kerravonsen | Entries tagged with fandom:harry potter

If you've read enough Severus Snape/Hermione Granger fanfic(*), I'm sure you've seen it. That moment when Hermione suddenly becomes aware of Severus as A MAN. He's standing near her, and she notices for the first time, his scent: sandalwood. Some stories add the scent of "herbs" and/or "potion ingredients". Some stories even add an undertone of something which is "purely masculine".

( I even have examples )
( Sandalwood. Really? )

Current Mood: amused
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/968525.html

In this post

drinkingcocoa said (amongst other things): He [Harry] defeated Voldemort with his own "twin cores" wand plus his greater power because he had all the power of an intact soul and Voldemort had only a fraction of his own left.

I quote this because it set me thinking. Or possibly my subconcious thinking... Voldemort had only a fraction of his own soul left.

Before his first fall, Tom Riddle was, by all accounts, charming, charismatic, clever - an inspiring leader. But on his return, with only a fraction of his soul left, he was none of these. Indeed, it's likely that he was already deteriorating and going mad before he attacked the Potters. If one thinks about it, the fragment of Tom Riddle in the diary was cleverer and more charming than the Voldemort that Pettigrew resurrected.

What if you were a Death Eater who really believed and admired Tom Riddle? Possibly even loved him? What if you noticed your beloved Lord's deterioration? What if you decided to do something about it?

What if Bellatrix LeStrange decided to put the fragments of Tom Riddle's soul back together again? A Bellatrix who never went to Azkaban, who never went insane? What would happen then?

There. I leave you with this plot-bunny, and wish you well.

Current Mood: pensive
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/967476.html

Half-a-dozen Stargate keys
Invention of a new disease
Daniel Jackson on his knees
That's what Apophis wants.

Harry Potter on his knees
Imperius the Ministries
Life for all eternities
That's what Voldemort wants.

Fluffy socks with honeybees
A cooling western summer breeze
Several thank-yous and a please
That's what Dumbledore wants.

Swinging freely through the trees
No more itches, nits, or fleas
Lovely Jane as his best squeeze
That's what Tarzan wants.

Join in?

Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/967197.html

I wonder if Snape was a kinesthetic learner, and that's why his lessons were structured as practicals without lectures?

Current Mood: thoughtful
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/967015.html

There's something that's been bugging me for a while: why is Harry Potter famous? No, I don't mean "what is he famous for?" I mean "who told the press"? Actually, I don't care so much who told the press (I mean, it was probably Dumbledore); the thing is, it's terribly unlikely for Harry Potter to be famous, not unless someone deliberately set out to make him famous (whether that be Dumbledore or the Minister of Magic or whoever...). There were no witnesses to what happened that night. Nobody apart from Harry himself, and it's not like a traumatized toddler is going to be talking to the Daily Prophet. Harry Potter is famous for something he didn't do: defeating Voldemort. It was Lily who did that. Yet it is Harry who gets all the credit.

Given that... why hasn't anyone written a story in which nobody invented the concept of "The Boy Who Lived"? A story in which Lily did get the credit, and Harry isn't famous; just one orphan among many?
Now, I've seen a story or two where someone else other than Harry is called "The Boy Who Lived", but I haven't seen any stories where there isn't a boy who got the fame. And it kind of bugs me that nobody has questioned the famousness of Harry, when, as I said, it isn't actually that likely. It's not as if someone needed to suppress the story; there was no news-story until someone made it up.

Or am I wrong? Has there been fanfic which has dealt with this?

Current Mood: tired
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/966900.html

I just realized that Hermione is brilliant at everything except what Harry is brilliant at: flying and DADA. And chess, which Ron is brilliant at.

Current Mood: awake
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/964893.html

This is the second gift I made for the 2012

sshg_exchange. This was made as a gift-to-the-community, off my own bat, because the idea for this necklace took hold of me ever since I'd seen "The potions ingredients garden" as a prompt in the sign-ups. When I didn't get that person as a recipient, I still wanted to pursue the idea, so when I'd finished my assigned gift, I started on this one.

And a Certain Person was given the necklace for Christmas. 8-)
( Seasons )
( Design Notes )

Current Mood: tired
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/962204.html

Now that the reveals for the

sshg_exchange are up, I can reveal what I made!
This year, I did craft for the first time. And boy was it a challenge. But a satisfying and stretching challenge, once I got over the initial panic.
( Snape Angel )
( Design Notes )

Current Mood: accomplished
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/961878.html

( You're about to view content which the poster has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: hot
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/961716.html

I have done it! I have made my first piece of chainmaille jewellery.

This one is semi-symbolic, in that it could be worn as just a pretty thing, but I did design it with meaning in mind. The title is "Tying the Knot", and it represents Severus and Hermione. Severus is black-and-silver, and Hermione is gold-and-brown. Different as they are, they entwine, they "tie the knot" together.

Certain persons who saw the green-and-silver chain while I was working on the piece, I dismantled it, because I disliked the way the silver links weren't quite the same size as the green ones; it made the chain lopsided. I also noticed how you were disappointed in the gold-and-copper chain as compared to the green-and-silver one. But the gold-and-copper chain was actually the one I preferred, because the links were the same size and thus sat much better. So I went with silver-and-black as something which didn't make the gold-and-copper look dull by contrast, and also because the black links were the same size as the silver ones. (All four sets of links came from the same source, thus much more likely to match.)

Since the copper isn't red, and the black isn't green, I therefore declare that they represent hair-colours, and thus still represent Severus and Hermione. (grin)

Current Mood: accomplished
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/959087.html

Day 2
In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Drop a link to your post in the comments. See if you can rec fanworks that are less likely to be praised: tiny fandoms, rare pairings, fanworks other than stories, lesser known kinks or tropes. Find fanworks that have few to no comments, or creators new to a particular fandom and maybe aren't well known or appreciated. Appreciate them.

Remember that by fanwork, we are talking about: all forms of creativity. From meta to fic writing to picspamming to hosting a comment-fic-meme to running a challenge, to vidding and podficcing and reccing and pretty much anything you can think of. Crafts, knitted items, repurposed rubber duckies, finger puppets. Pimping posts. Guides to timelines, tattoos, quotes, nit-picky canon guides, episode recaps, synopses, beta work. If you think it's creative, then it definitely fits under the heading "fanwork."

Last year, I did a variety of recs.

This time around I'm going to go for "fanworks other than stories".
( here be recs! )

Current Mood: hungry
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/956879.html

Day 1

In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator.

Remember that we're using the term fanwork in the broadest sense of the word here - things like episode guides, meta, canon timelines, thematic lists, recs, fandom overviews, picspams, discussion posts, etc totally count.

I don't want to do the same recs as I did last year, so I won't.

I would like to put "the work I did for the 2012 SSHG Exchange" in this list, but since the reveals haven't happened yet, I can't. Suffice to say, it was a creative challenge, and I'm very pleased with the result, even though I can't yet point to it and say "I made this!"

So, on to the recs I can actually make.
( cut for space )

Current Mood: okay
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/956436.html

Yo!
I'm working on a Harry Potter AU, in which things happen differently for Harry before Hogwarts, and as a result there are a number of changes by the time he gets to Hogwarts. And I have a poll for y'all about choices I have to make for the story. Not that I'll necessarily follow the popular vote, but it will help me to clarify things in my mind if nothing else.
( Read more... )

Current Mood: tired
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/953127.html

One of the things that bothers me about the Harry Potter series is the role of Albus Dumbledore, or, more specifically, Dumbledore's actions and motives in regard to Harry and the war in general. Especially the reasons behind his actions. Because I keep on having to toss my hands in the air and exclaim, "What was Dumbledore thinking?"

I find it very difficult to come to a conclusion about what motivated Dumbledore. I am certain that he meant well, but beyond that, I am baffled. He said one thing and did another. He was supposedly wise, and yet did incredibly foolish things. Why? It's not enough to say "he wasn't perfect" or "he was only human"; this isn't a question of imperfection, but inconsistency. In the light of what we know at the end of the series, a number of Dumbledore's actions really do not fit with someone who is both wise and loving. Because if he was loving, he was incompetent, and if he was wise, he was callous. Was Dumbledore aware of the likely consequences of his actions or not? Was he blindly optimistic, a well-meaning incompetent, a bit senile? Was he as cunning as a fox? Did he consider any price worth paying for the greater good, even if he wasn't the one paying the price? Did he genuinely love the ones he claimed to love, or were they all pawns?

I'm not going to attempt to come to a conclusion. What I am going to attempt is to list the problematic incidents and give a range of answers as to why Dumbledore did what he did. And in some cases, not give any answers at all, because I can't think of any.

( pondering problematic plots )

I'd appreciate if you could suggest further answers and further unanswered questions for this, as well as pointing out any mistakes I've made.

ETA: Decisions in Harry Potter may be helpful to look at as another aspect of the chain of influence that Dumbledore was involved in.

Current Mood: drained
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/952600.html

Well, my story for

deeply_horrible has been rejected by the vetting committee, because Snape isn't horrible in it. I'm not that surprised. I wrote to the prompt, which I think is only reasonable, and the prompt didn't lead me to write a Snape who was "nasty, cruel, unforgiving", but rather a Snape who was "desperate and full of self-loathing".

I am somewhat annoyed by the way the fest was run. They should have vetted the prompts rather than vetting the stories, and then just left us to write to the prompts, like any reasonable ficathon does. So if they run it again, I don't think I will participate.

I thought, going in, that it was simply going to be a Snape-centric ficathon which discouraged people from writing Snape as nice. Which I was quite happy with. When the prompts were going up, there were of course very dark-and-nasty prompts, but there were also prompts that were not so dark. So I was still hopeful it wouldn't necessarily be a fest consisting only of darkfic. Then came the post by the mod "clarifying" what they meant by "deeply horrible" and about what stories they would accept. This filled me with foreboding, and it seems that foreboding was justified.

Okay, I am more than somewhat annoyed. I am disappointed and angry. Please let me make it clear that this isn't sour grapes at being rejected. I perfectly agree with their assessment of my story, and had already considered it possible that they would reject it - expect to see it posted here in a day or two.
What makes me disappointed is that I probably won't be seeing the stories by other people that I was really looking forward to (judging by the prompts that were taken) because they would be rejected too.
What makes me angry is the whole concept of vetting stories, of not allowing people to write to the prompt, as their muse leads them. As I said above, if they were going to vet anything, they should have vetted the prompts, and allowed people to write as they want. To do otherwise is breaking an unwritten rule, that's what it feels like to me.

It's almost enough to make me want to run a competing ficathon. Which will be an utter failure because nobody will write for it. (sigh)

Current Mood: rejected
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/950864.html

A couple of speculative AU-ish questions for the HP peeps here.

1) I've seen it said that one reason that Harry was left (and kept) with the Dursleys was to keep him out of the hands of the Malfoys. I can't remember how much support this idea had in canon, but it seems plausible anyway. I've read quite a few stories where Harry being adopted by the Malfoys is seen as almost a fate worse than death - but has anyone written a story where this fate did happen, where Harry was adopted by the Malfoys? Has anyone written a good story with that scenario?

2) I'm rather stuck with one of my AU HP stories because I can't actually decide what is the best outcome for Harry in the scenario I've set up. The situation in the story is that the Dursleys have been persuaded that they need to at least give the outward appearance of not neglecting Harry, because of What The Neighbours Might Think. Harry is about eight or nine at the time; they give him Dudley's second bedroom, second-hand furniture, his own (but second-hand) clothes... as I said, the outward appearance. So Harry is better off than in canon, though obviously the Dursleys still hate and fear magic. And I can't decide what to aim for.

The options, as I can see them:

A) Leave things as they are; Harry at the Dursleys. After all he's better off than in canon. And if the Dursleys are less obvious in their neglect, it would be harder to remove Harry from their custody anyway.
B) The Dursleys are still caught out as neglecting Harry, and he is removed from their custody. And Harry is adopted.

i) Adopted by Aunt Marge (who is the one who noticed Harry's neglect)
ii) Adopted by the Tonks family (who are cousins through the Blacks)
iii) Adopted by the Malfoys (who are cousins through the Blacks)
iv) Adopted by the Weasleys.
v) Adopted by Snape.
vi) Adopted by someone else entirely.

But I'm finding it hard to make any of these particularly plausible in my mind.

I CAN'T DECIDE! HELP!

Current Mood: gloomy
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/949576.html

Here's a plot bunny for Lucius lovers.

I've seen more than one "Daddy Long-Legs"-style story with Hermione being the orphan and Snape being the benefactor. I think there was a challenge, a long time ago.
Thing is... Lucius Malfoy is the one in a better position to be a benefactor (since we know he's rich) and with very good reasons to want to remain anonymous.

So what would happen if Lucius was the "Daddy Long-Legs" instead of Snape? Not a romantic interest, but simply someone whom Hermione has to depend on.

Unfortunately, I can't think of any good (in both senses of the word) motives for Lucius to want to support Orphan Hermione. Not and stay in character as the racist he is.
Which would make any story that I might attempt to write for this plot bunny something dark and manipulative... and that kind of thing leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. Do Not Want! I couldn't write it.

But I do know that there's at least one person on my flist who likes Lucius, and has a handle on fanon!Lucius. So I offer up this plot bunny, in case anyone feels like writing something for it which isn't darkfic. And then maybe it will stop popping up and saying "Boo!" when I least expect it.

Current Mood: hungry
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/949430.html

Last year, I wrote a story for the

sshg_exchange, as one does. I haven't posted it anywhere (apart from the original post at the Exchange) because I meant to revise it before I did. And I haven't done a lick of work on it in all that time. My chief problem is that the story needs expanding; there's a part that refers to Hermione and Severus writing journal entries in two linked journals, over the course of about a week. But not the actual contents of same. Obviously I need to write these journal entries, but I haven't a clue what to put in them. Help! Anyone have suggestions?