icarus: Snape by mysterious artist (Default)
[personal profile] icarus
Beg Me For It reviewers frequently ask me to write a follow-up to Beg Me For It where Harry learns of Ron and Draco's relationship.

In fact, there are three things people ask me:

1 - when is the sequel to Primer to the Dark Arts coming?
2 - when is the next part of Reunion coming? and
3 - can we have a scene where Ron/Draco's relationship is exposed to Harry?

I usually listen to story ideas. Hell, SNAFU was written because of one of these requests. If I don't add them to the series, it'll spark a new story. But this scene I already wrote.

I threw it away. I explained it to a reviewer today:

Actually, in a couple of initial drafts of the end of the story, Ron and Harry did talk about Draco. But I decided not to go that route. The story really is about Ron and Draco, not Harry, and it would have distracted the narrative.

As I wrote those parts I discovered a sense of... oh I dunno... it was a cliche. Or too close to the cliche. (Okay, Ron/Draco in prison is a cliche now, but when I wrote Beg Me For It -- the first part -- in Feb. 2003, most of the Ron/Draco fics dealt with them in school, and there weren't any Ron/Draco "prison" fics that I knew of.) Most Ron/Draco stories at the time had the grand denouement where Harry "found out."

The advantage of Beg Me For It is that it's completely outside the usual HP world -- it's in Death Eater-land -- and the point is how they're changed. I realized that if I finished on such a "normal" note, it would undermine how alien Ron's experience had been to the outside world.

Harry's important to the story, but he's there to remind us that the prison isn't all that's going on. Harry's got his own battle scars. "Scarred" is really about all the old battle scars. That's why that party is so pathetic.

But if it helps, in the drafts I threw away:

Harry's reaction was a kind of lack of surprise. After the dance Ron went to live at Draco's house and dragged his feet over explaining anything to anyone, so Harry kind of figured it out (though Percy's evasions were pretty clear).

Harry had grown up a lot in the war. He'd seen so many people die that while Ron being with Draco was profoundly strange, it wasn't horrible. He didn't trust Draco at all of course, but knew he didn't 'get' what had happened to Ron. I think the way he gave Ron space about this had to do with his own childhood; there are some things you can't talk about or expect people to understand.

Hermione thought Ron was going just through a phase, but Harry knew it had to be bigger and something to do with that prison. Ron didn't talk about his experiences there, but Percy occasionally would mention things that had been ordinary there that would stop people cold -- a real conversation killer. Percy would glance up with surprise and worry, then change the subject.

When Ron finally got around to telling Harry, the two of them mostly looked at the floor and chuckled about Hermione's "theory" that Ron's relationship with Draco was due to his having some unpronounceable Muggle disorder. Harry warned Ron about Draco, but Ron added to the list of Draco's bad qualities, calling him an "arse" fondly.

"I suppose you know him better than I do."

"I'd better."

Date: 2005-05-10 10:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dracos-faghag.livejournal.com
That was awesome. I love that you're going through and addressing these questions. Although I really want to know about #1... *coughs*

Date: 2005-05-12 02:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] icarusancalion.livejournal.com
Cool. I'll keep doing it then.

Yeah, I'd like the answer on question #1, too.

Icarus

Date: 2005-05-11 12:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tjstein.livejournal.com
Hey, I try to limit asking about Snape Manor to at least 4 times a year. I've probably failed at that miserably.

Funny, I've never really thought about Beg Me For It in those terms. I've wondered what's happening at the same time with Harry...but never what he felt about Ron & Draco. I agree that it's really their story anyway. Well, and Percy too. In fact, it was during that line of stories that I thought you were beginning to be captivated by Percy's character and kept writing little bits here and there with him. It was also the first time I was actually interested in a story that focused on Percy.

Do you ever get asked about a sequel to Zen Taxi? Well then, consider yourself asked. :-)



Date: 2005-05-11 04:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fer-de-lance.livejournal.com
I try to limit asking about Snape Manor to at least 4 times a year

Sounds like a good number to me (although I think I'm too shy to ask more than twice a year).Perhaps I should take some assertiveness training, or something. And speaking of "more than" -- was "at least 4 times" instead of "at most 4 times" a Freudian slip, or intentional? :) ((laughs))

Date: 2005-05-12 02:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] icarusancalion.livejournal.com
Switchknife asked for a sequel, and I started it and... hmm. What happened to that thing?

Icarus

Date: 2005-05-11 12:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kragey.livejournal.com
Mmmm, deleted sceenage. =D

Date: 2005-05-12 02:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] icarusancalion.livejournal.com
It's like the bonus footage in the SE version.

Icarus

Date: 2005-05-11 02:40 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] cheshyre
Sure, somebody might polish it a bit more, but those sketches feel like a perfectly logical wrapup to the story. Explains enough so that imagination can fill in the gaps more-or-less accurately.

I was about to write 'poor lonely Percy, having nobody to talk with,' but then I realized that *everybody* is in that boat, to one extent or other.

Date: 2005-05-12 02:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] icarusancalion.livejournal.com
I was about to write 'poor lonely Percy, having nobody to talk with,' but then I realized that *everybody* is in that boat, to one extent or other.

He has to talk to someone. It's just that he got so used to the status quo in there, he was so much a part of the machine, that it takes him a minute to realize the real world is different.

Sure, somebody might polish it a bit more, but those sketches feel like a perfectly logical wrapup to the story.

Now you're tempting to write it.

Icarus

Date: 2005-05-11 03:29 am (UTC)
ext_18536: (Default)
From: [identity profile] mizbean.livejournal.com
Harry's reaction or non-reaction makes a lot of sense to me. The cliche route would have him freak out, but realistically the way you portray makes more logical sense. Harry loves Ron and I think he trusts Ron. He'd probably keep a watchful eye on Draco from afar, because he wouldn't want Ron to get hurt, but I think he would support Ron's choices.

Date: 2005-05-12 02:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] icarusancalion.livejournal.com
The cliche route would have him freak out, but realistically the way you portray makes more logical sense.

Freaking out would make sense if he were still a teenager, but the war forced him to grow up a bit... maybe too soon.

Icarus

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