Title: The Dogs and Shakespeare
Author: Ravenpuff
Rating: K+
Genre: Adventure/Family
Chapters: 24
Words: 119,548
Updated: December 29, 2012
Published: January 26, 2008
Status: WIP
Library Categegory: General
Pairings: None
Summary: An event sways the Dursleys to accept a five year-old Harry as a part of their family. He is slowly introduced to a normal life and the world outside his cupboard. Discovering magic early, it becomes his greatest joy and deepest secret. Can he share it?

The Dogs and Shakespeare

Nearly a year ago I posted this story in "Almost Recommendable" because it's not the typical DLP fare. Since then, we had "Fantastic Elves and Where to Find Them" and "Strangers at Drakeshaug" on for review and both fics got into the library. When I saw that this fic was updated recently after a year of idleness, I decided to give everyone on DLP a chance to take a look at it.

Here my review from February:

I stumbled upon this story while searching through ff.net C2s. It's not an action filled story but a character piece and that's the only reason I didn't post in "For review". The technical writing is perfect, the style is engaging -even poetic in some parts- and the premise is very interesting. This fic has everything I look for in a Child!Harry AU- Harry discovers his magic, but very slowly and without degenerating into Super!Harry nonsense. The change in the Dursley family is believable and the butterflies from their improved treatment of Harry are plausible and entertaining. There's even some decent humor, mostly in the later chapters. It's developing slowly and it hasn't even reached Harry's seventh birthday yet, but the author makes up for the pace with great insights into the Dursley's psyche and Harry's development.

4.5/5 rounded up to 5/5


Checked by Minion, July 28, 2013

 

After reading the first two chapters, I'll give it a tentative 4/5. Nothing seems exceptional, but it is good. Characterizations might be a bit off, but that's understandable. The premise is believable, and so is the character development. If I have anything more to say, I'll update later.

 

I thought this was a wonderful story. It's so very rare to read something that has such real characters, and yet the author refuses to submit to vague caricatures, like many others. The characterisations are well-suited to the character, there seems to be a conscious decision not to polarise anyone too heavily, and we get a strong impression of each character's thought and motivations. Even Aunt Marge isn't completely heartless!

I found the story pacing to be excellent so far, although that may be because I read it all in one go, as opposed to with long gaps that the author seems to be fond of. The magical system, though barely touched upon so far, seems to be being approached well - which is probably a necessity, as th author has hinted that it will have a large role to play. If the author manages to continue working with such brilliant characterisations, I expect that Harry's actual years in Hogwarts will be a pleasure to read. And long, which is always a plus

All in all, something slightly different, but still great, and with the potential to become fantastic. I think it would be a disservice to give it anything less than 5/5.

 

Beautifully written, with very few grammatical errors. While it's only been 2 years progress, a lot has happened to each member of the household, and I think the pacing fits it nicely. It feels like there's a chance the story will end soon after Harry goes to Hogwarts, but that might not be a bad thing. 5/5 for good pacing in context and just a beautiful story.

 

Hopefully, by the time there's 800 thousand words of i-haz-a-terrible-secretz, there will be a glorious 2.2 million words of characterization masturbation for 7 years of Hogwarts. Who knows, the rest of Harry's life may be covered over the course of another 10 million words after that too!

But seriously, this was pretty great. I'd just like for it to move along. Really. D:

 

May be of interest to some of you:

A lot of reviewers for The Dogs and Shakespeare ask the same questions, so there are probably even more people who don't review but wonder the same things, considering the subscriber to reviewer ratio.
Dogs and Shakespeare FAQ
(for the questions that just keep coming back)
What does the title mean?
The title was taken from a line in which Harry and the Dursleys will someday discuss Hogwarts. In Harry's mind both Shakespeare's works and 'the dogs' will come to be associated with the Dursleys' relationship to magic.
Does this story continue on to Hogwarts?
Eventually, yes. I'm not in any hurry though. This is a slow-paced story, focusing more on Harry's incubation period prior to Hogwarts.
Isn't Harry's location an unfindable super-secret? (referencing chapter seventeen)Even Sirius, who had just spent twelve years in Azkaban, knew to look for Harry in Little Whinging. The Ministry knows where to find him, the Weasleys turned up just fine and by the start of book seven Voldemort and every single Death Eater was fully aware of where he lived. Prior to Hogwarts Harry also had brief glimpses and meetings such as the one with Dedalus Diggle, which I do not believe were coincidences. This all suggests that old friends of his parents, anyone in the Ministry and close contacts of same could easily track him down if they were so inclined. If Albus really was trying to keep Harry's location a secret in canon, he failed pretty spectacularly.
One of the first people to learn Harry's new address was Hagrid and we all know how well he can keep a secret!
What are the pairings for this story?
There are no pairings in this story!
Seriously, the story is going to end when Harry is thirteen. At thirteen canon!Harry hadn't really noticed anyone in a serious way. While he might develop crushes, as children tend to do, he is not going to begin a great romance as a child. To me that sounds reasonable.
Ew, I hate (het/slash/Draco/Hermione), if you do pair him then just anything but that, please!
This is one of the big reasons why the story will end when Harry is thirteen. I'm not willing to argue with anyone about what pairings are appropriate and neither do I want to ruin the story by asking them to suddenly accept a pairing which they can't stand. Personally I'd be very annoyed if I were following a story for years and one day out of nowhere I was expected to swallow down globs of Harry/Ginny with it. It was terrible enough when that happened in the canon material.
I won't try to make you read Harry/Colin or even Harry/Luna. So please don't try to talk me into writing something I can't stand or not writing something I like.

 

I'm only up to chapter 12 at the moment but the character development so far has been perfect, if a little slow. I agree with the above sentiments about petunia character being quite annoying but the rest are fantastic, Harry is innocent but still intelligent and suspicious, Dudley reminds me of every spoiled only child and Vernon is fantastic.
I'd say 4/5 the hint at an interesting magical component (secrets, names etc) are interesting me so far but I do hope the pace picks up a little

 

I cannot disagree with others on the overall slowness of the story. That being said, I like it very much. We see some very believable character development, and an inventive take on what it might feel like for a young Harry to start discovering magic on his own. 4/5 from me.

This is a type of fic that I would never have believed I could like, until someone at DLP recommended it. In that sense, it reminds me of Strangers at Drakeshaugh, a recent addition to the library. Makes me wonder how many other stories could be out there that we might be missing out on--stories hidden beneath a pile of dragon dung, in genres that we tend to overlook.

 

I was so glad this was posted. I was surprised that I liked this story as much as I did. When I first started reading fanfiction I use to enjoy stories that included The Durselys. I started to think they were all the same. However this story refuses to concede to the clichangings he normal changing for the better Dursley stories. At times Harry seems a bit young for six; but I suppose this can be explained as lack of socialization. I really like the way Vernon is written and Petunia has been improving. Dudley is fun to read. The grammar and spelling have never bothered me and so they seem to be decent. I do wish that the story moved a bit faster. I'm eager to see what hogwarts is like for this Harry. Overall this story is 5/5.

 

my only complaint is that the story will certainly be abandoned before they ever get to hogwarts.