Mark Blaine posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 1:54pm for An Overdue Reunion

. . .and kill Molly instead. I won't even touch the whole she kills Bellatrix thing in book seven. It's just so wrong on so many levels.

I'm not sure. You can argue with how it was handled, surely, but Mother defeats Kali is rather an archetype.

That aside, you're keeping up the bloodshed quotient rather well. And, go Susan.

JBern replied:

An archetype that has transcended into a cliche, I would argue.

Anyway, thanks for the review.   Sorry for the long delay in my reply.   Chapter 39 will be up in a few days and we're only a couple of weeks from the conclusion.~Jim

rune1806 posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 1:38pm for An Overdue Reunion

polyjuiceed albus well done never seen that one, sunan offing an on fire lily genius! love darius killing molly, it will be fun to see how you kill melissa and her boy toy!!!

JBern replied:

I'm glad I can give you something you haven't seen before.   Sorry for the tardy reply, it's been rather busy here.   Chapter 39 is at final beta and should be up soon.~Jim

Fishburne posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 12:34pm for An Overdue Reunion

and having read it again, I have to say BOOYA!

I am really happy with how you have constructed this story. Darius is a mofo of the first order, Voldie is a believable Evil SOB, and heck, even Harry is likeable - definitely not a DH Harry, and for that I raise a glass of Port for you.

Of course, with the re-read, I also read the reviews and have to agree with Loggingin - the series is brilliant, and like port, and acquired taste all its own.

Fish

JBern replied:

A Fish doubleheader.   Thanks for the second review.~Jim

Teaos posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 12:25pm for An Overdue Reunion

Finally someone killed Molly. She is by far my most hated character. Suitably gorry even if we didnt get it from her POV.

Nice to see Susan finally put some of her training to use. Is her foot all better now?

I'm looking foward to Hermione dieing next chapter. I hope it is suitably painful. Maybe being beaten to death with Hogwarts a history.

JBern replied:

Well I hope the fact that she was eaten alive by zombies made up for not doing it from her POV.   Susan's foot is good enough.   I'll see what I can do about Hermione, but there's an awful lot of people left to kill.   Some might manage to get away...~Jim

dwilken posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 9:57am for An Overdue Reunion

Wow. You're actually winding things up. Even though I feel kinda dirty after each chapter, I'm glad you're finishing it instead of leaving the story hanging. That's very courteous of you.

Considering I'm wrong most of the time, I don't know why I keep trying to guess where your devious beady little mind is taking you but I can't resist - the deranged bait is too damned enticing. So. Are you saving Remus and Tonks for an even more horrible end? You couldn't just let them effing die and be done with it, could you?

And Harry is going to get Susan killed if he keeps acting like a solo act. I can see that coming too. Is your Harry going to completely lose it at that point and become "Dark Lord Potter"

Let's see. Arthur Weasley will snap and go on a vicious and destructive rampage in the next or last chapter. Well, he'll try to anyway, and I suppose he'll die horribly at the hands of Darius Longbottom, just to complete a horrible sense of symmetry in who killed who.

Will Bill Weasley survive or not? Have no idea where you're heading with him. Narcissa will make it. She may be an amoral conniving wench, but she's the consummate survivor. Still sexy, too. She'll drag Charlie with her.

Please off the little Ferret. ASAP. A very annoying literary construction he is.

Ron and Hermione. Kind of like they're existing only as "canon" fodder (sorry couldn't resist) waiting in the wings for your 'dead list'. But I like Hermione. Maybe she can wind up with Bill and help repopulate the British wizarding world.

Re Molly, I can see you find her canon character lacking, but I thought all along that this character of JKR's had once been a feisty young woman, nasty with a wand, who'd lost a lot of family members in horrible fashion to the wars. Something had finally 'snapped' in her when her brothers were killed, and she quit. Even Bill's werewolf injuries didn't bring her out of it. But when she lost Fred in DH and almost lost Ginny she "unsnapped", if you will. Oddly enough, I was expecting something like the killing Bellatrix scene.

On the other hand, your 'fanon' Molly was quite irritating and good riddance.

Your snippets of Rita are excellent, BTW. Again, kudos on your version of Voldemort.

Do keep writing. :)

JBern replied:

I can't stand an abandoned story.   It's something I never want to do.   I'm glad you feel dirty after each chapter.   Maybe they'll survive, maybe they won't.   Request for the Ferret to be put down is under consideration.   It's with the requets to kill off pretty much everyone else.

Thanks for the massive review.   It means alot for you folks to make the effort to leave both praise and criticism for my keystrokes.~Jim

LoggingInSucksAss posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 8:31am for An Overdue Reunion

I think I said it a few chapters ago, but I really (still) am glad this story is ending. A part of me feels like it's gone on a not insignificant number of chapters too long.

I can't fault the writing, the characterization, even the plot - all are excellent, and I even have to congratulate you for taking the extreme to the, err, extreme.

The "kill everyone" plot bunny was first introduced to me several years ago in a now-unfinished fic called "24 Hours to Live" by the author of HP & the Professor's Perils (Heather Sinclare?). I like the idea; it's interesting, it's visceral and it's damn bloody and fun in same shallow sense of slowing down to see the car wreck. Schadenfreude, I think it's called.

The reality of it, though, written with someone of your particular talents, is a far cry from that sense of "fun" I long ago imagined. In a backhanded way that's a compliment to how completely well you've pulled it off.

When I first started reading this story on FFN (was FFA even around then?), I couldn't wait for you to finish this fic - I wanted to read it in one fell swoop, soak up the carnage. :)

Perhaps the long periods of time between chapters is also why I can't still wait for this story to end, only now I want to be able to move on and read something else. The time between chapters makes it difficult to inure myself against the depths of seemingly endless, meaningless violence and darkness and loss that seeps into every aspect of this story.

I don't think Bungle is any less emotive, and in many ways it's not even any less dark or violent, but there's a hope there, however faint or fleeting that this story lacks. I don't know if that's intentional or even what my basis for that feeling is - the POV, characters or something else. I still feel that urge to read the next chapter of the Bungle sequel, even if it's not out yet, to see what happens next, whereas with this story I feel like I'm only still reading because after reading this far I'd damn well better fight on to the end.

For better or worse, I do not think that anyone who reads this story in a single sitting will get anywhere near the depth of dark feeling out of it as someone forced to sit and ponder the dark possibilities between chapters.

There is a congratulatory motive somewhere in this review. It's hiding, but the simple fact is that this is a masterpiece of writing, fanfic or otherwise. Few stories published in print or on the web have evoked this kind of response from me.

I can say for certain that I wouldn't pay for this particular kind of evocation, but that this is a superior piece of writing cannot be denied.

JBern replied:

Wow.   Thanks for the massive review.   Though, I"m not setting out to kill everyone, at least a few survive to the epilogue!   Part of the problem is balancing 3 stories at on time.   I'm going to do my best to prevent that from hapning again.

I appreciate the compliment buried in there.   I wanted to write a darkly compelling story and I think it's succeeded.     Bungle has a positive uptick that this one just can't match.~Jim

Fishburne posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 8:27am for An Overdue Reunion

HOLY CARP!

Molly is no more. Sad, truly. NOT!

You rock, and Darius is still a mean mofo.

Loved him schooling Davies, and such expression over a simple bowl of vanilla ice cream.

Oh yeah, whats with the idea of Dumbles channeling Harry if he is polyjuiced? interesting, but I doubt fate would allow it.

Glad to see Lily-Rev get hers/its.

Awesome chapter as always!

Fish

JBern replied:

I thought you'd like the ice cream scene.   Dumbles could hope couldn't he!   Glad you enjoyed it.~Jim

skulLXeon posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 8:15am for An Overdue Reunion

wow... and it gets even darker, doesn't it, Jim? at this point, i'm wondering how the hell Harry is planning or rather how much of a chance he has at beating Voldemort.....
but... the Veela joined him? are they using that one drug? or was it voluntary?
other than that... good job as usuall...
i'll enjoying watching how this plays out...
Adios for now...
and see you when you update...

JBern replied:

The Veela are only a few in number.   More on that next chapter.~Jim

Erik Wiggins posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 7:19am for An Overdue Reunion

Jim, this had me thoroughly captivated. I can't wait for you to finish this story. It is awesome! How fascinating, Dumbledore taking PolyJuice potion and turning into Harry to fight Voldemort. Man this is sweet, as soon as you are done with the last chapter, I am going to read the whole thing over again so I can savor every minute! -Erik

JBern replied:

Thanks for the compliments.   The whole story will hopefully make a good reread.   I set out to make a darkly compelling story. I have the epilogue done and you'll find it much more interesting than a certain 19yrs later.~Jim

Ken Warner posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 6:32am for An Overdue Reunion

great chapter - loved the way Susan saved harry's tush.

Can't say that I will miss Molly greatly, between the love potion dispensing in canon and fanfics like Sunset over Britain and The Circle closes by Mad scientist she is not my favorite character.

This a great story, and i am looking forward to reading it all together when you finish it.

thanks for doing that - there are SO many excellent, but 1/2 or 3/4 done fics out there, not updated in months or years.

warm regards

JBern replied:

I've never been Molly's biggest fan.   Canon Molly irks me and fanon Molly really irks me.   Thanks for the compliments.   I catch a lot of flack for not leaving this story and concentrating on TML or TLIL, but I abhor when authors abandon fics.   Next chapter in 1 weeks.~Jim

slickrcbd posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 5:32am for An Overdue Reunion

Wow, this is definetly a gripping tale. With the direction the Ministry is going, I wouldn't be surprised if Harry winds up having to fight Scrimgeour after Voldemort falls. I can't see him recinding his dictatorship and restoring democracy once the big bad Dark Lord is dead. He'll say they need to round up all the Death Eaters, and then there will be another threat on the horizen. Probably in the form of the Dark Lord Harry Potter.

Still, it's a well written and gripping tale, with grim reality of the hell that war is.

JBern replied:

You make some very fine points about which way things might go.   Stick around and see where they do go.   I hope you will find the remaining chapters equally as compelling.~Jim

Jamey posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 4:43am for An Overdue Reunion

The problem I have with these kinds of stories is that - in the end - there's nothing left but the American wizards looking out over the ashes saying something to the effect of "And now the future moves on, unencumbered by the past."

Damn powerful story - I find myself unable to *not* read it. I just keep wishing for some happiness in the end. And I don't see it coming.

JBern replied:

I wanted to write a darly compelling story and in your case, it seems I have succeeded.   Thanks for the compliment and you have my reassurance that it's almost over.~Jim

Aaran St Vines posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 4:34am for An Overdue Reunion

You are writing the most heartbreaking, depressing, demoralizing, grizzly Harry Potter story I've read.

It is very well written and extremely clever, but gutwrenching.

Well done!

(I now go look for a Pepper-Up potion and hope it works like an anti-depressant.)

JBern replied:

That's why I generally try and release on Fridays.   It may be gutwrenching, but it's still heading into the weekend in real life, so no worries mon!~Jim

Fenris Ulf posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 4:03am for An Overdue Reunion

Poor Molly she was always so delightfully overbearing. Did the weasleys do something bad to you in a past life? I think that family has been put through the wringer in this story.
I do love the blood shed in this story. The minister of magic seems to be taking things to far. When harry kills voldemort it seems like he's going to have other problems to deal with like a dictator for MoM... should say If harry kills voldemort you seem to like killing people :) Maybe Harry will die.
Can't wait for the next chapter

JBern replied:

Next chapter in 1 week.   I'm laying it out this afternoon and it is #1 on my priority list to get this story completed.   The Weasley's didn't do anything bad to me per se, it's just that in an effort to give you a believable wizarding war, you have to crack a few eggs to make that omlette.   Most of the ones I've grabbed so far are red, but you will notice that of the DOM six, only Harry, Hermione and Ron are left.   Yes, Rufus does seem to be taking things a bit far, or is it only just the beginning...?

Thanks for the review.~Jim

Crys posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 3:58am for An Overdue Reunion

Okay, Darius is psychotic and/or insane.

Hmm. Albus polyjuices into Harry. Tom seems to think that was some kind of preview of a trick. *frown* Don't see where that is going, but then you're the author.

Interesting fight scene. Don't quite get the fight outside, though. No matter.

> Perhaps father would let her keep him
*laugh* Hey, everyone needs a pet ferret, right? Nice to see such a thought directed towards Draco instead of by him.

I spotted that little issue, too (Susan seeing Lily). Nice to see Albus's mind isn't turning to mush.

Rita is still writing, unhappy as she is. Fine, but not sure why you added it. Unless it was mostly to indicate 4 weeks.

Narcissa, if you pulled him out against his will, he'd never forgive you.

Yes, Darius is psychotic . . . My, that would be poetic justice if Darius were killed by a vampire, wouldn't it?

Enthralling story, dark as it is.

JBern replied:

Thanks.   The PJ thing is basically a trick to Tom who sees it as Dumbledore trying to level the playing field so he can still compete against the likes of him.   My version of LV is a much more believable villain, but he still has his moments of megalomania!

I thought it would be funny having a pureblood slytherin witch toying with Draco.

The Rita scene was the best way I could find to pass a few weeks and give the reader a sense of what is happening in the Wizarding world.

Hmmm, interesting idea for Darius...

Thanks as always for the comments.~Jim

Yonexcannon posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 3:40am for An Overdue Reunion

I can't shake the feeling that Albus is setting Voldemort up by assuming Harry's form, and I am sure that the change in dueling style, somehow plays into it.

Hmmmm...

JBern replied:

It's a possibility, but it also might be true that Albus is really trying to kill Tom for the first time.   You'll see more next week in chapter 39... Thanks for the review.~Jim

Wonderbee31 posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 3:39am for An Overdue Reunion

Yeah, I can see what you mean about Molly and Bellatrix in canon, as I was like..."What was that?" and then JKR decides to kill off the last of Harry's old family. Darius, I can't wait to see him get his, and he might be wishing that he'd stayed a vampire before it's all said and done. Intense chapter here, and Susan does kick butt, which was great, and also looking forward to Tom's final push, along with Harry's strike, and the outcome of it all.

JBern replied:

Most of us are still scratching our heads over that one.   Thanks for the compliments on the intensity, hopefully next chapter it will continue to build and chapter 40 will be a gigantic rush.~Jim

uthamm posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 3:26am for An Overdue Reunion

HOLY SWEET HUFFELPUFF AVATAR OF JUSTICE! Nice. VERY nice. I love the image of the woman who loves Harry destroying the woman who should have loved him (do I detect a bit of a common thread between bungle and this story? I got the same feeling with the Daemon battle as when Susan came down the stairs - you rely on yourself and make your own luck). Sorry about the Weasleys, but I agree. Molly has not been shown to do much in the way of kicking ass, so it was a huge leap of imagination to visualize her killing Bella. I mean seriously, JKR even avoided the Snape/Harry battle with the VM killing cop out.
Again, you have entertained and impressed me. Will we get to see Harry kill Darius? Perhaps Darius owes him some magical life debt for not killing him originally?

JBern replied:

Glad you liked the image of Susan in this chapter, though I think it falls short of the Daemon battle.   Save your comparisson for the utter smack down I have in store for the final battle in chapter 40.   Thanks for the reveiw.~Jim

Gullwhacker2 posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 3:20am for An Overdue Reunion

Oddly enough I didn't mind that end for Bellatrix - an enraged 'momma bear' is something to avoid at all costs. Still, I can see why you did that switch. (And thanks for sparing those two, even if it's only momentary - my personal annoyance with DH was that we didn't even see their deaths. No closure at all.

So. The second revenant has been destroyed. Endgame time, I suppose?

JBern replied:

The momma bear thing is so overdone.   I promise if I do off Remus and Tonks in the next two chapters it will be on screen and screaming.   Thanks for the review.   Chapter 39 in 1 week.   Yup, I'm jumping right into chapter 39.   I want to end this story before September is over.~Jim

DrT posted a comment on Friday 7th September 2007 3:14am for An Overdue Reunion

"he marveled at the savage Hufflepuff fury"

Despite how far Susan has come in this fic, it's still a strange sentence to read!

I also really disliked Molly throughout DH (I didn't like a whole of that book, in fact), but eaten alive? shudder

And Darius is going to long for the punishment Harry first handed out to him shold Harry catch up to him again.

"T"

JBern replied:

Actually, Kokopelli threw that line about Hufflepuff fury.   Credit goes to him, but I liked the line.

Yeah, zombie chow is kind of a bad way to go, but it sure ups Darius' evil henchman quotient doesn't it?

Jim