He’d been courteous and polite–the very picture of chivalry, at least for the few moments before she’d apparently determined that his behavior was masking some sort of nefarious plan. He wasn’t exactly sure whether to feel flattered or insulted by this reaction.
Well-written and funny. Unfortunately, all of this author’s fic has been made friends-only.
A disowned and dishonored Draco Malfoy has been given refuge by the Order of the Phoenix at the Burrow. The only time of the day in which he’s granted any privacy is during the swing shift, tea time to midnight, which he spends, appropriately enough, in the Weasleys’ garden.
There are a lot of great things to be said about this story; unfortunately, I’m too tired to say them. Read this anyway.
Character Death // Het // NC-17 // Romance
Good Duo backstory is hard to come by. This is the best I’ve read so far, and it’s pretty amazing. It’s not at all how I pictured it, but the story makes so much sense and has such emotional resonance that by the time finished it, I was completely convinced. And completely hooked.
This is the story of Duo, Solo, and the L2 plague, which is used so often to create Duo-angst but rarely explored in any depth. I love Duo’s narrative voice in this fic, especially the way he juxtaposes the story of his first weeks on the colony with the account of the early progress of the plague. Lovely, lovely writing.
That night is my last pure night; the first soft whisper of a greater shadow that hangs over the landscape of my life. The last time the rain really belonged to me.
I never met Mary Lenox. The history-books say she was twenty-three, that she was admitted to Wellspring Hospital on May 15, AC 186 and died two days later of respiratory complications. As I figure it, that was seven days after Solo warned me out of the rain.
Her death passed without comment; she was only the first faceless pebble in the landslide to come.
I hesitated for a long time before adding this story to my Top Ten list, not because the fic itself isn’t good enough to justify it, but because I had a sort of unofficial rule that only novel-length fiction would be added to the list. In fact, I still do, but Twilight deserves to be the exception.
Action // Character Death // Darkfic // Extreme Violence // Gen // Non-con // R // Rape // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100 // Top Ten // Underage Sex
(Link is to GWA main page)
Also Quatre/other.
A Quatre-centred fic, miracle of miracles. You may have realised that 1×2 is my OTP, but I like all the pilots, so this story is a refreshing chance of pace.
Feeling stifled and trapped in his role as businessman, Quatre takes a year off to go to university.
Coming of Age // Het // NC-17 // Top 100
(Link is to GWA main page)
Five years after Endless Waltz, Heero hasn’t kept in touch with the other pilots. When he hears that Duo and Trowa have disappeared, he decides to go looking for them himself.
This is a very long and satisfying story. I’m particularly fond of post-war stories where one of the pilots (usually Heero, which is pretty much canonical) has been out of contact with the others, and has to work to understand the changes that have taken place in his absence. Sol 1056 makes the best of that plotline in this story; she doesn’t oversimplify and never takes the easy way out.
(Link is to GWA main page)
This isn’t a story that’s easy to summarize, so I’ll let the author do it for me, as I so often do:
This story grew out of my wish to respond to the seemingly endless number of stories revolving around the topic of slavery, especially those that focus on breaking or torturing a person past their point of resistance. Sometimes reading those becomes excruciating, since so many seem to revel in a concept that I find personally abhorrent, when put into reality: removing all free will from a person, and destroying their spark of individuality. And worse, few investigate the process involved in surviving (let alone healing from) such an experience. So I decided I would.
Part of the bleakness will be as the back-story becomes clear. Expect physical abuse, violence, torture, and possible squick situations. Also expect gallows humor, surprising light-hearted moments, and behaviors that make no sense from a rational point of view.
It is not a pretty picture. And the simple fact is that I can’t necessarily promise a happy ending in the traditional sense, where everything ends up back to ‘normal,’ because I can’t find anything in the medical or psychological information that indicates that a person after surviving such an intense psychological breakdown will ever be truly ‘normal’ again. You’re also going to read a lot of questions raised by performing such a horror, and the two main characters will also be raising ethical questions about their own roles in the recreation of an individual. Some of their positions and conclusions may surprise you, and some may upset you.
I’ve done a great deal of research for this story, and I’m trying to stick to as realistic an extrapolation as possible. Now that you’re braced for impact, I will assure you that I believe in the strength of a human being to come up with a way to fight even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. To paraphrase Trowa’s words in the first chapter, none of the characters in this story are going to go gently into any damn night.
This story is less romantic or sexual than psychological, but it’s none the worse for that.
The war is over and everyone wants something from Hermione. But that’s nothing new; she can handle it. Really.
My favourite Draco/Hermione story to date. Um, not that I’ve read very many (so far.)
I love the characterizations in this fic. Canonically, Hermione is chronically undervalued and taken for granted. And Draco would be the kind of house guest who shows up uninvited, makes himself at home, reads your mail, eats your food, messes up your apartment, and sees right through you to all your hopes and weaknesses.
“You don’t understand.”
“You? I understand you perfectly.”
He took a half-step forward. She wasn’t sure if she should get ready for a kiss or a slap.
Then he stopped.
“And I understand I’m hungry. You were so busy playing house with Potter last night—never thought that meant I wouldn’t get dinner, did you? I’m famished.” He plucked at his shirt.
Skin and bones, that’s what I am.”“Oh for—You’re going to have to learn to feed yourself, Draco.”
He looked genuinely surprised. “Why? I’ve got you.”
If only she had a door to slam.
It’s time for some new recs after what has been, for me, a very long hiatus. This is the first time I’ve written a rec that I knew the author would eventually read; luckily, Argosy’s writing is so good I don’t have to worry about being tactful.
After Dumbledore’s death, Draco Malfoy vanished without a trace. Ten years later he may have re-emerged as a robber of Muggle banks. Can a bushy-haired gal from Magical Law Enforcement find happiness in the arms of a grey-eyed Master Criminal?
This is one of the stories with which Argosy has made me a DM/HG ’shipper. And Draco Malfoy makes the best bank robber ever.
