Hey! I just wanted to say that I love this story! I can't believe I only found this now! I love how all the characters are like their book versions but at the same time they are better, like you've subtly developed them. Ron for example, though he is one of my favourites, was completely unlikable for me during GOF. But the way you've written him is loads better. Also, most authors fall into the trap of making him cartoonishly evil/bashing him. Good on you for not doing that. I love that you've not made Harry and Hermione fall immediately in love with each other. Also, if you still want to, you should definitely continue this fic. It has the potential to be really great! Don't listen to the haters, most of them don't know what they're talking about.
Thanks for writing!

re: Your author's note from the first chapter - I don't think that Harry's 'superpower' is meant to be being a loving, brave person, but rather that he's able to love and be brave in a mostly functional manner considering what happened to him. Being traumatically orphaned, raised by neglectful and emotionally abusive relatives, having impossible things happen to you and then getting blamed and punished for them, having your cousin sabotage your social life, then being turned into the Messiah and learning that magic is real and you can do it and that Magic Hitler killed your parents and wants to kill you to and everyone who likes you now thinks you can do it again is a lot for a kid to handle.

[Hermione crossed her arms. "This could be important, Harry."

Ron said, "If Harry thinks Cedric was trying to-"

"Shush," she said Hermione. "Harry, let's-"

"Don't you shush me."]

So you aren't going to comment on Hermione being rude here? Smh. Typical Harmony stans.

[the research engine of Hermione, Harry and Ron]

Yup, clearly stating your preferences here.

Definitely not bashing to call Ron a shitty friend. Especially towards Hermione. He'd already spent six months of 1994 refusing to speak to her and driving her away when Harry tried to. Never apologized for it either. Very accurate to character.

He took a deep breath, feeling, in the best way possible, 11. He'd stood up to Ron about Hermione once before, hadn't he, and it turned out great, hadn't it?

What? This never happened. The exchange was this:

{They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's arm.

"I've just thought - Hermione."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't know about the troll."

Ron bit his lip.

"Oh, all right," he snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us."}

Where did this "stood up to Ron about Hermione" rubbish come from? I agree Ron was out of line in Book 4, but don't misquote canon.

Simple, Hermione was a bitch in this. Go fuck yourself. If the bich can't bring herself to woman the fuck up and ask Harry, then she can hang herself.

More of the same...

"Right," said Ron. "Something he's missing. Looking at it. I'm sure Harry hadn't thought of that himself."... Ron said, "If Harry thinks Cedric was trying to-"... Ron addressed his remarks to Hermione. "You need to lay off,"... Ron complained a tad about the reading and said they ought to pace..

Etc, etc, etc...

Half of the dialogues are like this: showing Ron as bad as possible.
...

But it was his egg. He was the champion. There was a line between his friends helping him prepare, and his friends helping him pass the challenge.

He was the champion!?... Seriously?... Harry would care less about champions, who would win, or who "helped him pass the challenge"... He only cared about one thing: SURVIVING.
...

And... and that's all !?...

So you rewrite some canon scenes to make look Harry and Hermione as god as possible, and Ron as dumb as possible and... and that's all... No plot, no meaning, no structure, no moral, nothing at all?

Honestly... what was the point of this fic?... I don't really know.
...

Now, talking about what REALLY happened at the yule ball:

If Hermione liked Ron so much, why she didn't ask Ron herself? Because she was too immature, and insecure to do it, and when Krum, a 18 y.o. internationally famous sports star, asked her, she was as starstruck as a bookworm immature teenager can be... and all thoughs about Ron were forgotten (at least until she realized Krum was only an arrogant womanizer. As we saw in Bill's wedding).

A what about Ron? He was half year younger than Hermione. Boys reach puberty 1.5 - 2 years later than girls, so Hermione had 2 - 2.5 years of advantage over Ron. Hermione begun her puberty in second year. Remember Lockhart? (Yes. Hermione was as awful as Ron at the begining of her adolescence).

At the time of the Yule Ball Hermione was in the middle of a "hormone volcano", while poor Ron (and most boys, Harry included) was at the beginning of his puberty. When he saw Hermione, all feminine, dolled, and beautiful, but all for Krum, He suffered his very first sexual/romantic awakening... followed by his first broken heart, all in less than five seconds.

Not strange he was shocked, confused, angry and hurt... Poor Ron! Lol...
...

Not matter that, in 4th year Ron showed a great emotional maturity: Ron had a broken heart, and obviously, he said some hateful things that night, but at the next day he swallowed all his jealousy, and behaved as normal as possible, and perfectly polite towards Hermione.

What did Hermione in 6th year: He had a broken heart too, but she didn't said some hurtful things some night... She PHYSICALLY attacked Ron, and broke and destroyed their friendship for months... Only Ron's almost death forced her to stop her hateful and childish behaviour.

Ron at 4th year showed much more emotional maturity than Hermione in 6th. Nothing strange knowing Hermione never interacted with other children until Hogwarts (and then, she did only thanks to Ron). Hermione always was intellectually a step beyong her pairs, but a step behind them social and emotionally. (Maybe she was a very mild case of the asperger syndrome).

When someone need to say "no Ron-bashing", 80% prob. It's Ron bashing... Well... we'll see...
...

The Yule Ball!?... Uff... The time the "Mary Sue level" of JKR with Hermione went out of the scale! She gave (herself) Hermione a "prince charming" to go with her to the Yule ball!?

Honestly... Krum was a MUNDIAL FAMOUS 18 y.o. young adult, and Hermione was a total stranger, barely 14 y.o. ugly, nerdy, and bossy child. Krum asking her it's as believable (but as a bet with his friends) as Fleur accepting Ron's proposition and going with him to the ball. Zero.

At Bill and Fleur weeding, we knew the kind of arrogant idiot Krum really was:
"This girl is very nice-looking,” Krum pointed Ginny.
“She’s seeing someone. Jealous type. Big bloke. You wouldn’t want to cross him.” Said Harry, suddenly irritated.
Krum grunted. “Vot is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all the good-looking girls are taken?”

Yes, obviously the kind of sensible and shy man who could ask a 14 y.o. child to a ball. ROFLOL...
...

"He'd stood up to Ron about Hermione once before, hadn't he?... and it turned out great, hadn't it?... otherwise Hermione would've been smeared across the walls of the loo."

Not at all... What really happened:

"I've just thought - Hermione."
"What about her?"
"She doesn't know about the troll."
Ron bit his lip. "Oh, all right, but Percy'd better not see us."

It was Ron the one who decided to face the troll, and it was him the one to defeat it... So if it wasn't for Ron, Hermione AND HARRY "would've been smeared across the walls of the loo."
...

Turning about to face Ron, Harry said, "I think you'd better apologize to her."
Etc...

Totally OOC.
If it was Percy, or even Katie Bell or Alicia Spinnet, or some other grown-up girl it could be ok... but Harry!? Not believable at all.

1. Harry NEVER would have acted this way. He simply don't have the authority to speak like this to Ron.

2. Harry is as socially inept as possible. Harry don't know how to act when feelings are concerned. He didn't act in the yule ball with Hermione, nor with Ron... nor in 6th year with the "Hermione's jealousy meltdown"... He is totally useless in this matters.
...

This fic is not about Harry standing up to Ron, it's Harry magically growing into a mature 30 y.o. man. It's a pseudo Ron-bashing in this way: You make Harry (and Hermione will be, too. For sure) much more mature than the canon one, but you don't take the same courtesy with Ron. Why?
...

And if Harry was really so mature he would have said, long before the Yule ball, something like this:

Hermione, you are feminist, and a modern woman, etc... right? Then, as you obviously want to go with Ron to the Yule Ball, ASK HIM TO BE YOUR DATE! (Yes, she wasn't mature enough to ask Ron in 6th year, so in 4th much less, but still...)
Or
Hermione, Ginny... STOP BULLYING RON, because he can't help to felt Fleur's magic, or have you forgotten Ginny's first year and what magic can do to a person?
Or...
you know... this kind of things...

Obviously, they still need to talk to Neville, who will then suggest the Gillyweed of the task. Having Myrtle check on Snape and Crouch (Jr) was a brilliant idea, which could be quite telling later on. Having proper swimming gear will be very important for Harry, that and him using Robes like he was thinking would be disastrous for him as they would weight him down considerably as well as hamper his movements. Thank You. TTFN

Please write the next chapter already. Thank you very much. I really appreciated it and enjoyed it a lot.

It's his son Harry! Talk to Sirius! Will there be more?

I’m afraid that after reading about Harry, Geek of Magic, I’m spoiled. This basically canon Harry is much less interesting than your more original version of him.

This is brilliant. Do continue it.

Cool 2-shot. Standing up to our friends isn't easy. Sometimes we even lose them... been there done that!

Hope someone takes you up on continuing this. It's very interesting.

his

Intriguing.