By Viridian
Reviews
Ltank687 posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 9:39am
great, i really enjoyed it.
But i believe that most reviews will be saying, "take as long as you need, we love you!", I have to sincerely respond with dissapointment at the amount of time it took to update. Understandably it takes a while due to outside circumstances, but Bobmin puts out huge chapters every month, all the time. The regularity or lack of in updating is harming the story.
I love this story, please do not give it up, but 4 months is a long time, also.
00_Knight posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 9:30am
That is an interesting Cliff Hanger! will it be a dementor, or will it be like the one Molly tried to defeat in Order of the Pheonix? I shall wait (im)patiently for your next update! =D
Gena posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 9:01am
omg you left off at that no please update soon. Me and my best friend were talking about you because we thought you died because it had not been updated so long. We know you didm't but this is one of my favorite fanfiction out there . Thanks it is so good cant wait for you to update. You know just a thought the Boggart part is great but what is going to happen
Evan Mayerle posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 8:31am
A good chapter that sets things up for the coming year. *chuckle* Nicely done cliffie, too. I don't see the trunk as being overused, it exists as part of the world and I'd hardly expect him to ignore the possibilities since he can easily afford one.
wjwarren4269 posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 8:13am
Actually, the use of the magical truck is far less cliche in this story than others. Unlike the "traditional" shopping spree story, this one has, a long duration into the story, a single item bought after an incident with trunk theft. *scratches head* In fact, the shopping spree is the cliche.
PhiloWorm posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 8:11am
Good point with the cliché thing at the end there, actually I don't really think trunks of that nature are cliché at all. It is a fact that they are used, often for travel if I remember correctly... I think Mr. Weasley mentioned it in book 4.
Quite the nasty cliffhanger at the end there, now you'll have me wondering whatever it can be untill you manage to release the next pice of this 'lil baby here.
I look forward to see it.
Leticia posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 7:51am
Oh come on! That’s just a cruel, ridiculous and slightly contrived place to end a chapter. I’ve half a mind to storm off in a huff! But I’d only be spiting myself if I annoyed you, so I shall instead quell my curiosity and ire and subside grumbling into a review. Because as always this was most enjoyable. And at least there’ll be lots to speculate about. Of course, that speculation comes with the risk of someone thinking of a more dramatic boggart than you and making the real one a bit of an anticlimax, but you don’t get to become a great author if you’re scared of the inferiority of your own ideas, and you’ve always pulled through so far, so I’m not too worried. But I’m digressing.
Well. First, what an incredibly ominous title. My excitement was quite quelled when that popped into my Inbox and anxiety took its place. And indeed this was a rather… brooding chapter in my opinion. Well paced but with a definite taste of the pall of the dementors over the start and a great deal on the brink of explosion. One of the things I like about your Harry POV, that was especially noticeable in earlier chapters, is the sense you get of his state of mind. That is, you don’t really sense it too overtly. A lot of the time Harry is in fact rather depressed, the first chapter did end with him committing suicide, but you don’t feel the need to sink into a quagmire of angst to get this across. Harry doesn’t cease functioning because this is how he has functioned for years, and he doesn’t feel sorry for himself, because that is emphatically not the way he works (something many ff authors can’t see), but the darkness of his memories is reflected in little moments and the glances and actions of those around him that he half observes. This chapter Harry was worse off than he’s been in a while because of the dementor presence, and I could tell this without you spelling it out explicitly every few moments. So well done!
Of course, my first fear when I saw the chapter title was that there might be a bit of a negative reaction to Harry’s article, but so far that has yet to explode. I think Dumbledore is getting closer to the state of mind where Harry could actually trust him than ever before, and for the first time I find myself truly wishing that Harry could have him fully on his side knowing everything and thinking that it might actually be possible. Dumbledore seems to have lost at least a little of that sense of infallibility that makes him so dense at times and might even be noticing things that Harry does to help his friends, rather than seeing him manipulating them into loyalty. And I long for Harry to make Dumbledore see the damage he does my taking so much on himself, though I feel it was only perhaps in this chapter that I myself really saw it.
"The weakness rotting away the core of society was concealed as long as Dumbledore was there to hold Voldemort in check — the only one he really feared."
That’s the best explanation I’ve heard yet in this story for the speed and depth of the wizarding world’s collapse. I was left feeling really rather deep and thoughtful.
Slughorn is just masterful. I was so happy in HBP when we got a Slytherin who was definitely not evil and clever enough to be ambitious without enslaving himself to a psychotic murderer, and you made him shine here. I’d actually forgotten he was going to be here till he was introduced, so it was a lovely surprise. Ambitious doesn’t mean backstabbing and I hope that Slughorn’s sensible non-society-destroying spin on being Slytherin will filter down into the rest of his house and make things better for everyone, them included. The contrast between Snape and Slughorn’s better teaching and leading style drew yet more attention to Dumbledore’s failings as a Headmaster and as the "Light Leader".
Harry’s increased popularity surprised me. I suppose this time he has drawn even more attention to himself, avoided being seen as the Heir of Slytherin and got rid of the two worst things about Hogwarts, so I’m not sure why it did. Excellent glimpse at how smarter management of himself and self-awareness has affected the public’s perspective though. He’ll need that buffer of good will as he’s getting into a guerrilla press war with Fudge and the pureblood bigot brigade.
Finally Harry gets a decent trunk. Yes cliché, but unignorable. And since you didn’t put a flat inside, so you escaped the true trunk cliché. I’ll never understand why Harry doesn’t do this in canon. You can have a room in a trunk. How would that not be useful in everything from staying at the Dursleys to a Horcrux Hunt?
I’m sad that Harry isn’t in CoMC, but glad he has reaffirmed his wish to stay close to Hagrid and that he escaped any offence by seemingly not knowing who the new Professor would be. I hope that Harry helping some students manage their books filtered down into all the classes to make Hagrid’s first lessons easier. And I love Harry and Hermione subtly helping him with his lessons. You also managed to make a bit of sense of Hagrid’s attitude to his more dangerous creatures. He hasn’t put himself in the shoes of a normal sized person, but I suppose I hadn’t really put myself in his. It was also good to see Harry’s foreknowledge still doing some good, relatively minor though it was. With all the changes this year I had wondered what he could still use.
"Ginny held hers in, but her eyes were flashing with amusement in a way that was rather distracting." I just really like that line with its hints of her eyes catching the firelight in OotP.
"My predecessor’s notes were especially concerned with this year". I would like to see those notes. Given how little Snape did to stop the rampant sabotage, despite the real danger, I’d like to know what tone they took in describing it.
I know you didn’t create this, but I just love the title Numerology and Gramatica. I don’t think a less appealing book title could exist. I can’t believe that after a whole lifetime having escaped reading it Harry is not only studying it, but has now dragged all of his friends into the area. Fate is truly not immutable if Ron is reading it too.
Speaking of fate’s immutability, I suppose I have to wonder a bit at the boggart. What could it be? I would have been tempted to expect a variation of Mrs Weasley’s, but that might not stand up to several months as a cliffhanger and "something seemed to peer at him" doesn’t sound like a dead body. I’ll have to have a look at some of the inevitable speculation on the Yahoo group and try not to think about it.
Finally, DH is but scant months away and is obviously going to be done before this. Do you think this will affect your writing? I’m pretty sure that HP isn’t going to end in the near Armageddon that this does and that some things will be revealed that will contradict NFP "canon", but will that stop you enjoying writing this? I desperately hope not.
Prince Charon posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 6:57am
You're very good at this.
Thank you for updating.
Please don't leave us hanging over this cliff for to long!
Wolfric posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 6:48am
Great Chapter. I like this story very much. I expected a bit more consequences for Harry's article but I'm sure it will crop up somewhere along the line. I would rather have a chapter that is well crafted and time spent on it than a pile of drek in a shorter span of time. Thank you for all your efforts on this excellant story. W.
siaru posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 6:32am
Actually, a periodic Boggart test isn't a bad idea for Team-Gryffie, so as to remain forewarned about each one's worst lurking fear so Boggarts won't be as effective if set as traps.
The trunk is fine. You didn't send Harry on an endless Harry-Does-Diagonal shopping spree complete with professional potions kit and condiments rack as in "Power of Thyme", after all.
Maybe Hagrid will bring out Aragog in his class this time around. Just to see if the Slytherin Bookends have learned about respect at all, y'know. And if Macnair is sent out with his axe afterwards, that'll be one less DE to worry about.
Harry taking Arithmancy for its spell-alteration possibilities could be very significant. He's seen Dementors die; at what point does he look into modifying a Patronus to destroy them portably? Maybe an 'Injecto Patronum'? He's unique in having both the desire and the power to do such a thing. Dumbledore and Riddle are both fighting to preserve the status quo so they can play King of the mountain atop it, and Dementors are important pieces on that chessboard.
Great read as always; thank you for sharing it with us.
Lufio posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 6:30am
Oh, that was just cruel, man. Plain mean that was to end the chapter before Harry found out what is the physical representation of his inner-most fear was. Heh. You're doing a great job in whetting a reader's appetite for the next chapter.
Slughorn. What a Slytherin should be. Good of you to portray his ambitions as symbiotic to contrast the parasitic actions of the Death Eaters. Also liked the alternate scenes for the classes. Too many re-do stories simply re-do scenes. Boooring. Hope to read more instances of the Gryffindor Six saving Hagrid's class from Hagrid. Those scenes were amusing.
Ashwin posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 5:20am
good chapter....was a bit since the last chapter...nonetheless....was an interesting read
Terry Chang posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 5:00am
Personally i think you're writing is different enough from all the typical cliches that when you do hit upon a cliche it's doesn't really stand out as a cliche. to me it's just one of those things that always occurs in the potter universe (gawd i hope that made sense).
Jamey posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 4:47am
Well, *HUH!!!!*
I just got finished reading this chapter, and was rather jarred to discover that yes, I *HAD* read 10,000 words! It just slipped by so effortlessly! Really excellent work!
Mickey posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 4:41am
That's an EVIL place to break off!
as for the magical trunk, I agree it makes sense, at least in the form you used (Harry getting a standard Auror magical trunk makes sense, Harry getting a unique, one of a kind magical trunk does not).
One problem with this chapter, while Harry had never taken Arithmacy or ancient runes in class he had picked up at least the basics of the subjects at some point (otherwise the spell he used to go back in time would have been impossible, even with the assistance of Albus' portrait.)
The Unicorn
P.S
When are you going to actually DO something with the gun?
The Unicorn
Sean Dillon posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 4:31am
So what's the monster in the box? And is Dumbles going to get clued in this year?
anonymous5 posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 4:30am
There is very little that beats the feeling of seeing a new chapter has gone up in arguably the very best fic I've ever read. While it's no fun waiting, it's all so suddenly and unexpectedly VERY worthwhile. Great chapter! I miss some of the more all-permeating details and action of previous chapters, but none of your writings have ever disappointed, so I'm not concerned. Lookin' forward to the next one. Thank you for making my Saturday.
Kal posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 4:25am
ARRRRRGH! Evil Ending!!!!!! :)
Thanks for continuing one of the better stories on the net! As always, we wait with baited breath for more....
Quizer posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 4:18am
You updated! It's been a while since your last one, hasn't it? The wait was well worth it though.
I like your characterization of Slughorn, and his first lesson. Phrases like 'How Slytherin of you' have become so prevalent in fanfiction that they are a cliché as well, but your description of Slughorn's personality and handling of the students is far more apt than any I've seen before.
I also like how Harry preemptively counters the problems Hagrid likely faces as an instructor. Malfoy may be gone, but his goonies are still there, and I personally believe that there might be more to their actions than just lack of common sense, as Harry puts it. Any comments?
No need to apologize for using a magical trunk - this became necessary when the break-in into the luggage compartment of the express happened midway during Harry's second year. Besides, your approach is already novel in that you didn't make a big fuss about the trunk.
We didn't see a lot of reactions to Harry's interview, for all the sledgehammer-like subtlety it possessed - apart from the short segment with Dumbledore. The end of that piece makes it clear that Dumbledore doesn't really 'get with the program' yet - he simply doesn't understand yet. If he did, he would already be contemplating shooting down old Cornelius. I wonder, why did Dumbledore ever get him in installed as minister in the first place? (I might be misremembering fanon here, but I do think it was this way around, not the other way.)
Shame on you, giving us an evil cliffie! :(
If we could see the variable timeline, this would be another place with many diverging lines. Depending on what happens, Lupin might have no clue as to what Harry's fear actually is, or whatever the Boggart shows might neccessitate Harry bringing Remus into the fold. I'm looking forward to the resolution of this situation. Towards which direction will it go?
Thanks for another great chapter, I'm already awaiting the next!
Quizer
Ramos posted a comment on Saturday 3rd March 2007 10:51am