Fic: Switzerland for snorkackcatcher

[springmod]

Title: Switzerland
Author: ofankoma
Recipient: snorkackcatcher
Character(s): Blaise Zabini, Justin Finch-Fletchley, others
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 9,300
Warnings (if any): A bit of profanity
Summary: Because they couldn’t be friends on British soil.
Author's/Artist’s Notes (if any): Dear snorkackcatcher, I hope you enjoy this series of missing moments from canon, and I

Comments

[ceebeegee]

Love this! What a well-thought-out little fic. And you so sly, with the "thought Blaise was a she" dig :) And I love hearing more about Justin--his whole back story fascinates me, ever since I heard about his being down for Eton I immediately thought "he would've been there with Harry and William."

One note--are solid gold cauldrons used in canon? Pure gold is very heavy; I would think it would be impractical at Hogwarts unless you're levitating it through the halls (which would also be impractical).

[chthonya]

Gold cauldrons aren't used in the books, but they are on sale - Harry is very tempted to buy one one his first trip to Diacon Alley. Presumably Justin also saw them and felt entitled to one (and didn't have a Hagrid there to stop him).

[ceebeegee]

Ah, okay, thanks!

[snorkackcatcher]

Excellent! I find versions of Blaise much more interesting when he's not portrayed as a DE-sympathiser or super-efficient magical expert -- but this posh but uncertain Blaise, whose blood prejudice is more drilled into him than natural, is a version I haven't seen before and a good fresh idea

[snegurochka_lee]

I really liked this! The structure was great, and so was Blaise's narrative voice. ♥

[kellychambliss]

Really well done! What an excellent Blaise voice. Everyone, in fact, is beautifully characterized; the whole fic is well-written.

I love this full and alternative perspective on canon, and the Blaise/Justin relationship unfolds with such interesting complexity. I love the political and class dimensions as well; these are always some of my favorite elements of the wizarding world -- and you do them better than canon.

A fine read; thank you.

[chthonya]

This is superb.

I'd always assumed Blaise to be someone who hung around with Malfoy, so it was interesting to see this Blaise who remains aloof - as far as he is able - from the madness, who struggles with what he has been taught to believe but can put it aside enough to recognise that Susan Bones' family is influential and that he has more in common with Justin than Crabbe or Goyle. His perspective on the events of canon made a lot of sense (I loved his comments on Neville), and like other commenters I enjoyed the little digs at fandom's perception of Blaise and JKRs lack of attention to him for so long.

The interaction between a rich, privileged pureblood and a rich, privileged Muggleborn is an intriguing idea, and you more than did it justice. I enjoyed Zabini's culture shock at Muggle customs (human servants? people running banks) and the whole 'Gnomes of Zurich' exchange, and his calling Hermione on her Muggle assumption that race denotes one's standing in society

[chthonya]

I just went back and read the scene on the train in HBP - I wouldn't go as far as to say Blaise rails against Death Eaters there (he seems more scornful of Draco's pretentions to me), though he does make it clear that his family aren't in that camp. I suppose I'd always assumed, falling into JKR's camp, that he generally agreed with the other Slytherins, and he's not a character I've thought about much before (generally I'm more interested in the adult characters).

As for the DA, well... I've always wondered why JKR never had one - not one - Slytherin student in it or in the final battle fighting on Harry's side.Agreed. After all the speculation and fanfic explosion in the 'three year summer' I remember being very disappointed in OotP for trotting out the same old cliches about Slytherins. I really thought she'd lost her chance to round any of them out by then (so I was relieved by HBP!Draco). No, it wouldn't have been easy for a Slytherin to be part of the DA, but they're supposed to be cunning, aren't they? You'd think they'd