hholidays posted a comment on Sunday 14th May 2006 1:43am

An excellent, emotional chapter. Riveting enough that I forgot to leave a review and barrelled right on into the next.

I especially liked the scene where James realizes that he has been betrayed by Peter... but then after their deaths, Peter can't help himself from showing his love for the two of them. It is such an insightful characterization on how a best friend can betray another to his death without having a malicious intent.

Your version of events just screams 'coward' of Peter, but he isn't malicious. Great.

hholidays posted a comment on Saturday 13th May 2006 6:14pm

Oh very excellent. I'm so disappointed that I have to stop reading for now. What a great chapter!

I had a few quibbles however. When is it mentioned that Mr. Weasley was an original member of the OoTP. I don't believe the Weasley's became involved until the second formation of the Order. Molly's brothers (Prewetts) were in the order, but not Mr. Weasley.

Second, it should be mentioned that Albus is incredibly unwise in his actions in this chapter. Whether or not this is 'in character' is a debate that has been raging in fan fiction for some time. Here is a hypothetical:

Snape is really a triple agent (i.e. his true loyalty is to Voldemort). In an attempt to completely destroy the Order, he sends Snape with a tale of Voldemort's demise... even going as far to smudge the Dark Mark. Then, hours later he sends Lucius Malfoy to 'verify' the tale. In turn Dumbledore outs his spy amongst the Order... which conveniently lets Snape observe every single member of the Order. Same with Lucius. Even more catastrophic, Voldemort uses his beacon system in reverse and when the signal is sent, Voldemort and all of his DE's attack the unsuspecting Members of the Order.

Although this hypothetical clearly didn't occur, there is little to suggest that it couldn't have occurred. By bringing Snape and Lucius to the order meeting, Dumbledore singlehandedly destroyed a year and a half of operational security measures.

I'm not sure if you intended this to be the case or not, but I figured I would point it out.

Aside from my niggling doubts, great chapter!

hholidays posted a comment on Saturday 13th May 2006 4:47pm

Oh goodness. Your backstory on the turning of Peter is so believable. I have never read MWPP era stuff and so I've never read a story which deals with the issues of the betrayal. This is coloring my understanding of the books so well. Characters with depth and believable motivations! Thanks.

hholidays posted a comment on Saturday 13th May 2006 4:17pm

That was an immensely powerful chapter. Very well written, I got a strong sense of realism from all of the characters. The marauder meeting was funny and you did a great job of justifying the decision to have Peter be secret keeper. Are we to assume that it was Albus in Scotland?

sanderquet posted a comment on Thursday 11th May 2006 9:39am

Wonderful story so far! I love the characterization, particularly of Harry, and the backstory with Peter and the elves was quite riveting.

AK posted a comment on Thursday 27th April 2006 4:22am

Interesting developement. Is this story really going to cover all 7 years?

Ishtar replied:

I intend to cover all seven years, and I have the general plot lines and developments worked out for all of them.   Harry's dream gives hints of things that will happen in the future, and as you can see, some of them show that things will have some similarities to canon, but they will also be different enough to keep things interesting.   Some things will remain the same, however:   Voldemort is a bad guy and Draco Malfoy is a git.  

AK posted a comment on Thursday 27th April 2006 2:44am

Hahahaha, pranked snape already!

AK posted a comment on Thursday 27th April 2006 2:10am

"We've tested that, too. We gave the potion to a cat, then chased the astral cat through the Veil. It came back just fine and reintegrated with its body when the potion wore off. Of course, it's been hiding under my desk ever since, but I'm sure I'll be able to lure it out eventually."
Poor kitty !!! how could you!

Funny thow, but I am wondering is dimension traveling going to play an important role in the story or not?

Liz Steiner posted a comment on Saturday 22nd April 2006 4:07am

I really enjoyed this story. Please continue writing.

Liz

Aurilia posted a comment on Friday 21st April 2006 12:45pm

It's an interesting tale you've spun so far. I do hope you continue it.

Quentin posted a comment on Sunday 16th April 2006 7:25am

Oh my gosh! I have been reading your fic straight-thru and I am hooked. Completely!

I have read a lot of HP fics and this one is just about the most amazing thing I've seen outside of the Draco Trilogy! You've a wonderful imagination, taking your fic places I wouldn't even have considered possible. I think to myself each time you introduce a new divergence, "Uh,oh, this cannot be good. It is too far from canon." Yet in a few paragrahs I'm ready to accept the twist and am looking forward to what you do with it.

You wouldn't believe the sense of suprise and disappointment when I came to the end of this chapter and there was NO NEXT Chapter. Please tell me that you're going to continue this fic?
I am enjoying it so much!

As I metioned, I have read a lot of HP Fanfics. A good many of them wouldn't be suitable as recommendations to introduce a newbie to the genre. Yours, I would be able to recommend without reservation. Please continue!

DreamRed posted a comment on Saturday 15th April 2006 12:05am

Wow. Really wow. Brilliant story, I really enjoyed it. I look forwards to the next update.

dragongirlg posted a comment on Thursday 13th April 2006 2:56pm

Really well done - I did not expect Harry to be in Hufflepuff at all, but you've set it up so that it works very well. I love how you've integrated the events in canon with the fic - the subtle and obvious differences both. Snape's characterization is 3-D - a great accomplishment - and I love the new Marauders. You've created a really wonderful universe here; I hope you update soon.

dragongirlg posted a comment on Wednesday 12th April 2006 11:02am

This is so original and so well-written. I love how SNAPE is the figurehead for the wizarding world...how funny. And Peter's death, and his now ghost form - wow. That's something I didn't see coming. I wonder how the Fidelius is going to break.

Again - wonderful. Could be published.

dragongirlg posted a comment on Wednesday 12th April 2006 6:41am

This is a really wonderful fic! You've made MWPP and Lily very three-dimensional and very realistic; I love how you show how Peter's mind works and the reason for his betrayal. Your writing is very good; it flows easily and draws me in very well. I'm going to continue reading - I can't wait to see what you do with the universe and characterization.

Mickey posted a comment on Monday 10th April 2006 5:12am

I just finished rereading what youe posted so far. Have you abandoned the story or will it be updated sometime?

Some stuff I particularly liked in the story:

-Harry doing non-standard magic with a solid reasoning for how and why he can do it.

-Harry using simple spells to get the results he wants.

-A group OTHER then the canon trio as the main characters.

-Your description of the Hupelpuff Sete and the comparison of all four houses way of welcoming new students.

-Your depiction of Peter

jackattack posted a comment on Wednesday 5th April 2006 9:53pm

"Tuesday's child is full of grace." We can argue that Harry's placement at the Dursley's was, metaphorically, a rebirth. Having them discover him on a Tuesday may well have been a very deliberate literary device.
_________________________

I've never understood the compulsion to nail down the exact real-world dates of events in fictional stories.

A good story (of this type) is timeless, and eschews things that will "date" it -- things like the name of the (actual) current Prime Minister, references to real-world singers, and so forth will be kept notably absent in the interest of allowing future readers to connect to the story as something that could be happening in their present, not something that happened "a long time ago". Someday, I might sit down with children of my own to read the books and watch the DVDs, and I'm glad that I won't have to stop every twenty minutes to explain about various people or events that have nothing to do with the story itself.

I'm also amazed at how bound fanfic authors allow themselves to be by those dates, especially when writing crossovers. I don't care when the first season of Buffy aired versus the publishing date of Rowling's third book -- if your story works better having all of the characters being the same age, just make a quick author's note and be done with it. Don't send Harry and his friends careening through time so you can have your story coincide with real-world events; it's overly complicated and opens meta-story issues that might detract from the parts of the story you care about. Just pick up the entire Potter universe and plunk it down WHEN you need it to be.

Finally, I want to say I find it extremely annoying when a fanfic author insults their source author. JKR's writing methods and priorities may differ from yours, but that does NOT make her "lazy".

Jennifer Moffett posted a comment on Saturday 1st April 2006 5:36am

I truly enjoy this wonderful story.

Please, continue with this delighful tale

Mariposa posted a comment on Friday 31st March 2006 2:02am

OMGoddess! The part about Remus being a witch is having me in stitches right now! ROTFLOL! Damn I loved that, I can imagine him laughing so hard about it when he figured that out!!!!! What a great cover for the muggles. You just made my day so much brighter than it had been. Its been a little rough the past couple of days but thank you so much for putting that in and I think it was magick that brought me to read it today.

Mari - Eclectic Pagan

Ishtar replied:

Being of the eclectic pagan sort myself, I had always wondered what the Wizards would think of Muggle ideas of Wicca.   So I decided to put a little touch of it in the story.   The books are real and were ones that would have been available in England at that time, and the blonde in the pictures in the books is real and Sirius would definitely have approved of a religion like that, I think ...   ;D

Mouse posted a comment on Tuesday 21st March 2006 9:41am

This is a excellant story and I can't wait for the next chapter to be updated.