How It Feels to Face a Dragon

[bowdlerized]

Here's my entry for the flashficathon, for voleuse, who requested Cho/Fleur. ~1100 words, rated PG--Cho/Cedric, Cho/Fleur. Huge thanks to sloanesomething, without whom this fic would be a sad, sorry specimen.

Comments

[tradescant]

Oh, I feel so sorry for Cho here, her inabilty to cope, and the self-awareness that makes it so painful, and I love the way you've drawn the idea of running all the way through the fic--it makes the final passage as inevitable for the reader as it seems to be for Cho.

I know you worried over this, and I'm glad to see that the worry worked in your favor. :D

[bowdlerized]

Thanks so much! It feels good to be done freaking out about it, at least.

The idea of running didn't come out until the final stages of writing and editing, and--let's see if I can explain what I mean here--to me, Cho is a person who is messed-up in a way that makes her panic and run instead of the kind of messed-up that makes a person sink back in on herself.

<3!

[isiscolo]

This is so lovely. I really like Cho's hesitance and unsureness, how she tries to grasp things and feels them slipping away. I think the Oriental allusions build the feel of who Cho is wonderfully (even to the central image of the dragon, which of course is very Oriental, and I saw it as such even though on the surface, in canon, it wasn't Oriental at all).

[bowdlerized]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. Actually, it didn't even hit me that the dragon was also Chinese until after I had written those scenes--just one of those lucky coincidences. Heh, I love when that happens.

[ztrin]

Oh, this was so elegant and painful to read. I love how you write so simply, but every single word flows. This is beautiful.

[bowdlerized]

Thanks a lot! I was a bit worried about writing this pairing, so I'm glad it turned out okay. ;)

[annearchy]

This is a very lovely, sad story. Beautiful use of language and imagery. Thanks.

[bowdlerized]

Thanks! I'm glad to hear that you liked it.

[prillalar]

I love this. How delicate and sad and sweet. (And now I want to kick Harry for not being more sympathetic to Cho in OotP.) I liked this line especially:

She pressed the bones in her body up against mine, and just like that, another bit of him shifted out of me.

Well done.

[bowdlerized]

Thank you, Hal. *kicks Harry for you* I can understand why Harry wasn't able to deal with Cho in OotP, but I did feel very sorry for her. It bothered me that she wasn't allowed to grieve.

I'm pleased that you liked the fic!