@mayhemxmugglesxmagic out here giving me hella big feels about Gregory Goyle. Laina's done such a good job of developing him into a vivid, nuanced, three-dimensional character, and I love the weird little friendship we've developed between Greg and Theo!

After her father dies in Azkaban, Theo has only one living relative: her aunt Gwendolen, with whom she does not get along very well. For someone who was raised to value family and family loyalty above all else, this is a difficult situation. Part of Theo’s post-war character growth is her coming to the realization that family doesn’t have to be defined solely by blood. If she defines family as the people who watch out for her and for whom she watches out in turn, she does still have a family. She has Pansy, Greg, Blaise, Draco, and Astoria. They’re just a different kind of family than what was presented to her as a child.

I love Theo's weird little friendship with @mayhemxmugglesxmagic​‘s Greg Goyle. The two of them just hanging out and trashing the English together while Theo tries to help Greg reach his potential.

👫(Greg)

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Greg has done a lot of stupid things and made a lot of bad decisions, and it frustrates Theo immensely that he’ll sometimes make the same mistakes over and over again without seeming to learn from them (e.g. getting caught up in a smuggling ring for illegal potions right after being released from Azkaban). But she’s not going to stop trying to keep him out of trouble, because he’s her friend.

While they were at Hogwarts, a lot of people outside of Slytherin (and probably even a few in Slytherin) saw Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe as identical, interchangeable grunts. But Theo has always liked Greg significantly more than she liked Vincent. Greg has potential. Vincent is a total knobhead.

She means it when she says Greg has potential. She believes in him. She believes that he can learn and grow and improve. He may struggle to do so, but she’s never going to see him as a hopeless cause.

I don’t think Theo would care as much about Greg if Greg was English. I think their shared Celtic identity is something they really bonded over. Theo is very proud of being Welsh. Her family has lived in Wales, on the same plot of land, for over a millennium, since before Hogwarts was founded. She loves her country’s culture and history, and she hates seeing Wales and its people treated with hostility or being turned into the butt of a joke. I don’t think she’s quite as angry at the English in general as Greg is, because the Troubles are a rather more serious conflict than jokes about sheep and how the Welsh language is incomprehensible. But having a friend who understands what she feels when she hears anti-Welsh sentiments, and who will stick up for her when those sentiments are directed at her, really means a lot to her, and she’ll back Greg up in the same way when people make anti-Irish comments.

Theo has a difficult time connecting with others, and even as an adult, there are very, very few people she considers to be friends. But if you are her friend, she will do her best to be there for you no matter what. When she cares for someone, she cares for them deeply.

🌟 [ For Greg ]

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We definitely have to write their first time teaming up to deal with Draco being obnoxiously English.

Maybe once Theo gets the hang of the Muggle world, she brings Greg along so he can get some more experience.

I kinda want to do something during 7th Year having to do with Greg taking the Dark Mark. I think that could be interesting.

Maybe once Greg gets his bouncer job, Theo pops by his nightclub to see how he’s doing.

Driving lessons!