uthamm posted a comment on Monday 30th June 2008 2:34am

Sweet! I like the backstory on Aberforth and the tension between him and Albus. Very interesting.

The minor demon thing for the dementors is quite unique - many possiblilites there.

I also like the foreshadowing of the Journal message and the conversations with Luna and the embassy - growing up means taking responsibility for your problems and I appreciate the way that you show this is not all a walk in the park. Clarity moment with Harry and Hermione and the 'people are counting on you' statement.

Looking forward to more!

JBern replied:

Glad you liked the chapter.   Thanks for the compliments.   Hope my works continue to impress you.~Jim

Crys posted a comment on Monday 30th June 2008 1:41am

> "Hack is Harry's assistant, like greatest troll who ever lived
— Igor. Destroyed foolish wizard’s monster, killed foolish
wizard, and fathered fifty-seven children by fifteen different
trolls."
*laugh* I rather like that version :)

> I almost named him Albus Severus Potter, but that just seemed
cruel.
Snerk. That wasn't even subtle, Jim

Aberforth taking over the "snarky, foul-mouthed advisor" post in this fic?

> You have no interest in being a dog. Cats are far cooler and very territorial.
*laugh* So he's going for the title of "alpha pussy"?

> Karina is getting married next month."
Nice to give a little update from a past part of the story

Oh, hell. Damnit, Luna, he doesn't have the patience or the upbringing to deal with an overly emotional girlfriend. AND YOU KNOW THIS. Why the hell are you tearing him apart over this?

> The problem is you know that’s not entirely true.
Not entirely, but as I said, you're underequipped to deal with the petty, teen-angst, "does he really like me?" BS. And she knows it.

Well, this is a mostly action-based story, so sending him off to the Ural Mountains to retrieve . . .

Oh, evil thought. Send AD after her. "Hey, you wanted the Horcruxes tracked down. I'm giving you the location of one. You offered to help, I'm just accepting the offer."

JBern replied:

I tear because I care.   The action is going to pick up soon.   Thanks as always.~Jim

vandallas posted a comment on Sunday 29th June 2008 3:29pm

Excellent job Jbern, you are as usual my hero. Getting Bushy Haired Bitch to babysit the abomination was Brilliant.

I'm having fantasies of Indiana!Harry highjacking the chickenhut and making a getaway with the Indy theme song blaring in the back ground...

Dadadadaaaa dadadadaaa, dadadadaaa! dada DA DA! DA!!

but seriously, i know its a Harry/Luna fic but i miss the cavalier, all balls and bayonets Harry. The Harry who is getting himself into baby-momma-dramma, nailing his mentor's daughter and then running off into a mayan tomb to do battle with angry bloodvine serpents.

The reason you are my favourite fanfic author is because your stories are unadulturated adventure you know? Harry is always moving forward, onto the next mystery. Not second guessing himself about a mid-pubecent schoolgirl.

The story so far is very good, but in my honest opinion Luna is beginning (cough) to feel like a third nipple on your chest; while intruiging and amusing to contemplate in your youth (bungle) as you get older it only holds back your sexlife. (i love how this all ties in).

Indiana!Harry FTW

JBern replied:

That's a good image.   I'll do my best to get this story up to speed in the coming chapters.~Jim

vandallas posted a comment on Sunday 29th June 2008 3:03pm

heh, mouthful

JBern replied:

It was a mouthful.~Jim

noylj posted a comment on Sunday 29th June 2008 2:50pm

I trust the Dumbles gets a real mouthful. As old as he is, he should know about making an ally into an enemy.

JBern replied:

Thanks.   Glad I can really make you irked at the old coot.~Jim

in-fanficauthors posted a comment on Sunday 29th June 2008 2:16pm

Very nice as always, though I am glad to see a fieldtrip in the works. The close confines of hoggy ol' Jollywarts is a bit limiting to our loosened hero.

It is sad, though, that Luna is having difficulty with Harry. Predictable and understandable, but still sad. I guess flirting by book is out.

Please continue.

JBern replied:

Yeah, the school was "confining."     Hopefully, it will be picking up.~Jim

Alex Mcpherson posted a comment on Sunday 29th June 2008 12:15pm

On Schedule yay!

And another excellent TML chappie.

Looking forward to reading TLIL in 24 hours or so. ;)

JBern replied:

Thanks.~Jim

joeBob posted a comment on Sunday 29th June 2008 8:47am

"Reality Bites" was good but not as outstanding as some of your other work. The twist was not surprising to any longtime consumer of fiction. The piece reminded me of an "Outer Limits" episode (not in a bad way).

Also, Cheryl was WAY too polite and helpful to be an insurance company's lawyer! Completely unbelievable! ;-)


Did you help with the "Vampire Catfish"? That was a great bit, spectacularly enhanced by the screams in the background.

JBern replied:

Thanks for the review of my original piece.   Cheryl was actually a nod to Lady Alchmyia.

wavelink99 posted a comment on Sunday 29th June 2008 8:13am

Hey Jim great chapter. I checked out your vampire story and thought it good. My only complaint was that I figured out the ending a little early on in the story. Otherwise it was a very good story.

Actually, I found the part about the Vampire Catfish from the drabblecast website to be a great lead into the story. Do those vampire catfish really exist? If so I'm staying the hell outa South America.

The title of the next chapter is certainly interesting. You're not going to have Harry and Baba Yaga hook up are you? That would be...disturbing. Yes, very very disturbing.

JBern replied:

I believe that they exists.   Norm does a fantastic job with his audiocasts.

Harry and BY?   That would be disturbing.   I'll keep it in mind.~Jim  

The Crow posted a comment on Sunday 29th June 2008 12:58am

Ah bugger the scripted windows - the bolded part should be in the sentence...

JBern replied:

No worries.

The Crow posted a comment on Sunday 29th June 2008 12:56am

at least the one that manages to open "I suppose this is the part where I say congratulations. It has your eyes, sort of — . Do you feel any different?"
I think this can be argued any way, and it's probably just me but sometimes conversation feels slightly off and the bolded part seems like something you may narrate in an offhand way not exactly in a sentence.

Ah well, you have Dead Eye on the way so I'll shut up. Congrats again if I haven't mentioned it.

"I almost named him Albus Severus Potter."
Nice little jibe, thought you may have been trying to slot that one in.

I enjoyed it. Ralph sounds like some mutilated foetus by the sounds of things.
I'll bet him and Hermione will be inseperable by the end of all this.
I lol'd at the hideous abomination bit.

All isn't happy in Luna land. Hah! had an idea, maybe Harry may have to coax her out into the open eventually.
He blew it, he knows it. She was stubborn and overly jealous but it looks like Harry had better buy her a lot of chocolate frogs or something.
At least when it's over he may enjoy the cooling off Bill mentioned.

The Dementors, evil Yagga Bagga or whatever...
Sounds like more hardcore nasty sh*t is about to unfold for Harry.

Most of it was neccesary build-up but a fun read.

Yet to podcast Reality Bites - after replacing my old iPod mini lately with a classic have been really trying it all out. Podcasting has been great.
Yet to listen to the podcast myself, does it contain other stuff in there too? Other stories/poems etc and such?
Can I strip it to the Jim stuff?

Ah well, congrats for now. Can't wait to hear from you again in the way of a new chap.

Cheers.

JBern replied:

There's about 5 minutes of other stuff in front of Reality Bites.    Drabblecast is  a good site with stories under 2000 words performed by the versatile Norm Sherman.

Hope you continue to enjoy my works both ff and original.~Jim

warpwizard posted a comment on Saturday 28th June 2008 3:46pm

You realize you've got terrible luck with relationships. Good chapter. :)

JBern replied:

So very true.~Jim

rune1806 posted a comment on Saturday 28th June 2008 2:08pm

I do not know why you are keeping Luna in the story as she is not mature enough for Harry. Hermione is getting more interesting as she loses more of her naivete maybe she will become worth something. Hack is the best and the other Dumbles is a very good twist. Baba Yaba I will have to look up.

JBern replied:

Harry isn't sure why he is either.   We'll just have to see how this plays out.~Jim

Patches posted a comment on Saturday 28th June 2008 1:34pm

Oh dear. Harry is getting involved in things that are not necessarily good but I understand his reason. It is too bad that politics is such a sticky business. It brings out things that are tough to deal with. Miss Lopez is not helping Harry with his personal life but we have to remember Luna is younger and doesn't have a lot of experience dealing with people in the "real" world. I can understand why she feels threatened by Harry's experience but it did happen when they were not involved. I look forward to more of this story. I want to see how Hermione deals with "Ralph" and the elves. Thanks for writing. pms

JBern replied:

All excellent points.   I hope you continue to enjoy my writings.  

Regards,

Jim

vertru posted a comment on Saturday 28th June 2008 12:32pm

Another quality chapter as the plot thickens in your well thought out tale. A goodly number of chuckles and guffaws mixed in with the drama really spices things up. I can only imagine how hard it is to write in the second person like you are and keeping the tenses straight, so I feel you are still doing an excellent job with this.

One of the most enjoyable parts of this story is how you have built on what Harry and the others learned in the jungle in helping to deal with what they are running into now. Despite that we know you are writing this based on that, it does not feel contrived at all. In other words the story flows extremely well and moves along nicely. I look forward to the old hag with the chicken legged house. Should be fun.

Poetic justice is well served with Hermione being "tasked" with helping care for the hormunculus, and with the various reactions to it. Dumbledore getting so much shoved in his face truly helps the story come to life in this chapter. Forcing him to accept Harry's independence with the hormunculus was rather brilliant.

Great job with this all the way around. As always I look forward to more of all your stories.

vern

JBern replied:

Thanks for the review.   Next chapter of this one in 2 weeks.

Regards,

Jim

Ben10 posted a comment on Saturday 28th June 2008 12:17pm

Score! I don't know how you manage to continue writing such solid material . . . I'm jealous.

JBern replied:

Thanks.   Keep working at your own writing.   That's the only way to get better.~Jim

romero posted a comment on Saturday 28th June 2008 11:22am

Thanks for the update. I enjoyed the way Dumbledore was out maneuvered by Harry. Hermione having to take care of "Ralph" and direct Dobby and Winky was great. Luna really isn't ready for a relationship and I'm glad that Harry has agreed to cutting loose. Aberforth was a added character who was creepy and made you think how it must have been being a brother to "for the greater good" Albus.

JBern replied:

I had fun writing Aberforth.   He should be decidedly creepy.~Jim

smog2187 posted a comment on Saturday 28th June 2008 7:21am

Great chapter as usual. Your take on troll culture is hysterical, particularly with the killing of doddering old men and nodding respectfully at the producers of foul smells.

I take it you didn't like the epilogue of DH? I rather liked the named Albus Severus but to each his own.

So how long til Harry gets some tail?

JBern replied:

There wasn't much I liked about book 7 in general.   I still haven't read the entire thing.

Troll culture is a nifty thing!

Since the title of the next chapter is what it is, I wouldn't expect it to be too long.~Jim

Illusia posted a comment on Saturday 28th June 2008 6:15am

Couldn't get drabblecast to work. Hmm, maybe tomorrow the site will work.
I'm not sure I like Luna anymore. Not that I'd like Harry to pick someone easy but that girl has so much baggage that she's getting unattractive.

JBern replied:

On the front page there's a spot where you can download the files as a mp3 file.   Try that if you haven't gotten it to work by now.

Luna is damaged goods.   So is Harry for that matter.

Miles Hance posted a comment on Saturday 28th June 2008 5:45am

What can be said? Stellar work, as always.

Trouble in Harry/Luna land indeed. I have to agree with what has been said. Luna needs to make up her mind about what she wants out of life and from Harry. Acting half-assed about things helps no one.

Moving on, Albus shows once again why he's a scheming bastard. And hermione needs to wake up and smell the bullshit. It's kind of a HP fanfic cliche that Dumbledore expected Harry to die facing Voldemort, but in a certain context, it makes sense.

Even in canon, Harry had to die by Voldemort's hand. Luckily, he had the Deathly Hallows, so his death wasn't permanent. But taht line of thinking makes sense and it insidious enough to be up Dumbledore's alley.

JBern replied:

Thanks for the review.   Glad you enjoyed the chapter.   In a sense this is cliche, but I am trying to raise the bar by which other manipulative Dumbledores shall be judged.   Instead of the man who cared to much, Dumbledore is a cold hearted bastard who wants to win at any cost.