C.Cybele's Fiction

April 18, 2006

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 20:47:36 GMT

Intros

Fugitive's Lullaby
Summary: You know that cliche, the 'Harry is wrongly accused of some horrible crime and sent to Azkaban' cliche? Well, what if he isn't wrongly accused? When it becomes necessary to betray the people you love for the 'common good,' that's exactly what Harry does.

Dark Side of the Moon
Summary: So. Now it's Lupin who does something bad. This will be a character study of Remus Lupin and Andromeda Tonks, nee Black. What could turn such good-hearted characters to the darkness which they have been fighting most their lives?

Updates

"Forgotten, Claimed, and Unforgiven" - A one-shot.
Summary: Regulus is forgotten, Bellatrix is claimed, and Sirius is unforgiven. Three 100-word drabbles about the Blacks. Inspired by none other than DeepDownSlytherin.

Recent Faves

Oh. My. God. None. I need to get reading! *dies*

Extra Rambling

That. Was hard. Good God, I'm surprised I scored as high as I did. I have a new-found respect for Harry Potter, I think.

Caio
C.Cybele

April 13, 2006

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 21:14:14 GMT

Intros

None

Updates

Burnt
Prologue - "The Fall of Lord Voldemort" - Posted, Unrevised
Ch. One - "Aftermath" - Posted, Unrevised

Recent Faves

"The Refiner's Fire" by Abraxan and its sequel, "The Time of Destiny" is really a piece of quality work. Obviously it has to be, if I'm recommending it and it's a Harry/Ginny shipper's story (and not only that, but Ron/Hermione, which squicks me to no end). I've only reached chapter fourteen of Refiner's Fire, but I'm already hooked.

The summary for Refiner's Fire: "COMPLETE! Sixth year. Harry comes to terms with Sirius's death and learns to enjoy life again. But there's a war on, and his life is in danger. Canon w OC. Ships: HOC HG RH RT. Prequel to The Time of Destiny."

Just because it might be useful, I'll also post excerpts from my own review and those of others given. Refiner's Fire is nearly 400k words long, and Time of Destiny is almost 600k, making the story, as a complete, nearly ONE MILLION words, almost 2k PAGES, and more than 100 chapters.

Parts from my review:

"...

Ch. 9 made me cry, and though I'm not a huge fan of H/G in canon (in fact, I loathe it, even if it is J.K. Rowling's *chosen* pairing), I am really rooting for that pairing in [Abraxan's] story because of how [he's] written Ginny. I love that...she's so different, and yet the same, from HBP!Ginny. She really is everything Harry needs here, even if Rowling can't make me see that with her writing style.

Casey [The OC who is paired with Harry during the first 9 chapters of the story] [is]...definitely a great character...

...

Just, how [he laid] all these little clues and details, it reminds me so much of Rowling's style. And [he] write romance so well, I can tell from these first nine ... chapters. ... I've picked up on a lot, I think, but there are probably still a lot of surprises and I love that.

The only thing about [his] writing that is kind of disconcerting is [his] lack of description *in some places.* Most of [the] scenes are beautiful and very vivid, and they're so clear in my mind that I feel like I'm watching a movie, but sometimes, when there's a lot going on or a lot of characters, it becomes very clear that this is a piece of written work and [the author] has a little bit of trouble balancing everything at once. ... Most of the time I read fanfiction with my inner editor running wild, picking up every little mistake (does that make me a snob?) and it bugs me. But after the first chapter of [this] fic I couldn't do that - it reads just like a piece of published original fiction.

In short: Wow. ...I mean, I love how Harry's character SO reflects on OotP, and the lesson Casey taught him ...; it's an act of brilliance and. Wow."

Review from belleartiste. "Wow. This story is amazingly well-written and took such thought and effort. Well done! I couldn't stop reading and even skipped one of my classes just to find out what happened next. ...The plot is intricate and intriguing as well as the characters. [Abraxan] seem[s] to understand Harry's psyche and can follow his train of thought exactly. ...

Also the battles were well-thought out and forms, the scenes were vivid and not hard to follow at all!

...The subplots were well thought out and carefully constructed to fit well into the main storyline. ...Well played."

So yes. That story is DEFINITELY worth a read. Just...make sure you have enough time to read 1,000,000 words. Don't worry, they're so good that they'll just fly on by.

Extra Rambling

Ugh. Where do I start?

In the fall of 2001, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone hit theatres everywhere, peaking the interest of hysterical fans and cynics all around the world. I, myself, did not trust that it would be a worthwhile movie. A few years before my younger sisters had been reading and talking about the Harry Potter books, and when I read the first chapter, I had no interest. I set it down to the side and let dust collect upon its pages.

My friend, Emily, was turning eleven around that time, and she didn't have many friends. She wasn't very popular and I happened to be the only one who would ever talk to her because I was rather new to the district and didn't much fancy becoming chums with the popular type, anyway (but that's another story entirely!). So when she invited me to see Harry Potter with her, I heaved a long-suffering sigh and said, "Alright Emily. But bewarned, I think I'll fall asleep."

Look around, dear reader. Obviously I did not fall asleep. In fact, three books (or was it just two? I don't remember) and three movies later, I've been swept up in the media. After seeing SS, my fanatical obsession with Harry Potter and his crooked broken glasses went off with an earth-shacking BOOM! Of course, it wasn't really until PoA that I began to truly appreciate Jo Rowling's story-telling abilities. And that's where my story really begins.

"Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrel, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.

It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrel's turban straight into Harry's eyes - and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.

'Ouch!' Harry clapped a hand to his forehead.

'What is it?' asked Percy.

'N-nothing.'

The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look - a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all.

'Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrel?' he asked Percy.

'Oh, you know Quirrel already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to - everyone knows he's after Quirrel's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape.'

Harry watched Snape for awhile, but Snape didn't look at him again." -Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, American Paperback Edition, pg. 126

When we are first introduced to the morally ambiguous Severus Snape, we see him as 'a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.' Within that first sentence readers know that this is not a pleasant character, mostly because we've been raised on superfluous values. The villain always looks unpleasant, doesn't he? Either that or rogueishly dark and handsome, like our young Tom Riddle who is introduced in Chamber of Secrets (which some might argue is Snape, but we all know they're just Rickman fans - I suppose I'm rather guilty of that as well, but that is NOT why I love Snape!).

Within the first few lines after Snape's introduction, we learn to mistrust him because, when Harry looks at him, our protagonist's scar hurts. The scar that makes him our protagonist. Now, putting aside the fact that anybody who's read SS/PS knows that it was really Quirrel's turban that made Harry's scar hurt, we also get the feeling that not only is Snape to be mistrusted, he is going to be a really unpleasant teacher to deal with.

'The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look - a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all.'

So not only does Snape 'supposedly' make Harry's scar hurt (which we know at this point in the story is somehow connected to Lord Voldemort - let's pretend we don't know the story of all six books like the back of our own palms, shall we?), but he also dislikes him at first glance. And to add insult to injury, Percy labels Snape as a fancier of the Dark Arts. 'He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to - everyone knows he's after Quirrel's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape.'

Then, knowing that Percy is a goody twoshoes in every way (Prefect Percy!), we know that something's not right. Why should boring intellectual say something to make Snape seem anything less than a perfectly respectable, if a bit strict (and unfair) educator? So automatically our instinct is clear: Snape is bad news. Snape likes the Dark Arts, hates Harry, and (presumably) makes Harry's scar hurt.

Why didn't Jo just put a sign on him labeled 'EVIL CHARACTER - DUMBLEDORE'S MURDERER!'? She should have, right?

But then, even when you read those first few paragraphs, you KNOW that there's something. Just something about Snape. Because those paragraphs are told from a student's point of view, and when you think about it, WHY would Dumbledore hire somebody as unpleasant and obviously dark as Snape if he didn't have a reason to trust him?

Dumbledore, we know from the first chapter of PS, is MORE than just a Headmaster. He is a high figure of authority in the wizarding world and, somehow, is at the very center of this Boy Who Lived thing, right next to Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter himself. Dumbledore has lived through two wizard wars and (we're assuming) just as many Muggle wars, and he's been opted as the next Minister of Magic.

Dumbledore is modest, trusting (look at Hagrid, and well, really, Snape), and caring. We get the vibe from him at the beginning that he is also very manipulative, but as the year(s) go on that vibe goes away, until we see him as what he really is.

Albus Dumbledore is just a really powerful old geizer with lots of history. He's HUMAN. He's intelligent, too. And a good judge of character.

So why is Snape there? WHY is Snape teaching at Hogwarts? We don't know that yet. In fact, we don't even know who Dumbledore is, yet. We just know that Snape is Dumbledore's employee, Snape doesn't like Harry, and Harry is wary of Snape because of his scar.

As the year progresses, Snape is put in a very negative light. After Halloween, any reader who knows anything about literature knows that he is either A) the blatantly transparent evil villain, thus making Rowling a rather hopeless case, or B) the red herring everybody but Harry and Ron (and sometimes even Hermione) spotted. Of course, in the end, Snape is a herring and it's really QUIRREL who has evil incarnate glued to the back of his garlic-y head (and really, which is worse? At least greasy doesn't smell bad!).

At the end of PS, nobody quite trusts Snape. But it's clear that he is the deepest, most complex character in the series, because despite his uglyness, despite his sarcasm and unfairness and overall unpleasantness, Snape saved Harry's LIFE. Dumbledore trusts Snape. But we don't know WHY.

CoS pretty much takes us along the same journey, only with Draco Malfoy. He's the obvious villain from the start, isn't he? But then in the end he turns out to be nothing more than an annoying brat whose dad happened to, once upon a time, be a trusted ally of the Dark Lord (who is the TRUE heir of Slytherin).

Are there parallels between Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape? There are a few. In PS, Snape is distrusted from the beginning, and everything points towards him being the one, the EVIL one who is behind all the nastyness. But that's only from the kids's point of view. In CoS, Draco is the same thing. Except in PS, the situation is much for serious. In PS, we're worried about Voldemort actually RETURNING, and it is, in the end, the person we least suspect who is responsible for it (or rather, the person we're SUPPOSED to suspect the least, but literature has gotten rather predictable over the years, wouldn't you say?).

In CoS, however, we do not (until the end) believe that we're really dealing with the return of Voldemort. We think we're dealing with Draco Malfoy and his prejudice against Muggle borns (and not even blood traitors yet!). And in the end, it doesn't turn out to be the guy we least suspected, but rather, the most likely. And the situation is much more grave than anybody could ever have imagined. VOLDEMORT was slowly but surely coming back to life, using Ginny, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were too preoccupied with Draco Malfoy to figure that out (sound familiar?).

You see what I'm trying to say? What I've laid out? Snape is the distraction for something huge, Draco is the distraction for something small. Snape is the guy everybody blames while Malfoy is the guy everybody hates. There is a difference, however small, and two different moral lessons within each of them. Yet in the end, it's the same moral lesson: Not everything is as it seems. There is depth in these two characters, and really only these two characters, because everybody else in the series is either blatantly good or blatantly evil. Where is our Switzerland? Where is our spy?

In PoA, Snape again saves Harry, Ron, and Hermione's lives, when he could have EASILY let the werewolf eat them and call it off as an accident. Hell, he could have at least let one of them get biten, he could have done SOMETHING to help aid the Dark Lord. But he didn't. There are two possible reasons for this. A) Voldemort is dead, so why the hell would Snape RISK it? and B) Snape really is a DECENT guy, despite his uglyness, despite his unfairness, despite his sarcasm.

GoF comes along and we get the same vibe from both characters. Dark, yes, unpleasant, yes, but are they evil? Draco you believe is quite ready to follow his dad to the grave of unpleasantness. Severus you are quite prepared to knock over the head, except for the fact that Dumbledore knows SOMETHING about Snape. Something...different. Something...

Something.

In OotP you're ready to feel sorry for Snape. But come chapter two of HBP, you suddenly realize. Why didn't you see it before!?!?!

After the releas of OotP, Harry Potter fans, already divided between ships, characters, and theories, split into two onces again. The people who thought FERVENTLY that Snape had to be good and that there was SOMETHING outside going on, that perhaps Dumbledore had ORDERED his death, and the people who thought that Snape is as blatantly evil as he's appeared to be all along.

But none of these two theories measure up.

First off, Draco being the distraction in this book while Snape was the real problem, I think, is very reflective of what happened during PS and CoS. But then there's the fact that, when Dumbledore was dying, he proved to know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about Draco's mother and Severus entering the Unbreakable Vow. There was nobody there but Harry, him, and Draco, so why did he flat out deny that there was anything like that between Snape and Narcissa? WHY?

Because Dumbledore didn't KNOW. Dumbledore is infallible, and if it turns out that he really planned his death, that totally becomes...well, unclear. People who think that Dumbledore planned his own death would like to think that Dumbledore is just as Godly as Harry wanted to believe he was in books 1-4, and even through most of 5. But we all know he isn't, and the moral lesson there is that EVERYBODY is human.

The moral lesson there is that everybody is human, no matter who they are.

This includes Snape. Snape, who killed Dumbledore not because Dumbledore ordered it, nor, I believe, because Voldemort ordered it, but rather because this is WAR, and in war people have to die, sacrifices have to be made. And Snape, Snape cares about the Malfoys a great deal. Not because he is in love with Narcissa or (o_O) Draco or (more understandably but still...o_O) Lucius, but because THEY are the people who've been there for him.

Remember what Sirius said about his family in OotP? His family thought that Voldemort had the right idea, but they didn't join his cause. They thought that their children were right little heroes, but they didn't take the Dark Mark and call themselves Death Eaters. NO. I still have trust in Jo Rowling to prove her moral lessons and bring about the obligational characters. Snape is Switzerland. Snape does not CARE about the war, he just wants to survive, and he wants those he cares about (The Malfoys) to survive.

He hates Muggle borns, but he is NOT a murderer at heart. He is doing what he HAS to do, just as he always has. If Severus had ever been passionate about being a Death Eater, he would have murdered Harry. Severus is NOT Bellatrix. Severus is his own man, and a man who obviously cares a great deal. He's passionate about the Dark Arts because they are taboo, because they are a form of magic that is beautiful but strictly forbidden. He is not evil, but nor is he an admirable character.

I love him to death.

Draco, though. We saw, when young Draco faltered in killing Dumbledore, that he, too, was no killer. But does that automatically make Draco accepting? NO. Draco is Snape, but Draco is the spy. Draco is to Snape as Regulus (before he betrayed Voldemort) was the his parents. Draco will turn to the light side, but not because he's particularly altruistic or good at heart - DRACO IS NOT A ROLE MODEL. He's a sniveling coward, but he also is not a murderer, and he's also NOT STUPID. He may not be clever, but he is not stupid. He will hide.

Snape will be proud of him, but Snape will stay away from the light. So in the end, both characters are the same, both carry a moral lesson that you should take with you. You can be a decent human being even if you aren't handsome, or fair, or nice. You can be a decent person even if you hate everybody else in the world, because in the end, being a decent person simply means that you struggle for something you believe in. Being a decent person means you have some modicom (I know I spelled that wrong) for life as a whole and, even if you are a coward, you will not join the cause that is bad, that is evil.

I trust J.K. Rowling to prove to us that Dumbledore DID NOT die on his own orders, but that Snape is still a decent person.

I trust J.K. Rowling to prove to us that Draco, while he is NOT admirable, is not the Dark Lord's in heart and soul.

I trust J.K. Rowling to prove to us that the blatant superfluous lessons presented in HBP, in the form of Ginny, Felix Felicis, and the Half-Blood Prince's book, will be countered in book 7 because she is intelligent, and though she is writing a children's story, she has always been here with a heart-warming story.

Or at least, I'd like to trust her. HBP stung and it'll take awhile to get over that. But in the end, I think everything will turn out right.

6 years ago, as I walked out of the theatre and pondered Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I knew that there was something about Snape that I liked - something about the story in general that I liked. Little did I know that it would come to possess me. And little did I know that I would have so much fucking fun complaining about moral lessons.

Caio.
C.Cybele

April 9, 2006

Sun, 09 Apr 2006 19:06:00 GMT

Intros

None

Updates

Black Diamond Prophecy
Prologue - "At the Beginning" - Posted, Unrevised

Burnt
Prologue - "The Fall of Lord Voldemort" - Posted, Unrevised
Chapter One - "Aftermath" - Written, Unposted, Unrevised

Recent Faves

"Dance With Me", "Two Steps Ahead" , and "Unity" by ShyUnicorn are three amazing insights into Rodolphus Lestrange and Bellatrix Lestrange, nee Black. They are well-written and, even though "Unity" isn't technically a sequel to "Dance With Me" and "Two Steps Ahead," they all fit together perfectly in the same world. Bellatrix and Rodolphus are both portrayed as being passionately in love, and yet there's nothing particularly romantic about them. We see the human side of both characters, the painfully real human side, and yet you can also see what makes them who we see in canon, and you love them for it.

Extra Rambling

Sad news for me, but good news for my writing. I'm probably not going to Columbus this week, which I had planned to before. So now I have two days and a night for writing that I had previously planned to be having fun with friends.

I had a dream last night that I'd seen Order of the Phoenix. There was a kissing scene between Ron and Hermione that was Hermione shoving a quill through a wall, and then Ron shoved a pencil through the wall. Then Hermione pushed Ron, Ron slapped Hermione, and they kissed. And my friends and I were all like, "What the hell? Is that really what true love is these days? Gah, this movie sucks!" And we walked out.

So. Apparently even my subconscience is a Harmonian. What's new?

Oh, and why am I frustrated? Because my computer's being slower and choppier than ever. GRRRRRRRRR!!

April 6, 2006

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 03:26:05 GMT

Intros

Black Diamond Prophecy
Summary: Lily and James appear one day in the middle of August, 1998 in the Hogwarts hospital wing, claiming to have travelled forward in time in order to act on an ancient prophecy and a thousand-year-old rumor. Because of this, Harry is suddenly forced to choose between dying for a cause he doesn't believe in and letting magic die out - forever.

Any Means
Summary: Oblivious Ron Weasley has always been a bit of a walking disaster, but Insightful Ron Weasley might just prove to be much, much worse. When several members of the Order of the Phoenix are locked away in Grimauld Place to be protected from Voldemort, Ron takes it upon himself to play matchmaker. And then others join the fray.

Burnt
Summary: Voldemort disappears suddenly after Harry's seventh year at Hogwarts, leaving everybody in a state of confusion. However, the war still rages on, and as it does, young Ginny Weasley begins to realize that Draco Malfoy isn't quite everything he appears to be. Now Ginny must convince him that he isn't entirely evil before he conforms to the darkness.

Updates

Black Diamond Prophecy - Prologue written, unposted. Chapter one, WiP.
Any Means - Chapter one, WiP.
Burnt - Outline, WiP.

Recent Faves

"A Keen Observer" by DeepDownSlytherin, and any of this author's writing, really, is probably the best piece of Harry Potter fanfiction from this era that I've read in a long time. I could go on at length about how much I love this story, and how much it deserves more than it gets in terms of acknowledgement, but I wouldn't do it any justice, really. I'll just say that I have never loved Bellatrix Black as much as I do when DeepDownSlytherin writes her. And don't even get me started on Andromeda and even Narcissa.

The author's summary is, "Andromeda says little, but she sees everything. Through their years at Hogwarts, she watches her sisters as one falls in love and one falls into madness, and doesn't see as a muggleborn boy breaks into her sheltered life."

This story is definitely worth a read. And a reread.

"The Heirs of Hogwarts" by PhoenixFirebolt. I don't know about the first few chapters and writing quality, but the plot is definitely interesting, and the first scene between Draco and Ginny is what gave me the idea for "Burnt."

The author's summary is, "In 6th year, Hermione stumbles upon an ancient prophecy concerned the Four Founders of Hogwarts. Now four of the students find out exactly who they are and that they must join forces to defeat Voldemort and rid all evil in the world. AU fic. HHR, DG, RLL."

If you have time, read this. It's definitely worth it.

"Unwritten" by MeiQueen is perhaps the only James/Lily fic I will ever recommend. Here, we have a very believable teenaged Lily and a slightly Out of Character James Potter, but MeiQueen's writing is good enough to let that slide. I'm definitely intrigued by this story, even though it is a WiP, and cannot wait for further updates.

The author's summary is, "Lily Evans is Head Girl in her 7th Year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry alongside James Potter. This is how it may have actually happened. This follows canon. This is not Mary Sue. Read it and find out for yourself!"

Definitely worth a read, and it's always fun to write an eight paragraph review.

Extra Rambling

The definition of stupidity.

...this is why I love fandom.

Let's all rip each others' throats out. Die, Harry Potter fans, DIE!

And isn't J.K. Rowling's work supposed to carry the message of tolerance and choosing what's right over what's easy? Shouldn't we all accept that we have different opinions? And shouldn't we all accept that the Harry Potter novels, despite their brilliance, have a crappy, but fortunately small, romance line? I mean, honestly. What. The. Hell?

Pfft. But wasn't that what Felix Felicis was for? And Ginny and Harry's entire relationship? And Hermione throwing canaries at the ~~most arragont, self-centered little sixteen year old sidekick ever~~ love of her life?

However, this gives me hope.