
Unless the plot is extremely referential, I don't see how that's possible at all. There just ain't enough information.
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." Yogi Berra.

Eh, you'll see what I'm talking about after you read the final arc of the entire story, and then read Chapter 1 again.
edited 15th May '12 2:27:28 PM by EliezerYudkowsky

I'll have to re-read 1-3 again. This time I'll take notes.
3179 storyyeller13th May 2012 09:35:04 AM from Appleloosa
, Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1

More like giant cherries
Well that makes a lot more sense then. I was wondering who this mind reader was.


Pat. St. of Archive Binge
Eh, you'll see what I'm talking about after you read the final arc and then read Chapter 1 again.
I'll have to re-read 1-3 again. This time I'll take notes.
I need to do that as well. Luckily I have two monitors. (Well, three, but I don't have a stand for the third one.)
You fool,Elizier,you've doomed us all!
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

edited 27th May '12 5:17:45 AM by TamH70

Tam H 70, you say that if Hat & Cloak is Quirrell, it "would violate any sense of good story telling as far as I was concerned". But not all stories are mysteries, and even when the characters in a story find something mysterious, that doesn't mean the readers are supposed to.
This is a work of Harry Potter fanfiction, and it has to be written and read with different assumptions than if it were an original franchise. The fact that some things are different from how they are in canon does not mean that we should throw all our knowledge of canon out the window. To us, Quirrell is (or should be) obviously evil, and that does not mean we should say "Aha! It must be a deception! It will be who we least expect!" To do so is to set ourselves up for disappointment when the obvious happens.
What makes Methods good storytelling even when it comes to Who The Bad Guy Is is not that it's a huge mystery to be revealed, but that it fills the reader, who is familiar with canon, with fear and dread for what's coming. It makes him scream at the story: Don't trust him, Harry! Run away, Hermione!
We can see clearly who is behind the plotting because we know Quirrell is evil, but we have to bite our fingernails and claw at our eyeballs in despair as we see these innocent children, who we loved in canon and love in this story, get wound up in his schemes. We get to fear for Hermione's life like we were never able to do in canon, where she wore Plot Armor.
There are plenty of mysteries in Methods for us to worry about, but the identity of the villain is not one of them; the climax we're waiting for is to see not who he is, but how bad he makes things.
edited 22nd May '12 3:11:26 PM by 75thTrombone

Registerd here to share a few thoughts after rereading the first few chapters:
-The scene in diagon alley where Harry and Mc Gonagall are discussing the possibility of Harry being abused at young age and obliviated afterwards. This seems to be one of the key scences from the start of the story but is (as far as i rember) never mentioned again in the later Chapters. Maybe Voldemort made Harry a Horcrux intentionally or transfered most of his personality/memories to the young Potter and had them Obliviated afterwards. This would tie in with the theory that voldemort uses quirrel (or Quirellmort) to teach Harry to become a new "Dark Lord" and defeat Death.
-Also in diagon alley: i didn't remember from my first read that Quirrel was introduced this early in the Story (in Chapter 3). This might be another hint that he is the main villian.
-Same Chapter: it is already hinted that something is Wrong with the story Mc Gonagal tells Harry about who he defeated the Dark Lord.
Two things come to Mind. They never found the Body! Well they found a body but according to Mc Gonagall it was only a 'burnt Husk'. But the second thing is: how do they know what happend on that nigth if there where no survivors other than infant Harry? If there had been survivors, they would have to be the Deatheaters that came to Godrics Hollow with Voldemort, but why did none of them try to kill the infant that just obliterated their leader? It cant be that hard to kill Baby-Potter, just drop him off your broom or smash his skull with a rock. In the same line of thought, why did Voldemort even bother with the killing curse when other options where at hand?
P.s: i ve read elswhere that the horcruxing of the pionner had been confiremd by the author, but i couldn't find a source could someone send me/post a link? Thx
edited 23rd May '12 6:12:23 AM by amazingmuhkuh

I am not silly or stupid. I know Quirrell is a villain, or should I put it A villain, but he most assuredly is NOT the only villain in Hogwarts. Or indeed the only one who is doing villainous things for his or her own purposes. Why would Snape burn the notes he had Rianne place under Hermione's pillow that led her and her Society towards battle with the bullies and their victory over those said bullies? And who is Santa Claus? I know Dumbledore said that he was the one who put the Cloak of Invisibility, one of the three Deathly Hallows, in Harry's hands when he was in that discussion with Snape and Minerva after the attempted murder of Draco Malfoy. But wizards like him often say they did things like that to hide their fear of another player in their Game.
And he still set Narcissa Malfoy on fire while she was still alive. Unless and until that is proven to be false, in that very act, which he has claimed credit for, he became as much a villain as Riddle ever was.
And I must state this on record. We only seem to have Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore's word on what happened on the night that young Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres had his parents murdered.
What if he was lying? The sort of Big Lie that would fool the vast majority of the Wizarding World of Magical Britain's population, indeed, the vast majority of the members of the Wizengamot (a body that does not have long to enjoy its present existence, I warrant), but not those who stayed seated after Harry made a Dementor recoil away from him simply by shouting "Boo!" at it and added that to a list of things that to these wiser Wizards and Witches does not make sense at all?
https://www.evernote.com/pub/adelenedawner/Eliezer#b=90390ce2-1356-4522-959e-a300957704c5&n=dd273d9e-ec3a-429f-a6f5-65aa6518b67d
has links to where Mister Yudkowsky blabbed about the Pioneer horcrux.
edited 23rd May '12 6:31:37 AM by TamH70


From memory Dumbledore killed Narcissa Malfoy after Riddle killed Aberforth Dumbledore - it was his way of avoiding the taboo trade-off. Or his version of it anyway - not only will I let my brother die to avoid paying a ransom but I will kill one of your playing piece's hostages to fortune. I am not sure how long afterwards it was though. Draco was alive at the time, but I don't know if he was still a baby or if he was a bit older than that.
I wasn't answering you, I was answering 75th Trombone. I apologize if you got that idea from my post.
edited 23rd May '12 5:20:02 AM by TamH70

according to Mc Gonagall it was only a 'burnt Hulk'
Like this?"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." Yogi Berra.

After rereading the Chapter in which Draco tells Harry about how his mother died, he seems to have been very young at the time. He doesn't rember the events directly but relies on the information given to him by some Mister Macnair (Chapter47). The difference in age between draco and harry has to be small, since they are both in their first year. According to canon, harry's parrents were killed when he was around one year old. This timeline makes it very possible that the burnt corpse at Godrics Hollow belongs to Narcissa. But i can't think of a motive for Voldemort nor Dumbeldore to stage Voldemort's Death by using that specific corpse.
On the other Hand it still seems odd that Dumbeldore would choose to kill Narcissa, if he had the possibility to kill a person residing in Malfoy Manor, why not Lucius?
edit:
as far as my spelling mistakes go, that one has to be one of the more hilarious ones... fixed now
edited 23rd May '12 6:13:52 AM by amazingmuhkuh

edited 23rd May '12 6:19:11 AM by TamH70

"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." Yogi Berra.

edited 23rd May '12 6:28:36 AM by TamH70

"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." Yogi Berra.

What information do you believe to have that would allow you to get to a different conclusion than Harry, regarding Dumbeldores behavior? I feel like i might have missed something of importance.

3196 pagad25th May 2012 12:02:12 PM from perfidious Albion
, Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature

Sneering Imperialist
Wait, what? Dumbledore burns Narcissa Malfoy to death in this story? The fuck?
With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.

From Chapter 47, Personhood Theory.
""It, it must have hurt horribly," Draco said, his voice shaking, "Father never talks about it at all, you don't ever talk about it in front of him, but Mr. Macnair told me, there were scorch marks all over the bedroom, from how Mother must have struggled while Dumbledore burned her alive. That is the debt Dumbledore owes to House Malfoy and we will have his life for it!"
"Draco," Harry said, he let all of the hoarseness into his own voice, it would be wrong to sound calm, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for asking, but I have to know, how do you know it was Dumble-"
"Dumbledore said he did it, he told Father it was a warning! And Father couldn't testify under Veritaserum because he was an Occlumens, he couldn't even get Dumbledore put on trial, Father's own allies didn't believe him after Dumbledore just denied everything in public, but we know, the Death Eaters know, Father wouldn't have any reason to lie about that, Father would want us to take revenge on the right person, can't you see that Harry?" Draco's voice was wild."
So, yeah. If you believe Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, he set Narcissa Malfoy alight whilst she was still alive and stood there and watched her burn.
3198 pagad25th May 2012 02:11:35 PM from perfidious Albion
, Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature

Sneering Imperialist
That just sounds like horrendous Character Derailment. Ron the Death Eater levels of Character Derailment.
With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.

I never liked Dumbledore. Having the Philospher's Stone in the same place as hundreds of kids was always absolutely stupid, but he never seems to get called on that. HJPEV does, of course, give him both barrels for it, eventually. Of course, Harry doesn't know that it is the Stone that Dumbledore is using a whole school of kids as body armour for.
Yet.
Besides, it wouldn't be the only example of character derailment in the story. Draco is actually a character in Methods, unlike the charicature that he is in canon. And Ron, since you mentioned him, is only in the book for about five or so scenes.
I find it odd though that you react worse to the character derailment, (if any) of Dumbledore than to him setting Narcissa Malfoy on fire and watching her burn.
edited 27th May '12 5:19:45 AM by TamH70
3200 pagad25th May 2012 02:41:10 PM from perfidious Albion
, Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature

Sneering Imperialist
I find it odd though that you react worse to the character derailment, (if any) of Dumbledore than to him setting Narcissa Malfoy on fire and watching her burn.
Wrong end of the stick, mate. I reacted badly because burning Narcissa Malfoy to death is obviously beyond horrible, and because it's beyond horrible it's Character Derailment because it's not something canon!Dumbledore would ever do. He's definitely not above criticism, but canon!Dumbledore was never a sadistic murderer.
edited 25th May '12 2:42:25 PM by pagad
With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.