It's nice to see a Dumbledore willing to correct his mistakes for a change, rather than one who seems committed to a Dark Path as in so many fics.

It's always nice to me to see Ron politely told to get stuffed by Harry for the way Ron treats Hermione. It's the way Canon Harry would have behaved had Rowling not been attached to her plotting mistakes.

And yet; though I do thoroughly enjoy a good "bashing" fic from time to time, I am also pleased to see that this is not one of them. Ron is a deeply flawed individual, with the potential for darkness and betrayal when pushed by his jealousies and insecurities, but not irredeemably so.

And I cannot wax eloquently enough to describe how fantastic your writing style is.

You have a knack for majestic colourful prose which is never Purple... ;)

Great start for part 2! The dark mark is on the left arm isn't it? You have the matching red flecks of Snape and 'Moody' on their right arm. Other than that I'm looking forward to more character interactions.

I like the end between Harry/Hermione and Neville/Ron. It's exactly how I expected it to go. Though I'm curious if Ron will be a rabble rouser and scowl together some friends for a confrontation? Possibly be derailed by the twins, who'll then go seek out Harry.

Oh! Now I want to see how the Marauders Map is described. Is it tied into Hogwarts? Does it connect to people directly? (Overpowered?) If Harry can see its connection to him could he sever it? Thus disappearing from the map? Contemplation of that idea and Harry severing his own tie to the goblet, easily warranted away with feedback/backlash of a broken contract.

Room of Requirements? Getting in without the pacing requirement?

Ravenclaw's Diadem? Seeing similar Red patterns?

Mirror of Erised?! Magical enough that Harry CAN see himself? Purely in the "heart's desire" mind-trap fashion. How will be break it's compulsion?

How will/would Harry experience a Pensieve? Will he be able to "see" since it's magically replicating what someone else saw? Could he actively show the things he sees with one? Possible romantic inclination of Harry expressing surprise to seeing Hermione "normally" but expressing that he always admired her beauty in all forms (or something written along that line)? Sorry for the huge review! I tend to ramble.

Oh! Will Harry get to see/interact with the Goblet? Restating the implied question back in my Marauders Map questions.

Speaking of (rambling, I know!), why haven't the twins found Harry within that week? They could easily find him via the map?

That's all for now. Looking forward to the next installation!

Jake

Man this story is Excellent!

Thank you so much for updating! Wow, what a wonderful chapter, and almost 10k words. Great! The descriptions of Hogwarts trough Harry’s ‘eyes’ were exceptionally well written and thought out. If you keep up this quality of writing, your story will quickly become one of my top three favorite stories of all-time (well, for what it’s worth anyway). I hope to see an update soon, and see Harry outperforming the other champions at the first task. Kind regards, MVDB.

I like Harry's attitude very much here "I'm me and that's what I'll be so everyone else needs to put up with that". Very nice. I love that he and Hermione both keep holding on to even more cards than anybody expects of them as well. And finally, it looks as if Neville and Ron have *two* possessions that rightfully belong to Harry. I do hope he manages to get those back at some point.

Nice interactions. I look forward to more.

Things are getting going. I can't wait to see how Harry and Hermione will tackle the first task.

I just wanted you to know you've made this INCREDIBLY fascinating. Have you thought of the idea of finding a way to take pensieved memories and him being able to absorb them so he can 'see' for the first time?

I can't wait to see what you do here.

What s beautiful story. I can't wait to read more!

I love this story. The interactions are fascinating.

slap down on moRON. great job waiting for more

Love it!
This is a brilliant story! :D

this chapter was good, but the endings of each section were a little less dramatic than the ones before

Oh sweet yes yes yes, so happy, my addiction has been sated, can't wait for my next dose

Alright, I just finished re-reading this.

I can't help but compare this one all the time to your other story "Steel Wings", but the truth is that this one seems very different indeed.

Caring!Dursleys, well, at first I didn't really know what to think about that, but I have to admit that it does makes a certain amount of sense considering. When you are busy feeling pity for someone, it's very hard to hate or fear him at the same time.

Magic. As with your other story, Magic remains a strong point, it seems that you always do your best to make it as fascinating and beautiful as it deserves to be.

I actually think that Harry discovering the rules and limits (and of course breaking them) of magic on his own, is much more interesting and potentially awesome, so I was actually happy to see him not go to Hogwarts.

The differences of what happened in Hogwarts between this story and the canon are very logical.
Hell, half of the things that have gone wrong for the Gryffindor merry bunch should have happened in canon without the interference of "Force majeure" time and again.

As for Harry's personality, I think I rather like scholar!Harry that is hobbies are experimenting with conjuration spells to create new life... :-P

In any case, I enjoyed reading the story, and I would very much like to see more of it.
Thank you for writing.