Maybe I've let fanon confuse me, but were there really only four Quidditch games each year? Because if so, that makes no fucking sense. There should be at a minimum six games, so that each House can play against all the other houses. And that would likely be followed with a seventh game in case of a tie or even to simply serve as a final game between the two teams with the most wins.

 

I'm pretty sure that each house played each other once, so there's six games a year. The idea of a quidditch final is fanon, if two teams won the same number of games it would go down to the number of points scored I think.

 

This quote from that wiki:

Is it just me, or does it sound like horcruxes are limited at seven splits (counting original body) at the very max?

 

^This. A thousand times, ^this. While writing Geminio, I was researching the escape from Privet Drive in DH and since the only copy I have is a hardback, I traipsed over to the HP Wiki in search of what Order member rode with which doppelganger, etc. What a fucking waste, and even though the info on hard canon facts such as "who accompanied who" wasn't totally wrong, the amount of completely unsubstantiated guesses presented as "fact" throughout the site is incredible. I was literally shaking my head in disbelief at some of the WAGs thrown out on the site, as if there were anything but Mugglenet-level conjecture involved. Amazing in its absurdity, really.

Was it ever stated explicitly *when* Voldemort turned Nagini into a Horcrux, whether before or after his resurrection, or even before his defeat by baby Harry? I know Dumbledore hypothesized the snake being a Horcrux - and of course she was - but I don't recall ever seeing a timeline on it.

And after reading DH and thinking about Horcrixes and Voldemort's ultimate downfall, it occurred to me that had Voldemort only ever created 7 Horcruxes - meaning he did, in fact, achieve the magically-powerful number of them - he would likely have won it all in the end. His mistake (or miscalculation) was in not deducing Harry's Scarcrux (or just leaving well enough alone, yadda yadda), and so he felt the need to make another with Nagini (assuming he did this after his gaining a new body, w/e).

Had he not done that, (a) his fragile soul would've been somewhat more stable (which might mean nothing, of course), (b) there'd have been no need to protect her during the last battle, meaning Dumbledore wouldn't have been able to tell Snape what to lok for (definite consequences to Snape's actions, though I have no idea how it would've played out), and (c) Harry would've had no reason to delay his tilt with Voldemort, thibking he'd already gotten all the Horcruxes.

That last bit is the biggest, since at that point Harry's only reason for delay was the need to kill Nagini, and he'd have naturally been girding himself to meet Voldemort in battle. This would've had the effect of Harry NOT sacrificing himself (again, his getting Snape's memories was a direct result of trying to get to Nagini) willingly, and in a straight-up fight, the one and only outcome is a liquified Harry (also fulfills the prophecy, btw), and a mortal but still-alive Voldemort, who of by the way would then be the rightful Master of the Elder Wand.

This is also predicated (rightly, I think) on the Elder Wand killing an "unwilling" Harry as well as the Scarcrux, since JKR said outright that he only didn't die in the Forest because of his willingness to die and not fighting back, etc. It all reminds me of the "one in a trillion, never gonna happen again so don't count on it, ever!" explanation given to Superman after he died-and-lived when Doomsday killed him.

Thoughts?

 

Looks like it was after his resurection.

No, when he tried to kill Harry the first time he only had five horcruxes, so the scarcrux combined with the bit of soul he was using made the magic number seven. However by the time he was resurrected the diary had been destroyed, bringing the number back down to six soul pieces. So Nagini made seven again. There was no point where he had eight soul pieces.

 

On a phone so it's hard to quote or be specific, but I didn't mean 8 at once. I meant 7 pieces *period*, which is all he and Slughorn talked about - the total number, not the total at any one time. For all intents and purposes LV was immortal with 1 Horcrux, and the point was "magically powerful" numbers, as in the number of pieces of soul, in total.

 

Maybe I'm just to jaded, but how do people find new fanfiction to read that hasn't been recommended already on this forum? I've tried using moatra's filter, but it still leaves me with thousands of stories whose summaries just drive me away. And I don't have as much free time to attempt to sift through all the mediocre summaries to try to find something that's half-decent. I'm not even looking for real diamonds, just something that is enjoyable to pass the time.

 

I've found some decent stories in the rec sections of tvtropes. If more than one or two people say something is good, that usually means it's at least readable.

 

I usually check the favorites list of those who subscribe to my own stories, as I write the sort of fanfiction that I enjoy. This, however, still leaves me with crap summaries and crap stories to sort through.

Another thing I do is check the database for freshly published and updated works by just browsing the HP category over on ff.net (using only language and a single character to narrow down the list). Sometimes, I'll find something that's decent.

A third option is checking the favorite list of those who have reviewed a story that you've enjoyed, chances are that they have similar tastes and you might find something good. Again, you're left sorting through shit summaries.

The thing that helps move the entire process along faster is that I've developed a standard to be met by the author's summary alone. I won't touch anything with the labels SLASH, MPREG, OOC, [insert lame generalization here]!Harry, manipulative!Dumbles, Bashing [insert character/s that the author doesn't like here]. I pay no mind to the summaries that lack proper grammar and especially pay no mind to the ones that say 'I suck at summaries, better than it sounds.' I look at story titles as well. Anything that even begins to suggest cliche, I skip over. I figure someone else can waste their time on the piece of shit and bring to DLP if it is actually any good.

Honestly, though, it take a lot of patience to find a real gem. Then again, I have really high standards for what I read, as reading anything that is sub-par grates on my nerves like no other.

 

Congratulations, you just rejected 99.9% stories on FF.net. But yes you are right on those standards you set. I also want to uphold those parameters but more often than not I have to lower the expectations.

And some people really suck on the summary part, so you should read at least half a chapter before discarding the particular story. Though if grammar in summary is bad then there is no reason to stay.

One thing I have noticed on FF.net, the stories with lower number of reviews are much better. Usually stories with famous cliches in FF.net will have reviews stating, 'very awesome', 'wonderful' etc. I usually don't have high hopes for these stories, but if some story has reviews like, "you should have Harry more strong" or other characterization suggestions then I check out these stories. More often than not they are readable(of course if grammar is alright).

 

While I agree that some people suck at summaries, when a person announces this failure in their summary, it is usually a indication that they don't have a clue what their story is about. These stories usually end up catering to their reviewers without a developed plot even later on and typically end up abandoned. In other words, they develop into cliche pieces of shit.

The way I look at it, even those who are bad a summaries can provide something of intrigue, if they've got a relative idea what they want their story to be about. And if they don't, they can at least be creative enough to fake or find something to draw from from their first chapter to gain reader intrigue.

Anyway, Drake was asking for advice on how to quickly find a decent fic. The solution is to not waste time with even checking out fics with crap summaries.

Though, I do agree about the reviews. If a summary isn't stellar and the review count is low, I'm more inclined to check the reviews of the fic than if the review count was high. IMO, it's well proven that high review counts on such stories with 'so-so' summaries tend to indicate a mainstream cliche fest ahead. The worse part is, these stories are often written by authors who can't pull off the cliches they write. Their average summary is a first indication of a bland, average or lower story. At least an average story written by a writer with a possible relatively original or underused idea has a higher chance of entertaining me, or should at any rate.

 

Right now, if you use the Harry P. character filter on FFnet, over half of the 25 fics on the first page are Harry/Draco, Harry/Snape, Harry/Tom Riddle, Harry/Ginny.

Every other fic fails to catch my eye.

In other words, all 25 fics are unreadable.

Do this any given hour on any given day, and that's what you're most likely going to get.

If you want to make any headway, you have to use the search feature. FFnet is a dead end.

The only way to feasibly search FFNet is through moatra's Filtered Fanfiction tool.

This, for example, http://fffn.darklordpotter.net/resu...5000:/0:/0:/0:/0:/0:/-1.0:/false/updated/q=/0, gives you a list of all the fics that aren't Hurt/Comfort, Western, Family, don't have Draco, Lucius, Abraxas, Umbridge, Remus, Viktor Krum, Snape, Hermione, Ginny, Marcus Flint, Fenrir Grayback, which feature Harry as the main character.

There are so many fucking retards posting their stories. I originally thought I had a pretty good list, but then there was a "Umbridge reads the HP series" fic, so I went back and added that filter. I mean, Umbridge. You'd think you could take no Umbridge fics for granted, but nope, this is FFnet.

So you'll make little adjustments like that, but the chances of finding something readable are greater.

 

Use the C2s. Obviously the DLP one is by far the best but the others aren't all bad. And don't necessarily go for the ones with the most subscribers. What I like to do is search by random, and just find one with several DLP stories in its library. I take that as an indication the person running the C2 has decent taste.

This isn't strictly true, what it is is that the review count has no bearing whatsoever on the quality. Some of the stories with a shitload of reviews do actually deserve them, things like the Denarian series, or nonjon's work, but others with loads are utter shite. So it's best to just not look at the review count at all.

 

Yes the review count does have some affect but I never discard a story just on the basis of review count. What I said earlier was that if there are less reviews and they read something like , 'I think you should have Dumbledore manipulation', then the chances of story being readable are more than average(which is really not much to say). I read for about 200 words or so and that is enough for deciding if story is good enough. Though I am not sure if everybody has that much time.

As for stories like Denarian series, you really don't need reviews or things like that to say if it is good enough. I mean look at their summaries, it will instantly fascinate you and within seconds you are reading the first paragraph. And once you enter these sort of stories from the first para you know you have found a diamond.

 

Why the hell would Voldemort start being a dark lord if he didn't already have 6 horcruxes and be protected from death?

At the very least, Voldemort knows a bit of the prophecy, so before dealing with anything to do with "one with the power" he would make sure he has 6 horcruxes.

 

It's a testament to the retards of FF.net that even once you get rid of the big slash pairings like Snape, Draco, Lucius, etc. - you still get even more fucked up things. Harry and Dumbledore/Voldemort/Sirius/Ron slash, it goes on and on. Moatra's filter is an amazing tool, but even running with a very strict set of conditions that eliminate the most popular retarded pairings you're still more likely to get 90% weird slash pairings.

 

Emm... What? Is there like a Dark Lord's Association where you need six horcruxes before you can join. The first horcrux he made was enough to protect him from death, he only ever made the others because seven was the magically most powerful number and he decided that it would make him even more immortal.

Firstly, Voldemort never fully understood the prophecy, he greatly underestimated the potential danger. And secondly, he intended to use Harry's death to make his sixth and final horcrux, seeing as how he saved them for what he felt were important killings.

 

No, Tom Riddle knew about horcruxes decades before he became a dark lord. He knew that having six horcruxes would be best and he spent years collecting and making horcruxes before becoming a dark lord. Why would he leave the job half done?