I don't think I was expecting an explosive attitude change at the end of OOTP, but I did think Harry'd turn himself around and figure out a few things. So in this incarnation he's more political and grew a little bit of backbone to go up against the old man.

But I think a realistic 15/16 y.o. boy would be more for the 'revenge' aspect and let Tonks put the fear of god into the Dursleys. I'm sorry but boys do not think of consequenses when they are in their teen years. They think of the here and now: satisfaction, gratification, in general that is.

Granted Harry learned a big lesson by losing Sirius. But getting ad hoc revenge on abusive Muggles through Tonks would or should be near the top of the list. But then we would have another cliche (Dursley Bashing) to bitch about and I don't know if it really would have served anything by adding it.

Just as long as he doesn't go shopping the next day for a really neat trunk and half of Diagon Alley, I think we'll be okay.

I think chap. 5 was a decent recovery from the mess at the end of 4.

I enjoy the scenes with Tonks. This is how I think she should have been played out as in HBP instead of being all Emo over Remus. She's an Auror! They are supposed to be 'somewhat' elite not the bumbling bobbies that are in the books.

MOAR TONKS SCENES!

 

I've really been getting into this fic lately. Political!Harry is always good, not to mention the steady destruction of HBP canon. The writing style is engaging and excellent all around, but the author focuses a bit too much on angst for my liking. I know that we can't have everything though, and this is certainly a realistic portrayal, for the most part.

4/5

 

Well, that's a generalization if I ever saw one. Not every 15/16 year old boy is a revenged filled nut who only thinks of the here and now and not of later consequences.

Anyways, not so bad for now. It's a realistic Harry so far with the slow attitude change. Though if nothing shows signs of the better soon, this'll be dropped. It holds a tentative 4/5 for me but could easily slide down in the next few chapters.

 

Yeah ... hence the part where I said "In General" It's at the end of the sentence. Thanks for reiterating that point.
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Definiely one of the Rare Honks & Political!Harry stories I've ever read, and actually enjoyed...

 

Ah, I didn't see that, lol. Usually people begin sentences with 'In General"

 

I skimmed the latest chapter. Did not look like fun reading, so I'm going to wait for a few more chapters to be posted. I can stomach whiny, shitty, crybaby characterizations of Harry, if there's a worthwhile Harry on the horizon. But I'd just get frustrated reading about this Harry without that light at the end of the tunnel of suck.

On a slightly tangential topic, this comment perturbed me:

A slash-fan can't write a het-fic and a het-fan can't write a slash-fic? That's a big steaming load of crap.

I'll assume you're referring to the romance in a fic, because there are some great fics without any ship at all written by slash fans and het fans. I mean you're talking about one small aspect of most fics. And really it's one of those aspects that you either pay very little attention to or pay way too much attention to. When it comes to an author's ability to write romance, their personal preferences matter very little.

And there are some slash-fans out there who write some of the best action sequences, the most richly detailed descriptions, the funniest dialogue, and compelling intriguing twists on magic. It doesn't mean either of us could stomach reading those fics with all the penises flying around. But a lot of those authors could write a hetero fic you'd love. They just choose not to. Some probably for the same reason you're not writing a slash fic.

 

Nonjon, sometimes I feel that I could just have long ago made a blanket statement, "I agree with everything nonjon says," and not regretted it.

Keep on writing truthiness.

Kevin

 

Just updated. This chapter actually seemed to be pulling Harry away from the emo shit, so it was a very large improvement. For once, you get to see Remus in a positive light instead of the usual "DD is my master and he knows best" crap. A few more chapters like this one and my rating will go up.

 

My rating for this fic has already gone back up to 4/5. This author seems like he actually takes advice, or considers it at least. I've noticed a little change of character in Harry in this latest chapter. He's more of the "I'm getting tired of people fucking with me (i.e. Ron, Molly, Arthur) I'm just to the point where I am waiting for him to actually do something. I think if it is stretched out much more it will become either tedious or boring.

It needs a little action to balance out the drama.

Plus someone needs to smack Ron in the head or something. Maybe a nice firm corkscrew in the ear would do the trick ... just a few turns.

 

The latest chapter was far, far better. He finally stops feeling fucking guilty for every single thought. The conflict with the adults is much more realistic too. Dumbledore is still a bit dodgy but I can buy that with all the plans he had for Harry he might not be amenable to letting the puppet strings go.

This story has shot way up in my estimation. Hopefully he's gotten over the "crying Harry" portion.

 

It was nice to see Harry starting to get pissed off instead of waxing crybaby about everything. I hope this pattern keeps up. I'd also be happy with a little action, but I guess I'll get that when it comes.

Dumbledore--probably the least realistic part of this story. I would think that if Dumbledore considers himself above such things as Unforgiveable Curses, Dark Lords, and hiring suitable teachers...that he'd also be above throwing less than veiled insults at a newly 16 year old boy about his arrogance. I really hope that old Albus catches up to the rest of the story as it comes to improvements.

 

I loved this part...

"I know what I said, but you didn't know how to listen. James and Sirius both explained it to me at one point or another. House money is in the control of the Head, but it isn't theirs, it belongs to the House as a whole. It's meant to be used to maintain the estates, advance the Name, and provide for the descendants. So just keep that in mind. Whether you want to give it all away or spend it on fancy broomsticks and building your friends their own castles... You have the legal right to do so, but not the moral one."

The author's keeping Canon Harry from becoming a flaming retard prancing around like everyone's fairy-godmother.

 

I just finished reading the fic so far, so I'll just copy part of my review.

'It has been brought up before, so I’ll try to not to focus on it too much. The subject of Harry crying seriously annoys me. I understand that he has lost his childhood and his godfather, but he has never cried before except for that one time in PS/SS when he was an eleven year old. I think that is when he knew his childhood would be short, and that was his time for crying, but not anymore. He didn’t cry when a basilisk fang impaled his arm and knew his LIFE would be over, so why would he cry over a crappy childhood. He has always avoided showing any sort of weakness and he would probably be confused and maybe disgusted with anyone thinking he needed a good cry. That he thought that just seemed like the opposite of his character.

Besides the crying, he also now seems somewhat weak willed which is a far cry from the Harry who overthrew Voldemort’s imperius. He wanted to cave in several times to avoid having people disappointed in him. Harry is known for being stubborn. He didn’t cave in to others’ wishes, but he needs to show more belief in his own convictions. You have begun to rectify these mistakes in the past few chapters, so I’m starting to let it slide, but I’ll just ask you to take my advice. It seems like you’re trying to write Harry’s emotional reactions as the reactions of any normal person, which Harry isn’t. Please don’t.'

 

Lovely update. I particularly like how Hermione is portrayed, but please don't fall into the overdone Ron/Hermione love/hate thing. It's annoying, frankly. I enjoyed Harry's reactions in this chapter, as well as his interaction with Remus.

What I didn't like so much is how strongly Harry seems to be latching to Scrimmy-kins. I realize that he's the first adult to really be upfront with Harry outside of Sirius, who was stuck under Dumble's thumb, but it still seems that their relationship is getting a bit too father/son or mentor/student too quickly for their limited interaction thus far.

 

That's because it has become a big cliche in honks stories. Like Harry going to Gringotts and learning he's heir to X amount of families and receives X family rings in Independent!Harry stories.

 

There's none of that 'Secretly, Tonks had been in love with Harry since the summer before his fifth year.' crap that ruins so many Harry/Tonks stories. Aside from that cringe-worthy scene where they just had to make out to help support their trick on Dudley, and Harry's good and pathetic weeping fit, I think it is quite original. Particularly Remus' characterization, where he is not Dumbledore's lap-wolf and actually is capable of some individual thought.

4/5

 

I'm going to withhold ranking, but I will say that I like it. Don't love it but I like it. As stories go its entertaining enough to keep me from going to turn on lawn dart throwing matches on ESPN17.

Jokes aside its not falling into the "oh I've always loved you tonks and guess what I'm a metamorph too and all these other powers and oh look is that Mjolnir in the grass?" cliches