By Bobmin
Reviews
GryffindorDragon posted a comment on Thursday 31st May 2007 10:53pm
Lily's contraceptive charm was just too funny. And I love the Bowel-Loosening spell. You're doing a good job with comic relief.
That should have been a permanent sticking charm that only Harry can release. It would serve The Evil Professors to be stuck as the students return from holiday (might give a few Gryffindors, among others, pause).
Cynthia1850 posted a comment on Thursday 31st May 2007 10:33pm
"Abraxan kidney" "Old Crows feet" Oh, you're funny. I got it! Only the best ingredients for sure.
Cynthia1850 posted a comment on Thursday 31st May 2007 10:17am
Ha, started reading this chapter and thought Harry was having a wet dream...turned out it was your disclaimer. Damn!
GryffindorDragon posted a comment on Thursday 31st May 2007 6:26am
I'll surprise and leave just a brief comment: great story
GryffindorDragon posted a comment on Thursday 31st May 2007 5:41am
The scene with Dumbledore over the guardianship was sheer delight, ablolutely brilliant. Harry has a little bit of a cruel streak allowing the Headmaster to go on so long. Though perhaps he should have saved the list to give to Amelia for her investigation.
Oh, Ginny is so cruel. So perhaps Seamus won't have so much to brag about now. And you said that the T-shirts were the only humor...oh, excuse me you said, 'intentional' humor; so Ginny's revenge wasn't meant to be funny.
GryffindorDragon posted a comment on Thursday 31st May 2007 4:54am
Harry is tied to the X frame? or do you mean Ron who suddenly appears?
'it was alright for to kiss me' -- alright for 'him' to kiss me?
Great chapter
arwen posted a comment on Thursday 31st May 2007 4:15am
This was a really awesome chapter! Your writing keeps getting better and better :) I read your stories on fanfiction.net, and those ones are really good too.
I only have one question. Maybe I'm not reading carefully enough...but why would O'Dalley even consider the possibility that Remus was Lord Potter-Black? He knew that Harry is sixteen the the story, and I doubt that Remus could be mistaken for a sixteen-year-old.
GryffindorDragon posted a comment on Thursday 31st May 2007 3:53am
'Dan explained some of what Harry would have to do to Hermione' -- what does Harry have to do to Hermione? Perhaps the double entendre is best avoided with 'Dan explained to Hermione . . .'
Magic sure is funny; they can regrow bones overnight with a potion, but Harry requires a spell cast repeatedly over a minimum of ten days. Humor aside, its nice to see something a bit different, shows creativity rather than simply copying.
'Men and women died before they heard' -- great hearing if they heard it after they died.
They didn't find the wand? I distinctly recall reading that he pulled out his wand. If he had more than one that wasn't worded correctly -- perhaps 'pulled out his spare wand.' Perhaps you wanted to keep the reader guess, but it creates a contradiction. I realize I'm being picky here, but this is a really great story; sorry, if I expect excellence. BTW, this sort of thing has always disturbed me about JKR. Take Sirius. He's mentioned in Book 1 in such a way that he's appearance in Book 3 seems OOC. Really, if Sirius was thought of as he was in Book 3, would Hagrid mention him so casually in Book 1. It just doesn't work.
GryffindorDragon posted a comment on Thursday 31st May 2007 2:24am
The part on bravery and fear was simply superb (and not necessary the only part that was).
'because I’m insisting we take extra precautions so we don’t tip our hand early. I realize you’d like faster results' -- sounds like you're talking to the readers here.
very nice trace on the money; wouldn't work in the Muggle world where transfers take place in ledger books (digital nowadays, of course); but fits the wizarding world where Harry's vault has stacks of coins.
Dumbledore's reminiscings are just too evil: too bad for them but they served their (or rather my -- does anyone really still want to make Dumbledore light when he thinks doing anything [including stealing and allowing people to be murdered (just because he doesn't kill them himself doesn't make him innocent)] to get his way is okay?) purpose. Considering those actions, why did Fawkes only leave Dumbledore recently?
Harry's song is really great. I agree with Hermione's assessment of Harry's gift.
I think that you may be right (despite the sarcasm) about H/G being temporary. Many thought H/Cho was inevitable after Book 4; but look what happened in Book 5. We'll just have to wait and see what JKR does in Book 7.
GryffindorDragon posted a comment on Thursday 31st May 2007 12:50am
'I seriously doubt he wants someone he believes to be turning dark to run the club.' -- of course, none of the other students or the professors (or Rita Skeeter) thought of that.
I'm glad (I think?) that I was wrong about Rita's article.
'Harry had sensed her presence there as plain as day. Her aura was quite noticeable' -- I almost commented on this last chapter; how then did Rita go unnoticed? You foreshadowed this ability of Harry's earlier, so I was a bit surprised when Rita went unnoticed. Certainly Harry would have been even more on edge/wary at the platform than in class -- perhaps it was the attack on Hermione that caused this 'sense' to kick in. (So I raise the question and give an out at the same time -- well, sorta).
suggestions: you mean you're not going to go back and rewrite your story based on my erudite and witty observations, darn.
Why should anyone have a problem with Draco? This is AU after all. I used to be bothered by redeemed or nice Draco fics. But I've learned to enjoy most any good story. Besides HBP makes a redeemed Draco easier (after all he couldn't go through with killing Dumbly; oh, bad example -- ok he is totatlly unredeemable), Snape, too, for that matter (unfortunately; he's just to fun to hate; but that's why JKR wrote him).
As far as plausibility (or swallowability) of JKR is concerned; just one word: kiddie lit (ok, two words). Despite her lengthy books and their appeal to adults, the series remains kiddie lit, with all of the suspension of belief required for the implausible things that happen in such works (as your comment, via Harry's harangue, on how events go in the books -- of course mere children would not be able to circumvent traps intended to stop adults; but it has to be that way in a book written for children -- the kids are the heroes and figure everything out while the adults are clueless (why do you think JKR named him DUMBledore, it wasn't an accident); just the nature of the genre.
GryffindorDragon posted a comment on Wednesday 30th May 2007 11:37pm
Okay, I think I've had enough of rambling about estoric matters (light and dark, in case you have read the previous reviews; though I'm tempted to say something about tattooing being equivalent to makeup). While I've already said I think this story is marvelous, let me reiterate that (oh, I guess I already have). I just love the plotting and counter-plotting you have going on.
About the ships, I find it odd that you've gotten any comments. I know people have their favorite ships. But if that's all they like to read, why are they here? Personally I have tended to favor H/G (once upon a time I favored H/H, moving back that way some), but any well written story with a good plot is fun to read, not matter what the ship (I've even read some H/Bella). One thing I've noticed that ought to silence the ship critics: no matter who Harry is placed with, the partner tends to be portrayed much the same, just a different name attached (granted there are limits to the observation; just compare a light Harry with a dark Harry fic). Multiple ships can even be interesting -- this story looks destined for H/H; but it has the potential of Susan and Ginny to be added in. And here I said I was done rambling. Sorry.
'she heard a popping sound as his blush bulb exploded and his face drained of all color' -- I know I shouldn't love that line as much as I do, but I do love it.
Ah, just when I thought Dumbledore was going to get some comeuppance, you mute it with that exclusive interview -- though I think that actually could make him come out looking worse; especially given how he was represented in the press the previous year and lost so much of his standing in wizarding society (that still happened in you AU world didn't it?). Oh well, it did seem things were going kind of easy (not that I minded that; its nice for things to work at for Harry for once -- after all, that's why you made him a super Harry, isn't it?
So with the bug (Skeeter) there, I suppose this will be reported as an attack on Snape not by Snape.
At least Ginny gave it to Ron. Is that going to backfire, too?
Well, time to read on and see how my questions get answered as the story unfolds.
Sheepstamper posted a comment on Wednesday 30th May 2007 10:28pm
Bloody Brilliant Story.......
GryffindorDragon posted a comment on Wednesday 30th May 2007 9:58pm
Well, it looks like, from your A/N, that my previous comment was anticipated. Sorry for flogging a dead horse, but I will continue a probably long passe discussion and comment on your citing of Princess-Fictoria. That is moving in a highly subjective direction. Actions are the only measure of a person. Her statment indicates something else (perhaps intent) is the true measure. But, however important intent is as a marker of the character of an action, it is devilishly difficult to truly measure. The best measure of intent, interestingly enough, is a consistent pattern of action. So I will abide with the notion that if actions are dark, the person is dark as well. Of course, a single, or even a few, actions will not necessarily make one dark. Its the overall pattern of a person's actions. So the question for Dumbledore, if any of his actions are dark (which I don't think can be disputed here), are there sufficient other "light" actions to offset or at least balance (hence the label gray) the dark? That has not been shown thus far. Please forgive such ramblings on a story that has long been published. Unfortunately I did not stumble across it early enough (actually I wasn't reading fanfiction back in 2005).
GryffindorDragon posted a comment on Wednesday 30th May 2007 8:33pm
Just a brief response to your Author's Note (don't have anything to say about the story itself except that its marvelous) -- just because Dumbledore and company aren't fighting alongside Voldie doesn't mean they aren't dark (the bad guys often fight among themselves). Its not the side you fight on that make you light or dark, necessarily; its the character of your actions and motivations Stealing, betrayal, defamation, greed, etc. -- these actions and attitudes make them dark. All their actions may not be such, so one might label them grey -- but perhaps the same could be said of Voldie.
skulLXeon posted a comment on Friday 25th May 2007 1:19pm
well... i gotta say... its taken me several days to finish reading this...
and its been a great read...
really good... and because i can't really think of or articulate anything about this story...
i'll just say its good and move on to the next one...
so adios for now... =D
morao posted a comment on Thursday 24th May 2007 9:31am
"Before the French ambassador could respond another voice, this one clearly with a Brooklyn accent, broken in."
w00000t Brooklyn.... heh im from brooklyn
morao posted a comment on Tuesday 22nd May 2007 6:18am
lol theres already an error in that paragraph
Luna was stumped for the first time in her life. She knew she had to jump over the river to follow Ron, but she also knew she couldn’t get her feet wet. ==She quickly searched the riverbank and was surprised to find a rope, tugging on the rope released a rowboat from the far shore.== (grammatically incorrect)== The row boat glided magically across the river. With a very un-ladylike leap, she jumped into the rowboat for the trip to the other side.
Firebolt2006 posted a comment on Sunday 20th May 2007 11:15am
Screw the canon worshippers!!!! This is a DAMN GREAT STORY!!!!! Oops, did I say that out loud? :D
Firebolt2006 posted a comment on Sunday 20th May 2007 10:06am
First, in answer to your authors notes. I like your attitude and agree totally about the canon pickers and the comments about other authors and reviews. That's one reason why I'm leaving a review. The second is this is a totally 150% AWESOME story. I love AU. You can do anything. And I really like your take on Dumbledork. After reading all the JKR versions, I find it very easy to believe that some of your ideas about Dumbledore is true. I know this is a completed story, but felt it important to let you know it was great!!!!
GryffindorDragon posted a comment on Friday 1st June 2007 12:12am