narcissa malfoy was probably the most powerful occlumens in hogwarts history and nobody knew
she literally stood up to lord voldemort and lied that harry potter was dead and i don’t know about you but if i were an evil ruler i would probably want to triple-check that my nemesis was, you know, actually deceased
voldemort had actual doubts about snape
narcissa swans on by without a whisper, without a second glance
narcissa malfoy understood from a young age that she was meant to do only a few things: look pretty, say nothing, and marry well.
narcissa malfoy understood those rules, and she layered her mind with them.
look pretty. wear the most expensive robes. grandmother’s pearls. curl your hair every night. think only of clothes and dimples and the way your hair falls when you flutters you eyelashes at a boy.
say nothing. don’t speak when mother and father are screaming at each other. demurely look down as another boy asks you to dance. retreat into the reading room when your family friends, known death eaters and criminals, pay your parents a visit and speak in hushed voices over tea. think of pretty things.
marry well. marry into a family of your parents’ friends. bear children. wear pearls and look demure and think of nothing but pretty, pretty things, like the way your husband’s hair gleams in candlelight.
masters must learn the rules before they can break them. narcissa learned the rules so well that they wrapped around her; sank into her skin and her mind. they protect her from enemies. they conceal the quick, strategic plots ticking her brain into gear every moment of every day. they hide the calculation of each smile, each movement.
narcissa is so good, so perfect, that no one will ever know.
# I actually have lots of thoughts about this # I think she got away with lying so easily because Voldemort would never have expected her to # I don’t think she even needed to use occlumency # because why would /some silly women/ # /Lucius’ wife/ # ever lie to /The Dark Lord/? # she wouldn’t be smart enough # she wouldn’t be brave enough # she wouldn’t be selfless enough # Voldemort is an absolute idiot when it comes to the things that really matter # ‘Houselves children’s tales love loyalty innocence’
#voldy was shocked when he found out his mom was the witch #he assumed his father would be magical
and there you have it.
still, loving the deadly skilled occlumes idea.
Tag: hp
jk rowling: It was never mentioned but Snape always had a pet horse that followed him around everywhere .It was not written because he just never mentioned it ,but the horse was definitely there
It just occurred to me, as I’m going through the Harry Potter books again, that whenever Harry has visions through Voldemorts eyes that he always, every single time, distinguishes between himself and Voldemort with the mention of “a white hand held a wand which was not his own”, or something to the effect of describing Voldemorts whiteness. While I’ve always taken this as a comment on how Voldemort is inhumanly, disgustingly pale, It occurred to me that a dark-skinned Harry Potter WOULD notice the stark, shocking difference in hands every single time without fail.
the weasleys. look at these battle-hardened children of war, with scars far older than their skin; their bloodied knuckles and bruised lips, trying to learn how to live again. (words.)
headcanon that since the slytherin common room is under the lake there’s a room where the walls and ceiling are glass and you can just see into the lake like an aquarium
headcanon that when this was first done the mermaids got really aggressive and hateful about it and started ramming the glass but since it was magic this just caused them injuries
until a deaf/hoh slytherin started to teach them sign language and it took a long time bit by the time they left hogwarts they and the rest of the house were communicating with the mermaids and on good terms
eventually it becomes a part of slytherin house culture you’re a slytherin you know sign language because if you don’t chat with the mermaids they get grumpy
this helps a lot of deaf/hoh students
this also gives slytherin the best grades of any house on all aquatic magical studies
the mermaids give terrible dating advice do not trust them
The most common mermaid dating advice, of course, being “Drown him”
fred and george somehow enchanting the hogwarts stairs so that every time someone slipped, ‘mmm watcha say’ could be heard echoing through the halls
theory: you have to be able to play seeker in Quidditch for Harry to fancy you
see examples; Cedric Diggory, Cho Chang, (Viktor Krum???), Draco Malfoy, (Charlie Weasley????), and Ginny Weasley
HARRY IS SUCH A LOWKEY AND CASUAL JOCK I NEVER REALIZED.
the moon is beautiful 