More beholder recs...
May. 15th, 2010 03:54 pmAs of today we're one month into Beholder posting, and, if I'm estimating correctly, we have about a week still to go. More recs, but again the caveat: I'm hardly skimming the surface, there are so many wonderful works posted here. Make sure you explore a bit at this fest--there are characters and pairings you've never seen before, and characters and pairings you've never seen this way.
As Time Goes By (PG, 5,000 words, warning: AU ending)
Rufus Scrimgeour/Augusta Longbottom
Summary: In the midst of war, unlikely alliances may form. Sometimes, they become more.
What to say about a fic that's about power, politics, and alliances? Except that its recipient,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
miss_morland, is one very, very lucky participant? This romance shows how two powerful adults with very different world views perceive the events of DH, and how their alliance, political and romantic, changes the course of subsequent events. Kudos to the author for illustrating the kind of informal power that the pureblood Augusta represents, as opposed to Rufus' overtly political wrangling, and for allowing multiple characters and multiple worldviews to contain their own insight and truth.
On the Mating Habits of Muggles & Naturalist Witches (OR Muggles in the Midst) (R, 6,500 words)
Dudley Dursley/Luna Lovegood
Summary: Noted naturalist Luna Lovegood trails an elusive Muggle male in his native environment, seeking to gain his trust in an attempt to learn more about Muggle behaviour. Luna gets more than she bargained for, while Dudley Dursley gains more than he ever imagined.
A literalization of the detached, anthropological gaze that wizards turn on Muggles, and Luna's the perfect vehicle for this kind of fic: analytical and honest but curious, too, and ultimately accepting. There are some winning lines as she and Dudley observe each other in Dudley's native habitat and try to deal with other's difference.
Clouds of White (R, 4,800 words, warning: teacher/student relationship)
Filius Flitwick/Peter Pettigrew
Summary: He would never have looked at the boy, at first. That was the truth by Merlin, and Filius reminded himself of that fact for many years after the event had passed. He was not a bad man, after all. Indeed, quite the opposite; didn't everyone always say that he was cheery and good natured and would go out of his way to help someone in trouble?
Well, yes. And that was quite possibly how the whole thing had started.
A nuanced, morally complex story about a boy and a man who long for affection and will do some morally dubious things to attain it. I'd love to discuss this one with folks after the reveal; I was fascinated not only by the way the author handled the student-teacher relationship (a third rail for me, usually), but by the way it left open the ultimate moral of the story.
A Small Touch of Luck (NC-17, 8,800 words)
Severus Snape/Filius Flitwick
Summary: After the war, Severus finds himself dealing with excessively apologetic former colleagues, struggling through a difficult recovery from his injuries, and holed up inside Hogwarts in order to avoid the Ministry. Strangely, Filius is somehow making it almost enjoyable.
Another fabulous Flitwick story. (Based on what I've read to date, Scrimgeour, Flitwick, and Krum seem to be a big presence this time around.) Like much Harry/Snape, this fic is premised on the idea that Snape needs balance, but here the more optimistic, steadying force is older and more mature and more dryly funny than Snape himself. To my mind, Rickman lent too much gravitas to the character in the movies, as powerful as his performance was, so it's fun seeing this Snape rush to judgment and fly into a passion and generally act immature and insecure, as he did in the books. Charming.
As Time Goes By (PG, 5,000 words, warning: AU ending)
Rufus Scrimgeour/Augusta Longbottom
Summary: In the midst of war, unlikely alliances may form. Sometimes, they become more.
What to say about a fic that's about power, politics, and alliances? Except that its recipient,
miss_morland, is one very, very lucky participant? This romance shows how two powerful adults with very different world views perceive the events of DH, and how their alliance, political and romantic, changes the course of subsequent events. Kudos to the author for illustrating the kind of informal power that the pureblood Augusta represents, as opposed to Rufus' overtly political wrangling, and for allowing multiple characters and multiple worldviews to contain their own insight and truth.On the Mating Habits of Muggles & Naturalist Witches (OR Muggles in the Midst) (R, 6,500 words)
Dudley Dursley/Luna Lovegood
Summary: Noted naturalist Luna Lovegood trails an elusive Muggle male in his native environment, seeking to gain his trust in an attempt to learn more about Muggle behaviour. Luna gets more than she bargained for, while Dudley Dursley gains more than he ever imagined.
A literalization of the detached, anthropological gaze that wizards turn on Muggles, and Luna's the perfect vehicle for this kind of fic: analytical and honest but curious, too, and ultimately accepting. There are some winning lines as she and Dudley observe each other in Dudley's native habitat and try to deal with other's difference.
Clouds of White (R, 4,800 words, warning: teacher/student relationship)
Filius Flitwick/Peter Pettigrew
Summary: He would never have looked at the boy, at first. That was the truth by Merlin, and Filius reminded himself of that fact for many years after the event had passed. He was not a bad man, after all. Indeed, quite the opposite; didn't everyone always say that he was cheery and good natured and would go out of his way to help someone in trouble?
Well, yes. And that was quite possibly how the whole thing had started.
A nuanced, morally complex story about a boy and a man who long for affection and will do some morally dubious things to attain it. I'd love to discuss this one with folks after the reveal; I was fascinated not only by the way the author handled the student-teacher relationship (a third rail for me, usually), but by the way it left open the ultimate moral of the story.
A Small Touch of Luck (NC-17, 8,800 words)
Severus Snape/Filius Flitwick
Summary: After the war, Severus finds himself dealing with excessively apologetic former colleagues, struggling through a difficult recovery from his injuries, and holed up inside Hogwarts in order to avoid the Ministry. Strangely, Filius is somehow making it almost enjoyable.
Another fabulous Flitwick story. (Based on what I've read to date, Scrimgeour, Flitwick, and Krum seem to be a big presence this time around.) Like much Harry/Snape, this fic is premised on the idea that Snape needs balance, but here the more optimistic, steadying force is older and more mature and more dryly funny than Snape himself. To my mind, Rickman lent too much gravitas to the character in the movies, as powerful as his performance was, so it's fun seeing this Snape rush to judgment and fly into a passion and generally act immature and insecure, as he did in the books. Charming.
