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Tweak says, "That's what she said!"

atdelphi (atdelphi) wrote in hp_beholder,
@ 2014-05-13 15:31:00

Entry tags:

aberforth dumbledore, aberforth dumbledore/severus snape, beholder 2014, fic, rated:pg-13, severus snape, slash

FIC: "Elegy for a Goat" for pauraque
Recipient: pauraque
Author/Artist: ???
Title: Elegy for a Goat
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Severus/Aberforth, background hint of Aberforth/Albus
Word Count: 17,460
Medium: Fic
Warnings/Content Information (Highlight to View): None.
Summary: Ab has never been fond of his brother's protégés, but he's always had a weakness for goats. He's not sure what to make of Severus Snape.
Author's/Artist's Notes: Thanks beyond measure to Delphi, who is the most encouraging and kindest of mods and has more patience than a thousand saints put together.

Elegy for a Goat

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perverse_idyll
2014-05-23 07:24 am UTC (link)

I practically punched the air in delight when I saw this comment. Our long-suffering and supportive mod will attest to the fact that I fretted over getting this right because I have such a high regard for your work. I'm so relieved that the details are persuasive and the complexity true to the characters. Above all things, I like exploring thorny relationships, and you can't get much thornier than the ones between the brothers Dumbledore or between Albus and his reformed Death Eater. The crosscurrents of love and betrayal, admiration and subservience carry all of them inescapably forward, and I think Severus especially is more overrun by Albus' past choices and unfinished business than he ever realizes, considering he has his own guilt to sweep him downstream. (By the way, Albus was meant at first to be an onstage character throughout the story, but Aberforth was having none of it. He's better at dealing with Albus from a distance, and in this case so was I.)

You've caught everything I hoped would shine through, and it's such a pleasure knowing you enjoyed my interpretation of Ab's character. He's so distinct from Albus, but I wanted him to have a Dumbledore-ish quality nonetheless. The old scar they share between them is never going to fade, which makes the two of them in their old age rather poignant. No final reconciliations.

You've also laid my mind to rest about that scene with Severus. I knew I wanted it in the fic, and I was building toward it quite consciously, but for various reasons this was a very difficult story for me to write and the last third suffers from a full-scale last-minute gallop. I was worried that I hadn't prepared the moment properly and that it would fail to connect with readers, or would seem overblown. Thank you for singling it out so I can stop fussing over it. I also wanted to be clear that Severus wasn't actually eager to die, as he'd been after Lily's death, but that he feels he has no choice. I think that knowledge heightens the tragedy, because it means he's not even allowed to hope and must face death fully aware of the waste of everything he might have been or done. He has, in essence, destroyed himself, and there's really no getting around it. And the fact that you compared Severus' physical revelation to a Shakespearean effect absolutely bowls me over. There is no higher praise.

This is everything I could have wished to hear while working on the story. I'm so glad it appealed to your love of complicated, imperfect characters, because I love them, too, and they kept me company for weeks while I figured out how to coax them toward the ending. Thank you so much. I'm overjoyed by your response.

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