A Handsome Stranger Called Death

But this headcanon doesn't seem very popular in the HP fandom, even among Snape fans. Maybe they assume that because the Evanses are said to have been proud and loving parents to Lily, they couldn't possibily be prejudiced against a poor kid from a bad neighbourhood associating with their daughter. Most people, in fact, headcanon that they were actually kind to Severus, and in the past I even received hate from another Snape fan for expressing a less favorable opinion about the Evanses regarding their judgement of Severus. What do you think?

I’m not a Petunia defender because I do think she’s a horrible person, but let’s talk about Petunia before Harry.

First of all, she wasn’t just the older sister —which already comes with being seen as the responsible one, the one who’s “already raised” in the family dynamic— but specifically the older daughter with a younger sister who had powers. A younger sister who not only naturally got more attention for being the youngest, but who suddenly became “special” in a way that was completely unattainable for her. Let’s talk about Petunia spending most of her life with her parents, dealing with them, their problems, their dysfunctions, their arguments, fighting with them like any teenager would, living through both the good and the bad at home, while her sister was off living a magical life and only saw them during holidays. And when Lily came back, they probably put on their best faces, because when you see someone so rarely, you want everything to feel perfect.

So Petunia likely had to deal not only with being a “normal” kid —with everything that implies in terms of affection and attention— but also being the one who was always there, the one her parents saw every day. Meanwhile Lily became a kind of “novelty” because she was away at boarding school. Lily had stories and experiences her parents didn’t know, while Petunia’s daily life was completely familiar to them.

I think Lily had it easy in many ways, and that her parents were very loving toward her, which makes sense, because she represented something exceptional, and they didn’t have her around all the time. Meanwhile, I think they were probably emotionally neglectful with Petunia. They likely didn’t pay much attention to her, and she probably had far more conflicts with them.

It’s canon that Petunia leaves for London to work as a secretary, and considering both she and Lily marry young, it suggests they were raised with a traditional mindset centered on finding a good husband. So the fact that Petunia chose to work tells me she wanted to get out of Cokeworth as soon as possible and get away from her parents, which honestly makes perfect sense.

That said, I imagine the Evans as a typical lower middle-class family. Not wealthy enough for luxury holidays abroad, but comfortable enough for occasional trips within Britain, a decent house, and financial stability. They were probably born in the 1920s or 30s, so they likely had a very traditional upbringing. The father working, the mother a housewife, raising their daughters to secure a “good future,” which they equated with marrying well. And that tracks: both Lily and Petunia marry men who are socially above them. Vernon is solidly middle class, and James is basically aristocracy. Both sisters end up living above the means they were born into, not through inheritance or careers, but through marriage. That aligns perfectly with a worldview where a woman’s value is tied to her husband.

We also get hints about class dynamics: Petunia refers to “Snape’s boy from Spinner’s End,” which suggests both Tobias and that area had a bad reputation. That implies the Evans girls grew up in the “better” part of Cokeworth, while Spinner’s End was the rough area. And as often happens with people who aren’t poor but aren’t rich either, the Evans likely had a certain sense of superiority, a kind of class insecurity mixed with pride at being “better off” than those in worse conditions. So they probably spoke about that area —and people like Tobias— in a dismissive or negative way.

My headcanon isn’t that they despised Severus. If anything, they probably found the friendship somewhat acceptable because he turned out to be “special” too; a magical child. But I’m sure they didn’t exactly miss him when Lily started dating James, who wasn’t just special, but also wealthy and high-status.

I do think they were good parents to Lily and terrible ones to Petunia, and that this imbalance fueled her resentment. I’ve always thought that the way she overindulges Dudley is her way of overcompensating for how she felt growing up. Which suggests that, as a child, she probably saw Lily receive most of the attention while she had to fend for herself.

lily: what!?? of course we respect her privacy, how can she say that?

James Potter maturing just because he managed to fuck with Lily Evans.

Lily as a moral compass and ethical oracle of anything.

The Marauders being a functional group of friends instead of four people who stuck together out of convenience and completely fell apart after school.

James and Lily being martyrs just because they were dumb enough not to choose Dumbledore for the Fidelius Charm and picked someone else despite the obvious risk.

Sirius Black joining the Order out of genuine progressive values and lack of prejudice, rather than just going along with James and trying to piss off his mother.

Normalizing having children before the age of 20 in the middle of a war. Please, stop.

Mary Macdonald being relevant to any kind of plot.

Dorcas Meadowes, the Longbottoms, and Marlene McKinnon being the same age as the Marauders instead of being older than them.

Any of those people being relevant to any plot.

Lily being super close to Mary Macdonald, whom she only ever called by her full name and didn’t seem to care about until she could use her as a weapon against Severus, lol.

Lily having actual close female friends.

Sirius valuing Lily as a person and not just as James’ girlfriend.

James Potter not being a toxic prick.

Biblically accurate:

I've always thought they must have been conservative, old-fashioned parents. They had two daughters, so I assume they raised them with traditional values, both Lily and Petunia got married and had children at a very young age; in Lily's case, practically a teenager. So it makes sense that they were taught to see life through the lens of family and children. I imagine the father working and the mother as a housewife, without having big ambitions for either of them.

In Lily’s case, being a witch, they probably believed her life was already “sorted out” because of that, and in Petunia’s case, they probably thought that if she found a husband, everything would be fine. That kind of old-school mentality where not much was expected of women beyond finding a stable position in life, which is basically what both sisters sought by marrying men who were socially above them and could provide a comfortable, financially secure life.

I also believe they favored Lily quite a bit. I can understand Petunia being jealous at first for not having what Lily had, but if their parents had made an effort to treat both sisters equally —to not see Lily as something extraordinary or as the golden child— then maybe Petunia wouldn’t have developed such hatred toward her sister. I've always firmly believed their parents shaped their elder daughter’s personality by favoring the younger one, and that’s where a lot of it stems from.

I saw this post by @iamnmbr3 and @kittenjammer talking about wizarding fashion and I wanted to talk about this for a while, so I'm going to give my own two cents on it based on fashion history. I love history in general, but fashion history and historical architecture are two I’m incredibly passionate about. So, here we go (post with a lot of pictures ahead):

Lily and Petunia Evans

Something that really, really gets me in fic is the presumption of complete ineptitude of every single Hogwarts student when it comes to astronomy.

I mean, mysteries are a pretty big deal in this series, and as a result a lot of fic incorporates them too. Where they go awry is when the author tries to get fancy without the requisite knowledge and/or doing the research. I mean, astronomy is a mandatory subject. They teach it starting right from first year, and all the way up until fifth year it continues being mandatory. At the very minimum each Hogwarts student gets five years of astronomy studies. It's sadly common to ignore that.

It ends up with things like not a single Hogwarts student, past or present, knowing what the constellations are. Aside from of course the Blacks. This is mind-staggeringly common to see in fic, and I haven't the faintest clue how anyone could think that. They've all had at minimum five years of astronomy studies. I guarantee you, the constellations are the least of what they know.

It ends up with things like not knowing the history of astronomy, and treating basic, common knowledge of the history of constellations or planets like it's a big hidden secret lost to time that only a specialist would know. And yet they've had a minimum of five years of astronomy studies.

It ends up with things like Hermione of all people not knowing how to triangulate a location based on maps of the stars when viewed from that location in different times of the year. Not even recognizing that is what she's looking at. If you have to make Harry a complete dunce in astronomy (you'd at least have a vague reason to, although I maintain his barely-a-pass OWL score was due to using a good part of the exam either watching Hagrid and McGonagall be attacked or worrying about it), then what's your excuse for making Hermione a complete dunce at it too. Not even recognizing star charts from the same location at different times, honestly!!! I can guarantee you this was part of the curriculum. They had 5-7 years of astronomy. What exactly do you think they learnt in class all those years?!

It ends up in things like Harry only recognizing a sextant from muggle history class and Draco not recognizing one at all. Like...honestly??!! What exactly do you think they're using to get the positions of the stars? Their bare eyes? Never even mind that while we never see astronomy class in session in the books, not all sources of canon are similarly hobbled. They do canonically get taught sextant use in astronomy class. Among other things.

And of course, the most horrific, most offensive fanon assumption of all: that Hogwarts students don't get taught maths aside from maybe in arithmancy. Pure bunk, but I've written an in-depth meta about how the inclusion of astronomy means they get taught advanced maths here and I should probably not delve into that subject again lest it take up the whole day.

Little Terrors and Witching Hour