:facepalm

Nvm, should read entire thread page before posting.

 

I really fucking hate name changes. Can't remember who Klael was...

 

DarkSov.

/tooshort

 

The sequel, Vultus Serpentis, is updated again today.

 

New chapter is really good. Harry/Dumbledore interaction really shines, as does the very end.

 

Big improvement on the last chapter which i felt was a bit dry on plot progression and details, other than the announcement of the chamber of secrets which was under played. Interesting take on different ways to occlude the mind, and like Tet says a good ending, I felt however it would of been a much more powerful sequence if Harry had been a bit older, seemed a bit mature for a 12 year old, however when reading it syncs very nicely so... no complaints really.

 

Awesome update. Just awesome.

 

Refreshing mix up of cannon that has brilliant characterizations of everyone, but notably Snape and Dumbledore.
My one gripe is how damn mature Harry is.

 

It's not just Harry; everyone acts like they are 5 years older than they are. It's a fine line to walk though: you can either make everyone act their age or a bit older and run the risk of alienating your readers, or write characters who act way beyond their age and run the same risk. Finding the right balance in the middle is very hard I guess...not too many fics can write good, mature characters while at the same time making it believable for their age.

 

The fact that the only truly negative thing to say about the story is that Harry is to mature is a credit to the story in general.

 

what's the harry/snape understanding they spoke about? cbf reading the whole thing again but I've forgotten since this is so seldom updated :\

 

Just finished rereading Vincet and this. The hasn't stood the test of time that well, but is still better than a lot of what's out there.

The latest updates though, are amazing. I really really hope this starts updating consistently again. It'll definitely become one of the stories I follow eagerly.

 

I have read both the first part and the sequel, and all in all I seem to have liked it.
The mature Harry is a strange beast to deal with, but with everyone bumped up a little, makes it not stand out that much (from the others nor from the usual Harry, of course.)
The sequel is so far leaving more of an impression than the first part, but it might be just me.

Hermione's parents were weardish, to say the least, but somewhat refreshing. ;D

All in all a fun experience.

Dunno if anything that wasn't said can be ;D.

+++

It really shows with dumbledore.

 

Very much liked the latest update.

The fact that the characters in the story (Dumbledore and Snape) emphasise how momentous Harry is actually made it easier for me as a reader to accept his highly unusual level of maturity. The story seems to go down much better when one just concedes that point.

One thing that I do not find believable is Dumbledore's apparent acceptance of the Sirius-black-attacking-students theory. Given his intelligence, experience with magic, and knowledge of Sirius Black, it is strange to see him jumping to such a hasty conclusion.

 

Well, after almost 9 months it looks like this updated again.

 

And what a fantastic update it was. The story is moving along at a great pace. Check it out guys. Link

 

Indeed. I'd given up hope on this story ever updating again. Rarely been happier to be wrong. This story as a whole gets a 5/5 for sure, a lot more ambitious than the first one.

 

That story is awesome.
Nice twists, and its actually deviating from canon in a way I haven't seen before. Sirius + Chamber of Secrets + pseudoDA is really original.
Harry's character is great too. He's smart, has a good heart, and isn't a copy of Dumbledore, Tom Ridle, or canon!harry.

 

Continuity error, Harry tells Black he doesn't know why Voldemort wants to kill him, Dumbledore told Harry about the prophecy after his encounter with Quirrel in chapter 8 of Vincet.

Then again, maybe I'm just misunderstanding and this is Harry being a sneaky, lying little shit again.

 

Message from author: it is a continuity error. However, feel free to use the explanation of Harry being a badass, as mentioned above, to explain it away.

Anyway, I just re-read the whole of the fic and the update. I found the start of the fic to be more frustrating than I remembered, especially the stuff with Hermione and Katie, and to a lesser extent Hermione's Mum. I thought Harry's willingness to take it all passively was somewhat at odds with his prior characterisation, and with his later unwillingness to take shit from, for example, Malfoy.

I suppose the idea was to distinguish Harry from Tom Riddle: Tom Riddle, who had no friends, would not have tolerated the kind of thing Hermione did to Harry in Flourish and Blotts from anyone. It would have merited a long and drawn out revenge. But Harry takes it, forgives it, and it isn't mentioned again.

I've been finding the focus on Hermione annoying, which is amusing as I'm normally a Hermione fan. But there are really mixed messages being sent: we're getting all these comparisons of Harry to Riddle and Dumbledore, which is the main point of the fic: Harry as something of a combination of Riddle and Dumbledore's characteristics, with a bit of something else thrown in.

And yet at other times, Harry is treated as Hermione's contemporary. In fact, she beats him pretty much every time they compete at something. I get why the author does it: they want to emphasise that Harry still has things to learn, that he isn't a 12 year old god, etc. But I think they've over-done it. It stretches credibility to have Hermione be the equal of Harry, then to compare Harry to someone like Riddle. Hermione's great, but she's no Dumbledore.

However, the more recent chapters have all been excellent. The combination of the CoS and PoA storylines is great, and as someone who is also writing a fic with the early introduction of Sirius, I read with jealously as a large amount of necessary exposition was handled in a somewhat original way, somehow without breaking the pace. I think the secret there was how we felt they were on a clock: Sirius could be caught any moment. I was quite convinced, in fact, that Sirius was going to die tragically at the end of the chapter, before he could convince Harry. So the feeling of being against the clock increased the tension of long explanations, and didn't allow them to feel like a slowing down of the action.

One interesting thought for the future: how will Sirius' return and innocence affect Harry's odd but interesting truce with Snape?

I hope the fic doesn't get overly bogged down in the process of Sirius' freedom. I've read too many "Sirius is found innocent after POA" fics that spend chapter upon chapter agonising over the legal process of Sirius becoming a) a free man and b) Harry's guardian.