I got to agree with the previous (CaffeineAddict's) post.

I thought it a bit strange that the Potters didn't comment more on Harry's Dark Arts class. The interlude fleshed out their relationship with Harry, which I think was under-portrayed in the past.

 

I had expected the reactions to be more of personal reflections of the individual characters rather than simple conversations between them.

Filius especially would be extremely regretful for losing a student like Harry. Maybe as a result he has taken a more hands on approach with his claws. Maybe Luna is not bullied because of his involvement.

McGonagall remembers turning down Harry when he asked for help. Today she sees his accomplishments in her field and is sad she contributed absolutely nothing to it. Perhaps she feels compelled to compare her students and feels inadequate as an educator.

Dumbledore fears for Harry's spirit. He recalls his youth similarly spent eagerly unraveling Magic's secrets. Hopes Harry wont make same mistakes as him. Liked the symbolism of burning the book.

Lily and James reactions seem very well done in comparison. However Lily could also be concerned with Nathan's lack of effort in academics especially when it is in such stark contrast to Harry's achievements. With Harry drawing attention to it, that should also be at the back of her mind.

Look forward to more reactions...

 

I’ve been looking forward to reading this, and while the prologue was good, it disappointed me slightly. I was hoping to see more personal reflections, and while conversations are a big part of that it felt like it was missing something. Don’t get me wrong, it was well written and the Potters and the two Professors were in character, but the thing that got me down was Dumbledore’s reaction. While it was interesting, I don’t really understand how it relates to Harry and in general Dumbledore's part in the story. But I might be wrong, and other than the Dumbledore scene, it’s was great.

 

I think the reactions were well done and add a little mystery when it comes to Dumbledore. Also, it peaked my excitement to read Grindelwald's reaction. It better be as good as these ones were.
Keep it up Santi, and update soon.

 

The Dumbledore scene was my favorite actually. All the others played out almost exactly how I thought they would; Dumbledore's was unique in that the news of Harry's achievement resulted in him doing something very unrelated. Looking forward to the next ones.

The part where McGonagall wonders if Harry would've achieved as much at Hogwarts seemed a bit odd, but only because you used the word "allowed." It makes it sound as if she would've been actively working against Harry advancing, which isn't quite the case.

 

I think what The Santi meant was that since Harry wasn't allowed to skip forward years in Hogwarts, it would have restricted his growth. Or at least, that's what he's having McGonagall think.

 

Not just that; none of the other support he's getting at Durmstrang (friends, professors, unrestricted studying, etc.) was available at Hogwarts.

 

The funny thing is that, in the long run, I don't think Harry will actually learn more from Durmstrang. Good and exceptional students would tend to benefit from a school like that, of course - no need to wait for the more plodding types to catch up to them. If Durmstrang didn't care about ancestry, Hermione would have loved that environment.

But the real prodigies - people like Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Harry - would go on to become masterfully skilled wizards regardless of which school they attended (or even if they were home schooled, probably). The best Durmstrang does for Harry is it lets him accelerate his learning, but the end product would have been the same at Hogwarts, IMO. The real lasting benefit for Harry is simply that he fits in better at Durmstrang; apparently his Ravenclaw class was drawn from the shallow end of the gene pool.

 

@blazzano: I'll agree with you for the most part here. I'll just add the fact that a restrictive learning environment can and will stifle even the most promising minds, it's something that happens despite the best efforts of educators. How stifling Hogwarts would be is debatable and purely academic at this point, but at the very least Harry would have been a lot less happy, and crazy smart + angry/bitter = Bad Things Happening (which is what worried Dumbledore I believe).

 

True indeed - Harry is much happier at Durmstrang. That'll be one of the reasons why I'm interested in seeing where this fic is headed. He's much more satisfied with where he's at, yet at the same time is still getting exposure to dark magic more quickly than he would have otherwise.

I'm still thinking that he's going to grow up to become a "good guy" who scares the other good guys: i.e., an anti-Voldemort force of nature who is every bit as vicious against Death Eaters as the Death Eaters are against everyone else.

 

Upon reading this I immediately thought of Dresden ...

I think that it's still to early to really guess just where we are going to end up, but that has been my general impression of the future as well, although I'm envisioning him as ending up as a bit of a renegade from both sides.

 

Since reading that I've been hoping that for once we'd have a fic where the main character actually does turn out to dark as fuck and not an anti-hero.

He does seem to be turning down the anti-hero path though and they are much more compelling stories to read. Still, Harry can has be murdering shit please?

 

He's still quite young, Santi is probably still fleshing out the main plotline.

Harry might turn dark due to philosophical or political reasons, not just simply angst and anger like in most fics. Grindelwald turned dark for such reasons, greater good and all.

 

As we learned from Harry in the recent chapter, people like Ron don't even know what the fuck they're talking about when they say something is "dark magic". I am interested to find out what Harry's definition of it is.

From what we've seen, i.e. Pain curse needing to desire to cause someone pain to cast it, Killing curse needing to desire someone's death, Cruciatus to desire their torture, "dark magic" could just be magic fueled by intent/desire/emotion rather than the point and wave "Wingardium leviosa" or "stupefy".

 

I mean trying to grab some sort of power and not caring how he does it or who he has to go through to get it. I'd like to see him as driven as Grindelwald.

 

Wow. 5 stars. Began reading this yesterday and finished very early this morning @ 2 am. Must say that I was captivated and wait for more. Did not find any plot problems with the story and no disappointments come to mind. Keep up the good work.

Dursmtrang++

 

I really like this fic, just a small correction, in the FF.net story Harry wins 50 galleons on the second bet, and in the part you put here for preview he gets 25.

 

I can't wait until Harry starts leaping into the Dark Arts the way he does with Charms and Transfiguration. But I really hope he has a better reason to do so than because of teenage angst and bitterness towards his family. I agree with the posts above, and I hope it will be more along the lines of 'For The Greater Good.' I think J.K Rowling should have gone deeper into it. Grindelwald and Dumbledore’s involvement in The Deathly Hallows really fascinated me.

Philosophy and politics are very interesting; I wished there were more fan fiction stories around that focused on those aspects- more so than just the common dark and light debate.

I agree with Seratin. I’m also hoping for a very dark Harry, not just an anti-hero. Come on, it might not be very realistic but it's just so much fun.

 

We have all heard the saying in many different forms the most notable from Star Wars, there is no light side or dark side just the Force, and Harry Potter, There is no good or bad just power and those willing to grab it. Can't remember exact quotes but it's after 3am and i'm to tired to look it up.

Many fanfics have tried to use those sayings to describe their main character but always end up making them to evil or just to boy scoutish to really be neutral. Hope Harry has a good balance, evil(maybe not evil but vicious?) when needed but good when not needing to be evil.