So, I've been wondering why I haven't read this. Or AA, but that's for another day that I am sitting at work, being told not to do anything. (Perhaps tomorrow, bwuahaha.) And then I saw it was updated so I'm diving right in. I actually think I've read the first chapter before. *Head scratch*

Anyhoo. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant first scene. When I saw the summary, that it was going to be a version of SWM…I was prepared for some clichés. But it was marvelous. Dare I say - awesome? You didn't focus on Lily. She left immediately. The focus was on that stuff we didn't see - that stuff Remus told Harry about later. I thought it was quite touching that Snape ran after Lily without so much as looking backwards, going so far as to leave his wand. That speaks volumes as to their relationship, and I hope its going to be explored.

I gush praises everytime I read one of your stories about your characterization, and this one is no different. Playing off the SWM scene, of course, there was the appearance of McGonagall, and her interpretation of the scene - and her attempts to read the boys, most notably in Peter which was supported by her views in PoA. Sirius was much more pent-up anger than anything, but he still defers to her. And Remus, poor Remus, lol. I loved him here, "head in his book, knuckles white."

I'm not sure how I feel about Peter…at fifteen, is he so eager to receive punishment like that? I think there would be a subtle difference between wanting to support his friends and wanting to pretend he was involved, and I’m not sure if you were showing the McGonagall was misinterpreting that or if that's what you were implying.

The appearance of Harry is what I thought made this scene so brilliant. Not only is it possible that Snape pulling Harry out of the Pensieve - or even before - might have cause him to be seen by James, or any number of reasons, but because of the fact that you explored the affect it has on James. I'll have to see as I read, obviously, but this whole scene felt like it was different for James - he felt emotions he never felt before, pity for Snape and shame for himself. He doesn't even share those thoughts with his friends.

I laughed when I read about Sirius' crush on Poppy, AND then you had him blush about it! Loved it.

During Remus' outburst, I imagined that your one-shot, "Thank you for your time, Professor," inspired his anger, even though it was written much, much later. Having an outburst at the beginning of the story seemed slightly out of place, as we weren't experience angsty!Remus at all, but Dumbledore's line: "I can’t pretend that life will ever be easy for you. In the end, though, you will do your best because that’s the very essence of the person you are." Was ridiculously good. And very teenage-like of his friends to feel embarrassed and not know what to do, rather than want to comfort him or tell him things are going to be all right.

Hmmm…I hope you are prepared for a deluge of reviews from me. :) I'm sure you won’t mind.

~Amanda

Author's Response: Thank you, Amanda. I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. I take your point with Remus and Peter ... bear in mind this was written last year and I'm not totally happy with them either. Ha ha - they've evolved so much. Remus' outburst was very much the inspiration for Thank you for your time, Professor and I hope it could be seen as a credible prologue. Lily will appear in a lot of later chapters ... and she has one or two from her POV. But she's evolving too.

Thank you again. ~Carole~

Oh, I was so happy to see that James would have thought Peter would have come to comfort him in the bathroom. And stand up for Remus to Snape when he degrades him - valiantly. And they helped him before the exam. I don't think I'll ever be able to write a believable Peter as well as you, especially during the Maurader years, but it is always nice to see someone do it.

I feel like you really understand Sirius. There are some points where he feels too violent, too extreme - but I think its right. His upbringing, I think, showed him what he didn't want to be, but at the same time he responds similarly. His family is disrespectful towards what they don't agree with, and we see Sirius showing the same behavior, just towards those that we would tend to agree with - those with the Dark Magic, on the other side. It is just more violent and extreme that it needs to be. He is fighting them with their own brand of darkness. And due to this he's already somewhat emotionally stunted; he doesn't "do" emotion, even with his friends. He does action and jokes and pranks. And revenge.

I must say he was a tad cliché, but oh so humorous to read when he was thinking about the girls physical traits. "Oh, she's got something nice…oh, but that other quality, that's too bad." Heehee.

I thought James' internal fight about Snape's wand was played out very nicely. For a second, nothing's changed, and I don't even know if Sirius realizes that things have changed. And we see that even if they thing James just has a crush on Lily, he really does like her, to almost go against his friend like that just because Snape insulted her. He made it clear in the last chapter he'll never forgive Snape for that.

They all seemed to grow up for a second watching the spell. It was a nice moment. It was an unfortunate moment, because they probably all grew up faster than they should have those last few years at Hogwarts with moments like that, with Voldemort gaining power.

"Sirius looked him straight in the eye." When I read this, I was reminded of our characterization class, and how we've been talking about body language. It's obvious here that Sirius looked at him as a gesture of truth, because it was important to James that they hadn't done anything. The same thing with James trying to laugh about Lily hating him a few paragraphs later - it is probably a forced sounding laughter, as that is obviously not a situation he finds amusing.

Remus is so noble. You are making me fan-girl Remus - stop that!

I have to say - I love love love the flashback scene. Sirius opening up about his family and teaching James to swim was so touching. And helps to solidify their friendship in ways they don't have with the other boys.

I wonder if Snape realizes he's such a person of contradictions. He loves Lily to distraction, though he doesn't realize she's the type of person he loathes. He admires Shakespeare enough to memorize and quote him, and then talks of how Shakespeare admired and lived among Muggles. And he hasn't taken responsibility for any of his own actions, so far placing all of the blame on James.

How could James resist such a challenge? Thankfully, there is no wait for me to see what happen… :D

~Amanda

Author's Response: OY! Stay away from Remus - he's mine. Thank for for complimenting me on Sirius, I do think he can be quite extreme ... and that's the main difference between him and James. About him noticing Phyllida's attributes and flaws - not sure it's that much of a cliche - don't all boys do that (and vice versa)?

Hmm, I can't do your review justice with my response, but needless to say, I am very grateful that you're reading, enjoying and reviewing. ~Carole~

Oh, what a fitting song! Though, I'm sure you know this already. :) I can imagine Sirius, rebelling like this, rolling up his pants and singing the latest Muggle hit. It's such a defiant, rebellious picture. It was interesting to Sirius so out of his league with a Muggle girl, when he is usually the confident one, making people shy. It seemed that he was confused and not even very interested in anything she was doing, but found her very attractive and rebellious as well, and clung to what she was offering. It made her even more attractive.

I also liked the blushing, hesitant Sirius. Much of what he does is bluffing, reputation building. He's frequent talk - this girl just jumps right in and breaks down all of his barriers because she doesn't have any clue who he is. The contrast to lonely, rebellious Sirius to his flashback is sharp, and reminiscent of Harry at times.

The scene in Grimmauld Place was frightening, and wonderfully written. I love the relationship you've developed between the brothers. They are drifting apart but Reg still cares for him, a great deal by this scene. Influenced by the alcohol, having driven his mother so far…I can understand why Sirius ran away. I hope the Reg didn't face too much from his mother after Sirius left, and that Sirius trusted his brother to tell him where he was going.

Summer at the Potters! Yea! Though it's obviously not going to be fun and games, by the tone of this chapter, which was great to read.

~Amanda

Author's Response: Ahh, that song. I have to thank my brother in law for suggesting it. And then when I thought about it, The Boys are back in town just fitted Sirius and his ganmg so perfectly! See, I'm respoonding to reviews tonight *phew*

I'm falling into a pattern: I reach the end of the chapter before I realize it.

Gushing praise is all I've got for this. I just love the interaction between these people. Sirius and Martha are just cute as buttons. James' father is devilishly charming. Mary is quite an enigma, and her line of “And that,” Lily thought she heard Mary whisper to Sirius, “is the body language you should be looking out for, Mr Black!” made me smirk. Poor Lily seems like she's starting to get confused by her feelings for James, and James seems to be getting bitter by his own feelings. He wants so very badly to have her understand him, or to not be in love with her, but as they keep lashing out at each other as old habits die hard, the bitterness is there, and it is confusing her even more.

Hm, that's not even a review, that's more of an interpretation of your characters thus far, lol. I don't really have anything else to add that I didn't say in the last chapter about your extraordinary ability to make the scene just flow so naturally. As this chapter was dialogue intensive, it would apply in an even bigger way here. I could picture the scene effortlessly; I didn't get hung up on what was happening or where they were or anything; it all made sense and just flowed. I didn't want to stop reading, and I really can't wait to see more of Lily and James sort out their feelings. I'm glad they are developing slowly like this. I think meeting his parents did a great deal in that development, as well as hearing her friends scoff of her opinion.

The information about James and Lily's first encounter in Charms, and how Snape twisted against James, was very telling about all three characters. I think that moment, above all, shocked her into changing her way of thinking. It helped shaped her thinking of James from the very start, and as she herself thought, why hasn't she thought these things about Sirius or Remus? Why always James? She knows there's always been something about him, but instead of negative, her thoughts are now confused and slowly turning positive. It's deliciously good reading.

~Amanda

Author's Response: Ahhh, what a lovely review, and I never responded. I'm so slack. Thank you very much for this, Amanda. I had this chapter in mind for a long time, so I'm pleased it worked for you. ~Carole (who will update fairly soon)~

Oh my, I'm already on Chapter 9! *giggle* I hope I'm not overwhelming you with all of these reviews. :)

The format of this chapter was a great way to juxtapose the differences in the four boys' lives, as well as to show just how much of a sanctuary Hogwarts is for them. I thought the scene with Peter was the most enlightening; his mother obviously loves him very much, but he sees her getting manipulated and fawning over someone he doesn't think is worthy of her, and it bothers him deeply. It is ironic that this is his mothers' position, given his own position in his group of friends, and probably the reason why any pity directed his way bothers him so much.

James' home life is not as picture perfect as it seems, and it adds more depth to Sirius' character that he notices things that James does not. James might have built up this perfect life in his mind, and maybe even if he knows something is wrong with his mother, he's denying it to himself.

Remus just has pressure from all sides telling him how he won't be able to function as a normal person because of his problem. I bet he is so ridiculously thankful for his friends, who are barely concerned that he's a werewolf; its something they joke about, something they unfailing support him every week, something they don't think twice about anymore. It's completely in the background in their eyes, and they don’t see him as any different. He's the lucky one with the girl, now! But the teachers and the parents (aside from Dumbledore) as dogging him down, and he's fighting against it. Imagining his parents like this makes it no wonder that he clicked so well with Harry when Harry doesn't understand why being a werewolf would hold him back for any reason.

I wonder if Lily is noticing the shift from "Potter" to "James" as much as everyone else is. And I don't think we've seen the last of Mr. Mysterious Handsome Rich…

~Amanda

Author's Response: I b29; you, Amanda. That's an inadequate and way over due response you your wonderful reviews, but I'm bad at playing catchup. Thanks again ~Carole~

Oh, I forgot to comment about Fabian Prewett in the last chapter! Here is my analysis before I read chapter 11 - he is definitely more like the twins. Okay, that's my prediction before I read, I actually have work now but I want to finish these chapters! But I see that I won't be able to find out until at least the next chapter…

I like the relationship you've developed between James and Sirius. Sirius has a maturity to him that you don't always see in MWPP stories; he has been defying his family from a very early age to know that, before he even makes it to Hogwarts, just from something inside him, that what his family is telling him is wrong. I foresee a meeting between Regulus and Sirius that doesn't go very well…and a guilt-stricken Sirius. Poor Sirius lives with so much guilt in Azkaban, it is a wonder he is as normal as he is during OOTP and GOF.

Oh, the Amortentia potion. Poor moony James at least realizes he smells Lily, unlike his dotty son years later. And moonstruck bookworm Remus, worrying about what he smells! It was rather cute, actually, that he was worried she'd be made that he didn't smell her like she might hope.

And that American? Poor James, now he's becoming a distraction! I wonder what happens if you only smell one thing…she is definitely infatuated with this man, and I wonder what else she smelled besides the coffee.

~Amanda

Author's Response: Oh, Amanda, another of your lovely reviews that I never responded to. I don't think Sirius is ever really back to normal - certainly in OOTP he's referred to as smelling strongly of Firewhisky *sigh*. I think there's always something dark about Mr Black - even before Azkaban. The American ... now then .. he will shortly be returning. I know I've said that a lot ... but I promise - he'll be there. Thanks again ~Carole~

*Sigh* There will be no AA today. I've reached the end of this story and someone gave me real work to do. :(

But, now I will be awaiting updates with everyone else.

Oh, what a scene with his transformation. I found myself thinking, "Oh, please tell her. You deserve someone to hold you and to turn to." He's got his friends, but he needs a woman. Someone like Mary! Ack, boys can be so dumb. And the transformation itself was brief but so intense - to imagine that he goes through that month after month is a powerful thing.

I imagine Peter must be so frustrated; he repeatedly warns them of the danger of going into the woods; they don't listen. Turns out he's right, and even though he doesn't go "I told you so!" they don't even acknowledge he had tried to warn them. They are light-hearted, and when he tried to bring them back down to earth, they focus for about five seconds.

I have no idea what Sirius pulls out of his robes at the end - are we supposed to know from the French, or is it a great mystery for the next chapter? And now we have a mysterious figure to add to the drama! All of this I now have to wait for. *Sob*

~Amanda

Author's Response: Oh, no, it's the mystery man's wand. He snatched it out of the man's hand when he was a dog. "Cherchez le sourciere!" actually means "Find the wizard (or sourcerer) in French. It's Sirius trying to be sophisticated - ha ha. Thank you for all 13 reviews today, Amanda. They've been amazing ~Carole~

Yea! I was glad you came through and wrote this! Poor Harry again...are you thinking about writing a sequel? Maybe Harry could be happy in the future...

Can I make a suggestion? I only read this because it was a one-shot that sounded interesting and none of the other stories I'm reading had updated, but then only after I clicked on it did it show that it was the companion piece to "Torn Between". You should put that in the summary so that those readers will know, 'cause it really doesn't make sense without it. Thanks again!

Author's Response: :-) I'm happy that you were watching for it! Once someone suggested the idea, I knew I had to write it. I am thinking about a sequel; I'm actually mapping it out right now. Not sure where to go with it, but it of course has to have more angst and heartache, or it just wouldn't be me! I'd really like to give Harry a happy ending, I've put him through a lot, but we'll see where the story goes. It'll take me some time. Thank you for the encouragement! Thank you very much for the suggestion. I've updated my summary; hopefully it'll be more informative! :-)

This story is beautiful and dark...the language is lovely. You write this time period (I read in the other review, mid 1800s?) very well...properly speaking, rich, noble woman. It's delightfully romantic. :) And this tale is very mysterious while allowing us to see the development of Isla.

"Elle? What is it?’ I questioned, my voice worried something bad had happened, and sat up, throwing off the blanket. My sister usually did not get upset; she stood above such mundane things. But once and again when the rarity of her being upset did happen, we had to be careful because in this case something really bad had occurred." // This paragraph seemed odd to me...perhaps she is not fully remembering what happened after seeing her brother's body? But I would think that "What is it?" wouldn't be the question that is asked after such an incident. Maybe more like, "What happened?" Her sister's response is appropriate though. :)

"The first problem I had to solve was my relation to Bob. I liked him, I really truly did, but was liking him enough to risk the safety being a Black meant? Did I want to get thrown out when they learned about me meeting and talking to a Muggle-born?" // This also seems strange--the first problem to think about after her brother's murder? I know it says in the next paragraph that the "bigger" concern was her brother. These were simply my first throughts upon my first read-through.

"they prickled like I was stabbed with thousands of small needles" // Good description...I hate when that happens!

"I gulped and slowly made one, then two steps towards the centre of the market, not knowing why I did not just turn back and made my way out of there as quickly as possible." // I believe it should be "...make my way out of there" rather than "made".

"But I could get out of the way just in time and stayed unhurt." // This sentence is somewhat ackward...maybe it could be phrased "But I could get of the way just in time and stay unhurt."

I have not read "Shining Through Blackness", so maybe the reference to the man at the end and the importance of Bob are not quite as mysterious to those readers? The remaining two chapters are posted, so I will go check them out!

Author's Response: Thank you for reviewing and the compliments. I'll look into your comments closer as soon as I have a spare moment. Thanks for reading.

Awww, her friends were so sweet to her for her birthday! I'm still of two minds of whether or not she should start talking with her father...he is probably not quite as horrible as everyone makes him out to be, but he is also probably manipulative and cunning and all those things she should be careful of. Though Alex is not usually the kind of person to fall for that. I do hope she is able to visit with Max, I adore their relationship. I really hope he is all he seems to be, though with how Journey turned out, I'm not taking anyone at face value for a long while, lol!

I feel like I should go back and read the Thorn Circle for possible clues to Darla's behavior. At random times during the day, I find myself thinking about it, like, "Where did I miss something?" But hopefully all questions will be answered soon, as we're nearing the last third of this part of Alex's story....can't wait for the next chapter!