Old Men Dreaming

[winter_dragona]

Title: Old Men Dreaming
Author: Winter Dragon
Rating: PG
Length: 3500
Summary: As Voldemort's shadow darkens Wizarding Britain and strikes even into the heart of Hogwarts, Rufus Scrimgeour takes action. Theodore Nott suffers the consequences.
Author's note: Written for the omniocular January challenge.

Comments

[a_t_rain]

Oh my. Wow.

I'll probably come up with something more coherent to say later, but that was chilling and utterly plausible. I love your version of Gawain Robards -- a wonderful fleshing out of a character who's only a name in canon. (I assume you took a few cues from the name? He definitely seems like a Gawain -- loyalty stretched to the breaking point.)

[winter_dragona]

Thank you! Though I immediately envisioned the conflict between Scrimgeour and Nott, I really struggled writing the story until I came across Gawain Robards in HP Lexicon. Between his name and his position, everything just fell into place. It was almost too perfect.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell were favorite stories when I was younger.

[nyclaura]

What a fabulous story. You're a very talented writer - do you write professionally?

I don't follow Harry Potter, but is this based on the characters from the books? It sounds vaguely familiar and like it could be.

[winter_dragona]

Thanks! You're exactly right - this is a story, set in the Harry Potter universe, written in response to a challenge set by one of the fiction communities on LJ. Two characters were randomly chosen for me, but aside from requiring the inclusion of both, there were no guidelines.

My two characters were Rufus Scrimgeour and Theodore Nott. Both are relatively minor characters, so I had a lot of latitude in sketching them.

I don't write professionally, but I'm working on it!

[ex_pumagrrl389]

Well done! I was totally captivated by your story. And in addition to fitting perfectly with canon, it also reminds me of the "War on terror" situation in the real world.

[winter_dragona]

Thanks! Any similarities to events in the real world are strictly deliberate. :)

[dolabellae]

Marvellous characterisation and pacing all round. Things I loved in particular: the exchange between Robards and Scrimgeour over Shacklebolt - The man has never had a moment of self-doubt in his life.; Theodore's gradually improving Malfoy impression - and that use of his first name right at the end of his final encounter with Robards - Gawain accepting him and trusting him fully, maybe? And above all, the way you portray the Nott father-son relationship. I always imagine Theodore (and his father) as seeing what happened at the Department of Mysteries as a blessing in disguise.

But why do you always kill poor Theodore off, one way or another... ::sniffle::

[winter_dragona]

Thanks! And well-spotted: switching to Theodore was quite deliberate on my part.

I wish JKR would give us more backstory about the Notts. Though I don't think Theodore's particularly interesting from canon (heresy, I know!) the things she's said about him during interviews and such are fascinating. I'd love to know what happened to his mother, and how he manages to stay neutral, and why Voldemort puts his father under Cruciatus in the graveyard. I'm sure she knows but isn't telling us, the selfish woman!

And I'm sorry about killing him all the time - next time I'll endeavor to write a piece of fluff where he ends up happily married to Pansy Daphne Hermione me! Or something to that extent... :)

[dolabellae]

Ditto, ditto, ditto on the wish for Nott backstory. I was sure we were going to get something about Theodore in HBP and instead we got Blaise Zabini, in whom I've never had a bit of interest except when he appears in a_t_rain's stuff. I shall be so annoyed if he's just another Dean Thomas whose story never makes it into canon. though I suppose at least I'd be able to carry on believing in some of ADN :-). Oh, and while I'm in small, it's Avery who gets the Cruciatus in GoF, not Nott the elder...Lord V just lets him off with a that will do when he tries to protest how faithful he is...

Just not dead would make a nice change, poor boy!

[winter_dragona]

Oops, I don't know how I got it into my head that it was Nott under Cruciatus... perhaps I was too fond of ADN and that little detail would've fit so well with Benedict's feelings of unfaithfulness. :)

As for BZ, I assume there's some reason she gives us some more information about him in Book 6. I hope it goes further than catering to the frenzied fandom.

[mrs_wolf]

Robards reminded me of Robert McNamara, oddly. I love the Death Eater world, I'm fascinated by it. Voldemort's psychology, and Snape makes my head spin. I would really like to know where they've got their hide-out.