Make Banana Pancakes | HELP, RANTS ETC.

The Jily Dilemma

Okay, I do actually still like Jily, I think they're kind of my guilty pleasure along with Tedtoire (I rarely ship canon x canon anymore, only really Jily, Tedtoire, Scorose, Tedromeda and Marthur [?] I don't know) but since writing the Idiot with the Glasses which was my first book on here, I don't know, but I think my view on them has changed and I don't love all the old headcanons anymore.

I don't regret writing the book at all even if I don't like it, it was cliched af but it got me into writing and at the time I was really inspired to write it. Whilst I don't really enjoy writing it as much anymore,it helped me improved onto plots I am happier with now which I am eternally grateful for. But reading back, I just don't like some elements of how Jily is portrayed a lot of the time anymore.

Like with Lily I personally get the feeling she would be one of those people who would tell you to do your homework whilst not doing it herself if that makes sense. She also can really hold a grudge and speaking from experience, that can be exhausting. I'm alright at letting things go over time but a friend of mind holds grudges for years and sometimes you do just want them to let it go when it gets actually mentally painful for everyone.

She feels like the kind of girl to have very strong personal morals which she would bend over backwards to accommodate like Snape being an innocent victim in her head and James being the embodiment of satan. She could also extend this to really weird things too like if Marlene McKinnon showed too much skin on a date or Mary MacDonald made tea wrong. Whilst I still like her as she was sassy and strong willed, I just feel like there's a lot of potential for flaws that I never recognised and now have come to acknowledge.

And with James, I've seen it headcanoned that he asked her out non-stop for seven years and I really hate this headcanon so much. Firstly, it feels like it romanticises stalking a lot, the idea of him asking her every day makes me so uncomfortable. I feel like James would probably ignore her telling him to go away and believe she wanted to be 'chased' but I can't see him putting himself on the line like that all the time. I can imagine that he openly flirted with and teased her before but then on Snape's worst memory, he saw a chance and he took it.

I feel like although James was very confident having her openly reject him would knock his confidence a bit so whilst I imagine he still openly tried to talk to her and flirted around, he'd be hesitant to ask her out again, even if he pretended he didn't care.

Also, seven years feels like a long time for a crush and James was an attractive, charming Quidditch player! She may have caught his eye the whole time but I personally don't feel like he had an active crush on her the whole seven years, especially not when he was eleven and loads of boys still seem to believe girls are gross. I know some people have really long crushes, my friend liked the same guy for three years but seven always felt really long to me. Fourth to Seventh year I can see but first to seventh is AAAAGES. 

I think it is way more interesting if they date around a bit beforehand too rather than he's just hooked on her. Like Lily going on dates and James becoming jealous or James going on dates in Sixth year to prove he's over Lily. Or hell, James going on a date with another redhead because he liked her.

Like I feel like they both did bad things, James was a bully and probably did hurt people carelessly. I personally went through an incredibly unempathetic phase when I was 15 where I would just freeze on people for a day, it was shitty but I was also fifteen and people just do weird crap. Lily was in heavy denial about her best friend and was a Death-eater apologist. They both did bad things but they were good people overall, both in the end doing really good things for their friends and the entire wizarding world.

And I also personally can see Sirius taking forever to warm up to Lily, having disliked her for several years due to how she would lecture them all the time. Can't imagine him taking to that too kindly. I like to think they became very close eventually though once everyone got her act together.

I do plan to write another Jily book because I am a perfectionist and I want to portray it so it fits my new personal standards ... three books for one ship is normal! Anyway, this was just a semi-rant about a ship that I like - E x