Fic: "Fra Pandolf's Hands" for waterbird

[springmod]

AAANNDDD WE'RE OFF!!!!! What? It's 1st April here!

Title: Fra Pandolf’s Hands
Author: a_t_rain
Recipient waterbird
Rating: PG
Characters: Dean, OC, cameos from Draco, Scrimgeour, and Bagman
Summary: Dean thinks his dreams have come true when the most famous painter in the wizarding world takes him on as an apprentice. But magical portraiture is a dangerous

Comments

[rosathome]

Ooooh, that was so good. I loved your idea that the painting kills the person and the way that this power could be used to such harm. I'd always wondered how the magical portraits work and I think this is a really plausible explanation.

And the relationship between Dean and Romano was beautifully paced and wonderfully understated.

You build the tension carefully and then give us room to breathe after the dramatic climax. And the interview with Scrimgeour is positively chilling.

Really well done, mystery author.

[rosathome]

Forgot to say - I specially liked it because my name is Rosalind. ;)

[a_t_rain]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, Rosalind :)

[marginaliana]

Ahhhh, wonderful! I love the way you've expanded on the magic of portraits and the way that, like all the wonderful things we find in the magical world, there's always this potential for danger underneath the beauty. I also love the way Dean is so well-rounded here - you really give him a complete personality building on what we know from canon. Lovely work!

[a_t_rain]

Thank you!

[snorkackcatcher]

Great stuff. I seem to have an odd soft spot for Dean-as-artist stories, and for stories that explore the way various bits of magic in the books work, and this does really well on both counts. Nice characterisation of Dean and of Romano, good use of appropriate supporting characters, and just nicely written all round. Really liked this one.

[a_t_rain]

Thanks (and I'm flattered that you considered Niffling this -- although now that authors have been revealed, I can say that I've already had my two so it wouldn't be eligible anyway).

[snorkackcatcher]

You're actually allowed three now, although I couldn't personally Niffle you because of the bit of betaing you did for me. :)

[snorkackcatcher]

Hi there -- I was looking through the Niffles section at FAP for old times' sake, and saw this fic had just been Niffled ... Past experience suggests they don't seem to tell people these days, so I thought I'd drop a courtesy comment just in case. :)

http://forums.fictionalley.org/park/showthread.php?threadid=151773

[humantales]

Lovely story. I like the way you've pulled all the elements of painting, living portaits and Dean together to make a fascinating story. (You'd think most wizards would know more about Soul-Fixing Charms so there weren't more painter-murderers.

[a_t_rain]

Yeah, that might be a bit of a plot hole. Ah well :)

[nicolen]

I really enjoyed this - it was very intriguing. I especially loved your premise about Wizarding portraits - very clever. Your characterisation of Dean I felt was spot on and I enjoyed seeing his relationship with Romano slowly develop. Fantastic stuff - well done!

[a_t_rain]

Thanks!