Wind That Shakes the Seas and Stars

Sacrifices Arc #5

by Lightning on the Wave

Fandom: Harry Potter
Relationship: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
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AU of OoTP, Slytherin!Harry, HPDM slash. Snape begins the year with a mistake that sets his ward against him. Now Harry is using all his own considerable cunning to ride out the multiple storms, even as the Second War goes into motion.

Genres: Fan Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, M M Romance, LGBT, Romance, Mystery

3494 pages, ebook

First published June 23, 2006

About the author

Also known as Limyaael.

Reviews

[Julesmarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, I was curious and just went to double check word counts on the longest books I can remember reading.

The Shadow Rising: 393,823 words
Les Misérables: 530,982 words
War and Peace: 587,287 words
Atlas Shrugged: 645,000 words

Which officially makes this (at 786,063 words) the longest story I have ever read. But, wow, has it been worth it! Even coming off of the almost 1 million words that make up the first four stories, I find myself fascinated enough with this world and these characters that I'm not beginning to tire of them.

I mentioned in my review for #4 that I agreed wholeheartedly with another reviewer who'd said that this was the most well-crafted fantasy world she'd ever read. I can't help but reiterate that again here. The stories are so long because they're so fantastically and beautifully well-described. Each of the characters is fleshed out and so, so human. We get to go through their moments of triumph with them, as well as their moments of disappointment, terror, frustration, or loss. I find myself more attached to this Harry, this Draco, and this Snape than I've been to almost any other fictional character in any other story.

I enjoyed this one even more than the previous ones, because it feels like Harry is coming more and more into his power. He's coming to know himself better and is in more control and able to rely on others more when he knows he needs to. Because of that, he's able to accomplish things he's not been able to before. And Draco is right there with him every step of the way.

The way they worked together to achieve Harry's plan at the end there, and earn their Voldemort-free summer to spend with each other healing was spectacularly beautiful. And the way they both knew that neither could have done it without the other and acknowledged that... fantastic!

The battle in this one has to be my new favorite battle in any Harry Potter story I've read yet--actual cannon or fanfic. The spells are more original, the action is more nail-biting, and getting to see so many of the characters I've come to love so much involved was amazing.

One of my favorite things of this series so far: (HUGE spoiler, I just couldn't NOT say this!)Fred LIVES!! I was in tears for George's lines about how he's having to think of a future where it's just HIM instead of THEM, and then Fred wakes up and starts insulting him again and all is right with the universe again. YES!!

This journey reading these stories has been fantastic, and I'm so very glad there are still over a million words to go before I have to say goodbye to this world and these characters!

Favorite Quotes
"If you hurt him," said McGonagall softly, "I will Transfigure you into a mouse and set you loose in the castle."

Now we can either stand here asking whose fault it is, which frankly strikes me as a boring way to spend an argument,

No one's mistake means the end of everything. We can inflict deep wounds, but the wounds can heal.

Be savage, and be fierce, and be free-willed.

The onerous tasks are usually life itself, not something to be pushed aside so you can enjoy life.

In fact, Lucius was more than usually pleased with the world today. He did hope that wouldn't affect the way that he planned to torture James Potter. He would hate to think he was being kind.

"Sometimes you simply have to say fuck caution."

"So many people we could have been, so many things we could have done, so many other roads we might have walked, broken and stripped away."

The woman who, more than any other, had made him what he was, but not what he might become.

"Ah," said Vera. "I see by your scowl that you appear to have arrived at a conclusion."

"For we are alive in the past as in the future, and the present is the moving shuttle that connects the tapestries of both."

"When you've hung on thorns intent on eating your heart for two months," said Rosier softly, "cold doesn't seem to really matter anymore, and neither does hunger, and neither does sorrow. Poetry does," he added, as if he thought he should clarify that for Harry. "But poetry always matters."

They would continue moving, and choosing from day to day, and likely arguing until they had hammered out all the sources of Harry's anger and distrust, and Snape's anger and overprotectiveness, and then they would find new sources of anger and distrust and overprotectiveness.

"You're offering me a duel?" he asked Moody.
"Yes." Moody grinned wolfishly as he pulled out his wand. "You don't get a chance to have a proper one often, do you, boy? It's charging about and wandless magic this and draining Voldemort that."

"They're being hypocritical, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to struggle uphill through vast wastes of idiocy just to propitiate people who claim to value what we already have."

"Allow them to feel emotions in peace, but not to control your actions."

George was trying to contemplate a he instead of a they, a future that did not have Fred in it, and getting nowhere.

Madam Pomfrey, who came, gave them both an incredibly hearty scolding with the words "internal injuries" in it, and then fed them a sleeping potion. Well, she gave Fred a sleeping potion, but it didn't matter who drank it, George thought, his hand firmly clasped in his brother's, because they were a them again.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is long. This book is really long. This is longer than Atlas Shrugged. This is as long as the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy--twice. This book is too damn long.

"But Katey," you say. "Remembrance of Things Past is my favorite book. I re-read War and Peace every year. I am not afraid of a long book."

Well, hypothetical reader of my review (not sure who you are, no one reads my reviews), neither am I. If all of the hundreds of thousands of words are used well. And in this case...they're not.

Okay, this is fanfiction. I recognize that. It was written and posted chapter by chapter and not edited as a whole, which leaves me amazed that there is a coherent plot, let alone the overall quite excellent one that was produced. And admittedly, it has fewer typographical, spelling, and grammatical errors than some books I have read that are published and presumably did have a professional editor working on them (the notable exception being the author's use of "insure" when "ensure" is meant. I suppose it could be a valid regional variation, but I looked it up and couldn't find any evidence of that, so I think it's just one of very, very few errors in this, and it is unfortunately repeated often). Where the editing is really needed is in the content. I feel like there are a few conversations that Harry has over and over again with different characters, for example. Yes, it makes sense that he would have to tell these people separately, but it is not valuable to the reader to entirely repeat information that we already know from the last time he told someone. I can remember a few instances of redundancy in dialogue like that. In other places, it probably would have just benefited the book to cut down the overall verbosity.

Sometimes I thought back to something that had happened previously in the series, sure that it had been one or two books ago, and realized it was earlier in the same book. It felt like too much was going on in such a short period of time.

All of that said, I did enjoy it. I will continue to read this series. I just think it could have benefited from having about 10% cut from it, which still would have left it as a long book, but with a better use of that length.

[Finnegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting to read this...more than 700 000 words... Is going to keep me busy!

Finally finished it. This is next-level fanfiction, the original story has been expanded and evolved into a great fantasy novel. So much detail and imagination, it blew my mind. This is not an easy read, though. It is DARK, angsty, and very long. But well worth it in the end.

[Janina · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's long ... really long. And some parts .. mostly harry's internal struggles and some details about minor characters are maybe a bit too long. But, it's still one of my favorite works of fiction. Despite not being original fiction, it's amazing what the author did with what little (compared to this world) jkr provided. All those spells, the way magic works, the differences between light and dark magic, the ideas about freedom and will, the magical creatures, the villains, the battle scenes, politics and rituals ... it is simply breathtaking. I can't wait to continue on this journey ... though I will keep myself from reading on for a while. Despite the vastness of the story, it is still far too short and I hate the fact that it does end eventually.

[Debbie Hazeleger · Rating 4 out of 5]

still one of the greatest Au's I've ever read

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

The odd thing that Lightning on the Wave can do is make me hate the characters' choices and actions at times, and yet still furiously flip through more chapters in a vigorous dedication and obsession. The writing's just too good, so vibrant, imaginative, that I rail against the story enthralled with it's brilliance.
*Mature content: The language and content in this installment is so much dirtier than the others. The others were so innocent of words and sexual mention that this part of the Sacrifices Arc is downright filthy. Nothing explicit, no sex scenes, but uncouth if amusing references and insults to it. It's actually quite hilarious and yet fairly disconcerting at the same time -- likely indicative of a poor transition and integration of more rough prose and descriptions, but still (always) a good read.
*Lucius/Narcissa: Extremely scary. That kind of vengeance is terrifying (and secretly super awesome). Their battle-dances are also scary awesome.
*Henrietta and Rosier: Approve. Continue. (Am I seeing a complementary theme here?)
*Voldemort: Dark Lord or not, he's extremely childish. A rather poor Great Nemesis, I think, because he's so one-dimensional. He has the most boring thought patterns evidenced by his POVs in the story. And he doesn't seem the least bit intelligent, either, which puts a damper on my enthusiasm and eagerness for a good villian. He's just too childishly malevolent. I have no respect for him. (I love that he was neglected as a child, though -- makes a fascinating parallel to Harry. Bravo, LotB, for such shivering connections.)
*Magic over blood: A really hard concept for me to come to terms with -- that's just really intense. But very interesting concept, so I love it for it's possibilities.
*Harry's mind: I'm deeply pleased with Harry's complete destruction in his mind, and then his reordering of it. That was intense and AWESOME. And then, even in lieu of that, he still suffers ramifications because he wasn't aware of their presence when he was razing his mind. Respect. (And how cute is it that Draco's Harry's heart of his mind? Too cute.)
*The Light Lord's magic: Or rather, no longer the Light Lord. I mean, holy hell, I was not expecting that to happen. It was fantastic. I mean, fuck. Suck it, Dumbledore. The Light itself rejects you.
*The Dark Lord: is Dumbledore? HELL YEAH. Dumbledore is hell of a lot better villain than Voldemort, and now we have two Dark Lords at once, no, three! Crazy good stuff here... Man, who'd've guessed? I must gush. This is perfect. And really, Dumbledore, to have succumbed so quickly after freedom, pathetic.
*The battles: Fuck yeah, the battles. God they're brilliant. Churning props for the Chamber Battle with the Many snake.


choice quotes:

So he nerved himself, braced himself, and leaned forward to kiss Draco, gently, on the cheek. "Thank you," he whispered into his ear, while Argutus grumbled and adjusted his perch, slithering down his left arm to coil about his wrist, and he heard a few of his allies buzzing. "You don't know how much this means to me."
"Enough for you to kiss me in public." Draco's eyes were brilliant when Harry sat back. "I think I do, Harry."

And he had let himself slip into an argument with Snape instead of ignoring him completely. That alone said that Snape was important enough to him that he couldn't debate rationally.

The spiders gave a massive click of their legs, and then scuttled off, spreading out in a black carpet. Harry gave a howling laugh, and began to stalk after them, murmuring something under his breath. Draco strained to hear as he jogged along at Harry's right shoulder.
"They anticipated our attack, but Voldemort isn't here. He's still too badly wounded, I think. This will be fun."

Harry was so much a vates that he had spread an unconscious influence of his own in response to Albus's spell, to tear it apart. He wanted freedom, and endless possibilities, for those he cared the most about, and for those who had chosen to follow him. If they volunteered to be overprotective, or to turn against him, that was one thing. If he did not know them well, or if he blamed them for something, as he blamed Auror Mallory for the arrest of his parents and Albus, his protection did not extend over them. But Harry and his magic and his will would shield the people whom he felt he did owe something to from an outsider attempting to transform them against their choices.

"It won't hurt you, Lucius," said Severus, catching on to his caution then and giving him an exasperated look. "Draco would never forgive me if anything happened to you, and what Draco doesn't forgive, neither does Harry."

"I go. I cannot let you down, not when I am that cunning and clever and brave and loyal."

"Do you do that all the time?" he asked.
"Quite a bit of the time," said Harry.
"I'm so glad that I chose you as a friend," said Argutus happily. "That was fascinating. I can't wait until the next time we get to do that."
Fawkes gave an indignant warble as he settled on Harry's shoulder, and in Harry's mind appeared a vision of the phoenix and Harry shining with light, while Argutus lounged behind them, a dim shadow. He had helped with dismissing Dumbledore's web, the vision said; Argutus had done absolutely nothing.

Draco told himself it was not childish to go a little weak in the knees at the sight of Harry as he came out of Snape's office. His eyes were ablaze, as they tended to be in moments of high emotion, and Argutus glowed with shifting colors on his arm, and Fawkes shone on his shoulder. He was aglow with light, but not the weak kind of Light that Light wizards served and Draco's father had often told him to beware of, lest it should trick him into servitude through false promises. This was light like lightning, like sea-fire blooming and leaping on the masts of a doomed ship.
This was light that made Harry look really damn good.

"You would die," said the Many simply. "There are enemies everywhere. We have met with our little brother, the snake you gave the name in the tongue of wizards. He told you about the attacks on you, on him, on everything and everyone dear to you. The vates may die of age or in breaking a web or in fighting the mighty wizards, but he will not die because of a shot spell from an enemy he should not care about. She is here to defend you from those you trust too much, those who creep up on you."

"Fifteen points from Ravenclaw for insolence to a professor," he said mildly, and saw Turtledove's eyes widen. Ravenclaw was already almost in negative points, though Trelawney still awarded points, unaffected by what was happening in the school, and Sinistra took pity where she could. "Now, I want to know what you were doing following Harry. Didn't that teach you anything?" He nodded at her reddened face. None of the professors had been able to remove the curse, though everyone but Remus, Acies, and Severus had tried. They'd concluded that the end of the sunburn would have to wait for the end of Harry's anger at her.

"Reports from Madam Shiverwood of the Department of Magical Family and Child Services indicate that all children need to be touched regularly, or their growth is damaged," said Madam Bones, a stern rasp in her voice. "This is even more essential for wizard children than for Muggle children, as their magic needs to seek out the companionship of similar power, and learn to stay under a child's skin so that accidental magic stops happening. Given that, Mrs. Potter, will you really say that teaching your son to avoid touch was not abuse?"

They arrived in the courtroom just as his mother was finishing her testimony. Draco avoided both his father's and Snape's glare—though he flinched more at his father's than at Snape's—and settled Harry back from the balcony railing in an empty seat. Harry just conjured a damn window in his palm, of course, so it obviously didn't really matter where they sat.

The room was a gaping cavern now, large enough that Harry knew it would extend out of Hogwarts entirely if its dimensions were normal. The walls were made of a dense dark crystal, slick and gleaming, but smooth enough to present wavering reflections of himself and Draco. Harry's wonder increased as he watched strings of silver move under the crystal, the worms that fed on it and spun it. He knew this substance, now. Called ianthinum, it was less rock than living thing, a growing matrix that slowly increased as its worms did. And it absorbed whatever magic was thrown at it. It had supposedly existed around Merlin's time, but because no wizard had seen ianthinum since, Harry had had no clue if it was real or just an old legend.

The gryphon:
No one can see me but you, but everyone can see them. They are a mark. I feel like marking you. You acknowledge me too little.
If I must be tied to someone else. I suppose you are not the worst choice. At least you are powerful.
I am tied, said the creature at last. Against my will, since you forget about me so often. But things will fall out as they will. It may be that the tie will be severed at last, and I need not worry about you. Or it may be that I will find my home with you. It hissed again, and the teeth snapped an inch short of Harry's face; he'd jerked his head back just in time to prevent it taking an ear. A poor home that would be, and yet I would not mind it when the time came.
You can't help me. You're as much a victim of this tie as I am, as he is, as all of us are. The bird-creature extended its wings and leaped up, hovering. We must wait for things to fall. Perhaps you will be pierced. I would like that.
You have not learned. You will not learn until it is too late. Unlike the other times, the bird sounded almost cheerful about their mysterious binding this time, or at least smug. Then we shall have to live with each other. I suppose you are not so bad. Entertaining in your stupidity, at least, to still think you can hurt me. I can be wherever you are, Harry.
You haven't learned the truth yet, have you? it asked, and extended one claw, bright with his blood. You haven't learned how to dissolve the bond that links us, and at this point, with every mark you bear, the chance of your learning becomes less and less.
You understand nothing of what has happened. If you knew what I was, you would still reject me, because you are that way. You set harsh limits on yourself. You know nothing of what lies ahead of you, at the end of the dark road. The bird cawed its laughter again, scarlet eyes fastened on his face. And when someone tries to teach you the necessary lessons, you shrink into yourself and lash out. You are weak. That shall be your downfall.

"Albus Dumbledore," it said, the hissing forming into words as the voices of snakes must when Harry or Tom spoke to them. "Did you ever think what you were doing, when you took the title of Light Lord upon yourself?"
"You have not thought," said the gryphon. "I will tell you. I have watched you for a long time, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. I sensed the power in you, and I waited, and hoped. You declared yourself a Light Lord after you turned from the vates path, and you promised that you would do good among the people of the wizarding world. You were a compeller, but you promised to do good, and promises can counteract the darkest of inborn intentions. Free will is the most wonderful of gifts, and I trusted you to use your compulsion in the defense of the free will of others.
"You battled the Dark Lord Grindelwald, and so emerged fully into your power. The magic on which you drew was contented. The song of the sun and the moon and the stars in their spheres was not unknown to you. You heard it in your dreams. You might have gone on growing, to become one with the Light in a way that no one has managed since Calypso McGonagall.
"Alas, that you did not do so." The gryphon's voice descended into a whisper. "Alas, that you have become what you are now."
"You changed," said the gryphon. "You began to make sacrifices. That would not have sufficed to change your good intentions to twisted ones, if they had been sacrifices that you made yourself. But you asked them of others. You bent their wills with tactics that any Light Lord should have scorned. A true Lord of Light has no need of compulsion to enforce his will, nor deceptions and subterfuge and glamours to make others believe that which is not true."
"And even now you doubt me," said the gryphon. "Even now you think this is a falsehood. You have fallen so far into yourself that you have lost the ability to distinguish between truth and lies. Only a short time ago, you were desperate. Do you remember that? You were convinced that you needed to destroy the vates. And now, you think that you are glad that you did not succeed, because you believe you can still control him. Your thoughts run and flow like water, molding themselves around you, so that you can think anything rather than think that you are wrong."
"I have come because I think now that there is no chance you will ever change," said the gryphon. It moved forward, its feathers rippling like light on water. "I waited on opportunity after opportunity for redemption, and you have never taken any of them. The Dark does not care what its Lords do in its name. I care for mine. You have lost the right to call yourself a Light Lord. Even cornered, you do not admit the cornering. Even presented with proof of your wrong, you do not admit the wrong. And that is not what a Light Lord should do. A Light Lord must see."
"It is done," said the gryphon. "I cannot touch the Dark Arts; they are yours. But you are not a Light Lord any longer. I do not accept you. I turn my back on you."

"You love your Harry fiercely enough to go through any storms beside him, I can see that. What you must know now is that the storms are unlikely to end. You dream of a haven where you can live with him and be untroubled, but that will not happen. Your Harry will forever cast himself into danger's path. He does not know the meaning of relaxation, he is only slowly learning the meaning of pleasure, and he will never learn to look aside from the suffering of others. You must decide if you can bear that, and the wounds it will put on your heart."

Yours in all gratitude that the English language offers, and some that it does not,
Charles Rosier-Henlin.

Harry sighed and looked around Wayhouse. He tried to frame a question in his mind about the house taking another heir, not sure it would hear him.
Can't, came the immediate response. Won't. Shan't!

"I wanted to ask you something," said Harry. "Bear in mind that this is purely hypothetical. I wouldn't want you to think it was real." He braced his hand on the Gryffindor table and leaned towards them. "Would you want to open up a shop to distribute your jokes someday?"

Harry bowed to Lupin, then turned and walked back to the Slytherin table as if nothing had happened. He left behind a terribly changed and charged atmosphere, of course, and Draco didn't have to look at Lupin's shocked, stunned, slightly teary face to know that. He'd just flung a declaration of war in the direction of those who opposed giving werewolves equal rights to wizards, and, for those slightly more alert, in the direction of those who valued some pureblood families less than others because of their lack of money.
And Draco could see other people accepting that. There was little most wizards wouldn't accept, even opposing politics, or ones that challenged ancient prejudices, for the chance to work with or otherwise secure someone like Harry to the family. Magical power was one thing, but there were people who wouldn't follow Voldemort just because he was powerful. Now Harry had shown he had wealth, and the obvious willingness to follow the most ancient pureblood traditions in at least some matters, and determination like a hurricane, and adaptability, the quality that so often made the difference in wizarding duels and on battlefields, the quickness to roll from one spell to the next and become what one needed to become to survive. Harry had shown that in the way he used an ancient oath to swear something quite new.

What he doesn't know is that this is me, Draco exulted. Fashioning insults on the fly is something I'm good at, like spells. Just because he has to plan out what he says in advance doesn't mean I do.

"We shall," he said, and strode past Draco to take the lead, letting the delight grow in him for the moment. It was not as though the other emotions would not come back later.
I have a son. And he is worthy.

Laziness, said the implacable voice of the room. You are capable of great things when you push yourself to be. Most of the time, you will not push yourself. You lapse, you do not work, you allow yourself to be conquered. That is intolerable.

"I think you can do this, too, Harry. And if someone asks you why you've changed, explain. Most of your allies and friends would be thrilled to know that you're trying to become a stronger leader instead of simply losing yourself in the small problems."
Harry had to snort a little, at the sound of someone calling the wild Dark a "small problem."

"Granger's a freak of nature," said Draco firmly.

He was absurdly glad, now, that McGonagall and Lupin and the rest hadn't been with him when Harry came through the barrier, even though at the time he had hated them for giving up too easily. He wouldn't have wanted to share the sight of Harry without his robes with anyone.
Perhaps his guilty enjoyment of the sight meant he was a bad person. Draco preferred to think of it as a gift from some kind fate that had noticed his patience and his worth and given him that brief glimpse as a reward.

Reversals such as this were not supposed to happen, not to the mightiest Dark Lord in ten generations.

Draco sighed dramatically. "And you'll deprive me of my chance to appear in public as the boyfriend of an all-powerful wizard," he said. "That's just like you, Harry."

He controlled his urge to gape, putting in place the mask Lily had taught him for formal occasions like this—mildly appreciative, but deeply unimpressed—and turned to follow Draco across the front of the room to the table that stood at the far right wall.

Harry took a deep breath and forced it to relax. "And then I can go to the Sanctuary. I need to get past the lingering traces of these soul-wounds I bear. I'll bring Snape and Draco with me if they want to come, and if they would be welcome."
"Your Malfoy and the Bitter One are more than welcome," said Vera.

"Now that we've talked about the emotions," said Honoria, her face and voice very bright, "can we shag?"

Fred grinned at him, and George grinned back, thinking that this was really the perfect way to test their new products. Protected by their illusion, no one could see them to hit at them, and that meant they only had to dodge randomly fired curses and, now that they were among the giants, wildly swinging clubs. And since they had both been Beaters on the Gryffindor Quidditch team for the majority of their school careers, that was no trouble.

The Fisher King Curse created the wound that could not be healed except by the caster, just as it had when Augustus used it on Adalrico—but instead of opening it on Voldemort's ankle, Harry opened it in his magical core. At once he began to spew power, losing it like blood.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have come to absolutely adore this series. I have been thinking what exactly is so brilliant about it, and I have come to the conclusion that it is the psychology and the world-building as well as the plot(s). It's also very intense, and I love intensity.

Now, you can say that this world is built upon that which was thought up by JK Rowling. True. But 'Lightning on the Wave' has expanded upon Rowling's world so much that it has taken on a life of its own. Rituals and culture, both Dark and Light, spells, magical creatures, original characters and the expansion of canon characters that were mostly mentioned in passing in the original books, the way Magic behaves. It's stunning.

And the psychology. I love the psychology in these books. The way characters grow and develop, turn out to be traitors or turn to Harry's cause, also the way we are persuaded to care about and sympathize with characters who have been or are still pretty evil or unpleasant. Unpleasant people (Dark but also Light) have good traits as well, and people who you expect to be good (Light but also Dark) do bad things. Draco, Harry's lover, is still often an arrogant brat. Lucius Malfoy is strong and protective, but also cruel and vindictive. Snape goes on a journey of his own, but he doesn't suddenly turn into a sweet guardian, he's still bitter and unpleasant to most. Morality, convictions, relativity, everything is being scrutinized. It's all so layered, gradual and realistic.

The numerous plotlines are pretty brilliant. How someone can think them up, start them subtly, pick them up later, while finishing other plotlines and starting yet new ones, it's beyond my capabilities. Generally I don't like reading about politics, but the way it is interwoven with the adventures, the drama and the personal journeys of the characters I don't mind it one bit here.

I really hope that the author will be or is already writing an epic original story that can be published, because they are very, very talented. To me this series is really up there with the likes of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. And it really does surpass the original Harry Potter books in many ways.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Closer to 3.5 in reality, but I’m rounding down.

Fifth book in The Sacrifices Arc, and the one with my favorite name in the series, Wind That Shakes the Seas and Stars picks up right where Freedom and Not Peace left off. It’s dominated by three plot lines: the abuse trials against Harry’s parents and Dumbledore, the open war against Voldemort, and Harry’s reactions to both of those. Plus the romance with Draco heats up.

—————————

The good:

• This book introduces some of my favorite characters, Charles Rosier-Henlin and his sons, Indigena Yaxley, Honoria Pemberly, Argutus the Omen snake, and Thomas Rhangnara, all of whom are exciting and memorable in their own ways. The author also adds great depth to others we’ve before: my appreciation for McGonagall and Scrimgeour grows with each POV scene, and I was enamored with what (admittedly little) we got from Connor and Pansy.

• Some of the most memorable scenes in the series: Lily and James’s abuse trial, Harry in the Room of Requirement afterwards, the attack on Henrietta’s house, Harry fighting the Wild Dark, and Draco and Harry taking down Dumbledore are the big ones. The Midwinter fight is so memorable, in fact, that I’ve thought of it every winter solstice since I was seventeen.

• Amazing to see the prophecy come true in such an unexpected way, tremendous payoff for everything that came before it. Excited to see it happen twice more, especially since I don’t remember how Falco Parkinson gets taken down.

• The Midsummer battle: couldn’t get enough of Light wizards showing what they’re made of. We got numerous perspectives, no punches were pulled in terms of violence, and the good guys won in the end—everything I could hope for in a battle; I enjoyed every second of that fight.


The bad:

• It’s such a boring choice to make a Bad Guy House out of Ravenclaw, considering a huge achievement of this series is its rehabilitation of the House villainized in canon. That’s been building since No Mouth But Some Serpent’s, and it came to an obnoxious head that I hope dissipates in A Song in Time of Revolution. (I don’t know how much of that one I remember.)

• We got chapters upon chapters of how learning how weak the wards are, seeing what the specific damages entail, hearing of and even watching McGonagall and the Founders fix not only the ones on the castle itself, but also the grounds. But, unless I missed it, there’s NO explanation for how Voldemort took them down so easily enough that Hogwarts was put under siege after a ~twenty-minute fight. Why spend all that time successfully fixing the wards only for them to fall in such a way?

• Why get the ball rolling on the werewolf plot 75% into a book that’s already got so much going on? Insane decision.


The exhausting:

• No book needs to be 1.5x Stephen King’s The Stand.

• Harry’s constant backtracking on personal growth. I actually had more sympathy for Harry on a human level than I did last read-through, now that I’ve seen people in my life have pretty comparable relapse cycles. But having a better understanding of something emotionally does not make it more fun to read. Seeing the same conversations over and over is a real drag: Harry doesn’t see himself as a person, he doesn’t talk to anyone, he considers his abuse no big deal. We get it already.

All the blame isn’t on Harry here, either: Draco and Snape almost never gave him in benefit of the doubt, even when his actions seemed perfectly in line with a real teenager rather than a product of Lily’s training. (Particularly, not bringing up dangerous situations because they’d make a big deal out of it when everything was fine, who cares?) Or when Harry jumped in front of that curse to save Connor—I saw zero problem with that and truly didn’t get why almost everyone did, especially after Harry explained his reasoning.

(Though this may be a Gryffindor vs. Slytherin thing: once a new friend and I were swimming in the sea when I recognized we were caught in a riptide. I yelled at them to swim parallel to the shore and escaped it myself before long, but I turned back and saw they were still struggling. So I jumped back in, pushed them out of it, and had to break out myself again. When I told my mom this story, expecting her to be happy with my decision, she said, “Okay but what about you?” and the question truly did not compute because I truly saw no other course of action I could have lived with.)

But Draco and Snape even yell at Harry for “risking his life” because he went outside to check out the storm and got struck by lightning. That wasn’t even his fault, and Draco did it too anyway. Give Harry a break.


The unfortunate:

• Maybe it’s because I’m a member of an at-risk group about to live through an administration that has explicitly targeted people like me, but I do not think Harry’s dedication to both Light and Dark minhagim—or rather, lack of dedication to both—has aged well. Being undeclared is okay, obviously, but right now I’m extremely sensitive to anything even approaching “both sides bad” rhetoric.

Similarly, Harry’s willingness to look past his allies’ former crimes when they haven’t even expressed remorse for their victims or agreed to behave differently in the future is grating on me. Adalrico pressured Harry about the Black Plague spores he used as a Death Eater. Hawthorne was grieving so it’s more excusable, but she did her Red Death curses on Yaxley when she could have just killed her and taken that danger off the board entirely.

And look, I LIKE that these are fully realized characters that we can empathize with even as they’re committed acts of evil—at the end of the day, everyone IRL is a person with his own rich inner life no matter what wrongs he’s done, and for a variety of reasons, it does no good to dehumanize anyone. But Harry’s embrace of them despite their active prejudice against Muggleborns makes me think of people who are like “My dad buys my mom flowers every Friday after work and coached all our soccer games and loves baseball. He also thinks migrants are subhuman scum who needs to deported and trans people should kill themselves, but none of that makes him a bad person.”

Thankfully, in this book Draco finally start to realize his dislike of Muggleborns is harmful. Good thing, too—I don’t know how long we were supposed to take Harry seriously as vates when he was dating an unapologetic racist.

• I could be wrong about how this goes because I don’t remember the next installment well, but this book seems to set up that Henrietta Bulstrode will teach Transfiguration next year, and Edith Bulstrode will be taught privately in France, and I REALLY fucking hate that. We got Harry as Edith’s champion this book, and we saw her living a happy life in Gryffindor with people who were kind to her for the first time, but now because Henrietta wants in on the war, Edith has to throw her new life away? I’m glad Henrietta showed up at Midsummer and saved Hermione, but Harry should have sent her straight home afterwards: obviously the harmed party’s comfort comes before the abuser’s preferences. I’m going to be next-level disappointed if the next book priorities Henrietta’s growth at the expense of her victim.

———————————

I’ve written a ton of complaints here, but I think that’s inevitable with a story as large as this: the bigger it is, the more opportunities there are to make mistakes. So I want it known I DID like this book a lot, evidenced by my finishing it in the same time I did as Comes Out of Darkness Morn (three times shorter than this). The plot was engaging, the world continues to develop in exciting ways, and the characters can’t be beat. But the timing of where we are in the world right now has unfortunately worked against my enjoyment of the themes and has made me wary of some of the writing’s implications.

[Errant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to give 5 stars - not because it was perfect, but it was close enough. It hurts. Sometimes it hurt so much, but never too much. And I can bear the torture scenes as well (especially Lucius with Lily and James Potter - that was precious!) but there were times when I wished so very hard that someone finally would slap Harry in the face with a big and smelly fish (literally), but I know that every little flow he has what relly made me angry is part of the reason why I love this series so much. Yes, I started to read Saving Connor about a week and a half ago but (or because of that) it's very part of my daily live.

The scene where my heart broke (long before Fawkes did what he did) when Neville helped with his magic and said something like that that the Light knows the worth it, the Light asked his help. And then (a few days after) Harry also asked his help and he said to him that he can't hide anymore from him. Neville is one of my favourite canon characters, from the beginning (I mean Socerer's Stone, halfway maybe when he stood up againts our little Golden Trio.) along with Severus (he is from the first Potions class, that man can use alliterative words really well) and Fred (I relly hoped he won't die here as well - interesting though, I don't like George).

And another confession: I always hated Lily. Canon-Lily, fanfiction-Lily, it doesn't matter. He hurt my little darling and she finally paid for it (although here not because of her sins against Severus, but Harry, nonetheless, I'm happy about it. Does it make me a bad person?)

[Chalilodimun Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this story. It took me a long time to finish it, but that's not a con for me because I like to have something that I know I like but that I can still discover. Big word numbers don't scare me.
I think my favorite part in this book was the trials of James and Lily. It was so very heart-breaking, I loved it. The author is so very good with the multiple POV and how everyone have their own goals and wants. That's basic, you may think, but I've never NEVER seen it made with this kind of skill, it's awesome. I really like this book, it's my favorite this far. (And as every new book was my new favorite, I guess the next one will be my favorite too.)
I must say I had some difficulty ending the story because of the battle in Hogwarts. I'm not a fan of battles but don't mind reading them, but yours are kind of gore/grotesque that it's difficult to read. I think it's great that she's able to write this kind of things, but that's not my favorite kind ^^'
To finish this review, I'll say that I just love Harry, he's my favorite character. I like his personality, his ideals, his mindset, how he wants to do what's best, but life is not having any of his sh!t. Poor Harry, I love him, I hope he'll finally heal in the sanctuary. I can't wait to read the next book.

[Dominique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh my word.
I did not realise how long this was. It took me so long to read that I was starting to feel really disheartened by the whole process because I was reading for HOURS everyday and making hardly any progress.

I enjoyed it, but it was much too long. I understand that there was a certain level of detail that was necessary for the 274629 sub-plots, but it got a bit much.

I enjoyed this, but it was so freaking long. So much so that I don't actually remember enough to make meaningful comments.

I have decided to take a break from this series until my December holidays when I have more time. Although, since it does get so much darker, I might stop here. I'll have to see how I feel.

[Tobe · Rating 4 out of 5]

It got dark. Very dark. I had to take a couple of months hiatus. Read maybe 60 angsty/fluff Drarry fics in-between before I felt grounded enough to return to this. After the dark, there was a lot of brooding, which I'm pretty 'meh' about, followed by a battle, which is also not my cuppa. However, this continues to be a richly detailed and fascinating AU.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wish I hadn't waited so long between the previous book and this one. These books are of formidable size and it was easy to forget small details.

2025: I don't know what possessed me to reread this. I can't even say I was rereading the series, I just opened the fic on Ereader Prestigio and started listening. It's good and I've already started book 6.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be the best one in the series. It's hard to tell -- in large part because the characters do SUCH a good job at growing and changing from one book to the next! -- but I think it really hits its stride here.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing read. The entire series is amazing. One of my all time favorite hp fanfics.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved most of this book. Harry dealing with Snape's accusations against his parents(even if Harry was quite stupid over it) and the trial. Much of the action is very compelling and I'm hard to please in that area. This story does a great job of blending emotion and character conflict into the action scenes. My favorite bit has got to be Dumbledore. That he's the target of the prophecy. Holy cow! He is such a great villain.

There are other parts I could have done less of. All the new allies just dumped at once. It's followed by a scene where you see every one of their POV's for one scene. And for some of them, that's the only one they get. I get a large cast being more realistic, but I just didn't see the point of some of them. And I'm not into some of the political stuff nearer the end. The dancing with Light wizards and speeches about magical creatures. And Loki. I get that's important to the story, but it's not the part that appeals to me.

[AJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the longest book I've ever read (by a long shot), but my god it was so worth it. I've loved every second of this series so far. There are so many subplots running concurrently that I never get bored and the character growth is superb! I'm so excited to see Harry starting to heal, and feel myself healing along side him. This series is everything I've needed and more.

[Sean Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crikey, this was long and, yes, as hard to stop reading as the rest. I grew a bit restive toward the end, the buildup to the final battle felt a bit drawn out and the results too, even though they weren't terribly long in comparison to the work as a whole. The author said they needed a break and I can see why after this, it's a nice resting place for the final 2 books in a couple of days.

[Rebeca Antonio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't cry from stress during the whole book like in the other 4, which is already a good thing, plus I think this one so far is the best book of the whole saga because I really felt everything more relaxed, I don't know what to expect in the last two books and that scares me a lot.

[gabriella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember being SO psyched when they found out part of the prophecy was abt draco!! And finally drarry scenes!!! I rlly expected snape to die in this one (just foreshadowing unfortunately )

[julka ʚ♡ɞ · Rating 5 out of 5]

devastating but i loved it

[Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book put me through the wringer. I started reading it and it put me through so many emotions and I had to take a break from it. Now I finished and I have to say it was a long ride but I still love this world. It was worth the time I put in it and I am excited what will happen next. Following are some of my thoughts as I read the book:

- what is it about Harry suddenly freezing out Snape? I understand being upset but feeling don't just go away! They have such cold conversations and it's so sad... I completely understand Snape's point of view, Harry is milking it too much

- I have to say I still don't think James deserve all that. He was blind o the world around him but he was trying to change and trying to help now... and idk maybe I don't understand abuse in that detail but it just seemed like he was not abusive. He was negligent, yes, very much so, but I think that's not a thing to go to prison for, that's how you loose your child...

- changed my mind on James when he was in the jail awaiting trial. he's a child himself. He's acting soo ludicrous. why did the author paint him that way? on the other hand now I understand everyone's point of view and also don't want him with harry anymore. he's feeble. he's like peter in the original series....he will just say anything to get out of trouble (but still small minded)


- Also it's starting to bother me how blind Harry is. This is his character in the original HP series I know...he always rushes into things without much thought, but Jesus he's really only a teenager here and really acting like it.

- I like Connor in this one, he grew up!

- out of nowhere mention of joining....wow he's ~15!! I mean I know that Malfoys' think about their political future but WOW. (kinda weird tbh)

- I really don't like Pansy Parkinson. She's behaving like Harry's her arch nemesis when it wasn't even his fault. I know she's just a kid and it's understandable that she wouldn't understand, but she's really over the top with her reaction. I think it would be more believable if she couldn't even look at Harry or talk to him or cry a lot (that might not work for purebloods but whatever she's ~15!). I really did not feel bad for her at all with how she's acting.

- finally Harry's made to face healing!!!! FINALLY!!!! Maybe he'll act a little smarter now in his personal life and opinions about himself etc..

[Michelle Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omg, I'm finished. I actually finished! This book, I hesitate to call it a story, is huge! It's actually the longest book I've ever read in my life and the next one is almost as bad.

There are definitely parts that drag slowly and that could use a really good editor. However, This book and this series is still the best FanFiction I've ever read in my life. It's really, really good and I can't wait to read the next one

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, but soooo long.