To which I reply, Calypso is not her father. Honestly, I expect more from James than to be that petty. Snape might be that petty to take out the sins of the father on offspring, but James should know better than to judge a kid by her father's actions.

Leaving early is grounds for being angry at Harry, but you have to realize that Harry also sent them a letter right away explaining why he left early which has more to do with the way Nathan was treating him than anything else. Does the Potter family have problems? Yes, but what family doesn't.

I'd find it hard to believe they they would split up because Harry is friends with a girl whose father tried to kill James. As for removing him from the school, I'd say it is hard to argue with results, and while they may prefer that Harry be more open with them, I would think they would at least think of his happiness first. A lot of parents grasp for reasons that their kids drift away from them as they get older, but the fact remains that it is just a part of life like many of their friends have pointed out to them already.

Could this be a foundation for a break with the family? There is no doubt that it could lead to that, but I would think that it would take an event much more than this to break up the family.

As for Nathan, I'd say it would be a much easier break. Nathan has been around Ron far too long, and he has faced a sort of public ridicule that Harry can't understand such as having the school turn against him. Then there is the fact that Nathan is most likely a tad bit jealous of Harry. Here he is the boy-who-lived, and his brother is published for a revolutionary find in transfiguration, and he broke a school record that has been in place for a very long time.

When you add this to Harry being secretive about parts of his life, you get a Nathan who is also trying to come to terms with his own brother drifting away from him. He can't understand this new Harry, and I think part of him might blame himself, and his stupid fame for Harry's leaving. Add that to the fact that, Harry hates his best friend and has more in common with his bookish best friend than his own brother, and you have a Nathan that is very conflicted.

It can't have helped that Nathan finds out that Ron was wrong about that list of spells Harry wanted him to learn. If Nathan is anything like 4th year Ron, he probably realizes he was wrong, but he is too stubborn/afraid to apologize to Harry. As for Harry, a combination of coming in second to Ron and most likely misunderstanding the way Nathan behaves around him leads to him wanting to leave for school early. The sad thing is that Nathan will most likely realize that he has once again been the primary cause for driving his brother away.

Of course, it may be that I'm just reading way too much into this, but I like to think that the Santi is weaving together one very complex story. It is disturbing to even contemplate the idea that a family would fall apart over something so simple as this. Perhaps, I'm giving the Potter family too much credit, but if they didn't withdraw their son from a school with a giant murderous snake roaming the halls then I have a hard time believing they would take their other son away from a school where he is happy and preforming so well.

Edit: tl;dr Sorry about the rant...didn't realize the post was that long.

 

Don't listen to this dumbass. Awesome update as always Santi.

 

I'd be willing to bet that Harry remembered this from Snape. If there was one time that Calipso might be curious enough to unintentionally try to get inside Harry's head, this would be probably be it.

Even if you argue that Harry might not have assumed this, it wouldn't have improved the scene to have him blow up at her for intruding his mind; it would have just bogged everything down and taken away from the main points of the scene.

So, regardless, /shrug in my mind. The scene was perfectly fine without it.

 

Having fought in the first war, I'd like to think James and Lily would have a darker view of it than that. James has probably seen Rosier do inhumane things, to children, to muggles, etc. He has some idea what kind of upbringing children in dark families have. Sirius wanted to get out for just that reason but he was a wild child. Calypso on the other hand is well adjusted within a dark family and it is inevitable that she holds to some of her family's beliefs. Besides, Harry's what? 13 I think? That's a very impressionable age and certainly not enough for parents to let their children the amount of freedom that we are used to seeing in fanfiction.

We assume oh Harry finds out the dark arts aren't that bad, the ministry is biased, he's on the path to enlightenment/power but what we often fail to grasp is the reality of what a war against the dark arts is like. And how deeply it affects you and your aversion to the dark arts.

I went off on a tangent there. Anyways, great update santi. Waiting for more!

 

Again still friends with/tolerate (in the case of James) Snape knowing full well what he did when he was a death eater, and they also know he still uses the dark arts. Then there is also that tiny little fact that the DMLE were given the authority to fight fire with fire in the first war i.e. they could go out and use three of the darkest curses around with little to no proof that the people they were using it on were guilty.

At the end of the day, James didn't become friends with Sirius after he decided to leave his family. Sirius didn't abandon his family up until the end of his schooling. Also, I think it is worth pointing out that someone who uses the dark arts doesn't not equal crazy ass madman. Even Regulus, the well adjusted member of the Black family, came to the conclusion that Voldemort was completely off the deep end when he found out about the horcruxes. That's right a man who was down with the torturing, fighting to the death, and using the dark arts saw that bit of magic and said damn too far. I'm willing to bet he wouldn't have been the only one leaving the dark lord if they knew what the man did to his soul. Their seems to be lines even dark wizards aren't comfortable with crossing.

 

Snape was a spy, he wasn't really on the other side. Dumbledore vouches for him.

I think it'd be more about Rosier being an unrepentant backer of Voldemort rather than just dark arts.

James and Sirius were both children, and that was before the war. Far different.

Sirius never fought for Voldemort, he fought against him.

Rosier never betrayed Voldemort or his ideals, at least as far as we or James/Lily know.

I doubt they'd want someone like that having any kind of influence over Harry and while it's not a foregone conclusion I can definitely see them pulling Harry back to Hogwarts over it, if they knew. It wouldn't be about Calypso, it'd be about Rosier being Dark Arts professor.

 

I think James & Lily will disown Harry as soon as they notice who he is associating with and will send him to Dursleys/an orphanage. That was Dumbledore's plan from the beginning, because he wanted to mold Harry into perfect weapon against Voldemort: powerful, but damaged enough to accidentally die in the Final Battle. Unfortunately for Dumbledore, Snape/Draco/Lucius learns of his evil plan and showing his manly chest rescues Harry, and only then begins Harry's real descent into darkness. And anal sex.

For fucks sake, do any parents expect brothers not to fight, ever? Lily & James aren't retards, they know very well what effect forceful bringing to Hogwarts would have on Harry's relations with the rest of family.

It's pretty obvious that they may have a problem with Rosier, given "the first war", but I'm also certain they'll be willing to give Calypso a chance.

BTW: I'd like to see Nathan getting hurt by Pettingrew because he failed to learn a single spell from the list.

 

Sarcasm overload.

My head is exploding.

 

Probably this. We are talking about Harry after all. Dude's a studious little bastard like no other.

 

What I want to see, is Harry being distant from Calypso for a good while. I want him to be suspicious of the lying bitch. And in no way should they get involved, for at least two years more.
That said, the problems in the Potter are not nearly as awful as some may think. They're a rather healthy family, with usual and mostly normal problems. This "perfect family" illusion that some stories or movies or whatever promote is not really true. Potter family is well above average.
And they wouldn't pull Harry out of Durmstrang just because Rosier is professor. Oh they'd consider it, but in the end Harry's own insistence on going to the damn school in the first place instead of Hogwarts and his obvious academic progress will stop them from seriously considering it. It will be more of a reflex thought at the prospect of danger.
Not to mention, what Harry would do if they actually pulled him out of Durmstrang.
I can see Santi turning this into a midnight rapist!Harry in Hogwarts after being forced there from Durmstrang. It would be glorious.

 

Dude, no. We already have one Antivash here, we don't need another.

We really don't.

 

Read once, and aside from the stuff already pointed out earlier, the line

should be "Your reputation precedes you, Harry."

Other than that, you're a/an/your story is (Insert ego boosting combination of adjectives and nouns here)

 

... No, no it would not be glorious. It would be retarded.

Oh and Santi:

 

Fuck, I almost thought you were serious after I read the first sentence.

Anyways, yeah, let's bring some sanity to this debate. If Lily and James were ever going to do something retarded ("my son wants to go to Durmstrang?!?! he's dark DISOWN"), they would have done so by now and we would have raged at Santi. I think we can trust Santi to not be dumb about this.

 

I am wondering what the main plot of this year will be. The situation with Calypso is more or less resolved (I agree with the opinions that there won't be any romance in the near future). No Kira so far. And Harry is somewhat estranged from his family, particularly his brother.

Maybe an extended portrayal of Christmas break? I just think that the focus has shifted a bit from Durmstrang to Potter Family dynamics in the last chapter. And we yet have to see a letter from home or Hogwarts (which was a given earlier). To put it frankly Harry acted like a jerk to his family, leaving like that without a word, even if he thought he was in the right, so some fallout should be expected.

All in all a fine update with a lot of filler that fleshes out Durmstrang. Can't wait till the next one.

 

Glad to see the update, I was worried about a several month long hiatus.

Honestly I expected Calypso would have a much better reason for wanting Harry to learn occlumancy. But it was hinted that Romulus wasn't going to let Calypso tell Harry the actual secret so she made something up to BS him, or only told him half the story. The other explanation is that she is thirteen and has a crush; therefore mildly insane in all matters regarding it.

You should flesh out what a typical marriage contract entails since it is going to play a part in the story. Is it a gentleman's agreement or magically binding? Does money exchange hands or is it just for the betterment of the families and or children? Throwing the term out there and not defining it is obnoxious.

It seems that Calypso either occluded a lie at the end of the scene or doesn't consider the fact that her father wants information on Nathan a secret. On that matter I wouldn't be surprised if Romulus was lying to Calypso about considering to send Harry a marriage contract. Leading to some interesting social plots after Voldemort returns.

James and Lily would likely get upset over his friendship with a Rosier, but after cooling down and remembering who they were friends with as children, give her a chance.

To everyone wanting more details on the fight between Dumbledore and Grindelwald; the fight is ultimately pointless in terms of the story's progression. The important part is that Dumbledore won and that Harry saw it and was impressed. If the story is ever going to get to the good stuff it needs to keep moving forward and not stop for a pointless side trip.

 

I'm not really expecting too much plot for Year 3. I can see Nathan still learning the Patronus charm, with him maybe telling Harry how to do the spell. Of course, Harry doesn't know if his Patronus is good enough considering he's not practicing on a boggart taking on the form of a Dementor. Could be a possible Final Project for his Dark Arts course.

 

If anyone cares, ff.net has finally been updated with chapter 10.

As for the fight between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, I may write a little stand alone piece just for that, but I haven't decided yet. For the first time in a while, I actually have some spare time to write, and while I'm more focused on the actually story, the thought of writing an awesome action scene has crossed my mind a couple of times.

 

The first thing that caught my attention.

Otherwise, I liked the chapter. But I felt the feast gifting was really over extravagant.

4.5/5

 

I had actually considered that for this year. Harry learning it as well, and maybe modifying it in some manner, would undermine Nathan's accomplishment, and add more tension into family matters.

Could be amusing/entertaining if done well.