Name: AbraxanUnicorn (Signed) · Date: 26 Jun 2017 03:33 PM · For: Back And Forth

 

You always have the most amazing ideas for stories, and this one is no exception to that rule! Fudge certainly cannot say he didn’t receive ample warning about Voldemort’s second rise to power after all those letters from Dumbledore, starting with the one from 1991 or earlier, when Voldemort was camping out in an Albanian forest. Foolish Fudge, naively thinking that his band of Aurors would be sufficient protection if Voldemort did rise again, when they were precious little use last time? And being so convinced that he was long dead – what a mistake to make.

 

 

 

I had to laugh at Fudge dreading the letters bearing the Hogwarts seal when it was only the second one he received from Dumbledore (according to this story anyway, which I might just adopt as canon as it’s so damn cute and entirely plausible). Fudge, signing himself off as “Your Obedient Servant” was something else that gave me a giggle; if he was an obedient servant, he’d have listened to Dumbledore and released Hagrid immediately upon request.

Nobody, least of all Fudge, can say that Dumbledore hasn’t given a number of ways in which the Minister could redeem himself. It’s astounding really when he was faced with so much evidence to the contrary, Fudge continued to resolutely insist that Voldemort had not returned. Talk about an ostrich burying its head in the sand. How he lived to regret some of the decisions he made during his disastrous reign, I’m sure.

I absolutely love this story! The way it starts off, fairly amicably, but soon descends into suspicion and hostility with each passing year. It’s brilliantly written and presented (as all your stories are). Thank you for a great read!

Brax X

Author's Response:

Hey Brax,

 

Thank you! Coming from you, that's a high compliment since you are such a brilliant writer.

 

Yeah. Fudge seems to me the perfect representation of most politicians. Ignoring whatever they can ignore for as long as they can. They never seem to care how much chaos it will cause. They just motor on and then let someone else deal with cleaning up the mess.

 

I had fun writing the passive aggressive letters from Fudge to Dumbledore. I imagine the Your Obedient Servant signature as a sort of sarcastic response.

 

Ah thank you so much!

 

~Kaitlin

Name: nott theodore (Signed) · Date: 26 Jun 2017 08:46 AM · For: Back And Forth

Hi Kaitlin!

 

Ooh, I love the Hamilton soundtrack (though I couldn't afford to get tickets to go and see the show itself) so I'm really intrigued to see what you've done with this story. I could hear the song in my head as I read through this and I found your choice of characters really interesting for this story.

 

I think my favourite thing about this story is the way that we see Albus Dumbledore in a very different role to the one in which he is normally cast. We tend to see him as someone who is very calm and collected, especially with Harry but with most of the students as well, but in this I feel like the tone of authority came through really well, as well as the sense of frustration he feels corresponding with Cornelius Fudge. Fudge has been under Dumbledore's wing, in a sense, and always asking him for advice, but I thought you portrayed his growing confidence and refusal to listen to the advice which he sorely needed very well. No wonder Dumbledore got so frustrated and annoyed at him. 

 

We don't get to see a lot of Fudge in the novels but I liked the way that you portrayed him here, and I think that you characterised him well. One thing I particularly enjoyed was the way that his prejudice and stubbornness starts coming out in these letters much earlier than we see it in the books. In the third book, when we see him initially from Harry's perspective, he seems to be quite a sweet, fatherly figure, and it's only later that he becomes arrogant and blind to what he doesn't want to see. I think these letters showed really well that the potential for him to behave that way was actually always there, and Dumbledore could see it and was trying to combat those prejudices and make Fudge see sense from a much earlier point in time than I realised.

 

I really enjoyed your characterisation of Dumbledore here too. As I've said, he comes across a lot more forceful and authoritative than he tends to in most depictions of him, but he doesn't lead the Order of the Phoenix and take charge of Hogwarts for nothing. There's a sense of power radiating through these letters very subtly which ties in with his character well.

 

My favourite aspect of his character which you communicated really well here is his determination to stand up for what is right and for what he believes in. It's a very Gryffindor quality, I think, and even though we don't see him making big waves we can see from these letters that, from the very beginning of the series, Albus Dumbledore is trying to make sure that those who are innocent are protected and reduce the risks of Voldemort coming to power again. His frustration with Fudge - who is so rude and blind - was palpable, and I really enjoyed seeing that side to him.

 

Sian :)

Author's Response:

Hey Sian!

 

Thank you for this lovely review! I swear you leave some of the best reviews out there. :)

 

Tbh, I haven't seen the show or heard the soundtrack. I'm not big on listening to musical soundtracks without having seen the show. I only opted for this song because it was for the Hamilton challenge.

 

I think in canon we do see some of Dumbledore's growing frustration with Fudge in the way he talks about him to Harry and others. I imagine he tried to be polite, but firm in his encouragement of Fudge to do the right thing. But I think after he put Hagrid in Azkaban, I imagine Dumbledore changing his tone a bit.

 

Yeah. I felt like Dumbledore was always good at picking out people's weaknesses. Ron getting frustrated and going home, but knowing he'd always want to come back. Counting on Hermione to overthink the Hallows clues and give them enough time to find Horcruxes before obessessing over the Hallows. Knowing that Snape would move heaven and earth to atone for Lily. I don't think Fudge would be any different.

 

I always imagined Fudge being someone who sort of clung to power, which is why he reached out to Dumbledore in the beginning. I think what changed is that he realized Dumbledore wouldn't be swayed by his brown nosing...and then he sort of started to see him as a threat to power.

 

Dumbledore is a super grey character for me. I think he does a lot of awful things to get the ends he desires. I do think he is ultimately well intentioned, but I guess he just still lacks some morals in how he gets there. I think Hagrid is one of the few people he tries to really solidly do right by throughout the story, so I thought that would be a good channel for his tension with Fudge.

 

Thanks again for the lovely review !

 

~Kaitlin

Name: dehlles (Anonymous) · Date: 21 Jan 2017 04:36 PM · For: Back And Forth

I have no idea what Hamilton is about, but from the way you wrote this story, I guess I can get a pretty good idea of what you're talking about in the author's note?

Anyways, very well done! It's an incredible feat that you managed to keep Dumbledore and Fudge in character and the regards of their relationship throughout the canon series references.

I enjoyed this and I can still feel the want to throttle Fudge for his stupidity just as I had felt during the book/movie series.

Well done! Loved this!

 

 

-LA

Author's Response:

Alishya! 

 

Thank you for this lovely review! :D

 

Hamilton is a play about politics waaay back in the day. 

 

I'm glad you thought that both Fudge and Dumbledore were in character. I certainly tried my best.

 

I definitely wanted to throttle Fudge while writing this. 

 

Thank you!

 

~Kaitlin

Name: Stella Blue (Signed) · Date: 08 Jan 2017 12:55 AM · For: Back And Forth

I admit I clicked on this one just because I saw the title which made me sing to myself "A. Burr" and then I saw that this was actually for a Hamilton challenge and well, how could I not read it?

 

This was a great fic, especially because this is quite a rare subject matter. I don't think I've ever seen any other fics detailing the relationship between Dumbledore and Fudge and how it deteriorated over time. In fact it's pretty rare to see a fic about Fudge at all. So I love this and I'm so glad you wrote it.

 

The first two exchanges of letters gives the impression of two acquaintances who respect one another on the whole but happen to disagree on the matter at hand - one offering advice and the other sadly insisting why it won't work - but subtly each time the letters have a bit more teeth. Dumbledore gets more accusatory and telling him what to do, and Fudge gets really defensive and bogged down in denial and conspiracy theories of plots against him, until at the end when everything's fallen apart past the point of fixing it because the respect has been lost. I feel like Fudge's sign off "your obedient servant" starts out in the first few letters quite sincerely, but by the end it's 100% sarcastic. Heh.

 

I also really love that it's done in letters. I can't see this sort of story going any other way - the format is just perfect, and the change in the tone of the letters is subtle enough that it doesn't feel like a huge jump from one to the next, but still builds in intensity towards a rather heated falling out. It fits very well with what we know of their relationship in the books when we saw them actually interacting face to face - in CoS, I don't think they were really antagonistic towards one another, just had different priorities, and by OotP  there's definitely bad blood and their friendship is over. The explosive scene at the Ministry in OotP would fit in really well right after the events of this fic.

 

So yeah, this is really well done - excellent use of the song and kudos to you on writing such an original story focusing on these characters. I loved it.

 

Your obedient servant,

S. Blue

 

;)

Author's Response:

Kristin! 

 

Thank you so much for this lovely review! 

 

Ahh. Hamilton does amazing things to people. 

 

There is so much to explore in that dynamic though! 

 

It definitely had to devolve. I think in the beginning there was some mutual respect and an amicable relationship, but it definitely went down hill from there. And you're very correct about the sign off going from sincere to sarcastic.

 

I'm thrilled you enjoyed it! Thank you again for your lovely review! 

 

~Kaitlin