Been a while since I read Secret. It is the one about Fleur her friend or something like that? What I can remember, the other chick was just a quick fuck, nothing really was developing out of it. What I can remember was that the relationship was just Harry/Fleur. This was when it was first being written/uploaded, so it has been a while.

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Eugenics by Mehetabelo

 

Methene, It's nice to see a fellow H/F lover.

I'd thought of a plot device to get the two together a while back, but being the non-writer that I am, I was not able to actually implement it with any skill.

The basic idea was AUish in that in Harry's third year, Dumbledore decided that it might be a good idea to start an international pen-pal program between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. They wouldn't reveal the alterior motive: that of getting the kids to get to know one another so as to help smooth out relations during the Tri-Wizard Tournament planned for the next year. Students could apply to get a pen-pal, and they would be randomly paired. Harry of course gets randomly selected to correspond with Fleur. While the first couple of letters are awkward (What the fuck am I supposed to write to some 17-year-old French girl? / How am I supposed to relate in any way to some little boy?), they do eventually find some middle ground and discover that they like corresponding.

Part of the plot idea is that Fleur's stuck up attitude comes from being both constantly goggled at by guys, and glared at by jealous girl(friend)s. The attitude is a defense mechanism. Note, something in DH stuck out to me: Fleur's mother was said to be very good at cleaning charms. This indicates to me that the Delacour family may NOT be the rich aristocrats that they are often portrayed as being in many fics. Furhter evidence for this is in the fact that in canon, she DID get with Bill Weasly. Romance novels aside, most frumpy rich spoild princesses don't actually get with the poor dudes, no matter how cool they might be.

Fleur would help Harry take his studies a little more seriously, and Harry becomes a friend when Fleur needs one the most. While no real love connection would be formed during the third year (long distance relationships usually come about because couples have to be seperated geographically for whatever reason, and don't usually form from letter-writing alone - internet dating aside), come fourth year, when Fleur arrives, Fleur chooses to sit at Gryffindor, next to Harry and the two get on fairly well as friends, and over the course of the year, they spend more time together and eventually become a couple.

Things I see coming from this:

Fleur could readily jump to Harry's defence when he's chosen as a champion, rather than calling him "leetle boy". She'd believe him when he said he didn't put his name in the goblet.

Ron's jealousy being even greater: not only does Harry get picked for the Tournament, but he's got the most beautiful girl he's likely ever laid eyes upon hanging out with him all the time! Fleur could definitely help Harry deal with the bullshit that occured that year. I was personally pissed that Harry seemed to need Ron to come back to his side. He might not be so keen on putting up with Ron's crap if he's got Fleur to help him see reason: friends who abandon you when you need them the most aren't friends.

Fleur makes sure Harry is affected as little as possible by the entire school turning on him. This could definitely be a point where their relationship starts growing beyond friendship.

Harry is smarter and more powerful than in canon: Fleur got him to take his studies seriously through her letters - maybe she's got a better way of convincing him to study harder than Hermione's bossy know-it-all-ism.

Harry doesn't need to find a date for the ball: duh.

Fleur will have a friendlier and more well rounded attitude. Harry's letters helped her through her own issues at Beauxbatons.

Oh well. That's my idea for a plot device. She doesn't have to be the only one that understands him during the letter-writing year, but could simply be an enjoyable person to correspond with, and during the Tournament, they get along well and their relationship grows.

Of course, there will have to be some problems that arise throughout the story, lest it be uninteresting, but anyone who wrote it would be better suited to the task.

Edit:

Things I don't want to see:

1) Soulmates. Fuck that shit.

2) Love bond, or soul-bond, or whatever. Fuck that shit with a spiked baseball bat.

3) "Mates" Goddamnit, they're HUMANS, even if she's got a quarter veela in her. She's not a fucking animal that goes into fucking heat. I can't STAND reading shit like that.

4) Fleur going "feathery". See #3. She's not a full Veela, she's likely got no avian form.

Things I would PREFER not seeing:

1) The Delacours are richer than Bill fucking Gates, and have more political influence over the world than the Illuminati

2) any animal named "vertex".

 

Methene, good man, there are only two H/F fics in existence that have the potential to turn out well.

They are Bioplague's "A Very Long Engagement" and Jbern's "The Lie I've Lived".

The rest are rubbish. Or they are not pure H/F.

 

Another one I just remembered is: Marked for A Veela

Interesting plot device, Harry as last of the Potter line is whisked away and marked due to an ancient contract between the Potter line and the veelas. As such he has to mate (might be marry) a veela in such a period of time. Its slow to update.

 

Is anyone going to take on Rin's plot device? I will give it a shot at a later date if no-one with more experience (and basically a better writer than I am) wants to. I will need a beta, though.

Oh and Lucullus, whats the link for "A Very Long Engagement"?

 

I don't see the majority of authors being able to implement a fic in which the first chapters are mostly letters being exchanged with some other filler in such a way that the readers stick with it. Unless they start reading expecting nothing other than fluff.

Marked for a Veela is shit, plain and simple. It was just Harry having sex with various Veela leaders, Fleur didn't appear yet. The smut was horrid, and I think the author's attempt at writing action was even worse, something I hadn't thought possible. I don't think Fleur made an appearance, I went through the latest chapter, ctrl+f'ed her name and turned up nothing, except the pairing in the header at the top of the page.

I have the feeling that A Very Long Engagement will turn out the best, but the author hasn't updated it, or his other stories, in a while.

There's also: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3255168/1/Ecstatic_Immolation

Ecstatic Immolation » by FFML Tim reviews
HPFD, post GoF. Thanks to a mysterious voice, Fleur Delacour stops Harry Potter from touching the trapped Cup and discovers that the two of them share an ancient and powerful connection.

I remember it being ok. There was a bond element, but the author was building towards some serious conflict. Apparently, the bond paints a big red target over them that everyone will aim at.

There's also http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2216144/1/The_Scorpions_Sting

Sequel to The Secret Diary of Fleur Delacour. So you should read that first. Set in Harry's fifth year, and more or less AU. Find out how Fleur gets to Hogwarts for her last school year, and how Harry's and her fight against Voldemort goes on. Re-posted f
Harry Potter - Fiction Rated: T - English - Romance/Action/Adventure - Chapters: 42 - Words: 127,562 - Reviews: 648 - Updated: 8-13-07 - Published: 1-12-05

It's long, if nothing else. The prequel is linked to in the Similar Pages section at the bottom of this page.

 

I like your story idea, Rin. It would be a believable way to start a Harry/Fleur Romance and make Harry a bit smarter than in canon.
I agree that it would be very hard to keep the readers interested if the first few chapters were only letters, but one could write with several flashback.
The story could start when the plot is further advanced (Like Bungle in the Jungle, The Denarian Knight) and have a flashback to the beginning.
It would still be very difficult, but I think it would be great if one would write something like one chapter present time, then two chapters flashbacks, etc.
In the flashbacks, there would be more and more details revealed, so that the present action begins to make sense.
Of course, to make everything fit together and not too confusing for the reader may be even harder than write the story chronologically

As to how a Harry/Fleur pairing could happen:
A way could be of course if Fleur were to join the OotP (after GoF) since she already likes Harry at this point. But that is already done.

As Rin mentioned, I too believe that Fleurs attitude is a kind of defence mechanism. All males usually just fap over her, so if she were to antagonize Harry a bit too much (Who at this point doesn't really care about her) and he were to defend himself (vocally), she might be a bit impressed. After this they could develop a friendship, etc.
I know, not that great an idea, but I couldn't think of anything better^^

 

A plot device for Harry/Fleur

Bill Weasley gets killed during the first attack on Hogwarts by Fenrir Greyback. A grief-stricken Fleur finds solace in Harry who just lost his mentor.

This leads to a rift between Harry and the Weasley family. Granger sides with Ginny and Ron. It splits up the Golden Trio. From there Fleur trains and helps Harry destroy the Horcruxes.

It has the potential for a H/F post HBP fanfic if the angst is only present till Harry comforts Fleur.

Homer

 

Or we could just have Fleur seduce Harry during the Tri-Wizard Tournament...

...untill he flips the script.

 

I dunno, I would rather see Harry win Fleur on his own terms rather than Fleur being his comfort shag and both of them being too stupid to admit it was an act of neediness rather than genuine interest in each other.

 

What was it that KenderCleric said? I believe it was something like: 'Ships are for sailing. Less romance. More action.' (Something like that)

Anyways, the whole 'ship' thing has always annoyed me. You really can't base a plot around a ship unless it is smut. You can use the relationship as a plot device to speed along the general plot line, but it shouldn't be the plot.

 

I agree. It's about time someone said it. I like a number of ships, but lately, most of the stories I find have whole chapters with porrly written romance, and little to no plot-development.

 

I honestly can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday, much less what an English teacher told me six years ago, but it boils down to... are you writing about the people or what they're doing? I really don't mind reading stories that explore the interaction between two characters, or multiple pairs of characters in 'multiship' stories. Some of those can be just as interesting as the ones that turn out to be Saving Private Ryan-esque, in-depth stories of war. How many people have a life that would be described as having a 'plot line', after all? Our relationships (platonic and otherwise) define a large part of our lives.

Although I share a dislike for "Harry hooks up with a girl and it causes an entire series of events to unfold" stories. Find myself wondering why they couldn't have happened before Harry decided to remember where his sex drive was.

 

Dark Lady Pryor: This is the link: http://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=6929

You can find it only on the Work By Authors subforum on this site. You can search for the second chapter in the same place.

It is a "Harry-in-Beauxbatons" story and looks highly promising, although, as Andromalius stated, updates are not really regular.

 

And that's why nobody gives a shit about other people's life stories unless they're exceptional. As all stories are or should be.

 

Glad to see the topic piqued some interest. So far we seem to have two sides to the argument.

One side, championed by Half-Blood Prince and Ryuugi Shi (that was hard to write mate and harder to remember) that supports the fact that romance should be a part of the plot and not the plot in itself.

The other side, championed by various people would not mind to see a Harry/Fleur story.

While I would read a Harry/Fleur story, I agree that there needs to be more sustenance to a plot than just the ship. However, I think the ship is one of the main reason the average reader looks at the story.

I had a plot idea coming up after an irrational desire to write a post-DH story. I used it for Ginny Kill-off and I am wondering if it can be turned into something longer.

Main assumptions behind the story:

1. The Potter family is wealthy, Harry got his inheritance after the battle when things started turning back to normal.
2. Purebloods still hold clout in the world for a simple reason: money. Although the Dark Lord has rejoined his ancestors, purebloods still control the purse strings. Save for a turn to communism and the nationalization of their fortunes, they will have a thing or two to say.
3. Bill does not regain his uber-awesomeness-coolness, but remains what he is. A scarred human that has control issues when the full moon comes up.

Plot:

Ginny got the same hips as her mother, stays home, does nothing, Harry is getting sick of her. He feels embarrassed when he goes to different social functions due to his wife's plebeian habits. Fleur feels the same way, although Harry does not know that yet. Both of them feel suffocated by the Weasley clan, and when the Weasleys meet up, Harry ends up staying with Fleur. They get to know each other better during their conversations and they will end up having an affair.

Minister Shacklebolt has become fanatical anti-pureblood. When France reforms and a Pureblood supremacist becomes MoM, Britain declares war on France. At this point Fleur feels conflicted, stuck between a desire to help France out and her adherence to her family. Harry does not like how Shacklebolt does things and has made several pureblood friends over the years. Harry publicly denounces the Minister's actions, A team of Aurors arrive to "silence" him. Harry kills the Aurors and flees to Europe. Upon seeing what Harry did and how the Weasleys are besmirching his good name, Fleur leaves to join Harry.

Harry has been made the right hand man of the French Dark Lord, he is sent on a European trip to help bolster up support for France and get more allies, Fleur joins him due to her Family's connections in some countries.

Several countries pick sides, and you have a massive war.

Ideas? Comments? Suggestions?

 

Currently France is having problems with immigrants. Why not transmit it over to Magical France?

Throw out the Dark Lord part. Instead make the French Purebloods into old aristocratic and intelligentsia families that are having problems with muggleborns. Especially if muggleborns are children of immigrants.

With that you have a Pureblood movement that isn't fascist. They just wan't to protect their culture/religion/way of life. They can even be the ones that put the idea of equalnes(sp?) of people [in the eyes of law] in Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The elections can still be open only for some group that has minimal wealth level declared by government.

So, basically - France is a country of equality, where everyone is equal in the eyes of law, but in reality - only Purebloods and the [SIZE=-1]wealthiest[/SIZE] of intelligentsia has anything to say.

 

I have only read 1/3 or the first chapter, but this is indeed very promising story...

 

I know Jeconais isn't for everyone, but if you can stomach the fluff, he does write some very compelling and intriguing set-ups. Certainly good for inspiration on how to write a Harry/Fleur.

Best Man This one is about the Bill/Fleur wedding going balls up and ends with a scenario just a few scenes away from a nice Harry/Fleur/Hermione horcrux hunt. No real ship as it's just a one-shot but a nice post-HBP way to get Harry and Fleur together.

Changes This one is post-GOF and it is Harry/Fleur but Jeconais abandoned it after 21,000 words. Some cliches and it could quickly turn into a multi/harem thing, but still worth a read on how to put Harry with Fleur in a semi-believable way.

Princess This is pure teeth-rotting fluff. The kind of thing I'd usually avoid but I'm too much of Jeconais fanboy not to read. This isn't Harry/Fleur but Harry/Fleur's best friend, the Veela Princess. It got over 25,000 words before Jeco abandoned it. Still, worth a read just because I like the idea of Harry/Veela Princess.

Jeco's also got a couple posted Harry/Gabrielle fics and I think another on the way.

 

Princess seemed decent to me initially, but after reading through a quarter of the fic, I started cringing and couldn't seem to stop. Not to mention it was boring the hell out of me.