Just another muggle that likes playing in JKR's world, and on Pandora briefly as well.

Thoughts of Pudding info below, just skip down a bit. For those looking for my Yahoo group, it appears this site has removed the old homepage links for now. Hopefully this is just a temporary change. In the meantime, you can try reassembling and using this link: htt p://groups.yahoo.com/group/Thoughts_of_pudding/

Spelling & Grammar notes for authors from your average Joe (eg, I'm not an English teacher, so feel free to correct anything below that I've got wrong).

You're: contraction of "you are". Your: belonging to. "You're right of course, and here is your prize"

They're: contraction of "they are". Their: belonging to. There: location. "They're over there with their friends!"

Vile: nasty. Vial: small container for liquids. "the potion in the vial tasted vile"

Lose: misplace. Loose: free, unrestrained. "Your grip on your wand is so loose you're going to lose it."

Accept: take. Except: exclude. "I accept the blame for all pranks except vanishing Lav's underwear. I think she did that herself."

Threw: tossed. Through: into, beyond, across. "He threw the quaffle through the centre hoop for 10 points."

Allowed: permitted. Aloud: audible. "He wondered if he would be allowed to leave, then asked the question aloud"

Cloths: pieces of material. Clothes: items of clothing. "Harry's old clothes were barely suitable for use as cleaning cloths"

Forth: brought to. Fourth: number-related. "The consolation prize for coming fourth in the race was brought forth"

Canon: rule, standard. Cannon: a heavy gun on wheels. "According to canon, Ron's favourite Quidditch team is the Chudley Cannons"

Complement: goes well with. Compliment: praise. "That dress really complements your hair" she said, complimenting her friend on her fashion sense"

Definitely: certainly. Defiantly: with defiance. "I most definitely will not!" She screamed defiantly.

Bare: expose, naked. Bear: carry. "As his Occlumency failed, his mind was laid bare. 'How do you bear such burdens?' she asked."

s: used for plurals. 's: apostrophe of possession, eg, belonging to. s': plural & possession. "Ron Weasley's home is full of Weasleys, while the Bones' home usually only has Susan & Amelia in it". (With thanks to TheatricalBarrister for a needed correction. :) )

More Spelling issues:

Ginevra - not Ginerva or Virginia

Parvati - not Pavarti

Percy Ignatius Weasley (he used his full name as court scribe in OoTP.)

Harry James Potter (not Harold, or Harrison, Harcourt, Hampton or whatever else you can think of that starts with 'Ha...'.)

Veela - not Vela (and Fleur not Fluer while we're at it)

Occlumency - not occulmency or Occlumancy

Grimmauld - not grimwald (it is a grim old place after all)

The plural of elf is elves - not elfs

French accents: If you can't do it well then don't get too elaborate, just keep it simple. For example, try;
replacing the h's at the beginning of words with apostrophes, Eg, 'Ello 'Arry! (though "Bonjour 'Arry!" might be better). For extra credit, replace "who" with " 'oo
replacing the th's with z's
replacing i's at the start of words with ee's (and perhaps some in the middle as well, as in "leetle boy"

Et voila... "Zis ees one way to.. 'ow do you say eet.. write like ze french?" or how about.. "Madame Maxime, 'oo ees 'e?"

Briticisms:

There are a bunch of things I've seen written in fanfics that quite frankly have no business being in a story about young *British* wizards and witches circa 1990's. If you aren't a brit, use the books and movies as a guide. If you still want to use your own cultural references, then can I suggest you move the characters to that country first? A couple of the more obvious issues are:

The one fingered salute. Brits don't do it - they use a two fingered salute - a V with index and middle finger extended and spread, the thumb holding back the ring and little fingers, palm facing the person giving the salute. Unlike the one fingered salute which is usually held still at around 90 degrees, the two fingered salute is a motion, starting at about 20 degress, and with a flick of the wrist bringing the fingers up to around 80 degrees. Thanks go to Brigrove for confirming the old Harvey salute was still current in 2001, and the story takes place before that year for those that want to argue about current trends.

Brits don't eat hotcakes, they eat pancakes. They wouldn't have a clue about either grits or biscuits and gravy. As for peanut butter and jelly - to a Brit, jelly is called jam, and the idea of mixing it with peanut butter? Nope, never happen unless on a dare. Their 'jelly' is a chilled, flavoured gelatin dessert, which is also used in making trifles.

Re: Thoughts of Pudding.

--Yahoo group. click the homepage link at the top of this page to visit the group, discuss the story, etc. This is also the place to get early access to new content, and particpate in any polls.

--Latest notes: I will be deleting the info in this section periodically, otherwise this bio would need a beta reader..

--Current status: *September 2012 update - My apologies all, but following my month off overseas in April, I've been really busy at work ever since I got back. Apart from catching up, the company I work for (like over 80% of the market we're in) had to write a tender to continue to operate the government contracts we have. If successful (as we hope), then the new contract will be for five years instead of three. Tendering tends to make me fairly grumpy and short-tempered, as I expect you noticed if you're a member of certain Yahoo groups... We've been without a coordinator for our team from late May to end August as well, so on top of tendering I've been trying to look after the operational side of things as well... that makes for long days and a lot of work to catch up on when I can eventually get to it after handing over everything I've been doing to the new coordinator. Did I mention we also had to prepare for an annual file audit in August to assess our compliance with Disability Service Standards (which we aced)?

Reminder, no further chapters will be posted to the original 'Thoughts of Pudding' story; 'Thoughts of Pudding 2012' is the completely revised & cleaned up version, and is where new chapters will be posted. You MUST subscribe to this story if you wish to receive story alerts (or to me as an author if you prefer)

Only the new 2012 version will continue to be updated, and the old/original version of Thoughts of Pudding should be considered to be abandoned now. The new version has about 8,000 words of additional material, which better explains some of the concepts I've used in the story and improves some scenes.

-- Chapter 23 - a response to reviewers

Consider this entire section to be.. Spoilers

* SPOILERS - read this section only if you've already read chapter 23, otherwise this will spoil it for you *

Some of the reviews to date have questioned Harry's use of the killing curse. Some readers can't see him trying to kill anyone at all, others think he'd use another spell. My response is, that in this story I have tried to have my characters behave as canon set them up. So, for those of you that have somehow blocked out the events in Deathly Hallows (and who could blame you?), I'll remind you that Harry... a) *Successfully* cast the imperius on a goblin at Griphook's prompting, and b) *Successfully* cast the cruciatus on Amycus Carrows after the death eater professor spat on Minerva. I'll say it again, a random death eater spat on Minerva, so Harry cruciated him in response. So, does anyone *still* think he wouldn't use the AK on Snape? Remember, this is the man that has tormented him for 5 long years, and has just cast a curse that his cousin now appears to be dying from, barely two weeks after another Death Eater killed his Godfather. It seems perfectly in character to me - since it wasn't a premeditated act, it was an instinctive reaction - a crime of passion. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a death for a death. You also don't have to be 'dark' to cast it, that is another fanon invention, as is becoming 'dark' because of using it - also a fanon invention. Sure, going around killing people isn't a particularly light act, but it's the intent to kill that is or isn't dark, not the spell itself.

There have also been some feelings about what Dumbledore 'must' do because of it. Let me point out the difference between Canon Albus and Fanon Albus. Nowhere in JKR's books was Albus running around suggesting that Harry was going dark every time he did something Albus didn't like. Albus seems to like convoluted plans, as it seems many of the wizarding world's population does. Vis, hiding the stone in the Mirror of Erised, behind a bunch of traps that first years can get past. Hello.. what's wrong with casting the Fidelius on your desk drawer.. Anyone? What about Polyjuicing 6 people into Harry replicas and flying out by brooms & thestrals.. I guess sneaking out under an invisibility cloak and catching a bus wouldn't have worked, or maybe polyjuicing yourself into Dudley and leaving with the Dursleys? We won't even talk about taking a full year to get Harry to a graveyard using the tri-wizard tournament.. So combine convoluted plots with convinced of his own brilliance = opportunity for massive failure and over reliance on following the set plan. Proof = Harry still sent back to Dursleys before his seventh year even after the conversation Albus had with those very same Dursleys in HBP. So, in my view *my* Albus is simply following his canon behaviours, not acting like the fanon master manipulator. If you read back over my story and look at Dumbledore's actual behaviours with the assumption that he is genuinely good, but perhaps misguided, then you should find him quite consistent.

The same applies to Snape. In canon the man is an arrogant bully, and should not have been teaching children. He has, however, been fighting for the light, regardless of the obvious blind spot he has for Harry (& most Gryffindors). I make no bones about the fact that I find the character infuriating, but in canon he wasn't on Voldemort's side. Just as with Dumbledore, readers should try to judge his actions in balance, as I am trying to write canon Snape, not the evil Fanon Snape you may be more used to. In the closing scene in chapter 23, Tonks was totally in the wrong, and so was Harry. Snape was just being his usual insulting self. Worth a punch in the face perhaps, but not an attempt to blow him apart. Bit of an overreaction don't you think?

Spoilers regarding Snape being 'good'. In a subsequent chapter to the above, I received some PM's from people that seemed to think that I'd made Snape good because of his actions. Nope... I didn't make Snape any more 'good' than he was before. All I did was offer an explanation for his behaviour. Personally, I think JKR failed to draw the dots closely enough, so I've added my interpretation as to how Snape could be such a bullying PITA while still (supposedly) working on the side of the light. Remember that Snape's explanation is just his *own* justification for his behaviour, and it doesn't make it acceptable to anyone else. Personally I think he's; a) a stalker since he failed to move on after Lily rejected him, and; b) blaming just about everyone else (mainly James and V) for his own mistakes.

* Spoiler end *

--Regarding the shipping - a response to reviewers

Rather than leave the long-winded explanation I had, I'll simply remind reviewers of a few things. 1) As at the end of chapter 27, the timeframe for this story is only a handful of days - they haven't had time to come to terms with much of anything yet. 2) Despite the prevalence for multiples in fanfiction, there is no canon evidence for it, so the idea of Hermione and Luna deciding to share Harry isn't something that is going to occur to either of them, or anyone else, for some time. 3) Yes, I've lampshaded the idea of them becoming a trio in the scene with the Weasleys, including Harry's reasoning (in jest) but don't ask when it will happen. 4) Tonks won't be part of Harry's harem. I love her to bits as a character, and I also love good Honks fics, but I'll be happy if I can just create a decent H/Hr/L fic. 5) The girls aren't really trying to manipulate Harry or test him, as they both just want what is best for him. However, as reviewers have pointed out it can be argued this is exactly what they are doing anyway. I'll state for the record that I don't want to write 'Mary-Sue' characters, and I think making mistakes is part of what makes a good story. People aren't perfect.

--Credit where credit is due.

I've read lots of fanfics, so it's inevitable that I'll use a plot device that others have used before. If I do, and remember where I saw it then I'll note it here. I trust my readers will help remind me of anything I miss. One thing I will say is that the first 22 chapters were written in the second half of 2008, which is before nearly all of the other 'Lunar Harmony' (my phrase) fics were posted. In fact, the only one I can recall that was already written was Rorschach's Blots fic (Larceny, Lechery and Luna Lovegood), and that was a parody (especially Luna's characterisation).

The idea of Harry joining Luna on a Snorkack hunt was most notably realised in Nonjon's "Lovegood, Boobs Gooder" (at least by me). The term 'Durzkaban' in chapter 4, I read in one of Seel'vor's fics. Xeno's mention of a 'bundling charm' in chapter 10 came from the story of the same name by Aelfwine. The movie quotes in Chapter 11 were from John Carpenter's "An American Werewolf in London" of course. The 'Nerfherder' reference is from Star Wars; The Empire Strikes Back. The 'Plethora' scene was from 'The Three Amigos', and in addition to his paraphrasing from 'When Harry Met Sally', Dan's other movie quote was part of a song from 'The Sound of Music' (but everyone knew that, right?). I can't wait until Dan and Luna discover that the other is a movie quotes fanatic!

The information for Harry's Post Owl assignment in chapter 16 was taken from the owlpages. In Chapter 18, If you think the conversation topic about what is normal at the beginning between Harry and Tonks seems a little familiar, then you (like me) probably watched the scene between Data and Picard at the end of the episode 'Skin of Evil'. It actually took me quite a while to remember what inspired Harry's sentiments.

Needless to say, you will also find the occassional quote, description or paraphrase from one or other of J K Rowling's books. The phrase "Gang Aft Agley" is from a poem called 'To A Mouse' by Robert Burns. I have no idea who to credit the song "Rock and Roll All Night" to, but everyone should already know the artist is 'Kiss'. Paramount is responsible for Star Tek: The Next Generation, but I think it was the Austin Power's movies that got me thinking about 'Number Two'. I wish Austin Powers was released in 1996 instead of 1997, as I had all these great Dr Evil lines ready for bald!Harry to use.. I may use them anyway.

The current story summary about chaos theory evolved from a suggestion by delta16669.

Re: Harry Potter and the Na'vi Avatar.

This is a Harry Potter/Avatar crossover (as you can probably tell by the title). Nearly all of the action will be set in the Avatar-verse, except for chapter one which serves as the prologue. Hopefully everyone will find the method I've used to link the two stories is reasonable, or at least workable. Unfortunately, I was more interested in coming up with the setup for how the crossover would work, than planning out what to do with it afterwards. Yes, I do have a whole bunch of ideas to include, and part of it will involve Parker and his group deciding not to head back to Earth with their tails between their legs. Like my other fics, it's on hiatus until I get the urge to continue writing it.

--Yahoo Group: I have a separate Yahoo group for Avatar where you will find discussion and drafts for future chapters, reviews of other Avatar fanfics, and a whole bunch of links, photos and other Avatar goodies. Sorry people, I can't provide a direct link because this website removes them to prevent spam. This is as close as I know how to get it:- http:// au dot groups dot yahoo dot com /group/AvatarFanfics/

--Beta: Celadonserpent was the primary beta on this story, and you really should send her an irayo for her work. She was pivotal in maintaining the focus on the story in chapter one (where I had originally included about half a page of unnecessary ranting about DH plotholes), and has been making substantial improvements to each chapter since.

Re: Stranger Than Fanfiction.

I'm not sure if this fic will appeal to everyone. For one thing it will be a straight Harmony fic this time, and for another the story will prominently feature an OC. Normally I have no interest in OC-centric fics and usually won't bother reading them myself. However in this fic, the OC is created by the Room of Requirement, and it is impossible to utilise an existing character for the role. The other thing that will stand out fairly soon is that the OC will appear to be a self-insert (SI). All I'll say on that is that although I will borrow from some of my own ideas, I think of the OC as kind of an 'every-reader' instead. After all, if you woke up in the Room of Requirement faced with a 'real-life' Harry Potter, what would you do? I'm kinda surprised I haven't seen this sort of thing done before, as it seems obvious to me now. I've been told they exist though, but as far as I can tell they're more of a 'characters read the books' story than what I've done.

There is a file on my ToP Yahoo group which contains a fair part of chapter 2. Updates will no doubt be infrequent, mainly due to a lack of feedback on it. If people want me to focus on it, they'll need to let me know they want it.

Re: How Chocolate Cauldrons Destroyed the World.

This story started off being a typical 'what if?' exercise; What if Harry ate Romilda's potion-laced chocolate cauldrons instead of discarding them for Ron to find later? The original idea for the story would end with Hermione writing out the aftermath in her journal - but since I'm a big fan of happy endings, I didn't want to leave it there. Looking back, I don't think delberately trying to include so many tropes (Google tvtropes if you don't know what I mean) was such a good idea. I like the idea of some humour to balance out the woe, but in hindsight? Bad idea including so many tropes and other references just for the sake of it. The third part of the fic with the redo scenes was also something of a parody of the superharry fics, and again, I'm not sure it really works the way I first intended. The story is marked complete because it essentially told the tale I originally set out to.

Re: Brian's Bits.

This story is simply a collection of the various ideas and drabbles that I come up with from time to time. Please note that Drabbles are theoretically only meant to be around 100 words - mine tend to be longer, so they aren't technically 'drabbles' as such. Think of them as short-short stories if you must. Some of them I like, some I could care less about. Nearly all of them were originally posted on potterficforum dot com.

--Beta readers, editing and story development:

Alix33 has agreed to beta edit the reworked chapters, so I suspect there will need to be a few thank you's sent her way for helping to encourage me to take an active interest in this story again.

Various other betas have helped me improve my stories since they were originally posted here, and amended chapters for Thoughts of Pudding can be found in the files area of my Thoughts_of_Pudding Yahoo Group. The revisions beginning Christmas 2011 have not (yet) been posted anywhere, but my group will be the first place you'll find them. I suggest that you *Check the file upload dates and filenames* to avoid any frustration from downloading copies of old files you may already have.

For my crossover story; Harry Potter and the Na'vi Avatar, I was blessed with the assistance of Celadonserpent as a beta. My stories tend to be naturally dialogue heavy and description light, but she helped ensure that story was more balanced. She also did an excellent job of improving my focus on what should (and shouldn't) be included. For example, you all have her to thank for the fact that chapter one didn't include a massive rant at the various stupidities and inconsistencies in Deathly Hallows. She's also wicked at picking up missing (or incorrect) punctuation and typos. I suspect if I did a word count on her editing emails, I would find that she's probably written as many words in feedback as I have for each chapter.

I'm always willing to have some help editing the story, so if you'd like to beta some of the early chapters, please send me a PM - the more the merrier.

Ok, BIG props also go to Vanir for his work on Chapter 14 (and others). Anything to do with Sweden language and locations - it's mostly his, and we've been corresponding since his first review. He's suggested content, locations, helped me with some concepts, and generally been an all round Godsend. I just hope I haven't flubbed any of the translations - if I have, then I'll change them. If you write a review, please take a moment to thank him. His story can be found on ficwad, and you'll be able to find it easily if you google "Harry Potter and the Midnight Sun by Vanir". This is an NC-17, Harry/harem fic, so if that's not your cup of tea, don't read it.

--ToP Reviewers Hall of fame:

As of chapter 22, Both Fibinaci and Fire From Above have taken the time to review each and every single chapter, and not just a 'good chapter'-type review either. You have my thanks, and you also deserve the thanks of all of the other readers.

Many others have joined the story later, and made a point of reviewing each chapter from that time on. It's not as easy for me to identify those people individually, but you know who you are. :) I probably should mention that some of those reviewers left their reviews on ficwad where my story can also be found.

--To my reviewers:

Reviews are what keep me writing, but I'm not going to beg for them. I would ask that if you are going to leave a review, that you please say something about why you liked or didn't like it. When I get that little email alert that says I've received a new review, I open it eagerly, but if all it says is, 'good work' (or similar) it feels a little disappointing.

In the three years hiatus since I stopped writing Thoughts of Pudding I would have to add to that comment about reviews. I still won't beg for them, but the reality is that if I *don't* get them then that is going to limit my enthusiasm for writing. I like feedback, and I like discussing the story. The more I get that the more positive reinforcement I get for writing, and as a result, you're likely to get more chapters... :)