I'm sorry, but that sounds utterly ridicolous to me - in fact, the fact Circle-Of-Gits Purebloods play a Muggle game is ridicolous all in itself!

The part with Harry sherlocking things with Aunt Sevvy, and her so clearly doing her best to hide the fact she's proud of his cleverness, was great. I also really like this Draco, and I like this version of the Order of the Phoenix. Ryan is also a very nice guy, so I think I'll look up his PPC counterpart.

All in all, a nice fun chapter that still trickled in elements of the big plot!

Also, forgive me if your note at the end about Chinese names made me confused for a second. The Li surname being that of an ancient family of magic users? I think I've heard this somewhere else already.

I love Draco's progress! His willingness to change is so nice to see, and it looks like he's inadvertently helped Cedric along, as well! I wonder how many Hogwarts students will get dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th century by the end of year seven . . .

The Order dinner was nice to read. Forcing the Pureblood-minded students into engaging with Muggle culture without letting them get angry over it . . . It's exactly what I was hoping to see! And it's nice seeing Liu even more chill than usual, without any PPC agents causing shenanigans for him to react to. I can understand why Dumbledore and the school board were able to agree on Professor Liu!

Man, Prince has so many of the clues about Scabbers right there in her mind, she just doesn't realize there's a mystery to apply those facts to . . .

—doctorlit hadn't heard of Sue Li before today

Ah man, Hermione still went for the Time-Turner, even after experiencing such a hectic schedule in year one? Hope she doesn’t get too stressed out. And the Order of the Phoenix is a publicly acknowledged student discussion forum in this timeline? While that sounds like the sort of group I would have wanted to join, I feel like the “all ideas are given equal merit” element is going to run into problems when so many students have the “idea” of blood purity . . . something something providing a platform to Nazis, something something debate bro joke something?

All right, he’s there, it’s the man, Liu Siyu—checks notes—Ryan. Interesting that the Board of Governors finds him acceptable, if he’s married to such a rebellious figure as Jenni. Also interesting that he’s married to Jenni at all!

Okay, Ancient Runes class is cooooooool. I’m a bit sad we didn’t get to see it much in canon, but I love what you’re doing with it here. It sounds fun; it’s like the Hogwarts answer to art class! I’m intrigued about the teacher as well.

As monstrous as it is to read Prince threatening to hurt an animal to test a potion . . . I admit my knowledge that Scabbers is actually Pettigrew may have colored me reading of that scene a bit. “Yes, good, dump the boy in the potion, he’s been a very bad boy . . .” Far too clever of him to sabotage the potion with a firework, and Ron is SO CLOSE to figuring it out, if he can just make like Sherlock, eliminate the impossible, and realize there was only one being in the room with access to his own pockets . . .

So this line:
“Harry stepped aside, sending Hermione an encouraging smile as she stared down the party-Dementor.” —is so, so beautiful. Please be proud. But then, you had to follow that shining gem with a big old slap in the reader’s face, by which I mean Hermione’s boggart. OW. So painful to read friends being cruel like that, even knowing it’s not really them. The scene with Myrtle was lovely, though; it’s nice seeing Myrtle be genuinely supportive of another student, rather than acting like a reactionary reverse bully. (I hope she’s not going to hang out in a bathroom all the time, though? After being trapped for so long, she should get to wander the whole castle!)

—doctorlit, partying with Dementors all day

Haven't got anything that particularly caught me this time, though, so sorry about that! But I enjoyed it all.

Oh, at last, Hedwig is here! I've been wondering about Hedwig . . . the whole time! Definitely was looking forward to . . . okay, yeah, it's embarrassing, but I totally didn't notice the owl was missing all this time, but in my defense, this story has a LOT going on! Interesting that she's kind of acting like canon!Crookshanks here . . . or maybe owl just Be Like That around rat friend.

Ah, I see the Quibbler is the only legitimate investigational journal around! I mean, I doubt Sirius took bribe money from Gaunt, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Atrium was, indeed, an inside job. After all, wand fuel can't melt marble pillars!

Love the whole Dementor sequence! I know it's not significantly different, besides the extra characters, but it was Good To read, nonetheless! I like the acknowledgement of Luna's mom and how it would affect her around Dementors, and how Draco's drained status would leave him more vulnerable as well. And I love Hermione using Éowyn, ringwraiths, and athelas as metaphors for what just happened. Very apt! (Feel bad for Harry having to wait all through the school year to finish a book, though, dang.)

"Harry compiled, and Draco slid in between him and Ginny."
That's wizard's programming!

—doctorlit apologizes for that tasteless "wand fuel" joke. As we all know, only house elf magic is strong enough to melt marble pillars. ELF RIGHTS NOW

(edit was due to forgetting to make a number joke in the title)

Oh boy, Allegoric Alley again. I hate all the phoniness here, the clothing, the classism, the wealth. It’s all so gross, there’s nothing here I would want to—library? Library!? I want it, I need it, gimme them books, I—

Anyway, do you think the wizarding community has trouble keeping plant populations healthy? It’s those “individually-selected birch twig”s that made me think of it. Like, how many of an average birch’s twigs are satisfactory for “aerodynamic perfection”? And then there’s the wood for the broom handle, the quaffles, the wands, and the animal bits inside the wands . . . maybe it’s not all that different from how we’re burning through natural resources like mad in the real world, but the wizarding world just seems a lot more finicky about all this stuff gets made . . . I wonder how many magical plants are endangered due to demand for their effects . . . Oh, also, it’s somehow super-hard for me to imagine the inside of Quicksilver and Snidget. I don’t think it would have the same vibe as a muggle Dick’s sporting goods, somehow . . .

Hm. So, “Gaunt’s reappointment ceremony” and “ousted Gaunt from office” . . . was Gaunt actually the Minister for Magic at some point? And Sirius was both seen at the time, and his wand was used, but that’s not altogether different from the canon attack he got blamed for. eyes shift slowly over to Ron’s pocket (Was anyone actually hurt in this “attack,” or did Sirius legit get sent to Azkaban for defacing an atrium in this timeline?)

Oh also, congratulations: the line “Perhaps if you ask Mother Magic, She’ll bless you with one for Yule,” is officially the cringiest line I’ve ever had the misfortune to process with my brain, my very eyes are gagging, thank you for that. (Like, Siriusly seriously, that’s the equivalent of if Christians believed Jesus brought Christmas presents, and I’m not religious at all, but if there’s one thing Jesus and I are super down with together, it’s the whole “money gtfo” thing. Just. Mixing their main religious figure with such a commercialized process as Yule presents is just. Blegh, vomit. I hate it.)

—doctorlit wants that library, he’s going to get that library, it will be his, his Precious, only his

Oh, wow. Bellatrix is . . . fairly normal? Like, no surprise she’s way into the Pureblood stuff, but she doesn’t seem the “cackling murder” type if she’s hanging out in France and raising a daughter! And speaking of the daughter . . . Whoa! Delphi exists in this universe?! Kind of assumed she couldn't happen here . . . Her birth’s been moved up by about a decade, and I assume the father is different, but . . . wow! A version of Delphi who . . . might . . . not grow up evil and miserable is kind of neat to think about! She’s just another kid! Yay!

I see you couldn’t resist squeezing a Mo Dao Zu Shi reference in here! : )

Aw, man, I feel bad for Gary and Rose. It’s hard to preserve friendships when you wind up in a different school, but this is so much worse. They’re inherently never going to be privy to most of Harry’s life from now on. And what’s Harry supposed to say? Even something as simple as the class names at Hogwarts would give everything away. What Hogwarts really needs is a creative writing class! Then, Harry and Hermione can work together brainstorming a narrative to account for the entire year, that Harry can then tell to Rose and Gary over the summer! (And also Lockhart could have learned to come up with his own plots!)

—doctorlit, advocating for more actual academics at Hogwarts

With Gary and Rose, Harry is really stuck between a rock and a hard place here.

Vernon should be grateful he didn't go flying off into the sky like Marge did in the books! And you know what they say about stopped clocks re Petunia.

I couldn't resist showing the cupboard in action for its intended purpose :P

Regulus has, from my recollections of the 5th book, always been more deep-rooted into the Pureblood nonsense. He was the golden child to Sirius' scapegoat. And he was a Death Eater. He only turned against Voldemort because Voldemort hurt Kreacher. You'll see more of him as the year goes on, though, so maybe reserve your judgement on his coolness for later? ;)

Thanks for reading!

Given that this timeline's wizarding world is a bit more... fundamentalist religious dystopia with regency aesthetics, though, I wouldn't say Petunia is inaccurate with her assessment. In fact, helping Lily go into hiding in the Muggle world is helping Lily counteract the Purebloods' brainwashing of her. So maybe that help goes both ways, really! Sisters helping each other :P

But yes, that reconciliation with Petunia has helped lessen some of the Dursley's bullshit against Harry. There's still some animosity between Harry and Dudley, but at least this time Harry doesn't have to deal with the Dursleys very often, and can get into scrapes with Dudley without being severely punished for it.

Thanks for reading!