Author Feedback: I find it rather surprising that you would be shocked at reading a pro-H/Hr inertretation of book seven on a website devoted to the H/Hr ship. We who still ship the HMS Harmony my be delusional, but we don't see anything 'wonderful' about the canon relationship between Harry and Ginny. It's shallow and superficial, based soley on physical attraction (the monster in Harry's chest). Ginny comes off more than once as a bit of a bitch(her crack to Hermione about not embarassing herself by talking about quidditch) and is still far too enamored of the whole 'Boy-Who-Lived' image(her comment that Harry will only be 'happy' if he's fighting Voldemort; the last thing Harry is is happy about his fate).

As for the love potion idea, book six is riddled (if you'll pardon the pun) with them, from the cauldron of Amortentia simmering in Slughorn's classroom to the bottles for sale in the twins' shop. Even Molly extolls their virtue, telling the girls how she used one to set her hooks in Arthur. Motive, family history, opportunity, and atyoical behavior; is it any wonder Harmonians were half-convinced that the discovery of further love potion abuse would figure into book seven?

Finally, if you don't want to read Ginny bashing, I would recommend avoiding reading any book seven compliant fics on Portkey that are H/Hr centric. Nine times out of ten she's going to receive very short shrift. If you think H/G is so wonderful, you need to be frequenting Mugglenet, PhoenixSong or one of the myriad of other Heron sites, and leave us Harmonians to our delsuions. As for Ginny, any mother that would allow her son to be named 'Albus Severus' deserves to be bashed. I mean, come on, you might as well pin a target to his back with the words 'Steal My Lunch Money!' in flourescent ink....

Author Feedback: Not the whole book; with the exception of the deaths of Remus and Tonks (which I, like a lot of readers, felt were too gratuitous given their earlier buildup) the only thing that was a dream was the Epilogue. Even JKR admitted that she was trying for a dreamlike quality to it; well, as Merlin said in "Excalibur": "A Dream to some, a NIGHTMARE to others!"

Author Feedback: Thanks for taking the time to write a thoughtful review of my story, it's so much more satisfying than the short, two-line minimum one so often receives.

Re the love potions: Hermione doesn't really think Harry doubts her, it's more the shock of the moment bringing her old insecurities back to the surface and making her reassure him.

Re Remus and Tonks: yeah it upset me no end to have them both killed, especially off camera and for no apparent reason. Yes, it's honest and all that insofar as what war is really like, but it also felt so gratuitious I had to correct it, especially after JKR made such a big deal about them getting married and having a child. That felt too much like deliberately setting the readers up for the pain of killing them off, sort of like the fate of any serious love interest for Captain Kirk on the old series.

Re Draco/Ginny: normally I'd agree with you, but in this particular instance I felt they deserved each other. Neither are any prizes; Ginny gets her social standing and Draco a little respectablity along with a trophy wife.