Harry was too overpowered in this story. Still, this is better than most H/D shit that is in circulation.

As for Lucius's competency, even in canon, he practically had Fudge eating out of his hands. Had he escaped the DOM fight without getting spotted, he would have wrecked even more havoc.

 

So I read this story when it was coming out, thought it was fairly bland, and then never bothered with the updates once I came back from fanfic hiatus.

If you're looking for a Harry/Daphne get powerful and redo Hogwarts fic, you're going to get pretty much what Anarchy described. Nothing particularly new, meh. 3/5 Daphne and Hermione at times are frustrating in how there's enough there to be characters, but you're really denied the full experience of them being fleshed out.

But finally went through it for real and...

That's not what this story is.

It's a Mentor!Albus fic. It's Harry comes into Hogwarts alone and no matter how much the adults in his life genuinely care - Albus, Sirius, Remus... he'll leave alone.

Except he won't because Hermione is the early lifeline that he grabs onto, and Daphne is the foil that over time becomes exactly what he needs. It flows. The early shitty childhood/teenage angst falls apart in the face of needs must and the war. Malfoy's bullshit is nothing compared to what his father does.

What happens to Snape is cruel and bittersweet and meaningful in a way that Rowling tried to capture but failed with part of the fanbase because Snape was a piece of shit that deserved exactly what he got. Here, it meant something, especially the way it played out. Hermione is the childhood friend who - through nobody's fault at all - ends up drifting away, comes back, and then falls away again. Daphne grows. The fact that we only see them in bits and pieces actually works if you're not reading it primarily for the ship, because the main relationship is Dumbledore and Harry getting ready for the war. Hermione at first and then Daphne are where Harry needs them - when he is in danger of being overwhelmed - and not as a team of superheros all the time.

5/5. It's very dry, some of the political maneuvering is clunky. There's more telling than showing than is probably healthy. But the path of this fic is increasingly met with piles of gems, and the relationships work perfectly together, if you take the frame and turn it sideways.

I loved it, completely library worthy. Very nice Dumbledore.

 

huh... you alright there?

 

Thanks for the review, vlad. It's one of the more thoughtful ones I've gotten for this fic.

I've said before that I learned how to write over the course of writing this story. I was a freshman in college when I first started it, and I'd never written anything more than the odd short story for English class. I've only ever read bits and pieces of TBL since my proof reads before posting it. There are parts that I'm legitimately ashamed to have written. And there are parts I'm rather proud of. I like to think the ratio shifts from the former to the latter as the fic progresses.

I don't think anything I've ever written has drawn--and continues to draw--as much ire as my treatment of Snape. That's probably my favorite scene in the story.

Thanks again for the review. I'm glad you liked it.