we return, once again, to the minor/mentioned canon niche
applying for Anthony Goldstein, to no ones surprise
have discussed primarily with
@Michael Corner for Ravenclaw boys reasons, some with
@Emily for Zach reasons, and
@Christine for Hermione reasons, with more discussions with canon character drivers to come.
as one of the few things we know about Anthony comes from the 2014 tweet by Joanne with the text "Anthony Goldstein, Ravenclaw, Jewish Wizard," I've take the liberty of adding pieces of that background to the sample. It can be secularized/generalized if needed.
cheers
When was the last time there had been a party for Anthony Goldstein?
1993, his bar mitzvah. It was over the summer, had to be, he couldn’t come home over the weekends during the school year. Terry and Michael and a few of their other yearmates had come, but it had mostly been a family and family friends sort of event. He had invited Granger, too, but she hadn’t been able to make it, something about recovering from petrification.
From then on, he was an adult, and adults don’t do more than a nice dinner with their families on their birthday, or maybe shots of firewhiskey with their friends in a swanky London club after surviving a secret war. Not parties.
This, however, was certainly a capital P Party party. His mother had insisted on inviting everyone from the small wizarding synagogue, plus their children*, plus the American Goldsteins, and then some of Tatti’s work friends, and then finally he had been allowed to edit the guest list himself.
Michael was invited, of course, and Terry, and most of the living members of the Ravenclaw DA. An invite had gone to some choice others - Zacharias Smith, Granger - and a few friends from the program and his internship. All told, maybe a couple dozen of Anthony’s people had shown up.
There was a clear divide between the older and younger folks here. Anthony could imagine neon signs directing people to each group: Dumbledore’s Child Soldiers over on the north end, Everyone Else on the south side. House elves scurried between the two, offering plates of mock shrimp cocktails and other assorted treats to anyone looking downward.
In this corner, with his actual friends, there was an argument about the Ministry intramural Quidditch league going on that Anthony was only half listening to. Pulling at the collar of his robes - it was
sweltering in here - he glanced over at his parents. Mother had gained back the weight she lost in Azkaban, thank God, and was gleefully gossiping about something with Mrs. Smith.
His mother had told him once about her older brother’s bar mitzvah, how it had been a party for all these European refugees more than it had been for her brother at all. “They were not celebrating your uncle, not really,†she had said. “They were celebrating being alive and having children at all.â€
Looking around the banquet hall, it was becoming clear this party wasn’t about him becoming Solicitor Goldstein. Most people were ignoring his presence entirely. This spectacle was for his mother and father. It was an excuse to say, look, we did it, our family survived another war. The epitome of “they tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat.â€
Some small paranoid voice in the back of his head wondered how many more genocides this family would witness. Anthony told the voice
shut it, we’re having a party, and took another shot of whiskey.