Hello, it's been several months. To everyone who has read and invested time in this story, I thank you, but I will be discontinuing this iteration in favor of a rewrite.
I feel this version stuck too close to canon, and with that I limited myself to J.K. Rowling's year-by-year format. Which, while ripe with potential for world building, makes the main plot of each installment — nevermind the overall series — a background event. Besides, we've all either watched the movies or read the books.
The Fireserpent rewrite will be a trilogy with a more focused and condensed storyline. Harry will start the story by training under Lord Voldemort for several years before a late start at Hogwarts, giving him both the rightful jadedness of an abused-child-turned-weapon and much of the knowledge of the world that we already have. In consequence, the story will engage with the darker aspects of the wizarding culture and magic from the beginning.
Dynamics among Harry's yearmates, particularly Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom, and Hermione Granger, will reflect their divergent personalities and the tensions of the interwar period.
That, and the first installment — The Fireserpent and the Riddle of Slytherin — will answer several questions that have been on my mind for a while. What if not knowing a single kind person before Hogwarts hardened Harry's heart? What if Sirius Black was a major part of Harry's life from the moment he entered the Wizarding world? What if the Hogwarts' students actually acted like they were growing up in the shadow of a bitter war of terror? What if the Heir of Slytherin, no longer threatened by the prospect of Hogwarts closing, was competently lethal? And what if Peter Pettigrew got to be an actual character during the events of the Chamber of Secrets?