I’m glad that, in spite of the emotional trauma, Qiu is at least recognizing that the situation she’s now in after Cedric’s death is pretty ridiculous, and that she’s starting to deconstruct her cultural expectations as unrealistic and unhealthy. Now, she just needs to start bringing Marietta along on that journey . . .

Nice work on all the speeches! They sound like they belong in the setting, while having a familiar vibe that echoes the way politicians speak in the real world , making the positions feel organic and believable. And Regulus’ speech is particular is just so strong and lovely . . . I honestly want to vote for him, I wish real U.S. politicians sounded more like him. The possibility of a more hopeful future really is there to take . . . But I’m also dreading what Gaunt’s retaliation is going to look like, especially given that the Black brothers didn’t make it out so great in the original series . . .

—doctorlit, surrounded by drowsy French bulldogs (pet-sitting this weekend)

Pffft. Of course the censorship committee only removed books that were already restricted from student access without special permission. It’s almost as though Hogwarts was already being responsible with the literature, and didn’t need totalitarian oversight or something!

Oh hey, Aberforth gets an early appearance! Along with the most wholesome of all Potterverse characters, goat. Hi, goat!

Ah, the duality of man teenage brothers. Ron hears about Ginny and Michael Corner and immediately seeks out direct confrontation. But Fred and Goerge already had the problem taken care of, in a much more subtle and less violent manner. “The flu, you say?” I love it.

I’ve been seeing the “trans female Luna Lovegood” tag for a while now, so I don’t have much reaction to the reveal. Poor little year one Luna must have been so embarrassed to have her deadname read out in front of the whole school; the fact that Astoria was one of the only students to support her goes a long way towards explaining why Luna remains defensive of Astoria now. Oh, and I love that Harry seizes on the first opportunity he’s seen to try to stop Luna’s stuff from getting moved around to torment her. I hope Qiu follows up on that . . . (had similar treatment when I was in grade school, I do not recommend for a young person’s psychological health . . .)

—doctorlit, one of those pathetic bullied nerds with no inkling of how to defend against it due to growing up in a Quiet Calm Household

Oh, and: . . . hovering by the bench next to the entrance to Honydukes . . .

A rather gloomy chapter, but I liked the high moments: the image of Jenni sneaking literature to her contemporaries, and serving as the inspiration for “Dumbeldore’s Army;” Hannah apologizing to Hermione, and Draco and Justin finding common geographic ground. (Although Harry is so jealous, dang, Draco can still converse with other boys, harry, jeeze!) I love that the schisms Umbridge opened last chapter are already starting to fill back in . . . funny how taking away people’s freedoms leads to mass solidarity, eh, Dolores? (Although I don’t think Georgiana Smith is going to be reconciling any time soon, that girl is scarily into the Avalon stuff. “Wah wah, they took away my right to gaslight eleven-year-olds into abandoning their families, how am I supposed to be devout now?!”)

Yeeeaaaah, gonna call it now: the rumors about Umbridge “consecrating” her family members are absolutely true. She just Is Like That, it fits. I’m sorry, Lily, I know I’m probably going to get repetitive complaining about Umbridge every chapter, but she’s just so despicable! And she’s scary, because unlike your standard fantasy dark lord, Umbridge is a bigoted bureaucrat who’s willing to use the law to hurt others, and real life has no shortage of those. I hate her nonsense about using titles, because titles don’t mean a damn thing, they’re just an excuse for some people to feel superior to others—but of course, about 70% of Umbridge’s personality is justifying social superiority through any means at all, so it’s no surprise she would stand by the formality of titles. “Take back your school,” what an overt way to indicate that only Pure/New Bloods should be on the Inquisitorial Squad, and therefore to imply that Muggleborn students should never have positions of authority; that’s not their place, after all! And it’s got a certain ring to it somehow, a familiar vibe, something about taking some place, like a country, and making it better than it is now, like it had been at some nebulous point in the past? Something like that.

The fascists love going after the library, don’t they? At an old school like Hogwarts, it’s frightening to think what ancient texts could end up lost if some government stooges are removing books, if they’re not careful to catalog and properly store what’s being removed. All this to say: a very appropriate and justified first f-bomb from Hermione! “Open $%*#ing sesame,” I say aloud to my bookshelf as I approach it seductively excitedly.

Okay, I’m probably being really dumb in asking this, but Harry, Hermione and surely loads of other Muggle students have watched Doctor Who, so . . . how are they not freaking out about Professor Bonnefoy’s face? Does he not look like Harkness in this timeline? Or . . . or is he actually this timeline’s alternate version of John Barrowman, and some other actor got cast as Harkness?

“So you’re not asking her to take responsibility for… you know?” asked Jusin . . .

—doctorlit, asking the really important questions

Yes, I also thought it would be funny to have Draco try to get Harry's wand -cough- at the start of their duel. It was just trying to get the two to argue rather than fire spells at each other. The whole thing was pretty chaotic, with Neville distracting everyone else and the two of them ignoring it to have their own little fight...

The unicorn horn ring is actually from a Purityworld fic where fem!Harry gets tricked into getting engaged to Zacharias Smith because of his family's slut-shaming virgin-detecting unicorn horn bracelet. Skeevy stuff. Perfect for a purity ring.

And yes, it really is sad that they only really had one year of being properly friends! Such is the tumultuousness of trying to befriend people whose families are also trying to pull them back over the ideological lines. And Draco is still in the process of deconstructing his culture, so we'll see how far he goes in "realizing the harm inherent in maintaining the status quo"!

Umbridge. Yes. She's horrible. She thinks she's providing a "balanced" view of things but when one side wants rights and the other side wants witches to be subservient and Muggleborns to assimilate or be ostracised, well... it's not really that balanced in the end, is it?

It is not Grubbly-Plank/Trelawney! It is a different teacher who teaches in a tower ;)

I'm glad you liked the song!

The reason Smith was quoted rather than someone a bit more radical is because it's Justin Finch-Fletchley speaking, and he's, you know, had his name down for Eton. Hermione did quote David Ricardo in year 4, though!

Luna will continue puncturing blood purist balloons! She's such a delight to write. :)