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Oneshot Three Can Keep a Secret by Daniel Gudman - K+

Discussion in 'General Fics' started by uriel, Dec 24, 2009.

  1. uriel

    uriel Seventh Year DLP Supporter

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    Title: Three Can Keep a Secret
    Author: Daniel Gudman
    Rating: K+
    Genre: Suspense/Mystery
    DLP Category: General
    Pairing: None
    Words: 2,269
    Published: November 24, 2009

    Status: Oneshot
    Summary: "Harry Potter. Antonin Dolohov. And a Secret."
    Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5533147/1/Three_Can_Keep_a_Secret

    A good one-shot involving post story Harry, and Antonin Dolohov um.. having a discussion? It's fairly short story, involving a pseudo interrogation of Antonin Dolohov.

    I'm finding it hard to summarise without giving away the story. But, I thought it was a clever little story and enjoyed reading it.


    I personally think its a 4/5.


    Checked by Minion, July 28, 2013
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 28, 2013
  2. sirius009

    sirius009 Minister of Magic

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    I know I've seen this story posted somewhere around here, but the link was to a different site.
     
  3. darklordmike

    darklordmike Headmaster

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    It was in the almost recommended thread recently, I think.

    I thought this story did a good job at characterization, atmosphere, and building suspense. By the end I was very curious about what Harry had discovered. The big reveal, though, literally made me groan:

    Harry discovers that the Hogwarts list of wizarding children has never been able to detect subtle or weak forms of magic. So only a tiny percentage of muggleborns ever made it to Hogwarts. In short, everyone has magic. There's no such thing as a muggle.

    What Harry does with this information is believable, but the premise itself is ridiculous.
    It's a well-told, original story ruined at the very end by a completely unbelievable premise.

    3/5
     
  4. uriel

    uriel Seventh Year DLP Supporter

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    Was it? My bad. I checked For Review, and the Library, and didn't come across it, and completely forgot the 'Almost recommended' thread existed.

    Although:
    I thought what he did was bring about the downfall of the magic world by introducing muggles, who would go on to be classified as squibs, to Hogwarts. Which would mean in 50 years time no one in the magic world would be able to perform Magic, since only people without Magic would be going through Hogwarts and receiving an education.

    But.. what you said probably makes more sense, and makes the story a bit more lame
     
  5. Dark Minion

    Dark Minion Bright Henchman DLP Supporter Retired Staff

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    I liked it - and even the premise. I never would use it in a novel, but for this oneshot it's ok.

    Thus the founders actually are the reason or root for separating Muggles and Wizards. Now there is room to speculate about their intention: Was it by accident? Did Salazar manipulate the list? Or did they actually intend to train only "gifted" children?
     
  6. Hashasheen

    Hashasheen Half-Blood Prince

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    The ending and the reason for everything happening was too convoluted. The dialogue seemed too awkward as well.
     
  7. arkeus

    arkeus Seventh Year

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    Quite fun, and good.

    The premise isn't something really surprising, given it's the case in a lot of verse. The problem would be that it's explicitly false in HPverse for a few reasons, so there would be a need of a handful of precision and tweaking.
     
  8. Goddessa39

    Goddessa39 DA Member

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    With seeing the Harry, Dolohov characters down I figured it would be some kind of revenge for Hermione, but it wasn't.

    I loved this one shot and favorite it. 5/5!

    P.S. Merry elfin Xmas!!
     
  9. cold burn

    cold burn Third Year

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    Hey I liked it. I mean it was a cold Harry Potter who wasn't obsessed with some sort of sappy revenge that would have excused it all according to our( A.K.A. Hollywood's) variant of honor.
     
  10. Memory King

    Memory King Order Member DLP Supporter

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    One of the better one-shots in a while, even if the premise doesn't quite fit canon.

    4/5
     
  11. Nemrut

    Nemrut The Black Mage ~ Prestige ~

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    I liked it, even if the premise at the end didn't made much sense I still enjoyed it.

    4/5
     
  12. Lord Ravenclaw

    Lord Ravenclaw DLP Overlord Admin DLP Supporter

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    I did like it. Even though the premise is silly at best, it's an excellent little one shot. I enjoyed reading it. 4/5
     
  13. Portus

    Portus Heir

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    I read this and really enjoyed it back when it was posted in the Almost Recommended thread. I have to agree with the weak premise to an extent, in that
    "all people have magic" is pretty untenable when, in canon, there are things like Muggles can't see Dementors, etc. Also, let's not forget that having a Squib child was once such a dishonor to the family that the kid was quietly sent away; that being the case, the old Pureblood families would've made damn sure their kids were given every opportunity to access that spark of magic supposedly inherent in all people.

    In spite of that minor point, I liked the story. A lot. I don't have it here in front of me and it's been a couple weeks since I read it, but the tone of a very methodical and pretty ruthless Harry is what I came away with. I've always enjoyed the calmly brutal characters much more so than the screaming, flailing types of villains, the latter of which you see applied to
    boring, one-dimensional Voldemorts entirely too often in bad fanfiction. The bad guy foaming at the mouth and slinging Crucios left and right isn't nearly as fun to read about as a coolly calculating bad guy. When Dolohov tries to goad Harry into killing him and Harry doesn't take the bait, and when Harry whispers the Cruciatus in Dolohov's ear - well, that's an example of the good writing in this story.

    I give it a 4/5, with really only the somewhat weak premise holding it back.
     
  14. mknote

    mknote 1/3 of the Note Bros. DLP Supporter

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    I enjoyed it. I don't mind Harry using Unforgivables here (I usually do, but he isn't anything close to evil here), and I found the backstory about Harry's family to be both believable and compelling. I really liked the premise, too, because I feel that Muggles are woefully overlooked in many HP fanfiction.

    A solid 4/5 from me.
     
  15. Johnny Farrar

    Johnny Farrar High Inquisitor

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    I found the entire premise silly and illogical. The plot was convoluted and confusing and that stopped me from enjoying the fic. If there had been a compelling plot idea, then the story would have been enjoyable. As it stands though, I didn't like it.

    2/5 from me.
     
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