THE BOY WHO LIVES (R) BY IAMSHADOW

[shadowfiction]

Title: The Boy Who Lives
Author: iamshadowShip: Gen, Harry-centric, with mentions of post-DH canon pairings

Comments

[shadowfiction]

I also have had cycles of chronic depression my whole life. I did self-harm as a teen (scratching and biting myself) but not for many years, and though I've never attempted suicide, I certainly know the despair that drives people to it.

Don't worry about me. I'm okay, I can just tap in to those emotions if I need to. I'm in a good place right now, and I have plenty of support. I'm not depressed right now, and I've been med-free for nearly two years, which is my longest stretch since I first went on anti-depressants at sixteen.

I think writing about depression and grief in a realistic way is really important. I know when I read mad_martha's The Lodger, and then more recently solstice_muse's Eternal Sunshine of the Scourgified Mind and its sequel Solitary Confinement they made a very big impression on me, because they were real. I could tell as I was reading them that these were by people who knew what it felt like to be standing, looking into that abyss.

Strength to you.

[shadowfiction]

I'm glad it rang so true for you, and that you're doing well.

Thank you so much for your feedback, and for reading.

[brighty18]

Wow! What a terrible thing to go through! Very well written though - as usual. I have say that I always thought that this sort-of immortality would be horrifying and you captured that feeling very, very well.

Out of curiosity, did you have an idea in your mind as to who Ginny would marry?

[shadowfiction]

So many cultures have sought immortality, but I can thing of nothing more horrible than watching the world change around you, as those you know and love grow old and die, leaving you alone.

No, I didn't. My thought is that it would be someone connected to playing, managing or reporting Quidditch, possibly someone she went to school with, but unlikely to be a canon character, and maybe even someone quite a few years older. Five or six years age difference is monumental when you're a teenager, but when you're in your mid twenties to early thirties, it doesn't really matter so much anymore.

[hpaa]

Oh My GOD woman! That was terrible! (I mean in a heart wrenching way)..
And I have never ever disliked Ron, no matter what he did, but this fic is as close as I have even gotten to it..
This sure packed a punch!

[shadowfiction]

I hope that this story didn't come across as demonising Ron, because that wasn't my intention. I tried to show that he and Harry's friendship doesn't self-destruct so much as slowly crumble to pieces, and fault lies on both sides, but they're also dealing with an incredible obstacle. Harry's invulnerability would be intimidating. Ron would be watching his own body change as he aged, while Harry's stayed unnervingly identical to his seventeen-year-old one

[hpaa]

I didnt think you were trying to demonise Ron, I know you probably love him as much as you love Harry :)
However, I dint think he was a very good friend in this one, I mean I do understand that Harry was probably as much to blame as Ron was. But Harry had always been the type to close in on himself and try to deal with his stuff by himself. Ron and Hermione are normally the ones who force him to open up and trust others.. I guess I missed that part of Ron here..

As I said, I can understand why their friendship deteriorated, I just didnt like my poor Harry being so alone and desperate!

[shadowfiction]

Ron & Hermione not jumping right in with support *is* a bit OOC when you look at canon, but this is set so far ahead in time, I figured I could get away with it. Ron and Harry are older, with adult concerns. They're living apart from each other, going home to their respective spouses. By the time of the Knockturn Alley event, they're both approximately 22, four years or so after the Battle, and if you go on what JKR said for post-canon, Ron was working with George for part of that time, so they would have seen much less of each other. Harry is twenty four or five when he leaves the Aurors, and probably a year or two older when he leaves Ginny.

So from Knockturn Alley to the final fight, there's at least a four year span, during which Ron and Harry find themselves with less and less to talk about, Hermione possibly gets pregnant, and Ginny and Harry try fruitlessly for a child themselves

[charma_10]

*is really glad this isn't canon*. I don't ever want Harry to go through that. It was like I was going through it with him. And it was heartbreaking.

This is a truly beautiful piece of writing. The sensitive issues are handle so beautifully, so delicately and this just floored me.

I think that's all I can say.

[shadowfiction]

I'm glad you liked it so much. The idea just came to me yesterday, and I ended up staying up until five in the morning writing it because I had to get it out there. It wanted to be written.

[shadowfiction]

One-shot.

I wanted to leave it ambiguous as to Harry's fate; whether he collects himself and accepts his curse or goes insane, whether he returns to the security of Hogwarts or goes abroad, whether he finds a 'cure' or stays forever immortal, watching things be born and grow and pass away while he remains untouched.