General rule... You see, this rule is, unlike the one in RL, not as clear-cut as you claim it to be (it's fiction, what do you expect?! It differs from writer to writer, from reader to reader).

 

gundam_wizard

I see. Unlike myself, you don't classify humans as animals.

 

Sometimes, I'm quite tempted to.

 

Jesus Christ, is this the Questions I Wish No One Asked thread? That was a solid 10 straight posts with nothing to do with Harry or Fleur.

 

I agree, the only animal sex that should be discussed should involve Harry and a French bird.

 

I've only read the first few chapters but this was okay (shitty name though)
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11007018/1/Harry-Potter-and-A-Flower

Pretty good fourth year story that mainly focuses on this Mr. Miyagi type relationship that Harry and Fleur have. Harry's angry and cynical that he's in the TWT, Fleur is a lazy prodigy that doesn't know what to do with her time. Their interactions are great and through 7 chapters it seems as though the author has a solid idea of where he wants this story to go.

EDIT: Kind of goes off the walls in chapter 9. It had some promise.

 

But does Harry become a vegetarian?

 

Nope, he still eat pussy

 

Only on 5th chapter so far, and sure it's riddled with the usual assortment of cliches, but on the other hand it's got Harry beating the shit out of Snape. You can't really underestimate the amusement factor of that.

 

Fleur called Snape cochon. That's awesome.
Also, I don't think I got an answer to my last question. Are there any threads concerning international magical communities? I know there is one about the American magical community, but it isn't too long.

 

Fleur ends up with Bill: She works for Gringotts.

Fleur ends up with Harry: Her name essentially becomes "Flower Potter," and she ends up in the woefully apropos profession of florist, with people constantly asking her if she comes from a long line of people who put flowers in pots for a living.

It would never work out.

 

Have at thee, DLP.

https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?p=849320#post849320

 

Been trying to think of the most convincing way to have Harry/Fleur within canonical bounds (so no fiddling with their ages).

I think the best time for it is after GoF, in the summer before OotP. Harry has beaten Fleur in the Triwizard so she will respect him, helping undermine the age barrier. She also likes him because of the second task. She's in England, but she hasn't had time to get serious with Bill yet, which is what rules out later Harry/Fleur scenarios. They have shared history as both being champions, and solidarity over third task events.

As for how to get things started: you use Harry's dream of Voldemort at the start of GoF as the divergence point. In canon, Harry convinced himself not to write to Dumbledore about it. In this divergence, you have Harry send the letter. Dumbledore decides to have Harry taught occlumency earlier than canon, but doesn't find a suitable teacher until the summer before OotP. This is where the handwave comes in: for some reason (which has absolutely nothing to do with Fleur being descended from a Veela), Fleur knows occlumency (one idea: Madam Maxime arranged for Fleur to be taught occlumency in preparation for the tournament, to prevent other champions' espionage). Dumbledore convinces Fleur to teach Harry.

This is obviously a fairly intimate situation involving a lot of personal interactions, revelation of personal secrets, etc. More importantly, it means Harry and Fleur are going to be in personal contact for an extended period of time, which allows you to build a relationship in the normal way, and also to tease the reader with fun tropes from this situation like Harry accidentally walking in on Fleur in the shower.

The transition from friends to romance would be the really tricky part. I feel like there would need to be a moderately significant event to shift them (or rather, Fleur) out of platonic feelings.

You have to be careful to avoid occlumency-education tropes like Dursley related angst, Cedric related angst, etc. but that's all about decent execution. It would also be a fun way to explore occlumency in more detail, building on the canonical version Snape used rather than shield nonsense.

You also have the opportunity to make the situation more dynamic by having this education take place in an interesting location -- in France, or at Grimmauld Place, or some completely original location like Dumbledore's house in Godric's Hollow.

That last one has real potential, actually. Especially if Dumbledore was there, so Harry and Fleur stay with Dumbledore, with their romance developing under his nose. Some great potential there for humour and also subtle wingman!Dumbledore. Plus interesting titbits about magic, exploration of Godric's Hollow. Fleur would probably consider staying with Dumbledore a great opportunity to learn from him, so there's her motivation right there. And it's not hard to justify: the operations inside Grimmauld Place are too sensitive to let Harry see until he's mastered occlumency, and Dumbledore's house is a veritable fortress (not to mention Dumbledore lives there).

 

wingman!Dumbledore. I think I would like to see this in other settings too. Actually I have never seen this done actively. There may be some mild teasing/promoting a relationship/dosing love potion, but not an actual wingman, not like Barney Stinson anyway. I wonder how Dumbledore would introduce Harry to a prospective romantic interest. Definitely worth a plot for a crackfic.

 

If you start that fic and don't finish it Taure, I'll be very cross with you.

 

Definitely Not Taure : Do you plan to write this? Or would you mind if I took a shot? After my failed attempt at writing a HP/SW crossover I'm currently busy with another fic, however I'd love to try something different... :?:

 

My problem is with Occlumency as a whole. Creating an entire fic based around the teaching of Occlumency has been a pitfall for 10 years. It's one of the big no-nos, and it doesn't really matter how high quality the writing is, or how skilled the author is by trying to distract us from that fact with some Harry/Fleur content. In the end, it's just going to be thinly disguised Occlumency montage.

 

The key would be keeping the fic narrow in focus, summer only. It doesn't attempt to be more than it is i.e. it doesn't try to be a "general fic" that deals with the entire war, a Hogwarts school year, etc.

I think a lot of your anti-occlumency kneejerk reation is irrational though. Occlumency is an established part of the HP universe, as is Dumbledore trying to get someone to teach it to Harry.

There have been tons of fics that have done occlumency badly, but that doesn't mean it can't be done well.

Ncjeur Knock yourself out, I'm not planning to write it. If I give two pieces of advice it would be A) Avoid letting it descend into crack, especially with the wingman Dumbledore idea. Keep it restrained and subtle. B) Don't have Harry and Fleur's relationship be too "smooth sailing". Retain those characteristics that they can find irritating about each other, but have their relationship develop in spite of those characteristics. Don't whitewash it.

 

The problem with occlumency stems from when it is the basis for a fic, not the actual skill itself. All because it technically could be written in a new, refreshing and interesting way, doesn't mean it should be, especially if its all just a contrived setup to get Harry & Fleur together.

I don't mind if a paragraph or two are used for it every chapter, but when there's just thousands of words describing the process behind it, it won't matter how well written it is or how much Harry/Fleur there is. We don't need any more mindscape montages, and no matter how you disguise it with your words, that's just what you'd be setting it up to be.

 

I think you're making a lot of assumptions. I explicitly said it would be canonical occlumency, which means no mindscapes or anything like that. It would be Fleur using legilimency on Harry until he learnt to first repel and then deceive her. Learning by doing. Starting with the first stage of clearing your mind entirely, despite distractions and emotions, then moving on to clearing specific parts of your mind/specific thoughts. It's only new in so far as all fanfics seem to ditch the canon version.

It's also a massive exaggeration to say that occlumency is the basis for the fic. Occlumency is the device to get Fleur and Harry interacting, and the lessons form a kind of scaffolding for the rest of the story, but that doesn't mean it's the core of the fic. The core of the fic is Harry and Fleur's relationship, which includes occlumency lessons but also a lot of interactions completely unrelated to occlumency.