Really good ending chapter. The presence of Hermione’s character totally changes the tone of the story, and reading this one, it became really clear how heavily the Sunshine General was missing from the last ~third or so of the story arc. Eliezer writes her very well, and seems to enjoy writing her too.
I thought Hermione was going to cast an Expecto Patronum at the end, with all the bubbling happiness, but declaring friendship works well too.
Irrelevant thought: Lasers aren’t needed to test out the strange optics of Harry’s office; positioning mirrors in known positions on the ground and viewing them through a telescope from the tower would already give intriguing results.
The presence of Hermione’s character totally changes the tone of the story, and reading this one, it became really clear how heavily the Sunshine General was missing from the last ~third or so of the story arc. Eliezer writes her very well, and seems to enjoy writing her too.
Harry’s world was bleak without Hermione. Harry’s love for Hermione, and even love for Humanity in general, had been missing for a while. He largely went into young Tom Riddle mode for a long time, without Hermione’s influence.
Harry:
Being friends with you means that my life doesn’t have to go the way Voldemort’s did.
Recall Quirrell:
“Then here is what I might have done at your age, if there had been anyone to do it for—”
Hermione showed Harry the possibility of both love and understanding. He had love from his parents, and understanding from Quirrell, but both from Hermione. The world became a different place for Harry when he came to know Hermione.
Maybe I was expecting too much adulthood from Harry, but in every meaningful way but romantic, he loves Hermione, and Harry’s evasion of that admission was disappointing, if not entirely out of character.
“I did not have any friends like that when I was young.” Still the same emotionless voice. “What would have become of you, I wonder, if you had been alone?”
Really good ending chapter. The presence of Hermione’s character totally changes the tone of the story, and reading this one, it became really clear how heavily the Sunshine General was missing from the last ~third or so of the story arc. Eliezer writes her very well, and seems to enjoy writing her too.
I thought Hermione was going to cast an Expecto Patronum at the end, with all the bubbling happiness, but declaring friendship works well too.
Irrelevant thought: Lasers aren’t needed to test out the strange optics of Harry’s office; positioning mirrors in known positions on the ground and viewing them through a telescope from the tower would already give intriguing results.
Harry’s world was bleak without Hermione. Harry’s love for Hermione, and even love for Humanity in general, had been missing for a while. He largely went into young Tom Riddle mode for a long time, without Hermione’s influence.
Harry:
Recall Quirrell:
Hermione showed Harry the possibility of both love and understanding. He had love from his parents, and understanding from Quirrell, but both from Hermione. The world became a different place for Harry when he came to know Hermione.
Maybe I was expecting too much adulthood from Harry, but in every meaningful way but romantic, he loves Hermione, and Harry’s evasion of that admission was disappointing, if not entirely out of character.
And just a few lines before your last quote:
Quirrell:
That’s a good one. For anyone knowing knowing about the Horcrux, it’s an interesting nature/nurture experiment to muse upon.