Bound

Bound by Alchemine

Summary: Young Alastor’s temper leads to trouble on his first night at Hogwarts. Oneshot, 2,300 Words.

Why You Should Care: For its interesting take on a young Alastor Moody, mostly, and because Alchemine does such an excellent job showing us an awful lot about young Moody while resisting the temptation to tell us too much.  She paints a portrait, and we make the transformation from her young Moody to the older Moody JKR gives us.  It’s also interesting to see the ways wizards handled Muggle-borns in earlier decades, and the idea that there were perhaps a few who were taken to the school against their will is intriguing.

Why You Might Not Care: The only reason I can think of is that it’s focused on Alastor Moody, which isn’t much of reason.

A Good Way To Fall

A Good Way To Fall by Lady Altair

Summary: “It’s a good way to fall, he decides as the curse rushes up at him.” Drabbles, 726 Words.

Why You Should Care: Lady Altair presents a series of moments from Alaster Moody’s life that go a long way to explaining how he ended up the way he did, and I admit I’ve fallen a little bit in love with the idea of Kitty Fenwick and this whole scenario. This author has a firm handle on what it takes to write a good drabble, and each is wonderfully simple. She finds the man behind the paranoia in Alaster Moody, and brings us a lovely and developed original character in Kitty Fenwick; the fact that she does it in so few words goes to show the depth of her skill. When Lady Altair gives us the bit about Moody’s leg, it was just perfect. This is one of those stories that I’ll probably absorb into my own version of canon, because I just like it that much.

Why You Might Not Care: Well, you know… Moody’s the central character. I don’t suppose he’s got much of a fan club. There’s some weird indentation that I admit makes my eye twitch, but the content is just fabulous.

Awards: 2008 Hourglass Award, Admins’ Choice — Drabble.

Night Comes Early

Night Comes Early by Laura Walker

Summary: Winter came, and with it came the dark. Oneshot, 1,782 Words.

Why You Should Care: I have unending respect for writers who can take lesser-known characters and make them real, and so fics like this just make me glow inside. Laura Walker takes the character of Moody, who saw it happen, lived through it, faced every demon — twice — and she tells us his story, using this wonderful metaphor of the turning seasons. It’s evocative, and ties in with everything we know about the character in canon; the delicacies of his psyche, sometimes even the sentimentalities, actually seem to fall into place with the exterior we know. Tightly, concisely written and very thoughtful.

Why You Might Not Care: Why do I have unending respect for writers of lesser-known characters? Because they tend to be few and far between. If you’re looking for something mainstream, or something fluffy, look further.