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Tweak says, "yes.....your point is?"

beholder_mod (beholder_mod) wrote in hp_beholder,
@ 2011-05-06 14:44:00

Entry tags:

bathilda bagshot, beholder_2011, femslash, fic, griselda marchbanks, griselda/bathilda, rating:r

FIC: "The Ladies of Godric's Hollow" for featherxquill
Recipient: featherxquill
Author: tetleythesecond
Title: The Ladies of Godric's Hollow
Rating: R
Pairings: Griselda Marchbanks/Bathilda Bagshot, implied background Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald, with appearances of a canon-character's semi-original aunt.
Word Count: 17,000
Warnings/Content Information (Highlight to View): *None.*
Summary: Griselda Marchbanks and Bathilda Bagshot are two women with a dream and sound principles. However, when Bathilda's nephew pays them a visit in the summer of 1899, the question arises how to stay true to them.
Author's Notes: This comes with fervent gratitude to my fantastic betas, Kelly Chambliss and Pale Moonlite, who worked miracles on this tale. Dear featherxquill, I had the hardest time choosing between your wonderful prompts -- I hope you like what I did with this.

One literal and one paraphrased quote are from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, page 287 of the British hardcover edition.

"The Ladies of Godric's Hollow"

(Don't forget to return to this post to leave feedback for the author!)

(Post a new comment)

	irena_candy 2011-05-07 01:01 am UTC (link)
	What a terribly poignant story! Very well done. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	tetleythesecond 2011-05-30 07:06 am UTC (link)
	Thank you! I'm glad you like it. (Reply to this) (Parent)

perverse_idyll
2011-05-07 08:17 am UTC (link)

This is brilliant and tragic and absolutely convincing and almost painful to read. I felt a sense of creeping dread all the way through, but I was also utterly absorbed in the lives of these women. You evoke their era beautifully, and the interplay between their moral decisions and betrayals and what we know of the history they helped to shape casts a pall over their story, a shiver at the way evil can ruin innocence simply by crossing its path. On top of that, the helplessness and devastation of old age is so starkly chronicled it wrings my heart. Yet there's also tenderness, and it makes Bathilda's ultimate fate almost unbearable.

It's too late at night for me to do this justice, but it's one of those unforgettable stories that conjures up an entire lifespan, an age that has passed away, a legacy that's unintentionally appalling. I'll have to come back later and try to be more coherent, but I feel genuinely haunted by this fic. It's inexorable and sad and spellbinding, and I'm bowled over.

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tetleythesecond
2011-05-30 07:08 am UTC (link)

You will not believe how surprised and delighted I was to wake up to your comment! Despite the miracles my wonderful betas worked in midwifing, paediatric surgery, and post-partum therapy, I was still convinced that I had failed utterly in bringing across what I want. One of the things that bother me about Rowling's handling of the whole "fight against Evil" matter is her premise that you simply have to make the right decisions and stay true to the the Good side. Well, it's not as simple as that, is it?

Thank you so much for your wonderful words! To say that they made my day would be a gross understatement.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

perverse_idyll
2011-05-30 07:26 am UTC (link)

Heavens! Your response showed up literally as I was finishing re-reading this story for the second time. I still want to expand on my feedback at some point, because I love this fic muchly, and I got pulled entirely into it again, shuddering a bit less and mourning a bit more. At this moment I can only say that I'm glad not to have shared Griselda's heart or conscience once she heard, as she inevitably must have, what exactly had been done to Bathilda. I can hardly imagine the extent of her guilt and grief.

(Also, pardon me for mentioning it, but in the interests of preserving one of the tensest scenes in the fic, I wanted to point out a typo before you re-post this: Albus was sitting in an armchair, motionless, his head buried in his face.)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	beholder_mod 2011-05-30 08:00 am UTC (link)
	(just to say, I've made the correction on the DW page. Well done, eagle eyes!) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	tetleythesecond 2011-05-30 08:10 am UTC (link)
	Thank you, Beth! I think I'll go over basic English anatomy again before I sign up for my next fest. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	tetleythesecond 2011-05-30 08:09 am UTC (link)
	his head buried in his face. Oh my. Thank you! Can you believe that this escaped me during every single re-read, and I even had to read your quote three times before the glaring error hit me? I clearly need to revise my first-year vocabulary one day. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	perverse_idyll 2011-05-30 08:24 am UTC (link)
	I think because it's a familiar turn of phrase, our minds simply elide the word and substitute what we know should be there. I completely missed it the first time I read this. (And hurrah for speedy Beholder fix-its!) (Reply to this) (Parent)

featherxquill
2011-05-07 02:11 pm UTC (link)

Oh. My. God. My God, Mystery Author, this was amazing. I feel like I can't even begin to say how brilliant this was.

But of course I can. Of course, I will because omfg you wrote 17,000 words for me, so surely I can find a few of my own.

This was so rich, so full of the history, character and politics of the world - both wizarding and Muggle - that I truly felt like I was there, living their lives with them. Enriching witches' lives through education - and all of the history that goes with it - was such a perfect way for Griselda and Bathilda to come together. I feel like the relationship and the plot that followed were so intrinsically true to the characters that it simply could not have happened any other way. This is absolutely taking a place in my headcanon right now.

Your characterisations were superb - Griselda and Bathilda (and how I love that your Bathilda is known as 'Tilda', and that your Griselda - whose name is equally as much of a mouthful - has no nickname at all) wonderfully extrapolated from canon, and so beautifully matched with all their complementary and contrasting qualities. And what a fabulous OC Eleanor Bones is - be still my heart, I wouldn't miss one of her soirées either. All the minor characters so wonderfully rendered - Albus and Gellert and Aberforth, Rita Skeeter and Griselda's thoughts on her, and OMG OMG, your pint-sized, absolutely perfect Muriel (and her mother, Agnes. I'm pretty sure you know me, Mystery Author, though I am pleasantly uncertain about who you are). Loved all the little nods to canon characters' elders, too - Muriel's brothers' F and G names, Marjorie Malkin's skill with the needle, and Simeon Scrimgeour's fondness for Veritaserum especially.

The present sections are sad, but also rather touching. There is an ironic sort of symmetry to it, that two women drawn together by the strength of their minds are now only able to communicate on such a basic human level, but there is such a sense of love and care in those passages, made all the more bittersweet by the possibility that perhaps Griselda made Bathilda that way.

This is a magnificent piece of writing. I am honoured to receive it as a gift. Thank you SO MUCH for writing it for me.

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tetleythesecond
2011-05-30 07:18 am UTC (link)

I am pleasantly uncertain about who you are

Surprised?

Thank you so much for this long, wonderful comment! I grinned broadly after getting your prompt a second time in a row (though I admit there was this fleeting moment of dread that you'd open your gift and go: "Oh no, not her again!" *g*). I played around with all your awesome pairing options for a while, but the lesbian history geek in me couldn't possibly have passed up the opportunity to write Griselda and Bathilda. They only insisted quite firmly that Muriel be kept outside the bedroom. (I had insane fun imagining her as a girl; glad she came across plausible to your expert eyes *g*).

So happy you liked the characterisations and the history bits and all that, and thank you, thank you, thank you for all those lovely words!

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featherxquill
2011-06-04 03:54 pm UTC (link)

I actually am surprised! :D And I'm surprised that I'm surprised, because I swore I would know your style anywhere. So yay! I love being surprised.

And I see what you did there, now, with the little comments here and there about liking your Beholder prompts. I am so chuffed to have received two Tetley gifts in a row.

(Now I must must get on with the story I need to write for you. A bunny has most definitely attacked me. I had about twenty minutes to kill tonight at work, so I started making notes on a blank sheet of paper, and they got a little crazy)

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atdelphi
2011-05-08 03:45 pm UTC (link)

As soon as I read this...

If anyone were ever to make a film about Godric's Hollow, it would be one of them art features where nothing ever happens, and everything is black and white.

...I knew this was going to be the perfect story to curl up with on a lazy Sunday morning. This is simply beautiful. The way you've conjured both the characters and the setting is utterly believable, and all the more perfectly painful because of it.

Marvellous, marvellous work.

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	tetleythesecond 2011-05-30 07:21 am UTC (link)
	Thank you so much! I'm happy you liked it and found it believable. I knew this was going to be the perfect story to curl up with on a lazy Sunday morning. I had exactly the same feeling about your own fic. Did I mention it's fantastic? (Reply to this) (Parent)

leela_cat
2011-05-08 11:53 pm UTC (link)

Canon informs this story (and our reading of it) brilliantly. Names that are mentioned (or simply surnames because they're ancestors) and each event expands into so much more because this is about Godric's Hollow as much as it's about Bathilda, Griselda, and Eleanor.

And the lines, even some of the tiny, throw-away ones, just add to this sense of the story being a part of a much larger tapestry. Like this one, that gave me chills (on top of the goosebumps that I got from the mentions of Eliza Shunpike):

What should they want from you, anyway, that Rita Skeeter hasn't taken already?

I've spent a good part of today reading this story and consider it a day very well spent.

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	tetleythesecond 2011-05-30 07:24 am UTC (link)
	Thank you so much for the comment and the rec! I'm glad you like it, and that you think it fits well with Canon. I thought that we need an explanation for the night Ariana died, and I'm glad that this version rings true. (Reply to this) (Parent)

woldy
2011-05-13 05:41 am UTC (link)

What a fantastic story! I love the account of Griselda and Bathilda's relationship, and the entire world you conjure of the women's meetings and very sexy Ms Bones. Their stances on education are such an interesting way to frame the Gellert issue, and I enjoyed how the History of Magic syllabus was explained by Bathilda and Griselda's connection to Gellert and what they saw on the night Ariana's death. It's such a sad tale, especially given what we know from DH about Bathilda's end, but a beautifully written and compelling story.

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	tetleythesecond 2011-05-30 07:26 am UTC (link)
	Thank you! I'm glad it came across as believable, and Eleanor thanks you for the compliments! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	therealsnape 2011-05-13 11:49 am UTC (link)
	I've just left a rave review on my LJ, and I'm just dropping by here to tell you what an absolute masterpiece you've managed. It's exquisite. It's brilliant. It brought tears to my eyes. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	tetleythesecond 2011-05-30 07:31 am UTC (link)
	Thank you so much, my dear, for this and for the rec on your journal! I'm so happy you like it. There's a bit of my grandmother in the older Bathilda, so I'm extra glad you found her affecting and believable. (Reply to this) (Parent)

drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com
2011-05-15 04:37 am UTC (link)

My heart is soaring with this story.

You've managed everything with this. Everything.

The delicate beginning that promises so much and blooms into delivery upon delivery of those promises -- when we see mention of Mary and Reg and then discover that you have taken everything from canon and given it depth. Gilbert and Finn! The echo of Tom Riddle hurting animals in the orphanage with the realization of how brilliant Albus had reached his conclusions; the hint that perhaps Aberforth had been framed for those inappropriate goat charms. The pitch-perfect depiction of suffragists and the reform outfit and the Hogwarts girls leaving after fifth year (yes, the age when Harry's year receives those helpful career pamphlets) and the dreams of women's education; I went to just such a school, and you nailed it.

The hippie girl with the husband and two beaus -- Lily? Who were the two?

But the moment of pure song came for me with your revelation of the cost of what Griselda did. Of everything that was lost, including their love affair, the greatest violation was of Bathilda's work as a historian. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Whatever we've done to deserve you, Mystery Author, I'm grateful. You are a gift.

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drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com
2011-05-15 04:46 am UTC (link)

Dear me, I forgot to rave that I love the layers of invisibility you've given this story, that there's the Muggle observer and then the official story and then what "we" know is the wizard version behind the Statute of Secrecy and then the inside story from the people who were there the night Ariana died, and then the story of what makes history -- the ethically questionable Albus and the sociopath Gellert writing their way into history while the idealistic lesbian educators erase some truth, deny and forget some truth, and stay the most hidden of all.

I can't say how much I love this story. A kiss on your hand, Author.

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tetleythesecond
2011-05-30 07:50 am UTC (link)

I think I must have grown an inch from this review alone. Thank you so much! I'm glad the glimpses of the early women's movement and women's ideas about education came across as believable. I do love my 19th-century women, reform dress and all.

And I'm so happy about your comment on the layers of invisibility. That's exactly it! Women's contributions so often fell under the visibility threshold, either because they didn't create facts that were considered "historical", or because they themselves chose to remain behind the curtains for their own reasons. And even if they did take "noteworthy" action, they ended up being written out of history books -- either by being subsequently declared irrelevant or unfit for public attention (not a little of that by 19th-century men).

Lily? Who were the two?
I thought that Whitby may have taken the Potters and Remus and Sirius for a bit of a "Hair"-type living arrangement.

Thank you again, for the compliments and for the hand kiss!

*reciprocates*

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miss_morland
2011-05-16 11:46 pm UTC (link)

Would you believe me if I said that I've wanted to read this pairing for ages? And I'm so taken with the way you've done it, the way you turn the two of them into full and interesting characters with fascinating motivations, the world you've placed them in, the backstory you've given them.

I love the realism with which you paint their relationship, such as their late-night discussions turning into mere 'good nights', or Bathilda sleeping with her face turned away, so as not to disturb Griselda with her snoring. (And it speaks volumes that she'd still do so after Griselda had left.)

Bathilda didn't always recognise Griselda these days, but most of the time, she still knew her Dearest.

Painful and beautiful.

Then there's the irony of love causing harm -- in Bathilda's case as well as Griselda's -- but the way you portray these characters, we understand and believe that to them, there's no alternative; their choices make sense, difficult as they are.

Truly a wonderful story. <3

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	tetleythesecond 2011-05-30 08:00 am UTC (link)
	Would you believe me if I said that I've wanted to read this pairing for ages? Actually, I do. After writing them, I wondered why I hadn't done so much earlier. Thank you so much for this thoughtful comment! I'm especially happy that you found that their choices make sense. (Reply to this) (Parent)

(Anonymous)
2011-05-17 08:45 am UTC (link)

I read the story a few days ago, but I knew there was no need of an immediate comment, as I certainly would not forget this one and return again; so now I mulled it over in my mind for a while, thinking about what makes it so special...
It is a HP story, no doubt about it, but it also is one of universal human issues and truth, which effects the reader on so many levels. And the biographies of real English women of the 19th century always run along under the surface - this fic is not so purely a fantasy-story as so many others are.

The prominent theme of calling the partner "Dearest" was one of the details that almost had me in tears ♥

Thank you so much for this gem,
Minervas_Eule

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	tetleythesecond 2011-05-30 08:11 am UTC (link)
	Thank you so much, M! I was happy to read that you found that it's more than a HP story -- it certainly into more than that for me during the writing. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2011-05-20 10:49 am UTC (link)
	This has been rec'd twice at the daily_snitch, and every rec is deserved. Wonderful, wonderful, story. (Reply to this)

magnetic_pole
2011-05-29 08:06 pm UTC (link)

What a stunning, ambitious fic! I loved the way you set this up, with hints of the unknowable past hidden under the ruins of both the town and Tilda's aging body, layers upon layers. I loved the politics, the sense of power between people as well as elements of society. I loved the way you really *worked* some of the silence of canon (on what happened after Ariana's death, especially) to make sense, and to become meaningful. And there were moments of humor, too--Muriel's brothers doing a "favor to mankind," Lily's two beaus. An unforgettable story, thank you. M.

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	tetleythesecond 2011-05-30 08:14 am UTC (link)
	Thank you so much for this beautiful comment! The thing about Ariana's death bothered me so much that I'd long wanted to shed some light on it, and featherxquill's prompt provided the perfect opportunity. (It also offered the perfect opportunity to work in ickle Muriel and her mankind-friendly brothers, so she is to be thanked.) I'm happy you liked it! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	kittenmommy 2011-08-31 10:24 pm UTC (link)
	Here from the rec on LJ's Crack_Van. What a marvelous story! You worked in so many canon details! I especially like the idea that it wasn't Aberforth who was doing the illegal spells on goats, but evidently he took the fall for it! Brilliant! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	tetleythesecond 2011-09-01 07:00 am UTC (link)
	Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it. I'd always been wondering what really happened the night Ariana died -- JKR's version somehow didn't explain it all. Plus, Bathilda wanted a story ... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	kittenmommy 2011-09-01 09:37 am UTC (link)
	I'm glad you gave Bathitilda this story! :D (Reply to this) (Parent)

	starduchess 2012-03-29 08:32 pm UTC (link)
	Beautiful story, dear. I loved how seemlessly you flowed the present with the past and flushed out the story of the fight in Godric's Hollow. The pacing was slow in the beginning, reflecting their earlier lives in peaceful harmony, then it erupted with Gellert's pained entrance. Brilliant work! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	tetleythesecond 2012-04-02 07:30 am UTC (link)
	Thank you so much! I was so chuffed to see this comment, and I'm glad you liked it! (Reply to this) (Parent)