on the surface, the two couldn't have been more different.
he was cruel, arrogant, and cold; she was quiet, mellow, and kind.
however, the two students would soon be made aware of how they wore matching scars on their skin and in their souls.
//
"...
Hi! Thank you for reading through my third Harry Potter fanfic and 11th novel overall!! I hope you enjoyed it. ☺️
This one took me a bit longer to complete than my others because life has just gotten much more in the way since I started this story. However, I am so incredibly attached to these characters, and I'm glad I got to spend more time with them.
Without further ado, here is my usual q&a, but feel free to ask any questions you have if you don't see me answering it below!
//
q: What was going on with the whole Blaise storyline? Would you elaborate on that further?
a: It's easy to become the villain in someone else's life when we act out of hurt. We may think we are completely justified in how we act because of our pain or betrayal, but we are not the main character in everyone's story, and that will color others' perception of us.
In this story, Blaise appears villainous at first because of the perspective we have of the story. From Draco's POV, we see that Blaise was a hurt child who overreacted, blaming Draco for something that wasn't his fault. This led to him trying to sabotage and hurt Draco in return, ultimately leading to their bitter rivalry and their constant desire to bring the other down.
So, in Draco's life, Blaise is a villain, but in Blaise's life, Draco is a villain. Perspective is everything, and neither boy should have continued their competition to make the other more miserable. Neither of them could ever win that.
q: I hated Enzo! Why did you include that storyline?
a: I felt it was important to show readers that just because we like someone — just because they are attractive and charming and sweet to us — that doesn't mean our feelings are invalidated if they hurt us. You can like someone romantically, but still not want them to kiss you yet. You are allowed to take your time and move through a relationship at the pace that makes you comfortable, and anyone who tries to rush you or manipulate you into going faster isn't worth one moment of your time. They are the ones who should feel guilty and horrible, not you.
[And then I made him a villain. 😂]
q: What is happening with this cliffhanger? Are you trying to kill me?
a: I am not trying to kill you, but Lorelei and Draco's journey is a long one, so I wanted to split their story into two halves (although book one will likely be longer). The cliffhanger is there to remind you that there is more to come, yet it also wraps up all of the canon timelines. Book 2 will be all about their lives post-war and how they cope with the postwar grief while trying to understand what just happened.
(Plus we still need to learn what Theo was going to say 😉)
I'm sorry to make you all wait, but I hope you can understand this decision and will follow along with the second part of their story soon.
q: Draco's father is not abusive in canon. Why did you choose to use this storyline?
a: Of course. In canon, his father is not abusive, but the very nature of his character and his motivations mean that Lucius very easily could have been abusive. He was cowardly and made decisions he knew to be horrible just to save his own skin (and in canon, his family's too). However, this shows how easily he can twist his morals to fit his own needs, and this opens up the question of how far his morals could he twisted if he believed he was helping his family in the long run.
To clarify another way, Lucius may have believed he was helping Draco, keeping his family safe through his abuse. A sort of "tough love". Even though we can see that this is not tough love and is actually abuse, his easily twisted morals could have certainly brought him there. He may have believed that Draco needed a stern authority figure and punishment to get back on track to keep their family safe.
In fact, many abusive parents refuse to believe they were abusive and instead quote this "tough love" excuse in real life. This can happen with abuse all along the severity spectrum for a number of psychological reasons that I won't get into here haha.
So, also to point out, the only times we see Lucius being purely malicious are 1) in Draco's nightmare [Draco's perceptions, not his reality] and 2) at the end when he plans to take Draco's life to spare their family the embarrassment and pain that he believed would come if the death eaters found out about Lorelei.
I hope this helps to clarify the situation if you had any confusion about why I went with this storyline.
q: What's your Hogwarts house?
a: Hufflepuff!
q: When will the sequel come out?
a: It won't be this week or anything. I'm about to start a new job, and my life will be changing significantly in the weeks to come. Once I get settled and accomplish some things I need to do, I plan to start working on this sequel. I will give you all updates on where I am in this process through my announcements if you follow me.
q: Who is your favorite Harry Potter character?
a: For boys, George and Theo. For girls, Luna.
q: What am I supposed to read now?
a: I have two other completed fanfics on my profile — one with George Weasley, and another with Neville Longbottom in this same universe . (hint hint, briar is the mc in that story).
Otherwise, you can wait for me to start posting the sequel to Under the Willow Tree!! I plan to work on it a bit here and there over the next few weeks, but I won't post anything until I have a good enough chunk of prewritten chapters.
Also, I'm working on an original fantasy novel now. It's a rewrite of a story I wrote originally four years ago. I am more than halfway done, and I hope to get it published if I can ever get around to finishing it. Hopefully you will be able to read that soon!!
q: I have more questions!!
a: Feel free to ask them here or on my message board or in a private message. Whichever way you're most comfortable with. I'll respond when I see it!
//
Thank you all again for your incredible support of my writing through these various fanfics. Onto the next adventure!
Lizz 💛
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
thank you to rxmione for this amazing gif banner!!
