Muggles aren't useless compared to wizards, but they aren't superior either. Each group has its advantages and faults.

I just took a shot at all those stories where Harry wakes up after OOTP and start developing things no one has ever thought of before. I espeicially hate it when he can do impossible wandless magic because "he was raised by muggles, thus he doesn't know his limitations"... Hah!

Generally, in my version of Potterverse, magic will be powerful, but only after you learn it, practice it and master it; not after 5 minutes of training. Even with magic, there are no easy solutions in life.

I agree that some explanations seemed a bit forced. Unfortunately, I wasn't a good enough writer to make these parts interesting, comprehensive, clear and short at the same time.

That's a peeve of mine. If you can just overpower 4th year Reducto curse, why did people invent all those advanced spells in the first place?

That's why I tweaked my version of HP setting so to allow for a huge ammount of different spells, that don't differ only in power, but also in speed, area of effect, shield-piercing ability etc... It should make for more interesting duels once I (and Harry) finally reach that stage.

 

I really like the new chapter (and I only just got round to reading it due to FF being down). I have a few questions though.

Will Harry still be able to sacrifice Rookwood? It seems that the longer he is kept alive the bigger the chance is that Harry will have second thoughts about killing him (unless of course you did this on purpose for added drama later on). Also it seems that Rookwood is too useful to Harry to dispose of him, which creates a dilemma because he wants to learn faster but can't do it on his own. The perfect solution would be to keep Rookwood alive and perform the ritual, but then all the runes would have to be recalculated and a new DE has to be captured etc etc.

Also it seems that Harry has forgotten about Anarchia, which would be the perfect place to do some research on the (nicely thought out) concepts of free-wielding and power-pooling. Of course the book does not offer the feedback Rookwood does but might hold knowledge he doesn't. When is Harry going to fulfill his last part of the deal anyway. My idea of time got a bit skewered when reading the last chapter and I didn't really understand how long Rookwood had been held captive but it seemed like quite a while. This means that his 30 trial period should be close to running out. I'm hoping Harry's letter to the daily prophet isn't the third installment. You hint about Pederson and the level 7 files (presumably Sirius's file) but unless there is stated proof that he's innocent I don't see how stealing these files might cause the ministry embarassment (although I'm probably missing something here).

The new chapter was very good (as I said before) especially for a filler chapter. I especially liked the way that Rookwood's character was kept constant. Especially his tendency to talk too much (like in the fight) and that he stayed intelligent throughout the chapter. Not reverting into the usual deatheater role of shouting threats and declaring that they are the most loyal of all.

I also hate the fact that the only shield anybody ever seems to use is "protego" and it can block anything but unforgivables. Good one on having Harry learn some new shields.

 

I really liked this chapter, it might have been filler, but it was fascinating filler.

I did something I have never done before, and actually took some notes as I went through it, so I could give some proper feedback. Rather sad I know, but I had nothing better to do.

First thigns first, was a couple of americanisms. Namely, Jello (the jelloband thingimyjigger) and Kindergarten. Jello in the US, is Jelly in britain. Kindergarten, would probably be better getting replaced with either nursery or toddler.

Next I just have to congratulate you on the idea of a death eater study group, I loved it.

After that I just picked up on some typos, "damn god chance" should obviously be "good"

"shovel it up your...." should probably be "shove" if I am understanding where it is going properly.

"wand buckled back" should be "bucked"

"just can seem to reach" shoul be "can't" other wise it doesn't really make contextual sense.

"pass tomorrow" should be "past" otherwise it makes no contextual sense either.

And that was all I picked up, so i hope you don't take offence with my nitpicking, but I felt the need to do so since you haven't posted in 7 months.

 

I like the chapter very much, the theory actually makes more sense than all the overpower = overeffective tellings in the usual fanfictions. And I like the banter between the two, I hope that Harry still gets around to sacrificing the guy.

 

I liked this chapter very much.

Your take on magic is one of the best I've had the pleasure to read and I think it will make the future battles much better.(I get a little frustrated when I dont know what kind of magic is thrown around)

 

A great chapter,

I liked the theory of freewielding that you discussed, I agree that's its a part of cannon that has never reallly been explained. Also the way that you wrote Rookwood(sp) was great.

As you mentioned in your AN it is unrealsitic that Harry would just stumble across something new in magic just because he didin't know that it couldn;t be done. Also your Harry acknowledges that he is no were near as powerfull as Riddle and that a few months of training won't fix this.

A great story and perhaps one day Ill write a decent review of it.

 

Heh, you see Harry's dilemna, which he'll have to solve soon, one way or the other... No spoilers for this one, though...

Anarchia provides only TIPS, not detailed explanations and instructions for all levels of knowledge. It's not an infailable deus-ex machina, but a collection of tweaks and hints of how to improve some techniques, obscure but useful spells and dirt on prominent people and institutions.

8 days. It's August 16th on my timeline.

Since Harry purchashed the book on his birthday, the deadline is on August 31st, the day before he goes back to Hogwarts.

No, since Dumbledore had hiden that file, it's logical to asume that it holds some kind of leverage against him.

The third installment will be a new subplot that will start off with the chapter after next one.

Thanks for the nitpicking, Mordecai! I fixed most of these in my version. I might re-upload it when I post the next chapter.

He's powerful, just not knowledgable and experienced enough.

 

IP: I liked the 'toilet humor' bits as well as Rookwood resorting to flining his feces around like a monkey trying to escape it's cage during his repeated escape attempts. But then again, thats just me.

I would also like to compliment you for your filler -- although I felt that the chapter was very short on actual action, that was to be expected. Keep up your current pace, it is a good one, and it lets just enough tension build up before events happen instead of falling into what I like to call 'Paffy Syndrome', a fanfic affliction where an excellant author puts too much build up and not nearly enough resolution in their fanfics.

I also wonder how long Harry will keep Rookwood around... One of the many mini-cliches in the Indie! Harry Genre is Harry keeping a horde of captured DE's imprisoned somewhere whilst he is in school. If Harry is not going to Sacrifice Rookwood in a Ritual before the school year begins, what will Harry do with him, and how will he managed to keep him jailed? Turning him over to the Aurors/OOTP would be unnacceptable for Harry because Rookwood knows too much about Harry's summer 'vacation'. Also keeping Rookwood imprisioned would present it's own set of problems, like getting Rookwood onto school grounds and then hiding him, or sneaking off of those grounds to check up on him.

I look forward to the next update

 

Well, glad to see that you are back officially (I'm still gone, though I read the site everyday still. )

Anyway, I liked the new chapter. Magical theory stuff was pretty dry at times, but what can you do?

I have a question for you, What about all the information Rookwood has? WHAT was he working on in there that was so TOp Secret? Harry NEEDS to get this information. The guy is a major player in the inner circle. Tutoring is nice, but what was Voldemort planning exactly?

Also, you're Dumbledore strikes me as a little too malevolent. Its more interesting to when he is a man who still has good intentions rather than Rotten to the Core, as you portray him, i.e. on par with Riddle. Albus and Riddle are similar in that both will do anything to achieve their ends, but Albus believes the bullshit he spews.

Lastly, still not a big fan of the phoenix, and the fact that Davidovitch knows but isn't telling Harry sucks. The whole thing about their being a "Legend" surrounding it seems like magical Mystery bullshit where Harry is Merlin or something (the opposite of what the rest of the story is.)

Dick is great, but how much can Harry REALLY trust him considering that he is still Tom's familiar? That's about it. Keep it UP!!!


P.S. I'm with Gio. I also liked the feces stuff

 

Is Harry ever going to progress to this "neutral zone" in obliviation? If so the Rookwood problem wouldn't be much of a problem.

 

Of course Harry will have to think hard about these issues before making a decision of some sort...

Harry has no way of finding that out, other than torturing Rookwood. And if he did that, there'd be no more training and helpful tips.

So, no, Harry has lots of other things on his mind right now, to worry about stopping Voldemort... Of course, this attitude just might come back to hunt him later on...

He's not rotten to the core, but he is corrupted. After living for so long and seeing all his friends slowly die out/get killed, he simply lost his ability to interact with other people on equal grounds. He is so caught up in his own power and fame, that everyone else is secondary, and beneath him.

In a way, he treats other people like pets - trains them, acts kindly towards them and awards them if they've been good. But in the end, his position of a superior, a master is never questioned in his mind. Thus, he'll use them freely for his own gains, or for the gains of his other pawns, same as farmer would chose which farm animals to give a break, which to copulate, which to use for labor and which to eat - all this is done with a certain dose of detachment.

Farmer doesn't hate his animals. He is not evil. He just considers his stock below him, which in his mind gives him the right to use them for his own gain. Same thing is with Dumbledore.

So no, he's not evil par say; he just don't consider himself equal with anyone but Voldemort, thus the normal rules of human interactions doesn't appy in his mind.

What you stated is one way of portraying manipulative!Dumbledore. I've simply chosen a different approach.

If I started the story again, I'd have probably avoided the Phoenix deal since there's a sort of a negative stigmata attached to it.

I might change my orriginal plan for the bird; I might not. I'll just say that there's no ancient mystery bullshit attached to the wandmaker keeping his mouth shut - just a simple matter of blackmail.

Where do you think wandmakers obtain their Phoenix feathers? And do you think these old families could stay in business if Phoenixes refused to provide them any more material?

Considering that Tom had tried to kill Dick, I'd say he can trust him enough.

Well, I wouldn't have mentioned this technique if Harry wasn't going to learn it.

 

Excellent chapter. I guess my only problem would probably be that Rockwood speaks as though most wizards AREN'T ignorant of muggle culture. The whole idea that the "new" techniques all the muggle-borns try using 'muggle' ideas have already been done before kind of annoyed me, as I think that any wizards who go to the extent of killing muggles off would be extremely ignorant of their culture. Also, I always like the sort of balance that has most muggles being ignorant of the wizarding world while most wizards are ignorant of the muggle world. I would think that since most wizards are ignorant of science, muggle history, advanced math, etc. that most magical breakthroughs would be done by muggleborns or wizards with knowledge of some of the happenings in the muggle world.

 

Rookwood was actually bitching about Muggleborns just looking to apply muggle knowledge without any research and thought invested into it. I'm not saying that muggle ideas couldn't be applied in the Wizarding world.

As for wizarding knowledge of Muggle world, I'd say that Rookwood was following it before his incarceration, but not since then. But that was mostly because he was an unspeakable.

As for magical breakthroughs, there aren't any. MOM made any kind of research extremely difficult for average wizards, moving the whole development of science to DOM.

 

I liked your new chapter. It was quite funny and I didn't mind that it was a filler chapter. I just think that Rookwood wouldn't have cooperated, but that is just my opinion.

 

Why not??? It's his chance to insult Harry and try to win him over. If you're stuck in a cell for 8 days you're probably bored out of your mind. Especially if you don't have dementors around keeping you occupied.

 

I liked the new chapter.
Is it weird that I actually like Rookwood? Well, as much as I can like a Death Eater...
Good characterization.

 

Great chapter. Finally a story when Harry does not become extremly skilled after reading a few books!

I especially likes how Rookwood teach harry and the fact that he is aware of Voldemort's manipulation of him but still remains loyal.

 

Great stuff. I already gave comments. My question is when can we expect the new chapter? (I thought this was a two-parter of approximately 30K combined.)

 

Once Sree is done betaing. Bully him, not me!

 

Hurry hurry hurry hurry hurry Sree


or we cut out ur iballs and force em up ur nose and cut out ur tongue and force it down your throat!!!



that was alittle extreme but HURRY


please?