There are many characters in the Harry Potter universe that fall flat due to lack of focus and bad characterization by the author despite potential. That is where the fandom has come in, writing fics around their favorite characters and generally making them Super! More often than not, they fail. Hard.

And sometimes, they succeed in building a character on what little information is present in Canon, and make them rather awesome.

Exhibit 1:

So here's my challenge to anyone reading. Awesomize a character as well as Blaise did Bill Weasley, any character, to show it can be done and for the enjoyment of yourself and everyone else.

 

You mean write a fic? Or a long-ass rant about the character, pimping the shit out of him like Blaise did?

 

This. No one reading is going to write an entire fic. Just do what Blaise did to your character of choice.

 

Yeah. So maybe if someone could link me to thread in which Blaise did this? I refuse to search around for it, just based on principle.

 

Son I am disappoint, it's in the original post.

 

... what?



/filler

 

It's actually there. You just have to be a detailed bastard to spot it. It's that tiny line pointing right in the quote of his first post.

And I'm pimping the shit out of Filius Flitwick in my fic, though it might be fair to say I'm giving him a background not told in canon.

 

I choose Harry Potter.

/thread.

In all seriousness, Harry should be excluded from this thread because he has been done to death. So I say choose a more minor character.

How about Moody?

No one in the old war was as good at capturing Death Eaters ashim. They were all pancies sacrificing their morals, using Unforgiveables and afraid to get their robes dirty. Not Moody, oh no. He was the shit. He would run in, spells blazing. He didn't sacrifice his morals, but nor was he a pansy ass. He got in his hands dirty, he got in close and personal, and kicked serious ass. How many spells did he take in the face but kept going? Lost a leg? Still got the bad-guy. Lost his eye and piece of his nose, just makes for a good story later-on in life.

Did he get pwned by Wormtail and Crouch's gay son? Yeah...but he was really drunk that night after visiting a bar and telling his war stories to green-eared Aurors. Showing them all also how to get drunk.

So, in closing, Moody was the shit, wasn't afraid to take the hits to get the guy, and still kicked ass without killing anyone. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

 

I failed at formatting the post, but basically Hashasheen linked to Blaise's rant in the first post.

That and I was referencing a 4chan meme.

 

Meh, I'll count it, as long as you update soon.

 

How about Wormtail? This guy is everything you can expect from a genius spy.

Think about it. At Hogwarts he looked like the least talented Marauder but only because he didn't like to show off, believing one should hid his true skills for a moment when it could give him element of surprise. Of course when his friends were trying to become Animagi, he showed as much talent as them.

After Hogwarts he joined Voldermort because he knew that this side will be victorious (well, before there was this Prophecy that ruined everything). When he was a spy for the Dark Lord, he managed to fool for few years not only his friend from the Order, but also Albus "I already knew about Tom Riddle being evil when he was just a child" Dumbledore.

When Dark Lord fell, Peter with his quick thinking framed Sirius as a betrayer and his murderer, then went underground as a rat for about a decade. Talk about having big patience.

Next, when his hiding place was compromised, he and Barty Jr. helped Voldemort to get his body back. Once again Peter showed that he had remarkable magic skills when he alone prepared and did a ritual for Dark Lord return.

Later, because of his skills and Animagus form, I see him completing many dangerous missions for Voldermort as:
- scouting Azkaban before Dark Lord attack on it and finding where DE are hold,
- breaking in the Department of Mysteries and locating the orb with Prophecy.

 

I had a series of stories that I once thought about writing, my take on the Marauder's Era, essentially.

The sequence would be written from the perspective of Sirius, Remus, and Wormtail.

The Sirius story (I believe I'd wanted to call it "Heart Full of Black") was about the 7th year at Hogwarts.

The Remus story (Predictably, "Bark at the Moon") was about him slipping in with the werewolves, trying to prevent them from joining Voldemort - and also about how he necessarily grew more distant from his friends (and thus less trusted).

And finally, the Wormtail story - I hadn't had many ideas for, but I knew I wanted to write it as the third part. And from what you wrote, it'd probably be the best of the bunch. Legilimency wouldn't work on him since he's shy and keeps his eyes downcast anyway; he's so unassuming and "talentless" - at least in the traditional sense - that no one would ever suspect him. I would even have Snape be aware of some "infiltrator specialist" who works for his Lord and is apparently a Death Eater, only to have Peter (the Order's own specialist at infiltration) assigned to scout out the Dark Lord's. The difficult part would be keeping him underwhelming in just about every way as a wizard. Except his friends helped him become an Animagus, and he's crafty as hell besides, and uses it to the best advantage.

I think in the Sirius story, I'd have Peter be known as the one in the bunch who focuses on how to do things like get in and out of the Common Rooms without being found out, and shifting blame on others to avoid detentions and whatnot. Just to get the readers thinking that there was a reason that he was their friend, and he wasn't totally useless at life.

But after reading your Wormtail exposition, I could see something like "Secret Agent Man" being the title of the final part of the trilogy :awesome

 

If you ever will write it and need help with showing Wormtail as a great spy, yet "poor" wizard, I can help you with it.

 

Err, no. Can't really see it, to be honest.

Being an Animagus seems to me to be some kind of genetic thing. You either got it or you don't. We know of plenty of powerful and very skilled wizards (Dumbledore and Voldemort, for example) who aren't Animagi (whatever the plural is). It's certainly a useful skill to have, and if Tom Riddle was so fucking brilliant, I don't see him missing an opportunity like this.

In other words, Pettigrew, IMO, was genetically predisposed to becoming an Animagus, just like canon Lockhart was genetically conceived to be awesome.

About the resurrection ritual, it doesn't take a genius to pull it off. Voldemort gave him the instructions and all Pettigrew did was take some blood from a immobile, wandless teenager, levitate some bones into a boiling cauldron and chop off his own arm. In fact, Pettigrew cutting off his own arm speaks quite loudly of how his fear far surpassed his reasoning skills. And don't forget cutting off his own arm ultimately killed him, as Voldemort gave him a silver hand that strangled him, or could've in time killed him by silver poisoning.

I suppose the only really smart thing he did was cut off his finger (I'm seeing a body parts neglect trend here) to frame Sirius of the murders. However, for all we know, that could've been Voldemort or someone else pulling the strings again. Voldemort, for example, expected to get out of the Potter house alive, and by framing Sirius he could've gotten rid of Harry, Lily, James and Sirius (supposedly a powerful and skilled wizard in his own right) in just one night's work.

And who doesn't like to be productive?

So no. Pettigrew is a huge fail for me, and his successes are product of someone wiser and more cunning than him pulling the strings from the background.

And let me tell you, a brilliant Super-double-Agent doesn't get physically disarmed by two teenagers locked inside a secure room. At least not when said Super Agent knew perfectly well he was about to open the door.

 

Neville Longbottom. I don't care what any of you say, that kid has fucking balls.

First of all, like Harry, he was orphaned and stuck in an emotionally abusive home. Unlike Harry, he didn't have to the thought that his parents died for him to give him strength. His parents were tortured to the point that they didn't even recognize him. And growing up, he saw them every Christmas (at least) and had to look them in the eyes, knowing, even though they were looking back, that they couldn't see him as their son.

He grows up thinking he's a squib and a failure to his parents, thanks to his bitch of a grandmother. He's thrown of a fucking roof by his uncle just to see if he has magic.

At Hogwarts, he has no real friends, and is either despised or pitied by everyone he meets.

Despite all this, when Harry, Hermione, and Ron leave to get the Philosopher's Stone, he stands up to them. While this doesn't seem like much, it takes guts to stand up to the most beloved students in school, especially since nothing in his past has shown him that he could make a difference.

Cut to fifth year. In the DA, he's learning faster than anyone. Despite his abhorrent grades, he's so determined to get back at Bellatrix for what she did he learns faster or as fast (can't remember which) as Hermione. At this time, he still has basically nothing going for him in ways of friends, school, family, ect. Except for Luna at this point, and the DA.

Department of Mysteries: if Neville had been the one to cast Crucio at Bellatrix, I have no doubt that it would have fucking spectactular.

7th year: He's the one leading the resistance against the Death Eaters in Hogwarts. Enough said.

And I hate Molly Weasley, simply because she took out Bellatrix before Neville rightfully could.

On a related note, I can't stand Wrong Boy Who Lived fics that make Neville an incompetent, arrogant, asshole. He would have made an awesome boy who lived. There was a reason the prophecy could have applied to either of them.

tl;dr: Neville is fucking boss.

 

Arthur Weasley.

I'm deathly serious here. The man's eccentric - all the 'great' wizards have their quirks - but he's not stupid. He's an active part of the Order, and while that may not count for much to some, to others, maybe it does. Molly Weasley is the Order's cook. She keeps house for them. That's it. Arthur pulls guard duty when they suspect Voldemort's after something.

Yeah, sure, he falls asleep and gets nibbled on by a snake, but he's a middle-aged guy with a tough job, working as an active part of a vigilante organization dedicated to survival in the face of utter evil, and, to top it all off, has a frumpy bitch for a wife.

The Weasley family is shown to be practically be a coven of Mary Sues, save for their ginger hair, in some ways. Where do they get it from? olly's home cooked meals? I don't think so.

Go back to his tinkering; the man enchanted a car to run normally while enchanted - possibly a big deal, if you take into account the way that technology goes on the fritz around magic - to turn invisible - can't be easy, given how rare invisibility cloaks are - and to FLY. To top it all off, the enchantments he's placed on it pretty much turn it alive. Dr Arthur Frankenstein? God? Call him what you will.

In PoA, he was straight with Harry. He wanted to tell him about Sirius, and even did so, risking his job, and even, to some extent, his marriage. To save Harry's life? No. He did it to get Harry away from the bullshit and lies. He knows Harry's a kid. He also knows that he's Harry fucking Potter..

He's no Dumbledore, and no Sirius Black. But he does head up a department at the Ministry with minimal support - presumably an important one despite the derision it's treated with, seeing the way that the statute of secrecy hasn't been shattered by all the magical artifacts that he recovers and covers up for. He's no politician, but he's written laws in canon (and added loopholes so he can continue his hobby).

Can he wandlessly conjure a solid gold flying castle? No. But he's okay with a wand, according to canon, though we never really see him in action. Is he a magical genius? No, but he's willing to put a lot of time and effort into interests like the car, and can achieve some real results. Does he have a harem? No, but he's raised and supported a large, happy, and healthy family even though times are very hard for him, financially and otherwise.

He's no badass.

Arthur Weasley is just an ordinary man; nothing truly outstanding, for better or for worse. He's just a Pretty Decent Guy who does his best.

That, I think, makes him every bit as awesome as anyone else.

 

I'd also like to add that he's sneaky. There's no way he can head that department and kit-bash Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang without knowing muggle matters quite well. I say he's asking Harry silly muggle questions all the way to the Ministry to help the lad deal with the anxiety of his upcoming trial. I say he's helping the Grangers feel comfortable in the magical world by letting them know that their knowledge isn't useless.

He's no idiot; he just plays one for the kids.

Also, I don't think he fell asleep on the job- Nagini was a badass serpent, and he was on the lookout for wizards. He just got ambushed.

 

Might I add that that bad muthafuckin' snake got it's ass handed to him by one Neville Longbottom who was sick of that muthafuckin' snake in his muthafuckin' school. With a SWORD no less.

 

Amelia Bones. Aside from having one of the least wussy-sounding surnames in the wizarding world, this was one heavy-hitting old lady. She was the head of the Dept. of Magical Law Enforcement, which probably means that she cut her teeth on kicking the asses of wizard criminals in her younger years. As far as I can remember, she wasn't an member of the Order of the Phoenix, but she sure as fuck didn't have much time for Fudge's bullshit at Harry's Wizengamot trial even though she wasn't a full Dumbledore crony.

But most importantly, she was one of a presumed elite who were worthy of getting a house call from Voldemort himself. When the time came to remove her from the board, Voldemort knew that any normal Death Eater might not get the job done*, so he turned to the only person he trusted for the job: himself. And as Fudge pointed out, "she put up a real fight" before going down.

* alternately, it's possible that Voldemort simply hated her enough to want to do her in personally, which is still worthy of recognition

 

- and he sired Bill Weasley.

Arthur Weasley wins.