Hold On A Second Man…

I love nonfiction that I simply cannot relate to at all. "it's easy to get addicted to buying fast fashion! I used to spend thousands of dollars on it a year!" okay. you're a space alien.

BOBBY & SHELLY TWIN PEAKS | 1.07

demetri + his chicken

Though condemned I am to split you Still I worry that it’s wrong, Though I must fulfill my duty And must quarter every year Still I wonder whether sorting May not bring the end I fear.

Can you try to extrapolate on what scars Harry would have, please? Or what he'd look like if they're healed or in the process of healing.

He gets injured many times, so it's hard to believe we won't see any marks/proof of those on his skin.

Ohh, this is fun. Okay, so we have the canon scars we know of, and then there are injuries I think are likely to have scared, but not outright stated in the text to have done so. But this is actually a great catalog for writing purposes.

So this list is injuries we see in the books that we are explicitly told left a scar or I think are likely to leave a scar (both due to the injury itself and magic being involved):

First thing first, we got his infamous lightning scar that remained from the killing curse, forehead - Oct 1981

The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.

(PS)

2. A puncture wound from the basilisk fang located on his right arm, above his elbow - June 1993

But as warm blood drenched Harry’s arms, he felt a searing pain just above his elbow. One long, poisonous fang was sinking deeper and deeper into his arm and it splintered as the basilisk keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor.

(CoS)

3. Cut from Hungarian Horntail, arm - Nov 1994

Harry plummeted just as the Horntail opened its mouth, but this time he was less lucky — he missed the flames, but the tail came whipping up to meet him instead, and as he swerved to the left, one of the long spikes grazed his shoulder, ripping his robes [...] And with a huge spurt of speed, he was off, he was soaring out over the stands, the heavy egg safely under his uninjured arm

(GoF)

*Charlie is mentioned to have a burn scar from a dragon so it's unknown how well magic could heal a dragon-made cut. It's possible the above would not leave a scar.

4. A small cut in the crook of his right elbow - June 1995

He felt its point penetrate the crook of his right arm and blood seeping down the sleeve of his torn robes.

(GoF)

5. "I must not tell lies" scar on the back of his right hand - Sep 1995

At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of Harry’s right hand, cut into his skin as though traced there by a scalpel 

(OotP)

6. Nagini's bite, forearm - Dec 1997

7. Burn mark over his heart from the locket Horcrux - Dec 1997

“I couldn’t get the Horcrux off you,” Hermione said, and he knew she wanted to change the subject. “It was stuck, stuck to your chest. You’ve got a mark; I’m sorry, I had to use a Severing Charm to get it away. The snake bit you too, but I’ve cleaned the wound and put some dittany on it. ...” He pulled the sweaty T-shirt he was wearing away from himself and looked down. There was a scarlet oval over his heart where the locket had burned him. He could also see the half-healed puncture marks to his forearm.

(DH)

Now we have Harry's abuse at the Dursleys, which might've left scars:

Harry mentions having to duck out of Vernon's way:

“You don’t seem to need many qualifications to liaise with Muggles. . . . All they want is an O.W.L. in Muggle Studies. . . . ‘Much more important is your enthusiasm, patience, and a good sense of fun!’ ” “You’d need more than a good sense of fun to liaise with my uncle,” said Harry darkly. “Good sense of when to duck, more like . . .”

(OotP)

Vernon also manhandles Harry roughly (i.e. drags him away, pushes him aside, outright strangles him, etc.) throughout the books a lot. And Petunia tries to hit him with a frying pan:

but he still had to duck as she aimed a heavy blow at his head with the soapy frying pan.

(CoS)

So it's clear Harry was beaten but he doesn't really mention how bad, how often, or even how he was beaten so it's hard to tell what kind of scars (if any) it would result in. Vernon doesn't seem to use weapons and only ever uses his hands to harm Harry, Petunia might've bashed him on the head with various household items, but we don't really know if any of it left scars. So, there is a place for headcanon here.

I think it's safe to assume some marks remained, but nothing too glaringly noticeable or out of the ordinary as other characters don't comment on it. Similarly, his face only has the one lightning scar so all other scars would be elsewhere on his body or hidden by his hair (if he was hit on top of his head and it scared, his hair would hide the scar).

2. His nose broke at least once but probably more than once:

He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.

(PS)

From the above, I take it Harry's nose probably broke but no one really noticed. So, his nose might be slightly crooked depending on how it healed. It's not exactly a scar, but still, something to note if you want to add it to how you headcanon Harry's appearance.

It's likely that Harry broke other bones in his years with the Dursleys, especially fingers which can be broken pretty easily (I broke mine like 3 times as a child). So, it's possible his pinkies (for example) don't match each other because one broke and healed in a different shape than before.

3. Welts from Marge's walking stick:

Aunt Marge had whacked Harry around the shins with her walking stick to stop him from beating Dudley at musical statues

(PoA)

It's possible this happened more than this one time and we don't know how bad it was. So, he might have welts on his shins and potentially other places depending on how bad/often you think Marge beat him during her various visits.

4. Now, I assume Harry suffered many scraps, bruises, and scratches throughout the years. Especially since he ran away from Dudley and his gang and climbed trees to get away from Aunt Marg's dog:

He was nine, and Ripper the bulldog was chasing him up a tree and the Dursleys were laughing below on the lawn. . . 

(OotP)

But I think it's unlikely they left scars. Sometimes they do if you scratch the scab, for example. But as wizards tend to heal faster and better than muggles, I think small scraps like these are less likely to leave scars on wizards or witches in general, but it's possible they did.

5. Potentially other scraps and cuts that scared throughout the books themselves. Such as from Quidditch injuries, Crashing with the Ford Anglia, Blast-Ended Skrewts, running through forests, etc. But as I said above, less likely to leave scars on wizards, probably.

I might've missed something, but I tired to include all the ones I think are likely to have left some kind of mark.

*I'm aware Draco broke Harry's nose in HBP, unmentioned since Tonks magically healed it so I doubt it left a mark. Similarly, losing all the bones in his arm wouldn't leave a mark. Other non-magical injuries (like a Bludger to the head or falling off his broom or the ankle he sprained in GoF) that were treated by Pomphery are similarly unlikely to scar.

Choose violence ask game: 1, 9, 10, and 22 for "Romeo and Juliet"

1. the character everyone gets wrong

Hmm, good question. My first impulse is to say R&J themselves, Romeo in particular, as their (actually complicated) personalities and characters get frequently misinterpreted. But as I’ve already discussed this frequently in my blog, I’ll opt for an unconventional answer: Mercutio himself.

Not in terms of getting his personality wrong (although I’ve seen plenty of angrymacho!Mercutio, childish!Mercutio, and even woobie!Mercutio, curiously enough), but in terms of adaptations taking Mercutio’s POV and opinions and attitude as gospel. Mercutio is portrayed as a guy who not only talks shit but makes up shit as he goes along (re: Tybalt being a poseur duelist and Benvolio having a ~secret hotheaded side). You’re not supposed to take him seriously but enjoy his trash talk for what it is—premier trolling.

Instead adaptations and fanfics accept his POV unquestionably and even accept it as canon (Baz Lurhmann movie introducing him as the Prince of Cats, Benvolio getting portrayed as a macho asshole, etc.). And of course, that’s where most of the Romeo-is-effeminate clownery comes from, even though Mercutio himself doesn’t think this (only that he has gotten pussified by ~love) and canon blatantly contradicts this.

9. worst part of canon

Tough one. Shakespeare’s canon is almost flawless. I guess making Rosaline a Capulet could be considered a plot hole. He did it so that Romeo has the push he needs to go to the party…but technically he could have made Rosaline just a random invitee rather than a Capulet. And Capulet turned out to be very chill with non-Capulet invitees anyway. So yeah, I don’t mind adaptations that make Rosaline into a Montague or a non-related Capulet. This does show Shakespeare’s lack of fucks about the feud beautifully, though.

10. worst part of fanon

I don’t think that this counts as fanon, per se, but I once peeked at some (hopefully non-school mandated) fanfics in AO3 and got a strong whiff of not one, not two, but several Juliet-is-cool-BFFs-with-Bencutio-while-latter-constantly-makes-fun-of-whiny-woobie-Romeo. Oh, God, you guys are killing me. Also, the Macho Action Hero/Strong Female Character(tm) Juliet, but that is part-and-parcel with the overall clownery.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

…People are still sleeping on Juliet’s likening Romeo to a little bird she’d like to tie in a silken thread to pluck around as she pleases and Romeo 110% replying with “I would I were your bird,” huh? You guys really do like your innocently chaste kawaii R&Js. Admit it, these kids are freaks!!!

Nah, just kidding. Well, this is not something everyone ignores as much as miss entirely…but there’s Romeo’s “Let’s talk” when he decides to stay with Juliet after all after their wedding night. The antis always whine about how R&J are just lustful fiends and they are not ~really in love, and this small, almost throwaway line completely disproves it. Romeo decides to stay and his first suggestion about what he and Juliet should do…is to talk. Because he likes talking to Juliet and most likely they did speak through some of the night. Because he clearly wants to know everything about Juliet. Because their love so far has been just that—words—so of course their default is to talk.

James: Why don’t you just tell Marlene how you feel about her?

Remus: James had to ask Lily at least a hundred times.

James: And guess what, we’re married now.

Remus: Exactly, what have you got to lose?

Sirius: Her.

— George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant

anidala

love in a distant galaxy