Title: Amortentia
Author: excentrykemuse
Rating: T
Genre: Romance/Drama
DLP Category: Romance
Pairing: Harry/Romilda
Words: 47,790
Chapters: 6 (or XI + Epilogue)
Status: Complete
Summary: AU of HBP. Romilda Vane was as cunning as any Slytherin and when she decided she wanted something, she got it. What she didn't factor into her scheme to gain the love of the Chosen One was that he might just be as much of a Slytherin as she was. A Love Story. Harry/Romilda.
Link: Fanfiction.net
Link: http://onj1.andrelouis.com/hp/Amortentia.txt
Link: https://excentrykemuse.com/amor00/

While there are a lot of romance stories in the Harry Potter fandom, I've rarely found one that is not only well-written but also engaging. This story definitely fits the criteria of well-written and interesting romance.

The only Harry/Romilda story I've read till date that is extremely good. Romilda's characterisation was exquisite. There are a few points in the story that I did not care for very much. And it felt as if the author really wanted to do a happily ever after ending.

But overall, the writing was solid and I enjoyed reading it. 4/5 from me.

By the way, do not bother to check out the other stories by the author. They are all slash. This one being the sole exception.



Checked by Minion, Dec. 1, 2012
It was removed from ff.net, but is still available as a text file.
Thanks to Krishna for the info.

Added formatted version. -Sesc
Added link to author's site. -Sesc

 

I'm pretty certain that this has already been posted before.

 

In "Barely Readable" thread, if I remember right. But anyway, the fic belongs to the library.

4/5

It would get full five stars if Harry weren't so out of character.

 

From the almost recommended thread:

3/5

 

I remember reading this back when it was posted in the almost recommended thread and likeing it quite a bit. The story is annoying at times but is overall a good read that has some nice ideas about wizard society. Always nice to see things from the purebloods perspective too

For rating, I do not know. The story could either be a 3 because it is a somewhat entertaining story that will keep you entertained for an hour on some rainy day and nothing more.
However, the story does have some depth in it so I guess a 4/5 it is.

 

The story is good technically, despite some spelling errors.

But the characterization is universally awful. There's not a single likable character in the mix.

2/5

 

I liked this a fair bit (I also read it after seeing it in the almost recommended thread). 4/5

Wow, I really am a lazy bastard.

 

I thought it was just relatively boring myself. Not much was going on really. There wasn't anything else except for romance. I like my stories to have at least SOME action in them, not just romance, and bad romance at that. I'm giving this a 3/5. 3 for being just "average".

 

Yeah. I was hoping most of them got a killing curse.

 

As a love story, it fails hard. Frankly, as any kind of story, it fails.

Spoiler

Harry and Romilda hook up in chapter 1 and start acting all lovey dovey from the get-go; from there to the end, there's never any threat to their relationship. The love potion reveal from which the title is supposedly drawn is yawn-worthy. I'm sure such perfect devotion relationships are lovely to be in, but they are dead boring to read about. It was barf-on-Birkenstocks bad in Goodkind's Sword of Truth "I twoo-wuv you so much that I don't mind giving up my free will to you" and it fails here.

Outside this stunted "romance," the story has no dramatic tension. It's little more than an extended character sketch of a thoroughly unpleasant Romilda Vane and a string of unflattering glimpses of an wizarding world AU. The only question that seems to be driving the piece at the end is whether and how Ginny Weasley will fuck her way out of polite society.

The author has written a dozen or so stories with slash pairings, some bizarre, and this het sketch. It is possible that she has fallen into the common slash fanfiction habit of just shoving two unlikely characters together against the wishes of their friends and stilted would-be lovers and making events hold together (sort of) and pretending it's something.

2/5, because I was expecting a story and this didn't deliver one.

 

WRONG. Perspicacity is the only one who's right here. Harry's characterization was AWFUL. Romilda was BORING. The writing wasn't in itself so bad, but the story? BORING. The romance? NOT BELIEVABLE. Nobody talked like anything that I could buy into. Romilda's insertion into all the main characters' lives? Terrible.

2/5

 

I quite agree with Jeram.

 

I actually find myself a bit torn on this one. On one hand it's well written, and while it the characterizations stretch my suspension of disbelief, they don't completely break it.

On the other hand there is the absolute devotion to fashion, the 'Perfect' courtship, and the authors preoccupation with incest and the scent of almonds.

after a bit it just kind of dragged on...

3/5

not all that good, but not all that bad either.

Edit: Ahh, that makes a lot more sense. The author leans heavily toward slashfics, it explains why it felt so stilted. It's guy/guy with a girls name inserted to make it look like a non slash pairing.

 

I read this a while back and found it to be excellent.
5/5 from me.

 

.

^^ This. ^^

This fic threw me for a loop. I read it because I was curious about the pairing. Harry/Romilda isn't exactly common. I loved it. It was fairly unique, and I thought Romilda was incredibly funny.

The flatness and one-dimensional nature of other characters is more of a reflection of Romilda's perspective than of poor writing. It's a very close third person narrator.

The writing is not the best technically. It occasionally felt a little stiff. Strong 4/5.

 

I get into stories like this and enjoy it for a while until a single fact inevitably hits me: the age of the characters in question. And then it goes downhill from there.

The idea that Romilda Vane has been planning her courtship of Harry for a while doesn't bother me as much as the hamfisted way in which it was handled. It's normal for teenagers to fantasize about wooing their heroes. That does not mean that there should be some conspiracy between various characters, who are all not that far away from fourteen. The cold dispassionate way this was dealt with threw me off and seemed so out of character that I couldn't get behind it.

I'm not saying it couldn't happen. I'm no saying that lifeblood children may not be forced to grow up and worry about stuff like this earlier than Muggle children. It's just that it's very improbable. Also the fact is that this story isn't AU and in canon we have no indication that this sort of behavior is what we should expect from Pureblood children.

On top of that Harry seemed downright creepy. I mean who meets a girl in a train and then thirty minutes and a conversation later is runnig his hand through her hair like some contact-starved freak?

And like I said before it isn't AU there is no justification for Harry being able to make these huge fucking leaps of intellect and then not at all reacting like he would. It all seems like a convinient fantasy for the author: I wouldn't be surprised if she were typing with only one hand.

Good Writing : + 2
Unbelievable Characters: -1
Basically an Author-Masturbatory aid: -2
Horrible Plot and premise: -2
Total: -3/5

However i think the lowest acceptable grade in the library is 1/5, so I'll tweak the rating to that.