It's been such a very long time since I've read this story, but I know that if I want a good read, I can always drop by your library of works. I remember when you posted this a year ago. Okay, it's frekking delicious. I love the way you start the story with basic innocence. Minerva is a "young girl" simply skirting about the castle, and then, the moment the two meet, the story explodes - two powerful people meeting and reacting and the story is so illustrative of that. The chemistry and tension boil over. Tom is powerful, but so is Minerva, and so she's not going to just bow down before him or bend to his will. I love the insinuations Tom makes, and the fact that Minerva...knows there's possibly some truth to that. -shifty eyes-

The kiss sort of makes me shiver. Yes, I'm slightly chilled sitting here at school, but I wasn't shivering before they kissed and like....she totally enjoys that kiss. I was all for him throwing her up against the wall and taking her, and she giving it back to him in kind. -shifty eyes again-

I loved that even at school she was wearing her custom tartan. It shows that she's a girl who doesn't change. She's constant at seventeen and seventy. And she's smart and observant and clever. And then, for the fabulous finale, she totally pwns Tom. Huzzah! Your writing skillz are as lovely to me as you are yourself, and for clarification that is quite a lot.

You know, as much as I liked the characterization in the middle section, I just thought it seemed like a whole lot of extra. I love deleted scenes, but sometimes they don't always belong in the movie....but I can see how you wouldn't want to take it out.

Well, dear WerePrefect, you've got an uncanny ability to write about Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. The crazy kooks - it'd be just like them to have an insane pillow fight.

One thing that I really love about this story is Lily. If writing the right version of Marauders is hard, writing the correct Lily is ten times more difficult. I enjoy the fact that she's best friends with Remus. I love the fact that this story is original, starting at a completely random time during seventh year.

However, I'm going to have to give the crown to the part of the chapter in which Lily becomes the stalker of her best friend. This amused me to no end because, while Lily may like to think that she's not like James....she is.

Your story is engaging and delightful. You are my favorite James/Lily author. And my favorite Hermione/Remus author. And I love your originality. Even if something has been done, you find your own spin, and that is excellent.

A hard kick against the ground, and she was gone — up, up until the leaves tickled her exposed arms. Her robes swirled behind her, flaming red hair whipped against her cheek, and the wind was raising her higher and higher. She was a kite, buoying along in the breeze — then a bird, gliding, swerving, diving, only to shoot back up, no longer craving the solidity of earth beneath her feet.

What a beautiful opening paragraph! It just makes one itch to read the rest of the story...it promises of delicious descriptions to come.

I loved that you used "churned" instead of turned when Ginny's thoughts sere described. It added so much more!

And then there was her father. She was Daddy’s Little Girl, used to the good-night kisses and bear hugs and hair ruffling. Hogwarts took that away from her. She would creep into bed when darkness fell, whispering good-night to him from a far away place, knowing that he would never hear it, and yet hoping, hoping with the kind of hope that only blesses children, that he heard in his heart.

This paragraph was simultaneiously fluffy and cute as well as angsty and heart-wrenching. I felt like I could relate so well...even though I've never been to boarding school. However, I was a daddy's girl right up until my father passed away. I guess that's probably why it struck such a chord with me. I love when something an author writes can leap off the page or screen and touch me.

The interaction was also great. This is why I love Ginny. She is just a great character, and you wrote her so perfectly well!

Author's Response: I didn\'t respond to this??? I swear I did. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me.

Thank you very much for such a heartfelt review! I\'m extremely grateful for all the compliments on the description and the fact that my writing was able to be that three dimensional. I will treasure them forever. :)

And I\'m glad that the time I spent tweaking that paragraph about Ginny and her dad payed off. ;)

The whole thing is so heartbreaking. You're aching inside, and yet, at the same time, one wishes that Maeve had gone all the way with Remus, even though you want them to remain faithful to their significant others. I'm so torn up over this. An absolutely striking piece of work.

Your writing is so richly strung together, word by word, and your storytelling is captivating. I think it's hard to write an Alternate Universe story, but I'm loving this. Your ideas are great and keep me curious as to what you've decided will happen next.

I really felt that this chapter was handled so well. There are so many emotional points in here, and you wrote them nicely. She has to say goodbye to her best friend, her new boyfriend, a teacher she trusts, and all of the world that she's known. I love the parallels between this Marie, and the historical Marie. I'm eager to continue with this story.

I must also compliment you on your writing, as I believe (unless I'm remembering wrong) that English isn't your native language. As I said, I'm anxious to read more, and so I shall.

Author's Response: Thanks a lot for the review; I have to plan this story very carefully for it to make sense so your praise means a lot to me.

I am French, so no, English isn\'t my native language. I am greatly helped by my Beta though. Thanks again for the review, and I\'m trying to update right now so you may expect something... in a week or two...

The opening of this....it just speaks so highly of her discontent from the get go. That’s sometimes a refreshing thing to read in fanfiction, instead of sunny days and daisies or OMGVOLDEMORTSCARY! or angst. It’s not....angst here in the opening, just...discontent.

Viktor was a Healer and Katherine worked in administration.
Here you spell his name with a K instead of C.

Oh man. I feel terrible. I’ve now read the whole fic and am at just such a loss as to what I can even say. You took me, as the reader, through such an emotional journey. I’d have to say that I’m actually somewhat emotionally drained from that. I could feel Katherine’s feelings completely all through the story. I don’t know what to say, and that’s so not the point of a review. Harald, this may sound just really lame for me to say, but I think that you should seriously consider writing. You’ve shown your fun-creativity in Ariel’s story, and you show your ability to delve into serious emotional/life battles with this story.

(This is a rather crap SPEW buddy review...I shall have to make up for it, so don’t you worry...I will be popping around with little notes around other spots on your author page...)

Author's Response: Hey Mar. I think discontent is the perfect word to describe Katherine\'s situation. She\'s a very unhappy person. I started writing Victor with a K and then I realized that that would be Krum so I changed it to a C , but then I didn\'t change it in all of the places. *shudders* Thank you for the review, Mar. Even if it wasn\'t a typical \"Spew\" review it was very sweet and you said some things that I needed to hear.

Wow, Amy. This was very powerful, right from the get-go. As a reader, I could feel Godric's angry urgency as he stormed through the castle.

Now, nitpicks first so I can get on to the praise:

He quickly passed the room the required three times... I'm guessing that should be the room HE required.

...that is so unlike you.” Salazar taunted. Should be a comma after you, not a period.

And I think there probably should be quotations around Crucio, though it's also emphatic for the scream for them not to be there. /crit

Now, this was very, very short, but I find nothing wrong with that. It's the culmination of a long ordeal, and I think this is pretty spectacular. Godric seemed to go a bit over the top with calling Salazar a coward so many times, but I think it's completely in character for him to do that.

And the end was pretty amazing. That Godric pulled out the Cruciatus Curse was shocking, and his own horror and shame at its ultimate results was so perfect for the end of this story about two friends who fell out. I give this a flipping ten! And I'm going to add it to my favorites.

Author's Response: Mar, I have no idea how to respond to this. Thank you so much for the kind words. I was shocked by Godric as well, but I loved the idea of him coming up with the Cruciatus Curse, because it is so different and unexpected. I went back and read through it and I agree that I probably could have found a better word other than \"coward\" to use. Thanks so much for the review and favorite!!

Author's Response: I went back a reread the first section too and the sentence is correct. It should be \"He quickly passed the room THE required three times...\" because in order to use the room of requirements you have to pass it three separate times. Thanks!

This story is so full of ideas and what-ifs and emotions that I almost can’t take all of it in, but I think that’s certainly wherein the worth of it lies. That seems to me to be so much of what Regulus is feeling. It’s a constant conflict between caring and not caring. As I read the story, it was like my emotions were all attached to strings, and they were being pulled and then slackened, and it was all in a very quick way that sort of unsettled me. (But not in a bad way, because it was awesome to feel that, especially in such a short span of words.)

There was something I that you brought particularly to my attention that, sadly, I’d never really thought about before. I guess that, in the back of my mind, I’d thought before about how Regulus would’ve been brought up in Sirius’s shadow, but I always forgot to think about how he’d feel about that. And then he’s got his own chance to shine, pretty much, by being sorted into the ‘right’ house when Sirius isn’t. And in that short section, you show how significant it all is, and how much it changes his world, and how almost chaotic it makes things for him.

I loved the way Regulus regards Sirius as he’s leaving Grimmauld face, noting the harsh sneer, Sirius’s rashness, how it all makes sense, and yet doesn’t. It was really poignant.

The best part of the narrative is, of course, the latter half. No matter how many different ways people write it, I always have to take a step back, as it were, as Regulus, this young man, barely stepping out of adolescence, is taking a huge risk to get to that Horcrux and destroy it. They way you’ve written about it here is so macabre and chilling, and just powerful.

And then, the very last bit shows how lost and yet free he might possibly be. He likes it, but he doesn’t. He has freedom, but it almost means nothing to him because he doesn’t have anything tangible In his life to hold onto. It’s very poignant, and the whole story, really, is just wonderful. You never disappoint, Noldo.

Still, after reading this multiple times, I'm slightly incoherent, so I'll try to proceed as best as I can...

The night was dark as velvet as the two bodies stole out of the front doors.

Amazing opening sentence. The only thing is that I think it sort of conflicts with it being the full moon....werewolves only exist then, you know. But velvet sometimes has a sheen to it, right? Okay, disregard comment then. The simple use of "bodies" instead of "figures" sets the tone for the sexuality to come later. Example of an exquisite word choice. Throughout the story there are parts where things are worded perfectly, and then there are sentences that I think could've been spun a little more intricately, but it's really only fine tuning when all is said and done. Like, in the very next sentence: The young woman pulled her cloak around her tighter. It's just slightly awkward, and I would've maybe gone with something like: "The young woman pulled her cloak tightly around her/around her tightly." The use of tighter or tightly is basically insignificant but I just thought I'd mention it.

I find the use of 'pixie' very intriguing. Good, bad? I really don't know, but I'm exceedingly curious to know why that was chosen. Totally intrigued by that selection of endearment in his mind.

Marie looked over at her boyfriend and glared at him...

This paragraph is pretty in character. I was stuck by the last sentence though. Should I be loathing my inability to keep my mouth shut, or to get too carried away? I'm thinking carried away. Caught up in playing truth or dare, you know. The transition here to a flashback is flawless.

"Ok, Mar, its your turn," Ashley said, grinning devilishly. Needs an apostrophe in the contraction.

And you just couldn't leave Rob alone, could you? That's terrible. I actually don't think I would've dared such a thing. But it made for a great plot-driver. :D

Mar was not one to back down from a challenge. Totally. Mavicks don't back out of dares. There's some time inconsistency in those paragraphs right after the truth or dare scene. "The hours after that passed..." The hours after what? It seems like the girls had been trying to talk me out of it for the full two days, and it just....doesn't exactly fit. But this: She had actually been slightly relieved when Regulus had insisted on accompanying her, though she refused to admit it to his face. Yeah, that is SPOT ON PERFECT!

A playful glance, and then Regulus' serious view of what is going on. I think that is amazing for the dynamic of the story right there. Yes, Marie loves this boyfriend, even though she's annoyed, but he doesn't care because he loves her and knows this is very dangerous. And he IS a Black, member of a house with dark history in its blood. I'll definitely be praising your perfect pegging of this aspect multiple times throughout this review.

Regulus stopped and grabbed her hand, forcing her to face him. His gaze penetrated into her eyes, making her understand the seriousness of this old and most magic of nights. "Samhain is the day that does not exist. The barrier between death and life is gone. The unborn and dead can cross between the worlds. It is not safe to be alone on Samhain."

More amazing characterization of Regulus. He speaks with his eyes more than his mouth, or at least with his words. Then we’ve got the amazing aspect of using Samhain. I’d never even heard of Samhain before this, and it’s freaking amazing in this fic. Then there’s the next bit where it’s just chilling. How did Regulus just seem to disappear? That’s really just too spooky. People don’t disappear, and you can’t Apparate at Hogwarts...so is Regulus just amazingly capable of being stealthy (which is not something that would shock me, but definitely calls to his dark side) or was it the magic of Samhain? I’ll try to cease quoting every line of this story, but the line about my twisted boyfriend: awesome.

The thing is that you show delicate sketches of the intricacies of the Rar relationship. Regulus is protective of Marie. She adores his protectiveness even if she likes to be her own person, because it’s just amazingly sweet. He smirks at her because she does a lot of silly things, she’s honest with him. She knows that he can melt her resolve to be angry with his smile, and so she obstinately refuses to look at him. And he knows it too, he expects it.

One Marie characterization mistake: Marie wouldn’t swear. She would say, “Blast.” She would only ever say that when she’s in trouble/messed something up.

...her breath catching in her throat.

That pretty much sums up my reaction to the whole scene here. There are hardly words to describe how amazing I thought it was. Erm, I’ll just quote a few parts that made me melt, because that’s really all I did during this section. That and forget to breathe.

Regulus crept up behind her, pressing himself closely against her back.
Instinctively her hand came up to grasp the back of his head, her fingers tangling in his raven black hair.
Regulus grunted as he collided with the rough bark.
He gladly accepted, his hands sliding down her sides and tightly gripping her hips as he pulled her closer. She took possession of what was hers and pressed her body hard against his.
...he roughly gripped her lower back and spun her around.

The next paragraph, the one about the cloaks....it feels so incongruous to the intense snog session, but it makes it all the more real. Yes, there’s heat and intensity and passion there, but it’s all founded on their love and trust of each other. And you totally know this, but me biting my lip is entirely too in character.

He paid particular attention to the spot where her shoulder and neck met. He pulled away a little and admired his handy work. Mar was now marked as his own, at least for the next week.

Actually, this, aside from being guh-licious, I wanted to make other comments. This is one of my secret loves: kissing on the neck. Trivia about RL!Mar...her first kiss was actually on her neck. Don’t ask me why he kissed me there first, but he did, and even when I think about it today... Anyway, moving on. Sentence two there shows his smug arrogance...it’s not a glaring feature of his personality, it’s more of a cool confidence, but definitely there. And then sentence three...that I was marked, amusing, but I’m also thinking it’s a very pureblood notion - to mark someone as yours. Chills, girls, absolute chills. And um, I promise this review won’t be longer than the actual story.

Again, he uses his eyes to communicate. Lovely. I then love the way that Regulus takes over his role as the protector so wonderfully. And is Marie very good the first few seconds after being scared out of her wits? No. Then the tension and action doesn’t die down or go very much overboard. It’s well balanced and paced well. I think that in the moments when I get trapped up until Regulus casts the spell, there’s too much to describe, but how do you cut any of it out? You can’t, because it’s there and happening, but it’s also normal for terror-filled moments like that to just slow down, and so it’s still wonderful.

The anger coming from his aura was almost tangible, his protectiveness bringing his magical energy to a peak.

The paragraph that begins there is stunning. It captures the power of magic. Self-magic, and then the dark magic that Regulus calls on. My reaction to him using a dark spell is spot on. I know he’s Regulus Black, but to Marie, she’s also just her boyfriend. She sees so much of the good in him that it’s always a shock when things like this happen.

The spirits being called forth and then chasing the werewolves away and protecting us is very exciting. Then Regulus’ gentle care of Marie is so touching. He carefully frees my leg, he sweetly helps me clasp the robes back together, and then....he just understands me. He knows that he knows dark magic, but he is Regulus Black, and he will do whatever he has to do. Whatever he thinks is right, and if that involves using dark magic, then so be it. Wonderful night, indeed.

Now, am I hightly biased? Yes. But at the end of it all, it’s just an amazing story. You’ve got a scary mood set throughout, which is hard to pull off. There’s a seamless flashback scene. Humor that doesn’t bash you over the head, just natural stuff. Amazing characterization - very real and tangible - people can connect with Marie and Regulus’s relationship on different levels and with who they are as people. Historical stuff....research for Samhain done. It’s so not a cliché. Intricacies of a relationship between a young couple are beautifully sown, and Regulus is a true Black with his very real dark side. The pacing throughout is wonderful, and the only thing that is lacking is an update.