Children of the Dark - Year 3

Children of the Dark #3

by cleotheo

It's third year for Hermione, Harry and Draco. With Voldemort preparing to return to full strength, he has no mission for the trio. But it's hardly going to be a dull year with an escaped prisoner of the loose and a new Defence Professor, both of whom seem to have a connection to Harry.

- Dark Hermione - Dark Harry -

Genres: Fan Fiction

143 pages, ebook

Published September 5, 2015

Reviews

[Lexie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this will serve as a coda to the entire series (I'll update each of the reviews, but the review as a whole will be the same) as such there may be spoilers.

On a whole I enjoyed A LOT of this series. Across 7 "books" (+1 Companion book), 210 chapters, and around 1900 (pdf) pages I read as a rational, largely non-violent (though not particularly pacifistic) Voldemort led the charge in...making the Wizarding World better?

Like honest to the gods Voldy decided that the best way to beat Albus and the Order was essentially improve so many people's lives that the bleatings of the Order sound pathetic and uncompromising.

Well with a little bit of bloodshed.

Here's the thing - I dislike the Harry Potter books, even before JKR's terfdom became a malicious stain on everything she does, I didn't like the largely black and white nature of perception. Albus was good...because he wasn't a noseless tyrant who used "dark magic". Voldemort was evil...because he inspired dozens of people to revolt. Except Albus was content to use children to win his war against an evil wizard, and let them live in utter ignorance of ANYTHING to further his goals.


So yeah a rational Voldemort who decides to:
- give House Elf more rights (not FREEDOM, which they don't want, but rights to how they are treated)
- give dwarves more rights
- reconsider the laws about muggleborns
- reconsider how Hogwarts is run (newer teachers, MORE teachers, less "scare them into listening" classes and more practical classes)
- enroll students into a school when they're younger so they don't go into their First Year completely dimwitted or behind (to close that gap of knowledge disparity between those with money/status who can afford private tutors and those who can't/are muggle born) and also give them a chance to see if its even something they want to pursue

Frankly that's all refreshing. I appreciated the exploration of how the Wizarding World was outdated in his handling in all areas and little bit of freshening up would achieve everyone's goals.

I appreciated that Hermione, while clever and resourceful, did not always handle things perfectly...but neither did Harry. Plenty of mistakes born of arrogance occur and they all learn from those mistakes.

Except the Weasleys but we'll get to them.

I appreciated that largely interhouse friendships and relationships were encouraged because it could only HELP everyone in the long run. Have a competitive spirit sure, but that's no reason to completely shun each other. I appreciated that Voldemort's main attack on Albus was essentially "you left this kid to be abused by a family who hates wizards, with no knowledge of who he was or who his parents were, simply because you thought it was best" and that made a lot of adults (with kids of their own) look at Dumbledore and go "you did WHAT?" and lose faith in him.

What I sort of didn't like, and which I felt like got worse as the series progressed, was a problem I had with the original books. Voldemort and his family/followers were set up as the protagonists. Meaning at the end of the day, no matter what happens, it will work out. No matter the drama, the seeming dire circumstances, the plans that go awry...it will work out. Plot Armor Maximum. This is largely what saved Harry and his friends. Why frankly idiotic mistakes in the original HP books still meant things went fine.

Oops Dumbledore finds out that Hermione and Snape are related to Voldemort so they have change the plan quickly...nah its fine Harry still comes out of it okay and it actually HELPS their plan. Oh no Hermione is injured and needs surgery!!!! No worries, she's actually fine thanks to magic and a little bed rest while her assailants are now taken care of. LUPIN IS FERAL AND LOOSE AND LOOKING FOR REVENGE AND HE BIT DRACO!!!! Don't worry, we got a much tougher werewolf on our aside (Greyback) who despite rumors is actually rather charming and not at all a feral sociopath intent on killing everyone.

It just kept going like this. And much like the original books it got more and more ludicrous.

This series shined when it shed light on the fact that the Wizarding World was ass backwards in how they handled things. If Albus (or really anyone who knew of Harry's existence prior to Year 1) had visited him at the Dursleys even ONCE after he was placed there as a baby, the whole gig would have been up. If anyone had bothered to look into what REALLY happened at the Potters that night instead of jumping to conclusions and not doing a thorough investigation (something Voldemort was adamant his followers always do) a lot of misplaced rage and anger could have been spared.

And then we have the Weasleys. Oh the Weasleys. I don't like Ron. Or Ginny. Or Percy. Or Molly. Or Arthur. I liked the twins (who didn't? even Voldemort liked them and found them to be clever, ambitious boys), I liked Bill and Charlie....in the original books. Here that entire fire (aside from the twins) were just...how did they live? How did they survive?

The twins take a neutral stance. Essentially unless a War between Light and Dark actually occurred, they were not involving themselves. Percy more or less disowned his family completely. Ron went so far off the deep end of hatred, bigotry and vengeance that quite honestly he was more of a Dark Wizard then anyone else. Ginny followed pretty hotly in his footsteps while Charlie and Bill were just...awful. That entire family (aside from the twins and Percy) were twisted.

I honestly believe that the author of the fic must have HATED the Weasleys for what she put them through.

Meanwhile we had some really loving, functional (and randy) adult relationships! Lucius and Narcissa, Beth and Voldemort, Snape and Rosmerta - they were all big on communication, supportiveness (but not blind obedience) and knowledge being power.



So your mileage my vary. The writing dips and curves around being a shade too juvenile at times, and there's a lot of repetition about things (a lot of smirking, a lot of reminders about who everyone is, etc), but overall I enjoyed the last month of reading and how much thought the writer put into making the Wizarding World better.