Before we move onto the chapter proper, I thought I’d briefly cover the recent attempted literary hoax involving this fanfic, just in case anyone reading this hasn’t heard of it.
In 2017, a virtually unknown author of YA fiction by the name of Rose Christo began claiming to have written “My Immortal” back when she was a teenager. Her claims gained little attention until news broke that she would be publishing a memoir through an imprint of Macmillan Publishing which dealt with her having written the infamous fanfic. Christo self-identifies as Native American and as a lesbian, and, given that YA as a whole tends to be very white and very straight, people became excited that a YA author with a more diverse perspective had written “My Immortal” — the news also broke on Tumblr, where she maintained a personal blog, and, given both the ease at which information spreads throughout Tumblr and the fact that Tumblr’s userbase consists mostly of gay fandom nerds, this became big news in short order. Buzzfeed picked the story up around this time and it became even bigger news, with many people eagerly awaiting her upcoming memoir.
However, skeptics abounded; in the decade plus since “My Immortal” was first written, many people have come forward claiming to have authored the fic, with little or nothing to lend credibility to their claims. Christo’s publishing house was fact-checking her memoir prior to its publication, and eventually she failed a round of fact-checking and Macmillan declined to publish her book. At around this time, her brother — whom she’d claimed to have lost contact with long ago during her time in the foster care system — came forward to cast doubt on her narrative of her own life. According to him, he and his sister never lost contact with each other, they just aren’t close and don’t speak much. He and Christo also aren’t Native American; she was claiming Native heritage based on their mother having had a sexual encounter with a man she thought might be part Native around the time of her conception, and there isn’t evidence that this man is Christo’s biological dad. It seems Rose Christo has a bit of a problem with telling the truth, and, given things she said about why she’d written “My Immortal” (as some sort of attempt to find her brother, which makes no sense since she never lost contact with him and nothing in the fanfic could be interpreted as coded messages to a long-lost sibling), I think it’s safe to conclude that she didn’t author the notorious fanfiction.
While there are no shortage of theories about who might have written “My Immortal,” ultimately that information remains a mystery to the public at large. Maybe that’s as it should be.
There’s a brief self-harm scene in this chapter.
Recap: We met Ebony’s roommate Willow, based on Tara’s beta reader Raven. The two girls were talking when they were approached by Draco, who invited Ebony to a Good Charlotte concert happening in Hogsmeade.
AN: STOP FLAMMING DA STORY PREPZ OK! odderwize fangs 2 da goffik ppl 4 da good reveiws! FANGS AGEN RAVEN! oh yeah, BTW I don’t own dis or da lyrics 4 Good Chralotte.
You may have noticed Tara’s style of typing is quite a bit different in the author’s notes than in the fic proper. That’s because Raven, whose grasp of spelling and grammar is quite a bit stronger than Tara’s, has been beta reading these early chapters. Don’t worry, it doesn’t last too long.
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On the night of the concert I put on my black lace-up boots with high heels. Underneath them were ripped red fishnets. Then I put on a black leather minidress with all this corset stuff on the back and front.
All this corset stuff, huh? Got it.
I put on matching fishnet on my arms. I straightened my hair and made it look all spiky. I felt a little depressed then, so I slit one of my wrists.
Not sure why getting dressed up to see your second-favorite band in concert with a boy you clearly have a crush on is depressing, but hey, maybe I’m just not goffik enough.
I read a depressing book while I waited for it to stop bleeding and I listened to some GC. I painted my nails black and put on TONS of black eyeliner. Then I put on some black lipstick. I didn’t put on foundation because I was pale anyway.
Didn’t stop her before, but okay!
I drank some human blood so I was ready to go to the concert.
I don’t know if the implication is she needed a pre-concert snack, needed to compensate for the blood loss from slitting her wrist, or if this is how one normally prepares for concerts.
I went outside. Draco was waiting there in front of his flying car.
Oh, you know, his flying car.
Again, if you’re not familiar with the Harry Potter universe, flying cars are far from being a standard magical item. Wizards and technology don’t really mix; the average wizard is painfully out of touch with how Muggles live, making Ebony’s Hot Topic obsession and her love for various Muggle bands a bit strange (unless she comes from a Muggle family, but she’s a Slytherin, so probably not). There is a flying car in the HP books, but it’s a one-of-a-kind item enchanted by Ron Weasley’s dad, who thinks technology is fascinating and is regarded as a total oddball for always tinkering with Muggle stuff. Enchanting Muggle technology is actually illegal, and Draco’s upper-class wizarding family would never let him or anyone else in their family get away with that kind of thing. Or, put simply: this makes no goddamn sense.
He was wearing a Simple Plan t-shirt (they would play at the show too), baggy black skater pants, black nail polish and a little eyeliner (AN: A lot fo kewl boiz wer it ok!).
If you’re gonna put a defensive author’s note in the middle of your chapter, it should be about why you think Simple Plan is a good band, not about how it’s okay for goth boys to wear eyeliner.
“Hi Draco!” I said in a depressed voice.
Nothing conveys depression like exclamation points!
“Hi Ebony.” he said back. We walked into his flying black Mercedes-Benz (the license plate said 666) and flew to the place with the concert.
Again, I have to point out that Draco owning and operating this flying gothmobile is totally fucking illegal and a huge social taboo for wizards.
On the way we listened excitedly to Good Charlotte and Marilyn Manson. We both smoked cigarettes and drugs.
Which drugs? Oh, you know, the kind you smoke.
When we got there, we both hopped out of the car. We went to the mosh pit at the front of the stage and jumped up and down as we listened to Good Charlotte.
“You come in cold, you're covered in blood
They're all so happy you've arrived
The doctor cuts your cord, hands you to your mom
She sets you free into this life.” sang Joel (I don’t own da lyrics 2 dat song).
The song in question is “The Chronicles of Life and Death” off the 2004 album of the same name. It’s not bad.
“Joel is so fucking hot.” I said to Draco, pointing to him as he sung, filling the club with his amazing voice.
Suddenly Draco looked sad.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as we moshed to the music. Then I caught on.
“Hey, it’s ok I don’t like him better than YOU!” I said.
I know they’re teenagers, but, for the record, getting mopey because a girl you like has a celebrity crush is really silly. Especially if you do the same damn thing (Draco is bi in this story and does a fair bit of lusting after famous dudes himself, as you’ll see later on).
“Really?” asked Draco sensitively and he put his arm around me all protective.
“Really.” I said. “Besides I don’t even know Joel and he’s going out with Hilary fucking Duff. I fucking hate that little bitch.” I said disgustedly, thinking of her ugly blonde face.
I don’t know why Ebony hates Hilary (fucking) Duff, and, though it does come up at least once after this, it’s never explained.
The night went on really well, and I had a great time. So did Draco. After the concert, we drank some beer and asked Benji and Joel for their autographs and photos with them. We got GC concert tees. Draco and I crawled back into the Mercedes-Benz, but Draco didn’t go back into Hogwarts, instead he drove the car into……………………… the Forbidden Forest!
I like the dramatic use of ellipses, but I’m more curious about why they crawled back into the car than about why Draco wants to go to the Forbidden Forest.