By Anne B. Walsh
Reviews
Ken Warner posted a comment on Monday 7th August 2006 5:23am
You can keep adding as many epilogues and side stories as you would like... as long as they are as entertaining as this has been.
thanks so much for the many hours you have given me.
warm regards
Tildessmoo posted a comment on Sunday 6th August 2006 11:43am
Sorry, I just had to do it. And I'll probably come up with more verses, too.
Based on the "Silly Fish Song" created by Sirius Valentine "Padfoot" Black and Harry James Potter-Black
A Guide to the Quest for the Animagus Vocation
All know that the greatest feat for a mage of great sophistication
Is that act that I prefer to call "animagication."
It's something that to learn requires great determination,
And brings, to one successful, universal admiration.
So, I say, before you are overwhelmed with anticipation
That you should listen to my informative oration,
For, if you wish to perform this feat of prestidigitation,
You shall need a heaping bit of careful preparation.
Others can say how to prevent criminal litigation,
Or how to write that which shall be your narration,
But none but I shall give such practical observation
Which surely will prevent uncomely mutilation.
For example:
If you want to be a fish, you’ll need some cogitation:
Bring a bucket when you do your head transfiguration.’
You have to be near water when you try your transformation,
And don’t run out of air before you complete your incantation.
Birds are all the rage in every European nation,
But poultry is all the rage for local culination,
So if your form is fowl, for your own preservation,
Stay a human lest you suffer supper's mastication!
Wizards of the Orient should care for more than pronunciation,
For meanings change when you alter your vocal intonation!
Thus, unless you wish your magic to have a misinterpretation,
Change your larynx last to avoid this complication.
Evan Mayerle posted a comment on Sunday 6th August 2006 11:06am
*snicker* I loved that ending on a light note. I'm looking forward to the next story.
Rebel Goddess posted a comment on Sunday 6th August 2006 5:18am
Loved the letters and the silly fish song especially. Great chapter. More please in FD.
Aberbadger posted a comment on Sunday 6th August 2006 3:55am
What was the tune that the fish song was sung to? I was almost to think Californication, but the Peppers didn't release that until '99/2000, did they? What I want to know is where Umb*tch is - I read chapterwise, rather than going through it in one go, and I've lost track of her! Have you finished the main plotpoints yet, or are you still writing Facing Danger up? I know it takes a while to lay the track, once you've decided on the destination (and starting point) as it were. Just a matter of personal curiosity.
Serendipity posted a comment on Sunday 6th August 2006 2:55am
*snickers* That was great. The letter was an interesting touch - I thought for a minute that it might have been Lily who wrote it, but the fcat that it was Danger is so much better.
Cheers,
~*~LIZ
n4zhg posted a comment on Saturday 5th August 2006 5:10pm
You know, Danger's going to have a heart attack when she realizes that Harry and the Dursleys are in her old house. I'd like to see her answer to Harry's question.
karina82 posted a comment on Saturday 5th August 2006 4:52pm
good thing to see albus actually take some time and give harry some information. i hope his month stay with the dursleys goes by quickly.
always glad to see padfoot take his godfather role seriously and check on harry.
can't wait to see dangers reaction to harrys question.
freakyfinger posted a comment on Saturday 5th August 2006 4:40pm
Who wrote the letter???
Gardengirl posted a comment on Saturday 5th August 2006 3:32pm
You wicked tease! Lots of planning? Unfinished hungry plot bunnies? A pox on them all. Dragon pox, of course.
Oh well. As always, I loved this. I look forward to more as soon as humanly possible. So - feed your muse well, and keep up the fantastic work!
Bethany posted a comment on Wednesday 2nd August 2006 5:40pm
Once again a wonderful chapter. I must say I am itching with curiousity to know what is in the letter from I assume Blaise.
And I don't know if I missed something, but why is Sirius going to be gone??
You are a very talented writer and I enjoy your work so very much. I can't wait to see what comes next!!
Rebel Goddess posted a comment on Wednesday 2nd August 2006 12:37am
It's going to be a very long month for all concerned I suspect. I like the way you dealt with the graveyard scene by killing Cedric, as it basically had to happen, and with Fudge. Excellent story. I can't wait for more. Poor Harry, but at least things are nowhere near as bad in this as they are in cannon.
Rebel Goddess posted a comment on Tuesday 1st August 2006 10:57pm
Moody made me grin as always but I understand the more serious point. Great chapters.
Rebel Goddess posted a comment on Tuesday 1st August 2006 10:40pm
I love the way you sorted Tonks and Charlie out. Clever. I rather like the musical though question its usefulness as part of the Triwizard Championship. It's good fun.
Rebel Goddess posted a comment on Tuesday 1st August 2006 9:11pm
Loved your lightning quick insertion of Luna. Somehow the idea of her and Draco together really works in this story, though I'd hate it in cannon. Giggling over Neville, not Ron, being the one to mess it up this time.
Rebel Goddess posted a comment on Tuesday 1st August 2006 8:41pm
"Winky is bearing up with her disgrace, and finding a new home with a new family to serve" was such a great line. The custody battle was wonderful, but once again I had the lingering suspicion that things couldn't actually go that wrong. You seem to enjoy happy endings too much. Fantastic story.
Rebel Goddess posted a comment on Tuesday 1st August 2006 8:57am
Forgot to say before: loved the kids doing Monty Python. Now I also love the way you suggested a Romeo & Juliet affair between two house elves. I've got bad couplets running through my head now.
Nial posted a comment on Tuesday 1st August 2006 8:42am
I've loved the story, but... just like canon, after a massively traumatic experience, he goes straight off to the Dursleys with zero support. This time he doesn't even have an owl, and Dudley's a death eater. Or as good as.
I honestly don't see how he can get through it without serious damage.
I dunno. I'm puzzled by the way the Pack parents always just do whatever Dumbledore says. Like the whole ridiculous tri-wizard competition - when Dumbledore announces that Harry has to compete, whether he likes it or not, and they just meekly accept it. And what follows - disaster after disaster, right there in Hogwarts, yet no one seems to question the notion that Dumbledore's got everything under control.
At the moment the attitude seems to be, "Harry - it's your job to handle every kind nastiness that happens, and without any kind of complaint on pain of being called a whiner; and we, the adults, have no responsibility at all to make things better." It's one kind of child rearing, I guess, but I really wonder what will happen when Harry decides he's finally had enough of it.
Anne B. Walsh replied:
Harry has Hedwig. Sorry if that wasn't mentioned explicitly. How do you know he's going to have no support while he's there? Sirius is off on some unexplained errand, after all...
The Pack-parents don't "always just do what Dumbledore says" because it's what Dumbledore says. They do it because they don't have a lot of choice. The Tournament, as noted in canon, was a binding magical contract. Why didn't Dumbledore pull Harry out of the Tournament? Because, in both worlds, the alternative to letting him compete was obviously worse.
In this case, Harry can stay with his family but be open to Voldemort's mental intrusions whenever Voldemort feels like it, or he can be away from them for a while (in contact more or less continuously, I might add) and safer mentally. Plus, if anything were to start happening to him, the Pack-parents would know and there would be skid marks on whatever it is you Apparate through.
Rebel Goddess posted a comment on Tuesday 1st August 2006 4:57am
Quick catch up review while things progress more quietly: Minerva's reaction to the book was excellent. I like that Danger and Remus sicken when parted. I like that Harry has finally fully become his animagus self. So it's Blaise writing the letters? Theodore Nott's doubts about evil are very good. My only criticism is that things get fixed too fast and with too few long lasting consequences. A problem barely arises before it gets solved and the characters end up feeling a bit too safe because they keep escaping things without serious long lasting damage. So while I liked the way you put Draco in harm's way because of his father, I never really thought he was going to die. Otherwise excellent story.
pstibbons posted a comment on Tuesday 8th August 2006 11:25am