Aw, thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the new chapters (it was really just one chapter, but I split it into two because 18,000 words is too much to post as one block). I have a new beta and I've sent her four (short) chapters to look at, so hopefully I'll update again before July is over, and hopefully get even more done next month. My new beta is awesome, she brought in a ton of new ideas for the story.

Trying to change any character is pretty hard, especially when they have a very long history of being a particular way, like Draco. He isn't just going to be able to snap his fingers and change everything he believes or his whole outlook on life. He's still a Slytherin and he's still a Malfoy, he's just having to grow and stretch beyond what those things used to mean. But, that's true for every character. Ron is the hardest to write. Right now he's being such an awful little idiot, which is in character for him, but probably makes readers feel like I'm bashing him. Ron either didn't receive or decided to ignore the advice Harry was given, which is to not try to force his friends into making a difficult choice (in this case Ron is the mirror in which Harry can see what will happen if he doesn't make an effort to follow that advice, which of course gives Harry a reason to change himself... I like for everything to be related and to have an effect on everything else). I try to write the characters with the idea that, "change must happen, but changing yourself is the most difficult thing imaginable" (I had a really good quote about this, but I don't know where I wrote it down...), and that seems to work to make them more realistic. Nobody likes to be forced to change something they've invested years into developing, maintaining, or believing. Some characters, like Hermione, don't have to change a whole lot to survive in the new reality, because they haven't invested heavily in the way things used to be. Compare that to someone like Ron, who has whole generations full of investment in the way things used to be, for example the Slytherin-Gryffindor hate, and Draco who has been taught all his life to believe certain things that are no longer going to work to his advantage. They might, like Draco is doing, try out a different way of acting, and then find that it's uncomfortable or doesn't work the way they expect, and then they revert back to their old way of doing things (which, after all, used to work just fine). It's the same for Snape. He invested about 25 years into hating James Potter and eventually James Potter's son. Suddenly what he knows to be reality is turned on its head. Does he just snap his fingers and suddenly he can move forward with ease? Obviously not. By now all of this has become ingrained into his character and become habit, and you don't just make that vanish overnight, even if you really wanted to. People incorporate new reality into their existing personality and character traits, they don't wipe the slate clean every time something major happens in their life. Oops, sorry, this practically turned into an essay, and it wasn't even an answer to anything you asked! LOL

Thanks for reviewing!