Author's Note: Pensieve Souls, Chapter 23
1. Man, I feel like I re-wrote Liseli's Christmas chapter (and also the reconciliation scene with Tarazet) so many times. And I mention them separately because I went back and forth between having them be in the same chapter and different chapters.. I actually liked my reconciliation draft that was the draft before the published version, but some other things happened in it that draft which I decided to push to later in the story, so I had to scrap that draft.
2. I originally wrote the intro scene with Lupin with the idea that Lupin might become a reoccuring character (I liked the idea of a friendship between him and Liseli because Lupin had previously been a DADA prof, so they'd have something in common). I ended up scraping the idea because there just wasn't enough reason and plot to write Lupin and Liseli becoming friends. I liked the scene enough that I decided to keep most of it, though. It's also supposed to establish that Liseli was herself friendly with DEs (or, specfically, Regulus), and originally I was going to have Liseli not super like Lupin due to his werewolf status to show that her upbringing was traditional (in a being a bit wary around non-humans sort-of-way), but I ended up scaling that back pretty far.
3. As you can probably tell, this chapter is the start of Tarazet being a reoccuring character. Which I'm mad excited for, because I really like writing Tarazet. In my first published version of "Pensieve Souls" ("One Day at a Time"), Tarazet was my absolute favorite character to write; I liked writing him even more than Liseli. Although his characterization has undergone a bit of a shift since "One Day at a Time"; he's become a bit mellower.
4. Going through my lj tag for Tarazet, I realized that Tarazet has appeared in literally only one other chapter before this one (chapter 5, when he's introduced). And, well, I suppose he's in chapter 4 but that's so brief it doesn't really count. I thought he had appeared more, but I guess it's that he's just repeatedly in the background. E.g. McGonagall, Snape, and Liseli talk about him in chapter 6; Liseli and Deneb talk about him in chapter 8; Liseli receives an owl from him in chapter 14; and Liseli, Seginus, and Matar talk about him in chapter 15.
5. Technially the Colburns' parents' house belongs to Deneb (since, as mentioned in chapter 5, he inherited everything). It doesn't really matter, but I imagine that when Deneb and Tarazet talked right after Tarazet was released from Azkaban Deneb said he would be okay with Tarazet living at their parent's old house, as long as Tarazet was discrete about it (since Deneb has officially disowned Tarazet for being a criminal).
6. This isn't really established in-story very much, but I imagine Tarazet as the type of person who likes kids and would love to be The Cool Uncle (or whatever that trope is called according to TVTropes). It's why he's supposed to be a bit wistful in this chapter when he and Liseli talk about their nieces and nephews, since Deneb and Marie-Ange won't let him have any contact with their nieces and nephews since they've disowned him for being a criminal (which Tarazet respects, but is a bit sad about).
7. I had Tarazet transfiguring the knife in this chapter because, as was established in chapter 6, he's supposed to be quite good at Transfiguration, and I imagine him as the type of person who like transfiguration enough that he'll transfigure things just for the heck of it.
8. For when Liseli says in this chapter that she's been checking the obituaries while worrying about Tarazet, it was briefly mentioned in chapter 21 that Hermione noticed Liseli was looking at the obituaries after a DE attack.
Cheers!
-Jem
P.S. As always, I'm curious if anyone reads my Livejournal posts, so if you have read this please comment, even if the entirety of your comment is literally "Purple Mountain Goats."