It's been a great deal of fun, trying to exorcise these people from my head, and I want to take the opportunity to thank all of you who decided to come along for the ride. I hadn't anticipated all the lovely feedback -- that wasn't why I wrote this; but it has been greatly appreciated, and I'm pleased to think that due to this I now have several friends (among them several very gifted writers) I wouldn't otherwise have met. And it's no less gratifying to know that people seemed to enjoy BNW, and that I, along with more established authors, may have helped tide people over until OotP.
It's come to my attention that I have a memory for certain phrases -- Rebecca Anderson in particular has been a victim of this -- and I offer my apologies to anyone from whom I may have unknowingly lifted anything without attribution. The Moral: don't read so much damned fanfic, no matter how good.
To answer a question from several correspondents, no, I have no plans to continue writing HP fanfic (other than the dribs and drabs that Snape is inserting into my brain for The Potions Master's Life). I explored what I set out to and got to play with my favorite, Snape, and I had far more fun than anyone has a right to. I think I may continue to write fiction, but as a far less-consuming pasttime and only when the whimsey takes me. (I will continue to work on The Potions Master's Life, but as I stated in the Author's Notes I'm going to take it easy.)
Just one or two little points which may have come up in email/feedback: I was rather worried, myself, when Severus made it clear that he was tired of dancing around the issue and decided to shoot the Unresolved Sexual Tension to hell. There are, however, advantages: Miranda finally got a real "inside track" on what was going on in the war and the Wizarding World -- even though there were things Severus had to intentionally withhold from her, which she didn't appreciate. And it also allowed us to see sides to (one possible) Severus that we'll never get from canon, written as it is from Harry's perspective.
I realize that my decision to have Harry leave the Wizarding World is probably controversial. All I can say is, in the course of several AIM chats and emails with various people, I was convinced that Harry was an "in-betweener" -- he didn't have the advantage of a "normal" Muggle childhood, nor did he fit in with the Magical world -- or rather, the expectations placed on him may have made him ambivalent about it, at best.
To TextualSphinx, who graciously put up with me referencing her work and granted me permission to use certain naughty euphemisms (Lenore is especially grateful).
To those authors whose work inspired me at one point or another, including but not limited to Kalina (The Buried Life, Desperate Measures), Anne and Abby, and Quillusion (Soul Searching). I may not have directly appropriated anything from their work (I hope), but they have given me many hours of enjoyment, and their Snapes are spot-on.
And special thanks to Miriam, Angel of the North, who worked as my Muggle Brit Beta for Books 2 and 3.
Where Queen Elizabeth Slept & What the Butler Saw: a Treasury of Historical Terms from the Sixteenth Century to the Present, by David N. Durant (St. Martin's Griffin: NY, 1996).
Many online sites, usually referenced in the chapter footnotes, for information on anything from London, Wilts, and Lancashire geography and ancient sites to Runes and Medieval marriage-practices. Thank God for Google.
All graphics, including contracts, letters, and illustrations were created or manipulated with Paint Shop Pro 7.
Handwriting fonts used throughout, by the way, are: Mistral (Snape -- also appropriate, given the actual meaning of the word), Medulla Oblongata (Miranda -- messy and artistic), Texas Hero (Albus), and Aenigma Scrawl (Harry).
Copyright Disclaimer:
All original characters and situations not belonging to J.K. Rowling or her agents are the sole property of this author, and said original characters, situations and descriptions are hereby Copyrighted for intellectual purposes. You may download chapters for your offline perusal, though I would suggest using "Save As HTML," as I may choose to insert some graphically interesting formatting; however, please refrain from using the original characters, etc., or any original dialogue, without express permission.