--- Mad Martha <helwyn2000@...> wrote:

> Hi Ruth,
>
> Thanks for asking about this story :-) It certainly
> does exist and
> it's one of my earlier fics. As Matty and Trisha
> have already said,
> you can find "Turning Back The Clock" here (in the
> Standalones
> folder) and at my fic journal, Martha's Library.

I had a feeling I was just missing it. I should have
done a wordfind search on the ficlist page on LJ, but
I didn't think of it. I swear I looked up and down
that list a dozen times!

> I will shamelessly admit to being pleased you're
> hooked, and hope you
> continue to enjoy reading ;-)

(Just so you know, my LJ handle is iamshadow - I
posted some comments on there too.)

I finished reading the last of the Auror stories last
night, and I've moved on to The Lodger today. I've
been reading them aloud to my partner, as I did with
the JKR books not long ago. Though many pauses had to
be made for giggle fits - both at actual story jokes,
and at "verbal typos". I'm quite gifted at scrambling
my words, which can lead to some very funny but
unintentional sentences coming out of my mouth!

I'm also struggling slightly with reading The Lodger
as seriously as it was intended, due to stumbling
across a particularly wicked and witty piece of crack
fic earlier in the week, written pre-Deathly Hallows
"predicting" the outcome and taking a good dig at a
lot of online pre-release rumours (ie. the sorting hat
being a Horcrux) but also making some pretty good
close calls at what turned out to be in the book.
Harry in that particular fic is a melancholy, angsty
"emo" kid completely obsessed with his own miserable
melodrama, which made me laugh so hard I cried, so I
hope you'll forgive me for irreverently chuckling
through the more angsty sections of some of your fics.
It's not my fault! It's scratchedink's!
(http://scratchedink.livejournal.com/9482.html - Hope
that doesn't count as breaking the rules, but it's
hard to explain the unintended giggles I've been
getting from The Lodger if you don't know the fic in
question.)

After reading the Auror series, I've been feeling the
first urges in about eight years to write fic again.
The last genre I wrote was some crack and slash fic
centring around an obscure comedy trio called The Doug
Anthony Allstars that most people don't know or
remember. I was on a community in my last year in
school and there were a lot of good writers on there.
Once it descended into flame wars and bitching, I kind
of left my fic days behind.

I don't know if I will actually get myself into gear
and write, but some of the things you did in the Auror
series (and in The Lodger, in what I've read so far)
have been bubbling round in my brain, and it's making
me think. Times like these, one needs a Pensieve - or
a quick quotes quill!

I must admit, I have one question, which I don't know
if you want to answer. The exact circumstances of
Pettigrew's death in the Auror series has been on my
mind. There are lots of little hints about it, one
particular one mentioning Harry "talking" Pettigrew to
his death. (I must admit that before I found that one,
I was suspicious that Harry may have enacted a rather
cold-blooded retribution for his parent's deaths,
which was a fascinating angle to consider in itself.)
Also Harry's guilt when he thinks on the subject
suggested to me that perhaps not even Ron knew - that
this was one of those things he kept secret, even long
after the deed was past.

"Talking" someone to death though could in itself
cover a whole spectrum. It could be anything from
Harry convincing Pettigrew the poison would be a nicer
way to go out than execution or incarceration (a
merciful act), right through a hazy spectrum to Harry
verbally driving him to death with humiliation,
condemnation and other verbal weaponry (murder in
everything but the actual physical act).

To be honest, I could find reasons and character-true
justifications for both roads. It's never mentioned
*when* the Dementors are removed from their service in
the Circles universe. Harry could have wanted
Pettigrew spared the Kiss, especially if he showed
remorse.

But likewise, if Pettigrew's case showed signs of
"falling apart" because of problems with evidence (the
dismissal of Lupin's testimony, for example) Harry
might have chosen a desperate act to prevent
Pettigrew's acquittal and release, which would have
allowed him to rejoin his master. In that
circumstance, the "execution" of Pettigrew, to prevent
him from escaping from punishment for a third time
would have been pretty tempting. (Accompanied by the
sense of a healthy dose of righteous justice for his
parents and Cedric Diggory, of course.)

But then of course there is the question as to how
Pettigrew (the true murderer and Death Eater) dying,
would help, not sabotage, Sirius's retrial!

Did you have any idea in your mind as to the real
motive for his actions when you wrote it? I'm just
curious as to which you saw as the "true" one for your
Harry.

Thanks for replying. I'll probably bombard you with
more questions and observations as I keep reading!

Ruth


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