Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 18 Feb 2023 01:32 PM · For: Beauty in the Dark

Hi Noelle,

back for more for the FFT event!

 

Okay, more Severus, here we go.

I love the way thst you write them in the club, the rotating feeling the flashing lights, and the ecstasy. I love how Severus doesn't need the drugs, because being there is a high of its own. And this setting seems to fit their relationship -- dark, invisible, almost out of reach.

I also love the way that you describe them as they used to be -- "two ugly, unwated people, fumbling their way to ecstasy". Although that's kind of a sad thought, it's also just how it was, which is the way I imagine Severus seeing things. 

And then at the end, I love how you reference the orbiting nature of them. It makes it clear that them coming together every once in a while is inevitable.

 

Thank you!!

Cat

Author's Response:

Thank you so much! I had a lot of fun with this one

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 18 Feb 2023 01:28 PM · For: Very, Very Good Indeed

Hi Noelle,

Back for another FFT event review!

 

OH MY GOD, I could never have seen this, but it also makes so much sense. Even just the moment that Filch comes in, Snape is on guard. He can't even smell him without falling apart. I wonder what they've done so far...

And the dynamic of that proxpectice relationship is so crazy and perfect. Like, Severus, so tightly-kept and controlling being at the whim of Argus Filch, who has no power in their day-to-day relationship. I'm dying. And the fact that they're at this monotonous meeting and he's just whispering into his ear is just agghh.

I can't believe that you've written this pair so well that I'm believing in it, what an amazing feat. 

 

Thank you, again!

Cat

Author's Response:

Okay, so I stumbled on this pairing on Ao3 and I was like "what? no way" and then I read some excellent fics with them and was sold on it. I hope to do a longer Snilch story at some point

Name: RonsGirlFriday (Signed) · Date: 18 Feb 2023 05:19 AM · For: Once Upon a Dream

mountain mystery review!

 

This is so so sweet. So wholesome, the way they play Sleeping Beauty, and it's a whole family thing, and Regulus is always the one who needs to be saved, and he's saved again and again by Luna and their daughters. Beautiful theme. Also I adore him having taken her last name, which makes so much sense because his own name just carries a lot of baggage and grief.

 

It's also adorably funny, how they set up all these magical obstacles for the kids to get through, so until they do Reg gets to just chill out and take a nap. XD  Smart.

 

<3

Author's Response:

Thank you so much! Straegic napping is so important for parents of young kids

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 17 Feb 2023 11:23 AM · For: The Laurel Wreath

Hi Noelle,

back for the FFT review event!

 

yay, Harry and Oliver!

I love the way you describe the green, gold, and blue in this first section. It really sets us in a little snow globe of victoriousness and happiness. And then, even though Harry looks like a god, Oliver is not elated! oh no! :(

Oh wow, what a turn, you really got me. I do love how you continue the vivid descriptions of colors through this, even alluding to the fact that he's going to visit a Weasley </3 And that sharp pain that comes right after he thinks about the Weasleys' hair, that really gets me.

This is such an intimate moment with someone Oliver clearly loved in one way or another, and so heartbreaking that he's not there to share it. At least Harry understands, and is able to give Oliver the space he needs to grieve <3 What a great twist on a moment between lovers, it's not all happiness somtimes!

 

thanks again,

Cat

Author's Response:

Thank you so much! I wanted to make this one heartbreaking but also beautiful. I'm glad it came off this way!

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 17 Feb 2023 11:17 AM · For: Butter and Marmalade

Hi Noelle,

back for more FFT review event reviews!!

 

Okay, this is a rare pair. I wonder how you'll keep surprising me!

Aw, this is so sweet. I didn't expect an adolescent story between these two, but I'm so glad I got it. I think you capture the sort of environment that would bring up someone like Marcus Flint so well, with the note that he wasn't given food all day. Who could blame him?

And then he sees Luna like an angel above him, with her floating white-blonde hair <333 I love her little savior moment. You capture her voice so well, too, she always sounds a bit like a fairytale.

And Marcus, still focused on sweets, notes that she smells just as good as the gingerbread :)) In my mind, Luna helps him be a little bit better than he might have been otherwise. that's a great love story 

 

Thank you again!

Cat

Author's Response:

Thank you so much! I hope these two can work things out as they grow up

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 17 Feb 2023 11:12 AM · For: Before I Change My Mind

Hi Noelle, 

Back for another FFT event review!

 

Oooh I kind of love Pansy/Ron, they both have such fire! I'm excited to see how you make me fall in love with them just like you did Draco/Ron

AHHHHH no, I wanted so much more but she's right, that one motion would have destroyed them both, so she can only keep pining and hope that she doesn't have to be in the unfortunate position to kill him one day. At least, that's how I read Pansy. 

And she definitely has a heart, despite what Draco says, it's just resevered for the fair few that she deems worthy -- I'm guessing that includes Draco (as a friend) and Ron, and maybe a few others. And she has to be like that, working for The Dark Lord and Umbridge of all people. 

I just see this leading to some sort of rebellion on her part, and I love what you've done here!

 

thank you, 

Cat :)

Author's Response:

Pansy and Ron are so explosive. I'm so glad you enjoyed them here!

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 17 Feb 2023 11:02 AM · For: Alone on the Dance Floor

Hello! I am here for an FFT event review :)

 

I can definitely say this is a rare pair, and how exciting. 

I like how you describe Pansy and Draco's dance as formulaic -- it might be out of comfort, hours of practice, but it doesn't involve actual feelings between them. It's very traditional of them/Slytherin to have this elegant couple representing them. 

But Ron, Ron's lack of grace and elegance is what draws Draco in. I like that bit of juxtaposition you use -- Ron glares and trips and is a stooge. Hie petulance and lack of awareness is so opposite to Draco and it must be intriguing <3 And then we go back to Pansy being graceful.

I love her response!! haha, at least she can be good-natured about it. I love this idea that Pansy just supports Draco's not-so-Malfoy-approved lifestyle. And I now want more about Ron and Draco, which I never thought I could say. 

 

Awesome little drabble!

Cat

 

 

Author's Response:

Draco/Ron is a super fun ship. Opposites attracting and lots of sarcasm. 

Thank you so much for this lovely review!

Name: RonsGirlFriday (Signed) · Date: 16 Feb 2023 07:05 AM · For: Beauty in the Dark

mountain murder mystery review!

 

This is intense and quite sad, and complicated. The thought of two homely people brought together by that ugliness and loneliness, but always and only in the dark, like they don't even want to see their own relationship for what it is. Plausible deniability. If it happened in the dark in a weird Muggle club where nobody else sees, did it really happen? 

 

<3 Melanie

Author's Response:

This! Exactly this :D

Name: RonsGirlFriday (Signed) · Date: 15 Feb 2023 02:43 PM · For: Phantom Pleasure

Oh my.

 

OH MY.

 

I love this take on how the ghost sex would work. How it's not really possible to have physical contact, but she can create sensations and inspiration.

 

It all started off so gorgeously and hauntingly, the way she would come to him in dreams and he would feel like it's so real that he was embarrassed of the possibility of actually being seen by her. It's such a generally relatable feeling, I think -- feeling embarrassment or shame about something even when you're totally alone, like just the merest possibility of anyone else knowing -- whatever the thing is -- can be overwhelming. Only here in this universe where ghosts exist and portraits are sentient and there are endless magical mysteries, the possibility of him actually being *perceived* in some way by Lily is much greater than in our world.

 

She feels very much like your Lily from In a Mirror Darkly. She's here for a purpose, and there's a certain ruthlessness about it you can sort of admire. But not just for Harry, not completely, I think part of it for herself a little in this story, because as she says it's been so long since she's felt anything. And having someone this obsessed with you is -- okay -- not exactly a good thing, but there's also something about it that could make a person feel so powerful. I suspect she'd be able to get whatever she wants out of Severus even without getting him off.

 

I love all the bold directions you've been taking lately with your writing, with the themes and pairings and etc. <3

 

Melanie

 

(for the mountain murder mystery event!)

Author's Response:

AHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH :')

 

I think you're right that in this story it's not only about helping Harry, that Lily wants some of this for herself too.

 

I feel like Severus really gets hung up on embarassment, and so the idea of Lily seeing him in a way he doesn't want her to see him would just be the worst.

 

Thank you so much for this lovely review!!

Name: Cassius (Signed) · Date: 01 Feb 2023 10:21 PM · For: Before I Change My Mind

Hello again!

 

Ooh, alternate timeline where Voldemort wins because Pansy turned Harry in? I'm intrigued. Oh, and Fred is still alive in this timeline because the big battle didn't happen? That got me right in the feels. 

 

Makes sense that Pansy's bullying personality and sense of self-preservation would take her far in Voldemort's regime. Poor Ron slipped up and got caught, but what is this forbidden spark we see? Could it be? Would they risk it all?

 

Another short and sweet read 

Author's Response:

Thank you so much!

Name: Cassius (Signed) · Date: 01 Feb 2023 08:06 PM · For: Alone on the Dance Floor

Hello there!

 

I enjoyed this look at a different perspective of a scene we all know and love. (It also feels like anytime the HP movies are on TV, I alwyas seem to turn it on right around this part of Goblet of Fire).

You can see how the Slytherins would have been into the tradition of the spectavcle and had familial pressure to take it seriously, unlike how Harry and Ron seemed like they would have rather been anywhere else. You can also see how much pride Draco would have taken in his apperance and the contempt he would have had for Ron's disheveled hand-me-downs. 

Pansy's little quip at the end and Draco's reaction to it seemed perfectly on point. 

Nice little read!

Author's Response:

Thank you so much! Draco is definitely having a hard time with his feelings here, lol