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beholder_mod (beholder_mod) wrote in hp_beholder,
@ 2011-05-06 14:44:00

Entry tags:

bathilda bagshot, beholder_2011, femslash, fic, griselda marchbanks, griselda/bathilda, rating:r

FIC: "The Ladies of Godric's Hollow" for featherxquill
Recipient: featherxquill
Author: tetleythesecond
Title: The Ladies of Godric's Hollow
Rating: R
Pairings: Griselda Marchbanks/Bathilda Bagshot, implied background Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald, with appearances of a canon-character's semi-original aunt.
Word Count: 17,000
Warnings/Content Information (Highlight to View): *None.*
Summary: Griselda Marchbanks and Bathilda Bagshot are two women with a dream and sound principles. However, when Bathilda's nephew pays them a visit in the summer of 1899, the question arises how to stay true to them.
Author's Notes: This comes with fervent gratitude to my fantastic betas, Kelly Chambliss and Pale Moonlite, who worked miracles on this tale. Dear featherxquill, I had the hardest time choosing between your wonderful prompts -- I hope you like what I did with this.

One literal and one paraphrased quote are from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, page 287 of the British hardcover edition.

"The Ladies of Godric's Hollow"

(Don't forget to return to this post to leave feedback for the author!)

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drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com
2011-05-15 04:37 am UTC (link)

My heart is soaring with this story.

You've managed everything with this. Everything.

The delicate beginning that promises so much and blooms into delivery upon delivery of those promises -- when we see mention of Mary and Reg and then discover that you have taken everything from canon and given it depth. Gilbert and Finn! The echo of Tom Riddle hurting animals in the orphanage with the realization of how brilliant Albus had reached his conclusions; the hint that perhaps Aberforth had been framed for those inappropriate goat charms. The pitch-perfect depiction of suffragists and the reform outfit and the Hogwarts girls leaving after fifth year (yes, the age when Harry's year receives those helpful career pamphlets) and the dreams of women's education; I went to just such a school, and you nailed it.

The hippie girl with the husband and two beaus -- Lily? Who were the two?

But the moment of pure song came for me with your revelation of the cost of what Griselda did. Of everything that was lost, including their love affair, the greatest violation was of Bathilda's work as a historian. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Whatever we've done to deserve you, Mystery Author, I'm grateful. You are a gift.

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drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com
2011-05-15 04:46 am UTC (link)

Dear me, I forgot to rave that I love the layers of invisibility you've given this story, that there's the Muggle observer and then the official story and then what "we" know is the wizard version behind the Statute of Secrecy and then the inside story from the people who were there the night Ariana died, and then the story of what makes history -- the ethically questionable Albus and the sociopath Gellert writing their way into history while the idealistic lesbian educators erase some truth, deny and forget some truth, and stay the most hidden of all.

I can't say how much I love this story. A kiss on your hand, Author.

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tetleythesecond
2011-05-30 07:50 am UTC (link)

I think I must have grown an inch from this review alone. Thank you so much! I'm glad the glimpses of the early women's movement and women's ideas about education came across as believable. I do love my 19th-century women, reform dress and all.

And I'm so happy about your comment on the layers of invisibility. That's exactly it! Women's contributions so often fell under the visibility threshold, either because they didn't create facts that were considered "historical", or because they themselves chose to remain behind the curtains for their own reasons. And even if they did take "noteworthy" action, they ended up being written out of history books -- either by being subsequently declared irrelevant or unfit for public attention (not a little of that by 19th-century men).

Lily? Who were the two?
I thought that Whitby may have taken the Potters and Remus and Sirius for a bit of a "Hair"-type living arrangement.

Thank you again, for the compliments and for the hand kiss!

*reciprocates*

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