Happy New Year To Everyone. I Wish You A Happy 2025! (En)

Two up, two down

We talk about Potter as a timeless series, as quills and parchment will never date, but there are a few key elements which are of their time, and I sometimes suspect that eventually, their original meaning may be lost.

Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is one of these.  If you visit Surrey, a house akin to Number 4 on Privet Drive can be found on hundreds of identical estates.  Indeed, the three-bedroom house with a garage, and both front and back gardens, situated on a private housing estate in leafy surburbia is one that most British people will have strolled through at some point.

But Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is the opposite of the Dursleys’ aspirational abode, and is somewhere that few modern readers will have seen in its original form with their own eyes.  Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is a traditional two up, two down through terraced house, mired deep in a maze of identical cobbled streets, overlooked by a looming mill chimney, and seemingly – by the 90s – entirely abandoned.

The difficulty that some may have in accurately picturing this scene is because these houses, in this state, no longer exist.  A large percentage of two up, two down terraces were demolished as part of slum clearance, which should tell you all that you need to know about the state of the houses.  

Those which remained have been extensively modified – usually knocking down the privy (outside toilet), and then building a two storey extension across the bulk of the yard to create a third room downstairs, and a bathroom upstairs.  Some houses only have a single extension; it is rather common in some areas of the Midlands to have a bathroom that leads off the kitchen downstairs – because the bathroom was the missing room, and it was cheaper to build one storey than two.

Pottermore had an article earlier in the year which explained how the filmmakers originally wanted to film on location, but could not, because the houses simply did not exist in their traditional state.

The houses were typically constructed with two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs with a tiny backyard entry leading to the outhouse. Craig actually considered shooting on location, but even though the buildings were intact, they had been brought into the modern era, with up-to-date kitchens and plastic extensions, so the set was built at the studio.

Throughout the 20th century, cobbled streets were routinely replaced by various other road surfaces, namely tarmac and asphalt – and, of course, the scarcity of cobblestones now means that such streets are aesthetically desirable.  However, the cobblestones in Spinner’s End are not an indication of affluence, but an indication of an area left behind. This is further illustrated by the rusted railings, the broken streetlights, and the boarded up windows.

These were workers houses, often funded by the owners of the mill, and therefore tied – meaning that rent was deducted from your wage before you received it.  There were benefits to being in tied accommodation, including being close to work and having a guaranteed landlord – but that was as much benefit to the mill owner as the worker.  Seeing great competition, some mill owners invested in their properties to entice workers – but Spinner’s End is not an example of this; Spinner’s End would’ve been regarded as little better than a slum even when fully occupied.

The narrow streets are indicative of when these houses were built, presumably in the late 1800s – cars were not a concern, and the attitude was to build as many houses on as small a piece of land as possible.

By the time the 90s roll around, and we see Narcissa and Bellatrix descend upon the street, Spinner’s End appears to be mostly deserted.  With the closure of traditional manual industries, families would be keen to relocate to where work could be found.  Estates which hadn’t already been cleared by the 60s would find themselves left to rack and ruin, their former occupants long gone – whether seeking a new life elsewhere, or having died.

For once, Bellatrix is not being anti-Muggle when she sneers at the Muggle dunghill; she is unnervingly accurate. It is a slum by her standards, but most importantly, it was a slum by everyone else’s standards as well.  By the time Severus was born, work should’ve been well under way to clear the area, or to renovate it.  This evidently did not occur – which itself explains how undesirable the area is; nobody wanted to spruce it up - they wanted to leave.  There were no jobs, no amenities, no services – and eventually, no people.

We often ponder why Snape remains at Spinner’s End, but perhaps there lies the answer; he wasn’t just hiding from the magical world, but he was also hiding from the Muggle world as well…

Capeless Vader

Little prince

Cursed footage returns.

It’s absolutely crazy to me that jk shitling wrote snape and Harry’s relationship to be an absolutely PERFECT, and I mean like it was a divine sign from god, potential adoption relationship, and then she destroyed snape by giving him an incel fueled “redemption” and then had him killed so he had no way to repair his relationship with Harry.

If you are not convinced, PICTURE THIS:

Severus snape: tired, angry, slytherin, cold to everyone and everybody alive except lily evans which is why I said alive, in danger from being double spy death eater, selfish, cruel, master at potions, professor, weighed down with guilt and grief for his best friend’s death which he basically caused, fueled by hate for James potter and the other marauders, was abused by his father, master at occlumency, lives alone with no other family, has no friends, traumatized, hates Harry for looking like James, in the Order

Harry potter: tired, angry, hot headed, loyal, gryffindor, has only two friends, no loving family, orphan, horribly abused by his shitty relatives, traumatized, in danger from Voldemort and everything else that exists, savior complex, looks like James potter (except his eyes of course), hates snape because he’s a terrible teacher, manipulated by dumbledong, sees his classmates and friends die, kind of in the Order, has no parents

THIS IS PERFECT. THEY FIRST HATE EACH OTHER SO THERE IS TENSION AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS. THERE’S YEARS OLD GRUDGES SO THERE’S DRAMA. THERE’S VOLDEMORT SO THERE’S A THREAT. There is trauma and abuse so there’s hurt comfort. None of Harry’s friends understand his bond with snape so there’s that kind of reflective property of what they used to be like. Best of all they are forced to hide their relationship in public so it’s funny and also loving.

Snape is cold and alone and oh no James potter reincarnated is his student and oh no he’s actually not like his father??? How is he supposed to hate him now??? And the boy is also an abused child like he once was?? SNAPE MUST SAVE HARRY AND ADOPT HIM.

I’ve read a billion severitus fanfics on ao3 and they all have classic things that happen it’s like the Bible at this point.

Snape and Harry hate each other at first. Then there’s an incident (usually always from Harry’s end) that makes them hate other more and they are usually forced into isolation together (either at snape’s house at spinner’s end or shell cottage). Then something happens and snape gets hints that Harry isn’t the pampered prince he was prepared for and the professor slowly discovers Harry’s terrible upbringing (which sometimes reminds him of his own terrible upbringing). There’s occulmency and nightmares for more hurt comfort. Then something dramatic and tense happens regarding the Order/ Voldemort and Harry gets in danger/ pain/ peril, which snape saves him from. After that there’s sometimes a part where snape reveals his tragic backstory and relationship with lily, which makes Harry hate him again for indirectly killing his parents. Then they reconcile and Snape brings up adoption. THE END.

ITS PERFECT. THERE IS LITERALLY NO BETTER CARETAKER FOR HARRY THAN SNAPE (once he stops being a shithead that is).

List of ao3 sveritus fanfics that I love:

I, Your Glass by koppelkat: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28872054/chapters/70825338

Crime and Punishment by melolcatsi: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24102232/chapters/58018174

O Mine Enemy by KirbyLane: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29013294/chapters/71209311

Of Mice and Men by ahhhhhh_ahhhhhhh: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43700836/chapters/109889461

Travelling Companions by OutriderIvyHill22: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57104065/chapters/145235671

how to draw arms ? ? 

Tw: Child abuse

While I don’t envision Harry to be a particularly jealous person in the books, I can’t help but think about certain situations with Severitus where that emotion might come out.

I especially think about it when fanfics depict Severus as a protector for abused children in slytherin or Hogwarts as a whole. I think Harry seeing how Snape treats other children compared to him would enrage him.

Just seeing everything that he could have if things were just a little bit different, if he was sorted into slytherin, or if he just had a different father, or some other insignificant thing, he could have had the love, care and protection he always wanted. He could have had someone on his side who actually fought for him, was willing to do the hard stuff for him.

But he doesn’t just get jealous of how Snape treats other children, he gets jealous of the fact that Snape FINDS OUT about the other children’s abuse. He sees how easily Severus seems to pick up on other kids flinching, hiding injuries, or peculiar behavior, taking them aside after class within the first year, first month of school. Yet, after years of knowing him, Snape seems to have no clue. He sees that and can’t help but think why not him as well, he gets so so angry.

The anger and jealousy doesn’t stick however as he just ends up thinking maybe the way the dursleys treat him isn’t so bad, after all, if the number one person in the school for detecting abuse can’t see it, maybe it’s not actually abuse. And anyways, he should be grateful the other kids have someone to go to.

And somewhere deep down he thinks it’s his fault, because he has gotten rather good at covering up their tracks over the years. How can he blame the Professor when he purposefully hides the evidence?

Anyways hope yall enjoyed this rant :D

Sukuna is so cute dusting himself 😭😭

If anything, Sukuna has class