I'm coming back for more! Please post again soon...your cliffie and great action has me hooked. Poor Ron...he always gets the worst after Harry; broken leg, hurt feelings...now the Cruciatus Curse...what'll be next?
This is very good. I'm sorry it ended the way it did because with the apologies and acceptances you opened so many possibilities for further stories. I really like how you mentioned the full circle of Harry's and Draco's relationship and would have liked to see where you took it; how Ron, Hermione and Ginny reacted to this change after so many years of animosity. I liked this story very much.
Great story! I'm grinning from ear to ear...I knew Hermione was cleaver and this just proves it. I'm going back to read it again!
Great start...quite sad, but there may be a glimmer of hope. I hope you update soon.
Over the years, I've seen many personalized versions of this particular poem, although this is the first Harry Potter rendering. You've done a wonderful job of keeping the meter and telling a believable story. I enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the conclusion and Harry's line about doing in his date. Well done.
I'm so glad Albus wants bedtime stories at the age of ten. By the time my own son was that age, he was putting himself to bed after bidding us good-night and I miss the closeness of tucking him in and reading to him like Harry does in this story. You've captured the impatience of a young boy excellently and I enjoyed the father/son exchanges just as much as I enjoyed the Ford and Greg story. Well done.
While I'm not sure JKR's version of the people who come out of the Resurrection Stone have a huggable mass, they certainly are corporeal. Nevertheless, the more solid versions in this story do have the purpose of giving Teddy something tangible to hold onto. I'm glad he wasn't ready to learn everything that Harry knows about the battle and that the visit with his parents and grandmother helped him with his grief by giving him the rare chance at closure that most people don't have. Thanks for sharing this story.
Barely sixteen years old and fearing for his mother's life, Draco stepped up in his father's absence to take his place amongst the Death Eaters. The following year at Hogwarts School was, without a doubt, the hardest he had ever endured. Now seventeen, the young Malfoy seeks to keep safe all he loves by doing the opposite, and taking the golden advice Albus Dumbledore had left him minutes before his death.
This chapter was well worth the wait and I can sympathize with you over writer's block. Anyway, I can understand McGonagall's and Moody's reluctance to believe the Malfoys, but Dumbledore does have a valid point. I just hope that those two stop and think a moment before proceeding ahead. It looks like Ginny's already made up her mind about Draco and I'm glad he and Narcissa have her support.
Another wonderful chapter that shows a completely different side of Draco than the one we know from canon. Two things grabbed me as I read. First, I loved the reference to his encounter with Harry and Ron on their first train ride to Hogwarts all those years ago. Getting to learn about how it felt from Draco's perspective is what grabbed my attention because I'd never considered how he viewed it. Second, Harry deserved to see Draco's apology to Ginny. As much as I like Harry and understand why he broke up with Ginny, there are some life lessons in those few paragraphs, hard ones at that, that he needs to learn and can do so only by being part of them. Keep the chapters coming... this is one of my all-time favorite stories!
Author's Response:
All-time? Wow! That made my week! :D
I have a lot of respect for Harry, too, and I feel pretty bad for him at the end of this chapter. But I think you're right: he needed to see that. I'm so glad you think so, too!
Thank you so much for your reviews. :D
Your Luna Logic is absolutely wonderful! I can see her pondering these subjects as she races through the Hogwarts corridors with Dean and definitely agree with everything she decides. I hope your next chapter comes out soon. I absolutely love this story.
Author's Response: Of all of the heads I’ve tried to get inside, Luna’s was most difficult. I tried to keep her inner monologue apparently logical. If I succeeded then I’m really happy. Next will be an original character. -N-
Your chapter has given me new insight into Cho's character. Ever since her disasterous date with Harry in OotP I have not been a fan of this character. However, you have given me much to consider and I am actually contemplating changing my opinion of someone I do not like.
Author's Response: This story was created from my curiosity about Cho’s arrival. She was the first of the DA to arrive after the twins, Ginny and Lee (who all arrived together). I know that a lot of people don’t like Cho she’s often shown to be feeble and tearful. But she got the call and went and fought. Why? -N-
Yes! A Madam Pomfrey story to start things off! I realize that canon is strictly from Harry's point of view and it is very nice to read the thoughts of someone different. Your Matron is exactly the way I've always pictured her, caring and strict at the same time: her attitude that she's actually the students' "mother" for ten months out of the year choked me up a bit as did her silent cataloguing of the contents of her ledger. I'm glad Madam Pince came in to keep Madam Pomfrey company during the last few minutes of solitude. Thanks for writing this fantastic story. I look forward to reading about more of the unmentioned combatants.
Author's Response: Thanks for the review.
These stories started with the idea for what is now chapter 4 (Protheroe’s Perspective) and were not written in order. This was in fact the last one I wrote but it’s pre-battle, so it needed to be chapter 1. It seems that your mental picture of Madam Pomfrey is very similar to mine. I don’t think that we ever saw Pince and Pomfrey together in the books, but they are (at least in my mind) ladies of a similar age who are not teachers. I can see them being friends.
No matter whether this story qualified for the challenge, it's a very nice piece. It's nice to read something about a next-gen character that isn't even mentioned in the books because there aren't any specifications about what the person's personality is like, so the author can write him or her as he or she imagines the person. You've written a very nice romance. Thanks for posting it.
I think Harry's unconscious mind is just formulating the dreams because he's afraid during waking hours that he'll turn out to be like his uncle or worse. Hopefully, he'll end up talking his fears out with someone understanding and willing to let him express those fears in an accepting atmosphere.
Now on to the next chapter.
Author's Response: Well, the dreams themselves are certainly putting that fear into him. He is feeling very alone right now on account of them. And confused.
Poor Harry! His past seems to be catching up with him just when he should be happily anticipating the birth of his first child. I hope he'll be able to get some help soon.
Author's Response: It's not a coincidence that his past is catching up with him at the time he is expecting his first child. And painful though it may be for him, it will turn out o be just what he needs.
I'm so glad Harry had lunch with Pamela. She gave him permission to act on his dreams, which is a good thing, and will hopefully help him resolve his childhood issues. Well done.
Author's Response: Yes, by sheer dumb luck, she was the person he needed to talk to. Sometimes it happens that way.
Nice chapter. While I don't think the volunteer training is what Harry needs, it's an opportunity to learn about resources and perhaps get connected with someone who can help him directly. I like how relaxed Harry is in Ginny's presence; she really is his best source of comfort and probably he hers. I also like how they give each other permission to be silly as well as delight in their closeness by holding hands.
Author's Response: I was trying to depict Ginny as being very supportive, not argumentative or self-centered, because what Harry needs right now is support, and I would like to think that she senses that, even though one might think that because she is the pregnant person, she is the one who needs the most support. But they support each other.
Things seem to be looking up because Harry was able to get some information on the subject he was interested in. Very interesting chapter.
Author's Response: I'm glad you thought it was interesting. Perhaps many people would have left at the intermission, but I wrote Harry to be like me, staying until the bitter end so as not to miss the chance that something useful might possibly appear. And that was a smart strategy.
Research often takes the form that Harry's day has in this chapter. Hermione would be proud of his persistence, perturbed that he hoodwinked the receptionist into letting him into the library and gratified that he was able to find the book he needed to answer his questions. He seems very satisfied with the fruits of his labors. Well done.
Author's Response: You think that Hermione would have been perturbed? Well, she probably could not have avoided reacting at least a little bit to his desperate measures, but I'll bet she would have cut him a little slack, appreciating how desperate he was and how few options he had. And it's a good example of how a thing that we think is going to be simple to accomplish turns out to be a lot harder and more time-consuming than we anticipated. Persistence, perhaps born of desperation, is a feature of his behavior throughout this story.
Your last sentence makes a lot of sense. I think Harry is right on target with that thought. As for his going back to Patricia's group the next month, I think Harry's going to base his decision on whether to show up or not on Ginny's reaction when he tell her about his "secret." I have a feeling that she's going to be very supportive of him and his quest to be a better person and father.
Author's Response: I never had a strong feeling about whether Harry was going to go back or not. I think that it did him a world of good just to bring everything out into the open for the first time in his life, in a completely safe environment, even safer than the Burrow in Chapter 10. What he might need further help in, if anything, is accomplishing the necessary changes in his automatic internal assumptions, his inevitably distorted thinking patterns.