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snarrymod ([info]snarrymod) wrote in [info]snarry_games,
@ 2008-05-20 19:12:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:entry, perverse_idyll, team phoenix

TEAM PHOENIX ENTRY: Perverse Idyll "When the Rose and the Fire Are One"
Title: When the Rose and the Fire Are One
Author: [info]perverse_idyll
Team: Phoenix!
Genre(s): Alternate Universe *Hover/Click for Games Definition of Alternate Universe*
Prompt(s): Flesh Memory, Spilling Fire
Rating/Warnings/Kinks: *(HBP but not DH-compliant) Violence, rough sex, character death (not Snape or Harry)*
Word Count: 81,000+
Summary: Harry's haunted by guilt. Snape's warded by roses. Each must free the other in order to free himself.
A/N: First, thank you to the mods for creating the Games in the first place and for having the patience of saints. [info]leela_cat did a phenomenal job with this in a ridiculously short time. Whatever coherence the fic has is due to her heroic efforts and hand-holding. Also thanks to Team Phoenix for putting up with my fumbling captaincy and for helping to make this an enjoyable ride. Lastly, many thanks to my beloved [info]rinsbane for talking me through to the images I needed. I wish this were a better first offering, my dear.

*With gratitude to [info]leela_cat and apologies to T. S. Eliot.





"When the Rose and the Fire Are One by Perverse Idyll"


Don't forget to review!




Mod note: POLLS ARE NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE SNARRY GAMES.

Mod note: If you rec this story, please link to this POST, not the story itself, or the author/team will not get their proper vote tally or feedback. Thank you.




Mod note: Due to the length of this story, we will not be posting another until tomorrow evening. Thank you!

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[info]painless_j
2008-05-23 12:18 am UTC (link)
That was very unusual, imaginative, emotional, and vivid! I'm going to be wary of roses in the nearest future :) I liked the story a lot. Will be reccing. Thank you!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-23 08:34 am UTC

[info]zephyr_macabee
2008-05-23 03:52 am UTC (link)
Outstanding! I am astonished and humbled by your writing abilities. The story held together consistently the whole, long way and it pulled me in, fixing me in my chair until I was done. I loved Odile, a true Slytherin and a credit to her House. Sweeney Todd popped up a couple times to make me giggle. And poor Ron. I am exhausted.
Thank you for several lovely hours.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-23 08:47 am UTC

(Anonymous)
2008-05-23 08:22 am UTC (link)
You made me cry. This one is going to haunt me I think. The imagery is so strong, the pictures hang on long after they're read. The one that will perhaps stay with me the longest is this: "Through the back of his dressing gown, Snape’s shoulderblades curved up like the stumps where two wings had broken off." Just a single line, but it says everything about the Snape you've drawn here. Absolutely, painfully, beautiful. Thank you.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-23 08:58 am UTC

[info]maddiec24
2008-05-23 02:00 pm UTC (link)
Well. Damn. This story is so wonderful I don't have the words to tell you *how* wonderful. The roses, and Harry and Snape's fucked up relationship, and all the amazing OCs - - I adore Odile! Oh, and the Sweeney Todd references! I'm currently addicted to the ST dvd, and they delighted me. This is one of the best stories I have ever read.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-25 07:50 am UTC

[info]bethbethbeth
2008-05-23 06:33 pm UTC (link)
What a fantastically raw and painful...and ultimately hopeful story, Wonderfully written. I'll absolutely be adding this to my recs page at the next update.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-25 08:05 am UTC

[info]igtow
2008-05-23 08:01 pm UTC (link)
So much to go through to get to a hopefully hopeful ending. That it was incredibly well written, kept me riveted to the end, but I don't think I could ever read it again. It was just too painful, too raw in places and ambiguous endings have never been my cuppa. Still, if they let me vote, I'd give it 'nines'.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-27 02:57 am UTC

[info]ariadneelda
2008-05-23 09:55 pm UTC (link)
OH MY GOD. Oh, my god, where to start? I'm not even sure I know what to say. This... this was absolutely amazing! Can I take the liberty to say I love you so much right now? It took me three days to read it all (damn RL), but god, it was SO worth it. I'm blown away. I tried really hard not to cry at the end and failed, not because the ending was that sad - no, I actually found it quite hopeful and I was very happy for Snape being free at last - but from the sheer emotional intensity building up and up and up since Harry and Snape were caught in that fire. Overwhelming intensity.

I felt tears prickling my eyes at several other moments, too. Like with Ron. And especially with Hermione's reaction when he was gone. And I'm not a Ron fan nor have I ever liked Ron/Hermione. But it really struck a chord with me.

Your characterisations were fantastic. I'm so in love with your Snape. Oh, Harry was just as wonderful but it's always Snape's characterisation that can make or break a story for me and your Snape was perfect.

The sex - guh. Talk about scorching. UST and actual sex both. I even found hot the one time when Snape bottomed and that's, okay, not a first for me, but very, very rare. I feel like keyboardsmashing but I'm trying for some semblance of coherency here. *g*

The whole story felt... I'm not sure how to describe it but I kept thinking of dark magic, subtle and seductive and dangerous. A poor metaphor, I'm sure, not conveying what I'm trying to say, but really, I'm enthralled. I wish I could give you feedback even half as good as what you always give to others (yes, I do read your comments whenever I see them :-)) but I don't think I could, even if English were my native language. Still, I feel I could say a lot more about this fic but it would probably be just rambling. So. Anyway. Thank you for this gem of a story. I wish I could give you more than a 9 because you totally deserve it.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-24 09:04 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]ariadneelda, 2008-05-24 02:40 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-24 06:30 pm UTC

[info]nonajf
2008-05-24 12:30 am UTC (link)
What a deep, full bodied world you created! I loved how you constructed the magic - the collar, the wards, sympathetic magic, all of it.

And such great OCs! I love Madame Lalique! She was such a vivid character, and how she slipped clues and knowledge to Harry was so Slytherin.

You made the war a real thing of horror that doesn't just end when peace comes. We, and Harry, watch as each person in his life finds a way to heal and move on, always leaving him behind.

You created such an intricate plot with Harry needing to be freed before Severus could be. So bittersweet for Harry to finally be able to feel again and be himself again, only to have to release the one he loves. Thank you for the hint of hope at the end.

Is that roses I smell? ;-)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-29 04:42 am UTC

[info]carpet_diemon
2008-05-24 03:11 am UTC (link)
Uh, wow? Yes, wow. That's the word, WOW.

Ron's funeral resonated--and I had to stop and wonder how much of this you were pulling out of the hat and how much from real life...It was so real. The chanting, the sounds that were powerful without words interfering. Lovely.

His voice sounded as sardonic as ever, but it cracked slightly when he said, "At last, my arm is complete again."

Hee, I should have seen that one coming.

Severus Snape did indeed have a cock, that it was currently rampant.

Rampant cock needs a visual. I'm thinking a coat-of-arms. (:

A small typo: "it wasn't as much of a challenge as changing a collar through the foce of love"

I'm noticing lots of the other comments point to this story as the angst's angst. And well, it's angsty all the way to the end, but the end is so hopeful, so full of promise and maybe's, that it doesn't seem like angst at all. In short, it took me three days to read, and, by third day, I was in love.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-29 05:35 am UTC

[info]simons_flower
2008-05-24 04:53 am UTC (link)
Great job!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-29 05:37 am UTC

[info]red_day_dawning
2008-05-24 08:03 am UTC (link)
Because I loved this so much, I recced it at my journal here. If there's anything you'd like me to alter, just let me know.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-25 08:09 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]red_day_dawning, 2008-05-25 01:18 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-25 08:13 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]red_day_dawning, 2008-05-25 01:24 pm UTC

[info]belleamante
2008-05-25 02:44 am UTC (link)
How amazingly beautiful. I loved all of your characterizations. Seriously, everyone. This is such a unique take on magic. I love when authors delve into the heart of the magic itself. Also, Snape and Harry who don't immediately fall in love. Yes! Wonderful job! Thank you for writing this.

-Belle

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-05-29 06:27 am UTC

[info]ex_seshat577
2008-05-25 06:28 am UTC (link)
Might just be me, but I can't get the page to load. :(

(Reply to this)


[info]themadscriptor
2008-05-25 10:31 am UTC (link)
*deep breath* Oh my god. I wish I were better at analytical thinking and literary criticism, if only to give you the discerning feedback you deserve. Instead you get my rambling, flaily commentary. If at any point I sound like a blithering idiot, I opine that it is ALL YOUR FAULT.

So. I started this when I was rather exhausted, brain slow on the uptake. I got a few pages in and just stopped. The gorgeously evocative language you write with, so nuanced and thick with imagery, I decided, deserved my full faculties (such as they are). Fluff I feel comfortable trusting my sluggish eyes to, but this, well, if fluff is cotton candy, this was chocolate with an impossibly high cacao content—bitter and seductive and meant to be savoured. I could also already tell that your story would wring me dry.

And it did.

It got utterly under my skin and captivated me as literally as a spell. I found it both difficult to read and difficult to stop reading. I wanted to know how it would end and yet never have it end. God. I fell unassailably in love with your Snape. So many details—how he threw things simply to see them break (but never books!); the vulnerability of him, his almost prosaic appearance in a dressing gown; "Even choking on my own blood, I’d still find the means to tell you what I think"; his dialogue and his obstinacy and his sacrifices—fleshed him out wonderfully.

And Harry. I'm an Every(wo)man myself, so while I love Snape to pieces, I usually empathise with Harry. But Harry, here, was not going to be canonised any time soon—he was deeply flawed, paradoxically both difficult and easy to sympthise with, tangled up with the past—and as much as I wish he could realistically be as well-adjusted as he appeared in canon, this portrayal rang infinitely truer. I struggled (and I mean this as a compliment) watching him genuinely grow up here as he didn't in DH.

The secondary characters were no less vivid or emotionally essential. My heart positively ached for Ron and no less for George; him spending most of his time with whatever was left of his brother—gah, even if he seemed happy, I found it tragically sad. You even brought OCs into the fold without turning them into flimsy two-dimensional cut-outs; and with only a few phrases you sketched and coloured each of them so I could not only picture them clearly but also get a sense of their personalities. (I especially loved your description of Adrian, shyly "stuck halfway inside a Disillusionment charm"(!))

There were so many other things I admired and loved and ruminated over. How you treated the concepts of beauty and music and their interweave, for example, or the haunting way you established themes, like notes that recur in a composition in a minor key, throughout the story, or the scorchingly erotic sex that was in-character and always served a purpose (how awesome are you for that?!)

But I'm a bit embarrassed by my unconstructive verbosity, heh. Sorry about that. Essentially I meant to thank you for an incredible read, so I'll shut up and say, honestly, thank you. :)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-06-03 01:46 am UTC

[info]treewishes
2008-05-25 12:08 pm UTC (link)
Oh, you have killed me. This was so, so incredibly beautiful and dark and twisted and utterly utterly perfect. No possible way I can do it justice! I loved this Snape, and Harry is his perfect, clueless, omnipotent foil. You never let either of them fail the least bit in being true to their character through such a long and plotty thing, and every time I doubted and they came through, I think I loved them more.

Such fabulous imagery, and such a wonderful application of magic and treachery. And the end -- I can't say how very much I loved the end.

I'm going out to the garden now. I need roses.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-06-03 01:57 am UTC

[info]trevelyan_s
2008-05-25 02:41 pm UTC (link)
Wow. This story felt so real, I could see everything so extremely clearly in my mind's eye, and my heart breaking and leaping numerous times along the way. I wish I could really describe how much your story moved me. I had to shed a few tears, more than once which doesn't happen often when reading fic. And the sexual tension and the sex itself? The hottest I've read in years! Thank you so much for writing this. I wish my words could really do the brilliance of your story justice.

Thank you!!!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-06-03 03:14 am UTC

[info]ziasudra
2008-05-25 03:00 pm UTC (link)
I'm so glad your fic was posted around the time of a long weekend for me. I spent a lazy evening reading it, and WOW. I even woke up this morning still thinking about some parts of your story, and that doesn't happen to me a lot.

I adore the way Snape and Harry slowly came to accept each other, but never snapping into instant!truelove mode. As much as it broke my heart to read that Harry couldn't free Snape the first few tries because he couldn't love Snape enough and really didn't want to deep down, it made sense and rang that much more true for me. And for Snape to know Harry's motives before Harry was honest enough to admit them -- that's our Severus, always brutally blunt even at his own expenses.

I loved the bittersweet ending. I was so afraid that Snape would change his mind and invite Harry on a world tour with him or something ;p The fluff-loving part of me would like to see that, but your ending was perfect. Snape doing what he truly needs to do by pursuing his freedom, and giving Harry the push to do what he needs to do -- to live life now that all his ghosts are gone. But then you gave us the glimmer of hope that Harry might one day find Snape again. And to me, whether he does or not in the future didn't matter as much, because you've already brought the story full-circle back to the theme of hope, and what that might smell like (or even taste like, I seem to have an aftertaste of hope lingering on my tongue as I read the last lines of the story).

A truly excellent story, O Captain of Team Phoenix! Go Phoenix!!!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-06-03 03:49 am UTC

[info]ishtar79
2008-05-25 03:11 pm UTC (link)
I feel like I need to sit and reread the whole thing-despite my desire to savour it, the tension in this made me read it at a gallop, rather than savour it as much as it deserved. I’m in absolute awe of your talent-I expected you to have a rich and vivid style, going on your lj comments alone, but this is one of the rare occasions in fanfic where the use of language was just as, if not more, enjoyable to me than the elements I normally seek in fanfic -characterization, plot, and sure, hot smut. Not that the latter three weren’t top quality in this either.

In the hands of a lesser writer, this could have easily become overblown and melodramatic, but instead it manage to convey the tension, desperation, and other emotions the characters were going through. Even more amazingly, despite the fact this is a (very dysfunctional) love story, the characters remained true and believable throughout-your Snape in particular is canon to a painful degree, as nasty, bitter and damaged as we all know him.

And as for the smut, where do I even start? It wasn’t even about the more explicit encounters-they worked as well as they did because of the sensuality that permeated every single one of their interactions. The specifics of the collar spell and your take on wards were a stroke of genius, since they added an undercurrent of almost horror (argh, not saying it well-a bit like the mystical ‘thrall’ in some vampire stories except, you know; done better).

As for the glimpses into the secondary characters-wow. I can’t say I enjoyed them, because it was one of the more depressing turn outs in a life where Voldemort was defeated, but you managed to show the consequences of war that sometimes get glossed over. Everything involving Ron was deeply uncomfortable reading, as I suspect was your intent-and I don’t even like him. I am glad that you gave some semblance of a hopeful ending.

And speaking of hopeful endings, that’s what I’m chosing to interpret the end of the whole story as. I’m glad that Harry wanted to remain with Snape, taint and all, even after the excuse of the ghosts was removed and he was whole again. And really, I refuse to believe someone as stubborn as him will let Snape get away for ever. Or maybe I’m clinging to optimism because this whole fic, and especially the latter half, felt like a metaphorical hands squeezing around one’s stomach and not letting go-and I loved every minute of it.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-06-03 06:22 pm UTC

[info]aislinnsdair
2008-05-25 04:24 pm UTC (link)
What a vividly intense story. You did a masterful job of creating a grim, bleak atmosphere at Grimmauld Place, and the storyline about dealing with Ron's infirmity and eventual death was heartrending. Seeing the group care for him, and hang suspended in the grip of that need was so believable and so very tragic. His funeral was beautifully done, and so poignantly conveyed the pain of his family and friends. It makes so much sense that they would, one by one, move on from that time and place once the need to care for Ron was over, yet there was Harry stuck with that ghost(as well as all the rest). Turning to Snape was almost inevitable for him.

The evolution of the feelings between them was so brilliantly crafted - the complex interplay of anger, lust, love, hate, possessiveness, impatience, care, exasperation, compassion - it just drew me in and in as the story unfolded. The passion between them that led to the eventual couplings was blistering, with frantic grinding need pouring off the page.

The scene with the fire was as blazing as the flames licking up the walls, with Snape's determination to die and Harry's ambivalence, and their eventual breakthrough past their similarly guarded, defensive hearts to save each other - the suspense and angst took my breath away. I loved how you have Snape once again make huge sacrifices to save Harry, and in doing so, freeing himself. The image of Harry, naked and open was so redolent of his lost innocence, and exquisite in its portrayal of the side of Harry that can in fact perform this selfless act that Snape believes no one capable of. The roses are truly the view of hope as told us by your very entertaining Odile, and I love that this hope leaves the door open at the end of the story, for these two damaged souls to rejoin after hopefully achieving some healing.

There's so much more to comment on in this richly layered, darkly atmospheric, troubled yet hopeful tale, but I'll settle for saying thanks for sharing such a riveting story with the rest of us.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-06-06 05:22 am UTC

[info]silverhielm
2008-05-25 10:14 pm UTC (link)
Oh, I've just found out on you lj that you wrote a fanfic! You, the best reviewer I've ever come across. You, with your amazing skill in seeing details and express what others think but cannot say. I admire you so much!
I MUST read this now. Will come back to comment :)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-06-06 05:34 am UTC

[info]myshewasyar
2008-05-26 08:53 am UTC (link)
I adored this story. From that wonderful early description of Snape first removing his sweater, to the complexity of the love that Harry felt for Snape. I loved everything about this story.
I feel an overwhelming urge to go out and buy a rose bush for the garden, the big old fashioned roses that my grandad used to grow - fed on ash from the coal fire, big blooms, bigger than cupped palms.
Thankyou.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-06-06 05:47 am UTC

[info]plantinshadows
2008-05-26 10:05 am UTC (link)
ahh I finally had the time to read it and it was wonderful!!
I loved the idea of severus roses.. oh and especiall those lines:

'the city sprawled like an old, sick dragon covered in cracked, smoke-blackened scales' haha I'd say there is some antagonism against team dragon, or maybe I'm just being silly, nothing new there.

"Obviously it would be foolhardy to allow you ever to touch my," he huffed the word, "collar again.
oh, I loved that line, it sounds so "grrr", if that makes sense.

I need my happy ends in fandom, so I'm very glad you put the "find me" in, that gives hope...

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-06-06 05:58 am UTC

(Anonymous)
2008-05-26 01:39 pm UTC (link)
This was a gripping story. It took me several days to read, but reeled me straight back in every time. There was something disorientating about it - you had lots of wonderful magic, and weird things, and I didn't always know what was happening - what the ghosts in Harry wanted, what happened when he touched people - whether he didn't touch them because of the cold within himself, or because or what the ghosts might do to them, because later he tries to allow people to touch him, and I wondered what happened then.
Your language was delightful; amusing, sharp, evocatively descriptive. There were strange elements - the Fred/George/other scenario, why Odile had placed such truly awful wards, even if there was a way around them eventually...and I felt horror that Snape took the ghosts into himself, rather than finding a way to disperse them...
Nevertheless it made a marvellous whole. The only bit that jarred (rather than feeling uncertain) was the scene when Ron dies: I thought the descriptions of Ron had been wonderful, as had Harry's journey into coming to love this person who was Ron but wasn't, and the funeral rites were intriguing. Just, my personal experience of being at more than one death-bed didn't tally with the family's reaction of still lingering over him for hours after his death; because my experience has been seeing someone die, the change from them being the live person you loved, whether conscious or not, and this dead body, this frame that is no longer them, is so strong and obvious, that lurking with the body hasn't happened; also, there is such a profound sense of relief and exhaustion...but you may also be speaking from experience, just a different one than mine.
I'm glad of the glimmer of hope at the end, though I worry for Snape! I know there are lots of little details that will catch me when I reread.
A huge thank-you for this story!
Philo

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-06-06 08:13 am UTC

[info]yivel
2008-05-26 05:52 pm UTC (link)
This story went beyond anything I've read in a long time. It made me feel.
You are amazing with words and created a beauty that made me ache.
I will never forget this.
Uh, maybe I'll be a bit more coherent soon.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-06-06 08:30 am UTC

[info]laeticiav
2008-05-26 06:05 pm UTC (link)
This was one of the best stories I have ever read. Beautiful, poetic, with wonderful unsentimental characterizations. Injured Ron and Harry's response were brilliant and I loved Odile (although I don't know what the female Snape prodigy would see in Ginny either.... Also, it was so hot (especially with all that fabric!). Wow, works like this ar the reason I read Snarry.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]perverse_idyll, 2008-06-06 08:44 am UTC

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