WTF is that between his arms ^^

 

I have one:
Some people compare treatment of Harry by Dursleys to Malfoys treatment of house-elfs.

 

I have never ever seen that cliche. I haven't read the entire thread but I hate all of these shitty twin who lived fics that have popped up. With evil/neglectful parents, manipulative Dumbledore, evil BWL, and to top it off a cute younger sibling. It is so annoying

 

If you've not seen that one, then I assume you've never read much hp fanfic...

 

Yeah, comparing Harry to a house-elf pops up in pretty much every abused!Harry fic ever.

 

We know the Dursleys are assholes, but we've never seen evidence that they've physically beaten Harry, e.g. belts across the back.

Abuse comes in many forms, but there are no indications that Vernon has physically beaten Harry, etc.

Seeing 'a criss-cross web of old, thick scars' on Harry's bare back in a fic', usually makes me want to kill the author.

 

Personally I think a lot of it stems from Petunia swinging a frying pan at Harry in CoS.

 

@Jormungandr: Though nothing in cannon ever claims physical abuse, it is established that the Dursleys are lower than dirt. Between McGonogall's "They are some of the worst muggle's out there", and the 'frying pan in CoS', it isn't too much of a stretch to make them physically abusive. Also though you may want to kill the writer for putting it in the story, ask yourself "Did it serve a purpose?" If it in anyway added to the plot, or Harry's development as a purpose, in a significant way and isn't in the story just to show what @$$holes the Dursley's are, than its all good in my book.

EDIT: Just thought of another pet peeve, I'm not sure if it's already been mentioned, but I hate the plot device "Because I'm Veela." Whether its a marriage contract fic, soul-bond, a pairing of Harry w/ Fleur or Gabrielle, or one where Harry is the first male veela in a billion years(and gets all the women); the phrase 'Because I'm/We're Veela' shows up somewhere. Now I'm not denying that veela could have something unique to them(i.e. Life-mates, attracted to those who can resist their natural charm, a need for lots of sex), but surely not everything can be attributed to their race.

 

Well, living in a cupboard under the stairs is pretty close to where Kreacher sleeps. The common themes are there.

 

Making a child sleep in a cupboard under the stairs is shitty and abusive, but does not necessarily indicate they beat the child. Taking a swing at the child with a frying pan however, would indicate a pattern of abuse, that this was Petunia's go to reaction. Maybe it wasn't common, and I certainly doubt it was as Harry was too well adjusted for that to be the case, but it almost certainly happened at some point.

 

You know what I've really come to realize as a pet peeve? Not the lingering question whether or not Harry's been abused, but that fics dwell on this abuse and use it as an excuse to create unnecessary drama or story turns.

Look, there might be canonical evidence that Harry was abused one way or another, but one of the things that made him such a great character was that he was well-adjusted. He didn't carry this chip on his shoulder and play the victim. He didn't play the whole 'woe-is-me, I-was-abused' angle in canon, but was instead completely prepared to move on with his life and embrace something different and better.

But what infuriates me about some fanfic authors is that they cannot get past the whole 'abuse' paradigm and write an original reason for Harry to have legitimate angst. For me, it's less that the whole abuse thing is stupid and more that it's just a lazy crutch for bad authors to jump from. It's a copout, particularly in indy!Harry fics where said abuse is only mentioned and not seen. Worse still are the slash fics where Harry is physically abused so badly by the Dursleys that his sexual orientation shifts entirely - I mean, what kind of horrible message does that send?

Look, I don't have a problem with the Dursleys being neglectful (which they were, in canon), or even abusive, but I will quit a story immediately if this fact is used to either change Harry's character or jump-start any plot element. It's sloppy, lazy, and stupid - canon Harry got past it, and so should everyone else.

 

The abuse theme brings up an interesting point. I am curious as to why the stores will give him all those scars, but they don't bother him like scars, or get the attention they should.

I have 3 or 4 scars, and people more often notice them than not if they're visible, and they aren't big or ugly or from abuse, just small burns or cuts that healed poorly.

Harry's scars should get more attention and have more of an effect essentially.

 

I have a few smallish scars from several different injuries. They are never remarked upon (unless we have a "yeah, well I got this scar..." conversation), and only pain me slightly in midwinter, or if I go skiing, or otherwise get very cold. So if I were to write a story with Harry getting scars, I'd treat the scars as I know mine behave and are talked about. Unless I did extra research, or merely asked a friend with larger scars.

The scars people tend to give Harry in abuse stories tend to be from horrific injuries (IE whippings that literally show the spine, or punches that shatter ribs, forearms, or the jaw), and not from bad, but not quite horrendous beatings (caning, smacking, non-superhuman punches). Most people don't ever suffer such injury, and so are unfamiliar with the long term effects.

That leads me to another pet peeve. Whenever Harry is abused in a story, it isn't a simple case of a few beatings, or 'mild' whippings or beltings. It will be along the lines of Vernon revving up a chainsaw, lopping of limbs, and injecting acid into Harry's body. I think the best example of this can be found here. Vernon literally goes insane, and sees just what he can do to a human before they die. And the abuse is actually needed at this level for the plotline.
But all too often, authors just seem to pile the abuse on because they can.

 

Also that pan incident happened right after Harry was pretending to curse Dudley with "magic". Hardly just being normal... for the most part.

 

I get the impression that none of the editors thought too hard about that pan line. A blow with a pan isn't the same a slap upside the head, and both Harry brushing it off (ducking it and then ignoring it) and Petunia not following up in any significant way makes me think it's just something JKR threw in there, and it's better to ignore it.

 

Yeah, I'm not arguing its indicative of major physical abuse. I would say that it means Harry is used to receiving the odd slap or two when Petunia (and possibly Vernon, who knows what role he would play) get particularly riled.

 

I don't mind abused!Harry too much. It's a logical, albeit somewhat contrived derivation of his character after all. I mean, you can debate the severity of his homelife till the cows come home, but the fact of the matter is that he did suffer physical abuse on top of the emotional. Maybe Petunia and Vernon didn't regularly beat him, but Dudley sure as hell did.

"Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him." (SS)

"The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting." (SS)

Just because JKR didn't make Harry a whiny emo bitch doesn't mean that living and suffering at the hands of the Dursleys was anything short of a miserable hell. Abuse!Stories just build upon the minute amount of detail we glean during Harry's 1-3 chapter summers.

A bad author will obviously take it too far, but when done right, giving an abused child a vulnerable side isn't the worst thing in the world a writer can do. I mean, Harry is basically an emotional blank slate. Changing that does make him OoC, but it can be a welcome change depending on the author's skill.

Edit: On an unrelated note...

Clearly, you are new to the vast series of tubes that is the internet.

 

I loathe when authors have characters burst into song to express themselves, like a bloody Bollywood movie in text.

 

Please... for the love of god... you absolutely MUST link the story in which you found a Bollywood scene.

 

I hate it when stories go overboard with the line; you look just like your father but you have your mother's eyes.

Seriously, i feel like i read that sentence ten times a day. No matter how long or good a story is, that line should never be used more than two times.

I also hate how authors go all gaga about Harry's eyes, like having people always think; "Oh my god, his eyes are so dreamy and the color...wow"

Also hate lopsided grins, it makes my teeth grind.

I also hate it when people always go on about the eyes are the windows of the soul...reality check, you can't see shit in people's eyes except color, its the whole facial expression that allows you to read people.

I also hate it when people make their sentences really choppy and...well i don't know the word for it but here is an example

He walks into his room and puts on his shirt and pants.



Can't think of anything more but i garantee there are dozen more.