Update: New link for this fanfic, click here

The author deleted his ffn account. The fanfic is already finished and contains 901,590 words.

So, enjoy and have a good reading!

 

This: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13653786/1/Serpentine-Advice

will likely end up being H/D, but it certainly isn't the focus of the story.

 

For a story not mentioned in this thread currently, there's storytellerSpW's The Legacy, which is a take on the marriage contract trope. Occurs as a HBP divergence, featuring an eventual "Harry absorbs the Horcrux" trope. Your mileage may vary on this one as its rather long and meandering at ~783k words, but I found it a decent read. Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated in the last 3.5 years, which is doubly unfortunate since the story was winding down towards its conclusion as per the last few updates.

 

Living Dangerously is a well-written addition. 5th year fic focusing primarily on the romance. Unfortunate side effect is that everyone else pretty much fades to the background, but it's pretty interesting and the characters feel and act their age. Has a sequel too.

 

Will rec Serpentine Advice. It starts out very rough. And the beginning kind of reeks of every indy Harry gof fic. Does it improve? It does, it really does.

The authors better than most with his dialogue and character interactions, and Iiked the scenes with Harry and Daphne.

 

Traitorous by Flamata.

Dark!Harry, DeathEater!Harry, and sadly abandoned 10 years ago.

 

I've not read everything on your list, but I seem to remember that some of those fics are terrible. I can't stand Mary Sues and Angstfests.

I remember Lightning Lord as being pretty bad.

I remember Angry Harry and the Seven as being cringeworthy.

I remember that Thanks to a Snake was almost okay, but Harry was a Mary Sue who peaches to all the other characters.

Here are some better recommendations.

Living Dangerously (Romance)
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/7037925/1/Living-Dangerously

Living in Secret (Sequel to Living Dangerously - Romance)
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13341726/1/Living-in-Secret

The Mind Arts (Adventure/Romance)
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/12740667/1/The-Mind-Arts

This one's a harem (not a smut), but somehow it's still really good. Daphne gets a lot of attention in this story.
Dodging Prison and Stealing Witches (Adventure/Political)
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11574569/1/
(More updates on Discord than FF.net)

I've heard good things about Perfect Situations, but that's the only story on your list I've heard anything good about. I haven't had the chance to read it yet.

 

That last fic makes me feel gross, but I still read all of it. The grooming is supremely distasteful.

 

This is definitely an interesting take on Harry/Daphne. Gets a bit wordy, but that's all right.

Spoiler: The ending of this fic

The way this fic ends genuinely freaked me out. I mean, the sheer viscerality of the final scene in which she's given to Greyback to rape and her father begs for her release, leading to Voldemort sparing the girl in exchange for having to watch her father get eaten by Greyback is... I mean, I've read uglier, but my stomach did turn a bit.

 

You certainly aren't selling the story with that revelation.

 

Well, it's been a while since I've read this story, so apologies, but iirc the story is a fairly dark take on Harry cheating on his girlfriend Ginny (in this fic they get together in 5th year) with Daphne, whose dad is an honest-to-God Death Eater. It's realistic in that teenagers are somewhat believable and the cheating isn't easily justified away, and the addition of this little tension into the powder keg that is year five is fairly well-done.

On the other hand, I remember Daphne calling Harry "daddy" early on in their relationship. So YMMV.

 

Yeah I hear you, but...

Correct me if I'm wrong. Didn't Dumbledore basically "groom" Harry to be a human sacrifice for the greater good in canon?

The argument that Dumbledore wanted Harry to have a great childhood doesn't hold up. He placed Harry with abusive relatives and neglected him.

And Dumbledore didn't care about Harry's survival either. If he did, he might have given Harry more than zero training to face Voldemort.

It wasn't for Harry's protection from Death Eaters either. If it was, Dumbledore could have used the Fidelius Charm and made McGonagall the secret keeper.

How is anything Dumbledore did in canon any less distasteful?

 

I do NOT remember anything about Daphne calling Harry daddy. Are you sure about that?

I usually hate cheating, but in this story the cheating was one of the best parts. It added to the forbidden-ness of Harry and Daphne's relationship. It was not trivialized or easily justified either. All of that added to the tension.

The reasons for Harry and Daphne to stay away from each other was not superficial. The stakes were high. The trust issues were serious. And by all rights, they should have been genuine enemies given the characters' backgrounds. Even their personalities wouldn't seem compatible on the surface.

How they became the opposite of enemies is what makes the story so interesting.

The reason Haphne is so appealing in the first place is because the two come from different worlds, which ought to lead to tension. It's amazing to me how many Haphne fics simply gloss over this. The tension between them is the juicy part. An author ignoring the natural tension between Harry and Daphne is like a chef cooking a fine steak until it's rubber and topping it off with some ketchup.

 

Yeah no she calls her father daddy all the time but didn't slip once with Harry on that.
I'd recommand reading this story if only for the author's tenuous grasp on the English language. Switching words and mixing up idioms, had me in stitches a few times. Accidental comedy is a rare treat.