#ges4

[greeneyedsnake]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

“Actually, Harry…would you like to go see Winky?” she asked tentatively.

Harry opened his mouth, intending to say that he didn’t think there was anything new that Winky could tell him, but when he saw Ron nodding and waggling his eyebrows enthusiastically behind Hermione's back, he changed his mind. “Yeah, all right,” he said.

Hermione’s face split in a wide smile and she led the way toward the cellars. Ron and Harry fell into step together behind her. Ron leaned over and whispered, “You won’t be disappointed.” He was grinning almost as broadly as Hermione, and rubbing his stomach in anticipation.

[greeneyedsnake]

Enjoyed your take on the Second task, including the part with Harry saving Gabrielle and Draco. The more I read the more I get excited for the climax of this volume. Looking forward to the next chapter.

Thank you! I really hope it pays off for everybody once we finally get there. I’m excited for you all to get to read it! Just a few more chapters to go...

[greeneyedsnake]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

“History of Magic this afternoon, too,” Harry said, and groaned. It had always seemed highly unfair to him that a class about the history of the magical world could be so boring. It was better than Divination, at least; Professor Trelawney had a habit of predicting Harry’s death, which he found extremely annoying.

“The worst thing about a ghost professor,” Draco complained, “is that he’s already deceased, so there’s no chance that he’ll drop dead in the middle of a lesson and let somebody more interesting take over the class.”

Harry laughed.

[greeneyedsnake]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

When the Triwizard Tournament comes to Hogwarts in Harry’s fourth year, he expects to be sitting in the stands with his fellow Slytherins, cheering on the school champion, but someone else has other plans in mind. Harry soon finds himself trapped in a dangerous, perhaps even deadly web of lies and secrets. With whispers of Voldemort’s growing strength haunting Harry’s dreams, who can he depend on to stand by him against dragons and darkness?

[greeneyedsnake]

i understand if this is considered a spoiler, but i wonder whether Draco will react like Ron did in canon if/when Harry's name comes out of the Goblet.

Well…(no explicit spoilers under the cut, but speculative thoughts heading in the direction of spoiler-ish territory; be warned!)

Draco doesn’t have the same insecurities Ron does. He hasn’t got five older brothers overshadowing him. His parents are completely devoted to his every whim (not that the Weasleys don’t love Ron – they love all their kids, but they love all their kids and don’t obsessively dote on/spoil any one of them) and they have a tendency to swan-about bragging and showing-off how awesome (they think) they are, and he does the same thing, wanting to be just like them (especially daddy). Draco likes attention…and, like Ron, he has a lot of ambitious hopes for his future: he wants to be, more than anything else, the perfect son and heir. He wants to be the best, and more than that, he thinks he deserves to be the best. His parents tell him he’s perfect; he believes them (which yes, lots of parents think their kids are “perfect” but few of them are quite so serious about that as the Malfoys). That means that when anything happens that compromises that artifice of perfection – Hermione outscores him, for instance, or Harry outflies him in Quidditch try-outs – he feels personally offended. How dare they be better than him? Don’t they know who he is? He’s a Malfoy, nobody gets to be better than him. So when Harry’s name comes out of the Goblet of Fire and Draco’s doesn’t…will he be furious? Will he be hurt? Will he delight in sidling his way into Harry’s limelight? Will he enjoy bragging about how he’s best friends with one of the Hogwarts champions?Will he believe that Harry is telling the truth about not putting his own name in? Will he blame Harry for cheating him out of a chance for glory that could have (should have) been his instead? Will he make some badges about how “Potter Stinks” and hand them out to everyone at Hogwarts? Will he embrace the fact that Slytherin House has a champion of their very own? Will this be the final straw that turns him away from Harry’s side and back toward his prejudiced roots?

I’ve actually been planning how Draco is going to react to Harry’s name coming out of the Goblet of Fire since I started writing the first book in this series, and nothing that’s happened since has caused me to deviate from that plan. So I’m very excited to finally get to this point, so you all can see for yourselves whether I made the right choice or not. I’m not going to tell you what that is in advance – but I hope you’ll all be pleased when those chapters post! Thank you!

[greeneyedsnake]

Excited for the next volume. I can’t help but wonder, should be great. Out of interest in the final chapter of Dark Mark, which of Harry team mates stood up, I’ve always like your version of the quidditch stuff, I hope Harry remains seeker

Oooh, that would be telling! No tbh while I have ThoughtsTM on who did and didn’t, I actually don’t have it set in stone in my own head yet because I’m waiting to see how things evolve with everybody over the course of the next book before deciding (if I ever do; maybe it won’t come up and Harry will never find out exactly who had his back at the moment and who didn’t).

Thank you so much for the compliment about Quidditch, it’s both enjoyable and difficult to write so I’m happy to know that’s it’s coming off well! (All due credit to Aaron Allston for teaching me how to write good aerial combat competition.) No further comments regarding spoilers save to say that Quidditch, at least, will continue to be of import in the next volume in general.

[greeneyedsnake]

Loved that ending, can not wait for volume 5. Great name by the way I liked it gave me a clue about fifth volume.

Thanks so much, on both counts! Apologies in advance for the lengthy wait between now and book five whoops. ;)

[greeneyedsnake]

The final part of Dark Mark should be a fun good read, can not wait great series so far each chapter makes me excited for volume 5

I hope so! And I really hope you all are willing to stick around until I can get the next part going; I’m really looking forward to finally breaking-free and going all-out on this divergence! Should be fun!