Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness, Neville/Hannah

[mentalmichael.livejournal.com]

Fandom Category: Harry Potter, AU
Pairing: Neville/Hannah, Ernie/Susan, background Harry/Ginny
Fic Title: Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness,
Author: Thanfiction
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/~thanfiction
Rating/Warning(s): R - sex + language (mild), graphic violence, torture, character death
Genre: coming-of-age, romance, angst
WIP?: No

Why This Must Be Read: Every now and then a story comes along and alters your personal canon. Usually this only happens with small one-shots that give insight into characters or situations. The Year of Darkness, on the other hand, fills in the biggest blank in the Harry Potter canon - what happened to the students left behind at Hogwarts when Harry was hunting for Horcruxes? Focussing on Neville, his relationship with Hannah Abbott, and his growing role as leader of the DA (which in this is a true army), Thanfiction also expands the roles of many minor characters in the books, without moving them out of character. This of course makes the deaths in the Battle of Hogwarts much more significant.

This isn't always an easy read - the full horror of the Death Eater's rule is made far more explicit than anything we saw in Deathly Hallows, with graphic torture of students, but Thanfiction manages to avoid ever making it unreadable, with some wonderfully light and romantic moments to balance it out. Most importantly, his depiction of Neville is absolutely perfect.

I really can't recommend this one enough, and I fear I've done a poor job of explaining why the story is so good. That it was the first thing written by this author is frankly astonishing. Just make sure you've got some time before starting - you won't want to stop.