I have got pm from Author as I had invited him to the site, he didn't wanted to join in but in his pm he remarked that single 'quotes' are apperantly British while "other" is American. Author himself is British as well -which shows in his writing really- so he would probably would know better. Does anyone want to coment on that? I am not British or american so I can't really tell.

According to Author, that won't happen. Or at least it isn't planned to happen.

 

Oh, I already knew they were British. I just find them a bit annoying because I'm more used to reading our style of quotes.

 

It's a good fic, in structure, and has suprisingly little typos or general facepalm-liness(not to say it doesn't have any). However, the fact that it's Harry/Ginny really blows it for me, and the plot is pretty dissappointing at this point.
I think I'll pass judgement.

 

The author is a regular on SIYE, so it's little wonder he doesn't want to join the community here. (The two don't match terribly well.)

 

So it's updated, nothing interesting, some little tidbits of clues and stuff, but overall it is a filler chapter.

 

I wonder whether Harry has the pull to make Jacqui sign an NDA instead of memory charming her when they run out of excuses. And what do you tell children who can't follow their friends into Hogwarts? I don't see how anything good can come of that.

 

Updated.

The new chapter feels short (because it's been a while and I'm greedy), despite being around 4k words. The typos seemed to proliferate slightly, with this update, but still a good read.

More teasing on the "Werewolf" plot...

And, Mary is still a bitch.

 

Yes, finally an update. I almost forgot how awesome this story was.

/Off to reread

 

I seem to have missed this back when there was active posting about it a few years ago. Read it all yesterday; it's quite a fantastic story- well written, and combines an interesting Harry Potter plot with actually good writing about (OC) muggles.

 

It's a real oddity among HP stories that I both read and enjoy. Not Harry-centric, OC-centric, OC is a muggle... who isn't aware of magic, post Hogwarts... the list goes on.

It's just good enough that all that stuff doesn't matter.


It updated again, today, but it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. This update was unusually close to the last one, so hopefully the next update isn't too far off.

Jacqui's really flexing those amateur sleuth muscles, now. Makes you wonder if she'll find out about magic and, if so, how much longer it will take.

 

Huh, any ideas as to the identity of the mystery person? Probably another OC - Jacqui didn't seem to recognize her at any rate.

I wonder how Ginny would explain away this one to Jacqui. Her excuses for magic always turn out to be hilarious.

 

I really don't get this attitude. If it is well written and the author does a good job of it, what is the problem with Harry and Ginny?

Regardless, I've been keeping up with this fic for a few months now, and it is good. Well written and has a very fresh perspective on the HP universe that we don't normally get. However, my issue with this fic stems from this perspective.

I hate the main character, because Northumbrian has done a good enough job at portraying a person with an otherwise horridly dull life.

 

Harry/Ginny was so poorly executed in canon that it's been irrevocably tainted in the fanfiction community for a large number of people. However, the anti-Ginny sentiment has lessened dramatically over the years from downright hate to a general distaste. Typically, good Harry/Ginny fics are good despite Ginny, rather than because of her.

 

Harry/Ginny can be written as well as any other pairing, just like it has been in this story. A success of a story doesn't depend on its pairing, and I cannot imagine how a story would be good despite its pairing when said pairing is the major part of the story. What you said could be true of those HG stories where Harry/Ginny isn't a major aspect, but there are very few stories like that, and the only example I can think of where the story is good despite the pairing would be HBP itself.

Anyway, this certainly a good Harry/Ginny story, which is in major part due to the great characterizations and excellent Ginny-Jacqui interactions. Ginny is still a great character (despite the bad HBP romance) and can be very fun to read in a fic. It is sad that so many authors twist her character up (stupid!evil!Jealous!Love-potion!Ginny *sigh*) because they don't like her.

 

Updated.

Maybe it's just that it's been a while since I read this, but I found it hard to get into this chapter. There are probably some big clues about the whole "Werewolf" thing that I missed because I can't quite remember the details of the mystery. It's starting to strain credulity that Jacqui still hasn't had an "a-ah" moment and twigged to the fact that Ginny and co. are magical.

Seems like that's where it's heading. If not, there's going to be even more hand-waving. If so, I'd just assume have it happen soon and get to the interesting bits.

Still a great story.

 

Newcomb :

Come now, if your neighbors did a bunch of stuff that you found slightly weird and/or difficult to explain, would your thoughts seriously go to "Hey, may be they're magical?" Its not as if the Potters did anything so blatantly not-normal that Jacqui absolutely had to fish for explanations. Its only a slight curiosity from Jacqui's part -- even her Husband believes she has an over-active imagination.

As for not being able to get into the chapter, I think its because one of the major strengths of this story is to create that idyllic, slightly whimsical atmosphere surrounding the two families that makes even the normally dull everyday lives of Jacqui and co make for very interesting reads. If you read the story as a whole, you get suckered into the story in no time, but one chapter isn't enough to get into the frame of mind to enjoy the story to its fullest -- which is why I generally re-read the last few chapters whenever there is a new update.

This isn't the kind of the story where one chapter can move the plot much. The story is what it pretends to be -- the everyday life of the Potter family seen through the eyes of a Muggle. The werewolf sideplot adds a bit of spice to the story, but I don't think its the main focus -- I doubt Jacqui is going to be killing werewolves anytime soon.

This chapter was pretty nice. Isn't anyone going to chime in with theories about the new mystery girl who got obliviated and now somehow has possession of Michael Corner's invitation card? Who was the old man fighting the werewolves? Is he dead? Are the Corners dead? What does Camelia - who seems to be a Vampire - have to do with all this?

Isn't Ginny supposed to be working at the Prophet or something? Or did she resign when they moved to Drakeshaugh? Nice to see her putting her dormant chasing skills to good use here. I really like her characterization here as a wife/mother -- she is my favorite character in this story. I really like the Potter and Charlton kids' voices as well -- their conversations always make me smile. Really good story. I just hope the next update comes sooner.

 

Well, we know that Susan was with Camelia in Transylvania on a "vampire-hunter case" for quite some time. Presumably she is an official auror. If Jacqui's guess is correct, she's Eastern European, not a native Brit.

The sun was still up when they showed up at the Potters' house, so (unless it was a plothole) I guess Northumbrian has decided HP vampires are more like the Bram Stoker variety, who aren't harmed by sunlight, just weakened by it. This would also seem to indicate that she might have been part of that swarm of bats.

Fun fact: Camelia is one letter off from Camellia, a plant that tea is made from. I'll go ahead and consider this to be yet another Potter flower name, despite the missing 'L.' It's also close to the name of a famous vampire, Carmilla (who, by the way, was created before Dracula).

So far, everything Jacqui has seen has been easily explained away. This is helped along by the natural predisposition of most modern people to look for rational explanations, rather than immediately jump to supernatural ones.

As far as I know, Northumbrian's fan fic universe follows the 'rules' of the epilogue/Word of God, but simply adds a lot more information. So, I guess Ginny has worked/will work for the Prophet, but I don't recall if Strangers says anything on the subject, other than the passage where the boys mention telling the class what their parents do, and Harry was said to be an auror (oops) and Ginny... "She's a mother, she doesn't do anything."

If that's accurate, then she's not working at the Prophet at the moment, but she might have at one time, or will later on, or both (and she's just on a leave).

I wouldn't know if the answer is in the other stories, because I've more or less decided not to read them until Strangers is complete. :| A stance I may or may not change my mind about, at some point.

 

This updated on SIYE, though the latest chapter isn't on fanfiction.net yet.

Decent chapter. Not much plot progression (the interludes seem to develop the plot the most in this story), but some nice interactions between the Charltons and the Potters, which is the main attraction of this story, I suppose. Thought Jacqui pushed the vampire thing a bit past believable limits, but the rest was good.

 

northumbrian (author) - T–M

Title: (series)
Author: northumbrian
Rating: T–M
Genre: varies, majority Family/Drama + Humor, Mystery, Romance
Status: In Progress
Pairings: Canon pairings

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2132422/Northumbrian

So here's a weird submission. I found this author through a redditor's personal top 20 list and one story in particular caught my eye, but before I get to that one I'd like to try to summarise what this guy is up to.

northumbrian is an author that seems to have planned out pretty much an entire post!DH world, but they do so through a series of interconnected one-shots, miniseries, and snippets. Timelines range from immediately post-series where the power trio are trying to settle back into society, all the way to far-flung future fics that follow the adventures of James, Albus, and the rest of the extended Weasley clan. What's there is pretty neat and the author has been writing consistently (albeit slowly) since 2009 up to this summer.

Now, the fic that drew me in was Strangers at Drakeshaugh, future fic that takes place prior to DH's epilogue, where Harry and Ginny have moved out of London into the countryside in an attempt to keep a lower profile. This fic features one of my personal favourite tropes of the outsider perspective. That is to say, Harry and Ginny aren't even the primary POV.

Rather, that distinction belongs to an OC—a muggle mother actually—who's naturally curious about these strange newcomers in a small town where everybody knows everyone else (wtg Potter. great planning.) Part of the fun is seeing her interpretation of the events happening around the Potters, since there's a wider-scope plot in the premise of a series of magical murders happening that Harry is investigating, but the majority of it is seeing her own children interacting with a 5-year old James-Sirius and how his childish babbling nearly gives the game away as she rationalises it as simple active imaginations.

Unfortunately the story itself is incomplete at the moment, the most recent update was this July just as plot seems to be kicking into the final act. However these OCs aren't just one-offs either as several fics taking place even further down the timeline show how some of their children interact with the Potter children down the line.

Spoiler

Their separation after they hit 11 and went to their respective schools did strain their friendships. Also, it appears the Masquerade was kept up successfully, although it's unclear if obliviation had been required or not at the time I read these.

Anyhow, I'm still going through the story list in no particular order myself, jumping from timeline to timeline, but from what I've read so far my rating would be a 4/5. There's probably definitely tropes that individual readers may not like, but there's such a wide variety of stories I think you could find at least one story thread you like and follow that one to the ground.

 

Should be noted that Strangers at Drakeshaugh is already in the library:

https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=22822