Hi, yay, thanks for reading! And in fact, I'm glad you think this works, because I wrote these early chapters a *long* time ago, and I imagine I'd do it quite differently if I were to start the project now – probably with much more of an eye to setting up the story invitingly in the opening chapter/s, rather than just sort of stumbling along and writing whatever came to mind next! At this point, though, the story is what it is, and, well. Point being, what I mean to say is, thanks!

18 chapters, heh. That's only Part 1 (the OotP year). The story as a whole (OotP + HBP) looks to be about 40 chapters, all told. :-)