Hello, teriwright! :) I don't mind the ranting in the least - I totally understand what you're saying! You make an excellent point, and I think it would have been a very intriguing direction to take. I think the reason I chose Hogwarts to remain Harry's school was as follows: To start, I'm not sure if there are any other schools for magic in the UK, and yes, you are very right that a lot of Harry and Severus returing is Dumbledore's influence. Given what we know about other magical schools, their other options of similar academic level to Hogwarts were Durmstrang (ahh, nope!!!) or Beauxbatons, where they speak French. Unless there was another school nearby that spoke English, I figured that it would be a very rough transition for Harry due to the probably language gap. This was because, despite Hogwarts being hostile from time to time, Harry does have a support network there, which I thought was very important, especially how guarded Harry is when it comes to trusting people. So that was my reasoning, but your idea is equally valid, and I do wonder what the story would have looked like had I gone down that road. I'm surprised I did not spend much time considering sending Harry to another school, but having grown up in a terrible school environment myself, I never did leave my own school either because of friends who supported me (however few there were).  I think I probably was just stuck in old habits and didn't really consider making up a new school for him to go to!

 So, in conclusion, thanks a lot for the review. I am very glad you are enjoying the story, and feel the emotions are well captured. Also, NEVER feel guilty in "ranting" in a review of any of my stories! It is so refreshing to hear a well thought out argument like the one you presented. It gets me out of my head and makes me see things from another's perspective, which is often exactly what I need as a writer. I just hope you don't mind me writing such a long response, haha! Cheers, Whitetail.