Thank you, that was a very kind assessment of my story.

There is nothing as frustrating, nor as scary as incompetence, is there? Especially if the person is unaware of his or her incompetence, like Healer Schufflert seems to be (I’m sorry, but she did graduate from Magical Med school and has not yet lost her license, so she still is a healer…). Unless the incompetence shows itself in an area where you possess enough knowledge to debunk it, you might be left at the mercy of incompetent persons without even realising it… 

My mother tongue is not German, but a North Germanic language, so you were right in a way - I’m curious as to what led you to determine that? Phrasing and word choices, perhaps :-) 

”I think it ends up creating too much angst over minor plot points at times, though.”

I believe that you have put your finger on a weakness of mine… There is no way of getting away from you observant readers :-) But I still appreciate your response as it teaches me what I should work on to get better.

I am in fact an inexperienced author and I easily get critical and self-conscious when writing. For instance, it is easier for me to write in english, although it is a foreign language, because in my own language I would be so conscious of my shortcomings, so aware of my imperfections that I would simply stop writing. In english, I just don’t realise my mistakes to the same extent :-) 

In order to overcome that to one’s creativity so devastating self-consciousness, I also had to adopt this style of writing that I think you have observed and that disturbs you a little, and that is that I need to exaggerate a bit, bordering on the melodramatic at times - I’m aware of that. I think that I am afraid of sounding pathetic on the one hand and of being dull and boring on the other hand and my style of writing is an attempt to get away from those fears. Maybe when I have gained more self-confidence as a writer, I might be able to let go of that crutch and simply write with that convincing, solid seriousness that I admire in some authors.

The important thing when you want to become a writer is not to quit, and to learn how to construct a story and to finish it! I assure you that to complete a story is an accomplishment in itself. And my hope is that I at least can offer a reasonably well constructed story, including some reflexions on ethical issues of magical and real life that I find interesting and also, now and then, can give you at least short glimpses of truely emotional scenes. 

So, please don’t let that exaggerated angst irritate you too much, tell yourself that it is only the struggle of a debutante writer :-)

I sympathise with your dislike of Ginny, because she really lets Harry down here, taking the easy way out. This is how I see her character: on the one hand she is a spoilt child. Being the only, longed-for daughter of Molly Weasley she is bound to have been coddled and humoured to a great extent. On the other hand, having six older brothers, she has certainly developed a tough, tomboy side, learning - too well perhaps - to put her feelings aside not to become a sissy in her brothers’ eyes and risk being left out from their play. Not to provoke her brothers’ contempt by showing weakness might have been very important to the little sister. 

I believe that Ginny might be quite funny to be around, being spontaneous, straight-forward and lively. She is also beautiful, with that naturalness that would be rather sexy. Harry, once he has formed a strong bond with someone is not likely to let go or forget about her - I guess he really loves her.

Naturally this decision of hers to allow herself to be Obliviated is disastrous and in the long term, even with the aid of magic, it should be impossible to postpone the necessity to deal with the traumas of life…