Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "EAT THE MEAT"

snarryhols (snarryhols) wrote in snarry_holidays,
@ 2008-12-07 10:17:00

Entry tags:

fic, giftee: florahart, rated: nc-17

Fic: The White Road
Title: The White Road
Author: perverse_idyll
Giftee: florahart
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 45,044
Pairing: Snape/Harry, also Lily/Snape in a totally unconsummated sense, Lily/James
Warnings: Hettishness but no outright heterosex, voyeurism, accidental incestuous overtones, a bloody moment. I'm sure, in some universe, this is epilogue compliant.
Disclaimer: Is not, never was, never will be, mine
Summary: One day, comfortably set up in the afterlife, Lily Evans Potter switches on the telly and gets hooked on the Harry Potter show.
A/N: So, this was supposed to be short and cracky. The Muse apparently had other plans. Dear Flora, I truly did start out with your requests in mind, but the fic wandered far afield. I hope you enjoy where it ultimately ended up. Thanks to L for encouraging me to change horses midstream and for urging me to sing, R for reading the early fragments and loving them. The mods have been unbelievably kind about my deadline panic. Absolutely every single mistake here is of my own making.

The White Road

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0

Page 2 of 3
<<	[1] [2] [3]	>>

(Post a new comment)

	ktoth04 2008-12-09 12:28 pm UTC (link)
	This is one of the best fics I've ever read :) (Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-21 10:18 pm UTC

ktoth04, 2008-12-22 08:59 am UTC

	woldy 2008-12-09 03:48 pm UTC (link)
	This is just incredible - the characterization of Lily; the intimate, erotic scene of her and Severus amidst the rushes; the two timelines of Harry's life and what Lily & Severus rescue him from. It's just perfect. Even the most reluctant reader (and I'm not far from that when it comes to Snarry) couldn't fail to be convinced. An absolutely stunning fic! (Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-21 10:29 pm UTC

	syrosis 2008-12-09 05:27 pm UTC (link)
	Totally reccing this when I get the chance. I'll get back to you with my comments and feelings on this...because...just...whoa. (Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-21 10:33 pm UTC

enname
2008-12-09 08:41 pm UTC (link)

I think I shall start here with adding feedback to the stories I have read in the fest, it seems fitting.

What a beautiful story.

There is a lot here, from the idea of taking Lily's point of view through to the use of horcrux-baby-tom-harry, through to the little set for watching the different lives of those living, both is and what could be. All of them are fascinating in their own right and articulated in a twisty, flowery, original-simile way that makes for spectacular visuals, feeding my own delight on word play. However, I think perhaps I was most enarmoured with the way you used as both plot and emotional crux, a few observations that have always struck me about the HP books. Snape has always been the main connection of his parent's generation to Harry - Sirius was too fleeting to ever really assume it. A complicated connection for sure that does more damage than good, but one that was completely confirmed by his patronus and childhood. By the end of the series he is an embodiment not only of Dumbledore's failures (Tom, Snape, Harry - Harry being the most successful), the failures of himself and his generation, as well as that of Voldemort, but acts as the key to the past and future. He had to die, because they were the past group and he did not fit in with the new, and Harry could never really grow beyond the child potential with him there being a figment of the errors of before ...at least according to the structure. So basically what I am trying to say is... I love how you have used this so beautifully to bridge between the afterworld and Harry, but managing to tie up those knots that were left undone in canon, and tying them up in a way that is bittersweet, and includes Snape without just jamming him in for no reason other than a sense of 'but I like him!.'

The relationship between Snape, Dumbledore, and especially Lily is ... like giving water to a dehydrated person. Even beginning to address those currents that swirl around all of them is such a mountainous task, but you do it well. I like Lily's slow realisation of her own feelings, and her reconciliation with the events before her death and those that are happening afterwards. It reflects nicely the way in which she is the lynch pin in so much of the story .. and everyone tries to deal with the ramifications of her death and actions, and by everyone I mean Snape and Harry, as well as Voldemort and Dumbledore. Sometimes I think Lily's observations of Snape are a bit too close to the authorial voice (too much defence of his miraculous skills which clashes with her harsher opinions and makes the cumulation of the ending a bit ... tricky to believe.), but this is forgivable because having her voice there at all is so lovely.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Oops . . too long -

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-22 12:24 am UTC

Re: Oops . . too long -

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-22 12:25 am UTC

Long, part deux -

enname, 2008-12-22 09:36 pm UTC

Re: Long, part deux -

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-26 03:20 am UTC

Re: Long, part deux -

enname, 2009-01-05 11:32 pm UTC

Long, and throwing caution to the wind. -

enname, 2008-12-22 09:35 pm UTC

	SIMPLY FUCKING AMAZING loupgarou1750 2008-12-09 09:58 pm UTC (link)
	I love this beyond endurance. Recced here. Thank you for this. I don't care if it was written for florahart, I'm keeping it. (Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: SIMPLY FUCKING AMAZING -

florahart, 2008-12-09 10:16 pm UTC

Re: SIMPLY FUCKING AMAZING -

themostepotente, 2008-12-09 10:35 pm UTC

Re: SIMPLY FUCKING AMAZING -

loupgarou1750, 2008-12-09 11:03 pm UTC

Re: SIMPLY FUCKING AMAZING -

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-22 01:21 am UTC

	Brava (Anonymous) 2008-12-10 12:24 am UTC (link)
	I am speechless. That was absolutely gorgeous. Breath-taking. I feel like I know Lily and I love the way she grows up throughout the story. Severus was perfect and Harry was wonderful. The hands got me and the whole television idea. Wonderful and I want to know who you are, so I can read more of your work. Maia (Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-22 02:54 am UTC

(Anonymous)
2008-12-10 07:59 am UTC (link)

I join the chorus, I really liked the story. Your descriptive language is impressive. I more or less felt like Lily, watching television, since I had the feeling of looking at a picture or a film while reading some of the scenes. I loved the image of the angel they bring to life together and how they are shaken by its wing beats, a third presence between them neither is in control of. And in contrast the quiet tenderness of Snape folding his loved one in his arms, cradling their head, cherishing the moment.

I have only two very small critical remarks (or questions, really). First, I couldn't place the scene in the restaurant. When does it fit in the time line of Harry's and Snape's future? Or ist it another branch of that future?
Second, I got confused about Lily using Severus or Snape when thinking of Snape. In the beginning, I got the feeling that Lily calls him Snape to keep her distance from him, and that it is an important turning point when she slips and calls him Severus. But in the end there seems to be no such distinction. Hmmm, I just realized that maybe this just shows that Severus and Snape have become one and the same person for Lily, which would probably fit nicely. So, nevermind.

So let me get to the end of my rambling comment by saying that the use of Lily as narrator was simply perfect. She allows for a unique understanding of Snape since she knew him in his formative years. And I guess this insight made so many moments of this story bittersweet.

Thank you for the story.
Best wishes,
Krabat

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-22 03:35 am UTC

featherxquill
2008-12-10 09:00 am UTC (link)

God, this is absolutely, utterly amazing. Lily's characterisation is just wonderful, and the way the story is focussed through her, layered through with her emotions and understandings as well as quite clearly communicating Severus and Harry's, is just ingenious and masterful. I loved Albus, and Lily comforting baby Tom, and Gellert, and the juxtaposition of Harry's two alternate futures. I cried, and I laughed, and let me also say your dialogue was just crackling, and the sex was just brutal and powerful, like they were demolishing each other, and I don't usually read much Snarry fic - because I just can't get my head around it, mostly - but god, everything about their relationship, both snark and sex, just felt so powerfully raw and right. I've never believed in the pairing as strongly as I did reading this fic. Just magnificent.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-26 12:20 am UTC

(Anonymous)
2008-12-10 09:43 am UTC (link)

This is just amazing. Only without the 'just'.

The style, the atmosphere, the beautiful writing, the indepth characterisation, the wonderful amount of detail... Like the details in the house Lily envisions, for istance, with Petunia's sandles and soft porn that Lily never knew was there.

There's just so much I loved about this, but especially the interactions between the characters and the way Lily interacts with all of them as the narrator, from the perfect dialogue between Snape and Harry to a shy Regulua taking a shine to Tonks and The Grindlewald Effect on Albus. And how Lily decribes them all, even Tom, so that even when she's hating someone she does it, like everything, with passion. I can this woman spurning the young Snape for not doing anything, not showing passion, and becoming baby Tom's staunch defender, and prefering Jame's being anything by complacement towards her. The way she knows Severus, what his movements, like hiding behind his hair, mean. How she sees beauty within things.

The way everything fits so well into the spaces canon left behind...

I ramble, but I just have so much love for this. Only without the 'just'. ;o)

~inkvoices
(LJ person)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-26 01:22 am UTC

	(Anonymous) 2008-12-10 03:09 pm UTC (link)
	WOW. That was... an incredible work. I'm pretty well stunned, otherwise I'd leave more specific comments! Just...wow. (Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-26 01:23 am UTC

	aquamundo 2008-12-11 12:00 pm UTC (link)
	Great! I couldn´t stop reading. You´ve made my day - Thanks! (Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-26 01:24 am UTC

	thesewarmstars 2008-12-11 04:18 pm UTC (link)
	How great! Thank for a Lily who's still pissed at Severus. This was truly innovative - wonderful job. (Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-26 01:29 am UTC

zephyr_macabee
2008-12-11 11:08 pm UTC (link)

Bloody marvellous; I have been sitting at my computer, totally enthralled, for two hours. {I really need to pee ;-)}
Your Lily is a complex construct who clearly grows and matures through the course of the story.
Your Severus is perfect as is your Harry. They react as I would expect them to react to the scenarios you placed them in. I will be coming back to this story many times.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-26 01:37 am UTC

(Anonymous)
2008-12-12 09:46 am UTC (link)

That was a beautifully rendered story with Lily echoing a little of the reader's own voyeuristic sentiments toward the two. The premise, which initially did sound a little cracky, was wonderful and the plurality of futures was the best use of the epilogue I've seen. You juggled multiple timelines, futures, lives (and afterlives) while also developing Lily's character and her relationship with baby Tom... I have no idea how you managed all that at once. I also really enjoyed the snark. This part killed me: "Your friends will be delighted to know that you've decided on a high-risk career of banging your old potions master into a state of respectability," Snape says, removing Harry's glasses with deliberate care. "I expect that will go over like a lead Dementor."

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-26 01:48 am UTC

kallia
2008-12-12 02:57 pm UTC (link)

Even Lily has to admit that Harry's common sense is of a kind rarely seen in nature, because those who possess it would quickly die off.

That line is a winner. *snickers* But seriously, this whole story was undescribably special. It's the kind of story that fills you up, takes you for a ride and throws you around, only to have you ask for more when it's finally finished. Except that it doesn't exactly need more. Hehe, I hope I got my point across, I'm still too drunk on your writing to sound coherent. ^_^

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-26 01:56 am UTC

from Lookfar

lookfar
2008-12-13 12:42 am UTC (link)

I haven't read the other 45 comments, but I'm sure everyone is telling you how marvelous this piece is. What a wonderfully complex Lily, and plot, and complete inventiveness. I NEVER cry at fanfiction and I cried when Lily put her head on Severus' chest -- because she was such an idiot and it was such a tragic moment of lost connection, and yet, whatever could it have been? I also cried when she sent Severus back to Harry, gave him up. On another note entirely, what beautiful writing. I can't wait to find out who you are. This is a bravura piece of work; I didn't think this level of imagining ever happened in the post-seven HP fandom.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: from Lookfar -

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-26 02:19 am UTC

nonajf
2008-12-13 08:18 pm UTC (link)

Just brilliant! I was amazed at how well you handled the technical side of this with Lily narrating from the afterlife, watching the past, present and future play out in various ways. You tied it all together so neatly and made it obvious what Lily would choose.

I also liked this portrayal of Lily. Usually she's a bit more saintly - all love and forgiveness. We see her rediscover herself and realize how selfish she'd been. She was a perfectly normal girl and young woman, trying out her power and using Severus to do it. She discovered through Harry that there was something worthwhile to the man (and boy). And in discovering it, she realized she would never have it, had never had it.

Absolutely riveting!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-31 12:42 am UTC

carpet_diemon
2008-12-13 11:46 pm UTC (link)

I've gotten way behind on my snarry_hols reading, but, at the repeated urgings of others, I skipped ahead to your story. It took longer than anticipated, not because of the story's length, but the sheer emotions deftly wrapped up within. I had to break off several times to laugh out loud, sometimes to cry.

The two worlds connected, perpetual sunlight on one side, bad weather and bound books on the other; the two futures splitting off; Lily's snotty adolescence finally budding into something that never had a chance in life before death. What a wonderful gift for us all.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-31 12:48 am UTC

zeltkaiserin
2008-12-14 01:21 am UTC (link)

wow. that was mindblowingly fantastic. I loved loved loved the surrealistic style, and how lily's character gradually evolves and changes her mind.
all the forking paths, all the shifting perspectives...that albus's hair changes when gellert is around...

I can't even put into words how much this touched me. I spent all afternoon reading it, but I'm sure I'm going to be thinking about it for ages.

truly phenomenal!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-31 12:52 am UTC

	szefi 2008-12-14 02:53 pm UTC (link)
	This is a masterpiece. I'm so glad I printed out your story, it will be easier to reread. If you are not already one of my favourite authors, you joined them now. Thank you! (Just a small remark: they destroyed the locket in the Forest of Dean, not the ring) (Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-31 12:59 am UTC

ivylady
2008-12-14 10:37 pm UTC (link)

This story is simply amazing. You have created such complex emotions and characters--making them more real in fanfic than they ever were in canon.

First, I have to say that I adore your Lily. She's not the perfect, shining example of virtue that she's made out to be. She's petty and cruel at times, and like most children she judges the worth of others by her peers. Her inability to see Severus's love is understandable, as is her jealousy. She's rightfully mourning what she loss, what she took for granted because there was no challenge.

At times it seems as if she's Harry's peer and not his mother, which makes sense since she was only alive when he was a child. I love this Lily so more than I ever liked the canon one.

Severus is the perfect tragic hero. Brought down by his own and outside forces, he's too jaded to hope for something better. The scenes with him and Harry in the second option were wonderful and just how I could imagine a relationship between them: snarky banter and passionate love.

I was enthralled from the moment I started reading. Most excellent work.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-31 02:01 am UTC

	oni_butterfly 2008-12-15 03:19 pm UTC (link)
	I don't think there is anything else I can say about how amazingly wonderful this story truly was, but I just wanted you to know there was yet another reader sitting here in tears, thinking this was one of the best stories they have ever had the pleasure of reading. (Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-31 02:09 am UTC

resonant8.livejournal.com
2008-12-15 09:39 pm UTC (link)

Oh my god. This was perfectly amazing; I can't even tell you the last time I enjoyed a story this much, the last time one kept me completely riveted over such a long time (because I had to, like, sleep and go to work and stuff), the last time I cared this much about what was going to happen, the last time I was this torn between the urge to read faster and see what happened and the urge to slow down and savor every word.

I said, "Oh," out loud, in my empty living room, when Snape dropped the herbs on Harry (whispering! god, I could spend a happy hour just imagining what he might have been saying) and again when Harry said, "Is there anything at all you want?"

Your dead Lily is more alive than anything in the books, too.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-22 10:30 pm UTC

myshewasyar
2008-12-16 09:58 am UTC (link)

What a beautiful fic. Lily is such a fully realised character and one finally gets a sense of how young she and James were when they died. She wasn't a paragon of virtue, she was a flawed young women who died too young. It was also an evocative exploration of her complex relationship with Severus. The slow development of the Harry / Severus relationship worked well, giving us a chance to see the true depth of their love, and realise, as Lily does, that their relationship is the one that will really make her son happy.
A wonderful wonderful piece and my favourite this year.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-22 10:15 pm UTC

quite_ah_safe
2008-12-17 01:55 pm UTC (link)

Oh god, your language, your metaphors, the synesthesia of your descriptions. These images will stay with me for a very long time. For instance - your depiction of Snape in the forest of Dean: black shadows on the ivory snow and Snape, stepping over them, brushing musical chords with his robe. His interaction with the doe patronus. The almost kind of beauty permeating every ugly scene. The hand-cradling in hospital. Books and Snape's cottage in general. The cruciatus.

When Snape touched Harry's head in the Shrieking Shack I literally choked. Your writing is exquisite. And I'm in love with Snarry again.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

perverse_idyll, 2008-12-22 09:39 pm UTC

Page 2 of 3
<<	[1] [2] [3]	>>