Title: Back to the Garden
Author: Antosha
Rating: NC17
Genre: Action/Adventure/Romance
DLP Category: Restricted Section
Pairing: Harry/Ginny/Luna, Ron/Pansy, Ron/Hermione, other minor ships.
Chapters: 40
Words: 159015
Published: In or before 2007
Status: Complete
Summary: The path to Paradise leads through fire.
Link: "http://www.thequidditchpitch.org/viewstory.php?sid=3157&chapter=1"
Link: http://mujaji.net/repository/viewstory.php?sid=173

Obviously the summary doesn't cut it, so...

Alternate 7th year. At first it looked like almost-typical horcrux hunt, then halfway-through went what the fuck and hooked me like a crack whore and I couldn't stop reading until 2:30 am. I blame you, Portus. My thanks.

In all seriousness, probably the best 7th year fic I've ever read. Better than Copperbadge's, better than Full Pensieve's, better than Canoncansodoff's... yeah.

Anyways I'm tired and rambing and annoyed because where the fuck am I supposed to find good H/G/L now?

5/5


Checked by Minion, July 28, 2013
The story doesn't seem to be hosted on 'TheQuidditchPitch' anymore. I added another link, though that one requires registering.
EDIT, October 20, 2015
Changed the link once more. Thx. to NuitTombee for the info.

 

Antosha is one of the best Harry/Ginny writers out there and he writes Luna as well as anyone you'll find. More of his stuff is archived at phoenixsong.net; The Wisest Course, in particular, is novel length, complete, and has the same pairing.

It's been awhile since I read this story. Going off memory, I'd rate 4/5--well written and enjoyable (if you can still read the occasional good Harry/Ginny tale), it may not be the greatest thematic match for DLP.

 

Glad to help, T3t.

Actually, Pers, I wouldn't try reading his stuff at PS or SIYE, because those sites (SIYE at least) are militantly H/G and H/g *only*. Also, pretty hard-core Ron/Hermione as well. Pretty much anything posted there has to be the canon pairings, with almost no deviation allowed. THe Wisest Course is the purged version of Back to the Garden, for instance.

What I'm saying is that Antosha re-wrote this story for PS and SIYE with the H/G/L purged. Luna is with an OC in that version, which I did not read, and I imagine it loses something with the change.

I hadn't recced this fic here because at the time I read it, DLP was more hostile to anything related to H/G, with or without a third person.

Most of the time, any 3-way hook-up is a recipe for fail, and I was so very pleasantly surprised when I found this author. He has a ton of fics on something called KIA Repository, located here. You have to log in for the adult content, I believe. I'm unsure if all the other stories are on Quidditch Pitch, etc. but he also has a LiveJournal. I'd imagine his racier stuff is either toned down or non-existent on FF.net.

I'd recommend anything he's written, because it's all exceptionally well done, regardless of the pairings.

Anyway, I rate the story 5/5. It's his only novel-length fic, but he has several series of shorter stories, and even some from other fandoms, though I haven't read them.

 

5/5

This story was sweet.

 

Wanted smut. Got soap opera with spurts of smut.

Technically the piece is sound, but it seems a little over-reliant on the traditional stereotypes (Pansy as a whore, Luna being the crazy bisexual, Voldemort as a rapist... It all feels so trite). It also moves at a snail's pace. This feels like a 4/5 story, and some of the characterization is phenomenal, but it's just so... bland. I am only 19 chapters in, and I have to assume the story continues much further. However, the best I can give this is a 3.5, not because of the pairings, but because despite being incredibly well characterized, nothing interesting has been done with the characters. At all.

 

The last third is really the best part of the story, so if you keep reading you may find your enjoyment going up.

 

I thought the threesome was kinda stupid, tbh.

I'll give the author this - he tried his damnedest to not make this fic PWP, and succeeded. It's a pretty cool story. But I don't understand why Luna's love for Harry and Ginny had to be reciprocated, except to be able to include some smutty threeway action. Luna could've had an unrequited love, and the fic would've been that much less annoying.

3/5

 

I am amazed how well she wrote this pairing and made it work. Ron/Pansy was an unexpected surprise as well. Luna was brilliantly characterized.

+2 for the awesomeness of the pairing, romance and writing.
-1 for the lack of magic. I mean, this is Harry Potter.

3/5

The pairing may have been great, but there was really not much of a story beyond the romance and smut. The lack of magic really annoyed me as well as the horribly portrayed (worse than canon) Voldemort.

 

Ron faps in bed with Harry, causing Hermione to go spelunking on herself.

What the fuck am I reading.

 

It's not any weirder than Fantasies About Lily. Hehehe...

 

Yes, what the fuck *are* you reading? I don't remember that at all.

 

I do... honestly, I tried not to think about it. Seriously, what guy would jack off while sleeping in the same bed as his best friend? But apart from that Ron was very well-done.

 

Apart from the murders, Jack the Ripper was a pretty nice guy.

EDIT: And now Voldemort is raping Draco in front of all the other Death Eaters. Not only that, but during the rape of Malfoy, Voldemort broadcasts it to Harry in High Def Brain-o-vision. Harry's reaction? Giggling.

 

Link is broken...

 

It seems he's taken down all his stories. Dammit.

http://mujaji.net/repository/viewstory.php?sid=173&index=1

New link, can't edit first post.

 

What an awful shame that is.

 

All H/g authors ought to follow this splendid example and take their stories off too.

 

Still works if you're logged in, at least at this site. I never got into The Quidditch Pitch so I can't say about the stories there.

Yes, very helpful and thought-provoking. Like pretty much any pairing, it can be written well.

Oh, and this coming from someone who likes ASCAL?!? That's incredibly and ironically amusing, Sedracus.

 

Calling them out on it is useless; they still think Summer of Change is a good story. If it was submitted For Review today I doubt it would average better than a 2.5.

 

This fic is so weird. I can't really call it a story, the pacing and style is too weird for that; it's more a series of (sometimes smutty) scenes. The writing is extremely good, but the plotting and characterisation (and pacing, did I mention pacing?) are jarring. The ending is frankly bizarre. Ginny was surprisingly not annoying, but her romance with Harry is oddly perfunctory; I guess the author took it as read that they belonged together and didn't bother to show why that relationship worked (Ginny's romance with Luna is quite well done).

The Ron-Pansy-Hermione triangle is also rather strange; Ron feels real affection for (and has awesome sex with) Pansy, but does not pursue a relationship because he's in love with Hermione. And he loves Hermione because...um. I wish authors could accept that not everyone needs a serious relationship, especially not teenagers still in school.

2/5 as a story, but most of the scenes exhibit 4/5 level writing; if only they made sense when strung together.

Brown's Award for Least Annoying Portrayal of A Weasley