Aw. Not bad. Pretty good. nice job.

Had I more money and less shame, I might propose a commission work - whereupon you'd write a short novel about Dudley's encounters with magic XD. I ADORE that part about the last several chapters. It makes so much sense! Well, at least the bits about him being hexxed/charmed/whatever into a piggish nature and Petunia spoiling him rotten just to keep him from showing magical potential. But I get the feeling Hogwarts would have caught that oversight, if it were enough magic to let him survive :]. Shame. It sounds like a rather good plot.

I wouldn't have guessed merfolk of any sort for Snape, but sea cow? BAHAHA I giggled, I admit. The skinny bastard is a sea cow. Coincidentally, wiki taught me that a band I rather like has a much less attractive name than they likely think they do (Sirenia). Anyone with a zoological mind would have caught that, but I was woefully unenlightened.

It's simply astounding how much of a mess came of Dobby's interference. Granted, Dobby has the ability to set anything off-kilter (I couldn't stand him until the last book), but to this degree! Gah. I'd think he would have known about the Mark, but I suppose most of what I gather about the Snape/Malfoy relations is more from fanfiction than canon. I read a lot of Draco/Harry slash :D. It's tinkered with my brainmeats a bit. Moreso, though, I thought his reaction would be related to what he IS (the sea cow selkie thing) rather than his darker ties. The direction you took instead surprised me.

I know you wrote this ages and ages (and ages and ages and ages and ages) ago, so it's probably the sort of thing you look back on in shame. From what I gather, most writers hate their older works (I do, at least, but I'm not a writer, I just dabbled. I guess that's how it is for most of the internet "authors." Maybe you real writer sorts are a different story?). But hopefully you have enough sensibility and pride to see the good in this -- it was truly a treat :]. You know you're on FictionAlley's master directory of classic fanfictions? I just found the list, hadn't a clue it existed, so I thought I'd let you know in case you didn't X].

I hope doesn't still cut out brackets. My review will be nonsensical if they do =/.

TL;DR version: Great job!
-LaDiablo

this is one hell of a story-- a very good one at that. good work!

i was laughing so hard when malfoy and his goons entered the scene. this particular line sent me off "you didn't tell me he had a knife" or something of the like... god, was that hilarious. hahahaha!

I found your story on someone's rec list and decided to read it based on the title. It had lots of action and suspense--kinda like a fun house ride. Your creation for Snape was quite inventive. The plot thread around Harry and Dudley was the kind of thing that gives me a warm tingly feeling. I agree with Snape about Petunia's fate and like him, regret that she can't remember it. You definitely created an incredible story.

Definitely not the average Snape vs the Dursleys story.

It was a lot of fun to read. I'm glad I found it after it was completed so I could read it straight through.

OMG...
I'm at Chapter 28: Pizza...
and I totally laughed my head off when I read "Neil Gaiman." LOL, you're so right about him resembling Snape (:
I've been really enjoying your story so far.

This is really interesting! I really enjoy how you've made Dudley into an actual human being. His motivation for becoming friendly with Harry was really well written, and very reasonable. I particularly enjoyed how you made it clear that most of his cruelty was a result of the 'status quo' and a trained attitude, rather than a deliberate and thought out malice (as his parent's was). I always thought he had the potential to be a decent human being, it's really nice to see that possibility being explored. I look forward to seeing what happens next!

This is beautiful. It's one of the few stories that are actually filling.

It's woven so beautifully, Jesus, was it really stretched over so many years? Nevertheless, it's chaotic at all times. Things don't go as planned, just like in real life. And you just roll with it, the story develops around the chaos; adapts to it. It’s funny and dramatic; it’s generous with the different viewpoints but not in a jarring manner, rather, an enlightening one instead.

I especially like the Dursleys. There is not a single character in the HP universe that I dislike; the Dursleys are no exception.

In fact, I simply love them. Despite the abuse, despite the superficiality, despite the barbaric fear of the unknown they've always charmed me. Kind of like my Aunt, horrible, but I can't help but adore her. ...hopefully my mom will never read that.

The summers in the beginning of the books were always my favorite and it was with a heavy heart when JKR started shortening them.

I'm also not against completely demonizing them so long as it's done right. There is something morbidly fascinating about watching a child go through that, and prevail. To see them fight for their own freedom, to find loopholes and to escape.

However, it's even more satisfying to see them in a different more humane light, and can be altogether harder to write. To see Harry reconcile with them, or at the very least with Dudley. And this fic accomplishes it in a most gratifying manner.

And right now, I just want to see more of the two. Well, read more of the two. But I doubt it’ll be as satisfying as your story was. It’s hard to put into words just how much I appreciate this story.

Thank you so much for writing this and sharing it with everyone.

interesting that D.D. has 'some' magic..must have been denyed his letter since he helped with the Protronus as he had...interesting

snape is so far out of it when he wakes up..lol

so what is he a mixed blood of? what magical creature is in his ancestory?

lol i love how the 'smaller owl' left it's opinion of the table leg and hedwig 'laughed' about it

lol

This different from most Snape meets the Durselys, and that's a good thing. I really like how Vernon has conscience unlike in most stories. I mean even Voldemort would feel a little bit bad for locking a little boy in cupboard. Of course he would never do that. Why lock him up instead of killing him or training him to be the perfect Death Eater?

Wonderful story! There were times when I was just rolling... especially the fire in the kitchen. lol

ha, cute.
I liked the wikipedia stuff the best. THis was an epic story, I liked it a lot. It was awesome because Snpae just didn't whix Harry off to Hogwarts straight away like in most fics like these. A very nice difference here.

ta,
AQA

pft. Ah, Dudley wants magic books, how sweet of them to get along. This was awesome. Epic awesome.