Name: openskys reviewed Compromise and Cogitation on Nov 14, 2010 11:51 pm

When I first got interested in reading this I read the reviews to see if you'd replied to any, and was so happy when I found you had! The I read the actual review and was wary of the story as I don't like horribly dark fic, espesically when Draco forcibly takes Ginny against her will, but then o thought why not give it a shot?

I'm happy that I read your review beforehand and agree with that although Ginnys mindset was disgusted she did agree with everything and it was consensual and it was an interesting look into what a person in an arranged marriage might have to go through, chapter after chapter it was wonderful to see Ginny opening up to Draco ever so slowly but if it had be any fast I don't think it would have worked for the fic. Anyways this is getting rather long winded I supposed but I just wanted to say this is an amazing story and I'm thrilled that it hadsnt been abandoned like I fear when I saw the last update! This is me eagerly awaiting your next update :D

Author's Response: I'm really glad you decided to give it a shot! I am still writing (allbeit very very slowly) so I have no idea when the next chapter will be, but I am pleased that you enjoyed the character progression. It's difficult for me to really know exactly how a woman would feel in an arranged marriage situation as I am not, nor ever likely to be subject to one. However I have known a few people that are and mostly they are worried or ambivilent or worse - niave. I wanted Ginny to KNOW her 'responsibilities' and 'duties' and I wanted her to have chosen them as the lesser of two evils. Later on in the story you will eventually see that she was given a choice and opted to sign a prenup (which makes sense of the 'interview' chapter a little bit too). We saw in Deathly Hallows that Voldemort values purity of blood, even despite the actions of the pureblood in question (Neville, for example), so it is not a stretch of the imagination that when presented with a way to preserve an old and pureblooded line by tying it to Draco in a forced marriage, he would be happy with that arrangement. Particularly as he is so arrogant as to consider her no threat at all. I know it's been a good couple of years since I updated but my life really has changed and moved on and my time for writing is so very limited now that I make slow progress. And when you think I have several 'Works in progress' it is impossible to tell you when the next update will be I'm afraid. Either way, I am very glad you enjoyed the story and are still reading. :-)

Name: jelloink reviewed Consummation on May 06, 2010 08:32 pm

I wanted to say this absolutely IS rape. I don't think there's anything wrong with writing a fic that includes a rape if that's part of the story you're trying to tell, but please don't pretend what happened in this chapter isn't rape; that diminishes the experience of real rape survivors. Ginny clearly does NOT consent to sex at any point, and just because she has an orgasm doesn't make it okay. I think it's dangerous to deny that this is rape, because it would make it so easy to dismiss a similar situation in real life.

Author's Response: I don't particularly want to leave this here at the top of the review list unresponded. I can see how you perceive this chapter as a rape-fic but that wasn't the angle I was going for, I was trying, in a slightly inept sort of way to channel the reluctance of girls in an arranged marriage. There is a lot of backstory which I was aiming to put in later about conversations between Ginny and Narcissa in which is IS offered the choice to NOT marry him, however this choice does rather lead in the torture/death at the hands of the Death eaters sort of direction. Ginny was given a CHOICE and she KNEW what that choice would entail - she signed paperwork to that effect (very much the same as a girl in an arranged marriage is given the choice of marriage or honour-killing/exile from her family, and says her vows and signs the marriage certificate - not because she wants to, but because she is EXPECTED to and the alternative is worse). So I was actually trying to go with an 'arranged marriage' sort of approach, although I agree that I have not filled in enough backstory and the reluctance elements are a lot more prevalent than the resignation - I think she was just trying her luck to be honest in the hopes that if she was snotty enough he might leave it for another time, but there are other things going on which were supposed to appear later in the story which explained why he didnt (and there will be some Draco-perspective in later chapters when I get around to writing them) - things such as other Death eaters questionning his loyalty (which you already know from published chapters is a frightening position for him to be in considering the insurrection) - they thought he was marrying her and then she'd 'disappear' so he had to PROVE that he had married her in the 'proper' way. The Orgasm has always sat uncomfortably with me, but if I left it out it read like a brutal rape!fic and I REALLY didn't want to go in that direction because as you say, this cheapens the experience of real Rape victims and the psychological damage they suffer and I would NEVER want to make light of something like that and I certainly wouldn't want to write about it because so far in my life thank christ I've never experienced this and wouldn't want to make it seem cheap. I put it in because I was trying to again channel the arranged marriage aspect andI was trying to show Draco as a husband that is trying to do his best with unfavourable circumstances. He didn't want her to hate him and he didn't want her experience to be nothing but pain and humiliation - he didn't want to be a rapist. I have also toyed with the idea that her pleasure was the result of a potion in her wine - a fertility potion that is customary among the arranged marriages of the 'upper class' to ensure that the wife won't go crying to her family saying her husband is a brute, and ensuring that the minimum amount of sex is required to conceive and heir. Cheating, yes, but it makes sense in the broader context. I'm sorry that you feel this reads like a rape scene, that was not what I was aiming for, perhaps I should have made the situation a lot clearer (although I do seem to recall a part of the chpter in which she remembers that she agreed to this and that she had signed contracts and paperwork to this effect - therefore if she agreed to it, it was consensual, however much she might not LIKE IT, agreement and enjoyment are not connected. If you agree, its consensual, regardless of how much you hate it or hate the person you are having sex with. She was emotional and frightened as I imagine a lot of girls in arranged marriages are on their wedding night - I know that when I spoke to a friend a mine just before her arranged wedding, she was ambivalent about the 'sex part' and her view was 'I'll let him get on with it and hope he doesn't take long'. She didn't expect to enjoy it and her mum had actively discouraged her to think that. As far as she was concerned, sex was about getting pregnant and giving birth to sons - a necessary discomfort. THIS was what I was trying to channel, and I thought about her when I wrote this chapter. I wanted it to show what no-one sees or hears - how unpleasant and uncomfortable 'duty' is in an arranged marriage. Of course that is not to say that ALL arranged marriages are ghastly and I am sure there are a lot of caring husbands out there that have done the right thing by their new wives, but equally there are those that are not. I'll never know how it was for my friend because her husbands' family lived in Birmingham and she moved there after the wedding. For all I know she's on her 5th child by now. I would STRONGLY recommend reading 'Daughters of Shame' by Jasvinder Sanghera for a more detailed insight in the arranged/forced marriage experience as her charity works with women that have run away from forced marriages due to abuse or just because they did not want to be intimate with a stranger.

Name: noona1 reviewed Interviews and Interrogations on Feb 05, 2010 11:39 pm

Loved this chapter ..

Name: noona1 reviewed Is this how it ends? on Feb 05, 2010 04:19 pm

so good !! this chapter was so entertaining

Name: choravenclaw reviewed Revelations on Dec 16, 2009 10:33 am

RIght, well, i have read this fic about 5 or 6 times, whenever there was a new chapter or i just felt like it.
i don't think i have ever reviewed though.
So now that i finally have a vacation where i'm staying home i decided to do so.
i usually get this fic confused with Hasperied's apple because of the situation they are in...i dunno maybe you both got it from a challenge or eschange.
Anyway, here's the first[of many] review:



“I don’t want our son to make the mistakes I did. I don’t want him to receive the mark.”
“How do you know it’s a boy? I’m only about four weeks pregnant.”
“It’s a boy,” he said with conviction, “I can feel it.”
“And there was me thinking I was the pregnant one.”

this was one of the first times i actually smiled sincethe beginning of the fic.
It' finally some humor and it's a very nice change.

The first time i smiled was when she told him she was pregnant, it was not the usual thing for couples but i found it very beautiful and sweet and even his comand made it sound all the better!
So, yeah, i loved it!
=DDD
I feel kinda twisted for fincing this highly amusing, not to mention cute, fluffy and romantic but i just CAN'T see the bad in Draco!
I mean, i ddin't read the chapter when she was in the cellar, well, i ddi but only in the first time, and i skipped a few bits here and there.
And this is more likely the 7th time i read it so i already forgot about what happens there.

Anyway, called me sick or twisted but this is a very cute, fluffy chapter and i really loved it!
i think all the pain she went through was worth it just to get to this point, an even ground and even some banter!
=)

He gave her a ghost of smile, the first she had ever seen from him. It changed his face entirely from hard and cruel to vaguely boyish and appealing.
She smiled back and drained her cup.


I love boyish, cute Draco, that's what i missed abot the previous chapters, this banter with no ill intent and coming from both sides!
This is a changing point in this fica and i love it!
=D
Congratulations, by the way, on your writin, you do it superbly!


kisses

Name: msm_2011simonebb reviewed The Inexorability of Fate on Dec 05, 2009 06:09 pm

a great chapter...

Name: raye reviewed In loving Memory on Oct 13, 2009 05:41 pm

it made me cry:( it was soo good/sad/adorable!

Name: JenniferJuniper reviewed Compromise and Cogitation on Jul 21, 2009 12:51 pm

I guess the best way to start my first review is to say I am love -love -love -love -love -love -love -love -love -love -loving it so far.

It was just recomended to me recently and I'm allready rabidly immersed in the plotline. Can't wait to read more.

No pressure though. Keeping the inspiration coming can be difficult. But hey, you have a fanbase's support :)
cheers!

Name: KarmaKiller20 reviewed Compromise and Cogitation on May 21, 2009 07:06 am

just curious, but is this fic officially abandoned?

Author's Response: No it's not abandoned. It's been going for some years and I haven't given up on it yet but I don't have the time to write that I used to have and so writing tends not just to take a back seat but more like a place at the back of a dusty shelf of much loved items that I still use occasionally when I have the time.

Name: jcap1526 reviewed Compromise and Cogitation on Mar 29, 2009 08:31 pm

Fabulous story. Looking forward to more on this fic someday. Love all your work; upset that many won't be continued, but I do understand about life and change and everything in between. Would love to see more from you in the future. Thanks!

Name: hotpinker23 reviewed Compromise and Cogitation on Feb 26, 2009 11:08 am

Although I know it's been a while since you updated and I realize that not everybody has free time in today's world of busy, busy, busy, but I, as well as others, would be eternally grateful if you continued this fic, even if in small installments. It's definitely one of the better fics I've ever read (and believe me when I say I've read more than my fair share) and I'm sad to see it put on hold. Please do continue when you get the chance!

Name: Malfoys girl reviewed Compromise and Cogitation on Feb 04, 2009 03:31 pm

Honestly this story was pretty good. (Y)

good job.

Name: readhead1755 reviewed Compromise and Cogitation on Jan 25, 2009 02:06 pm

You simply must continue this story it is just phenomenal and I want to know what happens!!!