Yeah, I've Always Had The Headcanon That Romilda Covered For Ginny This Way -- We Know She's Clever,

At the risk of sounding anti-intellectual, I think that college should be free and also not a requirement for employment outside of highly specialized career fields

The Death Eaters: a contradictory anti-State narrative in the HP universe

From Prisoner of Azkaban onward, the Death Eaters (formally introduced in Goblet of Fire) emerge as a violent, prejudiced force; primarily against the Ministry of Magic. However, instead of being an anti-state organization, as initially presented, the Death Eaters are more concerned with maintaining existing power structures, albeit with a more extreme, blood-supremacist agenda (that's basically Deathly Hallows). Indeed, the Ministry of Magic itself is already prejudiced and violent, even before Voldemort.

I will explore key instances that highlight the contradictory nature of the Death Eaters and their relationship with the wizarding state’s power structures.

1. The conflict in DEs’ aims and their misrepresentation through real-world historical parallels

The Death Eaters' role as villans is evident in their modus operandi and in their belief system, particularly blood supremacy. This is why, while their ideology resembles Nazism, they operate as a terrorist organization.

For clarity: terrorist organizations operate outside the framework of a formal state structure, relying on violence, fear; their focus: undermining established power, creating instability, mistrust, etc. This is essentially the First Wizarding War:

"...this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. " - Rubeus Hagrid, PS "You don't know who his supporters are, you don't know who's working for him and who isn't; (...) Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing... The Ministry of Magic's in disarray, they don't know what to do, (...). Terror everywhere... panic... confusion... that's how it used to be." - Sirius Black, GoF "...You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed. The terror it inspired... you have no idea, you're too young. Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house, and knowing what you're about to find inside... Everyone's worst fear... the very worst." - Arthur Weasley, GoF

On the contrary, institutionalized authoritarian regimes align more closely with the description we have of the Ministry of Magic (although I don’t believe it is a totalitarian regime in the FWW). However, if one thinks about it, in a completely corrupted Ministry of Magic, power is concentrated in the hands of a small elite (purebloods) that controls state institutions, including the military (Aurors), law enforcement (The Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Hitwizards), and the legal system (Wizengamot), enabling them to enforce their policies (e.g., the Statue of Secrecy), maintain order, etc. Voldemort and the Death Eaters are far more dangerous in such a structure (see DH).

(Had Hitler remained the leader of a violent terrorist group and never risen to power as the dictator of a nation, he could never have been responsible for the deaths of six million people in CC, nor would his expansionist war have led to the deaths of over 30 million.)

That being said, while most authors base their world-building on a singular historical event (e.g., the rise of Fascism in Italy) or comparable historical events (e.g., the rise of totalitarisms), JKR mixes terrorist organizations with institutionalized authoritarian regimes. This blend leads to a disjointed narrative, and it is deeply problematic.

The IRA parallel

i. Historical accuracy (for historical background, check here):

Voldemort’s rise to power in the late 1960s, his decline in the late 1980s, and his resurgence in the 1990s closely parallel the timeline of The Troubles—a complex conflict between factions in the Republic of Ireland and the big island. To put it very, very simply, this period of unrest stemmed from centuries of English colonialism, during which the English conquered and subjugated Northern Ireland. This colonization led to widespread violence, cultural destruction, and systemic repression of the Irish people. As a result of the poverty, exclusion, and repression, a reprehensible terrorist organization rose: the IRA (Irish Republican Army).

Mirroring the timeline of the First Wizarding War, the conflict in the 1970s was marked by street fighting, bombings, kidnappings, and the assassination of both civilians and high-ranking figures. The arguments about the Ministry becoming nearly as vicious as the terrorists they were fighting—using torture and murder (Aurors casting Unforgivable Curses) and internment without trial (as seen with Sirius Black)—parallel real-life arguments about the British security services' brutal response to the IRA.

ii. Contrasting ideologies

The IRA emerged from decades of oppression faced by Irish Catholics, aiming to challenge a discriminatory system, while the Death Eaters seek to reinforce and perpetuate existing power structures. By positioning the Death Eaters as anti-state, it obscures the fact that they are objectively fighting to preserve and enforce the status quo. The parallel with the IRA oversimplifies, and arguably dangerously misrepresents, political movements and conflicts.

The Hitler parallel

i. Convergence in worldview

There are several reasons why many people, JKR included, associate DEs with Nazism, one of which is the unambiguous nature of their ideology. Both Nazism and the DEs' ideology are grounded in notions of racial supremacy and purity, with the premise that a person’s worth is determined by their ancestry. For the Death Eaters, this belief is reflected in their conviction that pure-blood wizards are inherently superior to Muggle-borns and Muggles. But DEs are not terrorists because of their belief system; they are blood supremacists who carry out terrorism to impose their belief system. If you want to impose your belief system, institutions are the answer, as true dominance is easely maintained through ideological control, which is exactly how wizarding society already operates. Here, DEs modus operandi fails.

ii. Historical inaccurancy

A key distinction between the DEs and the Nazis lies in the structural dynamics of their respective rises to power. Hitler's ascent was marked by the systematic institutionalization of mass violence and control. Once in power, Hitler's government passed laws (e.g., Nuremberg Laws) and engaged in legal political moves (e.g., Munich Agreement). The Nazi leadership was public and institutional, with high-ranking officials known to the public (Göring, Himmler, Goebbels, etc.). The DEs never sought or achieved official political power in the same way. They never formed party, they operated in secrecy (using masks) and they kept their membership a secret within their own ranks. As the terrorists they are.

In Deathly Hallows, when the they take formal control of the Ministry of Magic, they maintain this secretive approach. The coup is swift and quiet, with Voldemort not openly declaring himself as Minister. He imperiused key figures (like Pius Thicknesse) to create distrust and prevent some form of rebellion (this doen't make sense btw, rebellion from who, at this point? Only the Order would have continued its resistance activities.... but whatever....).

When, in HBP, Slughorn says, "I confidently expect you to rise to Minister for Magic within twenty years," and Tom Riddle responds, "I don't know that politics would suit me, sir. I don't have the right kind of background, for one thing," it's clear that Riddle has his own agenda (which sometimes conflicts with the DEs' aim, but that's a different discussion). However, this alone doesn’t explain why pure-blood supremacists like Lucius Malfoy don’t leverage their influence to establish a more radicalized and enduring power structure (such as totalitarianism), especially given the entrenchment of their ideology within society. Again, why would Lucius Malfoy act like a terrorist, risking his reputation, life, and endangering his family, when he could already do whatever he pleases? It's still not clear.

KKK paralel (I swear is the last one, here for historical background)

While the DE' ideology echoes Nazism, it also resembles many other supremacist and bigoted ideologies. Our final group (which also inspired the aesthetics of Goblet of Fire) is the violent, white supremacist terrorist group called Ku Klux Klan.

i. Historical context and differences with DE

The KKK expanded into almost every southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for white southern “resistance” (forgive the word) to the Reconstruction-era policies, which aimed at establishing political and economic equality for Black Americans. While some leaders later attributed KKK violence to poorer southern white people, the group did attract people from across the socioeconomic spectrum.

By comparison, the DEs were not a response to a period of social progress or societal change (but more on that later). It is also arguable that the Death Eaters were not a heterogeneous group. Aside from Snape, who was a half-blood with a working-class background (though he obviously repudiated his origins, that's the bloody point of HBP), the rest were rich purebloods— one might even say the purest of purebloods, as many of them were Sacred 28, (part of what seems to be) an aristocracy akin to feudalism.

The KKK never started a civil war (basically FWW and SWW), and in terms of proportion, it never had the numbers that the Death Eaters did. (However, KKK violence is real and it did contribute to an ongoing racial conflict, so it’s hard for me to say that DEs were “bigger”). One can only imagine what would have happened if it had reached a 50/50, or one could think that a more domesticated version it's currently seated in the White House (see: the point made earlier about institutions...).

2. DEs and the inconsistency of their portrayal as anti-State

The Death Eaters do not fit neatly into any real-world ideological or political framework. They don’t represent a subversive anti-state movement, as they seek to reinforce and uphold the existing power structures within the canon, making them both ideologically and narratively inconsistent with the groups they are meant to represent. Their violence and blood-supremacist ideology do not stem from institutionalised oppression or inequality, nor are they based on misinformation. This mess is rooted in JKR’s limited understanding of politics and discrimination (I will never forgive her for having Hermione shout "I'm proud to be Muggle-born" and stop, as pride is the problem when it comes to discrimination and racism).

3. Adjusting mess with extra-canon

I firmly believe that, unless you delve into supplementary materials, there is little to prevent these lunatics from operating in board daylight. DEs make sense in a political climate where their power feels threatened, even if it's made up. That's why...

What happened when HP ended: Pottermore

...at some point, JKR (or her team) must have realized these inconsistencies. On Pottermore, new information surfaced that contradicted the canon. When woman, gays, Black people and other marginalized groups gain greater social equality, those who have traditionally held power by birthright see their unjust dominance begin to crumble, and suddenly they have to do something. This aligns with Rowling’s portrayal of Muggle persecution, suggesting that historical anti-Muggle sentiment was largely unfounded (Fantastic Beasts movies). Again, by what is implied in the tale of The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, she suggests that wizarding society had little to fear from Muggles, thus minimizing the historical violence and oppression wizards may have faced. Other examples that come from extra-canon are Nobby Leach and hints of progressivenes. In 1962, Leach became the first Muggle-born to be appointed Minister for Magic (in canon, this would be absurd. Is there a Muggle-born working in the Ministry? Is there any Muggle-born working at all?). Then, there were Squib Rights marches in 1968-1969 (a parallel to the Civil Rights marches in the real world).

Conclusion

It's absurd for me to write something like this, but it's obviously NOT pointless to examine the motivations of prejudiced groups that seek power through violence. Take that moment in Order of the Phoenix, where Harry and Sirius talk about Dolores Umbridge:

"I know [Umbridge] by reputation and I’m sure she’s no Death Eater—" "She's foul enough to be one…" "Yes, but the world isn’t split into good people and Death Eaters," said Sirius with a wry smile. "I know she’s a nasty piece of work though."

Someone like Umbridge, though not a literal Death Eater (for now, but it's not the point), exhibits similar traits—prejudice, abuse of power—which can be just as damaging. But Sirius isn't suggesting that she occupies some middle ground between good and evil (I blame the movies for this shit). Rather, he’s acknowledging that Evil takes many forms and expresses itself in different ways. This is the core difference between prejudice and terrorism: the latter is a violent, organized force, whereas the former usually manifests in a less overt, everyday bitch. While racial slurs or internalized discriminatory tendencies are undeniably harmful—the cancer of our society, if you ask me—these groups actively unite to fight. People risk their lives, they believe themselves heroes of a greater cause.

If you oversimplify the rationale behind why a bigoted terrorist group holds such views and acts on them, thinking it's not as complicated as it truly is, you're part of the problem. History repeats itself because we often dismiss the importance of understanding our past. We rely on our moral superiority, believing that others are or were easily manipulated by forces we are too righteous to fall victim to. But this is exactly why they thrive.

Anyway thank you @artemisia-black and @tedwardremus, you'll find some of your words here.

Basically agree with it all, but damn a 13 inch height difference is mad!

Canon Couples and the Random Heights I Assigned Them

Just because I recently re-read this post and it's on my mind. Here's what I think these canon couples' final heights came to be and some justifications behind my thought process, as well as some headcanons. Let's start with my OTP -

Harry (6'1") and Ginny (5'0")

I'm kinda obsessed with the idea that 17yo Harry being the same height as his 21yo deceased father would grow just a couple more inches

Ginny being 5ft fits with her being the noticeably "smallest one" in the DoM during OOTP and with Harry being able to easily look over her head during the infamous First Kiss scene in HBP, putting her head at chest height of Harry (as of HBP)

Ginny is the only one who knows about Harry's petty satisfaction when he ran into Draco Malfoy some years after the war and realized he had continued to grow and Malfoy hadn't

James (5'11") and Lily (5'8")

Because they're both tall enough to be considered "tall", but not the kind of tall that is shocking

Lily being 5'8" makes her tall enough to have to look down at 14yo Harry in the graveyard scene of GOF

Ron (6'5") and Hermione (5'8")

In order for Fred and George to be "shorter and stockier" than 14yo Ron, but still slightly over 6ft so as to shrink to 5'11" in DH, I have to assume Ron's final height came to be one that most people would put in the "Holy shit you're tall" category

I know I'm going to get shouted at for Hermione's height, because she's never described as particularly tall in the books HOWEVER she's never described as particularly short either, just shorter than Harry

This 9 inch height difference give Ron & Hermione the perfect height difference for Ron to comfortably rest his chin on her head without having to hunch over awkwardly like Harry does with Ginny, so I'm sticking to it

Arthur (5'11") and Molly (4'11")

I know the movies made Arthur short and round, but he was described as thin in the books and all the Weasley boys wind up being pretty tall, so they had to get that from somewhere.

Molly is consistently described as short and dumpy throughout the series, and while Ginny is often compared to Molly physically, I just like the idea that Ginny managed to grow that extra inch that Molly never did.

Draco (6'0") and Astoria (5'11")

we know in DH Draco was slightly taller than Harry at the Malfoy Manor scene (p.457, U.S. edition of DH), so if we assume the like linked post above that Harry was 5'11" during DH, then I'd put Draco at 6 foot.

we literally know nothing about Astoria (CC doesn't count), but I picked 5'11" because it is the curse of all tall women to wind up with men roughly the same height

Lucius (5'10") and Narcissa (5'10")

we know Harry and Narcissa are the same height in HBP, so I put her at 5'10"

correct me if I'm wrong, but Lucius is never described as particularly tall, while Narcissa is. And of course, tall for a woman is average for a man. I put Lucius to be around around the same height as Narcissa because I just don't see Lucius' personality allowing him to be with a woman taller than himself.

also, see the curse of tall women above

221115 RM’s Instagram Stories

Image 1 Translation:

Things I know Kang Ik-joong

The sky is light green just before a storm When I am lost coming out of the subway, I should go the opposite way of where I think I should go The best smell is the smell of a pencil board you just bought at a stationary store in front of the school The compliments you hear at a young age stay with you for a long time The ratio of garlic chives to pork when making dumplings is two to one No matter how much of a rush you’re in, you should not run in front of someone who is physically unwell Stars in the night sky are not Christmas decorations Stage fright occurs when I try to show a greater side of myself You do not hear farts on an airplane Rich people are good at straightening out their cash Good ideas come out of morning showers People who are impatient always get the bill first  Anything under the sky is psychology Opportunities come around again There aren’t a lot of things that you really need

Trans cr; Annie & Aditi @ bts-trans © TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDITS

Image 2 Translation: It will come true  Kang Ik-joong

It comes true when you draw it in your heart It will come true when you draw it on a paper It comes true when you are full  It will come true when you share it first  It comes true when you are diligent  It will come true when you are relaxed from time to time  It comes true when the water in your heart is calm  It will come true when the you see yourself in that water  Above all, it will come true when you love  Even if it’s a nameless wild flower Even if it’s a wind that passes by Also It will come true when you look at the moon

Trans cr; Annie @ bts-trans © TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDITS

#fantastic horcrux meta

One thing I find really compelling about ronmort is that the horcrux which targets ron is the one most "maternal"-- tom's mother's locket, which you so cleverly pointed out was also the one which he erected a complicated defense for in a place that was meaningful to his childhood. Everything the locket says to Ron just feels so charged? Wym you've seen his heart and it's yours? Wym you've seen his dreams and his desires? The fact that Ron can hear the locket's heartbeat before anyone else... I don't know how to explain it except that the locket's antagonism of Ron feels almost intimate in a way. The shenanigans would be sexy. Not least because Ron can apparently do a passing imitation of parseltongue (hot).

that each of the trio destroys the horcrux which most connects to something fundamental about themselves is a detail which obsesses me.

the diary

harry - an orphan, desperate to meet someone else who can understand the strangeness and isolation of his experience; searching for the truth about himself, and what in his life is inherited, but unable to ever fully uncover it - destroys the diary, not only the sole horcrux which is an explicit link to lord voldemort's upbringing as an orphan in the muggle world, but also a metaphor for the state of orphanhood itself.

the diary is a quasi-palimpsest - an object which has to be written in; an object in which a layer of text is written and then overwritten by another; an object in which these layers of text can be stripped back until only the original layer remains only with extraordinary difficulty - just like the orphan's search for meaning, trying to decipher the layers of themselves which were inherited from their parents, but only ever being able to see these partially, with the text missing or corrupted.

voldemort's creation of the diary-horcrux is explicitly connected in canon to him coming to learn about himself, his parents, and his heritage - and, connected to this, to him refusing to sit with the grief of orphanhood, refusing to understand his parents as whole, complex people, and refusing to embrace his "real" identity [which, as the text understands it, is that of a half-blood named tom marvolo riddle] by creating a fake one [that of lord voldemort].

harry destroys it after rejecting voldemort's self-constructed view of his own exceptionality - "the greatest wizard in the world is albus dumbledore" - his refusal to acknowledge the complexities of lineage and orphanhood, and his refusal to embrace his muggle heritage - "my mother died to save me. my common, muggleborn mother". he does this using a tool directly connected to voldemort's rejection of all but his slytherin heritage - the basilisk's fang - in a location similarly connected to voldemort's rejection of his muggle blood - the chamber of secrets.

the cup

hermione - an outsider, whose place in the wizarding world is unstable - destroys the cup, one of the horcruxes to which voldemort has the least personal connection, but which he selected to hide his soul because of its historical significance, anchoring him to a millennium of wizarding history and culture he was otherwise brought up disconnected from.

voldemort's creation of the cup-horcrux comes at the end of a period of his life in which he is disadvantaged in wizarding society purely on the basis of his name and background. he rejects the ministry jobs which would have made him dependent for the rest of his life on slughorn's patronage - and, therefore, pressured him to do what slughorn wanted - and ends up, as he himself puts it, as "a poor shop assistant". hepzibah smith is a pureblood, who is also descended from one of hogwarts' founders - yet she doesn't make use of this superiority ["all sorts of powers it's supposed to possess too... i just keep it nice and safe in here..."], and she doesn't realise [and he can't prove to her and hope to keep his job] that voldemort is someone she should think of as her equal [or even superior]. she - as harry observes - essentially treats voldemort as doll she can play with, posing him with her treasures and pretending his glacial politeness is really repressed affection, she speaks to him like he's an idiot, and she evidently considers him to be her social inferior.

hermione destroys the cup after seven books in which the discrimination she faces on account of being muggleborn is explicit. obviously, she's the victim of violent bigotry - she's petrified, she's called a mudblood, she's the only one of the trio who also has to worry about the muggleborn registration commission - but she's also the victim of seemingly benign, genial bigotry too - the muggle world is treated as a quaint side-show, even by characters like the weasleys; she's praised for her intelligence by slughorn, but this intelligence is still considered in some way unusual for someone with muggle heritage. she gets spoken to by many wizards in ways which aren't far removed from the way hepzibah speaks to voldemort.

as a result, she - like voldemort - spends a lot of time trying to acquire enough knowledge of the wizarding world that she appears to be native to it [this is why she's so obsessed with hogwarts: a history]. but - unlike voldemort - she then embraces her heritage and refuses to hide it - "mudblood and proud of it!".

and - shortly after this - she destroys the cup, in a place - the chamber - and using a tool - the basilisk's fang - which are both directly connected to the bigotry she experienced, since they're part of slytherin's belief that people like her should be driven out of hogwarts and out of the magical world more broadly, and therefore send a big "fuck you" to voldemort's blood-supremacy.

the locket

and ron... whose greatest desire is to be recognised for his individual achievements, who has a complex and uneasy relationship with his place in his family [simultaneously longing to be something other than "one of the weasleys" and fiercely loyal to his parents and siblings], who is the only pureblood of the trio, whose childhood we hear the most about in canon, and whose childhood appears to have been happy...

destroys the locket, which is voldemort's only link to his mother, and the only horcrux for which he constructs an elaborate defence in a place meaningful to him from childhood.

we don't actually know who voldemort kills to create the locket-horcrux [jkr has said in interviews that it was a muggle tramp, although this contradicts dumbledore's statement in half-blood prince that voldemort created his horcruxes from murders which were significant to him], which is a neat metaphor for how little he knows about merope - since he doesn't know morfin's name, for example, we can assume he doesn't know hers; everything he ever tells harry about her is something he's invented [especially his belief that his parents' marriage was consensual, and that tom riddle sr. abandoned her because she was a witch].

the horcrux attempts to torture ron with his insecurities about being a mammy's boy who's always been afraid that he's a bit of a flop at the task - especially when compared to siblings like ginny, bill, and percy. and ron is so susceptible to it because voldemort is also an inherent mammy's boy [ronmort nation, rise up] who never got a chance to have a mam, and who responded to the grief this caused him by suppressing it, pretending it never existed, and convincing himself that the only viable thing to be is unique.

ron destroys it after he returns to the trio - having attempted to strike out on his own [the thing he's wanted since philosopher's stone, when he sees himself standing alone in the mirror of erised] - and accepts his place as part of a group. he does so using the sword of gryffindor, which again represents him embracing not being exceptional - his entire family have been in gryffindor, something he's shown to feel simultaneously proud of and uneasy with right from his first appearance.

Arguing that James Potter’s death meant nothing is such a fundamental misunderstanding of the narrative that it makes me wonder if people have even read the books.

This is a man who ran headfirst toward his death in a desperate attempt to give his wife and son a chance to escape. A selfless, brave act of love that stands in contrast with Voldemort's personal war against death and Snape's desperate plea to bargain for the life of Lily while not caring if her husband or child dies.

James isn’t just a character who dies early, off-page, before the main character is introduced—he becomes a specter who haunts the entire story.

James’s absence profoundly shapes Harry’s journey as he struggles to define himself. His sense of masculinity and self-worth is deeply tied to the father he never knew but constantly strives to emulate. Sirius and Remus, broken by their shared loss, are mere shadows of their former selves, their lives forever marked by James’s death. Even Voldemort acknowledges James with a twisted form of respect when he taunts Harry in the graveyard.

To say James’s death means nothing disregards the emotional heart of the series. Harry’s story is fundamentally about grief—his desperate longing to connect with the family stolen from him, and his eventual journey toward acceptance. It’s about learning to live fully in the face of loss, choosing life over despair, and understanding death not as an enemy but as an inevitable companion.

James’s death isn’t meaningless—it’s pivotal. It echoes throughout the series.

James’s death means everything.

McGonagall and Trelawny anything but deep disdain is making me laugh, but ..reblogging for the intrigue

the official lesbian hogwarts professor relationship chart

Gonna get real close to the mic when I say this, but friends that disagree are not suddenly bad friends. It's weird to think that friends have to be on the same page at all times or they become toxic.

We all looked at Draco with Crabbe and Goyle and understood that them blindly following him as his "yes" men wasn't the same type of friendship that Harry had with Hermione and Ron. In fact, it wasn't a friendship at all because surrounding yourself with people who would never disagree with you is cowardly. It's a cop out.

Draco dug himself into a hole so that the only thing that could ever ricochet around in his head was his own thoughts. He wasn't truly confident in what he believed in, so he just settled for regurgitating the shit he heard at the dinner table. Like an echo chamber.

Meanwhile, the Wizarding World tossed little Harry headfirst into the "Chosen One" hole and the only reason he ever escaped that suffocating self-fulfilling prophecy was because Ron and Hermione reached their hands in and yanked his skinny ass out.

So, no, Ron isn't a bad friend because they got into a few petty arguments. And no, Harry doesn't secretly hate Hermione because she can annoy him sometimes. Harry isn't perfect, so don't expect Hermione or Ron to be.

Can’t wait for the Dean fic! Can we as a collective acknowledge that Dean and Ginny got together very shortly after she dumped Michael. That means he must’ve been flirting with her while they were still together. Dean ‘steal your girl’ Thomas

Dean Thomas when he sees Ginny giving Michael Corner the time of day:

Dean has rizz it’s canon soooo I had to drop a sneak peek of him in action 👀

First DA meeting back after Christmas, he’d asked how her dad was doing. She’d let him know the good news in her typical Ginny way, quick joke, shut down need for further questions (‘he’s doing alright. Not dead, that’s the main thing. What’s a couple of snake bites between friends?’) But he’d wanted to keep her there, keep chatting before she drifted back over to the Ravenclaws, so had pressed it a bit, asked if they’d spent the holidays between Devon and St Mungo’s. Whenever he’d pictured wizard hospital, it’d been a bit like an episode of Casualty but with more owls, and when he’d pictured Devon it was the proper seaside, like when his primary school did that trip to Southampton and his mate Liam threw that crisp packet at a seagull. Of course, then his brain had conjured up Ginny on a beach, bikini, licking something. There’d been something extra daring about imagining it when she’d been right there, chatting to him, her boyfriend stood five yards away, chatting with all the other Ravenclaws who wouldn’t know a good laugh if it hit them round the face.

‘Oh, we weren’t in Devon in the end,’ she’d said. ‘We ended up staying in London.’

‘Really? D’you have family in London, or something?’ We could’ve met up, he’d thought. Imagined taking her - somewhere. Wherever people take girls — he’d have to ask one of his cousins. Maybe go central, or use that Christmas money from his auntie to take her to the cinema or the good chicken shop in Forest Gate, hold her hand on the bus. He’d glanced over at Michael, who’d started eyeing the two of them suspiciously from over by the crash dummy, and resisted the urge to wave.

‘It’s a bit complicated,’ she’d said. Her smile was apologetic, curving its way out of her bottom lip. He’d wanted to ask more but didn’t know how, and her tone sounded final, so he’d dropped it. It would be ages til he’d learn what that smile meant — all cover, hiding things he’d had no hope of ever asking about. ‘Sorry to be cryptic.’

‘Nah,’ he’d said. ‘Keeping it mysterious, I like it.’

Little glint in her eye, mischief. ‘Well, you know. A girl’s got to keep her secrets close to her chest.’

‘Good place for them.’ Alright. Doing it? Yeah? Ok, he’s doing it: ‘Maybe I could have a look sometime.’

For a second he’d really thought he’d fucked it. But a new smile had crept up her face, then, like she’s intrigued, impressed, by the sheer audacity of it.

‘Ginny.’ Of course, then Corner had shown up, face like thunder, come to claim what’s his. ‘We’re pairing up, Harry’s just said. Thomas, you get your own partner, yeah?’

ginny weasley is as loyal as ron, as cool as bill, as funny as the twins, as fiery and protective as mrs weasley, as understanding and indifferent to other peoples’ opinions as mr weasley, as much of an animal lover as charlie, as stubborn as percy and they STILL gave her the personality of a wet rag in the films