"And what are you two doing here?"

Gasp!
. . .Wow, I just read het. And I. gulp. liked. it. And it doesn't involve a single character I normally enjoy reading. And it was het.

Fire and Shadow is, of all things, a Pansy Parkinson/Ronald Weasley fic. This is not, however, your average Ron Weasley. This is a Ron after the breakup with Hermione, Ron who doesn't understand why happiness always passes some people by, Ron who believes in chivalry and trusts in convenience. This is a Ron who's hurt, and doesn't know what to reach for after the "good girl" has let him down. He tries for "not-Hermione" while drunk, and slowly realizes that the one thing he'd never even think about sober might be the thing he needs. Pansy is wonderful, too-- she's definitely not Hermione, she's not a good girl, she's not the author in a thinly-painted disguise, and she's hurting, too, in a much subtler way.

There's wonderful humor; Draco's horrified expression when he meets Ron's new 'girlfriend' is priceless:

Ew!" Malfoy said suddenly, apparently shocked into sitting upright. His hair had actually gone static. "It just occurred to me. Weasley bits! How could you, Pansy!"

Hermione came inside and shut the door.

"Weasley bits," Malfoy repeated, experimentally. "Weasley bits."

"Shut up, Malfoy!"

"It's preying on my mind," Malfoy replied absently.

You can find it at RestrictedSection.org, but you will have to register (if you're not already) and obtain a password.

There is a tiny bit of implied slash; Harry's current partner is male, and although Harry never appears in person in the story, his partner does. ((shudders)) I loathe the name "Ned." Loathe it.

I read this fic because it was recced; I wasn't disappointed. Fire and Shadow reads like a modern love fairytale, without a Predestined Couple and without a Grand Quest or a Proper Courtship, but it still has its own form of happily ever after.

Perhaps that "happily ever after" is why I love this story: it reminds me of some of the best of Harry/Snape, where the words spoken are the least important part, the shallowest level of what's going on. Ron and Pansy snipe at each other relentlessly, call their relationship a "convenient" source of sex, and do their level best to seem indifferent. The author isn't relying on words to tell the story; it's show and not tell, and to see the "show" you have to look beneath the words.

It's lovely. Even if it is het.

Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: My own voice, chanting "What? You read what?"