Name: Dojh167 (Signed) · Date: 07 May 2017 01:54 PM · For: Boom

Transferred from HPFF

 

Hufflepuff CtF Review

I was just saying I need to seek out more Pery stories for CtF! I had a moment of hope that since this was for the Guilty Pleasures challenge it might be light-hearted, but nope. Ah well.

I really like that you chose to explore Percy as a character with PTSD. I don’t think a lot of people would think of him as someone who was hugely impacted by the war, since he did very little fighting and only joined in for the final battle, but that does not mean he would be less affected, especially since he saw his brother die there.

I have always been made very uncomfortable by fireworks, so while your descriptions of them do make me feel on edge, I’m not sure what reaction a reader with “normal” fireworks feelings would have.

Aww, I love that the fireworks are all spontaneous creations of George to amuse little Fred.

Yikes, I heavily relate to Percy using workaholism to try to drown out trauma related thoughts.

I wonder if the others know that he has this response to fireworks. I imagine they’d be very understanding and accommodating, but I can also see Percy being too proud to admit it and the others assuming that he was just shutting himself away as typical no-fun Percy.

While this wasn’t a happy story, I think you did a good job with it and I’m always glad to see Percy getting some well rounded attention in stories.

Sam.

Name: dirtydeedsdonedirtcheap (Signed) · Date: 07 May 2017 07:22 AM · For: Boom

Boom. He could see the wall exploding. Boom. Fred was falling. Boom. He was grabbing at him, trying to save him. Boom. His world flipped upside down.

 

Oh Perce! I can't see through my watery eyes. I feel so bad for Percy. He really did experience something so taumatic. We could argue they all did but everyone processes things differently and I think Percy would have the hardest time letting things go. He's very set in his ways and anything that brings him out of balance would potentially shock him to his very core. I felt horrible reading about him in his room relieving those memories but it was completely believable.

 

 

I am not a fan of fireworks. I am not a fan of the 4th of july. The sounds scare me. Last year I was involved in a false shooting. One minute I was cleaning my store and the next all of my customers started running and they were screaming that someone had a gun. To tell you I was terrified would be an understatement. It turned out these kids were trying to scare everyone and set off a bunch of fireworks inside the mall. It really does sound like a gun going off. I've seen a few signs where I to pretty much be sensible and have a heart because vets live in the area and they can't handle the sound because of PTSD. That's what this story reminds me of.

 

It's clear his family doesn't know about this trigger because I think they would be respectful to Percy and his pain but there's an obvious shame inside of him that he doesn't want anyone else to know. So sad. Really. 

Name: merlins beard (Signed) · Date: 29 Apr 2017 11:28 PM · For: Boom

Hey Kaitlin – here for ctf, to break out plums

Oooh I’ve always loved the weasleys’ fireworks. And it seems so brilliant that it’s a family get together d84; with molly’s cooking and everything. It’s a wonderful idea but I’m already waiting for the angst.

Awwww percy is excluding himself from family things again. It’s so sad to see him always pick work over pleasure. Family time is important, too.

But I get that fireworks are scary for him and triggering old memories that bring back a multitude of emotions – and none of them all that pleasant.

Oh no oh no oh no I had forgotten that Percy was the only Weasley to see Fred’s death. Wow you’ve got a real talent for describing PTSD scenes. How does no one know that this is happening to him. How does molly not know? I feel like, especially as it’s happening right under her nose, Molly would know what the fireworks are doing to percy. I feel like she’d be able to tell. And she’d be able to stop George. And be there for percy before it all goes quite that bad.

Oh no  - drugs really aren’t a solution to this, despite providing temporary relief. It’s tempting and, when it gets this bad, it’s okay to take sleeping pills or potions or whatever I guess. But Percy really needs to get help and quickly, so this doesn’t keep happening to him over and over again.

Xoxo Anja

 

Author's Response:

Hey there! Thank you so much for the review! It truly made my day! I wish I could write you a longer response, but I've gotten so bogged down in review responses lately. I hope you know how much your words mean to me and how much I appreciate your support, encouragement, and critique. Thank you!

~Kaitlin

 

Name: dirigibleplums (Signed) · Date: 29 Apr 2017 11:11 PM · For: Boom

Hello again, Kaitlin!

 

Tis I, Plums, with another review for you. Wondering if the flag has been hidden amongst the words and fireworks in this chapter. And the angst. All the angst.

 

I remember the first time I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, how I read about Fred's death (SO UNEXPECTED, SO UNNECESSARILY CRUEL) and how I had sat there in shock. I was a kid back then so - I am ashamed to say - I wondered why JK Rowling had killed off Fred of all the Weasleys and not someone in the background, such as Charlie, or someone who had deserted them, like Percy. Thankfully, I've grown since then and I do not hold the same beliefs (though Fred's death still hurts to this day). And in recent years, I have contemplated the fact that Percy might have once felt the same, thought the same thing: why not me?

 

And honestly, it's heartbreaking to see how badly Fred's death has affected him, how the whole battle affected him. Fireworks are supposed to be fun, they're supposed to be beautiful. They're not supposed to bring forth memories of your baby brother dying in the space of a second, mere moments after you've reunited. Honestly, I don't blame Percy for being so distraught, though the fact that he can't bring himself to heal and move on is so upsetting.

 

Once again, your description hit it out of the ballpark. Earlier on, I could really picture the scene: the excitement, the bright explosions, the cheeky messages. And then in the last part, I felt the raw and powerful grief of Percy. The inescapable burden of Fred's death weighing him down. You put me into his shoes perfectly. This was (tragically) beautiful.

 

Plums xo

Author's Response:

Hello you lovely human being. Thank you so much for this encouraging review! It really means a lot to me. ~Kaitlin

 

Name: Margaret (Signed) · Date: 02 Nov 2016 03:42 PM · For: Boom

I love stories about the post-war era and how the characters coped. I've written a few too and I love yours.

 

I agree with you about Percy. I think he might have quite a bit to work through after the war. Anyway, back to the story.

 

That is so Percy - working in his room. I get the impression this is more because the fireworks are triggering him, but it is such a Percy way of dealing with it.

 

And this is random, but one of my characters from an original fiction would LOVE to see those fireworks. She's crazy about dragons for some reason.

 

I hadn't thought of how much the fireworks could resemble spells. That makes a lot of sense.

 

Yikes, that part about how people wouldn't miss him if he'd died instead of Fred is really sad. It makes sense though because he was sort of the outcast of the family in some ways, as well as being indicative of survivor's guilt.

Author's Response:

Hey Margaret! 

I'm so glad you like reading my Post-War stories because that seems to be all I write. LOL.

The fireworks being a trigger is something I've actually seen in real life. A lot of soldiers say that the green fireworks remind them of mortars being shot and that the red ones remind them of explosions. When I started thinking about that in the context of the war, I realized that they might also look like spells exploding or being shot and it made sense to me that Percy might feel particularly uncomfortable with them after seeing Fred die. 

Thanks for the lovely review! 

~Kaitlin