hd-erised reveals & my fic

[gentlehag]

Yay, hd_erised reveals went up today. I got exactly one author right in the guessing polls, and that is exactly one more than I expected to. It's so much easier to guess artists.

I'm so glad I participated in this fest. It reminded me of everything I love about fandom and fic-writing and made me wonder why I ever stopped at all—it was because I wanted to focus on original fiction, but I think now I can do both. I just really love fandom and I've missed it desperately even while trying to tell myself I didn't. Anyway! Here is the fic I wrote, which, as is normal for me, turned out to be about 38,700 words longer than I intended it to be.

Title: Azoth
Writer: faire_weather (zeitgeistic)
Recipient: isinuyasha
Summary: Now that Harry is back at Hogwarts with Hermione for eighth year, he realises that something’s missing from his life, and it either has to do with Ron, his boggart, Snape, or Malfoy. Furthermore, what, exactly, does it mean when one’s life is defined by the desire to simultaneously impress and annoy a portrait? Harry has no idea; he’s too busy trying not to be in love with Malfoy to care.
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 88,700 *cringe*
Warnings:

[Spoiler (click to open)]

Content/Enticements: 8th year +. Side pairings: Hermione/Millicent; Ron/Lavender. Questionable career choices, fantasy Quidditch, apprenticeships, bromance, Alchemy, Animagi, pining, a snarky portrait, boggarts, and Harry as a hot mess. There is a surplus of cats in this story. It wasn’t planned, but when are cats ever?
Author's Notes: Dear Isinuyasha: You said ‘chemistry’ and I ran with it. I hope you like this take on what I’m sure was meant to be a throwaway comment. Original prompt: here. Thank you one zillion times to the most amazing beta in the entire world, E. I am honestly astounded by how amazing she is. I can’t even put it to words. Thank you also to the mods who gave me an extra four days when I was freaking out about the ending. You guys are awesome! Happy holidays!



AZOTH

Comments

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

Great story :D

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

Thanks bb!

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

Omgosh, *blush* Thank you! That's so awesome to hear. I don't even know what to do with myself. I feel like I want to roll around in feels or something.

Friended you back :D

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

>.> Yeah, I don't know if I'm capable of writing anything below 50k???

It's my new goal.

[awakenyourfaith.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to read your fic! :)

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

Aww you are too sweet!

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

Omg really? You like it? Angeeeeeeeee!!!!! *flails happily*

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

omg. ♥

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

I didn't think you'd read it though. So it was a nice surprise.

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

Aww. I'm so flaily.

[leochi.livejournal.com]

Actually I've stopped reading H/D quite a long time ago, but that rec on hd_storyroom made me curious, I started reading and lo and behold! couldn't stop for hours. Love the way you described the dwindling friendship between Harry and Ron, Hermione's story/swearing/problem with not-remembering parents, Millicent's character and, of course, Harry and Draco's developing friendship and love. I absolutely enjoyed the alchemy parts, they were so cleverly described and explained. Portrait-Snape made me chuckle more than once. I think my favourite part was when Harry was in his crow shape and noticed all the little spirits clustering around Draco. I also found all characters psychological characterisations so very fitting. (I probably could go on for pages, *grins*)
Thank you for writing such a lovely story! *standing ovations*

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

Hi! Omgosh! I remember your HP art, which was gorgeous, so it's doubly amazing to hear you liked reading Azoth. Ah, you liked the little spirits; I'm so delighted! I loved that scene when I was writing it. It stuck out in my head more clearly than almost any other. It's so awesome to hear the different parts that people liked and how everyone mostly liked my favorite parts, too. I guess that came through the clearest! I'm sorry for all these exclamation marks. I am just an excitable person, I guess. :D

Thank you so much for reading even though you don't read H/D anymore! And thank you even more for taking the time to leave me a comment. It really made my day! <3<3<3

[sophie-french.livejournal.com]

Okay, I've waited a long time to read this, because everybody was so taken with it that I thought, "don't read it, or you won't want to write anything else after that."
Now I'm nearly done with my current WIP, so I finally got the courage to read this.

Right, the first thing I want to say is that it's a unique fic in the sense that I had never read anything like it. Like everybody else, I just loved your Harry, and at a time when I struggle to get my own Harry right (and boy, am I struggling!), believe me, it got me thinking super hard! I loved how in love he was (yeah I know too many "love" but I'm tired) and how you managed to show it through your writing. It's really amazing. And god, I wish I could write like that! The final scene made my heart beat so fast I thought it would stop. But I think my favourite scene is the one where Draco tries to get Hermione out of her cat state by talking about sex. Man, that was fricking hot and so, so well written!

I'm very impressed by the sum of information you managed to gather there. Are you familiar with chemistry in general or did you have to research a lot to write this? Which leads to my next question: how long did it take you to write this fic? (I've just finished a 89k fic as well, and it has taken me 5 months to write it, but it was my very first long fic).

I'm sorry, I'm very new to writing, and you absolutely don't have to answer any of this, but it just made me curious.

Anyway, thank you so much for writing something like that and to share it with us. I've loved this story, and it made me want to get better as a writer. So thank you very much! ♥

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

Hello! I'm so flattered to hear you read my fic!

Harry is so fun for me to write, but I definitely feel you on that feeling of struggle to get him right. I feel it more with Draco than with Harry. Perhaps because I see Harry as a hot mess and I'm a bit of a hot mess myself? Who knows! :D Either way, I squealed when you said that you thought it was unique. I was worried that the potions apprenticeship would be too hard to swallow, but it sounds like it turned out okay in the end. :D

I'm no more familiar with Chemistry than a typical American with a BS, lol. I took Chemistry in high school and my freshman year, but that's it. I do work with a bunch of Chemical Engineers, so maybe that helps? I'm more of a History Channel physicist than chemist; looooove watching it, don't know much beyond what Neil deGrasse Tyson tells me. The Alchemy stuff I was more familiar with because I'd used some alchemy themes in an original fiction novel I wrote last year. Basically it comes down to this: science and math fascinate me, even if I've never done advanced study of it, so I spend a lot of time Wikipedia-ing when I should be working on other stuff.

It took me right at 3 months to write it. I had an idea for it as soon as I got my assignment and started that weekend—and then I got a 4 day extension from the mods and was writing right up until the day before + 1 day for my beta to finish with the new stuff. It was a tight deadline!

I'm happy to answer any questions you have! No worries at all! I like talking to other writers about writing, so it works out. :D