Comments | magnetic_pole: Ficlet: Pawns

magnetic_pole

Ficlet: Pawns

Jan 18, 2007 12:51

Title: Pawns
Summary: A crisis in the Black family precipitates a shift in the family dynamics.
Characters: Narcissa, Bellatrix, Sirius, and Regulus
Word count: 800
Notes: An extremely belated birthday ficlet for remeciel, whose special day was December 26. The ficlet was inspired by a drawing of two of the Black sisters that she gave me. (Thank you, R ( Read more... )

black family, families, andromeda black tonks, narcissa black malfoy, era: first war, regulus black, sirius black, bellatrix black lestrange

Comments 35

archon_mentha January 18 2007, 18:13:31 UTC

Oh, I love this, the chess pieces and especially Narcissa's awareness of them all. Really great story...

magnetic_pole January 18 2007, 18:58:15 UTC

So glad you enjoyed! (And I love seeing your mesmerizing icon...) Maggie

sambethe January 18 2007, 19:42:21 UTC

Mmm...lovely. This is fic I wish I saw more of, but, then, I have quite the love of the Black family. I enjoyed the dynamics played out between the cousins and siblings. I like Narcissa's awareness, or at least her sense that she is aware even if she still seems a bit naive.

I like that while Sirius is apart from them here physically and somewhat emotionally, it isn't them at one another's throats. It is more just an array of constantly shifting alliances.

I also like the hints that Bella and Sirius are more alike than either of them would ever admit to.

magnetic_pole January 18 2007, 21:56:54 UTC

How could you not love a family with characters like these? Plus the family tree has me fascinated. Now if we only had trees for some of the other characters...

Glad you enjoyed! Bella and Sirius are more alike than they think, aren't they? I know I'm always going on about the constantly shifting alliances, but perhaps that's just my thing. Thanks as always for reading! Maggie

minnow_53 January 18 2007, 19:42:38 UTC

I do love the details, like the mismatched (or maybe not) house pairings in the chess game, and Narcissa as head girl.

Sirius thinks she is naive, but Cissy knows better. They are all pawns, even Bellatrix and Sirius, who think they control the game. She has no doubts about her decision.

What I like best is the skewed perspective, where we sympathise with Cissy precisely because we're seeing her very differently from the way she sees herself. Rather like saying, 'Ahhh' and stroking the cute tiger.

Hope that makes sense! I enjoyed it, anyway. :)

magnetic_pole January 18 2007, 21:59:46 UTC

Narcissa as head girl tickles me to no end.

Rather like saying, 'Ahhh' and stroking the cute tiger.

I think that might be the best line ever. Thanks for reading and commenting, Minnow! Maggie

lyras January 18 2007, 20:30:57 UTC

Ooh! I love the characterisation here, especially the parallels/contrasts between Bella and Sirius. All of them, though - they're all such defined personalities. The Cissy viewpoint is excellent, too. Really nicely done!

magnetic_pole January 18 2007, 22:01:57 UTC

Thanks enormously, sweetie! This is a family of strong personalities, isn't it? And not just in the obvious ways, like Bella and Sirius. Glad you enjoyed! Maggie

remeciel January 18 2007, 20:48:51 UTC

First, you're welcome for the drawing. :)
Then, this ficlet was quite unexcepted! I was so happy to read it...

This is an amazing way to show Narcissa. I drew her a lot these days, but I barely know the character. And even though was quite determined a woman in HBP (as for me) I can perfectly imagine her this way when she was younger.
And the "simile" with the chessboard does suit the whole situation with the Black family.

Thank you so lmuch again! I absolutely adore receiving gifts (who wouldn't?) even after my birthday! *hugs tightly*

magnetic_pole January 18 2007, 22:06:27 UTC

YAY! I'm so happy you liked it. Happy birthday once more! I'm sorry I'm so late. I got the drawing, thought of the fic, and then...didn't get it done for the longest time. (Typical of me, sadly.) But then I got a new printer/scanned and figured things out. Are you okay with the drawing posted in my LJ like this? I'm never sure what protocol is on these things. Just let me know if you don't want it posted or have other ideas for it. I'd wanted to paste it in the post itself but couldn't get that to work. Thanks again! Maggie

remeciel January 19 2007, 06:38:13 UTC

You can post the drawing on your LJ, of course!
I saw the scan and the pic is pretty big; I could have seen all the details perfectly. :)

As for any protocol - if one ever exists on Lj... I guess people are used to asking first the artist's opinion, and I'm glad you ask it before, even though it wasn't necessary at all. You can create icons out of it if you want to. *hugs*

magnetic_pole January 19 2007, 14:25:37 UTC

*hugs* Happy birthday once more! M.