Quarter-breed, to be specific. Don't hate her 'cause she's beautiful.

 

Oh, I don't hate, as I don't pay attention to such nonsense, but I thought it was funny to catch one of our resident self-hating muggles in their own game.

 

In the interest of saving space, I shall direct you to the Veela Society thread. The first post explains my views on the matter.

 

No. Fleur and Olympe both bathe and have good table manners and appreciate a decent wine and dress well. They are intelligent and educated. Both have ambition and drive, not to mention discretion.
Do you see any of these characteristics in Hagrid?

 

It's worth noting that if your concern with Fleur is only the accent, not all accents have to be written pseudo-phonetically. Some are indicated in other ways, and in some cases, characters are just stated to have a certain accent and that's all. I've always hated the written accents in Harry Potter myself.


Now, for my hated pairings:

Harry/Ginny - The problem with this pairing is Ginny's nature. Ginny, like the rest of the Weasleys, is just plain inadequate. They're wizards. We've seen the potential of conjuration and transfiguration (incidentally, given that it's possible to transfigure inert matter into living creatures, Rowling's rule about being unable to conjure food is obviously bullshit). No wizard that isn't incompetent, nigh-powerless, or just plain stupid, will ever be without any item that they desire, barring ones requiring difficult enchantments or the like. Even ignoring the obvious personality flaws, no decent Harry should be paired with Ginny or anyone similar. Amusingly, while canon!Harry is probably deserving of Ginny, the pairing still sucked.

Canon!Snape/Anyone - While it would be possible to have a Snape character with meaningful relationships, canonically, Snape is just too bitter, unpleasant, and just plain ugly.

Dumbledore/Anyone - Dumbledore should be asexual. Period. Ultimately, he's not there as a mentor, a headmaster, or a pseudo-villain. He's there as a powerful archmage. The only thing close to an equal that he has is Voldemort, and by extension, Harry. Any relationship that he could have would be skewed beyond belief, to the point of not being workable.

Any Slash - It would be more accurate to say that I hate slash because of the volume, rather than the nature. Yes, it's possible to have a reasonable instance of slash, even with Harry. It'd be an AU, and it's that simple. The problem is that there's way the hell too much of it.

Harry/Hermione - The problem with this pairing is that Hermione is an idiot. Yes, she's knowledgeable and well-read, but she's still an idiot. She suffers a problem particularly common to those of the medical profession, which would make sense, as she's the daughter of two dentists. She makes a good walking encyclopedia, and is useful for that, but her obstinacy and tendency to over-rely on books and sources of authority are fatal flaws.

Stupid Pairings - In general, the rest of my pairing dislikes can be summed up in this category. These are pairings which really just don't make sense given their context, pairings which are forced, and pairings which are without relevance to the story (as opposed to the plot) in some form or another.


In my never-the-slightest-bit-humble opinion, there are very few Harry pairings that are reasonably believable. This is, of course, because Harry is supposed to be Voldemort's equal - to some degree, anyway, there are very few witches who are similarly powerful. Without sufficiently similar levels of power, any relationship could hardly be stable. Ignoring the inability of each person to properly understand the other, Harry would be spending much of the story playing the all-too-paternalistic role of the protector. Admittedly, that is viable if one's goal is an unhealthy relationship (presumably one with relevant to the plot). Anyway, as far as I can recall, the only two witches who could fill the role of an equal to Harry and a possible romantic interest are Fleur and Bellatrix - and the latter of the two only works in a very narrow set of circumstances.

Narion

 

Agreed. Hate Hagrid for being an idiot, a bumpkin, and a faggot, rather than for being half-giant.

 

Just to remain on topic: Dudley/Hermione - What the hell? He's a grossly obese, spoiled, mean-spirited, greedy, dim-witted bully. In what fucked up world would any Hermione, who hadn't fallen prey to the Dementor's Kiss, touch even a reformed!Dudley with a ten-foot pole?

Absolutely. I hate to be a snob here, but Maxime is the headmistress of one of the apparent top three magical schools in Europe (maybe the world) and Hagrid... Hagrid is the grounds keeper at one.

Would it be discriminatory to simply point to that fact and say ''nuff said'?

He only has that job because his rampant dangerous-creature fetish and lack of any wits whatsoever made him into the perfect patsy for a homicide (later reduced to reckless endangerment) and, since it happened under Albus 'everybody deserves a second chance' Dumbledore's crooked nose, the softy decided to throw him a bone.

His entire job description is herding First Years on the first day of school, caring for invisible horses, growing pumpkins, and killing the dangerous shit that comes out of the forest because the board of governors is too fucking cheap to buy a fence... until he starts subbing in as the mostly inadequate professor of an elective class.

I mean, come on, he taught the care and feeding of a creature he cross-bred as a hobby. How does that help anyone in the real world?
That's like a health teacher showing videos of his attempts to create a human-animal hybrid by humping a goat, in lieu of the standard sex-ed course.

As loathe as I am to imply JKR is right about anything... It's not that you can't transfigure something into food, it's about maintaining the transfiguration. Canon doesn't show us how long, say, a rock changed into a dog remains as such. By the same token, if you change a rock into food and eat it, what happens to your body when it tries to change back into a rock? What if it's already been integrated into your body and it changes back? Ouch.

This, of course, doesn't change the fact that Weasleys, for the most part, suck and Ron smells like sour milk for no apparent reason.

 

At most, conjured food would vanish; however, assuming conjuration is non-permanent strikes me as being the same as assuming vanishing is non-permanent: perhaps it can be undone, but it doesn't undo itself. I don't know about transfiguration - that's iffy territory with no established description of what exactly happens. I'm of the opinion that the object is completely changed, but a 'backup' of its previous form is deposited into a magical signature which can then be invoked to return it to its previous state, and is otherwise permanent. I doubt it would be possible to revert the form of a destroyed object.

Concerning Hagrid: while I do agree that he is rather uncivilized (though pleasant in demeanor), there are some merits to studying blast-ended skrewts and the like. Learning how to care for a new species, if properly done, will teach the students how to learn to care for an unknown animal, at least in part. More often than not, learning the principles of something is both more important and more useful than learning each individual implementation of those principles.

Do we want to know how you know what Ron Weasley smells like?

Narion

 

Here I disagree with you. My purist message about Hagrid aside, his course has no merit whatsoever.

Taking the blast-ended skrewt case. The course has been titled Care of Magical Creatures. The interests are probably dual in nature. The first, basic course would be for those who are interested in magical creatures, want perhaps to have a pet, but don't care regardless to much.

The second, more advanced part of the course, the NEWT level, should be for those who are interested in following a career with regards to Animal Care-dragon handler, unicorn breeder etc.

Hagrid has failed inexcusably in both cases. He has not taught students even the basis for caring for regular magical creatures, for those who wish to just have some general knowledge. For the second part, we have not seen it and I cannot comment, but I am sure he failed just as bad.

He bred Blast-ended skrewts. They are thus not common magical creatures and have no place in a beginner course. If you mean interacting with dangerous beasts is what he wanted to teach, the course is useless. The overall, efficient solution when dealing with Magical Creatures that are dangerous, disturbing, unnatural, unwanted is the all around useful Killing curse.

You have a gnome infestation on your garden? Instead of throwing them over the fence like the idiotic Weasley family does, spend a Saturday afternoon casting Killing curses at them. It will improve your dexterity and spell work and will rid you of garden gnomes. Call in some friends and you can even make it into a family+friends activity. After they are dead, sell them for potion ingredients. That may have helped the Weasley family double the content of their vault possibly.

You are surprised by a blast-ended skrewt that has evaded Hagrid's hut while on a mission in Poland? Cast a Killing Curse and go along your merry way.

After he is rebutted he retorts to caring for flobber worms. A very exciting activity I am told, it still should only be reserved for enthusiasts, and those who wish to engage in the galleon-making scheme of breeding them.

The niffler lesson was fun, but it should have been a free lecture. Like the one before christmas. Still, it had the advantage of making Ron look like an idiot, while impacting badly on the Weasleys, so I guess not all is lost.

We have seen a good Care of Magical Creatures teacher, in Professor Gruby-plank (was that her name, I don't remember?). The substitute is generally a mediocre teacher at best. Usually, he is dreadful and the only reason he didn't make it into a post is his lack of talent. In Hagrid's case, the substitute is better than the teacher.

The only reason Hagrid is allowed to exist is due to Dumbledore's incompetence. Hagrid probably massages his feet at night, or he keeps him around for entertainment. Still an idiotic move from the Headmaster.

It is just another proof that Hogwarts doesn't deserve its reputation as one of the top three magical schools in the world. If I were a parent in the magical world, my children would go to Beauxbatons or Durmstrang depending on gender in an instant.

 

I'm pretty sure Hagrid was kept around because he was more than happy to act as Dumbledore's bum-buddy.

"Even great wizards have needs, Harry."

Heh. I'd like to see a Fundamentalist!Harry. Kicking gay ass left and right, in the great hall screaming for the girls to wear less "revealing" attire, preaching to Colin and Dennis Creevey Christ's saving grace, demanding the Minister Fudge change that line in the constitution, etc...

 

Yeah thats a good idea Doc, hell a Fundamentalist Muslim Harry would be good, Colin suicide bombing Death Eaters because Harry told him to.
What Line in the constitution, do the wizards even have a constitution?

 

* roar *
GRYFFINDOR JIHAD!

 

Yeah if you look at Shia law its not anti magic, at least incomparison to Christian laws on the subject.

 

I have no idea.

I do know the fundies in America are throwing up a stink because someone wants to remove the line "Under God", from somewhere...

Heh. Harry Potter raised by Fred Phelps.

 

And EVERY major religion that I know of has Really Strong prejudices against things that damage souls. Dementors would count as demons by nearly every criteria, and anyone who uses them is using Black, not Dark, magic. What Riddle did to his soul is abomination. I'm not religious, and even I think it's a damnable offense.

 

Heck, Harry doesn't even need to be religious himself, just let the Catholic church know about Voldemort's unique... status. The power Tommy knows not? Religious fanaticism.

 

Hell Yeah. Fundamentalist Budhists the whole corruption of Voldie's soul would be amusing to think of.
We need a Fundamentalist Harry.

 

Lol, how about a Dune/HarryPotter crossover, where Harry is Muadib?

 

Harry dunked Hermione's head into the water-filled sink. "The Power of Christ compels you, whore! Recant your sins, or burn in hell for all eternity!"

"But Harry," she blubbed, "all I did was kiss you on the cheek!"

"Silence!" Harry spat, whipping her around and glaring at her. "Doth not the bible say, "men shall have control over women"? Verily, it doth!"

Hermione nodded, tears running down her face. Harry sighed, and hugged her.

"I'm sorry, Harry," she said into his chest.

Harry released her and smiled. "Good. So, shall we go execute the fags now?"

Her eyes lit up. "Of course!"

Just to note, I'm agnostic, and have a very low opinion on religion.

 

While I agree with you in regards to the dementors thing, I would have to disagree with the Riddle part. Sure, the murdering was bad, but he at least made his soul useful. Seriously, all it does is take up space. Riddle just made his get a job and pay rent through immortality.