Waterbird

To Have and to Hold

waterbird — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 21:56:05 GMT

I loved this:

60 Moments That Gave Me The Chills During Seattle's First Day Of Marriage Equality

\o/

J K Rowling's New Book

waterbird — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 20:35:45 GMT

JKR talks about The Casual Vacancy (and other stuff) in this interview with the Guardian. Sort of made me much more interested in the book than I was after hearing the initial blurb a few months ago. It's out on the 27th. Anyone queuing to buy it?

Fannish stuff!

waterbird — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 09:17:44 GMT

I now have an AO3 account! Yay! Signed up not too long ago for the beta and was informed that I was something like 1900th in the queue and could expect an invitation in about two years, so this morning's email was a nice surprise. Now for the challenge of finding the time to figure out how it works and uploading my not-exactly-sizeable ouvre of fic.

I've noticed lately when I comment on an LJ post that the comment ends up with an icon different from my default, even though the default shows up in the comment draft. Anyone else experiencing this or know what's going on?

Katie Bell

waterbird — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:00:45 GMT

My husband rang me the other day and said he was going to be meeting with someone called Katie Bell. "I know I know that name from somewhere. Do you have any idea who she is?" he asked.

Hee hee. "Um, chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team?" I said. "Draco Malfoy almost killed her with that poisoned necklace."

Since then, we've been joking endlessly about this meeting with Katie. Well, whenever he brings it up, I fail to resist joking about it.

"I still have to figure out where to meet her," he'll say and I helpfully suggest the Leaky Cauldron. Or "I have to get in touch with her about that meeting," and I tell him to send an owl.

Poor Katie must get this all the time.

I, OTOH, have so little headspace for fandom these days that I am probably much more amused by this than I should be. =)

Drabbles/ficlet for Slythindor100's 25 Days of Harry and Draco

waterbird — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:35:41 GMT

I didn't manage to get much writing done last year, but I did spontaneously dive into the slythindor100 25 Days of Harry and Draco fest .. at least for the first week or so until RL clobbered me yet again. It was fun to write without much planning and just see how things developed according to the prompt each day.

The little story that emerged isn't really finished (it's pretty significantly missing the H of H/D) -- I have some ideas about where it could go from there, but I honestly don't know if I'm going to invest any more time in it. I think it can feasibly end where I left it, though, without feeling incredibly unfinished. Maybe?

Total word count: about 1430

Title: Hyde Park
Author: waterbird
Word Count: 142
Rating: G
Warning: None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. No copyright infringement intended.
Author's Notes: Written for the slythindor100 25 Days of Harry and Draco fest's prompt #2. This is part 1/6. Cross-posted to 100quills for prompt number 27, "wind".

==

“Just that button there,” the girl explains, smiling up at him through her ginger fringe.

Draco snaps the shot, all too aware of how clumsily he handles the ludicrous Muggle device. They must think he’s an idiot, but really, what good are photographs that just sit there, anyway?

“Thanks, mate,” the man says, as Draco hands the camera back.

From a distance, Draco had thought … but no. Now, up close, he sees his mistake. The girl is too short, and the man … he may lack fashion sense and be in need of a decent haircut, but his eyes are all wrong. So dark they’re practically black. They remind Draco of Aunt Bellatrix. He shivers and draws the collar of his cloak up.

The couple head toward the Serpentine, snowflakes swirling after them. Draco turns toward Mayfair, into the biting wind.

Title: Mayfair
Author: waterbird
Word Count: 172
Rating: G
Prompt: Prompt #3</a>
Warning: None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. No copyright infringement intended.
Author's Notes: Written for the slythindor100 25 Days of Harry and Draco fest's prompt #3. This is part 2/6. Cross-posted to 100quills for prompt number 22, "blur".

==

The afternoon light is already dimming as Draco crosses Park Lane. By the time he finds himself in the heart of Mayfair, the streets are awash with the glow of a million Christmas lights, the posh shops and galleries and the stately houses all making such a dreadfully obvious attempt to impress. It’s pathetic, really, how desperate these Muggles are to flaunt their wealth.

He’s not even sure why he comes through here every year. No matter how hard they try, these people will never match the grandeur and elegance of the Manor, not by half.

It’s bitter cold now and the freezing air stings his eyes. He wipes them and shakes his head, but the motion does little to banish the truth that lies just below the surface of these thoughts.

The Manor is gone. Razed to the ground after the war. If Draco ever saw Potter again, he’d do what he had not been able to do that night, as they stood staring at the flames.

He would thank him.

Title: Covent Garden
Author: waterbird
Word Count: 315
Rating: G
Warning: None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. No copyright infringement intended.
Author's Notes: Written for the slythindor100 25 Days of Harry and Draco fest's Prompt #4. This is part 3/6. Cross-posted to 100quills for prompt number 21, "children".

==

This, Draco thinks as he watches the dancers move across the stage, all muscle and grace, this is the closest thing to magic the Muggle world has to offer. Sure, he’s in the ten quid nose-bleed seats, but that’s nothing a pair of omnioculars can’t remedy.

He loses himself in the performance, forgetting everything for a few hours -- and if that isn't magic, then what is?

Afterwards, he moves slowly to exit the theatre, knowing the effect will wash away like piss off of pavement in a downpour, and then he’ll be back inside his head, wrestling with the ghosts and demons that never fail to find their way home for the holidays.

Pansy had invited him for Christmas when they’d run into each other in Charing Cross Road the other day, but even as he told her he’d think about it and would send an owl if he could make it, they both knew they were just going through the motions. She's doing alright -- working at The Prophet, married to Roger Davies. She isn’t going to risk her hard-won good standing in the Wizarding World for Draco’s sake.

The Covent Garden bars are already overflowing and Draco can feel the reverberation of too-loud music through the cobblestones under his feet, painfully incongruous after the ballet. He squeezes through the crowds and turns into one of the quieter streets, little more than an alleyway, really.

He’s barely halfway to the next corner when he hears someone running up behind him. It’s nearly three years since the Ministry stripped him of the privilege of carrying a wand, but Draco’s first instinct is still to reach for one. Instead, he seizes the only thing he might possibly employ as a weapon: his omnioculars. He raises them in his fist and turns just as a voice, very close now, calls out.

Title: Seven Dials
Author: waterbird
Word Count: 205
Rating: G
Warning: None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. No copyright infringement intended.
Author's Notes: Written for the slythindor100 25 Days of Harry and Draco fest's Prompt #5. This is part 4/6. Cross-posted to 100quills for prompt number 8, "miracle".

==

"Papa?"

Draco looks down at the tiny girl at his feet. He lowers his fist and frowns. "Sorry?"

The girl shakes her head and starts to cry. "Not Papa."

"Bloody hell," Draco murmurs under his breath, then crouches down. The girl starts to back away, ready to run off again, but Draco is quick and gently grabs her arm. "Whoa," he says. "Wait. You've lost your papa?"

She nods. He tries to pry some details out of her but she's biting on her mittened fingers now and refusing to answer. Draco has no idea how old she is -- maybe four or five? -- but he's pretty sure kids this age aren't usually wandering around central London alone this late at night in the freezing cold. He takes a deep breath and is trying to figure out what to do, when the girl says something that makes breathing all but impossible for a moment.

"What did you say?" Draco finally asks, not sure to trust his own ears.

The girl points to the omnioculars he has forgotten he's holding. "Quidditch," she says quietly, and her face lights up with what is, quite possibly, the biggest smile Draco has ever seen.

Title: Soho
Author: waterbird
Word Count: 310
Rating: G
Warning: None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. No copyright infringement intended.
Author's Notes: Written for the slythindor100 25 Days of Harry and Draco fest's Prompt #6. This is part 5/6. Cross-posted to 100quills for prompt number 49, "welcome".

==

It's just past closing time when Draco arrives outside the Leaky Cauldron. The little girl still isn't saying much, but since Draco let her wear his omnioculars around her neck and promised to help find her father, she's significantly more cheerful. The omnioculars are a distraction, though, and getting here took twice as long as it should have. Luckily, there's still a light on and through the window, Draco can see Tom the innkeeper sitting alone at a table, with an enormous ledger opened before him.

All Draco has to do is hand the kid over and leave it to the old man to sort out, but he pauses before pushing open the door to the pub. He's avoided this place and Diagon Alley as much as possible since the Ministry took everything they could from his family. Officially, it's only another six months until he'll be allowed to carry a wand again and travel freely, but he’s under no illusion that he’ll get back anything close to the life he once had.

“Well, well,” says the innkeeper, his tone as cold as the winter air that follows Draco inside. He looks about ready to pull out his wand until he notices the little girl.

“I found her,” Draco says and tries to explain as the girl climbs up onto a chair. Tom looks at her with an expression of sheer astonishment, then shuffles over to the bar. A moment later he sets a plate of biscuits in front of her. She giggles as the icing-painted snowmen wave and wink at her, then she picks one up and takes a big bite out of it.

Neither she nor Tom seem to notice when Draco slips back out into the night and the dim Soho streets, covered now in a thin layer of snow.

Title: Fitzrovia
Author: waterbird
Word Count: 284
Rating: G
Warning: None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. No copyright infringement intended.
Author's Notes: Written for the slythindor100 25 Days of Harry and Draco fest's Prompt #7. This is part 6/6. Cross-posted to 100quills for prompt number 5, "refusal".

==

Draco heads north through a deserted Fitzrovia. Even Charlotte Street is eerily silent, the restaurants empty and dark, with the exception of a single string of multicolour lights still flashing in the window of one of the curry houses.

By now, the little girl has probably been whisked home, reunited with her parents and tucked snuggly into bed. In years to come, she may not even remember this night.

Draco remembers many of his childhood visits to Diagon Alley -- ice cream at Fortescue’s every birthday; shopping excursions with his mother; the time his father took him to see the family vault at Gringotts and told him that their wealth was power -- but he doesn’t remember the time he got lost there.

According to his mother, he was just four years old at the time. One minute, he’d been at her side in Flourish & Blotts, and the next he was gone. She had searched up and down the street, asking in every shop and was nearly in a panic when the clerk at Eeylops ran over and led her to the back of his storeroom. There they found Draco wedged inside a massive cage, gently stroking a dozing eagle owl. He refused to leave until she promised him he could have it, and the bird was immediately sent off to the Manor.

Perhaps, like him, the girl won’t even remember her little adventure. But Draco will not soon forget the way she reached up and easily took his hand as they started toward the Leaky Cauldron. It was, he realizes, the first time in more years than he cares to count that he’s been reminded of what it feels like to be trusted.

~~~

And here's the first drabble I wrote for the fest. I envisioned this as a stand-alone one, and it's sort of as fluffy as it gets with me.

Title: Talking to the Dead
Author: waterbird
Word Count: 139
Rating: PG
Warning: None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. No copyright infringement intended.
Author's Notes: Written for the slythindor100 25 Days of Harry and Draco fest's Prompt #1. Cross-posted to 100quills for prompt number 31, "his".
==

Harry’s come here every Christmas Eve since that first time with Hermione, and he’s always come alone.

As he approaches, he thinks about how he still sometimes hears Mrs Weasley talking to Fred as if he’s still there. “You won’t believe what your brother’s dreamt up this time,” he recently overheard as he passed the twins’ old room on his way to see Ron.

But Harry has never known how to talk to the dead. So instead, he’d lay a wreath of Christmas roses against his parents’ gravestone and simply listen to the silence of the winter night, and somehow that would be enough.

But this time, it’s not enough, not with more life and love pulsing through him than he has possibly ever known. He takes Draco’s hand and whispers, “Mum, Dad, it’s me. And I’m not alone.”

Considering introducing a RL friend to fandom

waterbird — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:55:56 GMT

I've got a RL friend who I knew was a fan of the Harry Potter books, but when I saw her over Christmas, I began to wonder if she might need bringing in to the fandom. *bounces, cautiously*

She brought HP up several times: she wants to do the HP walking tour next time she's back in London; she visits "the Harry Potter website" (Me: "Um ... which one? " She: "J K Rowling's site"); and she wants to get in to Pottermore when it opens to the public.

So ... I started thinking that think she may indeed appreciate an ever-so-gentle nudge into fandom. I mean, it might save her from re-reading the Twilight series yet again (yes, she guiltily admitted getting hooked by that one but I shall view it as another hint of her fandom potential.)

If I were to casually drop her an email and say, "hey, if you're looking for a Harry Potter fix, take a look at this" what do you think I should point her to? I think a nice piece of gen would be good to start with, but it's so long since I've read any. Can anyone recommend a good post-DH canony genfic? And how about art? I'm thinking of sending her this one: The Prince's Tale, but if anyone's got any other ideas, please point me. I've been out of the loop for such a long time now!

Thanks!

Photoshop Help

waterbird — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:23:56 GMT

I had the brilliant idea to make a photo collage of Baby Bird to send with my Xmas cards this year. Only problem is that I'm a bit clueless with Photoshop.

I found a guide on how to create a collage, but despite using high-res images, the actual collage comes out really low-res. Does anyone know how I can fix this? Do I need to set the resolution on the collage file at a certain level? Do the images I'm using have to match that resolution? Or is there some other trick entirely?

Thank you, thank you to anyone who can help. I will be eternally grateful.

Birthday Fic!

waterbird — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 08:26:34 GMT

The lovely catsintheattic has written me an awesome little ficlet called Too Late Is Like Never. For a glimpse into Draco's mind when he faces Dumbledore on the Astronomy Tower, and in the aftermath, go read it right now.

Thank you so much, Cats! <3

Random Poll: eBooks, Pottermore and fandom

waterbird — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:16:31 GMT

I feel like making a poll. =)

View Poll: #1770227

Finally!

waterbird — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 10:09:16 GMT

Off to see Deathly Hallows 2 at long last! Yay!!!!

A little bit of Christmas in August

waterbird — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:57:49 GMT

I love reading the H/D Holidays sign-up posts. One, they get me incredibly excited about all the excellent fic that will be posted in December and two, it's such fun to see what people want (or don't want) in their H/D.

I wish I could participate in some way -- either writing (if the whole fest/exchange thing didn't stress me out so much) or beta reading, but at the moment, RL commitments are demanding every moment of my time. I haven't even seen DH:2 yet. Maybe in a few months, though, things will have settled down enough that I could maybe beta something. That would be fun. =)

A post! An HP post even!

waterbird — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:23:40 GMT

Going to see Deathly Hallows tonight. I'm cautiously optimistic that this one isn't going to suck quite as bad as the others. Very cautiously optimistic.

Starting the day with a bunch of emails announcing the start of hd_holidays was an excellent way to begin the day. I would very much have liked to stay home and read. Instead, it was out into the freezing cold, leaving my packed lunch and breakfast porridge behind. Running too late to make it to the gym, too. But there was cake at work this afternoon and HP tonight, so the day's working out alright after all.

How are all of you on this first day of December?

waterbird — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 20:15:09 GMT

I love the It Gets Better Project so much. There's so much hope behind every single one of the videos I've seen, and the message is really applicable to anyone who's in a dark place, thinking things will never get better. They always do.

Here's a great video from Google staff. I want one of those Android pride shirts!

I write like ...

waterbird — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:08:13 GMT

So the I Write Like meme that's going around like crazy today? I did it this morning by entering a short excerpt from one of my fics. It told me I write like J K Rowling.

Then I changed all the Harrys and Dracos in the excerpt to Mike and Dave and for the otherwise identical excerpt it told me I write like Stephen King.

I did the name change thing on another excerpt and got JKR again, then Margaret Atwood.

The result on a third sample with only one mention of Draco in it and no other HP names was that I write like H G Wells.

Lol, I'd never noticed just how subtly the writing of these four authors differed. =)

Posts per page

waterbird — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:15:38 GMT

I know this issue was floating around a few weeks ago, but I clearly wasn't paying attention. I guess I thought it could never happen to me!

Is there a way to change the new ten-posts-per-page default that LJ seems to have shifted to? I've checked journal settings but didn't see anything. Thanks!

Reading Habits Poll

waterbird — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:18:23 GMT

*waves* Real-life busy-ness has reduced me to lurkerdom recently, and while I should be taking advantage of the long Easter weekend to do some writing, I'm instead drinking wine and making polls.

View Poll: Reading Habits

Drabble: Survivors

waterbird — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:06:08 GMT

Just doing a bit of drabbling on this rainy, rainy weekend. Come on, spring!

Title: Survivors
Author: waterbird
Rating: PG
Word Count: 225
Summary: Harry dreams, and the survivors fall.
Author's Notes: This was supposed to be a drabble for hd100's 'dream' prompt, but it got too big. Cross-posted to 100quills for the 'image' prompt.

===

All summer long, Harry dreams, and the survivors fall. First is Hermione, swallowed by a Hagrid-sized Monster Book of Monsters. Then Ron, pinned by the sword of Gryffindor beneath a frozen, impenetrable pool of Butterbeer. Another time, Ginny chases after him, crumbling into brittle broomstraw as she runs.

Luna, Neville, George, McGonnagal ... everyone enters the stage of Harry's dreams once to die a single, spectacularly absurd death. Everyone except Malfoy.

Malfoy is there night after night, slipping from Harry's grasp and tumbling into the Sorting Hat, which offers to free him only if Harry will sing the Hogwarts school song in Parseltongue. Madam Malkin scolds him when he says he can no longer speak it and stitches the Hat closed with spider silk and a needle made of Basilisk fang before dropping it into Dumbledore's pensieve.

On such nights, Harry ignores the Dreamless Sleep at his bedside and lies in the darkness, fingers clenched painfully around the ghost of Malfoy's hand. He knows that Malfoy, like the others, is safe, yet the dream persists.

One night, as he uncurls his aching fingers, Harry sees for the first time something cruel and unacceptable about the emptiness of his palm. And he realizes that safety is the last thing he wants for Malfoy. Because if Malfoy doesn't need saving, how else will Harry ever get to touch him again?

Don't panic.

waterbird — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:52:49 GMT

A bunch of writers share their rules for writing fiction. Featuring words of wisdom from Sarah Waters, Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, Will Self and more.

Tom Felton on Draco in DH

waterbird — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:08:59 GMT

A welcome diversion from a much too busy day:

Tom Felton discusses Deathly Hallows, redemption and Draco's 'bond' with Harry.

"Harry and Draco almost have a bond, and they save each other's lives on numerous occasions," he said. "It's a really weird love/hate relationship. It's great that it's left to our interpretation of how and why this is all happening.

Indeed.

waterbird — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:26:53 GMT

I'm making a few adjustments to my flist. I just did a tiny trim, mostly of people with whom I never interact or who seem to have abandoned their LJs or moved on from HP fandom. Nothing personal at all, and no offence taken if anyone wants to drop me.

I'll probably also be friending a few people I've meant to friend for ages (mostly HP writers), so if you've just been added, it's most likely because you created something amazing.

Sunday, Smutty Sunday

waterbird — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:34:33 GMT

Today I wrote the porniest thing I've ever written.

2009's Year in Books

waterbird — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:49:00 GMT

My annual year-in-reading list, now, for the first time, with categories!

FICTION
My favourites of the year:
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Set This House in Order by Matt Ruff
The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Breath by Tim Winton

In-between books:
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
M Is for Magic by Neil Gaiman
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman (shortstory)
Buffy Season 8, vol 3 & 4 by Joss Whedon, et al
Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory
I, Coriander by Susan Gardiner
Call Me By Your Name by Andre Acimin

Books I want to protect you from:
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The Gathering by Anne Enright
Endearing Love by Ian McEwan
Small Island by Andrea Levy

NON-FICTION
The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton

Still not as much reading as I would have liked, but an improvement on last year at least.

Any suggestions for my 2010 list?

Christmas Eve Drabbles

waterbird — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:33:41 GMT

Two H/D drabbles set on Christmas Eve and meant to be read together. Far, far from fluff. I hope you'll forgive me.

Title: Frozen
Author: waterbird
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~150
Summary:The last thing Draco wanted right now was to feel.
Warning: Implied infidelity
Author's Notes: Written for the 100quills 'snow' prompt.

===

Draco's feet and fingers were numb, but he'd not use a warming charm. Not with Potter waiting at the gate, his face so meticulously wiped blank. The last thing Draco wanted right now was to feel.

The wind cut through the immeasurable gap between them as they headed across Gray's Inn Gardens towards High Holburn. The crocuses still struggled to break through March's frozen earth.

"Your owl," Draco finally said, because Potter was saying nothing.

Potter's eyes were dark with resolve as he said the words Draco had expected – and then some he hadn't. Draco had hated those last ones the most. They'd been pointless, irrelevant, incapable of changing anything.

But now, as he laid Scorpius in his cot, Draco realized that wasn't true. Here was the proof. He could still feel Scorpius's first cry breaking through his frozen heart, melting the anger of the past nine months and even, almost, the longing.

Title: Breathing
Author: waterbird
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~195
Summary: This moment was his.
Author's Notes: Written for the 100quills 'breathing' prompt.

==

"Quite a busy Christmas Eve!" the Healer said, depositing another tiny bundle into the neighbouring cot. She was gone again before Draco even realized she'd returned.

The new arrival made a sound, but Draco paid no notice. His hand rested lightly over Scorpius's tiny chest, each beat a miracle; each gentle rise and fall of breath softer than the faintest breeze.

Astoria was resting, but the Healer had said he could see her shortly. The three of them, reunited. A family.

But this moment was his.

The Healer, or someone, was back, watching him, but Draco's eyes would not release his son. Vaguely, he registered the figure crouching down next to the other cot, a hand reaching out.

It landed softly on his shoulder.

"He's beautiful."

Harry looked away before their eyes could meet, and Draco knew it was for the best.

His gaze fell on the other child, swaddled in a blue blanket, his face hidden by a tangle of dark hair and one minuscule fist curled almost defensively across his cheek.

"He is," Draco said.

They stayed that way for a long time, silently listening to their sons breathe. Listening to the ice melt away.

HD Holidays Recs

waterbird — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:01:44 GMT

Thank you to everyone who sent snowflake cookies the other day. So lovely! I was really touched that you thought of me. ♥

I have no cookies to share, but I thought a few recs might be welcome, especially if anyone is already feeling overwhelmed by all the fest fic. I'm actually completely caught up on hd_holidays – and no one is more surprised about that than I am, believe me. I'm so excited about all the good stuff yet to come, it's almost ridiculous!

So here, in order of most recently read, are my favourites so far:

• Fragile Pleasure Here on Earth I Find – If you know me, you know I'm a sucker for Angst – and this fic delivers big time: It's gorgeously written, teeming with layers of pain and longing and loss in a post-war world in which everything isn't just fine again.

• Secretary Tuesdays, or: Things Unspoken – A fun, clever, well-paced fic with Draco serving as secretary to the new Head Auror. A delightful read that had me laughing out loud. The H/D banter seemed, at times, very Mistfulesque. Nice.

• Give Chase – A frenetic piece that had my heart pounding from beginning to end, featuring a confused Draco and a very hot kick-the-door-down sort of Harry.

• Savage – Believe it or not, I've never read a werewolf!Draco fic before this one, but if they're all this good, I'll be hunting them down. An excellent story, very well written, with some very hot sex thrown in as well.

• Observations – Very nicely constructed Auror!fic with some excellently written action scenes. And good sex, too.

• Symbiosis – A really enjoyable Year 8 story with great character dynamics all around and a Hogwarts that feels like ... well, Hogwarts.

Bad sex first thing in the morning - courtesy of The Guardian

waterbird — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:27:15 GMT

Good morning, flist. Here's a little pre-breakfast reading, with the warning that some of it is as bad as the intro suggests. I'm guessing the last one in the list was actually trying for the distinction.

The bad sex factor: extracts from the prize shortlist
Strictly for readers of a robust disposition, here are some of the passages highlighted for particular attention by the judges of the Literary Review's 2009 bad sex in fiction prize

Right. Now, tea.