WIP | Of Family Resemblances and Like Kinds | 1/12

[duck_or_rabbit]

Title: Of Family Resemblances and Like Kinds
Part: 1
Part Summary: Regulus was in danger of losing his reason, which would only make things more difficult than they already were.
Part Rating: PG13
Part Characters: The Black Family :: Walburga, Regulus, and mentions of Sirius, 1978.
WIP Pairings: Yes, but this is not Blackcest.
Part Warnings:

Comments

[bratanimus]

FINALLY I get to review this. :D

This. Is. Brilliant. You are a fabulous writer, and I really mean that. I completely fell in love with your Regulus. You made him immediately sympathetic for me (and hot!), and I could very easily identify with him. The stakes were immediately high, and you gave us a mystery at once (why is he so upset? why did he ditch his robes? what is he hiding from his mother? etc.), which is a great way to keep us reading.

First off, two images/themes that stuck with me days after reading:

How Regulus clings to his leather strap:
(1) It's something solid in a world of shifting sand.
(2) It's something close to his heart, something that protects him there when no one and nothing else can.
(3) The bag is something that holds, presumably, books, which contain, presumably, truth, something sorely lacking in his own experience of family and the world.
(4) It's a tie to school, probably the first place he began to feel safe and to get a glimpse of what it means to be accepted unconditionally (whether or not he trusted that feedback). Also it's a tie to his childhood, a more innocent time, and who can blame him for clinging to that?

The raven:
(1) Though the ravens are "black death eaters" and do indeed represent the Blacks superbly, other symbolism of the bird is PERFECT for Regulus. "Raven symbolizes protection, initiation and healing. It brings in deep healing and signifies the death of one thing to bring in the birth of another. Raven’s other attributes are eloquence, change in consciousness, wisdom, messages from spirit and something unexpected, but beneficial would happen soon. Raven was believed to be not totally trustworthy, so Celts were careful in working with it." (Source)
(2) Love how the raven dives and then climbs again, foreshadowing Regulus's own fall and redemption. And he's "gloomy" like the bird at the moment, which strengthens the parallel.

It never seemed indecent to Regulus to look. No one was made vulnerable because of his modest intrusions. Lovely detail. This is why he's not cut out to be a Death Eater. He doesn't despise the Muggles, or their quaint entertainments. And I love how you establish right off that he's always been a loner. The friendliest would smile, and he'd take an immediate liking to them ... Fabulous. He wants to connect, but he doesn't quite know how. He watches. And it's very apparent how he adores his vulgar, exciting brother.

I love the contradictions in him, which make him very real. He's concerned about appearing a gentleman, yet he clings to that bag like a schoolboy and thinks idly about having a wank, even through his anxiety. And even the descriptions of the house parallel his predicament. A vague apparation command, inconsistent with the integrity of the mansion, would allow an intruder in and no way out. Perfect symbolism for his own need to find himself so that he can escape his current fate.

You've made this world very vivid without seeming you were "setting the scene," which is always hard to do. There are sights and smells and sounds, and I really feel like I am there with him. I can see him, and what surrounds him, perfectly. And details like a house with spirit inhabitants was considered to possess the right mixture of wizard nobility and humility bring us solidly into the wizarding universe without simply describing it. We know the fact of the haunting as well as the family's feelings about it. Lovely. First learning to apparate into Number 12's menacing maze of corridors was more like gambling than gamboling *snort* Love it. Regulus (and your writing) is so witty.

More to come ...