An Announcement

I have decided to stop posting any more of DDD until the entire fic is completed to the end. I probably should have done this a couple of months ago when I originally considered simply stopping 100%. However, I’m doing it now. I just feel too tired and beaten up to want to continue this process of putting it out there anymore at the moment. If anybody wants to know more, I can be reached through email in the author link.


Anise

Well, now I can FINALLY leave a review. I like to read other people's reviews, you see, and there have been some unfortunate incidents of endings being revealed early IN reviews when these multichapter fic-exchange fics are published here.

Anyway... a beautifully heartbreaking fic, of course, and it became apparent at some indefinable point that Draco and
Ginny just weren't going to escape in a traditional sense. But I still think that they *did* escape, because they learned to love each other. All I can say is that this particular afterlife had better follow the Nicene Creed (or is it the Apostle's Creed?), which includes a resurrection of the body, so that they can have heavenly sex. :) After that kiss, though, I think it's likely.

Author's Response: yeah, i was a little bummed by the early spoilers, but i didn't know what to say about them. :(

i feel kinda fan-girlish that you are reviewing btw! lol

i haven't heard of heavenly sex, but i am all for it! woo! and yes, it did become really clear when i was doing a 2nd draft that they were not going to reasonable "escape" so my betas convinced me to scrap the ending i had a write a new one. thank you for reviewing!

Erhg-- I've gotten SO behind on R and R'ing fics here!! (Yes, "erhg" is now a word. ;) But in my defense, I'm beta reading for about a zillion people, and I'm working REALLy hard on the big site transfer. These were really good... I love drabbles that are interconnected, but could actually kind of stand on their own as individual pieces. We are certainly left wondering at the end of "Clothes." ;)

Author's Response: Hopefully you won't be left wondering for long! I just need to write two more drabbles before I can post again. One thing I have been trying to do is make sure these drabbles CAN stand alone, even if the context isn't always clear without the rest of the story as background. I don't think I've succeeded in that for EVERY drabble, but I'm pretty proud of what I've been able to accomplish so far. Now, if I can write all 100 drabbles and make this a decent story, then I think that's something I could really be proud of. No wonder this has been a three-year effort (so far!). Anyway, glad you enjoyed! And can't wait to see what you have in store for FIA!

This is really, really well written. It's been a long time since I've seen something that actually could have come from canon (or particularly cared about seeing that, to be perfectly honest!) But you're doing it *so* well that I just had to tell you. :)

Author's Response: Thank you! I've been playing around with the DH timeline a lot lately, probably because canon is so full of holes for that time period, and the actual bits of canon are awful anyway. :) I'm so glad you like this!

Fascinating chapter. The contrast between the two couples works really well-- we can see both the similarities and the differences. Marcus knows that he would do anything he had to do to save Katie, for instance; I think that Draco has kind of convinced himself that he might not do the same for Ginny if he were actually put in that situation. But if it *did* happen, yes, I think that he would. And yet it also makes sense that *Ginny* would be the one who would owl Draco and attempt to break off the relationship because she thinks she's doing for his own good. It's hard to write Draco and Ginny so that they're completely believable according to canon and yet also believable as a couple at Hogwarts that seventh year (I don't know if I've seen anyone do it all that well), and the strange part is that it's not because it's hard to believe it would have happened. It could be because Harry's interest in what was happening to Ginny at Hogwarts during DH was either totally missing, focused on remembering the physical aspects, or very dismissive (laughing when he heard about her being punished for trying to steal the sword, for instance. That was pretty much it for me and Harry after that moment in DH.) That POV was so overwhelming that for me, anyway, it made it hard to imagine what Ginny actually might have been doing. But you're really pulling it off! :) (Katie and Marcus are easier in that way because we don't know anywhere near as much about them.)

Reading D/G as it is written here, we *know* there's a direction it could go in which would make the DH epilogue believable as an ending, which it certainly isn't at the end of the actual DH (pause for hisses and boos... oh, never mind.) But it would also be very sad, because it would mean that this Draco AND this Ginny decided not to grow as people. (In the actual DH, of course, this was sold as a fake happy ending, and-- slap slap slap. I'm better now...;) But the point is that we know and feel the divided loyalties that pull them in different directions. Good stuff. :)

Author's Response: Yeah, well, I'm one of those for whom the Epilogue doesn't exist. So yeah, if I were *completely* into sticking with canon, I could go that way. But HELL NO. (Prolly spoiling my ending, but OMG, that Epilogue is dead to me. DEAD. If I felt better about desecrating books I'd razor it out of my copy.) I've written a few different iterations of Katie and Marcus now, which is really easy to do because we have next to nothing about them in canon, but I'm really fond of this iteration, actually. They're much more grounded, I think. The D/G scenes in this chapter and the last were difficult for me to write because I was trying to keep them in character though this. (At least, what little we know about them as characters in DH, because Harry has no interest or interaction, really. That's another reason the Epilogue of Doom bugs me. Ginny goes from being badass DA member/leader to simpering housewife that obviously has no input into even her children's names? HELL NO. She's capable of more than that, and I really wanted that to come across in this story.

Well, now that I'm FINALLY at the end of the Oregon Trail (and it might have been easier to take a covered wagon), I can actually get online again. :) A great and very realistic end to it all! While you've obviously gone *beyond* canon, everything that happened also fit potentially into canon, if you see what I mean. What happened between Katie and Marcus made perfect sense given how their characters have been delineated up to this point-- she herself knew that he really might do anything at all to save her, I think, and she wouldn't let him destroy himself by giving him the choice. They both made it through, and actually it wasn't a foregone conclusion, because if I remember correctly, we really *aren't* told in canon whether they did or not.

Draco and Ginny's journey is extremely believable, and a very intriguing thing about it is that everything you've written could have happened within the boundaries of canon (because we're ignoring the Epilogue of Doom, because it was clearly written by evil aliens from the planet Zoofelfutz.) Given that all we have is Harry's POV in DH, he easily would have been oblivious enough to miss all of the D/G interactions. Of course, even HE might have figured it out at SOME point afterwards.... I really, really liked your final ending for them, because I think it had to be. It was a different choice from what some readers would expect, no doubt about it, but again, it was realistic as the *best* choice for them. While we don't know exactly what's going to happen in their future, we do know that they've built something real between them in the past. A short D/G sequel to this fic would be fascinating to read (although I don't know if you would write it), because there are still a lot of issues for them to work out, and the way that they'll manage to do it is very much up in the air. But I don't think it could be any other way at this point.

Happy to read this fic, sad to see it end, looking forward to more from you! :)

Author's Response: woo for being online! Having moved recently, I can feel the pain. :D No, we're never told what happens to either Katie or Marcus in canon, and it's not even mentioned if they're at the Final Battle or not. But given that Katie was in the DA, I can't see her *not* being there, and especially not in this iteration of her that I've written. So yay for adding that element of suspense for you. :D And thank you so much for feeling that the D/G could have been canon. I was trying very hard to have this fit into what we do know of DH and still have it believable. (Harry conveniently ignores things that don't immediately apply to the situation, after all...) In keeping with canon!Draco, though, I couldn't have him immediately sweep Ginny off of her feet and declare his love with wine and roses. This simply wasn't that kind of a story. I don't know if there's a sequel to this, so I can't promise anything. Some other stories I thought for sure I wouldn't write one, yet I did... even if it was a few years later. ^^; We'll see about this one. I do want to write more D/G, and I do have some more boxes left on my hc_bingo card before I get a blackout. :D

This second chapter works very well, particularly when it comes to the new OC's. Don't worry about how fast the action is going-- I think it's better to show how Ginny is beginning to adapt to her new environment. (Of course, this can get out of hand and turn into 345,876.76 chapter fics... ;)

Non-canon characters are hard to handle a lot of the time, but Kora is really fitting in so far. I'm a little nervous about heading over to your LJ because I'd rather be surprised by what shows up in this fic I think... but IMHO you're smart to keep things on LJ. Facebook has *serious* security and privacy issues. Anyway... looking forward to seeing more soon! :)

Author's Response: Besides Kora, there will only be one other OC character...but she isn't original. More of a Hindu goddess. But thank you! I have yet to put up Kora's picture on my LJ. But I will sometime later today. Glad to have your approval!

Ohhh... thanks! :) Yes, this is an intense chapter. But I do think that a lot of things really start to come into play here. I don't know if Draco could have realistically started to see the price he might have to pay for choosing to be a DE in any other way-- he's sworn to be Voldy's loyal servant, but that would now mean giving up Ginny. I'm really not sure how you're going to get them out of this one. I don't think you'll get to the point where you have to use the ending that a former bf of mine often used to bring up when something just went on TOO long...

"There was a big car crash, and everybody died."

"How did the Dukes of Hazzard movie end?"

"Oh, there was a big car crash, and everybody died."

"How did the dinosaurs become extinct?"

"There was a big car crash, and everybody died."

You get the idea. I'm really tired... Nighty night... ;)

Author's Response: Anise, my dearest! No, that will not be the ending. I have two written. One of them will be used. Not sure which one. As for Draco getting them outta all this... that's a very good question. But when I asked him about it, this is what he said. Me: Draco? *knocks on door* Draco: Go away! *throws teddy at door* Me: What's wrong? Draco: He wants to take my woman! And you won't even tell me how to stop him him! And you won't let me see her between scenes! Then it goes black. So yeah, that's nothing. Yet. But I'm off for two days, so hopefully I can figure something out, as well as send you the next chapter. Now I am tired. Nighttt.

I'm so glad you've continued this fic! And I really want to see where Draco's taken Ginny. Not to mention that ball... ;) I don't think they've seen the last of Bella either, so I wonder when she'll show up again. We shall see!

A beautiful story, and what makes it even more beautiful, I think, is that you bring in so many things that are real, that aren't normally associated with Ginny and Draco, and yet are so believable given their characters. BUT-- and this is part of what makes it heartbreakingly beautiful-- the ending is real rather than unrealistically cheerful. Anyone who's ever dealt with cancer knows what lymphoma means-- it's never really 100% gone.

"Unrealistic" would have meant some kind of magic spell that absolutely guaranteed a cure for Draco from that day on. In a way, killing Draco off at the end would have been just as predictable. Instead, we have an ending that we know deep down is bittersweet, and yet that gives Draco and Ginny a future. And that's what really counts.

Author's Response: Thanks so much! It was really really hard to make this ending happen. It kept sliding toward Draco's death, and I really didn't want to do that. They deserved some kind of future together after what I put them through, and I knew it would be a long haul for both of them.

I really, really liked this fic. And that's saying a lot, because I could completely relate to Draco's sheer and utter and visceral hatred of Christmas. I ^&*^&^%&^%&^^*^*&^&*^&*^*&^

(insert string of creative expletives here.
very creative. I work with ex-cons all day, you know...)

HATE Christmas. Vile. Anyway... I love the way that I don't think you can say that Draco ever really softens towards the holiday, either. He just responds to the way that Ginny truly cares about him instead of taking him in out of pity, and then, of course, he begins to fall for her. ;) And the generous part of his spirit comes out when he helps her friend Julie, which has NOTHING to do with the sheer horribleness that is Christmas.

Anyway, I'm thankful that it's over for another year, and now we have St. Urho's Day to look forward to. :) (pictures a St. Urho's Day D/G fic. Oh, come on! You know you want to write one. I'll even give you a tip to start out with. He drove the grasshoppers out of Finland.)

Author's Response: I'm one of those awful people who LOVE Christmas. Though I don't sink low enough to wear Christmas jumpers. Now that I refuse to do. Tacky decorations, yes; lots of food, yes; Christmas trees and presents, yes. But jumpers? No!

Anyway, I'm glad you liked this one. I agree that Draco doesn't really soften towards the actual holiday -- he just gets a bit of compassion for Julie and her family because he recognises himself in that situation. And, as you said, he merely responds to the fact that Ginny genuinely cares about him, which really doesn't have anything to do with Christmas.

I now have a theory. I think there's an insane narrator running loose through ALL the fics on this site. Have you noticed just how many of them feature a thoroughly demented narrator? It even happened to me.... But none of them, my dear, match up to yours. She's even singing the Coconut Song! You know, we get deliveries of meds all the time at work that are very useful for that kind of thing... um, anyway... ;)

Harry Humperdinck! Hmm. Maybe that was actually his name in the original draft of canon, but it was changed because it revealed his personal shortcomings all too clearly. (ponders the point, decides to not go there any further) Who knew that Ginny was delicate enough to feel a pea through 20 mattresses? But we really don't know how *large* the pea was in the fairy tale, after all. And what could serve as a better story for Draco than *The Emperor's New Clothes*! Such a perfect excuse for him to run around naked in front of God and everybody, innocently protesting all the while that it was all the fairy tale's fault. Of course, once the weather becomes a tad warmer, Ginny may get quite a surprise...;) Anyway, they could always try *Rapunzel.* Start growing your hair, Ginny!

Author's Response: Insane narrators? I have no idea what you're talking about . . . .

If I remember correctly, I wrote this whole fic in about a day and a half, on very little sleep, with awfully cheery music playing the whole time. I think moments of insanity were inevitable, but it certainly made writing this a breeze. I decided early on that I wasn't even going to attempt to be serious, so I just went with whatever came to mind, coconut song and all. It was, I have to admit, quite fun.

I couldn't resist making Harry have some tie to the prince in the Princess Bride. Poor Harry, he really does suffer in fanfiction, but he does bring it on himself. All that demanding and expecting people just to listen to him with no real explanations. Heh, I've always found the Princess and the Pea story a little ridiculous. It'd have to be a pretty large pea to sit under those mattresses and not be squished, but I suppose we're not supposed to consider those things. Fairy tales are all about accepting the unbelievable.

When I was trying to think of the fairy tales I'd use for this story, I immediately thought of The Emperor's New Clothes for Draco. It just suited him to a T (or it did in my mind), and the image of him strolling down the street naked was just too priceless to pass up. I actually did consider Rapunzel, but I've seen it done so many times in fanfiction that I decided against it in the end. I hope you will like the fairy tales I did decide to go with, though. ^_^