>VERBOSE

there's no smoke without reason (it's a sign there's something wrong) by tonberrys
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing/Characters: Regulus, Bellatrix, Narcissa, Evan, Wilkes, Barty Jr., Voldemort
Rating: Teen
Words: 9808

Author's summary: Responsibility to family, restoration of family - the wounds of Sirius's departure fester in his wake, and Regulus takes a dark plunge into the Death Eaters to settle the storm.
Author's notes: Title is from "Things We Lost in the Fire" by Janet Devlin. For those who are interested in our nerdy headcanon about the specifics of the Trace (as interpreted by us/in the Renascentia-verse), I tossed up a brief meta on my tumblr, but the important bits are referenced in the narrative, so as always, it's not essential.
Author's warnings: [author selected No Archive Warnings Apply, I guess because the depiction of violence is not that graphic and the deaths are not major characters, which are two possible archive warnings, but there is murder by means of fire]
Additional tags: Welcome to the Baby Death Eater Murder Club, Murder, Coercion, Fantastic Racism, Underage Murder, Dark Mark, self-delusion, Pureblood Society, Magical Artifacts, POV Third Person, POV Regulus Black, First War with Voldemort, Marauders' Era, Emotional Manipulation, Bellatrix is a Terrible Cousin

Quote:
There was no room to falter (no room to breathe). Responsibility curled around him like some constricting serpent, squeezing tighter with each breath. People like his mother, people like Bellatrix - they were the sort of people who could just become the serpent, could sink fangs into their problems and rip them to shreds. Regulus had never been particularly good at ripping his problems to shreds, but with every passing day, he had less and less choice.

I've been building these up for a while (there are... 17?), so I'm omitting the quotes from the fics I would usually give.

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( Art )

This entry was crossposted from http://shyfoxling.dreamwidth.org/332517.html, where there are comments.

In This Valley of Dying Stars by fiery_flamingo in hp_darkfest
Andromeda, Narcissa, various Blacks; PG-13, 2037 words
Author's summary: It seems like the Blacks only gather for their dead.
Author's warnings: Character death(s), angst

My comment: "...Whoa. That was powerful. Well done."

Quote:
In a flash of what she then believes is hubris, a twelve-year old Andromeda thinks that more than blood purity or honor this is what her family is: a collection of people obligated to stand over your grave when the time comes, no matter how repulsive or unloved you were in life. They care only by pact, a mutual treaty of mourning. They cry at each others' funerals because no one else will.

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These Are the Hells We Crave by mentalistecbm in hp_emofest
Regulus/Sirius, NC-17, ~1200 words
Author's summary: Toujours pur, and this is no place for outsiders so we’re fucking keeping this shit in the family.
Author's warnings: incest, but I’d wager that’s pretty obvious.

My comment:
"Toujours pur, and this is no place for outsiders so we’re fucking keeping this shit in the family.

I liked this line a lot. I can just see Regulus's face, grave and resolute.

When Severus almost dies and absolutely everyone knows that Sirius had something to do with it and Slytherin declares fucking war

Oooh, I so hope something like this happened, that Severus had some defenders in the matter at least. Although somehow I see Severus being humiliated by the whole thing and trying to keep it as hush-hush as possible. But yes, this would be lovely, a whole fic prompt in itself. And yet I also love how Regulus is a fierce defender of his own brother and nothing gets in the way of that. It's just how I see Reg - despite everything, brotherly bond wins out."

Quote:
He’s no idea why it started or where it happened, not really; he remembers that it was winter, which makes a strange bit of sense, and that Sirius had worn a black wool coat that evening, had stolen Regulus’ Slytherin scarf, and that he looked so fucking perfect, looked like those colours were where he belonged.

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Nowt to Be Afraid Of by odogoddess in snapelyholidays
Severus, Eileen, mentions of Lily & Harry & Albus; PG, 2840 words
Author's summary: If dreams can be nightmares, can nightmares be mere dreams?

My comment: "That was just delightful all around! Great voice and tone."

Quote:
He sat, grateful for a peaceful night's sleep for a change. He could hear muffled sounds from the kitchen and a nearly forgotten smell he thought of as home and what he'd missed most after he'd grown up and his mother...

Grown up? He studied his arm. It was thin and small. He looked down and noted the rest of his slender, bony body. He lifted the bedcovers and then his nightshirt, allowing the cold in to note his still hairless and lanky boy's body. His hands shook as he dropped his nightshirt and blanket back down.

But I died... didn't I?

As usual, some of these are a bit behind by now (going back about two and a half months). See tags for what's in this batch; I think there's more gen than usual (has some recs from snapecase and deatheaterfest).

( Read more... )

Speaking of fic recs, here's a bunch of stuff I've had simmering in my to-rec folder for a long time. Where my comments were fairly long I'm linking to them on the original post, rather than paste them here, but beware spoilers therein (I tend to pick out favorite lines and may talk about plot twists or the like). There's a good deal of Severus/Sirius in this batch, as well as some gen, dark, Severus/Harry, a little sort of Severus/Lily, and (unusually for me) two items with Severus/Minerva and Severus/Pomona respectively.

( 7 from various places, including hp_beholder, Snarry Games, hp_darkfest )

( 3 from daily_deviant )

( 4 from Severus Big Bang )

( 4 from Severus' Shorts )

less_for_you reveals are up. Here are the three fics I wrote (author's notes slightly edited):

Summer Shade
Rating: R
Words: ~5,000
Warnings: None
Summary: Lily shares some of her young sexual curiosity with Severus, but that may not have been the best idea.
Author's Notes: Request was for "whatif!scenarios, pre-Hogwarts, angst, hurt/comfort, unrequited love". Sort-of-three out of five ain't bad? I think it's at least ambiguous whether it's requited love or not, and there's angst at the end. AU: Severus and Lily didn't grow apart and then crash and burn they way they did in canon. They are still quite good friends in the summer after sixth year. Thanks to my betas who_la_hoop and juniperus.

Lilies Are Red, Roses Are Blue
Rating: NC-17 (barely)
Words: ~5,500
Warnings: Sexual activity between teenagers (who are of age in their jurisdiction); gratuitous ignoring of canon; fluff; extreme sappiness; Severus being too pretty; no nutritional value.
Summary: Best friends? Maybe so, but clearly there have been some other thoughts occurring on both sides as well.
Author's Notes: Request was for Marauder era, shy Snape, long hair, awkwardness, first time having sex/kissing/etc (but no PWP), fluff, and preferably above PG-13. Wa-hey, I think I might have ticked most of those boxes.

aaand... I've just now noticed I didn't thank my betas on that one. Wow. Let's see, that would have been spidermoth and... um... oh crap. Once these were posted I deleted all the betaing emails. Now it's totally escaped me. Um. Pipe up, and I'll add in a thank-you note? (I can't believe I've forgotten this; now I feel like a heel... :( )

Call of the Dark
Rating: R
Words: ~3,800
Warnings: Some purple prose, brief drug use, slight dub-con (but see rating; no sex).
Summary: Severus has learned that Dark magic can burn away his imperfections, but can he convince Lily to see it his way?
Author's Notes: Request included plot, angst, dark, after Hogwarts, Lily not returning and/or playing with Severus's feelings, and Severus as "a flesh and blood person: desires, ambitions, complexes, weaknesses but also brains". Thanks to my betas hobgoblinn and lilyevans_snape, who did record-breaking turnaround time on this.

All three of these are pinch-hits, which means they were written under some duress, so please to excuse their not being the greatest things ever. The last one especially was squeezed out in about two days.

I'm still startled that I wrote over 14,000 words of fic for an exchange I never signed up for in the first place. Between that and all that Snack blither I tried to do for drachenmina that means I've written something like 23,000 words in a little over a month's time. O.o (Still, that ain't hacking NaNoWriMo. ;) )