And sometimes a cigar is so damned much more than a cigar! Excellent story; I really, really like this. Your depiction of Neville is so well-done; you show so perfectly how the child and young man remains alive in the grown man, no matter how believably changed he is. I love your reflections on the nature of escape and, of course, its limitations (the unfamiliar that can't remain so). I'm also impressed by how you manage to make the Muggle world seem unfamiliar even to us, the Muggle readers. I feel as though I'm with Neville, experiencing that odd, thin paper.
And you play so well with the whole cigar double-entendre: you've made that familiar trope beautifully unfamiliar in your handling of it. Finally, the quiet tone is so suited to a story about Neville.
Here are just a few of the lines and insights I liked:
This is it, this is the moment when everyone will realize that the bounce was a fluke and he really is a squib.
Great canon connection. And do any of us ever get over this feeling of being a fraud soon to be exposed? I suppose there might be people who have never had this sensation -- I'm not one of them!
It hasn't happened yet, but every day that it doesn't just makes it more likely that the next day will be the one.
The essence of the insecurity.
here he is: a round-faced, clumsy boy who's always losing his toad.
And you play so well with the whole cigar double-entendre: you've made that familiar trope beautifully unfamiliar in your handling of it. Finally, the quiet tone is so suited to a story about Neville.
Here are just a few of the lines and insights I liked:
This is it, this is the moment when everyone will realize that the bounce was a fluke and he really is a squib.
Great canon connection. And do any of us ever get over this feeling of being a fraud soon to be exposed? I suppose there might be people who have never had this sensation -- I'm not one of them!
It hasn't happened yet, but every day that it doesn't just makes it more likely that the next day will be the one.
The essence of the insecurity.
here he is: a round-faced, clumsy boy who's always losing his toad.
Ah, perfect.
Great job!