’t handle it. Anyway.

They don’t have to have the same kind of intelligence, or the same level of intelligence, to be compatible. There’s so much more to it than that. Ron helps Hermione loosen up, Hermione helps Ron to work harder. They are what the other needs. They balance each other out. Opposites attract, remember? 

As for emotional intelligence and maturity… Well let’s see… For one thing, this is not Hermione’s strong suit either. We frequently see her badgering people, not really recognizing when enough is enough. This is actually one of the main reasons I don’t think she works with Harry in a romantic sense. She nags relentlessly and then cowers under the anger it provokes. She doesn’t know how to deal with his moods, she doesn’t understand what he needs.

And Ron… is a teenage boy struggling with insecurity. Most of his ‘emotional immaturity’ is directly linked to those struggles. And that’s just the thing. They’re struggles. I don’t expect him to handle them well. That’s what makes it a weakness.

He’s actually shown as being pretty sensitive and emotionally intelligent as well, although those exact moments aren’t coming to mind right now.

Sorry this isn’t super thorough and sourced with excerpts, etc. I simply didn’t feel like doing that sort of work right now haha. If anyone has any other points or thoughts to share, feel free to add! Also I’m sure I’ve reblogged a lot of posts about this sort of thing in the past if you want to browse my Ron Weasley or romione tags.

[divagonzo]

BodmatheI’ll throw some receipts your way, @anilee :

Now..notice how Ron has 7 OWLs. 7. That’s pretty darn good for a lad who couldn’t be arsed much of the time to spend hours upon hours of studying. Hermione is driven by a fear of failure (at that time) and works incredibly hard to achieve those scores. But by all means is it that Ron is a dunce. (Hence Molly’s quip about scoring better than the twins.)

But I’m going to inject a touch of RL into this discussion, too, especially the issue of various kinds of intelligence and “smarts”:

It’s a nasty bias to think that the only kind of intelligence is book learning. I know that’s complete rubbish. There’ssooooo many forms of intelligence. Vast. Theory of Multiple Intelligence

Ron clearly demonstrates visual-spatial as well as Interpersonal. Chess is a fine example of this. He’s also the heart of the trio. (Ex. When he was gone in DH and Harry and Hermione didn’t speak to one another most days.) Hermione though is purely logical-mathematical. And Harry is bodily-kinesthetic.

But to say that Ron is a dunce because he’s not entirely logical or critical analysis like Hermione is an insult. His intuitive understanding of the magical world helps Harry and Hermione alike because they were outsiders coming into the magical world where he grew up in it.

But to claim he’s not intelligent or emotionally too brittle for her is bollocks.

[little-prongs-deactivated202111]

^^^

[eggsaladstain]

you know, when i said i wanted the real world to be more like harry potter i just meant the teleportation and the butterbeer, not the entire plot of book 5 where the government refuses to do anything about a deadly threat so the teenagers have to rise up and fight back

[sadgaywerewolf]

I spent my entire shift at work thinking about an AU where Remus keeps his job at the end of PoA, and Umbridge comes in 5th year to do inspections and keeps trying to find a reason to fire him but no one literally has any bad things to say about him. Not Draco Malfoy “I know I’m usually the first to throw someone under the bus but also O.W.L.s ARE this year and I’m not losing a competent teacher and risking my O.” Not even Severus Snape, who, when questioned, has to some very fast mental math between who he hates more- Lupin or Umbridge. Not to mention, implying that Lupin could be dangerous due to his lycanthropy would be a self-burn on his own potion making skills, and he assures Umbridge there’s not a person in the country who brews a more effective wolfsbane potion.

And when Umbridge observes his class (classes, actually, she’s determined to find a slip up), she sees nothing but students acting ridiculously well behaved, engaging in non-threatening and non-aggressive defensive magical theory, and Lupin standing demurely at the front of the room smiling at her.

(Lupin didn’t ask them to do this, of course, but there’s an unspoken understanding amongst the students that the kid who loses Lupin for the school is going to have their social life fuckin destroyed by every 7th year who finally feel confident in their ability to pass a DADA NEWT, not to mention the unbridled wrath of one Hermione Granger)

[muchtootiredtoofallasleep-deact]

Michael Corner was dumped by Ginny Weasley for being a sore loser and in many instances was straight up rude, and he got tortured by the Carrows for releasing a first year student they had chained up.

Ernie Macmillan was pompous and at times even a little obnoxious, and he stood up and asked if students would be able to stay and fight Voldemort.

Seamus Finnigan sided with the ministry and called one of his closest friends a liar, and he owned up to his mistakes and apologized, and was one of the leaders in the fight against the carrows.

Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown were seen as gossipy, giggly, over emotional school girls, and they fought in the battle of hogwarts.

Cho Chang was often emotional, and was jealous of Harry’s friendship with Hermione, and she fought in the battle of hogwarts.

Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were troublemakers at school, and were often seen as immature, and they risked their lives to get information to people during the war and fought in the final battle.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna also often exhibit immature and sometimes even rude behavior during their school years, and are inarguably six of the bravest most heroic people in the series.

These characters were children. They were teenagers. They were immature, they were petty, at times they were rude. They were over emotional and easily jealous and obnoxious and they all had moments where they were straight up bad people. But that doesn’t change the fact that they were heroes. Teenagers are stupid. These kids were normal teenagers, and they had the same flaws that normal teenagers have, and that shouldn’t overshadow the heroes that they grew into.

NOTE: this post is NOT endorsing or excusing the awful irredeemable behavior of a certain adult character who shall remain nameless. This post is about children who are judged on a few childish actions instead of their bravery and heroism.

[firewhisky]

‘You go too far!’ shouted Scrimgeour, standing up; Harry jumped to his feet too. Scrimgeour limped toward Harry and jabbed him hard in the chest with the point of his wand: It singed a hole in Harry’s T-shirt like a lit cigarette. ‘Oi!’said Ron, jumping up and raising his own wand, but Harry said, ‘No! D’you want to give him an excuse to arrest us?’

Whenever Harry Potter is threatened, Ron Weasley is the first one to jump up, whether it be on a broken leg to dare what he thought was a mass murderer or in defiance of the Minister of Magic himself. Good thing he’s not a good friend, though, huh? (via ohmissmorstan)

This.

[fuzzysparrow]

It’s not hoarding if it’s books

[mouseinmypocket]

books make it a library

[october31st1981]

I always laugh when somebody declares James Potter on the verge of expulsion for his pranks in fic because Malfoy was literally a Death Eater trying to kill the Headmaster and Dumbledore was like “Let’s just see if we can gently guide him away from this” I’m pretty sure the only thing that gets you expelled at Hogwarts is if you have already straight up murdered someone

[tacticalmoonbeam]

Tom Riddle: *straight up murdered someone*

Dumbledore: *keeps an annoyingly close eye on*

[solongloserse-deactivated201808]

hagrid got expelled for keeping one (1) spider under his bed

[october31st1981]

Hagrid got expelled because his spider was blamed for one (1) murder

[proudofthefish-blog]

Sirius Black attempted to murder Severus Snare and was not expelled.

[proudofthefish-blog]

You Don't Know Me At All

Yesterday at the gym the PT and I were discussing a stretch I no longer did because I don't have any steps in my apartment to use. Him: "Well you could use a book. Put it on the floor and put your foot on it like like this..." Me thinking to myself: Stand on a book? You've got to be kidding me! Him: Continues explaining. Me, still thinking to myself: Well I *do* have a copy of Cursed Child.

[harrypotterconfessions]

I’m sick of Ravens on all the Ravenclaw merchandise, when the house symbol is a Eagle. I can’t buy any Ravenclaw stuff, as the official merchandise is wrong!

[proudofthefish-blog]

This.

[fernsandsunflowers]

Y'all up here acting like Snape spent his entire life in Danger because of his spywork? No. He joined the Death Eaters willingly after Hogwarts and only worked as a Spy for about 9 months (probably shorter) during the 1st war and then 3 years during the 2nd war. He had a nice, comfortable life inbetween under Dumbledore’s protection at Hogwarts. He was the only one to blame for any discomfort and unhappiness he experienced in those almost 14 years of safety. He was bitter and decided take it out on the rest of the world.

You know who did brave a horrible life full of loneliness, poverty, negligence and cruelty at the hands of those who wrongly feared and marginalized him? Remus Lupin. Who by the way also worked as a Spy for Dumbledore by living among werewolves (including the man who bit him) who supported Voldemort. Note, he LIVED among these werewolves. Always in danger of being torn apart and murdered on the spot, whereas most of Snape’s spylife involved him sulking around Hogwarts tormenting kids… Safe. And Remus lost EVERYTHING…but he smiled. Always smiled. Always put others first and never took anything for granted. It took tremendous amounts of bravery for Remus to just go about everyday life.

But no Snape’s the bravest of them all. I’m not bitter.

[proudofthefish-blog]

Harry Potter and How the Scene Should Have Gone

Umbridge: Mr. Potter, do you expect to be attacked in my class?

Harry: Yes.

Umbridge: What?

Harry: Well, I mean, I'm running four for four.

Umbridge: Mr. Potter-

Harry: Quirrel tried to choke me out.

Umbridge: Mr. Potter-

Harry: And Lockhart tried to wipe my memory.

Umbridge: Mr. Potter-

Harry: Of course, Professor Lupin didn't mean it. He just forgot his potion, but still, totally went werewolf on me.

Umbridge: MR. POTTER-

Harry: And then Moody turned out to be an escaped Death Eater in disguise.

Umbridge: POTTER!

Harry: So, yeah, I figure it's 100% you'll attack me in June, 50/50 you'll try to kill me, with a 25% chance of an Unforgivable curse.

Harry: (Turns to Hermione)

Harry: Did I get the math right?

Hermione: Yes.

[somethingtodowithpotter]

We might have misunderstood Hogwarts Houses for years

I have a theory that the valued quality of each of the four Houses isn’t really about the personality of its students.

The valued quality of each of the four Houses has to do with how they perceive magic.

Stick with me a second: Hogwarts is a school to study magic. Magic as Hogwarts teaches it can be seen as many things: a natural talent, a gift, a weapon, etc.

So how you believe magic should be used will both reflect your personality and change how you handle that power.

“Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart,” Gryffindors perceive magic as a weapon. Gryffindors tend to excel in aggressive forms of magic, like offensive and defensive spells, and they are good at dueling. But a true Gryffindor knows that the power is a responsibility, and so they must always use their powers to stand up for what’s right. They are the sword of the righteous, which makes them as good at Defense Against the Dark Arts as they are at combat magic.

Hufflepuffs believe that magic is a gift and that the best gifts are to be given away. Hufflepuffs, “loyal and just,” would naturally abhor the idea of jealously guarding magic or using it to hurt someone else. So Hufflepuffs share their magic to benefit of Muggles, like the Fat Friar, to protect the overlooked, like Newt Scamander with his creatures, or to oppose those who would use magic to torment and bully, like the Hufflepuffs who stood with the DA and the battle of Hogwarts.

Slytherins are the opposite: they believe their magic is a treasure that they have been entrusted to protect. The Slytherin fascination with purity, with advantage, with cunning and secrecy–all of which were perverted by the Death Eaters–comes from the idea that people with magic in their veins have been given something special that it is their duty to protect at all costs. And perhaps they aren’t entirely wrong: power in the wrong hands can be dangerous. And power interfering at will with Muggle affairs is a gross presumption that could turn the course of history. Though the series shows some of the worst that Slytherin can be, “evil,” is not a natural Slytherin tendency. “Cautious,” is.

Ravenclaws believe that magic is an art form, one that is beautiful and should be appreciated and studied for its own sake. If “wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure,” then asking what magic is for is useless. It’s more important to immerse oneself in magic for its own sake. Ravenclaws push the boundaries of magic to see if they can, hence Hermione’s spell experiment on the DA coins being dubbed a Ravenclaw quality, but like Luna Lovegood in the pursuit of extraordinary creatures: they can also be content to plumb the depths of what already exists.

So while you can see where personalities will overlap over Houses, perhaps in Sorting we should be asking ourselves less what we think we are and more what we think we believe. 

[proudofthefish-blog]

Oh wow. Headcannon accepted.

[animateglee-archived]

Ooh rare Slughorn positivity! Do you mind if I ask why you like him?

Slughorn? He’s the best.

He grew up in the same environment as the worst of the series’ characters but that had no effect on his beliefs at all. While it is not an achievement not to be prejudiced, we have seen many characters lured into those kinds of beliefs by their environment. He may have gone to Hogwarts way earlier for Slytherin to be explicitly prejudiced but this is still a house that has Salazar as the founder and Pureblood as its password so… This doesn’t mean he was a mellow guy, this isn’t coming from passivity in him so he’s a sound dude.

He allows you to advance. The shelf. The shelf is a good thing. Here’s why. I can only give my own personal experience but I hope it’s demonstrative. I was a kid who was always entered into competitions and won them all without fail, without being asked whether I like it or not. It was a lot of extra work, for nothing. We have no prefects here, no head boy/girl, we get accepted to university based on our grades and only the most prestigious stuff counts as extra points when applying, (which I did but basically only that one national competition should have been enough, the rest were absolutely useless). Now, I’d like to get something for my work, if that’s not too much to ask, besides the joy of learning and parents thinking I poop gold on command. Credit, recognition, appreciation, extra points, better grades, an extra scrap of paper at graduation ceremonies, that’s all nice, but without the danger of sounding ungrateful, they’re also pretty useless. What matters is opportunities. You work hard, you want doors to open, right? Slughorn opens those doors for you. That is AMAZING. That is REAL help, that is the real fruit of your hard work. Opportunities are the hardest things to come by, Slughorn gave the best thing to students he could. Ginny may have appreciated the satisfaction she derived from her Bat-Bogey Hexes and the laughs she gave her friends but I’m sure the most valuable thing was meeting Gwenog Jones, her future captain, through Slughorn.

Meritocracy is a good thing. I believe in state schools, equal funding, I believe in the full comprehensive system, if you’re English/Welsh/Scottish (I’m Hungarian for the record just trying to help pinpoint what terms per geographical location I mean because it’s a mess ughhh). You should all have an equal shot. However, there is absolutely no point or use in treating all kids equally if you erase opportunities to stand out. That’s why even in comprehensives there are advanced classes and prefects, and a headboy/girl. I’ve seen some posts enraged about the everyone-gets-a-trophy culture that is prevalent in the USA (not in Europe really? idk, I’ve rarely seen this cookies for participation stuff). Yes, that is bloody useless and Slughorn is the opposite of it. He’s not vindictive about it, though. He doesn’t want to pit students against one another to vye for positions. The table seats enough, there’s always space on his shelves. But you have to earn it otherwise what’s the point?

He seems elitist because the first students he invites to lunch are people he assumes would be talented based on successful relatives but he also later invites Ginny for the hex and Hermione because she’s brilliant. In fact, he doesn’t take to Draco at all, because he’s right to stay well away from the Malfoys, and he sees Malfoy’s a right shit. If Malfoy was a good person and a talented student and Slughorn didn’t appreciate him just because of his family name, that’d be a problem. That’s not the case, though. He really wanted to teach Sirius as his Head of House, too, so he ultimately doesn’t care about what your relationship with your parents are or how much you’re like or unlike them.

He phrases his thoughts a bit bluntly to us, that’s also the writing, probably, I mean, whoever talks like that in real life? But he’s a character, he has to be a bit caricaturistic as opposed to the everyman(ish) main character. But the actual thoughts behind all that are something I like. He would have been Percy’s dream teacher, can you imagine? And yes, what Percy’s doing, the “networking” is a smart thing. It’s almost impossible to break out of a disadvantaged situation just on your own. (And he was being hindered by Arthur’s lousy reputation too.)

A lot of this sounds mean but if you work hard, yes, you absolutely should get real rewards, not just a plastic trophy or a well done comment. Otherwise what’s the point? You know, I just finished my BA in English and I had a yearmate who did the same degree over the course of double the time, on purpose.ON PURPOSE. (You get the first 12 semesters free here unless you go abroad after graduation in the next 25 years.) So this guy purposefully arrived at the uni, declared that he would fail every course twice to drag his uni years out, and he was the laziest, most annoyingly obstructing-everyone-else’s-work kinda guy. But he got the degree too. On paper, he and I are equal. I worked my ass off for my grades and bursary that meant life and death in some months, and did extra research for the most prestigious research competition/conference in the country. None of that matters to employers. He’s still going to be hired more likely, he’ll still make 14% more than me in any job. That effin caveman. So yeah, I’d love a Slughorn type person who has real help to offer. Real connections. Not just even more extra work, like other projects that nobody has motivation or ambition for, just more stuff I have to split my time on, like in this past year, like… no, no, no. If you see a student who wants to stand out, don’t give them yet more work. Listen, you have to give something real for something real. I love learning, I love working, but it does nothing to chit-chat and congratulate and tell a student they’d be amazing at xyz top university in whatever country that’s got more resources and prestige. You have to actually direct them to programs that they can afford, actually give them money, actually give them connections that get them jobs so they can save up on their own, or extra credits that will actually internationally matter.

Also, he collects people together, he creates events where talented people can meet, which is good. Brilliant minds are awesome on their own but when they join forces, they can make great things. (Well, terrible, yeess but great - if we look at the group that happened to contain Lucius and Riddle. Oops.) Slughorn makes his famous friends meet one another, not just himself. For the life of me I don’t understand why Harry’s averse to this. Sorry not everyone can afford to be a special chosen one??? People actually have worked hard to be invited to such parties as Slughorn’s one. Appreciate it, you utter idiot. I cannot believe that scene was wasted on teenage boy/girlfriend problems and the idiotic Draco plot.

I mean, I love that there’s that bit about Flitwick in the Ravenclaw greeting message on Pottermore that he cheers you up when you’re down. I love the Hufflepuff inclusivity, yes we should all want to be Hufflepuffs. However, The actual point of all that homework is to get somewhere, right? Slughorn.

Also, he’s a débonaire kinda guy, his bouncing moustache and big belly and extensive academic knowledge, he’s just awesome. I had a professor at uni, took an optional course on Italian Renaissance Literature and another on just Dante with him and he reminded me of Slughorn, especially when he started to go on about his love of Dante’s genius, like, man, that was real love. Anyway, Slughorn creates events at Hogwarts that bring people together. Quidditch is fun but it’s rivalry and it’s a giant event to go to a game. The drama club has been banned as far as we know. There are clubs that are study groups so not just spaces to only hang out. You have the common rooms but that’s just for your own friends and people study there. They have no movie nights, concerts, the Yule Ball is only because of the incredibly rare Triwizard Tournament. There’s no Christmas party regularly, since kids tend to go home. They need more events at Hogwarts where you don’t have to work but can mingle with people other than your immediate group of friends.

And one last thing to love:

“Oho!”

Bless.

Slughorn’s a good one.

[animateglee-archived]

cocktail-party-in-an-abattoir replied:

Also he’s clearly really fucked up about helping Tom Riddle even though he couldn’t have known how bad it was going to be? How much remorse do you honestly see from the authority figures in Harry Potter lmao? And how often?

THIS.

[proudofthefish-blog]

Can you imagine what it would have been like if we'd had Slughorn for seven years instead of Snape?

A Harry who learned to use his social capital and manage his image.

A Harry who could make people in other houses and eventually the government do things for or with him instead of trying to shoulder it completely on his own until his friends inserted themselves into his plans by shear force of will.

[proudofthefish-blog]

This is what my notes on reading and interpreting poetry within scripture look like because I was working on the train. They are annoying to reread.

[proudofthefish-blog]

It's 2:40 am on the first day that I am unscheduled for the summer and I am just going to bed because I was reading. Life is good.

[proudofthefish-blog]

When my students ask me what my favorite book is... "After all this time?" "Always."