May Activities 2010

[Hermoine Jean Granger]

To those who have just stumbled in and are wondering what this is, please refer this thread.

This month's featured category is "General". By this, I do not mean any of the sub-categories under that category, but stories submitted only to general.

Post with these details, please:

Name of the Story(with link): 
Author: 
Rating:
Word Count:
Warnings(if any):
Number of chapters(if chaptered. If it is a one-shot, this can be skipped): 
Last updated on(applicable only to WIPs):
Summary: 

[TheCursedQuill]

Story: Auralei Evermore and the Secret of the Dark Lieutenant
Author: hogwartsbookworm
Rating: 1st-2nd years
Word Count: 6729
Warnings(if any): None
Number of chapters: 2 + prologue
Last updated on: April 19/2010
Summary:

The year before Harry discovers he is a wizard, Auralei Gamp discovers something equally shocking: she is adopted.

Join Auralei at her first year of Hogwarts as she makes friends, learns magic, trys to control her uncooperative power, blows up cauldrons, get losts in the corridors, reads as many books as she can get a hold of, and most importantly, tries to find out who her real parents are... and by extension, who she is herself.

The answer is darker than she expected.

This is the first in the Auralei Evermore series. If you like reading about Neville, Tonks, Luna, Oliver Wood, George Weasley, Lupin, Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy, the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Trevor the Toad or new Original Characters, then hopefully, you will like this series.

Story: Snape's Revelation
Author: Emerald Fox
Rating: 1st-2nd Year
Word Count: 4045
Warnings: Book 7 Disregarded
Summary:

This story is a small twist off from Harry and Luna's excursion into Ravenclaw Tower at the end of the seventh book. Their struggles to find the diadem of Ravenclaw are interrupted by a slight turn when they are discovered by Snape rather than Professor McGonagall in their search. What is written in the tone of a beautiful death scene in the book bascially becomes an exploration of possibilities of what may have happened had Snape been granted those last moments with Harry, which he so desperately wanted, but which were so rudely snatched away from him at the last moment. Harry's shock in the book at finally discovering Snape's secrets, along with the knowledge that he must die, are noticeably more poignant with the edge of Snape telling him face to face. How is Snape going to give him his last secret?

Name of the Story: The Potions Master's Nephew
Author: SeverelySnaped
Rating: 6th-7th years
Word Count: 814
Warnings: AU, Mild Profanity
Summary:

When a potion goes horribly wrong, Professor Snape is transformed and seemingly trapped in his fifteen-year-old body. Much to his disgust he finds himself enrolled into Harry Potter's fifth year, forced to hide his true identity. Girls, drama and teenage angst do not bode well with Severus. (complete, written before OotP)

Name of the Story:Welcome Home
Author: Jess!/ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor
Rating: 1st-2nd years
Word Count: 992
Warnings: None
Summary:

The wizarding mothers of England have banded together after the fall of Voldemort to support one another with a common purpose: to mourn the loss of their children in the war. These grieving mothers formed a group, Hospice for the Orphaned Mothers of England (H.O.M.E.), for just that cause.

Molly Weasley stood before the assembly of H.O.M.E. and shared the story of her son, Fred. Join Molly as she imparts her personal loss and heartbreak so that the orphaned mothers know that they are, indeed, not alone.

Name of the Story:Semiautomagic
Author: angelicxdiscord
Rating: Professors
Word Count: 30611
Warnings: Abuse, Character Death, DH Spoilers, Strong Profanity and Violence
Number of Chapters: 7
Last Updated: Janurary 15/2010
Summary:

It is 1997. The Dark Lord has returned. Death Eaters have taken control of the Ministry. Information is tightly controlled and propaganda is fed to the masses. Dissidents and undesirables disappear on a regular basis. All is lost, resistance is futile, yada yada blah blah blah. That’s what they’d like you to think.

My name is Corinne Lambert and I’m part of a three-man terrorist cell conducting direct action operations against Voldemort’s puppet regime. Working closely with our liaison from the Order, Charlie Weasley, we use anything and everything at our disposal to combat the Death Eaters. Magic. Firearms. Explosives. Whatever gives us an edge in this war. Because they have the numbers, they have the resources, and they have the home court advantage.

They won't know what hit them.

[Kuri]

Name of the Story(with link): Not Eating Blueberry Cobbler
Author: saskiawrites
Rating: 3rd-5th Years
Word Count: 5353 Words
Warnings(if any): DH Spoilers, Mild Profanity
Number of chapters(if chaptered. If it is a one-shot, this can be skipped):
Last updated on(applicable only to WIPs):
Summary:

A Lie. Or several.

Name of the Story(with link): Never Too Late
Author: hestiajones
Rating: 1st-2nd Years
Word Count: 4533 Words
Warnings(if any): Mild Profanity
Number of chapters(if chaptered. If it is a one-shot, this can be skipped):
Last updated on(applicable only to WIPs):
Summary:

Bill Weasley was the coolest, the most accomplished, and in many ways, the wisest among the Weasley siblings. But he also got something which no other Weasley did – a cursed letter sent by a mysterious pen-pal that made his ears shrivel up. This is the story behind that unfortunate incident.

Name of the Story(with link): Leave Me Whole
Author: Dory_the_Fishie
Rating: 3rd-5th Years
Word Count: 4192 Words
Warnings(if any): Strong Profanity
Number of chapters(if chaptered. If it is a one-shot, this can be skipped):
Last updated on(applicable only to WIPs):
Summary:

His desk was otherwise vacant. There were no papers strewn across it, no used cups of tea, and no rogue quills. There was only one object currently resting on the dust-free oak surface – a pamphlet for St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

Name of the Story(with link): Albus Dumbledore and the Bouncing Wizard
Author: Karas Aunty
Rating: 1st-2nd Years
Word Count: 7518 Words
Warnings(if any): None
Number of chapters(if chaptered. If it is a one-shot, this can be skipped):
Last updated on(applicable only to WIPs):
Summary:

A trip to the Ministry of Magic in the Summer of 1988 leads to an unexpected meeting and a shocking revelation for the Hogwarts' headmaster. UK English.

Name of the Story(with link): Stage
Author: DeadManSeven
Rating: 3rd-5th Years
Word Count: 3894 Words
Warnings(if any): Slash, Violence
Number of chapters(if chaptered. If it is a one-shot, this can be skipped):
Last updated on(applicable only to WIPs):
Summary:

The package arrived on a Thursday. Luna was able to tell instantly as it soared over the tables at breakfast, borne by some anonymous owl, that it was for her. It was the way her father wrapped packages.

She set aside her breakfast to clear a space for the owl, and waited patiently for it to land. Breakfast could wait a little. It happened every day, after all.

[jenny b]

Tomorrow.

Interpret it how you will, SPEWlings.


Rules/Guidelines:

• Drabble can be between 250-800 words.
• Content should not be any higher than a 3rd-5th Years rating.
• All content that would require a warning on the MNFF Archive should be labelled appropriately.
• This thread is for responses only. If you have a question, PM me.
• Responses must be posted by May 31st, 2010.
• Please post using this format:
  

  Title:
  Word Count:

• As with all activities within the SPEW forum, this challenge is open only to SPEW members.

[jenny b]

Our featured author for March is Selina/HARRYHARRYHARRYs_twin!.

Her author’s page can be found here.

Remember:

• You must review the featured author for it to count as your monthly activity requirement.
• Post the link to your review here - you may also post it in the May review thread for credit as a review.
• Questions in this thread are not part of the monthly requirement, but they are greatly encouraged. Also, they must have something to do with the subject of writing.

[jenny b]

This month I want you to tell me all about your favourite things! To do with reading/writing, obviously. Everyone has different tastes, and it's good to share them. So tell me:

• Your favourite category
• Your favourite character
• Your favourite pairing
• Your favourite fic/author

Of course, I want an explanation as to why it's your favourite. It doesn't have to be a huge review or anything, just a paragraph for each point will suffice. If you think of anything else, then feel free to add to my list.

[TheCursedQuill]

Oooh, I like this disscussion

Favourite Category
I think I'd have to say marauder era. I love the marauder's because it's basically a free-for-all, but not as much as next-gen, so it's a bit of a challenge. An author has to work around what we already know about the characters, and the hardest part ever, to try and make the characters believeable. There's a lot of cliches around about the marauder's and what they were like, that all sprang from that one moment in OotP. I also love the characters, so reading about them is always a great way to spend my time!

Favourite Character
I've always loved Ronald <3 such a cutie! His character never fails to make me laugh! I love his humour and I think I can sort of relate to Ron, not that I come from a big family, but I'm the middle child and sometimes feel like the one left out. His personal tragedies are so sad and I love to see him grow up and get everything he wanted out of life! It makes me tear up thinking about how happy he must have been. I'm a loser, I know.

Favourite Pairing
Ron and Hermione! Although I'd love to have Ron for myself, I've always known the two would get together. They are like the perfect couple, other than Ginny and Harry, because they've always been together! They always knew they liked each other, but never did anything about it. It's not a forbidden love or anything as exciting like that, and yet, it's a sad relationship because they both can't see how much they love each other! Even after Hermione went to the Yule Ball and Ron so obviously confessed he liked her, she did nothing! They both did nothing! It's tragic in it's own way, until they finally get together and I had to shut the book and jump around I was so happy...

Favourite Fic/Author
This is a toughy. When i think about it though, Natasha/Miss K's A Broken Hallelujah comes to mind. It's such a great story! Her language is no elegant and it all flows together beautifully. Her techniques of using second person and also the braketed action description are so unique and she uses them so well! The plot is generously revealed and wonderfully portrayed and it's what I strive to write like, really. I think this story is just beautiful and it really makes me want to work harder on perfecting my own writing.

That was fun!
-Sarah

[ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor]

Oh, thank you for making this month's discussion simpler for us poor 007ers.

Your favourite category

My favourite category is Next-Gen, but more focusing on the kids being older (at least 15). I like drawing my own parallels to the series, but I also like to see how these children are both the same as their parents and how they differ. On that vein, though, I do prefer these stories to be dark in nature (well, I'm dark in nature, so it's a natural step, lol). I find that the Potter/Weasleys are given a free pass many times because their parents went through so much, leaving them to be full of angsty teen-ness. That is rather revolting. I like to see things that are dangerous and insidious happen and how this new cast of characters deals with it.

Your favourite character

My favourite major character is, by far, Harry. He's just one character that I feel like I understand. I know what he's thinking, since we all spent some time crawling around in his head, but more specifically, I feel like I know who he's going to be after the war. He's not the 'let's go get married, Ginny' guy that everyone seems to want him to be. He's going to be troubled, scared, and nearly unable to adjust to a life in which the worst bad guy in history is no longer trying to kill him. I believe that this will reflect in both his personal life and his job. It seems to be an unconventional route from how most others portray him, but to me at least, it seems more likely than '...and now I can be normal'.

My favourite minor character is Albus Potter. He's the middle child, shorter than his brother (in my mind, like most of my character analysis), not particularly good at magic or Quidditch, and he feels inferior to James. Why, you may ask. James has the attributes that Al had always wanted: wit, popularity, ease with himself, and the ability to do anything he wanted and get away with it. Albus is probably the most like the Harry that lived in the cupboard under the stairs; he is unsure of his worth and his place in the world, and his mind always wanders to what it would be like to be someone else. He becomes rather troubled, but he's very good at hiding it. This journey, coincidentally, is what I'm going to focus on in my SPEW 007. I'm excited to write it.

Your favourite pairing

My favourite pairings are (and no, I won't pick one, since they're so different) Isla/Bob, Harry/Hermione, and Rose/Scorpius. I really like the idea, with Isla, that a Black could be born not wanting what her family wants and NOT dying a horrible death or losing someone so tragically. It's more of a happily ever after than most Black family pairings, and even I, Teh Darke One, like a happy ending here and there.

Harry/Hermione is very controversial for so many. I, unlike most, balk from Harry/Ginny, because their dynamics simply weren't developed enough for me to swallow it as the end-all. Harry and Hermione, however, have had a great relationship throughout everything, and of all people, she is the only one - with no exceptions - that has never abandoned him or left him to his own devices. The only time that she was not there, giving all of herself to help Harry, was when she was petrified in CoS, which was rather not her fault. They just have such an awesome chemistry, it makes me wish that the seeds of Ron/Hermione had never been sewed in canon so I could feel less guilty about wanting him and Ginny to be hit by an asteroid so Harry and Hermione could be together.

Rose/Scorpius is much easier to explain. They are just so very different, but the Rose in my mind isn't the carbon copy of Hermione, as so many like to make her. She's smart, but her insecurities, strengths, and weaknesses are just different than those of her parents. Scorpius is, to me, the product of a Draco that doesn't want anything to do with the dark side anymore. He just wants to live his life as he's expected to keep appearances and snatch whatever bits of happiness he can from what's left over. To me, Astoria is a mad bint that hates her husband, and even to an extent, her son. She resents them both, because her parents basically sold her off to the Malfoys for money, and her whole married life was spent in bitterness. Draco tries to shield Scorpius from this, as his son is the only thing in the world that he cares about anymore. That bitterness doesn't escape Scorpius completely, but his life with Rose enables him to move past it, much like Harry moved past his life with the Dursleys when he was in the magical world.

Honourable mentions for my favourite pairings go to: Draco/Katie, Charlie/Oliver (yes, Kara converted me), Albus/OC (Anne, of course), Albus/Scorpius, Scorpius/Dominique, and Harry/Draco when I'm in a slasher mood.

Your favourite fic/author

I don't think that I have an answer for this. I love so many fics and so many authors, it's nearly impossible to cull them down to a short list. My favourite authors include Paige/Kerichi, Carole/Equinox Chick, Julia/the opaleye, Natalie/hestiajones, Gina/gmariam, and probably a bunch of others that I'm forgetting.

Paige just writes so many different genres, there is certainly something there for anyone. Not to mention she writes so well and so often, it'd be difficult to get to them all.

Carole is very versatile and incredibly talented. Her writing is a reflection of her true self, and those of us who are privileged to see that part of her, it's so easy to see how she thinks. Not to mention, her limits are barely there, so there is barely anywhere that she fears to tread. J

ulia is a very talented poet and writer. Her language in her work is so flowing and gorgeous, it's like listening to a really kick ass piece of music. She changed my mind about poetry, which was my bugaboo before.

Natalie likes so many of the same things that I do in writing, which is brilliant characterisation and a really smokin' plot. She writes with such ease and familiarity with these things, it's no wonder she is like my e-twin.

Gina does so many things with her writing. She can do fluff and angst in the same fic and make it work brilliantly. There are so few genres that she hasn't touched yet, and I'm sure that there are even fewer which she won't eventually. Not much of her writing qualifies as mainstream, which is a shame, because she should be favourited a hundred times over for all of the incredible work she's done. I guess it's one of those cases of people not trying out something new because they're looking for the newest Dramione drivel (and yes, most of it horrifies me, lol).

As for fics, I'll just rattle some off: Lost by gmariam, Drowning, Not Waving by equinox chick, The Receding by hestiajones, The Torment Bred in the Race by paperrose, Harry Potter and the Heirs of Slytherin (a little bit weird, as it's an alternate Book 7) by i hate snakes, Our Little Secret by Kerichi, When Worlds Collide by jenny_b (you couldn't possibly think this wouldn't make it on there ), My Troubled Tyrant by belledeg, Bryter Later by welshdevondragon (I really hope she finishes it once school's out), Seeking a Reason by mzap, and probably yet more which I've forgotten.

Feel free to challenge me or ask me about my madness.

[Hermoine Jean Granger]

Name of the Story(with link): Best Of Friends
Author: FenrirG
Rating: 3rd-5th years
Word Count: 2305
Warnings(if any): Violence
Summary:

Can Draco's brief childhood friendship with a Muggle girl withstand the test of time and adversity?

A songfic written to Disney's "Best of Friends", from The Fox and the Hound.

Name of the Story(with link): Apollo
Author: MorganRay
Rating: 1st-2nd years
Word Count: 4564
Warnings(if any): Mild Profanity
Summary:

For Narcissa, the common and mundane has never been good enough. She will settle for nothing less than a god, for she is nothing less than a goddess.

Name of the Story(with link): A Lesson In Public Speaking
Author: star_sailor
Rating: 1st-2nd years
Word Count: 3370
Summary:

There are far too many things on Professor Septima Vector's mind. Most of them are numbers. But there are also worries: worries about the recent events after last year, when the Chamber of Secrets was opened, worries of imminent danger around any given corner, putting Professor Vector's nerves on end, and of course, worries of embarrassing herself.

This is star_sailor of Ravenclaw's entry for The Summer Challenge: Educational Decree.

Name of the Story(with link): The Green Dragon
Author: PadfootBaby
Rating: 3rd-5th years
Word Count: 10522
Warnings(if any): Suicide
Number of chapters: Three
Summary:

Draco Malfoy wanders the countryside after he is whisked away from Hogwarts on that fateful night atop the Astronomy Tower. Lost and alone, he stumbles upon the mysterious Green Dragon Inn. During his stay there, he discovers a strength he never knew he had, and learns the destiny that lay in wait for him the whole time...

Written by PadfootBaby of Hufflepuff House, for the "At the Sign of the Green Dragon" prompt of the New Year Challenge! The warning is only for a brief mention of suicide; nothing graphic. Enjoy!

Name of the Story(with link): Searching For Friends
Author: guiding ray of sunlight
Rating: 1st-2nd years
Word Count: 1448
Warnings(if any): Character Death
Summary:

Sirius is lost. He is floating, waiting to be free of his prison. But when freedom, and reunions occur, they are not what he expects...

A New Year's Challenge submittion for the "Deathly Hallows" prompt. I am Guiding Ray of Sunlight of Gryffindor House.

Name of the Story(with link): Friday Thirteenth
Author: luinrina
Rating: 1st-2nd years
Word Count: 2766
Summary:

It’s Friday. It’s the thirteenth of the month. Superstitions here or there – that day just couldn’t bring anything good.

Could it?

[Russia Snow]

Review for 'Dear Somebody'

~Russia xxxxx

50lotsofloveforSelina!