Yes, wasn't the opening to Ravenclaw Tower a riddle giving statue/knocker of some kind?

It was indeed Harry Potter and the Halcyon Phantasmagoria, and the other fic' that I think that you're remembering is 'Secrets of the Male Veela'.

Sadly enough, I think it's an abandoned story, like most non-slash/crap male!veela stories.
I've actually got notes stashed away for a male!veelaHarry storyline somewhere, but as I'm still making notes on and rereading the series in general (it's amazing what details and character development you notice when you're of an older age!) the plot outline is evolving constantly.

 

Yeah. It's been nearly three months since Thor's Shadow has updated. It's a bit upsetting. I personally really liked the story. It's believable! (somewhat) unlike The Lie I've Lived. I do agree with some of what you all are saying in that Harry is a bit of a whimp. I'm anxious to see how he unfolds everything. Thor's Shadow posted that around chapter 20 the story wasn't even half over. So I'm really anxious to see what he decides to do.

 

Am I actually reading what I think I'm reading? :facepalm

If so, gtfo.

 

STFU my friend.

 

No no my absolutely not-friend, this is exactly what you need to do. The fact that you attempted to argue that the also-ran collection of cliches known as Champions is any way superior to The Lie of Lived, (one of the pillars of the Harry/Fleur genre and one of the classics of HP fanfic), is giant silos full of fail. When you've made that argument you need to pick your yourself up and exit the sandbox to go sit in your corner alone once more. So kindly do so now.

 

Yeah, one of the reasons I ended up liking The Lie I've Lived was it's relatively realistic H/F relationship development. Champions is a guilty pleasure read and nothing more, really.

 

JBern's "Lie" is one of the most creative pieces of FF on the internet; it redefined the Harry/Fleur pairing, and was incredibly original (the fact that JBern actually re-invented each and every task while adding in dueling, Quidditch tourny, and some intellectual challenge was genius, JKR should've done something like that to begin with), the characterization's are great (the Sorting Hat is my favorite fandom character of all time), and Fleur acts like she should; she's not all powerful, they don't "fall in love" immediatly, and she is portrayed as a normal teenage girl with her insecurities and problems. Finally Dumbledore is portrayed perfectly; he has his faults, but overall he is a man who means well and treats Harry as an adult. The only shame is that it looks like JBern won't ever get around to writing the sequel.
Champions, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. It features pre-mature marriages, uber-powerful Delacours, manipulative Dumbledore!, mary-sue Fleur! It is a complete disaster of a story, comparing this to "Lie" is disrespectful.

 

I enjoyed reading The Lie I've Lived. I really did. No denying that. The whole story is just hard to wrap your head around. I don't picture the goblet of fire permenently branding Malfoy in front of the entire school. I don't picture the sorting hat as a swearing, snobby....hat! To me, Harry seemed a bit overpowerful in the story. I mean to be awarded the Order of Merlin at age 14? Come on.

Fleur on the other hand, was likable. She didn't gush over Harry as some fics portray her. She didn't hate him the entire time either.

I'm just giving my personal opinion on the matter. I didn't mean to offend anyone here at all. If I have, my personal apologies.

- The Duke

 

By the age of fourteen, Harry fucking Potter had single-handedly stopped Voldemort from taking the Philosopher's Stone and gaining a body at age 11, had slain a thousand year old, blind Basilisk with naught but a sword at age 12, had successfully learned the Patronus charm and used it against 100+ Dementors to save a falsely-convicted adult at age 13. He survived encountering a dragon and outmaneuvered it, he completed the second task faster than Champions three years his senior and was the Winner of the Triwizard Tournament, escaping Voldemort and his Death Eaters and bringing his fellow Champion's corpse along at age 14.
And all that from canon Harry, who is a pussy. And Jbern's Harry is many times better than canon Harry. Fucking Pettigrew got the award for getting blown up.
Yes, I think he can easily take a fucking Order of Merlin.

 

Fixed that for ya. :awesome Otherwise spot on and what you said.

 

I'm really happy for you Duke Onkled, and I'ma let you finish, but The Lie I've Lived is the greatest Fourth Year remake fic OF ALL TIME!

Besides We'll All Fall After The Yule Ball, of course.

 

The story is hard to wrap your head around? Yea right, it was started as a challenge here on DLP (between BioPlague, Vash, and JBern if I remember correctly) with the premise that James and Harry are essentially one person, it is meant to be heavily AU and unrealisitic, but so is the idea of magic as a whole.
The Goblet branding Malfoy in front of the entire school is believable, IMO, because it was created in medieval times where punishments like that are acceptable; thousand year old sentiment magic isn't exactly bound by the Geneva Convention.
The Sorting Hat is nothing short of brilliant. Think about it, it is a thousand year old piece of cloth that has seen/heard pretty much everything that has ever gone on throughout Hogwarts history, of course it's going to be a little cynical. Besides the sheer entertainment value of the Hat, it serves an important function within the story; it is able to advise and teach HJ on the fly, a function that within canon lies with the incredibly annoying and snotty Hermoine, the hat just happens to be entertaining.
Getting the Order of the Merlin at age 14 is a bit of a stretch but was meant to act as a political move by the ministry; by awarding the wizarding world's "savior" it puts him in the spotlight and puts the Ministry in a position where they will hopefully receive more support.
Besides all of that, the characterizations of Penelope and Oliver are great and refreshing, while the characterizations of the perpetually great Weasley twins is brilliant and original.
Overall "Lie" receives a 5/5 and "Champions" receives a 2/5. The difference in grading is that a 5/5 means that a reader would go back and re-read said story because it is well written and original, while simultaneously influencing other stories (which "Lie" has). While a 2/5 means that if I'm sick, and there is nothing on TV, I'll read the story but won't subscribe to updates.

 

Ah! I was just merely stating my opinion. I didn't mean to step on anybody's feet or anything. Anyway...I'll let the issue of Lie I've Lived drop.

What does everyone think of that reletively new story "Letters"?

 

:facepalm:facepalm:facepalm
Sorry about that. Fix'd it.

Edit: Dude, Letters has been extensively discussed not three pages ago. Go look.

 

Wasn't really here. More in the Almost Recommended Thread. Anything else still holds true, though.

 

I've dropped Letters as of the forth chapter, mostly because it introduced the cliche I hate more than anything: a magical "credit card". Fuck that shit.

There's also some hints of Dumbledore messing with his finances, though not nearly to the extent as most stories with the exact same bank scene. Seems fairly legit, to be fair to the author. Not too worried about Manipulative!Dumbledore.

The biggest problem I would say is the very premise of the fic failing. The letters sent between Harry and Fleur just aren't interesting enough to hold my attention. Harry's always seem to just recap the scenes we've already seen from his POV, and Fleur's just lack any real character and emotion, so I just can't tell how these two are apparently supposed to be becoming friends or even slightly close. I'm guessing the fic will get more interesting when the school year starts and they actually meet, but the author hasn't done enough to make me care about either of them.

I wish a better author had used the premise, 'cause I really think it could have worked well.

 

Speaking of which, didn't Seratin want to use that premise as well? Did you do anything with it?

 

"Fleur's lack of any real character and emotion" as you put it, is one of the bad things about letters and other correspondance. You don't see facial features; real expressed feelings and such.

I think what the author wanted to do was establish a clear friendship between the two, so that when it comes time for the author to write about the two in person, the author doesn't have to wait for Harry to rescue Gabrielle. It seems like an inadvertant way for the author to get right into action between Harry and Fleur.

 

And use every single cliche he can get his retarded hands on.

 

I think that if you'd finally get your ass to the Almost Recommended Thread, you'd find out that most of us don't care about the letters either way. It's everything else around that is so full of cliches, like Republic21 said, that makes the story bad.

Stop cluttering up this thread with useless garbage.