The Ground Beneath Her Feet, here unofficially titled after the first fanfiction published in the series, is an alternate universe Harry Potter Italian fanfiction series written by Savannah and published on EFP (Erika's Fanfiction Place), the biggest italian Fanfiction website, from December 2004 to September 2011.
The eponymous original fanfiction is a Dramione song-fiction, published December 2004-February 2005, which takes its title from the U2 song of the same title, notable for being probably the most famous italian fanfiction in this fandom. The fanfiction was elected "Storia Scelta" (litt. "Chosen Fiction", meaning "Notable Fiction") on EFP, and put into the Favourites of nearly 3400 users of the website, the highest record in this fandom on EFP. This fanfiction later expanded into a tetralogy, which includes two sequels (Original Sin, May 2005-January 2006, and Hogwarts Legends, which is a midquel of the two, January 2007) and a prequel (Out of My Mind, August-September 2011). Just like the original one, these three fanfictions too were elected "Storia Scelta" on EFP.
The series is set during an uncanonical seventh year. Savannah published other fanfictions, all of them being Dramiones, unrelated to this tetralogy, including a long fiction entitled Masquerade Ball (May-July 2007). She eventually published original works too, under the pen names Virginia de Winter and Serena Nobile.
The Author[]
Savannah was born in Southern Italy, but later moved to Rome. She subscribed to EFP in December 2004, publishing the first chapters of her fanfiction the very next day.
Under her pen name Virginia de Winter, she published her first novel with Fazi Editore, the first installement of the Black Friars saga, L'Ordine della Spada ("The Order of the Sword", 2010), which was followed by L'Ordine della Chiave ("The Order of the Key", 2011), L'Ordine della Penna ("The Order of the Pen", 2012) and L'Ordine della Croce ("The Order of the Cross", 2013); the series was eventually expanded with two short novels, Le Soglie del Buio ("Thresholds of Darkness", 2013) and Cinque Falci di Luna ("Five Crescent Moons", 2016).
Virginia de Winter later published two more novels, one with HarperCollins, Il Cammeo di Ossidiana ("The Obsidian Cameo", 2017), and another with Mondadori, La Spia del Mare ("The Sea's Spy", 2017), and, under the pen name Serena Nobile, Quello che i tuoi occhi nascondono ("What your Eyes Hide", 2017), with HarperCollins.
Fanon[]
The Fanfiction having debuted between 2004 and 2005, the only novels published at the time were the first six, which reduces to five in the Italian translation (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published in Italy on January 6th, 2006). The fanfictions stick to the canon set in the first five novels. The Horcruxes are never mentioned, Voldemort is still at large, Sirius Black is dead and both Dumbledore and Snape are alive, the latter still teaching Potions (DADA Professor's name is never mentioned). Here follow some details of the fanon:
- Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley are respectively Gryffindor's Head Girl and Boy;
- Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy are respectively Slytherin's Head Girl and Boy;
- Blaise Zabini is Draco's best friend; he is tall, very handsome and even more vain; in the Author's own words he is described as Hogwarts' arbiter elegantiarum, and there is a fan club dedicated to him, whose President is Daisy Warrington, fanonical younger sister of former Slytherin Cassius Warrington; he is particularly fond of his collection of elegant shirts, ties, jackets, handmade shoes and suits, and admires Antonio Armani, even secretely knowing that he is, indeed, a Muggle;
- Hogwarts students seem to be closer to each other than they are in the canon, especially Slytherin students; both Gryffindor and Slytherin students have a lot of Ravenclaw friends, and this House acts as a mediator between those two, in some ways: for instance, there is a scene in Original Sin in which Hermione Granger joins students of Slytherin and Ravenclaw during a bonfire on the Hogwarts' Lake's beach;
- Daphne Greengrass is Ron Weasley's girlfriend; she is the only child of the Greengrass family, meaning either that Astoria never existed or that she was among the three Greengrass children who, according to Tess Steeval's words, "died at a very early age"; her family have "Seer blood";
- the Dueling Club is still active and managed by the students, who teach younger members how to duel; Anthony Goldstein is the President, Justin Finch-Fletchley the Secretary; it is located in a large room in Hogwarts' South wing, and is dedicated to Gilderoy Lockhart, because "he refounded it and gave [...] a precise example not to be followed"; Draco Malfoy is another known member of the Club, and supposedly Narcissa Black (see following note), Severus Snape and Filius Flitwick have been past memebers;
- it is mentioned a "triangular [Dueling] tournament" between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, which was won by Narcissa Black in 1977;
- Terry Boot, here named "Terry Steeval" following the first Italian translation, is Goldstein's best friend, had a flirt with Ginny Weasley after she left Dean Thomas, and has a fanonical twin sister named Theresa "Tess" Steeval;
- Narcissa Black was Sorted into Ravenclaw, instead of Slytherin, and was in the same year as her future husband, both of them having been respectively Head Girl and Boy of their Houses in 1978;
- Theodore Nott's second name is Damon, he has a fanonical younger sister named Elinor, who is in fifth year and a Prefect for Slytherin, and it is mentioned that their late mother could have had the gift of Seer; he is described as a psychopathic of some sort.
Plot summary[]
The Ground Beneath Her Feet[]
Hermione Granger breaks up with Ron Weasley, but the two of them remain friends. Immediately, the news becomes Hogwarts' favourite gossip. Hermione is taken by Ginny to a clandestine party held by Tess Steeval and her Ravenclaw friends, who are known as "Blue Ladies"; here she sees Ron and Daphne Greengrass kiss. Angry and hurt in her feelings, she leaves the party, but on her way back to the Gryffindor's Tower she meets Draco Malfoy. In order to avoid Filch, they hide in the Room of Requirement, but end up sleeping together. The next day, Hermione shows up to Ginny and tries to tell her what she did, but Ginny, thinking her friend upset for what she saw at the party, Obliviates her. This leads to Draco trying to make Hermione fall in love with him without knowing that she was Obliviated (he thinks that she forgot what they did simply because she was "drunk like a Troll"), but at the same time to some misunderstanding when Hermione thinks that he tried to make her drink a Love Potion. Also, Draco's ex girlfriend Pansy Parkinson, along with fellow Slytherin Theodore Nott, seeks revenge.
Original Sin[]
The fiction starts less than a week after The Ground's ending. Draco and Blaise, on their way back Hogwarts from Hogsmeade, take a shortcut through the Forest, but in Hagrid's Pet Cemetery are attacked by Bellatrix Lestrange. A fellow Slytherin student, Tracey Davies, and a new student, Lisa Nora McFays, put a spoke in Draco and Hermione's love story's wheel. During "The Halloween Party" held by the Blue Ladies in the Shrieking Shack, Bellatrix menaces Draco again.
Hogwarts Legend[]
Set somewhere between the events of The Ground Beneath Her Feet and Original Sin, this short, two-chapters story narrates of "a dark and stormy night" when some students meet up at the Dueling Club and tell horror stories.
Out of My Mind[]
This two-chapters story is set before The Ground Beneath Her Feet, and is a prequel to the entire series. Some Hogwarts students organize a game of cops and robbers, which they call "the Hunt". The Blue Ladies orchestrate this game in order to lock up Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy in the Great Hall and observe their reaction; two years before, they sold a Love Potion to Pansy Parkinson, who used it in order to become Draco's girlfriend, but now they have to determine whether the Potion is still effective on him or if he is letting Pansy boast that he still loves her, because this is "the lesser evil" for him. They suspect Draco's attraction for Hermione. In the end, Blaise Zabini makes a deal with them.
External links[]
The Author[]
- Savannah's EFP
- Virginia de Winter's Goodreads
- Virginia de Winter's official website
- Virginia de Winter's page on Fazi Editore
- Virginia de Winter's Twitter
- Virginia de Winter's wikipedia page (Italian)