I apologize for the vague title, but that was as good as I could think of.
I know the good people of this forum aren't overly fond of the Harry/Hermione pairing, but I have to admit I sometimes am.

Unfortunately, most stories featuring said pairing are utter crap.

What I'm looking for is a fic that really gets both characters and the bond between them. It doesn't have to be a fic where they're in a relationship, as long as it's focused on the two of them.

The reason(s) I'm asking is:

1. As previously mentioned, I'm a sucker for the pairing.
2. I'm trying to write a scene where they interact and I cannot for the life of me get it done right.

 

https://forums.darklordpotter.net/tags.php?tag=harry/hermione

 

I'm also fond of Harry and Hermione - but not the majority of the fic's that have them as a pairing.

Why, you ask?

If you cut out the vast amount of stories written by overzealous Harmonians, and those that have pointless Ron/Ginny bashing, and those that involve love potions and/or marriage contracts ("Oh, woe is me, I am forcibly betrothed to Ronald Weasley, and Harry to Ginevra Weasley via a contract signed by a manipulative Dumbledore!" Harry suddenly looked very ill. "Uh, Hermione - Dumbledore got the contracts wrong; I'm marrying Ron - you're marrying Ginny." Hermione gagged.), what little stories remain have their Harry/Hermione characters written atrociously, and they (and the story as a result) have no depth, no planning - aside from Harry and Hermione humping each others brains out pointlessly to sate the author's personal fantasies.

If anyone knows of any decent stories that do not fall into any of those categories, let me know?

 

Favorite Harmione fic: is this.

 

Well, there's Years of Rebellion, but the H/Hr comes after an H/OC, which is frankly better, but the H/Hr is still fairly decent. It's fucking long, though, and incomplete.

 

Too long - and the OC romance was written better.

Though the characterizations were alright, the Harry/Hermione relationship reads as being half-baked, even though it is supposed to be a 'filling' of the story.

 

I enjoyed Vox Corporis when I read it, but that was a few years ago now, and it wasn't perfect then (pretty much the whole plot is Harry and Hermione learning to be animagi, and while it doesn't bash Ron, exactly, it does exclude him firmly). Might be worth a read though.

 

As you said Jormungandr, there's just a lot of clichés that crop up with the pairing. Pregnancies, love potions from Ginny and general Weasley-bashing.

Read a lot of that back on Portkey. ^^
I did read Vox Corpis, which did a good job with the pairing but failed, if I recall correctly, with the Voldemort stuff.

Thanks a bunch for the recommendations.

 

Mind posting year of rebellion? Im slightly interested in it now.

 

Sure, sure.

Here it is. :facepalm

=.=

 

... Im lazy.

 

I like shadow walks which is H/HR though its not literary gold and more due to the nostalgia of it being the first completed fic I read, back when Portkey wasn't the buggy clusterfuck it is now.

Its pretty old but I think its aged fairly well.

Here's a link to it on FFN where it was reposted if you want to read it.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6092362/1/Shadow_Walks

 

Still On Your Side - by Mac-alicious
The Guitar by redonthefly
The Last Enemy by Mystic25
The Day Harry Potter Retired by opalish

Sorry I didn't provide links but I'm on my phone and theyre all on FFN. There are more (not a ton, sadly, but there are more), and a few are even located on Portkey.

Lynney, Goldy, shlamboozle, mcjazzman32, and UnexpectedInspiration have all written some pretty good HHr fics, and old-crow even has a couple decent fics, despite the majority of his stories being a rehashing of all his prior stories.

Demosthenes over at Portkey is a very good writer, but I can't recall her (?) story titles or plots.

 

Resistance by Lorien829 was one I really enjoyed. It is Hermione-centric rather than Harry-centric.
The Ritual by chem prof is okay for a laugh I suppose.

Honestly there aren't really many good ones. I rather enjoyed the Temporal Beacon, but that isn't really DLP quality anymore than The Ritual.

 

I got into the fandom through H/Hr and still read/write it almost exclusively. Cosigning on Years of Rebellion, which is still my pick for the best (certainly the most ambitious) fanfic ever written. (Though I disagree inasmuch as I think the H/Hr—at least prior to the actual consummated relationship, where the entire story seems to lose momentum and eventually literally stops—is great.)

Gabilian's two year-seven fics, which are both H/Hr—mostly friendship and buildup to a relationship—were the first two I read after DH, and what got me back into the fandom. A Serpent's Sacrifice is in the library, and probably a little more interesting, but The Bottom of the Lake (in the recycling bin, I think) is also good, and his writing/plotting/economy definitely improved in the meantime.

The writing's not perfect, and some of the character interactions are a little too self-consciously teenage-melodramatic, but I'd recommend both. You can find them on his HPFF page.

Finally, if you're into more straight fluff and angst I've liked All of Me, by ishfizz, and vanillaparchment's one-shots starting with Defining the Dots lately. "All of Me" in particular, fluffy as it is, does a great job of drawing the characters and getting at the nuance in their interactions, and might help you write your own passage.

All of these are Dumbledore/Weasley-bashing free—I hate that stuff.

 

There is always Harry Potter and the Story by Dad, it's bashing free but I don't remember anything else from it.

There is also Harry Potter and the Sword of Gryffindor, which is a erotic comedy and may not be your cup of tea.

 

I suppose The Fifth Element is worth a mention, though it's really fucking long-winded and the characterizations are a bit iffy.

Barb's trilogy has H/Hr as the first pairing, but not the last (H/G) and definitely not the best (H/Katie, iirc).

 

I actually did read about half of The sword of Gryffindor, which had many moment that made me giggle. In a manly fashion.

Larceny, Lechery and Luna Lovegood is great so far.

 

I would probably avoid the Story by Dad. It is so damned longwinded. The beginning was good, but the story just dragged on and on for me much like Fifth Element.

Fifth Element pisses me off because it is just another Harry loves Hermione story where Harry can't pull his head out of his ass and figure it out.

Sword of Gryffindor had a number of funny moments if that is your thing. You could also try The Python Defense. I thought it was rather entertaining. Ravenclaw Rebels had its moments as well.

I really can't think of many serious HHr stories looking back that I still enjoy.

Backwards Compatible by Ruskbyte deserves a mention I guess.

 

Next time, you could just search DLP for the pairing you need. In the case of H/Hr, you would've found many threads. Examples:

https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=14844

https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=18564

https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=19934