Subtle changes that mostly played out similar to canon. Yes, Hedwig's loss was dismissed too readily by JKR, but in the end it wasn't germaine to the story she told. There were too many plot holes
in the books, so fanfics picked up the slack and in some cases improved the story (your own included).
Mionefan posted a comment on Monday 10th March 2014 9:33am for The Final Quest, Part I