(no subject)

[a_t_rain]

On the off chance that anybody's interested:



I’ve already posted Chapter 12 at Mugglenet, so my rewrites will start with Chapter 13. Chapter 12 contains a mildly non-canonical scene of Apparation directly into 12 Grimmauld Place, and the implication that Tonks knew Sirius when she was a kid, but neither of these is a biggie (and frankly, I think Ron might easily be wrong about the latter).

All in all, I’m pleasantly surprised by how canon-compliant this story turned out to be; I was fully expecting the Werewolf In St. Mungo’s to turn up in HBP, and to be someone very different from my Linus. I'm also really pleased that Celia Lupin's existence hasn't been invalidated. (I suppose you could argue that Remus should be spending Christmas with his mother if she's still alive, but he's probably too polite to decline an invitation from the Weasleys, and perhaps Celia and Linus had Other Plans.) The only really awkward bit to finesse was the existence of Fenrir Greyback. He doesn’t have any place in this fic, yet he would be a very obvious suspect, so he will just have to be under Ministry observation and have definitely been somewhere else.

My version of the Ministry regulations about Wolfsbane is also non-HBP compliant, but the information has already been given and it won’t play a major role in future chapters, so I’m just going to forge ahead. (BTW, was anybody else just plain bothered by the implication that Remus apparently hasn’t had access to the potion since he resigned as DADA professor? Couldn’t the Order do something for the poor man?)

I was pleased to learn about the Order communicating through Patronuses; it’s a neat idea and I’ll be using it in a future chapter.

There used to be a few references to Tonks and Kingsley’s immediate superior, Titus Scrimgeour. He’ll be getting a name change.

My!Tonks originally bore a strong resemblance to Bellatrix in her unmorphed state, and my!Snape had been carrying a torch for Bella since his school days. I’ve changed both of these to Narcissa. (OK, Narcissa’s not brown-haired, but I get the sense that Tonks’ overall coloring is fair rather than dark.)

I’ve decided to forge ahead with my characterization of Snape, despite the huge bombshell JKR has dropped. He’s only in a couple of scenes, and my basic take on him is much the same as it’s always been: he’s a Dark Arts addict who has been the equivalent of a dry drunk for fifteen years. I read him, prior to HBP, as fiercely and almost fanatically eager to disavow his past, but incapable of embracing the Light side in any positive way. He serves the Order because of what he hates rather than what he loves. I think this interpretation has been vindicated, if anything, by the new book; he’s simply fallen back into his old addiction. There’s a scene between Snape and Tonks at the end of the story that I really like; while I had to change a few details, on the whole it seems scarily prescient. You’ll know it when you see it.

With a wary eye toward future canon, I was writing the Remus-Tonks relationship as an increasingly strong friendship, with one tiny, ambiguous hint of possible romantic tension. Just now, in Anne of Green Gables’ words, I feel as if I’ve been handed the moon and don’t know exactly what to do with it. But it’s safe to say there might be a few more hints of things to come :-)

Finally, a couple of canon bullets that I dodged: Remus almost accepted Harry’s guardianship in the scene where Sirius is discussing his will, but fortunately I decided to leave this open; and if Mugglenet hadn’t had a strict no-slash policy, Amelia Bones and Kathy Hudgins might have been lovers, which would have made the revelation that Amelia lived alone rather hard to finesse.

Comments

[sprite6.livejournal.com]

BTW, was anybody else just plain bothered by the implication that Remus apparently hasn’t had access to the potion since he resigned as DADA professor? Couldn’t the Order do something for the poor man?

Honestly, I entirely missed the implication on my first read, but I agree. Aside from the fact that he's a danger to the public without it, it's just weird that the British magical community doesn't have universal health care when the Muggle one does.

Did Lupin strike you as strangely stiff in that scene at Christmas? He just seemed so much more formal than in PoA and OotP. Not a contraction in sight. And that phrase "I must be grateful" instead of "I'm grateful" - it sounds like he's trying to convince himself.

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Did Lupin strike you as strangely stiff in that scene at Christmas? He just seemed so much more formal than in PoA and OotP. Not a contraction in sight. And that phrase "I must be grateful" instead of "I'm grateful" - it sounds like he's trying to convince himself.

Yeah, he did seem a bit stiff, but then I suppose he's lying to himself on a lot of counts -- Snape, Tonks, pretending he's not completely disgusted by what he has to do for the Order -- and it shows. (Either that, or Jo needs to re-read her earlier books, but I trust her.)

Totally agree that he's trying to convince himself about Snape; he seemed to be bending over backwards to be not only fair, but generous. Which goes to show that excessive saintliness can be a tragic flaw...

[the-prof.livejournal.com]

I found Lupin to be rather stiff overall, but that made sense, for all the reasons mentioned. I'm just trying to get a handle on how big a role he'll have in the next book. She keeps bringing him in, at least in small ways, which makes it feel like she's keeping him around to be a central character later (only one "later" left, heh), or is that logic skewed by the fact that he's one of my favorite characters? Is she just bringing him in because he exists and must be doing *something* with his time, which may as well involve providing a small amount of backstory? Except that that doesn't quite make sense. She doesn't leave chars. dangling, especially ones who were central to one of the subplots of the book. So what's the likelihood that much of this stiffness will recede in the next book?

[dizzy-chisel.livejournal.com]

Glad that many of your plot points excaped the chop.

What HBP is changing for me is what I believe the role of the Order of the Phoenix to be. I'm not yet very articulate though.

[...] and if Mugglenet hadn’t had a strict no-slash policy, Amelia Bones and Kathy Hudgins might have been lovers [...]

What?! You're throwing this out so casually. I had no idea they were discriminatory and homophobic. Absolutely disgraceful. No more Mugglenet for me, I guess. I'll wait till ch. 12 shows up on FA.

[snorkackcatcher]

To be fair, it's a general "nothing to frighten the kiddies" approach - their definition of "slash" extends to cover teacher-student relationships and indeed anything explicit, I think (an unhelpful and confusing extension of the term, but there you go). Most swearwords get starred out, as well, including "damn" which has appeared several times in the books ... I think the idea is "please don't post anything that will get us trouble from parents" (as some of the stuff on FA definitely could). I do think the policy is a bit overdone, but there you go - it's never really annoyed me as much as FAP's rather anal policies on post length, SPaG, and "debate templates" (and the way mods jump down people's throats for minor things that are probably more trouble to complain about than let go).

[gunderpants.livejournal.com]

I've read some slash stuff on Mugglenet, and I'm pretty sure that they've a policy similar to my one at VTM: essentially, if there's no paedophilia, incest or non-con, I'll take it as it comes. But I think Mugglenet and Veritaserum (to a greater extent) have a far more conservative fanbase than, say, Fictionalley, and as such they tend to be hesitant about fics that might piss off/offend some of the more... ahem, delicate.

[snorkackcatcher]

Oops, there may be some confusion here. I was referring to the policy of Chamber of Secrets, "the official forums of Mugglenet". Part of that is a relatively small fanfic forum called Flourish & Blotts, which is where ATR is posting Mordant. On that, the CoS rules apply (i.e. they don't even like you mentioning slash, let alone writing it). Just to confuse everybody, Mugglenet started up their own separate fanfic section about a year ago. The rules for that may be different - I never really got into it much, it seems a bit too disorganised, and is another site where you have to submit the fic and wait for it to be approved (as opposed to CoS where you just create a new thread and start posting).

[snorkackcatcher]

My version of the Ministry regulations about Wolfsbane is also non-HBP compliant, but the information has already been given and it won’t play a major role in future chapters, so I’m just going to forge ahead. (BTW, was anybody else just plain bothered by the implication that Remus apparently hasn’t had access to the potion since he resigned as DADA professor? Couldn’t the Order do something for the poor man?)

That was one of those "I read revelation X and thought of fic Y" moments for me. I thought your argument made more sense, actually, but I suppose that if werewolves in HP are apparently living in semi-feral packs (an idea I thought was silly when it appeared in fanfics and so will have to swallow my words about) the Ministry really don't care about helping them. As for Remus not getting Wolfsbane - you're right, but I suppose (a) if he's spying in the way he is and not supposed to have any contact with wizards, taking Wolfsbane would look suspicious (b) maybe there really are very few wizards capable of making it? We now have it confirmed that Snape is a Potions genius (I always liked that idea!), so for him to be one of them is reasonable. And you could imagine him refusing to help when Remus was no longer a member of staff.

Incidentally, since we now have a name fot the inventor of Wolfsbane (which I can't remember offhand - wasn't it a relative of one of the people old Sluggy was trying to gather?), will he get a mention in Mordant?

Either that, or Jo needs to re-read her earlier books, but I trust her.

Actually, she did say something to this effect in the Couric interview (transcript on MSNBC - TLC have a link).

[dizzy-chisel.livejournal.com]

[...] but I suppose that if werewolves in HP are apparently living in semi-feral packs (an idea I thought was silly when it appeared in fanfics and so will have to swallow my words about) the Ministry really don't care about helping them.

And neither does the wizarding world in general. I'd somehow suspected that, but Lupin's remark that he isn't trusted by the other werewolves because he shows signs of having tried to fit in with the non-werewolves still chilled me.

There's a lot of new room for interesting Lupin backstories now. The man is clearly cultured and knowledgeable, having kept up with intellectual pursuits concerning Dark creatures since leaving Hogwarts. I've also been thinking that he might have taught before.

(b) maybe there really are very few wizards capable of making it? We now have it confirmed that Snape is a Potions genius (I always liked that idea!), so for him to be one of them is reasonable. And you could imagine him refusing to help when Remus was no longer a member of staff.

Might be true. The British wizarding world only has the equivalent of a small town (25.000 give or take a few thousand) to staff a sprawling ministry, provide labour for the purely wizarding companies, some of which do a fair amount of food production (Honeydukes, Bertie Bott's, whoever makes butterbeer), Gringott's non-goblin staff, breeders and caretakers of magical creatures, and artisans of all stripes.

(The bulk of food would probably be imported from the Muggle world, via some very favourable deal -- melt wizarding gold and sell it on the Muggle markets, say -- organised by Gringott's. Poor as they were in Galleons, the Weasleys always had plenty of high-quality food.

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, since we now have a name fot the inventor of Wolfsbane (which I can't remember offhand - wasn't it a relative of one of the people old Sluggy was trying to gather?), will he get a mention in Mordant?

His name is Damocles Belby. And I've already decided that he stole Rene Lupin's work, the bastard. But no, he probably won't come in for a mention.

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

On second reading, I've decided I can finesse the Wolfsbane thing as well. What Remus actually says is that Snape "made it perfectly, so that I did not have to suffer as I usually do at the full moon" -- which could just mean that he's getting inferior-quality potion with bad side effects the rest of the time. And Greyback and his pack are outlaws anyway, so I doubt they'd care about complying with the Ministry regulations.