Happy Holidays and RECS!

Merry

Christmas!

Happy

Hannukah!

Happy Holidays

of all Kinds!

To spice up your holiday traditions, here are some HOLIDAY HP RECS.

From Kinky Kristmas at daily_deviant, I received a lovely gift from the talented gracerene.

Smokin' Hot (Minerva McGonagall/Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank).
This fic features one of my favorite pairings with one of my favorite kinks.

And the writers/artists at the always-wonderful hoggywartyxmas have outdone themselves for this, the tenth anniversary of the fest. I'll start with just two recs as appetizers, but the whole fest is a stupendous feast:

Dress Your Own by Anonymous sigune
Albus Dumbldore, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape.
Y'all -- These are PAPER DOLLS. Yes, that's right. Inspired, clever, gorgeous paper dolls, complete with downloads so that you can print and cut out your own set.

Sufficient Unto the Day by Anonymous squibstress
The Reverend Robert McGonagall, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape
This amazing story was my gift in the fest, and I am beyond happy with it. As many of you know, I've never liked JKR's Pottermore backstory for Minerva, featuring as it does that silly notion that perfectly intelligent, apparently emotionally healthy adults spend their entire lives pining for their lost first teenage love.

Yet my fine gift has totally reconciled me to that backstory. Oh, not because of the undying teenage love thing. But because it's given me the chance to receive one of the best original characterizations I've seen: the Reverend Robert McGonagall. My Mystery Author has created a complex, thoughtful, funny, thoroughly-believable man and father who is neither saint nor sinner, but a marvelously real human being who is everything I would hope Minerva's father would be. He's the best sort of man of faith.

The story is beautifully written and paced, with a straightforward, spare style that perfectly suits the straightforward, practical McGonagalls. I love seeing the magical world from Robert's Muggle POV; the characters who are so familiar to us are strangers to him, and through him, we see them anew.

I just love every word of my gift; it's hoggywartyxmas at its best. Every time I think there's nothing new to be written in the HP world, a story like this comes along to prove me spectacularly wrong.