Still on the Quest

There were times, very late at night, when Watson heard owls confabulating in the plane tree outside his window, times when counting doors from the end of the street fetched him up against the wrong lock, his key useless in his hand, until he'd gone back down to the pavement and started over. Times when men, and women, in elaborate robes vanished from the corner of his eye just before they could be properly seen. All of which prepared him far better than Holmes for the visitor before them that frosty morning.

"My name," said the wizard, "is Phineas Black."









for elendiari22 who also knows that the movie exterior is the same house for both 12 Grimmauld Place and 221b Baker Street

Before I forget to note it, according to the pre-movie blurbs, Grimmauld Place is now 221B Baker Street.

"What on earth is an arboreal ape doing in the library?" The girl with frizzy hair asked. "And why is it chasing that butterfly?"

"Hey, Potter! When did you turn Weasley into a monkey?"

The sound of the ensuing chaos echoed down the halls and penetrated the large, nail-studded door which protected a certain small room. The figures slumped in the battered chairs there didn't move. Chaos was a normal state of affairs for any large building stuffed with adolescents. It wasn't until the poltergeist squeezed frantically through the keyhole and took refuge in the chandelier that the tall man in black reached for the pile of straws on the table.

"No fair transfiguring mine to be the longest straw this time, Minerva," he warned. "You'll take your chances with the rest of us."

"Or what?"

"Or I'll stop dosing the Weasley twins' pumpkin juice of a morning. Now draw."

If you're wondering why this happened, it's in response to the challenge I mentioned here

One of the reasons I'm still on livejournal is because of crack_van. I've found so many good stories there I've lost track. They're taking a vacation for the next month, but in the mean time there are all the old entries to wander through, and piles of things in the memories.

http://community.livejournal.com/crack_van/2768122.html?style=mine is a great example (especially for the Harry Potter fans among you.) If you follow the link, don't forget to check out the sequels too.

ETA Somehow the link changed. Try this one: http://community.livejournal.com/crack_van/2772990.html?mode=reply

It's funny, isn't it? I was perfectly happy with what JKR did in the Deathly Hallows, and my friend Jinx was sad (although accepting.) But I'm the one who wrote this, and she wrote the story that goes along with canon.

( Asphodel and Wormwood )

I should really be working on an essay for work. Ah, well.

As I venture out into the net I'm finding a number of indignant essays about how JKR handled Snape in the Deathly Hallows, but I have to admit, my first reaction to what was done in the book was positive. And it still is. I don't think he's been turned to cardboard, or done an injustice, and even if JKR herself doesn't understand what she's done, it doesn't matter... since when has literary analysis ever depended entirely on an author's intentions?

( spoilers, of course... )

I have to give myself something better to dream about.

Hence, ( My reaction to the Deathly Hallows -- spoilers spoilers, and did I mention SPOILERS below the cut. )

I've read it.

You may now talk to me about the Deathly Hallows.

I am, however, far too tired and wired to read my flist...

( Spoiler warning for comments, of course. )