Hope
9 - London
By Jeconais
Reviews
FaithU posted a comment on Monday 19th June 2006 8:42am for 9 - London
Oooookey, I've been hanging around here for a couple of months, and I've yet to review. So I'm correcting that now.
I don't do canon pairings. Most of the time, I don't do het pairings and I hate long waits for updates. And yet I adore every single one of your stories (except for the Harry/Cho ones, because in my opinion, Cho is by far the flattest character Rowling has ever created). I completely believe everything you serve and I always want more. Your character interaction is fascinating.
And the chapter length? I've written whole stories that were about as long as one of your chapters and I really, really appreciate all the work that has to go in there.
And of course (how else could it be), the plot is great, too. Me, I'm usually more of a little-plot-much-angst-and-lots-of-insanity kinda girl, at least when HP is concerned, but again, you convinced me otherwise.
Still, I'm ranting so I'd better sign off now, before I start making fangirl-noises.
Please keep up the wonderful work, Faith.
Ken Warner posted a comment on Sunday 18th June 2006 4:59am for 9 - London
just re-read Hope from the beginning, and wanted to thank you again for such a wonderful, adult story. I use the term in the sense of maturity, balancing emotion with logic and thinking thru consequences - too many HP stories, even set after Moldieshorts death have Harry as a 30 yr old teenager.
Tons of appreciation for the excellent job you do in writing and in providing this site for other authors.
Warmest regards
brad posted a comment on Sunday 18th June 2006 3:37am for 9 - London
Has it been four weeks or more since I had a thoroughly enjoyable Saturday brunch reading this chapter? Ouch. I only just found the printout in the stack of paperwork sitting on my desk, reminding me to say 'thank you' for a fun morning.
Draco tried to crucio Gabby! He must die!
Draco crucio'ed MY HERMIONE in the final battle!? HE MUST BE DRAWN AND QUARTERED AND DIE A LINGERING DEATH!
Perhaps I missed it in a previous chapter, but both Draco's crime against Hermione, and the deaths of Remus and Tonks due to Cho's betrayal, both struck home with me. It's good backstory stuff. And now I have more reason than ever to desire a nasty end to Draco once Harry catches up with him.
The duel was excellent. I agree with Neville; some clever things done here, like the Fidelius. Good fun to read. As was the Hogwarts/Beauxbatons match; you came out with some really innovative and fun quidditch manoeuvres there, thoroughly enjoyable.
I thought the scene where Gabrielle resisted Harry's 'order' was quite moving - and a critical little piece to the overall jigsaw depicting the complexity and ramifications of their relationship - but I can't help wondering if you could have wrung just a little more drama from it. I felt that we were *told* about Gabby's 'incredible amount of pain' more than we were *shown*. Harry feels her pain, 'sees the torment' and tells us about it, but I just wonder if you could have added a descriptive sentence or two which showed us how the two halves of her fought, and how that turmoil caused her such pain? It's a little thing, and re-reading that passage now I can barely justify it myself, but right after my first perusal I thought a few more visual cues would have been better ... her desperately grabbing hold of him while slowly falling to her knees, shuddering, clawing desperately at him, scrabbling to keep upright, a bearly audible gasp or moan, some more physical symptoms, would have been effective. I can't help but feel that Gabby's overriding the Veela imperative - her love winning out over Harry's order - is a Big Deal, and I don't think you pushed that scene as hard as you could have; it didn't poke its nose out of the thread of the story nearly as much as it could/should have. Just my opinion.
I'm with Fleur - I had to snigger too about Gabrielle's passing out on Harry. Twice. A good comedic moment that broke up the plot nicely and kept the flow from being too serious/bland.
Sometimes it's the little bits of authorial imagination that really take my fancy ... like the advertisement for the WWW flying castle. This is just SO OBVIOUS, once you point it out ... I'm surrounded by ads for such movie-related toys every second week, it seems, but I still would never have thought of bunging something like that into a HP story. Gotta love those twins.
You have got me quite worried about Hermione's possible 'cure' for the bond. Please please please tell me that she's learnt her lesson and won't foist it on Harry without his full knowledge and permission beforehand!? That latter of which he won't grant, of course, now that he's fully in love with Gabby and has accepted - even grown to prefer - the Veela complications.
Looking forward to a resolution on that and also maybe the big questions - Dumbledore's thrall to Snape and whether Gabby's bonding to Harry in the first place was forced upon her/them. Thank you for this chapter!
Sherman Cater posted a comment on Friday 16th June 2006 10:30am for 9 - London
Hello,
Please excuse me for taking so long to review this story. I am enjoying it tremendously. I look forward to the next installment.
Thank You.
Rogue posted a comment on Thursday 15th June 2006 10:05pm for 9 - London
I believe this is the first Harry/Gabrielle fic I've ever found that has truly been worth reading. The other handful I've found have painted Gabrielle as a fairly shallow character hidden behind the brilliant star of Harry.
I must commend you on this effort, and hope that you are able to maintain the impressive quality of this story as you continue to write.
skywalker64089 posted a comment on Saturday 10th June 2006 4:07am for 9 - London
I enjoyed this very much. I'm just hoping that Hermione doesn't do something that will ruin her friendship with Harry.
S.
jgkitarel posted a comment on Friday 9th June 2006 8:58pm for 9 - London
Excellent work here. I found it intertesting how you made the pairing matchup believable, and salute you for your creativity. Once again, excellent work.
LEO posted a comment on Friday 9th June 2006 5:47pm for 9 - London
Hello there!!! This story is just grate!!!! I am enjoying it Very Much!!! Jajaja. Your stile of writing is very appealing to me now and slowly I am reading all of your stories. White king .. is one of the best, you are doing very well in almost all of them!!! Congratulations (and hope! You are updating soon!!!)
10chi posted a comment on Thursday 8th June 2006 8:40pm for 9 - London
Let me preface this review by saying that I adore this story. I find myself reading it over and over again because it is so good. This is fan fiction at its finest.
I do however have a small nitpick. When I first read this chapter, I was a little disappointed. I felt that this story was starting to snowball. Out of the blue, it felt like side stories were being added left and right (e.g. a masquerade dance and a new professional quidditch team).
I also felt that Hope started to drift away from what made it so good. At its core, it's a love story. Call me a sucker for sappy stories, but it was the fluffy moments of Hope that really resonated with me. I felt that this chapter didn't quite have the same chemistry as the previous ones (such as when Gabrielle healed Harry's shoulder).
Don't get me wrong, I found the events of the story very enjoyable (especially the duel between Gabrielle and Snape and the staff Quidditch match), but I felt that the romance of the story took a back seat to the plot. Now instead of Harry and Gabrielle falling in love, Hope started to turn into Harry getting even with all the people who wronged him.
In fact, the slow, romantic build up of the story was suddenly full-blown Love at the beginning of this chapter. It was a bit anti-climactic. Especially when in the previous chapter, it seemed that Harry would have a larger hurdle to cross before he could admit that he was in love with Gabrielle.
That said, after reading this chapter a few more times - and especially after reading the story in its entirety again - I don't feel quite as strongly about this criticism as when I first read it.
Let me reiterate, I do enjoy this story tremendously. I think you are doing a fantastic job. I just wanted to write you a meaty review (because from your forum post it appear that you enjoy getting reviews) and give you some (I hope) constructive criticism.
Keep up the wonderful work. Like everyone else, I am waiting with bated breath for the next installment.
thealphamale posted a comment on Thursday 8th June 2006 4:20pm for 9 - London
Why are you making Harry such a weakling! He has never needed Neville's help! It's ridiculus!
popecow posted a comment on Tuesday 6th June 2006 7:15pm for 9 - London
uuuuum you had a tyyyypo. you said she reached the age of MAJORITY. i belive you meant maturity. good chapter
Shadowface (Vaun) posted a comment on Monday 5th June 2006 8:28pm for 9 - London
A glorius chapter for a glorius ship. I look forward to reaquanting myself with your stories, and I especially look forward to reading the next chapter of this story.
Keep it up!
<3
Chris10 posted a comment on Sunday 4th June 2006 7:57pm for 9 - London
This truly is an incredible story, and you've done very well capturing an essence of romance to a finer point, despite all the conflicting personalitites in this story. There really isn't much to critique as far as story is concerned, since you seem to already have everything mapped out. I only have one problem.
This entire story has been based on the Harry and Gabrielle romance, obviously, and where it will lead them in life. So much of the story is dedicated to the aspect of Harry and Gabrielle's soon to be love life. It seems to be the big high of the story. That final moment when Harry and Gabrielle finally take it that one step farther, and solidify the rest of their lives with each other.
It was unfortunate to see them take another large step in their relationship, but not see it played out. (The night they spent in his London apartment.) Instead, you seemed to cut it off, whether you didn't feel like writing such an aspect or you left it up to the reader to interpret. It kind of made it feel, well, lackluster.
Albeit, I'm not asking you to write smut for readers to perv on. But it was somewhat disheartening to lose out on something that could have been explored further, shown a bit of the more adult side of Gabrielle, and the essence of their lives in the bedroom, as well as what Harry actually did to her.
When they finally take that final step, it would actually be nice to see it written out, tastefully of course, Otherwise it takes from a story such as this. Interpretation of course, is a nice tool some author's give to their readers, but I guess I'm more of a person that enjoys that finality.
Other then that, all is well. :P
Regards,
Chris
AnnieBee posted a comment on Sunday 4th June 2006 11:19am for 9 - London
The long wait was worth every word of the chapter. I had even "forgotten" Hope was a WIP until late last night it got into me to check it out.
Jeconais, this one was simply outstanding, and like always, lets the reading craving for more. All we can hope is for it to be a shorter wait than this last one.:)
Sterling posted a comment on Sunday 4th June 2006 6:32am for 9 - London
Thanks for sharing this story. I was kind of leery with the whole "Mate" angle on things in earlier chapters. I'm not one for blatant shipping plot devices. However you've done a wonderful job working with it. Making it a lot more then the hack-kneed plot device it could have been in a lesser authors hands. I like your characterizations quite a bit with a few exceptions. Snape and Malfoy are a bit two dimensional here, even as bad guys. Also, the way you are portraying Dumbledore is really odd. But I am seeing that you have special plans in that regard so I am witholding judgement on that. I look forward to your next updat as you have a lot of questions building up and I am intrigued to what your answers will be :-) Take care and thanks again for a lovely story.
Cami posted a comment on Sunday 4th June 2006 12:54am for 9 - London
Definitely different being on this side of things, but absolutely brilliant. I enjoyed it very much =)
Syaoran posted a comment on Saturday 3rd June 2006 11:06am for 9 - London
Now that is great dude!!!!! I'm utterly speechless at this story, its left me breathless...
miriellegrey posted a comment on Friday 2nd June 2006 11:50am for 9 - London
I have just discovered this story and read it straight through without stopping to review, so please forgive me for that. I will be much more forthcoming in all future installments.
Let me please tell you that this story is incredible . I have so enjoyed the creativity you have expended into making the entire premise plausible, believable and even inevitable. Your Gabby and Harry scintillate, they shine, they are so very well constructed. And the supporting characters are a suitable compliment to the pair.
While I could go on and on, plot point for plot point, it would become tedious, and after reading this magnificent bit of fiction I don't wish to bore you. Please know that this is one of the best that I have ever read, and I have been reading exhaustively since 2001. While that might not seem long to you, believe me, after some of the fics I have slogged through in morbid curiousity it feels like an eternity. In comparison, the time that I spent here in your Harry/Gabrielle unvierse flew by all too quickly.
I love your Harry. I love your Gabrielle. I love their friends and family, and I love this story.
I look forward to readong more of this story, and more of your other works, in the future. Well done.
Patches posted a comment on Wednesday 31st May 2006 1:19am for 9 - London
This is such a good chapter. I already reviewed
but there are aa couple of things I forgot to comment on. Is Gabrielle going to fix Harry's
eyes? I thought that would be addressed in this
chapter but knowing you you have an alternate
plan to use that to Harry's advantage later on.
I am really looking forward to how Harry and company deal with "Sybill" and her accusations.
Thanks so much for writing. I look forward to the next chapter. pms
Dustin Hoeppner posted a comment on Monday 19th June 2006 1:56pm for 9 - London