Carol Layland posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 4:01pm

Oh, I do love this. An interspacial culture against a magical background? Wonderful! As a retired High School Composition Teacher I would have to grade this a A+++ extra credit for sheer use of imagination.

GJMEGA posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 3:43pm

Thank you for another excellent chapter.

Mark Safransky posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 2:40pm

That was an interesting chapter, loved the shopping scene as well as the sorting. The shit is going to hit the fan the first time Harry realizes that Snape has legilimesed him. Oh, will Sma realize that Dumbledore lied about investigating Quirrel anytime soon? That should be a fun arguement. Keep up the great work!!

Patches posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 2:09pm

Wow! This is really interesting. Harry is sceptacle about Diagon Alley, Ollivanders's especially and now has chewed out the sorting hat and then talked to it in Marain. Quite an introduction. The kiss goodbye to Sma set off McGonagal's morals of course. It looks like Harry is looking forward to maturity with Sma in mind. I look forward to more of this story. Harry will have to enlarge the books for the culture when he learns how. Thanks for writing. I always look forward to your updates. pms

Crys posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 2:02pm

And what will a Culture Mind make of the utter illogic of first year Charms? Wave the stick, say the words, and it levitates. Yeah, that makes sense.

Amusing story, though I have no grounding in the Culture and its series. Looking forward to the next chapter.

Especially looking forward to see how Harry deals with Snape.

uberwald posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 1:31pm

hooray, an update! and a good one! :)

Alex Mcpherson posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 1:29pm

Holy Fuck.

100 out of 10.

Muad'Dib posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 12:38pm

I may have read over it too quickly, but if the Sorting Hat is not allowed to speak about what is in a student's mind, how could they have had the conversation about what happened in the Culture's history in front of the entire Hall? After all, Harry would not have put the Hat back on his head.

Shepherd posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 12:33pm

Great chapter, but you left some stuff out that I had to read in the fanfiction.net version:

[Goodbyes at the Leaky Cauldron.]

[Harry will be going with McGonagall to Hogwarts, to be Sorted during dinner.]

[Sma quietly talks to Harry.]

[Mentions the "Stone" that the microdrone heard the staff talking about. Tells him to keep an ear out for any mention of it.]

Lee Dickie posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 12:01pm

Great chapter, thanks.

theform posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 12:00pm

yay! you've given us another chapter in this amazing story! really really good. well worth the wait. I think that yours is one of the best AU/Crossovers out there. Also, you have written in such a way that prior knowledge of either series is unnecessary, an ability that many writers lack. Can't wait for more! Harry in Ravenclaw!

Lon Huey posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 11:20am

Thank you for answering the pronuciation problem.

amulder posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 11:14am

Thanks for continuing.

Possibly the most original reaction to sorting that I can recall ever coming across.

Also quite funny what happened to the brother wand...

keep it up!

gadriam posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 11:03am

You know, i always considered mindreading as a greater crime than rape, but the Sorting ceremony never occurred to me to complain about. I really do appreciate the Culture's problems understanding Magic. It's like all those fanfics that try to sciencify the magic. There's no point. It's Magic, fer Robert's sake.

Thanks.

g

vl100butch posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 11:01am

I love this story.....very interesting twist with the Sorting Hat....

pfeil posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 10:47am

Love the Minds' problems with the shrunken books =)

Nice to see the little drones getting a better spy network than Fumblesmore's too.

Look forward to his first interactions with classmates, though I'm disappointed he won't be as close to Hermione as in Gryffindor. (Though really, Gryfindor is a crappy house anyways, and Ravenclaw's a boring one. I like it best when they're both in Hufflepuff, but that's rather rare.) I suppose he'll get to spend time with Hermione in the library. There must be at least some books there that weren't at Flourish's, so he'l have some uploading to do from his lace.

And how long until he gets some interesting questions about what the Hat said?

Oh, and good to see him stepping up with Sma ;)

perspicacity posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 10:43am

Wow.

Another outstanding chapter in a story that's rapidly ascending my short list of favorites. The sorting was brilliant--I suspect it was one of the scenes the author had in mind when conceiving the story.

314159 posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 10:13am

I rather expect it's already been mentioned, but there are several notes to yourself in the middle. In every other aspect, yet another chapter jam-packed full of awesome!

I'm rather looking forward to more.

nuclear death frog posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 9:42am

Glad to see this updated again.

I had somewhat expected an explosion of that sort when Harry encountered the Hat, and I am not surprised by it.

Was that exchange between Harry and the Hat all public, as far as I can tell? If not, that is going to lead to interesting questions.

Darrell2 posted a comment on Tuesday 30th September 2008 9:15am

All I can say about the sorting is this: DAMN! To oust the Hat like that as well as have more things revealed about the Culture does bring new life to the Sorting. I'm wondering if the Sorting Hat actually activated the Lace and downloaded many things about the Culture or if he read it from Harry's mind? Keep up the good work!