Title: Perfectly Normal
Author: BrilliantLady
Rating: K/K+
Genre: AU
Status: WIP (~215K words)
Library Category: The Alternates
Pairings: -
Summary: Harry just wants a quiet life. He wants to be ordinary, unremarkable, and get along with everyone. Being "normal" for the Dursleys yielded great results in improving his standard of living, and as he heads off to Hogwarts he still retains that impulse to blend in. Of course, life isn't as simple as that, and Harry is a magnet for trouble, it seems!
Link:

The Definition of Normal
FanFiction.Net

A New Kind of Normal
FanFiction.Net

Parseltongue is Really Very Ordinary
FanFiction.Net

An Abnormal Godfather
FanFiction.Net


I came across this series somewhere in the depths of ffnet, started reading... and then finished the entire series the next day.

Petunia is called to Harry's primary school because of his results, and it is pointed out to her then that Harry's behavior in school is not normal. Harry overhears the meeting and comes to a conclusion that changes everything; being normal makes everything better.

Harry makes it his goal to be ordinary in every way, even using it as a weapon against the Dursleys to improve his living conditions. Finding out you're a wizard makes it a bit hard to be ordinary of course, but he can at least aspire to be an ordinary wizard.

The first book is mostly set up for the AU and deals with Harry's changing relationship with the Dursleys. It's not terribly exciting, but it is well written. Although Harry is probably a bit too smart and manipulative for a 7 year old, it's not overdone and I could actually appreciate the Slytherin way Harry goes about things. BrilliantLady manages to avoid most cliches and she comes up with nice surprising reasons and solutions for why things in the Dursley household are as they are. It's not too long at 18k, which is nice because we all want to get to the good stuff at Hogwarts anyways.

I won't spoil books 2 and 3 too much, except to say that the trend of avoiding the worst cliches continues, which is nice. Book 4 is up next, but for now there's only the title and one chapter while the author finishes writing.

To summarize, Perfectly Normal is a well written story with credible characters and original plotpoints. Minor negative is that the Author wants to keep the story childfriendly, so no excessive swearing or realistic teenage relationships (not that you'd have seen romance in the first two books anyways). Then again, canon is the same so let's say it goes with the territory.

Solid 5/5 for me.

 

The problem with this sort of premise is that making your main character's only ambition to be 'normal', you're inevitably telling the story of a very ordinary person, and a person striving to be ordinary is always going to be a bit dull. From what I can stand to get through, this story is fairly successful in what it sets out to do... unfortunately, that makes it pretty apocalyptically boring.

 

Hmm, I didn't really care too much for the first fic 'The Definition of Normal', it hit too many tropes I've seen before and the extent to which Harry would go for his ambition to be normal was a bit of a stretch. The next 2 parts though were much more entertaining, and we see Harry realize that what is 'normal' really changes depending on who you're compared to. The scene with Snape at the end of the 3rd fic had an important message, I liked how it was addressed. There are some unique twists on canon throughout that I don't think I've seen (especially liked how his relationships with the other students were handled), and it has a solid writing style.

I even lost track of the time while reading 'Parseltongue is Really Very Ordinary'- a good sign. The author says that they're going to wait until the next book is mostly written before posting it, but hopefully that won't be too long... I'll give the series a 4.5/5 (rounded up) - and the comment to our fellow readers not to quit during the 1st book, it gets more interesting and was a refreshing take.

 

I have no idea what you guys see in it.

It might get more interesting, but after the first part that just hammered the same point over and over, and the second book that just wore me down with it's tired cliches of the way "wizarding traditions" work, I just couldn't keep reading.

Honestly can't someone come up with a version of "wizarding traditions" that feels like an actual human might have once acted that way?

 

So I haven't yet finished book two, so there will be more coming later.

Book one was interesting. Sure, it was a romp through "Harry figures out maybe he should be normal", and it wasn't as fun as BajaB's work, but it wasn't bad. Harry's reasoning sort of feels like it could come from a child - "my hair is messy, maybe it should be washed properly, like the ladies in the adverts say?", and the writing is actually okay.

Book two seems to be going okay. McGonagall seems to be a bit of a dick, but I suppose I'm comparing her to Hagrid, who was designed to be a friendly sort. The little tidbits of "wizarding culture" and the like add some depth to the story, and don't all feel bad (young men should always wear a hat; robes are proper dress, but a waistcoat and fancy shirt aren't innapropriate, etc). Again, it isn't particularly inspired, but it is better than most dross I've read that tries to tread this ground.

I'd say to give it a try, and figure it out yourselves. Currently, I'm sitting at a 3.5/5, which could end up swinging either way. No vote yet.


EDIT

Thoughts jotted down whilst reading. Spoilered because they're based on plot points:

Spoiler

- Joy oh joy, we get "technomancy sounds modern and cool, but nowhere in Europe teaches it". Hopefully we don't get a lecture later on how magical America is supermegafoxyawesomehot.
- Harry might be a metamorphmagus, except he doesn't want to be because it is weird and he wants to be normal.
- It comes up again later, only to get thrown out again? Maybe just so people don't complain.
- Minor Ron/Weasley bashing. Nothing major, but not unexpected. Oh, and of course Neville is actually useful for once. More than once - Neville's turning into an actually mildly competent person!
- Pure blood traditions! Yay! However, Harry's desire to be normal actually works here, because he wants to fit in to the Wizarding World too. I'm not certain that was deliberate or not, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt.
- definitely seems to be deliberate. Harry is stuck between wanting to be an ordinary wizard, and wanting to be an ordinary muggle.
- The repeated mentions of Harry's lactose intolerance are really weird. I know it'll probably develop into a plot point, but it seems really jarring. However, there do seem to be numerous other things that seem to be foreshadowing, so who knows?
- There's a few Tumblr style things mentioned - asking if someone identifies as black, making a point of how mentioning a certain animal is not intended to be disrespectful to several different cultures (and noting that they are, indeed, different) - but it doesn't seem to have any impact on the writing, and only crops up a few times, so I don't think it's going to become anything major. I can respect that.

This actually seems to read like a fix-it fic - the author read some terrible dreck, and decided she could do better. Given I'm enjoying reading this, I can see why.

The author has also just lifted some phrases and sentences directly from canon. That's fine, and common, but the writing style is different enough that it doesn't always flow quite as well. This is even more noticeable when it occurs in the middle of a sentence, rather than between them. Also, they use brackets in speech. That's a major no-no.

The author has a britpicker, mentioned in a few notes. I'm actually quite glad, because references to 'dollars', 'math', and 'city blocks' doesn't make much sense from a 90's British household.

Overall, I liked it. A few minor issues, but nothing that ruins the whole piece. 4/5

 

I'm wavering between giving it 3/5 or 4/5 as it is at the moment, though this might be corrected upwards if this fic goes where i think it is heading.
The story starts low, but it does pick up towards later parts. If this was the first fanfic i had ever read, i would probably be blown away.

Some Spoiler criticism (I can't figure out how to do the actual forum magic for spoilers)

- The Tumblr-esque scenes mentioned above REALLY threw me for a loop as well. Luckily, it is only once or twice, i think.
- The story seems to diverge more and more from canon as it goes, really done well. however it leads to a very slow start for people who have read a lot of FF already.
- It has a touch of incompetent Dumbledore going on, but it is also obvious that that is because of narrator bias (so far). The narrator/ Harry has been wrong several times already, and as he learns more of magic and the wizarding world the fic becomes more complex. If this is done well, it could become really interesting within the next two books, especially regarding Harry's naivité, his involvement with Voldemort/the traditional side of the Wizarding World/ The Dumbledore Angle.

 

The entire premise of a Harry that puts his effort into being mediocre so as not to draw the ire of the Dursley's irritates me.

An apparent prodigy that goes out of his way to do Dudley's homework whilst he is in Hogwarts less he be beaten up on return, frankly disgusts me. That he then aims for the equivalent of a c+ average at Hogwarts, tries to be nice to everyone, and ultimately is treated as a doormat is not a Harry that I want to read about.

2/5.

 

Just a quick update here; book 4 is now being posted on a weekly schedule.

 

I really like the goblin-friend bit (no its not what it sounds like), and she does a good job of avoiding fannon. When someone pointed out that one bit was fannon not cannon she changed it.

 

I found this story hook me, and drag me in, and not let me go. I'm about half way through, and, though a bit wordy, the story is unique, something to be commended. I enjoy the biplay between the two female leads, and especially enjoy the Old Magic. 4/5

 

I skipped most of the first part and didn't feel like I missed anything, not a big fan of the basic premise, wanting to be normal is a boring ambition, but later on it's fairly easy to ignore, the second part feels a lot like a Ravenclaw!Harry story, he's quite studious, though with a few obvious Slytherin cliches mixed in.
There's a bit of Pureblood/Noble-ish nonsense, it made me cringe when Harry found out in Gringotts that his name is 'Harold', though in general it's not that bad compared to what's seen in some stories.

Overall the story is well written, and very polished, just a bit bland, the pacing is a tad too slow, and the author isn't that great at inducing a sense of excitement when stuff actually happen.
The story would probably be better if the author spent a bit more time on descriptions to flesh out the world and make it feel more immersive.

It started out feeling like a rehash, but diverted in the second part in a way rarely seen, and which actually surprised me a bit, as well as making me feel hopeful for the future of the story.
3 to 4/5 depending on how it progresses.
Edit: Just read the third part, and unfortunately it didn't continue diverting as much as I had hoped. It also seems like Snape is slowly being set up as a mentor or some such, which I'm not a fan of.
So it has landed solidly on 3/5 for me

 

The author has completed the latest part of this series, covering the school year during the Triwizard tournament and is currently posting it, 2 chapters a week - Unprecedented Competition Judging by the first 4 chapters posted it should clock in around 350k once it's all up. Took her two years to write it.

Hmm, also, to update the initial post, there was also a sequel, covering the summer between Harry's 3rd & 4th year - Extraordinary Summer

I remain a fan of this series. Well written with some unique takes on many of the characters, magical society & the whole light vs dark conflict. It hits its stride in 2nd year.