Um, yes. It's not a point-of-divergence fic, it's an AU fic. This is not a fic that tries to excuse Voldemort's actions, it's a fic with a different Voldemort. If you can't accept that then I can't help you.

 

I'm reading Honey and I wish I had some vodka to make it better. It is barely readable without the vodka, I suppose, but still.

EDIT: Also

I know have been playing too much ck2 because this is making me think of Voldemort bitching at Lucius to forge the freaking claims already.

 

I have no problem with AU, I have problem with "Voldemort told me about conspiracy theory without presenting any evidence and I believed it". It is warning sign that plot is likely to make no sense and will require all characters to be stupid, what makes me unlikely to enjoy this story. 0/5 - I stopped reading before reaching the end of second chapter.

PS: Maybe it is fixed later (via Hermione?), I would welcome information about this from somebody who decided to read more.

PPS: from PM from the author -

Spoiler

originally it was intended as manipulative Voldemort lying about situation but later it was changed as story would be too depressing with canon!Voldemort winning the war.

author admits that lack of any solid proof at start is a problem

 

A shame, that would have actually been a much better premise.

EDIT: As I keep reading it, either the heat wave is driving me insane (highly possible) or it seems to be getting better. There is lots of OOC everywhere but it's an enjoyable crackfic. Seeing sarcastic banter from Voldemort and actually effective insults from Draco is weird though.

 

In the end I decided to read it - and I would qualify it as readable but not recommendable. 3/5?

From another PM:

Spoiler

"As to whether Honeymort's completely trustworthy ... heh. Aheh. AHAHAHAHAAA."

 

Hmm, was readable, if you ignore the idiotic scene in which Bookworm! Hermione jumps Harry's bones.

3/5

 

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2612901/1/There-s-Always-a-Way - "This is my response to the Marriage Law challenge after hearing about it and reading some stories... and thinking about what MY reaction would have been if I was Harry. Oneshot."

Example of story enjoyable after reading too many description of stories relying on the most absurd and idiotic premise* (I wonder whatever somebody made scientific study on harmful effects of "rape is love" stories).

*strictly speaking: Of popular ones. There are worse, but nothing repeated on large scale.

 

Heh. Not bad, I have to say, though the narrator was drop dead boring. Still, an interesting piece, and I'm glad it bucked the trend given how awful the entire premise of "marriage law" fics are.

 

Still as bad as any other 'Marriage Law' fic out there. The narrator has a severe case of 'I'm so awesome, because I'm American' - or at least he sounds like it. He is politically correct - instead of muggles we got mundanes, and squibs are latents. And the Ministry is once again controlled by Fudge, who takes bribes from the purebloods to let them choose whom will they mary. Oh, and there exist Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Magic, becasuse, fuck Salem and canon.

Basically this fic is bad and boring. There was one 'marriage law' that was good - it was narrated only from Harrys POV, include only his speech and thoughts, and described gruesome death of all the wifes Harry have been settled with. I just don't remember its name.

 

The Obligatory Marriage Law Fic by Luan Mao

I think this is the one you were referring to. It was pretty good.

 

Thats not it, but thanks for trying. I will have to look for it, or it will keep bothring me all the time.

 

You mean Death Wish in the WBA?

 

I don't think so. At a glance it looks fuckin' grim.



Maybe I'll look for it and be back with a helpful edit...

EDIT: Draco664 - The Widower Maker
It was an interesting way to write a story. It's more like you're in the room with Harry, listening to his end of a phone conversation, rather than watching a scene of him in a courtroom with other people.

 

Here's a link that lets you read it if you're not a member of that site:

http://draco664.fanficauthors.net/Harry_Potter/#DrabblesDiscarded_Ideas

Select pdf, txt, ect.

 

This was really well done.

direct link to the pdf: http://draco664.fanficauthors.net/resources/files/9936/

 

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9076277/1/Unfortunately-Unbreakable
Here's another one by the same author. This time Harry gets faced with an unbreakable marriage contract with Parkinson. It's enjoyable, if it isn't taken too seriously.

 

I read that recently. It rubbed me the wrong way; if a fic is going to have stupid wankery like this one, I'd like to at least have some fun with it, and I didn't with this. My pet peeve of permanent power drain getting thrown around casually might have had something to do with me hating this (lol you kissed a girl who is teh evulz, no magic for you!). Loss of magic should equal death, leaving squibs everywhere is just unsanitary.

 

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4007457/1/The_Sleeper_Awakes


This is essentially a character study of Percy, covering the time between the Death Eaters taking over the Ministry and the final battle at Hogwarts. It's a good look from within the Ministry, but it's nothing groundbreaking, so if you've read the basic plot before then there's not much to appeal here.

Also, it's a bit dry, but I still quite liked it. I've read a few of the author's other stories, and they're pretty similar in tone and quality. If you like this one, check them out; if not, skip them.

 

Preface: This story isn't great. Not even good. That's why I'm posting it to this thread.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8411638/1/The-Order-s-Secret

After his encounter with Tom Riddle in the Chamber of Secrets, Harry is inducted into the Order of the Phoenix as a secret member answering only to Dumbledore, tasked with the discovery and destruction of Voldemort's Horcruxes. Follows canon when it suits me. Response to acepro Evolution's "Secret Member" challenge. Informed/Powerful!Harry, Mentor!Dumbledore. HP/NT

60,000 words so far, starts at the end of book 2, currently at the start of book 4. There's a lot of good ideas in this fic, the only problem is that most of them aren't fleshed out enough. I feel like the story could benefit if the chapters were another 50% longer, just to give us the extra detail. A lot of things are mentioned and explained exactly once, but never used again, and there's a few pieces of contrived drama, but again, it happens quickly then you're on to the next part.

I guess that's sort of what I like about the story. There's these types of stories, tons of them, but they take 100,000 words just to get through the summer before you even get to Hogwarts. This just trudges along, and get's through some interesting ideas. Perhaps it's the brevity that actually allowed me to finish all the posted chapters, and the brevity also makes it so you get through all the bleh spots pretty quickly. Sometimes you feel like the author was just trying to hit his plot points, but I guess I've read so much fanfiction I just sort of fill in the blanks myself.

All that being said, it is one of those stories where so much happens, that it feels like not much happened at all. It's not a great story by any means, but it's better than most of the generic cliche drivel on ffn, probably something like a 2.5/5. There's a lot of potential in the later chapters, if the author would stop being cautious and just go for it.

 

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8620998/10/Hermione-Granger-and-the-Great-Idea
Author: Mnsk

I read this story on a whim hoping for something worth reading. I found it while hunting for a good version of those, "Harry goes to the Muggle World and comes back years later" fics. Its not at all that but it was decent.

Its very rare that I read canon rehashes anymore but I suppose I was bored. I found myself pleasantly surprised at this fic. Its not exactly good because it sticks a hair too close to canon but it was both readable and enjoyable (not perfect, mind).

Premise is Hermione doesn't want to give up muggle technology when she goes to Hogwarts. Its still in first year but blasting through it at a decent pace with a Hermione only POV.

Pros: The author knows how to write and keeps just far enough from exact canon to be interesting. Hermione's a bit smarter than even her canon version but it shows you 'how' and 'why' she is. Strangely, she's completely unimpressed by Harry Potter, and happily pisses McGonagal off which I've never really seen before. Even more interesting is her initial meeting with Draco sways her to hope for Ravenclaw or Slytherin during her sorting.

Cons: As I said. A bit too close to canon. Ron is sometimes funnier than I would normally expect, while Harry feels almost worthless at times.

Occassionally a word will be out of place or "backwards placed." Like that. It happens often enough that I suspect the author's first language might not be english but it does not detract too much from the story.

It focuses on Hermione's need for friends, and pulls it off in a rather good way, I think.

Now I like Hermione so I might be biased in favor of the story but seeing her call Harry a sissy was just hilarious to me.

Anawho. Hope someone gets a little joy out of it.