Oooh thank you so much for your asks @praline-elegy! Hi!!! 💕 (p.s. I’ll try to respond to your other asks over the next few days or so!)
This is such a good — and difficult — question. Here are some of my favourites + some headcanons:
My #1 headcanon for Sirius is that he comes back through the Veil after the war. I think Harry (as Master of Death) would end up going through the Veil to get him. Or maybe Sirius would be spat out of it unexpectedly — perhaps time works differently in that realm, which is why it didn’t happen immediately.
I also headcanon that Sirius had a thing for James. Aside from that, I don’t ship him with anyone, and I don’t think he would be romantically involved with anyone else — but I also think he’s not that bothered by it. He’s just happy to be in Harry’s life, and to live out his life in peace after the horror of Azkaban and the Veil. (He’d probably have some fun casual sex, but I don’t think he ever falls in love again. James was it.)
I’m including these two together as I see them + Harry as a unit; I love the trio’s friendship.
For Hermione, I imagine her going into an extensive academic career. She’d pursue multiple degrees and research projects. I think she’d potentially start off working in the government, but become frustrated by the slowness and red tape of bureaucracy, and she’d instead invest her time and energy in something more practical/immediate to help people and creatures — like the magical equivalent of the not-for-profit sector. I also think she’d write several books, and volunteer on multiple boards. I could also see her getting involved in education, later in life — overhauling the magical education system, establishing mixed primary age schools for muggleborns, pure bloods and squib children which include both muggle and magic subjects.
As for Ron, I definitely don’t headcanon him joining George in the shop — which is apparently what happens in Cursed Child, not that I count that as canon, lmao. (I do think Percy would join George in the shop though). As much as he loves his family, Ron is someone whose deep desire since childhood has been to stand on his own two feet and be respected due to his own merit, instead of being overlooked as just another Weasley kid. I think he could end up being a quidditch strategist — it’s something fun that he’s passionate about, and a career that is also cool and impressive, and he’d be naturally talented at it (given his aptitude for strategy + his quidditch knowledge).
I love Ginny’s raw potential as a character, but I do think the books failed her a bit towards the end (and the movies were even worse, lmao).
One headcanon for Ginny is that I think her and Draco would get on like a house on fire, once they got over their mutual hatred and distrust lmao. I think they’re so similar in a lot of ways — both dramatic and demonstrative. And they both love a good prank.
Snape is one of my favourites because I find him so compelling — he’s not a good man, obviously, but he is a dramatic and striking character. He is such a bastard, and that makes him so much more interesting narratively.
In terms of headcanons… hmm, I’m not sure. I have a bit of a crack-ship headcanon that he could have been involved with Lupin in some way. It’s not totally serious lmao, but it is fun to imagine. Like, perhaps there was something… there, while they were at Hogwarts; perhaps they were paired up for a class, and an odd, fragile, almost-friendship started to develop. They’re not friends exactly, but Snape doesn’t feel the same hatred towards Lupin as he does about James and Sirius. He wants to hate him; but he just doesn’t, even though he hates that he doesn’t, lmao. Meanwhile, Lupin is a closeted werewolf, a would-be social outcast who knows he will be rejected by wizard society once they knew what he is; I can absolutely see him being kind towards Snape, an unpopular and disadvantaged young man who’s fallen in with the wrong people. I also think Lupin’s gentle, quiet nature could draw Snape in, against his will. And as Snape grows more curious about Lupin, he fixates on him and the fact he disappears every month — he wants to know what’s going on with Lupin; he hates that James and Sirius are in the know and he isn’t.
Also, their closeness is why Sirius didn’t trust Lupin with knowing about him switching secretkeeper duties with Peter, and why he thought Lupin could be the spy in their midst, because he knew Lupin was getting close to Snape.
Then, when Lupin comes to Hogwarts to teach, that’s why Snape is so bitter towards him. He still feels the betrayal, believing Lupin was in on the prank James tried to play on him all those years ago. But Snape still makes the potion for him every month. Because he can’t help the way he feels…….. lmao. 😏 (Just imagine all the Lupin and Snape scenes Harry didn’t witness. That’s also why Snape stops short at the sight of Harry in Lupin’s office when he came to deliver the potion — he was expecting Lupin to be alone, and for them to have one of their fraught, charged conversations. But no, Potter is there, ruining it with his presence. Haha)
I’m not sure I have any headcanons for Luna. I could see her having a really eccentric slot on Lee Jordan’s radio show (which I headcanon him setting up after the war). Harry listens to it every time without fail.
