Progress As It Stands:

Grandpa Dursley and the Schooling of Harry Potter - As some of you might know I began this story back in 2004 but without going into much detail I lost the urge to write humor when my family was cut down to just my sister and I. But thankfully things are going much better now and I'm enjoying writing again. I've now gone back and cleaned up the first chapter as well as added an important tidbit to set up the next one. I'd love to say that the next chapter will be up soon but I've now written 6 separate drafts of and have yet to have one that works. Well, that's not exactly true. I'd actually written what I thought was going to be my final draft but in checking some facts about Dumbledore I reread some information about the letter he left with Harry on the doorstep that meant my second chapter as well as one of my major plot lines got fucked. So now I'm doing a bit of scrambling but I think I've got it mostly worked out...I think.

In regards to Harry's pairing I don't see him deciding to get married while in Hogwarts although he will date more than a few girls, as to H/G pairing don't expect that to make an appearance beyond her usual crush.

As for when Clarence will meet Moody...you mean they haven't??

"Always knew there was something fishy 'bout you, Ring. But after the big guys said they knew about you, I figured you were an approved contact. Never could figure out which country though, you knew this one too well."
Minerva frowned, "I'm sorry Clarence, but his name isn't Ring its –"
"Alastor Moody, met him in the 60s," he grinned "he was rather partial to mood rings."
"Mood rings, Alastor?" She raised an inquiring eyebrow at him.
"Muggle lie detectors." Alastor said gruffly, his one good eye daring Clarence to contradict him.

As I mentioned I am terrible at naming characters and I plan to use your pennames as inspiration for later characters. I have warned you that there's no guarantee your name will be used exactly how you would wish, in fact I would assume it won't be, but as I've read your reviews some of your names lend themselves to a character so well I can't help but just go with it. Some names might just be brief mentions to flesh out other character or they might have a larger role. Regardless, here are a few so far that have earned their place in Grandpa Dursley and the Schooling of Harry Potter.

Jeverett, Nikka, Paulson, someone who likes to “kill with umbrellas” (I just couldn't resist that one), Traxx, Derek the Rouge, Sir Tannin, Scardi, and many more

Psychological Warfare - My supposed one-shot that can't be called that anymore since I'm writing a second part. It will be staying in the same formula, uncommon POVs that highlight either a specific event or time period rather than writing out a full year. For instance the next part skips to Harry's Hogwart's letter and visit to Diagon Alley.

You know I have to wonder, after so many years how do people keep discovering my stories?

11/8/07

I recently received a review that left me feeling somewhat bemused as it was a rather heated defense of Albus Dumbledore in regards to my story Grandpa Dursley and the Schooling of Harry Potter and I thought I'd take the time to respond. First off, you seem to be forgetting that this story was originally written after the release of Order of the Phoenix and then retouched before the final book came out. As such the Elder Wand, the Deluminator (aka the Put-Outer), and much of Albus's character were still unknown. But regardless of that I hardly feel that Clarence and Albus' few sentences of interaction would equate the need for such a mounted defense. However, I can address your concerns as to Clarence and the final scene of chapter 1.

Your first complaint, in regards to their interaction, seems to be how Clarence ended up with Albus' wand. Now, from the book Albus placed Harry on the doorstep then took the letter out of his cloak and placed it with Harry, two separate movements. In my story Clarence reaches the door just as Albus tucked the letter inside Harry's blanket and five seconds later is holding Albus' wand. Those five seconds are very important. As I do agree with you that Albus is an amazing wizard I gave him the benefit of doubt that he would have reached for his wand at the sudden opening of the front door. Now you have to envision the placement of the two men, Albus obviously pulling something slender out of his robes not even a foot between him and a trained operative who assumes that what's starting to be pointed at him is a weapon. At this point its not about who's a wizard and who's not its about distance and the element of surprise. I could also make an argument that in close range Clarence actually has the advantage because wands are primarily distance weapons with the need to be directed at a target whereas martial arts require close contact but as you made your feelings very evident in this I won't bother trying to convince you. You next question why would a muggle would threaten to break a wand or even know how too. Ok, I'm going to assume at this point you probably found yourself in that review zone where you're fingers can barely keep up with your thoughts so you didn't come at this as a muggle would. So, if you were threatened with a wooden stick not much longer than a pencil what would you do? Cause I'd probably break it. I also don't see how you would have an issue with a muggles ability to snap a wand considering canon has shown that it doesn't require anything special to do so. And as a final point Clarence is threatening to do so I didn't say he did or even that he will.

As the rest of your review deals with either how powerful Dumbledore is or how "wizards are a thousand times more powerful than muggles" I believe I have responded as best I can to what is relevant and known at the time I wrote Grandpa Dursley. As you also wrote about the Put-Outer and its possible other uses I'd like to direct you to the HP Lexicon as they have a rather interesting essay on its that you might find informative, it will be under Deluminator.

I liked to thank you for your review as I always appreciate the continued response especially when it gives me the chance to respond. Should anyone else care for a more detailed response I prefer sending it privately by email as it allows me to answer questions others might not want to be spoiled, not that I'll give full answers of course but I don't mind giving hints as to where my minds going.

Thanks for staying with me

Deep Red

3/1/12 - Thought I'd share my response to a wonderful review. It probably answers a lot of the same question others have had.

Ellie (Capt. Elphege),

Thank you so much for your continued interest in Grandpa Dursley and the Schooling of Harry Potter. I wish I had better news for you but my muse has taken an extended vacation with no immediate plans to return. This is most unfortunate as Clarence, being the adventurous soul that he is, thought sipping mai tais on the beach sounded like an excellent use of his retirement funds and decided to follow after her.

As to declaring the story AU and taking off from there, well I've always considered this to be AU but one that is based on Clarence's entrance into Harry's life. As in, how would Harry be effected if he had an exciting and somewhat crazy Grandfather to take part in it. Therefore, everything that took place prior to Harry being placed on the Dursley's doorstep occurred and this story is a reaction to Harry being discovered by a different sort of family member. The major issue I'm actually having at the moment isn't so much plot wise as it is character based. My sister who harasses me non-stop to continue this was able to quite forcibly kick start my plot brain into gear but getting back into Clarence's head has been far more difficult. The way I write is probably a little weird to most people but for me I have to be able to jump into a character's brain to write them. I have to basically decide that I am this character and then react as to how the character would. Which of course sounds all kinds of crazy but I don't know how else to describe my brand of method writing. What is unfortunate about this style of writing is that because I have changed so much since I first wrote Clarence's character I no longer know if I can find his voice again.

So long story short...Clarence isn't dead as I definitely still find myself getting random plot ideas for it but whether or not I can recreate the fun I had writing his character is the question. On the plus side, those that still hope for a continuation of this story have a wonderful and incredibly stubborn advocate in my sister.

Thanks again for reading and especially for taking the time to remind me that there are others out there who want to see Clarence back in action.

Sincerely,

Deepred