HoggyWartyXmas Recs #3

hoggywartyxmas is the gift that just keeps on giving. Here are two more exceptional entries:

The Longest Night by Anonymous dreamy_dragon73
Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout, Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank, Severus Snape

I love "missing scene" fanfics, and this particular scene is dear to my Minerva-loving heart: how do her colleagues react during that difficult night after she's hit with fours stunners in HBP? I've always disliked the canon version, in which Harry and his friends seem more concerned about where Hagrid will spend the night than whether McGonagall will live or die. This fine, understated story keeps the long vigil with the Heads of House and the always-welcome Wilhelmina. Very satisfying; it's my head canon now.

The Contest by Anonymous zaleti
Cast: a veritable smorgasbord of favorites -- Minerva, Severus, Pomona, Poppy, Filius, Aurora, Hermione, Ginny, Irma, Kingsley, and more. Pairings galore, including Minerva/Severus, Irma/Wilhelmina, Hermione/Ginny.

This fic! It's a cornucopia of riches. Clever, funny, touching, thoughtful. . .I could go on, exhausting my inner thesaurus of celebratory adjectives, but you get the point. It's a long fic, and worth every word; by the end, I truly felt as if I had spend Christmas with real people.

The premise is a Christmas decorating contest at Hogarts, and between its proposal and its conclusion, we are immersed in a carefully-built post-war world, full of meaningful detail, backstory, insight, and character development. We get the benefit of many different povs, each revealing and well-designed. All in all, a wonderful read that will remind you just why you love fanfic.

I have one more rec post to come before the Grand Reveal on January 9. If you haven't started reading Hoggywarty yet, get busy! It'll feel like [insert your favorite gift-giving holiday here] all over again.