New Chapter for Guard... Check... Mate
Guard... Check... Mate
Bambu120 Reviews | 6.37/10 (120 Ratings, 0 Likes, 327 Favorites )
Late one night, after evening the distribution of house points, Snape discovers an unwanted intruder into the sub-levels of Hogwarts. What he finds alters his perception and the course of his life.
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About Bambu
Author
Bambu
Member Since 2005 | 27 Stories | Favorited by 542 | 117 Reviews Written | 1,029 Review Responses
I have loved the written word since watching my mother’s fingers trace the lines of a book, luxuriating in riveting tales and well-turned phrases. Many a night I read until dawn, a plastic flashlight hidden under the covers to light the pages as I raced the rising sun to finish my latest must-read.
Since joining the HP fandom, I've been privileged to receive more than 50 awards, including Best Author (Quill to Parchment Awards) and Best Classic Author (Most Potente Passions). Among others, my stories have won awards for Best Hurt/Comfort (Spoils of War, Morning Has Broken), Best Novel Length (Calling Card, Guard…Check…Mate), Best One Shot (A Beach in Ireland), Best WIP (Saving a Death Eater, The Summoning), Favorite Overall Story (Complexities), and Readers’ Choice (A Quest of Paladins).
Aside from a judicious polish for formatting and egregious typos, I don't plan on revising my early work. Those stories are the stepping stones of my writing journey. Please note some stories contain adult content. None is more graphic than equivalent scenes in the television shows True Blood or Game of Thrones, and age appropriate warnings are posted.
I no longer write fanfiction prolifically. Like many fanfic authors, my focus has shifted to original work. A member of the Romance Writers of America and the Southern California Writers Association, I write under my name: Lin Thornhill.
My original story Verisimilitude published in Thoroughly Modern Monsters (Story Spring Publishing, 2013) reached the top 100 fantasy anthologies and broke into the top 10 in the UK the first month of release. Ben and Christine’s story will continue in 2016.
Fixation, my latest short story, slated for publication in J. Aldis’ anthology Immanence, with a winter 2015-2016 release, is particularly exciting as it anchors the Messengers of Inari novel series I’ve been developing for the past year.
9/2015
Reviews for Guard... Check... Mate
Just lovely!
Love it
Bambu, So I see that you have written this some 3 years ago. All the same I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading this beautiful piece. Your characterizations, as always, have such incredible depth, and it is a joy to read them develop and play out. Thank you so much for writing.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
I'm so sorry to not have responded sooner, but I have been neck deep in writing a story, and am only now catching up. I feel especially guilty because your review is so lovely. Thank you. This is one of my personal favorite stories -- one which haunted me for almost a year before I succumbed and finally wrote it. I especially am gratified that you liked the characters. You've made my day.Thank you again.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
I'm so sorry to not have responded sooner, but I have been neck deep in writing a story, and am only now catching up. I feel especially guilty because your review is so lovely. Thank you. This is one of my personal favorite stories -- one which haunted me for almost a year before I succumbed and finally wrote it. I especially am gratified that you liked the characters. You've made my day.Thank you again.
Brilliant story. Thanks for sharing it.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
What a lovely thing to say. Thank you.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
What a lovely thing to say. Thank you.
I have read this story many times as it is definitely one of my favorites. I like the way that it flies in the face of the myth the world is constantly selling -- that you haave to be beautiful or perfect or whole to be deserving of love. I think so many people have been damaged by the belief that their own particular "lack of beauty" has made them unworthy of love. In this story you show two people whose physical flaws not only do not detract from their "desirability," they form the basis of it. This story is very nearly a diametric opposite to those "makeover" stories where the character must change externally in order to be acceptable or "love-worthy."I really appreciate the way you explored these somewhat crippling emotions -- without judgment or sappy sentimentality -- and then let the characters grow beyond them to self-acceptance and other-acceptance. I think you have hit on a key truth that without self-acceptance, it is tough to have other-acceptance.For such a short story, you accomplished quite a lot. It is a masterful piece of work. It is both uplifting and aspirational (as I try to keep my thoughts from being too influenced by our beauty-obsessed society).Thank you very much for taking the time to write it and share it with us.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
Wow! What a magnificent review, Mikimoto-san.It's incredibly gratifying to find perceptive readers who look at the layers of a story as well as the superficial tale (and I'm incredibly lucky to have many such readers.) I hadn't actually intended to write an anti-makeover story, but rather one about sacrifices and pawns and finding solutions other than those which are so terribly costly. The side-benefit of this story was that it also highlighted the underlying message that substance may be more valuable than a shiny surface.Thank you very much for your kind words. I can't express how much they mean to me.
I don't know how many times I have read this story now, but it is quite a few:-) It still makes me cry for the hurt, injustice and tender hope, and to be trilled for the happiness they find in the end. Yup, will probably always love this story!!!
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
I can't imagine a greater compliment than to be told someone's read my story more than once, except for this one, in which you tell me it will always be a favorite. Thank you very, very much.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
I can't imagine a greater compliment than to be told someone's read my story more than once, except for this one, in which you tell me it will always be a favorite. Thank you very, very much.
Lovely job. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
I don't squick easily but this made me tense up and squirm in my seat. Well written.
Powerful chapter!
Ooh excellent opener. Snape was so, so Snapey!
I just read this follwoing a recommendation during the recent SSHG_Exchange, and I'm so glad I did. What a wonderful story. I cried during chapter one, their displaying of their scars was incredibly intimate and poignant, and the rest of the story was a total rollercoaster.
I'm with you, on the Dumbledore thing. Bastard.
Thanks for this, it was just what I needed!
Great story ! You truly are a very talented writer.I love the way you portray the feelings and thoughts of the characters. Thank you for taking the time to write it and share it with us.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
You're very kind. Thank you so much for enjoying the story and letting me know.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
You're very kind. Thank you so much for enjoying the story and letting me know.
Great story ! You truly are a very talented writer.I love the way you portray the feelings and thoughts of the characters. Thank you for taking the time to write it and share it with us.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
Thank you very much. I'm delighted you thought I managed to give the characters some three-dimensionality. And tht you enjoyed the story enough to let me know
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
Thank you very much. I'm delighted you thought I managed to give the characters some three-dimensionality. And tht you enjoyed the story enough to let me know
Very, *very* good. I do have one quibble though (and it's a very minor one given the date) - as Severus was not the Secret Keeper, he couldn't divulge the location of Headquarters. I liked the touch of the Portkey. I was planning on using that in one of my fics, but I doubt I'll ever finish it now. Meh.The scene where Severus was being tortured was very effective. Most people will shy away from that sort of writing, but it can really add a depth to the story.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
It's funny. I read your comment, especially the bit about the Secret Keeper, and I know there was a rational explanation for it when I wrote this story. Regrettably, it's been so long since then, I don't remember what it was!Good luck with your fic if you ever get back to it, and how marvelous that you were considering the same gimmick.The torture scene was necessary to balance out the intensity of the mirror scene, at least in my mind. I didn't want to leave the story with a single high note. Thank you for enjoying it and letting me know you liked it.
Please put your fingers in your ears for this.... Ahem... SQUEEEEE!!!
Whew! Now that that's out of the way... I'm so glad you're posting on this site now!! *does happy hamster dance*
I still think this is a brilliant story, and the first chapter still tears me up into itty bitty pieces. I look forward to seeing more of you here, and am waiting patiently... yes, believe me it is patiently... for the next update of the summoning. *big grin*
GG
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
WOW, GG, that was loud... but heartfelt... and that hamster dance is so energetic! I'm blushing for the compliment (as if you weren't kind enough to give them to me before) because it's unbelievably gratifying to think you enjoyed the story on a second read. Thank you.
The Summoning is coming along... I was so sidetracked that I've had to go back to re-read the whole thing just to remember where I've been! Thanks, again.
Brilliant story, complex, well written and poignant. The fact that neither of them are physically perfect reinforces that the popularly portrayed stereoetype of beauty in the media is false.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on each chapter. It's so encouraging.I'm delighted you enjoyed the story ... and you're quite right, beauty is indeed more than skin deep.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on each chapter. It's so encouraging.I'm delighted you enjoyed the story ... and you're quite right, beauty is indeed more than skin deep.
I almost feel sorry for Albus now... almost.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
::nods:: Me, too. An underlying reason for this story was to write it from the part of two pawns ... people who aren't privy to the decisions being made from the seat of power, yet who have to suffer the consequences. If I'd shown Albus' point of view, I doubt he would have seemed quite so ruthless ... but neither did he seem that way in canon, and there are any number of reprehensible things he's done. So I don't feel too guilty about it.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
::nods:: Me, too. An underlying reason for this story was to write it from the part of two pawns ... people who aren't privy to the decisions being made from the seat of power, yet who have to suffer the consequences. If I'd shown Albus' point of view, I doubt he would have seemed quite so ruthless ... but neither did he seem that way in canon, and there are any number of reprehensible things he's done. So I don't feel too guilty about it.
arrghh that's 'orrible! Just as well I can read on , isn't it?
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
Sorry. Well, not really ... in terms of balance, I needed a scene with as much intensity as the mirror scene and this is what happened. You're very kind to leave me a message; I really appreciate it.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
Sorry. Well, not really ... in terms of balance, I needed a scene with as much intensity as the mirror scene and this is what happened. You're very kind to leave me a message; I really appreciate it.
So much restraint, on both their parts. This is written so well!
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
::blushes:: Thank you very much.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
::blushes:: Thank you very much.
I like how you have made Harry and Ron mature enough to realise what is going on and trust Snape. They are, after all, young men, no longer children.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
It's long irked me that these characters aren't more mature than the average teenager. I'm so pleased you thought I used the dynamic nature of the trio's friendship well. Thank you.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
It's long irked me that these characters aren't more mature than the average teenager. I'm so pleased you thought I used the dynamic nature of the trio's friendship well. Thank you.
Brilliant. Very rich characterisation and portrayal of their emotions as they shared their secrets.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
Why thank you very much. I'm so glad you liked the scene.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
Why thank you very much. I'm so glad you liked the scene.
Dumbledore's machinations are once again in play.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
I suspect he was an extremely good chess player ... and old enough to understand peoples' motivations. Definitely manipulative. Thanks for letting me know you read the story.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
I suspect he was an extremely good chess player ... and old enough to understand peoples' motivations. Definitely manipulative. Thanks for letting me know you read the story.
I could bathe in this story. That is, if it were physically possible. The entire story was a wonderful and wholly satisfying work of fiction, but the ending was my favorite. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Happy endings are so my thing, and this is right up my alley.
Thanks for the story
:o) ,
Sue.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
Awww, Sue, you've made my morning.Thank you very, very much. I'm not always a happy ending girl; but I do try for a hopeful one. In this case, I thought they deserved the vine-covered cottage and each other.
Dumbledore was such an ass in this fic. I love Dumbledore, but this fic was so great that I am totally willing to go with it.I really wish that Snape had been able to live and had an opportunity to love and be loved, he really deserved those opportunities I think. Glad that you gave them to him.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
I'm very glad you enjoyed the story despite my negative characterization of Dumbledore. I've disliked him since the end of the second book, and when I wrote this story, my negative thoughts about him was coloring one of my more benevolent versions in a different story ... I had to exorcise Manipulate!Dumbledore. I, do, honestly, think Dumbledore had more than a narrow streak of ruthlesness in him, even as he did truly have an equal amount of benevolence.Thank you for taking the time to leave me a review.
Response from cabooklover (Reviewer)
I totally understand, there are times when I was so angry at things Dumbledore was doing/saying/not saying.Thank you for sharing you wonderful stories. I am enjoying getting finding these wonderful stories.
I only found out about this story through a fic rec. on WIKTT. Am I ever glad I took their advice. Your story was refreshing on so many levels, for so many reasons. Maybe I should just leave a review for each chapter :PI loved the pacing of the story. The progression of Hermione and Severus' relationship never felt forced. And you gave us all a reason why we could believe Snape would want to change. Kudos. Not only a wonderful story, but wonderful storytelling.
Response from Bambu (Author of Guard... Check... Mate)
I'm rather tickled that someone recommended my story, on WIKTT no less. Thank you for telling me that. I'm utterly delighted you liked the story and thought it refreshing. The image of the mirror scene was seared into my brain for a long time before I actually gave in to the impulse to write the story. I'm thrilled you found it plausible, and the relationship believable. Thank you very, very much for your kind words. I do appreciate it and them.