Spoiler

This is a different interpretation of the prompt than I'd consider, so unlike most of the other entries, I don't think I'll judge it with the same metrics, which were that of an authentic fairy tale experience, a strong moral lesson.

This idea is surprisingly poignant - Arthur Weasley apologizing to his son for not providing him with a godfather.

The story would be too if, I confess, I weren't bored to tears by it.

This starts off with some kind of attempt at clever wordplay and then turns into a highly editorial opinion on ethics which breaks out of the alliteration. Yeesh.

So I do think it needs a bit of work but could potentially be good? The less said about garden gnomes the better.

 

Spoiler

I really like this entry.

Firstly, you hit the nail on the head with there being both an obvious moral and hewing to fairy tale trademarks: things occuring in groups of three, each thing trying to impart a specific lesson, and finally the answer being inside you all along.

So it works on that level. The godfather thing is a metaphor (or is it allegory?) for choices Arthur made in his life and roundabout explaining why they're so poor, with Lucius representing the blood purism doctrine, the middle man (a certain character? I dunno) representing not taking sides, and Dumbledore representing the side of the right. It's poignant, and I think you show admirable restraint in not making it melodramatic.

I don't really have anything to say on a technical level. I do like the title, though.

 

Spoiler

Nothing really to quote from here. I liked it well enough. It made sense to me, I think. Didn't spot areas that were obviously technically wrong, though there was a space between " and ' where an in-speech speech was happening. I guess that was for clarity, and on purpose.

A little unclear if you wanted us to believe that Molly actually had a prophetic dream about Ron's role in the second war or not. Either way, Arthur meets Lucius and Fudge. I agree with the BTT, representing the blood purism and the ministry as he travels through life and then the order or Dumbledore or just figures himself out in the end. Figures out his own moral code.

It landed for me, even if I can't express it well. I feel like it made sense. I liked the wordplay of godparent into good-parent. It was stupid as shit, but it landed for me. So yeah. Good job, I guess.

 

Spoiler

I loved this story. It deserves a much better ending -- if anything, for poor Ron's sake, lol.

As a matter of fact, the more I think about this ending, the more it makes me giggle. "Here's a gnome, kid, it's the best we've got." I mean, yes, Ron already has a great dad, but... so do the other Weasley children. Lol. Poor Ron. He's always getting short shrift.

That being said, this comp entry is the first I've read so far that I really enjoyed. Your characterizations are perfect and so much fun. The story strikes exactly the right tone for an interaction between Ron and his dad. It's funny and warm in an everyday way. Sweet, but not saccharine; cute, but not cheesy.

This opening is exactly the kind of opening I was thinking of having. I scrapped that idea because I didn't think I could pull it off. You pulled it off.

The "fairy tale" itself, however, is a bit odd.

I think the story begins to stumble here:

Did you mean for Mr. Weasley to give the same response to Fudge as he did to Lucius Malfoy? I thought that was very odd. If you want this real story to sound like a fairy tale, Mr. Weasley should address each man’s uniquely problematic views in a different way.

As for the ending, maybe you wanted Mr. Weasley to come to this "eh, fuck it" conclusion? Because it's essentially just the story of Ron's life, lol.

I will say, there was one last little detail I liked.

I think this disproves Ron’s long-held theory that his parents were disappointed that he wasn’t the baby girl they wanted. I think it shows that they weren't even considering trying for a girl. If so, I love it. I particularly like that Ron misses this, because he’s fallen asleep.

 

Spoiler

Huh.

I take back what I said about that last one. This one reads like a proper fàiry tale to me.

This one is nicely structured. Ron and Arthur aren't sidenotes, they actually contribute to the framing of the story, because they are the story. The fairy tale is a parallel to that.

I haven't much else to say about it. Good job.

 

Spoiler

I like a lot of things about your story. The prophetic dream of the importance of a child in the womb recall for me the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist, which have folktale elements as well.

I liked Arthur’s search with generic figures—you made them recognizable by other markers. I like the idea that Arthur repeats “x may live that way, but x isn’t that way,” the repetition sounds like a fairytale but at times the phrasing can get clunky.

I also like the frame narrative, using Arthur as a storyteller helps keep the tone consistent.

good job!

 

Spoiler

This was cute, had good characterization, hit the right notes to represent a fairy tale, and I enjoyed as much the second time as the first.

 

Spoiler

This one had the best fairy tale structure imo of all the entries and I can see others liked it, but while I did like it having the classical three trials/tries and all that I found the premise itself fairly boring. Like Ched I think the climax could've been built up more, but I can understand that the word count was a limit. This just feels like a fluffy oneshot though, it doesn't feel like a fairy tale in plot or prose.

 

Spoiler

I enjoyed this entry a lot. I liked that it was more a story about Arthur telling his son a story than merely a setting for the fairy-tale to be told, if that makes any sense. Unfortunately I feel that it doesn’t quite adhere to the prompt. The prompt is a magical fairy-tale, not ‘using a bedtime story to reminisce bout real life events/tell an allegory to turn your child into a good boy’. As a slice-of-Weasley-life fic it is very good though, and again, Canon compliant, something which always makes me happy. So yeah, I would not advise changing anything major, but I cannot in good conscience declare it a winner (in my head lol), maybe a runner-up alongside 1.

Random tidbits:
.Arthur is nicely characterized here, yet I feel he is not a very good story-teller, or rather, the story he tells is a bit confused, particularly for a small child (which is maybe why it puts Ron to sleep - a ‘lol’ for you if intentional, a frowny face if not). In-story wise I like it, given that he is making it on the fly at his son’s request, but for the reader I would clarify a little bit which portions of the story are simply allegories, and which are events which really happened. I mean his conversation with Dumbledore and subsequent realisation that Ron need not get a godparent seems like it did actually happen, but I very much hesitate to think that Malfoy would have offered to be godparent to any of Arthur’s children, nor Fudge, if for different reasons.

All these are nice details though which I will surely keep in mind if I ever write something where Arthur is more than a very very secondary character (incredibly unlikely but take the compliment in the spirit it is given).

This bit though:

Seems the tiniest bit of a stretch, after six kids you would think Arthur would have learnt how to hold his tongue, especially on one on one conversations with his small children (really miniscule detail but I need to pad out the criticism if I am to avoid charges of favoritism).

I’m pretty sure this is actually a foul, though we may need a VAR check. First the dreaded triple inverted comma (“‘) appears, which always looks wrong (you cannot change my mind). Second the tapping wands thing which I believe is from something which Taure wrote, lord of something something. That in itself is not the problem, the problem is that in Canon no one ever does that, marking it as indeed weird in this Canon compliant fairy tale/allegory thingy you have going on.

.I like the characterisation of Malfoy, I like the rejection of blood purity in a very round about way, so as to not indoctrinate your own children (something that I support). Fudge’s one is a bit of cheap (green bowler hat -_-) though I suppose how else are we supposed to know its him, and I also like the rejection of majority views - speaks to my inner Braveheart. The last bit with Dumbledore is the only thing I would change. I feel it would be stronger if Arthur’s message of what is to be a good person was shorter, or at least, more simply stated.

Motherfucker, you apparently must be a terminator of goodness to live the right way. Just tell him to be kind and value friendship. This is a story for a small child, after all.

Lastly;

Do wizards christen their children? Hmm. Also Ron’s godfather is the Chief Gnome, RIP Ron .

PS:
I understand I’m very late on this, but if you thumb every post then it is not hard for me to know that you wrote it isn't it, you muppethead. Now you must live with the doubt of whether I liked the story on its own merits, or simply because I like you.