This is really good. I like the route this story is taking, what with Voldy acting more intelligent, more cunning, better than most portrayal in canon and some fanfics.

This was excellent, I really like the lack of black and white. Harry is sort trapped between two titans, without a clear side. I've not seen much like that before.

I really like the direction you’re taking with this story

Can't wait for this to be updated!

Of course, I want Harry and Fleur to win in the end and to have their happily ever after, but those are much more satisfying when the HEA has been earned by the characters.

A Voldemort with self-control and a long term plan is a much more enjoyable villain to read than the cackling, screaming, out of control mad man that are found in far too many HP fics on this site. I am intrigued by what the coming chapters will bring, and how the plot will unfold.

By the way,I rather like the idea of Voldemort leaving Lucius in suspense over just what the consequences for losing the diary will be.

Whenever you are able to get back to this story, I will be watching for future updates. May your muse be generous to all of your creative pursuits whether they be literary or artistic.

I can totally see Fleur as a Slytherin! A very good beginning to 5th year (although I despise Umbridge and hope that she will get what is coming to her eventually). I also like that in this story, Hermione does go visit Viktor. I have to admit that is one of my favorite non-canon 'ships, although I don't let what the romantic relationships in a story are rule which fics I read and enjoy.

Harry tugging on Fleur's Slytherin tie is another image that I wish I had enough skill to draw. My list of great mental images from this fic keeps growing!

Actually, the last chapter didn't anger me at all..

I wonder just what Voldemort would have done to Crouch junior if he had managed to kill Harry before the Champions got out of the maze?

You can definitely tell that Barty junior was insane. It is sad that Harry had to be the one to blast junior back into the fiendfire. In canon First Year, Harry got no counseling about how to cope with the enormous burden of guilt that normally comes with being responsible for someone's death even if it wasn't intentional. In that and this case, his life was at stake (as well as others around him,) so legally, he acted in self-defense, but morally, he has still killed 2 men. I suppose I will find out in the next chapters whether Harry has to bear all of this on his own or if he will get the help he should have received at the end of First Year.

So Harry and Fleur choose Victor to be the winner of the Third Task... That is a good way to keep attention off of Harry, at least for a while.

I like that Harry decided not to tell anyone other than Fleur, Viktor, and Snape about being kidnapped and Voldemort being back. At least for the present, the Ministry will not be claiming he is delusional, although I suppose that Crouch senior, assuming that he doesn't end up in the Janus Thickey ward at St. Mungo's, could rile up Fudge with his accusations of Harry killing his son who had supposedly died the prior summer.

I just realized that the real Alastor Moody is locked in the trunk in "Professor Moody's" quarters. Will he, perhaps, be found in time by house elves or whomever is assigned to pack up his belongings? I hope so. The idea of his trunk being dropped in the Come and Go Room of Lost Things by the house elves really creeps me out!

I really liked the conversation in the Hospital wing after Madam Pomfrey left the trio of Champions to sleep was great! I adore the line "This is how revolutions start" and Fleur's response. was that line inspired by a quote from someone or a literary source? It sounds vaguely familiar to me but I haven't been able to figure from where yet.

The conclusion of Harry's conversation with Snape is chilling.

Fleur's farewell was lovely, and Harry's decision was beautifully phrased. Thank you for these moments of positivity in such a tumultuous period in Harry's life.

I really liked your version of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. And I especially like the way you ended the story.

But this probably is nit-picky, but while you said Harry pulled his luggage out of the car's boot, and then said he was going for a walk, wouldn't the Dursleys have noticed Harry dragging his trunk with him when he left? Or is the trunk still sitting in the driveway by Vernon's car?

I can't articulate why, but I am completely unsurprised at how this chapter turned out. Your Voldemort characterizations are not stupid and have a method to their madness and a ruthlessness that even canon never gave him. I dread the thought of what the Ministry and Dumbledore will do when the Dark Mark that Harry has been inflicted with becomes known to them.

It also occurs to me that the Dark Mark has just replaced the connection with Voldemort that was lost when Harry died and came back during the first task. Hmmmm. something to think about...

Before I start my comments on this chapter, I will paste in the last part of my comment for Chapter 8 that was cut because of having a stupid phone keyboard:

The judges should have been bound to judge objectively and with no bias toward their own school's or country's champion.

Instead, poor Harry gets slammed again. I really would love to see a take on the tournament where such a vow was required of the judges. I wonder if all of the School heads would decline being judges and who might be asked to replace them, especially if the consequences were as significant as those laid on the champions.

Chapter 9 comments:.

I love how maturely Harry handled the newspaper article. That is very rare to see in fanfic about the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

The scene where Moody (I haven't decided if you mean him to be the real one or not) is badgering Harry instead of tutoring him and the aftermath of Harry losing control of his power was intense! We can lose sight of the danger that having the power to alter the world by using magic in the Potterverse can be. We forget that there are wards in St. Mungo's that hold patients who have been incurably damaged by magic, whether it was used on them, or they lost control of their own.

Fleur and Harry's first fight, albeit brief was very well written, and the last bit in the Hospital wing was a lovely little bit of relief from the tension that ramped up as Harry tried to find a safe place to release the power that was raging beyond his control.

I do hope that Fred and George are okay. If Moody was hurt when the magic flared out,, well, I think he deserves whatever might have happened to him.

darn phone autocorrect! the last sentence of my review should have read should have read "While the champions were bound by a magical contract, it was apparent that the judges were not bound by any sort ofad

I hated that, in canon, apparently none of the parents of any of the hostages were asked for their permission for their children to participate in the second task even though all of the hostages were minors at the time of the competition. Therefore, I loved Fleur's father ranting at the judges, and Fleur challenging Harry's score. I never understood why the judges for the tournament were individuals who had massive conflicts of interest that lead to what amounted to cheating as they scored their own school's champion high while scoring the others unfairly low. While the champions were bound by a magical contract, it was very apparent that the judges were not bound to any sort of head to judge objectively.

Oooh! Chocolates! Mmmmmm! The scene with Fleur and the near kiss was delightful. I am very amused by Harry's awkwardness in his attraction to her, and her frustration at his apparent obliviousness.

I love your description of when Harry saw Hermione and Victor together with her reading and him napping with his head in her lap. That was a beautiful mental image! Harry's conversation with Hermione at the end of the chapter was just right. Thanks for these interludes. You have a gift for character development, and I very much like the pacing of this story.

Very nice conclusion to this chapter. Cho annoyed me in canon, and in most fanfics, but even though I think the way she abandoned Harry because she was in a snit from having misinterpreted what Harry said was simply rude.

There is only one thing I would would have liked to have seen in this chapter; one more section featuring Fleur's POV, to see her thoughts about dancing with Harry and her opinion about how Cho just treated him.

I am enjoying this story very much.

Now THAT is SO much better than how Fleur dealt with the dragon in canon! An outstanding chapter!

This story is incredible