Name: goldensnidget92 (Signed) · Date: 08/13/12 19:59 · For: Remarkable

The majority of humour fics I read make me smile, or make me chuckle quietly. Even though humour is my favourite genre, I’m not one to usually laugh out loud. But this fic absolutely made me laugh, and that is a testament to your fabulous story. It’s the perfect example of a humour fic at its best: it’s not elaborate or filled with wild, exaggerated characters or situations, but it’s incredibly witty and precise.

What made it stand out the most to me were the fine details you inserted into the fic. Mentioning Wendelin the Weird who “enjoyed the tickle of the Flame-Freezing Charm” rather than pursuing her magical talents was a stroke of genius. I love it when tiny characters are brought into a fic: it shows that the author has not only thought deeply about what they’ll incorporate from the series, but it also shows the care and attention that has gone into the fic, and the wealth of knowledge used to set it up. In this case, it also added to the character of Griselda Marchbanks, and doesn’t at all seem odd that she’d know something like that. Although we don’t see much into her earlier life, her musings such as this show her to be knowledgeable and very well-educated.

Then there were the details you thought up yourself, like Hilda who had been “transfigured into a toad too many times by seventh-years trying to show off their skills”, and “the rabbit as big as a horse wearing a bonnet before her”. They were tiny touches, but I really appreciated them, and they added to the whimsical nature of the fic.

It was funny to see Griselda as a young woman, and as the main narrative voice. Seeing as she’s a relatively insignificant character in the books, it’s wonderful to read more of her, and this situation was entertaining. The way she got increasingly flustered, awkward and breathless is something I’m sure many of us can relate to from some point in our lives, and you managed to keep it light and amusing throughout. The ‘banter-like’ relationship between the two was a clever way of keeping this up, for example when Griselda “rose into the air with a soft squeak, her legs complete jelly beneath her as her stomach did a small flip. And then Sweet Merlin he floated up before her. ‘Will that be enough?" he asked. "Or shall I set us tea on the table?’”

There is so much scope for wand innuendos, and I thought the way you linked every one of Dumbledore’s spells to some kind of innuendo in Griselda’s mind was so clever and funny. It made me look at Albus twice, wondering what he might have been like during his youth. He seemed completely unaware of his power over Griselda, which made him seem all the more gentlemanly and perfectly in character for the Dumbledore we know.

Displaying Dumbledore in this manner seemed, to me at least, a refreshing and humorous angle, and to weave an entire story out of a throwaway line from the books is very impressive.
Griselda was the key character here, and although we’ve had no experience of her before you made her into a likeable and well-developed character quickly and deftly. I’m beginning to wonder if any other pupils managed to ensnare her as Dumbledore did – Tom Riddle, perhaps?

Author's Response: Oh, wow - thank youuuuu! What an amazing review! I don't even know what to say. Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it, for one. I'm thrilled you picked up on some of the small details, like Wendelin the Weird. I'm glad you enjoyed the wand innuendos and weren't offended, lol. It was great fun to actually plan them out and try to link them and build them to the end. I don't know how this idea even came to me, other than someone mentioning that throwaway line and me thinking all sorts of wrong things about it, lol. Griselda was fun to craft, and I always enjoy the challenge of trying to get Dumbledore to cooperate, so I'm glad they worked for you. As for Tom Riddle--good question! But I don't think that fic would be in the humour section. My mind immediately goes to something a bit more dark, poor Griselda. Thanks again for this amazing review! It made my day and makes me smile every time I reread it. ~Gina :)

Name: mppfangirl1960 (Signed) · Date: 07/21/12 2:24 · For: Remarkable

My god, this was so funny. Cleverly done!

Author's Response: Thank you! I'm glad you found it funny since that is exactly what I was going for. Thank you so much for the review! I appreciate it!! ~Gina :)

Name: the opaleye (Signed) · Date: 07/19/12 1:32 · For: Remarkable

Oh my good Godric, Gina. I think you nearly made me pee at university. This is quite possibly one of the funniest things I've read on this site. I am incoherent. I cannot physically function right now. *crawls off to die a happy death*

Author's Response: Thank youuuuuuu! I was giggling as I wrote it so I'm glad that's coming across. Thank you so much for reading it, I hope you did not embarrass yourself, lol! I don't think it's one of the funniest things around, but it was definitely fun to write. Thanks for the review, I am grinning ear-to-ear because you've made my night! ~Gina :)

Name: hestiajones (Signed) · Date: 07/16/12 8:34 · For: Remarkable

ahhahahahahahaha! omg so many innuendos! No wonder she was on the lookout in OOTP. Oh dear. This killed me.

Author's Response: Thanks, Natalieeeeee! I'm so glad you found it funny, I really was giggling when I wrote it. That quote will forever crack me up now as I think of her giving Dumbledore his exams. *snigger* Thank you for reading this and leaving a review, it makes me happpppppyyyyy! ~Gina :)

Name: Equinox Chick (Signed) · Date: 07/11/12 7:43 · For: Remarkable

This is great. I was smiling all the way through. Hmm, thirteen NEWTS, I do think that's pushing it as Hermione was taking seven and eleven appeared to be the maximum OWLs you could take if you had access to a timeturner, but I guess you have leeway as it's a) Dumbledore and b) a different time.

Griselda made me giggle. I was rather afraid this was going to be full of really gross innuenendo but I should have known better. The 'Engorgement Charm made me laugh, especially when she kept thinking about the book she'd read and was getting all flustered.

I loved the link back to Wendelin the Weird (who for some reason I find fascinating) The idea that she was very clever, yet did nothing because she enjoyed the Tickling Charm was a great touch.

One very minor thing, you mentioned Dumbledore tying back his 'dark hair' - he has auburn hair in the books (when he's visiting Tom Riddle) so it might be an idea to amend it to dark red, or auburn simply because 'dark' makes me think of black or deep chestnut.

Really amusing story. Well done. ~Carole~

Author's Response: Hi there! Thanks so much for the review! I'm so glad you read this, I hope more people do, to be honest, because it had me giggling as I wrote it. I will change Dumbledore's hair color, but I did look up the NEWT stuff: Percy got twelve, which was considered perfect, so I figured I had to give Dumbledore at least one up on stuffy old Percy. And he could speak Mermish and Gobblygook and such. ;) Anyway - thanks for reading, oh and for the nomination! That was not expected as this was just for fun once I saw that quote from Griselda and my mind immediately thought the wrong thing! Thanks again! ~Gina :)

Name: ginevra715 (Signed) · Date: 07/10/12 2:02 · For: Remarkable

Wow, so strange to think of all these ancient characters as young people... this is great, enjoyed it :) The perfect level of subtle inappropriateness. Maybe not so subtle at times... but still perfect.

Author's Response: Thanks so much for the review! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I was giggling as I wrote it. Yes, it is weird to think of some of them as young people. 1899, imagine! But some things are probably the same in all eras. ;) Thanks again for the lovely review! ~Gina :)

Name: Acacia Carter (Signed) · Date: 07/09/12 17:13 · For: Remarkable

Now, now, how was any of this my fault? ;)
The running internal dialogue was greatly enjoyable, particularly the double entendrés throughout. Stroke for stroke, indeed. ;)
I do kind of hope that he met up with her in London, before everything started to go pear-shaped for him. Not that he'd have any interest in her, of course, but perhaps he could demonstrate a little more for her...

Author's Response: Hey! Thanks for reading this! I don't think you were responsible, really - I just said you helped. I believe Soraya actually uttered the words "I dare you." I'm so glad you picked up some of those double entendres. I giggled a lot as I was writing this. In some ways it was more fun than if they actually *had*. As for them hooking up later...well, he graduates and falls in love with Grindlewald only to get burned, so I rather doubt it. But as I still have a hard time giving up the wife I wrote him five years ago, who knows what happened in his early years? ;) Thanks again for reading this, I really appreciate the review! ~Gina :)

Name: MalchomMcGonagall (Signed) · Date: 07/08/12 6:15 · For: Remarkable

Remarkably entertaining! The somewhat bawdy tone was well done.

Author's Response: Yay! I'm so glad it was entertaining, that was pretty much the only point. And I'm glad you enjoyed the bawdy tone--or at least picked up on it! Thanks so much for reading this, I really appreciate the review! ~Gina :)

Name: Nagini Riddle (Signed) · Date: 07/08/12 5:10 · For: Remarkable

So funny and great! :) I think, though, that they would have made him do harder spells than these- but since we don't know what happens at the N.E.W.T.s, it totally works!
Great dare! You should definitely keep letting people dare you to do these things!

Author's Response: Hi there! Thanks so much for the review! I'm glad you liked the story. You made a good point about the spells being a bit on the easy side--but then you answered the point as well, because we just don't know much about 7th year and the spells they might have learned, so I had to do the best I could, and make sure Albus did a bit more than asked to make up for it. I'm glad it worked enough to make the rest of it worth it. And it wasn't quite a dare, more of a throw-away comment that I couldn't resist. LOL! I don't know if I should follow up on them if they all turn out like this, though. Thanks again for the lovely review! ~Gina :)