Uh, yeah, no way Lavender wrote that, regardless of what the handwriting looks like. Oh no, I'd hate for Neville to be the next victim! Fred and George, being into reading? Feels a little weird, but then, they are all about flaunting rules and social norms, and if the Pureblood community is going to disown their family, why not partake in a little Muggle literature? Especially a story like 1984, all about surviving under oppressive systems? I kinda dig it, would book club with the Weasley twins. I enjoyed the scene in the Slytherin common room as well, hearing the spoiled kids' view on things. Even if they were dropping that m-slur left and right. Also, I can tell I've been reading this AU too long, because when Lockhart dropped that "even with hair as short as yours!" trash, I actually felt offended for Snape.

Okay, sorry, not much of a review this time, but that's because I got distracted this chapter by TOTALLY SOLVING THIS MYSTERY. I puzzled over the pieces, and I'm confident I've identified the attacker. I'm going to put it behind spoiler bars so I don't ruin it for anyone else. Lily, please don't confirm or deny, because I still want to be surprised once we reach the end of this year, but yeah. Here's my theory: Les spoiler

—doctorlit, being a sleuthy sort, for once

You managed to make Draco do something that would normally be OOC for him... and make it make perfectly sense! Kudos for that, and for the rest of the chapter!

I wonder' what you're preparing about Sirius...

You're handling the current colaboration between the Golden Trio and Malfoy very well: both parties are interested in sonving the matter for their own reasons, but they still don't trust each other. Clever way to still have the Polyjuice Potion plot still happen, too! Though, to be fair, I'm not sure they actually still need it considering at least Harry and Draco can take each other out of the prime suspect list. (Nice tweak with the Bludger chasing Draco and not harry, but still having it hit Harry in the end!)

All in all, you're keeping up the excellent worldbuilding. Good on you!

Question. is "could convince you the sky was green" actually an English saying, or is it some clever wordplay? Japanese and maybe other Asian languages have a murkier line between blue and green - there was a Detective Conan case that used it as part of a plot about solving the dfferences between three discrepant witnesses' accounts (the suspect was eported as having a black shirt by one, a blue one by another and a green one by the third. The black shirt was due to a tinted widnow, and the green/blue problem was because the witness was an old person who still used the word that used to mean both)

Oh my gosh, I love that Quirrell and Lockhart are seriously diving into this mystery solving, with Lockhart playing good cop and Quirrell playing the cop-who-really-doesn’t-want-to-do-this-but-can’t-refuse-Dumbledore’s-request-due-to-his-questionable-choices-last-year cop. Poor Quirrell probably could have done a decent job if he was on his own or taking the lead, but of course Lockhart couldn’t allow anyone else in the spotlight. Then again, at least this Quirrell still gets to breathe, so he’s at least ahead of his canon counterpart? Oh, and side note, but I love that Lockhart just dishes out house points left and right for answering basic questions. I bet the hourglasses get way more attention this year, just because Lockhart is throwing random amounts at the board literally every class period . . .

Ha! Draco is slowly acclimating into being Part Of The Friend Group and he doesn’t even notice!

Oh, wow. Myrtle is, uh. Dead after all. And inside a crystal ball? Huh. She doesn’t seem like the type who would have been seeking New Blood initiation, so I wonder why she was even down there in the first place. Honestly, it’s kind of cool to see Myrtle in those flashback scenes, having a friend, pranking students, just running and talking . . . Her character in canon is so one-note (which I know is partly just the mechanics of ghost minds in this universe; she was a sad teen when she died and she can’t emotionally develop further) that it’s nice see her alive, even if just for a few snippets. As for her friend . . . I keep forgetting that important detail that Tom/Marvolo/Voldemort is half-blood himself, and it’s so weird to see him getting bullied by a past Malfoy, knowing how Lucius winds up under the yoke decades later. Losing Myrtle must have been quite a blow to his psyche . . . It’s kind of gross that he’s thrown his lot in with the bullies in the present, considering how he and Myrtle were treated as children. (Side note about Myrtle throwing things at the golden trio, though: I don’t think Potterverse ghosts can interact with solid matter at all? Just liquid and gas?)

Hm. Dobby wanted Harry out of Hogwarts in canon, and enchanted the bludger to attack him. I’m guessing Dobby is responsible for the enchantment this time too, since it went after Draco, and Dobby wants Draco safe? But then . . . would a house-elf be able to convince himself to cause harm to someone in their wizard family through greater good arguments?

Wait, Lavender got dunked on? I can see the “societal transgressions” in the other two victims: unladylike sports for Pansy and voicing equality for Penelope. But if anything, Lavender was being too dedicated to Pureblood customs, by trying to ship her fellow 12-year-olds due to them displaying checks notes completely normal human behavior. So why would the magic thief target her? Are they intentionally trying to point the trail at Harry, and found out about the argument at the Gryffindor table earlier? Or . . . desperately tries to squint past face-blindness I honestly can’t remember, is your Hermione black? If she’s white, I could kind of imagine someone mistaking Lavender for Hermione in the dark, but I find it borderline impossible to tell human faces apart, so I I’m literally incapable of knowing how nonsensical this theory is. Unless Hermione is black in which case it definitely falls apart . . . Unless Lavender is also black . . .

“No one could possibly measure up.” I love this line so much. That “impossible yardstick” is a necessary element of any hierarchy of social control, because without that, there would be no justification for looking down on anyone—and without that, what would be the point of the hierarchy?

—doctorlit had it in his mind that bludgers were just solid wood, but he just looked it up and they’re made of iron?! Like!?!?!? How high is player mortality!!!?!?!!

Yep, there it is. No surprise the birthday incident has made everyone suspicious of Harry now. I'm almost glad, though, because it gave Harry the chance to teach Draco about friendship, something he really needed to hear. I liked that scene quite a bit; it's something that Draco should learn in Hogwarts, but won't because of his upbringing. I hope he takes it to heart!

Aha! All this time, I assumed the Tome of Avalon dated back to the Arthurian era, because of the name. But it's only from the founding of Hogwarts? Even the title is a lie! It's even less of an authoritative text than I gave it credit for! And I'm not at all surprised it's the result of a bunch of already influential people writing themselves and others like them to be superior.

A painful line to read: "Despite being a first-year, his eyes were already burning with old hatred." It's where prejudice comes from, but it's still painful to see children so warped by it, even in fiction.

Hey, Clearwater gets a moment! I like that; she never got to do much in canon. She almost seems a little too progressive to be interested in Percy, but I guess Percy isn't exactly complete trash either. She can change him. Oh, and even Quirrell gets a little moment! It's impressive to see him stand up to anyone, but maybe he's got a slightly more discerning eye for grifters after last year? Or maybe Lockhart is just so opaque that the rest of the staff are already tired and distrustful of him . . .

Aaaaaand yeah, I like the skeletons, too, though I wonder how they "work" exactly.

—doctorlit is pet-sitting, and is currently being used as a pillow by two dogs

Another, missing student from the past? Could that be Myrtle again? She is Muggleborn. And if she’s still considered a missing person, that would mean she didn’t even come back as a ghost this time . . . Man, Myrtle can’t catch a break in any timeline, it seems! I have to say, Lily, I can’t make heads or tails of the mystery this year. (Not that I saw the finale of Chamber of Secrets coming, either.) Actually, it doesn’t feel to me like Myrtle/the other victim is even related, since she went missing, rather than having her hair and magic removed. I’m calling red herring on that one! My brain wants to blame Lockhart, but I feel like that’s too easy, and he was only a secondary antagonist in canon anyway. (He again appears as a legit authority figure in this chapter, so he feels even less threatening than he did in canon.) Dobby said Draco is up to something this year, but I can’t imagine it would involve attacking pureblood witches, especially not one of his oldest friends, as Hermione pointed out. Luna mentioning Astoria being ill piqued my curiosity a bit, but with her aunt being so gung ho about Pureblood culture, I can’t imagine she would attack a pureblood either. The only real clue I can see is that Pansy was subverting cultural norms by wanting to play Quidditch . . . so someone who’s overly invested in maintaining pureblood standards wanted to punish her? OR! Oh my gosh, I forgot . . . Pansy is the one who called out Lockhart’s plagiarism in his class . . . maybe he wanted to silence her? Except I assume there are going to be further victims throughout the year, and I don’t think even Lockhart would be dumb enough to make an accident happen to everyone who challenges the details of his books . . . Hm. You’ve got me stumped, Lily!

Yeah, I have to agree with Luna. Draco is a mean boy, but I feel like the effigy rather pushed the boundaries of what’s appropriate. If only Harry understood the workings of the Ironic Overpower, he would have realized Draco or someone else would end up seeing the effigy. (Dang, Luna would make a great PPC agent, wouldn’t she?) I’m sure Harry and friends will see repercussions over this, and honestly, they should. At the same time, though, I’m glad Harry kept Hermione unaware of what happened with Draco, so she could enjoy her birthday.

—doctorlit has definitely never burned any politicians in effigy, and anything his high school economics teacher says is a flagrant lie

It has been Very Odd to be writing Quirrell into second year, not gonna lie. And given that we don't really have a sense of what he taught in first year, I can't even really figure out whether or not he was a reasonable DADA professor. According to Pottermore he was originally the Muggle Studies professor? And then he went out searching for Voldy and got himself an unwelcome hitchhiker and became the DADA prof (probably because... Charity Burbage was hired to replace him when he went on sabbatical???) and the rest is history. So yeah, difficult to write him as a teacher because we never really got to see him teaching in the books.

Anyway, because he used to teach a milder subject like Muggle Studies, originally I was going to have Lockhart as DADA like in the books with Quirrell replacing Greengrass. But then I realised it would be funnier for Lockhart to replace Greengrass because he's actually half-qualified for C&E by simply being a pompous windbag. So the decision was also partly due to Rule of Funny.

Well, this is a world where the bigotry that has nested for a long time in Slytherin house has spread through a lot of places! So even other Houses aren't exempt. And Cedric Diggory's in for quite a character arc to get from here to the boy we see in 4th year!

You'll have to wait and see about Pansy :P And yeah, the Hallows are going to matter a bit more, actually, because this world doesn't have Voldemort/Marvolo Gaunt making Horcruxes (again, losing your nose is bad for poll numbers!) and the Hallows already being possessed by him, Dumbledore, and Harry in the books will... be very relevant in the latter years in this series.

And yes, Qiu Zhang is Cho Chang in the Chinese translation so I just went with that!

That first chapter is quite intimidating, length-wise, but I'm glad it worked for you! It definitely sets up the panopticon ;)

Looking forward to your reactions about the rest of the year!

Since the Chamber doesn’t have a big danger noodle and was being used for different purposes in this setting, of course the second year mystery is a little bit different! But I hope to touch on some of the same themes and moments anyway :P

Glad you like it so far!