Name: Oregonian (Signed) · Date: 19 Mar 2022 03:29 PM · For: Chapter One

Hi, Katie!

This is a delightful story, and one that you don't see often in the archives -- former Hogwarts students recovering their lives and carrying on pretty successfully in the first few months after the war.  Often one sees stories about people who are so messed up that they can't function, but I think that people are resiliant, they do what they know they must do, and they manage to pick up the pieces of their lives.

It is good to see the two girls, Alicia and Angelina, living together because they give each other so much support.  And they make very sensible decisions.  You refer to how they gradually are able to overcome the psychological trauma of the war, such as Angelina being able to go back out into the shops and markets of Diagon Alley by herself, and Katie beginning a course of counseling sessions at St. Mungo's. 

I like how Alicia and Angelina tag-teamed each other in the task of filling out applications for the various professional Quidditch teams.  There was a big difference there -- Angelina got many offers right away, and Alicia received only one offer after several weeks of waiting, but Alicia didn't fall into despair about it -- she had a Plan B and she didn't express jealosy about Angelina's many offers.

In all, this wa an upbeat stoary, probably repeated many times over in the lives of other war survivors, about how people can carry on and be optimistic about a better future after a terrible experience.  I like it very much.

Vicki

Name: justawillowtree (Signed) · Date: 11 Jul 2020 09:41 PM · For: Chapter One

Oh, my goodness. Ohh, I love this. Your writing is so graceful! It makes the mundane -- a mirror, a sofa, a broom -- seem so unbearably magical. I particularly love this because you’re depicting a post-war time, in which Angelina and Alicia want nothing more than for things to return to normal. And so the fact that your writing is so able to bring out the beauty in normalcy fits the tone and the message of this story so so well!

I love that both Angelina and Alicia pursued professional Quidditch careers in your story! I don’t think that’s canon, right? So I absolutely love your decision to do this -- I feel like after the war, JKR kinda delegated Angelina to the role of “Fred’s previous girlfriend who then married his twin brother,” which is really unfortunate! She was absolutely good enough to go and play professionally!

The way this one-shot ended, with that beautifully grey dream, halfway between darkness and light, was so so so beautiful. You did such a wonderful job with this!

 

Eva

Name: TreacleTart (Signed) · Date: 14 Aug 2018 09:11 PM · For: Chapter One

Hey there!

 

I’m dropping by to leave you a review for Quodpot Match 2 because this is tagged with the war theme! 

 

I really liked this snapshot of the post-war world for the Gryffindor girls. It discusses PTSD and doesn’t make everything all bright and sunny, but it isn’t all doom and gloom either. Both Alicia and Angelina are struggling, but slowly are putting life back together.

 

I thought using flying as the method to bring them back to life was lovely. Physical activity can be really helpful when dealing with PTSD and the regularity of a routine can be helpful as well. I think just applying and having something to look forward is good.

 

It was nice to see Katie Bell pop into the story for a bit. I’m glad she survived. The three of them bonding and supporting each other is so important.

 

The ending really left me feeling positive. Life has slowly been going back to normal for awhile, but Alicia holding the broom really makes me feel like her future is bright. 

 

I’d love to see a follow-up piece that shows how life and Quidditch is going. Hint hint.

 

Lovely piece!

 

 

~Kaitlin

Name: nott theodore (Signed) · Date: 01 May 2017 11:31 AM · For: Chapter One

Katie!  

 

Ah, I'm so, so sorry that it's taken me so long to get to this story - real life and then the complete and utter madness that was CTF got in the way of me stopping by to leave a review, but I hope that you don't mind too much, as I'm here now and very excited to be reading and reviewing this!

 

The effects of the war on all the characters who lived through it are so fascinating to read about, but I think that people often forget about more minor characters - especially the ones who weren't still at school when the Carrows had their reign of terror - when it comes to exploring those effects.  So what I'm trying to say here is that I'm really excited that you're writing about Alicia and Angelina and the minor characters who are so often forgotten after the war.

 

The opening did such a brilliant job of setting the scene, as well, and the way that Angelina and Alicia were suffering from the battle and the war.  It's so easy for us - particularly in Britain, because it's been so long since we were involved in a war which had repercussions across the whole country - to think that once the war is over, so is all the hurt, but I love that you have Alicia and Angelina struggling here.  The fact that Angelina doesn't want to go to St. Mungo's because she thinks they have enough to deal with already is so sad, and I just want to give her a hug for it, but it's so easy to believe that she wouldn't want to be a burden (unfortunately, it's also the sort of attitude that makes illnesses worse).

 

I'm so glad that Alicia has the escape of flying, though, and that she feels safe when she's up in the air, and able to forget all the memories which haunt her otherwise.  It makes so much sense that she'd then try out to join a Quidditch team, too, because if she can find a job that helps her to recover from the effects of the war it's going to be even better, too.

 

The anxiety that Alicia felt over getting a tryout for one of the Quidditch teams she'd applied to felt very real to me, especially since she was living with Angelina, who seemed to be getting far more invitations to go along to the different clubs.  It's hard enough feeling like your friends are doing so much better than you and you're just lagging behind, but Alicia actually takes it really well, and prepares for the practicalities rather than seeming to get really jealous.

 

I'm so looking forward to reading more about Alicia and her tryouts - I really hope that things start to get better for her and she gets a position on the team!  And I'm looking forward to seeing Cho appear at some point - even if I am shipping Alicia a little with Angelina after this chapter (oops? :P).

 

Sian :)

Name: sunshinedaisieswindmills (Signed) · Date: 11 Apr 2017 11:08 AM · For: Chapter One

Hey Katie! Sorry it took a little longer than expected to get here, I needed a nap :)

I think this is a brilliant start to a story! You've done an incredible job of setting the post-war scene and creating the dark mood that had to have been present immediately after the war. I usually don't read stories from this time, I honestly hadn't thought much about what happened in the nineteen years between the end and the epilogue. I definitely hadn't thought about it in terms of such minor characters! Weird, considering I love minor characters so, so much. 

I think you've also done a really good job of introducing the characters here, especially Alicia. I've definitely got a good sense of who she is as a person, at least who she is following the war, and I'm definitely rooting for her! I love that she got so nervous not hearing from any Quidditch teams, and made a plan to find a job just in case. Very practical of her. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Angelina, in general, and in terms of her relationship with Alicia. I'm really excited to seeing how their dynamic grows and changes, as they grow into lovers, and eventually fall apart, as we know happens in canon. (I'm assuming they're going to get together, based on the story shell and what I've seen from you on twitter, but I realize that might be wrong and it's not obvious from the story shell or this first chapter. which I really like, like that's going to be such an awesome surprise) 

I did notice that a lot of your sentences are very long and use a lot of commas. I'm not sure they're technically run on sentences but it did make reading them a little bit awkward. You can definitely break some of them up into shorter sentences to make it a bit easier to read and just to make the writing more dynamic. That might just be a style preference on my end, and it's certainlynot something that's going to drastically change the quality of writing. 

This is really a fantastic start and I'm excited to see what you do with it!