Reviewer: cjbaggins
Date: 05/19/13 23:57
Chapter: Chapter 11 Epilogue
Wonderful ending! A fitting conclusion to this story, that while an uncomfortable topic, you have addressed with compassion and sensitivity. Well done! cj
Reviewer: Chocolate butterbeer
Date: 03/24/13 14:43
Chapter: Chapter 11 Epilogue
That was really interesting it was good I liked it did you know about all this stuff before or did you look it up? U can really see the courage that Harry had to do all this
Author's Response: Hi Miriam. Thanks for reading my story, and special thanks for writing a review. In answer to your question, I did know a lot of this material before, but I also had to do a lot of research. I have a notebook full of printed-from-the-internet maps of London and descriptions and pictures of the places Harry visited. As a result, people who actually visit those places will hopefully find that my story is not too inaccurate. I agree with you about Harry's courage. Even though there are no dragons or swords in this story, it takes a lot of courage to reveal our innermost thoughts and self to other people.
I hope you will think of some sort of story that no one else has done, and give it a try!
Reviewer: Trucker
Date: 02/02/13 21:32
Chapter: Chapter 1 Infanticide
I'm in awe of the care you took in writing this piece. As a volunteer chaplain at a state mental hospital, I've seen enough to know that you've scored a bullseye or two. And in reflecting on my father's life -- he was a virtual slave and punching bag for his father -- and how my father fought his demons and managed to be a loving father to his two sons and not continue the cycle -- I was the lucky one.
Author's Response: Thank you so much for your comments. They are particularly appreciated, coming from someone with some personal connection to the topic.
Reviewer: Dad
Date: 01/20/13 6:20
Chapter: Chapter 11 Epilogue
Thanks for the nice epilogue. I wish every one could have a happy ending.
Author's Response: Thanks for the many reviews, Dad. It is good to know that there is someone we can always rely on to let us know that our stories are being read. (Though I can't figure out why nobody made any comments on Chapter 6, which for me is the pivotal chapter of the story, or on Chapter 9, since I have a particular interest in World War II.) This story was bound to have a happy ending, since there was no way for Harry to go except up. And the epilogue is a good example of how a tiny kindness that we do (such as sending the books to Harry) can have a much bigger impact than we would ever guess. We can all recall tiny kindnesses that someone did for us, so tiny that the person probably doesn't even remember them, that made a huge difference to us.
Reviewer: nevilleherosnape
Date: 01/19/13 18:04
Chapter: Chapter 11 Epilogue
Fantastic!!! I loved and enjoyed this story very much!!
Author's Response: Thank you so much for your ongoing encouragement and unqualified appreciation of my story. It is gratifying to know that people got as much from reading it as I got from writing it. A year ago I would never have dreamed I would do such a thing, because I tended to keep my thoughts to myself. But now, who knows? I may write something else someday.
Reviewer: baby54boomer
Date: 01/19/13 15:27
Chapter: Chapter 11 Epilogue
Your epilogue is a wonderful finality to what must have been a difficult story to write. Thank you for leaving us with a ray of sunshine..a bright day after Harry's long, dark night.
Author's Response: You are perceptive to discern that this story was difficult to write. I first came to this site to read more stories about Harry Potter, with no intention of writing. But after reading a few fluffy one-shots by Neil about Harry's early experiences with his newborn children, I saw a gaping hole in the extended canon, a subject that no one seemed to have addressed. It had to be written, and I felt sure I could do it. The difficult part was doing it well. The job took nine months, with much research and rewriting, and it was miraculous how things often fell into place almost by themselves, in ways I didn't expect. Perhaps that is the power of the subconscious. Thank you for your encouragement, all the way to the end. (And a huge Thank You to my beta readers.)
Reviewer: Stargirl34
Date: 01/19/13 12:45
Chapter: Chapter 11 Epilogue
I loved this. The whole story was so real: Harry's misgivings about starting his family, his realization that his past was abusive, his search for links to his past... And your epilogue was perfect. I love the idea of Harry reading the books to his own children. Well done!
Author's Response: Thank you so much for saying that the story was well done. I had no idea, when I started, whether I could write something worth reading or not. There is not much magic in this story; maybe that it why it seems real -- because it is something that could happen to anyone. The Bible says, "The truth will set you free," and in Harry's case, it did.
Reviewer: rambkowalczyk
Date: 01/14/13 15:00
Chapter: Chapter 10 The Last Funeral
Sorry I haven't made previous reviews. I liked this story. Mr. Weasley's interpretation of Harry's dream was excellant. Good writing.
Author's Response: Thank you very much for writing a review now. Mr Weasley is an entertaining character, but also very wise, and it is good that Harry can rely on him. I am glad that you enjoyed my story.
Reviewer: Dad
Date: 01/14/13 14:25
Chapter: Chapter 10 The Last Funeral
This story has always been been about a different subject to the usual. It has been a journey for Harry and us readers and I really like the ending.
Author's Response: Interesting that you say that the story has been a journey for the readers as well as for Harry. Perhaps many people take this journey. Thank you for your continued interest. There will be one more chapter.
Reviewer: baby54boomer
Date: 01/14/13 13:51
Chapter: Chapter 10 The Last Funeral
Wonderful.
Author's Response: Thank you for that kind word. You know, I think that this story appeals more to the older readers because we are able to look back over the sweep of our lives and our children's lives and recognize the enduring themes.
Reviewer: nevilleherosnape
Date: 01/13/13 18:22
Chapter: Chapter 10 The Last Funeral
I cried right along with him!!! Very well written!
Author's Response: Thank you for your appreciation. This chapter was the most difficult to write, and I struggled with it longer than with the other chapters. I wish that all of us (including me) could be as brave and tough as Harry.
Reviewer: Dad
Date: 12/22/12 14:16
Chapter: Chapter 9 The Bombing of Coventry
While child abuse is a serious subject, This is a very gentle story and Harry meets some nice people.
Author's Response: Thank you very much for continuing to read. I like to think that it is a story of hope, of coming out of the dark shadows into the daylight.
Reviewer: ProfPosky
Date: 12/12/12 12:06
Chapter: Chapter 2 The Sign in the Plaza
I have always thought that the books make too little of Harry's background. I'm not certain the last paragraph here doesn't make too much of it - except for how you have placed it at a time in his life when a person might well worry about such things.
"Only Hermione, the Weasleys, and a few others knew him also as the Survivor of Sixteen Years in the Dursley Household."
And I do hope he does talk to one of them...
Author's Response: I am hoping that when you read the subsequent chapters you will see why I made that statement. Despite what I wrote in response to an earlier review, this story is not really my first work of fiction; except for the characters and locales created by JKR, it is all taken from real life. The book Harry finds in Chapter 6 really exists as depicted and would affect any survivor of childhood abuse in the way it affected him. Patricia's statements in Chapter 7, that it takes time to rebuild a healthy personality from a foundation of abuse, that she is still working on it at age 48, and that "it will always be a part of the definition of who you are", are accurate. People who were blessed enough to avoid being part of a Dursley-like household may feel that some of this story is over the top, but people who lived through that experience will identify with it.
Thank you very much for reading and commenting on my story, and I hope you will also enjoy the coming chapters.
Reviewer: ProfPosky
Date: 12/12/12 12:00
Chapter: Chapter 1 Infanticide
Oh, how stark! And very well done - I can picture it all. I'm rushing on to the next chapter..
Author's Response: Yes, "stark" is a good word to describe many of Harry's experiences.
Reviewer: dreamsnape
Date: 12/10/12 3:23
Chapter: Chapter 7 St. Stephen's Church
Good story. I liked how it explored some of Harry's deepest fears, and addressed the subject of how the years of neglect with the Dursleys had affected him. It was very believable.
Author's Response: Thank you for reading my story. You will recall chapter 3 in Book 6, where Dumbledore says to the Dursleys, "You have never treated Harry as a son. He has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands. The best that can be said is that he has escaped the appalling damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting between you." It struck me that Dumbledore could see the obvious damage (obesity, bullying, self-centeredness) that Dudley exhibited, but he seems not to have been aware of the damage (of a different sort) that had been done to Harry also but which was less obvious to the casual glance. Wise as he was, Dumbledore apparently didn't know everything.
Reviewer: cjbaggins
Date: 12/04/12 0:40
Chapter: Chapter 7 St. Stephen's Church
Love the idea that his mother's love may have protected him from the Dursley's too. Nice touch. cj
Author's Response: I am glad that you are continuing to like my story. As you can tell, it is important to me and I felt that it needed to be written.
Reviewer: Dad
Date: 12/03/12 5:24
Chapter: Chapter 7 St. Stephen's Church
I think the last line is very likely.
Author's Response: Thank you for continuing to read my story.
Reviewer: nevilleherosnape
Date: 12/02/12 17:53
Chapter: Chapter 7 St. Stephen's Church
This I love! It very literally spoke to me!! Thank you!!
Author's Response: I am so glad that you liked it. I think it is the sort of subject that a reader will either like a lot or not at all. In this story Harry is braver than a lot of us would be, but that is his nature. It is so much easier to run away from our problems than to face them.
Reviewer: cjbaggins
Date: 11/19/12 0:20
Chapter: Chapter 5 Volunteer Night
Love that Harry is getting information that may be useful to him to help him move beyond his past.
Off to add this story to favourites so I will get notifications of updates ...
cj
Author's Response: He's just getting started...
Reviewer: cjbaggins
Date: 11/17/12 0:03
Chapter: Chapter 3: The American Visitor
Loved Pamela's comment, that Harry repeats to himself, "It is safe to talk ...".
cj
Author's Response: Thanks, and I loved that Harry had the guts to actually act on it.
