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Archive Reviews | January 10th, 2020


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Welcome to 2020's first blog post by the Prefects, affectionally entitled our "Potpourri" series! To kick things off, this first installment of the year has review columns from each of us on a fic we loved reading and were impacted by last year. Go check out all of these stories if you haven't already! 

Seriously though, why aren't you clicking on those links yet? Do it!

 

(We mean it.)

B E L G I A N   Q U A F F L E

Something Worth Waiting For by @ReillyJade

Do you like your fluff with a ball of warmth in the depth of your stomach? Because that's what you'll get when you read Something Worth Waiting For by @ReillyJade. Teddy and Victoire have been friends for forever but over time, it seems it's developed into more. Part of the fic's summary is "a mostly fluffy three-shot about what happened before the kiss on Platform 9 3/4" and the moments that are available to read currently will get you in ALL the feels in the best kind of way!

There's a certain nostalgia in a lifelong-friends-to-lovers romance that this fic nails, executed particularly well as each chapter is a single moment. There are sweet moments and comments built into Teddy's narrative that build up the friendship between him and Victoire. We are able to see so clearly how these two characters have fallen in love, not in one specific place or moment, but gradually over time. 

 

J U L S

Forgive Us Our Trespasses by @Oregonian

This story is a fantastic piece of (almost original) fiction in the Harry Potter/Founders Era. It is set in medieval England. The original character is a healer who loves to help out those in need. Her helping brings attention to herself, and she ends up being accused of witchcraft. As that period goes, she ends up paying the ultimate price.

But the story doesn’t end there! That’s when the action starts and we get to see how our protagonist deals with the unfairness of becoming a ghost. How she deals with her afterlife and how she works her way to passing over. This story speaks to me because of how rich the history is that the author has written into it. History is a passion of mine. So it was a double pleasure to find the history within.

The ending is fantastic, and I will leave you, as the reader, to enjoy it. You won’t regret the time you spend getting to it, I promise!

 

M A D I M A L F O Y

stranger things by @blackballet

This is an incomplete novel with a very unique take on being a student at Hogwarts during the Marauders Era. The protagonist is Ravenclaw Charlotte Malkin, who is half-inferus, half-human, and who is working hard to just get through school without her peers learning of her condition. Ever present and nosy Gryffindor and Slytherin boys combined with a difficult balancing act between Quidditch and studying for her N.E.W.T.S. means it's a struggle for her constantly. Lots of mystery and action fills each chapter, and there's such depth to all of the cast of characters that is extremely intriguing and pulls you in further. 

The purposeful screen over why Charlotte's condition is a) occurring and b) potentially progressing and how is only one of the pieces of the skillfully crafted puzzle this novel is composed of. Catherine turns the typical coming-of-age school story into a deep, layered piece with significance you might not find until your second or third read-through. This will be something I continue to return to until it is finished, and certainly after it is because of the beautiful descriptions, the characters, and the expertly woven plotlines that all culminate on the shoulders of our half-inferus protagonist. Each new update keeps me coming back for more, so honestly, why aren't you reading this already?

 

M A L F O Y S A N G E L

A Ghost, A Grave by @MuggleMaybe

Oh my gosh! This story got me right in the feels! It is a powerful piece about the Black/Malfoy family and chronicles the inner battles between Narcissa's desire to have a relationship with her sister, and her worries about her son and husband. It captures the essence of dysfunctional relationships which more than fulfills Kevin's requirement for the challenge this was written for. 

I was on the brink of tears while reading this and it was easy to feel a connection with Narcissa throughout the story. I felt her pain when she lost a sister and felt her fear and worries about Draco and her desire to rid the manor of ghosts. I was glad to see that the ending wasn't a storybook happy ending but left a promise of something more. 

f you haven't read this yet, what are you waiting for? 

 

S O M E T H I N G   W I C K E D

Intoxicating by @grumpy cat

Okay so it’s not one fic, but with these three it would be totally unreasonable to make me pick just one.

Kris is mistress of the Aesthetic and her apply named Intoxicating Series is no different. She creates a dark, vanilla smoke filled world that takes over and draws you in, complete with whispers in the dark and gorgeous people doing questionable things, always wrapped up in descriptions that you will get lost in. The stories exist in the same universe as any many of her other works but this time the focus is Dominique Weasley and her often unhealthy, always messy relationships with Teddy Lupin and Quinn Jones (Kris’s OC). 

There is so much to these one-shots, they’re a whirlwind of character, and really it takes skill to craft a character as complex as Dom. The amount of emotion packed in is incredible, a perfect example of letting vulnerability and hurt naturally bleed through layers of other traits, something very human and relatable, even to those who haven't been in the intense drama that Kris has created for Dom throughout the series. At first glance it would be easy to write her off as a drunk girl wanting something she can't have, a character who maybe invokes little sympathy, but given a well earned second look she becomes someone you can fall in love with and root for for all the right and wrong reasons. 

 

This concludes our first blog post of the year! Check back in a couple of weeks for 2020's first In the Spotlight blog post! 

If there's anything you'd like to see the Prefects write about in our "Potpourri" series, let us know, we'd love to hear any ideas you may have :)

credits:
header: deni
drafting: madi

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Oregonian

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What a  lovely  First Prefects' Blog of 2020,  You guys always do such a good job.  And thank you, juls, for featuring one of my stories with such generous remarks. Readers who want to know how the story progressed after the final paragraph can continue on to @Noelle Zingarella's spinoff (written for @crestwood's Spin-off Challenge), Mairi's Ghost,  where Noelle masterfully develops the next chapter in Mairi's existence and brings promise of a final closure to this poor woman's history.

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