Thank You To My Friend For Giving Me A Pig Rabbit !!! Its From You're Beautiful Korean Drama

Thank you to my friend for giving me a pig rabbit !!! It’s from You're Beautiful Korean drama 

Okay, so inevitably someone brings up the “Snape only wanted to save Lily!” argument when talking about Snape, so HERE WE GO.

“Everything—everything I heard!” said Snape. “That is why—it is for that reason—he thinks it means Lily Evans!” “The prophecy did not refer to a woman,” said Dumbledore. “It spoke of a boy born at the end of July—” “You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son, he is going to hunt her down—kill them all—”

This is an extraordinarily telling line. Snape’s focus here is Lily - the one he does care about, which is fine (more on that later) - but he also clearly hasn’t forgotten about James and Harry. He knows that Voldemort is going after the whole family and even while his focus is on Lily, he’s still including the entire family when he talks about Voldemort’s plot. That suggests that he at least is aware that they are in danger too - that he wants them to be out of danger too.

“If she means so much to you,” said Dumbledore, “surely Lord Voldemort will spare her? Could you not ask for mercy for the mother, in exchange for the son?” “I have—I have asked him—” “You disgust me,” said Dumbledore, and Harry had never heard so much contempt in his voice. Snape seemed to shrink a little, “You do not care, then, about the deaths of her husband and child? They can die, as long as you have what you want?” Snape said nothing, but merely looked up at Dumbledore. “Hide them all, then,” he croaked. “Keep her—them—safe. Please.”

Snape never confirms that he asked for “mercy for the mother, in exchange for the son.” He’s not allowed to finish talking. Dumbledore makes a huge assumption here - one predicated on Snape’s house, his past, and his current association with the DE - and even though Dumbledore isn’t entirely wrong to make this assumption on his current evidence that doesn’t mean his assumption is the truth. This entire argument hinges on Dumbledore’s interpretation of Snape’s motives. 

Dumbledore is the one to accuse Snape of saving Lily at the expense of her son and husband. Dumbledore is the one to accuse Snape of saving Lily so he can “have” her for himself. And while Dumbledore may have valid reasons for assuming these things (Snape’s a DE! Snape has a bad past!) that doesn’t mean that his interpretation of events are right or true. Snape isn’t allowed to speak for himself about the situation! 

We know that Snape has asked Voldemort for Lily’s life because a) Snape says that he’s asked Voldemort for… something (and connecting it to Dumbledore’s comment, we can ASSUME that it has to do with sparing Lily) and b) because Voldemort says she can step aside. Nowhere do Snape and Voldemort - the only two characters who can confirm the truth of the situation - say anything about exchanging Lily’s life for Harry or James’. That’s Dumbledore’s assumption and it can’t be taken as truth.

What do we get? Snape telling Dumbledore to hide them all. Not just Lily - them. Even before Dumbledore nudges him into it, Snape is concerned with the fate of the entire family.

And now onto my final point…. Snape’s feelings about Harry are ambiguous at best, and I’ll leave them where they are. But does it matter if Snape doesn’t care about James’ fate? If we take away the textual evidence that suggests that he does - the fact that Snape goes to Dumbledore at all, asking for the entire family to be kept safe, and so on - and we assume that Snape doesn’t give a fuck about James… 

James fucked up Snape’s life. I’ve said this many times and in other posts, so I won’t go into it here, but Snape has every reason to despise James. I don’t think that means Snape wants him dead - but I find it strange that people insist that Snape has to care about James in order to prove himself as a “good” character when James is one of the people who fucked Snape over again and again… and, as far as we know, never really stopped doing it. What’s more amazing to me is that Snape shows any concern for James’ welfare at all, considering their history. 

So why do people point out Snape’s concern for Lily’s welfare as if that somehow condemns him? Lily is the person he cares about because Lily is literally the only person in his life who ever gave a damn about him - of course he’s going to be more concerned about her welfare, think about her first, try to save her first? Of course she’s the one he’s going to care about the most? She’s his best friend, the person he loves, she’s the one person who ever showed him simple kindness… of course he’s going to want to keep her safe above everyone else, especially if “everyone else” includes the dude who tormented him for seven years. 

I don’t know. People always point to Snape’s concern for Lily over James as something damningly Evil, but I think it’s just common sense. Not everyone is as Heroic™ as Harry James Potter - most people care more about their friends than their enemies and that’s a simple fact. Most people will want to save the people they love first, and everyone else later. I don’t think that makes Snape evil; I think it makes him complex and human. 

“Where the heart is really attached, I know very well how little one can be pleased with the attention of any body else.” ― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

FTISLAND - You Don’t Know Who I Am

Magic in North America, pt.1

Fourteenth Century - Seventeeth Century by JK Rowling

Though European explorers called it ‘the New World’ when they first reached the continent, wizards had known about America long before Muggles (Note: while every nationality has its own term for ‘Muggle,’ the American community uses the slang term No-Maj, short for ‘No Magic’). Various modes of magical travel – brooms and Apparition among them – not to mention visions and premonitions, meant that even far-flung wizarding communities were in contact with each other from the Middle Ages onwards.

The Native American magical community and those of Europe and Africa had known about each other long before the immigration of European No-Majs in the seventeenth century. They were already aware of the many similarities between their communities. Certain families were clearly ‘magical’, and magic also appeared unexpectedly in families where hitherto there had been no known witch or wizard. The overall ratio of wizards to non-wizards seemed consistent across populations, as did the attitudes of No-Majs, wherever they were born. In the Native American community, some witches and wizards were accepted and even lauded within their tribes, gaining reputations for healing as medicine men, or outstanding hunters. However, others were stigmatised for their beliefs, often on the basis that they were possessed by malevolent spirits.

The legend of the Native American ‘skin walker’ – an evil witch or wizard that can transform into an animal at will – has its basis in fact. A legend grew up around the Native American Animagi, that they had sacrificed close family members to gain their powers of transformation. In fact, the majority of Animagi assumed animal forms to escape persecution or to hunt for the tribe. Such derogatory rumours often originated with No-Maj medicine men, who were sometimes faking magical powers themselves, and fearful of exposure.

The Native American wizarding community was particularly gifted in animal and plant magic, its potions in particular being of a sophistication beyond much that was known in Europe. The most glaring difference between magic practised by Native Americans and the wizards of Europe was the absence of a wand.

The magic wand originated in Europe. Wands channel magic so as to make its effects both more precise and more powerful, although it is generally held to be a mark of the very greatest witches and wizards that they have also been able to produce wandless magic of a very high quality. As the Native American Animagi and potion-makers demonstrated, wandless magic can attain great complexity, but Charms and Transfiguration are very difficult without one. (x)