halloween double-drabbles for everyone!

[pauraque_bk]

hp_halloween ficlets are up, wheeee! The one written for me is sweet and lovely and I just want to give it a big hug:

Autumn Chaos by dexstarr (PG-13, Luna/Pansy)
summary: Luna thinks Pansy needs to relax.

And as it happens, I also wrote for dexstarr:

The Maiden and the Crone by me (G, Minerva/Rose)
summary: Minerva has retired from Hogwarts, but not from teaching magic.

With what looks like 60-some ficlets, there surely must be something for everyone, and there were really a ton that I enjoyed. These are just a few that stood out to me:

The Dark

Mask of Death by redcandle17 (G, Bellatrix/Voldemort)
summary: A young Bellatrix meets an interesting man at the annual Black masquerade.
A perceptive take on their first meeting, fraught with intrigue and power play.

Ghost Stories by fiery_flamingo (PG, Druella and the Black sisters)
summary: All children deserve bed time stories.
Fascinating character study of the Black women.

To and Fro by kellychambliss (PG, Bellatrix)
summary: Bellatrix has a special reason for looking forward to Samhain.
Of the horror-themed entries, this one scared me the most. Brb hiding from Bellatrix. D:

The Heartbreaking

Enough by westernredcedar (G, Filch)
summary: Being a squib is difficult...except one day a year
Oh, my heart. The last line made me tear up a little even though I saw it coming.

The Hot

Bite Me by unbroken_halo (NC-17, Draco/Harry)
summary: Draco fulfils one of Harry's fantasies.
Both sensual and spooky.

The Funny

Masquerade by smallbrownfrog (G, the entire 1993 Hogwarts staff + implied Remus/Severus)
summary: Filius knew he could recognize the school staff, costumes or no.
Clever, sweet, well-crafted, and made me giggle out loud. Filius and Albus are wonderful.

The Last Laugh by hannelore (G, Lucius & Dobby)
summary: In Lucius' house, everything has to be purebred and valuable, especially his most distinguished and valuable prize peacock.
Dobby's revenge — hilarious.

Happy Halloween, all!

This entry was originally posted at http://pauraque.dreamwidth.org/38479.html. Comment here or there.

Comments

[dexstarr.livejournal.com]

I think it was cool we ended up writing for each other. I spied on your journal a bit, trying to figure out what you would like the best... and found out you play WoW! It's always fun to find other players. I started back up a few months ago after a break since Wrath, and still have trouble with how different everything is, lol.

[pauraque]

I guess it's not too extraordinary that some people would get matched with each other, since probably a lot of us requested similar things to what we offered, but it was a fun surprise! I spied on you a bit too, checking out what you'd written before and your Beholder sign-ups since I remembered you'd done that.

And yes, WoW! Man, going straight from Wrath to MoP must be jarring. I've played on and off since not too long after release, but my longest cold-turkey break was in the middle of an xpac (early Wrath-late Wrath) so it wasn't like coming back to a whole different world. Hard to believe we're coming up on the 9th anniversary. :o

What kind of stuff are you into? I retired from raiding mid-Cata, and now I mostly keep the subscription up for casual PvP and achievement runs with friends. (And *cough*petbattles*cough*.)

[dexstarr.livejournal.com]

I quit during Wrath because of the HP fandom. I got into writing fanfic, and found I would rather do that than play WoW. I tend to go through phases of quitting and going back, although I think this was my longest break. I got bored and missed the world... and yeah, it was a huge shock. So much changed in Cata that even though I've been playing again since February or so, I still haven't figured everything out. Wonder if they'll do anything for the 9th anniversary?

I'm actually considering stopping again, because everyone I played with has either moved servers, guilds, or quit playing, and I'm just playing by myself. The game is a lot less social now, due to the good/bad LFR.

I dabble. I don't really care to raid, because I get TOO into it, so I do a little LFR. Mostly leveling what I don't have at 90 and soloing old content. Pet battling is fun, although it is taking fooooorever to level my pets.

[pauraque]

It's funny, I quit HP fandom because of WoW... sort of. I was really active in the fandom up until 2006 or so, but then I started raiding at a more competitive level than I had before, and it became impossible to do both. I'd been a little disappointed with Book 6 anyway so it was easier to leave fandom. Then the reverse happened in Wrath, when I started to find the raid content disappointing so I was less enthused to put my free time into it, and I wound up putting that time back into fandom again.

Did you hear about the 8th anniversary fiasco last year? They accidentally sent out the same in-game letter from the 7th anniversary, which wouldn't have been too bad if it'd been a generic "happy anniversary" + gift, but it actually had specific stuff about the beginning of Cata and getting ready to fight Deathwing, which by that time was already long past. Hopefully they'll be more careful this year. :P

I know what you mean about the game being less social. The queueing system has been a real double edged sword. A lot of the people I used to play with have scattered too, though it helps that we can group cross-server now. You can add me on Bnet if you want, though I don't know which faction you play, it's all Horde for me. I'm zhebrica#1776.