Title: Winter Sunlight
Author: Undertree33
Rating: R
Status: Completed
Genre: Mystery/Action/Romance (no mushyness)
Pairing: Harry/Narcissa Malfoy
Chapters: 7
Words: 46782
Published: February 29, 2004
Updated: April 22, 2004
Status: Complete
Summary: London, early 21st century. The war is won. Voldemort is dead. But the scars still remain.
In a world increasingly unfavorable to pure-bloods and suspected death-eater sympathizers, a series of murders in London brings the best aurors to investigate. And during the investigation, the auror Harry Potter runs into a suspect, one Narcissa Malfoy, and begins something that neither of them ever dreamed possible. Meanwhile, Harry's partner Neville Longbottom meets his new neighbor. Who also happens to be an old friend from his school days - Cho Chang.
Link: http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/undertree33/WS01.html


All I can say about this is that IMO it`s one of the best fics I know of... The author`s writing style is quite good, with very few gram. errors, and best of all, it`s cliche free (except for one that we only find out about in a dream/memory thingy)

The Harry/Narcissa is well done (one of, if not the best I`ve seen), we also have Ginny dying, rare Ron & Herman appearances, a dark atmosphere, and a Harry free of bitching and moaning, and with quite a dark side to him...

Just give this story a chance and try to get to the end, it`ll be worth it...

P.S. One AU element, but don`t fret, it`s nothing OOC or sloppy...


Checked by Minion, Nov. 22, 2012

 

Apparently the story was either deleted or the link doesnt work peoperly..

 

Can someone find the link?

I've read it before half-way and it was pretty good.

 

What's wrong with the link? It works fine for me.

 

The link he gave works fine for me.

Alright, well for some reason I just could not get into it, no glaring errors that really annoyed me, but I simply could not get into it.

I might try again later, but for now the story just did not grab me, could be because I am not a big fan of post-Voldemort stories, but meh, just my initial impressions

 

the link is not working. can you put it again?

 

Dont know why the link is discriminating against certain people but it still hasnt worked for me..

 

That's odd, try copying and pasting the link into your browser if just clicking on it doesn't work.
Other than that I am not sure what you could do

 

Great story. I remember reading it a longer while back, and while I don't exactly like the sort of ending it's got it fits the melancholy mood being set by the author perfectly.

One of the least far-fetched Harry/Narcissa fics out there, with a more somber look at the aftermath of the war and possible ... side effects.

 

Not likely Xiph. I read Vash's fics after all.

 

isn't this the one where neville is a drug user and a cop?

 

Just countering some neglect here.

This story is disappointing, but only because it had the potential to be so good. The author is highly literate, and excels at creating images and scenes that are nearly poetic (sometimes too much so). The mood of the story is noir-ish and bleak, and anyone who likes reading about a jaded Auror!Harry solving mysteries will probably like it.

At the center of the story is a murder mystery that Harry, Neville, and Sirius are investigating. Harry takes up with Narcissa and Neville with Cho, and the relationships end up being important to the investigation. The Harry/Narcissa relationship is really well done.

There are a couple major problems though. The author frequently goes overboard in trying to create an atmosphere of bleak profundity (think Morgan Freeman in Se7en; Neville is a drug addict and womanizer, for Christ's sake), and I almost quit reading several times. I kept going because the mystery was so intriguing, which led to the second major problem. There's not enough resolution here. We find out who the culprit is in the big murder investigation, but the motives of the villain remain unsatisfyingly mysterious.

tl;dr - This one had the potential to be great, but there are too many unanswered questions, and you'll either love the style or hate it.

3/5