Title: Contractual Invalidations / How to Break Your Contract in Five Easy Steps
Author: R-Dude aka Republic aka Rep
Rating: T
Genre: Suspense
Library Category: Romance (Maybe?)
Pairings: Harry/Daphne maybe?
Chapters: 7
Words: 90,127
Updated: January 6, 2017 - Published: December 28, 2015
Status: Complete
Summary: In which pureblood tradition doesn't always favor the purebloods.

Links
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11697407/1/Contractual-Invalidation
https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=31422


Heya. So yeah, popped on IRC and Rep was being a little bitch.

"Shezza!" he moaned. "Read my story! You'll like it, sempai!"

And I was all like "...the fuck are you?"

And then I read it. It sucked. 0/5.

The End.


Or actually Rep asked me to have a look and I had a surprisingly good time reading it. An hour later, I'm reading the last bit going 'YOU BITCH!' because it did kind of hook me in.

A more detailed summary is as follows: Harry, Head Auror, finds out his parents drew him into a Marriage Contract for apparently shits and giggles but apparently other motive we don't know yet. In a surprising turn of events, Malfoy is off the market so good ol' Daphne has to cop it for the Slytherin Team despite the fact they've been out of school for ages.

She's not happy. Harry has some kind of plan and is going along with it.

Cue some pretty interesting character interaction and introspection from both characters.

Cue some nice world-building with some quite interesting locations and mythology being thrown into it in a very fluid manner.

Now, I've enjoyed it but my tastes aren't what they used to be. That said, I think this is a pretty good story with a plot that isn't quite what it's appears to be. In between romancing Daphne, there's the regular drinks with the blokes, the elbow rubbing with the high flyers, a crime lord doing some shit (maybe?), and at the last part on DLP, lots of fire.

Give it a whirl. Then give it a vote!


Checked by Minion, January 06, 2017
The story is now labelled as complete, by request of the author who claims it is.

 

For once a story I can actually drop an opinion on. While initially hesitant I was blown away by how well that Rep pulls together the concept and the setting he has been crafting. He really invested some unique ideas(that sky-high joint being one, the floo-pipe another) and I enjoyed the banter between in most conversations.

I stopped reading somewhere after the date where Harry tried taking Daphne to a muggle restaurant but everything up until that point is easily a 5/5 for me. If I ever get around to picking up where I'd left off I'm sure the rating would stand.

 

Funny funny stuff. The Harry, Ron, and Neville interactions are pure gold imo. While I read this story for Daphne, I'll admit that those interactions were my favorite part.

There's also evidence of a lot of thought and creativity, with the legend of the Flickering Man, and the Ciel date. While it's not immediately evident, there's a lot of worldbuilding and I give serious props for that.

And of course, the marriage contract trope is subverted well, and I found myself so eager to read the next chapter that I bugged Sesc to vouch for me to Rep so that I could join his group for this fic. Hehe.

Shame he doesn't post anything in there anymore.

5/5

 

I really like this fic (although I wish Rep would finish his Frozen/HTTYD story). The Harry/Daphne relationship is pretty perfect so far in how it's portrayed. A lot of the time the problem with using characters like Daphne (or even Fleur or others) with very little to no canon characterisation means it's entirely dependent on how well the author can create an original and convincing character, and I think Rep has excelled here. My one complaint would be that she sometimes talks like Morrigan from Dragon Age (which kind of suits her tbh, but doesn't really fit with the rest of the HP world) but other than that is a very well thought out character in my opinion.

But the real (somewhat unexpected for the genre) stand out is definitely, as others have mentioned, the little world building elements that others have mentioned. I've seen the complaint occasionally against other fics that the writers don't really make the world feel very magical sometimes (TheEndless7 is a big perpetrator from what I remember, where all his characters are muggles that sometimes go fly brooms/apparate). This fic is definitely the opposite, I think it's the non-plot related magic that is the most important in a HP setting sometimes.

I'm very interested in seeing what the rationale behind Harry's actions is. I think it is a flaw of the story that for a large part of it readers must rationalise Harry's extremely out of character actions as being done for "reasons". This might not be such a big problem depending on what those reasons are and how everything pans out, but it deserves mentioning.

For now though I'd say it's 5/5 - it sets out what it wants to do and accomplishes it, with a very nice backdrop to it all. Now hurry up and update either one of your stories Rep.

Also, good to see you are alive Shezza. There aren't enough Aussies around here, especially now that Joe has been excommunicated.

 

It's a long time since I read any new HP fic, but since it has such a good reviews I gave it a chance.

Is it the best HP/DG fic ever? Very possible though it's not saying much.

The relationships is what carries this fic, but the worldbuilding is excellent too.

Compared to any other fic it gets 4/5 from me, but if someone wants specifically a HP dating someone fic then it's easy 5/5. Now I wait for the resolution of the cliffhanger from the last chapter in WIP.

 

Not exactly my preferred genre, but that hardly matters if there's excellent character interaction, good pacing, cool magic, and solid writing. The one potential negative is the reasoning behind the decision to force daphne to give him 5 dates. The glimpse of the broader picture last chapter was awesome and important for the future of Harry and Daphne's relationship since it shows her the potential excitement and resultant danger inherent with a future with Harry. 5/5

 

I've been following this story since the first chapter in WBA. Republic has very good writing and he certainly came up with an interesting idea. A marriage contract that doesn't make me want to pull my hair out with all the cliches and asspullery to make two unlikely candidates get together.
4/5 purely because I find Harry and Daphne to both come across as assholes at times. There are times that I hope they both get screwed over. If I liked them more I'd give this a 5/5.

 

I am enjoying this story as well. The latest chapter where Harry attempts to show Daphne the finer parts of high-end muggle life and it implodes in dramatic fashion was well executed. Not sure what Harry's endgame is here, but he only has 3 more dates to achieve it.

 

First Shezza is back, and now jbern?

What in blue fuck is going on? Who's next, Tinn?

 

The only thing better than this is if we get a mass fanfic update from all of them.

 

Watch Santi pop into IRC, say a single sentence and pop back out.

I've actually had this bookmarked (Since I don't have an FFNET account) since the first chapter came out. My interest in HP fanfiction has fallen quite a bit in the last couple years but this somehow caught my eye. It did however take me more paragraphs than I'm proud of to figure out if it was AU or not.

A 4/5 easily.

 

Just read this, loved it, and instantly wanted more. So I immediately went to the WbA section here and read all of the unfinished chapters there as well.

There are a few places that could have been done/worded slightly better, but overall it's an interesting premise and reasonably well done.

This is somewhere between a high 4/5 and a low 5/5 for me currently.

 

Love the tone of it. Recent chapter's fight at the bottom worries me about incoming cliche romcom stuff but, hey, I'll read it as it comes.

4.5/5 rounded up

 

I would have thought this story to have already been recommended. I am quite interested in what Harry is actually trying to achieve and how Daphne is involved with his scheme.

I'd give the story a 5/5 for what it is currently.

 

This story needs a better beta. 1/5 just for that guy.

 

Started it today and ran through it like crack. I need moar. 5/5

As stated above, the world building and little details are what sets apart the merely good from the great.

 

It isn't often you come across a fic with so few characters in which the author actually takes the time to develop them properly. Only 4 chapters in and the characters already feel more three dimensional than the books did at times.

The story itself is captivating and the world is being fleshed out beautifully so far.


5/5 This really is a must read.

 

I think only thing that is wrong with this story is the Marriage contract.

*Dodges the kitchenware*

Wait hear me out. This story is written very well but the central theme of Contract just drags it down and has to be dragged back out. I mean deconstruction is all well and good but it feels like it is done at the expense of Harry's character. I mean even Harry doesn't have a good explanation why he is doing this and unless we get a really good one we will feel let down.

So I won't rate this yet but as it is it would get 3,5/5 rounded up from me.

 

I really want to love this story, but there's just something holding me back. It's well written, don't get me wrong, but this Harry and the plot just don't quite do it for me. Also, it has to be said that I held back on reading this simply because it's a contract story, so that's a minus for originality.

3.5/5, rounded down for now. It'll probably get better with more content though.

 

I really like this story. The methodical way Harry goes about doing his business in intriguing and has me hooked. I especially liked how he interacts with the other characters, with a slight detachment and introspection. However, this premise has been done to death, and no amount of wonderful worldbuilding can change that. 4.5/5