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Tweak says, "Do you have enough swords?"

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

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: 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. 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 rinsbane for talking me through to the images I needed. I wish this were a better first offering, my dear.

*With gratitude to 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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windtossed
2008-05-21 07:02 am UTC (link)

this was so unbelievably excellent, i don't think i'm really capable of enumerating the many things i loved about it, but here's a partial list nonetheless. that first time harry thinks i love you and then immediately burying it. snape and his sacrifices, and the final one which allows harry to free him, utterly beautiful. the scenes which you painted in the mind's eye which stick with the reader -- specifically, i refer to harry and snape both clasping the wand as the house burns down around them, and both of them looking at the house covered with roses. snape leaving, but still, there is hope that harry will get up in the morning and follow the string to its end, to wherever snape is.

there's more. the more peripheral characters were well portrayed. i particularly felt the tragedy of ron's situation. spinner's end almost took on a personality of its own, because of eileen prince's roses and the stairs and all those details without which the atmosphere could not have been created.

really, again, an excellent job, and not a fic i will be forgetting soon.

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perverse_idyll
2008-05-21 09:09 am UTC (link)

Wow! You could knock me over with a feather. Thank you so much! What a lovely first review!

Most of the best scenes are at the end, I feel, if readers can just hang in there that long. I did perhaps make a Harry a bit dark in this fic, because I tend to think that, regardless of how much his ghosts are responsible, he's angry enough to take out his pent-up resentments on Snape. And I do see Snape as having a sacrificial streak mixed in with his bitter outlook. The thing is, he doesn't know how not to be self-destructive. Put these two messed-up wizards together, and sparks are bound to fly.

Poor Ron. I needed him to show that the effects of war live on long after the hostilities are over. And that there are some things magic cannot fix.

Spinner's End, hah! I had to cut out material pertaining to that house, because it wanted to take over. It's such a vivid presence in my mind.

I'm so glad you enjoyed the fic. Believe me, it haunted me while I was writing it. I feel as if I exorcised some of my own demons by purging Harry and Snape of theirs.

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