So, about Parsimony
This is a post to describe the novel-length story I’m going to start working on now that Flare is done. The nice thing about this one is that it gives me the chance to do something I’ve wanted to do for a while (write a fic that’s set at Hogwarts and deals with the aftermath of the war) but with more length than I can use in a one-shot.
This story is Harry after the war: dealing with problems, but not horribly traumatized, or at least not feeling the effects of horrible trauma. But the Weasleys are dealing with the loss of Fred, and Hermione has to go get her parents back from Australia, and Harry has his own dead to mourn.
For the first time, though, he realizes that he doesn’t have to rescue the world anymore. He can concentrate on just those people dear to him instead of worrying that he’s selfish for not spending all his time thinking about Voldemort and how to defeat him. Gratefully, he settles in to help the Weasleys and Hermoine and to attend funerals when he has to. Even when he goes back to Hogwarts for a final year, at least schoolwork is refreshing compared to solving mysteries on which the fate of the world hinges.
But there are two problems waiting for him at the school. First, something happened, or is rumored to have happened, between Draco and his Slytherin classmates over the summer. Harry hears various stories: that Draco got tortured, that he snapped and tortured someone, that his classmates blame him for not going to Azkaban, that Crabbe’s family is demanding that Draco pay for leaving Crabbe to die in the Fiendfyre, etc. Harry finds it really, really hard to ignore someone who needs his help when no one else is stepping forwards to resolve it, either. So he gets dragged into a part-investigation, part-protection and comforting of Draco.
The other problem is that he gets mysterious messages from someone, tracks down the source of the messages, and finds out they’re coming from Snape. Snape survived Nagini’s bite, but doesn’t want to reveal that he’s living in case they put him in Azkaban. He trusts Harry to do the right thing no matter how foolish and suicidal, so he throws himself on Harry’s mercy. Harry tries to keep him hidden and sneak food and potions to him while also having screaming matches with him.
I’ve written a lot of fics where Harry has come to terms with the trauma of the war and not being a hero anymore or in the same way, or only thinks he has and has to confront his issues during the story, but none where he actually goes through the process right after the war. He also, for the most part, hasn’t had to deal with a Snape he thought was dead who turns out to have survived. This wouldn’t be a mentor-fic, as such, because Snape isn’t Harry’s teacher and Harry doesn’t think he needs lessons from him anymore. But it would be a fic about coming to terms with some of the things that Harry doesn’t if Snape neatly dies or he gets some emotional distance from the war where Draco is concerned.
It’s also about other ways to be a hero, and ways that Harry doesn’t have to be completely selfish or completely selfless-how he learns to draw the line.
I’m not gonna lie, I’m excited about this fic.
This story is Harry after the war: dealing with problems, but not horribly traumatized, or at least not feeling the effects of horrible trauma. But the Weasleys are dealing with the loss of Fred, and Hermione has to go get her parents back from Australia, and Harry has his own dead to mourn.
For the first time, though, he realizes that he doesn’t have to rescue the world anymore. He can concentrate on just those people dear to him instead of worrying that he’s selfish for not spending all his time thinking about Voldemort and how to defeat him. Gratefully, he settles in to help the Weasleys and Hermoine and to attend funerals when he has to. Even when he goes back to Hogwarts for a final year, at least schoolwork is refreshing compared to solving mysteries on which the fate of the world hinges.
But there are two problems waiting for him at the school. First, something happened, or is rumored to have happened, between Draco and his Slytherin classmates over the summer. Harry hears various stories: that Draco got tortured, that he snapped and tortured someone, that his classmates blame him for not going to Azkaban, that Crabbe’s family is demanding that Draco pay for leaving Crabbe to die in the Fiendfyre, etc. Harry finds it really, really hard to ignore someone who needs his help when no one else is stepping forwards to resolve it, either. So he gets dragged into a part-investigation, part-protection and comforting of Draco.
The other problem is that he gets mysterious messages from someone, tracks down the source of the messages, and finds out they’re coming from Snape. Snape survived Nagini’s bite, but doesn’t want to reveal that he’s living in case they put him in Azkaban. He trusts Harry to do the right thing no matter how foolish and suicidal, so he throws himself on Harry’s mercy. Harry tries to keep him hidden and sneak food and potions to him while also having screaming matches with him.
I’ve written a lot of fics where Harry has come to terms with the trauma of the war and not being a hero anymore or in the same way, or only thinks he has and has to confront his issues during the story, but none where he actually goes through the process right after the war. He also, for the most part, hasn’t had to deal with a Snape he thought was dead who turns out to have survived. This wouldn’t be a mentor-fic, as such, because Snape isn’t Harry’s teacher and Harry doesn’t think he needs lessons from him anymore. But it would be a fic about coming to terms with some of the things that Harry doesn’t if Snape neatly dies or he gets some emotional distance from the war where Draco is concerned.
It’s also about other ways to be a hero, and ways that Harry doesn’t have to be completely selfish or completely selfless-how he learns to draw the line.
I’m not gonna lie, I’m excited about this fic.