I'd love to hear more of this! I'm really enjoying this story.

Hey,
I'm enjoying this story so far. I also remember reading somewhere, perhaps it was the sorting story? that you don't like Ron. So I just wanted to mention I appreciate that you are true to Ron's character and not letting your dislike of him make him completely out of character to make readers dislike them. I personally like Ron so I just appreciate the way you are writing him and actually somewhat defending (explaining?) his actions.

This is such a good story and I'm sad to see it come to such an abrupt end. I was looking forward to the hearing and the interview with Rita Skeeter. Come back soon.

Peppermint Schnapps! And Godiva makes a WONDERFUL hot chocolate powder.

I love this story! You write such interesting people! They interact so genuinely; it's hard to tell them from real people in some places. Your vivid descriptions bring the story to life by setting the stage and giving each scene its own background which are so detailed I can easily build that scene in my mind, and then ZIP, I'm watching everything in my head. Instant movie... I'm loving this! Thank you for writing this!

It's true that fanon Ginny can be truly horrible in entirely gratuitous ways, but canon Ginny being all mean and nasty about Fleur is not someone I would ever want to meet or spend time with. Hopefully in your new world, she'll get the help she needs before becoming that horrid little backbiting witch-spelled-with-a-b.

I love that you thought out how OF COURSE Harry is nervous of dogs, after his experiences with Ripper. Well done. And I'm sure you're right, the Weasleys can find something to do with that monetary windfall. They probably won't need to try too hard.

Oh crap, I’ve come to the end already. It’s an excellent story, I’ve enjoyed it immensely. I’m down with a bad case of writer’s block myself, so I can certainly understand. I have a guess that at some point your muse will whisper in your ear who exactly is behind the Prophet’s attack on Harry, and why, and then you will have to start writing again. No guesses in the world as to when that might happen though. Muses are so fickle.

I'm really sorry this story is incomplete - I want to know more! You've left Peter as the rat safe inside the castle, Sirius as the not-safe dog in the woods, Ginny not yet helped, Skeeter not yet having gotten her interview, Hermione still stressed from the Time Turner and all the schoolwork *plus* Harry-related research she's doing (indeed, she should be a *lot* more frazzled than she is, at this point in your story), and Draco and the Weasley twins just barely having begun their journey of self-analysis and self-improvement.

This Harry is such an interesting person that I hope you'll finish the story... someday... so I'll bookmark it, and check back in a few years.

I rarely comment in the middle of a story - but I am OVERJOYED to see someone else consider pranking as a form of bullying! It says to the victim, "I can make things happen to you, I can embarrass you, or make you miserable, and you can't do anything about it."

I realize this is probably old news, but did you mean for Albus and Minerva to keep calling him Potter instead of Evans?

As you can tell, I've been working my way through your portfolio and I must say, I'm quite impressed: You're a stand-out writer with a talent for original thinking and dialogue and refreshing character analysis; my hat's off to you!
Be that as it may and seeing that your muse has left you 'high and dry' since, at least, December of 2016, not to mention leaving THIS story languishing for over 2 years, I figured I'd 'tweak' your creative centers with a poke about where you might have thought of heading...Once you get off this 'cliffy'. lol
Sigh! I'm actually kind of dreading Sirius becoming a bigger part of this story...Don't get me wrong: I seem to have been born with an 'overly developed sense of justice' (its cost me a LOT of jobs, cuz I wouldn't/couldn't just 'look the other way':-/...); Sirius cleared and Pettigrew exterminated are the *only* outcomes I like, but Sirius' introduction rarely, if ever, means *anything* good for Severus...And Sev's *really trying* to make amends and do right by Harry, now!
Harry's still having trouble revealing the 'real him', shedding the construct 'Harry Potter', and attempting to get what he really *needs* from this brand new pool of available mentors...
I guess what I'm trying to figure out is, where does Sirius fit into your story? With the exception of being an alternative 'adult' that he can stay with, during the summer, his inclusion is going to add a whole new level of pressure, for everyone.
Gosh, trying to think through where you might go with this story just brings home the fact that you're an incredibly talented writer and though I might speculate and postulate certain scenarios, YOU constantly surprise and delight me, so I might as well give it up as a 'bad job' and leave it to you to continue to do so...
Thanks for a great read, thus far, and I'd truly love to see you finish this!
You take care and come back, soon, okay?
MelJ

I *really* LIKE your versions of Rowling's characters (except Dumbles, but that's because I find it really difficult to see him as anything but a MOB, but that's just me. I've found myself being able to accept nearly every other HP character acting OOC, in HPff: 'Good!Petunia', 'Kind&Decent!Lucius Malfoy', even 'Mentor!Tom Riddle'; I just seem to have a real problem with 'Redeemed!Albus Bloody Dumbledore'!;-D): Most of them don't seem all that OOC, at all; as a matter of fact they just seem more like REAL people and less like caricatures. Sev always struck me as a *very* cartoonish, over-the-top villain and a lot of the times, most of Rowling's other characters acted too stupid to believe!
I've been reading Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mythology, and Historic-Fiction since I was 6 years old and I cannot recall EVER reading anything that talked down to readers and asked for a belief in and acceptance of, the patently illogical (Fantasy, etc. all contain elements of the 'fantastical', but the characters don't, as a rule, go off on tangents based on delusional thinking, unless the delusional thinking serves an explainable cause and purpose to the plot; not just BECAUSE *THEY* 'live in an illogical world', hyuck, hyuck, hyuck!)!
Might I give an example? Dumbledore -the supposed 'wisest' man and most powerful 'magical' on the planet- doesn't divulge to the greater Wizarding populace the truth: That 'Pureblood' Voldemort is actually Tom Marvolo Riddle: Halfblood (and not just any 'halfblood'; he's the bastard child of a near-squib mother and a MUGGLE!). WHY THE HECK NOT?! He's known who he was since he began his climb to power; cuz he kept 'tabs' on the guy, since he left school, cuz he didn't trust him!
Dingleberry could have diffused Riddle's entire 'raison d'etre' and prevented or seriously curtailed his entire recruitment; sort of like throwing a turd in the pool at a pool party: Everybody would have scrambled to get out FIRST!
That's what I mean by Rowling writing 'down' to her audience. Even as a very young child, at 3 or 4 years old (I can actually remember back to things that occurred when I was only a few months old; my mother verified people, places, and things.), I remember asking how a cow could ever jump over the moon, when the moon was out in space? I know, I was a weird kid!
A good children's author should write to intelligent adults, just using more 'kid friendly' language.
The above example was a seriously large plot chasm and just one of many that made the series a very uncomfortable read.
On the other hand, your Harry and Co. come off as real thinking, breathing PEOPLE and I can't even begin to tell you what a JOY they are to read!
Take care and I hope you'll return to this, soon!
MelJ

Once some of the 'antics' of the Marauders and the elements of the 'cloak' AND the 'map' were introduced, I knew immediately that they certainly weren't up to any *good* and, having been bullied throughout both my childhood and by various 'office bullies', I have zero tolerance for anything that even comes close to looking likely to embarrass or humiliate or degrade *anyone*!
It has also been my experience that, contrary to literary license and a few less-than-well-informed 'psycho-babelists', the bullied do NOT ever BECOME BULLIES: They have too much experience being the 'victim' and therefore have become too empathetic to ever inflict their own experiences -even the most benign- upon others; which is another reason why I found the 'reasons', behind Severus' bullying of Harry, in canon, to be implausible and caused me to have, yet another, "Really, Rowling?!", moment.
Bullies, like sociopaths, usually come from a background of OVERindulgence where discipline was lax, if there was *any*, and a nearly complete lack of the constructive 'denial' of immediate gratification. This flies in the face of 'popular' psychological pedagogy, but after 55 years of closely observing human nature and studying case histories of sociopaths and sadistic criminals, I believe my conclusions are sound.
I'll climb down off of my soapbox, now and ask for your forgiveness, if I've overstepped my commentary 'bounds'; I just go off on tangents, sometimes.;-s
I look forward to any replies to my hubris...
Thanks, again for a lovely chapter!
MelJ

I always thought the idea of a pet rat, running around 'free' and not being caged, even at night, in a castle FILLED with cat familiars was too absurd to even contemplate; it definitely put another damper on to my attempts to 'suspend my disbelief'!
I think it very sad that Ron and 'Mione's continuous bickering and sniping at each other is another thing that's driving Harry away from confiding in them; together or separately.
Was Hermione really this 'legalistic' and 'tyrannical'? I only read the books (1-5 completely and then only 'skipped' around 6 because I was so disgusted...) through, once, so some of my recollections of 'Mione's behavior might be a little 'fuzzy'.
Thanks, again. Moving on, now.
MelJ