You know for a tiny moment there, I thought that this was a Remus/Tonks story post war and that they didn't die :( Your writing is brilliant, there are no SpAG errors and the whole story just made me melt. That whole bit about the photograph really had me in tears, poor baby Teddy :( Overall, very well done :)

I'm sorry for taking ages to review this one, but I absolutely loved it! I feel like that's pretty much my response to anything you write, because it's always completely fabulous. Your ability to make me love things with characters I don't particularly care about before reading about them never ceases to amaze me!

This one was heartbreaking, perhaps more so than most of the other ones. I feel like Merope suffers so much more than other characters because she never even has a chance; with others, at least they have the highs with the lows. But this is just so unbelievably sad because she never had a chance and never gets to experience what it's like to be loved (for real) despite how much she wants and deserves it. Gosh, this makes me so depressed!

I loved this line: "With her father and brother locked away, the world reveals itself to Merope Gaunt, clearer than she has ever seen it before." just from a writing standpoint. It's so beautifully written, as always! Your writing is seriously incredible!

And this line: "They say that you can't love if you haven't first known what it is to be loved, and Merope's life is both a contradiction and a testament to that belief." was another favorite. Seriously, you make the reader empathize with everyone and that is such an incredible talent!

This one was really sad: "It doesn't work, and his unspoken rejection feels like a kick in the stomach, a pain that is different and somehow worse than any blow or insult her family could have delivered." but also really beautiful. Pretty much as always, to be honest!

Loved every word of it! You are so talented!

Merope is one of those characters who is badly used in the HP universe, to feel sympathy for her is to be human I think. Beautifully done, keep writing

Whoa, this one was really cool and unexpected! I love reading about "rarer" characters :)

I love how you did this! I love how you make all of these minor characters so real and realistic and memorable!

This one was fabulous. I think Nicholas' excitement at what they've discovered is so well done; it shows how strong it must be that it so easily infects Perry. And I love how impulsive they are once it's done; I don't imagine being able to hold back after a discovery of that magnitude.

My favorite line was this one: "They see wars begin and end, observe on the sidelines as history unfolds around them. But they agree that none of that even comes close to the moment they knew that they could live forever." I think it just really shows how it must be to live forever; there's both, like you say, so much possibility, but also so many things that are lost. Like the lack of friends. And it's so sad but believable that the one thing they can't top is realizing they could live forever.

Anyway, fantastic job! I look forward to number 10, even if it is the last one :)

The end there the quality of the writing us out of this world! I cant stop reading it! Brilliant!
Oh and tonks/remus are so cute! X

Writers block is a b****. Excellent work, keep updating

I really liked this one! You may not be happy with it but I certainly was ;)

I loved your take on Cedric. As always, you make him so human and relatable! Well, not too relatable on the parent-pressure-for-sucess thing for me (as my parents are, thankfully, the "try your best and it's good enough" kind), but very human and real and understandable.

I love how, despite the fact that it's mostly his parents that have him wanting to enter, there is a little bit of want on his part, too, to succeed. I've always felt like that's something everyone has...it's such a human thing. So that was all just very fabulous!

And I love how he had to write them to make himself do it...though of course, as I know what's going to happen, it's hard not to want to stop him. The fantasies at the end are particularly painful for the same reason; they come so close to coming true, and maybe that's why it's so painful.

Anyway, fabulous job! I look forward to 9 and 10 :)

Wonderful! I love how you made Cedric into a believable hero and wrote it out! Great job!

-Charmy

Excellent chapter. I loved this look into Cedric. Thanks for writing

Aww, this wasn't so bad.

Angsty-ish, but good.

Poor Cedric. Everyone expects him to win.

:/

Anyways, update!

PS. Hey Laura, how's Writer's Block going?

How very real. Keep updating

So usually when I leave a review I take a few of my favorite parts and copy and paste them into the review box so I remember to mention them, but this time I basically copied the entire thing. It was all just fabulous! I’ll try not to make my review longer than the chapter...

I loved this line (or paragraph, really): “His first taste of freedom in twelve years is a bitter one, because all this time he'd been convinced, he'd hoped, he'd dreamed of the way it would be, but the reality is a sharp disappointment. He may have escaped one literal prison, the cold, austere, lifeless building of Azkaban, but somewhere along the way, he'd swapped one cage for another. He is trapped inside the horrors of his own mind, a prison from which there is no prospect of escape.” As always, your writing is so real and so believable and I can totally see this happening. It makes sense that he’d fantasize for so long about being free that the real thing could never live up to it. And the fact that he’ll be forever trapped in his mind...just really powerful and well done. I think it’s true, though; he may have escaped but 12 years in Azkaban are permanently scarring. Especially since most go mad in months.

I thought the part about him preferring to be a dog was fabulous too (and I feel like I just say everything’s fabulous but I seriously think it is so you’ll have to bear with me :)). Such a genius thing to point out!

I also really liked the theme of questioning reality and whether everything’s what it seems. I can imagine that after 12 years of living alone and in ones darkest memories, it would be hard to keep a grip on reality. I loved the parts where he questions whether he’s alive and what’s really going on and it was just...wow.

The part about him having forgotten how to smile was heartbreaking, but as always real. My other favorite line was the last ones, though: “With that thought, a sudden lightness blossoms in his chest, and with a jolt he realises that he's rediscovered hope. For the rest of his life he holds this discovery close to his heart, and even when he's drunk so much firewhiskey he thinks he might not wake up in the morning, it's there, and he is certain that dawn will come.” This just really captures so much of Sirius’ suffering and it’s fabulous.

Anyway, sorry to basically quote you back to yourself but I don’t have much exciting to say other than that it was fantastic and one of my favorites so far. All of these are so wonderful and I keep thinking you won’t be able to top the last one and you always do. Keep up the phenomenal work!

:O

Well, this one was Angsty.

Sirius, meet me. I'm your should-be twin sister.

:P

Very well done, Laura!

This was really sweet, but in a subtle sort of way. Rediscovered hope... Had he really forgotten how to smile? Aww... Loved this. I think it might be my favorite by far, with chapter 5 being a close second. Really nice, I loved it, so... Update!

:D So lovely an ending. Thanks for writing

Sorry for taking forever to review, but I really loved this one! It was so heartbreaking, but the fact that you made me empathize with Petunia (of all people) is really impressive.

I love how you take characters and make them real. I don't read a lot of stories for people other than Remus and Tonks, so it's really fascinating to read about other characters. You really make them real and understandable and I think that's so impressive. It's so easy to write Petunia off as cruel in the books (at least until the later ones when she gets some more credit), and you obviously don't do that. I've always loved how three dimensional JKR's characters are, and you really bring that out!

I think this one was so heartbreaking. Having grown up with a sister with severe disabilities, I feel I can relate to Petunia some here; I've rarely experienced other feelings as horrible as feeling inconsequential to one's parents. You captured all of those feelings - the muddled resentment and love, the shame of having the feelings in the first place, the hurt of feeling overlooked - beautifully.

I loved this line: "Petunia knew on some level that they loved her too, it was just difficult to remember when Lily was kind and Lily was special and Lily was pretty and Lily was funny and Lily was everything." It really captured so much. I've always felt so sad that such a good relationship between Petunia and Lily early on had to end, and even though I'm sure Lily didn't mean to hurt Petunia so much it's so easy to see how she did.

This was probably my favorite line, though: "Afterwards, they filled her with shame, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to stop. It felt good to make someone feel as miserable as she did." So real!

Anyway, fabulous job! Your ability to make characters real never ceases to amaze me. Loved this one! I'd love for there to be more than 10 chapters, but I totally understand where you're coming from with the time constraint things. I look forward to reading more :)