Chapter 94 was pretty cringe worthy for me. Harry thinking Katie was Draco's target is just stupid. Draco could've killed Katie a million times and Snape already confirmed to Harry the target was Dumbledore. Harry could instead be upset at Dumbledore for endangering others by not dealing with Draco and the result could be the same without logic failure.

 

At this point I feel that the Katie/Harry relationship is much more natural and fun to read without Fleur included. Still, Harry's either stupid or cruel to let Katie have that touchy feely friendship with his girlfriend in the picture.

Chapter 94 shows Harry doing what he usually does, cherry-picking for evidence to support his perspective. But the negativity associated with it might be the author's intention to highlight Harry's biased nature.

 

I honestly thought that Katie was ended up drinking it by accident to be honest. I thought Rosmerta messed up until the author suggested she was his target all along, which does sort of make sense.

I do doubt that Dumbledore actually knew that though, I think he assumed he was the target just like Harry did. Of course he 'knew' who the target was. Hopefully things don't go to complete shit, if Dumbledore actually DID know it was Katie that's just lame.

 

I believe that Katie was Voldemort's target all along. After all, he sent Macnair to kill Katie. Heck, he even got her address from Snape.

It is not that far-fetched that Katie is his target as Voldemort intended to kill her as payment for Harry's killing of his Death Eaters as he stated in Diagon Alley.

 

I liked he last two chapters. The plot itself is getting interesting, despite the poor characterization. I have, however, noticed myself subconsciously skimming over any scene that includes Fleur.

I don't understand why Draco would actually kill Katie though. Not long ago, Draco seemed to believe Harry killed Snape. Why would he think he'd be any safer if he killed Katie while he still had to live at Hogwarts? It'd probably make some sense if he did it close to the year end.

 

I think Draco was trying to kill Dumbledore using convoluted plots. Exactly like in the canon.

 

This was my first thought. Draco was trying to get to Dumbledore and Katie got hit in the crossfire by accident. Now I don't know what to think. I really do hope that is the case though. It'd be far more interesting than Draco being tasked with killing Katie - which honestly if he had been he should definitely of managed by now, he slipped how much aconite into Harry's meals with ease?

 

I'm a little confused about it all. What Harry saw with legilimency seems to suggest that Draco might have targeted Katie. Perhaps, it was in a bid to try to kill Dumbledore, but Draco in this story is a bit more competent than canon. He actually would have managed to kill canon Harry, since Harry didn't even realize that he was being poisoned until later. Then again, he also failed in trying to kill Dumbledore.

 

Now THAT was a twist I haven't seen before.

Spoiler

Destroying the fake locket - it is fake right? - before checking it. I wonder if this will actually bite him in the ass or not.

EDIT:
I actually really liked the chapter, because Harry finally got his comeuppance for thinking he was two steps ahead of everyone else. And I really like how Dumbledore was at the end of the chapter.

Spoiler

I think this may be the first time I've seen Harry plot and eliminate Dumbledore only to reveal he was truly good the entire time and for Harry to immediately regret it. I really liked that. Real sad that Dumbledore went actually, but it was going to happen sooner or later anyway and I guess this way it impacts Harry in a way that might make him a respectable character again. Those last few lines were really good, I hope it puts Harry on the path to redemption, which usually I just don't care about.

 

jfc, do we get spoilers in email notifications? I just got this one

 

Ah, sorry about that. Not much I can do, my EDIT spoiler is even worse but that probably won't be sent out in an email since it's an edit. I don't use email notifications any more I just set normal thread subscriptions and have /usercp.php auto refresh hourly for me.

 

This was the chapter I'd nearly given up hope for. It was intense, it was emotional, and it was indeed Albus Dumbledore who was portrayed there.
I have to admit, I am really impressed.

 

I liked that Harry did what needed to be done about Draco, but I was a but confused about Dumbledore's motives or his hope for what the eventual outcome would be. I will go back and re-read, but it sounded like Dumbledore wasn't actually setting Harry up to be a sacrifice?

 

He wasn't.

Spoiler

It was explained that Dumbledore had planned it perfectly so that Harry would be able to survive like he does in canon. But in order for it to work Harry had to intend and believe he was going to die.

 

The conclusion of the Hogwarts arc has now reached its climax. On one hand I'm impressed that the portrayal of Dumbledore didn't boil down to EVIL!MANIP!DUMBLES and both of them seemed to achieve a moment of enlightenment in that they were both wrong about many things. Yet Dumbledore being beaten by a withering curse on candy of all things (that irony) seems somewhat cheap. I guess to be fair he WAS weakened by the potion and the ordeal of Voldemort's horcrux trial.

With Malfoy murdered so brutally and displayed in such prominence as well as the fall of Dumbledore, Hogwarts will fall into chaos and it will be interesting to see how the rest of it plays out. What we must now see addressed is the consequences of destroying the (fake?) horcrux without realizing its true nature; the only other time I've ever seen this occur is actually in 'The Denarian Lord'.

Whether or not the survival of the true horcrux means Voldemort will endure remains to be seen yet potentially I believe they will no longer help him. Harry wields all three Hallows and by taking up the mantle of 'The Master of Death' perhaps this will take a more literal interpretation in this story and any mortal blow Harry strikes against Voldemort will render him unto true death.

 

The latest chapter (98) was exceptionally good in my opinion. Very well written and one of the best fighting scenes I've seen in a long time. The tar was particularly brilliant and brutal. It's chapters like this that make me think of this as a high quality story.

 

The reason for Harry's expulsion (suspicion!) is nonsensical. I like the fact that the Ring doesn't bring the dead back, but rather the user's impression of them.

 

She's well within her right to do it though, and it was explained that it only happened because of the felix felicis.

This was a nice twist, and makes the item even more of a curse than it already would be. In my opinion it actually makes it useless since the ghost that gets summoned cannot form new information or ideas that they would have been able to had they been the true spirit of the dead.

 

She's within her right to expel students based on suspiction? Damn, it's a good thing that Umbridge didn't know that.

 

I dunno, it just makes sense to me that the deputy headmistress can expell someone if she legitimately thinks they're a danger to the students and has a good reason. Now whether she actually has that power I don't know, but it makes sense.