there is a clear distinction between gof sirius and ootp sirius so let’s talk about it because it’s all i’ve thought about for days.
in gof, sirius lives in a fucking cave eating rats in order to be near harry during the triwizard tournament. this is a decision that puts sirius in danger – being so close to hogwarts with ministry officials prowling around could easily land him back in azkaban. but here’s the thing: sirius doesn’t choose to live in hogsmeade for a laugh, or for his own personal gratification. he did it to protect harry – in the cave scene, when the trio ask what he’s doing, the first thing he says is “fulfilling my duty as godfather.”
and he is. because throughout gof, sirius gives advice, guidance, and comfort to harry. he tells him not to take unnecessary risks, to stay safe, to focus on getting through the tournament alive. sirius chastises harry after he finds out that he went into the forest with krum, he offers sympathy when harry talks about the fight he has with ron, and also, he lived in a cave and survived on rats just to be close in case harry ran into danger.
consistently throughout gof, sirius is a comforting presence to harry. he is intelligent, protective, and even paternal. this is sirius black at his best.
and sirius black at his best stands in stark contrast to the man we see in ootp: angry, mercurial, moody. reckless. he constantly makes bad, impulsive decisions: seeing the kids off at king’s cross, popping into the gryffindor fire, picking fights with snape. in ootp, sirius causes harry more worry than he assuages – directly conflicting with his goal of fulfilling his duty. not to mention, his treatment of harry, which is in direct opposition to what he displayed in gof: now, he encourages harry, compares him to james, even guilts him – “you’re less like your father than i thought.” that’s a shitty, low thing to say to the boy you’ve sworn to protect.
and all of this is leading up to the crux of the matter: sirius’s obvious illness. he’s depressed, he shows signs of bipolar disorder, he has tendencies toward alcoholism. he’s likely dealing with some form of PTSD after twelve years in azkaban. these things are true of sirius no matter where he is, but in gof, he’s in a healthier state – ironically, given his living conditions.
the trigger for sirius’s behavior in ootp is grimmauld place. it’s imprisonment, it’s being locked up in a house that he loathed, one that he was almost definitely emotionally abused in. it’s being kept from having an active role in the order, it’s being goaded by snape, it’s being stuck and unable to help, all in a place that represents everything he spent his teenage years trying to escape.
hermione consistently points to sirius’s instability, says that she thinks he’s being unwise, and when harry takes it as an insult on his mental state – it isn’t an insult, it’s a correct observation – hermione says that he’s been lonely for a very long time. and she’s right. in ootp, we see the effects of all of this on sirius, and they’re invariably negative in the extreme.
it’s heartbreaking to see the contrast here, because in one book we see the best of sirius: loyal, selfless, protective, and loving. immediately following, we see the worst.
but even at his worst, even amid his own battles with illness coupled with the fucking infuriating things about sirius black, he protects harry. he goes to the ministry to fight because harry is in danger, and he dies protecting harry.
sirius was fucked up but even at his worst, he still fought for harry in the end because there was no way in hell the person he loves more than anything else could be in danger without him there to protect him. he lost his duel with bellatrix because he underestimated her, because he’s prone to losing himself in the thrill of the fight, because he couldn’t resist the temptation to goad someone he loathed.
but he went into the ministry that night to protect harry. he would have done it for james, sirius, remus, peter, or lily at twenty; he would have done it healthy in gof; and he did it as sick as he was in ootp.
in spite of everything that happened to him – and everything intrinsic to him, all the cruelty and grudges he clings to by nature – sirius is a good person.
because there is nothing sirius black would not sacrifice for a person he loves.
I forgot to post about this last night but we made vision boards which were supposed to be like posters with writing and drawing and pictures cut from magazines used to remind us of our personal goals and inspiration and mine kind of ended up being a shitpost so I thought tumblr would appreciate it so
things I glued on my vision board, more or less in order:
-a picture of George W Bush and Bill Clinton with the title “Game of Thrones: TIME talks 2016 with the most surprising couple in politics”
-an excerpt from the article associated with aforementioned picture in which Bush says “this feels like taking prom pictures” and Clinton says “I would have gone to prom with you”
-a bottle of wine called “R” (included as a tribute to Grantaire)
-a thing literally suggesting making a vision board
-a pig being given a shower with a hose
-a comic about disappointing moments in history
-a picture of a dinosaur, with the caption “a fluffy, feathered poodle from hell”
-several bees
-colorful drawings of animals in fancy clothes and mustaches
-“follow mishacollins for live-tweets and sarcastic comments”
-“A bear broke into a bakery in Lyons, Colo. and ate 24 pies, as well as bags of cocoa and sugar”
-the cover of the Elementary season 3 dvd
-a huge headline reading “Please Like Me”
-Kara and Alex from Supergirl looking happy
-Kat Grant from Supergirl making a fantastic reaction image
-“news, notes, and to-dos for every gay agenda”
-a drawing of a screaming dinosaur (I didn’t include the caption on this one but it was described as a porcupine with a parrot’s beak)
You know, it’s funny – I used to just support Hillary by merit of “Not Donald Trump” (or, honestly, “Not a Republican”). I was feeling the Bern pretty hard during the primary elections, and I just was really concerned that she wasn’t liberal enough, wasn’t honest enough, was offput by the Debbie Wasserman Schultz stuff, etc., etc.
So then I started rethinking things. And around this time, I got a call, actually, from my local Democratic party organizing group – not strictly “for Hillary” so much as generally trying to organize the disparate Democratic groups in the area, which is something I’d wanted for a while. So obviously, I went in, and at first we met once alongside some others from my family, but it became quickly apparent that he was really, really interested in meeting later to discuss social media strategies. Like, that was clearly the biggest thing he was interested in. Simultaneously, it became apparent that he’d organized for Hillary in the primaries. I agreed to meet for a coffee later to discuss strategies, but at the meeting, I went ahead and made it pretty clear up front that I’d been a Bernie supporter but I thought unity was important, etc., etc. And he was just…
I guess I’d sort of expected to have to fight for things a little bit? That I’d have to be holding my ground, that he’d be sort of smug or whatever, but it wasn’t like that at all. He was just immediately welcoming, talking about how glad he was to have me aboard, how important he thought it was to address Bernie supporter’s concerns, how much great work Bernie had done and how eager they were to integrate it into the campaign. But the moment that really stuck with me was when he made a casual reference to abortion rights as “women’s rights” and I stopped him and went “That’s trans exclusionary, I don’t like to call them that.” (Grade A Tumblr discourse, right?) And he didn’t get defensive or anything, just immediately went “Oh, I’m sorry, what should I be calling them?” I was a little taken aback and immediately checked back into the conversation, explaining that “reproductive rights” was more inclusive, etc.
He immediately thanked me and explained that this was why he was so excited to have me and people like me in the campaign, to make sure everyone was included.
I left the conversation feeling a lot more optimistic about this whole thing, feeling like maybe I wasn’t just chipping in to stave off a worst case scenario and was actually fighting fo a cause that was actively including me.
But the real tipping point was… embarrassingly recent, if I’m honest, and came about through a Spotify ad of all things. You may have heard it a zillion times – “millions of jobs”, yada yada yada, but with the stinger at the end that you should go onto her site and read The Plan. “You know, maybe I should actually read that whole ‘Plan’ thing,” I said, and did.
And uh, guys. Do you… has anyone else actually read this? I won’t say I agree on every single point, but there is so much that I’m actually really excited about??
I knew that Hillary was opposed to voter ID laws and probably vaguely supported early voting, but did you also know that she plans to do automatic voter registration at the age of 18 like we’ve wanted to happen for ages? I knew that Hillary had talked about “mending trust between the police and Black communities”, but did you know that her platform explicitly includes body cameras? Did you know that it specifically calls out the school to prison pipeline and her plan to end it? Did you know that it specifically calls out ending private prisons? Did you know that it specifically calls out ending violence against trans women of color with a crosslink to her LGBT rights platform? Did you know that it talks about defending Puerto Rican rights, something even a lot of the mainstream Tumblr SJ discourse tends to overlook?
And I’m still barely touching on all of this, Jesus Christ – we could be here all day discussing all the policies I looked at and went “Oh, wow, that’s actually pretty in line with why I liked Bernie.”
So yeah, okay. You win this round, Hillary. I wanted Bernie to be our candidate, but you know what? Maybe sometimes, primaries are just choosing between two candidates who are actually both pretty great. And maybe you’ve proved that you’re actually willing to listen. And all it took to win me over was, uh, me actually reading your campaign page.
But hey, better late than never, right? It was a slow path to get here, but a worthwhile one, and dammit, at least now I can say without reservation that #imwithher
I think one of the reasons the Harry Potter Epilogue was so poorly received was because the audience was primarily made up of the Millennial generation.
We’ve walked with Harry, Ron and Hermione, through a world that we thought was great but slowly revealed itself to be the opposite. We unpeeled the layers of corruption within the government, we saw cruelty against minorities grow in the past decades, and had media attack us and had teachers tell us that we ‘must not tell lies’. We got angry and frustrated and, like Harry, Ron and Hermione, had to think of a way to fight back. And them winning? That would have been enough to give us hope and leave us satisfied.
But instead. There was skip scene. And suddenly they were all over 30 and happy with their 2.5 children.
And the Millennials were left flailing in the dust.
Because while we recognised and empathised with everything up to that point. But seeing the Golden Trio financially stable and content and married? That was not something our generation could recognise. Because we have no idea if we’re ever going to be able to reach that stage. Not with the world we’re living in right now.
Having Harry, Ron and Hermione stare off into the distance after the battle and wonder about what the future might be would have stuck with us. Hell, have them move into a shitty flat together and try and sort out their lives would have. Have them with screaming nightmares and failed relationships and trying to get jobs in a society that’s falling apart would have. Have them still trying to fix things in that society would have. Because we known Voldemort was just a symptom of the disease of prejudice the Wizarding World.
But don’t push us off with an ‘all was well’. In a world about magic, JK Rowling finally broke our suspension of disbelief by having them all hit middle-class and middle-age contentment and expecting a fanbase of teenagers to accept it.
Also. Since when was ‘don’t worry kids, you’re going to turn out just like your parents’ ever a happy ending? Does our generation even recognise marriage and money and jobs as the fulfillment of life anymore? Does our generation even recognise the Epilogue’s Golden Trio anymore?
Harry and crew at Hogwarts in what is technically their eighth year, studying for their NEWTs and trying to fit back into a life they’ve half outgrown, the teachers never bothering to treat them like students under their authority anymore and half the other students going to them for Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons.
Harry shoving money at people, hey, you were a muggleborn who lost your wand to the Muggleborn Registration Committee? here have enough to buy your wand back and some more besides, you need to get your house back, how much do you need? starting a business, here have some start-up cash. injured in the final battle? take this money and get trained for a new line of work that doesn’t require legs. bitten by a werewolf? here’s money to buy potion. and he just keeps handing it out without paying any attention to it and there keeps being money there, and how the fuck is it okay that he has so much while others have to buy secondhand books and use secondhand wands?
Harry wanting to burn Grimmauld Place to the ground, and Harry wanting to donate Grimmauld Place as a home for people with bad family situations and people whose family have died and don’t want to be alone, and Harry never wanting to see Grimmauld Place again.
Harry wanting to snap at Molly’s mothering, at Molly’s being after him to cut his hair, at Molly’s invitations to him to come stay at the Burrow. Harry knowing she’s probably going to be his mother-in-law and knowing she’s lost a son and settling for pointing out that Aunt Petunia always hated his hair too, which shuts her up.
Harry and Draco walking on eggshells around each other. Harry making a few overtures of reconciliation and being rebuffed. Harry finally saying, well, be a prat then, and Draco snapping and slamming him into the wall, Muggle-style, and ranting for five minutes straight on how much it sucks to have believed in someone and been betrayed, to have lost, to have been saved by the person who defeated his side of the war, to have his dad in Azkaban and to have been handed Dumbledore’s life on a silver platter and been unable to take it, to have trusted Severus Snape and find out he was working for the other side and the war is over and Harry’s so covered in glory while Draco will never escape the stigma of having been a Death Eater when he wasn’t even a good Death Eater.
Harry looking at him and saying, yeah, that sucks, that’s fucked up. Saying, he watched Dumbledore die, watched his godfather die, lost Fred lost Mad-Eye lost Remus and Tonks, watched Cedric die because he was being too noble to take the Triwizard Cup for himself even though Cedric tried to insist. Saying war is fucked up, war fucks you up, shatters everything and you’re left with fragments that cut you open when you try to pick them up.
Draco telling Harry he’s dating Astoria, who doesn’t believe in blood supremacy. Harry telling Draco that if he likes Astoria, he should date Astoria, and he can give his kids magic and love and he doesn’t need to give them a position at the top of the social hierarchy to be a good father to them. Harry telling Draco that when he was faking being dead, Draco’s mother lied to Voldemort for him because he told her Draco was alive.
Harry taking part and giving evidence in the trials of captured Death Eaters and snatchers and others. Harry offering Lucius a plea bargain that will let him go home. Harry telling Lucius he understands people don’t like being in debt to their enemies, and if Lucius wants to hate him, that’s fine, but Harry thinks Lucius ought to go home and be with his family. Lucius saying nothing, but going home, and when Christmas break ends Draco comes back to school looking human for the first time in two and a half years.
School ending, and the whole double class of students sort of milling, cast adrift into an adulthood they’re not quite prepared for and at the same time are too familiar with. Half the flats above Diagon Alley being rented out by students in small groups and pairings who have no idea how to keep house; Diagon Alley getting an unofficial expansion as the Muggle flats nearby get rented to more of the same, with back doors leading to alleyways that lead to back ways into Diagon.
Some of the abandoned businesses in Diagon Alley getting opened by former Hogwarts students who don’t quite know what they want to do; a few of them importing Muggle concepts with a touch of magic: a store that’s a different Muggle fast-food restaurant every day of the month, a store that brings in Muggle items, Muggle music, Muggle technology. An internet cafe that serves butterbeer and Mountain Dew, cauldron cakes and Cheetos, side by side.
Knockturn Alley getting cleaned out by a new Ministry crackdown on the Dark Arts, and being taken over by those who feel shattered or tainted by the war. Stores trickle in to replace the old places, and shrines to the departed line the storefronts, here a fountain placed in memory, here a quote graffiti’d on the wall, here a mural, there a pile of flowers and trinkets. It’s a quiet place, contemplative; somehow the bustle of Diagon never touches it. Wildflowers grow through the cobblestones, and generations of future witches and wizards will grow up thinking “Nocturnally” refers to the twilight of the passage between worlds.
Hermione and Ron clashing over Ron’s expectations growing up with a mother who did everything for him and expecting a wife who’ll do the same. Hermione moving in with George and Angelina above the joke shop. (Angelina loved Fred, and is halfway in love with George; they are united in their missing of Fred. Hermione is growing to love George, who under his pranks and devil-may-care attitude is quite clever and inquisitive. The three of them make a decent vee, and Angelina can go travel with her international Quidditch team without worrying about George being neglected.)
Ron rebounding with Pansy Parkinson, of all people, who’s rebounding from Draco; their relationship being first built on a temporary cure for loneliness and rejection and an indulgence of spite at their respective exes, and then surprising them by continuing to work well once all that has faded.
Ollivander taking Cho Chang as an apprentice wandmaker. Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot undertaking the work to turn Grimmauld Place into Phoenix House, a home for abused, orphaned, and neglected magical children, squibs, homeless or familyless witches and wizards, and convalescents from St. Mungo’s.
Ginny’s first child is a daughter, with Harry’s black hair and green eyes; she indulges Harry by naming her Sev, like the boy Harry’s mother once played with when the world was new and full of wonder. It’s short for Severa, which is Latin in the old wizarding tradition, and it reminds Harry of Evans and of ever, which has about the same meaning as Always.
Draco and Astoria end up having five kids, and Draco scandalizes his younger self by loving every aspect of fatherhood times five. Daphne Greengrass, Astoria’s sister, ends up marrying Percy Weasley, which means Draco’s kids have Weasley cousins. Family get-togethers are very interesting, but somehow Narcissa and Lucius survive.
*GRABS THIS AND RUNS TO THE MOUNTAINS WITH IT SO NO ONE CAN EVER TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME*
he’s been a vegetarian since junior year of high school cause his friend bet him that he couldn’t go without meat for one week and he’s just stuck with it
he’s been to sleep no more in new york at least three times and will talk about it for a good hour if you ask him if he liked it
“hey, nursey, you did sleep no more, right?”
“yeah, i did”
“was it any good?”
“bro………….oh my god, bro….holy shit…like fucking…..fuck okay, so-”
nearly pissed his pants the first time he was so scared but he always leaves that part out
didn’t really like shakespeare at all until he saw a really stellar production of henry iv part i when he was 15 and just fell down the rabbit hole
there have since been several occassions where he has thought a little too hard about horatio at like 3 am and got teary-eyed
his sixth grade literature teacher was the first person (besides relatives) to compliment his writing
loves the flavor of mint…he had to go to the hospital as a kid cause his moms found him eating toothpaste straight from the tube (he didn’t eat that much he was okay)
he ate two whole sleeves of mint oreos while writing an essay once cause he wasn’t paying attention
would kill a man for iced coffee
he doodles a lot in class…there’s a lot of potential tattoos in the margins of his notebooks
he likes to absentmindedly chew on things: pens, toothpicks, those hoodie strings…if he’s not paying attention he’ll just put things in his mouth
even like other people’s pens when he borrows them it’s gross
he was definitely That Kid who broke his pen while chewing on it and got ink all in his mouth/all over his face/hands
Someone needs to save Eponine and Azelma Thénardier, god.
Marius’s attitude toward Eponine is, frankly, revolting. I guess I’m glad at least musical!Marius is gentler and friendlier with her? Though it gives people the weird idea that Marius should date Eponine and like. No. No. Get Marius away from Eponine. Give Eponine clothes and food and a warm home and books and time for herself. Give Eponine gentleness and attention. Not Marius.
I guess at least we can imagine a happy ending in America for Azelma, a world where she escapes from her father’s grip. But Eponine – god.
Also, is it just me or Hugo is way harsher with the Thénardiers girls than he is with Fantine? I don’t know, in the descriptions of them, etc.? Is it because we got Marius as a point of view now (and Marius is despicable here), when Fantine had Valjean? But even when it’s the “narrator” commenting and such – i don’t have examples to give, just feelings, but I guess that what I get from those first chapters is “those girls are not girls anymore they’re nothing, miserable creatures, etc.” the words are harsh, and sure they’re not the ones being blamed for their condition, but nothing very hopeful is given either? There’s a word or two on how they could have turned different in another world, but that’s it? whereas with Fantine, her goodness is never questioned, she’s a good person who had to do bad things, etc. I don’t know how to express it!!! sorry
Yyyyeah Marius is seriously Problems here. But I think it’s stemming from his major underlying flaw, of having internalized a lot of social prejudices. Like– he’s not brutal to Eponine, he even gives her money he himself really needs, he’s very charitable–but he’s not capable of seeing her as a full person, like himself, or as a woman like Cosette. He could be much less kind (and will be, eventually :/) but this is…not equality. Pity isn’t respect. And the way he treats her after he sees Cosette again-augh.
–I think the description that’s more relevant to Eponine here is Cosette’s description when she’s living with the Thenardiers? They’re both described as being very upsetting to see, miserable in a way that overrides their youth, etc. There’s a difference in them both with the Thenardiers and Fantine on her own; the girls with the Thenardiers are trapped and enslaved, they’re being taught constant brutality, where Fantine at least had some freedom to figure out what she wanted. I think Gavroche comes closer to her situation (pre-M-sur-M, at least)–poor, sickly, alone, but free in a way. And Gavroche doesn’t *repel* the way Cosette and Eponine do at their worst… I mean, Hugo is definitely editorializing like woah, he never gives a physical description that doesn’t have a Symbolims, but the ugliness is about/ relative to their oppression/misery/level of alienation from society? I never felt like he was condemning the girls, just noting that they had BEEN condemned. Like, in contrast to Mme. Thenardier, who he absolutely mocks about her looks. if that makes sense?
So the thing is in the actual book series JK Rowling never said what House Hagrid was in. We find out that Hagrid actually went to Hogwarts as a student really in the 2nd book–when we see Tom Riddle, the Slytherin prefect confront Hagrid in his own dorm room, and the two seemed pretty familiar with each other.
Hagrid was expelled as a 3rd year. He was born in 1928, and Riddle was born 1926. So Riddle was a 5th year prefect,
Hagrid doesn’t seem like he was particularly good at any branch of magic other than Care of Magical Creatures, so how would the two know each other? Hagrid is 2 years younger than Tom, so how would they have known each other well enough for Hagrid to call him ‘Tom,’ not Riddle?
Now, the prefects are some of the only people the oblivious Harry Potter recognizes from other Houses, other than Quidditch players. And yet we’ve never heard about prefects from other Houses coming in to discipline Gryffindor students. Hell we’ve never heard about people from other houses in the Gryffindor common room period. You really think that Tom Riddle would know enough about a 3rd year Gryffindor nobody, someone who isn’t even his year?
Not to mentionthis is when the Chamber of Secrets is open, a girl was killed. You think Gryffindor is going to let a powerful Slytherin traipse around their tower, when tensions are running high after being terrified all year? No.
But you know what’s much more plausible? Hagrid was a Slytherin.
Whereas it wouldn’t make any sense to be friends with a young Gryiffindor, young Slytherins are Tom’s responsibility. Tom knowing, and being able to access a 3rd year Slytherin’s dormitory–how he knew Hagrid well enough to know about Arigog, and where he’s kept– makes much more sense. Not to mention they are looking for the heir of Slytherin. Guess what hint hint they’re probably looking at a Slytherin to be accountable for Myrtle’s murder. Not a Gryffindor.
The only reason suspicion fell on Harry was because he could literally talk to snakes, and people who didn’t know enough about what happened in the past made the obvious leap “Slytherin’s monster=Snake; harry can talk to snakes=Harry’s the heir of Slytherin.”
And damn, it makes sense that Hagrid’s a Slytherin. If there’s anyone who’s a true friend to Harry it’s Hagrid, the man who tried to make sure Harry had everything he ever needed (I still get emotional thinking about Hagrid making that scrapbook for Harry. @Dumbledore maybe Harry wouldn’t have been so enraptured by the Mirror of Erised if he actually had a damn photo of his parents).
And it makes perfect sense for Hagrid to be prejudiced against Slytherin. These are the people who threw him away, who got him kicked out of Hogwarts, who would have taken away his home if Dumbledore hadn’t allowed him to stay on as groundskeeper. And yeah don’t get me wrong Hagrid definitely has morals but he’s like the definition of Slytherin loyalty, he’d do anything for the people he cares about. Just think of him hiding Gawp in the Forbidden Forest. It’s not safe or wise or brave, he keeps that knowledge from even Dumbledore (Dumbledore, who he believes in not because of his ideals or what he stands for but because he is Dumbledore, someone Hagrid is loyal to).
But this is his brother, who is going to get hurt if he stays with the other giants. Think of how Hagrid loves Harry–now, think of Narcissa Malfoy, willing to do anything if it meant the chance her son was alive, even defy Voldemort and go against what her family had been working towards for decades. Hagrid is such a Slytherin parent.
tl;dr sure, JKR might have posted on her twitter or Pottermore that Hagrid was a Gryffindor, but writing is about showing, not telling. And she might have told us that he’s Gryffindor, but she’s showed us he’s Slytherin
Thank you! Alright, here we go. This got ridiculous. Beware of minor Drarry in a fairly extreme AU situation.
1) The Weasleys are Gryffindors through and true. The fact that they are not in Gryffindor is the fault of the Sorting Hat, who is either throwing a temper tantrum or saving the world.
Look, it’s just… argh… the Headmaster is fucking useless and the Sorting Hat cannot take any more of this fucking complaining.
The student dormitories and teacher’s quarters are moaning about how they’ve NEVER had so few people and are CONVINCED Hogwarts is shutting down. The kitchen still hasn’t shut up about those poisoning attempts during the war; the library won’t shut up about the OBVIOUSLY inevitable second war coming in about twenty years (also something about time travel, but no one is listening); and the gardens and bathrooms and secret passages and all are still terrified about raids and attacks and murder and another horrible war.
Hogwarts does NOT want another war.
Salazar’s Chamber of Secrets, instead of being any help and calming things of course, is still being a smug and elusive bastard. Helga’s Room of Requirement can’t and won’t be of any help either – they’ve been feeling a little ill lately, although they can’t shine a torch on why exactly. And Godric and Rowena’s rooms are just best left to themselves… they’d probably only make it all worse, actually, risk-taking adventurous arses would probably encourage the castle to rebel or some rot.
But the Headmaster, instead of DOING HIS JOB, is just… fuck knows what the Headmaster is doing, honestly. Raising children to the war and letting Marked students run amok left and right, that’s what he did, and letting everything get out of control so that a war could happen in the first place before that. With this man in charge, the library is probably right and they’ll see another war soon enough.
Something has got to be done, the Sorting Hat knows. But what exactly can it do? All it does is sing a bloody song that no one listens to every year and then sends the little brats off to the house they belong to. Then sits on a shelf for the rest of the year, thinking about how maybe that one ought to have been in Gryffindor after all, or how this one’s bad habits wouldn’t have been encouraged if the Sorting Hat had gone with Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin.
…Oh… Hmm… Now… there’s a thought. It’s something the Sorting Hat would have considered impossible before, but… when the safety of Hogwarts is at stake? Taking advantage of the many loopholes Godric left and using a bit of creative thinking and reasoning? Quite doable, actually.
1982 is a year that does not go as expected. Everyone was rather under the impression that things would finally be going back to normal, what with the war being over for nearly a year and the last few trials and outspoken followers being wrapped up and neatly shoved away or under a rug. FINALLY, everyone thought, a stressless year at Hogwarts.
Heads are full of wondering about the greasy-looking git in Professor Slughorn’s seat, not a one suspecting the devious thoughts running through the tanning of the hat in Professor McGonagall’s hand. Yes, there was a Sorting Song about unity and undiscovered depths and things changing now that the war was over, but that was more or less the same as every year and to be expected.
And then the Sorting Hat sends an Avery off to Gryffindor and an Abbott off to Ravenclaw, despite the families’ respective long and prestigious histories in Slytherin and Hufflepuff.
What the actual fuck is happening, no one says aloud, as a Bulstrode goes off to Hufflepuff and a Longbottom cousin goes into Slytherin.
What the fucking shit, no one shouts like they want to, as a couple Muggleborns go straight into Slytherin and the most purist and illustrious racist families get scattered throughout the other houses among half-bloods and Muggleborns like a particularly gleeful punishment.
Bill Weasley, being eleven years old and not entirely aware of the scandal brewing, goes up to that stool and has the Sorting Hat dropped on his head. Actually dropped, out of Minerva McGonagall’s shaking hand. Something is off, his instincts are certain, but what… fuck knows what.
Mmm… chivalrous, of course, the Sorting Hat mumbles more to itself than Bill. Never met a Weasley who wasn’t… and brave, of course, like you’d expect of a Prewett. Strong sense of justice… yes… and no disinclination to standing up and fighting for it… no matter the toil. More straightforward than cunning, though, and no particular ambitions as of yet… and a passion that needs a focus first…. I supposed it’ll have to be…
“HUFFLEPUFF!” the Sorting Hat shouts, thinking on the side, Shame. Would’ve liked a Slytherin Weasley.
Bill doesn’t think much of it at the time. His main concern is that, unlike his parents, his Weasley uncles, his late Prewett uncles… he’s a Hufflepuff. The first Weasley and Prewett not to go straight into Gryffindor in generations, actually. He hopes they won’t be disappointed in him and that yellow and black will be good colors on him.
Grantaire who never really understood what people meant when they talked about romance or love, who felt parts of the descriptions resonate with him but was utterly baffled by others.
Grantaire who doesn’t think he has ever been in love or had a crush because he thinks he would probably know if he had, but sometimes has doubts.
Grantaire who remains unattached, and people assume it is because of his ugliness, or his drinking, or his skepticism, but really it is because he just doesn’t know what people are supposed to feel before entering a relationship.
Grantaire who views the people he meets as friends, or as potential partners for sex, or as people to paint, but doesn’t know whether he should consider them in a romantic light. Grantaire who is drawn to some people more than others and doesn’t understand why; who sometimes wants to take a relationship to some other level but doesn’t know in what way.
Grantaire who is drawn to Enjolras as he always is.
He “admires, loves, and venerates” Enjolras. He is intrigued by and in awe of his passion, his light, his ideals, his strength, his personality. He comes to all the Amis meetings to watch him. He comes to realize that he needs him, loves him.
But he doesn’t know what kind of love that is.
Hugo says Enjolras “charmed him, without his being clearly aware of it, and without the idea of explaining it to himself having occurred to him.” Everyone loves to write about Grantaire knowing he loves Enjolras, and loves him romantically, and pines over him. But what about a Grantaire who doesn’t know? Grantaire who has gotten so used to not knowing whether he’s romantically attracted to people that it’s made him cynical about love itself in addition to everything else to the point that he tries not to think about it too hard.
Grantaire who might be romantically attracted to Enjolras but might not be and will probably never be sure.
Canon Grantaire who takes his place by Enjolras when it matters most.
Modern AU Grantaire who has more time and terminology on his side, and maybe is able to make a queerplatonic relationship with Enjolras work.
Just. Quoiromantic Grantaire whose love – whether for Enjolras or for his other friends – is undefinable and confusing as hell, but also deep and unwavering, and it’s all okay.
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