Heya Roots! Perelandra here with your review! :)

The first paragraph made me laugh!

This story is making my heart melt because Rose's love for Red reminds me of my love of my stuffed animal. An original 1994 Simba stuffed toy. We played just like that and when my grandmother decided to 'give him a bath' I was so mad! His fluffiness was gone! Haha! So this story hits right at home!

This time there were no evil wizards, no dangerous beasts, no violent knights in the room-just her younger brother --Younger siblings are a pain! Poor little Rosie!

This reminds me of Toy Story 3 where Andy leaves for college and leaves his 'friends' behind. Is this going to make me cry as well, Roots?! Don't appreciate it! :S

Awww!! IT DID!

I'm teary eyes and smiling at how cute this was!! And its true. There's always that one special toy that will stay with you forever and that will go with you through all of life's adventures.


Just ask my Simba who is perched next to my bed. ;)

Thanks for the great read, Roots! I'm sorry if this is a short review but there's nothing I can say aside from the fact that I loved it! I'm adding this to my faves!

--Rosie

Author's Response: Thank you so much for reviewing! I'm so glad that you liked this story!

Haha- I have a stuffed animal as well, though he's a very small (and very flat, now that most of his fluff has disappeared) bear. I took him everywhere when I was younger and now he's retired and sitting on my bookshelf.

Yes, younger siblings can most definitely be a pain! Always getting into your things and interrupting... At least Hermione was prompt in dealing with the issue at hand! :)

I'm so glad that you enjoyed this story. I actually took a few monthes' break between starting and finishing it because it's different from what I usually write and the mindset was difficult to get into. But I'm so glad that I finished writing it and it was a lot of fun to write, in the end.

And this review was amazing! I'm so glad that it touched you and yes, I definitely agree! There is always one toy that stays with you forever, even if it's just in your memories!

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First, sorry for the delay. I promised that I would review by Saturday, but it's Thursday right now. Reviewing for midterms took longer than I thought.

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Wow. I loved this.

This is probably one of the best one-shots I've read at HPFF. You did a great job showing Rose's childhood, and when I was finished reading, I seriously wanted to go find my old stuffed platypus. Ron and Hermione were very sweet. I loved how Ron attended all of the tea parties and how Hermione was slightly annoyed by Rose favoring Red over books.

This story was incredibly realistic (and fluffy and nostalgic goodness). Her adventures with Red and the fight with Hugo show all the things unique to childhood. Red seemed almost alive, similar to how the stuffed tiger Hobbes is real to six-year-old Calvin (I don't know if you've read Calvin and Hobbes; it's an American comic).

This story was amazing! Thank you for entering my challenge!

Author's Response: Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm so glad that you enjoyed this story as much you did- I had a lot of fun writing it.

I too had a stuffed animal (a bear) that I took everywhere with me when I was younger- he was small and I used to panic when I thought that he was lost.

I'm glad that you though it was realistic- I found it difficult to capture the essence of childhood, the innocence of children. And I'm so happy you think Red is to Rose as Hobbes is to Calvin- I LOVE those comics.

Thanks once again for the review!

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So I don't know if you intended this or not, but from the time Ron and Hermione handed Red to Rose as she was preparing to leave until the end of the one-shot I was reading with bleary eyes. This one shot was beautiful in the most simple of ways. It was genuine and true to childhood, to growing old, and to leaving home. Rose moving out and taking Red her made me particularly weepy seeing as I recently moved out of my childhood home to persue my doctoral studies. There's something about the purity of the simplist childhood memories that get to me.

The writing her was gorgeous. You could feel how real Red was to Rose, and each adventure (and tragedy) read easily and enjoyably. The little aside fact that Ron tucked her in and fed her imagination was very sweet. I loved it so much.
One little thing I noticed, and I normally wouldn't point it out, being such a small typo and all, but this story is so perfect that it deserves to be corrected. "watching as his white blood feel to the floor" should be FELL.

Really though. This is one of my favorite one shots that I've read in a really long time. You are quite a talented writer.
melissa

Author's Response: Thank you so much for reviewing! I'm so glad that you enjoyed it and that you thought it was beautiful. It's great to hear that the childish aspects came through- once you're not a child any longer, it's hard to think like one.

I'm so glad that Red seemed real. I really wanted and tried to make it seem as though he was real (like Hobbes was to Calvin, if you've read the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes) and I'm so pleased that the adventures were enjoyable. I wanted them to be something that most children would experience, especially those who are more adventurous, like Rose.

Thanks for pointing out the typo- I'll fix it as soon as I can! And thanks for the compliments- I'm so glad that you enjoyed it.

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I can see why this is a little "out of your comfort zone"! You seem to tend to write darker pieces, like me, and so this lighter look at a child must have been interesting for you.

This was so tender. I love the name Rose chose for her bunny, and I loved your vivid descriptions of all the activities they enjoyed together, gossip, tea, the whole bit. I especially loved the scene where Hermione had to re-stitch Red for Rose, and how you described him like he was a living being that had been injured and was in need of magical help. The way you talked about it made it easy for me to feel Rose's pain and her desperate need to undo what had been done to her friend. I also really liked how we got to follow Rose's life and see how her feelings about her friend ebbed and flowed over time. I guess some things really are forever after all :)

Really sweet, and very well done. Good luck in the challenge!

Amanda

Author's Response: Thanks so much for reviewing! It was an interesting experience writing this as once you're no longer a child, it's hard to think like one. It was difficult trying to make sure that this story had that sense of childish wonder (and I hope it did) and to keep the story "fluffy" and more light-hearted because occasionally I was stumped as to where to take the story without having something tragic/life-changing occur. In the end, I simply chose to have them grow apart as part of the transition from child to adult.

I'm so glad that this was tender and emotional and especially pleased that you liked the way I dealt with Red's injury. I was a little unsure when I wrote it as to whether or not I should refer to the stuffing as "stuffing" or "blood" but I decided on "blood" in the end because this was from Rose's point of view and she believed that he was real.

I'm so glad that you liked it and thanks once again for reviewing! I really appreciate it.

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