FIC for: such_heights

[bewarethesmirk]

Title: Touch the Face of the Stars
Recipient: such_heights
Fic or Art: Fic
Rating: PG-13 for adult themes
Characters: Lily, James, others of that generation
Warnings: Character death
Summary: Lily tries to work out what is worth living - or dying - for.
Notes: Written for such_heights, who likes character-driven stories and Lily. I hope you like this, too :-). Thank you

Comments

[such_heights]

I... I'm going to come back and tell you why this is amazing when I've stopped being on the verge of crying my eyes out.

Thank you.

[such_heights]

Back, now with added sentences!

First off, wee!Lily is absolutely precious, that letter is so lively and wonderful. And it makes everything that follows on just that bit more chilling and heartbreaking.

I love the battle scene - it's so vivid and not a little scary. James' first appearance is just perfect, too. And the idea that that's their first encounter with Voldemort is inspired, and totally part of my personal canon now.

The 'They were so happy for you' section is where you started to completely break me. Oh, Lily. But her hugging Dumbledore in the next bit is really very endearing indeed.

I love Sirius' resolute devotion and passion for the cause, you've really captured how I see him during this period.

His sleepy blinking charmed the elderly clergyman and elicited a chorus of 'Aahhhs' from the congregation, but all Lily could feel was terror at seeing her son in the arms of a stranger.I love that sentence - the beginning is incredibly cute, then bam, you twist the knife just a little deeper

[lyras]

I'm not sure whether it was completely obvious that I wrote this (especially when you offered to beta-read it!), but I'm glad you liked it anyway. ♥ Thanks for such lovely feedback, too - it really made my day. I'm going to make it DH-compliant if I can before posting it to my LJ.

I've never written Lily before, so I'm glad she worked for you, and that you liked the peripheral characters as well.

You've really managed to capture just what is so heartbreaking about canon

This is what I love about Harry's world. It has the potential for so much fun and amazement, and yet there's so much tragedy everywhere.

Very glad you liked the story, anyway!

[such_heights]

Hee, I'd forgotten about that. And no, I hadn't guessed, though I was pretty sure it had to be someone on my flist, and I'm not surprised to see it was you! Thank you again, and I look forward to seeing the canon-tweaked version. :D

[kethlenda]

Oh. My. God.

I followed the link, honestly, because I recognized the title, love the song, and knew it would fit well with a fic about Lily's life and death. Your fic more than lives up to the beauty and poignancy of the song, and I loved every minute of it.

Just...there are so many little things in here I love. Lily's parents being killed by DEs makes Petunia's antagonism make more sense. The "You too" Lily says to Peter is a chilling little "et tu, Brute" moment (and really, him sneaking up behind her resonates too), except she doesn't realize it yet. The little mention of Regulus. James speculating Neville will be a troublemaker! lksajf;akjsd

And wow, just so sad and yet so inspiring. I love your Lily and her courage.

[lyras]

Thank you!

I had a wonderful time writing this, so I'm glad you liked it (and Dante's Prayer seriously took over my brain while writing).

so sad and yet so inspiring

This is exactly what I was going for, so thanks again!

[kethlenda]

OMG, this was you???!!!! :) :) :)

Seems like half the time I can identify my friends' fics from a mile away and the other half of the time y'all totally blindside me. But anyway, awesome fic. I loved it so, so much and I'm glad the song lyric tempted me to click. :)

[lyras]

*g* I'm kind of glad nobody guessed this, because I thought it had me stamped all over it! I'm so glad you liked it, though - thanks so much for telling me so. :)

[lyras]

Thank you so much - I've never written Lily before, so I was nervous about how people would take to her. I'm very glad she went down well!

[sambethe]

You made me cry. I can count on one hand the number of times fic has managed to make me cry.

I really loved getting to see Lily grow, change, fall in love (twice!) and simply live, even if it was in extraordinary times. I particularly enjoyed getting to see Lily start off the defying of Voldemort, its a favorite pet theory of mine. Though I had never really thought about that leading to her parents' deaths and Petunia's bitterness (mostly because of JKR's past comments) but I do sort of wish it was canon because it would make so much more sense.

I really enjoyed getting to know your version of Lily. Thanks for sharing this!

[lyras]

Sorry about the tears. *g*

I'm so glad you liked this, especially because I absolutely loved writing it.

Though I had never really thought about that leading to her parents' deaths and Petunia's bitterness (mostly because of JKR's past comments)

Did JKR say that their parents died naturally? I poked around the Lexicon, but it only mentioned James's parents not dying violently. But now you mention it, I do seem to remember JKR mentioning something like that.

Anyway, I'm so glad you liked this, and thanks for your lovely review!