I'm done. After a year and a half of excitement, frustration, sadness, happiness, impish grins, and every other feeling that accompanied writing this, I'm through. I don't think I ever really expected to be done with this; it was a perpetual, never-ending job that didn't really have an end in sight until about five chapters ago. And it's over. The real seventh one is about to come out, and I can't wait to read it, but I don't think I'll ever really forget this one, either. It'll mention something about how Sirius is dead, and I'll be confused for the next five minutes before I realize that he's only alive in my fic.
I know, I said there'd be exactly fifty chapters, and this is number fifty-one, but then, it's not exactly a chapter. It's my acknowledgements. I'm not the only one who made this story possible. So here goes:
I'd like to list everyone who has ever reviewed this story, but you know who you are and I want you to know that I'm very grateful towards you. I'd like to thank Scoutcraft Piratess, who has doggedly read and reviewed almost every chapter from the beginning, faithfully pursuing it even when it was depressing or dull or poorly-written. And then there's Marpessa, my first-ever reviewer, who kept me going through the first ten or fifteen chapters, who suggested where I required suggestions, prodded where I needed prodding, and praised where I deserved praise. SkyHighFan kept me on my toes from about chapter seventeen onward; it might've taken four years if not for him.
Then there's J. K. Rowling. I know she doesn't know it, but I stole her book and her ideas and made them my own. Without her and her wonderful books, this never would've happened. Of course, there's always the chance that if she hadn't thought of Harry Potter, I would have, and then I'd be the one making millions of dollars, instead of the one writing fanfiction and posting it online… but I'm not bitter…
I have to thank my characters for going through everything I've put them through. I try to make them come alive, and even if I don't succeed in doing that on the paper, they're very much alive in my head, and it's almost like it's real human beings I'm torturing here. Everyone's suffered, and ultimately, it's all my fault. So thank you, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Remus, Sirius, Professor McGonagall, the Weasleys, Jorden, Draco, Snape… and everyone else.
And finally, I want to thank Juneaua, who showed me the whole other world out there, the one that complemented, clung to, went hand in hand with the world of books that I already loved. She showed me the vast, limitless possibilities in writing, in putting my own ideas onto paper (or, in this case, hard drive), not just soaking up the stories of other authors. She introduced me to my passion. Thanks, Mackenzie.
And so we go.