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.

Transfigurations

Transfigurations by Inkvoices

Summary: Hogwarts reopens in September as usual, but it hasn’t yet been fully repaired following the battle in May. The lower levels are flooded, so the Ministry helpfully arranges alternative accommodation for Slytherin students. As the ‘temporary’ solution starts to become a more permanent one, the Slytherins and their new Head of House try fighting back. General, 11,900 Words.

Why You Should Care: One of the most irritating aspects of Deathly Hallows was the blanket condemnation of every student in Slytherin during the Battle of Hogwarts, and this piece follows the reversed prejudice that remains in the Wizarding World after the fall of the Dark Lord. Pansy Parkinson is kept both sympathetic and in character, which is a remarkable accomplishment, and the piece gives a wizarding perspective to injustice, bureaucracies, and second chances. Very nicely done.

Why You Might Not Care: Honestly, I can’t picture McGonagall behaving the way she does, but her complacency is a very minor irritation. The words and structure are not beautiful or moving, but it is the story and the meaning beneath that give it quality.