The best challengers were super super specific, a not-at-all veiled attempt to get other people to write your story.

Ok it has to be Harry/Hermione and it can NOT have ron/hermione at any point an some Dumbledore bashing and there should be a scene with a muggle roller coaster. Also, harry is two years older than canon. Hermione is blonde and has green eyes slightly darker than Harry's. Also Draco is a good guy. You can choose why he changed sides...

 

Harry killing people. It has been a good long time since i've read a story where Harry tries to enact pressure upon Voldemort through killing "inner circle" death eaters.

I kinda miss it. Since it meant proactive Harry, which is something we are short of right about now.

 

Quiddich-toned muscles.

 

To be entirely fair, I remember Harry working up a sweat playing Quidditch, so I'd assume there's at least some physical benefit to playing the sport. Though what that could be, I haven't the foggiest.

 

We need a fic where quidditch physiques are meh overall but gripping brooms in flight between legs for years result in thighs that could crush a minibus.

 

Auto and motorcycle racing are (to the uninitiated) surprisingly physical activities. I don't find it unreasonable for Quidditch to be tiring and require a measure of physical strength and stamina.

 

Honestly, if you tried to sit on a pole that periodically spun around and swung while you had to hold on for hours, your arms/legs/abdomen would absolutely be getting a workout.

Edit: Ninja'd by Pers, but he's right on the money for with regards to riding motorcycles being equivalent. Hell, at high speeds it's a core workout to sit upright, let alone doing maneuvers or sharp turns.

 

Just a bunch of kids who are pasty and skinny except for their SUPERBUFF forearms and thighs. Like Popeye level forearms and tree-trunk thighs.

I agree with Pers about the motorcycle nature of brooms.

 

Anyone mention foreign schools where Harry is taught the superiority of wandless magic, katanas and hand-to-hand combat? And of course Harry is a Phoenix/Basilisk/Panther multi animagus.


Something I still like, but have noticed a very large drop is Harry traveling to another dimension. Typically, Harry would be a death eater and his parents are still alive. Sometimes he died as a child and Neville is the BWL. They used to be pretty common, but I haven’t seen these type of fics in a while.

 

"I see you've, erm, certainly grown up over the summer, Harry," said Hermione, admiring Harry's biceps as they bulged against his tight black t shirt.

"Heh, thanks Hermione. You too," said Harry. He couldn't keep his eyes from travelling up and down her body, lingering on her perky breasts. It seemed like Hermione had grown in all the right places.

"OI, I'm gonna rape you!" called Ron through a mouthful of food.

 

Is that the power the Dark Lord knows not?

 

No the power the Dark Lord knows not is the power of a balanced diet that magically cures years of "malnutrition" so that you gain approximately 6 inches in height.

 

I thought that was solved when he goes to Madam Pomfrey and/or Snape and they See how skinny he is and give him superpotions to make him superbuff. Then they go scream at Dumbledore for a few hours.

 

It seems like the "Harry is actually descended from the founders or Merlin or someone" trope is pretty much dead. I sometimes still see Peverell, but that's pretty much canon, so whatever.

I think book 7 did a pretty good job of killing the "nice goblins" stories.

Also, there are a lot less animagus-focused stories now that in ages past, it seems like.

And I can't remember the last time I saw Bellatrix Lestrange as a love-interest.

 

It's because Rastaban is the new hotness.

 

That story is a month old and has over 1000 Followers for Rabastan/Harry :O

I guess I'll try it.

Edit: Good guy goblin, Dumbledore not doing his duties as a magical guardian, manipulative!Dumbledore in general, early emancipation/Lord Potter at age 11, forgotten marriage contract from two generations ago, (probably) misunderstood Death Eaters, ... I feel like this story has it all. And that's just chapter 1.

 

Never really got why authors made Harry some emaciated plague victim. OK, so he went a bit hungry living with the Dursleys, but after age 11 he gets to eat all the food he wants for 9 months out of the year. He goes through puberty while eating Hogwarts feasts and never-ending house elf food.

Even if he's starved a bit back at his home, just consider it a cut after his months of bulking at school.

Malnutrition leading to, like, Harry being a short scrawny boi seems like such an overkill.
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Its hard to make an animagus form useful in solving the problems Harry has to face. It's popular to make him a lion or some shit, but really turning into a great beast would be next to worthless against Voldemort.

The best animagus would be something small so he could use it in spying situations.

 

There’s always the option of Voldemort’s horcrux leeching energy from Harry. Boom, confetti, problem solved. No further thought required from reader or author.

 

Much like his parsel tongue, Harry's love of treacle tart stems from his connection to Tom D: D:

Also, his desire to get inside Ginny.