Story notes for "The Familiar" by Resonant

First posted on October 5, 2002.

I don't know what it is about HP that makes me want to write stories based on children's poetry. Maybe it's best not to examine the impulse too closely.

At any rate, I read the poem and thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if Snape was forced to keep a pet?" And then I thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if the pet was Harry?"

And then I wrote the story, thinking it was a little lightweight thing ... and I gave it to Julad, and she found (or created) some hidden depths ... and then I gave it to Cesca, and she found (or created) some more hidden depths ... and then I gave it to Calico, and she polished away as much of the silliness as I would let her ... and here we are.

I feel I must confess that a lot of the best scenes were Julad's idea, including the description of Weasley homelife, the Malfoy ghosts, and the favorite rocks.

This particular story didn't require a lot of rewriting, but it seemed to demand days of polishing. Ces kept sending it back to me and saying, "The sex isn't quite right." The first scene was too lighthearted; the second one didn't reflect the same balance of power as the rest of the story. As a result, I ended up writing two spare sex scenes, and as y'all know, I hate to let good sex go to waste, so .... they're here and here.

Back to "The Familiar"

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