hermione granger the smartest witch of her age
hermione granger who in book two figured out that the thing turning kids into stone and killing other kids off was a giant fucking snake living in the secret fucking basement AND NO ONE HAD DISCOVERED IT IN A THOUSAND YEARS
hermione granger who was so smart and so studious that she traveled back and forth in time to learn everything she could about a world she’d never known about, and that itself was torn apart over whether to treat her as one of their own or as scum
hermione granger who at fourteen discovered and trapped an illegally shapeshifting adult with considerable media sway and blackmailed her remorselessly
hermione granger who at fifteen decided to forge her own brand of justice with cool-headed cunning and subtle leadership “here’s what we have to do to protect ourselves,” she murmurs, drafting plans and strategies, when the law is useless you write your own, as harry takes the lead
hermione granger who was thrown into a world where people like her were reviled and persecuted at the tender age of eleven but learned all its tricks and whims, its secrets and deepest thoughts, who cut it open with the keen knife of intelligence and discipline and learned how to pluck each nerve and make it sing for her
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ HERMIONE *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ GRANGER *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Ron Weasley’s character is consciously written as somewhat racist. Not as racist as Malfoy, of course - he doesn’t scoff at mudbloods and halfbloods, and he doesn’t see himself as superior at all. Still, he unquestionably accepts the inferior position of house elves (they love serving), when he finds out that Lupin’s werewolf his reaction is not only scared but also disgusted (Don’t touch me!) and he is clearly very uncomfortable finding out that Hagrid is half-giant (giants are wild and savage).
And this is brilliant. Because it demonstrates that racism isn’t only present in clearly malicious and evil people, in the Malfoys and Blacks - it’s also there in warm, kind, funny people who just happened to learn some pretty toxic things growing up in a pretty toxic society. And they can unlearn them too, with some time and effort. Ron eventually accepts Hagrid’s parentage, lets Lupin bandage his leg and in the final battle, he worries about the safety of the house elves.
Some people are prejudiced because they are evil, and some people are prejudiced because they don’t know better yet. And those people can learn better, and become better people. And that’s an important lesson. The lesson taught about discrimination shouldn’t be “only evil people do it”, because then all readers will assume it doesn’t apply to them. Instead old JK teaches us “you too are probably doing it, and you should do stop ASAP”.
so this new gen Hogwarts thing has been eating away at my mind and i did a thing
she’s a ravenclaw and she’s into historical revisionism and writes lengthy and intelligent articles for the zine. she’s also into mixing ‘alternative potions’, and plays as a chaser for the ravenclaw quidditch team.
she hates how history of magic is taught at Hogwarts though, its all books written by crusty old white pureblood dudes (“there isn’t a single non-human author in the syllabus, don’t tell me that doesn’t say something.”).
Love it.
So into this omg.
so many people have been liking this post that i thought i’d keep posting…characters…..
she’s a hufflepuff and a muggleborn, and she’s the one who runs the zine out of a disused classroom in the basements. she spends a lot of time in the kitchens with the House-elves chatting with them and distributing literature (she’d like it very much if they all decided to become free elves, but she knows they have to arrive at that point themselves. but she can sure as hell make sure they’re equipped with the knowledge they need when they get there.)
she thinks the absence of muggle technology in the wizarding world is dumb as shit and she’s slowly making a little headway in getting gadgets to work in magical areas. she also doesn’t like the house system at Hogwarts- “it forces separations on the grounds of arbitrary traits of your eleven year old self and fosters division in the school.” (that said, insulting Hufflepuff to her face is a good way to loose a tooth.)
Remus Lupin was supposed to be on the H.I.V. metaphor. It was someone who had been infected young, who suffered stigma, who had a fear of infecting others, who was terrified he would pass on his condition to his son. And it was a way of examining prejudice, unwarranted prejudice towards a group of people. And also, examining why people might become embittered when they’re treated that unfairly.
“
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J.K. Rowling. (via siriusbingers) #close laptop lid #fling self on bed #let out pained wail of agony #repeat as needed (via crownlands) |
In trying to find a significant quote from or about Remus Lupin, the most common phrase that accompanied Remus throughout every book was simply, “Lupin smiled”.
#tears shirt off #screams in to the night #runs in to the wilderness never to return
Rowling wrote Hermione to eschew stereotypes. She doesn’t end up with the hero; she is never there to function as Harry’s love interest. She prefers Arithmancy to Divination in school. Hermione is also a total badass, despite her prim and proper reputation. (…) So often, female characters are allowed to be aggressive or rebellious, but in exchange are stripped of any traditionally feminine qualities and instead are forced to pick up traditionally masculine traits. However, Hermione is never made to do that. Most notably, she is written to be highly logical AND emotionally expressive, a combination not commonly afforded to most of today’s leading ladies.
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Liz Feuerbach, The Women of The Harry Potter Universe (via writingadvice) Great read! For some excellent complements/counterpoints, see: Sarah Rees Brennan, Witches Are Doing It For Themselves |
Something Dark, and Desperate and True.
That’s how I always think of first war Wolfstar. Trying desperately to hold onto someone against all the chaos and fear and uncertainty. Not knowing whether this is love or just fear of being alone or the need for something familiar. Suspicion and mistrust all around, “traitor” on everyone’s lips, and you still can’t stop loving this person.
The Trio, and the scars they got along the way.
~
Man, every time I finish the books I go through a period of mourning, and this time I am self medicating with fanart.
I borrowed Hermione’s scar from the movies, I actually found that part powerful, in a awful way, and Rons’ scars are from the fifth book, when they broke into the ministry and he summoned the brains.
