This looks like a good start to the story. How long will it be?

Author's Response: Thanks! It will be 4 chapters. -Hogwartsbookworm

Good start to what looks like a great story. kutgw!

Author's Response: Thanks so much! Glad you like it!

A sweet fic. Great job. :)

Author's Response: Thank you very much.

I really liked this sonnet. Usually I'm not a fan because they're so short but I really think you captured what you wanted to say there. Well done!

~Soraya~

Author's Response: Thank you! Sonnets, while short, are also quite difficult >.< I'm glad you liked it! Peace, Virgil

Wow. This is really good. Usually I get bored with the adventures of first-years, even next-gen kids, but still, this fic is probably the first that I actually like. Are you going to get Rose and Scorpius together? You have to, they're my favourite next generation couple along with Teddy and Victoire of course. I actually liked the Sorting Hat song - you did a great job of it. Scorpius is somewhat like his father, ditto Rose and her mum and Albus and his dad. And, of course, James and his cockiness is just like his grandpa and a bit of Fred and George too.

I really liked the way you had Albus met Snape, although I think Snape gave away too much to Albus for a first meeting, to be honest. I'm glad to see Snape hasn't changed much; I don't expect him to be angelic or anything after all he's did.

Also, Albus' nonchalant reaction when Snape says he has his grandma's eyes is very Harry-like too, even though in general Albus is more childish than Harry.

I really really reallly hope that you hook up Rose and Scorpius in this fic. That would make things really interesting as I'm guessing Al and Rose will hang around together a lot, being cousins and all, so Al would hate it if Rose liked Scorpius and stuff.

Excuse my rambling - I just haven't read a really decent fic for a while. I look forward to the next update!

~Soraya~

Author's Response:

Well, I'm glad you like it. :)

A lot of different things are going to happen in this story, and I'm trying really hard to properly separate Albus's Hogwarts experience with Harry's. It's something that I personally see a lot in fan fiction, turning Albus into the next Harry. To me, they're virtually nothing alike,and in the next few chapters, that will start to become very obvious.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you do enjoy future installments. This won't be a fast updating story, as it's sort of a long-term WIP when I have time, but I'm going to try to get at least one chapter out a month at the very least. Take care and happy reading!

Jess

Hi, Neil!

I finally got a chance to read this, despite my protestations against anything chaptered because I simply don't have the time :D

I really enjoyed this. Mark Moon definitely deserved the QSQ he got for Best OC. I loved Mark as an OC and it's rare for me to like any OCs because they're normally so Mary-Sueish (or Gary-Sueish, in Mark's case) but in this story, I think it was the complete opposite. There's something very endearing about an ordinary guy who can actually stand Lavender Brown. :P

In this chapter you did the contended/contented thing again a couple of times and also, it should be ‘That’s the smell of my girlfriend burning eggs instead of frying them,' he told her. (You put the speech marks in the wrong places.) There are other errors too, but they're in other chapters and I'm too lazy to point them all out in a review :D

What I liked the most about this was the characterisation of Lavender. She comes across as such an airhead in HBP but truly, she was just an ordinary schoolgirl who was perhaps a bit too girly, but nevertheless had a good heart.

And I think she, like many other people, both HP characters and people in RL, tend to mellow out and become more humble when life-threatening things happen to them or when they make proper friends, so I'm really impressed with the way Lavender's changed. She's still got the girliness but she's also got the toughness and maturity that she needs to make up for her flaws. I loved Parvati's characterisation too.

What I found the most interesting was Lavender's transformation. When Lavender asked if Mark was sure they should do this, I was wondering if it was the...erm...other bedroom activity, but no, it was full moon. It intrigued me, the Potion, and I think that it's one of your many ingenious ideas which, in my opinion, rivals Fred and George Weasley's in terms of creativeness, so well done for that.

Janey Scott was another interesting idea, although she wasn't too likeable as a character -- and I know that that was your intention. Overall, I'm very glad to have read this, Neil, because it clears up a lot of queries I've had about Lavender, who, in my head, did not become a full werewolf when Greyback attacked her in the Final Battle -- "my" Lavender just has a similar condition to Bill. Besides, I kind of like the idea of a girly girl having a liking of rare steaks :P

Still, this fic displayed how relationships are always imperfect but that doesn't mean they're bad. In fact (for Lavender) they're actually pretty good, minus burnt eggs. :D Ta for writing, Neil.

~Soraya~

Author's Response:
Soraya

Thanks for the review. Moon may well have won the QSQ, but this is one of my least read (and least reviewed) stories. Mark is, I hope, fairly ordinary, a little quiet and very tenacious. I reckon that Mark is better organised, tidier, and a better cook that Lavender, too.

You’re going to make me reread the entire thing to spot my mistakes? :-D Fair enough, it’s always easier for me to find errors six moths later (embarrassingly so).

Lavender is often there in the background, helping. She joined the DA before Prof. Trelawney was targeted by Umbridge. In another of my stories I had Ginny describe Lavender as “a steel fist in a frilly pink lace glove”. That’s how I see her.

I had a lot of fun writing both the “scar” scene in chapter 5 and the bedroom scene in chapter 6. I tried to keep the bedroom discussions sound like they were talking “bedroom activities” (though I suspect that Lavender wouldn’t restrict herself to bedrooms anyway) for as long as possible.

I really like Janey. She’s simply lonely and alone. Her accent was a risk, and I toned it down considerably after the first draft.

Neil

That was great! I've read a few fics trying to fill in this moment and this is one of the best.

~Soraya~

Author's Response: Oh, wow! thank you so much.

Aw! That was really sweet. I loved the descriptions at the beginning as well as how you managed to tell a story in such a short space, which I think (as a generally verbose writer--and reviewer!) is a real talent. I absolutely adore the idea of leaving the school in the boats, the same way that they had arrived, but of course I think they'd need more than they did to start off with, having grown so much over the years.

Your story, particularly the ending, ties in with the title nicely, which I really appreciate and enjoy. I liked this story very much, but I do think that it would have been better if you had a beta, because my inner beta reader eye already spotted a few errors with regards to spelling and punctuation and grammar. That was the only thing which distracted me from what would otherwise have been a pretty flawless story. Still, well done, and keep it up!

~Soraya~

Author's Response: Wow thank you so much for the compliments! I'm so glad you liked my story. I did some research, and J. K. Rowling mentioned that the seventh years left Hogwarts in the boats, so that's where I got that. I know that I really should have beta readers, but I don't like people seeing my work before they're published, and I don't like people telling me how I should write, so some grammatical errors do get past me sometimes. Thanks again for the review!

Minna -- I just finished reading the prologue and the two chapters. (I'm just reviewing this chapter because it hasn't got any reviews.)

And it's such an injustice that this has so few reviews! It deserves more, it really does. Even for me, a complete and utter sport-tard, I can see how hard you've worked on this and how much research has gone into it too. I mean, I'm trying to imagine how difficult it would be to write a story set in a country I've never been in. I've attempted it several times and it's never worked, so kudos to you for being able to do so, and so well, too :)

I really like all of your OCs and I think your strengths are definitely dialogue and organisation. Not once was I confused at where the story was going, and all the characters had their own personalities and are fully fleshed out. I think I like Eleanor the best -- she reminds me of me and how sportially illiterate I am! (And I know sportially isn't a word lol.)

I'm intrigued. I shall start betaing now :)

~Soraya~

Author's Response: Aw thank you Soraya. <33 (And I'm a sport-tard too, I just like Quidditch). Personally, I love doing the research about other places, especially in the UK! I honestly tracked down a book called "The English Landscape" in order to have it in my life, and it has useful chapters about different bits of England - best, of course, when writing things set in the countryside. I worked/am working hard on characterization with this story, as in 'actually taking the time to flesh out OCs', so I am glad you like them. I identify with Eleanor best too, haha - if anyone in this story is self-insert, it's her. Anyway - thank you! Wasn't expecting you to read and review along with betaing.

Aww, how cute! I really like this story - it provides an insight as to what Remus' and Tonks' lives were like during that brief time when they had Teddy. Well done.

~Soraya~

Author's Response: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. =) And thank you for reading my work!