Title: Sixth Year: The Steps Towards the End
Author: scaryisntit
Rating: T
Genre:Adventure/Drama
DLP Category: Independent
Pairing: Harry/Multi (Not a Harem)
Chapters: 20
Words: 285,066
Updated: September 12, 2013
Published: November 29, 2007
Status: Work in Progress
Summary: Harry Potter has spent his summer after fifth year dealing with the death of his beloved Godfather Sirius Black. As the Hogwarts new school year begins, Harry makes the choice to continue the DA to train, not only for lack of a decent DADA teacher, but to teach those whom he can trust how to defend themselves as the war begins to pick up pace. New friendships begin and old ones fade as Harry discovers who he can truly trust with his secrets, his life and even his heart.

Link: Linkage

Notes:

A 7 chapter, 76k word fic that is updated frequently and is basically a "Harry forms his own group" fic done correctly. The dialog in this fic is great and one the best handled traits of this fic is how the author handles characterizations. That and it's rather cliche free compared to a lot of fics in this genre.

About the pairings, the best thing here is to quote what the author said.

Ginny's character in this fic is perfect for us in that she's very, very easy to hate.

All in all, I thought this was a solid story so far.

4.5/5


Checked by Minion, September 15, 2013

 

What's Harry's skill level like?

And what about the level of Angst?

Should the answers be "high but realistic" and "low" then I'll read.

 

You already answered those questions yourself, Taure.

Competent and improving at a realistic speed and little to no angst.

 

The story is decent, but unfortunately, it does portray Death Eaters as retards. For example, in the very first chapter, it is implied that the magical world has no way of stopping a physical attack, and physical attacks are completely unexpected. Really?! No weaker wizard has tried to utilise his physical advantages before? What about giants and werewolves? Do they use magical attacks as well? One of my pet peeves is incompetent villains - this one fits the bill perfectly. I will give it a rating once I have read the existing chapters, but at the moment, I am not sure the story merits a good score.

Note to the author: If you want Harry to surprise his enemies (and the readers of the story), make sure it is surprising. Don't pretend an overused idea like a physical attack is unexpected. It won't work.
Regards,
Maidros

Edit:

Okay, having read the story, I must say I am rather impressed with the way the plot has been handled. While the dialogue and the analyses are top notch, the action scenes are the weaknesses in the story, particularly in Chapter 1. I really hope the author gives some credit to the Death Eaters for a modicum of competence - they would not be feared if they were totally idiotic. All said and done, I will be keeping an eye on the story.

Rating 4/5.

 

It's called an edit button, mate... Ask a mod to fix it.

I'll come back and edit this when I finish. I just didn't want one of the more excitable members to flip on him.

 

I noticed this story on quite a few c2s recently, but didn't read it until now. I have to admit that I'm far from disappointed. The physical fighting didn't bother me at all, I liked the battles, and the fact that the author managed to bring the characters back to life was highly appreciated. The only thing that got on my nerves was the occasional spelling error. Overall, the most interesting HBP AU I've read yet. I give this story a 4.5/5, and round my rating up to full marks because I'm in a very pleasant mood.

 

I really liked it, the dialogue is well-written, and the characters are well presented. I suppose the combat does leave something to be desired, but I can forgive it. 4/5

 

This is perhaps one of the best fics I have read in a fairly long time. Angst is very low, and there is actually some mystery involved. Although, the reader can readily figure out that some types of potions or spells are involved making people act the way they are acting, it's still not completly clear who did it, or who is in on it.

For my part, I have no problem whatsoever with the action scenes. True, you would think someone would think to physically attack their opponent if they were weaker. However, let me ask this, if you had a gun, and the person (you hated) was across from you with a gun. Would you try to physcially fight him, or would you try to pop a cap in his ass? Either way that was the only time physcial attacks were mentioned.

What is most intresting is Harry's characerization. The way it's written you can actually belive that if Harry would of put forth any effort whatsoever in canon, that this is what he would be like.

Sure there are a few grammer mistakes, but then I am not a grammer nazi and could care less as long as the plot is decent.

As of now I would give this fic a 5/5

 

Considering all the post OotP fics out there that are absolute tripe this is pretty damn good. The characters and dialogue are well written and the fic has so far avoided a good chunk of the cliché’s out there. Admittedly the action leaves something to be desired when compared to one of Jbern's fics.

But what really impresses me is the update rate 76,000 + words posted between November 29th 2007 and January 3rd 2008, a little over a month and the author has posted that much, which considering how long we're often waiting for updates is pretty sweet.

Overall, I'd give it bump it from a 3.5 to a 4/5 simply because of how prolific the author is.

 

This is good?

While I must admit the new stories added to ff.net lately have been largely of poorer quality, I don't think we're at the point where this is a good story in comparison.

There are more than a few usage, misspelling (Potter terms), and typo errors. The other POVs from the advent of Harry Potter are at best filler. And there is too much lecturing going on in lieu of conversations between teens.

That said, with a heavy handed beta it could be greatly improved. 2.5/5

 

Great story. Fucking great.

Every character is written superbly, even the OCs. For example: the OC in the beginning of the story.

The story is realistic, Harry is very smart but he's still Harry. His character is perfect.

Ok, the grammar is far from perfect, but get him a beta and it's all good.


4.5/5

 

He said he didn't like HBP but half the stuff he is doing is copying it. And the other half is recapping over the other 5 books with different POV's.

 

This is pretty straightforward in-canon post-OOTP fic, the kind of which were quite common 3-4 years ago. Harry grows magically and mentally, connects all the houses through DA, hooks up with a love interest or two and defeats Voldemort with the help of his friends. Absolutely nothing we haven't seen before.

That said, there's no denying this is a high-quality story. Slow detailed plotting and carefully planned in-canon characterization brings back memories of a different (better?) time, when fanfiction actually tried to mimic novels, instead of provide fans with a quick fix of their favourite fandom(s). There are problems of course, mostly dealing with many tedious recounts of the past and overdetailed romance, but so far, IMO the upisides more than make up for it.

 

I really enjoyed this story.

Pros: Good characterization, Nice Writing, Good Plot

Cons: Many, Many in-depth looks at character history.

Pros definitly outweigh the cons.

4/5

 

Well, this is a good one.

The author shows us different angles of the situations from various perspectives. The characters themselves are well described, especially how do they think etc thus giving us a more in-depth understanding of them, making them more real.

The plot is well developed without going too far with Harry's powers, although I find the notion of Death Eaters being mostly morons (aurors too) a bit annoying...

All in all, I'm looking forward to next chapters
4.5/5

 

I wouldn’t give this a 4 or 4.5 just yet.
So far, there is nothing extraordinary. Had to skip most of chapters 2-5, the POVs of each character about the past was boring.

I hope the author reconsiders the Harry/Hermione. I hate the pairing but absolutely can’t read fics involving victimized-Hermione at the hands of Ron.

2.5 for chapters 1-5
3.5 for 6 and 7.

 

Am I the only one who did not find this story anything special? Guess so, because after reading through the first five chapters I simply could not stay interested with it what so ever. The history lessons were boring and to me seemed like filler, and the character in-depths did nothing for me, except for Luna's which I found nice because she is one of my favorite characters. I'm going to have to pass on this story and look for something else.

3/5

 

Good!

overall, I like the idea of the story--the overview of each character was a nice critique of, well, each character, but did slow down the story's momentum. I like the pace as well, not too rushed in any way--tho don't slow it down anymore either.

4.5/5

 

It's brilliantly written, few mistakes, excellent characterization - in the end, something that easily outdoes HBP.

Harry doesn't suck for once, he hasn't been burdened with Chest Monster Syndrome, for any bird, and he's got a harem in the wings.

I love what the author's done with Hermione, Neville and Ron, too. What's the bet Mrs. Weasley's been dosing Hermione with Amortentia, funded by Ginslut's after-school activities?

And what can I say? I'm a sucker for H/Hr.

5/5

 

I found this fic somewhat lacking that little spark that sets the great stories apart form the average. You can't deny that this fic is well written with good characterizations, but that's as far as my compliments go. Bit too much on the slow side and without the "oomph" that stories such as Dakaath: Prince of Darkness provided for me to enjoy this.

3/5