ilanawexlr:

starrymoonlitgaze:

moonypadfootprongsandprongslet:

comealongraggedypond:

anghraine:

friendly reminder that Harry Potter

1. at eleven, was described by his teachers as ‘bright’
2. at the same age, according to the Sorting Hat: “Not a bad mind, either. There’s talent, oh my goodness, yes” and “You could be great, you know, it’s all here in your head”
3. mastered the challenging Patronus Charm at thirteen and proceeded to teach it at fifteen
4. resisted the Imperius Curse at fourteen and soon learned to throw it off completely, even when cast by the incredibly powerful Voldemort
5. also at fourteen, learned to cast a powerful Accio Charm
6. at fifteen, was training other students
7. at the same age, under extreme stress, tested as ‘exceeds expectations’ or ‘outstanding’ in every subject that required actual magic (including the dreaded Potions)
8. same age, cast a briefly effective Cruciatus Curse
9. at sixteen, became a star Potions student simply by following superior instructions
10. at seventeen, successfully cast the Imperius Curse on his first try, and used it repeatedly
11. at the same age, cast a successful Cruciatus Curse

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#god almighty!!!!!! #this post??? is e v e r y t h i n g #it addresses all of my pet peeves in fandom regarding harry #people refuse to acknowledge how bright and talented harry really is #its such a joke tbh #they point to his average academics as if that is a true measure of intelligence #all the while disregarding the stressful situations he’s put in and horrible teachers that hinder his learning #people have adopted snapes mentality when judging harrys intelligence and its utterly belittling #snape purposely gives shitty instructions and literally fucking sabotages harrys work in his class #and puts him in a fake remedial potions class to humiliate him in front of his peers #and fandom? they gobble it up and laugh about how shitty harry is at potions #but when harry gets legitimately good instructions from snapes old textbook for the first time in his potions career #under a teacher who is not abusive but actually encouraging? #he fucking thrives #snape had been keeping innovational and helpful potions instructions from his students for YEARS #so apart from being a shitty person he was also a shitty teacher #anyways~ #harry is extremely bright and talented and powerful for his age #love and forgiveness were not his only ~powers~ #or the reason he survived so long #ty for this gr9 post op (via ginevvra)

I also blame the movies for giving Hermione all of the answers while stripping Harry of his resourcefulness, determination, and initiative, and Ron of his street smarts and strategic thinking. 

And the poor kid even says this stuff about himself all the time. He thinks he’s not very smart and that he’s just lucky and his friends and teachers are mostly the reason that he’s stayed alive and like instead of recognizing that that is a horrible (and false) self image that has been drilled into him by his abusers, fans are just like ‘yep all true’

#though it’s unsurprising given how much weight society tends to give academic success and test taking abilities#when socially determining how ‘smart’ a person is#regardless of how they perform in practical situations#and in spite of tons of examples of smart successful people who failed classes#that the hp fandom often falls into this trap as well#harry was probably very capable of getting better grades if he’d cared to#but he was rather more focused on staying alive#on helping people#on not letting evil win#(and on sex and sports and this novel thing called friendship)#to give much of a damn about doing more than making whatever grade would allow him to reach his goals#(you’ll notice he always did end up making the grade)#(very slytherin harry way to go)#which is sad because (as op said) the books practically scream that who we are is based on the choices we make#and isn’t it more powerful to believe that harry CHOSE to be good#CHOSE to be a hero#(CHOSE to teach people defense rather than be a top student)#rather than was just sort of born that way?#because what hope is there for any of us if the only way to be a hero is to have it be an innate part of us?#personally i like to believe that harry simply fed his better wolf#which is all any of us can do#f: harry potter#hp meta#having lots of harry potter emotions here (via ofhawkes)