FicWad

This was a rockin' chapter! Plot-wise I got quite a kick out of it; nothing like a gung-ho, take-charge, get-them-any-way-I-can clever Harry!

First up, enjoyed the Pansy bit ("on the day that Pansy turned back into what passed for human" - heh). I was quite angry/worried on Hermione's behalf that an attempt had been made on her life like this. It's funny, there's really been little made of the 'romance' or relationship between Harry & Hermione in this story; in stories by other authors, or even some of your earlier ones, there would have been passages of narrative text, or the reader would have read of Hermione's or Harry's thoughts, setting up their relationship. I'm thinking for the moment of your Dumbledore's Army, for example, one of the first stories of yours I read (and still a favourite) which got me firmly on Hermione's side because of the time you spent in examining her feelings and thoughts, or with dialogue Luna and co. uttered about her and her circumstances. Plus the more 'romantic' aligned fanfics by other authors.

In this story I feel there's been very little of that sort of thing; as we've noted you're rocketing ahead with the plot and there's only the barest skeleton of such impressions in the text. That's why I was surprised a couple of chapters ago by their overt pairing, as you know. Yet the framework of their relationship is there, and I find that I'm still getting that 'emotional' value out of the story, even if it's because I'm 'plugging in' H/Hr impressions and such from other stories and using them to fill the void, fleshing out your storyline. Does that make sense? If I was new on the scene and this was the first fan fiction story I'd ever read I probably wouldn't have the emotional investment in Harry & Hermione that I do actually possess. Anyway, I was quite angry on Hermione's behalf with this little scene here.

Surprised, too, given Slughorn's initial vehemence as to the severity of Parkinson's crime - and her anticipated punishment - that in the end she only got 24 hours of detention!??!

Macnair's death - great, although we don't know for sure that it was Harry. Dumbledore's adaption to a 'stricter sense of justice' was even more welcome.

But then the double-pronged media attack - excellent stuff. I was really surprised by this, but my gosh it all makes perfect sense, particularly piggy-backed on your equating the DEs to a terrorist organisation in the last chapter! Rollickin' closing half to the chapter, with the humourous element of Dumbledore being so 'popular before breakfast' and the fast pace of everything coming out.

Harry didn't offer a reward for Riddle himself? Because he knows he's too powerful to be taken on, that only Harry himself can take him down?

Very glad you put in Von Spitzbach, by the way. He certainly deserves to be remembered for his part in all this.

Dumbledore muses that he doesn't know the effect that this aggressive PR campaign may have ... hmmm, wondering if there may be negative repercussions for Harry coming up? No idea what, that comment of Albus just has me thinking. I guess one obvious counter-attack would be for Tom to issue a reward for Harry, and he's a sitting duck at one fixed location for three-quarters of the year.

Good chapter, thanks!