Post-war fic!

[dolabellae]

Well, the recent JKR interview was going to be the starting point for a discussion I've been having with myself about the various endings it's possible to have for favourite characters - do we always want the happy ending? However, I was then going to end up with a fic which has already taken me a ridiculously long time to finish, given that it was

Comments

[dbassassin]

This is really good! I love a good Neville fic. I like how you imply a lot about where these people are at this time - and some of the costs of the war - without beating us over the head with it. I like it when a writer leaves a little to my imagination. There were a couple of grammatical/punctuation wobbles at the beginning, but otherwise this reads very well.

And you've got some interesting subtext at the end that the slasher in me grabbed onto with a quiet little squee. :D Well done!

[dolabellae]

Thank you! This is the first time I've ever tried to write Neville, so I'm glad you like it - particularly that you don't think I'm beating the reader over the head! I have such a tendency to under-write that I always think my hints are screamingly heavy. To be honest, I'm not absolutely sure of every detail of what's happened - don't know whether Harry's alive or not, for a start! - I just have a strong sense of, as you say, where these people are now.

grammatical/punctuation wobbles - oh, do point them out, if it's not too much trouble. When I've been staring at something all evening then I post it late, it's very easy to miss things, and I do like my stuff to read well. Agh - have just spotted unfinished 'looked' sentence, for a start...

::runs off to sort out::

And, well, take my subtext and do what you will :-)

[nineveh_uk]

I have such a tendency to under-write that I always think my hints are screamingly heavy.
I know the feeling :-) But they certainly seem to have reached the right level here. The Luna 'situation' is conveyed very subtley, and if not a happy ending, it is at least a going-in-the-right-direction ending. I really want to know what Theodore's doing there in the first place, though! WIll there be backstory? And on another note entirely, I like the Arbitrary Arums, and nice to see the midges in there.

P.S. Is there any chance of more on Amory Doge’s explanation for the workings of the Imperius curse?

[dolabellae]

if not a happy ending, it is at least a going-in-the-right-direction ending. I'm not very good at happy endings - this is about the most cheerful I ever get! Perhaps I should practice...

I would also like to know just what Theodore is doing there - this was born more out of a desire to see how the war might have changed these three and how they might interact now than a firm & precise sense of backstory, but now I'm feeling tempted to go further...

The midges thank you for appreciating them.

And my goodness, someone actually wouldn't mind reading cod magical theory? I might well stretch my pseudo-academic writing muscles over the weekend, then, just for fun!

[a_t_rain]

I don't believe I've met your Theodore before. He's interesting :) Any chance of more fragments from this universe?

[dolabellae]

Yes, this is the first not-baby!Theodore I've ever finished (though it's not through want of trying - he's just never been co-operative before...) Glad you're intrigued!

I've signed up for femgenficathon and am playing with the idea of a Luna fic for it, so there may be more where this came from - though I don't know how much Theodore there might turn out to be.

Thanks for your comment!

[dolorous_ett]

Just what I needed - Neville AND Luna AND Theodore!

This is the sort of post-war fic I like - no suggestion to sweep everything under the carpet and pretend everything's fine - but people helping each other out, and new, unlikely alliances springing up...

I particularly cherished the Arbitary Arums. And Neville's reference to Sprout's painstaking notes...

I wonder if Luna really will fill the watering can with Wrackspurts?

[dolabellae]

Neville AND Luna AND Theodore. My Trio, perhaps?! Easily my favourites of Harry’s generation - though obviously I’ve more or less made up Theodore and have probably got him totally wrong. I shall be very upset if he turns out to be an evil bastard. And if JKR kills Neville I will be inconsolable, and Luna would be almost as bad.

I particularly cherished the Arbitrary Arums. And Neville's reference to Sprout's painstaking notes...

It’s nice that the Arbitrary Arums have gone down well! Poor Professor Sprout, the reason why Neville’s got her notes is one of the details I did have worked out for this…

I wonder if Luna really will fill the watering can with Wrackspurts? Well, maybe that’s how you do make a Pensieve!

Glad this hit the spot.

[snorkackcatcher]

Rather mysterious, with hints about what might have happened and how these three ended up in company but nothing you can be sure about. Theodore is certainly a possible candidate for a DE offspring who switched sides (mind you, I wouldn't be surprised either if he were never mentioned in Book 7). He comes across as pleasantly prickly here, Luna quite sad, and Neville ... well, Neville. :)

[dolabellae]

hope it wasn’t so mysterious as to make it annoying - as I said, it developed very much as a character sketch rather than anything plotty…

I wouldn't be surprised either if he were never mentioned in Book 7 I know, I have to keep telling myself this - I was so convinced, after the OotP build up, that we were going to meet him properly in HBP, but no… Though JKR did take the trouble to remind us of his existence a couple of times, so I’m ever hopeful - though I suppose if he did hardly appear I’d be more likely be able to carry on with my! version of him undisturbed….

So glad Neville comes across as Neville-ish. I am really fond of him, but it is (worryingly) unusual for me to write non-Slytherins so it felt like a challenge trying to get the openness and good-heartedness combined with lack of confidence which he knows he should have conquered by now across...

Thanks for commenting!

[lyras]

I loved this scene! It feels like a snippet from a longer story - is it? The discussion between Luna and Theodore is excellent, and feels very IC for Luna (and I like the hints we get that her trauma is related to her father). I like what you've done with Theodore, too - he feels fully realised, and an interesting character.

the last thing he wanted was to see ridicule, however carefully concealed, flash in those pale eyes and carry him back to school

Really nice wordsmithery here.

One question: Neville's reaction to the mention of the Imperius curse struck me as a little surprising. Is there a bit of backstory behind this that we don't hear in the actual story? Or is it simply that any of the forbidden curses would strike him like that?

Very enjoyable fic(let?), anyway!

[dolabellae]

Hello! Sorry I've been so long in replying (and haven't commented on any of your recent posts) - have been rather bad at LJ recently... And so glad you liked it - I can't think of Neville-fic without thinking of you!

There isn't actually a longer story that this is a snippet from, because I find I haven't got the confidence to make large scale predictions as to what's going to happen in Book 7 and beyond. What I do have is an as yet almost entirely unwritten life story for Theodore Nott, a burning desire for him to make it onto the right side, and a feeling that he and Luna could get on unexpectedly well - so there is material behind this, although the explanation of 'how these three people found themselves together in this garden' has its hazinesses. Which probably means that the Neville reaction is a little over-written for the scene as given, since I hadn't quite decided who the DEs used Imperius on in the war, and certainly didn't explain myself. All I needed to show really was Neville's sense that the curse wasn't for the kind