Fic: Blood Lines (Griselda Marchbanks, PG)

[snorkackcatcher]

Title: Blood Lines
Author: snorkackcatcher
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~ 2,200
Prompt: 61. A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. --Ariel Durant.
Summary: 'On the Recent War, the Purity of Blood, and the Historical Context': text of the keynote speech given by Griselda Marchbanks to the Ministerial Conference on the Development of Magical Society in the New Millennium, March 2000.
Notes: Many thanks to lazy_neutrino for betaing this fic and for a number of very helpful suggestions, including the title. Any remaining problems are my own fault. Written for the 2006 femgenficathon.

( This looks like a lj-cut, but actually it's a link to the comm )

Lyrics: Last time the song was the 1950s English translation of Mack the Knife from The Threepenny Opera, as sung (and lyrically slightly mangled) by Bobby Darin in 1958 -- spotted by threeoranges (hi!), lareinenoire, and maple_clef.

A bit more modern this time:

Let me put you in the picture
Let me show you what I mean
The messiah is my sister
Ain't no king man, she's my queen (1990s)

Comments

[modestyrabnott.livejournal.com]

The Stone Roses? Don't remember the name of the song...

THANKS again for your help with the fic. I've gotten 2 compliments about not sounding like an American trying to sound like a Brit. So that's good, right?

[lazy-neutrino.livejournal.com]

Stone Roses, yeah, I think. At the end or very end of my CD. I can't remember the title either! (So that's this evening's playlist sorted out 'cos it's going to drive me mad if I don't.)

[snorkackcatcher]

Yes indeed. Near the end of Second Coming. :)

[snorkackcatcher]

Stone Roses indeed. As for the fic, you're welcome!

Actually, in the pub last night I had a word with the charming young lady helping out behind the bar, whose main job is working with horses on Dartmoor (the other National Park in Devon). She explained about the park rangers they have, so maybe it's just me not being so much of an outdoor type that they didn't ring a bell! They look after the wildlife, stop people lighting bonfires and so on, and they normally drive (and I can't believe how stupid I was not to realise this, because it feels kind of obvious now I think about it) Range Rovers -- i.e. the off-road vehicles, so they can go up and down hills and so on. I forgot to ask if they also had vans to carry more stuff where necessary, but it seems plausible. However, as the chap who drove up to Ron and Hermione in the chapter was on a road and not actually a park ranger anyway, just a wizard masquerading as one, the scene still fits. :)

[ex-jo-blogs.livejournal.com]

La la la - I knew that one...

[snorkackcatcher]

Heh. Nice icon. :)

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

Let me put you in the picture
Let me show you what I mean
The messiah is my sister
Ain't no king man, she's my queen

You know, you can sing that to the tune of "Mack the Knife"...

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

AND "La Cucaracha".

Freaky!!

[snorkackcatcher]

Heh. Yes, you could, couldn't you? There's an idea for a mosh-up. :) A bit like that album Paul Anka did with swing versions of songs like Smells Like Teen Spirit.

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

Now I have an earworm of Kurt Cobain screaming "Lemme put you! IN THE PICTURE! Lemme show you! WHAT I ME-EAN!" etc. Thanks so much :)

[snorkackcatcher]

You're welcome. :D