when she was sorted into gryffindor, she was excited and nervous, because she was a muggleborn and wasn’t quite sure what that meant. but everyone was smiling and clapping, and she grinned at the sea of smiling faces dressed in red.
she was given a place in the boys dorm, and that seemed right to her at the time. but in her fourth year, she began to wonder if the out-of-place feeling she had wasn’t just her anxiety and awkwardness, but something else. when she realised she was a girl, it felt like she had blossomed into the world, to face it as a finished person. she told people that summer – texts to her muggle friends, owls to the wizards, and everyone was happy for her. for days she couldn’t do anything without the beep of her phone, or the peck of an owl at the window.
when she came back to hogwarts, and went to her dorm, she turned the other way. towards the girls dorm, where she had a place ready for her, picked out by her friends. she felt that same tight nervousness she felt when she was sorted, the pounding in her chest, the shaky hands. but she told herself to be calm. she was going to do this.
she put her foot on the bottom step. and then the next. and then the next.
the voice inside her head that had been telling her that hogwarts wouldn’t realise who she was shut up. she whispered a thank you to the steps, a small word that only the castle heard. then she ran up the rest of the stairs, a grin emblazoned on her face, new robes swirling behind her, ready to start the next year at school.
–
he was fifteen when it happened. he had been questioning for a while, but he wasn’t sure. he didn’t want to call himself a boy, not yet. a part of him was urging himself to just go for it, because he knew who he was, if he really thought about it. but he was hesitant, and didn’t define himself.
then it happened. one night, when he was alone, he was going back upstairs, when he slipped. his hand steadied himself on the rough stone wall, and he looked down to see what had happened. one of the steps was slanted, just enough to make him trip. it wiggled a bit, then made itself into a step, as if nothing had happened. he frowned at it at the time, and went up to bed, but the memory of the incident lingered days after. and weeks.
he remembered it later, when he sat up all night thinking of how he didn’t belong here, in the girls dorms. he didn’t want to label himself, but he’d been more and more out of place, and he knew who he was, really. when he stopped telling himself that he wasn’t.
it wasn’t too long before he told everyone. he felt like shouting it from the rooftops, flying over the castle with his new name on a banner. he didn’t, though. he just settled for casual chats with the people he knew and an awkward owl to his professors.
and one night, after he’d settled in to the boys dorms, he put a foot on the bottom step of the girls staircase. instantly, the bricks flattened themselves into a slide. he grinned, and carried on up to his new room in the boys dorms.
–
they always knew they didn’t quite fit into any of the genders they knew. they weren’t quite a boy, weren’t quite a girl, but they didn’t have the words to express what they felt. it was only after a few years at hogwarts (and a lengthy google search one night at home) that they learned the word ‘nonbinary’, and realised that there was a word for it, after all.
they decided to be casual about it at school. the people that they trusted knew, and some of the teachers. but it wasn’t as though they had a separate dorm just for them, so
except…
one day, when they were heading up to sleep, they saw a door. it was on the stairs to the dorms – girls went one way, boys went the other, with a blank wall in the middle. except it wasn’t blank, not then. there was a door. they asked their friends about it, but just got strange looks in return. but every time they climbed those stairs, the third door was there.
the next year brought a new wave of first-years, and they joined a group helping the kids out with navigating hogwarts. they were showing a group the way to the dungeons when one asked them what the third door was for. you know, the one between the girls and boys dorms. they froze, and looked down at a nervous first-year who was, even then, getting odd looks from their classmates.
they opened it together, the first-year and them. turned out it was another dorm. the beds were made, light shone through the windows, and the whole room seemed to beckon, invitingly. the first-year was ecstatic, and they found themself smiling too. the pair of them moved in the next day, and began to set up their own little space.
after they moved in, everyone could see the door. and slowly, the dorm began to fill up. kids from all years claimed beds there, older kids who had been too nervous to try the door, younger kids who were thrilled that it existed. they were the first, so they were looked up to, and they were happy they had.
–
help will always be given by hogwarts, you see. even for those who don’t know they need it.
(hey tumblr please don’t delete the previous people’s comments like you did the last time i added someone’s tags to a post mmkay)
No but that’s actually so clever okay like the people who live in the castle would get a general idea of the patterns and how to move around efficiently but like for anyone planning on attacking it would be impossible to infiltrate like how the hell do I attack the headmaster when I can’t even find the bathroom why the fuck am I in a chemistry supply closet okay these stairs went to the main hall but now I’m on my way to the broom closets holy fucking shit fuck leonard SAID the dorm was on the left of the three headed hippogriff but I’m here and it’s just a painting of a man with a donkey face is this a fucikgin joke leonard do you think this is funny because it’snot. its not okay siri how the hell do i get to the nearest anything “here is: the nearest painting” like fuck you siri
actually considering all this, the changing floorplan probably worked exactly as designed when it came to the battle of hogwarts in the late 90′s. the invasion was towards the end of the term, so the students, especially the renegade students in hiding, had the full term to master getting around the school quickly, quietly, and efficiently. the invading deatheaters were generally their parents’s ages, and hadn’t been back to hogwarts in several decades, if they’d even attended at all. so, while the adult invaders easily outmatched the adolescent defenders in strength and skill, hogwarts was a lethal maze to the deatheaters, while it was home to the kids.
FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT PERCY WEASLEY, WHO WAS THOUGHT TO BE STUFFY AND SERIOUS, WAS THE LAST PERSON WHO MADE FRED WEASLEY LAUGH.
FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT PERCY WEASLEY IS STILL A TITANIC ASSHOLE WHO DID NOT EARN REDEMPTION.
EXCUSE ME? YOU COME ONTO MY POST? MY POST ABOUT PERFECT PERCY AND YOU SAY THIS? OH NO HONEY, YOU’RE NOT GETTING OFF THAT EASY.
Percy Weasley 100% deserved his redemption and you want to know why?! Too bad, I’m going to tell you. For his whole life, Percy Weasley was made fun of, he was teased by all his siblings, constantly the butt of jokes. Whenever he was proud of his accomplishments, his family (besides his mother) shut him down. Prefect? Fred and George made fun of him for bragging, for being excited that he lived up to Bill and Charlie’s shadow. Head Boy? Fred and George teased him, stole his badge because they thought it was funny. Percy was so happy and proud of himself and his brothers tore him down. He was pushed aside for Bill or Charlie or even Ron and Ginny. Sure, his mother was proud of him, but his brothers made sure they made his life hell. When he got his job at the Ministry he was so excited. Right of school he got a job he loved, a job he was sure he was good at. He talked about it a lot but that’s what happens when you’re excited. His parents were proud, but again, his siblings made sure to tease him. When Crouch didn’t know his name, his siblings laughed, Fred and George sent him dragon dung.
Then he gets the job of Junior Assistant to the Minister. He’s proud because he’s 2 years out of school and has this prestigious position. Of course he’s going to want to share with his family. What do they do? Tell him his hard work meant nothing, that the Minister was using him (and sure, that was probably true, but Percy was so excited). He saw that he and his family shared two very different views and opinions, some words were said, and Percy left. Reminds me of another beloved character that never gets shit about leaving his family from the fandom. Any guesses who? If you said Sirius Black you are correct! Like Sirius, he left home and the family he clearly no longer saw eye to eye with. That’s not a problem. He felt as though he was in a toxic environment, and honestly he was. I do not blame him for leaving his family even if they were for the wrong reasons. (but why does Percy get shit for leaving a toxic family when Sirius doesn’t? interesting) Now we don’t know what happened when he was at the Ministry. He wrote a letter to Ron that was a bit rude, but we’re also seeing this from Harry’s limited POV. Maybe Percy regretted leaving, maybe he loved his freedom and never wanted to go home. We just don’t know. He finally does come home for Christmas in 1996 (HBP), where he openly welcomed by his mother. He was being used by Scrimgeour, but he went. While his mother was welcoming, his siblings are not. He leaves with mashed parsnips in his face. Did he want to be there? No idea, but he went. How do you think he felt leaving? Probably awful. He didn’t go to Bill and Fleur’s wedding, but it was clear from the way his family treated him the year before that even if he did go, no one wanted him there.
The Battle of Hogwarts comes and Percy comes back. Yes, comes back. He went back to the family he left, he apologized for leaving and for being ‘family disowning, ministry loving, power hungry moron’ (as Fred put it), which he takes full blame for being. What happens next? Fred welcomes him back. Then his parents. Then George. They did not need to do this, but they did because they were family and they still loved each other. Percy fights in the Battle and ends up going up against Pius. He makes the “Hello, Minister, did I mention that I’m resigning!” joke which shows that his limited view has been expanded. He finally saw what was wrong with this Ministry, with what was happening around him (though this may not all be his fault, he surrounded himself with people who also had very limited knowledge and views). When Fred is shown dead, it is Percy who is crying over his body, Percy who tries to protect his body and hide it. Wonder how guilty he felt after this happened because he made Fred laugh and then Fred dies. We don’t know what happens to Percy after this but we clearly know he has a very fierce love of his family and that he was really and truly sorry.
So TLDR; Percy loves his family and was very sorry and hurt by them. He 100% deserved his redemption even if you don’t think so. And if you don’t, don’t comment on other people’s posts about him saying rude things about Percy because you will be proven wrong. Thank you and have a good day.
Honestly, if my family shut me down for every single good thing that happened to me, that I earned, I’d leave too. Staying loyal to people who constantly ignore or make fun of your position is exhausting. I hated Percy at first too, but then I realized that if I was in his position, I wouldn’t act any different. No one needs that kind of toxicity in their life.
It’s very easy to understand why Sirius leaves his toxic family because most of his family members are arrogant racist classist shitlords and shitladies and the Weasleys are the antithesis to that. But it doesn’t mean their worldviews and attitudes are perfect, either.
As for Percy’s letter, from Harry’s PoV, it’s horrible. From the perspective of an older sibling? It is 100% understandable.
Let’s look at things from Percy’s PoV where Ron’s friendship with Harry is concerned:
Year 1: breaks into ultra-secret teacher-set booby traps designed to stop adult dark wizards. Almost gets killed by a monster-dog and by a giant chess game.
Year 2: Confronts a basilisk under the school. Nearly gets himself killed.
Year 3: Confronts a known serial killer. Winds up with a broken arm.
Year 4: Nearly drowns because he was The Thing Harry Would Miss The Most. (Students have died at the Triwizard Tournament, after all.)
Harry then shows up at the end of the tournament with the dead body of his classmate/rival, claiming that Voldemort, who everybody knew was dead, had somehow done it.
Honestly, Percy is kind of more than a little justified in wanting Harry to stay tf away from his little brother. And then you take into account the way that once he’s at the Ministry and not at school, the conversation around The Potter Boy takes on a much different tone. It becomes easy for Percy to look back on all their adventures and overlook the heroic things like saving Ginny, and to start seeing Harry Potter as dangerous. (Because the truth is, Harry is. It is very dangerous to be friends with Harry Potter.)
I’m not saying the letter was right, but it was incredibly understandable.
Especially if you take into account that, for all the crap they give him, Percy is actually protective of his family up until the point that they drive him away. Think about his early childhood–unlike Ron and the Twins, he’s old enough to remember some of the war, but unlike Bill and Charlie, he would’ve been too young to know details. Just that there were big dangerous things, and you had to obey whatever rules someone shouted at you very quickly and without question, because that’s what you teach young children to do in dangerous situations. When Ginny’s gone in CoS, Percy takes it the hardest out of all of them. And people say he got off light, that oh, he should’ve died instead, but no, man. He got the harshest punishment–his little brother dying right in front of him.
I also want to add that percy was the only one who apologised when he came back – his family DIDN’T. none of them owned up to what assholes they’d been and apologised to percy, they just let him take ALL the blame.
as someone who’s been in percy’s situation multiple times – taking the blame and apologising to my bullies for the sake of just getting over the issue and moving on – i can also guarantee that this is a recipe for CONTINUED BULLYING. it lets the bullies off the hook and signals that their behaviour is okay, so they continue to do it. we don’t know if this is the first time percy’s had to do this or not, but consider a) it’s not the first time and he did it anyway because he loves his family enough to want to be with them in this incredibly dangerous time, because losing them while on bad footing is the worse option or b) it’s the first time and he doesn’t know that after this, the family is very likely to fall back into the same behavioural patterns. these patterns are fricking hard to break, y’all. it’s the kind of thing that requires conscious effort and…sorry to say, but there’s nothing in canon that points towards that possibility.
percy haters can fuck right off.
excellent, excellent post!! one thing i want to add is that in CoS, percy is shown as constantly fussing over ginny. he’s so fiercely protective of his little siblings that the letter to ron, although misguided, could never be coming from anywhere other than the best of intentions. and percy’s actions at the battle of hogwarts and the way he refused to let go of fred’s body are very consistent with what we’ve seen of his diligence and protectiveness.
another thing in CoS—the one time percy does something for himself that doesn’t involve studying/leadership, getting a girlfriend, his younger siblings (yes, including ron and even ginny very briefly!) all make fun of him. he can’t even get away with a “normal teenager” kind of thing, because they’ve already decided their position on him. whichever way you look at it, that’s bullying.
also, percy is only a fifth year at the time the series starts! so at the battle of hogwarts, he’s 21. (his birthday is in august; he’s only about a year and a half older than the twins.) when he comes home and has parsnips flung at his face, he’s 20. when he writes that letter to ron, he’s 19. when he gets his apparition licence and shows off by apparating to breakfast, he’s just turned 18. when he gets his first job, he’s 17 and fresh out of hogwarts. of course it’s the coolest thing he’s ever done! of course he’s going to take a boss who takes him half-seriously over a family who barely takes him seriously at all. my point is, he’s young. he’s a kid, and he makes mistakes. give him a goddamn break!
one final point: while we’re on the percy love train, don’t forget he got twelve O.W.L.s. that’s the maximum number of O.W.L.s you can get! that’s divination, care of magical creatures, muggle studies, the lot! he must’ve been using a time turner all throughout the events of the first book (and for two years prior!) and yet there is no indication that he’s cracked under that pressure at all! go percy!
Here it is, canon evidence that Salazar Slytherin was NOT a racist bigot. He was concerned for the well-being and safety of the magical community, which could have been compromised by letting the “common people” know that wizards and witches existed.
Shoutout to this fine lady for bringing this to my attention. Let’s further the argument:
Hogwarts was canonically founded around 990 A.D. – The Christians were finally taking hold of Scandinavia, meaning that all of Europe was now Christian. It was towards the end of the Dark Ages, or else the Early Medieval Period, which (In Europe) was famous for its intolerance of non-Christiandom, which included the teachings of Ancient Rome, Greece, and of course any Eastern countries. People were publicly defamed and in many cases killed for as much as considering these old ideas and teachings. These teachings really didn’t come back to light until the Italian Renaissance in the 14th century.
So when people did things the Christians couldn’t explain, they blamed it on Witches; people they believed to be inhabited by the devil, sent to earth to wreak havoc on every God-fearing man, woman, and child. So what did they do? Imprison or kill those people.
Now, here comes Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, who all agree to take pureblooded witches and wizards and teach them. But then they have to discuss magical folk who aren’t born from magic folk.
Gryffindor is brave and brash, and imagines the glory of having an entire society of witches and wizards with great command of their powers.
Hufflepuff is kind and loving, and wants to provide a sanctuary for all those who are under duress from the population at large.
Ravenclaw sees the merit in bringing all these different people together – the amount of information regarding magic that can be shared is the stuff of her dreams.
Slytherin is cautious. He recognizes that there is a great possibility for individuals to play spy for the Muggle community, in hopes to gain favor by outing them all the while hiding their own powers from muggles. He sees them as a potential threat, and instead of risking the safety of not only their own lives,but the countless volumes and tomes of ancient wizarding knowledge tucked away in their castle (see The Burning of the Great Library at Alexandria), Slytherin says “I really don’t think we should allow people with connections to Muggles in here. We could lost *everything.*
Gryffindor calls Slytherin a coward, saying they would fight back and beat down any who try to oppose them. Slytherin suggests they do all they can to avoid confrontation. Hufflepuff can’t bring herself to deny that sanctuary she’s built. Ravenclaw sees endless potential in bridging that gap between worlds with learning. And this is what drives them apart. Future racists and pureblooded elitists will take and twist Slytherin’s words, having heard only the story that has been passed down for a thousand years. They use words of caution to justify their want for genocide.
Slytherin isn’t the bad guy, here. And I am so down for clearing his name.
To continue the crusade to clear the name of Salazar Slytherin, I have more evidence for your consideration. This is regarding the Chamber of Secrets.
Now, the scene pictured above is one of Harry’s slightly less dull History of Magic classes, in which Professor Binns is asked to talk about the Chamber of Secrets. What we get from him is that the Chamber is a myth. There is legend surrounding it, no one is sure if it exists, etc etc etc.
Here is the VERY NEXT PAGE in the book, in which Professor Binns again admits to the Chamber (as we know it today) to be a complete myth. We find out, obviously, that the chamber isn’t a myth, but I believe that the purpose of the chamber has been fabricated over a thousand years by misinformation and slander.
Let’s check it out. Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Godric Gryffindor all know Salazar Slytherin and say “yep, he’s an upstanding man. Let’s start this school with him!” For a number of years, they had a school together and it worked out great. What we know is that there was a falling out, not Slytherin declaring they needed to murder muggle-borns! A disagreement that may have ruined friendships but did little else, I think.
What we know is that one of Slytherin house’s key virtues is self-preservation. As I discussed earlier in the thread on this post is that Slytherin was afraid of muggle-born witches and wizards acting as spies for the larger muggle community during a time in which wizards and witches were killed for their “demon powers.”
And so, when it comes to the Chamber of Secrets, I believe Slytherin built a Panic Room, not an Evil Lair.
Think about it. Slytherin is horrified that any day there might be an attack on the school. So he builds a secret chamber that only he (or another parseltongue, an incredibly rare magical ability) can open. He doesn’t want any double agents or spies to know about it, so he tells no one. He hopes, of course, that he never has to use it, but in the event that there is an attack, he can get the school to safety while he sets the basilisk on the attackers.
But I’m sure you’re looking at the basilisk and thinking “what sane man would put a monster in a panic room?” Glad you asked. I can consider two possibilities.
1) Slytherin put a basilisk that was under his control in the chamber, a creature that he could set loose on his enemies, aka, anyone attacking the castle. The basilisk would annihilate any army of thousands just by looking at them, and what’s more, it could get almost anywhere in the castle through the goddamn walls! That kind of power is exactly what you need to defend your castle. And again, ONLY HE or an heir could control it. I’m sure at this point he was thinking about himself and his potential progeny, not Tom Riddle some thousand years later.
2) Slytherin didn’t put the basilisk there, and it was instead placed there later by Tom Riddle while he was at school. I don’t have evidence supporting or disproving this.
So how does this get so misconstrued to modern-day Hogwarts lore? Maybe toward the end, the founders did find out about the Chamber. Maybe Slytherin said something to them, maybe he let it slip…maybe as they were cleaning out his room after he left, they found some journal entries about it. It could have been anything. But perhaps, in their wisdom, seeing no way to access the chamber, felt it best that no one knew about the existence of a (now) useless panic room, nor did they want anyone to worry about the basilisk.
Maybe word *did* get out, though. And not one of the founders wanted to admit that Slytherin didn’t trust their students, and so to most of the student body, Slytherin’s departure was suspect. And the moment they heard about a secret room that no one was quite sure about, they started inventing campfire stories about it.
Fast forward ONE THOUSAND YEARS and now everyone assumes Slytherin was always evil (despite being a good friend and founder of Hogwarts with three other lovely people) and created a secret evil lair to murder muggle-borns, which he could have easily done without a lair if that was *ever* his intention.
Thank you so much! I’ve been looking for this post. I always felt like Slytherin being a horrible evil bigot never really made any sense historically speaking, and it just doesn’t add up. Although I have to say I don’t put much stock in option 2. The dude could talk to snakes. And as Hagrid will happily tell you, a creature being scary and “monstrous” doesn’t make it evil. Why couldn’t he be a Hagrid, with a fondness for big “misunderstood” creepy crawlies? Having a basilisk doesn’t make Slytherin evil in and of itself, any more than Hagrid having an acromantula makes him evil, even if most of wizarding society would condemn him for it. Obviously popular opinion isn’t always accurate.
The conservationist and history nerd in me feels a pang whenever I think about how much of a loss that basilisk was. I know it was being used for murder and that it needed to be stopped, but it’s a knee-jerk reaction to such a huge loss of knowledge. That thing was alive a thousand years ago. It knew one of the original founders of Hogwarts. Any parselmouth could have spoken to it and asked it what things were really like in those days and gotten a first hand account, but unfortunately the only person to speak to it in a millennium was an idiot who only thought about killing people. Did he even think to ask its name? Nagini clearly had a name, but he never refers to the basilisk by name. That’s just… really sad to me.
I think a lot of people forget that Slytherin house is more than just self-preservation too; loyalty is a core value. Slytherin’s message is about protecting your own more than nearly anything else. Slytherin pushes unquestioning acceptance of and loyalty to your fellows, regardless of blood status, even in Harry’s day, according to their welcome message on Pottermore. You very rarely see a Slytherin making a disparaging remark about another Slytherin. You do see even the most bigoted Slytherins (like the Malfoys) being supportive of Slytherins who are much lower on their little social hierarchy than them (like Snape). In Salazar Slytherin’s day, I think he would have extended that loyalty to the whole school and the other founders. They were “his own”, and he would have wanted to protect them.
In depth analysis about Harry Potter is what i’m here for
Minerva McGonagall knew Augusta Longbottom’s Charms score, but she’s not old enough to have taught Neville’s grandmother
So they must have gone to school together and now I’m just picturing this awesome rivalry between the two of them.
Augusta’s in Ravenclaw, and Minerva’s in Gryffindor and they’re both prefects with damn near perfect grades
They take a special pleasure in showing one another up in class
When Minerva gets Head Girl, it crushes Augusta (and maybe Minerva lets up her teasing about the Charms OWL. Maybe. Just a little)
Two words:Quidditch rivalry
I mean they both respect each other deep down, but they’re competitive and extremely skilled, and neither one backs down easily
When they’re paired to practice dueling in DADA they can literally go for hours, and it usually ends in stalemates because the professor just kicks them out
When they hear people are starting to place bets on their fights, they hunt down the gamblers together, and no one ever really feels like crossing them again
Albus Dumbledore once remarked it was fortunate that the Sorting Hat put Minerva in Gryffindor because he didn’t think Hogwarts could survive the two of them working together for long
Just saying if anyone wanted to write me a fic about these two I would be 200% on board
If I remember my best interpretation of the numbers right, Walburgia Black would have *also* been in Minerva’s year, which I think is pretty good justification for interpreting it as not a simple rivalry but a three-way feud.
Hufflepuff House is not sure how they managed to avoid getting drawn into this but they’re not complaining.
Head canon that Amelia Bones was in Hogwarts at the same time and represented through Hufflepuff House
No wonder no one remembers Tom Riddle from his school years if everyone was focusing on the rivalry between these 4 witches
I bet for the professors teaching Ravenclaws is like herding cats away from empty boxes.
Older Ravenclaws have finely honed the art of asking just the right argumentative questions to direct their teacher onto an entire-class-session-long tangent about something entirely irrelevant to the course material.
Can you imagine Ravenclaws trying to overhaul the entire school system with Muggle ideas. Trying to figure out how to best teach people, more concerned with how people learn than what they’re learning.
“Why do we force people to learn things they aren’t interested in, we should create our own curriculum.”
“We should figure out everyone’s learning styles.”
“We need smaller class sizes.”
“No, no, wait, guys, what if we eliminated grades entirely.”
Yeah, Ravenclaws would drive Hermione up the wall.
“Fire the whole staff and start over.”
“Present more opportunities for seventh-year independent research!”
“Why hasn’t anyone made magically modified calculators yet?”
“Why are we still using quills and parchment when pencils exist? Please explain.”
“I don’t want to enter the work force directly after school, what are my options for higher education? Is there magical university?”
“I don’t feel confident in my professor’s qualifications because she’s teaching me astrology but doesn’t know any facts about space beyond about the year 1764.”
Muggleborn Ravenclaws forming rogue study groups to teach other students chemistry and algebra and English literature, just imagine.
“They call this the astronomy tower but we’re learning about the effects of Venus when it’s in the fourth house and the professor doesn’t believe Neptune is a planet I am really concerned.”
“Okay but what’s the oxidation state of Mandrake root in pepperup potion?”
“But can you apply differential calculus to arithmancy or not?“
“The portrayal of the witches in Macbeth has some pretty troubling implications, also, I don’t think their potion would have actually done anything.”
I’ve spent some time wondering at Dumbeldore’s rational for hiring Gilderoy Lockhart and I’ve reached the following conclusion.
When Dumbledore met Lockhart, all he thought was “Oh, this is going to be hilarious.”
I always got the vibe that Dumbledore was like, “there is no possible way for this man to be a Death Eater,” and hired him on the spot.
I like the idea of Dumbledore overcorrecting all the time.
First professor was a death eater? Lets get one who definitely isn’t. That one was an egoistical jerkface? I’ll hire literally the most humble and unassuming human on Earth. Lupin got kicked out by a bunch of parents? Lets go for a man who is incapable of taking any shit from anyone…. etc.
In the 2014 additions to the UK Potter books, Rowling says part of the process to become an Animagus is to hold the leaf of a Mandrake in your mouth for a whole month.
Can you imagine. These boys in Minerva McGonagall’s classes for that month, hoping she doesn’t notice.
now that you pointed that out i’m 100% sure minerva knew about that
ok imagine all the marauders pretending to take a vow of silence for a month to keep that up. Like wearing chalkboards around their necks and writing out anything they have to say around teachers and coming up with another ridiculous reason every time someone asks why they’re taking a vow of silence like. We’re protesting the traditional student/teacher constructs and the unreasonable verbal requirements of school. We’re raising awareness of how funny we are and how much your lives are worse without our beautiful voices telling jokes. We’re in a very intense round of the Silent Game and we’re all here to WIN.
“So Remus, why aren’t you doing it?” (gives very fond look to the boys) “I’m not a moron.” “(deathglares)”
Okay but
What about when McGonagall did it.
YES CAN WE ALSO TALK ABOUT THAT
Other student: Minnie, why aren’t you talking? McGonagall: *scribbles on a piece of parchment* “someone bet me I couldn’t and mama ain’t raise no bitch”
andtheytoldustotellyouhello 