HOW TO DONATE TO BLM WHEN YOU HAVE NO MONEY

And without thinking, without planning it, without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, Harry kissed her (Ginny)

Those in the common room:

Ron:

Hermione:

Dean:

Romilda:

Seamus: (he likes dean  ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶o̶b̶v̶i̶o̶u̶s̶ )

Neville:

Luna: (Ik she’s ravenclaw but I imagined she was there too *-*)

Lee:

The rest of the gryffindors:

Outside the common room:

Fred and Geroge:

Molly:

Arthur:

Bill:

Charlie:

Cho:

Lupin and Tonks:

McGonagall:

Dumbledore:

Hagrid:

Professor Slughorn:

In heaven:

Lily, James and Sirius:

Why do people write Lily treating James like shit?

I lost count of how many fanfiction I’ve read where Lily slapped James, said that he was bad or was completely mean to him, even when they started dating.

I feel like people forget that yes, we can write Lily as a strong woman but being strong and feminist doesn’t mean slapping your boyfriend everytime he doesn’t agree with you or you think he’s being stupid.

Just because he’s a boy, doesn’t mean he deserves it or doesn’t feel it. Boys are people too, they should be treated with respected. It’s not funny or cool or character development to have her treating him like she’s better and he is lucky that she even accepted going out with him.

I’m not going to tag or quote the most recent examples I’ve seen of this because I feel like these people don’t deserve this type of thing but please stop. Lily can be loving and a feminist, she can spend every day with James or want to be a housewife.

Write strong women. Write real women.

drop the teabags

so i made another one bc these are hella fun to write

Remus Lupin to it is perfectly normal to cry in wonder woman: can we establish the ground rules for tonight

Sirius Black: rules schmules

Remus Lupin: do you want your arse to be front page news again?

Sirius Black: those readers were blessed

James Potter: I have it framed

Sirius Black: aww babe

Peter Pettigrew to can you die from too much Nutella?: where are you guys???

James Potter: sry SOMEONE was being dramatic

Sirius Black: it’s not my fault the hairdryer broke

Sirius Black: I couldn’t leave with DAMP hair

Peter Pettigrew: hurry the fuck up

James Potter: pete its fine

Peter Pettigrew: its raining and ive been waiting twenty mins

Peter Pettigrew: it is noT FINE

Rita Skeeter (@ritaskeeter) tweeted: ‘The Maruaders’ frontman James Potter flirts up a storm with old friend Marlene McKinnon at Oscars, are they dating?

Sirius Black (@siriuslyblack) tweeted: @jampots how could you do this to me?

James Potter (@jampots) tweeted: @siriuslyblack you weren’t supposed to find out this way

Marlene McKinnon (@marlsmckinnon) tweeted: @jamspotter you can’t afford me

James Potter (@jampots) tweeted: @marlmckinnon rude tbh

James Potter to Remus Lupin: are ppl acc believing this crap

Remus Lupin: you didn’t exactly help the situation

James Potter: what if evans sees it?

Remus Lupin: I thought you were over it

James Potter: ….

James Potter: i am

James Potter: one hundred percent

Remus Lupin to Sirius Black: he’s not over it

Sirius Black: well obviously

Sirius Black: he’s been playing her album on repeat for the last three weeks

Remus Lupin: are you still stealing his spotify?

Sirius Black: im not made of money

Remus Lupin: you have a Porsche….

Sirius Black: details details

James Potter to SUIT UP: who’s doing the speech if we win the grammy?

Peter Pettigrew: I thought you were

Remus Lupin: you said you’d written it

James Potter: where’s the evidence

Remus Lupin sent a screenshot

James Potter: well shit

Rita Skeeter (@ritaskeeter) tweeted: Lily Evans throws drink over James Potter at Grammy’s, is it over his relationship with Marlene McKinnon?

Marlene McKinnon (@marlsmckinnon) tweeted: for gods sake I am NOT dating james

James Potter (@jampots) tweeted: @marlsmckinnon I’m hurt

Marlene McKinnon (@marlsmckinnon) tweeted: you know I love you rlly @jampots

Remus Lupin (@rjlupin) tweeted: @marlsmckinnon @jampots this is exactly what I was talking about

Peter Pettigrew to Sirius Black: why did she throw her drink at him?

Sirius Black: he apologised for being rude to snivilus

Peter Pettigrew: how does that make sense??

Sirius Black: but then he said it wasn’t his fault she was friends with a racist twat

Peter Pettigrew: oh

James Potter to Marlene McKinnon: did you talk to her?

Marlene McKinnon: mate you need to drop it

James Potter: I’m an idiot

Marlene Mackinnon: yes, yes you are

James Potter to Lily Evans: I’m an idiot

James Potter: and I’m sorry

Lily Evans: you can’t keep apologising and then not changing

James Potter: what do you want me to do evans?

Lily Evans: move on potter

James Potter changed the chat name to lets get drunk pls

Peter Pettigrew: u okay?

James Potter: not rly

Sirius Black: we’re on our way

The Daily Prophet (@TheDailyProphet) tweeted: James Potter photographed kissing mystery girl in back of club

Lily Evans sent a photo to Marlene McKinnon

Lily Evans: is that who I think it is

Marlene McKinnon: you’re not seriously jealous

Lily Evans: ofc not

Lily Evans: its just a bit of a surprise

Marlene McKinnon: you told him to move on lil

Lily Evans: I didn’t mean with dorcas

Rita Skeeter (@ritaskeeter) tweeted: James Potter’s mystery girl is Dorcas Meadowes, close friend of Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon, all 3 attended school with The Maruaders.

Sirius Black to no the next album will not be called sirius and the others: someone buy teabags

James Potter: there are spares under my bed

Sirius Black: about that

James Potter: you fucker

Peter Pettigrew: did you try moonys stash in his wardrobe

Remus Lupin to Sirius Black: you stay away from those teabags

Sirius Black: too late

Remus Lupin: I’m telling mrs potter

Sirius Black: you wouldn’t

Remus Lupin: too late

Dorcas Meadowes to Lily Evans: u know me and james were just messing right

Lily Evans: why does everyone think I’m bothered

Dorcas Meadowes: bc u r

Lily Evans: I’m not

Dorcas Meadowes: so our snap streak ending was an accident then?

Dorcas Meadowes: 308 days !!

Dorcas Meadowes: gone !

Lily Evans: I might be slightly bothered

The Daily Prophet (@TheDailyProphet) tweeted: ‘The Marauders’ raise £2 million for charity with their new single

Lily Evans to James Potter: it’s incredible how much you guys have raised

Lily Evans: you should be really proud james

James Potter to Remus Lupin: she called me james

Remus Lupin: who?

James Potter: evans

Remus Lupin: oh

Remus Lupin: OH

James Potter to Lily Evans: thanks lily, it means a lot

Lily Evans: so… you and Dorcas?

James Potter: we’re just mates, it was a bit of fun

James Potter: we both know there’s only one girl I’m interested in

Peter Pettigrew to graham norton for prime minister: controversial idea

Sirius Black: go

Peter Pettigrew: Portugal shouldn’t have won Eurovision

Sirius Black removed Peter Pettigrew from the group

Lily Evans to James Potter: i have a question

James Potter: oooOOOooo ominous

Lily Evans: are you ever not dramatic

James potter: we literally went to stage school

Lily Evans: im just going to ask my question

Lily Evans: why is your twitter handle jampots??

James Potter: why not

James Potter: it’s iconic

Lily Evans: why do I like such a lame person?

James Potter: so you DO like me

James Potter: !!!

James potter: also who even uses lame anymore???

Lily Evans @lilevans tweeted: quick twitter poll; who thinks the word lame is lame

Sirius Black @siriuslyblack tweeted: @lilevans the REAL question is who uses semicolons in tweets ???

Remus Lupin @rjlupin tweeted: @siriuslyblack it’s like you’re allergic to good grammar.

James Potter @jampots tweeted: you’re not helping your case here evans

Lily Evans @lilevans tweeted: @jampots I’ve seen your match attacks collection sit down

Peter Pettigrew @realpete tweeted: @jampots @lilevans ouch burn

James Potter @jampots tweeted: @realpete traitor

Sirius Black to James Potter: I just read this article

James Potter: oh yeah?

Sirius Black: so we’re dating

Sirius Black: and we have a kitten called Beatrix

James Potter: what??

James Potter: it would obvs be called cassiepoiea

Sirius Black: omds cassie for short

Sirius Black: the blacks hv flaws but our names are fabulous

James Potter sent a photo to I miss Minnie telling us what disappointments we are

James Potter: me and sirius bought a kitten !!

Sirius Black: shes so cute !!!

Remus Lupin: we’re not allowed pets in the building….?

Peter Pettigrew: and I’m allergic to cats

James Potter: honestly you two are so selfish

James Potter: we can’t take her back

James Potter: are you seriously going to break her little kitten heart

Sirius Black: we already made her an instagram and everything

Sirius Black to Remus Lupin: ???? hv u seen my jacket

Remus Lupin: would it kill you to use grammar properly for once

Sirius Black: nvm acc i found it

Sirius Black: also rude

Remus Lupin to bring back remus being a werewolf conspiracy theory 2k17: we going out tonight?

Sirius Black: yassss

James Potter: can’t, going for a drink w evans

Sirius Black: oooooOOOOOO

Peter Pettigrew: is that what the kids call it these days

James Potter: seriously?

James Potter: don’t answer that sirius

Sirius Black (@siriuslyblack) tweeted: this is a psa that james puts sisters before misters

James Potter (@jampots) tweeted: @siriuslyblack chill

Peter Pettigrew to 3 decent ppl + jim the traitor: james has a hickey pass it on

Sirius Black: whAT

James Potter: wtf bro

James Potter: how do you even know that

Peter Pettigrew: I came in to bring you tea

James Potter: oh yh

James Potter: thanks for that btw

Sirius Black: we’RE GETTING OFF TOPIC

Sirius Black to Euphemia Potter: james got a hickey from lily

Euphemia Potter: Lily Evans?

Sirius Black: that’s the one

Euphemia Potter: I always thought she was lovely

Euphemia Potter:  Now what’s all this I hear about you stealing remus’s teabags?

Hunger Games Relevance

(Please read/boost if you’ve ever read/watched the hunger games or you care about what’s going on)

I don’t know if other people feel the same way but especially with the new hunger games film coming out I’ve been absolutely floored by some of the parallels between the world in the series and the current conflict in Palestine.

Firstly, Suzanne Collins did say that she partially got the idea from flicking between channels showing reality TV interspersed with footage from the Iraq war so I guess there’s a good reason for me to be seeing similarities now.

But the fact it’s being live-streamed - the carnage - the propaganda - the fact that lots of us have been following the same few (often very young) journalists who have become the ‘face’ of Palestinian resistance (because right now journalism IS resistance being actively targeted by Israel) - it’s all crazy familiar.

I saw a clip of Israeli’s sitting on a hill watching and laughing at the bombs dropping on Gaza today as though they were fireworks just minutes before Israel bombed the 3rd floor of a paediatric hospital. The same ‘Sderot Cinema’ where Israeli’s bought deck chairs and snacks to ‘watch the spectacle’ of the 2014 bombing campaign on Gaza.

The way not everyone in the capitol was evil or bad and some people actively supported the districts but realistically they were still complicit in the exploitation - even if just through ignorance.

The incredible amount of children dying - the bombing of hospitals and withholding of resources (like in District 8 in Mockingjay), the taking of people not involved in Hamas into administrative detention (hundreds arrested in the West Bank - like how the victors were taken in Catching Fire even the ones who weren’t involved in the rebellion), the collective punishment of Gaza (the firebombing of District 12).

The way Israel dropped pamphlets from the sky to tell Gazans to evacuate south and then bombed the route (literally straight out of the games I swear - the video of the pamphlets falling was like the scene with the parachutes in Mockingjay which represent hope and then detonate).

It’s so eerily similar and I just wonder how so many watched those films and read those books and are silent now - why could they identify resistance and oppression and desperation and exploitation in fiction and not reality?

And I wonder if maybe it’s because we have to remind ourselves that we aren’t Katniss in this situation - we aren’t the heroes - we are the Capitol and District citizens watching it all happen on our screens - and that’s an unfortunate and uncomfortable concept to grapple with.

The Way Ahead

A/N: Asked @floreatcastellumposts to give me a prompt to get me out of my writer’s block (If anyone else wants to send me a prompt, then please do!). She gave me ‘McGonagall finds out that Harry is an Auror’ and this was the result: 

Minerva sighed as she fell heavily into the chair behind her new desk. Her bones ached from weariness; she took a sip of her tea in order to suppress the yawn threatening to escape her. There was no time for rest. 

The parchment in front of her was so long the end of it snaked off the edge of the desk and trailed onto the rich carpet, the list of chores upon it stretching across the office. 

Minerva took her quill and began searching down the list, ticking off items which had been dealt with. Hagrid had managed to secure the Thestral herd this morning. Minerva tried not to think about how much longer that particular task may have taken if not for the increased number of volunteers who could now see the winged horses roaming the battle-scarred grounds of Hogwarts. 

She scratched her quill across the parchment, and scanned down the rest of the never ending list. The repairs of the castle were taking longer than expected, due in part, to the ancient magic holding much of the structure up. And creating a definitive list of which students would and would not be returning in the Autumn was proving rather difficult. Nobody, it appeared, was quite ready to think about the future just three short weeks after the fall of Voldemort. 

“I’m getting too old for this,” Minerva whispered, lifting her cup to take another sip. 

“Nonsense,” came a voice from behind her. Minerva jumped slightly, having forgotten once again that her new office came with an audience. “I should think there’s still a few decades in you yet.” 

She did not bother responding to Albus’ remark, his portrait, it seemed, would be just as taxing as the man himself had been. 

Never mind that his tenure of the school had not started with the most devastating battle Hogwarts had seen in its long history, never mind that she would have to oversee a cohort of students who would be unable to walk the corridors without replaying scenes from said battle, never mind that a vast number of them were dealing with the loss of loved ones to Voldemort’s tyranny. 

Minerva was pulled from her morose thoughts by a soft knock on the door. She bit back another sigh, mentally steeling herself for the next in a long line of problems she was sure was about to walk through her door.

“Enter.” 

The door opened slowly, almost tentatively, and a shock of untidy black hair appeared around it. 

“Good evening, Professor,” Harry Potter said politely. “Do you have a moment for me and Neville?” 

Minerva pressed her lips together, attempting to hold back a smile. She doubted there was a single witch or wizard in the country that couldn’t spare a minute for Harry these days. 

Keep reading

Time for some queer book recommendations!!

The Falling In Love Montage - Ciara Smyth

Not My Problem - Ciara Smyth

Here The Whole Time - Vitor Martins

Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas

Some Girls Do - Jennifer Dugan

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuiston

Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating - Adiba Jaigirdar

Gender Queer: A Memoir - Maia Kobabe (graphic novel)

The Prince and the Dressmaker - Jen Wang (graphic novel)

On A Sunbeam - Tillie Walden (graphic novel)

The Black Flamingo - Dean Atta

Only On The Weekends - Dean Atta

Nimona - ND Stevenson (graphic novel)

If You Still Recognise Me - Cynthia So

Sasha Masha - Agnes Borinsky

The Tea Dragon Society - Katie O'Neill (graphic novel)

Darius the Great is Not Okay - Adib Khorram

Red White and Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston

One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston

The Passing Playbook - Isaac Fitzgerald

The Prom - Saundra Mitchell (watch the musical first!!)

I Think I Love You - Auriane Desombre

The Song Of Achilles - Madeline Miller

Felix Ever After - Kacen Callendar

I Was Born For This - Alice Oseman

Radio Silence - Alice Oseman

Solitaire - Alice Oseman

Heartstopper - Alice Oseman (graphic novel)

Loveless - Alice Oseman

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

They Both Die At The End - Adam Silvera

History is All You Left Me - Adam Silvera

Girls of Paper and Fire - Natasha Ngan

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

Mooncakes - Suzanne Walker (graphic novel)

Simon Vs The Homosapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli

The Avant-Guards - Carly Usdin (graphic novel)

Fence - C.S. Pacat (graphic novel)

The Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater (book 3&4)

Feel free to add your own recommendations! I'll update the list as I read more LGBTQ+ books!!!

I’m still obsessed with 5SOS5, so I want to focus on Bad Omens for the Marauders’ era. It can even apply to platonic relationships, like Lily and Snape because we canonically know that Snape was hurling slurs at other Muggleborns and Lily was justifying her friendship with him to towers (“It’s too late. I’ve made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends—you see, you don’t even deny it! You don’t even deny that’s what you’re all aiming to be! You can’t wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?”), so Lily ignored the signs of what her best friend had become until she no longer could (“Can't help the way I keep ignoring every omen / Every omen / Heaven knows I should let go / It's nothing that I don't already know”), that song is ridiculously fitting for the backdrop of the war and how it’s tearing apart every relationship (romantic relationships [like Jegulus if that’s your ship, Wolfstar where Remus and Sirius canonically distrusted each other, but probably tried to ignore the signs until they had to acknowledge “there’s a spy, and I think it’s the man sleeping beside me right now”], platonic relationships [Peter and the Marauders where none of them realized his betrayal until far too later, Lily and Snape], familial relationships [Sirius with his family depending on how one views his relationship with them in the years before he left.]) People who tried to keep their relationships, hoping that eventually they’d go back to the way things were if they just ignored the warning signs, but eventually they were no longer able to pretend and had to acknowledge that this was irreparable.

Also, unrequited love (“I cried in your dark brown eyes for the thousandth time / 'Cause you love somebody / I died when you left that night for the thousandth time / 'Cause you love somebody else”) fits great, so Snape/Lily from Snape’s perspective in Seventh year, where he utterly destroyed his friendship with her but still is in love with her, and then watched her fall in love with James. Unrequited relationship set during the first war are honestly perfect for this song, because it’s got the distrust element and the “watching the person you love be in love with someone else” aspect; 5SOS decided the First Wizarding War was the theme of their 5th album (note, this is a joke, they have not made any comments regarding Harry Potter, the album just has great vibes for it)

It's fine, I'm not hyperventilating or anything.

Look, I've actually listened to this album (at least the songs i like from it) a lot since it was brought to my attention after its release. And as I've said before, I've never been a follower of 5SOS. I think before someone actively began passing me their songs, I'd listened to one by choice and knew it was them, and that was only because I came across it on the radio one day.

But it's like they really did craft the perfect album here for the First War years within HP, and I love that so much. I could rant on and on about several of these songs in relation to headcanons for that era/ships/characters, but Bad Omens is a BIG ONE. It's actually become one of my favorites, right up there with Caramel. And then I was guided to the music video, which was admittedly a trip, but it was also so very perfect.

I think in my initial review, I compared it to Wolfstar (also Jegulus), but I think I remember saying it gave me strong First War vibes in general, and it definitely does that. It can honestly apply to every relationship during that time period, whether platonic or romantic, no matter what side of the war someone fell on.

I love your comparison to Lily's and Snape's friendship and how it fell apart. I have...some issues with Snape that I try not to vocalize to often in a serious way, mostly sticking to joking headcanons that don't amount to much, the him watching Lily slip away from him and fall in with James, fall in love with him as he stood back and was forced to watch must have hurt so badly. I think Snape was too obsessive to a degree that any relationship between him and Lily couldn't have been sustained for long, regardless of his meddling with the Dark Arts and who Lily considered to be bad people, but the song fits so well because of that and everything else.

The whole Peter betrayal thing as well. None of them saw it, not a one. Peter was that good. He blended into his surroundings that well and was so easily overlooked that no one had the slightest idea of what he was truly doing. But you can't tell me that somewhere in him there wasn't guilt. There are numerous substantial reasons to dislike JKR, but the fact that she never once even tried to explain why Peter did what he did will forever be one of mine. Those were his best friends all through school and beyond. No, we don't know what happened, how they treated him, and maybe it's a fandom thing (though i don't think it completely is) but I've always thought James cared a lot about Pete. I think he kept Peter close because he liked him. They must have liked him, otherwise why stay his friend? Why trust him enough to give him the responsibility of keeping your family safe?

Say what you will, but they loved Peter, and he must have loved them at some point. It makes no sense why Peter would have betrayed James of all people. Sirius, maybe. That actually lines up because I think Sirius was cruel to Peter when he wanted to be, had little patience for him overall, so him framing Sirius is sort of like his just desserts. He didn't do anything to Remus that we know of, and I think that's because Peter likely always idolized Remus just as much as he did James and Sirius, but Remus was always far kinder to him in the grand scope of things. So something must have happened at some point to make Peter think that betraying James and essentially being the cause of his death was warranted. Was it because he drifted away, focused on the war and his family more than his friends? I don't know, but I'd like to, because there are gaps there.

(sorry. that was a tangent i didn't initially intend. oops)

Back on the main point, Peter must have had some sort of guilt for what he was doing and what he did. You can't be that cruel after spending half your life with people you claim to like/love and then blow everything up with one action and decision. So relating this song back to him and the way everyone circled around him and never focused in on his true nature is so very fitting.

I could write an entire ten page essay on this song in relation to Wolfstar. I've been thinking about it a lot and trying desperately not to do so, because I know the more I do, I'll want to write a fic about it. And that's the very definition of been there, done that repeatedly, not just myself, but the Wolfstar fandom as a whole. The entire Remus/Sirius distrust, slipping away from one another but still clinging on out of desperation has been done so many times and I'm trying incredibly hard not to add more to it unless it just won't leave me alone.

What I really want to talk about with this song is Jegulus. And I'm no expert. I'm only just pushing my toes into the water with it, trying to acclimate myself with the whole thing because I actually really like it in a way I thought I wouldn't we I jumped back into fandom and found it to be this large, growing thing that I'd never even seen mention of back in the day when I was writing before. It was a bit baffling, but...I dunno. I'm coming around to it more and more. But my point is don't judge anything I say to harshly because I'm only going off of the small amount of things I've seen/read.

But just think about their relationship in relation to how we know canon goes. James gets tired of chasing after Lily, falls in with Regulus somehow at some point, possibly before he gives up the ghost. Maybe it's Reg that makes him see reason and that James is being a knob, I don't know. They gravitate to one another, fall in love, but it's never the most stable of relationships because it can't be. Regulus is still a Black, James is exactly who he is in every way, that golden boy, head in the sun, pure to his core no matter what you want to say about him bullying (which has two completely different sides, but that's not the topic at hand here). Regulus is a Slytherin, James a Gryffindor. Tensions are mounting higher because of the growing war. They're constantly being tugged apart, in different directions, but they try so hard.

They ignore the signs when they can, they focus on one another as much as possible, but it's never enough to avoid the outside world circling around them like vultures. Regulus takes the mark and James can't sit by and watch his life go up in flames because of his decision, so he finally says enough and pulls back. He dives into his Head Boy duties headfirst, sways Lily to him in the process, but maybe him and Regulus continue to drift to one another because they can't help themselves and James still holds onto the hope that he can convince Regulus to turn his back on his choices. It doesn't work. James finally says enough, sets off into a life with Lily instead, fully committed, and Regulus can't tell him why he has to stay where he is, why it's so important, but he goes after the locket for James, to try and make it easier to put an end to the war. And we all know how that ended.

I headcanon that Baby Harry knew Sirius’s secrets more than even James, as Sirius would tell Harry absolutely everything, as he rocked him to sleep.

Alan Rickman, David Thewlis, Gary Oldman and all those are iconic in their roles in Harry Potter, but I’ll always be a bit sad about that casting, because having that ‘Marauders era’ cast be age appropriate would’ve just been so much better for the story.

Sirius wasn’t this old man who spent 12 years in Azkaban, no he got locked up at 21. He spent almost third of his life in a cell. He wasn’t this wise father figure to Harry, he was a reckless thirty-something who never really got the chance to mature past 21.

Remus was an exhausted, bone deep tired man carrying both physical and mental scars from the suffering he went through. Because he’s a werewolf, because of the war, because he lost all of his friends. And he’s only 33 when first introduced.

And Snape. Snape wasn’t an old bitter man who just hated everyone and enjoyed being antagonistic. He was 31 in Harry’s first year. He began to work for Voldemort as a teen, and as a double agent at 20. He’s a thirty-something bitter man, who never got to really live or make real connections. From Harry’s perspective he’s scary and intimidating, but really he’s just kinda…sad and pathetic. And then especially that scene where Snape is begging Dumbledore to help save Lily, and promising anything in return. (Because apparently Dumbledore needs something in return…for saving people.) He’s twenty. Barely out of his teens. Rickman was good in that scene, but having someone who actually looks twenty, would better show how scared, young, guilty and just desperate he was. That might not put Dumbledore in such a good light, though.

And then, the characters I think would’ve been the most important to cast age appropriately. And most people probably already agree and know who I’m talking about. James and Lily. They were 21 when they died. When Harry sees them in the mirror of Erised, they’re 10 years older than him. That’s the age difference Ron has with Bill. In that scene I might understand somewhat them being in their thirties, because that’s what Harry wants. He wants his life with his parents, he wants to have been raised by them. Though, I don’t know if the mirror could know what they might’ve looked like in their thirties, since they didn’t live that long. But then, in the cemetery when Voldemort’s wand spits the last spells cast, we see Lily and James as they were. 21. They’re telling their son to hold on just a moment longer. And they are 7 years older than him. In Deathly Hallows, Harry sees Voldemort kill them. They’re not this happy couple who’s got to love each other for a long time, only to have that happiness torn from them, no they started at Hogwarts ten years ago. They’re 21, and they’ve barely tasted that happiness. At the end of the book Harry talks to his parents. They comfort him and promise to stay with him, as he goes to die. Harry’s seventeen. James and Lily are four years older than him.

It wouldn’t have felt as nice. Harry being comforted by someone who looks almost his age. But it wasn’t nice. It was pretty tragic. Casting people who look 21, would’ve really made it land on the audience. It was a tragedy. They were barely adults.

Tomorrow marks Eid al-Adha, and this is the second Eid that passes without happiness for children and adults.

The best gift that makes everyone happy is a donation to this family Best wishes for a Happy New Year

gofundme.com

Donate to Please Help Evacuate Fadi's Family from Gaza, organized by Fadi Sharif

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