Anonymous said: What do you think about Ron being a prefect because that always pissed me off in my opinion he absolutely did not deserve it
By the time he was 15 Ron Weasley had faced down more genuinely terrifying obstacles than most adults. He had demonstrated that his loyalty would prevail even when he was scared or jealous. He had shown that he had valuable skills and knew his limits, and that he was willing to step aside and take one for the team. Why wouldn’t he deserve to be a prefect?
Even if you’re not a Ron fan, though, consider the context. In appointing prefects Dumbledore would have had several goals in mind:
- Keeping a handle on Harry - no one was going to do that better than Ron, including Hermione, who both Ron and Harry sometimes disregard because she can be so by-the-book.
- Making sure that Harry had the latitude to do what he needed to do - Ron was going to be understanding of that in a way no one else would have been.
- Making sure that the Death Eaters didn’t get a foothold in Gryffindor - Ron would never have let that happen.
- Developing the Order’s bench - Ron’s whole family was in the Order, developing his leadership skills and confidence was the safest bet going.
- Creating balance in the house - Hermione might be a stickler for rules, but Ron would be a moderating influence.
- Appointing prefects who could lighten adults’ loads as they focused on the war - Ron would have had important perspective on what really needed adult intervention and what students could be encouraged to work out on their own.
- Appointing prefects who would stand up to each other and make sure no one abused their power - Ron definitely wouldn’t have had a problem stepping in if anyone else, especially Pansy and Draco, had tried pulling rank on younger kids, and the Slytherins would’ve realized that Ron wouldn’t have been above retaliating if they’d been tempted.
- Making Ron a prefect also would’ve helped him come into his own among his siblings, given him a better understanding of power and authority (and helped reveal any lurking character issues that power might have brought out - remember how Percy changed when he became a prefect?)
- And tbh, if Dumbledore saw what was coming he may have understood the virtue in giving Ron some privileges and creature comforts (for his sake and for Harry’s).
Consider the choices, too. There are only five possible Gryffindor boys prefects.
- Harry was way too preoccupied and wouldn’t have benefited from additional responsibility, nor was it the best use of his energy.
- Seamus had doubts about whether Voldemort’s return was real and had contributed to people second-guessing Harry, and it would’ve been risky to give him authority if that’s how he might have used it.
- Neville still had his old wand and his magical strength wasn’t great yet, and he also may not have had the social authority to enforce rules, plus he had shown that he was willing to stand up to the trio and stop them from doing what they needed to do which, while brave and well-intentioned, had the potential to really get in the way of important stuff.
- Dean was great and probably would’ve been a perfectly fine prefect but didn’t come with the same tactical advantages.
Any way you look at it, it’s gotta be Ron. He was the best choice going in any number of ways. Including because he had shown that he deserved it.
listen if i was harry james potter i would have literally had my “”“"emo episode”“”“ in the first fucking book after being forced to live in an abusive home for ten years because the most powerful wizard of all time killed my parents and was out to kill me specifically but instead my teenaged son, harry james, goes through FIVE YEARS of traumatizing experiences and suffers people discrediting and silencing him at every turn before justifiably reaching his breaking point after watching his father figure die and you all have the nerve to call him “whiny”
-prioritized her education over her life
-instantly became ride or die with harry after the troll incedent
-set snape on fire
-brewed an illegal potion for two months in the girls’ bathroom
-turned into a furry
-immediate thought upon encountering a giant murdersnake was ‘better make sure the others find this page on my helpless petrified body bc god knows they won’t figure it out themselves’
-wanted to take finals after like a month in a magical coma
-traveled through time to get even more homework
-figured out lupin was a werewolf and didn’t tell anyone because he was a relatively competent teacher compared to magic ryan seacrest and literal voldemort
-essentially snatched trelawney’s weave gotdamn
-slugged draco malfoy, terrified him and his hulking buddies into running, went back in time to watch it again
-confronted a werewolf and his alleged mass murderer friend because, again, ride or die
-broke time travel laws in order to jailbreak azkaban escapee and his pet hippogriff
-dated an international sports star
-put up with all the vile shit rita skeeter wrote about her
-joined secret order dedicated to fighting voldemort
-put up with harry’s shit
-imprisoned a woman in a jar for months, blackmailed her into doing what she wanted
-formed and organized secret defense class, peer pressured harry into leading it
-permanently disfigured the girl who ratted them out. snitches get stitches.
-manipulated the shit out of umbridge
-basically left her to rot in the forbidden forest
-went to fight death eaters with like six of her mates despite her misgivings (RIDE. OR. DIE.)
-immediately agreed to destroy the dark lord’s soul with her buddies despite not having any idea how (RIDE! OR! DIE!)
-mind wiped her parents and made them go to australia to keep them safe
-essentially singlehandedly kept harry and ron alive and functional for the majority of the deathly hallows
-wore the locket while still managing not to be a shithead
-got the shit tortured out of her by bellatrix lestrange. didn’t go insane.
-fought in the battle of hogwarts. didn’t die.
-was unfailingly loyal and did everything she could to keep harry safe for seven years, even when he was quite frankly being a jackass
MAGICAL RYAN SEACREST IM
snapchat, insta, and quidditch=games that gryffindor just can’t lose.
amazing illos & hilarz captions created exclusively for SparkNotes by the awesome @sasmilledge
HP FEMSLASH SECRET SANTA: linny for @newtscamamder
“ginny’s been nice, though. she stopped two boys in our transfiguration class calling me ‘loony’ the other day.”
how did jk manage to write ootp and not come to the conclusion that the only career w any true meaning for harry james potter was as a goddamn professor at hogwarts like how do u write the da scenes and say “nah he’d want to be a wizard cop”
#just let him dress in warm sweaters and have tea with neville in the staff room and help first years #harry james potter as hogwarts longest serving defense against the dark arts teacher fucking fight me (@batcii)
#but it would be so perfect??? #bc it would help normalize his life so much #like there would just be this generation of kids who are like #‘ugh who cares that he killed the dark lord he gAVE US HOMEWORK OVER BREAK’ #like the beginning of every year there would be the new first years who would freak out a little #but then it would calm down #and most of the students would literally forget #until like clockwork the fifth years would have their history of magic class on the second war #and they’d all show up to DADA looking a little awestruck and everyone would be extra quiet #and harry would give this kind of annoyed sigh—except it’s fake bc he TOTALLY knew this was coming #bc binns is a bro and he totally gives him a heads up every year #and harry wouldn’t have any lesson plans for the day and instead he would just sit at the front of the room and answer everyone’s questions #but otherwise everyone would just be like ‘professor potter!! i can’t get my patronus to work! help me!’ #and like they’d go home at the end of the year or for break and their parents—who ARE still starstruck by harry james potter #would pester their kids with questions#and the kids would just be like ‘merlin i don’t know?? potter’s such a huge dork you should hear him talk about proper wand movements’ #but they would all love him #and he would feel safe and normal and utterly accepted #AND I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE (via @cinematicnomad)
Not to mention it would be an ultimate Fuck You to Voldemort, who put a curse on the teaching position in the first place.
Like, Jo, I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but COME ON
I already queued this but also, you do this, but still have Ginny become a famous Quidditch player. Imagine the first time Harry gets called “Ginny’s husband” before “the boy who lived” or “the chosen one.” Imagine how fucking pleased he’d be.
Imagine the first time a student comes up to him looking starry-eyed and Harry’s thinking “Oh no” because he doesn’t want to talk about Voldemort or the war but instead this little eleven year old is like “ARE YOU REALLY MARRIED TO WEASLEY FROM THE HOLLYHEAD HARPIES???!?? WHAT’S SHE LIKE?” and he’s like “oh thank god” because he could talk about Ginny all day.
Yes. Good.
he goes to events and the Harpies PR people keep giving him name tags that say “Harry Weasley” and at first it’s a running gag but then its just a thing
honestly, why does jkr think harry “ptsd” potter is gonna immediately settle down in to a long term relationship with someone he’s known since he was 12 and it’s all going to work out perfectly fine and he’s not going to be restless and unhappy and irritable which are all traits we have seen of him. let ginny realize she’s into luna lovegood and let harry have several years of living in a cottage in the woods away from everything so he can find peace again and then let harry become, ding ding ding, a professor at hogwarts because he’s better at teaching than anything else and him wanting to be an auror at fifteen is like wanting to be a firefighter as a kid
shoutout to george, fred, and especially ron weasley for realizing that harry was stuck in abusive and unhealthy household and, in spite of the massive trouble they knew they could get in, taking immediate steps to personally see him removed from that environment, something no adult in harry’s life did.
I present you: professor Potter, Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and Head of Gryffindor House. And Teddy Lupin, his godson and the sassiest Hufflepuff
When Ron, frustrated with studying for NEWTs and with Hermione’s anxious sixth-year nagging, explains to her what reading is like for him, Hermione’s breath catches. “Ron, you’re dyslexic,” she says, softly, and instantly regrets every snide comment she’s ever made towards his study habits.
Soon, by asking around, Hermione amasses a list of spells for Ron to try - some stilling the page, some changing the font of books for easy reading, some going after Ron’s temporal lobe directly.
These help, a little, but not as much as knowing there’s a word for why reading is so hard for him. That it’s normal, that he’s not stupid, and that Hermione suddenly helps instead of criticizes, looks for solutions rather than complains, praises instead of gloats.
!!! Oh
#listen tho what if #muggles are terrible about disabilities#but wizards are even worse#they don’t even have the terminology that muggles do#it’s all ‘kinda loony’ or “just dim’ or (most often) ‘not a talented witch/wizard’#and ofc ~everyone knows~ that all illnesses can be cured with magic#(except for some magical illnesses that can’t be cured at all)#but as ron talks more with hermione and other muggleborns#and researches the spells hermione gets him#and realizes that most of the spell creators probably also had dyslexia but had no word for it#he realizes that what ‘everyone knows’ isn’t true at all#after abt a year of this he talks to mcgonagall abt changing his career goals#goes into healing with a concentration on research#and a secret concentration on finding out what muggles know and bringing it into the wizarding world#(his dad is so proud of him and prolly helps out a lot too)
!!!!!!!
it’s 2017 and there are still people who get upset when harry potter characters are suggested to be poc
like i’m sorry to break it to you pal but england is quite a multiracial country and there are very few characters that are explicitly said or implied to be white. i mean yes, it’s probably safe to assume that the weasleys and lily are white, because of the red hair-thing (tho they could be from the middle east as well), and the malfoys, because of the white blonde-thing, and, given that they all have the same mother and father, the black sisters, because of narcissa’s blonde hair and fair skin
but tbh there are no (or few) actual indicators that characters like harry, hermione, james, sirius, neville, pansy, snape, sprout and so many others are white, so maybe just stop crying because the big bad fandom shattered your thoughts on what must surely have been an incredibly crucial aspect of your life, yes?
reblog this if you think harry james potter is literally anything other than a straight white man
I always liked to think that wizard fashion was sort of stuck in a weird mix of times. So here’s some magical girlfriends in robes.
what if one year when she’s really young lily goes back to cokeworth for the summer and some of the neighbourhood kids take a special interest in her bc where has she been going to for most of the year anyway?? so she’s out riding her bike by herself (petunia didn’t want to come) and these kids just come out of nowhere, circling her like a pack of wolves, noticing weird things about her, like how her hand keeps drifting to her left pocket and how she’s always muttering things under her breath. and they start teasing her and calling her names until one of them’s like ‘what are you, a witch?’ and she’s just like ‘yep’ and fucking decks them
