I couldn't make it past the fourth chapter. It just wasn't an interesting fic. Almost all possible conflict is 'solved' by Harry avoiding it, unless it can be directly related to his new personality. He wrote out the Philosopher's Stone in an extremely lazy way and then seemingly just forgot about it.

It's supposed to be a realistic take on an abused Harry, but it just ends up being a canonfixer with a misunderstood loner child prodigy as main character. And his system of almost tangible magic, with magical bodyshields, tendrils that can break through charms and unaccidental accidental magic just annoys me.

I suppose it's fine here in the Almost Recommendable section, but it just couldn't hold my attention.

 

Too much focus on the abuse, and its fallout; instead of being a mere ingredient, it's the actual dish.

 

I liked it well enough. It especially contains the proper (and my personal favorite) method of interaction between Harry and Dumbledore:

Spoiler

Dumbledore was a man well in excess of a hundred years old, and had experienced many, many things during his decades of life. A screaming twelve year old boy attacking him with a knife was not amongst these experiences.

 

I prefer the Holly Evans method of catching him in an invisible rune circle. But then interrogate and kill him, not let him go.

 

There goes any chance of me ever reading that story. That sounds really stupid.

 

It wasn't invisible- it was overgrown with weeds, and all it did was keep the man tongue-tied & forthcoming with the confessions. He could have left.

What was more fun IMNSHO was Holly smacking him upside the head with the barrel of Vernon's hunting gun the moment Dumbledore Apparated to the front lawn next to her.

Besides, there are much, much, MUCH better reasons for someone not to read the story than that.

 

Title: My Reflection
Author: Mask with a truth
Pairing: None yet
Rating: T
Story Summary: Harry Potter, disillusioned BWL, slowly carving his mark in the Wizarding World as the prince of Slytherin, protégé of Snape and sort of friend of Lord V. James Potter just has to ruin things by rising from the dead. Neither's what the other expects.
Link: Here *Edit-It's fixed, sorry about that folks*

It only has 8 chapters, and it's still a WIP.

So far, it looks like a typical Slytherin Harry trying to be independent. He takes the political route to accomplish this, & approaches a few influential people to help him.

What I like in one chapter is that Harry doesn't instantly trust or become friends with Remus just because the man was his parent's friend. Harry actually questions why Remus hasn't contacted him over the years until now.

 

A "reading the books" fic in the "almost recommendable" thread on DLP? GTFO and peddle your story on ginnypotter.com or some other place where they practice coprophilia.

EDIT: Thanks to RustyRed for informing me that I came down hard on the wrong fic. Hint to @Caelum: Learn linking, it's not rocket science dude!

 

Easy there, it's just linked to the wrong story. Copy and paste for proper reading. (btw, the actual story 'My Reflection' is, up until I closed the window around chapter 5, kind of intolerable)

 

Hm. I actually really enjoyed My Reflection. It has decent characterization, is off a good length, and deals with a slytherin Harry whose neither ostracized or an ass. So far so good.

 

Wordhammer's Mad Ideas

Inspirations for Harry Potter stories that probably should be left where they are.
Harry Potter - Rated: T - English - Mystery - Chapters: 3 - Words: 5,355 - Reviews: 16 - Updated: 7-27-11 - Published: 7-20-11 - Harry P.


It's not that I don't have faith in the snippets I've already posted. I just can't see putting a 'false starts and half-mad ideas collection' up For Review. Any new chapter could consign the whole collection to auto-fail.

"Hey, man- why is the category 'Mystery'?"

"Any particular chapter could be of any genre- it's a mystery until I post 'em."

 

OC-centric, though HP & crew are peripheral characters. Mostly OCs, though admittedly well-crafted ones - reminds me a bit of Alexandra Quick. Slight religious overtones, though given the age of the main character there's nothing too deep and it gets lighter as the story moves forward.

Probably library-worthy, in truth - I'd give a 4/5, but I'm not sure how well DLP would receive something like this.

 

The Quidditch World Cup » by TheEndless7 reviews
After the war, things didn't go as planned for Harry. He tried to be an Auror, but it wasn't for him. Instead, he turned to Quidditch. Now, at the 2002 World Cup, he looks back on what went wrong and discovers what he always wanted.
Rated: M - English - Romance - Chapters: 6 - Words: 71,500 - Reviews: 183 - Updated: 7-18-11 - Published: 3-31-11 - Harry P. & Luna L. - Complete

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6862426/1/The_Quidditch_World_Cup

I was looking for some Luna-centric fanfiction, and came across this. It has an unlikeable Ginny, which I can take or leave, and a more 'human' Luna (the author makes sure to detail why she's less Luna-y, and I think it fits well). It's ultimately Harry/Luna, and best of all, COMPLETE. Also, the writing itself is pretty decent.

EDIT: I did a search before I posted it here, and it didn't come up. I just checked again, and it did...I think I had misspelled Quidditch or something

 

It's actually in the Recycling Bin with a 2.8, but I guess it fits here.

 

Thanks for the reminder, now I'll just delete it from my alert list.
I finished it, and my feeling is meh. I like Harry/Luna, but in the end this story doesn't cut it for me. 2.5/5
Oh, and, what ViolentRed said (see below). Too early in the morning for me to be articulate.

Upon reading, ViolentRed? I think you meant "the guy did a lot more for [Ginny] than her own brother ever did".

 

I think it's a little weird Ginny features more prominently in a Harry/Luna fic than Luna herself. This story doesn't really seems meant for H/L fans, as much as it's for anti-H/G's. Ginny is just completely OOC and a little touched in the head. No mather how 'reasonable' the guy tries to make their break-up,

Spoiler

having Ginny yell at Luna during her dad's funeral just isn't normal.

For God's sake, the guy did a lot more for Harry than her own brother ever did. Percy was an active part of the Ministry, while they were still denying Voldemort's return, and only joined the others at the very end, because he was too afraid to turn his back on the Ministry sooner. Meanwhile, Xenophilius supported Harry from the very beginning and only stopped his campaign against the Death Eather Ministry, when they kidnapped and threatend to kill his own daughter. The fact that Hermione, who disfigured the last person who betrayed them, actually tried to help him, should say enough.

The fic is decently written, so I would have given it a 3/5. But between being quite boring, Luna playing a minor role and Harry spending all his time in the air during the fucking World Cup reminiscing about his ex-girlfriend (and actually missing a snitch because of it), I'm going round down to 2/5. I wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't Harry/Luna. Too bad, really, for a fic about Quidditch and Luna Lovegood could have been a lot of fun.

 

I couldn't read it to the end, it was so boring. ^And what he said.

 

The Fourth Champion, by munkeymaniac

Summary: Harry, believed to have died that fateful night along with his parents, is called out of oblivion to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Meanwhile, Sirius, Remus and Dumbledore have to solve the riddle of who could have possibly known Harry was alive.

Writing is coherent, although it could use some polishing. Characterization seems consistent, although Dumbledore seemed off a couple of times.

The story might have an outside chance of making the library if it progresses well. However, the latest chapter sent up big warning flags, what with the author detailing nearly every fourth year Hogwarts girls thoughts on Harry's arrival. We'll have to wait and see how it goes.

 

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2290003/1/Pet_Project

WARNING!
This is a HG/SS romance and therefore a story most of DLP will deplore. Continuing my 'sort of' tradition of reccing hated ships in romance fics (begun with "Survivors" by Dyce), I'll advocate for it anyway. Also: WIP.

The story is VERY well written, a great character study of Hermione and a delightful example of romantic suspense. You wont see a "16 yo. Nypmh!Hermione" jumping into bed with the Greasy!Git in the third chapter. Instead the author presents the reader with a slow but steady development and a snowballing AU to boot. If you can stomach the problems mentioned in the above warning, this will be a very good read.

 

Not even going to take a look at that based on your history of consistently recommending horrifically terrible fics in an effort to seem open-minded.