Some OLSB recs - mostly Minerva and one Amelia

[therealsnape]

I'm slowly catching up with fic reading. Of course, I planned to do that in Orlando. But somehow, most of the time, we simply nattered the time away.

But here are a few recs for you.

The first one is from the darkwitches fest. Need is a story that combines Amelia Bones and Bellatrix Lestrange, but it's most certainly not a pairing. It is a brief moment in Bones's life, when she visits Lestrange in Azkaban. The author beautifully explores what kind of provocation can make 'us' as bad as 'them'. And how it feels. It's also a very well-written Lestrange. Not the screaming madwoman, but a version I find much more believable. It is darkfic, though, so heed the warning the author gives.

And now from the always fabulous minerva_fest. First a few lovely art works. Exploration shows Minerva and Albus, exploring the world in Muggle clothes. The artist mentions the word 'crack' in her author's note, and at first sight I thought it was. But the longer you look, the more you see how wonderfully IC every inch of each character is. Clothes, accessories, body attitude. And the elephant is wonderful.

Totally different, but equally well, is Guardians of the Stone. It's a moment I once wrote a fic about, the creation of the Wizard Chess game that guards the Philosopher's Stone. It's done in black and white, but the magical light is palpable. It's not white, it's light. And Minerva is a triumph of IC-ness. As to the White Queen - oh, my.

New Beginnings
There was this prompt: Given the increasing unlikeliness of my surviving this whole mess, ghost sex. Not one-time, special dispensation ghost sex. Ongoing, domestic, read-the-paper-over-her-shoulder-intimidate-her-visitors-from-the-Ministry-then-go-terrorize-the-students-before-another-pleasant-night-at-home-with-the-corporeal-missus ghost sex.

As soon as I saw the prompt (entered by no other than Professor Snape himself) I hoped that it would be taken, and taken by an author who could do it justice. Well, it's perfection. It's brilliant. The style matches the narrative beautifully, and the idea of Snape taking up Ghosts' rights and transforming Ghostly Cuisine (who but a Potions Maker could do it?) is wonderful.

And last but not least: Life, Love, and the Headmistress. It's the story of Neville's first year as a teacher, of the discoveries he makes about life. The lives of his teachers. His own life, and the part Hannah Abbot might play in it. His Gran's life. And all of these discoveries start on the day he finds himself in front of Professor McGonagall's cottage (since she seems to have a place other than Hogwarts to live in, oddly enough).

A cottage where she lives with someone called Will.

On the one hand, good for her. Why shouldn't she have happiness?

On the other hand, what the hell is their Professor McGonagall doing with some bloke named Will?

This is a wonderfully-crafted story, in which you'll see Professor McGonagall from all sorts of new angles.

Comments

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the minerva_fest plug, TRS! Glad you're enjoying it.

And I think nattering in Orlando was a good choice. You can read by yourself -- but you can't always have a good face-to-face coven chat.