Blog of the Perilous Raven

Firstly, the author has stated in various times that the mixing of magical blood with muggles does not produce a higher incidence of squibs, and that squibs are accidental, with some of these statements being ’in universe’, so to speak, as if from history books. We see evidence otherwise, including the story of the wizard Thaddeus Thurkell who had seven sons who were all squibs.

(More recently we also see the Page family who were a muggle and a witch couple whose three children only have one magical child among them, as well as the Merriweather family who had one squib child and another magical one, and the magical child went on to have a squib child too. But those one could potentially argue away since they’re not created by the original author in the series, as some do)

We also have the author stating that muggleborns are the result of magical ancestry through squibs, even though it hasn’t been proven in-universe. Unlike the previous statement and in line with the incidence of squibs in single families, this indicates that magic is a hereditary trait although can go dormant for generations until just the right match happens.

Additionally, we also have the author stating that Vernon Dursley is so strongly muggle that even his son still wouldn’t be able to have magical children. This goes against the first statement above, and very directly. If a person can be so strongly anti-magical, then it follows that magical folk who try to have children with this sort of muggles would always have squib children. Therefore, it is simply false that marrying muggles does not affect getting squib children.

The evidence is clear, it all points to magic being a hereditary trait (with some accidents of birth possible in fully magical families), and there are also genes that are so strongly anti-magical that they overcome any magic given by the other parent. Once again I come to the conclusion that blood purists have the facts more fully down than Dumbledore, disregarding any extremist propaganda during the Second Wizarding War, even if their emotional reactions to it put off some other people.

I think it makes sense that muggle genes are stronger than magical genes, since there are way more muggles in text than magical people, but I'm also curious how this affects creature heritage. If for example, Apolline Delacour had a child with Vernon Dursley, what would that child be (jusing these two characters because Vernon is the only muggle stated to be incapable of having children and Apolline is the only age appropriate halfbreed)? Because Vernon is apparently incapable of having magical children, but Apolline is not entirely human. Would they simply be incompatible? Would every child result in miscarriage?

It feels like there's a massive hole in the worldbuilding of this series when it comes to how magical lineage actually works, especially with halfbreeds. Like, when would a persons muggle heritage become null and void? When does creature heritage stop playing a role in magical ability? Does it never stop? Is that why certain families have specific powers, because somewhere in their ancestry there's a specific creature? Are halfbreeds capable of having squib descendants? If muggle genes are stronger, is that why wizards are scared of mixed marriages? Because they don't want to be bred out of existence?

I've always understood that the blood purity thing was probably meant to be comparable to racism or xenophobia, admittedly a bad comparison, but a comparison nonetheless, and honestly the choice to depict muggles as a minority compared to wizards was always weird, but it's especially weird if you add racial coding to it. Because, as an Australian, I look at Aboriginal Australian's and think that honestly, I'm not surprised some of them are scared of marrying people from outside that community. They take up 1% of the Australian population, and historically, White colonisers did try to breed the Black out of them. So, as much as the muggle-borns are definitely the characters who are coded the most to be Black, Brown and/or Asian, wizarding society as a whole being scared of being wiped out be the larger populous they need to hide from definitely complicates things.

I'd almost want to compare it to what happened with Israel, where Jewish people were prosecuted in the Holocaust and thus felt that forming their own community in their homeland was the only place they'd be safe, and turned Zionist Judiasm into a borderline cult, using propaganda to say that Zion was the only safe place for them and letting anyone else in would be dangerous, therefore genocide is the only way to defend themselves. It's definitely not on purpose, and I highly doubt JKTERF wanted readers to view the Death-Eater's as victims turned predators, especially since she's retconned them and said they're now a metaphor for LGBTQ+ activism (I could go on about what this means for the story) and she's even a Holocaust denier now, but it is the only real world example I can currently think to compare them to that most people would recognise.

The Death-Eaters are not victims, nor are they good people in universe, but the way the worldbuilding is done and the things they believe in do set you up to think about that kind of thing. It's even worse when you consider how many of them are raised since birth to believe Voldemort's dogma and how many of the Death-Eaters with actual characterisation were children when they joined what is essentially a domestic terrorist group with fascist beliefs that borders on a cult.

However. I wouldn’t consider her later statements about real world comparisons as saying a single thing about the books, rather they’re about herself and herself only. Before any LGBTQ+ rights comparisons, before any nazi/WW2 comparisons, there are the books themselves and the books are written with extremely crystal clear direct comparisons to IRA - their mission, their operations, even their masks of choice (the white masquerade masks ’Death Eaters’ wear are a movie invention just as much as wizards in muggle clothing are, in the books the Death Eaters are characterized by black ski masks basically, supplemented with deep, black hoods). She can claim something else until she’s blue in the face, but what’s written in the books is in the books.

The above is also why I skip basically any and all complaints about supposed themes and real world comparison attempts that I see. I don’t mean this to be offensive in any way to anyone, but if you can’t read the books for what is there and familiarize yourself enough with British history to see a goose for a goose, well. Nobody like that is very qualified to comment on the themes and messages the books might or might not have. That is just trying to impose outside perspectives and foreign political issues onto very British history and culture, of course it’s not going to fit. It’s no wonder they think those supposed messages and themes are nowhere to be found. You’re looking for someone else’s preconceived notions and someone else’s history. Not what’s actually there.

It’s nice to relate to other cultures and other times through finding familiar threads to compare to your own culture and times. But you should never make that a cornerstone of your understanding of a text. If the text wasn’t written for issues you’re familiar with then it simply wasn’t written for that. It does not make the text faulty, it means you don’t have the necessary framework to understand it.

I find this the most major issue in HP analysis actually, how people keep deciding beforehands what should be there and then raging when what they find doesn’t match. That’s not how analysis works. Harry Potter is deeply, deeply British series, it was not written (planned?) with international audiences in mind.

So. To continue on the blood purity issue since that’s what I started with, it’s all about the question of just how much a dominant culture can integrate into an oppressed minority, even if they’re born such that they might otherwise be considered part of the minority. In this case, the closest comparison is English people moving to Ireland - are their kids Irish? Really and truly? Despite the centuries of violent oppression? Despite doing nothing to adopt Irish customs and language? Despite them simply having an accident of birth and taking the title for themselves? The citizen/member of a culture issue muddled this too, since Irish and Irish are not necessarily the same thing. People in majority countries might be accustomed to thinking immigrants are always entitled to be thought of as citizens no matter which culture they follow (unless they’re fascists of course), but what happens when the immigration is actually incomplete integration into (obliteration of) a culture that is a historically oppressed minority? What protective measures go too far? What can be permitted to preserve a whole way of life? And what happens if we fail to do anything about the hordes of majority oppressors at the borders? There will always be people who like their own culture and would prefer to pass it on, so what happens when that is threatened? It’s not a viewpoint often brought up in western mainstream media, for understandable reasons being that the majority voices are just that. Majority. Not the minorities trying to survive. Those are big questions for a middle class British white woman to put into family-friendly literature. She falls far short, and she identifies as too much UK and not enough Ireland which comes through loud and clear (and even among Irish IRA never had universal support). To be fair though, even if she did want to genuinely explore these questions (and we don’t know if she did or not), she would have been hampered by the intended audience and resulting editorial oversight especially. Can’t have the bad guys having real points in this genre! But bad person must have always been thoroughly rotten, and all that, so there is zero discussion of what might have been if this theme was explored better, even in the rare instances people don’t get overtaken by their inherent US centrism and think the DEs are nazi equivalents.

I’ve seen a lot of thoughtful depictions of these questions in fic, but not so much meta. It’s too much of a hot button issue - to be fair, it is also why I personally don’t generally participate in the ’themes’ and other shit discussions. There are too many people committed to taking fictional world issues too personally and become incapable of seeing anything but the real world hot button issues relevant to their own lives. Not to mention the inability to acknowledge even bad people can create beauty, as mentioned above. Whenever I look into the ’the writing is bad’ argument for example, I never find anything particularly substantial. It always seems to boil down to ’bad person must have bad writing’ - in some cases ’popular book must have bad writing’ but that was an argument more commonly used 10+ years ago rather than the present day.

(Do not be surprised if I simply fail to answer should you choose to respond to any of the above, this account is a fandom getaway not my politics sideblog and I’ve elaborated about as much as I care to. Feel free to add your thoughts though!)

Half-breeds! Yes, it’s a thoroughly fascinating question about how it affects things. There is no evidence of course, but to me it seems logical that at least the most magical species can’t interbreed with muggles who have anti-magic genes such as Vernon Dursley. Like veela - there is no way they could exist without magic since they transform, throw fireballs, and have a supernatural allure that pulls in certain others based on attraction. So I personally think any such attempt would either result in a spontaneous miscarriage early on or the egg wouldn’t be fertilized in the first place. It’s harder to say with other species such as giants - they don’t seem particularly magical, but if such was the case then why are they hidden from the muggles alongside everything that is actually magical? Just based on that, I lean towards their size and strength being magical byproducts so they wouldn’t work with anti-magic genes either.

As for the question of when one stops having muggle genes…it depends on the specifics of how exactly the magical genes work. It would be nice to have some confirmation, but at least the way I understand the issue there is no separate ’muggle’ species, just humans with varying levels of magic-focused genes. Having all the basic magic-giving genes result in magical folk. Certain mixtures result in folk that are not inherently magical but can have magical children if their partner has a compatible mixture of such genes. And there are certain genes, most likely dominant ones based on Vernon’s description, that prevent any activation of magical genes if they’re present at all. (So yes, if enough of such muggles are born they will eventually wipe out magic in humans unless safeguards are taken against that eventuality) Give these genes the right activation conditions and you end up with the mix of magical and non-magical folk within single families that we see in the series.

You all know by now that I’m working on the database project. The thing is, I’m at a point when I’m dabbling at adding CC detail in, and this has presented certain difficulties. I initially thought I could just go through the published script and then add flavor details and modified lines from later productions when relevant.

Needless to say, I did not take into account just how many times that thing has been on stage in various corners of the world. I don’t actually want to spend that much time watching bootlegs in the hopes that something different happens?! I do have one variation to watch (don’t ask me which, I didn’t take note of it back when it first occurred to me I was missing a fair bit with just the published script, and considering where I live actually going to see it would have meant crossing quite a few country lines even if I agreed to monetarily support it) but that’s about my limit for blindly searching out differences.

And this random but not random scene of hatred:

Also the shade thrown at Ron lol

Which is great because they don't fool with the lines but add to things.

Somewhat tangentially, part of why I think CC was received in certain circles as badly as it has been is the lack of details a book reader (someone accustomed to reading books instead of scripts) will experience when there’s no context to the lines. Half the story is gone right then and there. I don’t think most people are accustomed to reading scripts like that, no matter what school might or might not have encouraged in their time.

Anyway. Small thing maybe, but could you give detail on the timing of that Delphi contemptuous look? Like what lines it takes place during/between. I could just throw it in there at a guesswork timing after she’s captured, but it’s better to be precise if possible, and the version I watched didn’t have that particular tidbit.

What do you think?

I mean, I fall on the Manipulative Dumbledore side of the house, so, I feel like my opinion’s easily extrapolated from that.

That said, I don’t think Dumbledore thinks of himself solely as a chess master. He acknowledges he does this, yes, but he does so for what he believes are moral purposes and for the greater good of society. If you were to ask Dumbledore, he probably would say that he has a deep, personal, connection to Harry Potter and sees him as a grandson, doesn’t stop him from grooming him for suicide. He’d say that he was very fond of the Potters, was very close with them, even though their recruitment into the Order at such a young age was... not exactly kosher.

Which makes this question complicated.

Dumbledore very much uses Snape as a pawn, just as he does everyone else in his life. The difference is that Snape is a witting pawn, he gets to see the man behind the curtain more often than not. Snape to me is a bit like Dumbledore’s Dirty Harry, because he’s int he know and competent, he gets to perform the unsavory tasks that must be done.

Dumbledore also uses the life debt Snape never should have owed James Potter against him as well as his guilt and grief over Lily. He places him in a poisition that Snape actively doesn’t like and, well, pretty much condemns him to death when he has Snape kill him in Draco’s stead. Either the Order or Voldemort himself were going to kill Snape one of those days, and eventually Voldemort did.

However, I think if you asked Dumbledore, he would say that Severus is a close confidante and a friend found in surprising places. I imagine he views Snape as a complicated man, one who made poor choices fueled by rage in his youth, and now is walking the rocky path to redemption with Dumbledore’s help. Yes, Snape has to do all the awful jobs, but somebody has to do it and Dumbledore knows Snape won’t buckle under the pressure.

I doubt Dumbledore would claim he’s Snape’s found family, he might see himself as a kind of father figure for Snape but more in the sense that he’s a male, older, authority figure Snape can turn to for guidance. I think he’d be more likely to label them as friends.

Yes, Albus pretends nonchalance, but that is also another punishment tool for Snape who Albus knows desperately craves approval and affection. Here is the thing: Dumbledore is an emotionally intelligent person and hence he must be able to truly see Snape's suffering- afterall Dumbledore had gone through very similar circumstances himself. But instead of trying to forge a connection through their shared experiences, Albus chooses to remain emotionally aloof from Snape. That is what is needed for the war. Albus and Severus do not deserve/cannot afford nice things like healing and emotional intimacy if the war needs to be won.

There is a twisted sense of possessiveness in there too: I am living out this self-imposed punishment of austerity, guilt and isolation and so will you for the rest of your life/ I get to decide your moral framework and how "good" you are allowed to become/ This is our deal: I give you scraps of half-truths and you do everything I say without question. I will not give any genuine affection because this is our punishment and this is what we deserve.

SHE IS THE ONE WHO LEAD HIM ON!! She makes him feel bad because she wants to be with him and he's denying her! He told her they couldn't be together, that he doesn't want to be accused of leading her on, and she ACCEPTED that break up but then she goes and tries to shag him anyway?? Without even asking??

Hello consent? Are you in THAT room?

As a reader, my main reaction to Draco as Harry’s supposed peer rival is frustration. The dynamic doesn’t really work for me because the contest is never fair. Draco is so thoroughly outmatched, in so many directions at once, that Harry has effectively beaten him across the board before the 'bullying' even has room to breathe.

Whatever prestige Draco tries to claim through the Malfoy name simply can’t compete with Harry’s standing in the wizarding world. From the very first book, it’s obvious that Malfoy influence doesn’t rival the automatic goodwill, protection, and indulgence Harry receives just for existing. Draco expects his status to earn him special treatment like an exemption from the rule banning first-years from owning broomsticks and it doesn’t. Harry, meanwhile, not only gets the rule bent, he has a broom bought for him outright. And even the idea that Harry might be disadvantaged by poverty collapses almost immediately, he isn’t a poor orphan at all, but an extremely wealthy one.

Institutionally, the gap only widens. At Hogwarts, Harry gains Dumbledore as a mentor, with McGonagall and Hagrid repeatedly stepping in to guide and protect him. Draco gets…Snape. And Snape, despite his favouritism, spends a remarkable amount of time ensuring Harry’s safety.

The Malfoy fortune doesn’t close the distance either. Harry consistently comes out ahead in the escalating broom rivalry, and even when Draco briefly has the superior broom in CoS, he still loses. All of Draco’s years of Quidditch practice amount to very little; Harry openly admits Draco is skilled, but Harry is simply better. Natural talent wins.

Nor does Malfoy influence actually pay off in the long run. Lucius manages to remove Dumbledore from power temporarily, but ends up expelled from the Board of Governors himself. The greatest victory Draco ever achieves through that influence is Buckbeak’s sentence. He can’t get rid of Hagrid, not even by exposing him as a half-giant. All he manages is targeting one of Hagrid’s animals—and even then, Buckbeak ultimately escapes.

If we assume the Malfoys are politically cunning, that could have benefited Draco. But it also requires assuming Draco never follows his father’s advice. He’s told to conceal his hatred of Harry and immediately announces it to the entire school. He’s advised to keep a low profile during the basilisk attacks and instead loudly gloats, making himself look suspicious. It’s hard to imagine Lucius being pleased with Draco’s refusal to show public support for Harry at the end of GoF, or worse, his mocking of Cedric Diggory’s death on the train.

Being sorted into Slytherin implies a degree of cunning, but Draco rarely demonstrates it. His midnight duel scheme in the first book is clever enough; everything after that is a steady decline. His attempts to get Harry in trouble consistently fail. When he spies on the Trio, he’s caught. When he tries to turn public opinion against Harry, it never sticks. The Dementor disguise plan is especially ridiculous, how anyone thought that wouldn’t end in punishment and lost House points is beyond me. Even when Draco is technically right, as in PoA when Harry is in Hogsmeade without permission, reporting him gains Draco nothing because Lupin intervenes.

The only times Draco manages even minor success against Harry are when an experienced adult is backing him. In Book Four, Rita Skeeter does the heavy lifting. In Book Two, he gains the upper hand in the Duelling Club only because Snape intervenes. Even then, Harry’s adult allies far outweigh Draco’s. Left on his own, Draco’s main accomplishment is bullying Neville in the corridors.

Draco doesn’t seem to have real strengths or lasting advantages—and he doesn’t even appear comfortable with the ones he’s supposed to have. When accused in CoS of buying his way onto the Quidditch team, a very Slytherin thing to do, his reaction isn’t smug pride but embarrassed rage.

Despite common assumptions, I also don’t think Draco is especially popular. Flint protects him, Crabbe and Goyle stick with him, and Pansy clearly cares about him—but that doesn’t make him a leader. His own year lacks anyone strong enough to challenge him, but the wider House doesn’t rally behind him. They laugh at his jokes, but when it matters like at the end of GoF they don’t follow his lead at all. Slytherin stands for Harry at Dumbledore’s banquet. Only Crabbe and Goyle stay seated with Draco.

When Lucius is sent to Azkaban, that pattern repeats. Only Crabbe and Goyle accompany Draco when he attacks Harry on the train in revenge. The attempt ends with Dumbledore’s Army defending Harry and leaving Draco and his friends hexed and humiliated another point in Harry’s favour when it comes to popularity.

Draco is also a coward, both in moments of immediate danger, Quirrell in Book One, Buckbeak in Book Three and in his emotional resilience. He doesn’t recover well from trauma; after Fake Moody turns him into a ferret, even hearing the man’s name unsettles him. He’s volatile, quick to anger, and prone to speaking when he shouldn’t. He dishes out insults easily, but can’t tolerate them in return.

When we see Draco without his usual performance for Harry—like in Knockturn Alley or during the Polyjuice Potion scene in CoS—he comes across as petulant, sulky, and whiny. Despite the narrative’s attempts to parallel him with Snape, his tone in these moments doesn’t resemble Snape’s at all. If anything, he sounds more like Peter Pettigrew, whose whining submissiveness toward Voldemort in GoF feels strikingly similar to Draco’s behavior when he doesn’t know Harry is watching.

And yet, alot of people including myself love Draco Malfoy.

Draco’s most endearing trait is that even though he never wins and he never quits.

He keeps showing up. He keeps trying. He keeps positioning himself opposite Harry, even after every prior encounter has proven this is a fight he cannot win. There’s something deeply human in that persistence. How do you fully hate someone like that?

Somehow, Harry consistently sees him as someone worth opposing. For all that Draco loses, Harry keeps engaging with him. He keeps responding. He keeps fighting back. On some level, Harry consistently gives Draco exactly what he wants: attention. Harry does not ignore Draco the way he ignores lesser irritants. He doesn’t dismiss him as irrelevant. He rises to the bait, trades insults, watches him closely, and treats him as someone worth opposing.

Then, in HBP, the dynamic quietly flips. For once, Draco isn’t obsessively trying to get Harry’s attention and he withdraws. He becomes secretive.

And Harry notices.

Even when everyone tells him he’s wrong, Harry follows his instinct all the way to its (correct) conclusion: Draco is a Death Eater. On some level, Harry understands Draco better than his friends do. He recognizes that something has gone catastrophically wrong, only because for once Draco’s attention isn’t fixed on him at all.

It wasn’t always so however. They were worn as part of military uniform back in 16th century (before the Statute!! Hint, hint), and were again menswear in the early 19th century.

I like draco top, simply cuz he's a pureblood prince, his family on both sides are purebloods and he was raised to uphold all their legacies and thier traditions. ( before anyone comes for me, I'm not finished ), But it's not my primary reason, it complies the purposes tho, and draco was raised to be the head of the house and was treated as such since he was just a young boy, he was groomed to be disciplined, always up-headed, always on the top, taught politics and how to run governments and to write laws and everything. Then comes his character, he was always been someone who's very proud, in my perspective he still is, kinda, in a way that he doesn't always still needs the blood purity and superiority, yet strong rooted on certain old traditions and his family legacies ( before voldemart ), and certain duties. He constantly fought and bullied Harry cuz Harry refused him, rejected his friendship offer, and that was a new thing to him, he never ever got that experience before in his life and that kinda made him feel frustrated and embarrassed and mad. Then all leads to voldemart and the usual shenanigans we knew already. But he has always been strong, afraid? ABSOLUTELY!!! but at the same time, he was STRONG too!!!!.

Now comes Harry! First thing is he was abused as a child, he's malnutrition, and never truly felt what's it to be loved freely before, he ate scraps and leftovers while forced to do chores, he never knew about his before, fed lots of lies, those kinds created trauma in him ( no one can deny unless you are an freaking idiot ), he in a way always felt that love is compelling and almost like transaction, that he constantly needs to give the other persons something to keep on having that, tho Hermione and Ron worked to make him see family isn't conditional, he never truly understood that nor completely accepted that, atleast not when it comes to him. He was pushed into the role of savior at 11 years old and continued to do so till he's 17 only to find out he was only raised to get killed, like a sacrificial lamb. He always put himself in danger to save others, cuz in somewhere in his mind, he always thought that's how it's supposed to be, that's the only way he'll have the only people who loves him and who he loves in his life, he kinda developed a savior complex and that's the only way he knew how to live, to keep people safe, to have people need him, but after the battle of hogwarts, after everything happened and shattered, he finally felt overwhelmed, and wanted a way Out to a quite life.

I have always felt something wrong with the way they made him an auror, because to me personally after everything he has been through, after spending his entire life in a war, I could never see him go on and took over an auror role as it would only put him back on where he started, I have always felt, he might have decided its enough and just want some quite and peace.

Now onto the drarry complex

To me personally, I have always felt after everything harry would feel enough, he now just wants to rest, have someone to take care of him, protect him, provide for him, just love him for him and him alone, someone who has seen his best and worst sides, someone strong enough to stand beside him, someone whose ego won't hurt when people see him, they only focus on him, someone with whom he can lay on his head over their shoulder, who'd be his anchor, after everything, he just wants , needs someone who would just be there for him, in silence, in loudness, in love, and in strength. He would probably want to shed his old life, his name, his story and even his skin!

I think draco was raised to be all of those aforementioned things, apart from that, after all the shenanigans happened, all those hatred, those gossips, those sideyes, and murmuring under their breaths and those sneaky comments that flows his direction, he would be yearning to feel feared ( not in the bad way but just of power ), respected and most importantly needed!! He would wish that someone would love him unconditionally, fiercely and openingly, without guilt or fear or obligation or shame, he would want someone to want him, want him, need him, to love them, to protect them, to provide for them, to live with them, to have a family, to continue their family line, his family line and legacy without any shame. He would want someone who wouldn't hesitate to wear his family name, his name!

Conclusion

In conclusion, with drarry, I think draco is top, cuz he would love to treat harry as prince without overwhelming him and would protect him with his life and provide for him with his everything and would give and be his strength and anchor, while harry would give draco the love he deserves, the respect and a family, would wear his name as a sign of everything and make him feel actually better as a person,especially as a Malfoy , as a pureblood who was raised to be one ❤️💚

To me Drarry is a classic Switch!Ship but their general dynamic - inside and outside the metaphorical bedroom - is Top!Draco/Bottom!Harry leaning for so many reason.

And if you ask me, this constant push and pull amongst them is exactly what’s kept this ship and alive for decades. They’re a delight to write fanfiction about because they are so versatile; figuratively as well as literally. They compliment each other as much as they ridicule one another.

Harry who’s been manipulated all his life and who ends up doing what’s expected if him might struggle with his own identity after the way. Who even is he without his purpose? I doubt he’d learn that with sb like Ginny by his side who was molding herself into the role of Harry’s gf rather than asking herself: Do I actually like him or am I just fangirling?

Wouldn’t it be much more beneficial for him to have a partner who challenges him and calls him out in his bs? No one who’s been through what Harry’s been through - and who’s in his right mind after - would willingly join the Aurora and marry a woman who looks like his dead mother because somehow that’s supposed to fix his childhood trauma.

Harry would totally struggle and need to do a lot of healing and therapy to learn how to trust Draco and give up control. But the fact alone that someone who he’s been his biggest adversary (Harry’s opinion) could love him and care for and about him would give him such a sense of security that it would be immensely healing for his tormented soul.

And don’t get me started on Draco! He’s got all the equipment to be a great partner for Harry but he needs to learn how to get over himself and that the power he obviously has over Harry (who’s OBSESSED!) is not just a huge responsibility but also a great opportunity to work on his egotism. That includes letting people see when he’s in need of support (bathroom scene) instead of lashing out. And that expressing vulnerability doesn’t equal incompetence.

They perfectly show that struggling with acknowledging that deserving love is not conditional but a universal right of a living things, including two idiot wizards.

But in the end they are two sides of the same coin with Draco just making a fantastic top even when he’s bottoming.

That being said, no hate if you prefer your Drarry differently. That’s the beauty of fanfiction and our save heaven Ao3.

It’s as you say, they complement each other just that well, providing things that the canon’s bad ending world deprives them off - Harry more than Draco but even Draco in many ways. Harry needs so much more support and actual understanding of where he’s coming from, as well as someone who won’t just okay all his bullshit reasons for being self-destructive. That’s a major reason I can’t see any relationship he might have with Ginny functioning - she’s so enamored with Boy Who Lived that she wouldn’t ever support him in getting what he needs to be healthy. We even see the two of them in post-books canon, so we know for sure she never did do that. And he in turn can’t provide anything for her (other than fulfilling her childhood fantasies of marrying a famous kid) since she never allows him to see who she is. It’s toxic all around.

We always talk about Rowling using Snape's "black, tunnel-like eyes" as a literary device for his Occlumency, which is true. But from a purely genetic standpoint, how does a pale, white British man from the Midlands end up with hair and eyes that dark?

The answer is likely in his mother's side of the family: the Prince bloodline.

1. The "Black Irish" phenotype in Ireland and parts of the Celtic regions, there is a very famous genetic contrast.

While many associate Irish people exclusively with red hair, there is a massive sub-population known historically as the "Black Irish." These are people with extremely pale, fair skin, but coal-black hair, heavy eyebrows, and deep, dark brown eyes that look pitch black unless hit by direct sunlight.

Snape and his mother are the textbook definition of this.

2. Eileen's name is the biggest clue Rowling rarely picks names at random.

"Eileen" is the anglicized version of the pure Gaelic/Irish name Eibhlin. Given that Cokeworth is located in the Midlands (an industrial hub that historically attracted thousands of Irish migrant workers during the industrial eras), it makes perfect sense that the Prince family carried these strong Celtic roots.

3. He is a Prince through and through in the books, it's explicitly stated that Severus looks exactly like his mother-the long face, the heavy brows, the bleak demeanor. Apparently he completely wiped out his Muggle father's traits with the exception of the hooked nose and inherited the full, raw Black Irish genetics from Eileen.

So to me, Snape isn't just a gothic character design; he and his mom are ethnically Celtic/Irish, and his appearance perfectly fits the biology of that heritage.