Name: justawillowtree (Signed) · Date: 19 Jul 2019 07:56 PM · For: Chapter 1

Julia I just take one look at your writing and want to cry because all of it is beautiful and emotional and wonderful, and I’m so sorry if I’m repeating myself from past reviews, but this is just all I think every time I read something of yours! I absolutely adored the line: “A visit from Dumbledore is a more powerful omen than even the Grim, James had joked, a harbinger of doom clad habitually in lilac…” Ugh you’re so talented. You have such a way with words and tones and moods, I can’t even comprehend it. The fact that you can put this humorous line in the middle of a really angsty story and have it still fit is incredible to me.

 

I can really understand James’s irritation with Dumbledore, especially since that seemed to be his general level of involvement in the Second Wizarding War also. Like, we know he went off and did dangerous things at times (like retrieve the locket from the Inferi), but most of the time it seemed like he wasn’t much involved, while people like Sirius Black died in the Department of Mysteries fighting Death Eaters. (Sorry, I’m still bitter about this.) So it was actually really interesting seeing this distaste for Dumbledore addressed in this story, by one of our major characters! I didn’t think that anyone would dare think too long about how difficult Dumbledore was to deal with, but I’m glad that James did. <3

 

Finding out that your baby can potentially defeat Voldemort (did James really call him the Great Git hahaha) is definitely going to be a really, really stressful experience. I felt so bad that he panicked about Lily and Apparated everywhere in order to try to find her, to make sure she was safe… Ugh you described his fear and worry really well; when he mentioned earlier that Lily could easily take a Death Eater, but not three, I was so worried that they were like going to attack her. I’m glad that she kept safe, and that nothing happened to her, but still! Lily! Don’t do that to people who care about you!

 

Remembering the torture that Alice and Frank are going to be subjected to is painful. It’s so sad that these two baby boys never got to grow up together like their parents wished them to… I also wish that James could’ve had a large family. That detail broke my heart. He called Harry “Baby Potter” too omg Julia I’m gonna cry.

 

AHHHH. <3

 

Love,

Eva

Author's Response:

EVAAA <33333 !!!!

 

Honestly, your reviews always bring out all the capital letters and exclamation marks in me because I just can't cope with how sweet, and lovely you are, and with your incredible attention to detail! I'm just... kslhjrgafh

I'm so glad you liked the way I incorporated humour in this! I've always thought James was a very happy-go-lucky, very funny kind of person, so I feel like he would absolutely turn to humour as his coping mechanism, so it's super lovely to read that that didn't feel out of place! I also think that James - and all of the young order members who joined straight out of hogwarts - would have been really disillusioned with Dumbledore after a while, so he's certainly sceptical of Dumbledore's methods (I'll also use any excuse to air my own distaste of those, lol)

Yeah, I've always thought that, given how he treated Harry and how willing he was to sacrifice him, Dumbledore wouldn't have been very sensitive in his delivering of such awful news as the prophecy, so I was really interested to explore the aftermath of that, and it's certainly super stressful for both James and Lily!

 

All my love, and gratitude, and just general ALKFADJFH, Julia

 

response left to build a sandcastle for the 2020 HC finale!

Name: Felpata_Lupin (Signed) · Date: 08 Jun 2019 02:18 PM · For: Chapter 1

Hello, Julia, dear! I'm here checking out the Chalices noms! Congrats and good luck! ;)

Poor James and Lily... and poor Frank and Alice, too, even if we don't really get to see their reactions... it must be so scary, finding out that your unborn child is a target, that he might destined to become the saviour of the world... it's terrifying... and we all know how it all is going to end. I can't blame Lily for her reaction. And I can't blame James for panicking. Or for resenting Dumbledore. Dumbledore can be so very irritating...

As always, you capture your characters so well. The bond between James and Lily is so wonderful, I love how much he cares for her and worries for her. I also really like your note on James desiring a huge family. As a only child who lost her parents too, I can totally understand his POV there.

And yes, war is truly shitty... :/

I'm cutting this short because I'm still very behind with my reading, but wonderful job on this, dear!

Lots of love and snowball hug,

Chiara

Author's Response:

Hi, Chiara!! Thank you so much for your lovely review!! <3 (and it only took me a year to reply, whoops)

 

Yeah, James' resentment for Dumbledore is rooted in my own, tbf - like, considering how willing he was to sacrifice Harry later on, without ever telling him, I can't imagine he'd be particularly sensitive when relaying the news about the prophecy to James and Lily, or to Alice and Frank! And hearing those horrible news, both James and Lily have pretty extreme reactions - I was worried I'd made those too strong, so I'm really happy to hear that you could sympathise with both of them here!

 

Love, Julia <3

response left to build a sandcastle for the 2020 HC finale!

Name: victoria_anne (Signed) · Date: 08 Apr 2019 04:37 AM · For: Chapter 1

Hello!

 

I think James' instant and irrational anger over recieving the letter from Dumbledore is a really believable reaction, and the same goes for him getting angry over magic when he can't find Lily. And I like the little detail of James wondering if maybe he'd laughed at divination and prophecies a bit too much. And the battles and missions James and Lily have had to go on -- even poor Lily while pregnant -- only makes the news more sad, like, can't the poor kids catch a break?!

 

I love the nicknames James has for Voldemort, haha! It brings a little bit of humour to an otherwise dark paragraph. It really is so sad and hard to witness James recieving this news. Stories like these always break my heart -- I will never not be over what happened to James and Lily :(

 

Aw, they'd even painted the nursery. Stop it! And his desperate apparating eventually making him sick, no!

 

I really enjoyed this sad little piece! It's full of so many intense emotions that I think you wrote really well!

Author's Response:

Hey Bianca, thank you so much for your review!

 

Right?? What happened to James and Lily is so incredibly tragic! I think I get more upset every time I think about it - they were just kids, trying to start a life for themselves, but they're caught in a war where they can never catch a break. And then hearing that not only are you caught in a war, but your unborn kid is - that's definitely going to cause strong reactions, but I also feel like James would eventually turn to humour to try to lighten the load a bit. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, it was lovely to read them and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to reply!

 

Love, Julia

response left to build a sandcastle for the 2020 HC finale!