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Hi there! I'm stopping by for the Magical Menagerie!
First, I would like to applaud you for your stunningly beautiful imagery. Your descriptions of spring - from the sights to the smells - were so vivid and lively that I felt like I was experiencing it for real. It was a most welcome escape for me, as I, like so many others, am currently stuck in the dead of winter. So thank you for that!
I really admired your characterization of Millicent here. You broke a lot of Slytherin stereotypes, which I'm always happy to see. I like that she wasn't depicted as nothing more than the mean-spirited bully we see in the books. You showed a softer, more likeable side to her, and I always love seeing generally one-dimensional characters fleshed out in such a way. You humanized her and made her into someone we can resonate with.
It made me really happy that Millicent decided to go flying at the end. It's always sad to see people give up on something they love so much because it reminds them of a former friend or lover. So even though it took some time, I'm glad she decided to try it again. It was a nice little reminder that time heals all wounds - maybe not completely, but it definitely helps.
Great job with this!
Cheers,
Reilly
Author's Response:Reilly!
How late am I with my reply to this lovely review?? *insert see-no-evil-emoji* It's embarassing because I really really apreciated your kind words.
It's always good to find out my descriptions work for others as well and I'm so happy I brought across the anticiaption and hope that spring embodies – event to someone still stuck in winter.
Your take on my characterisation of Millicent is really flattering. To be perfectly honest, I didn't think it all out like that, most of it came more on the fly… I find writing something to do with romance makes it easy to explore the softer, more likeable sides of a character, because there has to be a reason the other person(s) is(are) in love with them. But I guess that does mean humanizing them, it just wasn't as intentional as I now wish it had been.
It's nice that the ending resonated with you! It seems like you it means similar things to you like it does to me :)
Thank you for taking the time to review!
Love,
Jo
Hi Jo! I’m here for the Chalices – congrats on your nomination! I really loved this! Not only is it about Millicent, whom I hardly ever find stories about, but it also has elements of Millicent/Astoria and that makes it even better :D I love your sensory description of Spring in the beginning and how the air just smells like spring. And spring totally does make a big entrance, too. (Maybe I just notice that because of my spring allergies though XD) And the way you describe all her memories of Astoria in the springtime coming back to her, that’s such gorgeous imagery.
I also love the idea of Millicent as the Arithmancy professor. I love seeing this different side to her and more about her. It’s also perfectly fitting with the little we know about her from canon and therefore really feels like it could fit – in canon as I recall she was kind of a serious person, and Arithmancy is probably the most serious subject (or at least the most difficult sounding) at Hogwarts.
The description of Astoria as being made of wind and sunshine is just beautiful. I’m kinda sad on Millicent’s behalf that they didn’t get to be together, but it does seem that with the passage of time she’s accepted that they were just too different and she’s happy for what they had, happy that she had the chance to love Astoria once. So it ends on this kind of hopeful note, which is a really nice ending.
Lovely story! Good luck in the Chalices! <3
Author's Response:Hey Kirstin, thank you for stopping by and leaving a review!
And it's such a lovely review, you say such nice things about this, it makes me like my own writing so much more I'm afraid it might be getting to my head.
You're not the first person to mention spring allergies in relation to this story and as someone who's never had any I feel very sorry for you for missing out on such an awesome season.
It's awesome that you enjoyed the story and my interpretation of these characters. And I agree that letting the past go in favor of the present was a good thing for Millicent, I'm happy you picked up on that and found it effective.
Thank you again!
Love,
Jo
Hello Jo!
It seems really rare to give Slytherins an affinity for something soft like Spring, but I love that you did this, and it reads really well. I also like how you emphasized the boldness and lack of subtlety of Spring, which I think suits Millicent really well.
At first I assumed that Millicent was a student in this, and her as a teacher is an interesting idea!
Wow I really like Astoria in this. Even just from her entrance, her boldness and character is very engaging. Her carrying around the quaffle kind of reminded me of James with the snitch, but a ina more grounded and less showy way.
I liked the line you had about how students didn’t like teachers taking up spaces they felt belonged to them. I hadn’t really thought about that before, but it definitely makes sense as a thing that would effect everyone in the castle.
The paragraph about how Millicent had decided their time together was worth all those other sacrifices was really good, and became painful (n a good, well written way) when you tied in Astoria deciding it wasn’t worth it.
I think you did a good job of weaving together the past and the present in this story, and it flowed really well. At first I thought that Astoria would end up being in the present timeline, but you tricked me with sadness.
It kind of made me sad to think of Millicent, so many years later, still hung up over what happened between them and seeing signs of it all over her workplace and home (lol says me who has never gotten over anyone in my life).
This was a really nice little piece with some good surprises and a nice level of authenticity.
I hope you’re doing well!
Sam.
Author's Response:Aaaaaw, Sam!
Thank you for stopping by! And yes, I'm doing well, I hope you are too?
It means a lot to me that you liked this story, as I adore the way you portray relationships and aspire to write them like you do one day.
I'm really sorry and also not sorry at all about tricking you with sadness.
I'm utterly failing at this reply because in every paragraph of your review you say such nice things that all I can do in response is blush and then I don't know what to say because I don't want to be like a parrot and say "Thank you for liking the flow and thank you for liking the interweaved timelines and thank you for liking Astoria and thank you for calling my writing good and well written…"
Thank you for your review Sam!
Love,
Jo
Hello <3
This was just beautiful. I loved how you opened this, saying how Millicent considered spring to be her own personal season and then going on to describe why she loves it.
I really loved how you characterized Millicent. It’s refreshing to see her cast in this light. In the books she’s only ever really described as very mean and harsh and as a bully. So, I really enjoyed seeing her like this! (I’m always here for Slytherin characters that are described differently than how JKR stereotyped them to be)
The end made me so sad ☹ I kinda figured that they wouldn’t end up together, but it still made me so sad to read! Especially that line that says, “the Astoria she had loved had been made of wind and sunshine, and definitely hadn’t done what people expected her to – not even people who loved her.”
The way you used description and meaning in this was so beautiful, like the ending with “the broom shed would be open.” I love that. Though it makes me sad. D: I love unrequited love fics, but I also hate them at the same time because the SADNESS!! I digress. This was a really good piece!! <3 And I’m lowkey shipping Millicent/Astoria now haha.
~Maggie
Author's Response:Hi Maggie,
thank you for taking the time to review and I apologise it took me so long to reply to your awesome review.
How awesome that I got you to ship Millicent/Astoria! Actually, before I wrote this I had a very long and very dark story planned for them, in which Astoria suffers in an unhealthy marriage with Draco and looks back on her teenage love with Millicent/turns to Millicent as a life boat despite dumping her and it was all very bleak (the title would have been "to be broken", which tells you all there's to know about that fic) and I'm really glad I ended up writing this instead. Cheers to writers block/lazyness - sometimes it can have positive results…
About Millicent/Slytherins, I think it's super important to remember they are the heros of their own narratives, when writing them. Nobody is just black and white and they have their own people they protect and care deeply about… So yeah, HP is a childrens' book, but I'm not very fond of the Stereotype either.
I feel you so so much about loving and hating unrequitted love fics - it's honestly the same for me. The best thing a story can do is make my heart feel like it's about to break and the longer the writer manages to keep me in that state the more I love the story. This is actually my ultimate writing goal - being able to make someone feel that.
Your review made me very happy, thank you again for that!
Love,
Jo
Hi, Jo!
Oh my goodness, what a beautiful piece, especially since it seems to really suit your writing style. I loved all of your descriptions of spring – if I had a better relationship with the season (allergies are out to kill me omg), this piece almost definitely would’ve inspired me to go outside more during such a beautiful season. Your descriptions were that beautiful. I was feeling really sad about my allergies, especially during this line – “The sun was standing low over the forbidden forest and bathing the grounds in golden light. Bright young greens and the first blooms were peeking down at her from trees that had been dry and grey just days ago.” Because, I want that so badly, I want to be able to see that without subsequently sneezing myself into oblivion hahaha.
Anyway, the whole point of that ridiculously long paragraph was just to say that I love your writing style very much. (Also it’s so picturesque and vivid that I’ve been sneezing for the past five minutes just from your spring imagery. Jk it’s not your fault hahaha. <3)
I also loved this further exploration into a character we don’t know much about, other than Jo (not you Jo, J.K. Rowling Jo) characterizing her as gruff and mean and horrid. And it’s really nice to see this human aspect to her, that like many other people, she loves spring and can’t stand to be cooped up inside, and that she also, for a time, liked Astoria and liked kissing her. (Which I love by the way. Astoria/Millicent is a ship I’d never considered before, especially because of the year gap, but I think it’s brilliant and amazing and I applaud you for coming up with it.) It’s also so interesting that Millicent ended up being an Arithmancy teacher! Like, I love that Millicent loves Arithmancy, it’s just such a nice addition to her character.
All in all, I love what this piece did with spring, and what it did with Millicent. I love that she managed to finally realize that she was restricting Astoria and that it wasn’t Astoria’s fault for wanting freedom. Such a beautiful piece. <3
~Eva
Author's Response:Hey Eva <3
What an awesome compliment, that you almost wanted to go out into the spring despite your allergies :D It's awesome that my descriptions worked so well for you.
About exploring Millicent as a character, I'm glad you liked it. I've got this deep rooted belief, that (almost) everyone who's a meanie in someone's story is a good person in their own story, and has people who they love and are exceedingly sweet and caring towards. So that's how I approached Millicent and everything else was really just a spur of the moment thing - this is my one story I put the least planning in, I just took the feeling of spring and went with it.
Millicent/Astoria was actually the result of a twitter poll - I think the other option would have been Pansy/Astoria - it's really weird to think this piece could have not been about Millicent at all… I think HPFT twitter made a very good decision :D
Thank you for taking the time to review and leave such a positive review. I hope you can forgive me for the ages it took to respond.
Love,
Jo
Hello, dear!
I expected this to be more lighthearted, but it's actually very tender.
Your description is beautiful, and it really helps tie the present moment with the memory of her youth in a visceral way. Also, I feel like there's a sort of deeper level analogy of spring bursting out, that joy, and then heating up beyond what was intended is like summer, then the coolingof fall, and bitterness of winter.... but eventually back to spring. Back to that joy. I feel like I explained that really badly, so I hope it makes some kind of sense. =P
I love your portrayal of Astoria! I usually see her written around her 6ht year or later, so seeing her here when she's younger, before the war, was fun! I love her exuberance, and the way she and Millicent connect around that excitement about life. This especially came through because of how you contrasted them against the blad, staid characters of Pansy and Daphne.
"The Astoria she had loved had been made of wind and sunshine"
^LOVELY
So, the ending of this story SUPER resonates with me, because I have been in a relationship that ended for somewhat similar reasons, although thankfully with less bitterness. It made me happy that Millicent was able to return to flying, that she culd still find joy in the past memories of her time with Atoria, and also that she could find joy in the present, in herself alone. Having those two things at the same time is quite special.
Really, even with the tenderness, this is such a joyful story and it does make me think of the weather right now, which is FINALLY spring-like after a very long winter. <3
Total change in subject, but as a teacher I must mention I was also excited that you made Millicent a professor! :D
Really lovely story! <3
xoxo Renee
Author's Response:Renee, thank you for your review!
Please forgive the loooooong time I took to reply, I'm really sorry. Even more so since your review was one of the first one I received for spring barges in and it made me very happy to find out you'd liked it.
Your observation about the seasons representing the story itself is very clever and I wish I had been so clever as to include it deliberately.
I'm glad you liked the ending, it's something that surprised me, but once it was there it instantly made sense. Of course Millicent must get over it - anything else would have been so unhealthy, to still be hung up about a relationship ending in her teens, when she's come so far since then career-wise. There was a war on in the meantime, for gods sake. The ending probably reflects a personal development I experienced and I'm very content with this.
Thank you again for the time you took to respond to this!
Love,
Jo
Jo!!!
Oh, my Merlin! You are soooo good at words, have I ever told you? I'm sure I have.
This was so beautiful! I just loved the melancholy that permeated this, the way you described Spring as this prorompent force that can't be contained or overlooked, Millicent's thoughts and memories, Astoria's entusiasm and youth and joy of living...
I could imagine the two girls flying together so well, I could hear their laughter, feel the wind on them... I loved how you wrote the progression of their relationship, from friends who like to spend time together in unconventional ways, to lovers who stole kisses in the school corridors... And then the breakup... And while it was hurtful, it's also so believable and real to life, because we don't always have the same goals or give the same meanings to things and situations like this can certainly happen.
I also really love, but that's because I'm partial, that Millicent became the Arithmancy teacher. It's not something I would have thought, but I love the idea. :)
And of course I love how this ends with a sort of acceptance and that even if it's still hurtful, time has helped and Millicent knows that she wasn't meant to keep Astoria for herself.
This was such a lovely one-shot, and you need to write more, darling, because your words are magical!
Love you so much!
Chiara
Author's Response:Thank you, Chiara!
The first review to a new story after such a long time was really meaningful to me and I'm very glad and relieved you enjoyed you read.
You are too nice to me, I never know what to say when you say such nice things! Especially since I'm such a noob at writing and I stopped by your AP the other day and you're written TWO novels on ther while I manage one one-shot in two years :O
I was really surprised myself of the direction this story took. I didn't know how to end it and my first instinct was to make it heartbreaking, but I'm so glad I didn't. I surprised myself with it, but the acceptance in the end means a lot to me. It's something I would have told you I believed deeply (that you can't be hung up over one break up for the rest or your life, that it only makes you bitter and so on, that if you ever really loved someone you'll want them to be happy even without you) but apparently I didn't have it internalised as well as I thought. And of course, if Millicent is 30 or 40 it would be highly problematic if she never managed to get over her teenage crush! I'm very very grateful I managed to end it the way I did and that you liked this part about the story as well <3
I promise I'll try to write more! Thank you so much for your encouragement.
Love you too,
Jo
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