Name: aelaia (Signed) · Date: 30 Mar 2019 08:00 AM · For: For Her

What a powerful piece!

 

I'm here as promised as you submitted this in response to my Riddikulus Ships challenge.

 

I work part time in a real non fictional prison and I do find myself wondering what the women are truly feeling. Sometimes they decide to inform me, but I love reading Dolohov's perspective as I can see it being so real. His desire for Hermione is something else and I love the unusual way in which this is written.

 

Thank you for bringing my attention to such a beautifully written piece, you're so incredibly talented.

 

- Alice x

Author's Response:

Hi Alice!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review for me! Although I don't write "Riddikulus" ships often, this one was really interesting to explore. I'm glad I had the opportunity to bring your attention to it through your challenge.

The fact that you work in a prison probably brings such an interesting perspective to this story, as a reader! That's so unique!

Thank you for all of your comments and compliments! I appreciate them so much!

Best,
Emily

Name: 800 words of heaven (Signed) · Date: 03 Dec 2018 07:03 AM · For: For Her

Hello, Emily! I am covered in Niffler fur, but I have also rescued a review for you from them, on behalf of Kaitlin/TreacleTart!

 

Ooh! This was super interesting! I loved how you opened and closed with time ticking by. It really illustrated very beautifully how very short a time period Antonin has when he thinks about Hermione. I thought that was very powerful. I also thought it was a great way to show how quickly thoughts flit through your head. For Antonin, he thought about all he was and all he could have been for Hermione in just a few seconds, but it definitely took me longer than that to read!

 

I also found it interesting that Antonin really spent most of the time thinking about himself. For a person who is obsessed with someone, he sure spent a lot of time pondering his own life. It was interesting how it all revolved around how he could have changed his ways for her, but in the end, perhaps he couldn’t. It was as if he was using his obsession with Hermione as an excuse to ponder his own path in life. It was therefore even more interesting that he remained hopeful. I wonder if he is hopeful that he’ll see Hermione again and perhaps be with her one day, or in fact he is hopeful that he will change for the better one day.

 

This was a lovely little story – if a little creepy, haha! I have to admit, Antonin Dolohov is rather unbelievable as a likeable romantic lead :P Until next time!

 

Xx 800

Author's Response:

Aww, hello friends!

Thank you so much for reading and taking the time to leave a review! I'm really glad that you found this story interesting. Dolohov is such an uncomfortable character to write for, and it was tough getting into his head. But it was also fun to explore the mind of someone who isn't fully there in terms of sanity. You hit the nail on the head with your observation that he really is using his obsession to justify considering his own identity. And at the end of the day, I don't think he'll change. He just likes the idea that maybe he could.

I'm glad you found him creepy, and I'm even more glad you enjoyed the story!

Thank you again!
Emily

Name: victoria_anne (Signed) · Date: 02 May 2018 12:12 AM · For: For Her

Here for Team Yellow!

 

Who knew Dolohov could be so romantic and poetic? o.O I was really unsure about this story - like, I've never even thought of this ship being a thing ever - but I'm pleasantly surprised. I think it's because you don't actually see them together, and it's just his thoughts on hers. It's a bit easier to swallow this way. Hermione is beautiful and anyone can see she's fierce and strong, surely at least one Dark wizard thought it. Did Hermione reciprocate the feelings? Is it a one-sided love? Has he just loved her from afar?

 

Anyway, the writing is beautiful and really engaging. I actually like reading Dolohov's POV in this. I think you did a great job with it!

Author's Response:

Hi B!

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I'd never thought of this pairing either, haha. It was very much a challenge entry, and I really wanted to explore his (very creepy) obsession with her. Because it really isn't love, it's just this sort of stalking-type behavior and thoughts. But I did enjoy the poetic nature of this story and the voice that I went with here, so thank you for your compliments on that! And thanks for reading!

Best,
Emily

Name: Pen2Paper (Signed) · Date: 15 Apr 2018 12:14 PM · For: For Her

Hey Emily!

I already submitted a very very long review but it seems it has vanished into thin air so I shall attempt again. I cannot believe I didn't know you were DracoFerret11 and Dark Rose! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT! I DIDN"T KNOW! I CANNOT!

Firstly I have to say I loved this piece. Firstly because I hadn't read anything like this before and concerning Dolohov at all and secondly because it was so beautifully written.

I loved your descriptions, they were powerful and so visual that it was easy to root myself in that cell and see the sunrise, the fracturing rays of gold through the cracks in the cell walls. I could see him, the despair and far-away haunting look he must have as he thought of this fragment of memory of a person he'd seen so long ago but a memory that he was now imprisoned in. 

I loved that it wasn't a tale about regret or trying to redeem Dolohov's character. It was about something so captivating that Dolohov was stuck in this revolving moment seeing her image in his mind and reliving it over and over again. It's without a doubt the best of its kind I've read. 

There are so many ways I think your piece can be interpreted. But I like to think of it as Dolohov being imprisoned in his own mind dedicating everything of his being to a person who will not think twice of him. I truly liked this unusual story and how it was written! 

Thank you also for your suggestion for Scorbus fics, I will read Afternoon Tea next! 

I should also explain, I've also wanted to find you and thank you for all the wonderful reviews you've sent my way many aeons ago. I truly cherished them. You gave me some of the most wonderful reviews I have ever gotten for my fic Caprice, which was the first fic I ever published on HPFF. I had to take an unplanned hiatus because of a lot of real-life issues at the time and it forced me to take a long break from HPFF and writing in general. When I came back the forums had vanished and I tried to find out how I could reach anyone from the forums but I had no means of contacting anyone. 

It took me so long to find HPFT (coming around to it early this year) and much later for me to find you! I'm so sorry I hadn't gotten around to replying to your wonderful reviews then. I hope you can forgive me and know that I loved and deeply appreciated each and every word and I'm so sad that I'll be losing them online when HPFF closes. 

Thank you for all your wonderful encouragement, it has inspired me in so many moments. Do keep writing! You have a wonderful talent for painting pictures with words.

Love,

Calixx

Author's Response:

Ahhh! Hi again Cali!!

Your excitement literally made me smile so much! :D  Sorry for changing my name and ninja-ing you on that, haha! I'm so glad you found me again and put it all together!

I am so happy that you liked this! It was one of the more difficult things I've written, and tackling all the strange elements here was such a fun challenge! Thank you so much for your compliments on the descriptions! That was really what I wanted to lean into here, and I'm so glad they came across!

(I can't wait to hear what you think of "Afternoon Tea" too!)

And also, oh my gosh, you're welcome! I loved Caprice so much and I'm so glad that my reviews meant so much to you! I'll be totally happy to read it all over again and review each chapter! (And I'd definitely claim it in the queue so I get to be the one to validate it! :D || Speaking of which, I validated a lot of the chapters of Heaven Can Wait and thought that was wonderfully written too!)

I hope life has leveled out a bit these days and that you're doing well. This review made my day.

Best always,
Emily

Name: LadyL8 (Signed) · Date: 01 Dec 2017 09:22 PM · For: For Her

Hi Emily,

 

I've wanted to check out your stories for a while, but I've just never had the time to do so until now. I'm really excited to read this story because I don't think I've ever seen this pairing before. I'm really curious to see how you've managed to pair the two of them together. Again, such a strange pairing, but I'm confident you'll manage to pull it off. So yeah, I'm just gonna stop talking now and get right to it.

 

Okay, so first of all. I was right. You did manage to pull of the pairing. Not in such a way that I'd ship them because that's not really the point of the story, but I definitely believe that this is Dolohov. It's interesting to see that he hasn't changed. When I saw the summary and the pairing, I imagined he would have to have had to have changed a great deal for him to feel this way about Hermione, so you really surprised me. It worked though. He is the same guy with the same views - he just feels differently about Hermione. It's almost makes him a little bit hypocritical, which I love because I believe a lot of villains are hypocrites. So yeah, I found that interesting and I really liked it.

 

What really stood out to me in this story though is just how creepy Dolohov is. I mean he was a little bit creepy in the movie too, but here it's like a weird obsession with Hermione. It's really, really creepy. Just the way he talks about her, and having a wedding photograph of her in his cell, ripping away Ron (I assume it's Ron? But you're a Dramione fan I think so it could be Draco too I guess) from the picture. I would be really scared if I was Hermione and I knew about this. It would be creepy if I he wasn't a criminal, but even more so here because he is.

 

So yeah, it was kind of creepy, but I liked it. I think you did a really good job with Dolohov. Villains are never easy to write, but your Dolohov was just very believable and well-written. And I loved the story. Thank you so much for sharing!

 

- Lotte

Author's Response:

Hi Lotte!

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to respond to reviews! Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review this! Your review made my night. Honestly.

I can't express how happy I am with your interpretation of this story! You're spot on in everything! Dolohov is a total hypocrite and creep. He hasn't changed, really. He just thinks of Hermione differently and obsesses over her. He thinks he loves her, but he doesn't even understand what selfless love is. So his experiences are constantly tainted by his skewed point of view. Very weird, for sure.

I guess I hadn't thought of who Hermione was married to in the photo! I probably assumed it was Ron, if this was to be considered canon, but I now love that it's open-ended and could be Draco too. Wooo!

Thank you again for all of your comments and compliments! I really appreciate it!

You rock.

Best,
Emily

Name: abhorsen (Signed) · Date: 05 Oct 2017 06:48 PM · For: For Her

I've actually been avoiding reading this, because it's just such a weird pairing, and I didn't know what to think about it.

You pulled it off, though. I guess I shouldn't be surprised - you're very good at introducing some humanity and nuance to characters who have done some pretty terrible things.

What really made this for me was that you didn't really try to redeem Dolohov. He thought about wanting to change, but it didn't seem like he was really committed to the idea. His thoughts about Hermione actually speaks to that for me far more than anything else - it almost feels like he traded obsession with blood purity and Voldemort in for obsession with Hermione. I saw the same blind faith, the same pedestal, and even the same selfishness in his thoughts about her as I saw in the way a lot of death eaters approached Voldemort.

The picture creeped me out in particular, actually. The idea of him holding on a picture of her at her wedding and using that to fuel his fixation - cutting out any mention of Ron (right? well, regardless), of course - just feels wrong to me, and I think that it speaks volumes about his feelings and his attitude toward her. He's still not really seeing her as a human being - his entire thought process really is all about him and how he feels. He really was quite creepy, which is really what made this work.

One thing did stick out to me, though: you mentioned that he's already had four parole hearings. That seems odd to me; he's a Death Eater, and he acknowledges when he's thinking about Hermione that he's killed people. I'm surprised that he's had any parole hearings, let alone four.

Otherwise, though, this was wonderfully creepy and made my skin crawl in all the right ways. Amazing job with a really tough pairing. ♥

 

*review transferred from HPFF*

Author's Response:

Hello, my dear!


Thank you so much for reading this, despite its strangeness! I totally agree that this is a bizarre and uncomfortable pairing for all sorts of reasons. Dolohov definitely doesn't have a grasp of what "love" actually is. You're completely right to say he has an obsession, not a real understanding of and affection for Hermione. He's just infatuated with the IDEA of her, more than who she really is. And that's very creepy. As for the parole hearings, I tried to imagine that the justice system post-Second War would have changed to allow those who'd followed Voldemort a chance to improve their lives and atone for what they'd done. I imagine that some of the Death Eaters really were doing what they did out of fear rather than racism and loyalty, and I think maybe the government would try to root out those people with genuine desire to better themselves. Dolohov, however, isn't one of those people. He doesn't really feel bad for what he did. He just wishes that getting caught didn't separate him from his obsession. So yes, it's all very creepy.


Again, thank you. You leave such brilliant reviews.


Emily


*response transferred from HPFF*