That was a truly touching, Hufflepuf-fy story. :) However, there is an error that I think you should rectify. It is mentioned in HP 6 that Hannah Abbott was pulled out of a Herbology class and told that her mother was found dead. This means that she had got an OWL in herbology, since Hogwarts students are required to clear their OWLs to continue with 6th year NEWT studies.
Author's Response: Glad you liked it, and thank you for pointing that out! When I was considering which subjects she would receive an owl in, I thought I remembered her breaking down during a Herbology class in 5th year, sobbing that she was "too stupid to take OWLs" or something like that...so I decided against Herbology. However, I had forgotten the detail you mention. I have fixed it in the story; I replaced Care of Magical Creatures, which I was having second thoughts about because of how Harry and Ron say in the 6th book they don't think anyone from their year would continue to NEWT level. I do like my stories to be correct canon-wise... :)
Different and interesting.
Author's Response: K...thanks!
This turned out amazingly! I am so glad that I could help with this. The parts you added a perfection and really bring out the depths of not only Hannah, but her mother as well. I also love the foreshadowing when she mentions she'll probably end up marrying a Gryffindor who is like her father. That part definitely made me smile! Wonderful, lovely, awesome job on this!
Author's Response: Thank you so so so much! This was reworked from something I wrote for English last year--a character sketch of my own mom--so I guess it was always going to be about the characterization of the family members. Your pointing out the things I could expound on helped with that a lot! Foreshadowing, teehee...I wanted to make it seem like she did respect Gryffindors, too, so I was writing about that, and then I just couldn't help adding the Neville bit.
I certainly didn't expect this...so much emotion and depth in the second conversation. You have described my own mother, now gone for 18 years! Her heroic battle was with cancer...6 different kinds in 10 years...and she faced each one with an incredibly upbeat attitude and determination none of us could fathom. The death of a parent is never easy (I was 40, the oldest of three like Hannah). I commend you for this excellent story. Wish it had been submitted for a MNFF contest.
Author's Response: Thank you. The Mrs. Abbott in the story was originally my own mom, but she sort of morphed into being very much like my grandma, who died two years ago after a long struggle with Alzheimer's. I'm so glad you see your own mom in her, too...that's amazing, fighting so many cancers like that!
I liked this story very much. It is gracefully written, and the many details flesh out the depiction of the character of Hannah's mother. In this world there are probably many mothers like her; they are not flamboyant, but they are what keep the world going.
Author's Response: That reminds of a quote I have up on my wall: "Women hold up half the sky." I guess this doesn't account for all the mothers who hold up three and a half skies at once...
