Name: maraudertimes (Signed) · Date: 27 Apr 2020 01:09 AM · For: Save Yourself

Hello!!! I'm here to review for the RvG POGS special, and truth be told I was also going to review Project Azkaban soon for it as well BUT NOW I HAVE TO READ AND REVIEW IT FOR MY OWN SAKE!!!

 

Anyways, this was a really cool story!! I liked how it started with Scorpius coming to visit him for 'advice' - let's be real he wasn't - and then the whole "why is this happening" narrative that went along with the characters seriously affected how I was visualizing everything. At first I was all about Lysander/Scorpius, but then I started having doubts, like Lysander. Is Scorpius in this for a rebound, a project? What's happening?

 

I thought the Three Broomsticks scene was very cute and really showed Lysander's overwhelmed-ness (if that's a word). And of course, all of Cal's scenes, although shoving a chip into Lysander's mouth was my favourite. And it was really interesting how you showed Scorpius as being both out of place in the Three Broomsticks and among his companions. I felt kinda bad for him when that was mentioned.

 

Now, the kissing scenes? Perfection! I loved the contrast between what Lysander thought Scorpius would be - marble - and his warmth. I thought that was an amazing description that kind of shows that Scorpius is squishy and soft on the inside but keeps up a hard and cold interior - and you did that with just a portrayal of a kiss! Amazing, I really loved that little detail.

 

Personally, I would've loved more of the kissing scenes, but that isn't the story, so I suppose what you've written is *fine*. Although the last one was pretty great, even if it ended the way you made it. I especially loved that with your little note, I can just imagine kissing someone for them to pull away and be like "Are you thinking about your ex?" which obviously ISN'T WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN IN THE THROES OF PASSION! But I digress, I understood the need for it what with Lysander's suspicions.

 

Alright what is with this Project Azkaban - did Scorpius truly go after Lysander just for access to it? I'm hoping not (especially with your A.N). Anyways, I will come back soon to review Project Azkaban and I'm hoping there's more Lysander/Scorpius there.

Lo <3

Name: Chemical_Pixie (Signed) · Date: 17 Apr 2020 04:07 AM · For: Save Yourself

Hey Gina! Here for RvG POGs edition. :)

 

Yay a new story by you! You're such a great writer, and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this story, especially since it was for Kevin's knock out challenge.

 

From the very beginning, Scorpius and Lysander have such chemistry and tension between the two of them. You also do a great job establishing the setting: who they are in the Minsitry and their personality traits (Scorpius's flourish of his robes and Lysander's cluttered desk), and you also have them banter back and forth about Teddy and memories and a favor--all very intriguing. I get a sense that there's a lot of unspoken context between their tense conversation--and it draws me into the story even more. What's going on? What's going to happen?!

 

And then the classic denial about being hot and bothered by an attractive person in the next scene during the lunch break. I enjoy Cal and Lysander's sibling-esque friendship (and the fact that Xenophilius and Lorcan are in Africa, lol. I can totally see them there). And then BAM! You grop this into your Project Azkaban universe, and I start to make connections--is this a prequel? This makes your story even more exciting!

 

Oooh, Lysander is becoming an ever increasingly more interesting character. The way he ponders on why Scorpius's visit to his office makes me ever so curious as to why he did, too. And then that WINK, Merlin, what is Scorpius up to? At this point in the story, I think it might be something to do with his break up with Albus (is Lysander a rebound?) OR Scorpius is after some information on Project Azkaban. Or both! And Scorpius is so aloof that it's hard to tell!

 

And then the rest of the scenes roll right into one another. Just lunch--and then lunch and just kissing. Merlin! What is Scorpius up to? Why are the characters so uncertain about him--and why is Lysander so enamoured by him? (Endearlingly so.)

 

You raise a lot of suspicion in the second what, with your list of four possibilities. Of course, the first one is what we want, for what's better than someone cute or your crush actually liking you? The other possibilites are uncomfortable and grim and puts Lysander in a very odd position. This is also such a relatable case of anxiety. It's so easy to overthink people's intentions sometimes. And when you add the person having just gotten out of a relationship and then having Lysander working on a top secret project... what's going on?

 

Scorpius acts so mysteriously when Lysander confronts him about the kissing... when Teddy reveals that Scorpius is a full blown Obliviator at the end, I wonder if Scorpius was using Lysander to practice memory charms--were they actually kissing? Is Lysander remembering their interactions with accuracy? (Your author's note at the end makes it seem like this is not the case, but his mysteriousness adds to Scorpius's character.)

 

And now, no matter if Lysander wants to or not, he'll be spending more time with Scorpius, who is already a tough nut to crack! This is a lovely extension of your mysterious Project Azkaban universe--a great moment of what happens before. I'm curious to see what clues you've dropped in this piece--I'll be looking for them in your bigger work! :)

Name: Aphoride (Signed) · Date: 02 Feb 2020 03:45 PM · For: Save Yourself

Gina! :) 

 

Omg so I just wanna say quickly (and first!) that I'm so so glad you had that little note at the bottom about Scorpius' character bio because, honestly, I'm not sure I could take it if it had turned out that Scorpius wasn't really that into Lysander? Like, I think it would have been kinda crushing :/ 

 

So this is the kind of story that was always going to be up my street, because I'm such a sucker for next gen rare-pairs (there aren't nearly enough of them, imo, whatever the pairing itself is), and Scorpius and Lysander make such a sweet, idiotic couple lmao. Honestly, though, there's something so unresolved about this whole thing - and so kinda realistic about two people who fall into a strange not-friendship-but-not-quite-dating-because-we-don't-talk-and-what-are-we-doing-anyway? relationship and the way it sort of has to go badly before it can go well at all. I just want to knock their heads together, haha, but I feel for them at the same time, because gosh, no one ever wants to think that they're just a kind of stand-in because the other person's still in love with someone else - and, conversely, no one takes it well when someone accuses them of using them. They both have their reasons for thinking what they do - especially Lysander, with Scorpius not really ever actually talking to him like a normal person :P - but boys, honestly. 

 

And Teddy! Bless him, I know he's trying and obviously it's a difficult thing to get caught up in for him, because Scorpius is his sort-of-distant-cousin and Albus is like family, and Lysander's clearly close to him as well, so it's a real mess - but he's really not helping things :P He means well, he clearly has a heart of gold, but he's kinda got the wrong end of the stick with Scorpius' intentions :/ 

 

Lysander is adorable. I just want to wrap him in a blanket and give him a cup of tea and let him be happy :P He seems surprisingly shy, a bit reserved - but then, Scorpius seems surprisingly reserved too, despite all of his jabbering on about himself (but then, that's often a sign of being shy or nervous or a bit reserved and trying to get out of your comfort zone, because at least talking about yourself is something familiar?) - and super dedicated to the project. I loved the mention too of how he's a nature boy, happy outside, but not as much as his brother and grandfather; it was a lovely detail, and it makes this great contradiction where Lysander, despite being a nature boy is stuck inside an office :P 

 

Your writing is so good - which is really not a surprise at all because your writing is always, always good - but I love the details in this and Lysander's pov: the way he's always thinking and how clearly that comes across, how much he's trapped inside his own head; Scorpius' mood changes between aloofness and kinda a boyish flirting; Teddy's awkward, apologeticness when he's trying to be The Adult TM and look after them all. It's so evocative and so perfectly descriptive that it brings the whole story to life. 

 

Wah. I wanna read more of them now, yk - I guess this means imma have to read Project Azkaban and just hope they feature... :P 

 

Laura xx

Name: TidalDragon (Signed) · Date: 01 Jan 2020 05:44 AM · For: Save Yourself

Howdy Gina!

 

So, now that I've read the story, I realized that is for the challenge so I feel sort of bad making this a gift review. Worry not! I shall leave another elsewhere!

 

Because I'm a weirdo like that, I almost never read story shells - sometimes not even summaries - so it was interesting when there was talk of Project-You-Know-What. I thought: Project Azkaban. It has to be. Since I'm not up-to-date on that story, I thought the tidbits you gave us about the actual development of the projects were nice little breadcrumbs. And an acknowledgment that yes, the project is/was evil.

 

Anyway, moving on! I like the mysterious characterization of Scorpius. He not only enters Lysander's life abruptly, but rather quickly escalates their 'friendship/relationship'. I was sure as I read that Lysander was going to be the one that Scorpius obliviated in this story, but then despite the admonitions that Scorpius will do whatever to get what he wants, is manipulative, etc. we don't get it overtly.

 

That said, I am not writing off the possibility that Scorpius actually did obliviate Lysander to achieve some end - whether it be simply attaining full status or for some sinister purpose. This obliviation would have to be minor and incremental so as not to arouse suspicion in either Lysander or others, but it's possible. The timeline (several weeks ago) seems to fit, the 'you didn't knows?', the fact that Scorpius winds up on the project (perhaps through proving that he accessed Lysander's protected memories which he mentions in the opening scene), and the rapid rise and fall of their 'relationship'. Or maybe I'm running down a rabbit hole because your writing is as manipulative as Scorpius.

 

In any event, I really enjoyed the story, the characterization, and the (seemingly) ambiguous outcome/mystery.

 

Thanks for participating!

Name: down-in-flames (Signed) · Date: 31 Dec 2019 02:55 AM · For: Save Yourself

hi gina! here with a little review to spread some holiday cheer <3

 

first of all, i love that this is set in the project azkaban universe! all the little references to it throughout this fic are so great - i love all the references to the fact that they’re planning this big prison project that we know from project azkaban is about to go horribly awry.

 

your take on scorpius is such an interesting one! i feel like he’s usually written as this awkward, bumbling sort of person, and you’ve switched the roles around a bit here and made lysander the more awkward one and scorpius someone who’s much more confident and sure of himself. (well, at least externally - he seems like he’s much more insecure on the inside than he lets on.) but so much of his character is shaped by what other people know about him - teddy’s warnings about how he’s manipulative and ‘still in love with al’ shape a lot of lysander’s impressions about him, rather than any of scorpius’ actual behavior. 

 

i’m also incredibly curious about what happened between al and scorpius that caused their breakup, since they were apparently a golden couple for so long.

 

the relationship between lysander and scorpius is certainly a dysfunctional one. it all feels very one-sided, not necessarily in the feelings part, because it seems as if they both *do* have feelings for one another, but scorpius seems to more or less be calling all the shots and not really giving lysander any means to understand his actions, which leads to a weird imbalance in their relationship. will we see more of them together in project azkaban at all?

 

also!! v curious what protected memories scorpius managed to erase, if they weren’t lysander’s.

 

i really enjoyed this little peek at the characters of project azkaban outside of the whole prison-experiment thing, and i’d love to see more of them (both in new chapters of project azkaban and in any other spinoff fics of that universe that you may decide to write). thanks for sharing this!

 

-taylor

Name: Ineke (Signed) · Date: 29 Dec 2019 01:54 PM · For: Save Yourself

Hi Gina! I’m here to leave you a gift <3 I hope you had a great holiday despite your husband having fallen ill and I hope you’ve got the best year ahead of you!

 

Oooh, this is already an excellent start of the story. You perfectly depict Scorpius as a Malfoy because honestly pressed robes? I don’t really expect anything else tbh, or yknow, maybe I do, but it just works. But it also makes me intrigued as to why Lysander immediately goes to tell him Teddy is out and why that would amuse Scorpius. I mean - what are the relationships here, why does he feel the need to tell him that? It’s intriguing.

 

ADVISE ON AN ALBUS THING HONESTLY IT IS THAT I READ THIS WAS A LYSANDER/SCORPIUS STORY OTHERWISE I WOULD’VE GONE SCORBUSSSSS.

 

Ooooh, what’s the favour?

 

Wobbly leg on the chair, interesting tidbit there, it really brings the scene more to life tbh.

I truly love the details put in there, not gonna lie.

Training? Help with what kind of training?

OH WHY DOES HE NEED TO DO THAT WHAT IS SCORPIUS UP TO WHY DOES HE WANT TO LEARN THAT

Oh Lysander is an unspeakable? Daaamn

 

Seriously what is the Albus thing?

 

Keep telling yourself that, Lysander

 

SCORBUS BROKE UP?

 

Yeah you’re definitely interested, Lysander

 

Oh yeah I read about those kind of couples and it’s always a shock when they break up but honestly it doesn’t mean you were never interested, Lysander

 

Yes you are into him, like the way you react to him? It is obvious

 

Lysander should’ve been in Ravenclaw tbh

 

Either Teddy is wrong or this is gonna be some major heartbreak going on

 

Made of marble? What on earth

 

Good god Scorpius is playing with him

 

But honestly I’m with Lysander bc this whole thing is confusing

 

BUT OH MY GOD YOUR NOTE WHAT IF THEY BROKE UP BC HE WANTED LYSANDER AND GOD ? THIS IS MADDENING? I need to know more, Gina! Damnit, i need to go read your project azkaban as soon as i can sit down and find the time to do so. Great story!

Name: victoria_anne (Signed) · Date: 12 Dec 2019 09:22 PM · For: Save Yourself

Hi Gina!

 

I really enjoyed this. I've not read Project Azkaban, but I love the dynamic between the characters here, and I'd definitely like to see more of them, as well as what the project itself actually entails! This is a really interesting take on Scorpius. He's usually presented as a shy, awkward individual, but you've written him in as incredibly confident and sexy. It makes for a great dynamic with Lysander who is the shy type. I love the tension of the distrust Lysander has for Scorpius, since he enjoys their time together but can't help but feel he's just being used. But he joins the project in the end! I can only assume it's also to show Lysander he's serious about him, which I love!

 

Great job with this, Gina. Your writing is as beautiful as always!