Ask JKR. According to canon, love potions were fairly common. It was ok to use them to influence someone towards oneself. If the spell would fall under the same category as that, it should be legal too.

@Taure
I think you missed my point. Thing is, that potion/spell would induce lust/love in the target, which means the subsequent actions would be regarded as willful. Harry would WANT to screw the bejeezus out of Ginny, thus it wouldn't be rape. However, the fact that he even wants it means that his mind's been altered. As I said, depends on the legal system.

 

We've got an update.

 

The problem with this story is a fundamental structural problem, not a plot plausibility one. The author has written over 250,000 words and this has been the main plot thread. Yet the resolution of a quarter million words is... Ginny is grounded, Ron feels guilty and Dumbledore will write a strongly worded letter to Molly.

You can point out things, like that what Ron/Ginny did was basically like giving someone a roofie, that Ron has turned from "guy who was literally on his way to rape Hermione before Harry stopped him" into "poor sympathetic Ron", that the punishment for assaulting someone, wiping their memory and putting them under a controlling curse is apparently to feel weally, weally bad about it.

But the real problem is that it's just profoundly unsatisfying for that to be the denouement after all that buildup. They feel bad so let's not be meanies about it... teh end?

 

Dirk said it well. I liked this story at the start but it's been too many words for too little plot so far

 

That the story is slow paced has already been established. I don't really mind it. Slow paced stories are often the best ones.

However, this latest chapter has made me decide to stop reading, because of the complete character change Harry has undergone. For a story that was prevously strong on characterisation, it's a real pity, but never mind.

Harry in canon is no great believer in second chances. He is highly critical of the attitude Dumbledore takes towards people like Snape and Malfoy. He doesn't care that they may feel regret or that they could be redeemed; he wants justice. Harry's sense of justice - of bringing the bad guys up for their wrongs - is pretty much his defining characterisitic. To reverse this into a "turn the other cheek" attitude changes the entire character.

 

When I decided to leave Ginny's punishment as seclusion while still being able to have her education, I knew it wasn't going to be popular. Not at all. Honestly, if it were any other character, Dumbledore would have done something more, in my opinion. But with the Weasleys a part of the Order, who have helped him considerably over the years, I believe that Dumbledore would be more lenient towards them due to their outside of Hogwarts relationship.

I might as well tell you that Dumbledore has Molly's wizarding oath that she will not be allowed to mention the spell to anyone else, and she will also not be permitted to see Harry unless he instigates it, which is unlikely. Ron and Ginny won't be further involved with anything in regards to Harry either, of their volition. Despite what others may think, they have no intention of doing further wrongs.

If there were enough complaints in regards my choice, I would have changed it. But many were in the vein of not doing enough against the Weasleys because they are Weasleys, and that isn't an acceptable reason for me.

@ Taure. He does disagree heavily with Dumbledore's decisions, and yeah, I concede that he should have at least asked for why nothing more.

Guess I can't say much more, so I'll leave it there.

 

That's why he didn't pay back the Dursleys. That's why he let Draco and his father walk "nineteen years later".That's why he stopped Sirius and Remus from killing Pettigrew. That's why he didn't hunt down Umbridge.

Justice, in all cases 1. wasn't that clear cut or 2. wasn't as high in comparison to his other priorities.

 

My objection was just that it was a really boring end to a massively long plot thread. It's perfectly fine to have a nice long buildup, but you need to reward the reader with something at the end. It's as if the end of Deathly Hallows was "Then Voldemort fell down some stairs and broke his neck. Everybody celebrated.".

All the cliffhangers, all the "when will they figure it out", all the speculation... for "Ginny gets grounded". It's just very unsatisfying from a reader's perspective.

 

For the duration of this slow moving story, Harry has skirted the acceptable line in his behavior as it ( in the sense of badass independent Harry) It was with the hope that he'd continue down his independent and mature road that I continued reading this. Not only was the update a long time in the making, but it was utterly boring and unsatisfying.
Ron sets out to rape Hermione after trashing the dormitory and now not only is Harry almost chumming with him on the way into the Great Hall, but Neville too is feeling sympathetic?? Holy fucking shit rip my eyeballs out.
The Dumbledore scene was just some more of Harry bending over and taking it. Would any person on this planet not demand severe punishment for this situation? No. And now the author is indicating possible civil relations with Ronald in the future. Daphne has it right, although Id've used some harsher words.
And lastly as was pointed out earlier, this is just getting boring. As I waited for this update I prayed that it wouldnt be another chapter full of this drawn out love potion incident. Shit, the only semi interesting thing going on in this fic at all at the moment is the lingering hope of some Harry/Fleur interaction in coming chapters.
Maybe now that this love potion incident is out of the way the story will continue in a better direction, but the conclusion of these events should be raising red flags to everyone here...

No one updates for practically a month and my big update was this garbage chapter.

 

I'd definitely read that if I knew the alternative was something even gayer - like being killed by a Disarming Spell, for example. I mean, who'd actually write that ?

 

Really, Darren. I expected WAY better from you. How about an emotionally volatile reaction? Beating up/hexing severely followed by regret and THEN lowering the punishment to what you made it out? I mean, COME ON man! After a dozen chapters of build up, this is what we get? Shit man, I hope your story finale doesn't end up like this. Seriously dude, think about what you're doing to your readers. We started this story as it had awesome potential. Don't ruin it, please. Most people appreciate Independent Harry with a backbone and a harder attitude towards life. Not a wuss who's only reaction to a mind-fuck is "emotional exhaustion" and a desire to just let things be. What the FUCK. I'm sorry for the harsh words, but I REALLY expected better.

 

@ Dirk. Yeah, I understand. Don't worry, I really do. I don't like it much myself, to be honest. I'm going to think about this and I may very well edit the chapter.

@ OLayfe. Ron never set out to rape Hermione. He set out to do something to get her to notice him, but it wasn't rape.

Harry wasn't chummy with Ron. He spoke politely but not friendly. He isn't going to tell Ron to steer clear impolitely everytime he comes near. They live in the same dorm, and it is far simpler to be polite, not chummy, polite with Ron to make life easier than share angry words when they're near each other.

Neville only feels sympathetic because of how Ron has appeared to him since this started, and it hasn't been enjoyment on Ron's part. I plan to have Harry and Ron be polite with each other but that is as far as it goes. All Harry did was not rule out the possibility of being civil with each other in the future.

"The Dumbledore scene was just some more of Harry bending over and taking it. Would any person on this planet not demand severe punishment for this situation? No."

I disagree. Ginny can not interfere any further. That has been taken care of. Bringing it out further would result in the entire event being publicised, which would make the whole thing worse.

But, as I said, I am thinking about this.

 

I'm a bit conflicted on this myself. Reading that chapter a couple of times, there's a lot of emotion going on now. It would make sense that the readers (i.e. Us) would also respond emotionally.

The main problem is that we all have an opinion about Harry, his personality, and what he should do in certain situations; Be it Canon!Harry or Fanfic!Harry. Unfortunitly, people tend to forget that we are reading about what the author believes what Harry is/should/will be.

That said, this part seems difficult. Most authors would probably have a block at this point trying to put it in a way they would be satisfied with. You came through at least. If we waited for you to write the chapter "perfectly", it'd probably take months, and people would still critque on some issue anyway.

 

You're confusing justice with vengence.

Harry believes in justice; he doesn't believe in exacting personal vengence. In all those cases Harry believed that the person should be punished. He just didn't think he was the correct person to do it. Example: he saved Peter Pettigrew from being killed in an act of vengence so that justice could be served in the form of a Dementor's kiss.

I'm not suggesting that Harry personally find Ginny and kill her. I'm saying that he wouldn't actively obscure the course of justice.

 

As I recall, McGonagall says he set off "to force himself on another student" and he doesn't deny it. That sounds rapetastic to me and is why I couldn't fathom any sort of redemption (or the lack of punishment) for him in this fic. If you didn't intend for him to be a wannabe raperizer you may want to go back and change that.

 

1. Dursleys: child abusers
Laws for child abusers: In existence
Harry's reaction: None.

2. Draco: 2x attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, etc etc
Laws for *above*: IN existence
Harry's reaction: 'Sectumsempra' for 1st attempted murder, then
None.

3. Lucius: attempted murder, endagering schoolchildren, etc
Laws for *above*: In existence
Harry's reaction: None.

4. Umbridge: use of a torture device, illegal use of ministry resources
Laws for *above*: In existence
Harry's reaction: None.

All instances where he could have sought justice; no results. So no, Harry does not have a clear-cut need for justice.

 

I had to stop reading after the scene with the DA. Daphne finally annoyed me way too much. She sounds like a petulant child in need of a good backhand. I can't read a story where Harry is so out of character that he keeps someone like that around him. She basically runs unchecked with enough PMS to alienate the entire human race as a whole and nobody does anything because she's good at magic. Really?

With no ill will of any sort, I'm going to say that utterly disgusted me. She's not fucking Voldemort. She's a sixth-year Slytherin, who has managed to castrate every male in the room with a bad attitude and magical talent. The fact that Harry does nothing makes it even worse. Sorry, I like it better when Harry doesn't turn into a powerless bitch.

EDIT: I didn't even get far enough to the parts you guys are talking about, but from the conversation it's safe to say I would've been disappointed.

 

Eh, I clearly said in my post that Harry doesn't seek to dole out "justice" himself. Justice has to be given by an objective third party, lest it become vengeance. You can believe in justice but not be the hand of punishment yourself - one could almost say that it's a requirement.

In all those cases I'm sure that Harry thought that they deserved justice to be done to them. He just knew that he wasn't the one to do it. So talking about Harry's reaction is off the point. Had there been a trial for Umbridge I'm sure Harry would have been willing to testify against her.

 

Well Harry is human, so I'd agree and say that in most cases, he is for justice, but perhaps he didn't think the Malfoys, Delores, or the Dursleys were worth making his life more difficult for. I mean, Harry's always wanted to be normal, to have things be simple. Maybe he thought each of them got their own justice, since Draco's bald and utterly pathetic, Umbridge got raped by centaurs, and I can't really remember what happens to papa Malfoy, but I assume he got his. But he also has a capacity for vengeance, having Crucio'ed the shit out of someone for spitting on McGonagall, and that's just immediate vengeance.

 

I read this story all today and I must say, What the fuck man? I mean really, Ron the the date rapist gets off with his prefect responsibility taken away, which for Ron is like a damn god send. No more patrols and having to do work. And Ginny the Wanna be date rapist gets a fucking slap on the wrist and sent to her damn room?

And Molly, Someone needs to stop the bitch before she rapes Harry or Hermione herself, Cause damn the woman has issues. While I like how Harry fought back with Snape for a while as well as Malfoy, he hasn't done a damn thing besides piss Snape off and make Draco paranoid.

And the whole Fleur thing, god damn you, I kept holding out hope for a damn good HP/FD, But no you had to ruin that, and make Harry go back to being, well boring. You made him open up to her and they got along and as soon as they had the right amount of history and chemistry, Poof all gone.


Ok well now that all of that is off my chest I must say your story while slow paced is really good. Far better than I could write, but a lot just pisses me off, I'm still going to read it but I pray you make Ron and Ginny suffer horribly.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q2O9TGXdhM8&feature=related