Somebody: What Would You Say Your Life Motto Is?

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.

i don’t know if people will agree w me but young remus gives me toxic intellectual fuckboy vibes, like he’s an absolute ass but he wears corduroy and reads you kafka and he’ll listen to kanye like he needs it to breathe and complains about how sad and poor and scary he is

"... you're so beautiful when you was extinguished. You're so beautiful when you're unhappy."

Young Sirius Black in Azkaban.

Don't ask me why I drew this. Perhaps my soul was demanding something suffering.

regulus as stuff i've said/heard

barty: last night was crazy! i didn't get any sleep! did you?

regulus: bold of you to assume i got any sleep any night

regulus: i don't socialize because i people expect me to keep listening

regulus: it also doesn't help that i'm a sarcastic shit and superior to everyone else

walburga: i raised my kids perfectly fine

regulus: no offense mother, but i hate myself

regulus: wow, this sucks

bellatrix: what?

regulus: *wildly gestures everywhere*

regulus: you will die the most cruel death

narcissa: i'm sorry i tried to hug your cat, piece of shit

regulus: are telling me i have to help you?

narcissa: ...

narcissa: you are the one who messed up

regulus: the fuck you starting at?

draco: *confused 7 month sounds*

regulus: this was stupid. i don't know why i did it.

sirius: because everyone needs sleep to function

hello hi love your blog but just curious, what do you have against molly weasley?

Well..... most things lmao. I think she’s a terrible parent to her own children, behaves in very unhealthy ways with other people’s children including Harry which actively harms them, and treats several other characters awfully too.

She's verbally abusive, and I think Molly's temper largely goes over fandom's head because it's treated flippantly / as comic relief by JKR, but she screams and snaps at her children (and others) and takes her temper out on them regularly and publicly: the howler in CoS, yelling at the twins and Ron for rescuing Harry from the Dursleys and then at Arthur too, in OOTP she’s repeatedly screaming at Fred and George in caps lock in front of the whole Order (this is compared to Sirius’s abusive mother’s portrait multiple times in the text), the twins say things like "[wrt the fight with Percy] I’ve never seen Dad row with anyone like that, it’s normally Mum who shouts" "I love hearing Mum shouting at someone else, it makes such a nice change" "The idiots are letting her get into her stride, you’ve got to head her off early, otherwise she builds up a head of steam and goes on for hours", she screams at Arthur in public in the hospital (her kids, Harry, and Hermione sprint out of the room to avoid witnessing this), in HBP her children can’t make jokes because she snaps at them about it, in DH they hear Molly shouting from four floors up and Ron is just like “Ginny’s probably left a speck of dust on a poxy napkin ring” again establishing Molly losing her temper with them over stupid shit as normal in their household, Hermione also flinches away from Molly’s anger repeatedly. And there are many little throwaway lines in Harry’s POV that make it clear that he’s afraid of her temper and associates her with it. i.e. in HBP Harry chooses to confide in Arthur partially because he thinks Molly will "explode in anger" if she finds out he snuck off on his own, his first thought when Umbridge catches the DA is "Mrs. Weasley would kill [Ron]”, etc. All this alone puts her very firmly into Terrible Parent category. And naturally I don’t think being around a parent who constantly blows up at her children and publicly humiliates them is a healthy environment for Harry, who had a volatile childhood full of yelling, and doesn't react well to conflict like this (i.e. even Ron and Hermione's arguing stresses him out)

She believes Rita Skeeter’s ridiculous article about Hermione cheating on Harry with Krum (and Ron learned the word “scarlet woman” from her and presumably that’s how she sees Hermione), despite knowing that Skeeter lied about Arthur (Molly even calls out someone else for believing Skeeter’s articles); and aside from the absurdity of her believing it - instead of maybe trying to contact Harry and see how he’s feeling if she really thinks he’s going through stuff in his love life, her response is to.... send a fifteen year old Hermione a passive aggressive Easter present? Which forces Harry into an uncomfortable position, and when Harry is forced to call her on it because she’s continuing to be cold to Hermione, doesn’t apologize and simply pretends she never believed the article. She also believes Rita Skeeter’s initial article about Harry and how he weeps over his dead parents etc., which shows that Molly just doesn’t know who Harry is as a person at all.

Her treatment of Sirius and the effect of this on Harry. When she’s rightfully told that it’s not her place to make decisions for Harry, she accuses Sirius of being reckless and irresponsible and of not being able tell the difference between his godson and his dead best friend to discredit him, which, she obviously wasn’t right, but even if she was, it would be unacceptable to say it in front of Harry, and in that scenario is absolutely being used as an attempt to get control over the situation and get Harry / the Order members to agree with her. When they don’t, throws Sirius’s Azkaban imprisonment in his face (people call her out a lot for that one line but I think everything else she does in that book wrt their relationship is.... just as bad).

I also find it disturbing how many times Molly defends Dumbledore's actions wrt Harry in that fight. Obviously this is a narrative flaw, all the adults are responsible for deferring to Dumbledore and sending Harry back to the Dursleys, but only the Weasleys know that the Dursleys are starving Harry and put bars on his window, and no one else in that scene is as vehemently parroting Dumbledore’s orders to try to control how much Harry can know (even Remus is more reasonable and quietly speaks up for Harry’s right to decide for himself, which is saying something considering his own idolization of Dumbledore); a couple lines after Sirius explicitly brings up that Harry’s been locked up at Privet Drive, she says “Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much” (the way Dumbledore made sure Harry didn’t know too much, was, of course, locking him up in an abusive home right after he’s been through severe trauma and trying to limit his communication with people who care about him), and considering Molly goes to great lengths herself to try to isolate Harry and block his access to information / interactions with other people even while he’s IN Grimmauld Place to “protect” him (elaborated on below) or just because she’s being territorial, and she seems capable of ignoring Dumbledore’s plans when it suits her own wishes (i.e. in DH when she tries to keep the trio from going on Dumbledore’s mission), it’s much harder to see Molly doing so as simply part of said narrative flaw. Particularly as that fight isn’t an isolated incident, it seems clear from how the scene is written that Molly and Sirius have argued about Dumbledore’s orders regarding Harry before.

Then she actively tries to prevent Sirius and Harry from speaking to each other - interrupting them in the tapestry scene, when Harry starts to ask Sirius if he'll be able to accompany him to the trial Molly doesn't even let Harry open his mouth before speaking over him, pushing Harry away when Sirius tries to give Harry a goodbye hug as a dog at King's Cross. Molly goes "who else has he got" to Harry’s actual godfather and then tries to further isolate Harry from the only family of his own he has left, at a time when he needs him the most. Harry makes it very clear during that argument 1. who he feels has authority over him and he chooses Sirius’s side there 2. that he wants information about the man literally trying to murder him and the war he’s at the center of. Molly ignores his wishes in order to adamantly try to control Harry’s free time and who he can interact with as he’s in his godfather’s house and access to important information that is his right. She also repeatedly throws Sirius dirty looks for no reason (one of which Harry describes as “Petunia-ish”), she gives Sirius a passive aggressive message to send to the trio for her about how she knows she doesn’t Technically have any authority over Harry and Hermione but that they should listen to her instead because she has their best interests at heart (a blatant reference to the earlier fight), and Sirius tells the kids to let Molly know because he thinks Molly doesn’t trust him to convey it, further indicating that she’s continuing to be hostile to him. She gets along with him for five seconds and then is back to complaining about him having “fits of the sullens” where everyone else can hear. And I think this absolutely comes from Molly being possessive and territorial over Harry and also disagreeing with Sirius’s parenting methods of, idk, respecting Harry’s autonomy and actually listening to him. I don’t think Molly respects Harry’s actual feelings or needs or autonomy at any point so her claiming that she’s “as good as” a mother to him or “has his best interests at heart” is.... untrue to say the least. And again, Harry has had people try to take away his autonomy all his life!

Molly’s continuous hostility towards Sirius and her interfering in his and Harry’s relationship gets to the point where Harry doesn't want to leave Sirius alone for Christmas but doesn’t feel comfortable bringing this up to Molly: “He wondered whether he could possibly persuade Mrs. Weasley  to invite his godfather for the festivities too, but apart from the fact that he doubted whether Dumbledore would permit Sirius to leave   Grimmauld Place, he could not help but feel that Mrs. Weasley might not want him." And while giving Harry the mirror, Sirius tells Harry not to open it there because Molly might disapprove, like, Sirius now feels like he’s not allowed to give a literal valuable communication device to his own godson in his own house?? 

(Sirius, of course, tries to stay calm and polite in their initial fight even while Molly throws low blows, and afterward only ever responds to  her behavior with mild annoyance and makes an effort to be courteous to her, even tries to comfort her about Percy in the Boggart scene, is extremely nice and welcomes her to stay for Christmas when Arthur is attacked)

Just like she tries to keep Harry and Sirius apart, she also spends the rest of the summer holiday in OOTP making her kids, Harry, and Hermione clean Grimmauld Place, doing this deliberately so she can keep a close watch on them and prevent them from talking to each other about the war. (She tells them they’re not allowed to talk after the first meeting, listens at their bedroom door to make certain they aren’t, interrupts them, hounds them and controls their movements around the house to make sure they’re not listening to Order members simply going in and out). This controlling behavior doesn’t protect them, it puts them in more danger, especially Harry, and it’s terrible enough with her own kids but she’s doing this with other people’s children she has no parental authority over. (Also, none of the adults in the Order want the kids to be a part of it, and they’re all following Dumbledore’s orders and keeping Harry in the dark about the prophecy at his expense; and yet none of them go as far as to pull the kind of shit Molly does)

She does the same thing in DH by forcing the trio help with the wedding by guilt tripping them, then when they sneak off to make plans, slams the door open with her “face contorted with rage” and scolds them for not helping when they “agreed” to and Hermione is literally terrified of her and runs out of the room?? (she’s also constantly slamming things around her kids when she’s angry) I... guess I’ll give her some credit to for questioning Dumbledore’s decision to let three kids go on an unspecified mission alone, while Remus and Arthur’s response is mostly to be like “k have fun” because Dumbledore Said So, but not allowing them to plan does NOT make them safe, Molly’s actions achieve nothing other than further endangering children who are already endangered and could’ve gotten them killed, and doing this by scaring and controlling and isolating them.

Other things: she forces Charlie to cut his hair at wandpoint, harasses Bill about his hair and tries to involve Harry in this and make him agree with her opinion which makes Harry uncomfortable, claims the twins aren’t really part of the family because they didn’t make Prefect, plays favorites with her children, treats Fleur like shit for a whole year and passive aggressively gives everyone but Fleur a Christmas sweater, pressures Remus about Tonks (regardless of opinions on the ship, it wasn’t Molly’s place to involve herself). We also further see the negative effect of her parenting on her children with the dynamics between the Weasley siblings. I do think there are some very stupid (and misogynistic and classist) criticisms of Molly in fandom, but there are plenty of real reasons to hate her, which I rarely see addressed -- Ron’s insecurities don’t come from Molly not giving him his favorite sandwich or the wrong color sweater, they come from witnessing how Molly treats the kids who don’t meet her approval and how that disapproval manifests.

Molly’s behavior is often dismissed as her being “a good mother with flaws” or just being “a little overbearing and overprotective” and it’s all acceptable because she “loves her children”, but there’s that and there’s uh, being abusive and massively crossing boundaries and being incapable of having an emotionally healthy relationship with any character, child or adult, that she interacts with and this harmful behavior being persistent across all seven books. People constantly have to navigate her temper and moods and walk on eggshells around her and escape her trying to control them. Some of this is due to her grief over her brothers, but Molly isn’t the only one who lost people in the war or is worried about her loved ones, and bad parents often use their love for their children as justifications for their behavior and it... isn’t. (Loving your children and doing good things for them at times and being a terrible / abusive parent also aren’t mutually exclusive categories)

It doesn’t help that JKR views her as an ideal example of motherhood, and on the rare occasion that her flaws are called out, they’re still not treated all that seriously. Obviously the way she’s written is a result of JKR’s misogyny and gender essentialism, and people should feel free to rewrite her, but in canon she is... pretty unquestionably awful.

Reggie black

Brotherly relationships be like. I miss you. I hate you. I can't stop loving you. When did you stop loving me?

Reckless, egged on by the warning glint in his brother’s eyes, Regulus continued. “You know, you talk a lot about how much you hate Mother, but you really are exactly like her.”

Sirius’s fist connected with his jaw faster than he could dodge, leaving him with a ringing in his ears and the taste of blood in his mouth.

Regulus ran a thumb over his lip as Sirius stood there, panting; it came away red. He smirked to hide the pain. “See? I say one thing you don’t like, and you go flying off the handle. Who do you think you learned that from? I can’t imagine it was Precious Prince Potter.” He felt like he was walking a tightrope, half an inch either way from plummeting, but he couldn’t stop. “You’re an asshole, you know that, Sirius? A proper asshole. Presumably so are your friends, since none of them have bothered to tell you. Actually - actually, I bet the only reason they keep you around is because you’re the one person shitty enough to make them feel good in comparison!”

Sirius's eyes were shining silver with tears, Regulus noticed with a jolt, but whether he’d even hurt his brother or just driven him into an impotent rage he couldn’t tell. He swallowed spit and blood, mouth suddenly dry. When had the room gotten so silent?

“Regulus, you should go,” Lily said, voice low. She was halfway out of her seat, one hand on James’s shoulder, but Regulus turned such a scornful gaze on her that she sat back down.

“I would love to leave, but if you haven’t noticed, I’m being kept prisoner,” he explained, enunciating each word as though educating a toddler. “Actually, wait - since you don’t have any legal grounds to keep me here, I’m not a prisoner - I’ve been kidnapped!”

“Regulus,” Sirius growled, “fuck off. Go to your room.”

Outnumbered. Regulus felt four glares boring into him, and offered Sirius a mocking smile. “Of course, Mother,” he said with a false curtsey, skipping backwards out of reach of Sirius’s next ferocious swipe. One last scathing look to the room at large, and he turned tail, making it three steps up the staircase before the tension in his chest snapped like a garrotte and he broke into a sprint. He slammed the door of ‘his’ room behind him, and threw himself onto the bed, half-wishing the frame would snap under the abuse. No such luck; it just took the hit, no complaints.

He could call Kreacher. He could summon Kreacher back here, Apparate away, tell the Dark Lord everything he’d learned during his imprisonment and damn the consequences. The more he thought about it, the better the idea seemed, and Regulus was on his feet and halfway to the wardrobe before he remembered that nothing in there belonged to him. The robes he’d arrived in were strewn across the bed, an extra blanket to stave off the winter chill; he screwed them into a ball and tucked it under his jumper. Lily’s jumper, but he wasn’t going to leave it and turn up at home half-naked. His wand was still unaccounted for; he’d have to get a new one as soon as possible.

“Krea-” he began, when he was interrupted by a soft knock at the door.

*at dinner with the malfoys*

snape, on the phone: where are you, regulus? this place is fancy and i don’t know which fork to kill myself with.

Alejandra Pizarnik, tr. by Yvette Siegert, “A Beggar Voice”, Extracting the Stone of Madness: Poems 1962 - 1972