The Sleeper's Den

So! I don't think that a lot of us had a great 2020, most of us for obvious pandemic reasons. Personally, I ran into my own limitations (I still have the bruises) and I learnt a lot about myself. I haven't been in a good place, and not being able to meet people who are dear to me hasn't helped. It was therefore great to see at least one familiar event return in the shape of hoggywartyxmas - a fest that has been going on for 11 years now and is as much part of my Christmas traditions as the Christmas tree and what should have been the family dinner. I think that for many of us, the fest had even more significance this year and the sense of community was even stronger. My heartfelt thanks to therealsnape and kellychambliss for giving us this ♥.

I still have some catching-up to do, but here are a set of entries I much enjoyed and recommend:

By the Fireside by cabepfir
Rating: G
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva/Severus
Summary: A quiet afternoon together
Warnings: None
(It's difficult not to rec a cabepfir piece, because her sense of colour and atmosphere are brilliant and she is the Queen of All Watercolour. Also: her Snape. Plus cutiepie cat.)

What Minerva Did Next by hiddenhibernian
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,100
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva McGonagall, Augusta Longbottom
Summary: Of magic, witches and whisky, and why there are no female Dark Lords (that you know of, anyway).
Warnings: None
(This was my gift, right up my alley - I find it almost philosophical :). Minerva's understanding of magic grows, and with it her dissatisfaction with the magical community as it is. She begins to consider taking action, and talks it over with Augusta Longbottom. Don't expect flashy action, but enjoy the musings of two sharp witches.)

To All a Good Night by delphipsmith
Rating: G
Word Count: ~5500
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank, Poppy Pomfrey, Pomona Sprout, Filius Flitwick, Madam Malkin; brief appearance by Hagrid and mention of Malfoys
Summary: Just when things seem dark as a crow's wing, life takes a lucky turn.
Warnings: None
(I'm going to let you discover Delphi's puns for yourself. This story made me laugh out loud every few lines. Basically this is "magical covid takes the Wizarding World". Having lived through this non-magical covid year, I wasn't sure that I would be able to laugh at it, but - I was. I hope you are too.)

Death and Love and Other Yuletide Mysteries: A Hogwarts Castle Story by milotzi
Rating: G
Word Count: 7244
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva McGonagall and an assorted cast of Hogwarts staff and friends
Summary: Hogwarts Castle as Blandings meets snowbound country house mystery.
Warnings: It’s a Yuletide tale, yet you may discover an easter egg or two or three if you like reading crime mysteries.
(I have a weakness for pastiche. I couldn't write one to save my life, but I so enjoy it when other people prove they can. This was a good one, and I just adore this ironic, knowing 30s style of writing.)

Within a Forest Dark by squibstress
Rating: soft R
Word Count: 9,725
Characters and/or Pairings: Severus Snape/Minerva McGonagall
Summary: Severus expects his journey at Hogwarts to be dark and lonely. He’s right. Mostly.
Warnings: None.
(Squibstress promises 'snark' and 'bitching'. What else can one want from a Severus/Minerva story? ;P An excellent tale with great characterisation and strong dialogue to entertain you even if you don't ship SnacGonagall.)

The Unofficial Minutes of the Hogwarts Knitting Society by therealsnape
Rating: G
Word Count: 14K
Characters and/or Pairings: Irma Pince with a supporting cast of Hogwarts Staff Members. Also, the owner of a knitting shop.
Summary: When Gilderoy Lockhart announces his plan for motivational lectures that will bring the fun back into teaching, his colleagues have to do something. But who would have thought it would involve needles and yarn?
Warnings: None.
(I have two words for you: WITCHES and KNITTING. Truly a magical combination?! Well, it was for me. Minerva McGonagall sets up a knitting club that must save its members from attending lectures by Gilderoy Lockhart. This leads to Ravelry Revelations. Don't be scared of the word count: this story doesn't at all *feel* like 14K, it's that good a read.)

Season’s Greetings from Hogwarts! by mywitch
Rating: PG
Characters and/or Pairings: Pomona Sprout, Filius Flitwick, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and Irma Pince
Summary: The Hogwarts Faculty tries to keep it together for the annual Yule card photo.
Warnings: Tiny bit of full frontal nudity ;)
(mywitch is one of these people who can't hide their identity in an anonymous fest because they just ... are who they are? She is amazingly versatile and can, I think, do just about anything. But even though she uses a variety of styles and media, you can always tell it's her because of the unique combination of technical brilliance, creativity and mischief in her entries. Treat yourself to this animated postcard. Do not consume beverages while watching.)

Here endeth the reccing!

So, as we've had the reveal last Saturday, I can quite openly claim authorship of The Gift, a very silly 5-page comic:

The Gift
Rating: Ummm... PG for a word you don't want your child to repeat?
Word Count: 168
Characters and/or Pairings: Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore
Summary: The year is 1993, and the presence of one Mr Remus Lupin at Hogwarts means that this isn't the Potions Master's favourite Christmas ever. Maybe, just maybe, Minerva McGonagall can lift his gloom.
Warnings: Rude language

I want to share some behind-the-scenes information about this little comic because it's special for me. If you're interested, I'd advise you to read the story first and then come back for the making-of, which I'll put in a separate entry.

Posting now, after a turbulent trajectory ;)!


I'm really pleased with this, even though it shows all of my typical shortcomings (I don't *really* know where I ought to be putting shades, everything sort of floats and I have serious problems with creating depth of any kind - I circumvented perspective a bit so that's less of a problem here). I can't do anything complex in digital colouring, but I do like where these simple colours get me. This is probably the best level I'm capable of with digital colouring, mind - but I like it. I'm thinking I should probably switch to digital for the shading in my comic, because it would look sort of neat and I could correct mistakes. But it would take me more time to finish my pages, and i'm already amazingly slow, so I guess I should have a think on that ;). 

This year's hoggywartyxmas has been excellent again! I'm still catching up on my reading (reason: I gave myself too much to knit, and knitted gifts against the clock...), but here are my recs so far:

A Negotiated Settlement by Anonymous - a hilarious epistolary fic in which Narcissa Black ... well ... schemes as only Slytherins can.

Rating: PG13

Word Count: 3500 and some fancy coding.

Characters and/or Pairings: Ooh well, that would be telling

Summary: Narcissa realises that her boy is too stupid to be let out in the world without a guiding hand

Warnings: Don't trust the author. Or Slytherins. The author is a slytherin.

The Final Year of the War by Anonymous - my gift! It's an incredibly detailed illustration, which not only boasts a great Snape (<3) and an excellent McGonagall, but stories going on in the background. Extra thumbs up for the gorgeous costuming :D!

Characters and/or Pairings: Headmaster Snape, Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, multiple Hogwarts students

Summary: Title says it all

Warnings: Be careful on the stairs, and remember, no magic in the hallways.

The Neville Sweater by Anonymous. Of course I would recognise this "Anonymous" anywhere and her illustrations are always worthwhile! This one uses a new technique which looks a bit like paper art and I love it :).

Rating: G

Characters and/or Pairings: Neville Longbottom

Summary: Neville receives his first Weasley sweater.

Filius Flitwick's Christmas by Anonymous. I mean: it's Hercule Poirot's Christmas, but at Hogwarts! What's not to like?!

Rating: PG

Word Count: 13K

Characters and/or Pairings: Filius Flitwick, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Argus Filch, Cornelius Fudge, and Ron Weasley

Summary: “Right,” said Kingsley Shacklebolt, as Minerva and he sat in her study, now fully cleared of the dinner things. “There’s the five of you, there’s the House Elves, there’s Argus Filch. And there’s one hell of a mess, with a spoiled painting. This wants clearing up."

Warnings: None

Do Badgers Dream of Chocolate Hobnobs? by Anonymous - a story about biscuits and what they tell you about people, seen through the eyes of Pomona Sprout. A lovely, lovely story.

Rating: gen

Word Count: approx. 5500

Characters and/or Pairings: Severus, Pomona, Filius, Minerva, Albus, Horace, and a random cast of Hogwarts staff, students and elves.

Summary: Pomona Sprout decided that Albus Dumbledore had his own agenda and there might be more to the Potions Master than met the eye; or, what happens when people underestimate a badger.

Warnings: none

It's funny - I used to be really annoyed with the whole Snape-and-Lily thing. I still feel that the whole 'ugly, unpopular boy loses pretty, popular girl to handsome, popular boy who is of course his arch enemy' plot is a big old cliché. But I think that, x years later, I get the dynamic between Severus and Lily better. I don't think Lily was the friend that Severus thought her to be, and I don't buy JKR's comment that 'she could have been interested in him romantically if he hadn't been into Dark Arts'. I think Lily and Severus got on like a house on fire *before Hogwarts*. They clung to each other because they were the only magical children around. For Severus, Lily remains 'the One and Only', but Lily's focus is much less narrow.

That said, I'm having fun imagining them together as children, also because I think Lily must have seen a Severus that nobody else ever saw.



(This is from the notebook I keep for the Snapefic of Doom.)

Here's a happy birthday to the Man Who Undoubtedly Lived!

Let's celebrate with some recs from hoggywartyxmas - starting with my fabulous gift! It was written, compiled and provided with selected illustrations by shiv5468 who, let's be honest, spoiled me rotten. Therefore -

Get thee to Hoggywarty to read The Sweet Smell of Success (G, 2500 words), a tale of perfume, poetry and plenty of Aubrey Beardsley.

Shiv did not only gift me with a story; she also included the entire, illustrated catalogue to which the story makes reference. I don't know what I did to deserve that XD. It's such a fabulous mix of the Hogwarts Ladies; an absent but perfect Snape; one of my very favourite artists; and a number of my favourite poets. Just- just SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE is what I say.

Now, despite the utter perfection of my gift, I didn't close my eyes to other goings-on at The Hoggywarty, and I'd like to share a few more titles I have enjoyed very much:

cabepfir's Big Great Hogwarts Quiz (G, art and, well, a quiz of course): go and have a look to see how well you do ;).

I have limitless admiration for people with a capacity to write comical verse. I miss _vocalion_'s and _grainne_'s jocular virtuosity, and was delighted when I came across atdelphi's A Midwinter Night's Revel (Teen, 500 words). It's just ... ahahahahahaaaa!

therealsnape's Case of the Cat Show Corruption (PG-13, 9700 words, no warnings), in which Spinster Detective Minerva McGonagall cracks a case for Mr Filch. I am a sucker for Hogwarts detective stories - I have always dreamed of writing one, but I couldn't write a mystery to save my life - and there are so few of them around. This one is, in one word, excellent. It is so completely in character that I suspect TRS found McGonagall's diary and passed it off as her own ;-).

I usually steer clear of anything rated over PG-13 and carrying warnings like "voyeurism", but this time round I gave in to my own inner voyeur (ahem) and went to read kellychambliss's Look Not at the Things (R, 10,600 words, voyeurism). It's a sharp and unvarnished look at Snape as a recent ex-Death Eater - an astute portrait of a disillusioned, desperately lonely and cynical young man who finds himself quite lost in an environment with, well, rather more emotionally balanced people. This story really packs a punch. It hurts. But in the end there is hope.

My gift for albalark is this picture to accompany her Snape birthday story, Saturday's Child, so I think I can safely post it here in celebration of the one and only Potions Master (sorry, Professor Slughorn).





It's Reeves acrylic paint on cardboard, because yes, I'm going to art school now ;-)! cabepfir kindly lent me a hand and beta'ed the painting. The flaws are now beginning to jump out at me, but I'm still kind of proud of it as one of my first steps in a new medium and an approach that is, quite frankly, the complete opposite of everything I have been doing in art (such as it is) so far.

Ack! I've been so busy doing stuff for school that I haven't been very active here - and so I have failed, so far, to rec my wonderful springtime_gen gift fic. And I'm kind of ashamed because of my lateness, because I really enjoyed the fic a lot. It is a very quiet, reflective story. After the Battle of Hogwarts, McGonagall is beset by doubts about the way she has dealt with Snape, and she talks this over with Flitwick. It's the sort of thing I really wanted to see in canon, but which of course never materialised. *hugs mystery author*

Title: Vigil
Author: ???
Recipient: sigune
Character(s): Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick
Rating: G
Wordcount: 1098
Warnings: None
Summary: It's been two days since Severus's death, and Minerva McGonagall can't sleep.

~*~*~

In other fannish news, Bloomsbury wants to know who your favourite character in the Potter books is. J.K. Rowling has said that she'd love to have dinner with Dumbledore and listen to his sage counsel. You know you want to have dinner with Snape, right? Go vote for the Potions Master here and make your voice heard!

My hp_beholder gift has posted! Because of an IJ outage, it got a bit lost between the folds, and that's a shame.

A Mystery Author wrote Black Knight Moves Forward (PG-13), a story set during the summer preceding Philosopher's Stone. Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall get to know each other better as they work on the defenses for the Philosopher's Stone. Initially, they don't fancy being stuck at school when they could be enjoying the sun in the south of France, but ... well, they're Snape and McGonagall, so the company could be worse :-).

Black Knight Moves Forward has everything you can want from a story on a pleasant summer's day (what can I say? we're having divine weather at the moment): Snape, McGonagall, humour, misunderstandings, fantastic beasts, Slytherin versus Gryffindor, adventure and friendship(+). Enjoy!

First off, this is for _grainne_, to thank her for the rose she gave me on Valentine's Day :-).



*smooches _grainne_*

As you can see, I still haven't given up on watercolour painting yet, though I don't seem to be able to paint anything decent except small and simple pictures like the one above. Mind you, I love small and simple pictures, but - I'd like to be able to do something more complex too! That said, I think I should really start working on my sumi-e, because that style of painting probably suits me better than more Western approaches, and I might be able to achieve some success there if I study enough...

In any case, I am struggling on with my watercolours. Because I have trouble mixing colours, I got myself a new (well, second-hand) book that seemed really interesting in the sense that it proposes a completely different approach to colour than the ones I had read so far. The book is called Making Color Sing and was written by Jeanne Dobie. She has all sorts of things to say that are much too advanced for me, but the basics I can understand :-). First off, Dobie uses a basic palette that centres around four colours that are normally deemed completely optional: Rose Madder Genuine, Aureolin Yellow, Cobalt Blue and Viridian. She favours them because they are pure pigments and very transparent. The colours you get when you mix them are still luminous, even the greys. Only - well, these colours aren't very lightfast, so some artists say that Dobie is insane recommending them :P. Well, I don't much care. My paintings aren't on display, so my Rose Madder Genuine isn't going to fade any time soon. I'll remember the lightfastness issue if anyone should ever commission a painting from me - but seeing how amateurish I still am, I think I still have quite a lot of time to worry about replacement colours ;-).

Anyway: the picture above, as the one below the cut, have both been painted with Dobie's basic colours.



( If You Are Prepared )

Concrit & good advice are very welcome!