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

[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 -.-