Title: Elementary Calculations
Author: kcourtkat
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Gen
Pairing: None
Chapters: 13
Updated: August 22, 2008
Published: April 29, 2008
Status: Abandoned
Summary: After finding his magic earlier, a decidedly non- Gryffindor Harry Potter plots his way to success.

Link: http://www.ficwad.com/story/95976
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4226870/1/

A smart, sharp Harry! He isn't a wimp, nor a psycho, nor a poorly disguised adult: he's intelligent and self-disciplined, and not one to be shoved around. I love him.
Ordinarily I'd wait longer before sponsoring this one: he's only just getting introduced to the Wizarding World, and there's A Lot more to come, but even if the story suddenly drops in quality, Chapt5 is well worth reading. I nearly listed "Elementary Calculations" last chapter, but cooler heads prevailed. We've all had great beginnings become cliched tripe, but this one has a lot of promise.


Checked by Minion, January 1, 2013

 

Right. I'm intelligent, so when I do some occasional sport, I have to buy a book on stretching, yoga and whatnot.

Personally, I didn't find him smart nor sharp. Disguised anti-social adult would be correct though. The reasoning he uses doesn't come just like that... especially for a 8 year old.

2/5.

 

not to bad, alittle short so far tho so i cant realy say much..

3/5

 

Interesting in it's own particular way. 4/5

 

As boring as it was predictable. 2/5

 

Humph...My recommendation was much better. 2/5

 

It didn't even load for me.

 

Harry's thoughts were waaaay too advanced for an eight year old. It doesn't matter how "smart" he is. There is no mention that he learned a dictionary by heart, soo... 2/5

 

Passable as a brief read. The sort of light entertainment one sometimes needs, rather than a heavy serious read. 4/5

 

This really isn't that bad. Something I will probably follow, if only because it isn't a whopping 300k novel that degrades the senses after one tries to forge through it. I actually like the characterization of Harry; it may not be entirely realistic, but variety is the spice of life.

4-5/5 to balance things out (also because of what I perceive to be the story/author's intent)

 

The first five chapters here aren't bad. I won't get overly excited about the story, but it could be fun to read. Chapters are too short, and Harry acts like a late-teen or early-twenties person, not a 10-11 year old child...but in this case, I'm going to overlook that.

The way McGonagall and Harry interact in Ch. 5 was interesting, and the earlier severing of the protection from the Dursleys was nice. I'm not usually into 'discovery of magic through the magical core' stories, but this is decent.

Not rating for now, as it's too short to earn any rating yet.

 

I am waiting for the pitch.
Sometimes I see Harry Potter as that Highly Sort Football or Basketball player that Dumbledore swooped up without letting any other schools recruit Harry.

Sometime I think that Hogwarts' reputation hangs on a thousand year old library.

sorry mini rant.

 

Right.. the story... well... the chapter titles are at least strange: x^2-5x+6... I mean woah... basic calculations.... let me guess... next chapters will be examples of derivatives and integrals???

Anyway... I can understand why Harry is so cynical about people... who wouldn't be with his upbringing... but he does seem too mature for 11 year old... when I was his age I was reading J. Verne, Nienacki, Szklarski, Lem as well as A. MacLean and R. Ludlum
(Nienacki, Szklarski and Lem are Polish authors, therefore if you're not from middle/eastern Europe you might have never heard about them, although Lem is quite popular around the world - Solaris anyone?) and God (and my history teacher) knows only how many books about history and society I've read as well ( if you wanted to have an A grade you had to read extra curricular books like the mythology of Greece and Rome, mythology of Egypt, some works about Polish history and so on... add to it that my mother is a history/archeology master (is it the right scientific title?) and a teacher of history at high school and you have one history obsessed kid, like me, as a result)... but I wasn't that cynical (oh, I'm sorry realistic) about everything at least untill I was 15...

back to the story itself... I find nothing new or outstanding... just your typical "more-aware-about-magic-than-normal Harry" and his way into/through Hogwarts (which I've never seen completed so far with this kind of plot)... at least it is bearable, so below average for me (there were many fics like this) :

2.5/5

 

Oh hey, Bukay, you dropped those names, let me pick them up for you. Try not to bean me with your massive e-peen of intellect while I do so.

 

The story seems a bit cliche and boring for me. I kind of feel Harry is too 'smart' for an 8 year old. The chapters are a little short for my taste.

Can't really comment that much on the story as its just starting out, but hopefull the story gets more orginal than what we have seen so far, and not obvious cliche's.

3/5 (1 extra because I liked Harry conversation with McGonagall).

 

Added a link to the story on fanfiction.net. This is a pretty enjoyable and average start. If you have any expectations of an 8-11 year old Harry acting anything like an 8-11 year old, then you'll have trouble suspending disbelief.

But if you're just looking for a different, less moronic take on things, this is a fine start. Like most other child!Harry fics I suspect we're about to begin rehashing canon in an extremely uninteresting way, and even if the author takes this one for a hundred chapters and hundreds of thousands of words, the end will never be reached.

Child!Harry fics: for when you're too stupid to write a story and just want to write the start and get "writer's block."

But this is somewhere between 3/5 and 4/5 for me. I'll round down if we must endure a completely typical Diagon Alley trip in the next chapter or two. And round up if I'm at least pleasantly surprised.

 

Somewhat generic, but pretty readable nonetheless. Enjoyed Harry's character, even if he came across as too mature. Early wandless magic wasn't bad, and the possibilities for changes to canon are intriguing. Harry/McGonnagall conversation was entertaining also, as mentioned previously.

3.5/5

 

Disbelief not suspended. Strike One.

Agree'd. Strike Two.

Agree aussi. Strike Three.

QFT.

2.5/5 - Thanks for writing my review nonjon

 

It's been updated. We didn't have to wade through ten pages of Diagon shopping. AD has managed to infuriate Harry, and Ron got slapped down hard.
I'm still enjoying it.

 

Oh dear. The fic wasn't doing to well before but tis taken a sudden dive. Wand less magic isn't detected by the ministry despite evidence from cannon as far back as POA that it doesnt matter desturbed me but I prevailed. We got Hermione worshup as soon as she was introduced and Harry didnt immediatly bitch-slap malfoy down to size like he did Ron. Also Harry was acting like a pompous dick throuout the entire chapter to everyone he met. It was unbearable.