”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 :-)

It’s true that this chapter was tricky to write. I was not happy with the dialogue between Snape and Narcissa, even after much struggle… I wanted to address the fate of the Malfoys after the war, though. The defeat of Voldemort was a major crisis for their family and I wanted to demonstrate that it might cause the most stable couple to see things differently and to break up. I stipulated that Narcissa and Snape know each other rather well, because they have moved in the same circles for years, thereof the rather intimate and perhaps a bit out of character nature of their conversation. 

Thanks for your long review :-) and don’t worry, I truly enjoy ’stream-of-consciousness’ reviews - because that is the best way to get a spontaneous reaction to the text. To have that input is very gratifying when trying to improve your writing and so I do try to understand what the reviewer means and what she/ he has picked up that might be improved in the text. 

Your comment about the narrator being distant, for example, in the last chapter, is interesting. I had not thought about that, but I think I see what you mean. I believe that because there were so many people involved, I chose to write it a bit ’from above’, in order to survey the scene. But it might have been a good idea to ’descend’ and relate some of it from Harry’s point of view, for example, in the midst of the audience. It would have created more closeness.

So that’s me being critical about my own disposition - you were just being helpful!

About the Snape-Narcissa scene, I think I get what you mean, now, and you’re right, there is something not right with Narcissa proceeding with her conversation in front of Mrs Steadfast who is a stranger to her (Harry is asleep - or is he? - and the others have left the room, so it is mainly Mrs Steadfast as an audience), but - now I’m going to try to justify myself again - Narcissa Malfoy is a difficult character. I think that she might be a little disturbed - some kind of personality disorder, in my mind - which might explain her conduct. I’ll see if I can develop that further. All of JK’s characters are so interesting, you want to delve into them all… and so your fan fic story expands and grows… 

But I promise to try to tie up most of the loose threads and bring this story to a proper end - in about ten chapters or so. In the meantime, please continue to enjoy the story!