Fic: "A Deadly Grace" (HP; McGonagall/Mrs Zabini)

[miss_morland]

Title: A Deadly Grace
Fandom: HP
Pairing: Minerva McGonagall/Mrs Zabini
Rating: NC-17
Word count: 1877
Summary: The question is never which of you is going to cave first.
Warnings: 2nd person narration, not-very-healthy relationship dynamics
Notes: Written for the 2011 International Day of Femslash Challenge over at hp_femsmut. My grateful thanks to mindabbles for the beta;

Comments

[squibstress]

Oh, you naughty thing! Sending something so hot across my desk at this hour on a proper Sunday morning!

That will be fifty points to from Miss Morland for sheer cheek!

This is just letter-perfect: Minerva's neediness and her frustration at it, and of course Mrs. Zambini and her predatory approach--just exactly as I imagine such an encounter might unfold. I love how inscrutable Mrs. Zabini is here.

Loved this little snippet of backstory:

In fact, you knew it was safer to stay away from the girl, because even then you felt her pull, that indescribable something that could get a man killed and make a spinster schoolteacher lose her dignity and her career.

And there's something so frightening about this line:

She's the sort of woman for whom men kill -- or, more to the point in her specific case, are killed -- and yet she's come to you. Minerva knows exactly what Mrs. Zabini (and love that you never give her a first name, incidentally) is and what she's done, and it doesn't matter a damn. Such is the nature of obsession

[miss_morland]

Well, I can only excuse myself by saying it is/was Sunday afternoon where I live. *g* So glad you enjoyed this!

Minerva knows exactly what Mrs. Zabini (and love that you never give her a first name, incidentally) is and what she's done, and it doesn't matter a damn.

The name thing was one of my reasons for writing this in 2nd person, actually: it made it easier not to give Mrs Z a first name. :-) (Btw, I'm sure all those deaths were purely accidental. *cough*)

Thanks so much for your great feedback!

[lash_larue]

Delightfully naughty, how nice to see Minerva mastered by her desires. "Like a cat in heat", indeed.

Of course, it won't help the boy's grades any, that would be wrong. Of course for such a gifted student anything under an "O" would call for another conference.

L

[miss_morland]

Haha, yes, there might be a few more conferences coming... *g*

Thanks!

[atdelphi]

Oh my, this is just deliciously wicked. *bookmarks* Gorgeously done!

[miss_morland]

Thank you so much!

[kennahijja]

That was toe-curling hot!

Minerva falling this hard for someone is special in itself, and I love her unquestioning desperation here.

And oh, Mrs Zabini... loved the edge this gives her, with the reminder that men actually died to be with her, and Minerva's own inability to resist anything... scary in a way, but all the hotter for it :).

And the second person - it gets under my skin like no other :). Wonderful writing!

[miss_morland]

Thanks so much for this lovely comment! Scary and hot is what I was going for, so I'm very glad this worked for you. ;-)

[woldy]

This is delightful! I especially loved: She's like a tiger, all dangerous beauty and deadly grace. Against the likes of her the tabbies of the world stand no chance. Such a great comparison, and it's a very telling sign of how Minerva perceives herself as well as the way she perceives Mrs Zabini. That second person POV is clever, too, in that you can avoid the issue of Mrs Z's name :-)

[miss_morland]

Thanks so much! That line is probably my favourite as well, for pretty much the same reasons. :-)