Fic: Stop All the Clocks (…) by firethesound
Title: Stop All the Clocks (This is the Last Time I’m Leaving Without You)
Author/Artist: firethesound
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 44706
Summary: Living with Draco was difficult; living without him is unbearable. But if there’s one thing Harry learned from the war, it’s that even when one life ends, the rest of the world goes right on living.
Why I loved it:
There are only a few stories that could make me cry. Stop All the Clocks (This is the Last Time I’m Leaving Without You) was such a story. Yes, it’s hard to read. Reading stories about major character death are always challenging. It's told in two timelines, so the reader knows from the start that Draco is going to die. One could ask why they should read a love story where one of the MCs is dying. Because their love story is one of such beauty it literally takes your breath away. And following Harry’s progress in dealing with his terrible loss is such an important part of the story and in the end the most heart-wrenching one.
Dealing with the loss of a loved one is terrifying and going through its stages (no matter if you count 5, 7 or more stages of grief), is one of the most challenging things life can throw on you. But it can’t be helped because sooner or later everyone has to deal with it. And that’s part of my adoration of this story. That it’s about love and loss- about life.
Harry is so lost, he is stuck in doing so many unhealthy things that it shatters the reader’s heart on more than on occasion. But he gets there in the end. And one can’t help oneself, but being torn- between happiness for him for getting back to life and a mixture of sadness and anger that he finally lets the love of his life rest.
firethesound’s story makes you feel so many things. Happy feels about their growing love, their passion, the utter contentment about being in love and loved, and all the despair, anger and sadness about grieving and losing the most important person in life. Oh, the hurt. And all that is done so brilliantly that it seems effortless. One can imagine that writing this story was probably far from being easy but you don’t see that. The story flows in beautifully chosen words and I can’t help myself but being in awe of it and the author’s talent.
I still need to find my guts to re-read the whole story for the second time, but I am re-reading parts of it regularly and did so for this rec as well. I always fell for it- and will again.
Excerpt:
(...) When he remembers this house, he remembers it bright and airy and warm, and Draco’s always in it. But this is nothing like that.
Grief clings to the corners like cobwebs. Loss and mourning and misery layer every surface like six years of dust. For a moment, memories threaten to overwhelm him, and they’re not good ones. Memories of despair and hurt and anguish, where he’d floundered and nearly drowned. He’d shut out all the good memories one by one because they hurt, all the quiet cups of tea and movies in the evenings and the lazy morning sex. Draco dancing to the Stones and flirting with a mug and the thousand smiles he’d given Harry. Somewhere in the depths of his grief, Harry only looked at what he’d lost, and he forgot to look back on what he’d had. He’d let five years with Draco be outweighed by each and every day without him.
Author/Artist: firethesound
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 44706
Summary: Living with Draco was difficult; living without him is unbearable. But if there’s one thing Harry learned from the war, it’s that even when one life ends, the rest of the world goes right on living.
Why I loved it:
There are only a few stories that could make me cry. Stop All the Clocks (This is the Last Time I’m Leaving Without You) was such a story. Yes, it’s hard to read. Reading stories about major character death are always challenging. It's told in two timelines, so the reader knows from the start that Draco is going to die. One could ask why they should read a love story where one of the MCs is dying. Because their love story is one of such beauty it literally takes your breath away. And following Harry’s progress in dealing with his terrible loss is such an important part of the story and in the end the most heart-wrenching one.
Dealing with the loss of a loved one is terrifying and going through its stages (no matter if you count 5, 7 or more stages of grief), is one of the most challenging things life can throw on you. But it can’t be helped because sooner or later everyone has to deal with it. And that’s part of my adoration of this story. That it’s about love and loss- about life.
Harry is so lost, he is stuck in doing so many unhealthy things that it shatters the reader’s heart on more than on occasion. But he gets there in the end. And one can’t help oneself, but being torn- between happiness for him for getting back to life and a mixture of sadness and anger that he finally lets the love of his life rest.
firethesound’s story makes you feel so many things. Happy feels about their growing love, their passion, the utter contentment about being in love and loved, and all the despair, anger and sadness about grieving and losing the most important person in life. Oh, the hurt. And all that is done so brilliantly that it seems effortless. One can imagine that writing this story was probably far from being easy but you don’t see that. The story flows in beautifully chosen words and I can’t help myself but being in awe of it and the author’s talent.
I still need to find my guts to re-read the whole story for the second time, but I am re-reading parts of it regularly and did so for this rec as well. I always fell for it- and will again.
Excerpt:
(...) When he remembers this house, he remembers it bright and airy and warm, and Draco’s always in it. But this is nothing like that.
Grief clings to the corners like cobwebs. Loss and mourning and misery layer every surface like six years of dust. For a moment, memories threaten to overwhelm him, and they’re not good ones. Memories of despair and hurt and anguish, where he’d floundered and nearly drowned. He’d shut out all the good memories one by one because they hurt, all the quiet cups of tea and movies in the evenings and the lazy morning sex. Draco dancing to the Stones and flirting with a mug and the thousand smiles he’d given Harry. Somewhere in the depths of his grief, Harry only looked at what he’d lost, and he forgot to look back on what he’d had. He’d let five years with Draco be outweighed by each and every day without him.