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Hey, there, Paula! Happy holidays! :D
(Also, thank you so, so, so much again for the podfic, I really appreciated it so much! <3)
You know me, I can't skip a good Jily, and this was just adorable! I loved the idea of this so much! (And I can't blame Lily one bit for being in love with James... how do you not fall in love with him? I want a James Potter, too... <3)
I can't believe (I can, actually, but also it makes me furious) that the Ministry would do nothing about the Death Eaters' rally! I suppose at this point in time they aren't seen as a danger and their violent tendencies aren't evident yet, but still... the fact that the authorities would just stand by and do nothing is the most disturbing part of all!
That's such a typical Marauder thing to organize! :P The idea in itself that James' serenade would cover up the Death Eaters' protests was hilarious... but that they actually made them dance along... oh, my Merlin! I wish I were there to see the scene! Ahahah! Lily's confession that she might be in love with James, and Mary's comment that she'd been for years... I love that! I mean, we all knew that Lily'd been in love with James since forever, but I bet she's still trying to deny it... :P
The interactions when the four boys entered the cafe were perfect! James' nervousness, Sirius winking, Remus being the one to actually stop and chat... also, Peter wanting extra foam on his latte seems so on brand for some reason! :P I just loved the characterization, even in such a short story and with very small details! :D (Sirius mimicking James' "Bye, Lily" as they leave was just perfect and made me laugh, too! :P)
And I loved the teasing at the end! And, oh my Merlin, Lily actually imagining asking James out... now I want to see that!!! You should write me a sequel, just saying...
This was adorable and perfect and such a fun read! Hopefully I'll be back soon for more of your lovely writing! <3
Snowball hug and happiest of holidays!
Chiara
I love the idea of the Marauders messing with Death Eaters/ sympathizers in this manner. Clever one-shot. :)
I love this and I was grining the entire time. The characters really come alive, and they're so vibrant. I really loved how Sirius (of course) brought a saxophone. I don't really have the words to express how much I loved this fic. Excellent job!
PAULA! Our beautiful Claw of the Month <3 I'm here to leave you a review of appreication for being literally the best human on the planet. I don't think this review will convey even a fraction of how much I care about and appreciate you, but hopefully it's a good glimpse :P
This fic has made me so unexpectedly emotional omg. I'm just...idk. As someone who has experienced hate way too often (and with everything happening in the news this week especially), all the shouting and the comments about Muggleborns "taking space" touched me really personally and I got really choked up--especially the line about how it wasn't a personal attack, but it felt like one. I think you've perfectly nailed how it feels like to face so much hate, to have the world essentially denying you your personhood.
I love that you used this to illustrate Lily's personality. The fact that her first instinct was to check on other Muggleborns is just so telling of her incredibly selfness and generosity and capacity for love, and you've perfectly nailed her characterization. Also I really love that she immediately wants to look after the other Muggleborns. Hate is terrible, but it has a unique ability to drive communities together (even as it drives some communities apart).
I LOVE James and Sirius's dancing so much. It's just...so good. I'm grinning so wide. My face is going to crack into two. I love the whole idea of it, because the absurdity of the dancing kind of ruins the seriousness of the rally, and the fact that they have to dance along really highlights the absurdity of their taunting. It felt so good at laugh at the bigots, and I think I'm going to try to carry that mentality forward with me.
I also have to point out one line specifically because it just struck me so hard. I loved Lily's thought about how it was better that James and Sirius were performing, because they'd be less likely to be brutally attacked than Peter and Remus. It was a bit chilling, but also such a good illustration of privilege--and of allyship. If you have the privilege of being able to speak up without being killed for doing so, then do it. That's such a powerful message and lesson to anyone trying to figure out how to be an ally.
And a final note: "You've been in love for him for the past four years." Ohmyod. My heart is one big puddle and I'm just so delighted. I feel a bit like I could float away haha, it's the best feeling.
This is the loveliest fic. I feel stronger after reading it. I think it's exactly what I needed after a really really hard week. Thank you so much for sharing!
<3 Shreya
Hey Paula,
This is just a fun little story! I thought it was a really creative way of addressing how they've struggled from an early age with the 'death eaters' as we are so used to seeing them fighting the death eaters with the Order but it was still a problem though this form of 'death eaters' is obviously not as extreme as we see in a few years time but still pretty terrible.
This just put the biggest smile on my face that James would do something quite so brave and stupid but it fits in perfectly with his Gryffindor side. A lot of things could have happened to him but he felt like he wanted to protect and make Lily laugh throughout this terrible day that she is having. It was totally a ballsy move but it really endears James to the reader. I think everyone who reads this would be shipping them together. I love how much that you've drawn together all the gang to help out in this prank together including Remus and Peter.
I have major 'ten things I hate about you' vibes from this piece which I totally love! I think the little revelation on Lily's part was adorable. I love that she is there doing the 'latte art' for their coffees while trying to be cool about it. the little details of Sirius' look to her and Mary/Benji's bet about her asking him out. I'm not a coffee person but I'm hoping butterbeer lattes are a thing in the wizarding world because it's sounds to good not to be true! Well done on crafting such a wonderful cute Jily moment. <3
Abbi x
(HC Finale '19 - Vote Maya Chon)
Hey Paula!
I’m honestly not sure how I haven’t read this yet, but here we are! :P
First of all, I really love the feminist overtones you start off with right away and the paralells they draw to some of the current affairs of the world today with the Death Eaters “protesting” and the government not really doing anything because of they’re “technically” exercising their right to freedom of speech -- well done there. Lily’s fear is very much justified, and her concern for her fellow muggleborn Dirk is touching. Benjy and Mary in the shop with her are such good supporters of her, and their comments are great! And then we get James and Sirius acting like complete idiots with a SAXOPHONE and magically projected voice SINGING Celestina Warbeck AT the Death Eaters? Priceless, I tell you! Their complete nonchalance about the spectacle they’ve just achieved not minutes ago as they enter the cafe is hilarious and also so Marauders it hurts. Please tell me there are plans for a sequel to this where they do some similar antics at a different event but it’s like five times as large of a crowd or better yet, THEY’RE doing the performance AT a Celestina Warbeck concert! :P Man that would be great, and I really liked this fic a lot, Paula. Great as always!! :)
~MadiMalfoy
(18-19 House Cup Finale Constituent Smoozing event)
Hi, Paula. I guess your family members have a good time.
I love how you created the Marauders' prank. They let those arrogant Death Eaters dance and they did revenge for the Muggle-Borns. I clapped my hands smiling at Lupin who actually let the Death Eaters dance while James sang off-key passionate Celestina's songs along with cool Sirius Black's saxophone. It's no barbaric way, rather sophisticated one. Death eaters are dancing jazzy jig! A nice plot!
Your describing from Lily's dark mood to bright mood is marvelous. The first half told us how the time was getting worse and worse for the Muggle-Borns. The descriptions about her work as a barista is visually well written, feeling like I could even smell coffee flavour.
The latter half, you spared space for Jilly ship, they are balanced well after the prank scene and we can't stop smiling feeling their scalding falling in love each other. You are very talented author, Paula. I think I can learn a lot from you. Thank you for sharing a wonderful fic.
K
Hey there!
I'm here with a review for the Magical Menagerie Review Event as well as the Gryffindor Red vs Gold Review event for January 2019! It's been way too long since I've been over to your author's page, so I thought I'd pop in and say hello. This looked like a fun story, so here I am.
Ugh. Death eaters are awful and I'm sad that Lily has to put up with them so often. And the Ministry is just absolutely useless. Even if they don't consider it hate speech, they should consider the comfort of the people who are Muggleborn trapped near by.
I like that you include a moment where she wonders if Severus is out there. All too often, people act like he was never a part of her life once they aren't friends anymore, but I would think she'd often wonder if he was hidden behind the death eater masks.
Ooh. James and Sirius. They are so hilarious. This sounds exactly like something they'd do. It's perfect to imagine them out there singing Cauldron of Hot Strong Love to drown out the hateful chants from the crowd. I'm dying over the image of Sirius playing saxaphone and Remus enchanting the crowd to dance a jig. Seriously, a beautiful moment.
Ah. Lily has finally arrived at the conclusion that she's in love with James.
Aww. The interaction at the end was so sweet. I'm glad that Benjy and Mary were there to give her grief over it. I personally agree that James will have to make the first move because she'll need awhile to process it all.
Good job! This was a lovely piece!
~Kaitlin
Paula,
I'm sorry I never reviewed this after I recorded it. This story was an absolute treat to read. There was so much fun layered into this story. Your humor was so incredibly on point. It had me grinning from ear to ear the entire time I was working with this story.
I absolutely love that you had Lily working a part time job, I think this is a feature that a lot of people foreget to include. I also find your take of there being people who march around in protest exsist during the time of the war as it builds up rather than just heated opinions in the Daily Prophet and Death Eater attacks. I think you having protesters grounds things in the real world a little bit more that is a nice touch.
I absolutely love how you had all four marauders working together in tag team to stop the protesters from James' singing, Sirius' back up with the sax, Remus' wand work and Peter's part in playing lookout you did a lovely job of making it a four man job and wonderfully included Peter in the story instead of ignoring him as so many people do.
Honestly the music and dancing was a riot in my opinion and I aodre how this is the start of Lily falling inlove with James Potter and it gives a nice indication toward Lily and James eventually defying the Dark Lord which is part of the prophecy. Seriously wonderful job. I particularly enjoyed the side commentary from Benjy and Mary.
Again, this was a real treat to read aloud, I had a lot of fun recording and reading this story.
-Magical Menagerie Review
Hi Paula, here for the menagerie! I love the image you've opened with -- a street protest that is eerily reminiscent of recent world events. For some reason I hadn't considered the Death Eaters doing street protests? But it's entirely possible they did -- they were all about intimidation, after all, and that would work wonderfully if they did it in Diagon.
All the little details of this story really make it come to life -- the way the sun glinting off their masks blinds her, the tiny tasks of steeping a tea bag. I love that Lily wants to go check on Dirk, and I hope he's doing ok. :( The Ministry official is of course the worst, but I can definitely see it -- it's not clear whether he means the protesting is traditional wizarding values or the blatant blood prejudice but it could very easily be both. You've really driven the inaction home here -- the way the customers aren't actually *doing* anything, the way Lily knows that the Ministry doesn't WANT to do anything, it's so effective.
But then MARAUDERS TO THE RESCUE. The tactic they've chosen is delightful -- it reminds me of that video of the guy playing the tuba next to the nazi protest, have you seen it? That may well be where you got the idea. XD But this is EVEN BETTER because now they're forced to DANCE TO IT. And of course Lily has been in love with Potter for years, I love how casually you've integrated the Jily into the plottier aspects of the fic.
Aaaaah and then the blushing! James going tharn! It's perfect, especially surrounded by everyone else in the scene smirking and knowing exactly what's going on. I love the way you've written the interactions between all these characters, it's a delight, and I'm so glad you've taken what's quite a dark initial scene and turned it around so I'm grinning by the end of the fic. Spectacular job. <3
Paulaaaaaaaaaa how have I not read this before??? It’s Jily and coffee shops, which are like, two of my favourite things in this whole dang world.
Your characterisation of Lily is just so spot-on; she’s got a lot of fire and spunk and is obviously super annoyed by the Death Eater demonstrators, but the fact that she’s also thinking about Dirk Cresswell at the shop next door and wanting to check up on him shows just how big her heart is as well.
Also, that whole thing with the Ministry official refusing to intervene and being like ‘oh, it’s just traditional values’ is just so gosh darn translatable to the real world because that’s the justification for all these stupid white supremacy and unite the right rallies in DC and it drives me so mad because it’s so blatantly hate speech but no one in a position of power will call it that and it’s just. Ughhhhhhh.
But anyways, back to the fun fluffy things about this story because that’s what I’m here for.
The boys are geniuses for this. Like, honestly, what a way to break up a bunch of bigots - singing really trashy love songs and making them all dance along. Kinda ruins the creepiness of the masks and the threatening demeanour when you’re also dancing along to a teenager singing a terrible ballad.
SIRIUS WITH A SAXOPHONE. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH MORE THAN I EVER THOUGHT I WOULD.
Also a butterbeer latte sounds incredible and I really want one. (I say this both because it’s tasty and because I slept for like 2 hours last night and am a shell of a review-writing human at this point.)
Alright keysmash time because asdf;agajlfg Lily is so obviously in love with him and they’re both such flirty dorks and I love that Benjy and Mary are making bets on them and Lily’s internally screaming and James is watching her make coffee and Sirius can totally tell that Lily’s fallen for James and it’s just a matter of time and this is just all the Jily wonderfulness and fluff that I LOVE so thank you for sharing this because I’m smiling at my computer screen on an airplane like a dumbass.
-Taylor
Written for the Magical Menagerie event and January RvG
Hey Paula! Here for the Magical Menagerie and for Gryffindor's RvG (Go Gold!!)
James and Lily Fluff? Death Eater demonstrations, which are interrupted by brilliant youth? Butterbeer lattes? Paula, your fic has EVERYTHING.
The details of this piece come together so nicely here. I love how you have some familiar canon names sprinkled throughout (Dirk, Mary, and Benjy) along with our favorites and how you reference the Order of the Phoenix. Then you have what's happening outside the cafe: Death Eaters in masks, chanting about "traditional wizarding values." I have many, many thoughts on that (some that would definitely warrant warning points for me). But that Ministry official who blabbers on about "free speech" is so realistic because, unfortunately, it happens in the real world. (Have you heard about the paradox of tolerance? In order to be fully tolerant, you must intolerate the intolerate. Here, the Ministry, in efforts to be "tolerant," is "tolerant" towards the intolerance of the Death Eaters. Because of this, the Death Eater (aka Dark Rebellion) grows, and it becomes an out-of-control War. If the Ministry nipped it in the butt, like they should have, the Death Eaters wouldn't have grown like they do in canon. Probably.)
Anyway, thank you for listening to my tangent. Because you included this "tolerating the intolerant" aspect, you make the Marauders' part even better. Sure, they are a motely crew of arrogant teenage boys. But they are also dishing it right back to the Death Eaters. I find it so satisfying that the Marauders are doing peaceful resistance (though how peaceful is making the Death Eaters dance, I'm not sure) and really throwing a wrench into the Death Eaters' message. I love how you not only portray comedy here, but bravery and hope. The boys are definitely Gryffindors here, and the hope that Lily has upon seeing them is contagious.
Adding that tension between Lily and James is icing on the cake, really. We know what happens from here. ;)
Paula, this is SUCH a good fic. I'm so glad that you wrote this, and I hope for a sequel of some sort! :)
Paula. PAULA. Oh my goodness. Listen, I have been sick and miserable the last few days, but this has me grinning like a lunatic! This was completely delightful!
Okay, so first of all I'm just going to say that I kind of love the idea of Lily working as a barista on Diagon Alley? The books never really show anyone working summer jobs but that's a common thing in the Muggle world, so it seems to me that it would be a thing in the Wizarding world too? And the little details you peppered in - like Butterbeer lattes? I loved it!
Now, the rally of Death Eaters. Honestly, knowing everything that comes next, that's so horrifying to imagine. (Except I don't really have to imagine, because we see these things in real life too. Ugh.) And the Ministry official talking about their right to protest... honestly, it felt very in line with the way the Ministry acted later in the books, just very hands off and refusing to address or own problems (and even sort of agreeing with ideas but not necessarily with methods). And again, unfortunately, true to the way a lot of governments act in real life.
I thought you really did well in communicating the way that a rally like that feels to someone who is being targeted by a hate group's rhetoric. It gets so easily brushed off as just people expressing their free speech, but when you are the one that they are expressing hate towards, it really can be frightening and feel threatening - like you are being personally attacked.
And then... the Marauders. It was SO perfect. All of it perfectly in character, from the overall scheme to the little details. This is exactly the sort of ridiculous - yet effective! - plan I could see them hatching. And imagine the Death Eaters having to explain to Voldemort that they were chased out of Diagon Alley by some teenagers performing Celestina Warbeck! :'D
And now... I'm just going to start listing stuff.
-the words "Sirius's saxophone" made me cackle sooo loudly. i have to know - when you wrote this were you imagining him, like, playing the right notes with magic, or were you imagining him as A Seasoned Saxophone Player? (new headcanon?!)
-Remus concentrating all seriously on making these Death Eaters dance? I love him? Also his warmness towards Lily was so endearing.
-JAMES OFFERING SIRIUS A HAND TO HELP HIM OFF THE BENCH? I probably overreacted to this little detail but honestly it made me melt!
-"Same old, same old," he said as if they hadn't created a massive spectacle of themselves only moments before" so..... same old, same old then. :')
ANYWAY Paula this was so cute and fun, thank you for cheering me up!
(OH, and happy holidays!)
Love, Kayla
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