‘The Apprentice and the Necromancer’ by JunoMagic
Epilogue
Epilogue—Da Capo Al Fine
‘Ginny sent new pictures of James-Hermes. And Harry threatens to err…’ Hermione blushed.
‘Hex my bollocks off and serve them to me for lunch if we don’t attend the very same occasion next Sunday?’ Severus supplied with a snort.
Hermione laughed. ‘Something like that.’
‘All right. We’ll be there. Now, where are those ridiculous plants that you absolutely have to show me?’
‘Here.’ Hermione pointed at a meadow overflowing with blooming daffodils. ‘Look how many of them there are! Do you remember what that means?’
Of course he did. He would never forget their wedding day. ‘Joy and happiness,’ he replied, his voice very soft.
‘One day,’ Hermione said, her eyes filled with quiet determination, ‘maybe not tomorrow or next week…’
How Severus regretted the lines in her young face. How he mourned the lack of sparkle in her eyes. The absence of the shrill lilt of enthusiasm in her voice.
‘…maybe not even next year.’ She offered him a wry smile.
But she reached for him. Her almost spidery thin, always cold fingers curled around his hand. Her smile turned wistful. It was too bitter yet to be called hopeful, but there was a new hint of sweetness to it that had been missing since her rescue.
Hermione stepped into Severus’ embrace, her face turned up, her eyes never leaving his. ‘But I do believe that one day, one day, we’ll be fine.’
She drew his hand up to her lips and kissed his fingers.
‘Just fine.’
oooOooo
FINITE INCANTATEM
oooOooo
Should i say that i love every word you wrote?
I did. Because you use words beautifully!
But what i really loved was every feeling, thought, smile, tear, laugh, you gifted me with!
And there isn’t much more i can say about it, because you were there… holding my hand all the way trough it!
Thank you. *you are a star*
and now…’follow the yellow brick road….
I had to keep reading all of it. I understand that things had to happen, that it couldn’t all be happy. But I found myself extremely disappointed, both in the story, and in your vision of things. Life sucks enough as it is; I guess I prefer stories with happier outcomes, since there’s enough unhappiness in real life. Believe it or not, I didn’t want it to be a “Hallmark” card either. At least you had Umbridge die! That’s something that should have happened in the actual Harry Potter canon, in my opinion. Thanks for all of your hard work. Even though I hated your ending, it was still a well-told story.
Thank you for spending time with my story. Thank you even more for taking the time to leave a comment! I’m glad you enjoyed parts of it, even if you cannot share my creative vision.
I read your fic in one shot. What a ride! I’m amazed at your capacity to plan it all ahead and leave clues all the way through (although some were painfully obvious, like the pink wand). And the Necromancer mythology you created is simply fascinating. It added a whole new depth and I loved to discover this whole new world that mingled so effortlessly with HP. And how better it is to read the fic on your site, with all the additions of pictures, parchment, youtube clips! It makes for an enhancing experience!
Now, for what I’m unsure about–I felt kinda let down by the ending. Not necessarily because it isn’t all fluffy happy (even if I have to admit I do wanted to read about their child!), but because after so much anticipation of the rogue necromancers, I was hoping…not for a showdown, but at least a confrontation, I guess. I wanted to know the name of the Leader, hear him explain himself, that kind of thing. It was so strange to brutally leave the frantic pace of the action in the Realm of Death and have this long, interminable waiting for them to be reunited resolved without some “big” moment, you know? And I wanted to see Draco off peacefully. From all the characters I think his fate was the most cruel. He deserved to see his son, make peace with his destiny, and go back beyond the Veil. It would have been interesting to see him talk one last time to his parents too, but I understand this is above all a Hermione/Snape story. Harry has it hard too, but somehow with your words, even if you say there is no hope, you convey that he might see again someday, and that’s enough for me. Nobody expected them to make it to the end of the story without sacrifices. Alina’s trade with Death, for example, is all fair to me.
All in all a wonderful tale that I’ll recommend to all my friends. I pity those who couldn’t read it in one-shot–it must have been terribly painful to wait for each new chapter, not to say confusing to remember all the details of such a complex masterpiece! But cutting it in 1000 words part was very clever, and your style of skipping some events to focus on the aftermaths of them to tell what happened is very unique. Encore! 🙂
Thank you for reading and even more for taking the time to leave such a kind comment!
I’m glad you enjoyed my story. 🙂
I definitely understand what you mean about the lack of showdown. We have come to expect a big show-down in stories, since it’s one of the most important parts of every action movie we watch. However, in “real life” people are not often granted such an easy resolution and closure. That’s why I decided against writing such a scene. In an original story, I probably wouldn’t have done that (or the brutal cut between the action in Death and the interminable waiting afterwards). But “Apprentice”, and it’s sequel “Book of the Dead” are very much experiments in writing … where I allow myself to write in a way I might not do otherwise. Some things work better than others. All in all, I’m still pretty happy with the result, though.
Thank you also for your kind words about how the design on my site worked for you. Another aspect of the experimenting that’s involved in my “virtual penny dreadful”. 😀
Oh, and if you want to read something about the eventual children Hermione and Severus will have, take a peek at “Candyfloss Days”. That is set a few years after the end of “The Book of the Dead”.
Ah, so comes the end of a true masterpiece! Not the happiest of endings, but realistic for sure. I’m glad they are together again. That’s what’s important. Thank you for writing this. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Thank you very much for spending so much time with my story, and for leaving such a kind comment. I’m happy you are satisfied with this rather bittersweet ending, and that you enjoyed the story!
Hello. I just wanted to take the time to write to you and tell you that I loved your story. Ive been reading it for I want to say about two weeks. Any spare time that I had Id be here on the computer reading your story. Cause Ive been searching for good SS/HG fanfiction for awhile now. Then I came across yours on fanfiction.net and the first few chapters of your story captered me so much that I saved it in my computer as I read along. I hope you dont mind that I did that. So I just want to thank you for taking your time to make this wonderful story. And I just have to ask will you be making a sequels?
nevermind my question i asked you i took the time to read you list of stories and i found it. im so sorry for my stupidity
Hi there! Don’t worry, it’s all good. 🙂 I haven’t had time to work on the sequel for a while due to real life. What there is of the sequel is posted on FFNet. However, the story is not abandoned by any means &endash; the next chapter is actually almost done. I hope to start working on it again in October.
Thank you for reading, and I’m thrilled that you enjoyed the story so much. And of course you may keep a copy of it on your computer or in any other form of your choice. Thank you for your kind words!
Wow !!
Your story is really beautiful, your style is wonderful and your plot is great, a well made story. I can remember the clues that you left chapters after chapters, but you don’t realise until later that this small thing was important.
Thank you for this great story.
Caroline
I’m really glad you enjoyed the story so much! Thank you for reading and for taking the time to leave a comment. 🙂
Sehr schöne Geschichte. Ich bin beeindruckt davon, wie die kleinen Details an dem einen oder anderen Punkt immer zusammen gekommen sind. Ich habe die Erfahrung gemacht, dass viele FF Autoren den Fehler machen sich an irrelevanten Nebenschauplätzen zu verzetteln – das war hier nicht der Fall, super!
Aber… Draco sterben lassen? *sobs* Schäm’ dich was! Das war jawohl absolut überflüssig! (Naja, was anderes kannst du wohl von jemandem mit meinem FF Namen kaum erwarten. Ja, okay, du darfst dreimal raten welche(s) mein(e) Lieblings-ship(s) sind. LOL )
Ah, obwohl, eine Sache fällt mir noch ein… Wer waren jetzt die Zauberer die den Inquisitoren geholfen haben? Habe ich das überlesen? Du erwähntest ja, dass die Priester ihre Magie vermutlich eher nicht selbst nutzen würden.
Ich muss sagen, dass mich außer deinem Einfallsreichtum insbesondere auch das Ende beeindruckt hat, weil du der Versuchung widerstanden hast alles süßlich-schön zu machen. Oh, und die Stelle an der Harry bemerkte dass er sich nicht sicher sei ob er Severus und Hermione für ihre Liebe beneiden oder froh sein soll, dass er und Ginny anders funktionieren als Paar. Genauso ging es mir auch beim Lesen. Auf der einen Seite ist die Tatsache dass sie so voneinander abhängig sind, einander so brauchen sehr romantisch, auf der anderen Seite aber wohl auch ziemlich ungesund und ein bisschen unheimlich.
Ähhh… Okay. Ende des Romans. Super Geschichte, danke fürs Erzählen! 🙂
LG
HMF
Vielen Dank fürs Lesen und noch viel mehr dafür, dass Du Dir die Zeit genommen hast, so einen netten und ausführlichen Kommentar zu schreiben. Freut mich riesig, dass Dir die Story so gut gefallen hat. Das mit Draco tut mir natürlich leid, aber meine Musen sind manchmal leider ziemlich blutrünstig.
Viele Grüße,
Juno
I read this story in a few short days. If my schedule had not been so busy, I would have gotten through it in one sitting, only taking biologically necessary breaks! When something is so good that I don’t want to put it down even to sleep (the book, Silence of the Lambs, is in that category), then it’s REALLY an AMAZING story!
Your character development of the originals is well done. I can see and understand them. I can feel what’s in their hearts. And I understood Alina’s crush on Severus perfectly. He’s the kind of teacher I would have crushed on, then as I got older, I would have wanted to be his friend for life. I had a high school science teacher that fell into that category. I’m in my fifties, he’s in his sixties, and we are still friends! So I hope it will go for Aline and Severus.
The way you took your time in developing the love between Severus and Hermione makes it very believable. Let’s face it, there is so much history between them that they would have to work through before they could really find it in their hearts to care for each other. You helped them grow past it all in a very believable way. And the harder it was to get past, the deeper their love grew. Such a connection. Soul mates for sure.
Reading this story was a real pleasure. It made me laugh and cry, and everything in between. I will anxiously await the sequel, Book of the Dead.
On a completely different note, I found your website because you posted the first set of chapters on TPP, a site I frequent. I just couldn’t wait for you to post it all there, knowing that I could simply come here. I hope, when it is completed, you will begin to post BoD on TPP so I know it’s time to come here and read the whole thing.
This website is a fantastic way to present your stories, BTW. I am impressed with the graphics and the interactivity. It is easy to navigate and pleasing to the eyes. Did you design and put it up yourself? If so, GREAT JOB! 😀
Enough gibberish! Stop reading this overly long comment and get back to writing, a much better use of your time. *claps*
I am very sorry that I only get around to replying to your lovely, lovely review now – busy days, right now, I’m afraid!
Anyway, thank you very much for spending your time with my story, and even more for taking the time to writing such a long and thoughtful review. That’s such a wonderful compliment in itself.
I’m thrilled, of course, that you have enjoyed the story so much, including some of the details that are not so easy to embrace for a reader. *hearts*
Thank you also very much for your kind words about my website. I’ve indeed designed and coded it myself. Webdesign is one of my hobbies, and with the advent of new techniques, especially displaying different fonts regardless of what readers have installed on their computers, the design options have multiplied. I’ve had lots of fun playing with that!
While “Book of the Dead” is officially on hiatus right now, I am pretty sure that I WILL return to the story. I just don’t know when that will be. Right now I’m a bit swamped in real life with demands of original work (YAY!!!). But I love my fanfic stories just as much as my original work. So I cannot ever abandon them.
This has been a fantastical and thought-provoking journey! While I lament the lack of a truly happy ending, I have to admit that with the way the story was written, the ending we got was fitting. To echo a preceding reviewer, this story is realistic in its portrayal of trauma and its consequences. What Hermione needs is time, and I am hopeful that she will once again learnt to embrace her life.
Thank you for this amazing story! *hugs*
Thank you very much for reading, and especially for taking the time to leave such a kind and thoughtful review.
I know a perfectly happy ending would have been wonderful, but as you yourself said … it’s just not realistic. And by now you’ve found that little bit of bliss that I wrote for them in a separate short story … so you know there will be indeed gold at the end of the characters’ rainbow!