Re: "Right Nor Wrong"
*growl* Let me try again. My browser crashed last night, wiping out my nearly-finished response, and then just this minute I had to force-quit because I got caught in a nasty advertising-page loop. While browsing for images of dwarf juneberries, no less. Thus losing my second attempt.
Anyway, thank you for the lovely flattery! The irony being, of course, that I've meant to leave comments on several of your stories for ages (and I haven't yet relinquished those intentions, by God!). I love giving writers a bit of the pleasure they give me, and I also delight in rhapsodizing over the art of prose. Fan fiction provides me with an outlet to do both. That I finally managed to sit down and spell out the praise you deserve is entirely due to my belated determination to get back in the feedback saddle and let all RL distractions go hang, combined with the shedding of my inhibitions about breaking comment boxes with my enthusiasm. I don't want to embarrass people by blithering at them, but it's so much part of the fun!
Argus really is an outsider who gets no respect, isn't he? Kid's-book logic. He's meant to be comic relief, a fact emphasized by having the Wise Old Mentor bond with the students by treating him as a joke. I've always thought one of the curious things about Dumbledore (pardon the tangent) is that, despite his apparent lifelong habit of standing apart, he doesn't give the impression of ever really having been an outsider, or of understanding what it's like to be one, except perhaps in the sense that he once felt superior to those less intellectual or magically confident than he. But he has very little sympathy for oddballs or marginal characters. I suppose that's unfair to Hagrid, Lupin, and Flitwick, none of whom entirely belong in wizarding society, all of whom Dumbledore sponsors, to a certain extent. (Another tangent: the Slytherin position is interesting – are they insiders or outsiders? A lot of readers assume that Lucius being on the Board of Governors and pureblood prejudice being associated with 'old' families inside the books and with fascism outside, means that Slytherins are powerful in wizarding society. At Hogwarts, however, they appear isolated, distrusted, and looked down upon. Because of Voldemort, of course.)
I'm also curious as to what exactly Filch's role is. Couldn't magic clean most things far more quickly and easily? Haven't house elves evolved to take care of maintenance? And given that Dumbledore basically winks at the kids to let them know they can safely ignore Filch, he's rendered a toothless threat. I suppose it could be seen as an instance of headmasterly charity, because at least Filch has a job, one that allows a Squib to rub shoulders with wizards. But the closer I look, the more superfluous his character becomes. He's a powerless, laughable bogeyman, empty of authority.
Which is why it's so satisfying when someone of your caliber gives him a voice and a reason and peculiarities and dignity; makes him as tangible as a piece of whittled wood, all whorled and gnarled and earthy. Then there's his unexplained affinity for Severus: it makes sense to me that Argus would, somehow, recognize him. Relate to him. And be unable to bridge the gap. Merlin only knows what Severus would have made of his desire if he had managed to stutter it out.
All right, this comment has straggled on for days, and just as I suspected the weekend needed to arrive before I could finish it. I won't say this is the best story you've written, because you've produced a handful of 'bests' that I can arrange side by side without contradiction. I have endless admiration for your versatility, your language, your wit (I'm always envious of wit), and I'm so glad you took the plunge and branched out to a new character.