Title: Passageways
Author: jerrway69
Rating: M
Genre: Political / Drama
Chapters: 25
Words: 204,548
Updated: July 3, 2013
Published: July 31, 2012
Status: WIP
Library Category: Alternates
Pairings: Harry / Bella
Authors summary: "Hogwarts Castle decides to interfere in the lives of two of its students to change the past and future from a terrible war and giving the pair an opportunity to find something more than just protection within its walls. Fed-up Harry, Weasley bashing, detached Dumbledore."

The RoR acts as a gateway between the past and present and when a depressed and angry Harry finds an equally depressed and angry young Bellatrix Black things begins to change.
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8378840/1/Passageways

The first couple of chapters felt like a chore to read through but once you trudge through those, the story really starts to pick up, especially the latest chapter was really good. The update rate is stable at around 2 every month and the average chapter length is 10k words which is very nice.

It reminds me of Delende Est but differs in enough ways to make it different so far. There are some things that a few reviewers would have wanted were left out of the story: Some of Harry's abilities amongst other things. I do not myself think that these things detract in any way from the story itself and think that the way Harry uses his abilities remains realistic and true to the world that has been created.

4/5: I would rate it 4/5 simply because I like the plot and story as a whole. While I can not say anything about the gramatics, I at least did not notice any obvious mistakes or faults with it.


Checked by Minion, July 28, 2013

 

Considering how little interaction Harry has with the Weasleys, there's hardly enough bashing to warrant a mention in the summary. Most of the story is a relatively tame Harry/Bellatrix tale with an interesting (if logically inconsistent) premise to make them of similar ages.

Things jumped the shark in the last couple of chapters and Harry's abilities were way over the top, a contrivance to allow the inevitable conflict with the heads of House Black to resolve itself tidily. And this is probably my biggest complaint with the story--every larger conflict we're teased with that might make us want to read on ends up resolved too easily, often by outside forces with little investment on the part of Harry or Bellatrix. In particular, the whole "spirit of Hogwarts" deus ex machina was was overused. The author seems to me to be either timid or lazy (perhaps both).

It's not library worthy, but may be an adequate time waster for those not looking for too much. 3/5, Recycling Bin material.

 

I'm still reading it, but I just got through the first chapter and good LORD there were so many cliches in it.

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I gave up at Dumbledore planting suggestions in Harry's subconscious, if his plans to strip Harry of all useless emotions pushes him towards voldemort. I can't handle so many overdone and unnecessary plot devices, especially not when they're written this Badly. 2/5 for having a working plot, but that's all I see in this fic.

 

I read it. It was a guilty pleasure read. A lot of cliches though they were not too terrible compared to some other fics. It was better than a lot of other stories I have been able to find lately. So I give it a 3/5.

 

Actually I thought the last 2 chapters weren't so good. 2 random DE clashes was one too many and this weird family gimmick feels far too contrived. It's an Almost Rec. fic.

 

fail/5

This story has so much crap in it that sewers would be jealous.

 

I'm up to chapter five and wow, about the only thing I like so far is the author's description of Bellatrix's ass and tits.

 

The story was interesting enough to keep reading after getting past the first couple chapters. It was a good time sink. But Dumbledore seemed to get a bit of Ron-the-Death-Eater treatment which, along with the cliches and a few odd plot turns, pretty much poisoned the story.

2.5/5

 

To me, this story remains enjoyable and readable despite being cliche-ridden and a cringe-worthy plot development over the last two chapters. This story doesn't belong in the library, but the recycling bin seems an apt place for it.

3/5

 

I feel the need to find that description now...

EDIT: Definitely was not worth it...

I'm hardly an expert on the quality of the recycling bin, but any story with a sentence such as this probably shouldn't be hosted on DLP...

There are considerably more examples that I found, but it would be a waste of everybody's time to add them.

.5/5

 

At best, this could be considered almost-recommendable to my mind; and how much so really depends on one's tolerance for nonsense in it's various flavours. In this case the big stand-outs are tired cliche's and subpar mechanics-of/technical writing.


This is one of (if not) the best mysteriously "innocent" Bella story I've read, but it doesn't really make up for the fact that it's a mysteriously-not-culpable-of-any-actions-taken-as-an-adult Bella story in the first place.

2/5

 

You know you're reading a good fic when in the first chapter people can get away with attempted murder in broad day light while the rest just looks on and laughs about it.

 

I wanted to like this fic, despite the cliches, but the Hogwarts incarnation destroyed it for me. It feels like the author got impatient, and didn't want to give the characters the time to find their own answers, and solve the mystery themselves. The biggest problem with that IMO is that it removes a lot of possible interactions between Harry and Bellatrix, making the romantic progression much less believeable.

 

I think Harry's grandmom is in danger to take over the whole fic atm. Didn't like that at all.

 

I tried reading this fic the other day, and I didn't make it very far. The whole "everyone hates Harry" thing in the beginning was absolutely atrocious. Like, as bad as characterization could possibly get. Then you had Dumbledore who had the quintessential terribly written manipulative Dumbledore personality.

Then we got to Bella's time. Making the Blacks normal was off-putting to say the least. Bella liking a ton of muggle stuff? Meh. Narcissa becoming besties wtih Lily Potter? Ick. Then you have Lestrange being some sorta raging frothing asshole...thing. So nothing promising at all.

But the past characters was something I could write off. I thought this was a time travel story, where the RoR sends Harry to the past so I was willing to keep going. I'm always willing to write off the fucking awful "Harry is betrayed by everyone" as a plot device that allows him to leave to some other dimension or time.

But then I find out that those people aren't gone and that it wasn't a pure go back in time story so I dropped it immediately. (So I'm not 100 percent sure on how the passages work).

Does it really get better Sesc? I started reading because it had a large number of reviews and I was told it was readable if not good, but I found it completely painful instead. Should I give it another try and slog through a terrible start? I know some authors improve rapidly in a story, but its hard to know who those authors are going to be, most who start terrible, end terrible.

 

...what. The politics is awful - proper indy!Harry raised eyebrows, smirks and whisky glasses stuff. There's no real negotiation, no deals, no coalitions, no compromises or sacrifices, no significant betrayals. No real conflict. There's just Harry walking around with his new inheritance throwing unearned power around to wtfpwn everyone, who piss their pants the moment they hear his new surname.

It's no different to the hundreds of "politcal" indy!Harry Goblin infested crapfics that flood FF.Net.

And the Eveningshade history is Gary Stu bullshit. Harry got an inheritance and suddenly was replaced by another character, one with political and magical power in spades but not too much intelligence. Not to worry, though, because everyone's falling over to bow to him just because of that power.

Urgh.

The only good thing about this fic is the UST in the Harry/Bella relationship and the eventual culmination of that UST in them having sex. Once they fuck, the story is pretty much done.