kelly_chambliss

Tomorrow (Snape's birthday, of course), the final hoggywartyxmas reveals will be posted, and thus, after 14 glorious years, one of my very favorite HP fests will come to its end.

Of course I hate to see it go, but there are silver linings galore: first and foremost, the archive of marvelous stories and artworks will remain available. I have returned to reread and re-view my various favorites again and again over the years, and I plan a new tradition now: each year, on the traditional opening day of the grand Hoggywarty party, I will sit down with a bit of bubbly and some sort of nibble loaded with cheese, and I will revisit a few of the fest highlights.

Another silver lining is that the friends and community of hoggywartyxmas -- always expertly shepherded by the clever and efficient therealsnape, and kept going by the Hoggywarty family of writers, artists, and participants -- will also remain. I've made some dear and (I hope) life-long friends through this fest and this fandom, and I plan to keep them even when the fest itself has become a mere memory.

But those are plans for the future. For today, I will indulge in my final rec post. As always, the fest is packed with treasures; there's not a single entry that is unworthy of your time. This year, in addition to the usual excellent stories and artwork, we had fine filk, "book club" discussions, knitting (in a super-clever, well-crafted mystery story) and even recipes (courtesy of Filius Flitwick).

Thus the selections below represent just a few of the gems of the fest. We had fewer entries this year than usual, so I am limiting myself to just four recs. But seriously, you should go check out everything. You won't be sorry.

( Last Ever Hoggywartyxmas Recs! )

My dears! The 13th (that's right, 13th!) edition of the fabulous hoggywartyxmas fest has finished posting, and you won't be surprised to hear that as usual, it's been a triumph. 26 HP stories and artworks, all of them worth your time.

Reveals will happen on January 9 (the Greasy Git's birthday, of course), so hurry and check everything out. There's something for everyone: If you're a Snarry lover, there's hot Snarry sex. If you like Severus/Hermione, there are several stories with your OTP, including one of 33K. If you like Minerva (and who doesn't?), you can find her paired with Alastor, Severus, Wilhelmina, Irma, and more. Do you want hot Snape? Angsty Snape? Bitter Snape? Snarky Snape? Any Snape? You'll find him at hoggywartyxmas. How about some super-clever and witty Flitwick? Ditto. Aberforth? Pomona? Kingsley? Remus? Rosmerta? House-elves? Get thee to hoggywartyxmas.

This year's featured character was Florean Fortescue, and if you can read the stories starring him without wanting to inhale a half-gallon of ice cream, you are made of stronger stuff than I am.

As always, I am restricting my rec post to three stories and three artworks. And also as always, choosing them was a bitch, since there is so much top-quality material from which to pick. My choices are subjective, of course; your preferences might vary, so do yourself a favor and browse through everything.

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( FIC )

And of course I want to give a shout-out to my own lovely gift:

Title: A Trip to Town
Author: Anonymous for now justcallme_ray
Pairings/Characters: Minerva McGonagall, Poppy Pomfrey, background mystery couple
Rating: PG
Word Count: 964

A charming vignette of Christmases past and present, with promise for the future.

Go read everything at hoggywartyxmas right now! You won't be sorry!

snapecase posted its final entry today, and it's a total winner. Even I (someone generally unmoved by Severus/Hermione) am utterly charmed and won-over by this clever, snarky, exquisitely-written and marvelously-illustrated gem of a fic. And there's a Minerva picture for the ages! Go on, treat yourself:

Title: Bringing Up Babymort
Author and Artist: Anonymous for now (though the fab Mystery Artist might not be too mysterious)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Severus/Hermione

Reveals will no doubt be soon. I'm pretty sure I've sussed out all the artists, but I've guessed only two authors so far. Such a fun fest; it's really brightened up a gloomy winter.

The best thing you can do is just go and read/look at the entire fest. But since "read everything" is not a very useful rec post, I will do my best to narrow things down a bit.

Arbitrarily, I have restricted myself to three fics and three artworks, but rest assured that I could have chosen many more.

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( ART )

Guess what, my dears?!? The semester from hell has finally let me escape from its ravenous maw. That's right. . .the last exam is graded, the final semester grade is submitted.

On Thursday, I head off for three relaxing weeks in NYC. The only things remaining to be done here are a) straighten my office, b) clean my house, c) take down the tree. (I do like to return to a clean, Christmas-free home in the new year). Oh, and pack. I do have to pack. But I have a list, which will make things easy.

And unlike last year, when I had stupidly agreed to submit a professional article by January 15, thereby ruining Christmas with my "OMG, I have to write this damn article" stress, this year I am blissfully deadline-free. I do have a book review due, but not until February. And it's only 1000 words.

Of course, everything's not all a bed of roses. I'm not joking or being hyperbolic when I say that we are currently witnessing the death of the US republic, not to mention the destruction of any notion of truth/facts and the total triumph of George Orwell's and Margaret Atwood's worst nightmares. And there seems to be nothing we can do to stop any of it.

However, for the moment, I have sufficient bread and circuses to distract me from the impending disasters, and I intend to carpe diem. The bread is quite literal: a wonderful crusty loaf home-baked for me by a colleague as a thank-you gift for a favor I did for her. Delicious.

As for the circuses. . .let me share them with you:

1. I have chocolate peppermint ice cream in my freezer. (This I am not literally sharing. Get your own.)

2. In less than one week, the grandest Christmas party of them all, hoggywartyxmas, will open. This fest honors the Hogwarts staff and consistently produces some of the highest-quality HP fanwork going. Can't wait!

3. The incomparable and generous mywitch is once again gifting all of us with 25 days of HP Christmas art. She's amazingly versatile in terms of style and tone. These are a few of my favorites so far:

Albus Dumbledore/Severus Snape -- I love this "realistic" mode; such tenderness here, and the hair and faces are so compelling.

Minerva McGonagall/Severus Snape -- NSFW -- For sheer smoking-hot Christmas fantasy romance, this pic can't be beat. Scarlett and Rhett and their sexy movie poster ain't got nothin' on our Sev and Min.

Severus Snape, Before and After -- And speaking of glorious fantasy. . .

So let the holiday-ing commence! (For tomorrow-ish, we die.)

It was 75 degrees F in Rural Hamlet today! Of course, karma being what it is, this news is not all to the good. The warm weather means that the hated boxwood beetles are back in force. I'm going to have the boxwood tree taken down even if I have to chop it myself. But still, it's lovely to see spring starting. Might as well enjoy one of the few perks of climate change while we can.

And as Tennyson said, "in spring a fangirl's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of fic." He did say it. Really. Well, something close, at any rate.

So what's up with me and fandom?

I've signed up for the Leviosa Con in Las Vegas in July. Yep, paid my money and everything (not for the posh registration, just the regular). I hope to get some academic travel money from my school since I will be giving a presentation. It should be such fun. I've attended only one other con, DiaCon Alley in Canterbury, UK, in 2011, and it was one of the best trips of my life.

Plus, I'm working on my fic for the daily_deviant tenth birthday celebration. 1000 words so far!

Here are a few of the HP fanfics I've read and enjoyed recently:

From hp_goldenage (the main characters need to be over 50):

Love and Other Forms of Chaos by Anonymous (Millicent/Hermione; NC-17)

I love when stories about smart Hermione are smart themselves, and this one is very smart indeed. And well-characterized. And hot. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

In Celebration of New Friendships by Anonymous (Minerva, ensemble; PG)

I have quite a soft spot for quiet, reflective, well-characterized fics like this one. The setting: Post-DH. The premise: Minerva is asked to be godmother to Albus Severus Potter. All the cameos are a delight, particularly Hermione and Horace. And Minerva is spot-on.

From daily_deviant:

For What We Yearn by purplefluffycat (Albus/Gellert, Bellatrix/Voldemort; NC-17)

Beautifully and thoughtfully dark, with the clever, inventive, thematically relevant use of magic that PFC does so well.

How about a piece of beautiful HP art? Try Harry Potter Stained Glass by Nenuiel.

An HP rose window! With extra panels. Featuring just about everyone. And creatures. And the Hallows. A triumph.

Oh, one last thing -- author sign-ups have opened at hp_podfic_fest. You can offer your fics to be read aloud as a podcast. I've been lucky enough to have several of my stories recorded, and each one has been a total gem. You don't have to do a podfic to offer your stories, but if you've been thinking of recording something, do it!

Author sign-ups are here.

Here's some excellent art from the ongoing Snape Fest severus_snape:

Crooks and Books by Anonymous (Crookshanks and the legs of Severus/Hermione; PG)
A clever and light-hearted view of a romantic relationship. You'll love Snape's trousers and Hermione's books.

Last Year by Anonymous (Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore; G)
A strong visual representation of the relationship between Snape and Dumbledore during the Half-Blood Prince year. Their expressions and postures speak volumes, as does the light/shadow.

Hitting the Mark by Anonymous (Severus Snape, Eileen Prince Snape; G)
This art tells a story in itself -- the moment Eileen finds that Severus wears the Mark. The perspective and their fierce expressions (Severus's defiant, Eileen's angry and resigned) make for a powerful moment.

Master Brewer by Anonymous (Severus; G)
I always enjoy pictures of Severus at work, especially when we see his care and precision and the pleasure (Snape-style, of course) he takes in it.


The next rec is not from the Snape Fest, but it's glorious. I am going to print this out and put it on my bulletin board at work. ALBUS AND MINERVA AS RAPPERS. Check out Min's tattoo.

Fresh Dumbldore feat. MC Gonagall by Champagner. (Albus, Minerva, G)

The ever-fabulous tjs_whatnot has written a wonderful fic for me as part of the comment-fest at daily_deviant. In just 1000 words, she's given us smoking-hot, kinky Minerva/Hooch that also offers excellent characterization and setting. (Character will always be my favorite kink, and TJ doesn't disappoint). Read it now! You won't be disappointed, either.

Good to Be Scottish by tjs_whatnot (Minerva/Rolanda, 1000 words, NC-17)

I've also managed to catch up on mini_fest, so here are some of my favorites from that fun fest:

A Part of Yesterday by Anonymous (Severus/Petunia; NC-17)
I just love this -- my favorite story of the fest so far. It's poignant and sadly plausible .and well-characterized and filled with inventive magic. Great ending.

This Year's For Me and You by Anonymous (Remus/Sirius; R)
A well-characterized epistolary story. The voices of teenaged Sirius and Remus ring true.

A Pair of Brass Cufflinks by Anonymous (Remus/Sirius; PG)
Another fun, well-characterized story of teen Marauders being teen Marauders. . .(if they'd been teen Marauders who weren't the bullies of canon, that is).


I've already recced this fine art, but I think I had it in a flocked post. So I thought I'd repost the rec here, so the the artist can maybe get a well-deserved Hot Rec at the Daily Snitch:

Snowed In by Anonymous (Minerva/Severus, G)
A beautiful, calm holiday scene.

Over at the Comment Fest currently running at severus_fest, I left the following prompt: "Afterward. Interpret this any way you like: after dinner, after sex, after the war, after a summons from Voldy, etc."

This prompt has been wonderfully filled by the talented shadowycat. Check out the excellent art:

Afterward (Severus Snape; G)

Back in the day (i.e., my early days of fandom), there were several fests dedicated to Severus Snape: snapelyholidays, snapecase, and a few others. I really enjoyed them: they always had a range of interesting pairings and interesting takes on Snape; I liked seeing the different but plausible versions of his character. Sadly, those fests died, and for a while, we had no Snape-centric exchanges.

But everything old is new again, and now we have the excellent severus_fest, run by that wonderful boon to HP fandom, akatnamedeaster.

I've spent the evening drenched in Snape (no, not like THAT; I play for the other team), and the result is some recs for you. Hope you enjoy them.

FIC

Every Saint is an Accident by Anonymous (Severus/Petunia; NC-17)
I have a sneaking fondness for this pairing, especially when it's done like this, all twisted and bitter and painful and aching and yet with such vulnerability and need underneath, on both their parts. This version of Severus is rough, raw, and believable. Great world-building overall.

The Second Time Around by Anonymous (Severus, Eileen/OMC, Stubby Boardman; PG-13)
I really enjoy those stories that show Snape as a snarky Eeyore on one hand and a caring (in his Snapey way) human being on the other. And I'm completely sold on his prickly but loving relationship with his mother. Severus's voice is spot-on, as in his thoughts about why he never drinks: There wasn't a chance in hell that he'd be any more sweet-tempered drunk than Da was, and Merlin knew, he was a vicious enough bastard stone sober.

ART

"And A Horrible Scene Met His Eyes. . ." by Anonymous (Harry; Severus/Argus; PG)
Remember that scene in PS where Harry sees Snape being treated by Filch for (we learn later) a bite from Fluffy? I've always thought that scene just drips with UST, and this hilarious art proves it. They have eyes only for each other. Be sure to watch the background long enough to spot Mrs Norris.

Snapebastian by Anonymous (Severus, the Dark Mark; PG-13 [though probably NWS])
This powerful piece envisions Severus as St. Sebastian, being shot not by arrows by by wands. You won't be able to look away from the expression on Snape's face.