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beholder_mod (beholder_mod) wrote in hp_beholder,
@ 2011-04-15 13:20:00

Entry tags:

beholder_2011, dawlish/scrimgeour, fic, john dawlish, rating:pg13, rufus scrimgeour, slash

FIC: "The Ministry's Man" for injustice_worth
Recipient: injustice_worth
 Author: musamihi
 Title: The Ministry's Man
 Rating: PG-13 
Pairings: John Dawlish/Bartemius Crouch (Sr.) (unrequited); John Dawlish/Rufus Scrimgeour. 
Word Count: 11,300
 Warnings/Content Information (Highlight to View): * Canon character deaths, dark themes.*  
Summary: John Dawlish has spent his career in the shadows of the Ministry's greatest men. One of the only things they all have in common is that they never stay for long. 
Author's Notes: I hope you enjoy, injustice_worth! Your inspiring list of characters was a joy to work from. Many, many thanks to melusinahp for beta-reading – all remaining mistakes are my own. And thanks, of course, to the wonderful mod, for running such a fantastic fest.

"The Ministry's Man"

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injustice_worth
2011-04-15 09:02 pm UTC (link)

Scrimgeour and Crouch and lovesick Dawlish and disjointed moments and glimpses of Auror business and new, Auror-based angles and ACH. :D Quite a ride, there, and just… Loving on the glimpses into each man’s life. And am-indeed intrigued by the Dawlish you’ve drawn here, the man who knows what he admires but feels also that he can never be like them, that he can only follow and so only remain suspended in his position as Auror, blown every which way by figures in control (almost a sort of puppy dog seeking love and direction and a pat on the head, more than anything). A-and the situations into which he happens to be thrust offers such intriguing illustrations of moments only seen or referenced briefly in the books… Dawlish’s presence at the moment of thefting Barty Jr.’s soul seemed particularly striking, especially after his response to the courtroom scene, and since you’d built such an affection for Crouch Sr. (and much a fan of seeing some repercussions of that “yeah, let’s just let a Dementor mosey on into Hogwarts” muss-up), yars.

Erm, yes. Apologies for the scattered response, and a thousand pardons if I’ve misread/misinterpreted, but on a very basic level would like to note that this was verrah much enjoyed. :D And has brain going all *whirr* over Auror-related activities and relations, which is always a plus, aheh. Much intrigued by many of your turns and phrases, O Mystery Author, and of the fact that you’ve shown us so, so much here… Always tilted to Dawlish’s eventually-Confounded point of view, and so always just a bit (or more than a bit) suspect, which makes the entire work all the more fun (or at least brain-provoking). And the relationships that you’ve created here… Really. Friggin’ really. You’ve got some Dawlish and Crouch Sr. lurking, some Dawlish and Scrimgeour more than lurking, and am really kind of digging the way you’ve made ’em work. Oh, and in general? So, so much love for overworked AUrors, heh.

Right, and the end, just… Especially after the neigh-on-horror of Scrimgeour’s office, rather hurt to see Dawlish so ready to give in and move along. Pain of, what, admitted to the self what ye are? So, yes, painful but so-very in the character you’ve made of Dawlish (and ye have indeed made of him a full-blown character, individual… well, individual without the assertion to really act and just be on his own, ne?). Then hearing from the Death Eaters (surprise attack by Dolohov, zay!), a mocking sense of what Dawlish has, presumably through the charm and his own (in)action, become. And Dawlish searching so fervidly for memory, for some solid recollection after all of this... Nngh, the BROKEN. NNGH. O_o

MMKAY. Also, just… A few specific lines/moments that were all “!!!” Not noting all that did, just because could-then be here for a millionsy years, but wanted to note some, anyvay…

"He's too popular now (how poorly it suits him!)..." The parenthesized details? Yus. Bits like that throughout, character details as noted by Dawlish. Aw.

"The witches and wizards you protect deserve to enjoy their lives as they once knew them, Dawlish, in peace and order – and according to the principles they have always known." Crap, and my Crouch Sr. crush has just reached new heights. THANK YOU. And the tie-in to Crouch’s thoughts on traditions… the-intrigue.

"I've felt so empty that I wanted to scream – full of nothing and surrounded by chaos, cut free from the world..." This, and so many fucking props for the lost-at-sea reference following. You and emptiness, hrmhrm, makes for thinking (as with Dawlish on Scrimgeour: "I think there must be less to him than there was to Mr. Crouch." And brain goes a-thinkin’ on Dawlish’s attraction to apparent emptiness and what the perceived emptiness might be and suggest. HOLLOW TIMES ARE FUN TIMES, and you do bring them up so well).

"I don't trust myself to be so eloquent." Aw... Just... Aw.

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Continuing...

injustice_worth
2011-04-15 09:03 pm UTC (link)

Okay, not copy/pasting the entire paragraph, but the description of noises and crowded words in the Muggle city, the distractions that grab and force attention? Guah. And beyond that paragraph, the thoughts on wandering the city, finding the lowest spot... Much digging that section. Oh, hell, and whispering Johanna's name. And because we've been seeing so much through Dawlish's hope-tinted eyes, it suddenly twists everything, gives a sense of the wrenching that they both may well feel. Verrah nicely played, sai.

"I told you, Minister Fudge insisted –"
Scrimgeour yawns. "You're not much of an investigator, are you." Okay. That about made my day. XD

"I've never before had occasion to count the bones in the human skull, but they make so much noise as my feet slap again and again on the pavement that I can't help but pick them all out." Love it.

And other details and impressions. Scrimgeour reaching for the book. The way that Dawlish fails to see the bigger picture, only glimpsing it through the admired men. Opening the door to Scrimgeour’s flat, the jarring sense of the magical/non-magical worlds intersecting. The suggestion that DE hearings eventually became a sort of entertainment, that teeming life crowded out the sense of a courtroom’s austerity. Dawlish’s ever-awareness of something rather wrong in him. Dawlish’s notions of wrong and right. The distance felt everywhere. Crouch and fury, Dawlish and sorrow. The fact that Fudge is bashed (hells yes >.>), and that meanwhile, a few of his more positive traits are noted. The Scrimgeour/Dawlish dynamics, Sense of (maybe?) using (or not quite using) Dawlish for anger!sex. Dawlish just sort of being there in a different but not fully different way that he was just sort of there with Crouch (ever almost just another Auror).

Em, yes. Again, apologies for disjointed response and hope was not allll wayward or over... er, overanything, but ZAY. :D

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	Re: Continuing... lash_larue 2011-04-15 10:36 pm UTC (link)
	So you liked this? * ducks * I wish I had written this. It's terrific, and I don't normally care a fig for any character in it. I don't wonder you're flailing a bit. L (Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: Continuing...

musamihi
2011-05-31 05:53 pm UTC (link)

I'm so glad you enjoyed this! And relieved. :D I was really inspired by how you'd written Scrimgeour a couple exchanges ago, and this was supposed to be his story, but then ... Dawlish got in my head and has stayed there ever since. Thank you for that, because I had never so much as thought of him before.

So thank you very much for your lovely comment that made me squee, and a brain-ful of characters with whom I am now obsessed. I could not have enjoyed it more.

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