Got another story idea.
Oct. 22nd, 2007 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lomonaaerenGot attacked by another story idea last night, in the usual way, with me falling in and out of sleep, and adding more and more to the story’s plot during the time I was awake.
First I thought it was a one-shot idea. Then I thought it was a longish one-shot. Now it is probably going to be novel-length.
Argh.
Title: Forgive Those Who Trespass (which, yes, indeed, I kidnapped wholesale from the Lord’s Prayer)
Summary: When his friends vanish into the Department of Mysteries, Harry goes searching. The last person he expected to stumble upon in the hunt was Draco Malfoy. But is Malfoy another victim, or actively involved in whatever plot has taken Ron and Hermione?
(I will have to change the summary. It sounds cheesy).
Longer summary: This is post-DH but not epilogue-compliant (obviously). The Unspeakables have grown more powerful in the wake of the war, because, due to their innate paranoia, they were the hardest of the Ministry’s departments for Voldemort to infiltrate, and thus have the most people free of corruption. Now their power is being expressed in weird ways. Or so Harry’s heard. Since there’s never any solid information available, there’s really nothing for him to chase, and he’s occupied with his training as an Auror and living apart from Ginny (due to his recently revealed sexual orientation) anyway. This seems to have no relevance to him.
Then Ron and Hermione, who are also in Auror training with Harry, get fed up and switch to Unspeakable training, citing a combination of their exasperation with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the fact that the Department of Mysteries sounds more interesting. Harry accepts it, because, well, why shouldn’t he?
Then Ron and Hermione vanish, along with all the other trainees, and the entire Department of Mysteries goes instantly incommunicado. Harry tries to figure out what happened, but his superiors are not being cooperative. Harry gets the sense that they’re frightened of the Unspeakables and don’t want to risk a further decline of the Ministry’s reputation by taking the story public.
So down he goes into the Department of Mysteries, alone. There are traps waiting at every corner, and, in the first or second room he searches, Draco Malfoy, who apparently left the country in embarrassment after the war was done. Malfoy can’t speak, and his hands have been Transfigured into deformed flippers so that he can’t write. None of the spells Harry tries on him can reverse his silence. He can, however, communicate by nodding and shaking his head—as long as Harry asks the right questions.
Despite not trusting him, Harry can’t leave him there, and takes him along. Besides further traps and further mysteries (ha-ha, bad pun), he starts running into shimmering Pensieves full of memories. These turn out to be Draco’s memories, apparently serving some mystical purpose, since they’re always guarded. From them, Harry learns more about Draco’s past and some of the horrors he’s suffered in the past year. Both his compassion for and his distrust of Draco keep increasing.
And the deeper he goes, the weirder things get…
This will be a horror story and an action/adventure as much as anything else. The romance will be conducted mainly through the fact that Harry gets to know Draco better as somebody he wants to protect and through his memories (I cannot have a Draco POV, since that would immediately reveal everything that was going on). It will also provide me with the opportunity to play with the Department of Mysteries, which I think is one of the most neglected areas of canon.
I know what the major revelations will be. I do not know exactly how it will end, though.
Yeah, and I thought I wasn’t going to have another novel-length story idea for a while, since I was entertaining only one to work on after A Determined Frame of Mind and I Give You a Wondrous Mirror are finished. That’s Written By the Losers, a post-DH time-travel novel.
Guess that won’t work. The damn things seem to come in pairs.
First I thought it was a one-shot idea. Then I thought it was a longish one-shot. Now it is probably going to be novel-length.
Argh.
Title: Forgive Those Who Trespass (which, yes, indeed, I kidnapped wholesale from the Lord’s Prayer)
Summary: When his friends vanish into the Department of Mysteries, Harry goes searching. The last person he expected to stumble upon in the hunt was Draco Malfoy. But is Malfoy another victim, or actively involved in whatever plot has taken Ron and Hermione?
(I will have to change the summary. It sounds cheesy).
Longer summary: This is post-DH but not epilogue-compliant (obviously). The Unspeakables have grown more powerful in the wake of the war, because, due to their innate paranoia, they were the hardest of the Ministry’s departments for Voldemort to infiltrate, and thus have the most people free of corruption. Now their power is being expressed in weird ways. Or so Harry’s heard. Since there’s never any solid information available, there’s really nothing for him to chase, and he’s occupied with his training as an Auror and living apart from Ginny (due to his recently revealed sexual orientation) anyway. This seems to have no relevance to him.
Then Ron and Hermione, who are also in Auror training with Harry, get fed up and switch to Unspeakable training, citing a combination of their exasperation with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the fact that the Department of Mysteries sounds more interesting. Harry accepts it, because, well, why shouldn’t he?
Then Ron and Hermione vanish, along with all the other trainees, and the entire Department of Mysteries goes instantly incommunicado. Harry tries to figure out what happened, but his superiors are not being cooperative. Harry gets the sense that they’re frightened of the Unspeakables and don’t want to risk a further decline of the Ministry’s reputation by taking the story public.
So down he goes into the Department of Mysteries, alone. There are traps waiting at every corner, and, in the first or second room he searches, Draco Malfoy, who apparently left the country in embarrassment after the war was done. Malfoy can’t speak, and his hands have been Transfigured into deformed flippers so that he can’t write. None of the spells Harry tries on him can reverse his silence. He can, however, communicate by nodding and shaking his head—as long as Harry asks the right questions.
Despite not trusting him, Harry can’t leave him there, and takes him along. Besides further traps and further mysteries (ha-ha, bad pun), he starts running into shimmering Pensieves full of memories. These turn out to be Draco’s memories, apparently serving some mystical purpose, since they’re always guarded. From them, Harry learns more about Draco’s past and some of the horrors he’s suffered in the past year. Both his compassion for and his distrust of Draco keep increasing.
And the deeper he goes, the weirder things get…
This will be a horror story and an action/adventure as much as anything else. The romance will be conducted mainly through the fact that Harry gets to know Draco better as somebody he wants to protect and through his memories (I cannot have a Draco POV, since that would immediately reveal everything that was going on). It will also provide me with the opportunity to play with the Department of Mysteries, which I think is one of the most neglected areas of canon.
I know what the major revelations will be. I do not know exactly how it will end, though.
Yeah, and I thought I wasn’t going to have another novel-length story idea for a while, since I was entertaining only one to work on after A Determined Frame of Mind and I Give You a Wondrous Mirror are finished. That’s Written By the Losers, a post-DH time-travel novel.
Guess that won’t work. The damn things seem to come in pairs.
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-22 09:43 pm (UTC)Okay, you're the only person whose WIPS I'll read, damn you. Chapter 45, eh? Oh that's a wicked, evil carrot. I might have to succumb to the WIP... Fuck character-building.
OMG, the time-travel one sounds AMAZING! Wicked and dark and scary and can you start it the instant you finish Determined, because I'm already dying to read it! Your novels are perfection. I'm your devoted fangirl for life.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-23 01:01 am (UTC)And thank you! Your comments make me squee and bounce around the room. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-10-23 02:32 pm (UTC)Hey, I'd even be willing to *cough* beta *cough* if you need one.
Glad my comments aren't making you dial the cops to haul away the crazy stalker woman, lol! On a semi-related note, I kept thinking about your last chapter of Determined. I really liked it. It's a rare fic that makes me turn over scenes in my head, but their declarations of love were sort of a slow, subtle squee that snuck up on me. Harry's so sweet. *pets him* *pulls back smoking hand from Draco's hex*
no subject
Date: 2007-10-24 01:56 pm (UTC)I would really appreciate the offer of a beta! Since I write so fast, though, it would be a big job. Let me know if you'd be willin to help with the next WiP's.
I'm glad that chapters lingers in your mind. It is a big turning point, even if it wasn't for the reason most people thought it would be when they read the cliffhanger.
Determined!Draco is so possessive of Harry that he scares me a little.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-24 02:46 pm (UTC)I love Determined!Draco! I think his possessiveness sort of scares Harry a little, too, which is just fine. It explains some of his reluctance to succumb Draco's charms. Oh how I love this fic!
no subject
Date: 2007-10-28 03:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-29 02:51 pm (UTC)