Darkfic rec: When The Rose & The Fire Are One, by Perverse Idyll
Rating system:
When the Rose and the Fire Are One, by Perverse Idyll
Fandom: Harry Potter (AU, not DH compliant)
Pairing(s): Harry/George, Harry/Snape, Ginny/m, Hermione/m, Remus/Tonks
Darkfic Rating: Espresso
The Rose and the Fire is a tale of two houses; a tale of loss and imprisonment, hate and letting go and sex and love, and how all these things intertwine like a thicket of roses: thorny and twisted, beautiful and painful. Snape is imprisoned in Spinner's End, by the Ministry; Harry is imprisoned by himself, by ghostly possession, by the love and hatred and guilt he feels.
The original characters and the magic are well-drawn, and though it's not without its flaws, I think this story may become a favorite. It contains things I normally quite dislike but which intensely, purely, fiercely worked for me, presented in this way. I tend to skip sex scenes, and found myself reading these over again, for their brutal emotional intensity. Some transitions are problematic and confusing, though pushing through that in all cases cleared things up in a few paragraphs.
And for all its flaws, it's worth reading for the language. It's lovely, and it's lovely in a way that layers itself over the underlying metaphor and deepens it immensely. That's a difficult trick, and I loved feeling this one build on itself.
When the Rose and the Fire Are One, by Perverse Idyll
Fandom: Harry Potter (AU, not DH compliant)
Pairing(s): Harry/George, Harry/Snape, Ginny/m, Hermione/m, Remus/Tonks
Darkfic Rating: Espresso
The Rose and the Fire is a tale of two houses; a tale of loss and imprisonment, hate and letting go and sex and love, and how all these things intertwine like a thicket of roses: thorny and twisted, beautiful and painful. Snape is imprisoned in Spinner's End, by the Ministry; Harry is imprisoned by himself, by ghostly possession, by the love and hatred and guilt he feels.
The original characters and the magic are well-drawn, and though it's not without its flaws, I think this story may become a favorite. It contains things I normally quite dislike but which intensely, purely, fiercely worked for me, presented in this way. I tend to skip sex scenes, and found myself reading these over again, for their brutal emotional intensity. Some transitions are problematic and confusing, though pushing through that in all cases cleared things up in a few paragraphs.
And for all its flaws, it's worth reading for the language. It's lovely, and it's lovely in a way that layers itself over the underlying metaphor and deepens it immensely. That's a difficult trick, and I loved feeling this one build on itself.