Comments | hbpchallenge: Fic: Taking Stock

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Fic: Taking Stock

Jul 30, 2009 08:36

Title: Taking Stock
Author: lyras
Characters and pairings: Horace Slughorn
Rating and warnings, if any: PG-13
Prompt, if any: Loosely based on this from lyras: "Something to do with Slughorn and Tom Riddle. Did Riddle ever make Slughorn's wall of fame? When did Slughorn admit that Riddle was evil?"
Summary: After his Christmas party, Horace takes stock.

( When the last guest has floated away... )

fic

Comments 17

minnow_53 August 1 2009, 19:15:15 UTC

I found this rather sad, and a bit ominous as well. There are so many layers to the story, so many hints of dark secrets... Very impressive all round.

lyras August 5 2009, 06:31:51 UTC

Thanks, Minnow. Yeah, I don't see Slughorn as exactly happy here...but as Kellychambliss said, above, he's "arranged his thoughts to make himself as comfortable as he can".

rotaryphones August 2 2009, 18:32:05 UTC

This was completely wonderful! You portrayed Slughorn with such perfect subtlety, saying offensive things without considering them offensive, and simultaneously acknowledging and justifying his faults. Slughorn is difficult to write *this* IC, but you pulled it off beautifully.

lyras August 5 2009, 06:33:12 UTC

Thank you so much!

saying offensive things without considering them offensive, and simultaneously acknowledging and justifying his faults.

I've always been fascinated by Slughorn's attitude to Lily and Muggleborns generally - I really don't think he likes to think about the nasty things...until they catch up with him. Very glad you liked this. :)

shiiki August 5 2009, 03:30:15 UTC

This is Slughorn through and through! You got his voice exactly right.

And I particularly like this line:

You have your failings, but you'll never be one of those.

Because yes, I agree very much with you there.

Lovely work!

lyras August 5 2009, 06:35:33 UTC

Thanks, Shiiki! So glad you liked this. It was one of those that took hold and demanded to be written, so it was lovely to see it go down so well.

miss_morland August 10 2009, 19:34:42 UTC

Wow! What a spot-on characterisation of Slughorn -- not only does it fit precisely with the way he is in canon, but it also reminds me of his somewhat tortured portrayal in the movie. I enjoyed this a lot. :-)