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In Loco Parentis by dolores_crane (NC-17)

  • Sep. 14th, 2011 at 6:36 PM
Title: In Loco Parentis
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: gen, (Harry/Hermione, Harry/Severus, Nymphadora Tonks/Hestia Jones)
Categories: angst, dark, drama
Length: Epic (81,072 words)
Warnings: deals with many difficult and possibly triggering issues including depression, infidelity, abortion, racism, bullying, and voyeurism, underage sex. Some characterizations could be interpreted as character bashing.

Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] dolores_crane / [personal profile] dolores_crane
Website: [archiveofourown.org profile]dolores_crane / Dolores Crane at walkingtheplank

Author's Summary:
'It's not just Death Eaters that kill Muds. After the Second World War, the Muggle civil rights movements got started. Black rights, and feminism, and gay rights. We -- wizards -- we never had the sixties, because we just kept replaying the war, over and over again: Grindelwald in the forties, then Voldemort in the seventies, then Voldemort again in the nineties. I just hope this time it's really finished, and we can sort out our own fucking house.'

Hermione is back at school after a summer in the Muggle world, and everything is changing. But getting closer to Harry doesn't get her any closer to the war - until she's unexpectedly enrolled in the Order of the Phoenix, and meets Hestia Jones, the founder of Mud Pride.

Review:
This story is so long and complex, it's hard to summarize. While it's marked with pairings, the focus is on Hermione as she transitions of youth to adulthood.

Dolores_crane does a magnificent job exploring of the dark racist and sexist undercurrents of Wizarding society, as well as it's problematic political and legal systems. Further, it is a spot-on exploration of depression and social ostracism.

Huge and intense, dark and depressing, but by the end uplifting. It's one of those stories that drops you down with the characters into the darkest interpretation of canon, and into the depths of depression, but also works through the personal and social issues causing the problems and brings you out through that into a place of hope.

Really mind the warnings. Huge swaths of this fic are just heartbreaking, and while the issues mentioned above are handled thoughtfully, they might be difficult to handled if you're not in the right place.

In Loco Parentis

Comments

[identity profile] green-grrl.livejournal.com wrote:
Sep. 15th, 2011 02:16 am (UTC)
Enthusiastically seconding this rec! This is one of the smartest, most adult (in terms of social commentary, not porn) fics I've read in fandom. Such wonderful characters and worldbuilding.
jenna_marianne: drawing of girl with brown hair and pink scarf (Default)
[personal profile] jenna_marianne wrote:
Sep. 18th, 2011 10:37 pm (UTC)
I agree...the fic was just so intelligently written!
[identity profile] perverse-idyll.livejournal.com wrote:
Sep. 15th, 2011 02:31 am (UTC)
*claps for joy* I love this fic. In my opinion, it's one of the most brilliant in all of HP fandom. I didn't actually find it dark and depressing -- disturbing in parts, emotionally and politically, but handled in such a way that Hermione is never broken. She always has a core of toughness and her own sharp mind to get her through the shock of discovering just how messed up the wizarding world can be. The narrative voice is astute, supple, observant, funny, full of longing and anger and intelligence. It encompasses more themes and plot and sharp scrutiny of unexamined prejudice than ten other fics put together. I couldn't stop reading, and since I started around midnight, that means it kept my eyes glued to the monitor until three o'clock in the morning.

(Plus the Snarry sex is scorching, in a deliciously old-school way.)

In other words, I heartily third this rec.
jenna_marianne: drawing of girl with brown hair and pink scarf (Default)
[personal profile] jenna_marianne wrote:
Sep. 18th, 2011 10:36 pm (UTC)
Maybe I saw it as depressing since Hermione's disaffection and depression touched a cord with me & my previous experiences...that and the Lucius sub-plot.

The author really blew me away with her talent in the narrative voice. ;D
[identity profile] radioandgum.livejournal.com wrote:
Sep. 17th, 2011 10:25 pm (UTC)
Oh my god. Thank you so much for this rec. That may be the smartest, most real, most hard-hitting fic I have ever read. And normally Harry Potter leaves me a bit 'meh', but I was riveted from the first paragraph, and it only got better from there. The word 'realistic' was invented for this fic.

So if there's anyone else who still has this open in a tab and hasn't got around to looking at it yet...read it. Read it now.
jenna_marianne: drawing of girl with brown hair and pink scarf (Default)
[personal profile] jenna_marianne wrote:
Sep. 18th, 2011 10:34 pm (UTC)
smartest, most real, most hard-hitting fic I have ever read

That's how I felt too!
[identity profile] lolitakun.livejournal.com wrote:
Sep. 18th, 2011 06:38 pm (UTC)
definitely on my to-read list :)
on an unrelated note, what's the html tag for dreamwidth/AO3 you used? I've looked everywhere and I can't figure it out :(
jenna_marianne: drawing of girl with brown hair and pink scarf (Default)
[personal profile] jenna_marianne wrote:
Sep. 18th, 2011 10:31 pm (UTC)
For dreamwidth, go to the users profile & the code is at the very bottom.

For AO3, I can email you the code, and you can just plug the username into it (in three places). :D
[identity profile] lakela.livejournal.com wrote:
Sep. 21st, 2011 07:42 pm (UTC)
I've just started reading this (I'm half way through the second chapter) but I just HAD to comment... It's interesting how different people's reactions are to this fic. I don't think there has ever been a fic that has made me this ANGRY. I literally have to stop reading every few pages because I'm getting too worked up (not with the author, obviously, but at Harry and at Dumbledore - OMG, I've never hated Dumbledore so much, and that's saying something considering how manipulative he is in some Snarry fics I've read in the past - and at the whole f*cking wizarding world)...

It's extremely interesting to see Snarry from such a different perspective, too. How incredibly self-absorbed these two are. (though all things considered, Snape is actually even nice here)

/rant done, goes back to reading.
jenna_marianne: (Xavier)
[personal profile] jenna_marianne wrote:
Sep. 21st, 2011 09:14 pm (UTC)
One of the most striking things about the fic/author is that it evoked so many strong emotional responses in me. It pulled me through this emotional roller-coaster!
[identity profile] lakela.livejournal.com wrote:
Sep. 25th, 2011 05:14 pm (UTC)
It certainly IS an emotional roller-coaster. I have to say I was relieved the end was a lot more uplifting, at least I stopped wanting to throw things at my computer. It's in fact quite satisfying whilst still following through with her character developments.

All in all, I very much second this rec!!

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Short: under 2,000 words
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Long: 15,000-40,000 words
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