#philosophers stone

[binchidavinci]

number 4 with Hermione please (fem reader if possible!)

Jealousy, Jealousy!

(WLW!Hermione x reader)

‘Hermione is sick of seeing the way you laugh with Ron— she wishes she could make you laugh like that. So, she pulls you aside and tells you the truth.’

You’ve noticed Hermione watching you lately, but you haven’t quite put the pieces together.

The first time it happens is in the library. You’re supposed to be revising for Transfiguration, but Ron has leaned over to whisper something ridiculous about McGonagall. You snort— too loud for the library—and then you’re both stifling laughter behind your books, shoulders shaking. When you finally look up, wiping your eyes, Hermione is staring from the next table. Her quill has stopped moving. Her eyes flick from Ron to you and back again, something tight and unreadable in her expression. She looks away quickly and buries herself deeper in her notes.

You think nothing of it, in fact, you think she has a crush on Ron, or that she’s annoyed you distracted her from study. You mouth a quick “sorry” to her.

The second time is in the common room, a few nights later. You and Ron are sprawled on the floor by the fire, playing Exploding Snap. He does this exaggerated victory dance when he wins a round— flailing arms, terrible singing —and you laugh so hard you have to clutch your stomach. You don’t see Hermione standing at the portrait hole, bag slung over her shoulder on the way back from the library. She freezes for a moment, watching the two of you. Her lips press together, and then she turns sharply and heads up the stairs to the girls’ dormitories without a word, even when you greet her.

Again, you barely register it.

But the third time— well, the third time she can’t take it anymore. It’s after dinner in the Great Hall. Ron has just done his impression of Snape discovering treacle tart in his hair, complete with dramatic swooning and greasy-haired flailing. You’re laughing openly, head tilted back, the sound bright and unguarded. Harry’s grinning too, but your laughter is the loudest. When you finally catch your breath, Hermione is on her feet. She doesn’t head for the doors with everyone else. Instead, she walks straight toward you, her face set and determined.

Before you can say anything, her hand closes gently but firmly around your wrist.

“Come with me,” she says quietly, voice low enough that only you hear it.

Ron raises an eyebrow. “Everything all right, Hermione?”

“Fine,” she answers, too quickly. “I just need to borrow Y/N for a… Divination project we’re doing.” You furrow your eyebrows and shrug at Ron, standing up and following her. You let her pull you out of the Great Hall and down a quiet side corridor, the noise of the castle fading behind you. You’re worried you’ve done something to upset her; that she finds your laugh annoying and wants to tell you to shut up.

She stops near a window overlooking the dark grounds, moonlight spilling across the stone floor. She lets go of your wrist but doesn’t step back. For a long moment, she just looks at you— really looks— her brown eyes searching your face like she’s trying to find the right words.

“Hermione?” you ask softly. “Did I do something to upset you?”

She exhales, sharp and shaky. “I cannot keep watching you laugh like that with him.”

You blink. “With Ron? We’re just—”

“I know,” she cuts in, voice trembling just slightly. “I know you’re just friends. I know that. But every time you laugh with him like that— it feels like something’s being taken from me. Something I want.”

Your heart stutters in your chest, ready for the reprimanding.

She looks down, fingers twisting together. “I get jealous,” she whispers. “Stupidly, painfully jealous. And I hate it because you’re both my best friends, but I can’t stop it. Because it’s not just that you’re laughing with him-“

You interrupt her: “Hermione, I’m sorry. I just didn’t know you liked Ron like that…”

She pauses, blinks, and laughs sharply. “Ronald? Merlin, no! I mean, I love him dearly, but— Y/N, I want you to be like that with me. I want to be the one who makes you laugh! I want…” She stops, swallows hard, then meets your eyes again. “I want you. I want to be…more than friends, I think.” She blushes and fiddles with her robe sleeves. “It’s all new to me. But I’ve not felt this way about any of the boys. Especially not Ron,” she giggles.

The corridor feels suddenly too quiet, the air thick with everything she’s just laid bare.

“Oh God, Hermione, I had no idea,” you say softly. “All this time, I thought… I thought you just saw me as a friend— or a rival for Ron’s attention. I pushed those feelings down years ago because I didn’t want to ruin what we have. You’re my best friend.”

Her eyes widen. “Your feelings?”

You reach out, brushing a curl back from her face. “Yes, Hermione Jean Granger. I love you. I have done since first year when we first became friends. How couldn’t I? You’re intelligent and beautiful and funny and fiery and I— I love you. I laugh with Ron because it doesn’t matter what he thinks of me. But with you…I get nervous. I want to impress you. I thought you’d kind of like it if I were…hard to impress, I guess.”

A small, shaky laugh escapes her— relief and joy all at once. You lean in, glancing down at her parted lips slow enough that she can close the distance if she wants. She does. Her lips meet yours softly at first, hands behind her back like she’s still afraid this might not be for real. Then surer, deeper, her hands coming up to frame your face. A breeze catches in her hair and you smell the lavender shampoo she uses: the one she lets you borrow.

When you pull back, her forehead rests against yours, both of you breathing a little unsteadily.

“So,” you murmur, smiling, “does this mean I’m only allowed to laugh like that with you now?”

She laughs—quiet and bright and yours. “Absolutely,” she says, and kisses you again.

[fromhogwartswithlove]

"She might be fairer than Snape, but she was still extremely strict."

Yes, because "fair" is taking 150 points for simply being in the castle after curfew.

And "strict" is taking 2 points from students paying so little attention in class that a cauldron-melting concoction is created and goes on to injure a student.

[lulublack90]

Prompt 20 - Cute

@wolfstarmicrofic February 20, word count 299

“Bye, Son! Have fun at school! Learn something! Do us proud!” Sirius shouted at the scarlet steam engine as Harry waved to them through the window. 

“Sirius, control yourself,” Narcissa hissed beside him as she smiled at Draco, waving beside Harry. “Your lack of decorum is not cute.” 

“Oh shut up, Cissy, you wish you could let loose like I do,” Sirius said, sticking his tongue out at his cousin. 

“The house is going to be so empty!” Remus wailed, and Sirius and Narcissa both stared at him in horror as the usually stoic man broke down on the platform. “What are we going to do without him?!” 

Narcissa shoved Sirius towards Remus before taking a few surreptitious sidesteps away from the pair of them. 

“He’ll be back for Christmas,” Sirius said cheerily, trying to boost Remus’s spirits. 

“That’s so far away!” Remus wailed again, burying his tear and snot-stained face against Sirius’s cloak. Sirius tried not to grimace and wrapped his arms around his partner. 

“He’s growing up. We need to let him go, continue our legacy and, you know, give McGonagall a few more grey hairs along the way.” Remus laughed wetly at that and lifted his head, wiping his dripping face on the sleeve of his cloak. Sirius quickly vanished the mess on his shoulder and then on Remus’s sleeve before he pulled Remus back to his side. “Besides, he’s got Draco with him, what could possibly go wrong?” 

Remus would remind him of those words when the first letter came home about Harry taking on a sodding troll in the girls’ loos. 

“Well, at least you got to see him before Christmas,” Sirius pointed out when they’d gone up to the school for a meeting. Remus hadn’t spoken to him for a week after that.  

[simply-not-an-egg]

"Snape hates Neville!!"

Meanwhile, Neville doesn't follow instructions and creates a concoction so potent it melts a cauldron and burns holes in other students shoes, along with himself being covered in painful boils.

Being called an 'idiot boy' in response is tame in comparison, especially considering the circumstances lmao.

Like no shit he's gonna be strict when fucking up a potion can cause that much damage and more like??

ETA: That is literally all Severus does in that scene btw. Aside from ordering Seamus to take Neville to the Hospital Wing in post, and then chastise Harry for not keeping an eye on Neville (which, it was wrong for him to single Harry out, especially with the baseless assumption that he was purposefully not aware of his surroundings for his own gain. But on the other hand it is a sensible lesson to keep an eye on those at your table - especially in a potions setting. Same lesson could have been acheived in a better manner though).

ETA 2: Also thinking about how *little* points Severus takes in that entire class. *Two* points. When he's already been "established" by Ron (going off word of mouth) that he favours Slytherin and can be nasty.

ALSO the way Malfoy being praised is framed as favouritism, even though he's just good at instructions and happens to be in Slytherin like??

And *this* is way you take Harry's narration, especially early on, with a grain of salt because *he is a child and doesn't have a full grasp of everything to understand in a non-biased way*. He's an unreliable narrator (as is expected).

[weaponized-potatoes]

When you gotta celerbrate ALL of October 3rd

[shisasan]

Illustration from Atalanta fugiens by Michael Maier, first published in 1618 in Oppenheim, one of the most renowned emblem books of the hermetic-alchemical tradition. Combining fifty engravings with epigrams, fugues, and discourses, it was designed as a meditation on transformation. This emblem depicts the element of Air, “in whose breath the philosopher’s stone is conceived”, a reminder that in alchemy, creation begins not in matter, but in the unseen.

[persephone-the-third]

used wood scraps in studio today to make a philosophers stone hell yeah don’t know why Ed and Al had so much trouble finding one bruh

[said-snape-softly]

Albus Dumbledore in The Boy Who Lived

I don't often revisit Philosopher's Stone, but I picked it up again recently and was struck by some of the early characterization we get of the most mysterious man in the series — Albus Dumbledore.

A few of my observations:

Dumbledore's appearance: "Nothing like this man had ever been seen in Privet Drive," we are told upon his sudden and silent appearance, and several details immediately stand out. His sweeping purple cloak, old age, and his long, silvery beard convey wisdom and hint at his stature in the wizarding world. His bright eyes evoke intelligence and are described as "sparkling" behind half-moon spectacles. Throughout the series, these sparkling eyes will be associated with unrevealed knowledge. His nose is long and crooked and looked "as if it had been broken at least twice”, promising a story or two from his past. By the end of the series, when we do in fact learn more about one of the times it was broken, we can return to this very chapter to understand why Dumbledore keeps the physical reminder; "Even if I could [heal it], I wouldn’t. Scars can come in handy."

Dumbledore’s eccentricity: “Everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome” in Privet Drive. As the first chapter paints Privet Drive and the Dursleys as dull, mundane, and close-minded, his nonconformity is portrayed positively and hints at Dumbledore’s open-mindedness. We will see this reinforced by Dumbledore’s opposition to the mainstream wizarding prejudices re: non-human magical creatures and blood status when these concepts take root a little later in the series. Dumbledore’s eccentric sweet tooth is also introduced here, and he uses it to disarm and distract his colleague, Professor McGonagall, who comes in wanting answers that Dumbledore does not want to share.

Dumbledore’s gentle but firm leadership & control: After an incident with historic consequences occurs, Dumbledore has a plan in motion to respond and calls the shots unilaterally. He is mild-mannered but fully in control of the scene, saying his lines “gently”and “calmly” but also “firmly.” His colleague Professor McGonagall defers to him: “You’re right, of course” and the reader gets the sense that he has absolute loyalty and great admiration from his colleagues. McGonagall insinuates that Dumbledore is of comparable power to the feared wizard Voldemort, though he is too “noble” to use those powers. Although McGonagall takes it for granted that he is the type of leader who does not seek power, Dumbledore says she is flattering him and deflects with humor; a hint that his relationship with power is perhaps a little more complicated.

Dumbledore’s interpersonal intelligence: When Dumbledore sees Professor McGonagall, he immediately understands that she is here for information. He quickly turns the questions on her (“All night? When you could have been celebrating?”) to subtly assess how much she already knows and subsequently tries to divert her attempts to get information out of him. That is, until she caves & outright asks him.

Dumbledore’s reserve: Dumbledore is withholding information from even his confidants, and disguising the amount he does know with understatement. Even way back in the beginning of Philosopher’s Stone, we see that Dumbledore is the one who decides who knows what and when. Dumbledore's reticence to talk about James and Lily's deaths could also reflect a desire to hold off on engaging on an emotional level with McGonagall.

Dumbledore’s penchant for guesses: When McGonagll asks Dumbledore how Harry survived, he replies, “We can only guess. We may never know.” Much of how Dumbledore operates is on (highly) educated guesswork, built on what is typically more extensive knowledge than most other characters have access to. At this point, he’s drawing on information from Trelawney and Snape, the conclusions he's drawn of Voldemort’s character, and his knowledge ancient magic. All of this has allowed him to deduce that Harry was saved by sacrificial magic and has enabled him to extend this magical protection to the Dursley home. Therefore, we know Dumbledore is not being entirely truthful here, and that he is playing down what he knows to keep his hand close to the vest. It suits him to ensure that Professor McGonagall gets used to the idea of operating without knowing the full story when it comes to Harry Potter; he will capitalize on this later.

Dumbledore’s claim that Harry is living with the Dursleys to escape his own celebrity is another instance of plausible half-truths. “How much better off he will be”, Dumbledore says, and it's true in that Harry will be protected from Voldemort while he lives with his mother’s family. But this is a choice that Dumbledore is making for the good of the wizarding world, not for Harry’s ego, as he frames it here.

Dumbledore’s trust: When McGonagall expresses skepticism towards Hagrid's ability to bring Harry to the Dursleys, Dumbledore says simply, “I would trust Hagrid with my life." The reader may wonder what about their past relationship has led to this deep trust, but when Hagrid shows up in the next few sentences, we learn that Dumbledore's trust is warranted. Over the course of the series, Dumbledore's trust becomes an ever-greater point of contention, and it's interesting to see that all the way back in the first installment's first chapter, Dumbledore's trust is set up to be questioned but ultimately well-placed.

Dumbledore's focus on & care for Harry: Dumbledore checks his watch and notes that Hagrid, who has been tasked with bringing Harry, is late. Though he doesn't betray any additional nervousness or concern as they wait, Dumbledore sounds relieved when Hagrid finally arrives with Harry.

When Hagrid mentions that he borrowed Sirius’ bike, Dumbledore barely bats an eye. Dumbledore should, at this point, suspect that Sirius betrayed the Potters and should therefore find any mention of him in connection to Hagrid's mission highly concerning. However, he simply asks, "No problems, were there?” While it's very possibly an indication that the story had yet to be fully fleshed out, imo this mild response can also serve as a superb example of Dumbledore’s one-track-mind where Harry is involved. The goal is getting Harry to the Dursleys safely; the mole hunt can wait.

Finally, when he leaves Harry on the Dursley's doorsteps, "the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out," and I can't help but see it as the flip side of the "gleam of something like triumph" in Dumbledore's eyes at another key moment in Harry's life.