Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everyone and everything in this. I make no money
from it nor intend to.
This thing started as a gestalt of the Nietzschean student-teacher relationship(s)
in C.J. Cherryh's masterpiece Cyteen and the "pawn-to-queen" metaphor
in Laurie R. King's The Beekeeper's Apprentice. The ultimate result
is probably not something either author would want to take credit for--- too
kinky for LRK, too simplistic for CJC. Also, my notion of Snape's childhood
evolved on its own... then I went back and realized that it strongly, strongly
resembled the early experiences of Stephen Ridenour in Jane Fancher's Groundties
novels (which I love and adore). Anyway, go, read the novels, buy the novels,
make the authors who inspired this thing happy. >GRIN<
Also, some fanfic authors deserve credit for their contributions: R.J. Anderson
came up with the Exaudio charm (which I initially mistook for Rowlings' own
creation!), Dumbledore's "nightly inspection of his eyelids", and Snape's
pulling of an Invisibility Cloak over a partner's head in a gesture of farewell.
J.L. Matthews and I were thinking along the same lines at one point--- which
I have annotated after the relevant chapter to avoid a spoiler. Sphinx's brilliant
fics inspired me as well--- again, annotated following the relevant chapters.
Erica H. Smith's "Postscript" to R.J. Anderson's fics showed me how Blaise
and Hermione became friends.
I have this problem with remembering titles and authors, of anything---
I can discuss and quote from any number of books... but who wrote them? The
title? Oh, help! Which is exactly what I'm asking everyone to do. If you recognize
something from somewhere else, please, please let me know. Even if I haven't
read the piece, I will happily mention anyone else who's doing something similar.
We're all in this together.
Also, many thanks and BIG HUGS to my wonderful betas: vanguard, Vic, and Danielle.
12/20/2001
Hermione is now eighteen for CMA reasons. As you will see below, it was NEVER
in a million years my intent to make this story child-pornography.
That said, I do have a huge problem with a legal system that allows things
like teenage boys being made the guardians of their underage wives (yes, this
happens, in the US, I know of at least one case myself!) but forbids something
like Pawn to Queen to be written/posted.
Due to recent events involving Ms. Rowling's perfectly reasonable statement
that she does not approve of anything resembling kiddie-porn being written about
her novels, I have increased Hermione's age, first to seventeen, now to eighteen.
The original adjustment to the age of seventeen was actually supported by canon,
as several of my readers were quick to point out to me before the age-of-consent
issue ever came up, and I had planned to make that adjustment anyway. The second
adjustment required further finagles on my part but I have made them in order
to be in compliance with applicable law.
That said, when I wrote this story, I had been under the impression, supported
by my British friends, that the age-of-consent for sexual intercourse in the
United Kingdom was sixteen, not seventeen; the age-of-consent in the area where
I'm writing is sixteen. It was never my intention to write this story as child
pornography.
(That said, I have never understood the point of "magic ages"; in my own perfect imaginary world, everything would be based on developmental stage, not chronology. There, got that off my chest. Moving on.)