Title: Within These Walls
Author: Solstice Muse
Rating: M
Genre: Drama/Tragedy
Pairing: HBP pairings, but the fic is non-romance for now
Chapters: 51
Words: 211,157
Updated: December 9, 2006
Published: May 18, 2006
Status: Complete
Summary: Their master has fallen and their people are in Azkaban.All the remaining Death Eaters have left is 18 hostages and one demand...but the ministry do not negotiate with terrorists.
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2944739/1/

Well, this is unusual plot for a HP fic. It's basically a hostage situation fic, where bunch of desperate death eaters, after loosing their master, kidnap 18 aurors and DE members and announce that they'll be executing a hostage each day, until all Death Eaters are released from Azkaban. Like I said, rather original plot.

Downside for me is that this isn't Harry-centric story. Main characters here seems to be Mad-Eye, as a chief of the negotiation center (although Harry might take over in one of the upcomming chapters), and Ron, who is one of the hostages. Oh, and the last chapter was crap, filled with tears and angst, unlike the first three, rather action-oriented chapters.

*Shrugs* We'll see how this one turns out, might be interesting once they start killing off aurors...


Checked by Minion, Nov. 25, 2012

 

I read a somewhat similar story a few months ago. Voldemort enchants a list of people, and one dies every hour on the hour, and Harry and Tonks go to stop it.

It was pretty good...Harry used an axe to perpetrate his kick-ass on Bella and whatnot.

You guys know what i'm talking about? I've lost it, and that sucks monkey balls, so if any of you have a link or something, PM me.

 

The first one I knew of similar to this was HeatherSinclair's Twenty-Four Hours To Live but there's only 3 chapters up here. Might be another chapter on her yahoo group or the harryandtonks group. Pretty sure it was abandoned.

I think the idea's been copied since that short fic start though.

Back on topic though, it looks like this author is a big fan of angst, drama, and Ron Weasley. I need my harry-centricism, so I think I'll wait and see if future chapters make this fic more enticing to read.

 

You're right, after going through her profile, it's clear that she's one of the few Ron Weasley fans out there (now that I think about it, that part when she was describing how cute in a scruffy kind of way Ron is DID seem kinda strange... ;-))

Byt anyway, the main reason why I posted this was because I was just mulling over similar plot-bunny myself when I ran into it... Of course, my idea was for Voldemort to take over a TV station and threaten to reveal existence of magical world to muggles if his demands aren't met... but I guess this was close enough.

 

This one deserves a spot in the library, I think. I read it years ago, and just glanced over it again to refresh my memory.

The premise is that Ron, Lee Jordan, Viktor Krum, and about 15 others are captured by desperate Death Eaters after Harry kills Voldemort. They are imprisoned and abused by an absolute bastard who calls himself the 'Puppet Master.' I can't remember if they're seeking a ransom or what, but the Puppet Master executes one of the prisoners each day.

Eventually things get desperate and Ron, Lee, and Viktor lead a rebellion against their captors. There is an endless amount of torture, death, and darkness here, so it's not for the faint of heart. The real focus is on the relationships that build between the prisoners as their situation grows unbearable. Harry, Hermione, and Moody are trying to find them, but that's really more of a subplot.

Some people may dislike this because it's not Harry-centric, but Ron makes for a good protagonist in this fic. The enemies are characterized well, but they're a bunch of random Dutch Death Eaters, which is off-putting.

If you can get past that, it really is worth the read. I've never encountered anything similar.

4/5

 

This story is a really interessting read, which was written extremely well but was rather mean spirited, as it deals with Ron and quite a lot of other people suffering through a long period of time. What I really liked is the way Ron deals with this situation and that is not with super smartness, magic or powers but rather through willpower, guts and a sense of loyalty, which is really refreshing.

4/5

 

I'm around half-way through this one, so any possible changes to the quality are not accounted for in this review.

Harry plays a very small roll in this one, which is definitely a down-side for me and many others here. Not much in the way of action, but the torture scenes definitely make the rating deserved. The villain is an OC that started relatively strong but his obsession with Ron Weasley seems to be taking away from his competence. But the excellent narration and atmosphere make the ride a hell of a lot more bearable than it otherwise would be.

The characterisation is top notch, the dialogue between the hostages is especially engaging in places. Situations and reactions felt quite realistic to me, though keep in mind that my psychology knowledge is pretty limited. Kidnapping Plots are not used much in HP fanfiction, so the story probably felt more original than it actually is.

The biggest real problem I have with the story is the pacing. I feel like the author could have finished it much sooner without loosing any momentum emotion-wise. The shit just keeps on piling up over a very high number of chapters, so the reader can become pretty frustrated when potential ending points are negated.

Still seems like pretty high quality stuff on the whole, even if it's not something one easily reads in one sitting.

4/5

 

Huh. The fic is finished now. It wasnt a bad read. Not my type of fic I like to read but I still say it belongs here. Somewhere.

4/5

 

I was bored with it pretty quickly into the story. I'd give it a 3/5 for keeping my attention. Story was pretty well written, but it just didn't appeal to me.

 

This was actually a pretty good read a couple of years ago. I haven't read it recently, so I'm not sure how well it's aged, but I remember it being a solidly told story.

My only real gripe was that it wasn't Harry centric; darklordmike and Memory king sum up my thoughts pretty well. 4/5

 

Good story but I'm really disappointed. I was hoping for a "the downfall" style story that's death eater/ pureblood centric that show's the drama and the personal feeling of tragedy and failure after loosing a war.