Well, I hope you enjoyed reading the fic as much as I enjoyed writing it (late at night when I should have been asleep). I'd like to give special thanks to two FF.net persons: Archforge and Heaven. They were both very helpful in the logistics of writing this, my first fan fiction and also offered me constructive comments and criticism. Below is a list of all the questions people have asked me so far. I may update it soon if other questions come up that I feel should be addressed.
A few quick facts about me, the author, that seem to have been muddled along the way.
1. Despite the fact that I write from Hermione's point of view, I am indeed a GUY; a 22 year old (straight) guy to be exact.
2. I don't hate Ron. However in my fic Hermione does seem to enjoy messing with his mind. But if you were Hermione… would you really be able to resist? See!
3. Despite the fact that I strongly state that I'm a fan of Harry and Hermione getting together. I honestly don't care enough either way to have arguments about it. So all those people who disagree or are for Ron/Hermione, you'll all okay in my book. I'm too laid back to get into debates about it, after all, this is fiction.
Now On To the FAQ!
Q. Are you going to do all four (or however many are out) books from Hermione's point of view?
A. Yes I am. At the time of this writing, only the first four books are out and I hope to have all of my fan fics done before the fifth one is out. After the fifth comes out I will do that too. I will do Hermione's summer months in the same format that J K Rowling does Harry's summer month (the summer before each school year is covered in each book). I'm doing the books in order. YES, I'm doing Chamber of Secrets, despite Hermione's short lived role in the book, I still have a plan for this book and I think you'll be very pleased.
Q. Where do you get your facts about the Harry Potter world from?
A. It's a little known fact that I've actually never read the Harry Potter series. How can this be? Well I actually have all 4 books on tape as read by the renowned Jim Dale. These books are unabridged meaning that every single word is read just like you were reading the book yourself (no narration or dialog is skipped) and I have listened to them countless times. Harry Potter is the only series of books I've done this way and I thought it was pretty cool but Jim Dale is fantastic. The only downfall to having never seen the words on paper is that sometimes I misspell things in my fic.
Aside from having committed all the books to memory, I rely on the Harry Potter Lexicon (http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/index-2.html). It is in my opinion the authority on the Harry Potter world and it has never steered me wrong. It's also the way I know how much time is skipped between the major events in the real stories and thus am able to fill in the gaps in time.
I don't use the movie as a primary source of information because the move isn't the book and is too far off in my opinion. Yes I "read" the books long before I saw the movie. I'm not saying the movie was bad (I bought the DVD for crying out loud), but think about it, if you went and saw the movie and then read the book, you'd be REALLY confused. I did use one little tiny cute thing from the movie because it didn't contradict the book. Those of you who know the books and movie inside out like me, know what it was.
Q. Is this an AU (Alternate Universe) Story?
A. Everyone keeps asking me if (or telling me that) this is an AU story? That's not my goal. My goal is to provide a plausible storyline between the gaps that are in each book. Obviously there are going to be some inconsistencies and I am going to take a little liberty here and there but remember I'm making all this up anyway as none of it really did happen in the story (fan fiction remember). If this really seems so far off that it's an AU then I'm not doing my job right.
Q. Why do you think Harry & Hermione should get together?
A. Well, I actually am of the opinion that it's what J K Rowling herself is headed for. If you read enough of her books you know that the plot is never going in the direction you think it is. She always keeps you guessing and she never makes the obvious move. Well the obvious move right now would be Hermione and Ron because all the signs point to it, right? So we know she's not going to do that because she never does something that obvious. My reason for Harry and Hermione is simple. At the end of book 4, Hermione did something she'd never done before as they left Platform 9 ¾, she kissed Harry. That was all the sign I needed to know where her heart really was. But hey I could be wrong.
Q. Why did you decide Hermione's wand should have a Sphinx hair for its core?
A. Well Sphinxes are supposed to be strong and intelligent, which is how I view Hermione. As we've watched Hermione grow through these books, we see that she also starts to view herself that way as well. It just seemed appropriate even if it's not true. In response to one reviewer's comments I did think of Centaurs but dismissed the idea because I got the impression Hermione doesn't really like Centaurs because they read the stars and "Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic." So there's my reason for that.
Q. What's with this "Anne" character? Why did you add her and what role will she play?
A. Anne has a very specific role. You'll see in my next fic.
Q. What if something in one of the later (unpublished) Harry Potter books contradicts what you wrote in this fic?
A. I'll do like any good politician and back peddle! Whenever I find a MAJOR contradiction I just go back and try to adjust my fic. I also try to be as vague as possible on things that I think may come up later. For instance, I never say what Hermione's parent's name's are or where she actually lives because there is a fairly good chance this may be revealed later.
Q. Your conversion of wizard money to pounds seems wrong according to the CNN conversion calculator.
A. According to the Harry Potter Lexicon (http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/index-2.html) the CNN conversion calculator is wrong because it uses a bad value for its basis. I use what is considered the correct conversion according to an interview with J K Rowling as described in the Lexicon.
Q. You allude to Gryffindor Tower being on the fourth floor of the castle. Isn't that wrong?
A. Yes, according to the Lexicon the tower is on the seventh floor of the castle (and fourth doesn't make since simply taking into consideration the size of the castle anyway). What I actually allude to is that on some instances the characters climb up "4 flights of stairs" to reach the tower. This is entirely possible considering the layout of the castle; also it is mentioned in the books as well so that's why I use it. I just assume that this must be the quickest route to the tower from the entrance hall.
Q. I found xxx error in your fic.
A. I'm always open to hearing any mistake in my fan fiction EXCEPT GRAMMAR. I honestly don't care about bad grammar in my fan fictions because I just write these for fun. If you want to tell me about a mistake with character names, location, etc., write it in a review. However be polite about it. If I find that it's something I truly didn't mean to do, then I'll probably fix it by the next day. However sometimes I do mean it and it's my fic so I reserve the right.
Q. I have a criticism about your fic.
A. Yea! I am always open to criticism as long as you're not harsh about it (I believe you call that flaming). If you think I could have done something better then I need to know that "for it is criticism, not praise, that makes a good writer." So feel free to say so in a review. However, unlike with errors I don't usually change the fic for critiques, I just learn from them and fix it in my next writing.
Q. Why are Pansy and Draco always together in your fic? Are you alluding to a relationship between them?
A. No, it was purely coincidence. After all this is from Hermione's point of view and to her Pansy is more of a menace than Malfoy's thugs.
Q. I noticed that you did "XXX" in this parallel of Sorcerer's Stone how are you going to handle it when "XXX" comes up in a later book.
A. I've already got that covered. I thought about all four currently written books when I started this fan fiction so I know how I'm going to handle the parallels of the other three books. The challenge comes if something in the unpublished books contradicts my fics.
Q. I really wanted Harry and Hermione to get together in this fic. How come they didn't?
A. Because Harry and Hermione didn't get together at the end of Sorcerer's Stone or any of the four currently published books for that matter and I'm writing parallels so I have to stick to what happens.
Q. What will you do if Ron and Hermione get together in book 5 or later?
A. I'll gag myself with a spoon! The thought of Ron and Hermione together makes me physically nauseous. The same thing goes for Harry/Cho and Harry/Ginny… however those are much easier to write parallels to from Hermione's point of view. Honestly though if it actually happens, I'll just go with the flow or write AU or something. I don't know. I have a feeling that JKR will just surprise us all by doing something completely unexpected and no one will get their wish.