this is reaaly neat. I didnt think i would like the Dudley perspective... but i LOVE it. It is nice to hear the usual stuff from a completely different perspective... it makes it not so usual anymore
!

Author's Response: Thanks! I\'m really glad I was able to change your oppinion on Dudley. I guess my summery is a little off-putting. I\'m trying to change it. I was so used to seeing the same story over and over and over again, I wanted to put my own special twist on it!

Damn Rook this is great! This story is exactly what i was searching for as far as a good read to take up some time. Im afraid it is taking up a bit too much time however! Eh... ill just have to deal. Cant wait to see what happens next!!!

Author's Response: I\'m glad to not disappoint. And you\'ll forgive me for not feeling too terribly bad for taking up too much time. You know, I know it won\'t go down as one of my best chapters of all time but I think this is one of my favorites because I think this is the deepest we get into the Ratbone brothers. In a way it saddens me a little considering I won\'t be writing the stories to come after this one which means I don\'t get to explore these characters further and their relationship which is a pity because I love Ras and Rath, I love their relationship and it dynamic and I think the conversation on the bridge is just some of my personal favorite work. There\'s just so much there from Ras, unrequited fraternal love, admiration for his big brother, and yet the same distrust that everyone else has for Rathius which is odd given that Ras is probably the closest person on earth to Rath and yet he only trusts his brother so far. Like I said, I just love this dynamic and I\'m sorry I won\'t be able to flesh it out more. As for what\'s next, you\'ll have to read on, but I can tell you that, much like the map of the world at the Gnaritas Fidelis library declares, \"From here there be monsters.\"

...Kerfluffle? hehehehe. Now thats a new one! Im going to try throwing that the next time the baddies are trying to get me! ;o)
On a serious note, I really like seeing the older, battle experienced Harry and Ron. It gives them an aire of respect that seldom is seen in fiction, because they are all still at school. I really like where i think this storyis going to go. Really looking forward to reading it Rook! keep up the great work!

Author's Response: Most likely not much will happen, though, now that I think about it, all the laughter and ridicule may buy you some time. On to your serious note, there is a difficulty associated with writing all the characters as older adults. On one hand, you have to keep the characters enough like their younger selves such that they are recognizable while at the same time you have to account for, at least in this instant, sixteen years worth of change and growing up. For me Ron is pretty easy in this regard as I think he would remain largely the same with the exception of him being more confident in himself. Hermione I think relaxes a little, Harry I imagine gaining this kind of quiet serenity while at the same time maintaining that kind of internal intensity, and Ginny... After writing part II, I don\'t think i can imagine writing her in any other way. As for where you think the story is going, I\'d love to hear what exactly you think that is. Just curious. Thanks for the review, and I\'ll see ya for chapter two.

that was like Diablo II final battle. Wow. Im physically tired now.

Author's Response: Never got to that one. Last time I tried playing DII the furthest I got was the third world, I think. That's one of those games where I say... you know, I'm going to go back there and beat it, and it never happens. It's interesting that you bring up DII though because if you carefully look at the Necromancer character and look at Rathius again, you might see something interesting.

OOOH LORD ROOK i cant believe this is the last chapter for now!!! AAAA Im going to die! I must say though... all through the conversation with "Eric," I just knew that it had to be part of the plan. Perhaps the nightshade was honest, but he could not have been naive enough to think that someone would have caught on that he knew. But even then, the master knew he would have to die so early on. And what the heck do rathius and rassmuson have to do with all this???!!! Brilliant! I love it!!! woohoo!!!!

Author's Response: So... um... whatever happened to that, you know, plan of reviewing each chapter, eh? Ha! I\'m just kidding. Reviews each chapter, or an apparent need to keep reading preventing you from dropping a review until you get to the last chapter, either way I take as a compliment and am honored. And fret you not, it seems as though you came to reading at the perfect time. I had chapter 18 finished and in queue but pulled it to help facilitate the site upgrade. So that should get updated tomorrow. I may hold a day to see if there\'s any last minute changes, but I would say that the next chapter should be up in about a week. Also for the first time in a very long time... I HAVE A BUFFER! Yes! That\'s right. Chapter 18 and 19 are completed! Though I have yet to go through and revise 19 for errors and content. But yeah, we should have two chapters up in the next few weeks. I\'m also really anxious to get this done and over with so I\'m going to force myself to try and get 20, 21, 22 and the epilogue written in a timely manner. I\'ve got some none hp related plotlines slowly forming in my head that I really want to explore but don\'t think I would be able to give my full attention to until this is done.\r\n\r\nSo, on to this. I\'m not sure if I wanted people to expect ERic to get taken out or not. It\'s one of the few things I\'ve never quite sorted out personally. Most of the time I have specific feelings and reactions I go after in each chapter, but here, with this one thing, I wanted it I think to be a shock, but not really. So I don\'t know. What I do know is that the confusion you express about the many different motivations and causal factors behind Erics death, that was also unexpected but much welcome. That particular point in the narrative has always been clear to me who is omniscient in this story arc (or close to), but you know, here\'s where our knowledge gap is visible.\r\n\r\nI try to take into account that knowledge gap when I\'m constructing, but I think here is an instant where I forgot about it, and the end result was better than I could have hoped for.\r\n\r\nWhat do Rath and Ras have to do with all of this? Hehehehehehehe...\r\n\r\nAll good things come to wait. While you will have to go through at least two more chapters with out knowing definitively, I think it is safe to say that the next few paragraphs that I write in chapter 20 will answer that question adequately. Thank you, and hopefully the next two chapters find you quickly. Till then..

hehehehe... and our old friend returns. Ok Rook, Im liking where this is going. I am definitely intrigued byt the whole vampire thing... and im wondering if Rathius is the Nightshades... but that would be too easy. Yes... definitely too easy. Love how Harry and Ron work together and I liked the part with Ron training and taking out Tonks that way. (Just shows he is on top of his game ;o)) Anyway, looking forward to meeting our old friend again and seeing where he may lead us... (And i get to pull out my Ratbone voice again! woohoo!) Keep up the awesome work!

Author's Response: You have a Ratbone voice? Oh dear... Wonder how that\'s going to work with next chapter. Wonder what that\'s going to do to my sanity and ego to be more honest actually. Anyway, you know, one thing that this review reminds me of is the diversity of this chapter. I forgot about that, how the first half was one thing, and then in the second half it was something else. I dunno, something to talk about I guess... Really, I think the first half was the focal point, or at least the artistic focus of the chapter. That investigation and Ron\'s reaction to it, that\'s where the artistic heart of it lies. Everything else is just, you know, plot stuff ick! Thanks Del, catch ya for the next one.

hey Rook. This is a good as always... and i think it might even be getting better. I love the whole "Grove" thing. The ideas and descriptions you came up with were great! I loved playing that setting out in my head. Truly awesome! The only think i'm a bit confused on is the whole thing with Ginny... Im not quite sure what the issue with her is in the off season. You made it out to seem like she isnt good at magic when she is bored. I didnt get any indication of this during Epilogues I or II. It this really what is going on, or am i just really missing the boat?

Other then that, I love where this is going and i can wait to read on (now that i actually have a bit more time to do that!) Keep up the good work!

Author's Response: DEL! Welcome back, and hey congratulations on the whole graduation thing, well done. I really do hope the story gets better, and in fact as I think back on the chapters you have still yet to read, yeah, I think I got quite a few things that I hope you\'ll enjoy waiting in store, of course the chapter I work on I still have to wrestle into submission, but, you know. The Grove... I love the Grove, and you can rest assured we\'ll be making at least one more stop there if not a couple before this story is done. When it comes to the places that I create for these stories, well, for one, the setting is always vital to the atmosphere, so I think if you don\'t build the atmosphere correctly, everything else is going to come off. I think I learned this when I wrote Part I. Harry\'s apartment HAD to be like a box because that was what he felt he was in, the warehouse HAD to be rusty and old and worn down, you know? And then the cathedral, it had to be majestic and magical and something special because this was Harry\'s homecoming, this was a contrast between the world he had ran to, and what he left behind. I didn\'t get to play with this whole concept of setting much when I wrote Part II because it took place in Hogwarts, but now that everyone\'s all growed up and on their own, man, I get this license to create all of these new places and just go wild, and the Grove was definitely my first go at it. And you aren\'t quite missing the boat exactly on Ginny. It\'s more like, okay, I don\'t have a good analogy. It\'s not that she\'s bad at magic, it\'s more that she just gets bored and gets restless and often times undertakes different endeavors that other people can\'t understand. I did this because from what we know of her in the books, and what I wrote of her in the Epi series, what you have is a very energetic and brilliant young woman who seems to not be at a state of rest for very long. She just struck me as one of those people as always being on the go, and the worst thing you can do with those people is just tell them that they really have nothing to do for months on end. Me, I\'m lazy as hell, and you tell me not to do anything for months on end, I will seriously become one with the couch. My wife, on the other hand, will be up at two in the morning scrubbing the innards of the kitchen sink, or something else that is just as incomprehensible to me. Anyway, again, thanks and congratulations, and can\'t wait to hear your opinion on the rest of the chapters in this story.

HOOOOO Man. That was a chapter. No not just a chapter, THE chapter. The chapter to end all chapters! Damn Rook, i dont know what to say. You had me crying at the funeral - the "salute" was brilliant... and absolutely perfect. And then the end... well... thats was an unimaginable scene. The most important part though was that no matter how graphic it became, the emotion was never lost. The purpose was always evident... Damn that was surreal. I just cant get over the "whatever you need to do... do it to me" quote.
All in all, id say your best chapter yet.

Author's Response: Well, funeral first. I had some difficulty writing that one and had to start over a couple of times, but that was more for logistical purposes. I think initially I had them carrying out tonks\' body in the coffin, but I was having a hard time finding the emotion there. I think it was because of the action, it would allow Ron to focus on something other than his own reaction and that of those around him, and I didn\'t want to grant that respite to the reader. Now, when it comes to the service itself, I had to model it after military services. For one, I treat the Aurors very much like a military branch here. But also, military funerals are particularly powerful and I think it is because of this very strong dichotomy you see there. Here you have this emotionally powerful and crippling experience, and in the face of it you have this razor sharp discipline. I think the two opposing forces here really feed each other more than they inhibit. And of course there is dying in the line of duty also. All in all just a really powerful atmosphere. So I went with that, the \"Salute\" bit obviously replacing the traditional twenty-one gun salute. The quote comes next (I wanted to save that scene for last). But I wanted to remark upon that quote you mention because it\'s something I\'ve kind of struggled with since really the early stories, and that\'s Hermione\'s characterization, and really, this is where I might be critical of JKR. Ginny, Ron, Harry, those three I\'ve had no problems maturing those characters and fleshing them out in the post Voldemort era. But Hermione continues to elude me and I think the reason for this is because she may be too archetypical of a character. With Harry I kind of latched onto a kind of internalization of emotions; here\'s a guy who would be almost like a fifties nuclear dad, you know, Father Knows Best kind of father/traditional man. Amicable, yet not commonly flapped. Ron on the other side, the two things that really guided me was how he showed his emotion, he couldn\'t helpit, and a kind of brimming intellect under the surface in the first book that became tragically scarce throughout the series. Even Ginny, a bit player throughout, had a kind of feistiness that made it easy for me to extrapolate. But Hermione just struck me as stereotypical book worm with heart and I\'ve continued to struggle with maturing that into a full functioning adult. Thus, she\'s kind of relegated to a support Ron role. At the sametime, that quote, I loved that quote because I think that might have been the closest I came to really bringing her as an adult character--knowing what Ron needs, when he needs it showing off her intelligence, and the resolve to do it a tip towards her loyalty. Keep in mind, she doesn\'t know if he\'s going to get it on with her or beat the piss out of her, she doesn\'t care. Which brings us to the scene in question, and I\'ll be totally honest, I think what helped me more than anything is not any kind of writing ability on my part so much as my apprehensions as to what this site would consider appropriate or not. It\'s like, if you ever saw \"Six Degrees of Separation\" there\'s a scene where Kirk Douglass talks about a teacher having kids producing unusually powerful works of art, and she explains her trick was to know when to take the brush away. I was reading today and in the book there was a love scene in it and I could hardly bear to read because I\'ve read the same love scene over and over again in countless books and it\'s so cliche and so graphic and there\'s nothing behind it but a temporary surge in the groin area and the reason why is because the author equates a raunchy gratuitous love scene to good story telling. For me, to make a love scene work, you have to have motive and you have to have the right way of conducting it. Here we have motive plain as day swirling around in the charged aftermath of a funeral where the need for sex is buried in both the need for a life affirming act but also in the need to release the tension and negativity that had been building in Ron since the Nightshade case began. But how to go about it? That\'s where the site kicked in. I was apprehensive because I didn\'t want to get rejected for trying to float porn and I also know I have some young readers and I didn\'t want something that was going to be inappropriate for them to read (granted, it\'s still inappropriate but not on the level of bow chicka bow wow stuff). And so I set about a very deliberate way of writing it, one in which we focus more on the sensations than the body parts, we focus on the peripheries as well so that ultimately what we have is an experience that is not just *hehehe, he put his thing in her thing*, but instead one where you know what\'s going on, you feel what\'s going on and it creates certain sensations within the reader, yet at the same time we know why and how. And the restrictions of the site helped so much because it took away my brush, it kept me from getting raunchy and in so doing I think the true essence of the scene came out. I wanted it to be sexual and arousing, but at the same time I wanted it in context. And thus far every indication I\'ve had has bore me out. A little side note, an actual small time publisher actually read this bit and through a friend relayed the idea that I should write Harlequin romance for a while just to break into writing. Meh, not my bag really. Anyway, thank you so much. Now get to more reading and reviewing because if you thought this was the best chapter yet I still have some chapters waiting that I\'m eager to get your opinion on.

heeheehee... Your so cool! Way to go! (i better get writing or i might be in second place :op)

Author's Response: Yeah well, apparently I\'m going for the Novel length prize, not like you. Happy reading :)

By Merlin this is awesome!!!! I am so proud Violet... Way to start out! The Characterization is dead on for all three, especially Sirius! (I bet Lyss loved it!!) Anywho, great job. I look forward to story #2 and beyond! :o)

Author's Response: Thanks! It was a fun piece to write for my first one; Sirius is always fun (although I\'m not completely obsessed with him like other people we know :P). I\'ll talk to you very soon :).