Super Sirius

Yes, but the world isn’t split up into good people and Death Eaters,” said Sirius with a wry smile.

This is, in my opinion, the single most character building line of dialouge that comes from Sirius Black (who, of course, I love).  Why?  Because it gives us an insight into his family life and upbringing that no other scenes do.  Let me explain.

As we get to know Sirius, we learn that he passionately hates his family, and they – for the most part – return the favor.  He mentions leaving home to live with the Potters at 16, he’s been blasted off the Black Family Tree, and it’s a toss up who’s madder that he’s back in Grimmauld Place – Sirius or the portrait of his mother.  Most people have interperted that to mean that Sirius, from the time he was young has been different from his family and abused for it – a little bit like Harry, honestly.  Treated terribly thanks to not fitting into the family mold, if you will.

But what if that wasn’t the case?  What if he entered Hogwarts his first year as secure in his family’s beliefs as, say, Draco Malfoy.  And he happened to meet James Potter on the train and hit it off with him – maybe before either one of them knew who the other was, because let’s be real there’s less than 2 dozen wizarding families they would have recognized each others’ names – and then he got sorted into Gryffindor, where blood purity matters much less than what you do with all that pure blood.  And he met Remus Lupin, who was a half blood (and a werewolf, but I doubt anyone figured that out right off), and Lily Potter, who was a Muggle-born, and realized that maybe his family WASN’T totally right and maybe blood status wasn’t the end-all-be-all of wizardry.

And he probably didn’t start standing up to his parents right away.  But you know he would have because COME ON Sirius is a total drama queen (not unlike his godson, to tell the truth).  And Sirius would have been like the stereotypical teenage girl who just discovered feminism and is yelling at her dad about the patriarchy over dinner.  Until finally sometime around his 5th or 6th year he just LOSES HIS SHIT and tells them that he wasn’t going to sit around pretending to agree with them and they had to choose between their blood purity beliefs and their son.  And they chose their beliefs.

And Sirius knows his parents don’t think of themselves as bad people, and he has a hard time seeing them that way either because they’re his PARENTS and he LOVED THEM until this became a wedge between them.  Even if he doesn’t agree with their views, he knows the good in them, and the love they showed him.  And he could have been that person – he was on track to becoming that person – except for a chance meeting and a lucky Sorting.  That’s why it’s so important to him that Harry knows there’s a distinction between bad person and Death Eater (although significant overlap).  That’s why he is so miserable at Grimmauld Place – because he has terrible memories of his parents, sure, but he also has good memories and that’s what hurts.

Molly!

No, not the drug, silly.  Molly Weasley!  LOVE HER.  Obviously.  Since I love the Weasleys and she’s the most badass of them all.  NEVER FORGET that this is the woman who gave birth to all seven Weasley children and raised them while Mr Weasley was working – and that includes the twins.  But more importantly, she’s a goddamn enigma.

Molly Weasley was born a Prewett, making her a pure-blood who married into another pureblood family.  But she was obviously not obsessed with blood status – she takes Harry & Hermione in as pseudo-adopted children, she marries a Weasley (the Weasley’s have a history of having an interest in Muggles) and she obviously opposes Voldemort.  WHAT IS HER STORY?  I really want to know.

How did Molly and Arthur meet?  What was her relationship like with her brothers – and did she have siblings beyond the twins? Did her parents raise her to not care about blood status or was it something she learned along the way?  Her entry in the wiki doesn’t give much – just the idea that she and Arthur must have met / started dating at Hogwarts (although they may have known each other before then, I guess, both being members of pureblood families) and she wasn’t really a member of the original Order, despite her brothers being involved – though she had a whole slew of kids at the time, so you know, busy.  How did she get to be such a bad ass?  How close was she to Lily and James – she mentions that they were good people, but if Lily and James were busy with the Order and Molly was busy with the children how close could they have been?

Seriously, what I really want is a full biography of all the HP characters.  And books detailing their lives.  Is that really too much to ask?

Back to Ginny

OK, OK, I know I already discussed Ginny, and I promise, I will go back to spewing my opinions on EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. In the HP universe shortly.  However.  There is something that must be said before I do.

THIS IS PATENTLY ABSURD

Everyone else makes sense. Just look at Ginny.

I don’t know if maybe people are getting confused between Ginny and Amy Pond, from Doctor Who (another allegedly badass redhead, whose storyline involves her and her husband being separated for like thousands of years at a time but waiting for each other.  Or something.  Doctor Who is confusing and I haven’t watched Matt Smith’s episodes yet).  Or maybe if they’re just focusing on her saying in DH that she never really gave up on Harry.  Or maybe it has something to do with book Ginny vs. movie Ginny (I’m not super well versed in the movies, but I remember that while Bonnie Wright is lovely the character lost a lot of personality).  I don’t know.  REGARDLESS, these people are stupid.

Because Ginny’s WHOLE SCHTICK was that she DIDN’T hang around waiting for Harry Potter.  She focused on Quidditch and her school work and getting over being traumatized after being possessed by a Horcrux.  She got over her crush and dated other guys who DID notice her and DID think she was awesome.  She fought in and helped lead Dumbledore’s Army.  What she did NOT do – because she is not Bella from Twilight and therefore doesn’t suck – is sit around WAITING for Harry to realize she loved him, or for him to come back after defeating Voldemort.  She was entirely too awesome to hold her life up waiting around for a dude who may or may not realize her awesome.

Ginny was brave, and strong, and FUNNY (that needs capitalization because it is probably my favorite part about her), and she is not simply a toy that Harry can pick up and put down as he wishes because she’ll be waiting for him either way.  Ginny Weasley is not The Girl Who Waited.  She’s The Girl Who Fought.

George. Fred.

So, it’s been a long time since I’ve actually sat down to read the books.  I read Stone & half of Chamber while I was pregnant last winter, but it’s probably been 2+ years since I’ve read the later books.  Suffice it to say that thinking about Fred’s death is VERY DIFFERENT for me now than before I had twins.  We went to HP trivia last week and since then I’ve been on a bit of an HP feels kick.

The thing is, there are a LOT of Weasleys (and I love them all, as previously discussed).  And each Weasley wants to be seen independently of his or her brothers and sister.  And the twins are already unique in their twin-dom – after all, none of the other Weasleys are a twin.  But they want to be something more, they want to carve something out for themselves (like all their siblings do).  So they become the jokers.  The pranksters.  And eventually, the light in the darkness.

To me, the light in the darkness piece is IMPORTANT.  Because all of their siblings – From Bill all the way down to Ginny – actively fought Voldemort.  And Fred & George did as well – but they also fought a secondary battle, for the happiness of the wizarding community.  As Albus Dumbledore famously said, “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if we only remember to turn on the light”.  The Weasley twins were the light.  Was it a smart business decision to open a joke shop at the very beginning of a war?  Probably not – after all, the wizarding community already had a joke shop in Zonkos.  Bu tthey did it anyway, and they floursished.  Why?  Because they remembered that people need light in their lives.  It’s not enough to  focus on the light at the end of the tunnel, or to remember why you’re fighting – while those are both noble things, they aren’t enough to sustain the human spirit through a bloody war.  The Weasley’s pranks are.

Also, the Weasleys reminded us that pranks can be used as weapons, especially when the enemy takes themselves too seriously.  After all, what did turning a piece of upper hallway into a swamp really accomplish?  Nothing, except reminding Dolores Umbridge that she can’t control everything, no matter how hard she tries.  What was the point of smuggling Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes under Filch’s nose for a full year (besides the obvious holding onto their customer base)?  Again, it was to show that nobody has complete control, no matter how hard they try, and the world needs a sense of humor.

So, yes, I think the Weasley twins are important.  i think they’ve carved out a piece of wizard history for themselves, and I hope future generations take what they have to teach to heart.  And I’m still heartbroken over Fred’s death and no amount of apologies from JK can ever put my heart back together again.