New HP story: The Familiar

[resonant]

The Familiar
Harry/Snape -- NC-17 -- 40K
No underage
A potion goes awry.

Many thanks to Julad and Cesca and Calico for help that went way beyond beta.

Don't they sound like a line from a ballad, my betas?

There were three sisters lived in a wood,
Julad and Cesca and Calico,
And they fixed a story that wasn't much good,
All along the banks of Spey-o.

Comments

[dahlia-777.livejournal.com]

I really like your story. It's so simply and elegantly told. And the quiet, assured style fitted with the way you wrote the characters. Harry was done just right - not too cheeky, but not too submissive either. And perfectly well able to hold his own, which I always think is vital if he's going to get together with Snape. I also enjoyed the way Snape went along with the situation, accepting Harry's presence (in whatever form) in his life with resignation and later a rather guarded contentment. And the war trauma both Snape and Harry were suffering was handled in an understated manner that was all the more telling as a result. I don't know how many other HP stories you've written, but I'm going to track them all down now.

BTW, thanks for 'friending' me. I've added you back.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Thanks! They're both pretty prickly, aren't they, Harry and Snape? I don't really understand why I like the pairing so much, but on a shallow level it's lots of fun to make them snark at each other.

I've only written one other HP story, and it's very short: Down, You Lie Down Too. (http://trickster.org/sigrid/down.html) I have a Harry/Draco, Transfigurations, that's been in progress for what feels like decades. If my betas were less brilliant, my stories wouldn't be as good, but they'd get finished ...

Thanks -- I love it when people friend me. Makes me feel Popular.

Re:

[dahlia-777.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. Yes, I like that one too. Especially the way the war makes them so matter-of-fact, and uninhibited, about what they are doing. And in the library of all places - nice choice of location. The bit where Harry thinks Snape's voice is the only sexy thing about him is interesting. Did he really mean that? Or is he in denial? (Or is the reader not supposed to know for sure? You don't have to tell me if you don't want).

I'll be very interested to read the H/D story when it comes out. I'm glad you like Draco enough to write about him. So many H/S writers seem to hate him. You killed him off in The Familiar, so I suspected you might be one of them.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked it. There wasn't much to it, but it was fun to write.

The bit where Harry thinks Snape's voice is the only sexy thing about him is interesting. Did he really mean that? Or is he in denial? (Or is the reader not supposed to know for sure? You don't have to tell me if you don't want).

In the context of the story, I suppose it could go either way. For what it's worth, when I try to play the story out after the ending in my mind, I find that it really is the life force for Harry -- that he really doesn't feel much attraction to Snape, unless I can get them to develop a friendship first, which of course can take years. The Snape in my head, on the other hand, is rather more affected by this little interval than he lets on.

So many H/S writers seem to hate Draco. You killed him off in The Familiar, so I suspected you might be one of them.

I don't hate Draco, but evidently Snape and Draco serve similar purposes for me, because I find it difficult to conceive of a story (at least a Harry-centric story) that has both of them in it.