Veronica Anderson

A few words before we begin: It's been almost nine years, and I never expected I'd come back and write again. In the meantime, I also started a few stories and left them unfinished. Work kept me busy, so I basically stopped paying attention to this story. I never expected there would still be lovely readers coming to see it. After all, I wrote my first novel nine years ago, and looking at it now makes my toes curl with embarrassment. What on earth was I writing in Chapter 152!!! I've revised it eight hundred times, and it still isn't good enough!!!! I'm about to put the two of them in down jackets.

I'm open to readers pointing out any potential problems, discussing the logic with me, or talking about the plot. It's fine if you dislike the leads or their characterization. I will never delete your comments or attack you for it, and I've never fallen out with a reader over this. But there's one thing I absolutely won't tolerate: I won't leave any room for people to cyberbully others. If you personally attack another reader or me, I'll fire right back. In serious cases, I'll also take legal action to protect myself. Hiding behind a screen doesn't give you a license to insult people at will.

Also, let's just enjoy the story and keep fandom culture out of it. I hope none of you will argue with others on my behalf or for the sake of this story.

I'm just an ordinary person among the countless people in this world. Everything I write comes from my own understanding. I'm not perfect, so neither will the stories I write be perfect. All forms of criticism directed at the work are welcome.

Let me say this once more: I will not accept personal attacks against me or anyone else.

This is a sweet, youthful story about childhood sweethearts who come to understand and love each other: a little badger disguised in snakeskin and a real little snake.

This is an inspirational story about a little badger in snakeskin who tries hard to become a proper, true little snake in order to protect her younger brother.

And this is also the bittersweet chronicle of a little badger in snakeskin who, after making unrelenting efforts, finally manages to overpower a real little snake.

My story is about the good girl Veronica Anderson and the bad boy Draco Malfoy.

Their love grows from youthful innocence to understanding;

from the awkwardness of their blossoming years to love, and from steadfastness during wartime to staying together.

They make their way forward step by step, as naturally as flowers blooming in summer and snow falling in winter.

Veronica says: Draco, you bad boy. Apart from Iris, my younger brother, you're the only scoundrel who can make me cry.

Draco says: Oh, please, Veronica. You're a bad girl too. You're the only person in the world who can make a Malfoy furious and still get to enjoy his kisses.

This is a straight romance, with Draco as the pairing, and a happy ending.

Aside from breaking up one canon couple, I'll do my best to respect the original story, except when the plot absolutely requires otherwise. I won't bash anyone or whitewash anyone. Come on in!

Well, since so many people have been talking about the heroine lately, I'll say a few things. I'm not trying to defend myself or anything (all right, fine, I am defending myself a little). This was my first book, and it really does have a lot of shortcomings. I went from being a reader to becoming a writer. In theory, I should dislike the so-called saintly, Mary Sue types as much as everyone else. But sometimes, when your role changes and you look at things from a different angle, things shift in subtle ways.

When I first wrote this story, I was simply a reader who really liked Draco. I'd read lots of fanfiction about him, basically everything I could find. When I ran out of things to read, I thought I'd write one myself. It was completely impulsive. I hadn't even read the original story all the way through; I read it as I wrote and came up with my own plot. So in many cases, some readers feel the pacing is too slow. And writing fanfiction is, well, the easy part is that you don't have to spend time inventing the plot and characters yourself. But it's also very difficult. Adding your own plot to the original is genuinely hard, because it can't feel out of place, and it still has to make sense. The original is right there, after all, and readers will definitely call you out if things get too far-fetched. So some readers may feel the plot is a little melodramatic. Finally!!!!!!!

One very important thing: the heroine. I don't know why, but even when I read novels myself, I never criticize the male lead's personality. The heroine's personality is always what people love to criticize. Of course, before I started writing, I told myself not to make her a white lotus or a saint. But maybe because of my limited ability and the lack of a proper outline, she drifted off course as I wrote. I want to explain why that happened. I believe everyone reading this story must like Draco, and I do too. So I wanted my heroine to be perfect in every way, to be good enough to deserve him. That's why many people think she's affected or too weak, and so on. I don't really know what else to say; I just wanted to share a little of how I was thinking while writing.

Finally, I didn't bash Hermione or Harry. I think it's just a matter of perspective. I wrote about the Gryffindors from a Slytherin's point of view, while the original story views Slytherin from a Gryffindor's perspective. Everyone knows what the relationship between the two houses is like, so something perfectly ordinary can look completely different through Slytherin eyes.

Finally, thank you so much for all your comments, including the very valuable critical ones. I'm a bit thin-skinned, but your feedback has been very fair, and nobody has been abusive. I'm so relieved, haha. Now that the book is nearly finished, there are lots of issues I can't change in time, so I can only thank you again for your patience. I'll pay attention to these things in my next book, because I've realized I really do seem to like writing weak heroines! Maybe it's because I'm such a tomboy. Deep down, I wish I could be like that...

Theme: Cherish the people around you who love you