Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Title: Upon the Silver Wind 03 Mar 2024 12:14 am
Reviewer: sarahsezlove (Signed) [Report This]
    Absobloominlutely wonderful.

    Author's Response:

    YAYYY!!! This was my very first posted fanfic -- I worked soooo hard, trying to get everything just right. Amazing how much more easily writing comes to me today. (I seriously need to buckle down and get back into the writing groove... I have actually written several additional stories, with another still a WIP, but nothing new posted in ages! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! 😊

Title: Upon the Silver Wind 11 Jul 2022 1:05 am
Reviewer: cavehack (Signed) [Report This]
    I loved this story! It kept me on tenterhooks with its unique and time ticking plot. So poignant and well written too. Thank you.

    Author's Response: Wow! That means so much! This was the first story I ever posted, and I can remember struggling to get it "just right" -- I revised and revised and revised, and it was amazing to see the finished product show up on my cell phone!!! I was on the internet at last! I had suffered similar struggles in a couple of fiction writing courses in college, so I can appreciate fanfiction providing a platform for practicing writing. As time went on, I gained confidence and found that writing became easier with each story. The two most important lessons I've learned: 1) I always write with the EXPECTATION of revisions! That frees me up to write fast and furious narrative, knowing that I can flesh stuff out later on, wherever necessary. And 2) I learned to trust my subconscious -- no matter what I'd initially planned or plotted or outlined, whenever my pen suddenly took off on its own and the story began writing itself, I'd just hang on for the ride! Every single time this has happened, the results were always far superior to anything that my conscious mind had planned. Very bizarre, but absolutely amazing! I know readers only see the finished product, but the writing process continues to blow my mind at times! 😁 Many thanks for reading and reviewing, and for bringing back memories of my earlier experiences!
Title: Upon the Silver Wind 25 Jan 2016 1:06 am
Reviewer: foss (Anonymous) [Report This]
    What a fantastic story! You did such a great great job. Everything was well-written, nothing missing, nothing redundant, the action, the drama, and those sentiments at the end.
    I especially love Dumbledore's simple but powerful warning message to Voldemort. Oh, and the beautifully tragic possibility of Lily's last letter. If only...
    Also, this sounds really dumb but there was just this one sentence I didn't understand. I tried rereading that paragraph, but apparently I missed something :(. Can you explain it?
    "Snape realized he had never heard Dumbledore use that particular word before…"
    Anyway, thank you for such a splendid work!

    Author's Response: Actually, you didn't miss anything! I simply implied that Dumbledore had used an exceptionally strong swear word. (Back in the olden days, writers would have the narration read something like: Dumbledore said something unprintable. Nowadays, they will print ANYTHING, so it's up to the writers themselves to self-censor. 😉) Many thanks for a terrific review! It means a lot to get a review like this on my very first fanfic all these years later! 😃
Title: Upon the Silver Wind 31 May 2015 7:00 am
Reviewer: hule (Signed) [Report This]
    I was wondering (about the apparation), thanks for the story, however. You even found something reconciling at the end, although the whole matter about the missing message is quite disturbing.

    Author's Response: I actually explained my take on the Apparation in the Chapter End Notes following the story. And yes, it can be disturbing to think of the note that took 20 years to come to light, all the lost opportunities... Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Title: Upon the Silver Wind 14 Aug 2014 6:21 am
Reviewer: bridgeportfox (Signed) [Report This]
    Neat story. Draco waylaying Harry and portkeying him away makes sense. And how better to impress Voldemort than with a gift of Harry? Harry's panicked thoughts and burst of magic really hit home. The truce with Snape and the reason behind it were a nice touch. And Albus' little gift to Voldy was a great ending.

    Author's Response: Thank you so much for your review! Wow! What a treat to get a review on the very first story I posted on P&S -- it seems like ages ago that I wrote it! I remembering working so hard to get everything to balance out (had to keep playing my own devil's advocate to find and fill in a bunch of gaps), and I was so in AWE of the fact that I actually had a story on the internet at last! Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for taking the time to tell me all the reasons "why"!  :-)
Title: Upon the Silver Wind 26 Jun 2011 8:11 am
Reviewer: misundersnape (Signed) [Report This]
    Fantastic!
    A really great tale to read.
    Still sad moments, which pulled tears from my eyes, but some triumphant ones too.
    I think this is a lovely fantasy, that Lily did forgive him and offer a second chance, but really I think he was on to his tenth by the time Lily gave up on him. Of course none of his others were as bad as the "Mudblood" incident, but still, Lily had been warning him for years. Not that I'm a fan of Lily, I think that she should have stuck by Severus, his drifting away was a sign of needing positive guidance/influences, not to be cut off, so to me it was a flaw in Lily's character as a teen, some see her as 'perfect' but I'm not one of those.
    Anyway, great job - I enjoyed it very much!
    misundersnape...

    Author's Response: Hey, thank you very much! Wow! It was terrific to see a new review after I posted this-- my very first fanfic!-- over a year ago! I agree that Severus needed friendship/guidance at that time in his life, but then again, Lily assumed he had rejected her offer when he failed to rendezvous with her. As for Lily herself, nobody's perfect, especially when they're teens! (Besides, if I ever saw a "perfect" teen, I think I'd be highly suspicious of what that person might be hiding!) So glad you enjoyed the story, and thanks for reviewing!!
Title: Upon the Silver Wind 13 May 2010 10:42 pm
Reviewer: Michael Sewell (Anonymous) [Report This]
    Shadowienne writes like a pro. Maybe she is one? I was enthralled throughout my reading of the narrative.

    Author's Response: Hee! Nope-- still strictly amateur, tho' becoming a professional writer is still my aspiration. Thanks for your compliments and the vote of confidence! And thanks for being my Fiction Writing professor at RU-- wherever I end up, you were there at the start, and I appreciate all of your encouragement! :-)
Title: Upon the Silver Wind 06 May 2010 12:34 am
Reviewer: Fmh (Signed) [Report This]
    Great story thank you

    Author's Response: And thank you VERY MUCH for taking the time to tell me you enjoyed it! I really appreciate it! :-D
Title: Upon the Silver Wind 05 May 2010 6:33 pm
Reviewer: Morgana (Signed) [Report This]
    Beautifully structured, original plot. The 'buried alive' concept is seriously underused (I've only seen one other fic which uses it) and I think you've captured the atmosphere beautifully; your description of being inside the coffin is very vivid and, by indispersing fast-paced, tense sections (achieved by short, punchy, emotive sentences) with thoughtful, slow-paced sections, you really capture Harry's conflicting feelings of bordom and desperation.

    The part where Harry's spirit-self dissappeared on the back of the Patronus really fooled me; I thought he had died- which is obviously what you'd intended lol- and it was a wonderful suprise to discover that Dumbledore and Severus weren't too late.

    I absolutely loved the idea that Lily left Severus a last letter and that part of the plot was beautifully arranged and described; my heart ached for all the 'might have beens' that must have run through his mind. Tragic but beautifully so. I also loved the ending paragraph; a very potent and visual image.

    Great one-shot. Well done ^^

    Author's Response:

    I'm not sure quite where the "buried alive" plot came from, but since I hadn't seen a Potter fanfic with that plot, I decided to go with it. I was hoping it would be original; apparently, I was a tad late on that score! Then I let my imagination run wild, and I think I succeeded so well that it carried into real life: In the past month, I've had two quite similar dreams of feeling as if I were suffocating in what looked like a very upper-end bookstore, with highly-polished wooden shelves crammed full of gorgeous books, but in reality I was trapped in an underground Egyptian tomb that was disguised as a bookstore. Weird, huh?! In real life, I've never even been the slightest bit claustrophobic. I'm hoping now that the story is finally posted, I won't have those nightmares again. I hate waking up gasping for breath!

    Hee! You might not believe this (although I can see from my description how you might think Harry had died), but I never intended for the Patronus rising from the coffin to represent Harry's death! (I would have had to put "character death" warning on the title page!) I just wanted to describe the Patronus leaving the coffin; since a Patronus can go through walls and stuff, I figured it could also travel through earth, and that was what I was focusing on. But I'm glad you got even more out of the story than I had deliberately put into it! In my fiction-writing classes in college, I and my fellow students all had that same experience, and it was great! The subconscious mind at work! (Whether the writer's or the reader's was left up for debate...)

    And yes, I just had to get a message to Sev from Lily. Better late than never! I'm glad that worked out as well as it did-- originally, I was just going to have Severus talking to Harry in the hospital wing, but I felt the story needed a bit more drama, so I worked out the message left in the Owlery. (I've been wanting to create that hidden room for the LONGEST time! ;-))

    Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to review! I really appreciate that!

Title: Upon the Silver Wind 05 May 2010 12:04 pm
Reviewer: HeartStar (Signed) [Report This]
    I loved this but I am confused what does the holly leaf and red berry represent I know the Holly I think.. but please tell me thank you.

    Author's Response:

    Hi, HeartStar! I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner (I did find your email), but I don't have my own computer, and I had to get to the library to post a response. :-)

    Actually, there's no DEEP symbolism with the holly sprig in the coffin. It simply represents Harry (where he used to be), and the holly tree at the head of the grave represents Harry's wand, where Draco had planted it originally before leaving to tell Voldemort that he'd captured Harry.  Mr. Olivander stated that "the wand chooses the wizard", and while in canon it would seem that the key to that wand choosing Harry is the phoenix feather core, a twin to the feather in Voldemort's wand, I'm going a step further and suggesting that holly itself has an affinity to Harry, thus Dumbledore's decision to leave the holly sprig and holly tree after Harry has been rescued.

    Dumbledore's actions are not a joke upon Draco; Dumbledore would never be that cruel. The Headmaster's message via the holly is meant for Voldemort himself: First, that Harry belongs to Dumbledore's side, and Voldemort can't have him. Second, that Voldemort shouldn't send a boy to do a man's job-- Draco has made a bunch of mistakes.

    In a desperate attempt to avenge his father and restore the Malfoy name to its former glory, Draco has insisted on capturing Harry by himself, without any help or input from more experienced Death Eaters. An older, more mature servant of the Dark Lord wouldn't want to take any chances, and would have posted at least one guard, maybe two, by the grave site. If a Patronus unexpectedly burst out of the ground, they might decide to unearth Harry and take him elsewhere. At the very least, they'd be aware that trouble was on the way, and they'd be prepared for combat when the Patronus returned with a rescue team. When Dumbledore and Snape Apparated into the clearing, they were prepared for battle, but nobody was waiting for them-- Harry had been left unguarded. Big mistake!

    Another huge mistake Draco made was planting the holly wand at the head of Harry's grave. He SHOULD have taken the wand immediately to Voldemort, since the wand was something that Voldemort wanted as much as he wanted to kill Harry. The twin cores rendered Voldemort's wand nearly useless in a face-to-face battle. But instead of taking the wand away, Draco rather stupidly planted it at the grave, in a "Take THAT, Potter!" moment. Duh!

    The final scene of the story reflects back to Harry's visualization (while he was in the grave) of Draco suffering Voldemort's wrath when Harry is found lying dead in the coffin. Instead, Draco will obviously suffer when the coffin is found empty, except for the sprig of holly, and the holly tree is discovered standing in lieu of Harry's wand.

    I hope that helps! And THANK YOU VERY MUCH for not only reading my story, but also taking the time to review! I really appreciate it! :-D


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