Rectober - Post No. 1 - It's Magic

[nia_kantorka]

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Title:Sparks from the Fox’s Tail
Author/Artist: khalulu
Pairing(s) Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 17.247
Warnings: none
Tags: Finland (Country), Magic, Finnish Magic, Bees, Finnish Mythology and Folklore


Summary: Draco is frustrated with his career as a travel writer, when a mini-tirade from Mrs Weasley and an encounter with the portrait of an intrepid great-great-great-aunt lead him to Finland to study wandless magic. Harry is – just being contrary and following his sweet-tooth, or taking the subtle route to saving the world?

Why I loved it:
I need to speak verbosely here. I read Sparks from the Fox’s Tail for the first time when I had the ambition to read all of this year’s Summer Fan Poll Award stories. It had been categorized into Drama-Angst which was imo, sorry to say that, rubbish. This story was not a typical drama or angst fic (no wonder, it didn’t win a price though it should have). It’s a fic about Draco coming to terms with his life, his past and what he wants to do with himself.

I loved it so much because it’s beautifully written. The words are tender and soft but oh so powerful. My imagination ran wild while reading it. I saw this place where Draco lived with Mielikki, Antero, Aamu and Tuisku literally before my eyes. The green woods, the lake, the sauna, their guest house.
Then there were the side characters. They were warmhearted, very straightforward and Draco, who became Kauko Lohikäärme- the dragon from far away, could only love them. While Draco fell for Harry when he found his way to Finland too, I fell for Finland and its mythology and its traditions.

I’m sure most of you have read Sparks from the Fox’s Tail already but if not, go and have a look. It’s so worth it. Whenever I’m in the mood for something dreamlike and mystic, I re-read it.

Excerpt: How could he have forgotten Harry’s scar? Even with the Dark Lord dead and gone all these years, the scars remained. And then Draco was angry. Angry at the long reach of evil, that stretched from beyond the grave to cast its shadow over their youth. He began the incantation to send it far away:

Thee I conjure away into moaning hills, into sighing firs, to the top of a copper hill, to a copper mountain peak, where the clouds surround the hill, a steam rolls over the stones, into an iron mountain rift, into the space between two rocks.

Wrath powered the words of command:
Tormentor, shriek, O Nightmare, howl, in the deep valleys of the hills, in the fine mountain cleft, whence all thy life thou won't escape, wilt never extricate thyself.

His words rang in the air. When his eyes focused again, he noticed that he was shaking. Harry was staring at him, wide-eyed.

Comments

[khalulu]

Thank you so much for your lovely rec of my fic, and for helping it find a few more readers! I'm honored!

Researching it was really interesting, I fell in love with Finnish incantations and so many other things I learned.

(I was very grateful that someone nominated it, even though I was a little puzzled by the category at first. But then I tried nominating some of my favorite fics, and you can only nominate one in each category. So if you really want to nominate two romances or two comedies you might end up putting one in a category where it only partly fits, just to add it in somewhere.)

[nia_kantorka]

It is one of my favourites, therefore it was a pleasure to write a rec. :D

Actually, that explains a lot. I asked myself on more than one occasion why they were categorised here or there.