I am mostly indifferent to Hermione, but I did feel for her at that point. Her reaction was pretty authentic, as far as teenage girls go - she presumably busted her ass studying for this difficult subject and her asshole friend started getting better grades and recognition due to an old book, with minimal effort. And the icing on the cake was that she couldn't tell on him, on fear of being ostracized once again. It probably drove her mad and you know she thought about it day and night

 

Pretty pathetic though. I think - not sure - that Harry actually offered to share the book too and she turned it down.

 

Yeah, envy is a deadly sin and teenage broads in general are particularly prone to it.

 

Hermione was completely right about the Potions book.

Yes, the Potions book allowed you to make superior potions. But making potions isn't the purpose of Potions class. The potions they make aren't going to be used for anything. They're just graded and chucked away. The point of Potions class is to develop transferable potion-making skills so that they can make not just the potions from class but also can tackle unfamiliar potions, based on the principles they have learnt.

In this respect the HBP's Potions book clearly subverted the purpose of the class, because though Harry was making great potions he didn't actually learn anything. Which is, you know, the whole point of school.

We see this when it comes to the antidotes class and Harry has to produce the bezoar because he doesn't actually understand anything he's doing. And then when Ron is hit by the love potion and Harry doesn't know how to make an antidote for him.

And yes, Hermione turned down the opportunity to use the book, though it contained superior recipes. It could be said that she should have been curious about it and tried to work it out. But consider:

You're 17 years old and in physics class, learning Newtonian mechanics. You're given a problem set to do over the weekend -- you have the answers in the back of your book, but the teacher wants to see the working to show that you understand the principles. One of your friends produces a genius ex-student's attempt at the exercise, whose answers are even better than the book because his working is based on General Relativity.

Your friend copies the GR working and gets hailed as a genius, though he doesn't actually understand any of it. Your friend offers you the chance to use the same notes, but you refuse. The exercise is to learn Newtonian physics, not relativity, and anyway you're not genius enough to understand relativity at this age.

 

Ok, that's a really good point, didn't think about it like that.

I still believe more than just a little bit of her behaviour was due to jealousy than because Harry wasn't learning anything.

 

All the same, Harry was pretty decent at potions, he had an EE to start with, and that's with Snape teaching (HAH!) him for the past five years. It's not like he's a complete moron who's suddenly getting straight O's instead of A's in Potions.

Rowling though doesn't expand much on his non-DADA skills, and not even that much on DADA to begin with, she just constantly reminds us how good he is. Or maybe she does expand on why and how he's so good, but I just can't remember it because it's been so damn long since I read the books.

 

Do you actually believe that JKR intended this? So much of canon is so ill conceived, I have a lot of trouble believing JKR intended anything except whatever is spelled out explicitly in the books.

 

I feel it is spelled out pretty explicitly:

If you look at all of Hermione's various snide comments, you see quickly that it's not Harry doing better than her that she hates, it's Harry doing better than her when he doesn't deserve to do so. Hell, even when he pulls out the bezoar in the antidotes class, which is a pretty massive dodge of demonstrating the skills being tested, her complaint is primarily that Harry didn't think to use the bezoar himself.

 

Life's unfair, bitch some more, that's gonna help, and then remember to gloat over your friend's misfortune, because surely that's the way to go.

Oh wait.

Look, we're talking about Harry here, not someone who's going to go for an in-depth Potions study post-Hogwarts.

 

"Cheating's okay because life's unfair."

"Cheating's okay because I'm not planning on pursuing a career in it."

 

Honestly for me using the shortcuts for Potions class pale in comparison to Harry using spells from it.

 

I mean the latter justification did take me through high school but lol I sure wasn't better off for it.

Even just learning effective study habits is valuable on its own. The material is valuable in its own right to Harry's future career too considering that Aurors need it, but frankly learning how to deal with material you don't like and aren't interested in is arguably the more valuable thing to learn.

 

"I want to become a cop but cheated in the firearm safety test. That's okay, though: I didn't like material but still got the gist of it."

Is that what you're trying to argue here?

 

To take us back to the purpose of this thread... here's a compilation of smut fics I'd recommend. No doubt a lot of these are familiar to many of you, but maybe not all of them.

Harry/Pansy

I admit I'm a huge sucker for Harry/Pansy, which is annoying because there's not much out there. I think it works for a few reasons: they're not friends, so there's no risk of sickly sweet fluff; we know that Pansy has physical imperfections so she feels more real; but at the same time she still has a certain sexiness to her, with the whole "rich trust fund chick" thing -- a bit of a bad girl.

Fortunately, though there aren't loads of Harry/Pansy fics, there are a few that are very well written, all of them by a single author: thusspakekate.

Parkinson's Knickers (Or Lack Thereof)
Harry always knew the monthly budget meetings were boring, but he didn't realize just how boring until Pansy Parkinson offered to show him something a little more interesting.

This is the perfect Harry/Pansy for me.

The More Your Ignore Me (The Closer I Get)
It's been a month since Harry broke up with Pansy Parkinson, and he can't get her out of his head. Literally.

This one has a slight fluffy part to it, but not in a sickly sweet way.

Sunday Morning
Harry loves these lazy Sunday mornings. Written for the fifth round of kink bingo, with the featured kink: somnophilia/sleepy sex. PWP. Adult content inside.

Pretty much pure sex.

By a different author:

A Taste of Ice
Harry takes an unintended detour at Hogwarts while Horcrux-hunting. Rated M for adult content and language. Bit on the dark side. The original version can be found at my LJ.

Rather dodgy because Harry's polyjuiced as Draco, and not as well written, but hey it has Pansy in.

Harry/Hermione

Dirty Laundry
Alone and suffering in the forest on Christmas, Harry and Hermione steal a moment just for themselves.

One of innumerable "DH tent smut" fics, but this is among the best in that it isn't written by a die-hard Harmonian.

Adventures in the Prefects' Bath
Set during Book 4, this story departs from canon after Harry hears the clue in the egg, when he experiences an unexpected and eye-opening encounter with his best female friend. One thing leads to another, with a much more pleasant conclusion to the year.

Shippy and has an absolutely absurd ending, but the opening scene is good.

Hot
Something that I wrote during the hot summer and now that winter is here I thought we could use a warm up! Harry and Hermione having fun in the summer.

Characters are a bit OOC but it's the least shippy of the "Harry spends summer with Hermione" genre of smut.

Harry/Luna

Christmas Magic
Harry is having fun with Ginny, but finds himself incredibly jealous of Luna's boyfriend... and Luna has been invited for a Weasley Christmas... H/G - H/L - A bit of fluffy, saucy, smutty fun.

There's a less smutty prequel but it's not necessary to read it. Entertaining take on teen hormonal behaviour, some Harry/Ginny mixed in and hints at Harry/Hermione.

A Christmas Break to Remember
Harry and Luna stay at Hogwarts over the winter holiday, sparks fly. A fluffy, smutty, lemony one-shot. Rated M.

The Nargles in the Air
Luna had a growth spurt. Harry notices. Sixth Year AU, HarryLuna, Lemon warning, no longer a one shot. Enjoy.

This one's a bit absurd.

Harry/Other

Whatever Happened to Bromance?
Cormac McLaggen explains a few simple truths to Harry, with profound consequences. Harry/Romilda. Smut.

Famous in these parts. No introduction needed.

Narcotic Effects
After the final battle Harry can find solace in nothing and believes himself to be a failure because of the loss of his friends. A certain manipulative, platinum haired woman decides to yank him out of the downward spiral that is his life. HarryNarcissa.

This one is a classic. I haven't read it in years so I don't know how well it's aged, but at the time it came out it set the standard for smut.

Harry/Multi

Not harem fics, before you roll your eyes XD

The Best of a Bad Situation
Harry's had a bad week, and now he's been locked in a room with four giggling girls and a bottle of vodka. What's a boy to do?

The best example of "truth or dare smut". Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Lavender and Parvati trapped in a room, drunk, playing truth or dare. Ignore the bit where Harry is basically sexually assaulted and the fic is a very good example of slow build-up and teasing the reader.

I think you need a RestrictedSection.org account to read.

Testing Defences
Hermione decides to test the wards on Privet Drive by spending a night with Harry. And then it's Luna's turn. Then Katie's, and Fleur's, and Lisa's...

This is the smut version of the fluff fic you'll find on FF.Net. Somewhat absurd but competently written.

It Could Only Happen To Harry
After defeating Voldemort in his final year, Harry requires a rare ritual to save his life. Luckily, he has friends who are willing to help him. H/Hr, H/Parv, H/Luna, H/Tonks, H/Fleur. Canon personalities. WARNING: comic smut. Not for younger audiences.

Also pretty famous.

 

I really did like A Love Song Like the Way It's Meant To Be as well, although apart from a couple of scenes it's not a dedicated smut fic. Pretty good Harry/Pansy story in my opinion, as long as you can stomach the Rose W. / Scorpius M. side-story.

Cuckolding at Shell Cottage is definitely smut, and it's definitely great. Amusing too. Harry/Hermione/Fleur.

 

Had never heard of the former; will have to check it out.

The latter I've never been able to get in to, I think because of general epilogue aversion.

 

Literally the opposite.

 

I just came across this, a HP/Matrix world merging. I'm only 6 chapters in but I'm liking it so far.

 

The author is a user here, I know that much. I feel like it's been mentioned in almost recommended before, but I can't recall.


Personally I found it underwhelming. There was a lot of opportunity and tension that was missed, particularly in the escape from the castle which was just criminally underdone. I also found the not-Harry neo analogue whose name I can't recall dreadfully boring, and Harry himself was rather uninteresting, to be honest. Though, on that note, I found the entire thing rather boring. There was just very little . That being said, it moves at a fast, if chaotic, pace and I suppose it's reasonably engaging.

It has the potential to be an enjoyable guilty pleasure if only it were a little more interesting.

A decent enough time waster but no more than a 2.5/5 or so. Better than a lot out there, but that's not saying much.

 

I'll just direct you to this post here. Or have you read all the fics mentioned there?