Title: How to Pass Your Defence Against the Dark Arts Exam
Pairing: Harry/Scorpius
Rating: PG13
Word count: 2 x 100
Warnings: barely-of-age student/teacher, implied naughtiness
Summary: It's not difficult if you're Scorpius Malfoy.
Disclaimer: All fictionalwork/artwork is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No offense is meant by the actions of any characters portrayed.
Author's Note: Written for harryscorp100's challenge # 21 - easy. Has not been beta'd.

( How to Pass Your Defence Against the Dark Arts Exam )

Title: Easy, Boy
Pairing: Harry/Scorpius
Rating: R
Word count: 100
Warnings: BDSM
Summary: In the end, Scorpius learns it.
Disclaimer: All fictionalwork/artwork is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No offense is meant by the actions of any characters portrayed.
Author's Note: Written for harryscorp100's challenge # 21 - easy.


( Easy, Boy )

Sooo, I finally managed to finish my hp_sas fic. And the deadline is only tomorrow. On time, phew. :)

Question: is there anyone on my flist who doesn't participate in the exchange and would be willing to beta my fic? Just standard SPaG, a bit of punctuation, and general readability. It's about 8,400 words. Kink-wise, it contains BDSM. And of course I'd need it back ASAP. Anyone? Please??

I'm now officially enrolled for the oral exams. And with 2.5 weeks of exam period, how was so I incredibly lucky to manage to squeeze all of them into one week? /irony

This is my abominable schedule:

Tuesday, 23.6, 2:15 pm - Comparative Literature (30 minutes)
Thursday, 25.5., 11:45 am - English (45 minutes)
Friday, 26.6., 11 am - Celtic Studies (30 minutes)

Every time I think about it, I want to sit down and cry. The good thing is: only nine more days and it will be over!

And when that's done, I really have to finish my hp_sas fic! The boys are so lucky they are fictional characters, 'cause I left them in a rather ... unfortunate moment. *g*

In two days' time, I'll be sitting my written exam. I'm sick with nervousness. *glares at breakfast to stay put*

Originally, I'd planned for tofay to go through all of my notes again, but I can't. My poor head feels full to bursting. Trying to get more into it, I fear, will have messy results. So, no atttempts at studying today. And in order to stop myself from brooding, I'm playing with memes. ( Remember the first-lines meme? )

The drawback of playing with this particular meme: now I wanna read the books again. But I suppose I had better continue reading The Italian. Oh, well, at least it's better than The Mysteries of Udolpho, imho. And apart from the fact that Schedoni is Snape's great-etc-father, Vivaldi reminds me a bit of Harry. Very passionate, very rash, ready to blame events on Schedoni, which the good monk resents like hell. I'll read the bally novel for that alone!

*toddles off to be entertained by a Gothic villain*

Nine days until the written exam.

I don't feel so good.

It's not so much worry about the exam. I think I did everything I could do, and all that's left is trying to get as many of my notes into my head as possible. No, the written exam isn't the problem. It's just about everything else.

For one thing, I'm stuck in the middle of an insurance war (at least, that's what it feels like). Two insurances salesmen - they call themselves consultants, though - are trying to get my money for an insurance that would pay me a pittance in case I should become unable to work. I've already got one, but that's tailored to students, and soon I won't be one anymore. So Consultant B suggested another company. Of course, Consultant A isn't too pleased, who sold me that students-thing, and tells me exactly the opposite of Consultant B. Which leaves me confused and not sure what to do. Perfect timing, gentlemen!

The other thing is, I finally managed to hunt down the Irish lecturer, so that now I know what I will be examined on in my oral exam. Problem, the last time I spoke Irish was before I went to NZ - almost three years ago. I have now about a month to relearn that language and prepare 30 lessons in my textbook for the exam. And Irisch is an awful language to learn. It begins with the fact that absolutely nothing is pronounced the way it's written.

But, remembering my old adage of "don't get scared - get organised!" I made a study plan, neatly separating my week, with slots for Irish, Middle Welsh, Fantasy Literature, NZ Literature, Shakespeare on Film, Orientalism, and Romanticism. If I can manage to study Irish four hours twice a week, I should be fine.

And I even left a day for writing in my plan! So, dear hp_sas mods, in case one of you reads this: barring a nervous breakdown due to too much Irish, I should manage to have fic done in time.

If you've delved into scholarly work written on the Harry Potter series (or hung around my journal for long enough), you will have come across the argument that Severus Snape strongly resembles a Gothic villain(hero). And it's true.

( Allow me to introduce you: Schedoni, monk, villain )

The parallels are so very very obvious.

went to gym. hot iron class has new program. now my whole body aches. why am i doing this again?

Anyone know Webster's play "The Duchess of Malfi"? No? Well, you haven't missed much.

Anyway, I need to be familiar with the play, for my written exam. So I'm going through my notes. And am vastly amused by myself:

Bosola - essential to the plot, but not important; not institutor but little wheel that keeps everything going; killed by accident, doesn't even get his death-scene; not a protagonist but important

Cira's note, pencilled in the margin: Severus Snape, anyone?

There are even more parallels, because Bosola has been hired by the Baddies as a spy, feels mistreated by those who have hired him, and, IIRC, always wears black.

^__^

Written exam is only two weeks and two days away. But I Will. Not. Panic.

*takes deep breath*

To relax my poor, abused, literarified brain, me wants fic. Rec me something, please? Something happy or romantic, heck, anything is fine as long as the end is happy. Can be original or fanfic. Would prefer slash, though.

In case of HP fanfic, I want something with Harry in it.

Oh, and I have a weird craving for some pining (meaning one character has been in love with the other for some time but never acted on it before, for whatever reasons).

Or, you know, just something funny and light. I can't take anymore tragedy.

Title: The Affair
Pairing(s): Harry/Ginny; the second pairing's a big spoiler so peep at your own discretion: * Harry/Teddy *
Length: 8 x 100
Rating: R
Warning(s): infidelity, angst, major character death. Not beta'd.
Disclaimer: All fictional work is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No offense is meant by the actions of any characters portrayed. I make no money with this story.
Summary: She can almost hear the bed squeak. It never stops hurting.
Author’s Notes: I meant to write my hp_sas fic. No idea where this came from. It’s so not my usual.

( The Affair )

Yesyesyes!!!!

I have - finally - recevied the results of my thesis! You remember, that bloody monster on narrative strategies in the Harry Potter novels. It took longer than it should have, but I got the letter. And: win!

*insert earsplitting shriek of victory*

For those familiar with the German system: it's a 1,0!! For everyone else: take the highest possible grade and go with it!

*does happy dance*

Chances are, I won't fail the written and the oral exams. Moving on to PhD: looking good!

SQUEEEEEEEE!

Seriously.

Don Raymond's malady seemed to gain ground. Lorenzo was constantly at his bed-side, and treated him with a tenderness truly fraternal. Botht he cause and effects of the disorder were highly afflicting to the Brother of Agnes: yet Theodore's grief was scarcely less sincere. That amiable Boy quitted not his Master for a moment, and put every menas in practive to console and alleviate his sufferings.

from: Mathew Lewis, "The Monk"

My first reaction when I read that was, "You mean, like, blowing him? ... I think I read too much slash. But then, Lewis was gay..."

And then I read a book on Gothic Novel & Gender, and the author quoted "The Old English Baron" by Clara Reeve, where the hero Edmund says, when he asks for Emma's hand in marriage: "I never loved any woman but her; and, if I am so unfortunate as to be refused her, I will not marry at all... Give me your lovely daughter! Give me also your son, my beloved William!"

Err ... threesome?

*sniggers*

And then Donna Heiland, the author of "Gothic & Gender" goes on to say: He will have Emma or no one, perhaps because only with Emma he can have William. In wrapping up the stories of its various characters, the novel tells us that Edmund's "third son was called William; he inherited the fortune his uncle of that name, who adopted him, and he made the castle of Lovel his residence, and died a batchelor". William the uncle is figuratively identified with his nephew of the same name, and in that merged figure we see Edmund's beloved, his son, his heir, and in some sense a double for himself.

[...] Edmund's friendship with William creates a successor of another kind, for William junior is in a sense their child as well. Insofar as he represents both his father (biologically) and his uncle (in his name), he is their offspring, and a testimony to the productive power of male relationships"

Gothic writers knew their way around MPreg.

"Frankenstein", anyone? :)

Seriously, after reading so much literature on that novel I think it's the first slash fic written by a woman writer: there's Walton's fascination with Victor Frankenstein, Victor's friendship with Henry Clerval, whose description is so feminised, and let's not forget the Victor/Creature relationship. (Anyone who has seen the Branagh movie knows what I'm talking about.) How a 19-year-old girl could have written such a novel in the early 19th century? Well, she did live with Byron for some time ... and it's more or less official that Byron was bisexual, and then there were all the times when Byron and Percy B. Shelley went off and left the women alone ...

D'you think I might need new glasses? These here see slash everywhere ... *blinks*

I'm always a bit behind on times and you've probably heard of it by now. But I just wanted to add my two cents an Amazon.com's "glitch". Just this: according to Amazon it's all right for my 13-year-old sister to look at the Playboy and what was it, sixty years of centrefolds? Lovely. And Annie Proulx's short stories, or Virginia Wolf's classic "Orlando" are "adult" while the BDSM novel "Nature of Desire" isn't?.

As I said, this "glitch" is spelled h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y.

Links with more info:
Mark R Probst's question and Amazon's reply

The Smart Bitches have come up with a new lexicon entry: Amazon rank

L.A. Time articel

Publishers Weekly Article, where Amazon claims it's not a new policy - despite all appearances - and that it was only a glitch.

I'll go and see what Amazon.de is doing. But I think I'll stop buying my books at Amazon. bol.de might take longer to deliver but they don't try to vanish certain books. Yet.

I was reading "Stupid Post It Notes" on FictionPress. Suddenly, the server died. Now, I cannot continue reading.

I am not amused.

I have written 46 words for my hp_sas fic today.

Estimated length is 15,000 words.

It will probably end up being 20,000 words.

I suppose I ought to speed up a little.

'In articulating the aesthetic of the sublime the implicitly male subject traditionally posited by Western culture vicariously experiences the "female" subject position. He knows what it is to be "filled" by a great, hardly known, and threatening power, an experience that echoes through every dimension of this "speaking subject".'

Anne Williams, The Art of Darkness: A Poetics of Gothic

You know you have read too much slash when the idea of a male subject being "filled" makes you think of cocks and dildos.

Very distracting.

Although, now I'm pondering on the significance and the implications of using the term '"female" subject position'. Doesn't this imply that only a female can be filled? I get what she's saying - traditionally (in Western culture) is is the female that is filled, and the book very nicely plays with traditional notions - but it still makes me ponder.

Which is also very distracting. Not much studying getting done here.

Soooo I got my hp_sas assignment yesterday. And I pondered it for a while - and resisted the serious temptation to write a pairing I said I couldn't write - and went looking through my numerous WIPs and bunnies to see if I could tweak one to fit the request. In the end I found a basic idea, changed just about everything else about the setting, moved it ten years forwards, and had a bunny.

It's a nice bunny. I played with it all night yesterday and this morning. I really like it. It should fit the request perfectly. Now I only have to find out how to write it in under 30k words.

*sighs*

In other fandom fest news, drapery_snarco started posting. I'm so very excited about this fest! I submitted six prompts and three of them were chosen. I'm very much looking forward to what the writers made of my plot bunnies. *bounces*

In totally not fandom related news, I finished the Deviations series by Chris Owen and Jodi Payne last night. I think I'll start re-reading it today. Loved it! Seriously, if I'll ever get asked what fictional character I'd like to be for a day, I want to be Noah Dolan. Preferrably on a Saturday. *wiggles*

Seen everywhere and borrowed from everyone. :)

Post a single sentence from each WIP you have (or as many as you want to pick). No context, no explanations. No more than one sentence!

( iz cut cuz long )

There you are: Five fandoms, numerous genres, two pennames, and an overactive Muse suffering from ADS.

So, here's the promised ficlet.

Title: The Shed
Genre: PWP
Rating: NC17
Word Count: 2,760 words
Warnings: ** semi public sex, hints of D/s, some dirty talk, lots of family**
Disclaimer: These guys are mine. Hands off.
Summary: Bill and Maddox have fun in a wooden shed.
Author's Notes: It started off PWP but, as always, didn't quite want to stay one. Suddenly, the guys started talking and wouldn't shut up. Also, hints of unplanned sequel-ish thing. My apologies for stupid title.

( here be fic )