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crack_van2011-05-21 11:43 am
vane-nt.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2011-05-21 11:43 am
Entry tags:
Dark Nights by Morgan72uk (M)
Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Minerva McGonagall/Albus Dumbledore
Length: 8,947 words
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: FF.net
Why this must be read:
This is a superb story about moral/ethical dilemmas, and how they affect the characters' relationship. It doesn't offer easy answers. The author doesn't label people as "villains" or "heroes." Fortunately, this kind of analysis is left to the readers' judgement. The romance between Minerva and Albus is plausible and mature. The sense of intimacy that pervades the moments they spend together is one of the best things about this brilliant, thought-provoking fic.
For a split second she was back in the courtroom, the full Wizengamot seated around her as she gave her evidence in clear, clipped tones – always the teacher, even in this. Albus' presence in the court-room had been an anchor, although she was careful not to look at him too often or for too long. The events she described had happened while their friendship had been at its most strained and they had never discussed that night.
She'd been careful not to embellish or speculate; though the scene she described hardly needed exaggeration to be gruesome - it was already the stuff of nightmares. She recounted how she'd entered the house while the dark mark still burned above it, how with others she had dealt with the aftermath of the attack. It had been her sharp hearing that led her to the missing boy, eventually. She had been the one to draw him out of his makeshift hiding place, alerted by his quiet whimpers.
Little in the way of cross-examination had followed – a fact that was enough to disturb her. And then she'd been asked, almost as though it were a routine matter, if she had any evidence or suspicions about the identity of Death Eater's who had not been detained so far.
It would have been so easy, in that moment, to give names, to voice suspicions, to accuse others with no real evidence to substantiate her claims. As a close ally of Albus Dumbledore her stock in the wizarding world was high, she could have rid herself of enemies, gained revenge for real or perceived slights, destroyed lives – all with just a few words.
She shivered now at that memory, feeling as though the madness had reached out and touched her. It's ghostly fingertip running down her spine. She had politely declined to enter into groundless speculation, but now at least she had seen first hand what Albus had been fighting against in these last, desperate weeks.
Dark Nights
Pairing: Minerva McGonagall/Albus Dumbledore
Length: 8,947 words
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: FF.net
Why this must be read:
This is a superb story about moral/ethical dilemmas, and how they affect the characters' relationship. It doesn't offer easy answers. The author doesn't label people as "villains" or "heroes." Fortunately, this kind of analysis is left to the readers' judgement. The romance between Minerva and Albus is plausible and mature. The sense of intimacy that pervades the moments they spend together is one of the best things about this brilliant, thought-provoking fic.
For a split second she was back in the courtroom, the full Wizengamot seated around her as she gave her evidence in clear, clipped tones – always the teacher, even in this. Albus' presence in the court-room had been an anchor, although she was careful not to look at him too often or for too long. The events she described had happened while their friendship had been at its most strained and they had never discussed that night.
She'd been careful not to embellish or speculate; though the scene she described hardly needed exaggeration to be gruesome - it was already the stuff of nightmares. She recounted how she'd entered the house while the dark mark still burned above it, how with others she had dealt with the aftermath of the attack. It had been her sharp hearing that led her to the missing boy, eventually. She had been the one to draw him out of his makeshift hiding place, alerted by his quiet whimpers.
Little in the way of cross-examination had followed – a fact that was enough to disturb her. And then she'd been asked, almost as though it were a routine matter, if she had any evidence or suspicions about the identity of Death Eater's who had not been detained so far.
It would have been so easy, in that moment, to give names, to voice suspicions, to accuse others with no real evidence to substantiate her claims. As a close ally of Albus Dumbledore her stock in the wizarding world was high, she could have rid herself of enemies, gained revenge for real or perceived slights, destroyed lives – all with just a few words.
She shivered now at that memory, feeling as though the madness had reached out and touched her. It's ghostly fingertip running down her spine. She had politely declined to enter into groundless speculation, but now at least she had seen first hand what Albus had been fighting against in these last, desperate weeks.
Dark Nights