Theo and Millie are either going to fuck up royally or they'll be super helpful to Ron's plans and I'm really curious to see how that plot will go

I very much enjoyed Daphne's reflections during the chapter. Will she be Ron's steadfast ally for life? Will she move on and try to pave her own path? Something in-between?

Ah, Percy, you twat... That'll only make Ron want to get away from his family even more

And then there's Ron jumping again... better hope no one saw that, bro, or it'll only cause you a bunch of headaches

Thanks for the chapter, Spartan

When I read every new chapter, i'm always at the edge of my seat. Thanks

Review for chapter 156 part 7

Daphne’s POV.
Ron is buried in his assignments that Mcgonagall gave him. And things are not doing too well for him, Surely, by now he’s so strong-willed he can brute-force through his tasks to get perfect marks on his own, but it’ll take a lot of time and effort. Sadly, Ron is not an actual genius like Dumbledore or Riddle, and he can’t casually complete his assignments. Even Percy’s notes helps him so much. Speaking of which… Didn’t Percy’s notes were destroyed by Crabbe and Goyle in the first year? I remember him getting notes of Triumvirate girls for 3rd and 4th year and using them instead. It’s not that important, though.

Can’t help but agree that for Ron specifically, it’s a total waste of time to learn mundane and impractical magical lessons that Hogwarts has to offer in majority of his assignments. If only Dumbledore could arrange Ron a special education program that would concentrate on him learning practically useful skills for war in classes, instead off regular program. Like Conjuration, or Protean Charm.

Ron follows RavenclawRon’s advice and still gives Daphne a cold-shoulder, shooting down her attempts to reconcile. And all of Cobras are silently supports Ron in that. It’s not that they like what he’s doing, but they just choose him over Daphne. Auch.

Daphne become so enthusiastic, when received Sebastian’s letter about Centaurs. Having a benefit of hindsight from future chapters, Daphne’s looks so amusingly naïve. She is offended by being called sheltered and spoiled girl. It’s sad that her fantasy of great Greengrass redemption are going to be shattered, but her confidence in her success is amusing.

Ruta’s owl delivered Millie’s and Eric’s letters just as planned. Though it took five days. In his letter Schwartz addresses Daphne and Mary, he clearly hopes for Lord Greengrass’ help. Sebastian is the real power of Greengrass family, whatever Daphne may think about it. So only Sebastian can actually help Eric and Lady Maier in this situation. And I think Eric hopes that Mary and Daphne will convince him to do it. Interestingly, that Ron maybe would have even helped himself, if Daphne showed him Eric’s letter. Maybe even put Death’s Hand to work – they are originated from Germany, or at least has a Germany, or at least has a base of operations here.

Millie’s letter was both was both heartwarming and heartbreaking. On one hand, it’s sad that she decided to stay in Durmstrang, and Cobras are not going to reunite for a long while. On the other hand, Millie is the only one of Cobras, that decided to make a life-changing decision and pull her own weight, and even help out someone else. Blaise also made life-changing decision, but he’s only trying to survive for now, and it’ll be sometime before he’ll start to help someone. I also like that Millie openly admitted Ron was right, and apologized for her betrayal and tries to do better for someone else. It’s truly noble of her, and fully fit into Ron’s standards of redemption that he told Dumbledore in previous chapter. And I think, if Millie’s letter was different, and she would have begged Ron to rescue her, he would immediately bolted to Durmstrang to extract her.

Daphne didn’t took it well, and insist Ron is at fault of Millie’s decision and must rescue her. Against her will. Amusingly, in the first year, when Theo and Blaise left the group for some time, Daphne was vehemently disagreeing to let them back. Even called Ron a fool for doing it. And now, she’s insisting on not just let Millie back into the group, but also pull her out of Durmstrang against her and her parents will. Daphne was seriously out of the line blaming it all on Ron, and demanding action from him. Ron on the other hand handled it very maturely, and walk away from pointless fight. Ron’s patience with Greengrass sisters is exemplarily! Even without Ron’s problems and short-temper, I was frustrated at their audacity in this chapter.

I’m glad Blaise stood up for Ron against Daphne and call her out. So based! If Daphne wants to change things about Millie, she can do it herself and not put that burden in Ron. Funnily enough, Daphne actually start to think she can do it herself. Damn, Daphne is mostly a nice girl, but sometimes she’s so delusional. And thanks to her father, she thinks that being Greengrass makes her special. The rude awakening is coming for her.

Blaise was completely out of the line threatening to hit Daphne! I get that he’s trying to support Ron and imitate his behavior, but that was too far!

Hermione’s POV.
Snape continued his Potions Club. Hermione and Ron are making Mandrake Restorative Draught. That potion is going to be helpful very soon at the war – many people will get cursed, and would need to remove the effects of the Dark Magic. In second year, it was said that there are a shortage of Mandrakes and this potion, because people rarely get cursed these days. Ron should think about talking with Dumbledore and Sprout and plant as many Mandrakes as possible. Maybe involve Theo and Neville into the project.

I like that now everyone is wary of getting on Ron’s bad side, since he won A rank Tournament so dominantly. And brutally.

Once again Ron got the best deal of the situation: he had a problem with his homework, and Hermione suggested to help him with it as a gratitude for teaching her wandless magic. I’m pretty sure Daphne is Ron’s endgame romance, but moments like this are a great reminder of why Hermione is one the main contenders for the spot (and probably a soulmate in the original timeline). Not only she’s brave and noble, but she’s also very hard-working, goal-oriented and helpful. He saw this scene from Hermione’s POV, but I’m pretty sure Ron at this moment thought how amazing she is, and maybe even favorably compared her to Daphne.

I hope Hermione would not be the only one from Ron’s year to learn wandless magic in the story. They all are going to be involved in the war, one way or another, and as Ron say, wandless magic may save their lives one day. Obviously, no one is going to be as good at that as Ron is now. Wandless magic is his own gimmick, and I like it! However, I wouldn’t mind if some of his classmates learn a few simple wandless spells in two or three years of practice (because non of them would train as rigorously as Ron). Like Levitation, Depulso, and maybe even Shield charm.

Sebastian’s POV.
Sebastian suffers from Mary’s wrath. According to him it’s their biggest fight ever. Ron really got into her, when he broke their relationships at the Alliance meeting. It hurt Mary deeply and now she blames Sebastian. Well, she mostly right, they wouldn’t be in such trouble, if Greengrass didn’t orchestrated the murder of Centaurs. Ron is also right about Mary’s bad side too – for ten years she was willing to ignore and forget Sebastian’s atrocity, and only lashes out on him now, when his past come back to bite them. She accuses him of cowardice and that’s true, but she completely blind to her own faults, and won’t assume any responsibility.

I also get Mary’s point of not allowing their thirteen years old daughter to risk her life meeting Centaurs and losing her innocence dealing with this situation. In general, I would agree with her. But here is the thing – the war is coming. And their family is deeply involved in it. Daphne and Astoria are going to lose that innocence way sooner then they should have been. So maybe it’s even better that they will do it in planned and relatively controlled situation.

Sebastian do not took Mary’s wrath too well. He even thought for a moment to kill her, if she’ll dare to took their daughters. Exactly this is the problem with Greengrass – when his pride is hurt, he lashes out without thinking. Once again, I see parallel with Tywin Lannister. And his unreasonable retribution is his undoing.

On the other hand, with the benefit of his POV, we can see that he did changed for better. A little. Ron made him felt guilt for what he had done. Yes, he’s regrets being caught more than he regrets killing Centaurs. But still, if given a choice to never get caught or never commit the crime in the first place, I think Sebastian would choose the later now. Also, talking to himself, Sebastian corrected himself and started to address Centaurs as… Centaurs instead of half-breeds. It’s a small change, but a change nevertheless. Small changes makes a big change.

Gaspard’s POV.
Well, shit. Dolohov is finally got up from his bed and massacred the whole Riddle manor. He harvested pieces of the mercs and now is going to mold them into a Frankenstein monster. What a psycho. He’ll probably use a modified Dark Magic that raises Inferi to animate his Homunculus. And something tells me that this abomination will be able to use magic. So are we going to expect Dolohov rising an army of reanimated Homunculus crafted from harvested parts of fallen fighters from both sides?

Gaspard is just as insane as Dolohov and delighted at his work. You can say whatever you want about how cruel and unhinged Ron and Luka are, but with the monsters like this, people like them are needed.

Review for chapter 156 part 6

Ron’s conversation with his friends. Amusing how three years ago Ron was sorted into Slytherin and his friends were teaching him subtlety, cunning, politics and everything. And now three years later, HE giving them a lecture how to handle your problems with the Ministry, when you attack Head Auror. Ron come such a long way since he was naïve and clueless boy in the beginning. Now he’s more Slytherin then Salazar himself!

Ron noticed Theo’s new ring and he’s concerned with the gem. Everyone, except Theo himself has a bad feeling about the ring. In Ron’s mind, it could be connected to the Entity, but I think it’s simpler – Cornelius Nott put a Listening Ward on it, and can spy on Theo and his surroundings with it. He already had been spying on his son in the past – he used Listening ward to overhear Blaise and Theo talk about Voldemort’s return during Christmas break at the second year. And now he wants to keep tabs on Ron through Theo. Luckily so far Ron didn’t said anything too important in Theo’s presence.

It was really disturbing with how much hate Ron thought of Theo’s late mother. Now he sees her like he sees Mary Greengrass at best – as a witch who tolerated her husband’s murders. Or like Narcissa Malfoy at worst – a witch that supported her husband’s murders. Like I get where he is coming from, but chill, man, Mrs Nott is dead for years now, no need to get angry at her.

Confrontation with Astoria. Damn, she really threw a tantrum because Ron didn’t choose her? This is probably the first time we see Astoria having an actual conflict with Ron! Also, I’ve noted that she’s pissed Ron choose Flora and Hestia over her, but says nothing about Mathew. Did he proved himself to be this good that even she can’t deny he’s actually worthy the position?

Up until this moment, Astoria was portrayed as mischievous, but cute and fun girl. So her worst qualities were easy to overlook. Now, they resurfaced and unleashed at full colors, and they are not pretty. At this moment, demanding Ron to make her above the delegates, because he owes her, because of her father’s patronage is awfully similar to Draco’s infamous: “my father will hear of this!”. Hey, these two finally have a common ground! They both pulling their father’s names to get privileges! So entitled and spoiled! I like Astoria, but her behavior deserved a reality check, and Ron did deliver her one! Astoria is the last person in her year to be appointed as a delegate exactly because she has no responsibility. I’m glad Ron didn’t hold grudge against her for calling him a Blood-Traitor during her rant. He understood Astoria said that because of her upbringing, because of what she learned from them and what she heard in Slytherin. That was incredibly mature and insightful of Ron! He let his temper to ruin a lot of things in the past, and I’m proud that he can control himself in a situation like this. He promised to teach her, like he taught his friends to be better people. I hope Astoria would not need to went through the same hardships as Draco to be humbled. Her outburst was awful, but nowhere near as bad as Draco’s behavior was the first two years.

The reconciliation between Cobras was sweet, and I’m glad Ron promised to be more lenient with them, while they promised to take his advises more seriously. In all honesty, by now it should be going without a question – Ron proved way too many times to be correct for them to ignore.

The next morning. It’s so delightful to see all four Cobra boys getting together for morning runs again. Too bad they were skipping some of them, in Ron’s absence. When they finally start to be disciplined by themselves?

It was funny how Ron trying to be all that nice and let his friends skip the run, if they wanted to. While trying not to look disappointed.

I just try to imagine what Blaise felt, when Ron was telling how proud he was that Pansy proved him wrong and won D-rank Tournament on her own effort. I bet he cringed inside so badly! And I think he was a little terrified when he imagined Ron’s reaction when he learns the truth.

I’m also, so proud of Blaise’s progress! He made a life-changing choice and cut the ties with his mother, he decides to be his own person, finally realizes the truthfulness of Ron’s advises through all these years, and now working on himself. He was training in dueling even after the tournament, and was the first prepared for a morning run. Previously, Ron described Blaise as detached. He would not put any effort, if he don’t see him succeeded. Now, it’s changing. Blaise have more doubts then ever, but now he’s pitting effort, even more consistently.

Mcgonagall had her pleasure, delivering Ron’s assignments to him. And Ron still was able to pull her leg once again. Ron also asked Minerva to deliver assignments to Tracey, so she would repeat her 3rd year. I don’t know about that. I mean Colin missed a good chunk of his school year and still moved to the next one. So I guess Tracey can do too, if she’ll spend all her time preparing for the exams. I mean, she’s usually very lazy, but now she would have a good motivation – if she fails, she would have to repeat her third year.

New Occlumency lesson went well, even Snape highly estimated Ron’s progress. Also, turns out Occlumency has some additional benefits so much useful to Ron – one to three hours of Occlumency meditation makes the brain to recover and revitalize itself. We already saw how much a good rest helps Ron to endure apparation and Portkey travels. So now, but doing Occlumency meditation before apparation, Ron can reduce the stress and drawbacks of such magical travels.

Snape thinks Ron ready to the exercises of the next level of Occlumency. Amusing that despite being probably the strongest Occlumens in the story, Snape is often so emotional and even more often indulges his bad urges.

I’m surprised how vehemently Pomfrey advises Dumbledore to not allow Ron back into school. It seems like Rom’s extreme violence at the tournament and refusal to open up to her more are the case for her actions. Dumbledore uncharacteristically to himself just shoot down her proposal by pulling rank, instead of sweet talking it out. I’m started to afraid that with behavior like this a lot of people will start to catch up to his special relationship with Ron. They both give away to many hits of that lately.

I fully support Ron’s proposal to change Slytherin passwords from Blood-Supremacist rhetoric to something more neutral. It’s a small change of course, but a big change consist of many small changes. Little by little, but I believe Ron can drastically change Slytherin House by the end of the story. He already succeed a lot – current first years under his tutelage has drastically different attitude. John Fawley even complained to Snape that Astoria called Ron a Blood-Traitor and wanted her to be punished. The very fact that he thought that he could complain about it to the Head of Slythern House already shows a change. Too bad Snape himself is not invested in this change. He followed Ron’s advise, because it was reasonable, but he wouldn’t be putting any effort by himself. Still, he does seem to change a little – Ron already pointed out that Snape’s bullying of other students isn’t doing them any favors and only antagonize other Houses against Slytherin. And he didn’t saw him doing anything like that since. Hopefully, it means Snape would become more of a Mcgonagall type of a teacher in future – stern, but just.

Snape’s interest in twins’ advanced nutrition potion was surprising. He even openly praised it as a great improvement, and wants to learn from them! Wow! It’s truly an extraordinary achievement if Snape is willing to compliment a Gryffindor. Ron even negotiated a favorable deal for the twins out of this – because, let’s be honest, these brats for all of their brilliance could have never done that themselves. After Snape learns the recipe, Ron should probably learn it too, and probably start to make it for himself. I’m not comfortable with Ron having to rely on others to function. He should be able to do it himself. Also, maybe it’s time for him to resume his training in Undetectable Extension Charm, and make a charmed suitcase, like Newt Scamander? Only his would contain a dueling room and potion lab?

Ron did a great job selling the twins the idea to share their recipe with Snape. It was double hard, because Angelina was making I even more difficult than it should be. I have no idea how Ron kept his cool during this conversation. Just reading it made me wanting to scream sense in Fred and Angelina’s stubborn brains. Ron fully described all advantages of their deal and even guarantee Snpe won’t cheat them, yet they still doubt him. Thank Merlin Alicia and George were reasonable about it. Amusing how Fred and George found girlfriends that match their own characters so perfectly. Fred and Angelina are hot-headed stubborn leaders, while George and Alicia are calm (relatively in George’s case) and level-headed. Consequently it makes Fred and Angelina annoying with their attitude, while George and Alicia comes of more sympathetic.

Review for chapter 156 part 5

Harry’s POV.
Dumbledore’s talk with Harry was… peculiar. Harry is at the peak of his popularity thanks to winning Quidditch Cup and C-rank Tournament. All this attention weights down on him. But what bothers him the most is that he thinks that the matches were rigged to let him win. I like that Harry’s trait, he is very noble and he feels like shit, if he thinks he wronged someone.

I don’t think Dumbledore used Legilimency on Harry to know what he feels. Albus is extremely intelligent and experienced man, and Harry is not particularly hard to read. So Dumbledore quickly figured out what bothers Harry and why.

Dumbledore is such a sly fox! He reassured Harry that Remus did not rigged his matches to let him win, which is true. But he never mentioned that he didn’t rigged them himself! So technically, he didn’t lied in the slightest, but he didn’t told the whole truth either!

Also, while Dumbledore make sure Harry is not feeling down anymore, because of his victory, he once again failed to help Blaise with his defeat, and leave him to his own devices. This blatant neglect pisses me off a little! Harry won, while not entirely deserving it, because he was not actually the best duelist, and he got a pep-talk to no feel bad. Blaise lost, even though, he deserved to win, and got nothing. No support from Ron, no support from his friends, no support from Snape, no support from Remus, no support from Dumbledore. Hell, even Daphne has support from her father, when she lost! Dumbledore is such a hypocrite in this: oh, his lose bothers me too! But I won’t do anything about it to help Blaise, I’ll be only helping you, Harry!

I have to agree with Harry here – Snape has no business teaching children. He has a lot of good qualities, he’s one of the most useful Order’s members, he’s incredibly intelligent, and he is fairly good Head of Slytherin House... but not a teacher. Not for kids. His methods may work well with Ron, but he’s a child soldier, it’s not the same. Still, there is no one who Dumbledore can exchange him with. He needs a competent and loyal Slytherin to lead the House of Cunning, especially in time of war. And there is no one beside Snape.

So Sirius told Harry that Snape is in the Order. That explains how he knows that.

Dumbledore invite Harry into the Order’s meeting! Okay, this is huge! Finally he started include Harry into war business. I mean, children should not have any business in such things, but Harry is a special case. One of Voldemort’s personal priority targets. Leaving him in the dark was not going to end well. Still, it’s disappointing how immature and naïve Harry is about the whole thing. I mean it is expected – he didn’t actually experienced war and atrocities that follows it yet. I face-palmed when read how Harry fantasized how he joins the fight alongside Sirius and Remus and help defeat Death Eaters and Voldemort. Any Death Eater would eat him for breakfast at this point! How Harry can be so delusional? He won C-rank school tournament through favoritism. There are plenty of stronger students in higher rankings, not to mention adults. And yet, they would not stood a chance against an actual Death Eater, but Harry thinks he could take them? Someone give the kid a wake up call!

Ginny’s POV.
Baby cries from Forbidden Forest? That’s probably Cedrella was “born”. It’s my best guess. She made it surprisingly quick. I thought she’ll only “born” at the beginning of the next school year. I wonder how quick she’s going to grow. I mean, Octavia was 13-14 years old, since she was “born” shortly after Voldemort killed her previous incarnation. And she looked the same age. So does that mean, she’ll be like four when the war is going to be over? At the end of 7th year?

The twins are assholes! I get that they were trying to distract Ginny from thinking about Ron’s fate after attacking Moody. But telling her that her mother wanted to leave her to die? Even as a joke? They already told Ron that Molly whipped when he was born – and it was true – and it’s didn’t do him any good. Didn’t they learned from that time? Are they idiots? Sometimes – quite often in Fate, actually – I just can’t stand them.

I’m glad at least, that Fred and George are fully confident that Ron is going to be alright, and Skeeter’s article is a lie. It was also funny how they thought that Ron is most likely friends with Moody. Like, everyone already get used to Ron making connections with powerful people easily, and it make sense to them he befriended Head Auror of Magical Britain.

Ron’s comeback turns out as dramatic and impressive as he planned. The return of the King, Ladies and Gentlemen! His popularity is sly high, and everyone went wild to greet him. Even other houses. Little Ronnie could only dream of it! Too bad he had to pay so much for it.

I laughed at him smartassing Mcgonagall. Unlike twins jokes his was actually funny! Though, now Minerva is going to pay him back! Still worth it!

Ginny’s plan to spend more time with Ron is adorable: Ron likes to teach spell? I’ll be learning spells from him, so I could spend time with him! Nice!

Ron’s POV.
I like that Ron realized how good Hogwarts actually is after a month of living outside of it. Now he appreciates the castle. On the other hand, Ron left Hogwarts with a disdain for the place, took on the world, got burned, and come back inside the safety of it’s walls. Not exactly dignifying behavior.

I like how Ron is looking out for his first year Slytherins, and removes their quota completely for their exceptional work. Unlike arrogant older student, he gives them respect they deserve and they give him their loyalty! And look at John Fawley! When he was sorted into Slytherin, he was terrified! Ron made him felt welcome and safe here, and helped him find his place. Unlike the Silver Triumvirate, who didn’t do a thing unless it serves them.

Talk with his siblings went well, Ginny even jumped at the chance to run and practice spells with Ron on her own! The twins are still underestimate Ron, despite his numerous public achievements. And Percy is disappointed he won’t get a beeline into Bones’ office after graduation.

Ron once again forgot to stretch his magical senses and even Luna snack on him from behind! At least he realized his mistake and tried to start sensing right there. He was overwhelmed by the presence of so many people of course and stopped. Hope, he’ll be practicing it more. I really like how Artyom is always alert with his magical senses.

Snape’s scolding of Ron was funny! He dissed him with such eloquence! A culmination of generations of Weasley stupidity! Damn! I like that took it with a humor, and not lashed out at disrespect. I see Dumbledore talked with Severus beforehand and convinced him to use Ron’s mistake to continue their Occlumency lessons, like he was planning in the beginning of the chapter. Though, I think he asked Snape to be gentle about it. But we know Snape. Also, I find it funny how emotional Snape is now, when he’s so close to Ron. In the beginning, their relationships were more formal, and Snape was much more polite. Now, he just dissing him at every opportunity. Not saying Ron do not deserve it – with Snape Ron almost like Theo, always seeking how to poke at man’s buttons.

Ron already planning to practice his Golden Healing spell, to appear at every part of his body at will! Nice! At some point, I believe Ron will develop this charm to a point, when he could instinctively activate it on his whole body, right in a middle of the fight. Essentially, the same healing factor that Rodolphus showed, but in Ron’s case produced by his own skill, not Voldemort’s concoction. Also, I believe at some point – at the later years, Ron will be able to extend healing golden light from his body and heal multiple people at once. Imagine, after another battle, Ron gathers all his allies, fills the room with golden light, and a minute later all of their wounds are healed!

Ron convinced Ravenclaw!Ron to teach him more advanced magic. Alright, if there are two things that his counterpart is good for, it’s holding back Entity and teach magic.

Ron’s sensing Daphne’s signature was interesting. Right now he can’t sense to many people at once without feeling overwhelmed, but when he concentrates on a single person, he actually can read quite a lot. I’m honestly astonished how much he was able to read of Daphne’s state of mind just from her signature. It’s almost like Legilimency. Is that what Dumbledore’s doing to read people?

The meeting with Daphne went not well. Sadly, but RavenclawRon was proved right this time, and after hurting Ron on her own, Daphne was going to guilt him into accepting her apology. Ugh. This time Ron followed RavenclawRon advice and didn’t give her a chance. I don’t know what to think. On one hand it’s good that Ron stood up for himself in their fight, on the other hand, he followed RavenclawRon’s advice and this is never a good sign.

Another Ron’s speech to Slytherin – everyone already get used to it. True to his promise, Ron rewarded his first years, and make Mathew, Flora and Hestia the youngest delegates in Slytherin history! He even presented in smoothly! Now they are going to be loyal to him, to the end! Also, Ron not so subtly made it clear that on his watch competence would be valued more than Blood Status. He’s slowly dismantling Pure-Blood indoctrination of Slytherin House. That’s good. People do not likes drastic changes, they are more accepting of one step at a time approach. Some older students are unhappy with first years privileges, but they won’t move against Ron. Still, they may do something when Ron is not around. Lysandra and Astoria on the other hand are unhappy for not being chosen as delegates. Oh, well.

And once again, Ron is throwing a party to appease his fellow Slytherins. No doubt it’s an effective thing, but when he’s going to do something more original? I don’t know, maybe give them all tickets to Quidditch World Cup? It would have been crazy expensive, of course, and probably don’t worth the trouble, but still.

Review for chapter 156 part 4

Emilia’s POV.
Three on one battle between Artyom, Emilia and Misha versus Rodolphus was just as intense as previous one! Finally we see a Loyalist in action, and hold shit, he delivers it! Voldemort’s concoction enhanced Rodolphus to superhuman levels! Not only he’s stronger and tougher – we knew that from when he discovered his new abilities – he’s also faster and nimbler, and his magic is far more powerful, thanks to his body being a better conduit. Even 3 against one, he was winning!

I don’t remember Artyom using Killing Curse before, but good to know that he can. It was expected, he has an illegal wand without traces, and already used Imperius Curse skillfully.

What spell did Rodolphus used to unleash lightning torrents from his fingertips? It was not Baubillious, when Ron fires it the power, thunder and damage area is much greater. Could it be Wandless version of Furens Tempestas? If so, I’m of course would like Ron to learn it. He already knows wand variation, and it would be useful to him to have ranged offensive spell. Though, even with Rodolphus increased power output it was not enough to break Misha’s shield charm.

Artyom and Emilia’s combination to get Rodolphus was dope! Very creative use of Oni-Blade to dismantle Artyom’s pushing Shield Charm before it’s destroyed by Lestrange’s Finite, followed by her acrobatic jump! It was such anime scene and I like it! Brilliant! And it worked – even when Rodolphus jumped away, Emilia sliced his throat! If he was a split second slower, she would have beheaded him!

Voldemort’s enhancing concoction come into clutch once again, and Lestrange not only survived the wound, he continued to fight like nothing happened! Now it’s seriously disturbing! Superhuman strength, speed, agility, toughness, magical power output, and now high speed Wolverine like regeneration! That’s just an absurd power up! He’s physical abilities are not yet as broken as Gaspard’s, but clearly superhuman. And what makes him even more dangerous, is that Rodolphus actively uses his wand and ranged magic!

Have to give credit to both Misha and Artyom too! Even when Rodolphus incapacitated Emilia by wandlessly slammed her into the wall, an Auror and a mercenary were able to hold of their own against Death Eater, and protect Emilia at the same time. Artyom, even lift her up with one hand, while dueling!

I like how quickly Luka handled Rodolphus, once he showed up! That’s of course was thanks to exceptional properties of Goblin Steel, but anyway, Yahontov did Rodolphus more damage in his opening move, then three of his subordinates during the entire fight. I also impressed how casually he parried Lestrange’s Killing Curse using his wand with a left hand. Incredible precision and courage, especially consider that he’s right-handed.

Rodolphus was almost finished there, and only a blast of Errant Magic from his enhanced body had saved him! I wonder how much powerful Ron’s blast of magic would be in a few years? Cutis Terra makes Ron even stronger than Rodolphus, and even better conduit, but his Magical Core is still underdeveloped, as his journey to another universe showed.

Luka’s POV.
The aftermath of the battle was not pretty. Volkov survived, Lestrange survived, Alexie was not rescued. All mission objectives failed. But at least everyone make it. Luka’s arrogance and recklessness backfired on him.

It was interesting to see how little reaction his subordinates had at his tantrum, and were just mending themselves. Yeah, I have to say that their team dynamics is weird.

Auror Misha proved to be an extremely capable fighter. Yes, Rodolphus was winning against him, but he was absurdly enhanced, and Misha was holding his own. He even parried one of Lestrange’s Killing Curses and hit him in a jaw with Disarming spell! That’s to his enhancement, Rodolphus was not hurt, but the fact is – Misha was good enough to land that hit. In any other situation, it would be game over! Luka even thinks that Misha’s disarming charm is powerful enough to break teeth! Mrakogubci’s level is way higher than you average wizards!

Now Luka and his team are going into hiding, and they are not even prepared for it! WTF! Before the mission he was telling that it’ll be the end of their careers in the Ministry and they would be outlaws, and now he’s surprised it actually happened? Did anyone of them ever though two steps ahead? Did he ever consider a possibility of failure and consequences? Why they didn’t prepared for it beforehand? Luka’s reaction was the biggest disappointment. It’s one thing to try and fail, but to throw a tantrum at it? So childish! I certainly expected better of him.

Emilia is too hurt to travel via Portkey, and Mrakogubci needs to leave their hideout. How are they going to transfer her? Also, glad to see that Luka is skilled enough to make Portkeys himself. Since Ron has such a bad reaction to apparation, he might learn how to create Portkeys himself. They strain him too, but to a lesser degree.

I had high hopes when the assault just started. Luka was so confident in his plan and subordinates’ abilities, while Emilia was startled by it’s recklessness. I was expected them to win this fight, and Mrakogubci proving to be the force that can pull off nearly impossible feats like that. I thought it was a hype moment for Yahontov when he was going to clear the whole floor by himself, much to Emilia’s disbelief. But the whole mission ended with Luka taking a peg down or two. What a disappointment. The assault was an utter failure. Non of the objectives were achieved. Volkov and Rodolphus survived and they didn’t rescued Alexie. And now Mrakogubci are going to be branded as criminals. At very least everyone escaped and no one was killed.

I find the interesting comparison between Malfoy manor assault and Volkov manor assault. In both cases it was a surprise and bold attack, in both cases good guys and the main bad guys survived, and only goons were killed. However, Malfoy manor assault was an improvisation on Ron’s part – he cooked the plan in a few hours at best and it mostly succeeded. Mrakogubci had days and they failed. Not only that, Lucius didn’t dared to publically accuse the Order, but Volkov made Mrakogubci wanted men. Which only shows how much more control he has over Magical Russia, compare to Lucius’ over Magical Britain.

Luka’s plan was reckless and poorly thought out. But the Mrakogubci are so good it could have actually worked. If not for several factors that they miscalculated. Firstly, Volkov turns out a powerful Blood-Mage, strong enough to actually survive Luka. Secondly, Rodolphus’ augmentation made him immensely more powerful than he was at his prime at the First War. Thirdly, if Emilia was at her best, she would have use Cursed Fire on her sword, before slashing Rodolphus, and his wound would not closed – he would bleed to death, or at least weakened enough for the trio to take him down.

The Bulgarian Gala chapter and this one are clearly showed the importance of a good planning. Ron and Dumbledore rushed into Gala without a proper plan, and it end in a disaster. Luka and Mrakogubci rushed into Volkov Manor with half-assed plan and it ended in a disaster. This is a common trait of Gryffindors – they rush without a plan, or with a bad plan and then think on their feet. Slytherins are on the contrary always planning ahead, collect all the information and prepare backup plans for backup plans. But they are awful at thinking at their feet when something goes not as planned. The best is the balance between the two – prepare and plan as much as possible, also include backup plans as failsafe. And WHEN all of it fails, think quick at your feet. Improvise! No plan had survived the reality.

Review for chapter 156 part 3

Luka’s POV.
There was little resistance to Luka’s forces, once they took the stairs. Funny how Yahontov though that Volkov become too arrogant by having “such a small force” inside his manor for protection. If we look at British Lords, until recently non of them had any fighting forces at their grounds. Hell, even Lucius didn’t had guards! Compare to them, Volkov has the entire army! Though, their quality is to be desired, judging by how easily they were slaughtered by Mrakogubci. Or maybe the Mrakogubci are just that powerful. Well, so far Johan Abadie seems to have to the most skilled guards. Cromwell of course is exceptional by himself, but the other four in his squad were also extremely competent.

Yahontov’s search through the top floor revealed it to be abandoned. Even thorough Elves leave it be dusting. Most likely on Volkov’s orders. Judging by the painting of his late wife, this floor was where she and Volkov lived, until he killed her. And after that he left everything as it is there. Volkov probably never visited it since that day.

Luka’s encounter with Volkov. We already knew that Volkov killed his wife and a squib child. I mean, at first it was presented as a rumor, but everyone and their grandmother knew he actually did it. And now Volkov confirmed it himself. What’s worse, he completely deluded himself into thinking his wife cheated on him with someone else, and that is why he killed her. And the child. He have done that because of his adamant belief in Blood-Supremacy! This scene is a direct continuation of previous chapter, which drives home even more them message how delusional and harmful this ideology is. He didn’t just lie to everyone, Volkov lies to himself! Judging by untouched top floor, he actually did have strong feelings for his wife. But his Pure-Blood indoctrination turns out to be stronger.

Volkov’s Blood Magic skills were a surprise! Voldemort is also a Blood Mage – he used that skill against Dumbledore in Albanian forest. They Voldemort and Volkov apply this skill differently – Voldemort was seizing the blood inside his opponents, while Volkov extracts it from dead bodies. One thing that bothers me, though, is that he killed his Elves. I mean, I get that he have done that to use their blood for his Blood Magic. But it would have been much more productive and pragmatic to have flasks enhanced with Extension charm and filled with tons of blood. Not only Volkov would have a much greater source then bodies of a dozen Elves. They also always be on his person, and he wouldn’t lose his servants. I know their lives means nothing to him, but it’s just anti-pragmatic to kill your own servants like this.

Emilia’s POV.
Ironically, after accusing Luka of being a brute, Emilia started to lose her cool, and began slaughtering fleeing Elves. What would Ron though, if he saw that? I mean, the circumstances are different, but I can’t imagine him taking it calmly from Emilia.

Artyom is once again is the voice of reason, as he tries to calm her down, but Emilia ignores him. Poor Artyom, he has to babysit one instable murderous child in England, and now another one in Russia. They are like a peculiar killer family, and Artyom is like a single father who’s trying to deal with unruly children.

Artyom once again showed off how advanced his sense are as he detected Rodolphus approach, while Emilia didn’t. He even recognized at a distance that Lestrange’s magical signature is very different than normal. When Ron become so advanced at it?

It seems like Rodolphus developed a bond with Alexie. At least the boy clutched to him, felt safe in his arms and listened to his instructions. And there is no wonder to it, most of the time Rodolphus is very polite and soft-spoken. Even friendly. He’s also probably the most level-headed loyalist. He even has some honor and nobility in him. I mean, he is absolutely certain that he could kill Misha, Artyom and Emilia, but he gave them a chance to live, if they let him bring Alexie to safety. He also recognizes that Philip Travers is evil, despite being on their side. Fate!Rodolphus such an amazing character! I’m always feel sad reading his chapters, because he has so many good and admirable qualities, yet he is loyal and devoted to the side of bad guys. I can’t help by fantasize that in a different circumstances, Rodolphus could have been a good guy. It’s hard to imagine Bellatrix and Philip as anything then cruel and murderous sadists – they were born like this. But in Rodolphus case, it was an childhood indoctrination that turned him into a villain.

Luka’s POV.
The fight against Volkov was short, but intense! It was interesting to see Luka’s fighting style with a wand. Similar to Paul Durand, Luke is dual-wielder. Unlike, Durand who uses two wands, Luka is right-handed and uses his axe like a prime weapon, while giving himself support with a wand in his left hand. That’s quite an impressive combination, which makes Luka deadly at any range.

Blood Magic proves itself to be an extremely powerful and versatile skill, in Volkov’s hands. Volkov’s shield formed out of blood easily blocked a barrage of Luke’s Curses without wavering. A regular shield charm would already broke from such assault. To break that defense, Yahontov decided to come close and use Goblin Steel Axe that disrupts magic. A good tactic, but he could have at least try to use Finite first from a distance! I’m pretty sure it would have failed, like Millie’s Finite against a Patronus, but he could have tried!

Also, either Blood Magic is not that strong at offense, or Luka’s shield is just that strong, but it easily stopped Volkov’s Blood Needles attack. Or maybe, Volkov purposely used them as a distraction and didn’t put much force into his attack. Luka proved to be an excellent fighter once again, dodging Volkov’s Killing Curse from obscured vision. I’ll give him that, his fighting experience and instincts are something else! Even Volkov himself was impressed!

Luka interrupted Volkov’s villain monologue mid-sentence! That shit was funny!

Volkov once again proved to be a disgusting piece of crap! He was training his Blood Magic by killing hundreds of Men, Elves, Centaurs and others! What the fuck is wrong with him! I get that he wanted to master this particular skill so badly. But he could have easily arranged to deliver himself endless supply of animal blood from slaughterhouses! Yet he deliberately killed sentient beings for practice! Despicable! Sanguini, a vampire, has a literal need for blood to survive, and extreme thirst for human blood, yet he limited himself only to animals’ blood. Volkov didn’t needed to learn Blood Magic, he just wanted it, and he learned it in the worst way possible!

Incendio Diabolica turns out to be extremely effective against Blood Magic! It completely evaporates it. Ron definitely needs to learn this spell! But Volkov was crafty enough, to wound Luka in the leg with a small bit of Elf Blood left. Damn, this is bad! Even injection of another human’s blood is bad for healthy, getting a blood from entirely different species into your system is going to hurt a lot.

With the floor scorched, Yahontov couldn’t dash at Volkov and chop his head off. But he could have started throwing Curses at him again! And he could have sent a few Patronuses to assault Volkov! Harry vs Millie showed that Patronuses can deal a real physical damage, even shatter shield charm, and are extremely resilient. Without his blood, Volkov would be hard pressed to defend. Surely a Killing Curse would dismantle a Patronus, but it’s possible to conjure several Patronuses at once (Mcgonagall in 7th book), and Luka could have used the same tactic Theo used against Carmichael – force the opponent to defend from several directions at once. If Volkov turns to dismantle Patronus – he gets an axe to the head. If he defends against the axe, he gets mauled by a Patronus from the side!

Volkov proved to be a tough opponent – he survived the most powerful Auror in the world, wounded him and walk away without a scratch. Not only he was already the most powerful Lord in Magical Russia, and probably in Europe. The one whom even Yaxley feared, and Rask didn’t dared to speak against, while eating insults from him. He is also extremely powerful magically. What a formidable enemy! Out of all Voldemort’s followers, he probably has the best combination of influence power and magical power. There are some Death Eaters who are stronger than him in a fight, but they don’t have his wealth, influence and resources. And non of Death Eaters right now has as much influence as him. Lucius probably has comparable wealth – he’s second wealthiest Lord in Britain, after Sebastian, who is the wealthiest in Europe – but Malfoy’s influence is all, but gone by now.

I think Volkov correctly read Luka and listed all of his weaknesses. He’s a drug-addict, he’s savage and he’s a glory-hound. In all honesty, it’s not a pretty picture. And I think Volkov is right, if people knew the real Luka and not his media image of hero, they would demand him to be locked in. Though, this could change when the war officially start, and Luka will start hunt down Dark Wizards to his delight. Like Sandor Cligane said: you would want me to stand between you and real monsters. Luka is also correct – Dark Wizards will always exist, and it seems like Magical Russia is big enough that they would spawn then and there all the time, giving Yahontov endless opportunities to hunt them down.

While, Volkov’s Blood Magic is formidable, according to Luka he can’t seize the blood inside a living being, and that was why he killed his Elves and extract their blood, instead of killing Yahontov on the spot with his own blood. Which makes Voldemort even more terrifying in retrospect – the Dark Lord, even weakened by possessing a child’s body was able to temporarily seize Dumbledore’s blood! Truly, Voldemort is in a league of his own! The most formidable and terrifying Voldemort in all fiction!

Volkov’s Manticore – Shahrokh – attacked Mrakogubci’s barrier from the outside and it was strong enough to shook the entire manor! Wow! What an immense power! Even Luka was spooked! Fate really make all these magical creatures and beings so much more powerful and impressive then in canon! The Basilisk was so mighty it took Dumbledore’s everything to take him down, and he had Fawkes and Mcgonagall helping him! Brightbeak was giving Ron a serious challenge. Gaspard is outright overpowered. And now a Manticore is so overwhelmingly powerful it shakes the whole manor, and according to Volkov Mrakogubci are no match for him. In original books, creatures were now so powerful, and their danger come from the fact that magic in general in the books was weaker and less impressive. So it’s like in video games – enemies level up with the player. Magic is much more powerful and impressive in Fate, and so magical creature are much more powerful and impressive in Fate.

Despite Volkov’s confident speeches, he did tried to talk Luka down, and didn’t continued to fight him when it failed, and preferred to flee at safety when he got a chance. Smart decision.

Review for chapter 156 part 2

In was amusing how Alastor still tried to intimidate Ron, and Weasley was completely unfazed. It’s amazing how far he had progressed at such a short time. At the beginning of the year, he was nervous at their first meeting with Moody. Now Alastor has a motivation to attack him, and Ron is fully unaffected! Badass! On the other hand, such strength comes to Ron at a great personal cost – all the trauma he had endured made him incredibly strong-willed, but he lost a lot of happiness and hope for a better future for himself.

I liked how even Dumbledore was impressed that Ron handled his problem with Amelia by himself, without his help. Ron also rightfully apologized to Alastor, and it’s good to know that he was sincere.

It was extreme impressive to see Ron instantly caught on what version Dumbledore told Moody about his visions, and his answers to Alastor’s questions perfectly fit. That was incredibly smart of him! He didn’t even missed a bit! Ron truly become so much smarter by this point then he was before! Is awareness, insightfulness, creativity, adaptability, tactical prowess… they are so advanced now! Ron might not have been born a prodigy and don’t have natural brilliance, but he certainly become one through share hard-work and determination.

Damn, Alastor proved to be the greatest Auror not only because of his incredible martial prowess, but also because of his keen intellect. He did figured out that Ron is a Butcher of Birmingham! He experienced his enhanced strength first hand, and connected it to Amycus Carrow’s unnatural way of death! Damn, Moody is good! I’m so curious how their relationships turns out with Moody knowing so much! In a long perspective, I hope they’ll find a common ground. As Dumbledore pointed out, Alastor and Ron are very similar in many ways.

Their conversation with Ron ended sooner than I expected. Also, Dumbledore let it slip that Ron made an Alliance with Emilia Travers. He specifically signaled her out, and I think Moody will look into her after this too.

Interestingly, Dumbledore is convinced that Moody could withstood Voldmort’s Legilimency, while he himself admitted a few chapters ago that he wouldn’t be able too. So now, we can consider Alastor to be a better Occlumens then Albus, on par with Snape. Incredible! Despite the beating he received from Ron, Alastor once again proves to be deserving of his reputation. He is so much more competent wizard and interesting character then he was in the books! Interestingly enough, according to Dumbledore Alastor was the first Auror to use Unforgivable Curses when it was authorized, yet Sirius in the books said the opposite – that Moody always tried to avoid killing when possible.

Dumbledore’s closing speech to Alastor was excellent! Really drove home how much tired by the wars in his life-time Albus is. And how much Ron had changed him for the better, during the current one. It also works both ways, and Dumbledore keep Ron from slipping to his worse side. I admire how adamant Dumbledore is to his principles, especially because he does have good principles. However, he’s totally mistaken thinking that Fate wants him to teach Ron mercy and forgiveness. By few interactions with her, she seems like indifferent, if not cruel. I mean, so far she did approved of Ron’s most violent and aggressive actions, contrary to Dumbledore. Or maybe it’s her secret test of a character for Ron? Could he stay good, despite all of his challenges?

Albus immediately started to make plans for Ron’s Occlumency lessons with Snape, when he heard Ron is coming back to Hogwarts. I actually support this. Occlumency do wonders to user’s mind. I wish Cobras started to train Occlumency too. I bet Blaise, Draco, Theo and Daphne would be great at it. Pansy, Millie and Tracey would definitely struggle.

Kind of silly how Ron is planning to make a flashy return to Hogwarts and roping Dumbledore into his scheme. I think it’s good for Ron to indulge himself with some mischief. Tori would approve! And maybe hanging out with other students Ron will mellow out a bit.

Emilia’s POV.
Emilia still didn’t recover from Crucible – her nightmares still haunts her. This is very bad. Emilia is a level-headed type of a fighter, she performs best when she keeps her cool, unlike her uncle Philip, who gets more dangerous the more excited he gets. Now, her concentration is broken. Something tells me Emilia would have this problem for a long time, and it’ll be one of her character arcs to fully recover from Crucible. And for that she would need to find a new source of strength. Even her iron discipline and powerful Occlumency is not working now. Which makes me believe that, eventually she would seek Sirius’ help to handle it. I mean, he was tortured by dementors for years, forced to experience his worst memories over and over. In essence, Crucible is like amplified dementor potion. Seeing how Sirius is relatively well adjusted after his ordeal, I believe Emilia will try to take an advice from him.

Yeah, I’m a little bit disappointed in Luka. He was hyped to be world’s best Auror, equal to Moody. His fighting prowess may actually be that good, but he’s way too reckless, way too arrogant, way too eager to jump into the fight. Well, Alastor turns out to be quite hot-headed too.

Vladimir, Luka’s second-in-command, seems to be the brains of their squad. He showed a good analysis of Volkov Manor defenses and come up with a decent plan of attack. And I have a feeling that, if it was up to him, Vladimir would take a moment and reconsider his plan to use Emilia’s Old Gas Dispenser into his plan. But knew Luka would not wait any longer, so he presented the best plan that he had. The one that would have Luka’s approval at least.

Artyom as always blatantly said that their plan is foolish, but Mrakogubi are so good, it could actually work. Emilia was not impressed and prepared to die on a mission.

Luka’s POV.
He consumed Dragon’s Breath again. And so did his Mrakogubci. I really want to know what that thing does. So far, of what we know it increases pain tolerance and increases fighting fury, increases bloodlust. So basically Berserk potions. No doubt it can be useful, but I’m not a fun of such performance enhancing drugs. It could have been an interesting concept, though. Like Witcher’s enhancing potions. Still, that thing seems to go to their heads and clouds their judgment. Not a good thing.

Mrakogubci are a peculiar lot. Extremely foolhardy. They went along with Luka’s high risk plan without any question or doubt, unlike Emilia and Artyom. And were know these two take risks and face dangers courageously. Yet even they clearly disapproved of Luka’s reckless plan. It would be funny to imagine how even less ruthless members of the Order would react to his speech. Dumbledore made somewhat similar speech to his subordinates before the Malfoy manor assault. But he made it sound heroic and inspiring. Luka’s speech was more of Leonidas’ one.

Not only that, but Luka also does not really care for his subordinates at all. He sees them as his weapons! The ones that can be easily thrown away, if they are of no use anymore! This is awfully similar to Voldemort’s mindset. Tom also sees his minions as nothing more then tools. Surely, some “tools” are more valuable then others to him, and he understands that he must show them some affection to keep their loyalties. Luka becomes less sympathetic by a minute. He was so reckless that he didn’t stretch out his magical senses forward. And his Mrakogubci didn’t even used Silencing charms to make their footsteps soundless. Artyom on the other hand always has Silencing charm on himself, and never makes a sound. Still the infiltration went well, and Mrakogubci made it inside without triggering any alarm, and stealthily took out all guards. Quite impressive job.

I totally didn’t liked how Luka changed plans of operation to kill Volkov, instead of saving Alexie. I mean, strategically it makes more sense of course to take down such a formidable enemy. But throwing away the original plan in a whim, and disregarding his own allies… that’s a bad call. Still it make sense to him to kill everyone on his way – to leave no witnesses.

Emilia’s POV.
Okay, despite how reckless their plan is, I’m just as impressed by Mrakogubci as is Emilia. I mean, they made it inside the manor, and stealthily took out all of the guards on their way faster then Emilia and Artyom! Emilia is a prodigy, and she slayed Gaspard’s Progeny, and Artyon is a captain of the best mercenary group in the world, and yet they both were outpaced and outperformed by Mrakogubci! Not just Luka, but by all members of his squad acting solo! No wonder they are considered the best Auror squad in the world!

I’m always impressed how good Artyom’s sensing is – he perfectly knew where Emilia was even under Invisibility cloak.

Emilia once again showed her brilliance and figured out that the stairs are at the different direction then where Luka was leading his team. Luckily, Yahontov and his Mrakogubci were smart enough to follow Emilia’s lead at this moment, and it proved to be a correct decision. I also liked very much that Emilia did not forget to use her magical sensing, and I was impressed how she scanned the area while running. I can actually picture how Emilia gracefully and skillfully slayed a female guard she encountered. The description was so vivid and cool! A strike and a spin turning into a back slash, while running at full speed! Awesome!

It was also interesting to see the difference in fighting styles and general approach to fighting between Luka and Emilia. Emilia is elegant, disciplined and level-headed. Luka is wild, brutish and hot-headed. Emilia’s disdain towards Luka is funny, especially because she respects Ron. And Ron goes into savage berserk mode similar to Luka’s quite often. Even when he’s beating dummies.

Review for chapter 156 part 2

I also liked how awed Arthur was by his son. He made Minister for Magic submit to him, and he’s just a teen! He doesn’t even played his Alliance card! What I liked the most is that his popularity with people is so high, majority of them simply didn’t believed Skeeter in the first place!

Ron’s negotiating his punishment reminds me greatly of how Kuvira gives her “generous offer” and advised to accept it. Now, with the way how easily Ron get himself out of the hook, I think he’s right now in a perfect position to star rebuilding the Knockturn Alley. I mean, how Amelia is going to stop him now? Just imagine, Ron and his Alliance start the rebuilding, people are delighted, Ministry comes and arrest the workers and Ron’s Alliance. Arrest a terminally ill teenager at the moment he is saving lives! Arrest Sirius Black, a godfather of Harry Potter, courageous hero of the first war, who was unjustly imprisoned by the Ministry. Arrest Lord Fawley who helped save werewolves the most. Attest all other Lords and Ladies of Ron’s Alliance. Not only the people would be outraged, the Britain would be cut off of major economical resource, and the only one that would left, would be Yaxley and his Death Eaters. Ron can basically can do anything he want in Britain, and no one can do a thing against it!

As good as it’s ended for Ron here, his connection to Dumbledore had become obvious – to the Pure-Bloods and to the Ministry high-brass. If anything, the Gala was a total failure – Ron and Dumbledore barely learned anything useful, yet made too much unnecessary noise. Not only now everyone knows of their partnership, Amelia and Alastor are now going to target Ron. They might not do anything openly, but they will going to investigate him and interfere in his businesses. Which in turn will bring a lot of trouble.

I enjoyed seeing Ron getting himself out of trouble in such badass fashion. And while Amelia was hurt by his power flexing and how powerless she herself currently is, I hope eventually they’ll reconcile and become genuine allies. After all, they want the same thing, more or less, and naturally should be allies. At least Ron understands this and holds back against her, not burning bridges. Too bad, Amelia do not believe in Ron’s genuinely good intentions. Their “feud” is hurting their cause, the war effort. Though, these scene of power-play are entertaining!

Weasleys confrontation with Crouch. Man, Barty really brought only two Rookie Aurors – Tonks and Rodney – to apprehend Rom? After what he had done to the greatest Auror in British history? It would have been wiser on his part to bring heavy-hitters with him, like Gawain, Jane and Kingsley. And by the description of it, they stood in close proximity to him without their wands pointing at him. This was very dumb for Crouch. He often acts dumb lately, but this one takes the cake. If Ron wanted to, he would punch their lights out right there, all three of them.

At least at this point, Arthur decided to finally protect his son and stood up to Crouch. I have to say, he showed some guts by doing it and earned back some of my respect for him. That was really brave of him!

Barty had an audacity to accuse Arthur of raising a criminal! Like, dude, you were just asking for Ron reply about his own son becoming Death Eater! Ron didn’t even need to be particularly creative with this one – everyone had thought that at the moment. Oh, and don’t even get me started on Crouch’s hypocrisy – he broke his son out of Azkaban! He is a criminal himself, even if nobody knows about it.

Ron and Arthur talk in the elevator. It was so heart-warming from Ron to apologize to his dad for dragging him into his mess, and praising Arthur for supporting him and standing up against Crouch. If only he knew that at the beginning Arthur was supporting Amelia in her desire to “discipline” Ron. Until he figured out what length she was going to went.

Arthur told Ron that Bones wants Ron to be investigated to bring him down, but he didn’t mention what he himself told the Minister. About his sudden change at eight years old and his secret journal. Withholding this information takes away Ron’s chance to prepare for Amelia’s future actions.

Amusing how Ron, a teenager, was explaining to Arthur, a life-long Ministry worker, Amelia Bones’ ambitions. He has so much more insight into politics then Arthur ever will. It’s almost painful to watch how far ahead of his father Ron is. Being Sorted in Slytherin truly unleashed his hidden potential. Gives him more insight and perspective, made him much more aware and strategic. Arthur still reminds naïve. Still, Ron is correct, he learns from his father as well. It’s no surprise that all Weasleys are brave and has strong moral principles – even if sometimes skewed. It’s the result of their upbringing. So in a way, Ron combined the qualities of the both sides, which makes him so outstanding.

I’m so glad Ron is going to return to Hogwarts! He can claims whatever he wants, but Hogwarts is the heart of the story, the heart of the Wizarding world with lots of most important characters here. Not to mention, the most active social life and adventures, and drama.

After the Gala, Ron is even willing to turn against his own Alliance. Somehow, he deems his Pure-Blood allies as the same scum that was at the Gala. Well, maybe barely better than them. Ron still is not going to move against Sebastian, and going to use him for war effort. So far he settled for waiting until the war ends and put them in Azkaban afterwards. Which is fair, I think. If everything goes as Ron planned, Sebastian will get a life sentence. But I’m not sure that Mary will get it as harsh. I mean, she is not guilty of murder or anything at all. He only fault is not exposing Sebastian’s crimes. Surely, cover for a crime is a crime too, but not as harsh. So I think if Mary ever got trialed for it, she’ll get about a year in Azkaban. Also, Amelia mentioned in previous chapters that she’s going to reform Azkaban , so it won’t just be a place to torture prisoners.

I didn’t expect Ron to reveal the truth about Sebastian’s crimes to his father! He usually much more secretive. And he wants Arthur to keep an eye on Sebastian. This is not going to work, Arthur is not subtle at all. I would even say that first year Theo would be more subtle and cunning. Now, I wonder how the things are going to proceed. No matter how much Ron despises him, Greengrass is still a valuable asset in the war against Voldemort. Snape, who is not as much emotionally invested as Ron, said as much. Not to mention Dumbledore is apparently agree with Potion Master, and prefer to keep Greengrass on his side, instead of giving him up to the Aurors. There is also a thing to consider – if cornered, Sebastian can pull Poppy Abadie and threaten to reveal the Order’s secrets. So if Ron decide to actually make a move against Sebastian, it’s going to be a kill move. Hopefully, Ron isn’t capable of it yet.

Dumbledore’s POV.
You know, it’s a little sad that Albus at recent time interact with Alastor only for pragmatic reasons, and not because of their friendship. I mean, we saw a few times, Albus and Severus shared a tea and play chess. You know, just for fun of it and company. They also, talked about some important things in between, but it was showed they do chill together. And yes, Alastor is not a type that likes to waste time on useless pleasantries, but it would have been nice, if Albus would distract him a few times from his job and make him chill together.

Moody might be the greatest Auror in British History and a very sharp person, but Dumbledore correctly pointed out that confronting Ron in his current state will only end with Alastor get another injury.

Albus decided to share a lot about Ron with Moody, to put their conflict to end. As expected, he didn’t mention Entity and Higher Beings, and just settled on Ron being a unique brand of a seer. Which is not that far off the truth, Ron did had actual visions, and he can change their outcome. Alastor skepticism was understandable. Even less pragmatic and suspicious person, would not believe it outright. To this Dumbledore could have pointed out that some unexplainable and miraculous things does happen in Wizarding World. Harry Potter survived a Killing Curse as a baby! So a unique brand of a Seer is not so unbelievable.

But of course Moody – being a logical and pragmatic Auror – didn’t believe just on Albus’ word, and Dumbledore had to present him with a lot of evidence, that Alastor could verify independently on his own, not just relying on Dumbledore’s word. Too bad we didn’t had Alastor’s POV at the moment when Dumbledore connected the dots for him about Ron’s powerful allies. All of them had one thing in common – they are Ron’s allies and they strength the Order. Funny how such an obvious thing eluded pretty much everyone – they all thought Ron bring these allies for his own benefit, and no one even thought how his allies were important to war effort. Though, Sturgis Podmor DID notice something. He pointed out for Sirius, how convenient it was that all French Lords and Ladies that were invited by Ron at the Mungo’ Gala, were also invited into the Order of Phoenix.

I like how Alastor started to waver a little at his position, when Dumbledore plead him, appealing to his compassion and understanding. Despite their differences and Alastor’s harsh demeanor, he does have a soft spot for Albus.

I also liked how Dumbledore promised to protect Ron at all cost, even if it means to openly fight and destroy the Ministry, the Aurors and Azkaban. Damn, I like so much Dumbledore’s threats and flexes in Fate! Fear the rage of a good man, as they say. Even though, Fate!Voldemort is the most competent, evil and terrifying Voldemort in all fiction, when the Dark Lord flexes his power for intimidation it’s not THAT effective. He is the Dark Lord, it’s expected that he would either scare or beat his minions into submission. But when Albus, a man who always gentle and polite, and preaches peace and love, so openly make threats and flexes his power, you know – shit got real.

Just after walking into the Minister’s office while being a wanted man, Ron walked to greatest Auror in British History that has a grudge against him. Ron definitely has a nerve that would make even Godric Gryffindor proud. Why Dumbledore didn’t sensed his arrival beforehand though? In dangerous times like this, it would be natural to keep your magical sense up all the time. I can excuse Moody – he just healed a fractured skull and was in a middle of mind-blowing conversation. Albus though, is not as vigilant as he could be.

Review for chapter 156 part 1

Amelia Bones’ POV.
Ron’s Cutis Terra is so powerful that his casual backhanded slap put Moody into Mungo with fractured skull! Alastor didn’t regained consciousness even next day! I also like that everyone are confused by Ron’s freakish strength and can’t figure out where he get it, because almost no one knows about Progenitor spells anymore. It would be funny if Amelia start to think that Ron become a vampire! I mean, in previous chapter she come to conclusion that Ron acts like he’s not going to die any time soon. She also noted that Ron is very pale and sick looking. And now, she witnessed his superhuman strength. If she’ll see him no-shell a stunner to the chest (thanks to Cutis Terra or Basilisk skin suit), I bet she would think Ron is a vampire. I mean, vampires are knows to have increased strength and resistance to stunning spells. They are also pale, and they have a healing factor. I can see Amelia come to this conclusion eventually. It would be funny to see Ron’s reaction to such accusation!

What was Crouch thinking, when he suggested to arrest Dumbledore? I know the nab can be extreme sometimes, but he is not stupid! The whole Auror department of Magical Britain does not have strength to defeat Dumbledore. Especially in their current state. Kingsley and Tonks will outright refuse, Moody is in the hospital. So that’s leaves Gawain, Tiberius, Madam Roberts, 5 Hit-wizards and 3 Rookies. Against Dumbledore. That’s so one-sided in Albus favor it’s not even funny.

Amelia is smart enough to understand how inconvenient the whole situation is for her: she can’t leave attack on Head Auror unpunished, but she also can’t punish Ron – he’s Britain’s Golden Boy. People loves him, and contempt the Ministry for it’s failures. So basically she damned if she do she damned if she don’t do. I feel for Amelia, and at the same time, I’m glad for Ron. His hard and good work finally made him so powerful, he’s basically untouchable. Amelia even thinks that Ron’s reputation is so great, even Rita can’t ruin it with all of her slander.

Madam Bones’ decision to bring Ron in, despite the dire consequences for her personally, is both admirable and disappointing at the same time. I mean, she understands that this decision is going to undo her career, but she still follows through this on principle. That’s admirable. What is disappointing, is that she decided to stick to her principles now, when she’s dealing with Ron, and not when she was dealing with Death Eater Pure-Bloods like Lucius and Corban.

Crouch was not doing Amelia any favors by egging her to this decision. With Amelia’s reputation that so tightly tied to the Ministry, branding both Ron and Dumbledore as undesirables is a political suicide. Does Crouch sincerely wants to help her, or he secretly hopes to have his own shot at Ministership again?

Ron’s POV.
Funny to see how London is disturbed by the troubles her boss got himself into, while Ron is chilling and eating breakfast like nothing happened. I like how confident he become. In the beginning he was so insecure and doubtful of himself, and now Ron is fully confident. Maybe even a little overconfident, but I take it over him being insecure any day.

I’m a little bit sad, that Ron threaten London with his red eyes. However, in this current situation, I think it was justified. London likes Ron, but she does not fully realized yet what kind of a person he is. He might be kind and generous, but he won’t take any disrespect. The Pure-Bloods at the Gala, who humiliated him are not going to do well. Luckily, London caught it quickly and adjusted accordingly.

I liked Ron’s explanation about power. I would say his perspective is correct. Though, there is the moment of his hubris. While, yes Ron is extremely powerful, but he’s still vulnerable. He was ambushed by American Aurors, he was overwhelmed by Horned Serpents, he was cornered by Johan Abadie and etc. And he wouldn’t made it, if he was not lucky. He played his cards right in all of this situations, but he was powerless and very vulnerable at certain moments.

Ron may have more power than Amelia currently has, but a lot of this power comes from his allies, especially Dumbledore. I mean, this is how alliances works of course, but I would like Ron to become so immensely powerful on his own, one day. So magically powerful that all Aurors could not apprehend him, so influential that they couldn’t even allow themselves to do it. So far, Ron was convinced that he couldn’t ever have the wealth other Pure-Bloods have. But his popularity is extremely high right now, and he has native and foreign allies too. I would say, if Ron started a few more businesses right now, they would become very profitable, due to his popularity. He could even try and take over niches that right now occupied by Death Eater families. Like creating business that would rival Flint family businesses. Flint is an idiot and can’t possibly handle this well, not to mention that his parents were at Carrows’ party.

I like how good Ron had become at this game. He already precisely calculated what Amelia Bones is going to do in order to get him, and has a plan to counter it all. He even predicted that Aurors will visit the Prosperity Farm to get him, and he instructed London how to handle it in the best way. I love such preparations from Ron, when he has back up plans for back up plans! He even correctly predicted that Arthur will be interrogated and will point the Ministry at his location.

Arthur’s POV.
Rita Skeeter strikes again! I admit, she’s not as frustrating character as Umbridge – I loathe this woman! Yet, she finds a way to infuriate me with her articles! The way she twisted and outright lied in her article to slander Ron and portray him as a villain is outrageous! She even had a nerve to claim that Ron struck Sokolov! And this not even mention her previous slanders of Ron and Sirius! Can’t wait for her day of reckoning! She’s a small fry, but her articles does hurt people, so maybe Ron will put a little attention to take her down. Maybe Ravenclaw!Ron will tell him Rita is an Animagus? He should probably know about it.

Arthur was completely unprepared for Amelia’s interrogation. I understand that he’s disappointed with Ron because of his problems, but it still pissed me off how easily he believed in Skeeter’s slander of Ron. Oh, yes, he tried to question it, but he was not convinced of it himself. I’m so appalled the he has so little faith in his son. I felt sick reading how Arthur lamenting to himself how disappointed he is in Ron, and how much he wished Ron was different. I can somewhat understand these thoughts from his point of view. To some extend. But know what Ron is doing and for what, what he have already done and how much it cost him… Makes me loathe Arthur for his reaction.

Gawain Robards is once again a prick. He’s not a prick on occasion, he’s always a prick, so I guess it’s his character. He broke Sirius jaw when apprehended him, he threatened children in Mungo, and now he was threatening Arthur and raised his voice at Jane when she dared to doubt her superiors. He might be a good Auror, but he’s an arsehole.

When Amelia threatened to arrest the werewolves at the Sanctuary, if they try to protect Ron, my blood has boiled. Like, I get her perspective that she wants to get to Ron, but her self-righteousness pissed me off! So it is okay for her to hurt others as long as it serves the Magical Law! Someone has forgotten that the Ministry should serve the people, not otherwise!
And Arthur easily give up Ron’s location to the Ministry. What a prick. It’s even more contrasted with Madam Roberts’ reaction to the whole thing. I liked how she disdainfully stared at Arthur, and how she had so much more faith in Ron then his own father. I liked her estimation of Ron’s character! And she’s a really good Auror too, Jane quickly analyzed the facts, and come to correct conclusion that Rita’s article is a load of bullshit, and she even correctly deducted what the real situation actually was.

I like how Madam Roberts call out Amelia on her lack of action against actual Death Eaters who have done much worse over the years. That was well deserved! In all honesty, I was very pissed at Bones at this conversation. She herself even admits that Ron put up with a lot of crap from Pure-Bloods at the Gala, most of whom were know supporters of Voldemort. They even murdered an Elf just for lulz. Yet, of all people she choose to target, was a teenager that was abused and that actually cared for Pure-Bloods’ victims. Still, I like how Amelia admitted that Ron’s superhuman strength scared her and the Pure-Bloods. It may not have been wise on Ron’s part to hurt Alastor, but I’m glad how much he scared them all. I would like to see Sokolov’s reaction to it, when he understood how close he was to actually dying!

Amelia’s private interrogation of Arthur. Bones very skillfully gained Arthur’s trust and made him confess almost everything relevant about Ron that he knew. The most important part, of course, was Ron’s magical accident at eight that caused his sudden change in character, and of course his secret journal with visions. Thanks Merlin the journal no longer exist, so Amelia’s plan to make Arthur to copy it is going to fail. And even if Ron still kept it, I doubt he would kept it in the Burrow.

And once again, I was enraged by Amelia, how she blamed Ron for targeting her Minstership, and is a threat to her career. Her career, her Ministership, her administration… It was so selfish of her! She couldn’t even try to look at wide picture and see Ron’s doing his own things, helping people. And “her Ministry” is suffering because how inefficient they are, compare to Ron’s achievements. Instead of targeting him, she would better improve her regime. What is even more infuriating is that she herself pointed out that Pure-Bloods are targeting Ron, and that they are awful people, but she has no hesitation to do the same thing herself, not even once questioning her choices!

Bones stood even so low as to threaten Arthur with closing his office. She of course admitted it was a bluff, but still it was a nasty move, which only served to alienate Arthur. As good as Amelia is, she’s not exactly good at manipulating people. Too Hufflepuff. If only she read the situation correctly, and presented her actions like an attempt to help Ron, Arthur would jump at that solution without thinking. Instead, she decided to threaten his job by pulling rank. Very poor decision.

The fact that Arthur was riled up by the perspective of his office to be shoot down, instead of the yet another Minister is targeting his son is…. Well, I have no words for it. Honestly, I have expected better from him.

I just love how Ron walked into Amelia’s office uninvited, like a boss! The whole Ministry is seeking him to apprehend, and he just walk into Minister’s office as if it’s nothing special! Badass! Arthur and Amelia’s reaction to it was so funny.

I love the whole sequence of Ron just tearing Amelia into pieces. Metaphorically speaking, of course. I love how he pointed out her hypocrisy by targeting him for punching Alastor, but leaving Death Eaters alone, because they are powerful, and Ron is an easy target. Or so she thought. I was so excited when Ron showed her he’s not.

The whole rant where Ron exposes how rigged, unfair and unjust Magical Law created by the Pure-Bloods to control the country is. And how Amelia was indirect accomplice in all of that, how she ignored their crimes to climb a career ladder. Oh, that speech was so good! Ron even pushed her button of being just a puppet of them! He didn’t pulled punches at all! The guy has no chill, and I liked it in this scene! And Ron is right, the Ministry as it is now is a joke, with the laws that only serves the Pure-Bloods while oppressing others. Of course Dumbledore’s presence makes it far less harsh than in some other countries. For example, if we judge by Durmstrang, even half-bloods are second class citizens, and it is a common knowledge. While in Britain, majority are convinced that they are all equal by the law.

Of course, I liked Ron’s closing speech the most, where he shows Amelia that he truly is untouchable to her. To even more extend that Pure-Bloods. He doesn’t even need to do anything for that! If he simply turn himself in, and he put to trial – people will riot! And with Dumbledore’s backing, Bones would be fired even before his trial. Consider people’s outrage, Wizengamot will find him innocent without even having the trial itself!

Another awesome chapter. I loved it. I really like what you're doing with Daphne and Ron getting them back together. I think that's great. I was really depressed with some of the previous chapters some time ago, but now they are more ligth hearted, which is something I enjoy more. A few dark times are OK but they cannot always be dark times. Ron not going psycho thanks to Dumbledore was a nice development. Dumbledore has not really let him down so far, which is a welcome change. And I really like how he stood up to Allastor for Ron that was awesome. I'm really looking forward to that scene. When running Ron and Moody, come together to discuss what he did on his apartment. I think that's going to be great. I'm also really looking forward to the fallout from the Westley family for bill, Arthur and Percy, after they witnessed that really tough battlw with the centaur. I think that's going to be awesome to read. I cannot wait for the next chapter. Thanks for writing this massive epic story. Which is to me, the best thing in the Harry Potter universe. I can't really wait forward in a chapter!

Great story. Great chapter. Looking forward to reading the next chapter.

Please update soon.

Review for chapter 155 part 7

Corban’s POV.
Corban, Valeriya and Pavel made a deal – Yaxley will help them to get licenses for import/export with Magical Britain, and they… well Valeriya will have fun with Corban in his bed. She’s only eighteen and already implements such tactics. Very similar to Triumvirate girls, but Clara, Samantha and Carey didn’t actually slept with anyone – as far as we know – to get what they wanted. Only used their sexuality to seduce ad tease. Hell, Samantha even come to Ron to avoid that kind of “patronage” from Corban.

Yaxley’s unique brand of “nobility” is hilarious! “Oh, my sick wife can’t have sex with me? I’ll help her fulfill her marital duty by having sex on a side! And I will ONLY have sex with this young girl, barely older than my daughter, after I help her!”

Valeriya explained her relationships with Pavel, and assured Corban that he’s as pathetic as he let out to be. I’m still not convinced, though. Maybe she just deceives Corban, or maybe Pavel deceives them both.

There is also one more evidence that Russian Five are incredibly powerful and dangerous. Not only Volkov murdered his wife and child without any punishment, Lady Agapov killed Valeriya’s and Pavel’s fathers and get away with it too. And most likely it was not during the time of the First War when atrocities were happening everywhere.

Also, it’s interesting that Corban has a reputation of actually helping and elevating other Pure-Bloods. Say what you want, but man has convictions as awful as they are.

Arcturus Carrow visited the Gala. We haven’t seen him since American Aurors apprehended Ron and Lord Greengrass in States. I have to admit, he’s an impressive liar and actor as he was able to deceive Corban and convince him in his loyalty to Voldemort’s cause. He even manipulated Corban to make him apologize and promise to pit a good word on his behalf to the Dark Lord. It’s even more impressive that he was not exposed by Voldemort himself, though he never used Legilimency on him yet. I don’t believe that Arcturus could have hide his thoughts and deceive the Dark Lord like Snape could. Even Dumbledore admitted he couldn’t resist Voldemort’s Legilimency.

Arcturus’ has a hard time with his businesses – everyone seems to be distancing themselves from him, because of infamous Carrow party. I don’t care much for Arcturus himself, but his daughters may suffer for it too in the future

Arcturus knows a lot about what is happening within Magical Russia. He claims that he has his spies there, and I’m wondering are these HIS spies, or American spies, and he just has an access to their information?

It was interesting to see Corban and Arcturus exchange their notes on situation at Magical Russia. Cobran was informed that Lord Volkov kidnapped Samara’s son to control her, and Arcturus learned that Loyalists are already securing allegiances from Russian Pure-Bloods, including Volkov. Apparently, Volkov kidnapped the boy before he was informed of Voldemort’s return. Otherwise moving against his puppet Minister would have been unwise of him.

More information from Arcturus on Samara’s closest advisors from the Ministry. The head of DMLE is Yaroslov Kalashnik, and he was friends with Samara’s father. Considered that Voldemort was esteemed guest at Samara’s house and took a part in her upbringing, and the fact that Dumbledore considered Luka to be de facto leader of Magical Russia resistance to Voldemort, it could be concluded that Kalashnik is a potential Dark Lord supporter. Now, I wonder when he and Luka confront each other, what side the Aurors will take? Luka’s Mrakogubci will obviously side with Yahontov, but they are his personal squad. How the other, regular Aurors feel about both men?

Kseniya Chaban is the head of International Department and she apparently more idealistic one, sincerely loyal to her Ministry and Russian people. By the sound of it, she greatly reminds Amelia Bones, and it seems unlikely that she would side with Voldemort when he reveal himself.

Konstantin Rasputin. Seriously? Rasputin? Oh, well. In Fate, turns out Rasputin is a Pure-Blood family, and the historical one was a wizard who tried to con Muggles. And interesting way to turn it. I actually like Konstantin’s idea to work more closely with Muggle Ministry! Amelia and British Ministry should adopt this idea as well! In the original, Ministry for Magic mostly ignored Muggle Ministry of Britain only informing the Prime Minister of a few most important events. I would say, Ministry should create an entire new Department of Muggle Cooperation! I bet, Arthur would be delighted to work there! Wizards has a lot to learn from Muggles and has a lot that they can help Muggles with, secretly using magic.

Okay, the explanation why Samara is Ivanov and not Ivanova is not good. It’s not a “tradition” to add “a” at the end, it’s a language. It simplify it, calling Samara – Ivanov, is like addressing Minerva as Mister Mcgonagall.

Samara give away way too obviously that she’s not enthusiastic about serving Voldemort anymore. In all honesty, I understand Yaxley’s disappointment. For someone to raise to her level, presumably on her own merit and don’t be a puppet of Pure-Bloods (until the kidnapping of her son), it’s reasonable to expect someone more impressive. More in control, like Arcturus said. Voldemort noticed that she lost her edge to, and attributed it to the birth of her son.

Speaking of whom, there are new candidates for his potential father: Russian Muggle Minster and Konstantin Rasputin. I would lean more to Muggle Minster. There is no particular reason why she and Konstantin could not make things official, him being Pure-Blood Lord. If it’s Muggle Minster, that would explain why Samara mellow out of Blood-Supremacist views, and why she keep the identity of a father hidden.

Dumbledore’s POV.
Mila Dolohov acted like a bitch to Dumbledore. I bet she would not be so bold, if there wasn’t so many witnesses. And Albus wouldn’t be so restrained either. He did good holding back his anger, just as Ron did. This Gala certainly tested the limit of his patience.

Dumbledore’s new attempt to reach out to Samara failed again. Well, it was expected. Even in the best of times, it was unlikely for her to change sides. Now, when he son is kidnapped and held hostage, it certainly won’t happen.

I like how Dumbledore pointed out that Samara knows, that Voldemort do not genuinely care for her, and all of his kindness in her childhood was to groom and manipulate her. I also like that we exposed to Voldemort’s manipulations more. Before his fall, he was much more charming and subtle in his manipulations, winning friends and allies, earning their sincere loyalty. Now he acts more bluntly – he just abuses his reputation to intimidate his subjects into submission. Not so elegant as before.

I’m more with Ron than with Dumbledore on the subject of Samara. Even if she doesn’t like to follow Voldemort, she’s still following him. And she rejected all the chances Dumbledore gave to her to change sides. It’s sad, that she ended in this situation, but there is no need to walk extra mile and risk lives on her behalf. They need to get her son in safety and let her deal with the consequences of her choices.

Ron’s POV.
Ron and Dumbledore banter is always a delight to read. Albus is always tries to be mischievous, but other people are hold him in such high regard, they are baffled by his behavior and don’t engage in it. Only Ron seems to play this game with him.

Grigorov sends Ron dine in the kitchen with Elves, because “they have no place”. I like how Dumbledore almost lost his patience here and started to threaten violence for such insolence. One thing that this Gala certainly achieved is getting Dumbledore angry enough with the Pure-Bloods.

And once again, Ron had to hold him back from lashing out. Things are seriously wrong, if Ron is more level-headed one between the two of them.

All of this was a ploy conjured by Pure-Bloods to get Ron into the kitchen and let him see a murdered and hanged Elf Tabby. This was sick and vile. And it’s turns out Tabby was murdered for wanting freedom. Judging by poor state all of Grueva’s Elves are they were constantly abused and starved. Tabby was treated so badly it overcome his inborn desire to serve and tried to get himself free. What terrified me more is hat other Elves don’t seem to care. They are so indoctrinated, they believe Tabby got what he deserved! This was shocking scene! Fate don’t shy away from brining the rawest emotions from such scenes.

Aside from the tragedy of taken innocent life, this act of atrocity is also broke what left of Ron’s resolve to be a kinder person and unleashed all of his restrained rage. He even switched to his Champion persona. And at times like this, I’m rooting for Ron to get his way. Though, as angry as he was at the moment, and as much as he fantasized about killing of all the degenerates at the Gala, I’m afraid he wouldn’t be able to, even if he tried. I mean, he could have killed many of them, especially if he threw Baubillious as an opening attack without warning. His Lumos Solem also is very fast, powerful and can easily cover a wide space, taking out even more people. Basilisk skin suit would have protected him of many incoming Curses and he could have throw several Killing Curses of his own… but eventually he would be overwhelmed by their numbers.

Even as enraged as he was, Champion still has restrain to not unleash his anger and tried to leave with Dumbledore. Moody didn’t deserved to be punched by Cutis Terra enhanced Ron, but I felt and odd satisfaction at it. After all insult and humiliation Ron endured at this Gala he deserved o put fear of death into these Pure-Bloods. Moody also would know better from now on then to get into Ron’s face so arrogantly as if he has a right to do it.

I liked how much he scared Grueva – she didn’t even dared to contradict him when he challenged her.

Moody is going to be a problem, when he wake up. Scrimgeour has been digging after Ron with far less motivation than Alastor has right now. Now it’s personal for him. In a way, it’s similar situation as it was with Harry in second year. I’m afraid Dumbledore will have to show Alastor golden memory for him to back off, as Ron predicted. That would save a lot of headache for all three of them.

The Gala turns out completely unexpected. It was a gut punch to learn that majority of Eastern Europe countries are even more “Pure” then even Magical Britain, which was already in claws of Pure-Bloods. The amount of work that has to be done to fix this all is immeasurable! MACUSA and their brutal Aurors are starting to look almost like decent guys compare to corrupt Eastern Europe Ministries, ruled by degenerate Pure-Bloods.

In hindsight, the Gala was ought to be a disaster. I mean, Ron basically charged there without a plan or clear goal. He and Dumbledore didn’t properly prepared. They were reckless. And Tabby paid the price.

After the events of this Gala, I’m sure Ron would whole-heartedly support Hermione’s SPEW. He may talk some sense in her, that most Elves are eager to serve by nature, and taking it from them would only hurt them, but he can help her to start making the laws protecting Elves’ rights.

The whole chapter made me infuriated about this Pure-Blood shit. When it was showed in previous chapters it was either amusing or mildly annoying at best. Mostly because of the small concentration of it. This entire chapter was committed to Pure-blood society and how vile and disgusting it is. It served it’s purpose well and showed how ugly the real Magical World and how is responsible for that. Can’t wait to see what’s coming next!

Review for chapter 155 part 6

Corban’s POV.
Yaxley done well creating an alliance of the most powerful Lords of Nagical Britain, Russia, Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania. We already knew that Volkov, Rask and Kartal were the most powerful men in their countries. And now we learned that Hatmanu is the most powerful Lord in Romania. And while Yaxley is not so powerful in Britain as his counterparts, he represents British Blood-Supremacists. Interestingly, that Lady Grueva was not invited at the meeting, despite being the most powerful Pure-Bloods in Bulgaria. Was it on account of her being a woman?

Their interaction was one of the most interesting in the chapter! Rask was trying to sway others under his leadership with charisma and passionate speech, but was cut half-way through by Volkov. This guy is a complete opposite – no charm or pleasantries, just intimidation and coldness.

Now, according to Yaxley, Volkov is much more powerful than Rask. Though, it was not confirmed in the discussion further, I have an impression he was more powerful than all other Lords as well. By the information that was presented I would rank them in this Order:
1. Volkov
2. Rask
3. Kartal

Too little information on Hatmanu to rank him anywhere; Grueva is in vulnerable position now, despite her power; and Yaxley’s power in Britain is very shaky as of now. So it would be hard to reliably rank them.

Collectively they agreed to hunt down Butchers of Birmingham, and choose Lord Sokolov for it. Oh, can’t wait for their meeting!

Not only that, but they also agreed to make their respective Ministries to denounce the Butchers, which once again confirmed that Pure-Bloods are actually in control of their countries. That paints a very grim picture, I would say. Until now, we only saw that Pure-Bloods are only fully in control of Russia, and mostly in control in Britain, but now it was made clear that majority of Magical Europe is controlled by them. Though, it seems like French is controlled by Veelas, which are not welcome in Pure-Blood society.

Despite Rask’s best efforts to put himself as a leader, Volkov clearly had the control of the conversation and had the last word in decision-making. He also swayed on his side Kartal and Hatmanu. That power-play was entertaining.

It was so funny how Yaxley was internally butthurt that no one calls him Lord Yaxley, but others called Russian – Lord Volkov.

Damn, if Yaxley to be believed, Volkov fed his own wife to his Manticore for birthing a squib. And he killed the child too! Horrible! Such cruelty is… damn, I can’t put it into words. Also. how exactly he learned that his child is a squib at such a young age? I mean, usually it takes some time to reveal such thing.

In their private talk, Volkov revealed to Corban that he’s aware of Voldemort’s return and already swore his allegiance. That fact actually gives him a lot of advantages over other Lords, such as Rask, Because he has bigger picture in mind, he can make more adequate decisions. He already know that war is coming, while Rask is playing at Pure-Blood policy power-grab. He wants to lead the alliance that Yaxley is forming, while Yaxley is hoping gift this alliance to the Dark Lord and hoping to manage it in his name. And Volkov saw through it all, because of his knowledge. And he made Yaxley responsible to bring Russian Pure-Bloods in general and him – Volkov – in particular into Voldemort’s grace along with British Pure-Bloods. Yaxley maybe the one to spearheaded the formation of this international pure-blood alliance, but Volkov was the one to get what he wanted from the first meeting.

Introduction of Valeriya Drozdova and Pavel Gusev. Both are minor nobles from Russia. They are an odd pair, and I agree with Yaxley in my astonishment why Valeriya involve herself with Pavel? By all evidence she has the character, the brains and the beauty, while Pavel has non, an look and act extremely meek. Well, Neville too was extremely meek, but he is a kid, and we know he’s going to change. Pavel is already a man, but still act like this. And he also doesn’t even has much money and influence to compensate for his lack of personal qualities. I have an idea that his behavior is all an act, and in actuality he’s much more capable, smart and strong-willed then he make it look to be, and he made Valeriya a front of their little alliance, while he’s masterminding from the shadows.

Ron’s POV.
Met turns out not so happy and positive as she appears to be. Her mother was so devastated by the death of her father, she made Met the center of her life. She’s a helicopter parent that almost choke her child with her love, no seeing that it hurts Met more then it helps. Now, consider how badly women are treated in Magical Turkey such overprotectiveness is almost reasonable. Also, Met’s mother may know more about her husband’s death, and it might be possible he was killed. Maybe even by Mehmet Kartal. It was said he stole the lands from other Sehzade. Met’s father could have been one of them. Still, limiting Met’s freedom to such extend is doing more harm then good, however her intentions were. Golden cage is still a cage. She even

Met also turns out into an arranged marriage situation, and her fiancé is eight years old! Another of her mother’s plans of how to “protect” Met. Well, hopefully the wedding is not planed to happen until Eldar is of age. Which means it’s earliest to happen in 9 years. By this time, I hope Ron will have enough influence to change things on global scale, and maybe bring down Sehzade and let the reformers improve the country, and make Met free of her “duties”.

Ron is not Pomfrey, but he gave Met a very good support in their private talk, and made her realize that her… decision… was not right and she should never give up hope.

Encounter with Leon Rask and the gang of his fans. This is the first time we actually see his character and he’s a prick. I mean, previously we only saw him being a strict prefect, him approving f Millie’s fitness and him being angry at Millie for refusing to kill a rabbit on Kemppainen’s orders. Not too much to draw conclusions.

Rask in this scene greatly resemble Draco in the first and second year. Just as arrogant and confrontational, looking down on everyone, walking with a gang of fans that look at his mouth… And of course he can’t help himself, he started a confrontation with Ron. He is exactly like Draco, but more prone to physical violence. Because he’s much better martially trained, being professional duelist. Draco was more cowardly then that. Basically, Leon is first year Draco with more courage and martial training.

With all of Rask accomplishments and accolades, he too was eclipsed by Ron’s fame and feels jealous! They are not even in the same school! Only shows how great Ron’s influence is on international level, if he is being envied by students from foreign schools. That’s also probably points out at Rask’s insecurity as he’s trying to measure up to Ron.

If I understood it correctly, Leon was competing in the actual adult National Dueling League, and even ended at the top of his bracket. Which mans he defeated several adult professional duelists. That’s actually impressive. He might be the second strongest student, in terms of dueling, in the world, beside Ron himself, of course. I wonder who was his trainer? It can’t be that he become this good just on his own, so I think just as Sebastian hired Madam Roberts for Ron, Conrad Rask hired a great dueling instructor to Leon. Could it be that he was privately trained by Kemppainen?

For all of Rask’s prowess he certainly is not ready to face Ron in combat, and he was incredibly lucky Sanguini showed up and break fight before it’s even started. Ron once against showed miracles of self-control and didn’t react to Rask’s provocations, skillfully outwitting him in a conversation. Damn, I almost feel bad for Leon, Ron was just way ahead of him at everything.

This Cel-Tradat guy is also a prick. And maybe even more so then Rask. While Rask was at least “tried” to be civil, Cel-Tradat was instigating the fight from the start and escalated it at every point. And he’s also a coward, who was hiding behind Leon’s back. He reminds me of Peter Pettigrew, but again with more guts.

I’m a little concerned with Ron’s promise to take on of Leon’s eyes. Because Ron is that unhinged he can and would actually do it. A very disturbing development on his part. Ron becomes more and more extreme. He restrained himself this time, but how knows what happens next one?

Ron and Sanguini private talk. The vampire confirmed that Ron’s smell to his vampire’s senses is vastly different from that of any human. This is not good, it makes Ron way to distinguishable for any vampire he may encounter. Gaspard is already into him, and any other vampire Ron will meet in the future is going to be suspicious of him, because of the smell alone. Ron probably should start to train more in stealth magic. And maybe try to find a way to hide or mask his scent from the vampires. It’s unlikely to work on Gaspard, but may work on other vampires. Not to mention that stealth magic would greatly help him to infiltrate Death Eaters bases in the future.

Ron put a tremendous feat at Sanguini with his answers. The vampire asked for it himself, bu7t Ron could have been less of prick about it. Also, wonder what Sanguini will do with this information? He’s heading to Rome, and I suspect he’s going to share what he learned with Cardinals. Whatthey are going to do with this information? If only we know a little more about them and their organization.

Amelia’s POV.
Amelia’s plan to secure help from other Ministers had failed. She clearly saw that they are not interested at helping Magical Britain, and are outright serve their country’s Pure-Bloods. Consider the financial situation British Ministry is in right now, no wonder Amelia is desperate. There is no way left for her to fix things, without giving power and opportunity to either Ron’s Alliance or American Aurors. We can freely assume she won’t be allying herself with Yaxley’s Alliance.

Sanguini’s retreat sparked Amelia’s interest and she went to investigate. She has some sensing skills too, but I would imagine not very advanced. She spends a lot of time at her desk, instead of practicing magic. She’s a powerful witch, but not extremely powerful. Still, with the regular sensing she didn’t felt anything abnormal in Ron, like Sanguini did. That’s good – it would be too inconvenient to Ron, if his Magical signature gave out suspicious vibes.

The talk between Ron and Amelia was brilliant! Just brilliant! Ron gave the Minister a good eye-opening speech about Ministry’s situation in general and her own position in particular. The whole dialog was so excellently written I can’t even find words to comment it! That was probably the very best part of the chapter! All the arguments and counter-arguments, the style, the drama – everything was perfect! An icing on the cake was the fact we saw it from Amelia’s POV and witness her thoughts, which portray Ron in a very mysterious light.

Few things have concerned me, though. Ron sees no value in his own Alliance, and is planning to get rid of it. What? Where is this come from? This part was not cooked earlier and come of nowhere. Previous chapter showed that his alliance are less noble than they make themselves seem to be, with some of them more self-serving them others, but it was not portrayed so drastic. And to use his Alliance and throw them away like this? That does not sit well with me. Not only it can be seen as a betrayal, but it would create a divide between them. And it can’t be afforded in times like this, with Second Wizarding War coming. Not to mention, it would be bad to Ron’s reputation – if people know that he had abandoned his allies, they would be reluctant to trust him in the future. The changes has to be made, of course, but the way Ron is approaching it, is not the best one.

Ron not so subtly was pushing Amelia to take Harper’s offer. Too bad he can’t reassure her that Americans won’t do anything to take advantage of Magical Britain, thanks to him. Or at least not take advantage that would hurt Magical Britain.