Child Of Grace: Chapter 48 - Through A Glass, Darkly
ZeldaQueen: Well, there's seven chapters after this one. God alone knows how she's filled them up, but whatever. We're at the dance itself. People, be very, very afraid
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Chapter 48: Through a Glass, Darkly
ZeldaQueen: So they head into the Great Hall, and there’s a laundry list of all of her friends and how happy, happy, happy they all are. Oh, and Ron’s there too, with Padme, and he’s described as stumbling. Because he sucks. Also, “That didn't even begin to count the reactions of everyone else. The stares. The pointing. The no small amount of curious and sometimes heartbroken looks thrown her way, though she couldn't tell if this was because of her or Krum”. You suck, go die.
They go to sit at the table with Dumbledore, Kakoroff, Bagman, Percy, and Madame Maxime. There’s some Bagman bashing and Percy tries to get Holly to sit next to him. Holly freaks out and is thankful that Krum doesn’t lead her to sit near Percy. Um, hun? If you’re so bothered to be in the vicinity of a Weasly, just explain that to Krum. She’s acting like if Krum wanted to sit there, she’d just have to endure. I don’t think Krum is particularly wedded to any seat up there.
Holly also wonders how Dumbledore knew that two of the champions were going together, and figures that either he listened to the school gossip, or was really omniscient. Or maybe he saw you coming in together and magically removed one of the chairs, you little twerp.
And then, really, we jump from that and straight into this
“But that notion was dismissed as Dumbledore leaned forward to speak to his plate, only to have pork chops and squash appear. A rather odd combination but Holly still caught the drift as Percy repeated the action across from her and received something unpronounceable and Scottish. Everyone else at the table was quick to follow suit, and Holly's veal was heavenly”
ZeldaQueen: If you felt like you got whiplash from that shift, don’t worry. I have no idea what the suethor’s train of thought is anymore. And on the subject of the veal, she figures that since it’s exactly as she likes it, Dobby must be in the kitchens and made it specially for her. I…I don’t even know what to say to that level of arrogance.
Dumbledore starts to talk to Krum about Durmstrang, and this is one of the things about the party that seriously annoys me. Okay, so we have the very heavy-handed and out-of-nowhere pairing of Holly and Krum. Now, the suethor still could earn points by using this as an opportunity to expand upon Krum’s backstory, let us get to know him a bit better. But she doesn’t. She has all of his and Holly’s conversations go on in the same horrible summarized manner!!!! GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
Anyway, this is the canon conversation about the grounds of Durmstrang and how Dumbledore doesn’t know all of Hogwarts’ secrets, which is sad because the suethor can’t even be bothered to copy and past it in. Holly acts all cutesy and in on it all, by grinning and thinking about the Chamber of Secrets and the passages in the Slytherin Dormitory. Okay, that REALLY got me angry. The Chamber of Secrets wasn’t some fun secret, it was dangerous. There was a murderous monster in there, and Holly’s just going “Ha ha, wasn’t that funny? Dumbledore didn’t know about that!” Not to mention, the suethor missed the point and didn’t include any reference to the Room of Requirement. Also, “Yes, Hogwarts did have many secrets. Maybe even more than Holly herself”. Wow, someone’s full of herself.
Now. Right. The rest of the events of the Yule Ball? I’m giving them to you in bullet points. Why?
BECAUSE THAT’S MORE OR LESS HOW THE SUETHOR WROTE IT!!!
I’m not even joking here. This bit provides nothing. No development. No introducing more of the plot. Nothing. Nada. It’s utterly, utterly pointless filler candy. Arianna’s Christmas party served more of a purpose than this tripe. So, let’s continue
- There is random commentary on the self-serving tables and how “Somewhere, Hermione was probably blowing a gasket over all the extra work the house-elves had to be doing, and Holly could only be thankful that they weren't seated anywhere near each other”. The little bitch! Of course it doesn’t matter, because Hermione doesn’t seem to be at the party at all. What’s the matter, suethor? Couldn’t stand any competition? Of course, this raises the question of why Ron is there with Padme, or even there at all. In the book, he wanted to go with Hermione, but she already was going with Krum. If she’s not going with Krum in this, why wouldn’t they go together? Or why wouldn’t she and Ron decide to stay in Gryffindor Tower together? Admit it, suethor, you just showed the pecking order of your stupid little world. You like Neville and Luna, so they get to go to the party and you get one of your stupid Slytherins to “protect” Neville from the awful, awful Ginny. Ron made a fool of himself at the party in canon, so you let him go so he could still have a bad time. Hermione and Ginny you hate, for whatever reason, and keep from the party. Hermione you probably really hate. Like I said, she’s your Sue’s rival for Krum, and is actually a developed and likable character. I can’t tell you how disgusted this all makes me
- Blaise pretty much is the Ron expy for the evening, glowering at Holly and Krum and not enjoying himself at all
- Holly and Krum have a number of conversations which are supposed to be deep and meaningful, which of course means that the suethor can’t be bothered to actually tell us how they go
- Holly and Krum dance. Of course, it’s not awkward or anything
- There is a the most boring paragraph in existence, devoted entirely to who is dancing with whom and when they switch partners. Suethor, Victor Hugo might be able to pull something like that off. You can’t
- Neville brings Holly her punch. I’m noting this because it’s made pretty clear that Holly only likes him in the sense that a rich bastard likes their best servant
- Anyone not on Holly’s “like” list is described as being unenjoyable for dancing. At one point, Vector and Snape cut in on Holly and Krum, just so that other students can’t. Snape’s dance is described as the “lovechild of a quickstep and samba”
- Cho is a classic Scary Sue, getting jealous when Cedric keeps trying to dance with Holly. I don’t blame Cho for getting upset
- Autumn also fetches Holly a drink. This is disturbing, because the suethor explicitly refers to Autumn as “the Muggleborn” when this happens
- There’s another long paragraph of who’s dancing with what. Apparently the suethor wasn’t aware that that one bit of The Shoebox Project was deliberately made to be boring
- There is another paragraph, in which we hear about Holly and Krum just sitting, and who they all are talking to. Yet again, we're never actually told what the exact conversations are. That runs the risk of being interesting
- We do not see Snape and Kakoroff discussing the Dark Mark, nor do we hear the conversation between Madame Maxim and Hagrid
- Holly gives Krum a peck on the cheek, which they both get all bashful over. Krum shills the Sue and outright states that people were jealous of them. We get the point hammered home that yes, Blaise is jealous
If that list was boring to read, please don't complain. I had to deal with it as solid blocks of text.
Holly is shipped back to the Zabini home, where Eren cheerfully undresses her, because Holly is too useless to do anything herself. Holly sneaks off to find Blaise, only to find him talking with his mother in a blatant canon rip-off
"Blaise was seated at the breakfast table with his mother, a glass of hot cocoa in front of both, when Holly looked inside. She was about to walk in and join them when their words washed over her.
'-didn't expect her to have such a good time,' Blaise was saying in slow and almost painful voice. His head was turned to his mother and away from the door, shoulders hunched. 'I mean, it's Krum! She's barely shared two words to him outside of meals, and even then, he doesn't say much.'
Eren just sighed and rubbed his hand on the tabletop. 'I'm sorry that you did not have fun, but I can't say that I'm sorry that she did. If you wanted to go with her, Blaise, you should've asked,' the witch told her son softly. 'You knew that she needed a date, and it would've served both of you nicely to go together.'
'I know,' he responded in a near whisper. 'I just thought-'
'That she understood you two would go together?' Eren questioned. 'And how could she have possibly known that? She's not a mind-reader, dear. You have to tell her if you want her to know. You have to tell her if you see her as more than a friend.'
'I didn't say that I did,' Blaise countered in such a tone that Holly really wished she could see his face. Wish that she dared open their bond to get a feel for his emotions"
ZeldaQueen: Yeah. I have to ask, if Blaise is supposed to be her uber-special Bonded other half soul mate whatever, and they're supposed to be perfectly in-tune or what have you, how does the suethor think that this works? Ron and Hermione were normal people (relatively speaking), so it makes sense that they have misunderstandings and all. Blaise and Holly are supposed to be mentally connected or something, though.
Incidentally, ladies and gentlemen, that's why you can't have it both ways. If you want to play that your love interests are above basic romances and share connections on some higher plane of being or something, you can't play the "I don't know what he/she is thinking" card. It either makes them look incredibly dense, or it cheapens your truest of true loves.
Another thing about it that pisses me off - in canon, Ron and Hermione were upset with each other, and confronted each other accordingly. In this, Holly does nothing, as per usual. She listens to infodumps from behind closed doors, while it's Blaise's mom who stands up for her. Would it be so hard for the suethor to have written Holly confronting Blaise? After all, he was sulky the entire time. No, wait, that would require the Sue exerting some sort of effort, and we can't have that.
Also, did anyone else get the implication that if circumstances were different, Blaise's mom would have been sorry that Holly had fun while her son didn't?
Scene break, and Holly is pretty much acting like she doesn't know anything's wrong with Blaise. This is just stupid. She's also having nightmares which are totally not about the climax of this arc, and I bet anything that she won't actually warn Dumbledore or anyone or do anything to prevent it all from happening.
Instead, Holly confides in Riddle that she knows that her entry in the tournament is Voldemort's work and that they have a spy in the castle. They quickly decide that it must be a Ministry official or a teacher. Not Bagman though, because he's a dumb as a five-year-old. Yes, Holly actually says that. They don't however suspect the teacher who just showed up that year and who Holly and Luna can't read the mind of. Um...yeah.
Riddle, for some reason, decides that now's the perfect time to tell Sirius that he (Riddle) is actually Voldemort. They again bring up the fact that Riddle might be a horcrux, and I notice that the suethor keeps ignoring the fact that murder is required to make one. And instead of actually doing anything, Riddle reads Holly a piece from the Quibbler about how giant spiders are taking over the world, and Holly falls asleep going on about how there's no possible way that the handsome woobie Tom Riddle and Voldemort are the same person. I get the feeling that the suethor just got on a soapbox for that one.
Scene break, and Holly, Riddle, and Sirius are all in the living room together. Holly decides to pluck up her courage and explain the deal with who Riddle is, exactly. And don't raise your hopes that Sirius will point out how stupid Holly has been about Riddle. In fact, let's bring back that drinking game for this stretch of chapter, if only to help us get to the end. Every time the suethor has Sirius say or do something out of character or idiotic, just so he won't raise a fuss over his goddaughter being chummy with Voldemort's past self, take a shot. At the end, drain the bottle and break it over your head. You know the drill.
Sirius realizes that there's something that they want to tell him, and guesses that it's Rita Skeeter's articles, which are bothering Holly. The articles which, incidentally, we have heard nothing about. And I don't think it's just the suethor being stupid and forgetful again, because Holly asks Sirius what he's talking about when he brings that up. So, best I can understand, Rita has been writing the articles, and Holly's too much of a dumbass to notice. I guess the suethor has to skip that subplot, since it was the Slytherins who were conspiring with her and she can't have that, can she?
Anyway, Holly tells him that it has to do with who Riddle's family is. Riddle goes all angsty and says, hand to God, "I was once a real boy and everything". I immediately got Pinocchio flashbacks from that. Holly says that his full name is "Tom Riddle", and Sirius starts to try to remember where he heard that. Take a shot, folks. Very few people made the connection between Tom Riddle and Voldemort. Voldemort wanted it that way. He wanted to disassociate himself from his mortal, normal-ish self and surround himself in a mystic and scary image. I got the impression that Harry and Dumbledore were the two who knew the most about Voldemort's past. \~/
Sirius then asks if this has something to do with "the other version of [Riddle]", adding "When you first explained that you were trapped in the diary, you said that some of your soul remained in your body, right?" Okay, take two shots for that one. The first shot is for Sirius having somehow missed the vital fact that Riddle split his soul, which is BADBADBADEVIL in the world of Harry Potter! I already ranted at this in the second story arc, but you can't just accidentally rip off a bit of your soul! Murder is the only thing that does it! We'll get the details in the next chapter, but take a second shot because I assure you, we find out that Sirius does know the details and implications of soul-dividing. \~/ \~/
So we get a lot of putting around, and finally Sirius catches on that Riddle's other self is a Death Eater of sorts. Take a shot, because I find it very hard to believe that canon Sirius wouldn't KO Riddle where he stood at that information, especially since Holly says that he's "like the head Death Eater" \~/ Although, on a separate note, Sirius does call out Lucius as a Death Eater here, and refuses to believe he was forced into it. I know the suethor is going to make Sirius see the "error" of his ways, but for now, sing it!
Riddle finally spits it out that he's Voldemort. Sirius responds by laughing.
Take two shots people, just for the sheer idiocy of thinking that Sirius would laugh upon finding out that his goddaughter's best friend is the split soul of an insane, genocidal madman. \~/ \~/
Riddle starts to scream at Sirius to stop laughing, calling him a "mangy halfwit". What a charming guy. Sirius's response?
"That only made Sirius cackle again and clutch at his stomach. 'But it is! You just have no idea how hilarious this all is. How deliciously ironic. I couldn't have done it better myself.' He pointed at his goddaughter. 'She's the Girl-Who-Lived, and she has a Dark Lord living in her bedroom. She carries him around with her at Hogwarts. In a diary! And Dumbledore hasn't even noticed! You've pranked the entire school. The entire wizarding world!'"
ZeldaQueen: Right. Somehow, I get the feeling that the suethor either hasn't grasped or is ignoring exactly how much Sirius hated Voldemort. He grew up with his parents trying to spoon-feed him pureblood propaganda. He calls his own little brother weak and cowardly for accepting that line of thinking. He watched as his parents and brother supported Voldmort and, in his brother's case, joined and actively assisted him (yes, Regilus tried to stop Voldy, but Sirius didn't know that). It's all but stated that when in Hogwarts, the one thing that James and Sirius could never tolerate was the Dark Arts. That was one of the main reasons they bullied Snape - Snape loved the stuff. Right out of school, Sirius joined the biggest organization, dedicated to stopping Voldemort. His best friend and best friend's wife both were murdered by Voldemort, an act which nearly made him go insane, which was not helped by his time in Azkaban, which was caused by his other best friend framing him.
In short, no. Sirius would not be thinking "Ha ha, isn't this cute?". He would be sending every curse possible, while asking Holly if she was out of her tiny mind. And he would be justified, because she is. As is the suethor, who apparently is quite willing to ignore the fact that Tom Riddle was a sociopath, who was manipulating and murdering people before he was even out of school.
And there's no talk about how dangerous it might have been. Sirius just laughs at how clever they were to hide this from Dumbledore. No mention of the fact that keeping a piece of Voldemort's soul could be dangerous, so telling Dumbledore would be best for the safety of all of fucking Hogwarts.
You know what? Just drain the bottle right now, those of you doing the drinking game. It's about done for this chapter. I probably could think of a few more things to rant about, but I want to get this wrapped up.
So yeah, Sirius just keeps laughing and Riddle keeps screaming about how this isn't funny. And then, "Tom sneered and gave him another vicious shake, hands beginning to dig into the man's throat". *pointedly* You know, suethor, you're not making a very good case here. Riddle's reaction, when someone annoys him, is to batter and strangle them. Oh yes, that doesn't sound at all like a nutter.
And then Lupin shows up and I want to kill myself, how does the suethor manage to make these chapters so painful?
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Maker, school is such a pain this year.
ZeldaQueen: STOP USING THAT TERM! Seriously, I hate it when fanfic writers act like they're in their own stories!
I have exams every two weeks. Two weeks, my friends. Meaning that my writing time has effectively been cut in half. I feel like all I do most days is study
ZeldaQueen: Maybe that's why her writing is so bland - she's been reading textbooks for too long
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Onward to: Chapter 49: Raison D'etre
Back to: Chapter 47: Dancing With The Stars
Return to: Table of Contents
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Chapter 48: Through a Glass, Darkly
ZeldaQueen: So they head into the Great Hall, and there’s a laundry list of all of her friends and how happy, happy, happy they all are. Oh, and Ron’s there too, with Padme, and he’s described as stumbling. Because he sucks. Also, “That didn't even begin to count the reactions of everyone else. The stares. The pointing. The no small amount of curious and sometimes heartbroken looks thrown her way, though she couldn't tell if this was because of her or Krum”. You suck, go die.
They go to sit at the table with Dumbledore, Kakoroff, Bagman, Percy, and Madame Maxime. There’s some Bagman bashing and Percy tries to get Holly to sit next to him. Holly freaks out and is thankful that Krum doesn’t lead her to sit near Percy. Um, hun? If you’re so bothered to be in the vicinity of a Weasly, just explain that to Krum. She’s acting like if Krum wanted to sit there, she’d just have to endure. I don’t think Krum is particularly wedded to any seat up there.
Holly also wonders how Dumbledore knew that two of the champions were going together, and figures that either he listened to the school gossip, or was really omniscient. Or maybe he saw you coming in together and magically removed one of the chairs, you little twerp.
And then, really, we jump from that and straight into this
“But that notion was dismissed as Dumbledore leaned forward to speak to his plate, only to have pork chops and squash appear. A rather odd combination but Holly still caught the drift as Percy repeated the action across from her and received something unpronounceable and Scottish. Everyone else at the table was quick to follow suit, and Holly's veal was heavenly”
ZeldaQueen: If you felt like you got whiplash from that shift, don’t worry. I have no idea what the suethor’s train of thought is anymore. And on the subject of the veal, she figures that since it’s exactly as she likes it, Dobby must be in the kitchens and made it specially for her. I…I don’t even know what to say to that level of arrogance.
Dumbledore starts to talk to Krum about Durmstrang, and this is one of the things about the party that seriously annoys me. Okay, so we have the very heavy-handed and out-of-nowhere pairing of Holly and Krum. Now, the suethor still could earn points by using this as an opportunity to expand upon Krum’s backstory, let us get to know him a bit better. But she doesn’t. She has all of his and Holly’s conversations go on in the same horrible summarized manner!!!! GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
Anyway, this is the canon conversation about the grounds of Durmstrang and how Dumbledore doesn’t know all of Hogwarts’ secrets, which is sad because the suethor can’t even be bothered to copy and past it in. Holly acts all cutesy and in on it all, by grinning and thinking about the Chamber of Secrets and the passages in the Slytherin Dormitory. Okay, that REALLY got me angry. The Chamber of Secrets wasn’t some fun secret, it was dangerous. There was a murderous monster in there, and Holly’s just going “Ha ha, wasn’t that funny? Dumbledore didn’t know about that!” Not to mention, the suethor missed the point and didn’t include any reference to the Room of Requirement. Also, “Yes, Hogwarts did have many secrets. Maybe even more than Holly herself”. Wow, someone’s full of herself.
Now. Right. The rest of the events of the Yule Ball? I’m giving them to you in bullet points. Why?
BECAUSE THAT’S MORE OR LESS HOW THE SUETHOR WROTE IT!!!
I’m not even joking here. This bit provides nothing. No development. No introducing more of the plot. Nothing. Nada. It’s utterly, utterly pointless filler candy. Arianna’s Christmas party served more of a purpose than this tripe. So, let’s continue
- There is random commentary on the self-serving tables and how “Somewhere, Hermione was probably blowing a gasket over all the extra work the house-elves had to be doing, and Holly could only be thankful that they weren't seated anywhere near each other”. The little bitch! Of course it doesn’t matter, because Hermione doesn’t seem to be at the party at all. What’s the matter, suethor? Couldn’t stand any competition? Of course, this raises the question of why Ron is there with Padme, or even there at all. In the book, he wanted to go with Hermione, but she already was going with Krum. If she’s not going with Krum in this, why wouldn’t they go together? Or why wouldn’t she and Ron decide to stay in Gryffindor Tower together? Admit it, suethor, you just showed the pecking order of your stupid little world. You like Neville and Luna, so they get to go to the party and you get one of your stupid Slytherins to “protect” Neville from the awful, awful Ginny. Ron made a fool of himself at the party in canon, so you let him go so he could still have a bad time. Hermione and Ginny you hate, for whatever reason, and keep from the party. Hermione you probably really hate. Like I said, she’s your Sue’s rival for Krum, and is actually a developed and likable character. I can’t tell you how disgusted this all makes me
- Blaise pretty much is the Ron expy for the evening, glowering at Holly and Krum and not enjoying himself at all
- Holly and Krum have a number of conversations which are supposed to be deep and meaningful, which of course means that the suethor can’t be bothered to actually tell us how they go
- Holly and Krum dance. Of course, it’s not awkward or anything
- There is a the most boring paragraph in existence, devoted entirely to who is dancing with whom and when they switch partners. Suethor, Victor Hugo might be able to pull something like that off. You can’t
- Neville brings Holly her punch. I’m noting this because it’s made pretty clear that Holly only likes him in the sense that a rich bastard likes their best servant
- Anyone not on Holly’s “like” list is described as being unenjoyable for dancing. At one point, Vector and Snape cut in on Holly and Krum, just so that other students can’t. Snape’s dance is described as the “lovechild of a quickstep and samba”
- Cho is a classic Scary Sue, getting jealous when Cedric keeps trying to dance with Holly. I don’t blame Cho for getting upset
- Autumn also fetches Holly a drink. This is disturbing, because the suethor explicitly refers to Autumn as “the Muggleborn” when this happens
- There’s another long paragraph of who’s dancing with what. Apparently the suethor wasn’t aware that that one bit of The Shoebox Project was deliberately made to be boring
- There is another paragraph, in which we hear about Holly and Krum just sitting, and who they all are talking to. Yet again, we're never actually told what the exact conversations are. That runs the risk of being interesting
- We do not see Snape and Kakoroff discussing the Dark Mark, nor do we hear the conversation between Madame Maxim and Hagrid
- Holly gives Krum a peck on the cheek, which they both get all bashful over. Krum shills the Sue and outright states that people were jealous of them. We get the point hammered home that yes, Blaise is jealous
If that list was boring to read, please don't complain. I had to deal with it as solid blocks of text.
Holly is shipped back to the Zabini home, where Eren cheerfully undresses her, because Holly is too useless to do anything herself. Holly sneaks off to find Blaise, only to find him talking with his mother in a blatant canon rip-off
"Blaise was seated at the breakfast table with his mother, a glass of hot cocoa in front of both, when Holly looked inside. She was about to walk in and join them when their words washed over her.
'-didn't expect her to have such a good time,' Blaise was saying in slow and almost painful voice. His head was turned to his mother and away from the door, shoulders hunched. 'I mean, it's Krum! She's barely shared two words to him outside of meals, and even then, he doesn't say much.'
Eren just sighed and rubbed his hand on the tabletop. 'I'm sorry that you did not have fun, but I can't say that I'm sorry that she did. If you wanted to go with her, Blaise, you should've asked,' the witch told her son softly. 'You knew that she needed a date, and it would've served both of you nicely to go together.'
'I know,' he responded in a near whisper. 'I just thought-'
'That she understood you two would go together?' Eren questioned. 'And how could she have possibly known that? She's not a mind-reader, dear. You have to tell her if you want her to know. You have to tell her if you see her as more than a friend.'
'I didn't say that I did,' Blaise countered in such a tone that Holly really wished she could see his face. Wish that she dared open their bond to get a feel for his emotions"
ZeldaQueen: Yeah. I have to ask, if Blaise is supposed to be her uber-special Bonded other half soul mate whatever, and they're supposed to be perfectly in-tune or what have you, how does the suethor think that this works? Ron and Hermione were normal people (relatively speaking), so it makes sense that they have misunderstandings and all. Blaise and Holly are supposed to be mentally connected or something, though.
Incidentally, ladies and gentlemen, that's why you can't have it both ways. If you want to play that your love interests are above basic romances and share connections on some higher plane of being or something, you can't play the "I don't know what he/she is thinking" card. It either makes them look incredibly dense, or it cheapens your truest of true loves.
Another thing about it that pisses me off - in canon, Ron and Hermione were upset with each other, and confronted each other accordingly. In this, Holly does nothing, as per usual. She listens to infodumps from behind closed doors, while it's Blaise's mom who stands up for her. Would it be so hard for the suethor to have written Holly confronting Blaise? After all, he was sulky the entire time. No, wait, that would require the Sue exerting some sort of effort, and we can't have that.
Also, did anyone else get the implication that if circumstances were different, Blaise's mom would have been sorry that Holly had fun while her son didn't?
Scene break, and Holly is pretty much acting like she doesn't know anything's wrong with Blaise. This is just stupid. She's also having nightmares which are totally not about the climax of this arc, and I bet anything that she won't actually warn Dumbledore or anyone or do anything to prevent it all from happening.
Instead, Holly confides in Riddle that she knows that her entry in the tournament is Voldemort's work and that they have a spy in the castle. They quickly decide that it must be a Ministry official or a teacher. Not Bagman though, because he's a dumb as a five-year-old. Yes, Holly actually says that. They don't however suspect the teacher who just showed up that year and who Holly and Luna can't read the mind of. Um...yeah.
Riddle, for some reason, decides that now's the perfect time to tell Sirius that he (Riddle) is actually Voldemort. They again bring up the fact that Riddle might be a horcrux, and I notice that the suethor keeps ignoring the fact that murder is required to make one. And instead of actually doing anything, Riddle reads Holly a piece from the Quibbler about how giant spiders are taking over the world, and Holly falls asleep going on about how there's no possible way that the handsome woobie Tom Riddle and Voldemort are the same person. I get the feeling that the suethor just got on a soapbox for that one.
Scene break, and Holly, Riddle, and Sirius are all in the living room together. Holly decides to pluck up her courage and explain the deal with who Riddle is, exactly. And don't raise your hopes that Sirius will point out how stupid Holly has been about Riddle. In fact, let's bring back that drinking game for this stretch of chapter, if only to help us get to the end. Every time the suethor has Sirius say or do something out of character or idiotic, just so he won't raise a fuss over his goddaughter being chummy with Voldemort's past self, take a shot. At the end, drain the bottle and break it over your head. You know the drill.
Sirius realizes that there's something that they want to tell him, and guesses that it's Rita Skeeter's articles, which are bothering Holly. The articles which, incidentally, we have heard nothing about. And I don't think it's just the suethor being stupid and forgetful again, because Holly asks Sirius what he's talking about when he brings that up. So, best I can understand, Rita has been writing the articles, and Holly's too much of a dumbass to notice. I guess the suethor has to skip that subplot, since it was the Slytherins who were conspiring with her and she can't have that, can she?
Anyway, Holly tells him that it has to do with who Riddle's family is. Riddle goes all angsty and says, hand to God, "I was once a real boy and everything". I immediately got Pinocchio flashbacks from that. Holly says that his full name is "Tom Riddle", and Sirius starts to try to remember where he heard that. Take a shot, folks. Very few people made the connection between Tom Riddle and Voldemort. Voldemort wanted it that way. He wanted to disassociate himself from his mortal, normal-ish self and surround himself in a mystic and scary image. I got the impression that Harry and Dumbledore were the two who knew the most about Voldemort's past. \~/
Sirius then asks if this has something to do with "the other version of [Riddle]", adding "When you first explained that you were trapped in the diary, you said that some of your soul remained in your body, right?" Okay, take two shots for that one. The first shot is for Sirius having somehow missed the vital fact that Riddle split his soul, which is BADBADBADEVIL in the world of Harry Potter! I already ranted at this in the second story arc, but you can't just accidentally rip off a bit of your soul! Murder is the only thing that does it! We'll get the details in the next chapter, but take a second shot because I assure you, we find out that Sirius does know the details and implications of soul-dividing. \~/ \~/
So we get a lot of putting around, and finally Sirius catches on that Riddle's other self is a Death Eater of sorts. Take a shot, because I find it very hard to believe that canon Sirius wouldn't KO Riddle where he stood at that information, especially since Holly says that he's "like the head Death Eater" \~/ Although, on a separate note, Sirius does call out Lucius as a Death Eater here, and refuses to believe he was forced into it. I know the suethor is going to make Sirius see the "error" of his ways, but for now, sing it!
Riddle finally spits it out that he's Voldemort. Sirius responds by laughing.
Take two shots people, just for the sheer idiocy of thinking that Sirius would laugh upon finding out that his goddaughter's best friend is the split soul of an insane, genocidal madman. \~/ \~/
Riddle starts to scream at Sirius to stop laughing, calling him a "mangy halfwit". What a charming guy. Sirius's response?
"That only made Sirius cackle again and clutch at his stomach. 'But it is! You just have no idea how hilarious this all is. How deliciously ironic. I couldn't have done it better myself.' He pointed at his goddaughter. 'She's the Girl-Who-Lived, and she has a Dark Lord living in her bedroom. She carries him around with her at Hogwarts. In a diary! And Dumbledore hasn't even noticed! You've pranked the entire school. The entire wizarding world!'"
ZeldaQueen: Right. Somehow, I get the feeling that the suethor either hasn't grasped or is ignoring exactly how much Sirius hated Voldemort. He grew up with his parents trying to spoon-feed him pureblood propaganda. He calls his own little brother weak and cowardly for accepting that line of thinking. He watched as his parents and brother supported Voldmort and, in his brother's case, joined and actively assisted him (yes, Regilus tried to stop Voldy, but Sirius didn't know that). It's all but stated that when in Hogwarts, the one thing that James and Sirius could never tolerate was the Dark Arts. That was one of the main reasons they bullied Snape - Snape loved the stuff. Right out of school, Sirius joined the biggest organization, dedicated to stopping Voldemort. His best friend and best friend's wife both were murdered by Voldemort, an act which nearly made him go insane, which was not helped by his time in Azkaban, which was caused by his other best friend framing him.
In short, no. Sirius would not be thinking "Ha ha, isn't this cute?". He would be sending every curse possible, while asking Holly if she was out of her tiny mind. And he would be justified, because she is. As is the suethor, who apparently is quite willing to ignore the fact that Tom Riddle was a sociopath, who was manipulating and murdering people before he was even out of school.
And there's no talk about how dangerous it might have been. Sirius just laughs at how clever they were to hide this from Dumbledore. No mention of the fact that keeping a piece of Voldemort's soul could be dangerous, so telling Dumbledore would be best for the safety of all of fucking Hogwarts.
You know what? Just drain the bottle right now, those of you doing the drinking game. It's about done for this chapter. I probably could think of a few more things to rant about, but I want to get this wrapped up.
So yeah, Sirius just keeps laughing and Riddle keeps screaming about how this isn't funny. And then, "Tom sneered and gave him another vicious shake, hands beginning to dig into the man's throat". *pointedly* You know, suethor, you're not making a very good case here. Riddle's reaction, when someone annoys him, is to batter and strangle them. Oh yes, that doesn't sound at all like a nutter.
And then Lupin shows up and I want to kill myself, how does the suethor manage to make these chapters so painful?
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Maker, school is such a pain this year.
ZeldaQueen: STOP USING THAT TERM! Seriously, I hate it when fanfic writers act like they're in their own stories!
I have exams every two weeks. Two weeks, my friends. Meaning that my writing time has effectively been cut in half. I feel like all I do most days is study
ZeldaQueen: Maybe that's why her writing is so bland - she's been reading textbooks for too long
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Onward to: Chapter 49: Raison D'etre
Back to: Chapter 47: Dancing With The Stars
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