MetaFic

I love the way you show us who's spying on Harry and Ginny during their detention. But my question asked elsewhere stands: why is it so important that Harry not ask Ginny why she's in detention? Would that give the whole game away?

I also like your twist of giving Harry the Diary. With Ron being such a git, and Hermione pestering him to the point of screaming, his condition is not so different from Ginny's, both here and in canon.

I would appreciate at some point an explanation of quite why Ron is being such a git. OK, so he's a twelve-year-old boy, and as such a natural agent of darkness, but come on! This is his little sister, of whom he's supposed to be oh so protective?

Instead of answering all the comments separately, I'm going to answer all of them in one go.

So, first of all, thanks for catching the typo. I'll fix it today.

Ginny being sorted into Slytherin is a result of her anger, but not the basic reason. I'm not going to say more as the last chapter (ch5) should explain that.

There is some engineering at hand, but it's not clear why. Or how. It might become more clear in the next chapter (ch4).

Why is important that Harry doesn't ask Ginny about her detentions? Again, that's something the next chapter will answer. Or at least give you enough clues to figure it out. On the other hand, think about what happens in ch3 during the detention. That's part of the answer. I'm not going to say more as I might give away something.

I'm glad you like the diary twist. The question is, why?

Ron... Was Ron protective of his sister in her first year? Not really, until he realised she was in mortal danger. Throughout the canon, Ron acts like a complete idiot whenever he has a chance. He always comes around, but it takes time. Okay, let me give you a small view of his current frame of mind. He feels betrayed and ashamed that his sister is a Slytherin. He's hurt but fails to realise he's part of the reason why she's there. Ron hates the Slytherin. In his mind, Ginny is everything he hates. He paints the houses black and white. In his mind, the only way Ginny could be in Slytherin is if she had been evil all along. And the name of this story doesn't only cover Ginny being sorted into Slytherin. Not to mention, that Harry's sudden interest in Ginny makes Ron afraid that he'll lose his best mate, without really understanding that it could happen because of his own actions. Somehow I always manage to write scenarios which bring out the worse in Ron. I really don't want to paint him as a bad guy, and he won't be one. But he needs his time to sort everything out - like he did in canon.

As for your last comment, if I answer your first question, I might give something away. The point of canon divergence, in this case, doesn't cover an event from SS/PS, but rather covers something that happened during SS/PS timeline. That's the best I can say at this moment. The prologue of the sequel (CoR) will answer your question completely.

Harry's arrival at the Burrow is something I left to the imagination of readers. Even if Dobby did not appear, he would still come to the Burrow, one way of another. And truthfully, it's not important.

Also, if Dobby did not intercept Harry's mail, he had a way to communicate with his friends, and thus he did write to Hermione. There was no need to meet her in Diagon Alley. They did the shopping at separate times.

The comments appear on the story page so they can be counted by the system (and displayed at the story listing page).

I hope that answered all of your questions. At least those I could comment on. Thanks for a longish review of CoH. It soothed my hurt feelings (from a low review count for CoH:3 on SIYE).

Luna is a friend, but she's an old one and an odd one.

"He needs to know" the important part. You don't expect me to answer those questions, do you?

If it makes you feel better, chapter 4 is in beta (not exactly early beta, but it's not late beta either).

Heh, I know the next one is bigger. Unless it gets butchered by those evil betas, but I doubt it. If anything else, they'll make me write more. I'm glad you enjoyed it, considering everything. Next one should be ready for posting soon enough. Thanks.

It's a cabin in which you take a shower.

Don't look at me. I didn't invent the word... er, phrase.

Err, for those not aware, Dino had a fairly serious medical problem crop up. He's doing better, or so we've been informed, but he has close to zero connectivity for various reasons.

In short -- he's unavailable for anything other than recovering.

Not that we know of. His wife has him under lock and key to ensure full recovery, and she hasn't decided to let him out yet.

Great story! I hope to see an update soon! I really enjoy the fact that Harry seems to gradually drift away from the Diary the more he strengthens his bond with Ginny.