Name: WriteYourHeartOut (Signed) · Date: 08 Feb 2024 12:55 AM · For: quiet and fierce

Oof, motherhood. I have zero plans to embark on that adventure, if I'm honest, and this story solidifies my stance. Poor Lily. You go through so much housing a baby for nine months then giving birth, and you probably think you'll get some relief after the baby's born, but gosh, that just so isn't the case, is it? Except, apparently, for James... hahaha Lily should have pushed him out of the bed and gone back to sleep herself! What I love about this, though, is the the entire story is just all the ways motherhood drains and pains you, until that last line hits, and you remember actually it's all worth it. Really cute, sweet little story!

Name: Oregonian (Signed) · Date: 22 Mar 2022 06:18 PM · For: quiet and fierce

Hi Noelle.

(for the Race Acoss the Galazy review drive)

You have certainly hit the nail on the head with this one, Noelle. The point where the new mother is at  home again with her firstborn, nowhere near recovered from the experience of childbirth, still learning what to expect from the baby and how to take care of him (at least she has magic to help her).  I don't think you left anything out.

You are kind and forgiving to Lily when you say that she "casts an envious glance back at James," who lies spread-eagled on the bed, dead to the world.  If I had been writing this story, I would have said she shot glances like daggers at him

I cannot help myself -- I am compelled to repeat the advice I used to tell first-time new fathers during my professional career when their wives were being discharged from the hospital.  I would say, "It is true that you cannot breast-feed the baby, but you can do everything else.  When the baby cries in the night, you get up and change its diaper.  Then you bring the baby to your wife so she can nurse while lying in bed.  When the baby is finished nursing, you take it back to its cot, check the diaper again, and tuck it in. It is not nearly so exhausting for your poor wife if she doesn't have to haul herself out of bed and do all that other stuff."  I have no idea if any of those men ever followed my advice; I sure hope that at least a few of them did during their first few weeks at home when their wives felt as if they'd been run over by a truck.

Vicki

Author's Response:

That's some good advice to first time mothers. I guess that the Potters didn't get that advice when they took Harry home from St Mungo's. 

 

Thank you for this lovely review!

Name: PinsandKneazles (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 11:51 AM · For: quiet and fierce

Hey, here for a galazy review :)

 

Having a newborn is utterly exhausting; being at the beck and call of a tiny human who is 100% dependent is incredibly stressful. They always pick the best times to cry, too. And mothers seem to be the ones to hear them first - fathers tend not to be roused from sleep quite so quickly. Don't we envy their ability to sleep through the noise?!

 

And the panic that parents feel - are they still breathing? Should they be making that funny noise? Haven't seen him/her move for a while. Poor Lily, bearing the post-parturient pain and enduring sore nipples, sleepless nights, thirst, exhaustion...but when it comes to it, that indescribable love for him drives her through it all.

 

Such a wonderful piece of flash fiction. Loved this!

 

Meera <3

Author's Response:

I swear there must be some connection between moms and their babies. You get this sixth sense to know when they are going to start crying. And the constant worry over whether or not they are okay--I don't know that that goes away when they get older either.

 

Thank you so much for this lovely review!

Name: prideofprewett (Signed) · Date: 20 Mar 2022 03:48 PM · For: quiet and fierce

This is hardcore relatable. But Lily, too, is hardcore as imagined by a lot of fanfiction writers. And anyone who becomes a mother is hardcore in my eyes too. So this warrior level Lily, going through warrior level stuff that people don't always acknowledge as encompassing motherhood was really palpable to me. 

 

It's just like a man, even if you love him to bits and pieces, to be dead to the world while your child is fussing. But. This is only something that Lily can do in this moment. And given that she literally gave her life up for Harry, her devotion to him, shines through in this lovely, slice of life moment. 

 

I feel her pain, her tiredness, but also the love that burns through her in this instance. 

 

All of your little magical details settled this piece into the HP universe, but the themes and elements of it are universal across worlds. And they were marvelous, magical details. The automatic lights, the floating pillow that curved around her precisely, the water that knew she would need it later...all wonderful things to set up this moment in such a short span of time. 

 

And that end line...is an absolute chef's kiss! As someone who is not particularly maternal or instinctively affectionate, I related to this quiet feeling of love that exists inside of you...it is fierce and strong but not always outwardly articulated. 

 

Anyway, I think you did a marvelous job with this short piece! I found it enjoyable to read! :)

 

<3 Courtney

 

~* 130 rising through the ranks *~

Author's Response:

I love that you picked up on the warrior part of this! I wrote this for a prompt where we were asked to write about a strong woman. I wanted to write about this quieter kind of strength, that isn't as flashy as winning a duel with Bellatrix or something like that. It's a different kind of strong, but just has important.

 

Yeah, I feel like it usually takes dads longer to tune into their new borns and get woken up by then. At least, that was my experience. 

 

Thank you so much for this lovely review! I'm so glad you liked it :D

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 19 Mar 2022 05:29 PM · For: quiet and fierce

stopping by another story of yours for the galazy!

 

Oh, I love how you start this, with Lily being woken up by familiar cries from Harry. That is such a mom thing to know. And I like the way you describe her aches and pains, I can really sympathize with her in this beginning, and throughout the whole thing really.

 

Lol James come on

 

This is such a soft moment, but also so real. The way you describe the ails of nursing and that even the pain relief they give her isn't effective because then Harry doesn't eat, it's just too real and comical in a real-life way. But I do love how you end it with "the quietest, fiercest love, burning through her like the sunrise". What a great little moment between Lily and Harry. I want so much better for her </3

 

Thanks!

Catherine

Author's Response:

I know, James is being such a dork in this one. I hope that he is more attentive to Lily and Harry when he's awake, lmao

 

I want so much better for Lily too. I have some AUs where she gets to live, because she really deserved to.

 

Thank you so much for this lovely review!

Name: RogueSlytherin (Signed) · Date: 19 Mar 2022 02:47 PM · For: quiet and fierce

SS Voyager Here :D :D :D 

 

Wow. This short little story packs one hell of a punch. So much warmth and love just radiating from it. And humor! The idea that James is just spread-egled across the whole bed. Typical. Meanwhile Lily's up doing the painstaking work of a mother. That all of her thoughts are centered around the tiny human - the tiny human who won't sleep in his own room, won't let her use the salve, won't let her get any sleep - and still she craddles him there in her arms with nothing but unconditional and fierce love. So precious. What a fantastic picture of motherhood you've crafted here <3 

 

- Jacquelin

Author's Response:

Thank you so much!! I'm so glad you liked it :D

Name: Crimson Quill (Signed) · Date: 18 Mar 2022 09:58 PM · For: quiet and fierce

 

hello noelle,

 

here for the galazy reviewing event!

 

i really enjoyed this little piece and i think you've really caught what it meant to be a mother. like there are so many hard days particularly in the early days i think. i like a lot the characterization of lily because it makes her so human. lily is kinda like an angel in canon because what she did to save harry but it was really lovely to see a different take on it. this lily feels so raw and real, i love that so much. i love the description in the last line because it's so powerful and beautiful, that's what it really feels like. it's impossible to put that love into words but your line was pretty damn close. <3 

 

abbi xx

 

Author's Response:

The early days are so so hard. They all go by in this blur. 

 

I love how you put it--that Lily is basically an angel and perfect in canon. I wanted to capture that raw human moment here, where she loves Harry so much, but she's also grumpy and sore at the same time.

 

Thank you so much for this lovely review!! I'm really glad you liked it :D

Name: quill2parchment (Signed) · Date: 14 Mar 2022 08:13 PM · For: quiet and fierce

I loved this exploration of motherhood. It was such an honest and intimiate portayal of the love Lily Potter had for her son and how willingingly she sacrcificed hersel for him, not just at the end, but from the moment he arrived. Well done. 

Author's Response:

Thank you so much!! I'm so glad you liked it :D

Name: RonsGirlFriday (Signed) · Date: 14 Mar 2022 05:33 AM · For: quiet and fierce

This is so lovely, and I like that you decided to try writing Lily for this drabble about motherhood. She is, of course, raised up as a sort of idol of motherhood in canon, and it's in a very glorified way and seems very romantic, and you don't undermine that but you expand upon it to show the unglamorous side of motherhood, the sacrifices that are meaningful even if they are not epic.

 

And I love how after describing this weary, painful scene, with Lily worn down and drained, we see that it's driven by this "quiet but fierce" love, the thing that of course led her ultimately to make the sacrifice she did for Harry's life -- it drives everything from these day-to-day responsibilities to that great act.

 

<3 Melanie

Author's Response:

This is exactly what I was trying to do: to show the unglamorous side of motherhood (which really has it's own keen beauty to it) and to show this quieter kind of strength. Lily had the strength to stand up to Voldemort, but she also had the strength to show up for Harry again and again and again in these quiet moments.

 

I'm so glad you liked it! Thank you so much for this lovely review :D