Recs from this years HD-holidays
I'm reading and reading and watching and enjoying and can not keep up, but even if I'm far from through all entries I have a few recs. This ended up as a monster post really. There are so many good stories. Do enjoy! :)
Author: Anonymous
Recipient: annafugazzi
Title: In Dreams
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco, Harry/Ginny, Harry/OFC, Draco/Blaise and Ron/Hermione
Summary: When the simple act of opening the front door plunges you into the depths of a political conspiracy, you know you should have stayed in bed.
Rating: R-NC-17ish.
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warning(s): Character death (not the main pairing!)
Epilogue compliant? For a split second, and then never again - EWE
Word Count: 37,500 give or take a few adjectives
Author's Notes: Oh, dear me! I hope you enjoy this annafugazzi. With deep thanks to J and H for the beta - any remaining errors are due entirely to my own carelessness :P
Why I loved it: This story is simply brilliant. Everyone is so wonderfully IC and all development of the plot, which is a really good mystery, and of the characters happens at the exact righ pace. There are no fillers here, nothing that could have been cut and the writer has such a way with words. I was grinning and laughing out loud and swooning with awe throughout the story. Go, read, enjoy!
Artist: Anonymous
Recipient: snegurochka_lee
Title: Reparation
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Rating: NC-17 [NWS!]
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Artist's Notes: All my thanks to taradiane, without whom this wouldn't be the same. Lee, I hope that you've had the best holiday yet and that you enjoy your gift from me, babe!!
Why I loved it: This is just gorgeous. All drawings are just so beautiful, they take my breath away. NB! This is so very NWS.
Author: Anonymous
Recipient: red_rahl
Title: The Magic of the Holidays, or, How I Survived the Gringotts Holiday Helpdesk
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco, Blaise/Justin Finch-Fletchley
Summary: Draco’s an Assistant Cursebreaker at Gringotts, Harry’s an Auror. They receive the unwanted task of troubleshooting malfunctioning magical objects at the Gringotts holiday help desk. Together. The only question is whether they will kill each other before the magical objects succeed in killing them.
Rating: R for intent
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warning(s): Murderous household objects, holiday snark, family
Epilogue compliant? So EWE it could nurse baby sheep.
Word Count: ~14,000
Author's Notes: Dear red_rahl, I do hope you enjoy this tale of holiday mischief and magic. I went with your requests for humor, snark, plots involving interesting/unique perspectives or aspects of the wizarding world, and the Malfoys as doting parents, especially Narcissa. I hope it achieves the status of an emotional journey with a good ending and as for working well as a team and both guys secretly pining for the other, well, you’ll have to read on to see. Thanks to the marvellous mods and their incredible care and feeding of the fest! Happy H/D Holidays!
Why I loved it: This is so funny with all the crazy, charmed/cursed objects. UST and pining boys FTW! I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Author: Anonymous
Recipient: pink_mint
Title: Polar Night
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Summary: Still in recovery from their break-up, Harry and Draco must travel through the arctic conditions of Svalbard to catch the last Death Eater still at large.
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warning(s): Angst, depicts a rather bleak post-war world. Highlight for spoilers: minor character death
Epilogue compliant? No
Word Count: 12,800
Author's Notes: Draws on This Cold Heaven by Gretel Ehrlich, Peter's Friends, a certain episode of ST: Voyager, and the extensive beta skills of the marvellous M&Ms without whom I would never survive.
Why I loved it: The relationship between Harry and Draco is colder than the arctic climate at the begin of this story. I loved how the surroundings perfectly fit the mood and how much research has been put into this.
Author: Anonymous
Recipient: melusinahp
Title: At Your Service
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco, Ron/Hermione and all those other characters one would expect to see at Hogwarts.
Summary: Hogwarts students are in danger; Harry is determined to save them all. There's only one thing he knows for certain: Draco Malfoy is somehow involved.
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warning(s): Word count? Also, lots of plot; romance will take awhile. It's there, though, never fear!
Epilogue compliant? No. This is an "eight-year" fic. Some interview canon included, though.
Word Count: ~96,000 (no, it's not a typo, sorry)
Author's Notes: melusinahp, I can't apologize enough. I didn't actually plan to write you a book, but this story insisted on being told slowly and carefully. This is a bit, er, happier than what you normally prefer, but I share your love of canon and Harry, and I'm hoping to distract you with numerous canon references. This fic was incredibly fun to write, so thank you for your wonderful prompt. It was a joy to write for you. ♥
Massive thanks to my betas for all their corrections, suggestions and incredibly helpful concrit. Making someone beta a 96K fic is more than a little cruel; I can't thank you enough for attacking this monster without a single word of complaint. You are absolute stars. ♥
Why I loved it: It was brilliant. That's why. :-) I know this has been recced by virtually everyone, but if someone still hasn't read this, then this should be on the top of their list. The plot, the characterisation, the way all loose ends come perfectly together. A must read! :)
Author: Anonymous
Recipient: dysonrules
Title: In Plain Sight
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco, Ron/Hermione
Summary: Draco Malfoy had stopped believing his wishes would be granted long ago. He could perhaps be forgiven for being startled, then, when one of them came true
Rating: R
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warning(s): Some violence. A nervous virgin. Snarkiness. Portraits that talk. Oh, wait…
Epilogue compliant? Not even remotely.
Word Count: 37,500
Author's Notes: Last summer during Smoochfest, I was reading through the prompts when I saw one that captivated me almost instantly. As I had already committed to writing something else, and someone had wisely snagged it before I could, I regretfully tried to put it out of my mind. But you know what happens, when one of those li’l bunnies start hopping? Well, mine turned into a big old man eating RABBIT, (think Monty Python and the Holy Grail killer bunny, and you’ll see what I mean) who simply refused to go away. The prompt was left by brinimc, and beautifully written by vanessawolfiein her lovely fic, Fading Away. To not mention that there are similarities would be disingenuous. But when I received my assignment, I knew that the Draco who existed only in my imagination at that point was a perfect fit for the lovely creature I was honored to get to write for. I hope that the story I have written pleases her and is different enough that both fics stand on their own.
Special thanks to the wonderful person who reads everything I write, and the tireless beta who turns those words into something resembling coherence. Any remaining mistakes must be attributed to my fiddling after she finished! Which I did. A lot.
Why I loved it: It took out my squee-icon for this and confessed my undying love. Do you need more to go and read it immediatelly? OK, I give you sentient!Hogwarts. Go, read, enjoy! :-)
Author: Anonymous
Recipient: ladynovember
Title: The Joke of Tomorrow
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Summary: Draco Malfoy quite likes working at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Except for the times George Weasley has that scheming look in his eyes. Or when a new product goes embarrassingly wrong. And especially the days when Harry Potter pops in.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warning(s): Excessive use of the word for people born to unmarried parents. A fair amount of UST, I'm told, though I think I am immune. Alliteration abounds!
Epilogue compliant? In a word: No. In many words: This story is not epilogue compliant.
Word Count: ~25,000
Author's Notes: Happy Holidays, ladynovember! I did attempt to use all of your prompts. I hope you find something you like among my words. The title is taken from the H G Wells quote: "The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow". Diolch to beta number one, who helped me in every way possible, from beginning to end. You are wonderful. Graziè to beta number two, who tidied this up at the last minute, right before her birthday. You are amazing.
Why I loved it: George has the best plans. The very best. :-) He is scheming and oblivious boys are so very oblivious. All is well in the end though. :-)
Author: Anonymous
Recipient: fantasyfruitbat
Title: A Single Step
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco, Ron/Pansy, implied Hermione/Terry Boot
Summary: All those years Hermione had been telling him to study harder, Harry had never dreamt it could lead to this.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warning(s): None
Epilogue compliant? LOL!
Word Count: 24,976
Author's Notes: Thank you so much to the mods for running this wonderful fest again - it just wouldn't be Christmas in fandom without a little hd_holidays, and I always have the most fun writing for it! Thank you to my beta for her all-round general awesomeness, and to fantasyfruitbatfor giving me such a great sign up to play with - hopefully this is something along the lines of what you wanted! And finally, thank you to this fic for finally being finished, because I swear there were days when I thought it would never end.
Why I loved it: Eighth year story, pining boys, scheming girls, frotting, good characterisaton. Almost all my favourites thrown into one. :D Need I say more?
Author: Anonymous
Recipient: themostepotente
Title: Chrononauts
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco (implied Ron/Hermione, brief Harry/Ginny, Draco/Astoria, Draco/Blaise, other minor pairings)
Summary: Harry and Draco learn that Time is making fools of them again. And then they learn it... again.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warning(s): Drug use, general confusion.
Epilogue compliant? That's a good question!
Word Count: ~39K
Author's Notes: Thanks so much to B, N, D, and DH for beta work. Any remaining mistakes are mine, mine, all mine. themostepotente, I tried to include as many of your requests as possible, but was sadly unable to figure out how to get any bandages in at all :(
Why I loved it: This was a bit complicated, but once you get your head wrapped around this, it flows easily and it is such a good read. NB! Read the warnings.