I believe I owe you an apology.  I wrote 2 reviews on chapter one.  One of the reviews reflected more on my pet peeves with all fanfics and life in general than it did on your work.  The other review focused on one aspect of the chapter, but not the most important one (to me).  If you’ll forgive my poor expression in those reviews, I’d like to try again.

What I failed to express before was my overall feeling about ‘Per Aspera Ad Astra’ and ‘Per Asperissima Ad Astra’ – that I have loves, likes, and dislikes.  Note – not *one* dislike or hate.

First and foremost, I am the world’s *biggest* fan of parallel timeline stories… IF they’re done right.  I’m not just referring to AU’s; I’m specifically talking about stories that focus on and/or analyze the ‘Butterfly Effect’.  You’ve done it well enough so far that I’m aching to see chapter 3 and beyond of ‘Per Asperissima Ad Astra’!

Second, I like that Ginnay and Harry *fed* off each other in the 2 fics, either positively or negatively.  That illustrates that no person is an island – we all have effects on (and responsibilities toward) those around us.  Even more so, it illustrates the bond between Harry and Ginny – neither can take him-/her-self down without dragging the other down too.  That is, should one of them choose wrong (choose the ‘dark’ path), the other will be dragged down too.

In my earlier reviews, I did manage to mention my one worry (that Harry would get the majority of the blame for things gone awry), but that was based on my own pet peeve, not so much from what you’ve written.  In my fanaticism to read all I can visually devour, I’ve resorted to whatever I could find on ff.net and the like when better (more experienced) authors were not updating.  A lot of HP/?? Fics have Harry realize that he’s the idiot and that the person he’s falling for has been right all along.  (What’s more – many of the authors don’t realize they’re having Harry renounce what makes him Harry by doing this!)  I don’t get this.  I totally sympathized with OotP!Harry, as many of his reactions seemed the only logical recourse for what he faced.  Fortunately, you have put none of these things in your works to date.

So why was the ‘whose fault is it’ thing a worry for me in ‘Per Asperissima Ad Astra’?  Well, Ginny wasn’t just vindictive, she wasn’t just lashing out.  “You practically killed Sirius with your arrogance. Ron and Hermione went away rather than to spend their summer here with you, because they were afraid to be with you.”  Those are words one expects to hear from Voldemort, not from Ginny.  Perhaps Harry should take some of the blame here, but she’s hit him where he’s most vulnerable.  No man can stand when someone he trusts strikes at a place so deeply inside his defenses, in his very core.

Anyway, I’ve just noticed chapter 3 is available.  As I said before, you have me intrigued, and anxious to see where this all leads.  Thank you for writing.  I look forward to whatever more you can share with us readers!

Keep it up!

"...But on the nightboat that took them back to England, facing the cliffs of their home bright in the moonlight, he had finally made his move..."  Nice euphemism for shagging!