Dragons! I really enjoyed the conversation about dragon nomenclature. Liu has a good point, that the west’s entire perception of what “counts” as a dragon is being colored by Newt’s arbitrary labeling, which feels more descriptive than genetic. (And after all, even us Muggles call eastern dragons “dragons,” despite how westernized a lot of media and language has become in the real world!) Embarrassingly, on my first read-through of Goblet of Fire, I didn’t pick up on how awful it was for the dragons to have their eggs taken away for the sake of some stupid sports competition. Yeah, no wonder the dragons are upset, no wonder the movieverse Horntail broke out and chased Harry around the castle! They’re not dumb beasts, they’re parents! Frankly, Charlie should have just told Bagman “no” and made him come up with another idea for the first task.

Also, I like seeing this version of Madame Maxime not being in denial over her heritage, and instead pushing to support other mixed-heritage people!

—doctorlit hopes the move has gone well, and that Lily has settled in with minimal stress!

The best thing about this chapter was getting to see both Black brothers in the Three Broomsticks with Harry and Lily, supporting Harry and contributing to the discussion. Good for Sirius to be out of Azkaban, but even better that this time, he has his brother with him (and even Kreacher, really!). It’s a level of parental figure support that Harry deserves!

Ugh. I know Skeeter’s whole schtick is not adhering properly to facts, but you’d think she could at least spell words correctly. (Insert joke about wizards flubbing spells here.) If Krum has paid attention to U.S. pop culture at all, he may feel mildly insulted by that typo, and it’s going to get even worse in about twenty-one years . . .

“Balrogs have not got wings,” scoffed Harry.
Not yet, Harry, but pretty soon, you’ll be learning about something called a “fanfiction explosion” . . .

—doctorlit performs a weekly Wonky Faint, assuming that’s a euphemism for a taking a nap on cold concrete in between two work shifts

I was getting ready to object that while “someone” could write Harry’s name on parchment to put it in the Goblet, they wouldn’t have access to his blood, which should have disqualified him from the start. But then Hermione pointed out his arm had gotten cut over the summer, and . . . that is an uncomfortably long period of time to hold on to someone else’s blood, but I guess an enchanted cup isn’t going to care if the blood is fresh or not!

(Also:
the Goblet of Fire: is enchanted to pick champions for a TRIwizard tournament
also the Goblet of Fire: Guess it’s a four-sided triangle this year. Okay, whatever!)

Man, you wrote Moody so perfectly during that interrogation scene! I love the entire conversation, how he singles out specific students to needle sometimes, how we swings back and forth between actually asking investigation questions and being an absolute dillweed, and how very little he cares what any of the students think of him for acting like a dillweed! I take it he interviewed Crouch Sr. before Junior pulled the kidnapping? All those interrogation techniques, I don’t think even a powerful wizard like Junior could resist all of that! It’s remarkable Senior didn’t let anything about the original switcheroo slip out! Also, from the twins wanting to speak to an Auror, I’m assuming Bagman pulled the leprechaun gold trick once again?

You taught me some new words!
-tripe: I had heard this used in the context of calling writing garbage, but not checks Wiktionary lichens and stomach linings! Gross, Bertie Bott, your product is bad!
-nightcap: Apparently, it’s not just a hat or a mushroom!
-derring-do: I had heard this auditorily before, but never saw it spelled. I had assumed it was “daring-do” . . .

—DOCTORLIT DID YA PUT YER NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIYAH

It’s nice seeing more gender diversity among both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons than even the books provided, although it almost feels like a step down for Beauxbatons, with the girl students apparently too afraid to offer up their names in front of the boys? Like, as weird as it feels for Fleur to be ostracized while she was the golden student in canon, that at least makes sense with the weird Pureblood culture in this timeline. But the fact that the patriarchy is shutting down all the female students, despite witches having super magic hair, feels a little weird. (Unless all the female students are part Veela?)

I’ve been enjoying this year so much, Crouch Jr.’s presence in the fic completely slipped my mind, but having Crouch Sr. at the feast reminded me, and I had a little panic thinking that Jr. could be Professor Bonnefoy in disguise . . . But by the end of the chapter, I’m quite confident I know where Jr. really is. (Though I’ll admit you briefly had me thinking Jr. was actually Winky, until I saw her perform house-elf magic!)

“The champion for Dumstrang is Viktor Krum!”
Well, it does match the speaker’s name this way, but . . .

—doctorlit is grateful that ace people aren’t affected by Veela enchantment . . . but could their singing break through his hetero-ears?!

Been slammed with chores all week, but I finally had time to read!

I’m so excited to see Jacques on page at last! I love his teaching and debating style, it’s like the perfect mix of providing guidance and letting the students work through things on their own. And it’s great seeing someone with such a playful and relaxed attitude still serving the role of a healthy authority figure! And speaking of authority figures, it’s fun seeing Millicent Bulstrode starting to step into the role of a leadership position among the Slytherins, without being biased towards extreme Slytherin/Pureblood supremacy. Things are looking up at Hogwarts, and I’m sure nothing bad will

Oh, gee. With witches storing magic in their hair, Chizpurfles are a little more threatening of bodily harm than they were in canon, huh? And I definitely remembered that Chizpurfles are canon, and didn’t have to look them up first. >_>

Dennis Creevey’s wide-eyed wonder is hilarious to read! He thinks he’s in some bright, shiny high fantasy setting where the good guys always win in the end, like Narnia. Poor kid!

What does “Yuanyuan” mean? Qiu and Sue seemed bothered when Jacques called Liu that.

—doctorlit, as a zookeeper, endorses Harry’s patient ferret retrieval strategy

Also, just want to say "yay" out loud for the sensible take on civil rights in this. Thank goodness for Ryan, keeping Hermione from going all "white mage savior" on us while also asking the other students to take a serious look at the issue.

~Neshomeh

Oooooooooh. I thought Molly was just wanting Fred and George to find a more “proper” job, but there’s a much more serious baseline to her fear . . . Yikes.

“Hermione’s jaw dropped, and—before anyone could stop her—she pushed Ron into the stream.”
Why would anyone stop her? It was an objectively correct action. (Like seriously Ron, dude, that’s your friend!)

I totally did not remember that Plimpies were a canon animal, so when Luna first mentioned them, I was like, “Oh, she’s talking about her imaginary non-things again.” When Ginny actually managed to catch some, I literally started out of my chair, because I thought something crazy had just happened! But no, they’re just normal fish . . .

Flirting with goblins, eh? I see this version of Jacques hasn’t quite lost his Harkness, either!

Man, I’m a little torn on Ginny at the end there. On the one hand, I understand why she’s feeling hurt about the situation with Rose, but she’s also being very rude about it, sneaking in on Harry while he’s writing, and especially getting weird about the Maiden’s Kiss concept. But Harry’s being a little overly defensive too, and snapping instead of explaining himself . . . hheergrgkk tEeNaGeRs

—doctorlit pushes Ron back into the stream

“They can suck my wand, I’ll do what I like!”

“Blow me,” she taunted, before sending him a very rude hand gesture.

Ah, yes, music to my ears! Well, to my eyes . . . To my mind’s ear. It feels so good hearing all these visitors from other countries dunking on the “modesty rules,” as Moody puts it so vomitoriously. It’s extremely gross that Moody and the other aurors are being used to try to force non-British citizens to conform to these meaningless social practices . . . Cripes, the audacity of telling a stranger how they’re allowed to wear their own hair! And equally audacious is arresting someone for “insubordination and general antisocial behaviour.” Dang people, just criminalize having a personality, why don’t you? I am absolutely livid on Miss Fischer’s behalf. She is absolute peak wholesome valley girl, and I love her. I hope she goes back to the States and beats up some skinheads or something, that should take her mind off the British suck. But yeah, you made Moody gross now, and you also made Amos Diggory gross, and this whole timeline just contains so much gross!

Man, I totally forgot Hermione is uncurling her hair to create her updo . . . I hope she gets to return to her natural hair by adulthood! Either way, rude of those other witches to get all judgmental over it . . . there is far too much hair policing in this chapter!

Okay, wow. Everyone is literally camping in a field together, like, on dirt, natural dirt, public British land that no one owns, but the Pureblood community still thinks they have the right to exclude Muggleborns!?!? Like, “Oh, the dirt our tents are sitting in is so very special and clean, we can’t have the wRoNg KiNd Of FeEt In OuR dIrT.” I can’t stand it, aaaaaargh! Oh, and what a funny coincidence that section of the campground was charmed against both panicked mobs and Fiendfyre, how lucky that the Purebloods have such incredible foresight. :|

Man, I would not have risked bringing any number of peafowl to an outdoor location they weren’t already familiar with. I am 100% certain that every single peafowl in my zoo would get lost and disappear forever in this scenario, down to the last bird, especially with all the human foot traffic. But maybe the Malfoys charmed them not to wander far or something?

Oooooh yeah Lady Crouch is definitely Barty Jr., not much change there! Funny, didn’t the original canon have him hiding under an invisibility cloak or something? Your way is a bit more realistic, and better foreshadowing. Looks like Regulus recognizes Barty Jr.’s speech pattern, but can’t quite place it with the face!

The idea that house-elves see the families they serve as guests is interesting, and goes a long way towards explaining their mindset. Doesn’t justify the situation any further, but it’s honestly the best explanation I’ve heard for the self-imposed servility, and why receiving clothing from the family breaks the relationship the way it does.

Draco’s scowl shone seven times as big within the scope of the Ominoculars.
Oh my, this little mini-Aragog has so very many eyes!

—doctorlit hasn’t thought about hoopoes in years, and thanks you for reminding him they exist! hoo-hoo-hoo

Oh man, you get across so much of the timeline and the emotions of this summer, just through these letters! I especially enjoyed the roller coaster of Harry "discovering" Rose is pretty, and then researching whether it would be safe to even kiss her without inflicting mind control upon them both, to Rose's understandable decision that Harry's just not around enough to be a steady romantic partner. Poor kids! (Also, YES ROSE get that short haircut! Low maintenance is best maintenance!)

I assume, with Rose "hitting her head" being a metaphor for the cursed traps in Godric's Hollow, removing the "rotten beams" is a metaphor for dispelling them? The Hollow must be getting close to a safe/cleared out state then?

Ha ha ha ha, I love your retcon of the "prototype PlayStation" making much better sense, chronologically speaking! I still feel like it's a stretch of character for Petunia and Vernon to accept video games into their home and allow their Duddiekins to be [metaphor for contaminated] by them, but that's on JKR, not you.

—doctorlit maybe had to look up what "pixie cut" meant

But one that you definitely got to work well. A nice introspection on the characters, and you really managed to get me to image what was goign on during the early part of the summer just by having the characters discuss it in letters!

Okay, Lily? This chapter is amazing. You squeezed a whole entire murder mystery into your opening chapter! When Ali first mentioned something was slithering through the garden, my mind immediately went to Nagini. But then, a few lines later, the killed roosters get mentioned, and then I realized: NO. It’s the BIG BOY. The BASILISK. Makes perfect sense; it clearly hasn’t been hanging out in the Chamber, and nothing about this AU would have stopped Salazar from having one. And of course, with Gaunt being a known direct descendant, he would inherit the thing! (Haven’t seen the Fantastic Beasts films, so I can’t really speculate enough on how Nagini’s human life would be different to guess where she’s at now.)

So, Gaunt sends the house-elves out on the regular to cull the roosters, so their crowing can’t kill the basilisk, yeah? And of course, elf apparition is the best, so they can get through any barriers the Muggles put up. And the elves are also watching the garden constantly for intruders, which is why most of the disappearances have been people wandering through town: they tried to stop in the garden to spend the night in a semi-sheltered place, only to be discovered and fed to the basilisk. (Although it seems the basilisk can leave the garden, at least sometimes? Those “poisoned” cattle actually died from its venom, huh?) . . . You just couldn’t help yourself, could you? “Gregson,” and her father’s first initial is “T”? Getting a bit burnt out on the Potterverse, needed to inject a bit of something classy in? : ) And after Dot listened in on the terrace conversations, I love her twist on the Holmes line: “And when the impossible could not be eliminated…”

You built so much suspense in this chapter. I was filled with dread as Dot started planning to enter the garden, knowing the basilisk was in there somewhere . . . and then you pulled the rug out from under me! I was not expecting her to find a dinner party, of all things! I see Draco is getting very close to a point of no return, which is going to make future summer vacations quite awkward . . . I was also a bit tickled at how nonsensical the conversation must have sounded to Dot, but then we made a pretty hard turn back into suspense. I admit I started gaining hope at the end, as they got closer and closer to the gate . . . Foolish of me. I suppose it’s too much to hope for the basilisk to die of sepsis from its musty old bullet wound . . . but I am looking forward to see if Ali is going to set enough dominos in motion to at least get Gaunt in trouble over the Statute of Secrecy? Making enough Muggles disappear to make Muggle law enforcement notice has to have some consequences, even for High Lord Slytherin! (in before, “Fake news! Fake news! There was no disappearances, I never met them before in my life! I like cattle that don’t get envenomated. When you’re in the Wizengamot, roosters let you do it, you can do whatever you want: grab them by the throat.”

—doctorlit is totally going to get around to the Fantastic Beasts films any decade now. Aaaaaaaaaany decaaaaaaaaade . . .

You nailed it square. Siccing a frigging Basilisk over the resident equivalent of Miss Marple after pretending to let her go? Guy needs to die painfully.

After witnessing his manor get leveled by bombs and his precious Basilisk ripped apart by an A-10's gun run, that is, just to drive it home why they are in hiding from Muggles.

Sort.of-related question: how would a Basilisk's stare affect someone who looked at it through a digital device? A camera's lens and reflections were shown to be already enough to damper the lethality into paralizing only ("petrifying"). Snce a camera-and-screen combination would have the footage recorded as raw digital daya, processered by a computer, and then displayed again, I believe it would actually lose all of its power because it's even less of an indirect view - it's more akin of a drawing of a basilisk at that point.

(That is, excluding the sillyness of having electic devices fizzle out when it is convenient. My persona view is that electonic devices relying on electic signals fizzle out in Hogwarts and the like, but basic objects like electrical torches shouldn't really be affected at all)

Seeing Sirious having his name de-facto cleared already feels good. But my favourite line was this:

“Slytherins are fond of… slithering through loopholes,”

Draco, using Slythering cunning for good. There's something about this that I really like - showing that you can be a "true" Slytherin without being a Designated Villain. That's something I always found clashing with one of the ideals of the series - that your choices make what you are, not your origins or anything else - and yet most Slytherins were irremediably bad because Slytherin. That's what I plan to play with myself in future chapters of that reboot origin story of Sergio, Nikki & Co. as well, since it will have an arc set in Hogwarts (gotta fill those years somehow), because I have a character that will be able to appear early that way, and would definitely sorted into Slytherin despite being very definitely good.

You managed to make me feel happy that Slytherin won the House cup this year. Good on you!

Oh my gosh, this is a much nicer wrap-up than we got in canon! Sirius won’t have to hide for as long, and he’s got his brother still alive! Pettigrew is in custody! Draco is friend, and getting closer to openly rebelling against his parents! Voldemort won’t get resurrected . . . because he’s already been alive for the past decade+ . . . okay, maybe that part isn’t an improvement, but uh . . . Anyway, sad to see Lupin still leaving, but I understand his reasoning that a botched/contaminated potion shouldn’t be all it takes to endanger the lives of schoolchildren. At least he, too, can openly interact with Sirius, once the charges get dropped, so that’s a silver lining, too!

Back when I first read the books, I never could have imagined feeling happy at Slytherin winning the house cup for the year, but here I am! I loved seeing Dumbledore reward Draco for his good deed, especially while complimenting him on demonstrating “the very best qualities of Slytherin House.” It felt properly triumphant, like the banner switch at the end of year one, and perhaps it will set a good example for other Slytherin students, that the qualities their house is reinforcing don’t always have to be turned towards ambitious self-gain?

Gaunt: It is through Her work that his crimes have been brought to light . . .
me: No, it was actually through the work of roughly three and a half thirteen-year-olds. Thirteen-year-olds are the ones who brought Peter’s crimes to light, after your Department of Magical Law Enforcement failed to do so for over a decade. So don’t @ me with that “thank Mother Magic” crap!

One question occurred to me while mulling over Prince obliviating Pettigrew: Gaunt sent both Prince and Pettigrew to attack the Potters separately, and you said when Pettigrew returned to Gaunt and took all the credit for the real and apparent deaths, that Gaunt just assumed Pettigrew had gotten overzealous, and didn’t include Prince like he was supposed to. So, does Gaunt think Prince is still on his side? Or did she publicly renounce him at some point between James’s death and “Secret Potion?”

—doctorlit awards 70 points to Winterwood House

All I'll say on the matter of real life is: I wanted to write this for a reason. {= |

Re. Madam Pomfrey: Her character in the books seems to me that she's constantly frustrated by all the ways Hogwarts students find to hurt themselves. She can't control what happens outside the Hospital Wing, and she doesn't try—maybe she did at one point, but kids will be kids no matter what. So, she keeps to her own domain and rules it with an iron fist, exercising control where she can.

Here, in addition to kids being kids, she sees all the consequences of kids being deliberately kept in ignorance and is deliberately prevented from doing anything about it besides damage control. She can't be seen trying to interfere, or even expressing an opinion about it, because saying the wrong thing to the wrong person could cost her her job. Sure, she could make a stand on principle because it's the Right Thing To Do, but then she'd be sacked, and she might be replaced with someone who's actually drunk the Koolaid and would shame the kids on top of everything. How would that help?

Jenni is potentially dangerous to her because she's passionate, and passion at that age doesn't always stop to consider the repercussions of Doing The Right Thing. But Jenni has also managed to become a Prefect despite not having the full approval of her society, and while that's partly thanks to Dumbledore's progressive agenda, it's also thanks to Jenni knowing how to toe the line without quite crossing it. Encouraging her is still risky, but the odds of it paying off are pretty good.

Re. Nilly: I'm rather fond of her myself. {= ) I imagine her as the sort of "downstairs person" who is good enough at her job that she gets away with stepping out of "her place" on occasion. If she can best serve Hogwarts and Dumbledore by bending the rules (e.g., making herself seen to students, speaking her mind now and then), then that's what she'll do, and she won't feel bad about it!

Rather fond of the name Caper, too. Thanks! ^_^

~Neshomeh

Oh my gosh, what a difference one Draco can make! I love the symbolism behind him using a traditionally Pureblood spell to contribute to Pettigrew’s capture, but setting it to a Muggleborn person’s bloodline for increased safety! (And I love that Buckbeak’s predatory instincts played a role as well!) And uh, WE CAUGHT HIM!? THE MAN IS CAPTURE?! I had given up hope, when Pettigrew got away the first time, that he was going to rejoin Gaunt, like in canon. But we have had a very productive time travel sequence, haven’t we? Buckbeak and presumably Sirius rescued, Pettigrew captured, Draco redeemed to his friends . . . Good stuff! THE RAT IS CAPCHORE!

I definitely recognized the Back to the Future reference the second I read it! (It helps that I just watched that trilogy for the first time about two months ago . . .)

—doctorlit would like to reiterate that THE MAN IS CAPUUTER

17
Noooooooooo. No. We were so close, we were doing so well. Sugar, man? Frigging sugar? I don’t like this Pettigrew, he is too smart. My only consolation is that Gaunt is already alive, so Pettigrew can’t do anything as drastic as resurrecting Voldemort. Dirty little . . . rat.

18
Sev modified Pettigrew’s memories . . . meaning to convince him that Lily and Harry were really dead, I imagine? It’s almost nice to know Pettigrew was targeting her for specific revenge, and not just carrying on his schoolyard bullying as an adult . . .

Okay, Madam Pomfrey keeping absolute concrete slabs of chocolate in the Hospital Wing, and having to hardcore chisel edible pieces out of it to use as medicine, is the most amazing mental image. It makes sense Hogwarts would have loaded up on chocolate this year because of the Dementors, but wow. Good thing Scotland has a fairly cool climate!

19
(I think maybe you meant bl10 on this chapter’s warning?)

Heh. I love the scene in the common room, purely because it displays the disconnect between the experiences of the main characters and everybody else’s. This night, the golden trio experienced a bitten hand, a broken leg, numerous wooden fisticuffs, a showdown with a dark wizard, and a very unusual way of losing a pet. The other Gryffindor students? Partying. Partying in the dorm room. Life goes on, even when the protagonists are facing life and death situations!

Wow, so Draco really was there to help. Sounds like he convinced Lucius to get the Wizengamot to commute Buckbeak’s sentence, to release? Nice! And now he’s gotten wrapped up with the time travelers. That explains why he was still outside when Pettigrew escaped! I’m curious to see how this plays out now . . .

—doctorlit, transforming under the light of a full bookshelf

I'm really, really interested on how this plays out.

Did Draco actually try to stop the execution?

You'll see in chapter 19!

And I love seeing Harry run to hug Sirius at first sight. Sirius deserved a hug!

Someone on AO3 said this was Sirius' first hug in 13 years and oooooof.

Remus not getting fully mooned this time

Are you so sure about that /gestures to chapter 17

So, Greyback has his own designated colony in this timeline?

Yeah, it's based off of how the Pureblood Culture fics sometimes have the werewolves have separate clans from the mages. There's... an inverse hierarchy in Pureblood Culture fics where magical creatures are more powerful and snobby about lowly humans, so some of the separation from mages thing was imposed by them. Clan Greyback is in Shetland and they sorta run a protection racket against the locals, extorting fish in return for not getting bitten :P There's a bit of a crime syndicate vibe with Clan Greyback because of the current Alpha, but historically it's not always been like that.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it!