Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past
Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
By Viridian
Reviews
haphazard1 posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 4:14pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
Ah, an excellent new chapter of this outstanding story. Just the thing for a pleasant evening of fic reading.
So much happened in this chapter, I'm not sure where to start. The talks about the original timeline with Ginny and Hermione were really well done, with hefty emotional impact. Harry's thought about progressively draining an infected wound was spot on, methinks.
The confrontation with the Slytherins was nicely handled; I loved seeing the six working as a tightly coordinated unit. Dumbledore took another wrong turn, but Harry's (and McGonagall's) reaction, combined with his legilemency on Flint and Parkinson, may have been precisely the wake-up call he needed.
The quidditch and the tournament were fun, and I'm guessing Ginny having won may turn out more important than it initially appears. I'm looking forward to summer at the Burrow, and the reactions of the various Weasleys as they master Occlumency and learn the full story. Percy especially should be interesting, if things go that way.
Great work, and you've made me VERY curious about third year. Just what will change, and how will the dementors still come into play? Don't keep us waiting TOO long, please?
Ivy_Snowe posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 3:38pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
Brillinat. Freaking brilliant. I think I say that alot when I review your fic, but honestly, it is. So, I'm glad that Dumbledore is finally getting a clue, but that decision he made was very foolish, I know why he did it, and yes, he did rescind the punishment, but still, Harry has the right of it in the end. It was nice to see a more developed reaction to his finally telling the truth to his friends, I'm a bit relived to tell you the truth. The tournament was fun. Cheers.
~Ivy
anonymous5 posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 3:33pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
Spectacular! And thanks to you, I am going to be useless at work tomorrow. "Oh, it's nearly bedtime. Lemme just check ffa.net and see if anybody has upda- wait, bedtime? What bedtime...?" :P
This chapter was just light enough to balance out the heavy chapter immediately before it... and your method of achieving some degree of redemption for the headmaster manages to be both unique and totally in-character. I am most most satisfied. That said, update again! like tomorrow maybe. that'd be spiffing. :D
Jim_xinu posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 3:13pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
Nice chapter, thanks for sharing it with us.
Terry Swain posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 3:09pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
Great chapter. :)
Sean Dillon posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 3:08pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
Glad to see the update but was kind of hoping to see a bit of the confrontation between Snape and Dumbles after the kids left the office. Did Snape quit or did Dumbles sack him?
Evan Mayerle posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 2:54pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
Yes, a different evolution that slowly diverges from canon. You're doing a very nice job here; each divergence shifting things a bit farther in a most plausible manner.
nancy in chicago posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 2:44pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
loved the quidditch match -- normally I find them boring, but you made the strategy interesting!
nancy in chicago
Love the rest of the story too, btw
Nightwing510 posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 2:15pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
I enjoyed reading your story. I liked how you had Harry & the others stop the ambush the Slytherins tried. Please update soon.
freakyfinger posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 2:03pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
I really thought Harry would just breeze through his duels . . . nice twist!
Viridian replied:
Harry is superior in some ways, but I'm not making him a full-blown super-Harry. Unstoppable heros are boring. The merged magical cores do give him a lot more casting power than he has any business possessing, but that can be a liability in and of itself, as Harry will discover...
Lincoln posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 2:01pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
Not bad,
Held more conversations and activities than i was expected. I'm pretty impressed. I enjoy Harry and Ginny finally getting closer together.
The tournament held a few surprises for me. Glad to see Ginny coming into her own.
Can't wait for your next installment. Who'll they come across in the holidays? Will Dumbledore thaw out? How will Molly react to seeing her little girl's trophy?
I hope i don't have to wait another month to find out!
Thanks,
Lincoln
Katherine posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 1:53pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
Damn I love this story. And I just love that you write long chapters. That is a bonus in my book. I am glad that Ginny won the dueling Tournament. And I can't wait for Molly to find out. I am glad that Harry has so many loyal friends that are willing to listen and that he feels comfortable telling such terrible things too. And I have to agree with Ginny her childhood is now over. They know the truth and it is time to grow up and act more like adults. Because they are Harry's friends and if they want to survive when the war restarts. I do wonder if Sirius was able to track down any Horcruxes between Christmas and summer break? Can't wait to see if Mr. and Mrs. Weasley got their Occlumancy shields up to par the same with Percy. I'm going to love that long drawn out conversation/shouting match. Can Harry or even Hermione come to the conclusion that the muggle parents of muggleborns are in danger and need to learn to defend themselves? I think learning martial arts and being able to shoot a gun will increase their chances of survival. Keep up the great work!!
Stone Cold posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 1:52pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
What a great story. I loved this update. Absolutely loved it.
Luna as always is very amusing, and I'm so glad you write Ginny in ways that she doesn't become a Mary Sue like in canon.
Excellent story, and I can't wait for more, especially the big talk with the Weasley parents. And everyone finally meeting Sirius.
Anne B. Walsh posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 1:46pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
Marvelously funny/exciting/nicely characterized chapter, as usual. One quibble - Harry says to Hermione that the second year Transfiguration exam was a long time ago for him. Weren't exams canceled that year? Or did he just mean that he'd studied for it/learned those concepts a long time ago?
Viridian replied:
He meant that the class (and more importantly the exam revision) was a long time ago for him.
amulder posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 12:26pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
PS: Reviewer "Clayton" seems to be operating under a bit of a misunderstanding. This is a H/G (ultimately) story after all, and Harry has many times thought about how hard it was to lose the future Ginny. Who else do they expect Harry to confide in?
amulder posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 12:23pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
Good job.
Now that Harry has had two "confession" sessions, I noticed no further mention of trouble sleeping. Are we done with that?
Very interesting have McGonagall blow up at Albus like that. Seems like it took. For now. He won't listen to Harry, at least he'll listen to an "adult".
I do look forward to the scene, no doubt far in the future, where Harry finally explains to Dumbledore that Albus' *own* portrait advised Harry to *not* confide in Albus.
When *are* you going to have Harry use that gun? Maybe he should actually give it to Sirius. Sirius is the one out in the field after all.
One niggling question, though... Hermione was writing all kinds of things down during her "interrogation" of Harry... isn't it rather dangerous to write *anything* down? What if someone goes through her things? What if her trunk is stolen? What if *Dumbledore* has a snoop when he gets suspicious?
I know, it is a bit much to expect them to keep track of everything simply in their heads, but it still is a risk.
Thanks for sharing,
...art
Viridian replied:
He's still going to have problems at times, when his stress level is high. PTSD tends to be somewhat chronic in nature for people that suffer from it. But as he said, his emotional roller-coaster is on an up-swing since he told the truth and his friends accepted it. In a way, Ginny is shouldering some of his burden, and it does weigh her spirit down at times.
Hermione is relaxing her guard a bit now that Snape is gone. Hopefully she's being appropriately cryptic in her notes - with a little window-dressing, someone who read it might think she was outlining a very unbelievable story she wanted to write.
Thanks for the kind words,
-Matthew
angrymonkey posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 11:59am for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
As usual a good chapter. The only thing that tends to bug me about the story is that when it comes to dueling, Harry's abilities seem to be down played. Even if he were restricted by the rules of a tournament, he still has an extra 15 or so years practice on things like aiming and, just as important, timing. It seems that these would actually be more important than what spells you were allowed to shoot off.
That said, I have to admit down playing Harry is beter then doing the oposite and Marie Sueing him.
One thing I have quite enjoyed about the last couple of chapters is that you manage to keep most of the characters multilayered. i.e. when Snape is delivering the potions to Pomfrey and is told that Harry might not wake up, you have him go very pale.
Snape may be a complete ass and in the end a death eater, but at least he still has some guilt about assisting in the death of a 12 year old... At least that's how I read it and I find it makes his character more realistic.
Anyway I'll wrap this up. By the way I read some of the posts on your yahoo group and some of your fans are downright scary!
Angrymonkey
CootiePatootie posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 11:29am for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
Viridian;
Wonderful, wonderful update. I truly, truly love this story.
Hermione's list of questions was truly great. So, um, Hermione like. ;-)
I like the newer, bolder version of Ginny, but I am also glad she still has her moments of uncertainty. It is nice to remember that no matter how much of a heads up they have via Harry, and no matter how much training they do, that they really are still very very young.
I like the way you've resolved the "hiding things" issue. I think Harry still has a bit of growing to do until he can realize the loyalty of his friends. I think you picked exactly the right ones to have full disclosure, as well.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE getting rid of Snapie poo. The retaliatory attack was disturbing though...hard to think of so much evil there.
Must ask though, is Dumbledore EVER going to get a clue? Swaying someone from the Dark is a laudable ambition, but it must be done fairly. People have to take responsibility for their own actions. I hope his "glimpse" into Flint's head teaches them this.
Again, great update. The end of the year just left me feeling very good about the future of our group.
Ta,
CootiePatootie
vl100butch posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 11:25am for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!
I hope your muse tells you to keep writing quickly---I enjoy this story very much and like how you have made the scenairo very beliveable.
millercommamatt posted a comment on Thursday 29th June 2006 4:33pm for Conversations, Confrontations, and Quidditch!