Great story!

The A/N's got a little tedious ... you don't need to explain EVERYTHING, especially when you incorporate information into another chapter.

Another bugaboo I have in general with A/N's ... STOP APOLOGIZING! It's your story ... you're not being paid ... etc.

I will admit, I no longer read stories that are not labeled "complete."

In high school sports, they all play other schools. It may seem that there are many games; however, each team in a league only plays another team once unless another game is needed to determine the standings. If the league is small, there aren't many games. Hogwarts only has four teams, and they don't play other schools. You are so right about the lack of other intramural sports and clubs. Guess JKR was too lazy to get into writing them in.

You can make up anything that you want. If anyone complains tell them to write their own story. If you only strictly followed canon, there'd be no reason to write fanfic and things would get rather boring.

I rather prefer your idea of how Harry stopped ol' Voldie. The "Love" thing just doesn't work because of all the other moms (and dads) that gave up their lives protecting their children. When I had read that in the books I thought "was JKR drinking bathwater, or what when she wrote that?"

well. No, I didn't peek ahead. My guess on Andy was between another big cat and a brown bear. I decided bear but was thinking brown bear or grizzly. I didn't think about the "climbing trees" thing.

Carla -horse. Annie-mountain lion. Harry-thunderbird (going by the reaction to his scar and the wings) Andy has me stumped. Bear, i think.

well thought-out explanations in the AN. I like your portrayal of Harry and Annie. Very realistic as opposed to the stories where he suddenly knows just what to do.

I really like authors who do their homework on places, critters, etc before writing. Thank you!

The Pine Barrens is such a good plot device for any "Harry goes to America" that I wonder why I've never read any fics using it before now. Truly, there are some creepy areas there. BTW, did you know that along with the Jersey Devil, the Barrens are also considered the most haunted place in America? Of particular interest (at least to HP readers) should be the white stag and black dog!

And, as I'm reading this, there is a Harry potter exhibit at the Franklin Institute! The kids all went last week. You skimmed over things, such as- how did he meet a researcher (at the museum?) and why would the subject of his weight and eyesight come up? A few details are good. Oh, I have NEVER seen a cheesesteak smothered in ketchup in Philly. They most all use a good sauce. Oh, and I'm good with your take on familiars. This is, after all, fanfiction. Not everything should follow canon, otherwise, there'd be no point in writing it!

Wonder what's going on with Dumbles and his merry men (& women). Have the wards at the Dursleys started to weaken yet?

You are so right about the Trio. I also believe Ron subtly (if he can ever be any form of subtle) kept others away from Harry. JKR really missed the boat in her characterizations of Ron and Hermione and where many of us think she should have gone with them. I always thought Neville would have made a much better friend. He also was an outcast but didn't really make it into their circle.

I don't think Hedwig was his familiar, but they were very close. I don't think he got over her death quickly, JKR just chose to move on. I like this story, but why would they send a fourteen-year-old off by himself to another country when he's never EER traveled anywhere but the Hogwarts Express? He's not street smart, not really

Pretty lazy writing on your part author. Anyone who focusses more on muggles and their culture more than wizards is frankly plain has very bad creativity. Also, getting chummy with muggles is very bad writing. Realistically speaking 3 things will happen the day muggles discover wizards scientists will want to disect them and copy their power, governments will want to control and weaponize them and zealots will want to burn them. I am tired of people praising the muggle technology and how bad wizards are in fanfics. What the hell wizards need muggle tech for? They don't need cars, fridge, microwave, dishcleaners, washing machines or any other thing. Entertainment man they have 3d board toys they have are absolutely amazing. I am also willing to bet their plays must be better than modern 3d movies. Another point I see people make is how they use quills and parchment so they must be backwards which again shows lack of research. They use quills of magical animals because they are a conductor of magic and can be charmed and animated. Also they are a necessity for runes. This is canon by the way.

I came back to this as a fun read.

I hated tech writing. I was a design engineer in RF, most in UHF and SHF and higher range in space systems. After retiring I looked for something different to play with. I took up amateur radio and while it is fun, It has a great deal of dead time between contacts. I even got into Digital Modes Like FT8 and weak signal modes like WSPR. That still left a lot of time listening to the quiet hiss.

I took up fan fiction and soon I felt I had something to publish and was halfway readable.

Anyhow, I saw the bio update 2021 and hope you are still writing and doing well.