Claiming my Erised fic!

[firethesound]

So, this one was mine...

Title: The Light More Beautiful
Recipient: lumosed_quill
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 81k
Warnings: dub-con, mild violence, creature!fic, knotting
Content/Enticements: blowjobs, handjobs, rimming, facials, switching, Auror!fic, clubbing, Quidditch, bad acronyms, bad jokes, ridiculous drinking games, and one exceedingly grumpy owl.
Summary: Thirteen years after Draco accepts Potter's help escaping the horror of his sixth year, he returns to England where he makes the unfortunate discovery that Potter is still as obnoxious as ever. And worse, more than a decade overseas hasn't been enough to dim Draco's obsession with him.
Author's Notes: To those who held my hand as I wrote and offered me endless cheerleading and and insight and reassurance, know that I couldn't have done this without you beside me every step of the way. Each of you is invaluable to me. The sentence Lumosed_Quill gave to describe Harry and Draco was "The light is always more beautiful when it shines through the darkness." And so this is a story told in two parts: first the darkness, and then the light that shines through.
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.




I was beyond thrilled to get my assignment. Absolutely over the moon about it. I adore LQ and had just had a wonderfully in-depth conversation with her about her likes and dislikes because we'd planned to exchange birthday fics, and just, there was much excitement. I was ON THIS assignment. I was visiting a friend when assignments came out, and I brainstormed all 6 hours of the drive back home, and when I got into my house, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I managed to include everything on her sign-up list, plus a few more I thought she'd like, and I was sort of surprised how quick it all came together. Once I worked out how to get 'Auror partners', 'one of them an Auror and one not', and 'both of them teachers' to play nice, the rest of it just sort of fell into place.

So, the first part of the story was originally meant to be for her birthday. I'd written most of it, and when I got my assignment I promptly went "oh crap. this thing I've already started fits what I want to do there much better!" I ended up keeping almost none of it, except a little of the beginning and some of the smut, and ended up having a blast rewriting the rest. I had so much fun poking at canon events and tweaking them differently, and looking at the whole mess of 6th year through Draco's eyes. Loved it. It was both my first time writing Pansy and my first time writing Myrtle, and I rather like how both of them turned out.

The second part was where it started to get a little bit stressful. Part one came out right on target for wordcount, but part two started to run long. Way long. My outline told me I should have the whole thing, parts one and two, done in 35k. (LOL) By the end of it I actually had about another 40-50k worth of plot and scenes I'd sketched out that I ended up cutting just to keep it under 100k and also to get it turned in vaguely on time. (Only took one extension, yay!) I'd have liked to do more with Draco's devices, and give the relationship a little more build-up, and make the case a bigger part of the plot, to expand a little bit more about what they'd both done during the years before Draco returned. But the more distance I get from it, the more I think I'm glad I didn't have time to do all of that. I feel like it works well with the length it's at now.

I had so much fun writing it, I think because I knew LQ and had a good grasp of what she would probably like, and felt comfortable being as silly as I felt like (since bread-cat didn't scare her off) and so ended up with what is easily one of my favorite stories I've written yet. And I'm still so, so glad that she likes it as well as I'd hoped she would.




catplusfox, for her incredible beta-work (as always), for the handholding and listening as I flailed, and for continuing to be so wonderful and supportive. I don't deserve you. <3
capitu, for reading and reassuring me I'd done something LQ would like, for the typo-catching and for your patience with me. You're a saint.
eidheann_writes, for the capslocky emails of motivation. Especially towards the end, a YOU'D BETTER BE WRITING popping up in my inbox really made me stay on track and helped me keep my tendency to procrastinate under control
dicta_contrion, for listening to me ramble my way through my idea for the plot. It was the first time I'd tried to put it into words so it came out a little disjointed, but you were so enthusiastic about it anyhow. And thanks for laughing in all the right places.
sophie_french, for your steady and unshakable faith in me. When I was complaining, "I feel like I'm going to be writing this story for the rest of my life!" all you said was "You're going to finish and it's going to be fantastic."
birdsofshore, for helping me sort out what the heck you call all the things in bathrooms, for all the messages and for graciously putting up with me being a bother. (And for never making me feel like I was.)

And of course to lumosed_quill, for being such a pleasure to write for. This story is what it is, because it was for you. <3