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crack_van2006-04-24 10:19 pm
malabud.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2006-04-24 10:19 pm
Entry tags:
Stepbrothers Series by Andrea13 and Persephone Kore (PG)
Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Gen
Length: 50,000 words
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
persephone_kore
Author Website: Andrea13 and Persephone Kore's Sugar Quill Profile Page, Andrea13's Homepage
Why this must be read:
This series was always an AU, but it became even more so when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released. Rowling's characterization of young Tom Marvolo Riddle, his mother Merope Gaunt, and Slytherin's other descendants differs significantly from what appears in this series, but that does not make the Stepbrothers stories any less of a great read.
The story veers off from canon at the birth of Tom Riddle. What if his mother lived, the authors ask. And what if she eventually married Rubeus Hagrid's father? I know it sounds far-fetched, but the authors make it work remarkably well.
The whole point of the AU is that Tom Riddle has a family, and most importantly, has a "little" brother whom he loves and takes care of. This significantly alters many events, not the least of which are those surrounding the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk in Tom's fifth year.
The entire series is a delightful read, written in Rowlingesque style. Tom grapples with his heritage, his absent father, and his sometime darker impulses, but the outcome is very different from canon. As of the final story, the authors did indicate that they have more ideas for the series' continuation, but they have not added to it in some time. It is complete as is, however, and the series ends with Tom's confrontation with his Muggle father Tom Riddle. This confrontation ties up several plot threads and provides a satisfying conclusion to the series, although I certainly would like to see more of this AU. Highly recommended.
* * *
There was a small shop lurking in Knockturn Alley where most of the merchandise could kill you.
This was admittedly not an unusual state of affairs even on Diagon Alley, a street of far better repute within the wizarding market district. This particular shop, however, was the source of much confusion among the Muggle-born, some of whom were perplexed and rather alarmed by the initial impression that wizardly gardening was for some reason classed among the Dark Arts.
It wasn't, of course. One could in fact purchase plants quite readily on Diagon Alley. Gardening equipment was another matter, as were certain special items from the proprietor's own garden and his ancestors' that could rarely be found with ease at even the most varied apothecary.
Said proprietor, who never gave a name and never named his shop, harbored too varied a supply to make the shop palatable to Diagon Alley and too few scruples to brook what competition wasn't crushed by the actual merit of his stock in trade.
Some of the items were certainly useful in the Dark Arts, and some had no known innocent purpose. Most had some possible use that was a bit shady -- but then, didn't everything? Gardening supplies were not, by and large, evil. Many were dangerous and alarming, but then, Muggle pruning shears weren't exactly the most reassuring-looking object in the world, now were they?
Mary Echidne Riddle rested her elbow on the counter and her chin on a slender hand. She missed living as a Muggle. Perhaps she should have found something she could do without returning to the wizard world entirely... something exotic and not too strenuous.
She could have been a snake charmer. Her Parseltongue was weak as the gift went, but good enough.... Or a fortune teller. Of course, there were fakes enough in that department even where magic was known to be real; wizards weren't that much better than Muggles about wanting to hear the truth of their futures.
She turned her head to look at her small son Tom. He was the reason she had taken a quiet position as a clerk in a magical shop; she'd never quite recovered from his birth -- of course she had tried magical treatment, but as she'd been kindly told, medical magic could do only so much. None of the ways she was still suited to support herself in the Muggle world were safe and stable enough for a woman with a child. Not that it would have been easy to find a position there at the moment anyway.... Not that it had been terribly easy as things were.
He had been playing on the floor with almost preternatural quiet for a two-year-old child until he curled up on a cushion for a nap, but then, she had made it quite clear that he was not to cause a commotion while there were customers present. He was very obedient once he understood that he would much prefer the consequences that way.
A canny child. He should certainly suit her own House when he was old enough for Hogwarts... despite the Muggle father.
Tea Leaves
That Sort of Brother
A Difficult Year
Guest Who
Creatures Great and Small
Snakes and Spiders
Called to Account
Pairing: Gen
Length: 50,000 words
Author on LJ:
persephone_koreAuthor Website: Andrea13 and Persephone Kore's Sugar Quill Profile Page, Andrea13's Homepage
Why this must be read:
This series was always an AU, but it became even more so when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released. Rowling's characterization of young Tom Marvolo Riddle, his mother Merope Gaunt, and Slytherin's other descendants differs significantly from what appears in this series, but that does not make the Stepbrothers stories any less of a great read.
The story veers off from canon at the birth of Tom Riddle. What if his mother lived, the authors ask. And what if she eventually married Rubeus Hagrid's father? I know it sounds far-fetched, but the authors make it work remarkably well.
The whole point of the AU is that Tom Riddle has a family, and most importantly, has a "little" brother whom he loves and takes care of. This significantly alters many events, not the least of which are those surrounding the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk in Tom's fifth year.
The entire series is a delightful read, written in Rowlingesque style. Tom grapples with his heritage, his absent father, and his sometime darker impulses, but the outcome is very different from canon. As of the final story, the authors did indicate that they have more ideas for the series' continuation, but they have not added to it in some time. It is complete as is, however, and the series ends with Tom's confrontation with his Muggle father Tom Riddle. This confrontation ties up several plot threads and provides a satisfying conclusion to the series, although I certainly would like to see more of this AU. Highly recommended.
* * *
There was a small shop lurking in Knockturn Alley where most of the merchandise could kill you.
This was admittedly not an unusual state of affairs even on Diagon Alley, a street of far better repute within the wizarding market district. This particular shop, however, was the source of much confusion among the Muggle-born, some of whom were perplexed and rather alarmed by the initial impression that wizardly gardening was for some reason classed among the Dark Arts.
It wasn't, of course. One could in fact purchase plants quite readily on Diagon Alley. Gardening equipment was another matter, as were certain special items from the proprietor's own garden and his ancestors' that could rarely be found with ease at even the most varied apothecary.
Said proprietor, who never gave a name and never named his shop, harbored too varied a supply to make the shop palatable to Diagon Alley and too few scruples to brook what competition wasn't crushed by the actual merit of his stock in trade.
Some of the items were certainly useful in the Dark Arts, and some had no known innocent purpose. Most had some possible use that was a bit shady -- but then, didn't everything? Gardening supplies were not, by and large, evil. Many were dangerous and alarming, but then, Muggle pruning shears weren't exactly the most reassuring-looking object in the world, now were they?
Mary Echidne Riddle rested her elbow on the counter and her chin on a slender hand. She missed living as a Muggle. Perhaps she should have found something she could do without returning to the wizard world entirely... something exotic and not too strenuous.
She could have been a snake charmer. Her Parseltongue was weak as the gift went, but good enough.... Or a fortune teller. Of course, there were fakes enough in that department even where magic was known to be real; wizards weren't that much better than Muggles about wanting to hear the truth of their futures.
She turned her head to look at her small son Tom. He was the reason she had taken a quiet position as a clerk in a magical shop; she'd never quite recovered from his birth -- of course she had tried magical treatment, but as she'd been kindly told, medical magic could do only so much. None of the ways she was still suited to support herself in the Muggle world were safe and stable enough for a woman with a child. Not that it would have been easy to find a position there at the moment anyway.... Not that it had been terribly easy as things were.
He had been playing on the floor with almost preternatural quiet for a two-year-old child until he curled up on a cushion for a nap, but then, she had made it quite clear that he was not to cause a commotion while there were customers present. He was very obedient once he understood that he would much prefer the consequences that way.
A canny child. He should certainly suit her own House when he was old enough for Hogwarts... despite the Muggle father.
Tea Leaves
That Sort of Brother
A Difficult Year
Guest Who
Creatures Great and Small
Snakes and Spiders
Called to Account