Name: razzle_be_dazzled reviewed Reality and the Ideal on Apr 23, 2007 01:28 pm

Yay! They kissed! I loved that chapter. Really great writing!

Name: Vixenize reviewed Reality and the Ideal on Aug 28, 2006 10:24 am

Lol I have the strangest feeling that I have read this storyline before, but not this actual story. The plotline seems very, very familiar. And I don't read manga so that can't be it.

Have you ever heard of The Boy Who Loved Lily by RinoaJ? It's a Lily/James story that has a similar plotline - regular girl defends friend that has upset rich boy, he declares a "prank war" and the whole school is against her... and she ends up falling for him (although she almost fell for his best friend along the way, who already has a gf kind of). Except the author said it was patterned after Meteor Garden, not a manga.

Anyway, on to the actual review ;)

I don't often read AUs because I don't find them completely believable. But you have written this story well and I liked the D/G moments (especially the kiss scene). However, I have a hard time believing that this story is realistic because I simply can't believe an entire group of people could be so mean towards just one person. And I find it appalling that just because one person decides so, the rest of the school (teachers included) are willing to pick on just one person in particular. I know that you're just following HYD and it's not really your plotline but I can't bring myself to completely fall in love with this fic because I'm so infuriated with the way some of the characters are acting (particularly Pansy, sometimes Draco) and I hate how *extreme* their bullying is. I think it's those two characters and their meanness/rudeness that is preventing me from enjoying the story. :X That said, I think you have a talent for writing (I've read your other stories and really liked them) and hope you will continue this story. I look forward to the next update, with hopefully less extreme bullying. :)

Author's Response: Meteor Garden in a Taiwanese version of Hana Yori Dango, which means that the plot and characters are all derived from the Japanese manga. So, I guess you have read this plot before! I had no idea there was another story out there using HYD as a reference point (although I shouldn't be surprised, HYD is incredibly popular). The story is a caricature of the situation, and thus, some of the situations are extreme. However, I think that it's not entirely off the mark, if you examine JKR's world. Look at how everyone treated Harry in OotP, talking about how he was crazy and shouldn't be believed - because Fudge decided that his story about Voldemort coming back couldn't be true, everyone else believed it as well. And in their first year, Draco steals Neville's Remembrall, and he gets hurt trying to get it back. There really is a "pack" mentality, especially in Hogwarts with the House system, and among the different factions in the world itself. So while my story is extreme, I've deluded myself into think that there is *some* basis for it in canon. But, when you're surrounded by a few very powerful people and are afraid of the consequences if you speak out against them, you get mob mentality, and anyone who stands against that is an outsider - and outsiders are relentlessly crushed. Thanks for the review, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the fic!

Name: j_a_n_i_n_e_2 reviewed Reality and the Ideal on Aug 15, 2006 09:18 pm

When's the next chaper?

Name: spider reviewed Reality and the Ideal on Aug 04, 2006 12:06 pm

I really like this story, especially this chapter, but I must admit that I wonder sometimes about how much of this fic is your own brain-child and how much is inspired by other sources. Obviously at the end of this chapter you broke it down a bit and explained, but all the same I hope that you infuse more of your own ideas into the story.

All the same, I really enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next.

Author's Response: That is actually something I worry about a lot. Because I have based the premise and the general direction of the plot on another series, there is a danger that I just end up using those ideae and nothing of my own. However, there are a lot of differences, and the narration, the dialogue and most of the characterization does come from me, and me alone. If you've ever seen HYD, it's fairly apparent that my Draco is characterized rather differently from the series' main character, and while I include the 'major' plot points or events in HYD's plotline, I always try to add my own twist or take on it, in an effort to make it my own, but it is a legitimate concern of mine that perhaps too much is from another source.

Name: saucy reviewed Reality and the Ideal on Aug 02, 2006 11:19 am

Draco is such a petulent child.

Author's Response: a very SPOILED petulant child, indeed.

Name: Shadow Rise reviewed Reality and the Ideal on Aug 01, 2006 08:00 am

That was decidedly *not* the best thing for dearest Ginny to say. Very well written, I absolutely adore! ; ) Hoping for another update soon.

Name: pantalaimon reviewed Reality and the Ideal on Jul 30, 2006 10:23 pm

Best d/g I've ever read (and I read me some d/g fic) you've got the juice, as they say. And the "I'll kill you" bit...while he's *cough* adjusting his robes (mmhmm) very nice.

Author's Response: LOL, I never actually thought of it that way!

Name: laura reviewed Reality and the Ideal on Jul 30, 2006 02:41 pm

wow...I'm speechless...

that was truly amazing. you have to update soon. But I know it will be a while, because "I have no idea when the next update will come" means: "it will be a while before I post the next chapter" HUMPH!

Author's Response: Unfortunately, you're right about the update-thing. But, I literally think about this fic and write bits of it in my head every spare second I have and don't actually start writing until I feel it's perfect in my mind first... I'm really happy you're enjoying it, and I really appreciate your taking the time to comment on it!

Name: Rashonda reviewed Reality and the Ideal on Jul 30, 2006 11:32 am

Hope. How could you say this wasn't an exciting chapter until the very end? You must have no idea how good of a storyteller you are then, because I found myself in a trance-like state reading it.

I really did enjoy the conversation between Hermione/Ginny. I could see from her perspective why she’d view their situation that way, I liked the analogy that she used saying Draco was child that broke their favorite toy and wanted it to be fixed so it could play some more. Those damn Deatheaters are scary, I hope a change will come soon because they are a scary/bullying lot who hide behind a mask, why not show your face? Ashamed, I bet.

Regarding Pansy, I actually felt sorry for her, she may be a horrible trollian wench, but I think with the age of which they live in, it's been put into her head that she MUST marry someone of the same stature like Blaise and Draco and so she's been doing anything neccessary in *her* world to accomplish that, plus she's leads by their own example of destroy and conquer, so now that Ginny has come into play and those two are showing a different side of themselves in regards to her it's thrown Pansy off kilter, so she doesn't know how to react to the new situation. Perhaps in her mind she's gone about it the wrong way this whole time trying to be *like* them that she's lost herself a little along the way. I also find Pansy amusing she reminds me of Amber from the movie Clueless for some reason, she can’t help herself when the opportunity presents itself to say vile things when she comes into contact with the competition.

For some odd reason, I felt that Cho was sizing Ginny up after she'd taken her back into her room. I don't know if you intended for it to come off that way but it did. Cho knows that Blaise is in love with her, she can't be oblivious to the way he fawns over her. But, the comment about her having to meet Ginny because he talks about her so much just made that lightbulb go off for me. She wants Blaise to be happy and move on, but at the same time she doesn't because he may be the only constant thing in her life she can come back to without feeling like a *psuedo-celeb* he'll treat her the same as before. It's a slippery slope she's on though because Blaise may just fall for Ginny, and Cho's subtle manipulations of encouraging him to be friends with her will backfire once he sees that their may be a future with Ginny unlike Cho who's always on the move.

Draco really needs to pull himself to together, his mask of sanity is about to slip. This is probably the first time in his life that he’s been pulled towards a person that utterly despises him and yet still affects his senses in a overwhelming manner. He’s probably never competed against anyone
In his life for the attentions of another whether it be positive or negative, and the lack of interest the person, Ginny being that person now is eating at him. I noticed too when he kissed her the second time around that he said “Just be a good girl and hold still” and not like he said her before when he was healing her “Hold still, stubborn weasel”. I wonder will Ginny notice how he left off the “weasel” this time around. I can understand Ginny being more shook up after the second kiss, because the first one was a fluke/joke but Draco had given thought about the second one, it wasn’t a spur of a moment thing. I had to crack up though when Draco told Ginny if she told anyone about the kiss that he’d kill her, it brought me right back to the HYD after every semi-sweet moment, Doumyouji would threaten to kill Makino if she told anyone what he’d done.

Ooh, another thing what will come of Daniel Jacobs I know Blaise/Draco will kiss and makeup eventually after their quarrel but I’d find it hilarious if they seen Ginny out with him somewhere in Hogsmeade. I’d love to see their reactions to her out with someone else even if it is platonic. That’s it though from me, I’ve rambled on and dissected every little thing about this chapter, LOL. Great job as usual HOPE, I look forward to your next update, the crackhead in me can’t wait until your next fix. :)

Author's Response: Oh my goodness, there is so much here I want to respond to, but I don't even know where to start... I'll probably be babbling about this chapter on my LJ for awhile, there's so much in your review I want to talk about! Re: the Hermione/Ginny coversation. I tend to use Hermione as my "Greek chorus" a bit, the person who is pretty much on the outside and who has no chance of becoming involved on the action (because she's Muggle born). But that doesn't necessarily mean she's always right. Even Ginny is a little sceptical about her thoughts as to what Draco's motivations were. It sounds convincing, but is there more to it? We'll have to see... Because it will come up again (like, 20 chapters down the road, but it will come up again). And what you said about the Death Eaters hiding behind their masks totally freaked me out, because the entire time I was writing the chapter, I had this song called "Covered in Cowardice" by Billy Talent on my playlist, and the lyrics were so perfect that I almost put the chorus as a preface to the chapter, but decided it didn't work with the overall feel of the entire chapter. Re: Pansy. Yep, she's one screwed up little cookie. But you're right, most of it is that she just doesn't know any better, because she's been taught to treat others so terribly. And she certainly doesn't know how to handle competition - at least not from someone like Ginny. Because even before all this happened, she picked on the girl, because there is something about Ginny that intimidates her and she has no idea how to handle that other than to just pick away at her. But to see her attracting such attention from Draco is a real blow to her, because while she's used to other girls throwing herself at Draco, it's the first time she's really seen this kind of response from him, and it's just a huge blow to her ego. Re: Cho. Part of it is sizing Ginny up, but not exactly because of jealousy. She's preparing to take off again on tour and stuff, and she's trying to get a feel for how Ginny feels about him, because she wants to be able to leave without feeling guilty for leaving Blaise all alone. There's a bit more as well, but we'll get to that in the next chapter. Re: Draco. He has no idea how he really feels, because this has never happened to him before. He's irrationally jealous and ANGRY whenver he sees Ginny and Blaise together, and all common sense just flies out the window for him. He can't be rational about Ginny - she's already become his Achilles heel, and they haven't really interacted THAT much yet. But she's fascinating and different and complete unafraid of insulting him. If and when he decides he wants her (which, let's face it, it's a D/G fic, so he ultimately will), he's going to have to fight for her, and work really hard to get her, because there is a LOT of prejudice working against him, and he's never had to work for anything he's ever wanted in his life. Re: the weasel comments. In the last chapter, when he called her a stubborn weasel, he was angry with her for being so stubborn, refusing to give in and getting herself hurt in the process. But I'm glad you mentioned it, because I don't know if you've noticed, but whenever anyone calls her by that name, it's always the Weasel, whereas with Draco, it's weasel. With him, it's not a label that he's applying to her, it's more like an adjective. He doesn't see her as The Weasel, he doesn't label her that way. And ooh, he was not happy when she asked if anyone saw them, and that is why he threatened her. I loved the "I'll kill you" moments in HYD so much, because Domyouji was always trying to mask his mushy soft spot for her with that kind of gruffness, but here, there's a bit more to it. He's DRACO MALFOY, and he just kissed a bloody Weasley in a magic fairy garden because he saw and understood that she was devastated that the romantic ideal she'd had in her mind was completely destroyed by that magic mistletoe, and it was amazing, but as soon as it's over, her first concern is that someone saw them. He took that as an insult, and responded in the only way he knows how - threats. Re: Daniel Jacobs. It took me forever to figure out who you were talking about, lol! He was just a throw-away name, we won't be seeing him again. Oh my goodness, I still have so much more I could say, but *I've* rambled on enough for now. Thanks for the review, I really appreciate your comments, especially because they give me an excuse to respond to some of the aspects of the fic I don't get to talk about all that much!

Name: CaesiiOculi reviewed Reality and the Ideal on Jul 30, 2006 10:52 am

*applause!!!!*
as always, I want more!
I don't care if there are tangents, this is a truly amazing story!

Author's Response: Thank you so much! The tangets can get a little annoying, as I want to get to the exciting parts, but then my brain gets all uppity, insisting on implanting ideas that I can't help but write...

Name: Birdofpray09 reviewed Reality and the Ideal on Jul 30, 2006 09:17 am

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THEY KISSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TWICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehe.

He loves her. Hehehehehe.

I cannot get over the fact that they KISSED! TWICE! AND ONE OF THE TIMES WAS VOLUNTARY!!!!!!!



Author's Response: You are SO the D/G cheerleading section.