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Tweak says, "Sink the Pink"

beholder_mod (beholder_mod) wrote in hp_beholder,
@ 2011-05-16 13:51:00

Entry tags:

augusta longbottom, beholder_2011, femslash, fic, mcgonagall/augusta, minerva mcgonagall, rating:nc17

FIC: "Let Us Escape Our Troubles" for tetleythesecond
Recipient: tetleythesecond
Author: songquake
Title: Let Us Escape Our Troubles
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Minerva McGonagall/Augusta Longbottom
Word Count: 11,708
Warnings/Content Information (Highlight to View): *None*.
Summary: How terribly strange to be seventy… ("Old Friends", Simon and Garfunkel)
Author's Notes: tetleythesecond, I hope you love this. It's been a true labour of love. I'm so grateful to have been given the opportunity to work with these characters. I hope it's got enough realism - and theoretical magic - for you. To my beta T, thank you ever so for whipping this into shape at the last possible moment. You're a lifesaver. All remaining mistakes are mine. And finally, bethbethbeth, I thank you immensely for hosting this fest, for promoting unpopular characters, and for putting up with my terribly slow writing and revising process. You're a gentlewoman and a scholar.

"Let Us Escape Our Troubles"

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tetleythesecond
2011-05-17 08:21 am UTC (link)

Mystery Author! ♥

When I saw this come up last night I immediately dropped what I was doing, dashed to the kitchen, poured myself a wee dram, and sat down to savour this thing of beauty that you've created, slowly so as not to miss a single word, a single breath of those marvellous two women you've brought us! Does this have enough realism and theoretical magic, you ask? It absolutely stunned me with its beautiful, old bodies, with Augusta's physical insights (honestly, I once spent a whole train ride with a physics book trying to work out how to make sense of this whole Transfiguration thing; I simply loved reading Augusta's findings!), and the scorching hot, honest, frank, sexy old lady sex! Hooray for two women who know exactly what their pleasures are and act upon it!

I love the structure you give this, with the glimpses from every year, fitted neatly into Canon, and it was wonderful to see their perspectives on the events. I also love the voices you give them -- Minerva, intelligent, witty, ever the Gryffindor, who can however also drop her guard when she's with her friend and lover and show just how much of a toll those events take on her. And Augusta as an intellectual, physics-savvy dildo-maker extraordinaire -- by Circe's areoles, I'm willing to forgive her the vulture hat for that alone (but I'd forgive her the vulture hat anyway, given to what glorious use you put it. Sparkles? Sparkles!!!)

Your Aberforth is a triumph, too ("Just one old goat looking after another," *g*), and Ariana is wonderful to see. Love that Augusta arranges for their meetings in the Hog's Head (not at the tea shoppe for 'eccentric' old ladies) -- and that both women were instrumental in helping the Resistance at Hogwarts by directing the passage where they did! Also, the end made me sigh with happiness!

More bits I loved:
- "Bottle of Wizarding Aglianico, Taurasi if you have it."
Aberforth rolled his eyes. "Nobody asks for that kind of overpriced swill round here, lady. House red or house white."
"Red it is, then," Minerva cut in. This time Augusta was the one to raise a brow. "I have no interest in hearing your discourse on vintages today, Augusta, nor Abe's on public house economies of scale." -- Ah, I could hear and see them in front of me! Great fun to read and a perfect way to introduce us to the constellation of characters.
- Minerva's fondness of hygiene and the visual image of her irradiating the room. "You know how I feel about vermin," she said. "Especially those I would not eat in tabby form. -- *g*
- Addressing what a haunted bathroom might do to a young girl. Love that Augusta does not mock but lightens the mood with humour.
- Augusta's outspokenness. My, I do love an old woman who keeps an uncivil tongue!
- The entire, believable, loving, caring, non-domestic, non-possessive relationship you give them.
- Your great, IC, lively dialogue.
- Acknowledging their heroism!!! And the entire last three paragraphs, with exactly that acknowledgment, with the "cloak-and-wand business" being given up in favour of a coming-out (as much as I loved, loved, loved all their cloak-and-wand business!) and the choice of a drink. :)))

Mystery Author, this is absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much for this wonderful, long, thoughtful, sexy story, thank you for letting the old ladies shine, and for brightening a rainy day (for yes, I shall be re-reading)!

I love it!

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	tetleythesecond 2011-05-29 06:56 pm UTC (link)
	OMG! I got a gift from the fabulous inventor of the PhenomPhallus! Thank you, thank you, thank you! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

"Let Us Escape Our Troubles"

songquake
2011-05-29 10:40 pm UTC (link)

LOL. Yes, you did! I'm so glad you enjoyed the story, dear!

(And I'd forgotten about The PhenomPhallus! Something makes me thing I'll need to write a femmeslash story that DOESN'T include a phallus of some sort soon!)

(Oh, wait. I did that for HPKinkfest on LJ.)

Off to comment on your truly lovely, long review in a minute, but I needed to acknowledge how much this comment made me actually laugh!

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Had to pause for sis's birthday dinner, but I'm replying now!

songquake
2011-05-30 02:05 am UTC (link)

So, I think this is the single best review I've ever got, Tetley. Thanks ever so much for it! When I re-read the story after posting, there were some things I thought needed better wording (or better consistency); I'll pop you a message when I've posted the updated-final version to LJ.

I'm so glad that you loved the characterisations and the banter. I was trying to do a couple of things here; I wanted the story to pass the Bechdel Test (harder than one might think, given that it takes place during a war that is basically a pissing contest between wizards); make the sex both sexy and believable; not pigeonhole either of the women entirely; show how life does go on during wartime, even for those who are "serving"; play with magical theory.

The vulture hat is, I admit, one of my favouritest twists of canon in awhile!

I'm so glad that you enjoyed this work. It was a labour of love, and I was so delighted to get to work with these women--especially Augusta. She seems like such a minor character in canon, but there's really a fair bit about her character that shines through JKR's tidbits about her.

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songquake
2011-05-30 02:14 am UTC (link)

One more thing:

Addressing what a haunted bathroom might do to a young girl.

My idea there was that Minerva might have actually discovered Myrtles corpse, since Minerva was only a year or two ahead of Tom Riddle. Even more traumatising. We don't know all that much about what actually happened the first time the Chamber of Secrets was open, just that Minerva, Hagrid and Tom were all students, Dumbles suspected Tom of being up to no good, and that the Basilisk killed Myrtle. But imagining the horror of a teacher who had been the student to discover the body of the one person killed by the Basilisk the last time around... *shudders*

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