Snape really was an absolute idiot for following up on what Sirius told him when they were teens. But yay for him not being nearly so much of one after Harry stood up to Sirius and Remus on his behalf. :)

Nice work. This series has been fun to read.

I think you've got it mixed up; I thought Bill and Arthur were supposed to be EACH OTHERS' Secret-Keepers.

Not that it isn't equally bad, since James and Lily could have been each others' Secret-Keepers. But even if we remove the [logically canon] possibility by saying you can't be the Secret-Keeper of someone for whom you're a Secret-Keeper, Sirius could have been James's Secret-Keeper, James Lily's, and Lily Sirius's.

...it doesn't pay to think too hard about the Fidelius, does it?

Ahahahahaahahaha.

I actually enjoy Deathly Hallows for the revealed backstories, but the main plot is a total trainwreck.

I honest to god don't think I've been this amused in quite a while. Bloody brilliant chapter

Also sounds like Hitler.
Do you think Harry might have beginning signs of a personality disorder like borderline?

Personally, I don't think Dumbledore's mirror trick would have held him long enough to be caught. It seems like the mirror was set up with the thought that the staff wouldn't be far behind Quirrell and the mirror would stall him long enough for them to catch up. Voldemort has be described as very intelligent and well versed in ancient and obscure magical arts. While Voldemort probably wouldn't have figured out Dumbledore's riddle he most likely would have been able to instruct Quirrell on how to undo or get passed whatever enchantment was used before Dumbledore captured them.

Sounds like Ginny did something to soul bond them. Like you (or Hermione) said, it makes no sense that they were soul bonded because Harry saved her life.

This is the only chapter i don't agree with. here was a war going on! I completely support crucioing bellatrix, and they should also have used the killing curse on death eaters, especially the really evil ones. Maybe not Lucius, but definitely Macnair, or Fenrir, etc.

I have always assumed that having the Secret-Keeper in the hidden place would reduce the protection of the place.

Regarding Lockhart. As presented in the books, it's horribly disturbing. All (or almost all) the females seemed to be in love/lust for him. The encompassing nature of the phenomenon points to some sort of spell or something. Worse, he has all these teen and preteen girls lusting after him and what is the one spell he's mastered? Memory modification. Those things are technically just circumstantial evidence. But I firmly believe that he was taking advantage of his position.

To me, Lockhart is worse than all the other DADA professors in all the books combined.

Oh, Lord, yes! If only it had fallen out that way.

Lockhart is my second-most-hated non-Death Eater character, after Umbridge (who is arguably the most dis-likable character in modern literature).

Eesh. I'd like to think he's smarter than that, but several (SEVERAL) instances from canon would indicate otherwise. Harry's capacity for making bad decisions is actually one of the things that irked me most while reading the series.

I agree with the points harry was telling both of them. They are both at fault for that situation, they both let their pets run wild and they thought the inevitable happened the cat ate the rat. I can understand having your pet dying is a sad thing, but the way harry and Ron handled the situation in the book was quite wrong, i can understand Ron not talking to her for awhile, but harry? he should have been there for her as well instead of taking Ron's side and following his example of not talking to her or hanging out with her. With the broom yes she should have told harry first that she thought that Sirius (who she thought was out to kill harry) sent it and she was getting a professor, but i also understand why she did it. When she saw that it was sent anonymously she may have forgot to say something when she was leaving to get their head of house.