Another great chapter! It makes a lot of sense that Draco would be haunted by his past. He's never been able to really process it, to get through it, and it doesn't seem in this narrative that others have been very willing to let him forget it either. So it's a realistic issue that won't disappear on its own. On to the next chapter!

Author's Response: Thank you! I do think there would be little time for him to process and put it behind him so I'm glad we agree! I hope you will keep enjoying :)

I don't know if this is the most coherent review I've ever left, but I'm a little frazzled from trying to put together a NaNo event right now... :P Anyway. Thanks so much for your kind words in your response to my last review! :)

Wonderful dinner scene. That’s one of the best “Draco explains his younger self” scenes ever. There are so many ways to handle that situation, and I think you do it very well. It’s clearly a sign that he’s opening up to Ginny, but he’s also really explaining who and what he was, and it makes sense.

I love this!

She was one of the few people in Gryffindor who actually knew first-hand how persuasive the Dark side could be. She’d been in the Dark Lord’s head as much as he had been in hers in her first year. It had made her realize there was temptation in it, something Harry had never been bothered by.

See, this is such a major point, and it’s NEVER dealt with in canon. It’s such a jarring difference between Ginny and Harry, and it’s something that she *does* share with Draco—this knowledge of how seductive the other side could really be.

It definitely makes more sense that Draco would have married Daphne—we literally never heard of Astoria until the Epilogue of
Doom. :P

Great explanation from Ginny for why she left Harry. They didn't hate each other; she did love him when she married him, but he was never really there for her.

Love the friendship between Blaise and Draco.

Interesting to get Scorp’s POV at the end…

The only thing I still wonder about is the question of what happened to Lucius and Narcissa. Are they still around? Are they dead? Is Draco estranged from them? Does he only see them rarely? What?

Looking forward to more!

Author's Response: You have my full sympathy about the NaNo thing - I'm trying it out for the first time and it's a lot of work! I agree we see very little about how Ginny's first year (which had to have been a pretty traumatic experience) affected her in the long term, as I believe it must have. And Tom Riddle was a handsome, charismatic older boy - there had to have been moments when she wondered! Daphne did make more sense to me, and there were just a lot of constellations going around in this family already... I do find stories where Harry is really out of character purely for the sake of D & G getting each other a bit far fetched so I'm glad you like my reasoning on why they didn't stay together. More Blaise, and more Score are both in the works :D And I'm going to have to find a way to explain about the Malfoy seniors as well... Thank you so much for your support and kind words, it means a lot! S.

A quick note-- I WILL review this fic soon! But I realized that it's on its tenth day and will be off the recently updated list tomorrow, so I wanted you to see that there IS going to be a review. :)

Author's Response: :D:D:D

I was reading this fic on my phone, and I'd turned my desktop off and I was ABSOLUTELY DETERMINED to not turn it on again tonight, because I was so totally DISGUSTED by Wordpress right now and I didn't even want to LOOK at that page anymore...

And then I read this fic. And had to turn the desktop back on. Because wifi isn't working right now, and I HATE typing anything of any length on a phone.

Wowowowowow. Wow. How heartbreakingly beautiful. How exquisitely sad.
And Blaise was so horribly awfully wonderful!! (The image of him with blood on his mouth at the last battle... I don't want to know. I just don't.) It was such a great final plot twist for him to reveal that *Draco* had been his real target all along, and it kind of makes me wonder how much he knew about Draco's feelings for Ginny.

It's like we keep chasing after that thread of hope the entire time, and then we never really find it.. .and yet... somehow, the ending isn't as horribly sad as it could be.

I think this is why.

Part of what makes Draco such a fascinating character is that in so many senses, he could go either way. There's so much that's good or potentially good in him, but then he has the seeds of so many negative qualities too, and they could all become fatal flaws. Sometimes it's his love of the dark arts, sometimes it's his complete snobbishness, and yes, sometimes it's his cowardice. But the thing here is that I don't think cowardice *was* his fatal flaw. There was a point where Draco came through. Nothing could have been more cowardly in a way than continuing to be with Ginny, because that would have been the easiest path to take. Instead, he gave her up. The tragedy, maybe, is that he never really understands the value of the choice he made, and that his last thought is of what a coward he was. I don't think that he actually showed cowardice here, but he doesn't really get that.

Poor Draco... :(

Anyway! I really loved this one. And I'm so glad you did post it. :)

Author's Response: Yes yes yes! I almost added an extra line to confirm that the task Blaise gave Draco wasn't about Ginny at all. It had nothing to do with Ginny; she was famous and random. It was all about his control of Draco, and the other Slytherins' tasks were the same. It wasn't really about the task, but the fact that Blaise was a puppet master pulling strings. I was afraid that wasn't obvious enough, and I'm so glad you picked up on it!

In the original version of the story, I emphasized Draco's cowardice more; he was actually quite detestable and selfish. His actions were more about saving himself, and who cared about Ginny, and I'm really tempted to go back in and make that a liiiiittle bit more apparent. Because Draco isn't supposed to realize he loves her until she leaves him, and it's a little misleading if he's concerned that Blaise will hurt Ginny as well as himself while he's still with her, when he isn't supposed to realize those feelings yet. But I love that analysis that Draco would see cowardice where someone else might see courage in his choice. He thinks he's a coward because Blaise scared him more than he loved Ginny, but he doesn't see that he actually showed some selflessness by giving her up to save her, at the risk of giving Blaise what he wanted. Draco doesn't really care about Blaise. After it's all over and done with, he only sees what he might have had with Ginny if he hadn't had to give her up. She was one of the only people to believe in him, for whatever reason, and he regrets not having that anymore. So Blaise really won in every way. He not only controlled Draco--he broke him. :(

I'm so glad you liked the story! I like it a lot more now than I did last year when I wrote it. It was just so sad and depressing, and Draco was so awful. It's nice to see that the response has been so positive so far. :)

LOVE!!!!
I've really fallen behind on reviews because of the NaNo thing... 42,000 WORDS. o.O. Little things like sanity are naturally going to fall by the wayside.

This is such a magnificently mysterious beginning. Very Kafka-esque. They can't figure out where they are, why they're there, what they're supposed to be doing, what they did that landed them there, or anything else-- until the end, when they show some initiative. You really do capture the complete unbalanced-ness of it all. Looking forward to more!

Author's Response: Thank you!! I'm glad you like it! :D

YES! You're not imagining this. I'm actually reading and reviewing this fic again! :) Wonderful chapter, with so much insight into both Draco and Ginny's characters. So interesting to see a Ginny with internal weaknesses, because we know that they had to be there-- they just weren't acknowledged. (gives Ginny a big hug)

Author's Response: I love exploring those internal weaknesses! Just because Ginny is a badass who can take care of herself, doesn't mean she doesn't have demons. And Draco, as we know from canon, is full of demons. Their insecurities are some of my favorite things to write!

This chapter is so fascinating. It really ups the WTF is going on??? factor, but with so much subtlety. We're basically let into our characters' minds a little bit (especially Draco, and beautifully done), and then left to draw the conclusions for ourselves. In some strange way, did either of them really even want to escape? Weird thought... did they put THEMSELVES into St. Mungo's to begin with?? Well, the way to find out is clearly to keep reading... ;)

Author's Response: I love this chapter and that view into Draco's post-war trauma. Post-war Draco is probably my favorite to write!

WONDERFUL scene with Harry!! Just perfect. And Ginny's so sweet, so wistful with Draco in the hospital... I'm so tired after working all day that I can't think of too many intelligent things to say here, but this chapter is GREAT, great, great.

Author's Response: I think this Ginny/Harry scene had been pent up inside me for so long.... Can you tell by Ginny's tirade? ;) Thank you for all the reviews, Anise! I super appreciate them. n_n

A review! YES! :) Oh, I loved this chapter. I especially like the twist with the way that their "acting crazy" plans worked out (and those never really do work out the way you think they will, do they. ;) It's so sad how Ginny ends up blaming herself and doubting her own memories, and yet it's believable. I think that capacity was always in her. I don't know exactly what to think about her final decision that she actually might get something out of being at St. Mungo's... just trust me on this one, they way they're doing things isn't exactly good therapeutic technique. :P Nobody ever seems to have heard of HIPAA, patient rights, group therapy, or much of anything else. But let's see how it works out. Anyway, what a great chapter!

Author's Response: Thanks, Anise! I have this headcanon that Ginny is more damaged from the war and the Chamber of Secrets than she lets on. Maybe she "bounced back" from her trauma so quickly for her family's sake. Either she didn't want to bother them with her troubles, or they ignored her pain because they didn't know how to handle it, or because losing Fred was more important than whatever torture she went through as a result of her rebellion. Either way, I see her maybe becoming bitter and not knowing how to handle her own trauma, having it come back to haunt her in the worst way. In an extreme case, maybe she would begin to doubt what she went through actually happened orshe would doubt she was capable of doing the awesome things she did. That's what I based this version of her on, and I'm glad you think it's believable. No comment on the Healers for now. ;)

(sticks head in)
I will be reviewing this very very very soon! :)

Author's Response: I'm so nervous! You always make me so nervous! But yay! =D

This is unusual, and I really like it! We don't see many fics where we get someone else's point of view *about* Draco and Ginny, but this one of the few, and you really made it work. Through this narrator's eyes, we see the D/G relationship in a different way than we ever could from either Draco or Ginny's POV, and it's so beautiful and subtle. I hope to see more from you! :)

NOTE: I will review this later tonight! :)

Author's Response: *holds breath*

So... I'm dling this as an ebook, converting it to mobi, and taking it to Minnesota on my Kindle! I will r and r at last! Yay! :)