Author's Notes, the Future, and What Was Supposed to Happen

I was a little disappointed by the reactions to who you thought Ginny's mystery man was. I left several clues pointing to Lee Jordan. Though I also left one pointing at Nathaniel Krum, who is the guy from the ball. Of course I didn't really leave any clues to it being Draco but I did try to hint that Ginny liked him in the first chapter. As for Neville I connected him with Belle at the ball and tried to show that it wasn't going to change. I guess I will just have to make things a little more obvious and hope people pay a little more attention to the details.

Hopefully in a few days I will be starting a new story with Neville and Belle. It will probably start at the Ball and some pieces will overlap with this story. Her name, Belle Black, is a clue as to the direction the story will be taking. All I'll say at this point is that she has a big secret that only her parents know. And that secret greatly affects her life and Neville's.

This story didn't go as planned at all. The first change was the addition of the starting chapter. Initially it was going to start at the Welcoming Feast but I had planned Ginny having a secret man at that end. I quickly decided on Draco so I had to bring him into the little circle of friends so it didn't seem so awkward at the end.

The next major change was the amount of love story involved. This story was supposed to revolve around Quidditch and play lightly with Hermione/Krum and Hermione/Harry. The amount of that included in the story was far more than I wanted. However, the stuff with Gabrielle, Ginny, and Harry was all planned in order to interrupt Harry and Hermione. Also, Harry and Hermione weren't supposed to get together until playing the Muggle and Squib school with Hogsmeade being their first date.

The reason for making Whizbang/Fizzingtons a muggle and squib school was also eliminated. I initially wanted Harry to run into a girl from Little Whining that he was friendly with. However, I quickly eliminated that, so there is no reason for the school to be for muggles and squibs.

Lastly the final chapter didn't end how I planned. The meeting by the lake wasn't supposed to be so dominated by Harry, however I think it works. Also I was going to have Dumbledore retire saying that his job there was completed. I might have to add that into Neville and Belle's story. For the most part everything else is how I wanted it.

As for naming things there were a couple ways I did it. At first it was whatever came to mind, that is the reason for the Dursleys. When I named the Fizzingotns' Quidditch team I took names of Oregon State University football players. The names for the items in the Hogsmeade store and the store itself took a while. However, the item names Spanish. Teleapatia means telepathy and Hielo is ice. The store name came about because I like alliterations and wanted to convey that it was a jewelry store. So Michelle's Magical Metals. The naming of the Durmstrang team was partly convenience but some of the members have meaning behind the French origin of their names. You might be particularly amused by one of them.

And I thank all of you that read and reviewed the story. I could have used a little more constructive criticism because how am I supposed to get better if you all say is my story is good.  I hope all of you will read the upcoming story about Neville and Belle.