But then you've got people like Malfoy Jr. who had to let Snape complete his first task for him because he didn't want to do it (admittedly it was the murder of Dumbledore so therefore hardly easy). We see the Inner Circle a lot in the books because that's who Harry has to get through to defeat Voldemort but I can see someone like the Dark Lord getting stressed over idiots like Goyle Jr. and Crabbe Jr. when he, at their age, was creating Horcruxes.

I love the story, Rusty, it's kept me hooked all the way through. I loved the idea of the blood wand and Karakesh (sp?) the river spirit is awesome as well. Keep it up

 

The only thing so far that I didn't quite get was why he didn't make another blood wand. Sure, the first is always good, but why not just bust a stick off of one of the trees and go from there? Harry seems like he would prefer safety instead of sentimental stuff.

 

Holy crap. It updated again.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4563439/12/Ectomancer

 

Happy Birthday RustyRed?

 

And just when I thought we won't see an update on this one, Rusty proved me wrong. And damn, if I'm not happy about this one!

It's mostly a setting for the events to come, or so I think, but it's official now - after Silence's "Renegade Cause", we've finally good another decently written Harry/Tonks interaction. And I'm almost sure that would be a first where Tonks actually points out how scrawny the boy is.

I kind of missed something in the last part where Harry was just checking on some second hand wands and just like that managed to cast a disillusionment charm on himself, apparently wandless. Although if he had used a wand or obtained one, it was left unexplained.
I actually wonder if the chaotic actions of the boy were intentionally written in that way.

I love the final part of the chapter where Rusty demonstrated that even an over used cliche as the Sirius' will reading could be written by someone with a bit of an imaginations in a way that is not irritating in the slightest.

edit: oh yes... Happy Bday Rusty...

 

Great line..
I had honestly forgot about this story, thank god for the synopsis at the beginning or I would've had to re-read the whole thing. The Tonks interaction was good, and the writing remained very solid, I only wish that this chapter hadn't been filler.

 

Hey dudesies.

Whut? No such thing as filler, man.

Thanks for the bday wishes. To be honest I'm surprised anybody still remembers what's going on in the story at all, hehe. Cool beans. Keep yer eyes peeled.

 

I've got a question about the wandless magic:

I know that Hagrid points it out and shows a bit of surprise at Harry's ability, but not that much surprise. Are we meant to think that wandless magic is somewhat common, or did Hagrid just not blow up over it?

Harry also doesn't seem to be making a big point of hiding his wandless magic ability, doing magic left and right, despite everyone knowing he has no wand, yet it's sort of been glossed over until now.

Tonks even tells him to cast a disillusion charm on himself in a store in Diagon Alley, which to me seems very out of place since Harry was having trouble with very simple spells earlier in the chapter.

So basically... is the wandless magic a big deal or is it not?

 

Blargh--you know, I haven't been putting enough emphasis on that whole thing. I'm trying to make it a gradual build up in skill, but I really hate those stories where there's a big hullabaloo over every little thing Harry does.

My view on it is that people (or the very few people that Harry's been able to interact with recently) simply forget that he doesn't have a wand, because it's an unusual predicament, and it would be like going out without shoes for a wizard. Really Harry hasn't had very many incidents in front of other people--pretty much just Tonks (indirectly), Hagrid, and now Toliman (who hardly had time to react before Harry was gone).

All that being said, you're right. Wandless magic is a big deal in this story, and I should probably remember to treat it as such. There'll be more of that when Harry is around more people again and really has to start watching himself.

... I may go back and edit some stuff. >.>

 

I quite liked the nonchalant way you included wandless magic. It's a refreshing change to all the pwnage stories which make Harry's wandless magic the pinnacle of wizardry. Your Harry seems powerful, but believably so.

Anyway, cheers for the update. I'd almost given up hope for one of my favourite stories.

 

Eh, it seems to me that Tonks (and everyone else who read the WW article) already knows that Harry is powerful and can cast wandlessly. It also seems that Tonks is jumping to conclusions about his wandless skills when she tells him to disillusion himself. Given the sensational article and also that he managed to escape the Galloping Galleon, maybe people are overestimating his wandless abilities.

 

I'm utterly and totally serious when I say this story is absolutely perfect in its writing style.

I have never seen anyone write in such an engaging style, one that seamlessly fits its content. It's rare that I've ever enjoyed the way the story is written as much as the actual content.

The last scene was, granted, a bit substandard, but I guess there aren't many ways to write that too well. Regardless, I've found the characters in your story immensely charming, especially Tonks and the narrator him/herself.

RustyRed:

Total <3. I want to father your babies. Seriously.

Awaiting updates.

 

A challenger appears .

Excellent characterization, epic fight scenes and an extremely intriguing plot. I can't fault you on anything at the moment.

5/5

*Sounds the roar for MOAR*

 

You faggot, Xiph. I saw the little alert pop up and thought there was an update.

This is the only fanfic I still refresh my alerts to check updates for. I just reread it recently as well, and still stand by my comments before.

10/5

 

You two make me sad

 

Ditto for Amer.. Except I just read through the story again.
Only story I'd do that for. Needs an update. x:

 

Ok, I'm actually going to thank Xiph for the necro, because otherwise I'd never have found this fic. One of the only rare times I actually found myself laughing out loud, grinning wildly at the awesome part and just generally getting into the story hard.

Very impressive writing - It just seems to draw you in. Well, there are a ton of awesome things about this fic, so I'll just say this. Fuck. Yes.

9/5 for lack of updates. Probably abandoned, but still hella awesome.

 

This is one of the few fics that will literally complete my fanfiction experience once it's finished. I mean, once RustyRed is finished with this, I'll be content to call it quits. The other ones are Circular Reasoning, Queens of Darkness, Ladies of Light, Harry Potter and the Assassin's Creed, Heartlands of Time, Lost Time, and a few others.

Also, the only story that has its own page on the DLP Wiki (courtesy of moi).