ravenna_c_tan

In honor of what would have been Severus Snape's 50th birthday, I have a fic rec for you all which is especially appropriate for the occasion.

Title: A Time to Forget
By: gatewaygirl
Pairing: Snape/Harry
Summary: Harry had expected teaching at Hogwarts, even temporarily, would have complications -- his children, for instance. But when he goes exploring in the dungeons, the past moves inexorably into his present.
Rated: Explicit Sex/Violence
Word count: 24754

This was written by gatewaygirl for entrenous88 in Snarry Holidays 2008. I somehow read only the beginning of the story then and then lost my bookmark to it or something and only just got back to it today, and it is BRILLIANT.

It's up at Walking the Plank:
http://www.walkingtheplank.org/archive/viewstory.php?sid=2940

Or at Snarry Holidays on IJ:
http://asylums.insanejournal.com/snarry_holidays/61352.html

Or at The Archive:
http://www.the-archive.net/viewstory.php?sid=6762

( Spoilers under the cut as I gush about how wonderful the story is! )

So I just read my very first Snape/Hermione (recced by gatewaygirl) and really enjoyed it. It's in the smutty_claus holiday fest, so the author's name has not yet been revealed.

Title: Seven-Year Hitch
Author: ??
Pairing: Snape/Hermione
Summary: Severus damn near died in the Shrieking Shack, but Hermione found a way to save him. However, there was a price, and she's going to have to keep paying it.
Rating: NC17

http://community.livejournal.com/smutty_claus/103851.html

It has many of my favorite things, including an awkward sexual arrangement/forced bonding, a gradual development of character, and of course a bitter, snarky Snape!

Some fic reading recs for your holiday weekend. In the midst of falling behind some of the fests I want to read (*sigh*) I've been reading other fic, too. You know how you stumble across things, surf around, see mentions, etc...

I'm going to rec here three really awesome fics I've read in the past 6 months. None of them are new. All of them are nothing short of wonderful. in very different ways. One one-shot, one novella, and one novel.


All the Things of the World, Regulus/Draco, NC-17 by melusinahp
http://melusinahp.livejournal.com/300985.html
Word Count: 7,190
Warnings: bloodplay, underage sex
Summary: Regulus/Draco. Pureblood, Seeker, Death Eater, Black. Draco's mirror shows him more than expected.

Recced to me after my recent post about Regulus/Draco. Mel is the mistress of Darkfest, and this one is Dark but not "too" dark. You already know how things turn out for one Regulus Black, after all, so not a cheery fic. It's a "first time" fic with a dark magical edge, romantic and erotic. A lovely interior POV for Draco, starting when he's 13 and still a self-possessed, immature git (very canonical). That POV matures with each passing scene, to a truly lovely culmination.


Give and It Shall Be Given Unto You, NC-17 by kai
Pairings: The main pairing is Snape/Harry, and the main action involves Snape/Harry/Lucius.
HP/SS, HP/V, HP/DM, SS/LM, HP/SS/LM
http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=5735
Word Count: 30,000

Posted in January 2005. It's a postwar scenario where Harry has set up his own sort of power-structure for himself, a wizarding research institute with the blessing of the Ministry, but those in the know also know that if Harry snapped his fingers, he could bring the Ministry down. This is a Snape-centric story, told from Snape's point of view (in the second person, but quite masterfully done), which is troubled, opinionated, bitter, incisive, and insightful as only Snape can be. Harry is quite benevolent, but he has a streak of the enfant terrible in him, and the story starts when Lucius is "delivered" to him by the Ministry. Severus fears what he or Harry might do in revenge for terrible things done during the war, the events of which are gradually revealed through flashbacks. It's gorgeous and wonderful, with some very dark elements, especially in the flashbacks.

Escribamens, Harry/Draco, by prettydean82
http://www.hpfandom.net/eff/viewstory.php?sid=24885
Word Count: around 100,000? (30 chapters, appx. 4K each)

Finally, the lightest of my three recs. It was published in 2007 at HP Fandom, but some of the author's notes make me think it was written earlier and only posted there in 2007? There are references to elements in DH (an accurate list of the Horcruxes is the only one, so maybe it was a retro-fit?), but in many ways it is a classic post-OotP H/D. There's much reliance on the events of Book 5, such as the Occlumency lessons and Lucius' arrest, and events such as the Sectumsempra scene never happened. (Although there are two wonderful echoes of the sectumsempra scene... one in the prefect's bath, totally yummy... can't say more without spoilers.)

Lucius has been sent to Azkaban after the attack on the Ministry and the Malfoy family magics no longer recognise him as Lord Malfoy.( read more... )

Fic rec! Fic rec! Fic rec!

I have no idea who wrote the fic for me at hp_summermut, but it feels rather like they totally stalked my journal and wrote the most wonderful piece of plotty, smutty Drapery!

The fic is long, but it doesn't feel long at all, it speeds by. I'm trying to think of what I can say that won't be too spoilery. The story feels a lot like if you took Deathly Hallows and all the things I really WISHED were in the book instead of what's there, that's what this is. The characters of Draco, Severus, and Harry are wonderful, and the writing is quite nice, and I don't say that lightly! Draco is so in character when he goes off onto worries about things and looking for plots and hidden meanings in everything, which of course when it's Severus he's usually right. Wonderful Slytherin/Slytherin/Gryffindor dynamics.

Oh, and did I mention the sex is lovely, too? Much brain-melting wonderfulness.

Oh, and you probably want a link to the fic. Here:

Title: Slytherin Love
Author: unknown!!
Pairing: Draco/Snape, Snape/Harry/Draco
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~27,900
Warnings: threesome (obviously), rimming; ignores most of DH
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: There is a Potter-looking intruder in Draco's home, and Draco thinks that Severus is a bit too interested in the mystery of the captive's identity...

http://community.livejournal.com/hp_summersmut/50937.html

Some recs from HD Worldcup!

I have not read everything in the fest, not by a long shot, but there have been a few stories I really enjoyed. Overall, there's not been enough sex for my taste in this fest overall, but I've really enjoyed several pieces anyway.

Also, more than half the art's really worth looking at, and not time consuming, so just go and look. Whereas the fics? OMG, they are all really long! It's like the Fest of Novellas and Novelettes! So many are 15K or longer, it's amazing.

I liked more than just these, but these are the ones I recommend the most wholeheartedly. I also notice comments have fallen WAY off the past few weeks now that Snarry Games and some other fests are going on, so I've listed these more recent stories first. Lots of them really deserve notice, but it's clear stuff in the first 2 weeks got read by like 3x as many people...

( Click for the rec list )

Yikes, people, I asked for Snaco recs last post, didn't get any, and yet there is a SNACO Exchange going on right now!! Geez, I know I've been living under a rock but why doesn't someone tell me these things??

Heh, OK, my own fault for living under a rock.

Anyway, I just read the story that's the most recent in the snaco_exchange, "Twilight Rain," and... oh, god it's beautiful. DH-mostly-compliant Snaco, gorgeously written. I have a guess as to who the author is but as this is the one fest/exchange where I have a fighting chance to get the authors right, I'll not say anything just yet.

Read it here: http://community.livejournal.com/snaco_exchange/5798.html

Added: "Bokor", the story before it is excellent, too. Well written with a nice tight plot. Nothing like two Slytherins who don't/won't say what they feel... Lovely and hot.

Here: http://community.livejournal.com/snaco_exchange/5521.html

HD Holidays recs:

The Business of Saving Souls, by Rurounihime
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_holidays/64758.html
This is the one I was guessing was written by Furiosity, because it was clearly by one of the more accomplished and polished writers in the H/D crowd. Wonderfully plotty and vivid, it's one of my faves from the fest. It's from Draco's POV, and really captures the nuance of how broken he can be, even as he struggles to regain his dignity. Just beautifully, beautifully done.


Bad Company, by Furiosity
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_holidays/35830.html
A terrific one if you love fighty, snarky, 'we're still enemies' H/D fucking. The set up with the 'mind-link' device Snape uses to communicate with Harry is a little weak, but one hardly cares since it's clearly just a plot device to get things going and it disappears quickly from the story. Hot and not at all sappy.


Once Burned, by Lillithium
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_holidays/49696.html
A comic in 3 parts, gorgeous and sad. As beautiful and enchanting as Lillithium's H/D art always is.


Previously recced:
Of Owls, Horcruxes, and Snakes, by kabal42
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_holidays/61316.html
This is the gift for me, and what I previously wrote: "It's a wartime scenario, very plotty and nice. The sex is a little scant but v. hot. It's very well written, too..." and in comments I called it "Classic H/D."


There is soooooo much of the fest I haven't read yet, I will probably make more recs later. After I am done hiding from the Internet which I am mostly doing until I finish reading Book Seven.

So, sakaim, author of Ambivalent Lucidity, read my H/D AU novel "Tempus" and liked it so much, offered to write a gift fic for me!

The fic "Enemy of My Enemy" is a short story, 8000 words, classic wartime H/D scenario. I asked for "wartime!harry and fugitive!draco" and so what we have is Draco holed up at Grimmauld Place with sundry members of the Order, Harry off hunting Horcuxes... it's a classic post-HPB H/D and the one warning I'll give you is I cried like crazy reading it. Yes, it's true, I think I have raging PMS right now as it wasn't my first fit of tears today. (Weird for me, I know.) But, consider yourselves warned.

So I went to check my f-list a little while ago and the first thing that came up was the quibbler_report, which lists rarepairs fic and news and such. And the first listing that caught my eye read:

• Anon wrote The Trick is to Keep Breathing. Draco finds strength through submission, but something more besides. (Fenrir/Draco, implied Snape/Draco, NC-17, implied child abuse, possible ambiguities of consent, slight bondage)

The summary alone made me say, bookmark that for later! So I went to the page and -- tadaa!! It's actually a gif t fic for ME!!!

I left long comments at the story itself. My rec here consists of, I read it twice in an hour and had to wank both times.

It's here. http://community.livejournal.com/hp_springsmut/60813.html

That is all.

A brilliant postwar story appeared at hp_tarot today. klynie1 has written a nice, meaty tale told from Remus' point of view, in which Scrimgeour still thinks of Harry as a threat, Harry still thinks of Snape as a threat, Remus has more secrets than Harry knows, and Snape is as bitter and difficult as Snape ought to be. It's six chapters, plotty and full of terrific characterization, and you can find it here: http://community.livejournal.com/hp_tarot/5790.html

Overall I've been thrilled at what has come through the Potterverse Tarot Fest so far. Six stories and six pieces of art, with one more story and two more art to finish out Week One still to come. Hooray!

Meanwhile, I turned in a really, really dark piece of fic for HP Springsmut. Hmm, but I can't say more about it without giving myself away. Well, when it's revealed, I'll talk about it then. But yeah, it's dark on close to the level of Draco's Folly dark.

Oh, and the gift fic for me finally appeared at HP Valensmut! It's a Snape/Harry/Draco threesome story, and it's quite tasty but -- at the risk of offending the author, which is *not* my intent -- the piece really, really needed a beta-reader and apparently didn't have one. Which doesn't mean the smut isn't fun! But it's full of homophone errors like "naval" for "navel," "to" for "too," etc. plus typos, missing "s" on many words, misuse of "lay" for "lie" and repeated use of "blonde" and "brunette" for male characters (y'all know that the "e" on the end is for females only, right?). It points up how important beta-readers are, as these things are completely fixable and don't affect the *story* at all, but the errors do get in the way of reader enjoyment. It's here: A Suitable Punishment for y'all to read. It's hard to call this a rec, since usually I wouldn't rec anything that wasn't given a half-decent beta. You have been warned.