Fic: The Changeling Bride

[hbp_sockpuppet]

Title: The Changeling Bride
Author: minnow_53
Pairing: Merope Gaunt/Tom Riddle
Rating: PG
Summary: After she’s married, Merope shows her true colours.
AN: The Tom Riddle in the fic is Voldemort's father.

Comments

[snegurochka_lee]

Oh, so cool! I love Merope stories, and I truly miss them since HBP. Such a pity she's not in the film, to re-inspire new fic about her. I love the narrative voice you've got here! Such an innovative way to view this odd couple. :)

[minnow_53]

Thank you very much! :) I'm really delighted you liked it.

I was also sorry Merope wasn't in the film: her story would actually have made a couple of wonderful scenes, though not necessarily with this particular director! :D

[miss_morland]

Oooh, this is wonderful! I love the outsider's POV here.

[minnow_53]

Thank you very much! :)

After I'd posted the fic, I panicked a bit because I thought that maybe the outside view should be related to an HP character. But I really wanted to show that Voldemort had an impact on everyone, even if JKR never mentioned them. /TMI

[sibyllevance]

Merope is hard to grasp - I think your approach, the fairy tale, is actually the only one that could work. Because her story is a fairytale cliché in a way. I wish there were more fanfics about her out there, her story is really fascinating. You got that just right, what with the Muggles' fascination for her beauty and their ultimate shock. The charms are odd and since you didn't explain them, I came up with my own theory :p I imagine the effects just wore off and that's why she appeared like that. It's so fairy tale-like, as if the Muggles had actually seen her soul as it truly was for a moment.
Very eerie, atmospheric and thought-provoking fic, thank you!
I've just read the other comments - I'm glad I wasn't the only one to think of fairy tales :)

[minnow_53]

Sorry for such a late response! I've just found, quite by chance, that I put my answer as a comment instead of a reply. *headdesk"

Thank you very much for such an amazing comment! :)

I never even thought about Merope until this challenge, but when I reread the book I realised how intriguing she is. It's generally assumed she gave Tom Amortentia, but JKR is vague enough to leave room for plenty of speculation. As per the story, I prefer to think she had some beautifying charm, or even Polyjuice would work, if you think of GoF. It would then make plenty of sense for the effect to wear off temporarily, as you suggest. Whatever the case, her story certainly does have many fairy tale elements.

It's so fairy tale-like, as if the Muggles had actually seen her soul as it truly was for a moment.

That's a beautiful way to put it! And just what I was hoping to achieve, so I'm really delighted that worked for you.

[fera_festiva]

!!!!!!!!

I totally missed that this was yours! Not that that really excuses my failure to comment, since I should have anyway because it's awesome, but I feel worse about it knowing it was yours, if that makes sense.

Anyway. This story made my skin crawl, in the best way - it was wonderfully disturbing. I loved the narrator's sort of naive point-of-view, because of course we know the background of Merope's story but she doesn't - she doesn't know the half of it - which gives the whole thing a really creepy, ominous edge. Sorry, I'm not being very articulate here!

What I mean is, goddammit lady, you're talented! ♥ And I'm sorry I didn't get to this before.

[minnow_53]

You're probably wondering why you never got a reply: I managed to put two answers as comments instead of replies. I'm clever like that. :( Just copying and putting it in the right place...

*greatly touched* Thank you very, very much! :)

I totally missed that this was yours!

Well, that's the fun of an anonymous fest, isn't it? :) And I think it's really lovely of you to comment now: Merope isn't exactly mainstream HP fandom, and I can't say that when I see a fic featuring her I immediately click on the cut! An

This is the one I wrote before seeing the movie, and I posted it because I thought there should be a bit of straight book canon, or interpolation thereof, in the challenge. I must admit that the wild glamour of the film and its bizarre tropes totally overshadows anything to do with the mere book. :D But then it IS HBP, so what would you expect?

Anyway, I'm glad you found it creepy. I did like the thought of ugly Merope managing to be beautiful beyond measure for a while.

Chills

[gina_hildebrand]

'...I’ve always thought no good could have come of that match.’

That part gave me spine-shivers.

Re: Chills

[minnow_53]

I'm very happy it worked for you! :) Thank you for reading and commenting.