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A Surfeit of Curses

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A Surfeit of Curses is a Harry Potter Hermione/Draco story by Heidi8. The author is alleged to have plagiarized parts of this story.

[edit] Timeline of story in fandom

  • By November 2000, Heidi was busy with her own work, having written Simon, a future member of the Inner Circle, into A Surfeit of Curses. [1] Heidi was also actively promoting her status as a lawyer in fandom, based on the first chapter of her story, A Surfeit of Curses, which included the following: "Disclaimer: The characters in this section all belong to JK Rowling, but if her people want to come after me, I can defend myself under both New York and Florida law." [2] This is a disclaimer that she would use for many chapters on her story. It is by this time that Heidi8, along with Cassandra Claire, were inserting chunks of text into their fan fiction which they had not written, that whole plagiarism incident. [3] Chapters which Heidi had plagiarized do not contain any sort of disclaimer which reference the text that she was borrowing. They did include that she was inspired by some texts, which she listed.
  • On February 9, 2001, Heidi posted chapter four of her story, Surfeit of Curses. This story included a cameo of Cassandra Claire:
A red-haired witch waved at him from one floor down. He waved back, not really recognizing her, and for some reason, she yelled up at him, "You're Draco Malfoy, aren't you?"
He yelled back, "Of course, why do you want to know?" She gestured to him that he should wait a moment, popped into an office, and back out again, her arms full of papers, then bounced up the slope to him.
"Hi. My name's Cassandra," she said in an American accent. "I'm here on a journalism internship for the summer, and my editor thinks you might be the right person to help me out with a story."
Draco bit his lip and wondered at her question. Usually, Lucius liked him to stay out of the papers, and had only allowed him to talk with Rita that past year on background, and only approved of the quotations regarding the Hippogryff incident because he had been directly involved, and a lot of people already knew it. "Was it cleared with the publisher first?"
"Huh? Oh, you mean with your father. Um, no, it's a pretty new assignment, about the next generation in various prominent wizarding families, and I'm not supposed to even start on it until I finish my story on the new leather robes that Cuoio del Wizard is selling for the Fall season, so, what do you think?"
Now it was his turn to say, "Um." Should I let this girl put me into an article? Can I trust her not to misquote me, like Rita did? "If you get my father's assent, I can't really say no, can I?" And if you don't get his say-so, I'll be dead in a moat if I even talk to you without making it off the record, so... "But until you do, I can't say anything to you that might end up on the record."
Cassandra gave him a big smile and thanked him before turning around to head back down the ramp. But before she left, she spun back around and said, "Something about you makes me think you need a very good schnoogle. Maybe next time we meet!"
Draco was startled at her suggestion but thought that since the likelihood of his father allowing him to participate in that kind of a piece was pretty small, he wouldn't be speaking with her at length again. But it wouldn't do to be rude to any of the writers, so he just said, "Fine. See you later," as she left, murmuring, "Draco Malfoy, scion of one of the oldest wizarding families in Britain, arrives for the interview casually dressed in navy and khaki Kenneth Troll wizarding robes..." He couldn't help but laugh at this as she strolled away, leaving Draco alone again, wondering how much longer his father was going to be. If I don't get started soon, it'll be impossible for me to get everything done! He had pulled some papers and a quill out of one of his pockets, and leaned on the ledge, editing his carefully timed schedule, then jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. [4][5][6]

Giving friends cameos was a normal part. was a normal part of that particular community at the time. It also coincided with the time period where there was a category for Harry Potter authorfic on FanFiction.Net.

  • On April 17, 2001, Heidi had a biography that she wrote for herself for the HP_Paradise list which was uploaded to the file section. It described herself as:
Heidi8 is a thirtysomething lawyer in Florida, and has earned her HP Fanfic stripes beta-reading for Cassandra Claire, Ebony (aka AngieJ), Penny & Carole and Rhysenn. Somewhere around practicing law and raising her 18 month old son Harry, she finds time to write *A Surfeit of Curses* (SoC)- that explains why a chapter a month is about all she can do...
In SoC, what begins with Draco coming back to Malfoy Manor after the end of 4th year swirls into a series of flashbacks, a visit with Hermione Granger in search of Rita Skeeter, and a surprise discovery in Diagon Alley. Heidi is also the author of a Rowling/Austen crossover series on ff.net, "Homage". [7]
Never did Draco find anything so difficult as to keeping himself from losing his temper when he was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book. People who are fond of books know the feeling of irritation which sweeps over them at such a moment. "It makes me feel as if someone had hit me," he had said once. "And as if I want to hit back. I have to remember things quickly to keep from saying something ill-tempered." The temptation to be unreasonable and snappish is one not easy to manage, but around Lucius, it had to be done.
A Surfeit of Curses, Heidi, Chapter 6 [8][9]
Never did she find anything so difficult as to keep herself from losing her temper when she was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book. People who are fond of books know the feeling of irritation which sweeps over them at such a moment. The temptation to be unreasonable and snappish is one not easy to manage.
The Little Princess, Francis Hodgson Burnett, Chapter 6 [10][11]
The actual plagiarized passages were more extensive than this quote demonstrates. The passages also match with the files still archived on HP_Paradise that date back earlier.

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