Let Ben Have His Smoothie In PEACE!!!!!

Words from On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

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You know what I find interesting? Both James and Sev stopped doing bad things for Lily, but while Sev stopped despite never being able to actually have Lily (first because she still loved James and then because she was literally dead), James does it because he gets to have her. Another difference is that Sev shows that while at first his reason was Lily he starts to do more than the bare minimum of leaving the death eaters and becomes a spy risking his life every day. He also starts to identify with the values of the good side, like telling P. N.Black to not call Hermione a mudblood. On the other hand, we have James who can't even commit fully to not bullying because he still bullies Sev behind Lily's back, knowing she will leave him if she finds out. He only stops because they leave school and Sev is therefore out of reach. And despite Lily actually marrying him and having a child with him he still doesn't grow up for her and still acts like a self-centred idiot like when he sneaks out while they are in hiding (risking his and his wife's as well and most importantly his son's life which they are trying to protect). 

So to conclude, on the one hand we have a guy who doesn't change despite “getting the girl” and on the other hand we have a guy who changes despite never being able to “get the girl” or even save her life (I know Sev didn't completely change and still has a lot of flaws, but most of them are due to trauma, and he needed help to change which he never got. So maybe stop hating on him and start hating on the system he was stuck in and denyed him the help he needed).

Snape was definetely a bitch to his students, but at least he was a somewhat responsible teacher. He'd make his students scrub cauldrons or clean nasty potion ingredients for detention, but it wasn't him who sent 1st year students over to Hagrid's to wander around the Forbidden Forest at night ON THEIR OWN with only a dog at their side, while something unknown is attacking other creatures.

Y'all call Snape a terrible teacher for being scary and mean and abusing a toad, but I don't see anyone uttering a word about Hagrid and McGonagall literally endangering children's lives: McGonagall for thinking that sending 1st year students who had 0 experience in defense and fighting to accompany Hagrid into the Forbidden Forest at night was a reasonable detention (note: students had been warned multiple times to not enter it as it was a very dangerous place). And Hagrid. He deserves his own post on that scene alone.

Bro would have been dead furious if 11 year old Malfoy had told him about Hagrid separating him and Neville in the Forbidden Forest at night with only a dog as "protection" while some creature was actively hunting.

The knights love and hate Merlin coming to training. They love it because Merlin is their little cheerleader and they seem to perform better when Merlin is there to cheer them on. They hate it because he never cheers Arthur on and Arthur gets jealous and shows off to catch Merlin’s attention which means that Arthur performs better when Merlin is there which makes him a demon on the field. Which means the knights have to visit Gaius after training to get new bruise salves and that one time when Percival had to get his broken nose set because he ducked too late when Arthur was swinging the hilt of his sword down because he was exhausted from how hard Arthur was pushing them

James Potter stans will really look at a privileged boy with a loving family and close group of friends, torment and torture another kid because he finds it funny, and write it off as "oh it's just teenagers being teenagers".

And at the same time, see a boy who was relentlessly abused for his whole childhood, was never safe or protected, was vulnerable enough to be taken in by a cult and carried his trauma-based anger into adulthood because he never had the space or support to heal, and they'll act like he's the devil incarnate.

Make it make sense. There's nothing "Oh just teenagers" about what James and co did to Severus. He chose cruelty for cruelties sake and there's no indication that that attitude ever changed. Severus on the other hand, with everything he'd been through, still tried. He recognised the mistakes he made, he carried that guilt and he fought for years, through anger and fear, to make it right.

It pisses me off so much when people defend Sirius in debates by saying, “But he grew up! Unlike Snape, who’s just a bitter loser stuck in the past!”

And I’m always like, “Uh… what? Sirius? An adult? In what universe?”

The response I usually get is, “BUT HE WAS IN PRISON!!!!!” Like… yeah 😅 he was in prison, but that doesn’t answer my question. Sirius is just as much a teenager in an adult’s body as Snape is.

“BUT HE WAS IN PRISON, OF COURSE HIS MENTAL STATE SUFFERED!!” … Right. Do these people even have a functioning brain, or is it just jelly sloshing around in there? ,’/

Sirius was in prison, and that prevented him from developing emotionally and socially as he should have. Severus was someone who carried a huge amount of trauma and was forced to stay and work in the very place where most of that trauma originated. Both of them remained stuck in their teenage selves because, in their own ways, they suffered such immense trauma that it stopped them from progressing in their emotional development.

Both of them. Equally. Because they’re both grown-ass men with gray hairs who can hold it together for five minutes, but the moment something triggers them or pisses them off, the teenager inside takes over and is still the one in charge of regulating their emotions.

And I find it insulting, offensive, and a terrible mischaracterization to try to take that away from Sirius. The whole point of Sirius is that he carries a massive amount of unresolved baggage, and that baggage has prevented him from growing and developing properly into a functional adult. You can see it in his reactions, in the decisions he makes, and in the way he deals with his internal conflicts. And that’s fine—it’s not a bad thing. In fact, it enriches him as a character.

So don’t come at me with this idea of a super mature, responsible Sirius Black who is the perfect father figure, because that’s not Sirius Black. Sirius Black is an impulsive man obsessed with the loss of his best friend, who has the best intentions for his godson but can’t help projecting his trauma onto him—and then feels disappointed when he realizes that Harry is not James. Not because that makes him love Harry any less, but because it forces him to confront a reality he clearly doesn’t want to accept.

Sirius Black is the guy who sees the kid he used to bully as a teenager and cannot stand the fact that this same kid now outranks him in the Order. It eats him up inside, so he falls for every single one of his provocations because the arrogant, abusive teenager inside him is still in control and refuses to let that nerd get the upper hand. Sirius Black is the man who makes rash decisions, who hides away in his mother’s old room—the woman he hated—just to wallow in self-pity, who gives advice that he himself doesn’t follow.

Like, out of all the “good guys,” Sirius is arguably the grayest and the least manichaean or one-dimensional. Let him stay that way. Don’t strip him of his best psychological traits, please.