i love this bit sm in deathly hallows bc they were all so sad and yk scared that seeing hermione being "back to normal" in a way made them both smile at the normality.
ps. a little before this harry points out that hermione was so focused in what was happening in the moment and debating with ron that she forgot she was mad at ron and harry also was relieved by that lmao by boi loves them both sm i wanna cry.
this book has so many tiny moments like this that i love sm.
Yeah, I know it's not unproblematic, but while we live in a world where there are rich people, I think we need to bring back the concept of "noblesse oblige" and Duty and stuff. No buying thousand dollar Shein hauls and all that junk! NO. With great power comes great responsibility. You, rich person, are supporting all the Artisans and small businesses and putting your money back into your community! Somebody needs to, and I WISH it could be ME! But you're the one with the money, so it's YOU. It's your responsibility to do this, you HAVE to. AND it's also your responsibility to wear fancy and pretty clothes again, so that the rest of us can have something pretty to look at when you go by. This is your JOB and your DUTY, so hop to it! Noblesse oblige!
There’s a small part in the beginning of the Legends novel Yoda: Dark Rendezvous where it‘s narrated how Padmé was looking out to the distance watching the spaceport landing nearest to the Jedi Temple waiting for someone (Anakin) to land and immediately got her macrobinoculars when a ship landed but disappointedly put them down when she realized that it wasn’t “him.”
(It’s confirmed that Padmé waits by her window, watching the Jedi Temple with macrobinoculars intently waiting for Anakin to come home 🥹 the way she loves this man.)
That’s Sarah Cameron. Kook princess. I work on her dad’s boats, so, you know, I’ve seen her around.
I wanted to talk about the shift in Harry's internal voice from Order of Phoenix to Half Blood Prince, and how his grief, guilt and immense self-loathing for his part in events around Sirius' death informs it. At the end of Order of Phoenix, Harry is a mess - of incoherent, unfocused grief, where he wishes he never wished more that he was anybody else:
“Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a man! This pain is part of being human — ”
"I DON'T WANT TO BE HUMAN!” Harry roared, and he seized one of the delicate silver instruments from the spindle-legged table beside him and flung it across the room.
The scene at Dumbledore's office is rife with how much he blames himself for his godfather's death. After one cathartic scene at the office, Harry spends the next year avoiding any and all mention of Sirius (he wolfs down his breakfast when Ron and Hermione bring him up) and suppresses his grief and rage surrounding the events of OOTP- unless he is sure that the person he is speaking to understands the weight of Sirius' loss: he hopes Remus would write to him, he mentions Sirius voluntarily to Tonks (under the impression that she is grieving him), and talks about him to Buckbeak ("Missing him? But you're okay with Hagrid, aren't you?"). His grief and rage manifests in precise, focused rage in this chilling Harry scenes:
Thank you!” said Mundungus, snatching the goblet out of Ron’s hand and stuffing it back into the case. “Well, I’ll see you all — OUCH!”
Harry had pinned Mundungus against the wall of the pub by the throat. Holding him fast with one hand, he pulled out his wand.
“Harry!” squealed Hermione.
Why do I call it a focused, precise rage? Mostly, because unlike the other times Harry is provoked with perceived disrespect to a dead parent, Harry has not forgotten his wand. (Cue the scene in OOTP that he is so angry he just beats up Malfoy with his fists). What Harry has done is not just grab him by the throat, he makes sure Mundungus (who is shorter than him) is nose to nose with him and then threatens him with a wand. (btw, a note from my reread: younger Harry attacks people bigger than him by grabbing their throats too - Vernon to get his letter, the troll etc etc. It seems to be something he had picked up from Vernon. We see Vernon grabbing him by throat in opening chapters of OOTP)
“You took that from Sirius’s house,” said Harry, who was almost nose to nose with Mundungus and was breathing in an unpleasant smell of old tobacco and spirits. “That had the Black family crest on it.”
“I — no — what — ?” spluttered Mundungus, who was slowly turning purple.
“Give it to me!”
“Harry, you mustn’t!” shrieked Hermione, as Mundungus started to turn blue.
There was a bang, and Harry felt his hands fly off Mundungus’s throat. Gasping and spluttering, Mundungus seized his fallen case, then — CRACK — he Disapparated.
And Tonks has to throw Harry magically off Mundungus.
Harry swore at the top of his voice, spinning on the spot to see where Mundungus had gone.
And he doesn't stop until Tonks magically throws him off Mundungus. It is not a coincidence that we see Harry's darker and more chilling traits in a book where he is heavily paralleled with Tom Riddle. The parallel is explicit in the scene where he uses his mother's death to guilt Slughorn into giving him the memory. But here is a tiny mention of how Tom Riddle reacts to perceived disrespect to an heirloom from his parent:
“That’s right!” said Hepzibah, delighted, apparently, at the sight of Voldemort gazing at her locket, transfixed. “I had to pay an arm and a leg for it, but I couldn’t let it pass, not a real treasure like that, had to have it for my collection. Burke bought it, apparently, from a ragged-looking woman who seemed to have stolen it, but had no idea of its true value — ”
There was no mistaking it this time: Voldemort’s eyes flashed scarlet at the words, and Harry saw his knuckles whiten on the locket’s chain.
Quite telling to me that Harry specifically notices how Voldemort's knuckles whiten around the locket, after Hepzibah pretty much talks about how Merope was essentially robbed. Harry understands.
When Harry had finished speaking, Ron shook his head.
“You really understand him.”
“Bits of him,” said Harry.
"How do you write such realistic dialogue-" I TALK TO MYSELF. I TALK TO MYSELF AND I PRETEND I AM THE ONE SAYING THE LINE. LIKE SANITY IS SLOWLY SLIPPING FROM BETWEEN MY FINGERS WITH EVERY MEASLY WORD THEY TYPE OUT. THAT IS HOW.
sarah wearing jb’s bandana to feel closer to him after ward went all psych ward and locked her in her room really just hits... different
I'm actually a huge fan of enemies to lovers because I do think it's hot but to be clear "enemies to I think you're attractive and that's overcoming my hatred of you" sucks ASS the trope is about growing RESPECT and GENUINE AFFECTION the POINT is that they always found each other attractive but it doesn't MATTER until they also have a solid relationship built on trust respect and friendship!!!!! Do you understand my vision!!!!
demetri + his chicken