I love this ending, how real it is. This whole story was a treat. Thank you for writing it.

This story is no fairy tale. It just seems... real.

This is one of the absolutely first fanfics I ever read in English, and I still come back to re-read it every three years or so. I love how it doesn't start out as a redemption story, but evolves into one in a way that seems very realistic. I tend to sigh all the time during the first chapters because of the teen drama and awful behaviour though. The Dursley family and Harry are, of course, a lot more verbal and communicate a lot more than in canon, but that deviation and increased interaction keeps the story going, even though it may not be the most in-character behaviour ever. Still, I find Dudley's naivety quite believable. It may have been ca 10 years, and a I'm now 24 and not ~13, but I still really like this fanfic, and thank you for this piece!

"I'm not perfect. I'm not even good!" wow, everything builds to moments like this, I'm enjoying reading this fic so much.

Also, I appreciate Figgs appareance

Oh, oh OH. You did mention even in the first chapter that he had an eating problem but this, shit, this was just so well prepared, so well done.

Why can't you stay awake? Becuase it hurts.
Me: oh.

engaging

Really fantastic story. Thanks for letting us know how the other characters ended up too!

First off, I have to say that I absolutely love this fic. I don't usually comment on fics before I've finished reading them, but I just have to point out something in this chapter, and I'm really sorry that it's somewhat nitpicky, but this sentence made me laugh:

"he was gripping Damien by his collar, dangling him a few meters above the ground."

"A few meters", so at least two meters, are six and a half feet. Reading this sentence, I got this image in my head of Dudley performing accidental magic and actually raising Damien a couple of feet in the air. This might make the scene more awesome but it's probably not what was intended.

An unusual and enjoyable read! But I am weirdly disappointed that there was apparently no cannibalism involved at all despite the description. (The only thing I can recall is that part where the dementors were talking about turning Dudley into one of them, but I don't think that counts.)

A brilliant and engrossing story; I've read several "reformed Dudley" stories. This is, by far the most realistic and engrossing I have come across.

Thank you for sharing it.

interesting, good and gritty

Even in this very first chapter, your characterization of Dudley is very good. I like that he's annoyed by Petunia's nagging and hovering, but that he still cares enough to lie to her. I like "the trouble with the last few weeks of school...so Dudley really hadn't had a chance to further his grammar before summer" and his quick change of "fucking" to "fun". I like that he brushes off Harry's mean remarks about his size and that he's content and confident. We have talked about the fact that Harry is probably not the most reliable narrator, and anyway, everything is told through his eyes. I like that here Dudley is clearly not as stupid as Harry (JKR) makes him out to be.

Whenever I re-read 'Recall Alice When She Was Just Small', I feel like I've aged.

It also makes me think about my future, and the way things will be, and worry about who will really still be around. It's interesting, and never fails to lure me back, time after time, after time.

-TC

That was horrible, as well as horribly compelling. Dudley as a real person instead of a cardboard cutout.

A Dudley epic that is so much more than I could have hoped someone would come up with. Thank you for this intense and involving read.