Goodbye
Wow! It's actually over! I can't tell you guys what an adventure this has been! Thank you so much to everyone who read, commented, left kudos, etc! You are valued and appreciated!
For anyone who is hoping the story gets continued: it won't be :( This is for several reasons. The first, and primary reason, is that I did this because of a class. I teach at the college level, and created a class about fanfiction. Their final project is that they have to write and publish online their own fanfic. I don't ask students to do something I would never do/haven't done. So, I went ahead and wrote a fanfic. I've been an avid reader for a while, and I've always created them in my head. But the only reason I actually wrote down this one is to be able to tell my students I did this too.
When I started this over the summer it was amazing! It was cathartic and freeing and fun! But then school started back up in August. These past few months have been really tough. Trying to make sure I keep up with the chapters on top of grading and lesson planning and all my other work has been killing me. I am a writer of all different types of things. Along with fanfiction, I have regular fiction and nonfiction. But it's been a real struggle to write my own original works. I am so creatively tired after finishing the fanfic, that I don't have energy for anything else. I really want to get back to work on some of those. Now, my school has transitioned online because of the coronavirius, which is adding extra work, so I'm even more drained than usual.
The second reason I won't be continuing, is because redoing the sixth year would be even more stressful! With the fifth year, I could keep a lot of the major plot points the same—only changing the ways the characters got there and reacted to it. That wouldn't work for sixth year because of the changes I've made to the fifth!
Sirius being alive changes everything! Harry will have a different attitude and outlook, which will be a good thing, but more complicated to write. Also, because the dynamics with key characters are different, basically ever major thing would have to be redone. How do Harry and Dumbledore come to terms so Dumbledore can show Harry everything he has too? Given Harry's new relationship with Snape, it is unlikely that he wouldn't find out early on that Snape is the Half-Blood Prince. That will change everything about that particular plot line. Also, given that Draco is Harry's boyfriend, he won't spend the entire year stalking and trying to figure out what Draco is up too. He'll know, and though their relationship will have roadblocks, it will also change how Draco approaches the task.
Plus, I also think that now with Umbridge gone and Harry's newfound love for teaching, he would like keep some form of the D.A. alive. Instead of secret meetings, have some sort of tutoring sessions.
All of these ideas really excite me to think about, but the idea of writing them down is terrifying and stressful. I really need to take the rest of the semester to focus on teaching, and then I can focus my summer on creative projects that have been put to the wayside so I can finish this. I hope these little tidbits of information about how I would continue the story help ease the pain.
I'm not saying I'll never come back and finish it. But I mostly likely never will. So thank you to everyone who stayed along for the ride!