Awwwwwwww!

Okay, I had to get that out of my system. :D
That was a really good chapter. I especially enjoyed how George’s character is developing – it’s just like how I imagined it would be.

*snickers* Was it Mr. Wilytounge who sold Alicia the potion?


Author's Response: Of course it was! :D Just for you, I went and copied this from \'A Moment Like This.\' Bet Alicia would be squirming with embarrassment too!

(The goblin clerk Mr. Wilytongue) “Are you a current user of contraceptive solutions?”

(Alicia) “No.”

“Is there any history of allergy to--” He rattled off a long list of ingredients.

“No.”

“Intended for short or long term usage?”

Her face felt hot. “Long.”

“Will the properties of the solution be engaged sporadically or frequently?”

Her cheeks were probably as red as the flagon at which she was staring. “Frequently.”

“One last question. Which flavour do you prefer?”

(Sweet cherry, of course!)

Thanks for bringing back a fun moment!

Emotionally charged chapter this week!

Molly has always been one of my favorite characters and I was pleased to see that she made another appearance in this chapter.

Lucky rock…lol.

The conversation between George and Alicia about the term ‘girlfriend’ was heart wrenching. *sniffles* I can’t wait to see how it is resolved!


Author's Response: Most people think nothing of calling someone their girlfriend/boyfriend, but here, it\'s like a line drawn in the sand. Relationship or no relationship, George has to decide.

Heh, I’m not sure why, but the palmistry thing made me giggle a bit.

Vampire!George was an interesting thing to think about. Yeah, I could see him with the pale skin and some pointy eye teeth….*shakes head in order to get image out*

When Bill started panicking over Fleur – ah, it made me sigh a bit. He’s going to be a great parent, if an overprotective one. Gosh, Victorie’s dates must have really suffered some serious threats!


Author's Response: I imagined Fred using it on one of the French cousins at the wedding and George taking mental notes, LOL. Vampire!George would be sexy. They might have to act that out one day, just to give you a detailed mental image, hee. As for Bill, can\'t you see him using his scars and curse breaker stories to scare dates into keeping their hands off his daughter...at least while they\'re in the room with her dad, :P.

Aww!
While I was reading, I couldn’t help but think that Teddy was going to be somehow left on his own soon. So sad. But, I remembered that he has many loving surrogate parents, so it’s not so bad.
Anyhow, *sniff*, it was excellent.


Author's Response: No amount of \"surrogate parents\" makes up for the loss of your own. Harry would be the first to agree, and I\'m glad that Teddy won\'t be left on his own in my dimension of the Potterverse!

Fenn -
This is incredible. Not only the writing is good, but I greatly admire your plot (and your lawyer).
Now for some weird coincidences: Colores is currently beta-ing my challenge fic and it features Harry Potter as the witness for the defense. That's so coincidental! Whoa...
Fortunately, my lawyer happens to be female so it's definitely different. But wow! Just the same.
I loved the persona that you gave your lawyer - it seemed to be just the right combination of nervousness and inexperience. Great job!

Author's Response: Kelly! *huggles*

Awww, your wonderful reviews have brought a HUGE smile to my face right now. *hearts* I\'m so glad you like the story--as you might have noticed, I wrote in a very different style in this one, and I\'m glad you think I pulled it off okay. And tee hee to the coincidences. =P Fresca is an amazing beta, no? She mentioned to me that someone else was using Harry as a witness. *points finger* It was youu! ;]

Anyways, thank you so much for yet another fabulous review. *hugs* You\'re wonderful!

Gah, Rhi, I decided to read this again for my review and it still makes me cry. You did an incredible job with this story. The word choice is beyond amazing, dear, and the repetition of “He was broken now” really gives it a bit of a poetic feel. I really think that Fred’s death was one of the most tragic in DH, and it’s been interesting to see how the fanfiction world has responded. I’d give your fic two thumbs up and a box of tissue. Good job!

~Kelly

ps - congrats on winning the EMEA!!!

Author's Response: Thanks so much, what a lovely review! You're the best Kelly, thanks so much x

Tash –

Mmmm. This was a very sweet little story. I feel rather like Goldilocks, but it wasn’t too heavy and it wasn’t too light – it was just perfect.

You did a marvelous job with the characterization of Luna. She is a terribly difficult character to pull off because she rather defies any sort of stereotype. She’s quirky and eccentric, yet she isn’t completely mad. You very carefully included her individuality while maintaining her actual character – she’s not just someone who spouts loads of useless and random information. JK Rowling has always used Luna as a tool for passing on various messages: thestrals are one excellent example. However, she also gives the reader (and the characters) important messages about the things in life that matter. When certain characters (Harry, mainly) loose sight of what’s important, Luna is always there to remind him. It is in this capacity that your Luna really stands out. Her actions in your story help give Harry some of the hope that he had lost. It was truly a beautiful moment at the very end when this happened.

The interactions between Harry and Luna were also very well done. She’s just as unflappable and he’s just as completely bewildered as we’ve all seen them in the books.

“But I can’t hear them,” Harry said helplessly. “Even when I close my eyes, or whatever it is you tell me to do.”

Luna smiled mysteriously at him. “Then, we just have to go a little bit closer.”

Those lines really stood out for me as the quintessential conversation between Harry and Luna. Harry’s not quite as confused as Ron is when he speaks with Luna, but he occasionally has absolutely no idea what Luna’s talking about. This was one of those perfect moments when both characters seemed absolutely real.

While I’m speaking about characterization, I have to comment about Harry. Having him walk outside after Remus’ death, thinking about him was both incredibly touching and incredibly in-character. Remus was really the last person whom Harry could physically connect his father to. Even though Remus was not as close to Harry as Sirius had been, they shared a very close relationship, especially after Teddy was born. Having what he probably considered an honorary uncle die, leaving his son behind, was a huge emotional blow for Harry. However, Harry has always had an issue about showing his weaknesses. If he was going to be upset or cry about Remus, although it would have been thoroughly understood by everyone, he would have gone outside. The actions that you have Harry taking are exactly what I would have expected from him. You did a wonderful job with his character. And, personally, it’s always the hardest to pull Harry’s characterization off because we’ve all seen so much of him throughout JK Rowling’s books.

I also enjoyed how you incorporated small details into this story to make it just that much more special. The one that really stood out for me was how Luna sat on her thestral. I very much enjoyed how you connected that to Order of the Phoenix and described how Luna had a graceful seat on hers.

”I’ve always wanted to try,” Luna admitted, “as my Mum used to tell me that they would whisper secrets. I could hear them trying to sing to me, but I could never hear the words. I think Mum was wrong, as they’re not really secrets, are they?” She contemplated her own question for a few moments before answering it, “It’s not really such a secret that even after they’re gone, our loved ones will still think of us.”

Due to an unfortunate circumstance in my own life recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the general concept of death. (That sounded somewhat morbid…>.>). This passage that Luna tells Harry was really quite interesting for me. I really liked how Luna describes those who have died as the ones thinking about those who remain on the earth. It really takes Luna to put such an idea in perspective – usually the phrase would be that those who are still alive think about those who have died. Luna phrases the fact that the dead never truly leave us in such an elegant way. I think that this was my favorite passage in your entire story because of how touching it is, both for me and for Harry. After all, Harry has spent so much of his life thinking about those who have died, that it must give him a sense of closure to know that the people that he thinks about are thinking about him in return.

Tash, this was a very moving story. Everything worked so well together: the stars, the characters, just everything. You did a fabulous job with two very difficult characters and a very heavy theme. In short, this was amazing.

~Kelly

Oh my goodness. That was very well done, dear. I really liked Bella's voice - it seemed very clear and very driven. I found it especially believable that Bella didn't love her husband - was she capable of loving anything other than power? Just as a side note, I think that Bella may have felt just a twinge of remorse for being caught and being sent to Azkaban. Although, I do think that such a feeling wouldn't have lasted all that long - she's so certain that Voldemort will come and save them all.
Anyhow, excellent work!

~Kelly

Author's Response: Well, Bellatrix would have considered any affection for her husband to be the absolute worst thing to do to her beloved Dark Lord. I love Rodolphus, and can\'t help but feel sorry for him. Perhaps a bit of anger would have been good for Bella, but I wanted the torture to make her realise that Voldemort had to be out there somewhere. Does that make sense? Thanks for the great review!

Jen -

Lovely teen angst that you've got going here. Although, I must say that it was well written and believeable. It wasn't over the top or underdone. I will admit, though, that I was a little surprised at Petunia's openness about "Sev" and who Lily is seeing. I wouldn't have thought that Lily would have told her mum that they were dating. Although, this may be that I'm not all that familiar with the dynamics of such a thing.

Also, the word choices were great throughout and the sentence structure was very smooth. There was just one little place where I got a bit confused:

Chloe’s husband had left them when Madeleine was born, and Chloe was not much older than Lily was now.

For a moment, I thought that Maddi's mum was only sixteen or seventeen. Hehe, which would be impossible. Maybe reformatting the sentence would clear that up a bit.

Anyways, great job on this. I think that you have Lily characterized very well. I also think that you have an excellent title - it's very thought provoking.

Wonderful start!

~Kelly

Author's Response: Wow! Thanks for the amazing review, Kelly. I can see what you mean about the Severus thing, but I\'ve always imagined Lily to have a close relationship with her mum. But anyway, I don\'t think Lily and Sev were dating, it\'s just what Petunia thought. I\'ll fix that sentence soon. I see what you mean! It\'s a bit confusing. :] I\'m glad you like my characterisation! *phew* Lol! But the credit for the fantastic title must go to my beta, Alex/wewillmissyou. But the title did remind me of a conversation I had with a friend once about that same thing, which is why the summary has a bit of it in there. :]

Aw, Hadeer!

That was very sweet. I really liked your interpretation of how Fridwulfa...excuse me, Diana and Markus met. It just seemed so...real, somehow. I was touched by how Markus befriended her, even though she was a giantess and how he seemed to genuinely care about her.

Oh, and it was awesome how you had Diana grow up in a human world. That's a great explanation for why she would have been so comfortable with humans.

Brilliant work, dear!

~Kelly

Author's Response: Thank you, Kelly! I\'m glad it was all realistic!