HP: By the Sea by MC (Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny)

If only all the post-Half-Blood Prince shipper hullabaloo had produced more like owlyscribblings' By the Sea. This is a story that gives proper credit to all of the relationships implicated by JKR finally settling the question. It understands that most people don't stay with their first loves -- and more importantly, that changes of heart are not swoony or romantic. They're difficult. There are no easy, OTP-pleasing reconfigurations here.

Sometimes the writing style was a bit too oblique for me, but overall I thought it was refreshingly understated and un-dramatic, especially when such huge tectonic shifts are happening beneath the surface. It makes the playing out of these changes much more realistic and believable -- more like life rather than fiction.

HP: Ordinary Days by penknife (Ron/Hermione)

penknife's Ordinary Days is a quiet but strong little story in which Hermione takes it upon herself to learn something new about Ron. It's pretty much a slice of perfection. Set post-Half-Blood Prince.

BSG: Intra by Kate Andrews (Kara/Lee)

There's a sort of house style in BSG fanfic already, all present tense minimalism with certain lines (over-)calculated for dramatic punch, and it doesn't always work for me. But svilleficrecs makes it work in Intra, which fills in some backstory for "33." The prose is unadorned, a bit rough at times, but the story takes a good long look at the characters and their memories of the time before in the midst of the hell they're currently going through.

AtS: In a Handful of Dust by Yoon Ha Lee (Wesley/Angel)

T.S. Eliot seems to be making the rounds of fandom. In a Handful of Dust by yhlee is weird, poetic, desperate, and dark. I think I'm a bit out of touch with the strangeness of the Angel-verse, but this is evocative and sad yet hopeful, and it's an interesting ending to attach to the one we got.

HP: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Poet by ladysisyphus and rahaeli

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Poet by ladysisyphus and rahaeli.

Is this even fanfic? It's HBP done to the tune of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. Actually, it IS The Waste Land, only set at Hogwarts. Actually, stop reading my attempt at description and just click on the link. Because whether it's fanfic or not, it is ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. Hilarious and chilling by turns.

Did I mention BRILLIANT?