Just like Slughorn, Albus Dumbledore collects people. Only, instead of focusing on those with influence, he looks to the outcasts.
The expelled half-giant. The young werewolf. The repentant Death Eater.
He protects them and gives them a second chance. All he asks in return is their loyalty.
And, if on occasion he requests that they undertake a certain task, invoking their debt of gratitude – well, that is no more than he is owed.
He once thought to add a certain disowned Black to his collection, but quickly realised his mistake.
Sirius is not an outcast, but a rebel. He knowingly chose his path, and chooses what price he is willing to pay for it. He refuses to be used.
So Albus Dumbledore abandons him.
Who gave you the RIGHT?
Dumbledore knows Sirius’s loyalty lies with Harry instead of him, and he has no use for someone who is not willing to follow his orders without question.
Ooooohoo if there’s ever a post that fits my aesthetic…
okay but then where does Harry himself fit into this collection? Is he an outcast because he is “the Boy Who Lived”?
Nooonono, my friend, that’s what makes this post so beautiful. Because it fits the meta I’ve been trying to get people to accept for years.
Harry was an outcast due to a childhood filled with abuse and neglect.
Vernon made him an outcast by dismissing his claims of magic, berating him, locking him in a CLOSET and putting bars on his window, and let’s face it, even though her editor made her cut it out, Jo intended for there to be physical abuse.
Petunia made him an outcast by enabling and contributing to this abuse, as well as making Harry do dozens of chores while doting on Dudley.
Dudley made him an outcast by bullying him and threatening any students at school who wanted to be his friends.
And the rest of the wizarding world made him an outcast when they bullied him for being an outsider.
Harry James Potter became an outcast the moment he was placed with The Dursleys.
We talk a lot about the impact of Snape as a teacher on the Gryffindors; on Harry and Hermione and Neville.
And, to a point, I find it rather boring – we know what their outward reactions were, and we can draw a fair few conclusions by their later behaviour of what their stance would become.
What is rather more interesting to me is the fate of the Slytherin kids – the Slytherin kids who admired him, who respected him, who had somewhat befriended him. The kids who told their parents that he was the best teacher, the kids who knew he’d presided over their period of domination in the House Cup, the kids who cheered him when he gained the Defence Against the Dark Arts – the kids who knew he was respected, and valued, and favoured by the Headmaster and his peers.
And I think about two things, post-Half Blood Prince: the kids who weren’t aligned to the Death Eaters, and who felt betrayed by their Head of House being one of them – and the kids who were aligned, and who were actually betrayed by their Head of House come Deathly Hallows.
And then, I think about 1999. I think about the first years who never knew a man other than the Death Eater Headmaster. I think about Draco and his cohorts, who knew “both” presentations of Severus. I think about the kids who felt betrayed, and the kids who felt proud, and the kids who felt that being a Death Eater at any point nulled his later good deeds, and the kids who felt that his final act was what counted.
I think about the kids who knew that Severus rebuilt their house following the fall of Voldemort in 1981, and led them to rebuild their pride and success on the back of the House Cup…
…and I can’t help but feel that Slughorn, who presided over the house in the years that so many prominent Death Eaters aligned themselves to the cause, was perhaps not the man for the job.
People love to talk about Neville’s identity crisis, following Harry naming his second son – but nobody wants to mull on the fates of those unknown Slytherins, and the trauma of their favoured teacher acting in a way that undermined their own value system – no matter what that value system was…
This always makes me think about how hurt Snape was to be seen as this too. He was only playing his part as Dumbledore wanted.
listen i hate snape but yall make a valid point here
It’s really important to me that Neville finds the bravery within himself by accepting his fears and worries, and not by fundamentally changing who he is. He’s always going to be a little clumsy, a little forgetful, still anxious sometimes; but he’s also going to grow up to be a supportive, dependable professor who’s every students crush. He’s going to remain round-faced and chubby, but he’s going to learn to love his curves and softness. He’s going to be confident, not because he conformed to everyone’s standards of attractiveness or heroship, but because he’ll accept that he doesn’t have to.
Neville Longbottom man, he’s such an amazing character that defies all expectations simply by being a strong and kindhearted person. The world would be a better place if there were more Neville’s in it.
[8/20] characters: neville longbottom, harry potter
❝i’ll – i’ll fight you!❞
Listen, I know I totally dropped this blog coming into college (can we say hyperfixation got replaced by being drowned in new changes and stress) but over the break I really really want to revive my blog!!! I am so sorry to anyone I totally stopped talking to and commitments I totally broke, it’s been a rough time. I started a studygram and my New year’s resolution is to seriously be more organized, both physically and mentally. I hope I’m gonna have more time and energy for my passions, and to feel more comfortable having them around other people. My sister is going to teach me about gif-ing and photoshop and it’s gonna be great!!
I’d bet five galleons that George Weasley asked McGonagall out to the Yule Ball on a dare.
I bet that Fred popped up before she could reply and acted betrayed (“YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL, HOW COULD YOU?) and they proceed to have a fake fight over who gets to take her to the ball.
Meanwhile McGonagall is trying to be stern and not laugh because it reminds of when Sirius tried to ask Dumbledore out and had almost the exact same fight with James
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