HP_kinkfest Has Done It Again

[teddy_radiator]

Today's kinkfest offering is by pauraque, and is one of the reasons I keep loving this fandom. The name of this beautifully moving fic is "Rest Your Head Close To My Heart", and it left me gasping in my chair.

While I could ramble for hours on this, I'm going to be very cheeky and quote perverse_idyll, another brilliant author, for the eloquent review on her journal. I hope you will forgive me, Perverse, but I could never say it as well as you, and I want to leave no one in doubt to just how special this story is:

"This is a quick drive-by and finger-point of a rec, because I ought to be working on something else, but I'd like to encourage more people to read this hp_kinkfest entry because I almost didn't attempt it myself. I'm not usually drawn to the kink or the pairing, but pauraque wrote it, and I've learned to trust their sensitivity, pinpoint eye for details, attunement to emotional hungers, accretions, confusions, and irrational truths, and their fresh, unflinching approach to characters' deeper experiences.

The kink is lactation, the pairing is Harry/Hermione, and it's a very touching fic. It's not exactly sexual except insofar as breasts and suckling are culturally inflected, and there's a nervous quality to some of their interactions that give a nod to the sense of transgression, but the story isn't really about that. Instead it deals quite honestly with a child's deprivation and with the power of love and the bonds of friendship, of healing and home. It's breathtakingly intimate, to the point that I, as a reader, felt like an intruder upon a supremely private moment.

This is the kind of fic that adds a crucial piece I never knew was missing to my conception of a character. The revelations here will always color how I see Harry now, in a way that deepens my compassion.

It's a short fic (~3600 words) and beautifully handled. Even if you're unsure about the kink, I'd suggest giving it a try."

Please read Rest Your Head Close To My Heart. You will be in the presence of stunning writing.

Comments

[perverse-idyll.livejournal.com]

Oh heavens, I don't mind at all. I'm flattered. However many people see these recs and discover a fic they might otherwise have skipped over - that's what matters. And I think we feel exactly the same way about this story.

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

♥

I love this particular fest, because you can truly get inside the head of a character in ways that one doesn't normally delve.

[pauraque]

Aw, thanks so much for the rec! I appreciate it. :)