About second chapter of "I Wish He Would Not Die": it is too close to the original story, I know. I haven't had much inspiration while writing it because my first version of this chapter was lost to combination of software and hardware failures. I just hope that Baley is in character, not too different from the original, despite small changes in his life.

Recommending the forgotten yet unforgettable (crossover): Lucifer In Starlight.

If you want to go insane, find story Shazaj, 685997#.

Oneshot for Christmas: "The Dance of the Dreoilin". Elf magic is a dangerous thing - you may get exactly what you wish for. History repeats itself, does it not? And yet, some moments stand outside of the flow of time, and even change it abruptly for the better.

Recommending "New Buzz", probably the best romantic oneshot I had ever read. Emotional and intellectual connection of the two who are partly the same and partly each others opposites. It could be said that they are a match made in heaven, except both of them went through hell, through hot fire and deep water, and are not angels, but humans: contradictory, dangerous, dark, flawed, and loving.

Recommending "The Insomniacs' Social Club". No prejudices, some realism. Nice. No deaths. No parody or antagonism. Peace.

To those who would like to see both Tom and Voldemort as different persons, in the same time of the same universe, I recommend "To Kill You With A Kiss". No horrendous war, no god-like superpowers, no prejudice against people of darkness or light; instead, happiness and peace, without rose-coloured spectacles or unrealistic dead calm. Notice: besides Harry-Tom-Voldemort tracery, there also is Albus-Ariana-Grindelwald weave.

Waiting for updates of stories "Changeling" (HP-DN crossover; Updated: 12/08/03), "Continuing the Cycle" (HP-Naruto crossover; Updated 12-18-12), "Dreams and Darkness Collide" (HP AU), "Make it or Break it" (HP-Naruto crossover). And would appreciate updates of "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" - it's the first story I have read on this website, after all.

Also waiting for update of story "Get Off My Back" (5-4-12). Voldemort taking over the Ministry hadn't caused the world to spin off its axis and it didn't cause plagues, famine, natural disasters, or wide-spread terror.

Also waiting for updates of stories "Eden" (8-17-11), "Xerosis" (9-29-11), "The White Lord" (5-3-12; Updated: 12-5-12), "Circular Reasoning" (6-6-12). These stories describe the case when Harry returns from a dire future back in time and joins Voldemort as his ally (Eden, Xerosis, The White Lord); or, at least, considers Voldemort to be neither the major threat nor the main enemy (Circular reasoning). For some reason, I like to read of horrible end-of-world scenarios and travelling back in time to fix them.

In the same venue, I admire "How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Lord V" (3-12-08) and hope it will be continued. Also, I recommend "To Shape and Change" (12-19-12) about Severus Snape travelling back in time from hopeless future to shape Harry into the greatest wizard of all time.

Also recommending unique crossovers: "Discovered Spies with Courage" and "Of Arda, and the rise of a new Istari".

Some HP-LotR crossovers to be recommended. Common points: Harry Potter (or, Severus Snape) is transported from HP universe to the Middle Earth after Voldemort's final defeat. He is neither a weakling, a child, a prankster, an elfling, an innocent, nor a trusting soul - people closest to him have either betrayed him or died. Jaded, and already having a noticeable power at his disposal, he isn't likely to be lured by promises of more. Not bound by a prophecy, fate, or wishes of Valar.

"Blindfold" (HP, somehow, is transported from the cell where the Ministry contains him, to the Middle Earth, the One Ring, the Council),"Frey" (HP has slept, for a long time, and woken by dwarves, he protected them, to the best of his abilities...),"Happiness is a Broken Wand" (SS, after his death in HP universe, arrives to the Middle Earth, and has to survive here, without any knowledge of language, geography, traditions, history, plants, animals; SS is determined not only to survive, but also to start a new, peaceful life in the Middle Earth, and pursues his goals with Slytherinesque cunning),"The Master of Death" (HP was the only survivor on the Earth, and when Valar came, they used his weakness, his mourning to capture him, to use him; nevertheless, he escaped later, and travelled free, bitter and lonely).

-1. I had not visited this site for some time. This means:

a. No reading updates was activated for some time, and I have to read them - more than a hundred. The number does decrease with time, though.

b. No reading of personal messages was activated for some time - but I have read them, even though not necessarily replying to each of them.

c. No reading of new stories was activated for short time.

Just trying to make sure this site will not become an incurable addiction. But it is possible that I will stop visiting this site for some time, again, due to necessity. There is life outside the site, however unfortunate the fact may be.

0. It has come to my attention that story "The Train to Nowhere" is no longer hosted on this site. It is, still, one of my favourites, for several reasons. It's deeply developed, with many interconnected plots and intrigue. There is no sharp contrast between positive and negative characters; the line between them is blurred to the point it's no longer possible to see it. Peter Pettigrew is not a traitor, or a coward. Gilderoy Lockhart is not an idiot, or a fraud - it's merely a mask to protect him from hostilities. Harry is not known as the-boy-who-lived, despite having unusual connection with death, of which Pettigrew knows, and Voldemort suspects. As Merope asked him, Harry is going to bring peace, if possible, and help Tom to kill not too much people for their mistakes, when they know not what they fight for. Each character has depth to him, and the war is only fought because most people are used to it and Rebels know not what to do at its end, how to deal with deaths of ancestors and brothers, with guilt, when some were possibly shot by friendly fire. In short, the story can be found here:

archiveofourown.org / works / 294722 ?view_full_work=true

1. I signed up only because one of the authors has forbidden anonymous reviews. I don't like social websites, and I am afraid I don't intend to write a book myself. To be more precise, I'm already writing a book, or several, to publish here, but it's not likely that they will be complete anytime soon, or at all.

2. I don't believe in afterlife (in fact, I believe nothing until I see it for myself), and even in fiction about magical world I don't like afterlife. Magic could be part of nature (though in real world it isn't), a natural law, while afterlife is a fantasy created by people to escape fear of death; afterlife isn't and couldn't be law of nature (unless you really like periodic reincarnation of souls). Ghosts can be in books, like magic, but they are memory imprints, relatively passive; not active. Portraits... Don't know. Well-painted magical portrait can be very close to the person painted.

Well... As I haven't studied soul magic, my assumptions about magical afterlife can be completely 'wrong'. As long as your assumptions don't contradict each other, you can write anything, since fiction, unlike science, can contradict reality; just don't let different parts of the same book to contradict each other.

3. I don't like black-and-white characters;

I like strict but not-evil Snape,

I welcome just and serious Amelia Bones Head of Aurors and probably Minister of Magic,

I'm against abuse in any form (be it from bullies, like Dursleys or Maradeurs, or from "light" characters towards "dark" characters who "deserved" it),

I don't like abuse of points system and favoritism (be it Severus or Minerva),

I don't like overly-proud, arrogant, students (be it Draco or Ron).

I like magical creatures when there aren't too many of them.

I like Animagi.

4. I don't like when too many powers are introduced. High Elves, Planes, Time Travelling, Darcorn, Selena, Atlanta, going to America for help fighting against Voldemort, Harry heir of four Founders and possibly Merlin himself... Too much, potential dis-balance. I hate Fates and Balance of Light and Dark. Though I do agree that there should always be Dark, Grey, Light, and everything in between, the balance should be natural result of interaction of many different people, not outwardly enforced by interaction of two separate opposites (like Light griffon and Dark dragon).

5. I'm swallowing a lot of books quickly, in general (and besides, I have accumulated some unread updates, and I want to go through all of them to avoid accumulating even more). So I'm afraid I will not reply individually to each "reply to review", though I read each of them.

6. I apologise for the cases where I confused Gellert and Gilbert, and for any other insensitive misprints.

One tentative plot. I'm not going to write a story, but I would appreciate somebody doing it for me, if he likes it, or showing it already done somewhere. Bits and pieces are taken from my favourite read stories, most prominently "Akren Mountain School of Magic" and desire to have Grindelwald as Dumbledore's friend and not enemy; world-wide society of snakes (don't be so surprised; they all speak one tongue, after all), preserving Salazar Slytherin's ideals though centuries, and able to stand against a snake-speaker, if he is too corrupt, is entirely product of my imagination. Sirius combining technology with magic was also mentioned in one of the books I read (where Sirius and Harry had to live without magic until Harry was healed). The end is crossover with Death Note, Kira's case.

Salazar Slytherin didn't hate Muggle-borns - he hated their incompetency. He wanted to give them pre-Hogwarts education about culture of wizards, and to save them from abuse of not-understanding non-magical relatives. However, in some cases children didn't want to be separated from families, and some teachers of the school were full of bigotry (and they didn't understand non-magical culture well enough), so the school was quite a failure (as almost any radical change is at first). Other founders of Hogwarts forced him into exile, and, as history is written by victors, and as Salazar did attack some Muggles (who for whatever reason didn't comprehend magic well enough to be able to peacefully coexist with wizards), Salazar Slytherin was declared the first Dark Lord, and Godric Gryffindor his defeater (though, in fact, Salazar Slytherin just locked himself down in his Slytherin castle, accessible only to himself and his snake-speaking descendants, and set down to have some research alone: research in potions, healing, blood/soul magic, magical creatures, whatever).

The snake-magic isn't merely being able to speak with snakes. Snakes have to obey snake-speaker's commands (as long as he is true descendant of Slytherin, and not just a human who learned snake-language by studying: studying the language will allow you to understand and speak it, but it will not be a command, and snake will not have to obey). But the contract isn't one-sided: snakes form an inter-connected society, governed by the priorities set down by Salazar Slytherin, and snakes can disobey and even kill snake-speaker or another snake if (s)he breaks them. These priorities prevent descendants of Salazar Slytherin from becoming Dark Lords, from harming living beings for pleasure, for being prejudiced against others just because of their blood or circumstances of growing up.

Probably, there is a ghost of Salazar Slytherin in Hogwarts, who advises snakes on how the old and vague contract is applicable in the changing world.

The fact is, the snakes know every branch of Salazar's descendants, and even though they don't speak with poor (as in: not having a lot of money) mad (inbreeding) Gaunts, they follow their daughter as she travels with Tom Riddle, and stay with her when he leaves, and attempt to heal her and help her (without her noticing, they keep with them the Salazar's locket which she sold). However, all the help magical snakes give her, is channeled by her to strengthen her son. She dies, and Tom Marvolo Riddle has to grow up in an orphanage, but he is never alone: snakes are with him, telling him stories, persuading him that not all non-magical persons are bad, that he should be above revenge to ignoramuses, giving him the locket as a present. As compared with other Salazar's descendants, Tom is at advantage (Slytherin has only one heir at each point of time, and Tom is currently Salazar's heir, right?), snakes from different countries visit him, and he gets a familiar (three-headed runespoor?).

Tom still is afraid of death and doesn't like his too common name 'Tom'. But he does like riddles, so he doesn't reject his real name, though he makes an anagram (I would prefer it to be a coherent sentence).

Instead of delving blindly into Dark Arts, he looks into difference between Dark and Light; educated by snakes, he knows how the prejudiced evolved with time.

The same curse, hex, jinx, charm, potion, Dark or Light, can be used with different intent - so you cannot classify part of magic as Dark based on intent (intent depends on circumstances, electrocution can be deadly, but it can also be used to restart the heart of a patient after a cardiac arrest).

Laws are different in different countries, and magic doesn't depend on legislation, so meaningful separation of magic on Light and Dark cannot be based on it either.

Therefore, Dark magic is the part of magic which causes the caster to become addicted to it, and it's forbidden in many countries due to possibility of experimenters going mad from the addiction, but in some other countries students are taught to avoid becoming addicted to it, and here dark magic is classified much more meaningfully, and those who practice it don't stumble ineptly due to absence of books and methodical research about it.

Or, Dark is the part of magic which is more wild and independent, and difficult to control, when used.

Tom, with help of snakes, researches education and finds "Akren Mountain School of Magic" (or something similar). As schooling starts at fifteen years old, Tom would study at Hogwarts until then, but with help of snakes, he would be ahead of other students, and besides getting OWL results (if possible, O in every subject) before starting at Akren at earliest possible time, Tom would also practice wandless wordless magic. It would hardly be possible for Tom to get NEWT tests done, too, but Tom still would keep himself as far ahead in all subjects as possible.

Library (books in snake-language, written by Salazar himself) in the Chamber of Secrets and the Slytherin castle (to which the Chamber is connected) would help Tom while he is studying at Hogwarts.

Tom avoids questions about his heritage, because he doesn't want to be despised as half-blood or be flattered as Slytherin heir; Tom has his privacy and likes it.

Tom isn't a trusting person - he has hardly ever seen people helping him without an ulterior motive - but Tom, thanks to snakes, is wiser than his age and not as prejudiced as somebody might expect. Tom, in fact, envies vampires and thinks about becoming one, but he doesn't want to jump in blindly and be ordered about, though Tom does respect several-thousand-years old vampires, who must have accumulated immense knowledge, experience and power.

Tom studies soul magic, blood magic, and some other 'dark' branches of magic, besides healing (his ambition, for which the Hat put him into Slytherin; snakes are symbol of healing, and Tom strives to prove that snake-speaking should be associated not with Dark Lords, like in case of Salazar Slytherin, but with healers), wand-less magic, wand-making, animagi, cultures of magical beings, etc. Tom doesn't like the idea of cutting your own soul in order to become immortal, and the idea of becoming a vampire grows on him.

While Tom is beginning to study at Hogwarts, not only Albus Dumbledore is Transfiguration teacher, but Gellert Grindelwald is Defence against Dark Arts teacher, and the war in Europe doesn't concern wizards strongly, and is less violent than it could be. Ariana wasn't killed during the duel - she was harmed, and it stopped the duel, and Gellert, feeling guilty for casting the curse (it's not known who exactly cast it), used his knowledge to assist healers, that's one of the reasons that despite thirst for knowledge, including Dark Arts, Gellert teaches Defence against them.

Though Gellert is a Professor, he is still looking for more knowledge, and Deathly Hallows interest him, not practically (unbeatable wand), but theoretically (what does it mean to be the owner of the three of them, master of Death?). Tom hears him mentioning them, and speaks about them with snakes; they recognize the symbol and tell him that the second heirloom, which is still with Gaunts, is ring with the Resurrection stone. He decides, that he will protect it against being stolen by whoever greedily hunts for it, but will not hunt for other Hallows himself. Researching his family tree, with help of Goblins, he concludes that the brothers who originally owned the objects, are Perevells, but doesn't seek out who are descendants of other brothers. Tom allows the basilisk to leave the Chamber and roam the Forbidden Forest, on condition, that no human, vampire, centaur, acromantula, being recognized as sentient, should be harmed unless in self-defence, and any other being (not recognized as sentient) can be harmed only for food, not for a game; Tom also gives permission to petrify anybody who is a danger to school, on condition he is notified immediately, with help of snakes. Gellert notices the appearance of King of Snakes in the Forest, and its apparent unwillingness to harm anybody, and it becomes one more way to entertain himself, one more riddle to solve.

After Hogwarts, Tom does become an apprentice of a powerful ancient vampire teacher of Soul Magic and is turned by him into a vampire; while furthering his education later, Tom continues to hears from the snakes about Hogwarts (Tom doesn't like prejudices in the country, and is going to use his influence, becoming Master in several disciplines: Healing, Blood Magic and Soul Magic - and studying different cultures), and is interested in a promising student, Severus Snape, who has practically no friends, not ideal family, and is beginning to become addicted to Dark Arts. Tom uses Severus's interest in Potions to become his friend. At the same time, using knowledge and personal experiance from Akren, he prevents Severus from delving too far into the Dark Arts, and persuades Severus to transfer to Akren, later, too. Lily still is Severus's friend; Tom's visits open her eyes to the reality of 'Dark' magic, so she continues to correspond with him after he leaves Hogwarts.

By the way, Marauders, except for Remus due to his lycanthropy, become brothers by blood, and Severus is blood-adopted by Tom as his father (as mentioned before, Severus's family situation isn't ideal; and Tom's mention of blood magic might have given the idea to Marauders); sharing blood with a vampire doesn't Severus a vampire, too; but, Severus is protected by Tom and his clan against other vampires.

As werewolves and vampires are declared dark creatures, and Marauders by experience see that they aren't evil, and there was no Dark Lord recently, and no war, Marauders don't like the prejudices of both sides, and promote inter-house unity (they demand resorting when their sarcastic friend Severus leaves Hogwarts, and Remus and Peter become Hufflepuff, while Lily Ravenclaw, and James goes to Slytherin, while Sirius remains, after second argument with the Hat, in Gryffindor to distance himself from his prejudiced family; Sirius is, secretly from the family, friend of his brother Regulus, who is sorted into Slytherin). The pranks of Marauders aim to make fun of cross-house prejudices, to show insignificance and ridiculousness of them.

Gellert, who is still teaching at Hogwarts, identifies James' cloak as one of the Deathly Hallows. By this time, Gellert has already procured the Elder Wand - it leaves quite a visible trail in history - and has locked it down safely in Headmaster's office, under Albus's protection. With help of Hogwarts, the sentient castle, they find out that all three Hallows are in school, though belonging to different people.

Severus, who due to Tom's and Lily's friendship isn't as bitter as before, created Wolfsbane potion earlier and then continues to research it to make it less painful. Severus becomes Potions Master as early, if not earlier; one of the youngest Potions Masters. Unlike Tom, Severus reaches for high level of mastery in Potions, as it's his primary interest, while Tom researches mostly potions related to Healing and snakes.

When Lily and James have Harry as son, Remus and Severus become his godfathers, by blood; by this time, thanks to Wolfsbane, Remus isn't afraid to share his blood.

In this way, Harry is related by blood to seven people: Lily and James (parents), Sirius and Peter (brothers of James after blood sharing), Remus and Severus (godfathers), and Tom (father of Severus).

Tigress, basilisk and bat,

Stag, wolf, dog and rat.

The rhyme contains their primary Animagi forms (though in Akren it's said that every person has more than one form?).

Harry Potter grows up in the extended overprotective family with various interests (Lily - charms and potions, James - transfiguration and this broom flying game, Sirius - funny harmless pranks?, Peter - ?, Remus - teaching?, Severus - potions and ?, Tom - healing and blood and soul magic).

Harry grows up to be friends with all kinds of magical beings; he visits forest frequently, speaking with centaurs and gathering potions ingredients with Severus, who is Potions Professor in Hogwarts (no, Severus isn't greasy bat of the dungeons; Severus manages to convey his passion to students, and to be impartial enough even though he is the Head of Slytherin; and as he doesn't have to spend time on other pursuits like taking part in a war, Severus has developed potions to take care care of his appearance even after the most obnoxious fumes; Severus Snape is severely strict and fair).

Harry, in Hogwarts, goes to Slytherin (no wonder; Severus, Tom, and even James went here, and Sirius should have been, too). He befriends Hermione, and persuades her that prejudices go both ways (dark magic shouldn't be forbidden by light wizards, and muggleborns shouldn't be discriminated against by ignorant purebloods (who don't understand how developed Muggles' technology is), and ignorant Muggles shouldn't hate magic and wizards; yes, Lily and Severus told Harry about Petunia and Vernon; and Tom told Harry and Severus about orphanage, where he lived, protected mostly by the fact that with snakes' help, he learned to control magic early; but still the cases when magic was the only way to protect himself or snakes from bullies earned him strange reputation, and he was dislikes and avoided, or in some cases, viciously attacked, by those who knew that he was strange, and didn't know why). Harry also befriends Weasley twins, brilliant pranksters.

Harry, like Tom and Severus, goes to Akren after Hogwarts. Harry grows up to be a diplomat, becoming Master in History, Magical Creatures, and Cultures (of different countries, wizards, non-wizards, non-humans, half-humans), and advocates that all magical beings are equal and deserve respect. With help of other Akren graduates (including Mad-Eye Moody), researching ancient traditions of pure-bloods, and modern non-magical society (to understand Muggleborns, half-bloods, pure-bloods, and barriers between them, better), they better the society, which previously would have been welcoming ground for a Dark Lord, and a civil war.

As gift after graduating from Akren, Harry receives from Tom the ring, because Tom has sworn not to collect the Hallows, and because Harry is Tom's heir, through Severus, and James' heir, too. Harry is responsible enough to protect two Hallows without hunting for the last one; secretive enough to not flaunt either of them, to have them hidden; strong and knowledgeable enough to protect them; and entangling himself into politics, he might need position of master of Death some-when, whatever this title means, and he wouldn't abuse it, unlike Tom, who candidly admitted to himself strength of his wish to avoid death.

Harry and Tom also further Salazar's idea. Pre-Hogwarts education not only introduces muggle-raised to magical world; it also introduces wizard-raised to muggle world, science and technology; new subjects are introduced; as werewolf was allowed as a student here once, and didn't bite anybody, accommodations are now made to officially allow any werewolf to study at Hogwarts, and invitations are given to attempt similar experiment with a vampire student (though it's difficult to find a young wizard-vampire, there are some, who were going to be home-schooled before being sent to some school abroad, and several of them, with permission of appropriate clan, go to Hogwarts).

It will take time, but people will understand the branches of magic which were called dark, and with this understanding they will no longer be blindly afraid of Dark Arts, or Dark Creatures. There are no truly dark beings or truly dark magic; any creature and any magic can cause harm in appropriate circumstances.

Sirius, together with twins, goes into business; not only pranks, but also something similar to Muggle technology. Two-way mirrors are developed to become three-way mirrors, five-way mirrors, ten-way mirrors, etc, to allow communication of three or more people as a conference, and they are also covered by illusion to look like a mobile telephone to Muggles, to avoid attracting attention. Unlike mobile telephone, they can work in absence of cellular network, of course, don't need a recharge, and are protected against water, fire, and other impacts. There is also more difficult task of making a magical equivalent of computer which can actually connect to Internet without frying electrical equipment around.

Harry, with his knowledge of different cultures, frequently becomes an envoy to both non-magical and magical communities. So, when the disturbing news about criminals regularly dying from unknown weapon of vigilante (who calls himself Kira), simulating heart attacks, reach Britain, Harry becomes envoy to both magical and non-magical communities of Japan. The difference is, while in Britain Harry openly acted as representative of magical community, in Japan Harry will need to gather as much information as possible from people who don't know about magic.

It's clear that all victims are non-wizards, so the attacker has to be a non-wizard, too, and Harry has to infiltrate Japanese police forces. He takes place (advanced Polyjuice, so that there would be no problems with DNA) of a well-known operative, who unfortunately died in hospital from wounds, and had no family; pretending to be in unclear state of health, he ascertains, that he is allowed to transfer to Kira's case; becoming 'cured', he transfers to Kira's case, and uses only the objects which belonged to the operative, though heavily enhances the with magic: allows the mobile phone to accept 'calls' from his friends in Britain, recharges it from his own magic instead of electricity, muffles sounds so that any call would stay private; invisible sheaths with wands and knifes, for self-defence; invisible locket on the neck, with Hallows inside, not removable or open-able, without Harry's permission; computer, which can be attached to Internet, doesn't need electricity, and has privacy protection on screen, sound, and camera; pockets in clothes, which seem to be empty to anybody except Harry (and Harry can put many objects inside, and still they will be feather-light); auto-mobile has passive protection (against attacks, collisions, traffic accidents, thieves) always turned on, and can also be turned invisible, fly, or portkey, to a place (automatically blinding nearby cameras for several seconds); maps of different places now can show names of the people who are here at this moment, zoom in and out, find position of a person, log moves of a person during some period of time. The most noticeable give-away is that Harry has his familiar, with whom he refuses to part, and who can speak snake-language with him. And sensitive detectors can go haywire because of enchanted objects, but it can hardly be helped.