wah.

[reenka]

I have pretty much one thing I need to say now, though I've got tons of comments--

This book, pretty much, is the one thing I've read after OoTP that fully satisfies every single desire or requirement I had in mind for the Big Bang Challenge and sixth year fic in general. Nothing came close, and-- after all-- that is only how it should be.

This is something I should've realized, since I enjoyed the three previous books so much. I should've known JKR wouldn't let me down. I should've trusted her.

This isn't what I wanted as an H/D shipper, because that's way too narrow, way too rigidly 'romantic' a viewpoint. This is because I wanted some real follow-through, some accounting for sins and some facing of truths.

I literally could not have asked for more.

And the funny thing is, at this point, all my shippy glee is pretty much banked. I'm just satisfied that this book answered the questions in my mind, gave me a Draco I can get behind and a Harry I could love, a Luna I smiled self-consciously at, a Dumbledore I learned to trust, a Snape I truly engaged with, a new Potions professor I was intrigued and relieved by, a McGonagall to further admire, a Hermione that finally made me empathize with her, a Ron to cheer for, a Remus to ache for, and a Ginny who is quite starting to remind me of Lily, but not in a bad way.

I love canon.

Comments

[balfrog.livejournal.com]

And the funny thing is, at this point, all my shippy glee is pretty much banked.
Yup, that's what I'm feeling right now - not so much the shipper aspect, but the vindication of Draco as a person, and his interactions with Harry were just enough.
And wow - would be sad, but at this moment the whole "being content with canon" is making me complacent and not that thirsty for fic. Weird, en't it?

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty complacent too-- that's what I was trying to say, anyway. It -is- enough, and it's a relief-- because I spent the years after the book -aching- for someone to do this, to answer my questions like this, but either no one was asking the same questions I was or (more likely) no one was truly prepared to answer them fully and without either heavy character-bias or overwhelming shippiness-- except JKR. Even the ships in the book didn't detract from the story, I felt, which almost never happens in fic, though I admit I don't read enough (or... any) gen. Even so, I feel a good longfic should have elements of 'gen' or rather, balanced characterization.

So yes, I don't want fic-- am almost put off at the mere idea of fic. I also don't know whom I'd trust to give me what I want, after having all that hope & disappointment I experienced after OoTP.

[ex-ella-bane358.livejournal.com]

Same here. Canon has fulfilled my wishes, so I feel strangely sated as well. I have no desire, at the moment, to write OR read fan fic. It's weird. It's like, huh, well she did it -- I see the Draco I've wanted to see and now it's all good. :D

[balfrog.livejournal.com]

My real life peeps are laughing in their sleeve at me - friend and husband - "oh, just you wait a couple of months." Who knows? maybe...

I wonder what it's like for fen who went through with this with OotP - but I still think it's the seeming resolution, not of the plot, but of character vindication that we're all happy and fumbling around about...

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

After OoTP, I was driven to write almost immediately, not because of the plot threads dangling (which there are plenty of at the end of OoTP) but because of the unresolved mounds of characters on a collision course with each other (mainly Harry & Draco, but also Snape in a way). And now, the future seems more unpredictable than ever in terms of events (Harry not come back to Hogwarts??!), but the sheer direction of the characters seems... clearer. Not so many holes to patch up in that sense, and that has always been one of the main driving forces for fanfic (especially hated by people like Robin Hobb, say).

There are things that could still happen & change everything, but we pretty much have a solid view as to where things stand with Harry & Draco now; even if they reconcile a bit, it wouldn't be nearly as -important- as the steps taken in this book. It's sort of the reason I'm often satisfied with open endings in fic in general-- when you can tell where something's going, to me it's often as good as having gotten there.

[ex-ella-bane358.livejournal.com]

but of character vindication that we're all happy and fumbling around about...

Agreed :)

And yes, who knows how I'll be feeling in a few weeks.

[balfrog.livejournal.com]

yeah, almost went ahead and said 'bye~thanks for all the fish' AGAIN on the lj, before I stopped myself. Because of all the sniggering from loved ones in real life. er...

but it does feel like a hurricane went through - in a good way, in a Cal way... (okay, shutting up for real now.)

[ex-ella-bane358.livejournal.com]

'bye~thanks for all the fish' AGAIN on the lj

Okay, that just made me giggle :D

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I know just what you mean about the hurricane!!! :D :D

...I'm really excited about the last book now, there's that :D

[shaggirl.livejournal.com]

This book could not have made me happier. I too feel a bit chagrined for not trusting in JKR. She does like her red herrings, though. ;)

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Man, yeah... speaking of red herrings :)) This whole book is full of them, too. I've started to get wary, but it doesn't help much, I'm usually still taken in ^^;;
But!! What's truly almost embarrassing isn't -just- that things turned out this way, but that of course they did-- JKR set them up like this, and I was, for some odd reason, expecting -H/D fanfic- to deliver without even considering that canon would have the same conditions to work with.

I left OoTP thinking that Harry & Draco had to work things out, and I -assumed- that it had to be 'shippy' and thus fanficcy and thus wouldn't be addressed. My mind has literally been consumed by slash, it appears ><;; *sigh*

[shaggirl.livejournal.com]

For me it wasn't so much Harry and Draco needing to work it out as it was just giving Draco a choice, and a mind of his own. If he chooses Voldemort then at least he's done so with his eyes open, and not because the mean author lady had hold of his strings. That Harry has finally recognized Draco's humanity is icing on the cake, and obviously a very good thing for him as well.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, giving Draco a choice-- that-- yes, is what I wanted for Draco; it's just that I wanted Harry to see it happen, which is what I meant by 'working it out'. :D For Draco to think a little, but not because he's so smart & can see through things but because he's been put in a circumstance where, ironically he has no choice but to think a bit. Oh Dumbledore <3<3<3<3

...Though I'm sort of flustered as to what I can -possibly- do with my ringfic!H/D novella now (...its ring is a horcrux, isn't it, OMG I PREDICTED IT, IF ONLY I'D FINISHED I'D BE BASKING IN GLORY RIGHT NOW... but... uh... it feels so pointless to finish it now). As for the DE!Draco one... I was actually scared, from all the spoilers, that it'd be -impossible- to have Draco become a DE now, but it's not :D He -could- still make that choice. Though the having sex beforehand in Hogwarts would be... uh, tricky to manage -.-

[ex-ella-bane358.livejournal.com]

My mind has literally been consumed by slash

hee hee, not necessarily a bad thing. But yeah, it's all there in the book by JKR herself, so it just feels good, feels right, and I'm so completely satisfied.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I'm still curious as to what happens to them now, of course, but am possibly wise enough not to expect fanfic to tell me :))
I think the problem is that I was expecting genfic-type conventions and/or resolutions from slash. Maybe that was really the problem. :-? Or possibly it's just that in a book fandom like HP, canon is just too huge and/or set and up in the air at the same time to seriously tackle & try to 'answer' in full.

[ex-ella-bane358.livejournal.com]

I think the problem is that I was expecting genfic-type conventions and/or resolutions from slash.

That could be very true. I mean, sure I love h/d, but honestly, I love Harry just the way he is in canon and now we have the Draco that I thought might be there. And I really don't want h/d to be a couple, couple in canon (any more than you do, I believe), but I'd like to see them both come to an understanding about the other. And with this book, the seeds of that were planted, and it's just wonderful.

Canon is huge and in the end, the trio relationship is the most important of Harry's life.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

and in the end, the trio relationship is the most important of Harry's life.

That's exactly it; exactly what I was thinking at the end of the last chapter. That it -is- all about Harry, Ron & Hermione in the end, and I think this book was about that as much as or more than it was about Draco or Snape or horcruxes (which actually seem relatively minor; and I also find it amusing that everyone claimed this'd be the 'war' book, whereas really it's less so than OoTP was). I think I -forgot-, somehow, that it -is- about the three of them; somehow forgot where Harry draws his strength from, what really really matters more than anything else-- this bedrock that he'd be lost without. Yes.

I do love Harry just the way he is, of course, and that applies to all the characters (except mebbe Voldy, I like him more with his whole soul, hardy-har-har). And yes-- I love what you said about planting seeds, because that implies that it's book 7 that'll really see the fruition of this implicit change between Harry & Draco :D

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

This isn't what I wanted as an H/D shipper, because that's way too narrow, way too rigidly 'romantic' a viewpoint. This is because I wanted some real follow-through, some accounting for sins and some facing of truths.

I literally could not have asked for more.

Bingo. This is exactly what I was trying to say Saturday, what I kept stumbling over because of how overwhelmed i felt.

♥

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

....On a less loving note, I wonder if this book killed self-controlled!super-Slytherin!aloof-sexgod!Draco dead yet.


...Nah.

♥

[shatterglass.livejournal.com]

♥

[hollyxu.livejournal.com]

And the funny thing is, at this point, all my shippy glee is pretty much banked. I'm just satisfied that this book answered the questions in my mind, gave me a Draco I can get behind and a Harry I could love, a Luna I smiled self-consciously at, a Dumbledore I learned to trust, a Snape I truly engaged with, a new Potions professor I was intrigued and relieved by, a McGonagall to further admire, a Hermione that finally made me empathize with her, a Ron to cheer for, a Remus to ache for, and a Ginny who is quite starting to remind me of Lily, but not in a bad way.

I love canon.

I couldn't have said it better. *Applause*

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

Me too. I am getting this very peculiar feeling I will never write fic again (I could be wrong, of course) and being very happy about it.
Oh, HBP, through all my flings and unbeknownst even to myself, it was you I have loved all along.
In canon was everything I wanted. Rock!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, I sort of feel, 'but why would we -need- fic?? there's always book 7!' :D
...Though odiously, I still feel I should finish my WiPs -.-

And sekritly I would feel really really happy if someone rewrote HBP through Draco's pov ;)

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

OMG ME TOO.
All I can think of is all the DRACO POV I want. And that's shameful. I've always been so against Draco POV!
shameful!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

But! But! This time it's BEGGING FOR IT!!
We just -know- that there was all this -stuff- going on with Draco that Harry never quite knew the full story of. It was just so... tantalizing!


(...though I shudder a bit at the thought of 'main pairing' being listed as Draco/Myrtle, but perhaps one could just sell it as preslash, though this is the one book Draco's less obsessed with Harry than vice versa. Woe.)