geoviki | An official guide to A.J. Hall's HP fiction

I admit it. I'm smitten. No one in HP fan fiction can write a story like A.J. Hall does. You will not mistake her style for anyone else's. It's written in the style of the Golden Age classic British mysteries (such as Dorothy Sayers). It's intelligent. It's full of elaborate plots and themes. It's witty. It's tender. It's harrowing.

It's wonderful.

That isn't to say that everyone in the fandom is going to fall in love with it the way I did. It may be too intricate for some. There is little on-page explicit sex. It thrives on numerous (albeit well-written) original characters. It's Draco/Neville (oh, but it works, it works...). Harry plays a tiny role and doesn't even come off looking too smart. It's extremely British (and it took me a while to figure out that the phrase "I'll go to our house" isn't literal). It's long, and you will need to read it all twice over before you can garner most of the subtleties she's woven into each story. But I think, for me, it demonstrates everything that's remarkable about adult HP fiction. And I aspire to even a tiny bit of its excellence.

Most everyone knows about her two major works: Lust Over Pendle (LoP) and Dissipation and Despair (DaD). But there are shorter works, LJ ficlets, character studies, and other gold to be niffled. So here's a helpful field guide to A.J. Hall's fiction. Subjective comments included.

The Draco/Neville stories are listed here in her chronological order.

AJ Hall's Draco/Neville Story Line aka the LOP-iverse

0. Sweat-fic (occurs during school)

This was written to lambaste a comment on sugarquills, to wit: "More than enough fics out there write ... characters falling all over themselves for sweaty men. I find this somewhat. . .ridiculous: it's counter intuitive that a girl would want to hug a sweaty, dirty, smelly guy." AJH shows why this is utter nonsense.

1. Ships That Pass (occurs March-ish 1998)

Most fans have missed this one; until very recently, it was posted only at FictionAlley - The Dark Arts - and not her own site. Buried in her own comments is the fact that Allen, the focus of this short story, was Draco's private Quidditch coach in the summer following the Triwizard tournament. And although this is the first story, chronologically, it's better to read this after Lust Over Pendle. Poetic and symbolic. Shortly before the defeat of Voldemort in year seven, in a field hospital 'Somewhere In England' Draco Malfoy is reunited with an old friend. The meeting will determine whether Draco falls to the Dark or the Light. The decision will be made before the turn of the tide, and there will be no going back for either of them.

2. New Partners (occurs about April 1998, posted Dec. 2002)

3. Tiber, Father Tiber, aka "Prequelish" by AJH(occurs about April 1998, posted Aug. 2003)

Early days in the Draco/Neville partnership. Humorous and subtle. Again, best read after LoP.

4. Time Shall Not Mend - Chapter 1 (occurs early May, 1998, written 2002)

This is a crossover fic of HP and the Vorkosigan novels of Lois McMaster Bujold, inspired by EH Smith's Marks and Scars trilogy, and was originally written as a birthday gift for her. Chapter 1 continues the story of the partnership of Draco/Neville in the HP world. Chapters 2-4 move Draco to the Bujold world but don't impact the Draco/Neville story line, so they are optional for the LoP-thread. I am wholly unfamiliar with this other universe, but I enjoyed Draco in chapters 2-4 anyway.

Vormidwitch - a short sequel to Time Shall Not Mend

5. Not A Whisper (occurs late May 1998)

A beautiful short story about Draco/Neville's growing relationship. Tender and moving. A critical piece of the narrative. In the aftermath of a near-disastrous mission against Voldemort, Draco takes stock of what really matters to him. And reaches a decision that things have been unresolved for far too long, and Something needs to be done about them. Love in time of War.

Details of Draco and Neville's first night Both rich in 'what' and 'what it means'.

6. Second Night - Not A Whisper Sequel (occurs late May 1998, written Dec. 2003)

Another wonderful portrayal of Neville in particular. If you didn't think he was just the best thing to happen to Draco, this story will help.

7. Untitled - Touch

A tiny drabble, but so stirring I didn't want you to miss it!

8. Breakfast at Malfoy Manor (occurs sometime between June and Oct. 1998, posted Feb. 2003)

Short story from Narcissa's POV. She meets Neville for the first time. Immortalized by this terrific line: "Her son (trying, she guessed, for the Byronic look in a peacock-blue silk dressing gown but only managing to look like a rather post-Leghorn Shelley) appeared..."

9. Lust Over Pendle (chapter 1 occurs Oct. 1998, the rest occurs 9-13 Aug. 1999, written 2002)

Okay, finally one of the major works. See how many things you'd miss, though, if you weren't aware? The unusual title is a play on another novel, Mist Over Pendle, about factual witch trials in northern England. Pendle is a place, Neville's home town. Best line (out of a story just full of delights like this):

"Draco," a voice said plaintively and rather muzzily from the doorway behind him, "Why are you apparently trying to cast an Unspeakable Curse with a springer spaniel?"

AJH has written a summary spoiler for LoP and DaD for

accio_spoilers, which are as clever and witty as the fic. This is a spoiler, okay? That means she reveals all the plot twists and the ending. General overview spoiler
LoP spoiler

10. Talking of Dragons - (occurs immediately following the events in LoP, 13 Aug. 1999, posted Jan. 2004)

A very unusual bar scene. Short and insightful - mainly concerning British university culture and intellectuals.

11. Dissipation and Despair (occurs Feb-Mar 2001, posted Sep. 2003)

The other major work. The send-up of the world of creative writers (read fanfiction writers) is worth the price of admission alone and forms a big part of the plot. There's passion ("Of course I love you. What do you want me to do? Prove it?"), humor ("Apparently, Neville, in their story the Dark Shadow is collecting Artefacts of Doom," Draco told his friend brightly. His friend raised his eyebrows in a resigned manner. "What for? Can he trade them in for something? Exchange your complete set of Artefacts of Doom for guaranteed world domination, that sort of thing?"), and real-world issues (Bosnian massacres, foot-and-mouth disease, New-Age movements).

Draco describes an Ancient Runes School Trip to Cerne Abbas - an expanded scene not included in DaD.

DaD Spoiler Summary - spoiler warning -includes plot twists and ending

Analysis of Chapter 15 dialogue - Hermione and Peter (also includes Bartlemas and the Manor's defences)

Analysis of the exorcism scene: Draco, Peter, Sarah

12. The Perilous Point (occurs 21 June 2003; posted Aug. 2005)

The Wedding Fic! Hermione ties the knot, and many LoPiverse characters make their mandatory appearance. And it's got the scene where Draco and Neville...and then they...well, just go read it for yourself!
Hermione Granger has announced her engagement to a Muggle. Worse still: he's a vicar. And the wedding is going to take place on 21st June in his parish church in the village of Malfoy Intrinsica, Wiltshire. And the Lord of the Manor is most definitely going to be present. But then, none of Hermione's oldest friends is planning to miss the opportunity either... And, unbeknownst to everyone, a theatre company plans to put on an outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream for the benefit of their corporate sponsors. Oh, and to try a little light incantation up by the Seven Sisters while they're at it.

13. The Kindly Ones (occurs June 2005; posted April 2004)

Draco/Neville get naked and drink champagne, and someone from Neville's past is about to have it all come down on his head.
Time has moved on. "Recent Events" are mutating into ancient history. Following a dangerous illness, Draco takes Neville on a convalescing cruise of the Ionian islands of Greece. But in that neighbourhood Voldemort has stirred up archaic and terrifying powers too powerful to be subdued by his fall; and Neville, too, has ghosts from his past to confront. Across a brilliantly sun-lit landscape a shadow falls...

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Additional AJH, not in the direct succession of the Draco/Neville story, but of the same world:

Goodbye to Berlin. an early incident in the career of Maritza Zsa-Zsa, Draco's violet eyed Veela Great Grandmother c. 1934 Berlin.

Magic as Machination. Neville discovers a unique portrait in the attic.

Queer As Scent
Narcissa's story. Early married life traditionally has its fair share of surprises, and everyone - from the house elves to the Dark Lord - seems to have an opinion about what would be best for the as-yet-unborn heir to the Manor - irrespective of his mother's wishes in the matter. But nausea, an infestation of demons, the dinner party from Hell and even the intervention of the Uppercross and Cerne Vale Hunt aren't going to get between Narcissa and what she wants out of life. And she's just about to meet someone with an even stronger survival instinct. A shaggy fox story for Christmas. (From this story Liz Barr wrote Release the Hounds (remix) for the Remix/Redux challenge.

(currently unavailable) Snippet to Queer as Scent plus a tidbit about Lily/James/Narcissa/Lucius.

The Last Waltz Songfilk of the Dylan tune, "Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts". Featuring Narcissa, Lily, Lucius, and James.

The Mark of the Beast
In 1982, a few months after the Ministry "took advantage of a fortuitous accident to crow about victory" a young man who has carried for much of his life the burden of a dark secret drops into the Leaky Cauldron for a couple of beers. But the beautiful, unknown young woman he meets there may have secrets darker than his to hide, and the choice he will be faced with before long will be the hardest of his life.

The Boys of Summer - Aug 2001 - Bill Weasley has dragged his father to Headingley to watch the baffling Muggle sport of Quikket.

The Language That God Speaks
Hermione in the library. A rewrite of the original story by Liz Barr Harry Potter/Sandman/Discworld crossover.
"She will be a librarian, that one. If the war spares her. If the war spares any of them. And the books know her touch, respond to her presence, are calmer for her passing by them (not at night, though. Not any more.)"

Count Piotr and the Vengeful Widow - Nov. 2004 - HP/Vorkosigan crossover; the main HP character is the formidable Emily Longbottom. Another story inspired by EH Smith's Marks and Scars trilogy, and was originally written as a birthday gift for her.

The Wizard from Outer Space Meta Remix
Arthur Weasley, on the town, encounters an OC. Who remembers him. Forever. Gen, G rated.

The new DADA Professor: An unexpected crossover - April Fools 2004 - short

Last Rites Post Deathly Hallows, HP/Vorkosigan crossover. Dennis Creevy gen fic, short. August, 2007.

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Works by other authors based on AJH's writing

culvawen wrote a Lop-iverse/Sandman crossover, Death Takes a Tea-Break

jamoche wrote a ficlet backstory for The Perilous Point
| Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 |
and another stand-alone ficlet

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Works from Other Fandoms

BBC Sherlock Holmes (2010)

The Affair of the Asphyxiated Acafan Sarah flies home from a conference in the US and brings an unexpected gift home for her boyfriend - or, more precisely, his flatmate. Game on!

Adequacies nightmares, dilemmas and an invisible leopard in the house.

Bedtime Story The child Sherlock detests The Very Hungry Caterpillar and all it stands for. One evening, he finds a new babysitter who completely shares his opinion. She decides to tell him a rather more interesting story instead.

The Four Paw Problem John is, by now, fairly used to clients showing up at 221B Baker Street and telling him they fear for their lives. He's moderately familiar with clients from aristocratic and Government circles. He's absolutely used to having his intelligence impugned in the living room of his own flat. He's just not used to confronting impossibilities which refuse to be eliminated.

Endgame A child psychologist is asked to sit in on the questioning of her client, a nine-year old boy, traumatised by finding his father stabbed to death. The child's mother is being held for the murder and the case against her looks water-tight, unless her son can be persuaded to tell what he knows. But the only way to communicate with the traumatised child is through his great obsession, chess, and only one detective speaks chess fluently enough to understand what he has to say.

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Fog On The Clyde is a novel based on the story and characters in the 2004 movie, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. A.J. Hall wrote this under the pen name

legionseagle. What starts as a purely personal disaster for Dex, as a long-buried secret is unearthed by an enemy, spirals wider and wider until it threatens to engulf the whole world.

Debriefing In Minas Morgul - A LOTR/management-course crossover.

A letter and partial manuscript of Jane Austen(?)

The Principled Affair of The Compromised K.C.. Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey (Dorothy L. Sayers). Sir Impey Biggs K.C. explains how his hatred of blackmailers arose.

Conflict of Interest Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey (Dorothy L. Sayers).

Mary Renault stories

Besieged Fortress complete
begins here: http://community.livejournal.com/maryrenault/21208.html
fic from Mary Renault's The Charioteer, a WWII novel. Seven years on, Ralph and Laurie have found a precarious refuge together in Gibraltar. But in the post-War world attitudes are hardening and positions becoming polarised, and they find themselves engaged in a new conflict, one in which they may not necessarily be on the same side. And then an unexpected visitor arrives -

Out of Battle - July 2005 - a non-HP fic; this is a crossover of two Mary Renault novels, one from WWII (The Charioteer) and the other from the time of Alexander the Great.

Down to the Sea in Ships
Crossover; The Cruel Sea (Montsarrat) and The Charioteer (Renault).

If you haven't read The Cruel Sea you certainly should, but the only thing you need to know about Lieutenant Morell that you can't get from the fic is that he was played by a very dishy and very young Denholm Elliot in the film. Nothing here to frighten the horses unless you subscribe to the growing fandom neurosis that Alcohol Is A Drug and Should Be Warned For In which case you probably hated the source material, so what are you doing reading the fic?

Commentary for Down to the Sea In Ships

Torchwood - Doctor Who

Away With The Fairies Torchwood. Jack/Estelle. Two moments in time, sixty years apart.

Core Values A Torchwood story. A memo from the head of Torchwood HR to the staff.

Untitled Very short Torchwood-Dr. Who story.

Can't Trace Time Torchwood/Vorkosiverse crossover. As a result of a twist in space, time, and universes, Owen Harper ends up Tien Vorsoisson's boss.

Coventry Carol. Torchwood Children of Earth story.

Feast of All Fools
Torchwood/Lord Peter Wimsey crossover, short.

Old Soldiers Torchwood. Spoilers for 'To The Last Man'. Jack, Pte Tommy Brockless. He's five foot four and he's six foot two/He fights with missiles and with spears.

Paradise Naan. Torchwood/Discworld crossover. Myfanwy's ill and Jack needs help. In a corner of Cardiff Library he finds a book - Diseases of the Dragon - and an unexpected assistant.

Two Singles to Provence. Doctor Who (Pete's World). Rated PG. Inspired by discussions with kaptainvon with regard to Journey's End and offered up as a contribution to those discussions.

Tunnelling to Freedom, Dr. Whoverse.

Vorbarran Honeymoon. Torchwood/Doctor Who/Vorkosiverse crossover. PG. Laisa,/Gregor, Jack, Miles, Ten, Martha. She'd only been Empress of Barrayar for a day and a half, but Laisa was pretty sure that Empress's Confidential Bedroom Attendant and Personal Eye-Candy wasn't an official position on the Imperial Staff. So who was the strange man with the vaguely Betan accent who had just materialised in her bedroom?

Antonia Forest

Madame Orly A very short Antonia Forest story.

Hunting the Necrotroge An Antonia Forest-Harry Potter crossover.

Stowaway Another very short Antonia Forest story.

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That's the fiction. Now comes some background stuff. Questions and answers from LoPiverse characters, author discussions about HP themes, and an interview to round out your reading pleasure:

Interview with A.J. Hall - Sept. 2002

A.J. Hall - Why I Write - Jan. 2006

A discussion of Draco and Neville: Why I write Neville/Draco - Sept. 2004

Questions to AJH's characters - Aug 2003 (currently unavailable)

40 Things about LoP Neville - June 2003

40 Things about LoP in the context of Slash - June 2003

Thoughts about pairings - Oct. 2003 (currently unavailable)

Thoughts about wizard racism - Oct 2003

Description of the town of Malfoy Intrinsica - Sep. 2003

Neville in canon pt. 1 - Apr. 2003 - currently unavailable

Neville in canon pt. 2 - currently unavailable

Where are the Longbottoms from?

Questions to LoP Draco pt. 1 - Apr. 2004

Neville and Blackpool Pier - Aug 2004 (currently unavailable)

This entry will be updated with any corrections and updates.