Lol, so much rage. It's amazing how high everyone's expectations get when a story is this good. It goes from "Wow, this is a great fic" to "It has to be perfect." All authors make decisions that piss off readers, especially when they're huge plot twists like this. Given how awesome this fic is, it's just making me more excited for how Santi's gonna pull off an "Epic Fourth Year" like we all want.

Sure, it's unlikely Harry's gonna be the hero in the public eye that we all want him to be, but while he's not gonna be outdoing dragons and the like, he'll probably be going toe to toe with Barty Crouch Jr. and trying to unravel the plot around his brother. He'll be outwitting (and hopefully out-dueling at some point) one of the more badass characters in the whole series.

Was this update sub-par? Sure. A good bit of it was contrived, and we didn't even get the rage from Harry that we'd expect. But we'll probably get the rage in the next installment, and really, this story isn't perfect. To think that we'd get all the way through without Santi having to shoehorn a few plot elements is ridiculous. He's human, and even the best stories have flaws.

Frankly, he promised epicness, and even though it's not going to be in the way we all expected, it's still going to happen. Have some faith.

 

You know re-reading the latest part - he does show how upset he was at failing just as his paper burns - he raises his wand without even considering the consequences to try get the goblet to accept him, when Dumbledore stops him (before he hurts himself).

And when he wakes up, it could just be that he has more self control than to rage in front of Dumbledore... he also had a splitting headache that would have contributed to a milder reaction (though he spoke bitterly) - and then he found out about Nathan & had other things to immediately worry about.

I think Inert's right in that we'll see him talk about it later on.

 

Have to say I was hoping Harry would be a champion, but I'll trust it'll still be awesome whatever Santi does with it, etc. blah blah.

On Rita being there at the end and Dumbledore not noticing her: all the canon stuff with wards and Hallows being quoted is bullshit as far as I'm concerned. However, Santi himself does mention being able to "see magic" as an advanced ability wizards can cultivate. Whether Animagi would appear different than normal animals to someone with this ability is up for debate in this particular fanon, but I think it's safe to assume that Dumbledore can see magic. And if they do appear different (which I think they would, because they are wizards) then one must assume that Dumbledore just was unobservant and did not see Rita, which I don't think Dumbledore would be.

All this is solved by saying she just sat outside the window, not in the actual room. My random fanon logic assumes that Hogwarts' walls are saturated with enough magic that a magical signature from a tiny bug would be easily hidden.

 

Wards aren't canon. You are entitled to your opinion about the rest of it though if you are going to disagree actually why might be more productive than just saying this is bullshit. The idea that she has a visible magical signature is a load of shit for a variety of reasons. The first being the way detecting magic was explained is that it is less seeing and more of an ability to sense things about magic.

If something stupid like being near a highly magical object could hide her then everyone who ever placed spells on objects they didn't want curse breakers to get in they would just load up with useless spells that do nothing but mask the presence of magic. It would create a horrible flaw that everyone would exploit.

Beyond this, you actually made a decent point with Dumbledore's ability to sense magic. It is just another reason that this whole thing would make no sense. Dumbledore casts a spell to make sure there are no hidden humans near him, and I would guess he does it almost constantly considering the Elder Wand has probably made him a bit paranoid combined with the fact that he seems to always know when people are around him.

If the animagus form can be reversed and the map can see that the person is a human even when in animal form, it makes sense that Dumbledore would be using a spell that could also tell if an animal was actually an animal or not.

 

You'd think that the Hospital Wing of all places would have some way of keeping bugs from getting in, you know, being a hospital and all. Critter wards are fanon though, right?

 

Hogwarts doesn't need critter wards. It has a team of three hundred house elves whose only purpose is to keep the castle pest free. Gotta give those little cunts something to do.

 

Hmm... Idea for crack fic: Rita being chased by a spatula wielding Dobby, trying to escape with the biggest scoop of her career; Harry Potter fucks bitches, gets money.

 

Draco must have known the secret of Rita because her father would tell him (Lucius certainly will occasionally collaborated with Rita Skeeter in previous times).

As for the Elder Wand, it is not as infallible as many suppose. If it was, its holder would be truly invincible, but we know that in many cases the holder has been killed or beaten. In addition, we do not really know whether the Elder Wand better able to identify hidden animagi are close to the holder in animal form.

By the way, I've been thinking a lot about its fourth year, and there may be a new front has not been spoken. I am referring to fake Mad-Eye Moody (Barty Crouch Jr) and Calypso Rosier.

Barty Crouch Jr is impersonating Mad-Eye Moody, who was the murderer of Evan Rosier, but Barty would probably be a companion's Evan (and he may be a good friend of Evan, and even Evan could be the one who introduced Barty to the Death Eaters). On the other hand is Calypso, which is the little sister of Evan (unknown to the vast majority of British wizarding society) that to avoid the likely suspicions about her, she is being passed by the posthumous daughter of Evan, living with distant relatives in Scandinavia.

From this point of view, we could see more of Barty Crouch Jr (perhaps more psychological and emotional), unlike most fics that describe him. Perhaps it would cost much more able to play his Moody's role, especially in front of Calypso. Calypso also would see a more emotional and insecure, that she would try to cover it up with a better learning Occlumency (I'm sure that Barty must be a good Legilimens and Occlumens), and a more aggressive approach (which would actually be a defensive posture).

 

As a completely personal opinion, I can't help but feel let down TWT wise as I wanted to compare Harry handling the first task in this vs the awesomely epic first task in Control by Anonymous58.

 

I feel like it might be interesting to watch Harry attempt to teach his brother, maybe a rift will form on the account of his brothers lack of motivation or incompetence. any thoughts?

 

Maybe a rift forms because Harry wants to teach Nathan stronger spells, borderline dark, and Nathan doesn’t want Harry to teach him anymore.

 

Or maybe, Nathan already knows that Harry practices the Dark Arts, and Harry is actually respectful of his brother's decision to not learn them even if he disagrees with it. I'm probably just talking crazy!

There is no way that Nathan could possibly know that his brother uses dark magic. If he did his reaction of slight worry to hear Calypso mentioning practicing such magic would be out of place. I mean it isn't like Harry and Calypso have to practice such spells for their classes and would thus speak about it casually....Oh wait. This might just be another scene from the last chapter that makes no sense.

 

I don't think Nathan would have put that much thought into it. Harry does his best to downplay how much dark magic he's learning and so probably doesn't mention it much unless directly questioned.

 

I feel that there's an overused and tired line that could be applied to your post. Something about certain books and their rarity.

 

Regarding Barty Crouch impersonating Moody - remember, that this time Dumbledore knows of / have copy of Marauder map. It is something too usefull not to use during event like Triwizards.

I wonder what will happen after he is cought.

 

He's not checking it constantly or anything - he just charmed it to tell him if Wormtail came on the grounds - that's it.

And it doesn't say Barty Crouch JR, just Barty Crouch.... so unless you think he'll be randomly checking it (and why would he be? What specifically would he be looking for?) at the precise time as Crouch Jr is someplace that only Moody should be, it's not likely to be useful.

 

Okay, I normally stay out of this thread due to, well, obvious reasons, but I do have a few comments to make.

Firstly, I can understand most of the anger here when Harry failed to enter the tournament. To be completely honest, it felt a bit like a cop-out, a contrivance that not only felt a little lazy, but also lacked the resentment and disappointment from Harry. Look, even as smart and mature and controlled as Harry is, he's only human. And just to quickly address Jon:

Wrong, namely because if Santi followed the usual setup, it still could have easily worked, simply because Harry is such a different character. He's going to deal with the tasks in a different way, and the presence of Calypso and Kira and his relationship with Viktor had the potential to radically change the familiar events in new ways. If anything, that's been one of the greatest strengths of this story, the utilization of familiar elements from canon in Nathan's story as stark parallels to Harry's time at Durmstrang.

HOWEVER...

I won't deny that the Santi definitely has a much more difficult row to hoe now with this choice, and possibly to the detriment of the rest of the story, at least as far as DLP is concerned. Granted, this story has never been about the action the same way as it has been about the characters, but by starkly redefining the focus strictly on the character interactions between Harry and Nathan and their friends, the expected scope changes. Considering how much build-up and emphasis has been placed on this tournament - more by the fans than by the author, I might add, but the Santi did a lot to hype this year up - the separation of Harry from the epic tasks and into a supporting role doesn't entirely gel with his role as the primary, far-more-competent protagonist.

Now granted, unlike some here, I still think there could be a chance for the Santi to still involve Harry in action sequences or a mystery plot, say by having him as an active seeker of finding the real culprit in Harry's introduction to the tournament - but frankly, it still does come as a letdown. By segregating Harry from the traditional 'hero' role and implicitly dropping him into a support role... look, I understand what the Santi's trying to do with Harry and Nathan's character arc - but frankly, I don't think this was the best way to do it, particularly considering how much the story, particularly throughout Harry's second year at Durmstrang, was building towards Harry eventually becoming that heroic stand-out character. While I understand the Santi's drive towards unconventionality, the way the final scene was handled doesn't come across as dramatic or emotional or poignant in a way it should, but instead comes of as trite and melodramatic. Despite attempts to develop him, I don't know Nathan as a character outside of a broad mirror of the canonical Harry Potter, and without that development and without that resentment or jealousy or drama expressed from Harry, I can't invest myself in this eventual conflict.

Or let me put it another way - when the only thing I as a reader am looking forward to discovering in your story has to deal with Rita Skeeter, or when the only major 'larger' conflict (outside of character interaction) is occurring with a secondary character who isn't that interesting outside of his connection to our hero, there are real problems with the narrative direction of the story.

 

It has been awhile since I’ve done this because I’ve been so busy with other things, but I think a proper full review is in order for this chapter. Some of the stuff is restated, but not all of it is. I just feel like in a full review, I should state everything I liked and disliked about the chapter. We shall start at the first scene.

I feel as if a great many people missed this line. The reason Harry delayed for so long in using this tactic was because of his own hesitancy to let someone into his mind. So, he tried many other methods before giving up and using this at the last minute.

I understand the logic behind this and it fits with Harry’s character, but it doesn’t fit that upon deciding that this was the only way to go that he would wait so long on the last day. It just doesn’t mesh with the always prepared protagonist that we have come to know, and like many others have stated before, it reeks of a bad Hollywood plot device.

This isn’t to say that I’m upset that Harry didn’t get into the tournament. It would have been interesting to see, and it would have been nice to see some revenge on Ravenclaw. However, it isn’t the end of the world so long as there is some overarching plot for this story that puts Harry in the driver’s seat for a change.

I must confess that as I was reading this scene I half expected that Harry’s name would still come out of the goblet and that this was just a way for him to show in front of a large crowd that he could surpass the age line.
His reaction to not being chosen was underwhelming to say the least, but unlike some people, when I stop to think about it, I don’t have a problem with it. Harry just woke up after having his mind altered, he had a headache, and iirc, Snape told him to use his abilities in the mental arts to help control his emotions.

This is, perhaps, the only part of the chapter I truly enjoyed. Harry admitting to Dumbledore that he was working to improve at the Dark Arts, and Dumbledore didn’t even so much as bat an eyelash at such an admission. He, perhaps better than anyone, knows the lure of the Dark Arts and while he doesn’t trust himself with such power, he seems to have faith in Harry’s character.

Reading his brother’s thoughts? I assume that is what this statement is meant to imply. I actually like that if it is.

This is something I’ve brought up before, but it still doesn’t make any sense. Nathan knows that Harry, Calypso, and Krum all take Dark Arts class and thus have to talk about it and study for it like a normal class at Hogwarts. It makes sense that he would overreact to Harry trying to teach him the Dark Arts. It doesn’t make sense that he would be so surprised or worried by the casual mention of the Dark Arts.

Furthermore, Calypso of all people let it slip. This is the same Calypso that used to spy on Harry, is decent at defending her mind, and carefully constructed her image for the meeting with Harry’s family. She also knows how Nathan, in particular, feels about the Dark Arts. It seems wildly out of character for her.

Yes, we are going over the beetle scene again as well. It makes no sense for a variety of reasons. Dumbledore being able to tell when people are hiding near him under the invisibility cloak, his ability to sense magic, the marauder’s map which he probably would have checked given that Nathan’s name came out. Given his extensive experience with Rita, he probably already knows and would thus look for it even if those other methods didn’t work. Dumbledore is very observant, and if Hermione could figure it out, I’m sure he could as well.

More than that though, it just feels like an overly contrived way to create drama. She just happened to be there when they were discussing the Dark Arts, and his girlfriend’s “bad influence” on him. This combined with the last minute failure to enter his name makes it even worse. It seems like you are creating drama for the sake of drama.

 

It could be possible that Calypso may just be trying to drive a wedge between the two brothers, and with the strong stance Nathan takeagainst Dark Magic, she may have found the angle that works, and may repeatedly use this angle to segregate the Potter family, by reminding them about Harrys' use of Dark Arts in the subtlest way she can....

This was wrote in the early hours of the morning, specifically 3.20am, so blame sleep deprivation if this sounds completely and utterly fucked up, and makes no sense at all, because in my sleep deprived state it does, so deal with it.....:fire

 

On the one hand, I don't mind that Harry isn't in the TWT. On the other, the way he failed to get into the tournament feels contrived. I suppose that's the way the ball rolls if you're going to have him succeed at beating the age line but fail to enter the tournament, then that's about the only way you could do it. Though, I suppose that you could have Dumbledore or someone else just switch out his name when they realized he succeeded.