internet access at home back once more...

[dolabellae]

... so here's a meme to celebrate.

Make up a title for a story that I didn't write, and I will respond with details of those non-written stories. If you like, you may include details such as pairings or whatever.

Nicked from dolorous_ett, as this is so my kind of meme: I get to plan stories but am saved from the terrible trauma of actually having to write

Comments

[a_t_rain]

How about "The Bandersnatch of Bedfordshire"?

[a_t_rain]

Ooh, forget that one -- the one I really want is "It Could Be the Head of Nicolaus Copernicus" (which is an actual photo caption from today's Washington Post).

[dolabellae]

Of course, what I neglected to think of when eagerly volunteering myself for this meme is that I'm no good at writing summaries! Never mind, you shall have both of your titles, cos I'm generous like that.

The Bandersnatch of Bedfordshire In which Luna (of course) goes to stay with Justin Finch-Fletchley and becomes convinced that the sounds of the aeroplanes at Luton Airport are in fact made by a rare Bandersnatch. Much hilarity involving tennis nets, Justin's sister Fiona's pony Scrumpy, and a vorpal blade ensue...

It Could Be The Head of Nicolaus Copernicus In the mid 80s, Professors Sinistra and Snape travel to Poland, on the trail of a Brazen Head rumoured to have been created by the great 16th century wizard astronomer, possessing knowledge of what was, what is, and what shall be. Both still brood on dark secrets from the war; for both, this mission is proof of Dumbledore's unwavering trust in them. But what questions do each of them have to put to the Head - and how will they react to the answers they receive

[a_t_rain]

Oh, I think you should :)

[dolorous_ett]

The one you gave me was a real puzzle - think I'm going to have to sleep on it!

How about "Like a Pelican in the Wilderness"?

[dolabellae]

Well, I thought I'd try for something that fell somewhere between the possible and the unbearably angsty and see what happened - and lo, there was Millicent-fic! And you decided on it much sooner than I did, as it happens. I am useless...

OK then: Like a Pelican in the Wilderness Narcissa Malfoy, after Draco's disappearance at the end of HBP, prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice for her son...

A fic discarded in disgust due to unbearable angst-levels(TM) - and the realisation that Christian symbolism aside it really wasn't possible to take pelicans seriously. Especially not in the wilderness.

[dolorous_ett]

the realisation that Christian symbolism aside it really wasn't possible to take pelicans seriously. Especially not in the wilderness.

Good job I didn't go for "Like an Owl that is in the Desert", which is the other half of that quote! Though perhaps it would have worked for Crabbe's wilderness years - the unhappy few years he spent trying to carve out a living for himself as a Ministry penpusher, and dreaming of his owl farm...

[dolabellae]

I reckon owls have a fair amount of gravitas! It's that big beak for the storage of fish that gives me the problems with pelicans...

::sheepishly admits to not having realised it was a Biblical quote - I've looked it up not...::

Anyway, no idea from Crabbe+owls should be discarded lightly!

[ivan_designer]

'The Nigh Of The Howling Beast' - Dobby/Magorian

[dolabellae]

The Night of the Howling Beast. Oh yes. That was the one in which Dobby, lost on his way through the Forbidden Forest on a dark and stormy night, runs into Magorian and they end up having a long conversation about Marxist dialectic and the Beast/Being distinction while some werewolf or other makes a terrible noise somewhere not too far away.

Most of the reviews said but we want MORE OF TEH SEKS, which just goes to prove the thing about not being able to please all of the people, all of the time...
:-)

[nineveh_uk]

Death on a Balcony

Nott Last Night

[dolabellae]

Death on a Balcony. Now, though I know HP detective fics are not exactly in short supply - I couldn't help being tempted to try my own hand at one of them. After the debacle that was Like a Pelican in the Wilderness (see above), Narcissa Malfoy got a new lease of life as my detective hero. It's after Voldemort's second defeat; Lucius' continuing disgrace and imprisonment in Azkaban, and, worse, Draco's death at the hands of the Dark Lord, provide Narcissa with the requisite background for today's tragic tec. Being a Black, she holds her head high and makes a new life for herself as a wealthy (virtual) widow socialite - whose faint shadow of dishonour only serves to make her more captivating, whose beauty makes strong men spill their inmost secrets, but whose cool head divines the truth behind the darkest of deeds. Death on a Balcony is her first appearance in this capacity, as she investigates the circumstances behind Rufus Scrimgeour's fatal fall from a balcony whilst staying at Bertie Higgs' for a spot of Nogtail hunting - although

[nineveh_uk]

Narcissa Malfoy as a detective sounds fabulous. I can just see the cool yet penetrating gaze, the confidential whisper, not to mention the dress sense.

Plus it was rubbish.
That's OK: most experimental fiction is.

[dolabellae]

Narcissa Malfoy as a detective sounds fabulous. I can just see the cool yet penetrating gaze, the confidential whisper, not to mention the dress sense...

Yes, and she'd know loads of people's guilty secrets already, and there'd be the ongoing question of what she really was after in all of this - revenge? rehabilitation?... I think this is the idea I'm most tempted by. If I ever write an HP detective fic...