#hpws

[herwrittings]

but isnt a half blood more like seamus? "dad's a muggle. mam's a witch. bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out."

Yes, same as tom riddle's situation, muggle dad & mother witch. One could be a half-blood if a witch/wizard with at least 1 wizarding parent but at least one Muggle parent. (Dean Thomas, Nymphadora...)

[herwrittings]

why do people say harry is a half blood if both his parents were wizards?

Uhm by blood, Lily is a muggle-born & James is a pureblood @__@

[herwrittings]

hi, just wondering, i know snape turns out to be the good guy, but why? i kinda understand it but.. ?

Snape is a complicated man.  He's bitter.  He's … spiteful.  He's a bully.  All these things are still true of Snape, even at the end of this book.  But was he brave?  Yes, immensely.

Was he capable of love?  Very definitely.  So he's-- he's a very-- he was a flawed human being, like all of us.

Harry forgives him--- as we know, from the epilogue, Harry-- Harry really sees the good in Snape ultimately. I wanted there to be redemption and I wanted there to be forgiveness.  And Harry forgives, even knowing that until the end Snape loathed him unjustifiably. it's totally, totally unfair that he loathes him so much but anyway.

JK Rowling, Today Show

Speaking in general there are always two sides within us, the good and the unlikely. As JKR stated he was a flawed individual just like us, but what he differs from Voldemort is that even when he started with the wrong decision he acted on doing on what he seem is right to correct it and what he chose to act upon is humanely beneficial to Harry which was motivated by his selfish and possessive love for Lily. People say that “A hero is in the eye of the beholder”, we have our own definitions and standards for what we seem is a hero to us. In JKR’s statement it was obvious that even if he performed good deeds for the Harry’s protection and safety she did consider him as a whole hearted hero.

At first Snape’s loyalty is towards Voldemort but after learning that the prophecy that he shared to Voldemort resulted to Lily Potter’s danger, it made him realize the consequences of his actions and so he confessed to Dumbledore the danger the Potters are about to face after being denied by Voldemort when he pleaded that only Lily be spared. So we see he is not that good of a hero to be looked up for, his motives are self-motivated. We learned that Snape was a double agent for both the Order and the Death Eaters and his brilliance and skills are enough to keep his allegiances intact. People until the very end question Snape’s loyalty to both parties and here are some proofs to Snape's good side:

Snape's loyalty to Dumbledore & Dumbledore's unwavering trust to Snape:

• Dumbledore's portait tells Snape to hide Gryffindor's sword in the Forest of Dean where Harry can find it. Snape leads Harry to the sword with his Patronus, a silver doe.

• Dumbledore wanted Snape to be the one to kill him instead of Draco.

• Snape with his knowledge of the Dark Arts countered the curse of the horcrux ring though it could only do a little good.

• Dumbledore vouched for Snape's loyalty before the Wizengamot

• After Voldemort's re-birth, Dumbledore gave Snape some sort of grim assignment 

• Snape saves Harry’s (and many other lives) by alerting Dumbledore when he found out that Harry had gone to the Department of Mysteries; Snape does not participate in the battle.

Griefstricken over Lily's death, Snape reaffirms his allegiance to Dumbledore. He promises to protect Harry's life but tells Dumbledore that no one is to know of his love for Lily. After being denounced by Karkaroff as a Death Eater in the Wizengamot, Dumbledore vouches for his loyalty. And so then started his being a double-agent for both parties, at first we were completely convinced that he is a bad man and ever loyal to the Dark Lord and even in the first chapters of DH, but after the “silver doe” and the “pensieve” it was shown that everything that he did was under the orders of Albus Dumbledore. He was indeed a great spy that even Voldemort believed that he was an unwavering deatheater that in Snape’s death he still have faith of his loyalties towards him, though Harry revealed to Voldemort in the Battle of Hogwarts the real reasons of his loyalty. And also being a spy for Voldemort he has to comply with the ways of the Death Eaters, he had to watch his fellow professor die, curse off George Weasley’s ear and do some villainous acts. His loyalty to Dumbledore is unquestionable that even though Dumbledore's orders make him uncomfortable and confounds him because he is not informed about everything, he still follows those orders. And the effort, time and patience he spent only to protect Harry from harm those 17 years are not just any mundane sacrifice. Even if he did his best to keep Harry from harm, he simultaneously torment him in classes and in detentions, that is because he still see him as James Potter’s son. Although his motives are utterly selfish and wrong, the results of these still saved Harry and all of this is because of his unrequited love for Lily. If it wasn't Lily's son do you think he would do those things? I believe not. The strength of that love moved mountains, saved people and changed lives and I believe that love is the primary reason of his change of heart. In my own opinion I believe he is an Anti-Hero and a bit of a tragic-hero, he is a hero in a sense that he did great courageous and brave acts but contrary to that he is still prejudiced, tormenting, vindictive, bias, bully, nasty,  selfish and to sum up he is a hero in a sense that he has many flaws. 

[herwrittings]

There's this great quote I heard by some comedian who I can't remember who was talking about Dumbledore's sexuality. He said, "A lot of people were freaking out that Dumbledore is apparently gay. Everyone's like "oooooh, I can't believe he's gay!' Yeah, but you can believe he's a wizard?"I cracked up XD

LOL :) In the wizarding world, being a gay is not that much of an issue compared to blood status. I don't know if it's that's supposed to be good or bad.

[herwrittings]

To answer the question about JK using Dumbledore's sexuality to spite Christians, she once said in an interview that she always knew he was gay. It was just part of his character.I believe I saw it in her documentary-which I highly recommend.Hope this clears up the confusion.

I read that too, then there was this one incident in the script writing of book 6 wherein the writer is about to include a scene of Dumbledore telling harry about a girl he once met, what JK did was to put a sticky note saying that "Dumbledore's Gay". She must have not said it before to provide more mystery to his character.

[herwrittings]

Do you think that JK announced that Albus was gay just to spite all of the Christians that continuously criticized her?

I would like to believe that JK would not stoop down to that level. As to her religion I cannot confirm that she is a christian but I've read in article that she attends church. She’s a member of the Church of Scotland and, whenever she’s asked, says, ‘I believe in God, not magic'. There are also Christian allegories on Harry Potter such as the verse on the grave of Harry's parents, The last enemy that shall be destroyed death which is actually a bible verse (1 Corinthians 15:26) and the core values of the novels like friendship, courage, love, life after death etc. In my opinion I think JK Rowling bears no grudge against the Christians that opposes her and I think that being an open-minded person that she is, she completely understands them along with their complaints and beliefs. I truly believe that JK has the best interests for her characters knowing that she holds their back stories as well, she can change the turn of events if it will beautify the flow of the story and not some minor grudge against christians. :)

[herwrittings]

The Hufflepuff House

People weren't keen on Hufflepuff house. Compared to Gryffindor where dwell the brave at heart, Ravenclaw those of wit and learning, Slytherin skillful and  cunning the Hufflepuff house offers  just and loyal students wherein some may find they are too innocent & too soft. I came accross this post wherein it was written in the point of view of a hufflepuff student defending their house.  Maybe if Cedric won the triwizard cup his fellow housemates would've been very proud for his glory and for the whole house that at last there was more to hufflepuff than what others see from the outside. Let's remember that there are four houses in hogwarts and when did  friendship, honesty, and loyalty become an unwanted trait? I think this house balances other hogwarts houses, with courage, power and wit hufflepuffs brings joy and happiness amidst all those strong traits. I received thank you messages from some hufflepuff lovers after my  hufflepuff post and I think others learned to respect the house as well.