The Second Shelf

(soon-to-be) 30-year-old fangirl.  Mostly HP/Romione, with a dash of LotR and an increasing amount of Hamilton:An American Musical and Star Wars.

[meraudurs]

out of curiosity, when did y’all start the harry potter journey? 

[thesecondshelf]

(Coming out of hibernation for this one, folks. Life’s been rough, but I miss Harry)

Sometime in the winter of 2000 / spring of 2001. I was 14 years old, and my brother was 10. 

My brother read the books first. I distinctly remember him getting CoS and PoA for Christmas in 1999. He was pretty into them, but I was far too busy being a super cool 8th grader to worry about what my 9 year old brother was doing.

I started to read the books ahead of the release of the 1st movie, because my brother talked about it a lot, and I knew we’d go see them, and I hated seeing movies first --- so I began to read. and read. and read. 

And the rest is history.

[thesecondshelf]

Women’s March NYC

Hi there.

So it’s been a while.

2016 was rough in so many ways--- personal, political, emotional, medical, etc, etc, etc--- and I really haven’t known what to say. 

This always has been, first and foremost, a fandom blog... but I just wanted to share this image because I need it, and I thought some of you might too.

I took this myself yesterday on 5th Ave in New York City during the Women’s March. It was, without a doubt, the most powerful experience of my life.  I cannot describe just how uplifting it felt to be a part of a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people, all peacefully demonstrating support for fellow humans. 

[thesecondshelf]

Hazy visions of “healing” and “not becoming the hate we hate” sound dangerously like appeasement. The responsibility to forge unity belongs not to the denigrated but to the denigrators. The premise for empathy has to be equal humanity; it is an injustice to demand that the maligned identify with those who question their humanity.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Now is the time to talk about what we are actually talking about

[thesecondshelf]

Sinus infection. Kitchen reno, no decked halls. Fa la la --- achoo!

[earthdad]

i miss 2012 when the biggest problem was Gangnam Style being overplayed it was a much simpler time before we knew what 2016 had in store for us

[chevalure]

2012 was like the early years of harry potter when the biggest obstacle he faced was a somewhat cranky dog. now 2016 has happened, the triwizard tournament is over and cedric is dead

[hashtagloveloses]

IF THIS IS ONLY BOOK 4 THAN WE ARE SERIOUSLY FUCKED

[gimme-a-hand-scaevola]

Ofc it’s only book 4. We just realized Trump is a real threat. Now we have to contend with a whole book of people telling is everything is fine. Then one of ineffectual governmental scrambling and then a whole book of open rebellion and racism.

[thesecondshelf]

I have so many things I want to say, and nowhere to say them.

[girlinthepark]

[flutter-bi]

girlinthepark:

Kate Arends | Wit & Delight | poem by: Nayyirah Waheed. 

[mugglenet]

It was important, Dumbledore said, to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then could evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated…

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (via mugglenet)

[thesecondshelf]

America, I’m scared.

[quotemadness]

Even in the darkest night, if you strike a match, the shadows will flee. This is a law of nature; the darkness yields to the light, no matter how small the flame.

Jared White (via quotemadness)

[liquidlightandrunningtrees]

I see you walking slowly through the world, learning to love everything again for the first time & I want to hold you & say exactly the words you need to hear, because I have been there, too & I know the courage it takes to go on when your every breath aches.

Brian Andreas, Story People (via liquidlightandrunningtrees)

[dryyoureyes-startbelieving]

So never mind the darkness We still can find a way ‘Cause nothing lasts forever Even cold November rain

GUNS N’ ROSES - NOVEMBER RAIN

[ignisgayentia]

there’s some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.

[theperksofshippingromione]

Wish Fulfillment

Or, Ron and Hermione Write Fanfiction. (This may or may not have begun as a response to some regrettable comments from JKR in 2014.)

It had been an exceptionally long day - in as much as the relative length of a standard period of time could vary from one to the next, anyway. By the time Hermione had left the office, the weight of the hours she’d spent there rested so heavily on her frame that her smile when her assistant bid “Mrs. Weasley” farewell was almost perfunctory. Even the swooping sensation she felt in her stomach when she was called by her married name, something she still wasn’t used to almost two months later, seemed to have been quelled by the sheer exhaustion of a day filled with unnecessary paperwork and meetings with the pig-headed lot of old men the Ministry called its senior officials.

Thankfully, Ron seemed to sense that she was in a bit of a mood, and he offered to prepare her a hot dinner without a single complaint as she wandered through their flat, absentmindedly putting things away and muttering strings of what were very nearly obscenities under her breath.

They sat down to a quiet dinner, neither one particularly inclined to air the grievances they’d collected throughout the day. Sometimes, it was easier to simply be for awhile, and to be comfortably silent with one other had been a great source of comfort to Hermione over the years. Something about merely being in Ron’s presence was more than enough to warm her insides and wrap her up in something that was at once smaller and much, much bigger than the world around them.

Which is why, of course, she was a bit shocked when Ron interrupted the quiet by clearing his throat and asking, “Whaddya reckon would have happened if you hadn’t gone to the ball with Krum?”

Hermione nearly dropped her fork. “Excuse me?”

“Y'know, what could have happened if me or Harry had asked you first,” Ron clarified, as though that explained everything.

“Well, that wouldn’t have happened,” Hermione replied carefully, “considering the two of you didn’t even think to ask me until weeks after the ball was announced.”

“Oh, I thought of it nearly straight away,” Ron admitted, shrugging. “It’s not like I was going to admit to myself that I fancied you, mind, but I wasn’t exactly put off by the idea of taking you.”

“How romantic,” Hermione remarked dryly.

“So whaddya reckon?” Ron repeated as he chewed the last bite of his chicken and pushed his plate away. “D'you think we could’ve got it together sooner?”

“Maybe,” Hermione allowed. “Why does it matter? Clearly it all turned out for the best,” she pointed out, nodding from her left hand to his.

“Well, yeah, but think about it,” Ron insisted, widening his eyes to indicate his sincerity.

“It’s a rather big ‘what if,’” Hermione replied dubiously, “but clearly you’ve thought about it, so I’m going to hear you out.”

Ron grinned with satisfaction. “Marriage is fantastic.”

“Just get on with it before the honeymoon’s over,” Hermione teased.

“Okay,” he began. “So imagine, right, me or Harry asks you to the ball. It doesn’t really matter which one of us does it; it’s just as friends. Preferably you’d have gone with me, obviously, and maybe we’d have had an awkward dance or two - y'know, the kind where you stand about a foot and a half apart and barely touch each other - but nothing would have happened, 'cause I was still too much of an idiot to realize what was right in front of me.”

Hermione raised an eyebrow. “Well, fair enough, but wouldn’t things have been awkward if we’d danced?”

Ron shrugged. “No more awkward than you screaming at me about last resorts and such across the common room after I accused your date of using you to get to Harry, is it?”

Hermione winced. “We really have had our moments.”

“Yeah,” Ron agreed, smiling again. “Yeah, quite brilliant, really. Anyway, I figure something like that might have gotten me round to thinking about you like that a bit quicker. Not a lot quicker, mind you, but I s'pose I was already thinking about snogging you the summer after.”

“But you weren’t thinking particularly hard about it, were you?” Hermione pointed out.

“You were my best friend!” Ron said defensively. “Bit confusing, wasn’t it? And besides, the bigger half of me still believed you had something going on with Krum.”

“You can’t have a bigger half,” Hermione scolded, smirking.

“Would you let me tell my story?”

“Your story that never actually happened?” Hermione replied, though she couldn’t deny her curiosity was piqued. She crossed her arms and leaned against the back of her chair. “Tell away.”

“Good, 'cause I spent most of the day thinking about it.”

“I won’t even remind you that you’re supposed to be protecting the wizarding world.”

Ron shrugged. “It was a slow day. So anyway, you didn’t go to the ball with Krum, I’ve admitted to myself that I wanna snog you, and it’s Christmas of our fifth year.”

“Why Christmas?” Hermione asked interestedly.

“Why not Christmas?” Ron retorted. “It’s romantic as hell, alright? Now let me tell the story.”

“Sorry.” Hermione raised her hands innocently and gestured for him to continue. Ron took a grand, dramatic breath as he began to weave his tale.

Keep reading

[thesecondshelf]

Rewatching season 1 of That 70s Show for the umteenth time

I can’t believe I forgot how much I love Jackie Burkhart. She’s a gem right from the start.

[mithtransdir-deactivated2016110]

6) Tolkien’s hero was average, and needed help, and failed. This is the place where most fantasy authors, who love to simultaneously call themselves Tolkien’s heirs and blame him for a lot of what’s wrong with modern fantasy, err the worst. It’s hard to look at Frodo and see him as someone extra-special. The hints in the books that a higher power did choose him are so quiet as to be unnoticeable. And he wouldn’t have made it as far as he did without his companions. And he doesn’t keep from falling into temptation. A lot of modern fantasy heroes are completely opposite from this. They start out extraordinary, and they stay that way. Other characters are there to train them, or be shallow antagonists and love interests and worshippers, not actually help them. And they don’t fail. (Damn it, I want to see more corrupted fantasy heroes.) It’s not fair to blame Tolkien for the disease that fantasy writers have inflicted on themselves. […] Fantasy could use more ordinary people who are afraid and don’t know what the hell they’re doing, but volunteer for the Quest anyway. It’s misinterpretation of Tolkien that’s the problem, not Tolkien himself.

“Tolkien Cliches,” Limyaael

(via mithtransdir)

The whole point of The Lord Of The Rings… like, the WHOLE POINT… is that it is ultimately the hobbits who save the world. The small, vulnerable, ordinary people who aren’t great warriors or heroes.

Specifically, Sam. Sam saves the world. All of it. The ultimate success of the great quest is 100% due to a fat little gardener who likes to cook and never wanted to go on an adventure but who did it because he wasn’t going to let his beloved Frodo go off alone. Frodo is the only one truly able to handle the ring long enough to get it into Mordor - and it nearly kills him and permanently emotionally damages him - but Sam is the one who takes care of Frodo that whole time. Who makes him eat. Who finds him water. Who watches over him while he sleeps.

Sam is the one who fights off Shelob.

Sam is the one who takes the Ring when he thinks Frodo is dead.

Sam is the one who strolls into Orc Central and saves Frodo by sheer determination and killing any orc who crosses him. (SAM THE GARDENER GOES AND KILLS AN ACTUAL ORC TO GET FRODO SOME CLOTHES LET’S JUST THINK ABOUT THAT). And then Sam just takes off the Ring and gives it back which is supposed to be freaking impossible and he barely even hesitates.

Sam literally carries Frodo on the last leg of the journey. On his back. He’s half-starved, dying slowly of dehydration, but he carries Frodo up the goddamn mountain and Gollum may get credit for accidentally destroying the ring but Sam was the one who got them all there.

Sam saved the world.

And let’s not forget Pippin and Merry, who get damselled out of the story (the orcs have carried them off! We must make a Heroic Run To Save Them!) and then rescue themselves, recruit the Terrifying Ancient Powers through being genuinely nice and sincere, and overthrow Saruman before the ‘real’ heroes even get there.

Let’s not forget Pippin single-handedly saving what’s left of Gondor - and Faramir - by understanding that there is a time for obeying orders and a time for realizing that the boss is bugfuck nuts and we need to get help right now.

Let’s not forget Merry sticking his sword into the terrifying, profoundly evil horror that has chased him all over his world because his friend is fighting it and he’s gonna help, dammit and that’s how the most powerful Ringwraith goes down to a suicidally depressed woman and a scared little hobbit.

Everything the others do, the kings and princes and great heroes and all? They buy time.  They distract the bad guys. They keep the armies occupied. That is what kings and great leaders are for - they do the big picture stuff.

But it is ultimately the hobbits who bring down every villain. Every one. And I believe that that is 100% on purpose. Tolkien was a soldier in WWI. His son fought in WWII. (And a lot of The Lord Of The Rings was written in letters to him while he did it.)

And hey, look, The Lord Of The Rings is about ordinary people - farmers, scholars, and so on - who get pulled into a war not of their making but who have to fight not only because their own home is in danger but so is everyone’s. And they’re small and scared but they do the best they can for as long as they can and that is what actually saves the world. Not great heroes and pre-destined kings. Ordinary people, doing extraordinary things because they want the world to be safe for ordinary people, the ones they know and the ones they don’t.

Ordinary people matter. They can save the world without being great heroes or kings or whatever. And that is really important and I get so upset when people miss that because Aragorn and Legolas and Gimli and Gandalf and all the others are great characters and all but they are ultimately a hobbit delivery system.

It is ordinary people doing their best who really change the world, and continue doing so after the war is over because they have to go home and rebuild and they do.

If nothing else, I have to reblog this for the phrase “hobbit delivery system.” So accurate it hurts.

(via elenilote)

What I love too is how even the foretold king and the assorted great heroes themselves all come to recognize that their main (and by the end, only) role is to distract Sauron. To the point that by the end they’re all gathered up before the black gates of Mordor in order to keep his attention focused on them, with only the hope - not the certainty - that they can buy Frodo whatever remaining time he needs, if he’s even still alive.

One thing the movies left out but has always been such a key part of the books for me was how when the hobbits returned home, they found that home had been changed too. The war touched everywhere. Even with all they did in far-off lands to protect the Shire, the Shire had still been damaged, both property and lives destroyed, and it wasn’t an easy or simplistically happy homecoming. They had to fight yet another battle (granted a much smaller one) to save their neighbours, and then spent years in rebuilding.

(via msbarrows)

[sakura-haruka]

- Carol Gilligan