#hp genfic recs

[consistentsquash]

HP Gen Fic Rec - Birds of Paradise

Link - Birds of Paradise , 2700 words, Gen

TL;DR - Dumbledore & Fawkes friendship. Short and sweet. Also melancholy. Crack but not really.

Vibe quote

When a human companion dies, the phoenix sings its last song. A song of beauty not of this earth, because it is made of the stars; a song of grief wholly of this earth, because grief lives only where love lives. A lament, the humans called it. They knew too much and too little. A phoenix gives its last song as lament, and then must endure eternity without a song more.

Rec Blurb - The series is about Love and Anarchy. Except when i first wrote my rec for the series I totally missed the anarchy part. Lots of different types of anarchy in Pandemic but Dumbledore's thing is wanting everybody to have bread and leisure. Gosh. This series. I am just feels. Anyway. Got to get to work :D

[consistentsquash]

Ooh! Great pick! I really love The Black Tales part of that series. So dark and so beautiful.

I am also a fan of this fic's contrasts with Al Aaraaf which is about Walburga. Bellatrix and Walburga often feel like stereotypes in canon for me. Like women beyond redemption. Like they were born evil. Which ofc is a valid take in a book for kids but I feel it hits the uneasy feeling about what actually makes women redeemable in canon like Narcissa redeeming herself by making the right choice to save Draco in DH.

Anyway I really love the Bellatrix and Walburga character study parallels/contrasts in Al Najid and Al Aaraaf.

Also Voldemort. Also always the stars.

Also the bears :D

☆Day 21: A thought-provoking fic☆

Al Najīd by eldritcher

Relationship: Bellatrix Black Lestrange and Eileen Prince

summary:

A girl with a plan.

Rating: M

Category: Gen

Words: 2, 779

This one-shot is a part of the Black tales in Eldritch [ a neat series about different HP characters and timelines ] , focusing on Bellatrix Black. This series in general is a treat for thought, so I recommend checking it out plus the one-shot.

"Did you know that in the most northern parts of the world, where tribes live in igloos, where boys hunt polar bears to prove that they are worthy of being called men, they revere your star the most?"

She shakes her head. Maybe she can trap a few polar bears with choice and unforgivable curses of persuasion to herd them for their glorious cause.

"The rise of your star marks the end of winter's dark. The days grow longer. When they sight your star, they rejoice and dance all night long, burning precious oil and wood happily because they know the star promises daylight and spring."

@hprecfest

[daily-snitch]

The Daily Snitch – Friday, May 4, 2018 May the Fourth Be With You!

Harry Potter – Actors and Movies: • Rob Knox (Marcus Belby)'s mother speaks out on the 10th anniversary of his death. Prompt Challenges: • hogwarts365 posted Prompt # 241 (due on or before May 5): "The amount of good luck coming your way depends on your willingness to act". — Barbara Sher, Fortune and Circumstance. • hp_het posted Challenge 5: Draco Malfoy. • draco100 posted Prompt # 42: Eyes Communities: • hp_may_madness posted prompts for Day 3 and Day 4. • one_bad_man made a mod post about Tag-Wrangling. (Sign-ups for next week are full.) • Shrieking Shack Society (on Facebook) announced the Winners of the Mischief Managed 2018 Awards (Marauders and Marauders Era fanfic awards) • hd_fan_fair posted the promotion banner for the upcoming Harry/Draco Food Fair. • harrydracompreg posted a Reminder that submissions are due on Thursday, May 10th. Masterlists and Weekly Round-ups: • dracotops_harry posted the 2018 Fest Masterlist. • draco100 posted the Prompt # 41 Round-up Post. Fandom Recs: • @nachodiablo recced a Remus Lupin/Sirius Black fic (R). • melodyssister recced a Hermione Granger/Severus Snape WIP (R; warnings). Resources: • hp_britglish has an inquiry about the expression "What's with him?" Archive News: • OTW Guest Post: Agnese Pietrobon (fandom studies scholar, fanheart3). Discussions: • Bella wrote Five Reasons Why 'Goblet of Fire' Is The Best Book. Essay/Meta: • Minal wrote Superheroes Meet Wizards: Similarities Between 'Avengers: Infinity War' and Harry Potter. General Fandom News: • Watch the Harry Potter fan film Son of the Moon. (Marauders' Era, Remus Lupin-centric, 14:23 minutes) • The Hogwarts Professor Guest Post; Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery Game is 'haltingly magical'. • @festforall-genfic announced the Fest for All: Genfic Edition. (All fandoms, sign-ups open May 31.)

Please send your fandom news to the Daily Snitch. Our tumblr hashtag is # dailysnitch.

[raincloudalligator-blog]

Fic Review: Scenes from the Hog’s Head Inn

Link: http://wotcher-wombat.livejournal.com/5719.html

Author: wotcher_wombat

Genre(s): genfic, character study, missing moments 

Chars: Sirius Black, Aberforth Dumbledore 

Length: 11,341 words

I LOVE fics like these. By which I mean fics which nicely round out canon, extrapolating character actions and insights from what we already know, adding to the story and retaining its richness. This one is a collection of moments between Sirius and Aberforth stretching from Sirius’s early years at Hogwarts until his death. The way it fills in canon is stunning. It manages to incorporate a lot of ‘missing moments’, all tied in very neatly, with everyone staying in-character. I won’t say which moments because it’s more fun to discover them while reading (and go ‘of course, that’s how it happened!’), but the one I will mention because it makes so much sense - is Sirius suspecting Dumbledore towards the end of the First War after learning about his past, explaining why his offer to be the Potters’ Secret Keeper was turned down. Remember Rosmerta wondering if Dumbledore suspected Sirius at the time? Turns out it was mutual, just one big circle of distrust. 

Sirius’s character is sketched out through Aberforth’s POV, Aberforth who is disillusioned and distant, yet committed to some measure of truth. This is a very convincing, well-rounded Sirius - the kind we rarely see. I feel like there is always something off in most characterisations - he’s either too dramatic or too flippant or too...something. Of course, given that this is a short fic which only captures brief interactions, one could argue that the character is too thin to really be up for comparison. 

Aberforth works too. He is peevish and guarded and has zero inclination towards being a hero, preferring instead to look out for himself. I felt like his interaction with his brother is a bit caricatured, but it’s fine seeing that that’s not really the focus of the story.

The best part about the fic is even though it’s not chronological, there is a wonderfully coherent narrative which builds up to an effective punch at the end, revealing a lot about Sirius and his place in the world of canon. Sirius never got a fitting end, dying the way he did, and we never see him being publicly exonerated. There is a palpable lack of closure to his story and this fic embraces that by casting Aberforth as the final arbiter, who like everyone else has only bits and pieces of information, but is more shrewd than most.   

[jughead-is-canonically-aroace]

SAME 90% of my harry potter fic pile is just this fanfic authors saying 'wow jk never gave hp a magic system … if ANYONE wants recs i HAVE them mostly on ff net lol 👀 may we have them?

yessss this is not all of them because that's Too Many but here's some !

obligatory "fuuuuck jkr", additional "if anyone needs to reckon with their relationship to harry potter through 350-odd hours of critical analysis, here's a podcast: the shrieking shack. it's a banger, plus you get to hear about the slow decline of the potter brand over the past 3 years, plus fun stuff in the third segment, plus a 4 hour episode right at the end where they talk themselves into a truly WILD interpretation of The Prince's Tale (the episode is the prince's fail and honestly i recommend it independently just bc it's so fucking funny)"

also, obligatory "i haven't read hp fic in a couple years now so i can't attest for the quality of these vis a vis my current fic tastes and sensibilities. all descriptions based on my memories of them"

all but the first one of these are genfic

first, chaos theory!

this one's long as hell <3 it's a draco-centric drarry fic written by someone who really wanted to play with physics vis a vis harry potter. draco malfoy is a pernicious genius, which is a rare variant, as it's usually harry. at one point he builds a canon to launch things into the sun.

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/10298713/1/Chaos-Theory

crowbar

harry's wand breaks and now he can do magic with a crowbar. despite all evidence to the contrary, everyone insists that he is a squib now. there's also a sequel

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3485471/1/Crowbar https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3834643/1/Pop-Goes-the-Weasel

don't you know who i think i am?

lord voldemort's many, many, many children

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26020093/chapters/63269107

fantastic elves and where to find them & the handbook of elf psychology

in which harry gets abandoned in the woods and determines that he must be a forest elf. featuring some house elf emancipation!

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/8197451/1/ https://m.fanfiction.net/s/8509020/1/

harry the hufflepuff

what if harry had mad adhd and spent all his time inventing ways to get more opportunities to laze around and do nothing <3 the author doesn't think harry has adhd but i say he does and i'm right

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/6466185/1/ https://m.fanfiction.net/s/7330591/1/ https://m.fanfiction.net/s/10843543/1/

a lightning's tale

harry and hogwarts are best friends <3

http://archiveofourown.org/works/3555050/chapters/7828463

not noteworthy

"i always hope they'll forget to hand these out" -fred and george, book 1. what happens if you don't get the note at the end of the year telling you not to use magic over the holidays?

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4439933/1/Not-Noteworthy

oh god not again!

you've heard of this fic, i swear. harry gets time travelled back to first year and decides fuck it, i'm gonna do some capitalism

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/4536005/1/

poison pen

not strictly speaking of the genre, but i feel obligated to recommend it as restitution towards the distain and slander aimed at journalism throughout the series. it's a banger. harry becomes a pseudononymous journalist campaigning for his own safety. 4th year

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5554780/1/Poison-Pen

the price is right

harry is a pint-sized econ major. a true staple of the genre

http://archiveofourown.org/works/2337458/chapters/5151182

prodigal delinquient

another staple of the genre! this is literally just harry playing with magic, testing its boundaries, and utterly refusing them when possible. i'd go so far as to call this the defining fic of the genre

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4300345/1/Prodigal-Delinquent

the cupboard under the stairs, et al.

i dropped off this series around year 3, but it was quite good as i recall. i think it's got some harmony? but it's in the genfic section so idk

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10449375/1/
 https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10653495/1/Hermione-s-Book-Nook https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10874153/1/Potter-Haven

twins

harry is 2 people now i guess! i had a bnha oc inspired by this story

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7254825/1/Twins

[consistentsquash]

Just read this fic!!! I really loved it! Whoa <3 Great rec!!! <3

Day 24: A holiday fic

January was moments—

Tavina on AO3 • 1k, G • Cho & Percy

— and January was a year. A moment Cho and Percy spent together that January, where things had not yet entirely fallen apart. January 27th, 1998.

Rec: Chinese New Year, Cho and Percy, food as love and traditions and connections in the last year of the war. i love how cozy and soft and intimate this is, even against the backdrop of why it’s just them, celebrating alone.

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49329502

--

@hprecfest | hprecs on dreamwidth | my #hprecfest picks

[hypokeimena]

link for the longfic?

https://m.fanfiction.net/u/3489773/murkybluematter

it’s an alanna the lioness pastiche fic in which harry is a girl who wants to learn potions from shape, and tom riddle never became voldemort - instead, he went into politics, and hogwarts has been pureblood only for a decade. how will harry get to hogwarts? crossdress and trade places with uncle sirius’ son, her cousin archie. it’s really more origfic set more or less in the hp universe, but i tend to read hp fic primarily based on 1. length 2. being plot-driven genfic, so this is like… perfect, for me. it suffers from some significant and persistent SPAG issues and could probably do with some heavy edits but it’s always exactly what i want to be reading, ie, as i said, more or less Densely Plotted Crossdressing Shenanigans. warning for cis author but again i have more or less found this series MUCH less upsetting than the actual alanna books from a gender perspective so there you go. also i love a lot of the ocs.

anyway i also got some requests for other long gen fic recs - a quick rundown of non-hp gen longfics i like, above the cut: daemorphing (animorphs/hdm), republic of heaven community radio (wtnv/hdm, complete), imagine the ocean (atla, katara is the avatar), the stone gryphon (narnia), amarguerite’s “a monstrous regiment” (temeraire/pride & prejudice; her other fic is quite good as well but definitely shippier), chosen man by sineala (eagle of the ninth; def shippy but good immersive historical fiction), carpetbaggers by cofax (narnia), through a looking glass darkly (alice 2009 miniseries)

some other hp longfic recs (under the cut to save a dashboard & bc some of these reviews are a little franker about the things i don’t like than i feel comfortable putting where an author might see them unprompted):

basically if you’re reading for “mostly gen” and “longfic” you have to be flexible about some things incl. writing wonkiness (usually minor SPAG/copyediting issues but often super enormous longfics are in need of like… tightness/pacing issues), bad politics, and presence of snape, a lot of the people who write good longfic love to write him

if you want ship recs i do have those but you’ll probably be better served looking at a shippy reclist. most of these are more or less gen, or sometimes shippy but that’s not what i read them for, etc.

•brilliantlady (ao3 & ff.net) has a series called something like “perfectly normal” that’s very good & a LOT of fun, including a harry whose best friends are neville and hermione, who has some distant cousins in the slytherin crowd, and who’s leaned into his fame a little. does posit that most muggleborns are descended from squibs which i sometimes find intolerable but i do like this fic a lot.

•of course all of arsinoe de blassenville’s fics - “the golden age” is a kind of bleak view of how they all got from the end of DH to the epilogue, including some interesting concepts. “the best revenge” is one of the more tolerable snape raises harry longfics out there and has a cute harry. in general i like the way she writes characters behaving badly and well and complciatedly

•i haven’t reread this one in a while but there’s a really good hermione fic i loved about muggleborn rights. background snarry but i scrolled past it so it’s def possible to read without getting into that. it’s called in loco parentis and it’s by dolores crane on ao3 and possibly other places as well

•forging the sword on ff.net hasn’t updated, last i checked, for about three years but it’s one of my faves. ginny dies in the chamber, and the trio get… intense, so nothing like that ever happens again. but also they’re still like. 12.

•gatewaygirl’s stuff - of course blood magic is her famous severitus fic but i actually just recently read her snakes and lions series, which is one of the few fics i’ve read that has trans wizards in it and i like the way she writes teen nastiness and kindness and shenanigans. it hadn’t updated in a year and a half but i just checked and it’s also recently updated, in the last few weeks i think. sometimes wanders into Pureblood Culture Tm stuff but mostly in a way i can stand.

•i like laventadorn’s never ending road but it is like snarry endgame which i have been trying to ignore and not think about bc of how much i love every girl harry - this one is particularly convincing, tough and fierce and more or less the same as boy harry but read totally differently by the world at large, and i really like some of the side plots (asteria! wolfsbane!). the series starts at second year.

•brilliantlady’s ff also has an “hp for kids” reclist, which is mostly stories that don’t contain too much romance or gore and there’s some good long stuff in there.

•there’s a series called mary potter - ff and ao3 but i don’t remember the authors name - that’s also long and readable; it’s very slytherin and i don’t like the ocs or some of the characterization choices as much as i might, but i like a girl harry

•standard extremely conflicted rec for the sacrifices arc - i have really serious issues with the way that series handles a lot of stuff around abuse recovery and things like reconciliation and justice for past crimes but on the other hand it’s like five million words long and i HAVE read it in its entirety three times. i deeply and passionately love a lot of the OCs. this is also the only hp fic i’ve ever read that unilaterally and unequivocally states that, eg, house elf slavery is wrong and needs to stop, and that magical creatures that are people ARE PEOPLE, and makes this an enormous and critically important plot point throughout the series. hate that this is the only series that does that, especially given my ENORMOUS reservations with what this series considers a “forgivable mistake”

[consistentsquash]

I love that dueltastic fic!!!! <3 Adding the others to my TBR. Beholder and Hoggywarty have incredible fics!

HP Rec Fest - Day 16

Prompt: A fic that made you laugh @hprecfest

Circumstances of a Small and Accidental Nature

Pairing: Minerva/Severus

Creator: dueltastic

Rating: T/PG-13

Word Count: 26,750

Summary: Severus and Minerva manage a small problem.

Why You Should Check It Out:

This multi-chaptered fic has Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall managing a small, dark-haired problem. Spot-on characterizations, dry wit, and wonderful dialogue are highlights of this genre-fic that somehow makes you say, "Yeah, that could happen."

Old Friends and New Ones

Characters: Filius, Neville, Pomona, Hagrid, Minerva

Creator: pyttan

Rating: K+/PG

Word Count: 3,000

Summary: Summary: Sometimes youth catches up to age.

Why You Should Check It Out:

So funny. I love the way the author uses the obvious-since-Book-1 fact that Hogwarts' teachers (some, anyway) are dreadfully cavalier about safety.

Filius’s POV is one we don’t get often enough, and this fic does it beautifully. He’s perspicacious and wildly funny. And the author also gives us a Neville who has developed a bit of a Slytherin side!

Only Technically Dead

Characters: Filius Flitwick, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minerva McGonagall, Rosmerta, Severus Snape

Creator: themightyflynn

Rating: K+/PG

Word Count: 6,368

Summary: A mishap with the Ministry filing system may turn into something more than just an annoyance for Severus. Especially if Minerva has anything to say about it.

Why You Should Check It Out:

This fun romp through the Ministry archives has Severus dealing with administrative headaches and banking bureaucracy and Minerva exercising her inner Slytherin.

It is, as one would expect, very funny, but it also contains some lovely character studies.

Two Capable Women

Pairing: Irma/Minerva

Creator: therealsnape

Rating: M/R

Word Count: 6,700

Summary: A great many dreadful things have befallen the Hogwarts staff over the years, but the motivational training by Wilberforce (Bertie) Arbuthnot counts among the worst. However, Irma and Minerva rise to the occasion with the fortitude one may expect of two very capable women.

Why You Should Read It:

"Two Capable Women" is a fabulous story that wryly eavesdrops on the developing relationship between Minerva and Irma in the context of a motivational course. You can just imagine the reactions from the two redoubtable ladies and the other Hogwartians. Oh, wait … you don't have to imagine them, you can read them (and they're hilarious) at Beholder.

[consistentsquash]

5 Short Fic Recs for Friday

going through some family medical nightmare so didn't really have time to check out a lot of new fic. also blog is on queue sorry if i missed any mentions and stuff. hope to be back when life gets better! anyway this week's recs! mostly old fic rereads.

The Concentration of Salt in Fresh Water (After the Deluge) by Jay Tryfanstone. Ginny/Giant Squid. 100 words. Drabble. The writing feels so atmospheric and evocative. I am really on a Tryfanstone binge at the moment and loving it. Especially love the prose and the storytelling creativity. Definitely on the LJ fandom prose style side.Which can be pretty different from modern styles. YMMV. Wishes unwritten rise like bubbles to the surface. Some – don’t burst.

2. October by ashesasheshackles. 3 Drabbles. 300 words. The first drabble is a super sharp character study of Barty Crouch Jr. Really precise and powerful. Even without the costume of another's flesh, even if it was his own bones that propped him up, his father would have failed to see him.  

3. Devotion by Anonymous. 26000 words. Complete. Snarry a thon 2023 fest collection. Snarry fic. Intense/dirty bad/hot/wrong. Exactly what I want from my Snarry! Though the worst crime of all is Potter’s. "Did you want to die?" Also The boy knows — he knows — he can take anything he wants. That bitter surrender is surrender all the same. That the force of Severus’ loathing is fed by his longing.

4. Ouroboros by eldritcher. 26500 words. Complete. One of their older fics which got reposted on AO3. Omg. The level of whoa! in this fic. Dysfunctional John Wick Voldemort wins, gets his revenge and ofc victory is totally pointless. When he understands that he gets depressed. Like really depressed. Like Kafka levels of depressed. Voldemort seducing Narcissa ftw. Voldemort pimping out Narcissa to get Snape's loyalty even more ftw. Honestly this fic was a total feverdream. Its not really a pairing fic. More of a Voldemort character study. It was a gentle game from then. I saw to Narcissa every day, cocooned her in pleasure and safety, and softly snuffed out her devotion to her husband. Lucius, poor Lucius, was too proper to pleasure his wife as she desired. I, on the other hand, had spent my childhood in the alleys of London’s East End.

5. charitable explorations by oh_gilderory. This is a Wolfstar comic with Trans Sirius Black. Complete. From the HP Trans fest 2023 collection. Short and sweet. Modern AU. Streamer Sirius. Kind of blurry and i had to zoom a lot on my kindle. but idk maybe that's just my kindle. But definitely wanted to share it because I loved it.

[consistentsquash]

5 fic recs for Friday

Pretty behind on reading but got some recs for you!! Happy Friday <3

Fruitful by dalula.

Length - 1500 words.

Pairing - Druella/Cygnus

Blurb - Super creative. Super rare pair. Really intense Druella characterization. Creepy/dirty/bad/hot/wrong. This fic is pretty ruthless. Loved it. From @hp-chan-fest. The collection on AO3.

Vibe quote

He doesn't even blink when she takes him to an empty bedroom and locks the door behind him. With siblings like Walburga and Alphard, Druella had expected him to have some kind of common sense, or at least a little curiosity, but no. He stands waiting for her, delightfully naïve.

Hiraeth by @theseismicshifts

Length - 2800 words

Pairing - Genfic. Regulus and Sirius.

Blurb - Omg. Regulus checking on his brother during Azkaban. It's horrible. Super tragic. Super loving. Heartbreaking. Must read. This is from Ghost Regulus Fest 2023.

Jumping up, Regulus stood between the hungry Dementor and what remained of his brother. With his feet planted firmly and hands gripped in knuckle whitening fists, he was determined to make a difference– this time.

Just Wednesday by @lumosatnight

Length - 2200 words

Pairing - Wednesday/Enid

Blurb - Ok! Super late to the Wednesday f/f fics but I picked the best fic to start with. Totally vibe with this. Really love how sensitive + bold the fic gets about gender vibes. Also Monday (fuck/fucker/fucks) is my gender on Mondays just in case anybody wanted to know :D

“Personal pronouns. I think they’re dumb. They shouldn’t matter.” Eugene pokes his curly head around the hive. “I don’t think they’re dumb.” His brows pinch together. “And I think they do matter. It gives you something to feel connected to, something to say ‘This is for me. This is mine.’” He looks down sheepishly. “I mean, only if you want to. But lots of people want to. I know I want to. I know Enid wants to, too.”

Year of the Thestral by @perverse-idyll

Length - 22800 words WIP

Pairing - Hooch/McGonagall, Snape/McGonagall

TL;DR - You know what they say about making deals with the devil. This fic is pretty much that.

A fic I read at work. I mean I definitely shouldn't be reading at work but I saw the update and of course needed to read it immediately. Because this is my favorite WIP from perverse_idyll at the moment. Maybe it's kind of a Snarry betrayal to say that but I feel the Snape characterization here is the same level of intense as Rose and Fire which is something I haven't seen before in fic. YMMV!

Premise - the structure of the fic is really brilliant. We get to start with McGonagall post war but like really, really post war. Love the themes of growing older and how that makes you think about the past differently. Of course, for McGonagall the past doesn't get easier to think about. Because her past during that DH year is the worst. Really intense, really about a battle of ego/principles/desperation/hatred/everything. We get to see why that is. Definitely not good. I am a super Snape fan but I really want to cancel him in this fic. But McGonagall herself is super flawed/super human. I feel for her so much. Actually I feel for both of them but Snape is definitely A+ bastard.

Prose - Gosh, the prose. It's actually pretty different from the usual PI prose. The McGonagall voice is super sharp/super observant/super vivid. But not like in the descriptive sense we get to see in the author's other fics. This is an incredibly brutal POV which definitely goes more hammer compared to paintbrush. Idk if that makes sense.

Vibe quote

"One more thing before you go," he said, and Minerva braced herself, her gaze lifting to the portrait of Dumbledore asleep, head on one hand, spectacles sitting crooked on his crooked nose. "Do not ever," Severus enunciated, the hiss sharpening to a viper's threat, "come in here and presume to thank me for sparing your conscience. I will not tolerate being patted on the head as if I've performed a party trick. I'm not your pet, Minerva. My perceived lenience in this instance has nothing to do with you. Make that mistake again, and I will take my alleged 'fairness' out of Longbottom's hide." "Over my dead body," she snapped, meeting coldness with coldness and feeling that melodramatic ripostes were the only possible response to such foul nonsense.

The Eumenides Triptych (Szozat, Eumenides, O Glaube) by eldritcher

Length - 12000 words, complete.

Pairing - Tom Riddle/Abraxas Malfoy.

TL;DR - Sometimes making deals with a God is just as bad as making deals with a devil. This fic is pretty much that.

Dark/delicious/intense. Mythical/haunting/lyrical/horrible. Super unhealthy. Also Love in Capital Letters. <3

Premise - There are three Gods in Tom Riddle's life. First of course is Albus Dumbledore. Second is Tom himself. Third is Abraxas who is Tom's love interest. Depending on the choices Albus Dumbledore and Abraxas make Tom either goes into madness + evil + destruction or has a traumatized life after going through a lot of loss/grief . Definitely no happy ending. But it's absolutely human either way.

Beats - Albus Dumbledore timetravels to adopts/raises Tom Riddle but Tom dies during the war with Grindelwald. Albus resurrects Tom with Sacrifice in Szozat. Of course Abraxas has got to deal with the fallout in Eumenides. It is horrible. But also beautiful. We get to see the conclusion in O Glaube.

The theme of choice - The Prometheus Triptych has some of the defining characterizations and character dynamics which influenced literally 99% of the fics in that pairing. It is about Abraxas enabling Tom Riddle because of their love. Eumenides goes in the opposite direction which is Abraxas fixing Tom Riddle because of love. A beautiful story about the two of the extremes love can lead to. Somebody said it's the difference between the Tragedy that condemns/The Tragedy that redeems. Pretty much this 100%.

Vibe Quote

Grindelwald had dragged the boy before us. His men had carven an eagle on his back, and cut his bones open from breast to loin, and pulled his organs out and fed them to the dogs. And what remained, it had been left to rot in the open fields of the no man's land on the front. There it would have lain, until the vermin and the rains and the earth picked it clean, but Albus Dumbledore had been a creature that had swept across time to raise the boy as his own, and he had eaten the flesh to inverted womb's song.

[businesstiramisu]

Huh, that's interesting that you liked the first 5 chapters best because I distinctly remember the friend who recommended it to me warning "try to get past chapter 5 to see if you actually like it", and I remember finding that I agreed with that advice. This would've been when the fic was maybe half complete, so maybe the end is even worse than the beginning, I don't care enough to re-read and check.

I will say one thing that really spoke to me in the fic was Hermione's introduction -- the description of a fundamentally lonely kid who had no idea how to reach out to her peers except by offering to help (with homework, classroom duties, anything) really resonated with me. We're talking maybe 4 paragraphs in a 600k word fic, though, I wouldn't recommend reading the whole thing on the strength of that. I enjoyed the fic, but a large part of that was having friends to chat about the updates with.

Anyways I have no idea who anon is or what they're looking for in a fanfic (given how they sent this ask, I'm guessing they're in it for fandom drama, in which case have fun I guess? ) but last time HPMOR came up I listed off a couple gen HP fics that I'd recommend over HPMOR, just off the top of my head. (And for shippy fics, Hermione's Cram School for Delinquents on the Run is widely beloved and probably my favorite)

Is HPMoR worth reading?

Absolutely not.

Reading it as a serialized publication was constantly operating under the hope that it would get as good as the first five chapters ever again, and there were a couple scenes came close to succeeding but it was a mire of dropped subplots and the last two arc was such a terrible attempt to over-correct for the accusations of misogyny leveled at EY that it accidentally doubled down on turning the main female character into a lamp.

Also there are occasional bright spots in the writing but overall it is pretty bad. Scenes are bland and confusing, characters are not really fleshed out, and there is a lot of unnecessary repetition.

[consistentsquash]

Hi Squash! 🤗 Do you have any fic recs with badass ladies? Without romance preferably.

Hiya nonnie! I don't read a lot of genfic but I got you! They are pretty queer so definitely see if that's your vibe.

Depending on the archetype you like, hope you find something for you! IMO these fics do a great job of looking at the archetype and subverting it in some sense.

The Nurturing Mother - No Room for the Weak by @perverse-idyll. Ever thought about how Eileen raised Snape and the dynamics of their relationship? Take a minute. Think about it. Then go read this fic. Get your mind blown! Actually make sure you have something to cuddle after reading because you are going to need it. The Older Guide - Rosmerta's Special Brew by @lumosatnight. Professors at Hogwarts are amazing of course. But to teach folks about real life we've got Rosmerta. With her special brew. You are totally going to need this recovery after the intense first fic. It's written in a classic 5+1 format but that works brilliantly for this fic.

The Warrior Maiden - A Horse with no name by eldritcher. Can you be a legit BAMF heroine without actually losing your femininity? The Narcissa characterization in this is a masterclass in writing female characters honestly. She is flawed, ruthless, loyal and absolutely lovable. Also really, really beautiful aroace take on the maiden archetype which I love. Definitely have some tissues ready.

The Independent Young Woman - Flipping the Elephant by therealsnape. Mafalda Hopkirk has a ton of angst like a lot of us about life, marriage, what to do about her goals, what her goals should be... she gets a house and it totally changes her life. Sweet and wholesome fic. You are going to love this after the intensity in the previous one!

The Best Friend - Four Christmases by @squibstress. What does it mean to be Snape's friend? What sort of support/help will he accept from a friend? This fic doesn't soften Snape. McGonagall knows exactly the type of friendship/support he needs. But she isn't a pushover type. Zero percent pushover. 100% badass. A rich, intense dessert fic!

[consistentsquash]

Fic Rec - Minvember - Day 8 - “Portrait“

Title - Portraits

Author - Lyn Piton

Length - 767 words

Summary - Minerva McGonagall tries to do the job she must, while avoiding reminders of the death she can't face.  Set just after the end of HBP.  ADMM if you squint, but otherwise gen.

Rating - G

Rec - Just like Day 7′s fic, Goodbye, this fic  is also about closure. Minerva is avoiding dealing with Albus Dumbledore’s portrait. But that portrait isn’t going to let her continue avoiding! Bittersweet fic.

The moment the door closed behind her, Phineas snorted. “I always said you would be the end of this school, Dumbledore, but to do so as a portrait shows more talent than I would have credited you with.”

[consistentsquash]

OOH! I actually know some of these fics! Really love MM's determination + follow through in Truths Found in the Art of Change. This is so OOTP and DH McGonagall.

Even if it's eleven years too late, Harry Potter will at last wake up knowing that she has a proper home, and Minerva wouldn't have it any other way.

Iirc I read Phoenix, Disinclined on Snapecase. Love how sensitive the writing is about the topics.

Adding the others to my TBR.

HP Rec Fest - Day 21

Prompt: A thought-provoking fic @hprecfest

Truths Found in the Art of Change

Characters: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall, Poppy Pomfrey

Pairing: Minerva McGonagall/Poppy Pomfrey

Creator: TransRights (Duskglass)

Rating: K/G

Warning: misgendering, mentions of dysphoria

Word Count: 3,009

Summary: it begins, time and again, with a girl and a book.

Why You Should Check It Out:

From the HP Trans Fest 2021, this is a gorgeous story of acceptance and love that includes one of my favorite tropes: Minerva as mentor. This time, however, her mentorship goes beyond the academic into areas of gender identity. The scene with BAMF!Minerva talking to Petunia made my little heart sing.

A Bit of Earth Beneath the Feet

Characters: Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin

Creator: lash_larue

Rating: T/PG-13

Word Count: 8,400

Summary: Sometimes a woman does what she feels is right, and neither asks permission nor looks back.

Why You Should Check It Out:

A marvellous portrait of friendship and of a wonderful teacher who leads a perceptive student to important decisions and realizations, and a tribute to real-life caring teachers.

Endings and Beginnings

Characters: Augusta Longbottom, Dobby, Hermione Granger, Irma Pince, Original Character, Severus Snape

Creator: delphipsmith

Rating: K/G

Word Count: 9,000

Summary: An ancient mystery and a modern one: do they hold one another's answers?

Why You Should Check It Out:

I do love fics that probe wizarding lore, and this one takes a deep and nuanced look at house-elf history and how things came to be as they were.

It's full of wonderful details and exquisitely drawn characters, and the gentle humor clothes some trenchant obeservations of wizarding society that ring true in today's real world.

The Phoenix, Disinclined

Character: Severus Snape

Creator: prolurk

Rating: K+/PG

**Warning: attempted suicide

Word Count:** 9,965

Summary: Severus Snape survived Nagini's attack. And he's not happy about it.

Why You Should Check It Out:

A difficult—and essential—story about a difficult subject. This is all about trauma and survivor's guilt, featuring a Severus who is not at all happy at having survived.

The author builds their tale carefully and respectfully, and perfectly captures Severus's progress from terror and bewilderment, through malaise, and then to (grudging) acceptance. The details of the therapy he undergoes to get there are perfectly drawn.

[daily-snitch]

The Daily Snitch - Weekend Edition, February 19, 2017

Joanne K. Rowling: • Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: 20th Anniversary to be celebrated at London Book Screen Week. • Harry Potter: The Exhibition comes to CineMec Utrecht from February 11 to June 30. Harry Potter – Actors and Movies: • Happy Belated Birthday to Bonnie Wright! (Ginny Weasley). • Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory) and cast talk about filming 'The Lost City of Z'. • Gary Oldman (Sirius Black): first posted unveiled for upcoming action thriller 'Hunter Killer'. • Warwick Davis (Professor Flitwick) visits Lumos Programmes in Moldavia. • Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) on the importance of Hermione as a female role model and superhero. • Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) speculates about Lucius Malfoy's future after the war. • David Tennant (Barty Crouch Jr.) talks about the final season of 'Broadchurch'. • Emma Thompson (Professor Trelawney) talks about shooting the WWII movie 'Alone in Berlin'. • David Thewlis (Remus Lupin) stars as Ares, god of war, in the upcoming DC superhero franchise 'Wonder Woman'. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: • Broadway 'Cursed Child' auditions are scheduled for this upcoming week in New York. • HP and the Cursed Child won 8 What'sOnStage Awards, among them Best New Play, Best Direction, and Best Set Design. Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them – Movies and Actors: • Dan Folger (Jacob Kowalski) and Alison Sudol (Queenie Greengrass) hosts podcast to talk about "all manner of stories from set and the story"(free on iTunes). Prompt Challenges: • There's a new challenge at the HPFT Archive: The Mythical Challenge. (Challenge ends April 25) • hogwarts365 posted Prompt #180 (due on or before February 25): Do opposites really attract?, Desire/Erised and Enervate or Rennervate. • hp_humpdrabbles posted last week's drabble and the prompts for this week: 1. Fuzzy handcuffs (image), 2.Hot wax (image NSFW), and 3. Gryffindor Quidditch boys. Communities: • The Valentine's Day Comment Fest at hp_unfaithful will wrap up today • hp_3somes announced that Sign-ups for the 2017 Fest are open. • The If The Prompt Fits-challenge at Hawthorne & Vine has started. • lupin_snape has been collecting Romantic Wolfstar Recs since Valentine's Day. • ron_draco_fest posted a Reminder that submissions are past due! (for all who have not yet submitted) • hd_owlpost made a Mod Post: Apology and Stats. Masterlists and Weekly Round-ups: • hd_owlpost posted the Masterlist of All Owl Gifts 2016. • hogwarts365 posted the Prompt #179 Masterlist. Editor's Choice Rec: • Nerds by @upthehillart (Draco/Hermione; G; art) Fandom Recs: • capitu recced a Harry/Draco fic (NC-17). • fangqueen recced an Oliver Wood/Marcus Flint/Draco Malfoy fic (NC-17). • potteresque_ire recced a Harry/Draco fic and a H/D German translation (R and NC-17). • snowgall recced 6 Harry/Draco fics (3 x NC-17, 1 x R, 2 x PG) from hd_owlpost Fest. • toblass recced fanartist Joeyv7 (four pieces of art). • themightyflynn recced a Snape/Harry fic (NC-17). Searches: • daily_snitch is looking for your recs (fic, art, podfic, meta ...) for the Special Edition: Roxanne Weasley. Resources: • Schedule of Upcoming Events from February 19 to 25 at potterfests. • The SS/HP Prophet from February 12 to 18. Essay/Meta: • The Importance of Being Granger by Holly from Mugglenet. • John Granger wrote Harry Potter and Lolita: J. K. Rowling’s ‘Relationship’ with Vladimir Nabokov (Names, Politics, Alchemy, and Parody). (www.hogwartsprofessor.com) Community Spotlight: ♥ quibbler_report – a rarepair and genfic resource A "recsletter" specializing in reccing rare pairs and gen fic. A rarepair is defined "as a pairing that is unusual, unconventional, or has a significant lack of fanfic or art dedicated to it." The list of current rarepairs can be found on the profile page of the quibbler_report. Each edition features the categories "Crumple-Horned Snorkacks (Fics)", "Blibbering Humdingers (Art), and "Thestrals (Challenges, Communities and Discussion)". Please send your fandom news to the Daily Snitch.

[consistentsquash]

I loved this one! <3 How did you even find it in the first place?

HP Rec Fest - Day 15

Prompt: A favorite series @hprecfest

Untitled (A Patronus Is)

Characters: Cho Chang, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Ron Weasley, Seamus Finnegan

Creator: @thatsadifferentstory

Rating: K/G

Word Count: 343

Why You Should Check It Out:

This short piece, apparently posted five years ago, appeared on my Tumblr feed without a title, but I refer to it as “A Patronus Is” because it’s a story, in list format, of how Harry describes a Patronus to each character. It’s lyrical and lovely, and it perfectly captures each character. This Harry is a very perceptive teacher.