Featured Submission for February: Bus Stop
Hello, everyone! Long time no see! I’m Marm (Marmalade Fever), author of Bus Stop, one of the featured submissions for February here on H&V. I haven’t written or, frankly, participated in D/Hr much since 2009, but I still have a special place in my heart for our favorite couple.
A little about Bus Stop:
Bus Stop is based on a song of the same name by The Hollies, an English band from the sixties-my favorite music era. There have been other renditions of it recorded since, but The Hollies’ version is my favorite. It’s a very romantic, light-hearted song with a narrative describing how two people met and fell in love at a bus stop, all because one of them offered the other the use of his umbrella. If you’ve read the fanfic, then this should sound very familiar. That being said, I really can’t claim the plot-or the characters, since of course they belong to Rowling.
The story itself is dialogue-centric, and, except for the rare homage to the lyrics, those very odd repartees, puns, and discussions about things like gum are all mine. I’m just saying, since it was beginning to sound like I was disclaiming the entire thing. I’m not; I just don’t want to be misleading.
I originally posted the first chapter of Bus Stop on fanfiction.net on December 1, 2006 and completed it March 30, 2007. Up to that point, this is definitely the most time I’d allowed myself per chapter on a fanfic, and it shows. I also genuinely enjoyed myself while writing it-isn’t that something?
There’s a line I’d like to quote, which pretty much sums up the feeling I’d like readers to take away from this story: “Something inside Hermione beamed like a pretty little candle” (Chapter 3). This is a feel-good, put an ooey-gooey smile on your face story. It’s fluffy, but hopefully in a good way. It’s been my intention to help change the bad rep fluff has gotten. A lot of the time it’s treated as a bad word, but it doesn’t have to be.
I sincerely hope I’ve left plenty of discussion topics without giving too much of the actual story away. I’ll try to answer your questions (though don’t be surprised if I occasionally say, “Ugh, I don’t remember! It was six years ago!”) Also, if anyone happens to have a favorite line, I’d love to know!
A link to a video of the song.
Bus Stop at Hawthorn & Vine