Title: Smoke
Author: DrT
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama/Action
Pairings: None
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,623
Published: July 17, 2005
Updated: August 25, 2005
Status: COMPLETED
Summary: Every night a professor relaxes, thinks, and smokes. Sometimes, a colleague joins him. This night, it is Severus Snape.
Link: http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/drt/smoke.html

This is practically HBP seen from the POV of John Russell, Hogwarts' Ancient Runes teacher. Russel is actually Dumbledore's second advisor/spy (besides Snape). He's coaching Hermione and Luna in ways to detect soul magic, while Harry is wasting his time with Dumbledore.

This whole story actually reveals a web of manipulations vowen around Harry (who thankfully doesn't appear in this story). It also gives answers to a couple of 'behind the scenes' questions - what happened with Dumbledore's arm, what was Snape's motivation, what was Dumbledore's plan etc...

I posted this here coz this is the first (active/completed) story I've seen that utilizes "Love potion" theory we've been discussing here on DLP. Hell, the author made it practically into a family business - mother cow Molly had appearantly used love potions to whore her fat cunt all around Hogwarts, before snatching Mr. Dweeb and firing up the baby factory...

Well anyway, not very satisfying story concerning some grand plots, but has some interesting theories and a solid writing style. It also has a sequel, but with a standard post-HBP Harry as the main character... Didn't even bother trying it out.


The author posted a sequel on Schnoogle:

Title: Companions of the White Warlock
Rating: PG-13
Chapters: 33
Words: 106,949
Published: August 10, 2005
Updated: January 24, 2006
Pairing: Harry/Luna
Status: Complete
Summary: Year seven of the HBP-compliant story (on Dark Arts) 'Smoke'. Harry, Hermione, and Ron go after the remaining Horcruxes, aided by Luna, Ginny, Neville, Remus, Tonks, and Professor Russell.
Link: http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/drt/COTWW.html


Both 'Smoke' and its sequel are posted as one story on Ficwad:
Link: http://ficwad.com/story/15333


Checked by Minion, July 27, 2013
Added the Sequel

July 30, 2014 - Left in the Library despite the rating (3.20) because of the discordance between rating and reviews, and because of the few positive recent reviews. -- Tinn

 

I REALLY liked this fic. I HIGHLY recommend it. It gives an interesting and cool perspective on HBP. This is TRULY a FANTASTIC story. Check it out. Read the first two chapters. IF you don't like it then stop. Cheers, a Great story :cheers:


P.S. do you think you could provide the link to the sequel? :wink:

 

Someone needs to learn how to navigate fictionalley.

From each chapter's page there are links to the main story index page and the author's list of fics page.
Sequel: http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/drt/COTWW.html
DrT's millions of fics: http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/drt/

 

I checked. His sequel isn't listed there.


and NOW I NEED A FIX DAMMIT!!! C'MON MAN!!! Gimme one more good one. :Scratches chest anxiously and paws at arm:

 

Umm, yeah it is. That was where I found it. And I pasted the link to the sequel in the last message anyway.

It's called Companions of the White Warlock and is on Schnoogle, not The Dark Arts. Was I unclear when I said "Sequel:" and followed that with a URL link?

 

I read it. It's pretty good for being OC-centric. I am impressed. Anyone read the sequel yet? Tomorrow I will probably read it, but I wouldn't mind someone's opinion in advance.

 

eh, i just read it and i have mixed feelings. i liked some of DrT's other efforts, but this one doesn't square with me.

i think it's because he's trying to redeem hermione in this story - when i just don't see the bitchiness of HBP being able to be reconciled with the pre-HBP normality that DrT tries to reassert into her interaction with Russell (not that that "normal" hermione was any good either).

i would have liked to have seen a little more on the weasley love-potion angle...mostly involving ginny/harry - and i would have liked to have seen hermione taken down a peg...instead of constantly praised and buttered up.

 

I browsed through the first chapter of the sequel and it seems that Love Potion thing will be a major plot device there. I expect Harry to figure out the little cunt's scheme and get together with Luna... Unfortunately, Pussy!Manipulated!Ultra-Light!Harry just don't sits well with me.

 

ugh, drt what can i say. Some of the stuff are good, but there's too many redundencies and crap mixed in the lot. But I think he did have a story called Dumbledore's Army, which was fairly good. He also finishes his works, which is a huge plus.

 

Well, yeah, this is HBP, only from a different angle. The plot is the same as in HBP, it only fills the gaps and sets the field for that sequel.

 

The sequel sucks though. Its not bad, its just standard SUper!Harry.


Eh, what are you going to do?

 

I haven't read the sequel yet but it doesn't look like it's building up to Super Harry at all.
I'll be dissapointed if it is as i thought the original was one of the most original fics i have read

 

I know wasn't it? After that he becomes the WHite Warlock, and just goes on a noble SUper! Harry campaign. It is VERY good, I just was disappointed because the first one was EXCEPTIONAL. ALso, this one is told from Harry's perspective. So it really is much more of a disappointment in every sense, (originality, style, etc.) Still worth a read. Read the first two chapters and see. That's what I always say. 1st chapter is setup, second they SHOULD get into the story usually (there are Exceptions).


Anyway, read the Original. It REALLY is BRILLIANT!!! :wink: :wink:

 

post

Its not worth reading plus its to short.

 

I read up to Chapter 6 in the sequel.

I really liked the first story...Smoke was excellently written, and i loved the John Russel character. He's a strong, kick-ass, take-no-shit character, with a healthy amount of power, and incredible knowledge.

Unfortunately, the sequel disappointed me. I was looking forward to some of the same stuff, but it was all for naught. Turns out to be a typical super!Harry fic by Chapter 5...literally overnight.

He bonds with Fawkes, and turns into the WHite Warlock, gaining power and knowledge and shit. WHY???

God, the sequel could have been absolutely stellar, if he had shwon Russel grooming Harry into his virtual replica.

Now, regularly, i hate fics that have Harry find a mentor and suddenly turn into his replica. In this case, though, since he built up the character of John Russel so well, i would actually have liked to see it happen.

Damn.

Only thing i didn't like about smoke was how people were able to learn oh...50 languages in three months. I took Sanskrit in school for three years. It's like French, in verb-formation, but other than that, utterly diffeerent, and VERY hard to learn. Hermion learns it in 3 weeks.

Bitch.

 

"Smoke" is one of DrT's better works-- not quite as good as "Harry Potter and the Old Believers"-- but it is his most recently written library quality story.

While its sequel "Companions of the White Warlock" is more of a Super!Harry story, "Smoke" isn't and is still compelling.

4 stars.

 

Gave it a read. This is a very good OC centric fic. Its pretty much behind the scenes of HBP. John Russell is a pretty awesome character. Russell is an old teacher at Hogwarts who is very knowledgeable and powerful. It pretty much centers around Russell's conversations with Snape and Dumbledore which are compelling and the work he does for the order (killing death eaters, dementors etc) which is awesome. It also shows the manipulation of Harry which is believable and well done. Russell's character and his coversations with various canon characters are pretty much the highlight of the fic and has some pretty good ideas. As for the sequel it just sucks.

4/5