Title: Reclamation
Author: Sam_Storyteller

Rating: PG
Pairings: N/A
Suggested DLP Category: Please fill in the blank. [I love you too, Tinn. Hm....I would say AU, but that's not a place for character studies. Perhaps General.]
Words: 5,871
Published: July 15, 2005
Status: Complete, Oneshot
Summary: In an alternate universe, one man still struggles with a moral decision made many years before.

Link: http://sam-storyteller.dreamwidth.org/97242.html

Centers on Thomas Gaunt, Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts in his late forties. A character study of a man who stepped off the road to darkness before Lord Voldemort truly took over. Thomas Gaunt still struggles against the tendencies that threaten to turn him.

A wonderfully written story. It's fairly short, so give it a try.


Checked by Minion, July 28, 2013
fixed the link

 

Chilling ending. The random Remus/Sirius/Pettigrew slash triangle was pointless and there for the sake of being there. Tom avoiding his path due to being a Seer is pretty contrived, and the revelation that he killed Snape had little impact for me.

4/5. Nice story. I guess there are occasionally things worth reading on LifeJournal after all.

 

Damn... that wasn't half bad.

-1 for Everybody is suddenly gay syndrome. Two of them, I could tolerate, but three? Too many. Too convenient.

Also:

Is this something Sirius would say, or did she fuck up "brought" ?

4/5

I didn't realize Tom Gaunt = Tom Riddle until about halfway through. Loved the realization. Though Tom's speech was a bit... winded.

 

You had me at Sam_Storyteller. I love this woman's writings so much I read her House slash. I even read the Discworld fanfic where she made Vimes and Vetinari gay for each other.

 

This author is the only one who's managed to write a novel-length slash fic I've enjoyed, Cartographer's Craft.

This is probably his/her best story, but it would have been better as a gen-fic. The Snape bit was very thought provoking.

4/5

 

That was a great read. The slash didn't bother me. Goes to show that when it is incidental to story there is no problem with that 'genre.'

That was the best sort-of-redeemed Voldemort stories I have ever read.

Great find, Amer.

 

FWIW, the author is a dude (he also goes by "Copperbadge").

/Great rec, BTW.

 

I concur with Andromalius that ending left me with chills. The Slash was out of place but it doesn't take away from the story. I am Lord Voldemort Indeed 4/5

 

It's an okay story, some nie ideas, though with a few issues; the seer business - surely there is some more meaningful, inventive way of having Tom turn away from his path... it's so cheap.

The slash didn't jar me at all, seemed to fit in fine, but what did was firstly the way Tom called the marauders by their first names when they were students - don't canon-slap me on this but my recollection is that students are called by their surnames (with or without titles) apart from a few times with Harry and Dumbledore - and secondly the way the meetings were set up. Okay, Lupin going to the DADA Prof regarding something he found in Snape's DADA book I buy, and his second visit is set up in the first, but Black going to him for a shoulder to cry on after Snape's death, long after he's stopped even being a student... wha? Doesn't the man have any friends? And how would a relationship between the biggest Slytherin of all the teachers and Sirius Black, Slytherin-hater and Slytherin-baiter have developed - especially when the author even writes that Tom doesn't like Sirius?

Anyway, the first-name-calling seemed to be a somewhat clumsy way to draw us into just accepting that a relationship exists between these characters when the author hadn't actually shown us any basis for this, perhaps because there was no believable way of writing it coming about?

 

Mostly agree with this.

The slash served no purpose, but it wasn't a crucial component, thankfully, and the Seer business cheapened the moment Tom changes his path. Otherwise, it's a great short story. Would read again.

4/5

 

Seems there have been quite a few worthwhile one-shots and/or ficlets found on LiveJournal of late; maybe folks are fed up with either (a) the patients running the asylum over at FF.net or (b) every other HP site being a Nazi about 'ships and content, i.e. Portkey, SIYE and the like.

Same here. I went in thinking Tom Gaunt was a less-inbred ancestor to the canon Gaunts, and was thrown immediately when Remus showed up.

Agreed. The fact Tom, even some 40+ years after his epiphany was still struggling with his nature or desire to be Lord Voldemort and all that entails, put me in the mind of a recovering alcoholic or drug addict, and the pointed inclusion of Firewhiskey or some other alcoholic beverage merely drove home the correlation for me.

Also agree with Andro about the Seer business. I'd rather have seen Tom turn from the path we see in canon because he realized it was wrong, not because he got a glimpse of himself as an animated zombie construct. The former reason would be true change, while the latter is more like the reason most people go to church - they're afraid of the consequences, not in favor of doing the right thing for its own sake.

As for killing Snape, to me that did have an impact, and showed that Tom Gaunt was willing but not eager to take a life in order to prevent others going down the path he was heading. I think he knew where Horcrux research lead, and after reading it all the way through, I was sort of expecting a mention of Tom having killed Slughorn or at least Obliviated the Horcrux knowledge from him.

Huh. I've seen that guy's work over on FanFicAuthors.net and avoided it because of the slash, even though I've heard Cartographer's Craft is pretty good. I don't mind Remus or Sirius being gay, or just about any other canon character; I just don't want to read about a gay!Harry, since for the most part I like Harry-centric stories and if the main character is a guy that likes guys, the chances of having to read about the two of them making out is quite high. No thanks.

Turns out this one-shot has been posted on FFA since March 2006. Shit; now I'm going to feel obligated to at least investigate the rest of his work to see if the slash is ancillary enough to tolerate.

4/5 from me, by the way.

EDIT: Actually, I have read one of his one-shots on FFA, named Registration, and it was pretty damn funny if I recall correctly. Was about Remus and Sirius waiting in line to get Harry's name on the list for Hogwarts, but before Harry was born and thus before he was named. Off-beat look at lots of canon characters from that perspective.

 

Interesting story. The slash initially put me off, but the comments here convinced me to go ahead and read it. I enjoyed it.

 

This was excellent, among the best Tom Riddles I've seen done in fanfiction.

Thanks for putting it up for review, Amerision.

 

It was an excellent fic, but the whole slash in the middle of it served no purpose than being there. 4/5 because putting in random plot-points that served no purpose is a -1.

 

Yes, the slash really didn't have any point, but I can't honestly say it detracted from the plot at all. It wasn't really shoved in our faces, nor was it poorly done. Honestly, this is one of the best fics I've found recently. 4.5/5 from me, excellent characterization, plot progression, and dialogue. It wasn't as groundshattering as some other writers we have here, but fully worth reccomendation.

 

Goddamn that was good. Been looking for some good fiction of this type for quite a while now, so it's nice to stumble across something like this that isn't an angstfest.

 

Damn, this was outstanding. Some of the best characterization in all of fan-fiction. I'm surprised I've never heard of this guy. Does he only post on his livejournal?

It would be interesting to see this characterization of Riddle/Gaunt in a longer fic, perhaps one where he and Dumbledore become political enemies and seek to influence Harry.

5/5

 

Before I posted this I was looking for a similar story that had Tom Riddle turn into a Dark Wizard after decades of being a outstanding Professor of DADA at Hogwarts.

It was Harry centric, and was excellently written. The idea of Riddle 'falling' after a long struggle appeals to me, as it would add some flair back to Hogwarts centric stories. (I've been ignoring them in favor of post!Hogwarts stories for some time now).

Any ideas?

 

A really good piece of writing. The execution, portrayal, description, everything was done just right.

Thomas Gaunt was awesomely described. I have read stories before where Riddle doesn't become evil, but I have never seen an author do it in the manner that this author did. Tom's thought process I found to be slightly chilling to read, which was a great touch on the part of the author. The way the author fed information through dialogues about the world was nicely done.

A few criticisms: While I didn't mind the slash quite that much, I felt the author could have done without it. It was there just for the sake of being there. At least the author didn't go overboard with it, that would have ruined the story for me.

The plot device of using the Seer gift in the Gaunt line was slightly convoluted. I'd have preferred if Tom had actually done some horrific things then realised his mistake. Perhaps, him making a Horcrux then realising the abomination that he'd become and his own hatred for himself. It could also have been used in the murder of Snape. Tom believing that it'd be better for Snape to die then live the semi-living existence that he was suffering from for making the Horcrux.

The Sirius crying on Tom's shoulder was a bit much. Him going to Tom was believable, but crying the way he did, on Tom's robes felt a bit awkward to me.

And this is not a criticism but I'd have preferred to see Dumbledore in one of scenes. Perhaps as a person who while he was willing to give Tom his second chance, still harboured suspicions about the man and Tom's own anger about it.

The high point of the story for me was where Tom writes the inscription 'I am Lord Voldemort' in the window and then erases it. His struggle against his deeper and darker feelings became explicit with that single line. And the very next one where he ponders that he should got to bed since he has classes tomorrow showed brilliantly the contrast. Brilliantly written and excellently executed.

I'd give it a 4/5. Definitely one of the better one-shots that I've read.

If you do find the link to that story, Amer, do tell me. Seems like it'd be a good story.