Fic: Emancipation

[magnetic_pole]

Title: Emancipation
Word Count: 3500
Characters: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Edie Johnson, and Squeaky, a house elf
Summary: Sirius' past comes back to haunt him in late 1980.

For sambethe A story from the Alignments universe.

With an illustration by the amazing la_onza.

Comments

[sambethe]

Oh, have I never been so happy to have a bit of trouble sleeping. Logged on and found this. :)

The back and forth between the boys and Edie was lovely. I particularly liked the gentle ribbing and the slightly more irritated exchanges between them all. I also enjoyed that, despite himself, Sirius is still dealing with his past and that his mouth still gets carried away with him.

And Squeaky...not sure where to start with the love on the house elf emancipation. As I think we have touched on before, this issue is difficult and there are no clear cut answers. I think this comes across perfectly here, especially the question of just what do you do with a bunch of free house-elves? And what do they do with themselves? I always sort of wonder what happens to elves that are given clothes and aren't Dobby or Winky. It isn't like Hogwarts is running a house-elf refugee camp.

So yay! Much love. Time to make tea and see if I can sleep.

[magnetic_pole]

So glad to hear you liked it! Frankly, it's not the best story, but I got caught up in the politics and the situation and thought you might enjoy anyway. Let's call it a new genre, politi!fic. In which the issues are loved slightly more than the narrative. *sheepish smile*

I do think the issue is really difficult but that the situation is so awful that Hermione can't be the first to deal with it. And employing runaway house elves at Hogwarts, even with pay, is *so* not the answer.

Just wanted to say thanks again for being such a support and thoughtful reader! Maggie

[magnetic_pole]

Whoops, "supportive and thoughtful reader." Who has an enormous amount of patience for my un-beta'd writing. *sheepish smile* (Odd how that jumped out just now; I never catch the mistakes before posting.) Maggie

[sambethe]

Heh. I can hardly argue with the fact that yours in unbeta'd if mine is as well. Will one day have to stop relying on my own editorial skills, as while I can edit my own grammar (for the most part) the content/consistency could probably use some prodding.

And I do hate that you can't edit comments as I often make stupid typos and forget to hit the spell check button.

[aquila_star]

Oh, Hermione would be so proud.

Excellent, Maggie, I am so glad you decided to do outtakes. :D

[magnetic_pole]

Ah, if only Hermione knew what her parents' generation had been up to! I like to think the Marauder generation was a little more politically aware than Hermione's. (Well, you know me by now; I find this cast of characters endlessly interesting and like to give them the benefit of the doubt.)

Thanks so much for continuing to read along! Maggie

[aquila_star]

I am fascinated by the Marauder Era too, they hold my interest and imaginationso well. :D

[magnetic_pole]

I know--why is that? It's not that I didn't enjoy Harry's story and the books, but the parents, both as kids and as grown ups, are fascinating. I wonder if it's because they have a history that they seem so vivid?

By the way, who is the artist for the images in your icon? They're really well done. Maggie

[minnow_53]

Squeaky reminded me uncomfortably of certain relatives of mine... :D An interesting take on house-elf emancipation, and original too.

^_^xx

[magnetic_pole]

Hmm....let me guess: a mother in law? *smile* This is a bit how I imagine mine would be. Thanks so much for reading and commenting, Minnow. Much appreciated! Maggie

[such_heights]

Highly original, and very enjoyable! Marvellous stuff. &hearts

[magnetic_pole]

Thanks for reading, such_heights! *big smile* Maggie

[la_onza]

Because the real revolution is the evolution of the mind. /Flavor Flav

I really like the conversations between Squeaky and Sirius. Very nicely done. And this:

“Well, my family was unusually cruel,” Sirius said.

“Or Squeaky was unusually brave,” Remus replied.

That's great, it so subtly ties together the Squeaky/Sirius parallel.

[magnetic_pole]

Glad you enjoyed! I'm never sure what to say about the house elf situation--nothing is quite right--but I do think it's fair enough to say that everyone is hurt more by the situation than we'd guess by reading canon. Appreciated the quote and comment! Maggie

[blackxlupin]

Oh, I'm so glad I read this comment - I hadn't even got that! *facepalms*