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hdcup_mod (hdcup_mod) wrote in hd_worldcup,
@ 2008-04-17 00:05:00

Entry tags:

fic, prompt: the tower, r, round i, team ewe

The Affairs of Men -- Team EWE
Title: The Affairs of Men
Team: EWE
Author: sesheta_66
Prompt: The Tower
Wordcount: ~ 17,000
Rating: R
Warnings: None.
Summary: Having just survived the war, Draco prepares, with some trepidation, for life to get back to normal, or as normal as it can be after war. What he is not prepared for is upheaval, the complete transformation of the world in which he lives. How he chooses to react and move on will determine his fate in this post-war wizarding world.
Author's Note Thanks to my beta, J, and my team! All quotations contained herein are from various works of William Shakespeare.

The Tower: the meaning and the story.

The Affairs of Men

Poll #1410
Open to: All, results viewable to: None

Is the author/artist true to their team? Yes/No vote ("yes" is worth 2 points, "no" is worth 0)

How well did the author/artist use their Prompt? 1 to 9 (1 being the least)

How much did you like this story/art overall? 1 to 9 (1 being the least)

For a description of teams, please see our FAQ.

(Post a new comment)

	lilithilien 2008-04-17 06:10 pm UTC (link)
	This is one of my favourite stories in the Cup so far. Draco was so in-character even as his world shattered, and the way he rebuilt it and matured was very realistic. You made me really want to see what happened to him. I really liked your Harry too ... the letters in the beginning were so Harry, and I loved that he was a constant advocate for Draco. Really lovely fic! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	sesheta 2008-05-22 08:57 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks so much. ♥ (Reply to this) (Parent)

	sirius_my_luv 2008-04-17 11:50 pm UTC (link)
	beautiful. its fics like this that remind my why i love drarry so much sigh (Reply to this) (Thread)

	sesheta 2008-05-22 08:58 pm UTC (link)
	hugs Oh, thanks for that. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

greenjuly
2008-04-18 01:06 am UTC (link)

This was a nice, feel-good fic. Thanks for writing, as I enjoyed reading! I hope you don’t mind if I offer some concrit, though ...

I really liked the way you wrote Draco : he was sympathetic, but you didn’t ignore his arrogance and prejudice either. However ... I felt like things took a turn for the sappy near the middle of the story, to an extent where it seemed like you wrote two completely different stories : the first one awesome, so sharp, witty, realistic and in character; the second one ... fluffville.

I guess the main problem I had was with your characterization. As much as I enjoyed reading Harry’s earnest, Gryffindorish goodwill to Malfoy, I don’t know that I found it believable. I did like the letters and the advocacy for the Malfoys – that makes a lot of sense, given Harry’s strong moral compass. But while I can see Harry having grown up and be willing to extend the olive branch, him going out of his way to be BFFs and calling him “Draco” and everything seems out of character to me. ” You're too good a person for that” -- I don’t see canon!Harry having that conversation no matter how much he has put the past behind him, simply because Harry canonically isn’t a very forthcoming speaker. I guess I feel that if Harry and Draco ever decided to bury the hatchet, they would do it with fewer conversations describing their past and present relationship in every detail, and more of an unspoken, shared understanding. I just don’t see them having the lovey-dovey dynamic that you’ve written in this fic. I realize that people conceive of characters in different ways, but this feels too far OOC for me.
Anyway, I hope you don’t take my comment the wrong way, it is well meant.

Oh, and I have to say : McGonagall = awesome.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

sesheta
2008-05-22 09:59 pm UTC (link)

Thanks for your comment, and no, I didn't take it the wrong way. It's always interesting to get other people's views. Here's a bit of insight into why it progressed this way.

I'm not sure how clear this was for the readers, but Team EWE did not have to adhere to canon characterizations, only the storyline of the books, up to the epilogue. So OOC (or even fanon) characterizations are considered acceptable for Team EWE (and Epilogue).

To me, their growth as people was a natural progression, rather than them remaining exactly as they were in school. Also, I feel really strongly that war has a profound effect on people, and I don't believe anyone would automatically return to their previous roles afterwards.

When I wrote this, I imagined Harry spending the three years that Draco was away in part feeling guilty that he couldn't manage to save Narcissa and Draco from their fate, so he was determined to "make nice" when Draco returned. He also had surprisingly found himself missing Draco when he returned to Hogwarts for his final year. So that's where I see Harry's motivation in being nicer than in the past. That and the two of them matured, even though Harry's journey went unseen.

I actually do believe that Harry thinks Draco is "too good a person for that." He was talking about murder, and he'd had lots of time to consider what had happened on the Astronomy Tower years before that. I feel that during the years, he'd been able to see how NOT talking had contributed to where they ended up. That short conversation with Dumbledore had Draco lowering his wand. I imagine Harry thinking, "What if he had more time to talk?" or imagining what effect Harry could have had, if they had talked before.

Also, I see Harry as being sympathetic towards Draco. He had three years to think about all that he saw in Voldemort's mind, which included the fact that Draco had been forced to torture others. In DH, Harry (because it's in Harry's voice) refered to him alternately as 'Draco' or 'Malfoy.' To quote the book, "Harry felt sickened by what he had seen, by the use to which Draco was now being put by Voldemort."

I see it as a natural progression for him to want to put the past behind him and discard the term Malfoy (he started in book 7, imo). As he explained to Draco in this story, he thinks of Draco's father as Malfoy now.

Wow ... this went a bit longer than I had intended. Hope I was able to give you a bit of my thought process while writing this. Thanks again for reading and commenting. :)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	greenjuly 2008-06-01 03:48 pm UTC (link)
	Oh sorry, that last comment was me! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	floooeee 2008-04-18 01:23 pm UTC (link)
	The most realistic Draco I've ever read! This set my heart to breaking, repairing and eventually rejoicing in the end. I loved it :) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	sesheta 2008-05-22 08:58 pm UTC (link)
	Thank you. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	leela_cat 2008-04-22 07:33 pm UTC (link)
	I enjoyed this story very much. I like that we got to see Draco learn his lessons - not simply rail at his fate or magically overcome everything that happened to him or that he did to others in the books. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	sesheta 2008-05-22 08:59 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ships_harry 2008-05-10 05:58 pm UTC (link)
	I actually liked this far more before the H/D section :). It was an excellent story of Draco maturing and doing things for himself, but the shift from friendship to sexual and then romantic relationship didn't quite ring true for me. Still - Draco as a tutor at Durmstrang is a lovely concept :). (Reply to this) (Thread)

	sesheta 2008-05-22 11:45 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks for reading and commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed Draco's story, even if the rest didn't ring true for you. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	galad222000 2008-06-08 03:50 am UTC (link)
	Enjoyed your story very much. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	sesheta 2008-06-14 03:15 pm UTC (link)
	Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)