Seven Photographs

Seven Photographs by Casira

Summary: Glimpses of our heroes at the end of the battles and beyond, as they face what’s lost and what’s to come. Oneshot, 8,300 Words.

Guest Rec’d By: Kira

Why You Should Care: Written shortly after the release of DH, casira writes seven separate scenes that, frankly, JKR should have written, and succeeds just as if Jo had written it herself. There’s Remus and Tonks’ death; Minerva and Hogwarts directly after the battle; Hermione’s parents in Australia; George returning to WWW’s alone for the first time; Kingsley and the rebuilding of the MoM via Potterwatch; Ginny, Neville, Luna, and Andromeda discussing post-war plans; and finally, Harry visiting Snape’s grave. In a style very reminiscent of Jo’s, casira really wraps the HP series up well with a touch of everything that made it successful in the first place: brilliant character interaction, gripping action, laughter, family, and sacrifice. A brilliant pre-epilogue.

Why You Might Not Care: If you didn’t like the way DH ended at all, then this may not be your cup of tea.

Variations on a Happily Ever After

Variations on a Happily Ever After by GM Weasley

Summary: All was eventually well, but it took nineteen years to get there. Drabble Collection, 7,400.

Why You Should Care: This is a wonderful series of drabbles centered around the women of the Harry Potter universe and life beyond the epilogue. Insightful, thoughtful, and occasionally even mundane, these little snatches of the painfully ordinary process of moving on after the end of the story are well worth your time. Angelina’s thoughts on her wedding are particularly well done.

Why You Might Not Care: These drabbles could have been tighter, and occasionally they suffer from awkward syntax. A couple of passes from a sharp-eyed beta would have alleviated this problem.

Platform Nine and Five-Sixteenths

Platform Nine and Five-Sixteenths by MTFierce

Summary: “Exceptionally Brilliant” Oneshot, 1,800 Words.

Why You Should Care: An “Exceptionally Brilliant”, “Rather Creative” character piece on Luna that occasionally “Needs Direction”.  For people who never quite understood why Luna is in Ravenclaw, I think you’ll find quite some of that answer here.  I love the shifting focus of this piece, the way it free-flow follows thoughts and threads until they connect with other interesting ideas.  The form of this is very true to Luna’s character, I think, and I particularly enjoyed Luna’s thoughts on language and the importance of using the right word to capture the right idea.  This fic wanders and meanders, but in a wonderful Luna-type way.

Why You Might Not Care: This fic wanders and meanders.  The punctuation and sentence composition is sometimes needlessly excessive and occasionally confusing.  Despite containing a lot of variation, the use of sentences that are either unusually choppy or complex inhibits the flow of this piece and sometimes feels distinctly un-Luna.  It also contains not-quite subtle hints of Neville/Ginny and Harry/Luna.

All The Pretty Horses

All The Pretty Horses by RedShoesOn

Summary: Perhaps she’s created this place in her mind, the way they used to say she made up Wrackspurts and Nargles. Angst/Oneshot, 2,284 Words.

Why You Should Care: Darkly mad Luna works so much better than I want it to. This is not how the story ends, but yet nothing about it makes me wrinkle my nose in disbelief; instead, I hear ‘please, no’ echoing in my head. It’s just so well done; a little frightening, but a perfect example of skillfully executed angsty darkfic.

Why You Might Not Care: Well, it’s clearly AU, as we know that Luna lives to marry Rolf Scamander and have lovely little babies with dreadful names. But if you can stomach alternate endings, and dark and twisted ones at that, this beautifully crafted piece is worth your time. It will tug at your heartstrings.

Marigolds

Marigolds by Lady Bracknell

Summary: Her mother used to tell her stories of love and life, only in the stories, the two didn’t seem all that different. Romance, 2237 Words.

Why You Should Care: The ever-brilliant Lady Bracknell strikes again with her unrivalled ability to see through a character’s eyes and make their world seem so real we forget our own. The Luna she sets loose in this gem of a story is so full of life and hope and vivacity that her optimism pulls the reader along for the ride. With the utilisation of not-quite drabbles, the author allows us the sense of Luna’s curiosity and whim. You love this character from the word go: she has everything you could ever want, or need.

Why You Might Not Care: I don’t care if we rec Lady Bracknell here too much. I don’t care that there was a Neville/Luna piece here yesterday. Read on, please.

The Age of Not Believing

The Age of Not Believing by Laura Smith

Summary: Worst of all you doubt yourself. Drabble, 974 Words.

Why You Should Care: What’s really interesting about this fic is not necessarily the story or the characters, but the echoing of sentiment after the release of Deathly Hollows on one particular set of events that really surprised the fanbase by not turning out the way we thought it would.  And — while the characters are written well enough and it plays as appropriately as any valid “missing moment” — I think the real value of this fic is how it addresses our presumptions about the poetic license of life and how we come to expect that certain things should come of certain things, then are surprised by real life when events don’t always turn out the way they do in books.  I’m not sure this sort of depth was the author’s chosen intent, but some things resonate whether you plan on it or not.

Why You Might Not Care: Some undertones of Neville/Luna.  Some of Luna’s lines are clunkier than they should be, though they all come from the right place.

Don’t Blink

Don’t Blink by Sugar Fey

Summary: “When Luna was younger, her father told her to keep her eyes open.” Drabble, 668 Words.

Why You Should Care: I feel this really gets across the sense of uselessness, of anxiety, and of tension that must have been what it was like to be at Hogwarts during Deathly Hallows, and Sugar Fey wraps it up nice and tightly with a chilling, precise ending that links right in with canon and Luna’s character beautifully.  It somehow manages to retain the feel of being stylized, even though it’s not really at all.

Why You Might Not Care: It’s Luna, but that doesn’t usually turn people off.  This one’s short and sweet, so it won’t take you much time to check it out.  There is a sort of preamble at the beginning that doesn’t really fit with the story, but I’m not sure it’s actually a part of a story.  I think it just might be a preamble.  To be fair, it’s unclear what the purpose of it is.

Tea With The Dark Lord

Tea with the Dark Lord by Cranberry_Crash

Summary: Luna Lovegood is good at telling stories. Oneshot, 1,667 Words.

Why You Should Care: Luna is already a difficult character to write, but lowering her into the middle of a war and showing the appropriate effects without changing who she is completely — that is a task for only the best of authors. Cranberry_crash does an excellent job, and the supporting characters are executed just as well, coming across powerfully even in cameos of a line or two. This is a delightful read that maintains Luna’s airy quality while giving her the subtle edge that even she would obtain in such times, and ultimately brings you hope and a smile — exactly as Luna would have wanted.

Why You Might Not Care: The scene for which the piece is named has a surreal quality that makes you wonder if the characters actually would have done this; but then, with a character such as Luna, perhaps such a quality is exactly what it should have. It’s an excellent work, and why are you still reading this rec? You could be absorbing good fic.

Lonely Let the Flowers Grow

Lonely Let the Flowers Grow by PumpkinPasty

Summary: “Longbottom,” Professor Sprout says wearily, “there is a time for fighting, and there is a time for waiting to fight. Right now is not the former.” Oneshot, 2,408 Words.

Why You Should Care: It’s the calm before the storm, and sometimes waiting on the edge of disaster is more difficult a thing than being right in the thick of it. There’s an anxious, helpless suspense in waiting for the wave to break: you can see it coming, in the distance, closer now than it was before, but still far enough off that to brace yourself for it is a waste of energy. This fic captures some of that sentiment well, focusing on the three other major characters involved in the war who are waiting to be called upon and probably all wish they could be out helping Harry along with Ron and Hermione just so they don’t feel so helpless. The characterisation of Neville and Luna are particularly well done, and this author manages to capture Luna’s voice without making it feel forced or overly prophetic. I think this is meant to be a Neville/Luna, and there’s a little ship service right at the end, but I think the fic holds up very well as a general piece.

Why You Might Not Care: I wish the thematic elements of this fic were a little tighter and a little more focused. I think the author meant it to be a simple story about how Neville, Luna and Ginny decided to start up the DA again, but the strongest sections are the ones that focus more on the helpless attempt to find something — anything — to do while they wait. This author has real talent, and I think she would have done a more thematic piece very well.

Love By Numbers

Love By Numbers by Dulcinea

Summary: Sometimes, one plus zero equals two. Drabble, 537 Words.

Why You Should Care: Okay, a word of advice, ignore all the femmeslash in the fic. It’s Luna/Hermione. It’ll bemuse and befuddle you. But aside from that, this fic is a wonderful work of art. Dulcinea weaves words into tapestry patterns — her symbolism here of enigma, maths and numbers is spot on. Luna is an enigma, a complex pattern to absorb and learn and this is so how Hermione tries to rationalize her.

Why You Might Not Care: Heed my advice about the femmeslash and there’s no reason not to care. Beautiful characterisation, marvelous symbolism, and a clever wordsmith. All in a day’s work.

Little Paper Stars

Little Paper Stars by EntirelyToo

Summary: The seventh had been the carefree action of opening the door to see who was knocking… Drabble, 782 words.

Why You Should Care: Lots of people write Luna, and lots of people write Luna like this, winsome and angsty and odd, but no-one’s done it quite like EntirelyToo manages to do here. This fic, for me, is the absolute epitome of that old writing idiom ‘show, don’t tell’. The writer shies away from the temptation to just say what’s happening in Luna’s head, and instead leaves us to puzzle it out on our own. On top of all that, this fic has a wonderfully chilling touch about exactly what Tom Riddle does to people, which feels very in tune with canon.

Why You Might Not Care: It’s very angsty, and quite wordy in places, and there’s a point a couple of paragraphs in when you might start thinking ‘enough already!’. And I suppose you might not like it if you’re not a Luna fan. Though, after the OotP film, who isn’t?

The Elusive Snorkack

The Elusive Snorkack by Kethlenda

Summary: There’s something unsaid and unresolved, something suspended in the air between them, and though she’s rarely at a loss for words she’s not sure which ones to use now.  Oneshot, 2,200 Words.

Why You Should Care: It was a ship nobody really saw coming — that no one could have seen coming, really — and it didn’t take long for the fic to start.  Chance and circumstance threw Luna and Dean together, and while Jo has suggested they might not be forever, there does seem to be a little something sparking there.  Kethlenda writes Luna in many of the same ways JKR does, and while this piece would technically be from Luna’s POV, it’s a limited POV that follows her instead of getting inside her head.  The “Luna-ness” comes from the dialogue and the details, and I have to say it’s one of the best Luna stories I’ve read in some time; she’s terribly difficult to write well, but Kethlenda seems to do so with ease.  This is a story about transition: of people out of war and of people into relationships.  Quite nice.

Why You Might Not Care: There’s actually very little “shippyness” in here.  It’s there, and it’s sort of the main subject, but I found the subtext more compelling.  This is more Luna’s story than Dean’s, but Luna’s the sort of character who naturally dominates almost any scene she’s in, so I’m not terribly surprised.  Even in the canon, the presence of Luna has a tendency to shift the focus: we don’t lose Harry, but he doesn’t have our full and complete attention like he usually does.  It’s funny how there are some supporting characters that just always do that.

Five Moments of Doubt

Five Moments of Doubt by Bagheera

Summary: Sprout, Neville, Luna, Ginny and Professor McGonagall during Deathly Hallows. Oneshot, 5,971 Words.

Why You Should Care: Snape is not, perhaps, the infallible master of deception he seems. He swore to Dumbledore he would do everything in his power to keep the students and the school safe, but it is a precarious line to walk, and at times he slips to one side or the other. This seems to me perfectly canon in every way, and the notion that McGonagall — especially — might have discovered him is no surprise. Snape tells McGonagall “I am exactly what you think I am” and means it; he has played the game so long that he is what he must be, both Dumbledore’s man and Voldemort’s man.

Why You Might Not Care: Experience these moments of doubt with these characters as you experienced your own while reading, and know the uneasy feeling that things might go either way even though you already know the outcome.  This fic is well written, astute, and with thoughtful and accurate canon characters.  I encourage you not to overlook it.

Spinning

Spinning by Aldalindil

Summary: Luna spins a tale of mice and dragons, lions and gold, and a hero who doesn’t know her. Set during the spring of GoF. Oneshot, 1,242 Words.

Why You Should Care: Luna’s another one of those difficult characters to get a handle on — especially in first person POV — and here she walks the line between airy and just a little off nicely. There’s just a tiny bit of wisdom thrown in too, here and there, like an expertly used spice for that extra flavour. It’s curious to hear Luna’s thoughts on the boy who lived, even before they became friends.

Why You Might Not Care: Oh, this is one of those fics that gets a little… free-form at times. Poetic and dreamy. If you like your feet planted firmly on the ground and don’t like to think too much when you’re reading, you won’t get as much out of this. You’ve got to find the subtext, or it’s not going to resonate.