#Hogwarts Houses through Character Analysis | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tev-the-random · 2 years

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The Sorting of Empires SMP - Season 1 edition

Have you ever wondered what Hogwarts houses the rulers of Empires would be in? No? Well, I definitely have. I'm quite fond of doing some short character analysis.

So from the heart of someone who knows way too much about Harry Potter and Empires SMP, here's my take on it:

Gem - Ravenclaw

I feel like this one is a given.

Gem’s character has a very heavy focus on being studious, on earning her magic through practice and experimentation — and, consequently, creation. She’s a quick learner, able to adapt an ancient elven spell to contain Xornoth, use the Staff of Mythland to send Sausage to the Spirit Realm and concentrate her fire magic into something stronger than the depths of the Nether. She was also quick to start studying the corruption, the demon and Violet herself.

Gem earned her wizard hat and powerful reputation through her skill and dedication, and then made sure to spread that knowledge by creating a Wizard Academy all on her own, potentially redefining the way magic was taught throughout all the empires. Her curiosity, her desire to teach and to learn, her thirst for knowledge in all fields she can possibly reach for are the trade mark of a Ravenclaw.

This, however, also gives Wizard Gem the bad trait of often thinking she’s the smartest person in the room. She rarely accepts the suggestions or help of others, even if to her own detriment. Even when she doesn’t know what she’s doing at all, Gem holds herself on the higher moral ground, to the point where she can be hypocritical towards others. It isn’t to say that she’s arrogant, but, more often than not, she bites off more than she can chew and then refuses to back down.

Of course, Gem becomes humbler as the season goes on and she realises the errors of her actions. At the end of the day, she’s not after power. She only seeks to learn from her mistakes.

Fwhip - Slytherin

Now, I was heavily debating between putting Fwhip in Slytherin or Ravenclaw. As an inventor and redstone genius, he has the potential to join his sister.

However, what ultimately puts him in the snake house is precisely the fact that his type of intelligence greatly differs from Gem’s: Fwhip isn’t necessarily studious or academically inclined. Instead, he chooses to tinker with the world around him, to learn by cracking things open and analysing their insides to see how they work, to implement different things together and watch the result. He is the kind of person who sees something that can be improved and improves it, sometimes out of necessity, sometimes out of sheer curiosity. Even when things explode on his face — which isn’t rare, — he keeps trying. This shows the ambition, ingenuity and determination worth of a Slytherin.

Fwhip can also be quite resourceful: when Gem suggested they should send their enemies flowers as to not aggravate the conflict, his mind, determined to keep said conflict going, quickly went to the wither rose — an item not many think of when they say “Minecraft flowers”. He is able to incorporate salmon and redstone ore to many of his contraptions. And although his decision to put the Codfather head in the End proved to be a mistake, it was still a clever solution.

Another factor that plays into this house is how Fwhip acts socially: he is cunning, mischievous and generally quite the resourceful prankster. Although he may claim that there is malice behind his actions, the Count of Grimlands actually has a soft heart, proving once more that Slytherin is not an evil house.

Sausage - Slytherin

I know this one might seem controversial — Sausage emanates huge Hufflepuff vibes. And I’m not overlooking his kindness and loyalty, no. But one thing that strikes me greatly about the King of Mythland is his ambition.

From the start, Sausage wanted to be everything and more: a powerful wizard, a skilled assassin, a wealthy king, a prankster, a fighter, a ruler with a wall taller than Jimmy’s. This man saw ravagers in his crop fields and decided to keep them for their eventual war potential. He started learning magic, striving to one day reach Gem’s abilities, and for that he went after dark magic, curious and determined. When a demon shows up to take over the server, he immediately seeks to contact it in search of knowledge and power — which proved to be his downfall, as it took him too far. I’d almost say he’s greedy, always eager for more, always enthusiastic about his goals, desperate to be on par with his peers.

His ambitions diminish after the whole Xornoth incident: Sausage becomes afraid of magic, afraid of himself. But then, what does he do? He starts cultivating the remains of the spirit realm. He does absolutely everything in his power to apologise and make up for the evil he’s done. He strives to prove himself over and over again with endless perseverance.

Despite being steadily corrupted by the demon, Sausage was still clever to keep the collar — bandanna? I was never sure what that was — Sir Carlos gave him, knowing his time could come at any moment. He was also clever to discover how to leave the Spirit Realm, and cunning to take the Staff of Mythland back from Gem when he truly needed it.

Pearl - Gryffindor

Hhhhhh this was definitely one of the hardest ones. You see: Pearl’s friendship with Sausage and her loyalty to him, the fact that she was willing to give Xornoth a chance and just her general love for life scream Hufflepuff.

But

Pearl is also one of the biggest Gryffindors I’ve ever seen. Her fierce courage, the way she throws herself into any challenge presented to her like it’s nothing, the way she will take on any fight and most likely come out victorious — not necessarily because she won, but because she got to throw a good punch. And probably because she won. Despite her small empire, she is the mightiest warrior of the continent, and she wants to make sure everybody knows it, be it by battling in the arena or by finding out directly what it means to go to war with Gilded Helianthia.

Despite all that, Pearl does not lack honour. She does not start wars for no reason and she accepts defeat when it comes. She does not cheat. She believes in the best in people even when the apocalypse is imminent — Sausage, Joey, even Xornoth themself. Her argument to convince the Cod Alliance not to kill the Ender Dragon was that it deserves life, and that’s quite noble of her.

You could say her brave and daring nature makes her reckless, almost naive with how she accepted to work with Sausage. But I think it also shows the loyalty of a Gryffindor: she will fight for her friend, she will risk her life for him, and she will not stop believing in his strength because she knows he will pull through. She’s not scared of him, nor will she give up on him.

Besides, all of her exchanges with Xornoth? There is no one who can beat this level of Gryffindor energy. Godric Gryffindor is scared of her.

Lizzie - Slytherin

I hear people out there talking about how much of a conman Mr. GoodTimesWithScar is, but I personally think Lizzie deserves just as much merit. Exhibit one: Deal with Destiny. Exhibit two: the golden goose.

This woman is the biggest trickster of any server she’s in. “Cunning” is her middle name, deceit is in her blood, and there is not a situation she puts herself into that she can’t get out of by either deluding people or by creating another situation that cancels the first one out. This is a being of pure chaos and she knows it.

This, of course, doesn’t take away the worth of her achievements. The Ocean Queen is quite the determined and ambitious ruler, a perfectionist who aims to make her empire the greatest by any means. She strives for economic, military, cultural and political success, sometimes disdaining dry land by comparison. She went through the rigorous studies of the Crystal Cliffs Academy and succeeded in getting every advancement in the game. The mere fact that she built a whole empire from nothing but lilypad islands and the endless deep blue speaks volumes of the lengths she’s willing to go to.

This woman wrote a whole musical fOR CRYING OUT LOUD-

Sometimes Lizzie can be a little bit petty, a little bit mean. Her willingness to have Joey assassinated early in the season in spite of their deal, the way she betrayed Fwhip’s trust by setting her axolotls free in his salmon sanctuary and the fact that she chose to spy on her husband to make sure he was following the cake rule are just a few examples that she’s not one to be messed with.

Besides, CC!Lizzie is also a certified Slytherin and I simply can't take that away from her.

Joel - Hufflepuff

He may be arrogant. Very self-centred. Near narcissistic. A horse killer. But one thing that cannot be denied about Joel Smallishbeans is his loyalty.

The King of Mezalea isn’t close to many people, but will do anything for those he holds dear — in particular, Lizzie and Jimmy. He drops everything whenever they need him, even if it’s for ridiculous stuff, and humbles himself when he’s near them. This man adores his wife with every fibre of his being, going as far as giving her netherite armour. He was one of the only people who didn’t complain about building a cod sanctuary for Jimmy, and even made it part of his mega base. Heck, out of the very few things he chose to put in the interior of the palace, these were the two people who got to be honoured in it.

Speaking of mega base, the Mezalean Matral Palace is a major symbol of patience and diligence. Such an impressive build can only be a labour of love, of passion, and along with all of the life he brought to the mesa, it shows just how much he cares about getting all the details just right.

Joel may be a little petty, but at the end of the day, he is willing to forgive and forget. This is specifically about Fwhip. I just thought I should make a point about the diss track-

Jimmy - Gryffindor

This was quite possibly the hardest one, mostly because I haven’t really watched Jimmy’s perspective in its entirety. So take this one with a grain of salt.

The Codfather may not be the most intimidating of leaders — on the contrary, he is constantly being pushed around by the other emperors. Which doesn’t mean he doesn’t try: loud and boisterous, Jimmy is willing to start a conflict over any minor inconvenience. He says his piece even if it makes him look like a fool and faces every challenge head on, even when he knows they’re bound to be a trap. A reckless man, but a brave one indeed.

I considered putting him in Hufflepuff purely for the vibes, and I guess Jimmy has to have some endless patience to bear the amount of ridicule he deals with. But still, he is a bit too combative, and his loyalty is... questionable at times. He can be a bit self-centred and care a bit too much about his status as the Codfather, which could put him in Slytherin. But I suppose that, at the end of the day, he is willing to build bridges between himself and his former enemies.

Scott - Hufflepuff

I did consider putting him in Slytherin. The fact that we have so many Slytherins already may have factored into me choosing otherwise, yes. He also has some Ravenclaw vibes, but maybe that’s just the elf aesthetic speaking...

In spite of all of his sass, one of Scott’s most remarkable traits is that he cares very deeply about his friends. When threatened with an eternal winter, he sought to stop it purely for the benefit of others, as it didn’t bother him in particular. When his ice powers started getting out of control, he isolated himself in order to not harm his loved ones. When faced by his brother, the threat that got to Scott was the ones against his friends, for Xornoth knew it would impact him just as much as if they had threatened him directly. And in the end, he sacrificed his own life to guarantee that Xornoth wouldn’t hurt anyone ever again. His selflessness shows in very specific moments, but it shows nonetheless.

Yes, he may have been a little harsh when threatening Fwhip and Sausage after he froze Gem, but the situation was stressful enough when he realised Xornoth’s crystal was gone. Besides, helping Gem defrost her lake was one of the first things he did after he came back from exile.

As an essentially imortal being, the elven king has some fairly well-balanced patience. It certainly takes a lot of it to court Jimmy the way he did, hear “are we an alliance now,” and not just. Give up right then and there. He was bringing Flower Husbands back no matter how much patience it took-

Katherine - Hufflepuff

Katherine has always been the most neutral party in the entire server. Unlike Gem, she did manage to gather and maintain the friendship of her fellow rulers and even unite them through the construction of Baby Town. She built a secret room for meetings with all of her friends, made giant flowers for other rulers — the most wholesome idea of a prank — and helped host a Halloween event for all to enjoy. She managed to both be part of the Cod Alliance and help save the dragon, which is quite the feat.

Her method of acquiring loyalty may be a little... unorthodox. But upon hearing the complaints of her allies about the logistics of the Tower of Trust and being mercilessly beheaded, she did change the rules of the exchange and started to accept mob heads instead, proving that she does have compassion. Besides, keeping a head collection and taking the care to expose all of it does take a lot of tenacity.

Furthermore, Katherine’s kindness cannot be denied, from the way she receives her allies regardless of their errors to her deep care for sheep — it’s worth remembering that one of the first things she incorporated to her kingdom was a sheep sanctuary.

But that doesn’t mean she lets herself be kicked around: the Guardian takes her duty to the Overgrown seriously and confronts whoever abuses it. Overall, she is a fair ruler and ally who will do anything to protect her friends and her land.

Shrub - Gryffindor

This poor anime protagonist of a gnome. She runs away from her world to try and get help, to save her people, but suddenly finds herself unable to come back. Haunted by the same demon that drove her away, captured and alone, what does she say?

“I’m not scared of you!”

She couldn’t stop them when they destroyed her previous home. But she sure as hell isn’t going to let them destroy this one.

When faced with things she considers unjust or wrong, Shrub takes action. She becomes the Wolf Spirit in order to protect her wolves and the nature around her, starts a neighbourhood watch with Fwhip and steals Xornoth’s crystal when she thinks it might be in the wrong hands. She tries so hard to help people and to do the right thing that she ends up putting herself in dangerous situations over and over again. Bold, but certainly noble and loyal.

Another proof of her bravery is the fact that she’s the one responsible for the Nether materials trade. When no other ruler had the guts to go to the Nether to gather its wood, blaze rods or nether wart, Shrub had them covered.

Besides, Shubble is usually one of the first people to go after the full kitted out netherite gear. It’s not that she seeks to fight people, but she’s definitely ready for a fight if it does comes her way. Do not underestimate the gnome.

Joey - Slytherin

Another given, honestly.

The Lost Emperor is not above cheating and scheming to get what he wants. He’ll accept powers from a demon and not even think twice. Cunning and mischievous, he responds to no one other than himself —and Xornoth.

From the very start of his empire, Joey wanted to be known as the most influential, the richest and most successful ruler. He goes as far as to pay an assassin to murder other emperors so that they’ll buy totems of undying from him, and then displays their heads behind his throne as a sign of power; quite a clever yet immoral plan. And much like Lizzie, he’s not one to let mistakes slide: be it by hiring an assassin for a petty kill or by killing traitors himself, he needs to make sure his schemes will benefit him and damage his enemies.

His determination and greed will stop at nothing, not even heartbreak. For even his love life is subject to his ambitions, as his attraction for Xornoth begins when Joey realises how powerful they are and what he could get from them. He does get manipulated and corrupted, but there’s no denying that his greed deeply influenced his actions.

That’s another thing though: Joey, whether by ambition or by sheer passion, puts his all into the things he does. He loved Xornoth and he loved his empire, would do anything for them. So much so that it drove him to madness.

Pixlriffs - Ravenclaw

And we finish with another rather obvious one, I think.

From the beginning, what Pixl sought was to have an intellectually advanced empire. Powerful and wealthy, but also studious and well developed. He rarely displayed his power through war, but rather filled the streets of Pixandria with technology — for goodness’ sake, the man used full on conduits as a light source. Not to mention all of his redstone contraptions, from the flying machine in the End to David 2.0.

Somewhat early in the series he also went after every single advancement in the game in order to prove that his empire was the most advanced one. The curiosity and ingenuity such a feat demands is awe-inspiring.

Curiosity and wisdom are not lost in the Copper King either: his first instinct upon meeting Xornoth was to study the corruption. As the one responsible for Vigil, he was also constantly aware of the deaths of his fellow rulers, as well as one of the only ones to view death as something serious, worth acknowledging. Once the Ender Dragon was defeated, he isolated himself to think about the consequences and the morality of it all, and how much of a fool he had been, even rejecting the power of the Crown for that same reason. And if isolating yourself to ponder for a very long time isn’t a very Ravenclaw thing to do, then I don’t know what is-

Of course, these are purely hypothetical and not at all absolute. I myself am not entirely sure about some of these lol

This is simply my personal take on the characters, and I'd love to hear other opinions about it!

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thetangential · 2 years

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Audiobook review: Maya Phillips on her life as a proud “Nerd”

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “nerd” is a “mildly derogatory” term that emerged in 1950s America to describe someone who’s “socially inept.” Today, the dictionary allows, it can also describe someone who embraces “a highly technical interest.”

While listening to the confident sweep of Maya Phillips’s Nerd: Adventures in Fandom from This Universe to the Multiverse, I kept returning to the title. Does the mildly derogatory “nerd” still have any meaning, I wondered, in a world where fantasy franchises have consumed the box office and where the fandoms Phillips embraces are avidly explored across the media spectrum? It seems like nerds have become, well, pretty cool.

Then, last night, I had a moment where I realized I was wearing an Ewok onesie, reading The Two Towers, and texting my friends about Star Trek wall calendars while my wife lay beside me reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Nerds.

Not until the very end of Nerd does Phillips explicitly engage with the idea that anyone might question the use of her time to dive deep on anime, comics, and novels about invented worlds. The bulk of Nerd is a series of chapters exploring weighty topics — among them religion, mental health, and race — through the lens of the author’s life. In each, Phillips explains how various imagined universes intersected with her own, providing inspiration and food for thought.

Chapter five, for example, is titled “The Slytherin Firebender of Sunagakure: Self-identification with fandom, racial and national identities in space westerns, and the persistent fantasy of manifest destiny.” It opens during “Christian existence” class in Phillips’s Catholic high school; develops into an examination of the fantasy-universe personality typology trope (Hogwarts houses, Avatar: The Last Airbender nations, Sex and the City characters); considers that phenomenon in the context of real-world signifiers like race and class; rolls back into an evocation of family road trips; and from there launches into a broader consideration of frontiers and identities in vintage westerns, Star Trek, Cowboy Bebop, Star Wars, and Firefly.

The book is so wide-ranging that it could be approached as a geography of contemporary imaginative universes, seen through the author’s individual lens. Unless you’re as well-versed as Phillips is regarding everything from Buffy to Akira, you’re bound to learn something about the fandoms you’re less familiar with. Phillips is generous in providing footholds for people with varying levels of knowledge about her subjects, but Nerd isn’t a 101: readers are expected to know offhand what a mecha is, and what “ship” means as a verb not involving transportation.

Growing up as a gen-X nerd, I scoured my local library shelves for nonfiction books about fantastic universes and found mostly hagiographies of pop filmmakers, dusty histories of Golden Age science fiction, and the occasional behind-the-scenes book. For serious pop culture analysis, I had The Parables of Peanuts and that was about it. From this perspective, it was gratifying to find that Phillips makes the occasional historical reference but isn’t bound by the past. Her emphasis is on the texts she’s encountered, and how they’ve been relevant to her life in real time.

Phillips also takes a dynamic approach to the creator-fan relationship, reflecting the potentially fraught realities of an era when J.K. Rowling can tweet retcons at whim even as her readers share their own takes on the Harry Potter canon. (Phillips and her friends, she writes, won’t entertain the Fantastic Beasts prequels as canon, nor do they credit “the Epilogue That Will Not Be Named.”) Phillips also addresses Rowling’s transphobia, about which Harry Potter’s creator is so resolutely unapologetic that any reference to her formerly ubiquitous fantasy universe is now potentially fraught.

The Nerd author narrates the audiobook herself with a confident, deliberate cadence. It’s gratifying to hear the text in her own voice, but the linear experience of an audiobook can present challenges for listeners who dip in and out. Nerd is a great listen if you have long, uninterrupted stretches of time to spend with it, but in shorter bursts, without the ability to readily flip pages, it can be challenging to hold all the threads of Phillips’s carefully crafted arguments.

Nerd constitutes a testament to the real-world power of imagined universes, and for the importance of remaining critically engaged even while meeting these stories on their own terms. “These worlds only belong to children, we’ve been told for so long, with the understanding that imagination, hope, and dreams may only survive in the innocence of childhood,” Phillips writes, “and yet, if the multiverse can teach us anything, it’s that reality is what we make it. The possibilities are endless.”

It’s a stirring sentiment, and I don’t just say that because I’m wearing a Baby Yoda onesie.

– Jay Gabler

#audiobooks #Maya Phillips #fandom #books

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farieshades · 2 years

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*cackles*

Anyhow.

Do you belive Harry and Draco to be rivals? If so what do you think of their realtionship?

I believe that Harry and Draco were school-yard rivals, but the two work as foil characters. New to Magic, knows about magic; Raised poor, raised rich. And they work with and against eachother in their scenes. Draco, in the first few books appears cold, 'evil', and has elements of both fear and sadism when near Harry until later books when there are elements of protection and humanity to be seen. On the other hand, Harry is protective (usually of his friends and others, or his parents) and he is shown with a sense of justice, until, it somewhat flips on the head and there are elements of ruthlessness and fear amidst the love he shows others. However, considering how much Draco is mentioned in the books and how often fans write about/on him and his existence influences so much, Draco actualy isn't involved all that often in the books/film. He is mentioned far more than he is interacting, which makes analysis difficult.

Below, I go year by year through encounters until actually answering this thought.

Pre-hogwarts

Draco comes from an affluent family of pure-bloods where he has been raised thinking certain types of wix are better than others. Rather, this is shown one of the first times we see him interact with Harry on the train/great hall, the whole “They’re saying all down the train that Harry Potter’s in this compartment[...]You’ll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there.” and the Iconic come back of “I think I can tell wh the wrong sort are for myself, thanks.” (pg 81 in my copy, Chapter 6)

In the same scene he comments, sneering, at Ron’s dress and his lack of wealth. It sets him up as a rival from the moment Harry rejects his offer of friendship. Or, it starts earlier, at Diagon Alley when he comments on Hagrid through the window of the Madam Malkins where Harry responds to Draco’s ‘bored, drawling voice’ coldly (pg 59-61, Chapter 5). From the get go, there is a sense of unrest.

Most of this, I’m going to likely blame on upbringing, because Draco thinks himself superior because of his parents, he has certain thoughts in his head because of his parents, and he won’t question these beliefs for a long while.

Harry does come from an affluent family, however, the Potter Wealth was more-or-less locked away from him until he entered the Wix world, [and it is unclear if Petunia was getting anything from them, but I do think its strange that Lily Potter would leave her sister with nothing considering the two seemed close up until the marriage to Vernon… Then again, most of the Potter Will was likely ignored anyway because Remus is also left with nothing and Sirius is thrown into prison which, you’d think the Potter Will would mention something about Godparent and Secret Keeper but who knows, they’re Wix, not the most logical sort] thus, grew up poor. Or, he did while the family he lived with had plenty of money.

And in doing so, he grew up friendless because of his cousin chasing away anyone close to him. So, Harry is desperate to make friends. And in meeting Draco, he is strongly reminded of Dudley. Then, on the train/great hall, Draco insults Ron, the first ‘friendly’ boy he’s met so far. So in progression…. Harry is rescued from an awful house life by Hagrid who is instantly insulted by Draco, then Draco later insults, again, the first friendly face that helped Harry through the border (or well, Mrs. Weasley did.)

Before we move into first year, it should be mentioned that, of couse, Harry is a celebrity and while is not treated as such at school, most students have heard of him, or heard their parents talk about him or at the very least “Potters” in the ending of the Dark Lord and in ending the First War. Dobby says that he has heard much about Harry Potter (book 2) but at this point, he hasn’t been home for more than a month or so, so Dobby has, like most Wix children and thus most House Elves, been hearing about the ‘Greatness’ of Harry for a while now.

First - Third year

First Year they get sorted into Slytherin and Gryffindor. Rival houses. There's not much change to relationships happening here. We get to see Draco snitching on Harry (getting them both in trouble), and then both putting up brave fronts when they go into the Forbidden forest, now the scene changes whether book or film if Harry is in the forest with Draco or with Hermione but, either way, not much happens in terms of strengthening relationship views one way or another.

Second year there's not much interaction of note to build off of. You get the quidditch scene when Dobby breaks Harry's arm after being taunted by Draco, and you get the fun Slytherin Dorms scene with "Saint Potter, the Mudblood's friend [...] he's another one with no proper wizard feeling, or he wouldn't go around with that jumped up Granger Mudblood. And people think he's Slytherin's heir"(pg.166, ch 12) which, honestly, sounds more to the realm of general annoyance and jealousy almost. The Second year, however, is also when we get the duel, within which, it is clear they don't like each other because they quickly escalate from what they are instructed to do, which shows both feelings of hate early on in the series.

In the third year, we get the iconic CoMC scene where the Slytherin's are a bunch of assholes 'playing' dementors. Which is cruel and annoying, but in an almost 'pay attention to me' type of way. Something that you might see in teasing someone about a fear you find silly like spiders (I say with arachnophobia),

Fourth Year

There is generalized hostility in the form of schoolyard bullying through these years. However, things take a sharp turn when we go into fourth year. We start with the Quidditch World Cup. In the books both Weasleys (+Harry, Hermione) and the Malfoys are sharing the Top Box area, the prime seating, within which "Draco shot Harry, Ron and Hermione one contemptuous look, then settled himself between his mother and father" (pg 92, ch 8). However, in the movies the Weasleys have their seats in the 'Top' row of the entire stadium and Draco makes a boasting comment about being invited by the Minister. However, there is one missing scene in the films, and that is a very interesting one.

> Ron told Malfoy to do something that Harry knew he would never have dared say in front of Mrs Weasle.

> 'Language, Weasley,' said Malfoy, his pale eyes glittering. 'Hadn't you better be hurrying along, now? You wouldn't like her spotted, would you?' He nodded at Hermione, and at the same moment, a blast like a bomb sounded from the campsite, and a flash of green light momentarily lit the trees around them.

> 'What's that supposed to mean?' Said Hermioned definitely.

> 'Granger, they're after Muggles,' said Malfoy, [...] 'Keep that big bushy head down, Granger,' sneered Malfoy." (pg 110-111, ch 9)

I note this, because, while it sounds mean, he has absolutely nothing to gain from telling them that there were people targetting muggles and muggle-borns. And, this isn't the first time he's helped. Nothing explicit to be sure, but years back now I did read a post from CoS in which Hermione would never tear a page from a book and what does Harry find when sitting next to the petrified Hermione? A torn page in her hand. Now, in the film, we also see one very specific scene that either shows Draco's lack of care on books as he tears off a page, or, potentially, something more helpful. But that's not quite something to do with the relationship building of fourth year, so we'll continue on.

There's still the antagonism between the two, but it's still at a schoolyard level, with the example of "Potter Stinks" badges, however this does have the backing of an unfortunately large number of students showing disdain for Harry in the tournament. The next scene of interaction is, roughly, Ferret time in which Draco is initially insulting Harry and goes to curse him before being transformed by Barty Crouch, which I'm sure his father definitely heard about and did nothing about as well.

Fifth Year

Fifth year is when things get... dangerous between the two. There is an unequal power dynamic as Draco and Pansy are made Prefect along with Hannah Abbott and Ernie MacMillan (Hufflepuffs), Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger (Gryffindors), Padma Patil and Anthony Goldstein (Ravenclaws). This was, according to Dumbledore, because Ron and Hermione would be able to protect Harry.

This is also the year that will have an interesting scene reflected in the next, with Mrs. Weasley’s “He is just a boy” about Harry learning about the Order and their fight/protection of the prophecy, contrasting Narcissa’s “He’s just a boy” to Severus when making him swear to protect her son.

This was also the year of Umbitch and the D.A., which inevitably was discovered by Draco and his ‘friends’ and revealed to Umbridge. Now, theoretically, Draco did the right thing because it was an illegal school group. However, it was a school group that was teaching the class the teacher refused to teach, and Draco did this more out of spite because he didn’t like Potter than the fact that he was obeying school rules.

This year, compared to the next, is rather light on Draco-Harry content and interactions.

Sixth Year

In Sixth year, things are heating up and not in a fun way as there is war brewing outside the doors of Hogwarts. This is when we see Draco take a darker turn as his father is thrown into Azkaban and he puts the blame soley onto Harry as he is tasked with the impossible of killing Dumbledore. We also get the train scene where Draco was ready to knock Harry out and send him back to London theoretically and out of school. In my head, there isn't a real reason for the act of agression outside of the snooping Harry was doing, an imobilizing curse and a kick to the face can do some serious damage, but Draco's under lots of stress and anger and has also recently been marked by the Dark Lord. Not excusable, but somewhat understandable I suppose "Great Motive, still murder" vibes

This is also the book we learn of Horcruxes, souls broken beyond repair. We learn more of the Dark Lord's past and who he is, while the two boys are on opposite sides of the war. Harry following Dumbledore, doing what he can, and Draco following the Dark Lord, doing what he can.

Sixth year is also the year of Sectumsempera. The spell was in the wonderful Advanced Potion-Making book that belonged to the Half-Blood prince, with no description of what it did, only the knowledge that it was "For Enemies," and while fighting in the bathroom, as Draco goes to use the Cruciatus curse Harry manages to cast first, causing long cuts across the body. Harry runs out of the scene as Snape fixes what had happened, seemingly shocked and with a definite feel of guilt. Neither boy at this time is a killer, nor do they want to be, but necessity is pushing them towards it.

At the end of Sixth year, we get to learn that there is mortality of those that seem powerful and larger than life. Both devastating and hopeful. When Draco lets in the Death Eaters, the Order is called to fight back, and the scene is hectic. Both film and books go over it differently. But, generally, Draco is shown to be unable to kill Dumbledore and Harry is unable to get the instant desired revenge against the Death Eaters.

The Year on the Run

We don’t see Draco for most of the book, not until Fenrir and the Snatchers find them because they used the tabooed name of Voldemort. However, at the Manor, Draco saves Harry. Draco plays it off by saying something was wrong with the face, but there is the underlying idea that Draco did know who Harry was and that he refused to tell his family. A bid to save both Potter & friends, but also to end the war.

And end the war it did. But not yet.

The next time Harry and Draco are interacting they are in the Room of Requirement when Harry, in the film says, "Why didn't you tell her. Bellatrix. You knew it was me. But you didn't say anything." Draco doesn't respond. This is in reference to the above, but more then, it also potentially shows a side of Draco that we the audience hadn't seen. The humanity, the protectiveness. Or perhaps, the need to escape an awful situation and Harry being the only one believed to be able to stop the Dark Lord. Either way, it shows a sudden turn to the situation. More so, when Harry saves him from the Fiendfyre.

“Is Draco alive? Is he in the castle?” The care of a mother, three times over, keeps Harry alive. This time, its Narcissa, who looks to the Dark Lord and lies to his face.

Now, im going to include a deleted scene cause I find it hilarious and very fitting; The scene when Harry flings himself from Hagrids arms and amidst confusion, Draco throws himself across the courtyard handing him a wand to use. Deleted, yes, but still also very telling in a way, as to how the relationship has shifted in these last few months.

Then, the battle is over. People count their dead. The Malfoys have vanished from the courtyard having not stayed for the actual battle supposedly. And, Harry is victorious.

Fanon Eighth Year

There are many takes on Eighth year, but generally there is an idea that should the Golden Trio return, Draco might as well, despite his allegiance to the Dark in the past.

Some authors have him sent to Azkaban for the summer between and being watched as he finished his final year on probation. Other authors have the Malfoy Money bribing or claimed imperius for Draco to the Ministry officials and so that they get off scotch-free.

Personally, should Draco return, there would be a distinct shift in the hostility. Those who were crucio’d by the Carrows probably aren’t liking anyone who was a Death Eater. The “Lip-lock jinx” By: Cassis Luna on Ffnet showed it nicely with Draco generally avoiding people and slight harassment towards him. But there are plenty of other eighth year fics that do differently. My own “Hello, Hogwarts too?” has Draco more given freedoms, a bit of a prick still, but not awful. To each their own on eighth year interpretation really.

Post-Hogwarts Canon

Nineteen years later. The only reference to Draco in this section is that he has a wife and son, Scorpius, that resembles Draco just as much as Albus Potter resembles Harry. Oh, and he has a receding hairline. And the only interaction is “Draco caught sight of [them] staring at him, nodded curtly and turned away again” which isn’t much to go on.

Summary

The Post-Hogwarts Fanon is wide and immense and we’re not getting into that cause each author has their own thoughts.

But -

Do I believe Harry and Draco to be rivals?

Somewhat. They were during their schooling years. But after Hogwarts, things appear to have changed. It’s also possible that there is similarity in the work environment as Harry likely went on to be an auror as he intended and Draco seemed to be heading into government work. Of course, jobs could take them anywhere and who knows, maybe Harry is a curse breaker or a researcher. Maybe Draco is a healer or a potions master. Too many options to consider as they grow.

What do I think of their relationship?

From what is shown in the books/film, they are often pitted against eachother deliberately, and shown as foils of eachother. There isn’t much to go off of if I’m honest, lots of fight scenes and bullying, but also some shared horror and shared competition. Drarry is one of the ships I do prefer in the series, more so when we have either a Creature Inheritance and/or Slytherin!Harry and/or Gryffindor Harry but Dumbledore Bashing/Good Dark Side. The relationship really develops in fanfics rather than the actual series itself. From the ‘lore’ of the written works, that is a dangerous/toxic relationship if they were considered partners or friends. Their relationship in the books is that of enemies. “Arch-enemy” (though he is 12 at the time) as I do believe Harry comments at one point despite having literal Voldemort to contend with, but then, Harry is a dramatic Gryffindor. So… take that with a grain of salt I suppose.

#Harry Potter #drarry #book analysis

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hayleysstark · 2 years

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im enjoying your character studies a lot! i was wondering what your references were for them?

i study many forms of personality analysis such as mbti, enneagram, tritype, and just any thing you can find on personality database and i was excited to see that your information was correct but you added other things i’ve never seen before that i would like to learn about.

sorry if this is troublesome so don’t bother if you’re not in the mood. again, i appreciate your character study’s accuracy so mad respect to you! ♥️

Thank you! I’m so pumped that you’re liking what you see!

You’ve mentioned the MBTI, the Enneagram (+ tritype!), but I’ll just go ahead and run through all the different tests I use, even the super-common ones I’m sure you’ve heard before — the MBTI, the Enneagram, Hogwarts House, Four Seasons, Five Elements, the Four Temperaments, the Moral Alignments, the Seven Roles, and the Four Colors (which I have apparently lost the link to, but here is the Hartman Personality Profile, which assigns different personalities for the colors than the one I use, but still provides a fairly good example).

Thank you!! I’m really stoked to hear you think my choices are accurate, because there’s typically a lot of Anguish and Agony behind the scenes whenever I have to pick out the personality types, and there’s never a moment where I don’t wonder whether I’ve selected the wrong one — but ultimately, these characters are very open to personal interpretation, so I’ve just got to go with the traits and behaviors I’ve picked up from canon, and do my best from there. Besides, disagreements usually lead to awesome discussions with others where I can get fresh perspectives (like when @twigstarpikachutroll22 gave me some major food for thought in regards to Branch’s Hogwarts House! never considered him for Hufflepuff before, but it’s actually a really good fit!).

I hope this helps you!!

#i usually put absolutely zero stock in personality tests as stated above but i'm a type five with a strong wing of six on the enneagram #and honest to god nothing has ever been more accurate for me lmfao #ask #anonymous

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ambrosiustheunknown · 1 day

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I just went through your whole blog and liked and reblogged most stuff (sorry about that) but I really liked your character analysis of Regulus and Snape, I would love it if you would do one of Barty (you obviously don't have to but I saw you wanted suggestions of more)

Barty Crouch Jr - Character Analysis

I was SO excited when I got this so THANK YOU!!! The notifications aren't a problem and are actually appreciated. Okay, let's break down his character.

Was born 1962-1963

Sirius Black states in Goblet of Fire that Barty's father didn't pay any attention to Barty, implying neglect

His mother dearly loved Barty

We don't know much about his early/Hogwarts life, other than the fact that he achieved 12 O.W.L.s, causing some fans to think he was a Ravenclaw, although he is still popularly headcanoned as a Slytherin

Joined the DE's in his later teens

After Voldemort's first defeat, he, along with the Lestranges, went to Alice and Frank Longbottom's place of residence, supposedly torturing them to insanity

All four were arrested, although at different times, and are brought to trial by Barty's father

Barty insisted on his innocence, pleading to all in attendance to be cleared of all charges by claiming he didn't participate

Barty's father (who was head of the law enforcement) sentenced him to life in Azkaban when Barty was around 19

In 1982 (a year after Barty was put into Azkaban), Barty and his mother were ailing

His mother convinced Crouch Snr to polyjuice her into Barty as she was dying so they could trade places and Barty could escape

Barty was nursed back to healthy by his father and their house-elf, Winky

Barty was then placed under Imperius and and hid him under an invisibility cloak for 12 years, only being given occasional rewards for 'good behavior'

During the Quidditch World Cup, Barty was hidden and imperiused, taken only because Winky convinced his father

During the attack, Barty escaped and cast Morsmordre, although he was found by his father and re-imperiused

Barty was found by Voldemort and freed, then going on to act as Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody for Harry Potter's fourth year while keeping the real Moody in a trunk

He killed his father

At the end of the year he was exposed and given the Dementors Kiss on-sight

While we don't know much about Barty's early childhood, much of the fandom agrees that the signs point to a childhood of neglect, with only his mother and house-elves to care for him, and I'm inclined to agree. I believe that he was in Ravenclaw due to his excellent O.W.L scores and the fact that - going by his father's behavior and status - he most likely would have been disowned or snubbed as a Slytherin. He's never mentioned to have strong relations with anyone other than Voldemort, which leads me to believe that due to his fathers neglect, he heard about Voldemort, thought joining would greatly anger his father, and later found a mentor and father figure in Voldemort, with no one to stop him. I believe that this newfound attention lead to an intense loyalty and even love that we see very clearly in canon. I don't think he was insane before his conviction, but after Azkaban and 12 years of abuse (and yes, being imperiused and hidden for 12 years is abuse), he was certainly teetering the edge of sanity, most likely only being held together by his desire for revenge, his high intelligence, and loyalty to Voldemort.

Overall, Barty is a highly-intelligent, calculative, possibly sadistic, yet traumatized and insanely loyal character. I believe he had a potential to be a good person. His father most likely wasn't around to teach Barty morals, and we know little about his mother, so the first person to gain Barty's loyalty taught him his morals, and that was Voldemort. I believe that Barty Crouch Jr is a bad person, but a misunderstood one, who was far more intelligent than he was ever given credit for. He was almost definitely a rebellious teen in order to gain attention, but was a mostly-blank slate due to never receiving it from really anyone, up until he met Voldemort. Outside of canon, I enjoy Barty's fanon personality a lot and think that's it's fairly accurate, although he was probably a little less insane and impulsive as the fandom makes him out to be. He also most likely wasn't friends with Regulus Black, Evan Rosier, Pandora Rosier, and Dorcas Meadowes, although I love the dynamics lol.

Credit to the Harry Potter Wiki for providing me with information. If I got anything wrong or missed anything then feel free to let me know! If anyone want's any more character analysis I am SO happy to give them! I have two other analysis' posted if anyone is interested! Stay safe, drink water, and don't give your undying loyalty to a genocidal maniac! :D

#harry potter #marauders era #barty crouch junior #barty crouch jr #character analysis #barty crouch #hp marauders #the marauders #marauders harry potter #marauders fandom #these take a while to write #but i love them #feel free to recommend an analysis #i love doing these

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umbran6 · 3 years

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Hogwarts Houses for the Heroes of Olympus, Apollo, and Meg.

I’ve seen a lot of people do this, so I thought I should do this and explain as to why I wanted them there. Spoilers are abound through Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo as I explain my reasoning.

Percy Jackson: Hufflepuff. Look, I know a lot of people place him in Gryffindor. That’s a reasonable outcome one can reach, considering his feats could be considered immensely brave. However, Percy has often participated in his quests out of a sense of loyalty towards those he loves, whether it’s his mom (The Lightning Thief), Camp Half-Blood (The Sea of Monsters), Annabeth (Both The Titan’s Curse and Battle of The Labyrinth), and in The Last Olympian, all of them. What really pins him in place is when he willingly fallis to Tartarus alongside Annabeth by the ending of The Mark of Athena, which is a remarkable yet insane feat of both love and loyalty. He also has a work ethic, which is revealed during The Tower of Nero. Rather than just go straight to New Rome and live a happy life, he went to a hellish military school just so he could graduate from there with a high school diploma. If that’s not a work ethic, I don’t know what is. Loyalty and work ethic are key Hufflepuff traits, and Percy has shown all of them.

Annabeth Chase: Slytherin. Annabeth has often shown a lot of intelligence, but also a lot of resourcefulness and cunning during her time in the series. She literally tricked both Arachne and Nyx in what were impossible situations, and her goals are extremely ambitious, with her wanting to become an architect so she could build something that could last a thousand years. She also has a lot of Ravenclaw traits, to the point she repeated Odysseus and listened to the Sirens so she could learn what she desired the most. However, that was only once, and most often she used the knowledge she was given in resourceful and cunning ways, such as during the Last Olympian where she used the statues from Daedalus as a way to defend Manhattan. Needless to say, in my opinion she is a Slytherin first and Ravenclaw second.

Jason Grace: It’s quite tricky, considering we don’t get to see any key defining traits, but I have decided to put him in Gryffindor. Jason’s shown plenty of bravery, fighting Giants and Titans during his quest, but he also has honor and chivalry, which he shows during Blood of Olympus, and later on, The Burning Maze. Specifically, in the scene where he makes a deal with Kymopoleia, promising to make shrines not only to her, but to all of the hundreds of minor gods of Greek Mythology. As we later see during The Burning Maze, Jason was completely willing to honor such a deal, working on the shrines even while he was living the closest thing to a normal life one could achieve as a demigod. And of course, we can’t ignore the fact that he was brave to fight Caligula just so his friends could escape.

Piper Mclean: Slytherin. This is because during most of the time we’ve seen her, Piper fights dirty. She doesn’t stab a monster in the dagger, but charmspeaks the monster and stabs him in the back while he’s distracted. When claiming the position as Cabin Counselor in the Aphrodite Cabin during The Lost Hero from Drew, Piper uses the rules against her to get the position, rather than straight-up fighting her at the very beginning. Furthermore, rather than fight Khione upfront during the House of Hades, she bides her time and stalls the goddess until she can find a way to win. Though she has some traits that could go along with the other Houses, Slytherin tends to stand out the best. The only way she isn’t Slytherin in terms of traits is that she lacks ambition — we never see her have a higher goal beyond the quest, or any plans for what she’s going to do after everything’s done. Overall, she’s Slytherin through her actions, not her words, ironically.

Frank Zhang: Gryffindor. This is because Frank performs a lot of actions that are by any standard, brave, and often selfless and self-sacrificial. Specifically, a lot of the sacrifices he performs throughout the series. In Son of Neptune, he was willing to be the distraction against the Laestrygonians so that Percy and Hazel could start their escape plan. He was literally willing to burn his own life force (his stick) so that Thanatos could break free despite the very large risk it posed to him. He even stood in the way of a Giant, pushing him all the way to the Canadian border. And as we learn in The Tyrant’s Tomb, he was willing to repeat his sacrifice if it meant Caligula and Commodus were killed. Frank is a Gryffindor through and through, though he does have some minor Ravenclaw traits such as his use of tactics against his opponents, way of making plans, or recalling ancient Roman history.

Hazel Levesque: Once again, this was another difficult one. Mainly because Hazel is split right down to the middle between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. On one hand, she was so loyal to her mother that despite the fact that the lady got them into this mess, Hazel willingly sacrificed Elysium so her mom wasn’t punished. On the other hand, she was also willing to sacrifice herself so Alcyoneus couldn’t rise again despite the fact that it would lead to her and her mom’s death. Finally, I decided she deserved to go to Gryffindor, because of the fact that she willingly went towards the quest to rescue Thanatos in The Son of Neptune despite the fact that it was very likely that the god of Death would take her back to the Underworld. That takes immense amounts of bravery, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but she’s also putting herself at immense risk of being dragged down to the Underworld.

There are some Slytherin traits, such as when she made a plan to trick Sciron during the House of Hades, or the plan to trap Nike. However, Hazel’s a lot more defined by her bravery and empathy, which are more Gryffindor traits. If she had more ambition, a big goal after the quest it could be understood, but overall her Gryffindor traits are more prominent. For example, let’s compare how she got to Praetor and Octavian got to Praetor, and later on, Pontifex Maximus. Octavian often used a lot of word-twisting and dirty tactics to get his position, and only got there because Reyna left her post so she could help Jason. In comparison, the legion willingly raised her on a shield and collectively voted her into the position due to her bravery during the fight against Tarquin in The Tyrant’s Tomb.

Leo Valdez: There have been arguments over where he should go. All of them want him in one house or the other, but the most convincing ones were either having him in Slytherin, or in Ravenclaw. And I can definitely agree with both — Leo has shown immense amounts of intelligence and cunning throughout the series. He’s also intelligent in the sense that he created the Argo II, multiple weapons, the Holographic Scrolls, and even Buford.

However, after looking through his actions, I found that he leans more towards Slytherin. Although his façade of cheerfulness and humor was used to disguise trauma, he also used said humor to make himself appealing towards bullies so they didn’t beat him up. He often used his cunning to morph himself to social situations such as his façade as a jokester to look less threatening in comparison to others.

During the times we see him fight, he’s also the one to not only play it smart, but also using tactics and dirty tricks, rather than focusing on swordplay or his own fire powers. The only time we see him go ham with his pyrokinesis is when he’s fighting Khione during The Lost Hero. Furthermore, in The Mark of Athena, rather than straight-up fight the nymphs and Narcissus to get the celestial bronze he needed to make repairs, he uses himself as a distraction and has Hazel manipulate the bronze in a place where she can’t be seen, which is a plan that needs a lot of manipulation of the opposing parties.

What finally acted as the nail in the coffin for me was his plan to defeat Gaea during Blood of Olympus. It involved a lot of manipulation of both enemies and allies, and in the ended it succeeded so brilliantly that everybody got what they wanted, with none of them being aware of the plan until Frank and Hazel explained it, and they were the very few people in the know regarding Leo’s sacrifice. Developing such a plan takes immense amounts of cunning and ambition, which are both Slytherin traits. Although he may be chaotic, mischievous, and annoying, Leo is the guy you don’t realize is a Slytherin until it’s too late.

Nico di Angelo: The thing about a guy who was pretty much a loner throughout most of his time in the series is that it’s hard to tell what values he has. Ergo, we should look at his actions rather than his own words. Nico, although mainly dominated by his naïveté during his younger years, has shown himself to be extremely brave. For example, there was him openly defying his father by saving Percy from his imprisonment, and later actively convincing Hades to stop his vow of neutrality and fight alongside the Olympians in The Last Olympian. Finally, there’s his excursion to Tartarus and later his willingness to transport the Athena Parthenos during Blood of Olympus. Nico willingly went there to see if the Doors of Death were over there, and later transported the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood even if it meant he would fade into the shadows forever. All feats are insanely brave, and therefore I argue that he should go to Gryffindor.

Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano: Hufflepuff. Most of Reyna’s actions aren’t inspired by bravery, honor, or chivalry, though from a certain point of view they are brave. Reyna often performs most of her actions out of loyalty for those she cares about, almost in a Percy-ish kind of way. Her interrogation and cold nature towards Percy in Son of Neptune? Suspicion that he would be a threat to Camp Jupiter. She metaphorically fought against Octavian’s power advances because she knew his own ambitions wouldn’t help New Rome. Willingness to cooperate with the Greeks before the Eidolons screwed up everything? She believed that it was best for New Rome. Willingness to brave the Mare Nostrum all by herself? Both her loyalty to Jason and that she believed that waging war against Camp Half-Blood was not the best for the legion. Her loyalty and ethic just make her a shoe-in for Hufflepuff.

Apollo/Lester Papadopoulos: Oh boy, he’s kind of at an in-between when it comes what house he should be in. If we were talking about him pre-Lesterfication, I would honestly say Hufflepuff, but he takes a good chunk of those traits and turned them into a darker way. He defeated Python because the snake monster had chased his mother off of Delphi. He alongside Artemis murdered Niobe’s kids because the goddess insulted Leto by saying she was better than her. When Asclepius is murdered by Zeus, he retaliates by murdering the Cyclopes who made the weapons. And finally, he punishes those who broke their vows He shows loyalty, but in a lot of darker ways that we don’t expect. He’s got Hufflepuff morals, but they’re in a darker, more warped way than we expect.

If we’re looking at him post-Lesterfication, I would still say Hufflepuff, but now he does it in a brighter way and is also more Gryffindor. He was more willing to sacrifice himself if it meant saving those he cared about, such as when he willingly tried to kill himself during The Burning Maze if it meant Caligula would stop holding his friends hostage. He was also willing to commit more honorable gestures such as bringing Jason’s body to New Rome during The Tyrant’s Tomb. He was even willing to own up to his mistakes right in front of a god who had every right to hate him if it meant Meg and Reyna could be spared. He’s still a Hufflepuff, but he’s a more idealistic and less warped version of the values he had before he became Lester.

Meg: In a way, she’s pretty much like Apollo. She’s a Hufflepuff, but in all the wrong ways at first. We see this in The Dark Prophecy when its clear that during that time, she was more loyal to Nero of all people rather than her fellow campers, to the point of accepting Nero’s gaslighting if it meant she could see the positive view of him. However, she’s also loyal to Apollo and her father, which we see in The Burning Maze because the main reason she guns for Caligula is because she often compares him to The Beast aspect of Nero, the person who killed her dad. She in the end is also willing to accept and finish her father’s legacy, planting the seeds that eventually become the Meliai. Tower of Nero is when she gains the will to stand up to Nero after support from Apollo and her friends, and is later on seen taking care of the other children Nero abused. In the end, she’s a Hufflepuff despite the fact that she may not look like it.

Now, before you guys getting up in arms about there being no Ravenclaws, in my opinion the house is a lot more knowledge-focused, whether its discovering more knowledge, but also using it in a more academic and experimental way. Considering we don’t see this attitude or its corresponding values too much during the stories that we see since they’re more save-the-world mission focused. While Slytherin does have an intelligence-centric value such as cunning, its more focused on using such intelligence to manipulate and trick others, while Ravenclaw uses such intelligence in the discovery for knowledge.

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allthemarrowoflife · 2 years

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i've been in the middle of a hogwarts house identity crisis for a while now and that means i spend my time overanalysing every trait from every house.

so i developed a theory. this is long.

you know how slytherin is stereotypically seen as the traditionalist house, stuck in their ways and their prejudices? that stereotype actually goes very much against the slytherin values. hear me out.

an important trait of slytherin house is adaptability. they're constantly changing to match their environment, they're resourceful and deal well with new situations and ideas, they're cunning and crafty, they know that if a certain behaviour or way of thinking is no longer useful, it needs to be shed, like a snake shedding its old skin.

slytherins's faith is more bound to people than to traditions or cultures or ideals. their loyalty is selective. if they need to drop a belief for the sake of their people (and by that i mean the specific inner circle they're loyal to and protect fiercely, that can mean family, close friends, one s/o or even just themselves), they'll drop it. slytherin house is the one who does what is necessary, not what they feel is morally or traditionally right.

that trait analysis applys to other houses as well. ravenclaws value open-mindedness and constant search for new knowledge. hufflepuffs value unconditional fairness, kindness and acceptance. you know which house has no trait that goes directly against tradition and stubbornness of beliefs? gryffindor.

i genuinely mean no hate, i love and respect them a whole lot, but you can't deny that it makes sense that they would be the house that is most stuck in their ways, traditions and prejudices.

gryffindors are loyal to a cause or ideal. they're prone to a black-and-white thinking, the thought that they need to do exactly what they consider to be the morally right thing, regardless of the consequences. they're determined and tough, persisting courageously and righteously in the ideal they set their mind to. and they're not known to change their minds often.

and that is seen all over the harry potter story. the whole narrative is biased according to what harry is conditioned to believe from the very beginning. ron, who comes from a completely gryffindor family, is extremely biased against slytherins and wholeheartedly believes they're all bad people. be says there is not a single dark wizard that did not come from slytherin house. we as readers, now as not easily influenced 11 years olds, know that that is impossible. all dark wizards can't have been all from slytherin. in fact, pottermore says hufflepuff is the house with the least dark wizards. that implies there have been some there and way more from the other houses. ron is letting his prejudices speak, and those directly influence harry, who instantly sets in his mind the idea that slytherin=bad guys. and that is the way he keeps seeing things throughout the whole series.

of course, he had his reasons. the main slytherin students he was in contact with at first didn't exactly prove his ideals wrong, considering harry is as observing as wall and didn't really pay attention to any children in that house apart from malfoy and his little group made up of children of rich pureblood families. that doesn't mean all slytherin children were mini death eaters, blood supremacists or rich pretentious idiots. that is just the way harry saw them.

the whole series is seen through the perception of gryffindors. hermione is the most stubborn and square character, who refuses to change her mind and accept new differences if she doesn't have full hard reason to. take the way she treats luna for example. or how neville (who is my favourite character by the way so really no hate to him) is genuinely scared of luna at first and doesn't want to sit in the train compartment with her because she seems "crazy" and "weird". fred and george (who i also love) actually boo an 11 year old child during an opening feast because said kid had been sorted into slytherin.

harry, as good a person as he is, is an extremely biased narrator. remus himself, in one of the last books or movies if i'm not mistaken, outright tells harry that he is being blinded by his prejudices and is not analysing the situation properly. hell, even the gryffindor professors are slightly biased. minerva (bless the iconic queen) actually orders the whole slytherin house to be kept in the dungeons during the battle of hogwarts. whether she did it because she thought they weren't trustworthy or because she wanted to shelter them from facing their own death eater relatives, it is still proof that she instantly assumed all the slytherins had evil ties in the war.

did i just put more effort into a whole ass essay defending slytherin and throwing gryffindor under the bus than i put in any of my school work? absolutely and i regret nothing. let me get annoyed at people painting slytherins as the prejudiced villains when "self-righteousness and hero complex" gryffindors are right there shaping their whole lives around their simplistic morals. i am allowed this small joy, okay? just don't hate me for it and disagree if you must. but you shouldn't. cause i know i'm right.

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knpjpr · 3 years

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prom date | jjk oneshot

🦁synopsis: "you didn’t think relationships were for you. your almost seven years held at hogwarts almost up. that was until a shaggy brown haired boy walked into the library, and he would show you just how love feels."

character analysis: jungkook’s a shy guy. not really realizing the full extent of his popularity, until he realizes that he could lose you to that very social stance.

->pairing: gryffindor!jeon jungkook x ravenclaw!reader

->genre: fluff, angst, unexpected to lovers!au

->word count: 7k (unedited)

->warnings: swearing

masterlist

Cheers erupted from the long table across the room from yours. You hadn’t noticed yet, your attention placed upon the long ridged book that you looked through ever so closely as Namjoon placed himself quietly beside you.

“What are you reading there?” He asked, trying to slip his gaze to the words, but you were quickly slamming the book closed, hiding it in your blue and silver robe as a faint blush painted your face.

“It’s nothing, just a simple incantation book, nothing else to see.”

He studied you, a sweat reaching up your spine in hopes that he wouldn’t ask more, too embarrassed with the simple secret you had insisted on keeping.

“Alright, well..You know the Ball is approaching right? Do you have a date?” He asks simply, sticking his fork into the piece of food he had been waiting to eat since the beginning of the day.

You weren’t really the ideal pick for someone, not talking in an appearance standard, just talking about the fact that you would rather keep your head in a book than talk to someone else; a typical Ravenclaw. Namjoon was the same, so it was always easy to keep in a conversation, always having such intelligent consultation.

You were quick to shake your head, hearing as the Gryffindor table erupted in another louder cheer, making the two of you wince.

He had expected that answer, as he had been friends with you for the seven years of attendance at Hogwarts, and excluding him and teachers, you hadn’t talked to a single guy. At first he thought it was an anxiety trust issue, but he soon found out, you made no time for distractions, to put it simply, you were the embodiment of a workaholic.

“Maybe you should try to make another friend..” He spoke out, as your face twisted with confusion. “What are you talking about? You are my friend, aren’t you not?”

He sighed, rolling his eyes as his gaze was back toward his meal, but still discussing his concern. “I am, but what I mean is, trying to converse with someone else, we only have half a year left, maybe try to expand your group?”

You were confused, not seeing the need for that, you liked the comfortable discussion with Namjoon just fine, so with a swift step, you were getting up from your seat at the table. “I’ll be in the library until class, see you then."

Walking into the library, it was quiet and calm, your eyes closing and breathing in as you trudged more into the book home you seeked shelter in.

You walked to the closest table, plopping down in one of the wooden chairs as you pulled out the book you had been reading that Namjoon asked about.

You had a strange fascination with the mystical beings of the wizarding world, too much that you could be placed out as a crazy scientist, but you couldn’t help it. That’s why, you wanted everything to be a teacher here, you strive for it, always asking McGonagall the certain qualifications, and keeping your studies above everything else. You wanted to be the “Care of Magical Creatures Teacher”.

From the table you sit at, you make out the figure who walks through the door, confusion making its way to your face as you don’t understand why they were here.

Jeon Jungkook. Gryffindor’s seeker and a year younger than you, you didn’t know him personally, but with Namjoon being the Ravenclaw prefect, you heard his constant annoyance concerning the younger wizard, who made a habit of always sneaking out his house corridors.

You made eye contact with the tall, board figured boy as he’s averting his gaze quickly from you and stepping to a section of the library you knew instantly. The section you spent most of your time in, always plucking the next addition to many mysterious collections. The mystical beast section.

“Who’d have thought,” you mutter under your breath as you were surprised to say the least.

Gryffindor’s weren’t pinned to be attentive in their studies, always breaking rules instead and trying to have the time of their lives. This is why you stuck with the geniuses that flocked and flourished in your house. But with curious eyes you were to never expect a Gryffindor; and a popular seeker at that, to be in the library searching for a book on mystical beings.

He’s soon returning back to the main part of the library, sitting at the table closest to you. You reach toward your book, continuing on your page as you lean back into the chair, this having Jungkook’s gaze on you as he notices the book.

“Is that “Care of Magical Creatures; Monsters? I was looking all over for that book, I guess it was checked out by you..” He says as he rubs the back of his neck with an awkward stance. “Yeah, I’ve had it for a while, but I’m almost finished with it, hold on.. You like to read about Mythical Creatures??” This realization has him flustered fully, you still in shock that your observation is right.

“Yeah..I don’t really tell everybody, to be honest. What’s your name?” This was the first interaction you have had with another student beside Namjoon, and with the same glistening look he has that you know all too well, you are finding an instant sort of comfort as you two share a special interest.

“Yn, my name is Yn.” You say with an awkward formality that has you internally slapping yourself, but Jungkook finds it different, seeing as he’s used to being around more outgoing people.

“Jungkook, Jeon Jungkook, and you look to be my new library buddy.” He says quite boldly, pointing his thumb towards his chest as he gives you a smile that has you flustered beyond repair. He was definitely something else, which is what you couldn’t tell was good or bad.

You just hoped this is what Namjoon meant by you having other friends, even if it was just Jeon Jungkook.

“Hey Yn! Come over!” Namjoon exclaims, motioning you to the couch he sat comfortably at in the Ravenclaw common room. He’s got books sprawled around him, all of which are various colors and organized into piles of what looked to be categories of type. “Do you have time? Snape’s exam is supposed to be extra hard, and I’m preparing.”

“Sure, what do you need help with?” You say, making a spot to sit on the hardwood floor, as he’s almost about to say something about it, but shakes his head and motions towards a stack of papers. “Can you sort those? They’re my notes, but some are for certain lessons.”

You nod, grabbing a pile of papers as you start sorting. You envied Namjoon with his work ethic, always preparing and doing excellent in return. You hum under your breath as you slip a piece of paper notes to a pile off to the side, and continue in the same motion.

“What took you so long in the Library? You almost missed Divination.” Namjoon asks, with an intense glare.

Namjoon was a stickler for being completely on time or even early, and as your best friend, he made absolutely sure that you followed in the same footsteps, obviously to uphold both of your images.

“Oh, I met someone..a new friend I suppose.” You say, watching as Namjoon’s eyes light up with a sort of proud stance. You were taking his advice, and that made him exceedingly happy to hear.

“Well, go on. Who is it?” He asks in between folding papers to put in an assortment binder that you knew was where he stashed his most important papers and notes. “It’s Jeon Jungkook.”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment.

The silent air that falls onto the both of is what sends a nervous sweat back up your spine. Namjoon wasn’t the pushy type, but with the huge dislike of the Gryffindor seeker, you knew speaking his name with the label of friend attached would open the door of disagreement.

“Well,” He speaks through his ice breaker cough, the air starting to fog off a bit. “If you think he’s an okay fit, then fine, but don’t come to me complaining about him breaking a rule. Jeon Jungkook has troublemaker in his blood.”

This has you internally smiling, because with the acceptance of Namjoon meant that Jungkook had hope, had potential of being a close friend. Of course there would be doubt, but with the secret interest you two shared, you knew this would be something worth it.

Jeon Jungkook wasn’t that bad.

“I want a re-match!” Jungkook exclaims, throwing his hands into the air as the two of you sat off to the side of the Library, only the two of you occupying the room for the 4th day in a row, but it wasn’t like you two were complaining.

He was losing terribly to you in wizards chess, and with furrowing eyebrows along with the bite of his lip, you could tell he was going to lose again to you.

“How about we put your fifth loss today as proof to give it a rest for right now,” you say with a giggle in your words, this making him pout with a slight smile.

Truth be told, you were slowly getting used to your constant hangouts, always making eye contact in the great hall, and with swift movements, you were saying bye to Namjoon and making your way to the library to meet with the Gryffindor seeker.

Jungkook was surprisingly very smart with the knowledge he knew of magical creatures. He says this is from him always being interested as a little kid, as he was born from a family of all wizards, a pureblood. This was very different from your experience, since you in fact were a half-blood.

“Fine. But we have forty minutes until class, so how about I show you something I enjoy?” He says with narrowed eyes, a smirk placing on his features, which makes you nervous. You had a lot to expect from the six-year seeker who during his first year, set off an explosion in potions leaving Snape with no eyebrows for an entire semester. It was very confusing for you, as from all the stories you heard from Namjoon and other housemates, Jungkook seemed the complete opposite when with you. Granted, he was very enthusiastic about magical creatures, and even competitive about games, but other than that, he was calm and very shy; always rubbing the back of his neck when talking about a subject he enjoyed.

“Alright then,” you mumble slowly, making Jungkook smile widely, grabbing onto his book he had been reading from before, as you narrow your eyes to him. “But you have to promise we will not be doing anything reckless,” you say sternly, grabbing onto your book as well and slipping it in the satchel you got as a gift from Namjoon; a gag gift to be realistic as Namjoon knows you forget things all the time. “I don’t expect you to do anything stupid, but just in case I’m telling you.”

Jungkook laughs towards you, pushing his chair into the table as you follow suit, his hand motioning out for you to grab as a smug look laces his features. “Alrighty then.”

“Here we are,” he says, extending his arms out with excitement. He had taken you to the quidditch stadium, which had you sighing in relief that he wasn’t taking you off into the forbidden forest or pranking some poor innocent student. “My second home.”

You hadn’t really been here, because you found quidditch games too noisy and too crowded, but with the glint in Jungkook’s eyes as he gave you a grand tour, you realized, to each their own.

“And here are the changing rooms.” He says as you're led into the tent that was located just outside of the stadium. You stand awkwardly as he’s digging into a chest, pulling out a robe and showcasing it to you with a huge smile.

“This is my robe, cool right?” That smile. That ridiculous smile is what had been on your mind for the past days, more so that even Namjoon had been noticing your odd behaviour.

“Yeah, it looks really colorful, do all the quidditch robes look like yours?.” You say with curiosity, as Jungkook catches on your words. “No, just the seekers have this type of robe, but wait..have you ever watched quidditch??” He’s clearly shocked, but sports to you, wasn’t an exciting thing to watch, never really having a valid reason to participate and watch. The idea of flying around whilst having all sorts of insects flinging at you with a quick speed seems unintriguing and just plain nasty.

“No, I never really had a reason to watch quidditch..” You say, visibly flustered as Jungkook is neatly tucking away his robe back into the chest. Hanging out with you for only a week, has Jungkook learning things about you, that makes him determined to show you a fun time.

“Come on, we have thirty minutes, I want to show you one last thing.”

You frown. Jungkook’s quick to grab your hand right again like in the library, and this action is having your heart almost about to burst. His hand is warm and bigger than the small of your hand, but you both weren’t complaining as he leads you through the entrance of the stadium and onto the field.

It’s huge from where you stand, understanding how someone could stand on these grounds and feel like the star of the show. “Wait right here, I’ll be back in just a moment.” His back walking away as your attention is caught on the zipping broom flying past you. You look up, seeing as the Hufflepuff team had been practicing above, players flying around as one held onto the ball.

“Like what you see?” Jungkook says walking back to where you both were, but now in his hands is a broom. It’s long and slender, the wood a dark brown as the end of it is all kept and neatly shaped out. The tip of it has scribbled marks, you look closely, noticing that it's his initials. “It’s not brand new, I got it last year for my birthday, but it’s still in good use.” He says as he lays it down on the ground before squatting back up to face you.

"Would you like to give it a try?" He asks, motioning his head towards the broom that was slowly starting to float.

You don’t know what to say, not knowing how to ride a broom, and knowing damn well that the b- you made in flying wasn’t at all suitable for you to safely ride a broomstick.

With the way Jungkook laughs at you, you can tell he knows just how you feel about riding by the way your face winces with uncertainty. “Don’t worry,” he says softly, holding out his hand as the broom pulls into his grasp with ease. “I will be here to make sure you are safe.”

You don’t know why, but those words flutter inside your chest, unable to stop the blush that makes its way toward your face.

“Sure, I can give it a try,” you say with nervous words, still not entirely on board, as you could either master riding the broomstick, or fall on your ass and look like a fool in front of Jungkook.

Your agreement has him smiling largely as he’s placing the broom back on the ground and walking on your side of it. “Okay, first off hold your hand out like this,” He says, positioning his hand out for you to see and copy. You tried, reaching your hand out but when you're not met with the wood neck of the broom you grow a tad bit frustrated, your eyebrows furrowing and a pout on your face.

Jungkook finds this cute as he’s grabbing onto your hand, and turning it to the side. “Like this, see?” You weren’t paying attention once the broomstick is in your hands, too busy feeling the shivering sensation that is from the soft feeling of his hands touching yours.

Next up was getting on the broom. This was difficult for you. Jungkook having to hold onto the floating wood as you tried to feel as comfortable as you could. At any moment you could fall off, and that’s what was scaring you, because the moment that he would be to let go you would send straight into the dirt and grass.

“You think you’re ready to let go?” He asks with a smirk on his face as you send him a glare, him knowing damn well that you were scared just by the way you held onto his shoulder. This felt refreshing to him, because with books and learning, you were obviously the smart one, but when it came to quidditch, he was the master and that’s what tickled his funny bone.

“How about this,” he starts, letting go of his grasp on the neck of the broom, your hold on his shoulder not letting go one bit as he’s motioning for you to scoot. “Move back for me, will you?”

And you did, quicker than he could say quidditch, as you thought he was going to help you off, but the minute he sits in front of you on it is instantly proving you wrong.

“Hold on.” Is all he says. That’s all until he starts moving, and your arms are instantly wrapping around his body, too scared that you would fall off.

He starts to fly slowly, moving away from the practicing players, so the both of you wouldn’t get hurt by a ball getting thrown at you or worse a bludger coming after. And the minute you relax around his waist is the minute he’s picking up pace, flying fast out of the stadium and towards the school.

Your eyes close as your grip tightens around him, this having him smile at your closeness. Feeling as he’s turning corners of what you could assume is the school’s architecture. “Open your eyes.” Jungkook says, placing one of his hands onto your grasped one.

Once you open your eyes you are met with the pretty colors of the sky. Then vibrant and gradient. It was pretty. And even so calming. “This is why I love quidditch. Seeing these colors after a game, whether I win or lose, it’s calming to me.” He confesses, figuring that maybe this is what he meant to show you the whole time.

Unconsciously settling into the warmth of his back, you noticed how good he smelled, never really paying attention to that detail. Your eyes wandered until you noticed how Jungkook this whole time had still been keeping his hand on top of yours. You soft your eyes at the feeling of him rubbing circles into it.

Maybe he wasn’t so bad.

The ball was arriving closer than you thought, only having two more weeks left until then. Students already going out to ask dates, and you’d seen at least four different proposals today just in the great hall.

It had been two days since you and Jungkook went to the quidditch stadium, and things went right back to how they were. Except, you didn’t want them too. You were starting to realize just how you felt for Jungkook, but with every tug of your heart strings, you felt like he wouldn’t return the feeling.

It was driving you insane. The thought not even letting you sleep, like you were trying to do now.

“Thinking about that sixth year again?” Jihyo says, one of the other girls in your house that you would consider a friend, even though the two of you don’t hangout as much.

She had been sat up in her bed, obviously woken up by your pacing back and forth, but she wasn’t angry, because in her almost seven years living in the same dorm as you, she had never once seen you so bent out of shape for a boy. For any boy at that.

“Uh, yeah..I don’t know, am I being impractical to have feelings for him this far into the friendship? Jihyo am I crazy??” You whisper paranoid, which has her laughing, patting her side of her bed for you to sit down. You take that invitation, plopping down onto the soft sheets.

It's normal for these late night talks; almost becoming a common schedule for the both of you. She rests up against her pillow, moving to the side, slipping under the covers to the left of the bed.

"Now listen. There is nothing wrong with you liking this Gryffindor got it? Your feelings are valid." Jihyo speaks with a calm voice.

Jihyo was a kind girl, which made her ever so popular and wise with her advice. You didn't understand why she would talk to you just like tonight and every other night previous, but she did and you thanked her for it.

"Now," jihyo starts again, moving over to her night stand and grabbing a hold onto a magic magazine. "We are going to Hogsmeade in less than two days, and you and I are going to take that time as vacation, okay? In the meantime, look over these dresses for the ball." She speaks as she flips through pages of models wearing dresses, each turning to different sides to showcase the beautiful dresses.

You frown. “Are you sure that I need to buy a dress? What if I’m not even asked..” This visibly displeases Jihyo to hear as she’s wrapping the magazine into a bat and hitting you on the head with it. “Nonsense, if I know any better, that Gryffindor boy is thinking about you just as much as you do about him.” She’s right. She’s always been right, her advice always wise and clear cut, but something about the complete social hierarchy change is what causes you to completely overthink. You lost all morality and logic when it came to him.

Winter.

Winter weather wasn’t a problem for you, but for Namjoon and Jihyo, it was the complete opposite. Constant whining about fingers falling off from Namjoon as Jihyo snuggled up to your arm for warmth.

Hogsmeade is pretty, just like every time you see it around this season. A thick blanket of snow covering the roofs, as you could smell holiday pastries. Honeydukes was Namjoon’s favorite place to visit whenever the two of you came each year, the smell of seasoned cinnamon pastries and sugary fudge enticing him with every step.

“Alright girls, I’m going to head over to Honeydukes,” and there he goes, breaking his pride as the smell was too addictive. “Do you want anything?” You both shake your head, Namjoon turning on his heel and walking along the pavement towards the shop as Jihyo breaks off from snuggling into your warmth.

“Okay, we have two hours, so let’s have fun okay?” She says, the both of you feeling snowflakes falling on your faces, more falling down on your clothes and hair. You nod your head as Jihyo looks around for an activity to do, meeting eyes with a building that has her excited.

“Let’s check out The Three Broomsticks!” She says, letting go of your hand and walking off for you to follow her. Watching as her bouncing hair and figure become smaller with every step she takes.

You start walking behind after her, but find yourself being held back, someone pulling on your jacket. “Going somewhere?” His voice is as clear as the snow sicles, your heart pounding hard in its bony cage. You turn around, meeting eyes with the one person you secretly hoped to see today. “My friend and I were about to check out Three Broomsticks.”

Jungkook smiles, and you swear you could have fainted right there. He’s wearing a knit scarf, his house colors painting the clothing piece. A black sweater to compliment the colors nicely. His nose being the only other thing that’s red under the weather.

“Oh, well I got this warm cup of butterbeer for free, and I was wondering if you wanted it.” He says. “That is, if you even like butterbeer..” And there he goes, scratching the back of his neck.

He didn’t in fact get the second cup of butterbeer for free, hoping that you would take that excuse so he could buy you something without you feeling the need to repay him. You take the cup with ease, taking a sip, a moustache of foamy butterbeer placed above your mouth. He’s laughing, the sound warming your body enough in the chilly season.

Jihyo had been watching you two interact for a few minutes now, understanding the hint of not interrupting because she knew you were practically squealing like a little girl in your mind.

“What are we looking at?” Namjoon asks from beside Jihyo, a cinnamon roll stuffed in his mouth as she motions over to where you were happily sipping away your hot butterbeer as Jungkook was showing off a new ring he got. “That, my virgin friend Namjoon, that.”

Later that evening, you find yourself in Zonko’s Joke Shop, looking through the hung up items as Jungkook was beside you, looking for something to use on one of his dorm mates.

“I found it!” Jungkook exclaims from beside you, showcasing a bag filled to the brim with a substance you didn’t know what of. “Stink pellets, a single hit and you’ll smell worse than a troll.” This has you chuckling, his excitement to torture some poor dormmate is too funny for even you not to laugh.

“I hope and pray for whoever you prey on with those.” You point into the bag, making Jungkook grab onto your wrist, noticing how your fingertips were as red as a chinese fireball. “Holy cow princess, think your fingers are already cold enough?”

Princess.

He didn’t know why he let it slip from his mind, but now the name was out and in the air, and you definitely heard it. Your body almost shutting down the second you heard the simple word slip from his lips. Anybody could have called you that name and you wouldn’t have given them a second glance, but it was the fact that he called you it, that has you almost bursting at the seams.

“W-well, I don’t have any gloves, so my pockets have been doing the job of keeping them warm.” You decide not to further the fact that he called you a pet name, which has him frowning. Did you not think anything of it? It wasn’t because of that, you did think something of it, but with the constant rate of your heartbeat rising, and the almost rising flush, you didn’t want to look obvious in front of him.

The air almost becomes awkward, until Jihyo and Namjoon come bursting through the store door. “Aye lovebirds, McGonagall says to start heading to the station or we’ll be left to fend our way back.”

You pull your hand out of his grip, looking one last time before Jungkook is looking away and making his way towards the check-out whilst you walk over to your friends and out the door.

You didn’t even say bye to each other.

“Yn, get your head off the table.” You grumble, keeping your head down on one of the grand hall tables. Namjoon rolls his eyes, trying to study in peace, but with your consistent whining he’s left annoyed. Namjoon won’t ask you what’s wrong, already knowing you too well that the reason your whining and fake crying into the wood off the table is caused by a familiar brunette seeker.

Now, patience running thin, Namjoon is rolling a stack of his Astronomy homework and smacking you in the back of your head. You're holding down on the spot where Namjoon held his strong blow, you wincing in pain as Namjoon is rolling his eyes again. “Don’t whine, you just got hit with a 101% graded essay from McGonagall that I worked my ass off for.”

“Why do you even care what I’m doing right now?” You huffed, trying to shove your face back into your Herbology homework, but Namjoon’s quick to place his hand under your face. “Because, I won’t have my friend slacking off and making a grade that I know she could have done better on.”

He’s right. He’s always right, just like Jihyo, which is having you slightly confused on why your two friends are so good at giving advice. But nevertheless, he’s right, and you shouldn’t be letting this affect you as much as you are letting it.

Jihyo’s the next person that you see, her figure running through the great hall and abruptly sitting down, which has Namjoon jumping from startlement, shooting daggers into the side of her face.

“So, what are we talking about besties?” She asks, tapping her hand on the table, raising her eyebrow, which has Namjoon nudging your shoulder, “Nothing much, just telling Yn that she needs to stop letting this guy take over her emotions.”

Jihyo is surprised, surprised that Namjoon knows nothing about a girl’s feelings; typical virgin nerd which is straight up Namjoon, and surprised that you and Jungkook still haven’t talked since the little situation in Hogsmeade.

“You two still haven’t talked? It’s been four days girl,” you glance down at your papers, your eyes scanning over the words as you don't know what to say. He was the one avoiding you. Never going into the library, never talking in the hallways when you would pass by, you hardly saw him. And it hurts. “I would talk to him if I ever saw him, it's like he disappeared off the grounds.”

The two of them look at eachother worried, before Jihyo speaks out again.

“You won’t have to worry about that problem,” She motions towards the door of the great hall opening, Gryffindor students rushing in with a loud echo, one familiar face at the front who you immediately meet eyes with.

It makes your heart pound and hurt, the first time you make eye contact and it’s as if you two were back at the start; when you two were strangers.

His friends motion him towards their usual spot that was right across from your table. His gaze never leaves you once, which has you placing your head right back into your Herbology homework again. “Well, what are you waiting for?! Go talk to him!” Jihyo exclaims loudly, which again has Namjoon wincing.

Trust you, you wanted to go. You wanted with your whole body to get up right from your seat and rush over and call his name. But that wasn’t you. Confrontation wasn’t your thing, and Jihyo and Namjoon knew that. That’s why you were so keen on accepting that maybe this avoidance was Jungkook’s way of saying ‘So Yn, but I didn’t mean to say that, and I don’t like you that way, please don’t misunderstand.’

But maybe it wasn’t, maybe you were just in your head, and maybe he was overthinking as well. So with slow movements, you were standing up from your seat at your table. But just as you placed one leg on the outside of the seat, you watched as a younger looking girl made her way over to Gryffindor table.

Lila Mae, pretty brown eyes that shined with the hall lights, and long brown hair that stopped at the end of the waist.

If you could remember, she was a fourth year Hufflepuff, two years younger than Jungkook, and three years younger than you. She was pretty, stunning if you would say, the way she walked and even talked to the other guys around Jungkook screamed confidence, something you didn’t have.

It didn’t take you long before you found out what she was talking to Jungkook about. The cheers of his classmates were loud and clear. She had asked him to the ball, and with him turning slightly to look back at you and then right back towards her, he had said yes.

You couldn’t move, felt all your hopes flushing down the drain. Had all this been for nothing? Did he play you? Was he dared? Your thoughts ran through your mind with a quick pace, and all the talk coming from Namjoon and Jihyo soon faded out. You quickly grabbed a hold onto your things, your homework messing with the quick placements, and ran out the hall as Jihyo and Namjoon called after you.

Jungkook watched your figure, his features sad and regretful. You had been embarrassed by him. Heartbroken by him.

It was the night of the ball, and you sat on the foot of your bed, holding a book in your lap, looking down at it. It was Jungkook’s book, the inside of the book having his name scribbled sloppily, messy and unkempt due to his rushed handwriting. He gave it to you a week into hanging out and you kept it, cherished it.

The sound of the dorm room door opened with a creek, Jihyo stepping in with a worried look on her face.

"Aye girlie, why don't you have your dress on yet?"

Jihyo looked beautiful, her hair styled perfectly into a bun, strands of her hair flowing out and curled. But her dress was even more beautiful. With shades of lilac purple, it flowed out. The sleeves are long and cuffed, showing off her shoulders. She looked truly stunning.

She frowned at you, you only having your hair done, and your dress being laid out on the bed. She knew this was hard for you, to get up and face what was happening in the dining hall. But you needed to prove to not just Jungkook, but yourself that you could do this.

"I don't know if I can do this Jihyo, I can't go down there and pretend everything is alright.." You say with a knot in your throat.

Jihyo walks over and sits down beside you on the bed, grabbing you shoulder as you rest your head on her shoulder. "Everything is going to be fine. Show him, you don't need him." She empowers, as you nod your head slowly.

She was right yet again.

The minute the two of you are at the staircase of the Great hall, you see Namjoon at the end of the steps.

He looks handsome, usually like he always does, but this time he's dressed in a nice fitting tuxedo. His hair was brushed and swept to the side, and then the minute you two are at the last step, he's smiling wide.

"What, were you waiting for us?" You asked, as Namjoon tilts his head. "Oh well, I had to wait for my date." You raised your eyes in confusion, but soon he answered as he moved his arm out and Jihyo grabbed it.

You were shocked clearly, which made Jihyo laugh, "This nerd right here asked me out. It was unexpected, but I couldn't say no." She said, which made Namjoon laugh before he finally looked over at you and noticed how pretty you looked.

You were dressed in a flown out baby blue dress, flowers placed down the waist of the dress down the end. Your hair brushed down and curled thanks to Jihyo.

"Now, no matter me and Namjoon's thing, you are welcome to crash,' Jihyo started to talk but you interrupted. "No, no you guys have fun, I'm just going to find a seat and chill." The two of them nodded, not wanting to argue with your statement.

The three of you are walking through the Great Hall's doors, lights flashing as Flitwick is leading the band to play a fun song. Students were all dancing, sitting down at tables, and eating as they all had a fun time.

Looking around the Hall room, you finally laid eyes on a specific pair, a pair that you secretly wished you hadn't seen. Lila looked gorgeous, her gown black and more close together than the flowy dresses that you and Jihyo were wearing. Her hair was beautifully pinned up into a braid, black flowers pinned into parts of her hair. She looked like a celebrity.

Shifting your eyes towards your left, you had made eyes with him again. Hell, the minute you were stepping into the Great Hall, he couldn’t get his eyes off you. You were stunning. He looked great and fit into a nice suit with a white shirt showing out because his coat wasn’t buttoned up like Namjoon’s. His hair, curling out on the sides of his face, and earrings decorating his ears.

It pained you to look at him, he wasn’t here for you. With you. Instead you tried to focus on the fact you didn’t have to look at him. Deciding that getting out of there was better for you, for your heart. And so that’s what you did.

Jungkook was stupid. Stupid to overthink, and stupid to left his emotions scare him into not asking you to the Ball. In his mind, you were a gorgeous Ravenclaw upperclassman, why would you want to waste your time with him, when you could be going out with someone older. And what made him more agitated was that you were sitting there, looking as gorgeous as ever, and he was stuck with some girl he had forgotten the name to minutes ago. Why? Because from the minute you looked at him in the Library, he knew he was fucked, down bad for you.

His every night was consumed by you. So of course, he wasn’t interested when this girl asked him to the Ball, because he wanted to go with you. But with the look you gave him back in Zonko’s, he thought he ruined everything he was working up for.

With Lila tapping him on the shoulder, he’s abruptly stopped from staring at you. “Do you want to dance?” She asks, batting her eyelashes, which has Jungkook feel funny, and not in a good way. He couldn’t continue with this. He was hurting you by being a huge douche, by being with this girl. So with furrowed eyebrows he’s taking her hand off his shoulder. “I’m sorry, uhhh, you..but I have to go.” And with that he’s walking away, not stopping to listen to the girl’s constant pleas to stop.

He needed to talk to you, needed to make this right.

He found you outside at the courtyard, sitting down at the water fountain, dipping your finger in the water as all types of fish swam away from the ripples.

“Hey,” he spoke out lowly, as you looked up and gazed into his eyes. It made his heart skip a beat, and now getting a closer look at you, he realized just how pretty you looked tonight.

“Hey stranger.” You spoke out, making it known that you were not happy with him. No matter how you felt deep inside, you weren’t going to let him off the hook, no matter how adorable his face looked as it scrunched up. “Ouch,” he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, like he usually did when he was nervous. “Look, I know what I did was shitty.” He started off saying, but you snorted, standing up from your spot on the fountain step. “Shitty is an understatement Jungkook. You made me feel like a fucking fool. Made me feel horrible for liking you, for thinking that you liked me back.”

You were pissed, and Jungkook knew that, god, he hated knowing you weren’t happy with him, but with the way you spoke out he couldn’t unhear what he just heard. “Wait, what did you just say?”

You stopped, realizing that you just confessed in front of him. You were supposed to be mad, supposed to scream at him, cuss, hit him, anything. But with the fact that you like him is out in the air has you embarrassed, cheeks flushed. “I like you.” You say with confidence, scrunching your hands into your dress. Jungkook heard you clearly, and so he’s stepping closer to you and looking you into the eyes. “I like you too.”

Your heart flutters, as Jungkook reaches towards your hand, and you let him grab a hold onto as fireworks start setting off because of the Ball. The colors illuminating the sky as Jungkook couldn’t keep his gaze off of you. “I should do this more properly,” he starts as you look back to him, “yn you want to be my prom date?” He asks, which makes laugh, because "prom" was a muggle thing. But in some ways, this was a prom, and you had an answer to his proposal. "Yes, Jungkook, I'll be your prom date."

He smiles, and takes your other hand, grabbing a hold of your waist. Slowly dancing in a two step as the both of you are stuck in eye contact. It felt comfortable, like you and him were made to be together, like pieces to a puzzle.

"You look beautiful," He said, holding a tighter grasp on your waist as your arms are carefully wrapped around his neck. The way he spoke out to you was sweet, you wanted no one else to talk to you like he did.

He presses his lips to yours, warmth spreads throughout your body, butterflies reaching every corner of your body. Jungkook pulls you close to him, wraps his hands around your body, wanting you to be as close as he can.

When the two of you part ways, his hold on you doesn't falter, still keeping you close as the air between you two is heavy. No matter, it feels natural, and you don't want it to end.

"I'm happy I met you." He confesses, hugging you more as you place your hands on his chest.

"I'm happy, I met you too." You say happily.

this took so long for me to write!! it was especially hard due to a sort of writers block, but i knew i wanted to write a harry potter au since me and my boyfriend have been binging the series of movies (except the last two.) i actually am planning on making a oneshot series of harry potter aus, because i need a different outlook for my writing as well as my social aus im doing.

i’m extremely proud of how this oneshot came out, and i hope you like it too!! here’s to many more oneshots!

#jungkook fluff #jungkook angst #bts fluff #bts angst #bts scenario #jungkook scenario #bts imagine #jungkook imagine #bts au #jungkook au #bts hogwarts au #bts hogwarts #jungkook hogwarts au #jungkook fanfic #bts fanfic #jungkook oneshot #bts oneshot

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ashesandhackles · 3 years

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The Hogwarts Express scene in Prince's Tale: A Sirius and Snape analysis

I really, really enjoy Sirius and Snape as characters and their respective narrative functions in story. But what gets me most about them is how much Rowling hints about their backgrounds and so much of it makes sense with regard to who they are as adults. So I am going to be breaking down a very small scene from Prince Tale and getting into long winded hypothesis about their respective childhoods.

So, let's start with Snape. The scene begins with Snape rushing to find Lily, already in his Hogwarts clothes. Harry notes he must have been eager to get out of his clothes - ones that look like he borrowed from his mother, as Petunia spitefully pointed out. This has always been a very interesting detail to me - first off, it indicates how poor Snape's family is. Second, this indicates his tiny rebellion from his father - he refuses to wear clothes of the abusive man, and prefers his mother's. I admit, I am partial to the reading that Snape refuses to associate with his father in tiny ways, rather than Tobias refusing to hand his son clothes.

(I have seen readings which say that it is also a sign of neglect - perhaps his parents bought clothes that simply don't fit him, but I am more inclined to think it's a hand me down, simply because Harry identifies so strongly with it. Because Harry knows what it is like to wear a hand me down that don't quite fit, that are too big for you, or the ones that make you look ridiculous.)

Lily and Petunia's relationship is fraught with Petunia's jealousy. And young Lily is upset over it when Snape meets her. "I am not talking to you. Tuney hates me" she tells him. "Because we saw the letter from Dumbledore". Young Lily shows signs of being extremely emotionally reactive and this scene is one of them. It's easier for her to deal with Petunia's rejection of her by telling Snape she doesn't want to talk to him. It's a childish displacement of her hurt over her sister's rejection. (I am genuinely baffled by interpretations that Lily and Hermione are similar. Hermione is very cognitive person, Lily, as we have been shown repeatedly in memories, is not).

Snape, however, with his bad history with Petunia and his inability/ poor social skills to understand why this matters to her, goes: "So what?"

Lily, who throws him a look of deep dislike, says "So she's my sister". This seed is important because this is what develops into "he doesn't get me" feeling she later displays in her teenage scenes with him. Interestingly, most of Lily's personal relationships have deeply interwined love and dislike - Petunia (whose rejection bothers her but she cheerfully informs Sirius that Harry nearly broke a vase her sister sent - which means there is resentment on her end too), James - who she was attracted to even before 7th year but also disliked at one point, and Snape - again, a contentious friendship filled with love and distance.

"She's only a -" we dont get to hear what Snape intended to say. And given his own acrimony with Petunia, it could be anything. However, I read it as "She's only a Muggle" because it ties into his feelings about his father. Snape, who is proud of being half a Prince, emphasizing his magical lineage from his mother's side, his refuge in a violent, neglectful home. (Barty Crouch Jr and Snape with their disappointing fathers - I imagine Voldemort is supremely attractive leader to people with broken homes like this)

Snape, by all accounts, shows a disorganised attachment style. His caregiver, his mother - and perhaps the only parent he seems to have regard for, is too preoccupied by her own abuse to be there for her son - we see this in glimpses Harry sees in OOTP: " woman cowering" where a man shouts at her, and a young, neglected Snape cries in the corner. Children born in homes like this have trouble regulating their emotions, simultaneously displaying tendencies to aggressively lash out or show disassociative symptoms. Both of which Snape displays. Statistically, this is also seen more in low income households where economic instability and resulting domestic instability creates an unsafe environment for the kids to safely form ideas of their identity, or express emotions in healthy ways, modelling instead out of behaviour seen at home.

Then, Snape reminds her that they are going to Hogwarts. He is already in his Hogwarts clothes - now, Snape gets to be the impressive figure. The one who told her about magic, who theorised about how Muggles get letters from magical people, the one who told her about Dementors and Azkaban. He has already left behind the Spinner's End version of him, he wants to bigger than that, and is keen to be in place of magical learning and to join Slytherin. Essentially, he shows signs of unstable identity, insecurity - all prime for grooming into a cult.

And here comes along James Potter, who looks around at the mention of Slytherin. James's comment uses Snape's line and directs it to Sirius instead and it becomes a conversation between them, as a way to bond more with a fellow "rowdy boy" Sirius. Effectively ignoring the other two.

Sirius as we see here, "does not smile" when James talks about Slytherin. He essentially says something that can be construed as a way to nip that conversation in bud: "My whole family has been in. Slytherin". This suggests to me that there is some loyalty to his family there and his disillusionment with them isn't entirely fixed yet. After all, Sirius's intense loyalty to his friends, more specifically James, did not come out of thin air. It is reasonable to suggest that he felt some loyalty to his family at some point and the intensity with which he regards his friends is a reaction to burned off and being a "displaced person without a family" as Rowling put it.

Interestingly, while his reaction to his mother and Bellatrix are obviously sore spots, his response to Regulus is comparatively quite soft. ("Stupid, idiot" - something he calls James later on in the same book, OOTP). I imagine Sirius has quite complicated feelings about his brother and he is capable of nuance (when the person isn't Snape, where his dislike seems to be borne of an intense projection): "The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". As someone who is grown up among them, Sirius would understand that.

His framing of Regulus's need to please his parents also further highlights what exactly is the source of disillusionment. He calls Regulus "soft enough to believe them" - which means he is crediting his own intelligence to see through his parents bigoted world view. Clearly, bigotry is not something the Blacks explained in a way that Sirius, eldest of their male line and their heir, bought it. It also probably didn't help the Blacks case that Grimmauld Place is in a Muggle neighborhood and that their eldest son is a bit of a wild boy with interest in pushing boundaries. His intellectual disconnect leads to the righteous rage he later feels but it began there. (Boy, it must suck to discover that everything you have been taught to value in the world and in yourself as the heir is essentially rubbish). Since his differences with his family began with seeds of intellectual disconnect rather than on intense empathy with downtrodden, it makes him, as a pureblooded privileged boy, unable to truly understand Lupin's fears regarding his lycanthropy. Hence, the Werewolf prank (I am not getting to the Snape bit, just the Lupin bit). To James' credit, he does understand what that means for Lupin and saves all three of them from different set of consequences.

Anyway, back to the scene. James, who has made an ass of himself in front of his new friend, who he was getting along with fine until now, then goes "Blimey, I thought you seemed alright". (Btw, I find James wildly large ego kind of hilarious here, especially in light of Snape's comment about him to Sirius in OOTP: "You will know he is so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him"). Sirius, who I believe has been raised like "royalty" as Blacks would, has good enough social skills to defuse a situation. He grins and says: "Maybe I will break the tradition".

This line is an indication of Sirius's desire for independence, an identity seperate from his family. The use of the word "tradition" is interesting. It sounds like Sirius is expected to behave in a certain way, the heir of Black family whose parents thought being a Black "made you practically royal". Adult Sirius is contemptuous of this, or their "valuable contribution to Ministry" which means they just gave gold - it tells me that any and all conditions put on him by his family were to fulfill tradition that is either worthless or holds no meaning in his eyes. The root of the emotional abuse Sirius suffers from his family is this - realising his parents love for him is conditional on him being a certain way. (In fact, you can read Regulus desire to emphasise his connection to the family as a reaction to what he sees with Sirius - Sirius does not behave, Mum and Dad don't love him). As a child with unconscious knowledge of lack of love, Sirius then acts out, they react, rinse and repeat "until he has had enough". Sirius chafes against boundaries well into adulthood and doesn't react well to people enforcing it on him, even if it is out of love for him. Cue the fire scene with Harry where he behaves as if Harry is rejecting him instead of protecting him.

Sirius asks James about where he wants to go, and Snape, who is incensed about James being insulting about a House he put stock in, which he made part of new identity (so that he is no longer that Snape boy from Spinner's End) and was in general trying to be impressive about in front of Lily, "makes a disparaging noise" once James talks of Gryffindor. Snape's response to James' : "Got a problem with that?" is interesting. He says: "If you'd rather be brawny, rather than brainy-"

This is an important value for Snape. He knows he is clever and values it. He spends his spare time inventing hexes, making great shortcuts to Potions. He has genuine thirst for learning and he hones it. In SWM, we see that he has written far more longer answers than anyone else, he is poring over his paper after exams. He even mocks Hermione's lack of inventive answers: "Answer copied word to word from the textbook, but correct in essentials". He values originality. It may be me stretching this, but I am partial to the reading: this is his way of rejecting his father once again, who is implied to be a violent man. (in other words, someone who is hypermasculine - "brawny". In fact, Snape's rejection of hypermasculinity is a huge post on it's own - Potions (brewing, cauldrons - coded as feminine arts), the doe Patronus, his proficiency in Occlumency and Legliemency (intuitive mind arts, again seen archetypically feminine) etc).

"Where are you hoping to go, seeing as you are neither?" - Sirius is quick with emotionally cutting insults. Snape hasn't even finished his sentence, but Sirius is already on his case. Which suggests growing up in a household with sharp tongues. It's a fair assumption, given Mrs Black's half mad portrait. It also tallies with Sirius's talking about his mother: "My mother didn't have a heart Kreacher, she kept herself alive out of pure spite" . The wounds are fresh enough on this. (Another interesting way Snape and Sirius act as inverse mirrors - Snape rejects his father, Sirius rejects his mother. Sirius acts as proxy for James for Harry while Snape takes on Lily's role of protecting him). However, you know who else is spiteful? Sirius.

While James is the physical bully (the tripping Snape, doing most of the bullying in SWM), Sirius attacks emotionally. ( Sample the one about Snape's appearance - "I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment, there will be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word" or even the carelessly vicious- "Put that away, before Wormtail wets himself in excitement"). Curiously, with all that talk of how his mother being spiteful, it's her room he spends time in when he is depressed. (Again, in inverse mirror way, we can talk of how Snape looks for a father figure in Dumbledore - craves his validation and is proud of Dumbledore's trust in him). We could argue it's also because Buckbeak is there, and perhaps it's the largest room in the house, but it's very telling that's where Sirius spends time when he is "in a fit of sullens". Sirius's sense of abandonment from his family, makes him look for family connections with friends - a trait he shares with Harry. Interestingly, the first time he glimpses Harry in Privet Drive, Harry is also running away from home - just like he did. Anyway, I could go on.

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