"‘There are all kinds of courage,’ said Dumbledore, smiling. ‘It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom.’"
— I just realized today how much more meaningful this quote is when you remember Dumbledore’s backstory. For years, Albus remained at Gellert Grindelwald’s side even as Grindelwald became more and more corrupt, simply because he was his friend. He turned a blind eye to the immorality of Gellert’s plans. He couldn’t bring himself to stand up to Grindelwald because he didn’t want to jeopardize their friendship. Even as an adult, he didn’t confront Grindelwald until it was nearly too late. Those ten points weren’t awarded to Neville just so Gryffindor would win the house cup. They were awarded because Dumbledore recognized that Neville, at the age of 11, was far braver than the young Albus had ever been. (via cobbledstories)
(via lghtmp)
jasonferulo asked: I'm re-reading Deathly Hallows and reading your posts in between chapters and I miss seeing these on my dash everyday. You brought up so many points that I never would have thought of otherwise. Don't ever delete this blog! :) Hope all is well!
Aww, thank you! It makes me so happy that folks are still getting some mileage out of this blog and my posts. :D I have absolutely no plans of ever deleting, so no worries there. Thanks so much for the message!
Anonymous asked: What is some of the foreshadowing for the Deathly Hallows? Jo does a lot of foreshadowing and I'm curious to see what hints and clues she left about the three hallows in previous books.
This is a good question! I can’t think of much foreshadowing for the individual Hallows, but here’s what I can recall, and, curiously, it all leads back to Dumbledore, which I suppose makes sense, all things considered: I do think that it’s always been sort of hinted, in a very subtle and easy-to-miss and kind of glossed-over way, that there was something more to the Invisibility Cloak than meets the eye (ha). The fact that Dumbledore had to be the one to give it to Harry because it was “in [his] possession” at the time of James’ death was always pretty odd, especially coupled with the knowledge that Dumbledore doesn’t need an Invisibility Cloak to become invisible, so I feel like that was always leading up to something else, which in this case was Dumbledore studying the Invisibility Cloak to determine if it was, indeed, a Hallow, something that had once been his obsession. That also leads to the Resurrection Stone, which we know was in the ring that Voldemort made into a Horcrux. Although certainly never brought up until the sixth book, I always found it perplexing that Dumbledore put on the ring when he found it and I think Harry wondered about that as well. Dumbledore knew the ring was a Horcrux and still, he placed a ring containing a portion of Voldemort’s soul on his finger. It never made any sense to me until we discover that the stone in the ring was the Resurrection Stone, and obviously, even if Dumbledore hadn’t had a youthful obsession with the Deathly Hallows, there are many people in his life that he would want to see returned to the land of the living. The yearning to see his mother and sister again was so strong that he, more or less, forgot himself. I don’t think there was any foreshadowing for the Elder Wand, though. At least, none that I can remember off the top of my head.
If you like Marauders era and/or Remus/Sirius fic and/or Shoebox Project, I thought you should know (if you don’t already) that the lovely people over at Fuck Yeah SBP is having a Shoebox Project Reread (or just Read, if this would be your first time reading it) this month! It actually began a couple of days ago, but it’s only two chapters to catch up on if you start now. They’re hosting a chat room for folks to pop in and talk about it as they read. More info can be found in this post, which also provides links to the master post/reading schedule and chat room. If you’ve never read SBP before, I highly, highly recommend it if you have any affection whatsoever for the Marauders.
I hope you’re all doing wonderfully!
Anonymous asked: You are my idol. Marry me pls.
As long as you’re willing to let my pug sleep in the bed!
saintelumiere asked: I LOVE your blog. Please never deactivate; I'm going to go through all of it during my study breaks as little rewards xD <3 If you do, please issue a warning, at least! :)
I have no plans at all of deactivating, at least for the foreseeable future, so no worries there. It’s wonderful to know that people are still enjoying it. Thank you very much for the message! :)
Anonymous asked: Hi - i have something i have always wondered about. It has plagues me all through my HP life. How come Harry can't see the thestrals when he first comes to Hogwarts? By seing his mothers murder, shouldn't he have been able to see them from the very beginning and not just after Cedrics death?
Jo has said that thestrals are only visible to those who have witnessed death and have been able to process it. Harry was only an infant when he saw his mother die and therefore couldn’t mentally process what he was witnessing. Only when he was a fourteen-year-old witnessing the murder of a fellow student right in front of him could he fully process the concept of death and what was happening before him, allowing him to see thestrals pulling the carriages when he returned to school the following September.
jasonferulo asked: To help answer the Anon question about the Love Room: I heard in an interview that Jo gave on PotterCast back in 2007 that the Love Room had a fountain or well full of Amortentia at its center, and that the Unspeakables in charge of the Love Room would take the potion and study its effects. Hope this helps!
Oh, this is interesting and I’d never heard this before. Thank you!
