Hem hem.
Warning, story spoilers ahead...
Well, I seem to have confused some people, so here are some facts around the story that were supposed to be aparrent but aparrently aren't. It wasn't supposed to be easy, though. Oh, well. Let me spell it out for ya - consider this the extended, even longer, special edition of the author's notes. :)
Please do NOT NOT NOT feedback this chapter or story using the form at the bottom of the page. If I have to update this page your review will be deleted by the Portkey automated system. Please (pleasepleaseplease?) use the form on chapter one.
1. Voldemort was defeated, by Harry, in late October, 2014. Harry returns from the dead by the end of the story to defeat him at 2nd Hogwarts. The "second rise" of Harry Potter happened a few days before the anniversary of King Henry V's win at the battle of Agincourt, now also the anniversary of 2nd Hogwarts and the (final?) defeat of Voldemort. Henry was called Harry by many and is a common British niockname (like John F. Kennedy was called "Jack" by all that knew him well.). One of Shakespeare's most famous lines was about Agincourt. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers..."
2. Yeah, I brought Sirius back. No reason for him to have gone in the first place.
3. Ron (well, I implied Ron, but coulda been anyone) betrayed Harry at first Hogwarts - I left that to the reader as to why (or even if), but we know it's in him (think of how he was over Harry getting into the triwizard tourny). Ron then sacrificed his life to bring back Harry, and somehow Sirius came along for the ride.
4. Hermione married Harry, had kids, served as editor of Hogwarts, A History for many years before her daughter Lily took over.
5. Lovegood Publishing - Luna's family of course.
6. In this fic, Ginny has had -something- awful happen to her. She may be dead, may have gone bad, something. It's up to you. Maybe she's dating Crabbe AND Goyle.
7. Yes, the "writer" of the article is our own favorite Cum Laude graduate and permanently disfigured Dudders.
8. Harry is alive and well (in my mind) at the end of this story. Hopefully he's happy, too.
Any other questions? PM me on talk.portkey.org, user name XhaLe. Oh, the work-in-progress fic is titled, at the moment, "HP and the Knights of Thyme." I'm about four chapters in.
A reader gave me a REALLY cool idea - that I open up the HAH universe to other writers. I think it's a great plan - let the Portkey shippers at it before the R/Hr or H/G folks latch onto anything similar. Just think about it - writing your OWN piece of Hogwarts, A History. Well, I think it's cool, anyway.
The challenge is that any story in the series can't invalidate any stories previously posted. For example, someone could write an excerpt of chapter 637, in which we're told of Ron's life in those five years between Harry's death and resurrection; the writer could explain why Ron was NOT the traitor, but he/she can't change the fact that there is a grave on the Hogwarts grounds with his name on it. The writer could, however, use any number of ways in which Ron could come back (mirror of erised, time-turner, maybe it's just deep stasis and some phoenix tears could revive him, etc), or to explain how Ron didn't die at all and it was just a (insert plot here).
In other words, each writer would have to play in the gray areas left by all the authors before him/her, or write about events which are not detailed in any previous installments.
Basically, you could write about most ANYTHING you can imagine.
So the rules for anyone interested in writing a chapter of Hogwarts, A History:
1. No shipping H or Hr with anyone but the other. All other ships are fine (yeah, even slash), so long as they're within the Portkey.org rules.
2. You MUST send XhaLe a PM on the talk.portkey.org boards. Just because I wanna know. :)
3. Excerpts and chapters must not invalidate previously posted excerpts and chapters. However, you can provide a different perspective, viewpoint or provide new information. The goal here is continuity; that's what has to be preserved above all.
4. The story must focus on events in which Hogwarts is featured.
5. NC-17 is allowed, but how much smut have YOU read in history books?!? (and if it's a lot, you have to tell me what books! :)
Any takers or ideas?
Oh, please feel free to post this to any other places it might be relevant. I'm still new here, so I probably have no clue they exist. :)