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30 Days of HP Meme -- Day 19
Aug. 26th, 2010 09:45 pm( Ghost of Questions Past )
Day 19. Favorite 'ship(s)
Because of the skill of various clever writers, I find myself liking all sorts of 'ships that I'd never really considered before I started reading fanfic. Take Snape/Filch, for instance. And Moody/Scrimgeour. Muriel/George. Neville/Millicent. Irma/Poppy.
Still, to qualify as one of my absolute "favorites," a pairing has to include Minerva. (Um, yeah…you know back in Day Four of the meme, when I said my favorite female character was Molly? Well, I was lying.)
But Minerva paired with whom? That's the question.
When I started writing HP fanfic, I saw Minerva as solely a femmeslash girl. "No het for you!" I said to her, in my best Soup!Nazi voice. Yet in this, as in so many other things, I was wrong, and Minerva quickly set about showing me what was what: she climbed into any bed she pleased, male or female, and dragged me along.
So even though I still think of myself as a femmeslasher at heart, and still consider Minerva basically a dyke like me, I've nonetheless found myself sidetracked into Minerva het. It's not dub-con, exactly: I mean, I've gone willingly. I suppose I should just think of it as an object lesson in the limitations of sexuality labels -- even those labels we give ourselves.
Over time, I've written Minerva in six different f/f pairings and two f/m ones. The f/f relationships tend to be long-term and loving; the f/m ones, not so much.
So without further ado, here are my 4TPs (in order of their closeness to my heart):
1. Minerva/Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank
This was the pairing that shoved itself into my brain like an icepick back in October of 2008. I'd pegged Wilhelmina (no, not literally; wash your mind out with soap and stop that visualizing). I mean, I spotted Will as a dyke as soon as I met her in OoP (short hair, terse speech, outdoor job, tough chin, monocle, pipe). I've written five Minerva/Willa stories so far. As for other people's MM/GP stories, every one I've read has been a winner (except for one disaster on FFN that I've tried to bleach from my brain).
2. Minerva/Severus Snape
I was initially attracted to the chemistry of their canon rivalry and thought I could get an interesting story or two out of them -- just a small, temporary detour to the hamlet of Hetville from the metropolis of Femmeslash City. But once I got to town, I couldn't leave. I've written eleven stories that are MM/SS in some way, showing relationships ranging from (semi) friendship to friends-with-sexual-benefits to true love to rape to I'm-not-sure-what-this-relationship-is. And I know I'm not finished with them yet. The potential for angst and snark and love-they-won't-admit and pain and kink and hot hostile!sex is just unparalleled.
3. Minerva/Rolanda Hooch
Hooch is another of JKR's great dyke characters, and considering their mutual love of Quidditch and the way they work together to test Harry's Firebolt, Minerva/Rolanda is practically canon. The two of them are both pretty flinty, and given the right tinder, sparks can fly.
4. Minerva/Alastor Moody
In age, they seem close to contemporaries, and if you look up the word "irascible" in the wizarding dictionary, you'll find their pictures -- sniping at each other. Yet they both seem to care deeply for the same goals and have powerful emotions and strong loyalties under their prickly surfaces. I think their volatility and intensity gives them great sexual chemistry.
( Ghost of Questions Yet to Come )
Day 19. Favorite 'ship(s)
Because of the skill of various clever writers, I find myself liking all sorts of 'ships that I'd never really considered before I started reading fanfic. Take Snape/Filch, for instance. And Moody/Scrimgeour. Muriel/George. Neville/Millicent. Irma/Poppy.
Still, to qualify as one of my absolute "favorites," a pairing has to include Minerva. (Um, yeah…you know back in Day Four of the meme, when I said my favorite female character was Molly? Well, I was lying.)
But Minerva paired with whom? That's the question.
When I started writing HP fanfic, I saw Minerva as solely a femmeslash girl. "No het for you!" I said to her, in my best Soup!Nazi voice. Yet in this, as in so many other things, I was wrong, and Minerva quickly set about showing me what was what: she climbed into any bed she pleased, male or female, and dragged me along.
So even though I still think of myself as a femmeslasher at heart, and still consider Minerva basically a dyke like me, I've nonetheless found myself sidetracked into Minerva het. It's not dub-con, exactly: I mean, I've gone willingly. I suppose I should just think of it as an object lesson in the limitations of sexuality labels -- even those labels we give ourselves.
Over time, I've written Minerva in six different f/f pairings and two f/m ones. The f/f relationships tend to be long-term and loving; the f/m ones, not so much.
So without further ado, here are my 4TPs (in order of their closeness to my heart):
1. Minerva/Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank
This was the pairing that shoved itself into my brain like an icepick back in October of 2008. I'd pegged Wilhelmina (no, not literally; wash your mind out with soap and stop that visualizing). I mean, I spotted Will as a dyke as soon as I met her in OoP (short hair, terse speech, outdoor job, tough chin, monocle, pipe). I've written five Minerva/Willa stories so far. As for other people's MM/GP stories, every one I've read has been a winner (except for one disaster on FFN that I've tried to bleach from my brain).
2. Minerva/Severus Snape
I was initially attracted to the chemistry of their canon rivalry and thought I could get an interesting story or two out of them -- just a small, temporary detour to the hamlet of Hetville from the metropolis of Femmeslash City. But once I got to town, I couldn't leave. I've written eleven stories that are MM/SS in some way, showing relationships ranging from (semi) friendship to friends-with-sexual-benefits to true love to rape to I'm-not-sure-what-this-relationship-is. And I know I'm not finished with them yet. The potential for angst and snark and love-they-won't-admit and pain and kink and hot hostile!sex is just unparalleled.
3. Minerva/Rolanda Hooch
Hooch is another of JKR's great dyke characters, and considering their mutual love of Quidditch and the way they work together to test Harry's Firebolt, Minerva/Rolanda is practically canon. The two of them are both pretty flinty, and given the right tinder, sparks can fly.
4. Minerva/Alastor Moody
In age, they seem close to contemporaries, and if you look up the word "irascible" in the wizarding dictionary, you'll find their pictures -- sniping at each other. Yet they both seem to care deeply for the same goals and have powerful emotions and strong loyalties under their prickly surfaces. I think their volatility and intensity gives them great sexual chemistry.
( Ghost of Questions Yet to Come )