#ianthewaiting

The Fool, the Emperor, and the Hanged Man by ianthewaiting on AO3

Ten years after the fall of the Dark Lord, Hermione Granger leads a life of self-imposed obscurity, that is, until the day Headmistress Minerva McGonagall is murdered and a certain 'hero' is responsible.

“We might be heading into the possibility of certain death, Malfoy, does that not bother you at all?” “With Potter? Of course, it bothers me. Death means defeat.” // “What did you want to be, Granger?” “I wanted to be wicked…” I answered. “Why do you say that?” “Because I have been too good…” Malfoy released me, and helped me raise the goblet of wine to my lips. “Drink to me, Granger…I’ve drunk to you…” he whispered, his silvery eye glinting in the bonfire’s light. I did not feel very comfortable about toasting the Malfoy heir, but I raised the goblet, knowing that Malfoy would annoy me to no end if I did not. “I drink to thee, my Lord.” // “For a mortal, you have caught the eye of the universe.”

The vibe and aesthetics of this fic are so complete and complex that I didn't feel I could do it justice by picking only one of these covers. It's an incredibly unique story, plot-wise and tonally, encompassing everything from time travel to dark!Harry to medieval Malfoy rites and runes, the brain tank in the DoM, and Snape's preserved consciousness. It's an old fic, and a little dated in some ways (Hermione's characterization in particular can be frustrating, though the story is committed to it and consistent), but on the whole it offers a wealth of original detail and plot. Perhaps its best element is a wonderful Draco characterization: spiny and spiky, not remotely nice, deeply obsessive, unapologetic, but unquestionably trying to do the right thing. His philosophy about regret ties nicely into the time travel plot and theme, both of which are handled particularly uniquely. I can't pretend that this story isn't frustrating in many ways, but it's often all the more interesting for it, consistently rejecting the easy answers, solutions, and paths and straining toward something more complicated and operatic. It is beyond worth reading and quite an achievement, particularly of world-building and tone (it's admirably dark and claustrophobic, without being at all over the top) and it's certainly not a story anyone will forget having read any time soon.

Art:

(1) Prince of Cups from Tarot as Colour, Ithell Colquhoun, 1977 [None of the cards in the title of this story matched the vibe as well]

(2) Studies into the Past, Laurent Grasso, 2009

(3) The Norns, Franz Strassen, 1917

The Fool, the Emperor, and the Hanged Man by ianthewaiting

Ten years after the fall of the Dark Lord, Hermione Granger leads of life of self-imposed obscurity, that is, until the day Headmistress Minerva McGonagall is murdered and a certain 'hero' is responsible.

226,700 words

598 pages

rounded and backed spine

When I typeset and printed this, the original plan was to do three volumes. However, when I saw how thin the Fool and the Hanged Man volumes were, I decided to bind them as one single volume. Like an omnibus. Ish. Kinda. You get it.

It’s amazing how the split, determined by an even division of the total chapters, actually stop and start at the most appropriate times so the Rider-Waite tarot illustrations signifying the start of a “volume” makes so much sense. ianthewaiting is a genius.

Whom the Gods Would Destroy by ianthewaiting 

Hermione x Charlie Weasley

The end of the world has come. Millions dead, magic waning, Hermione Granger and Charlie Weasley are the last people left in Britain—left to pick up the pieces of their once great civilization. Why were they spared? Who is responsible for the death of a nation? These are the mysteries left as a legacy for two lost and lonely people.