Title:A wizard in the family
Author:Serena_Sers
Rating: T
Genre: Drama, Alternative
Status: Work In Progress
Library Category: The Alternatives
Pairings: Unknown at the moment.
Summary: In 1991, more than just one letter arrives at Number 4 Privet Drive. Petunia and Vernon Dursley are informed that their son is a little bit less normal than they had always tried to convince themselves. Harry, on the other hand, has only one thought: how will he ever survive if Dudley has the power to turn him into a frog?
Link: A wizard in the family [series]

Book 1: A wizard in the family. Isn't it wonderful?
Book 2: I belong in your world, at Hogwarts
Book 3: Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times

Don't let the lacklucker titles and summary stop you from reading one of the best HP series started in 2021. The story starts off quite simple, with Dudley Dursley getting an invite to Hogwarts with Harry. Unlike other magical!Dudley fics, the Dursley's (including Dudley) are not instantly redeemed or completely villianized. They, like the whole Hogwarts cast, are characterized incredibly well with the author not afraid to have their characters make mistakes.

Dudley is still a bully, and suffers for it.

Harry, refusing to be in the same house as Dudley, is sorted into Slytherin and takes a both darker and more powerful route compared to canon, but doesn't go Indy-Harry nor does he remain canon Harry.

There is no bashing, and all the characters remain delightfully in character and well written (even Dumbledore). You also have some OCs, which are well characterized as well, and not just Gary Sues.

The author also takes some twists and turns with the storylines, making the plot feel refreshing and more unpredictable. Without spoiling too much you have mentor!Quirrell, notPossessed!Ginny and troublemaker!Percy (yes, I said that right).

The children act like children instead of mini-politicians, often make mistakes and then they learn from their mistakes. I love authors that allow their characters to make mistakes and suffer the consequences. The fic is darker than canon, but still has the whimsy feeling the early HP books had.

The author also likes to take tropes and turn them on their head, such as a 'life debt' not being magical but rather cultural, and often disregarded.

Harry does start off a little weaker than canon, but quickly overcomes and surpasses his canon self by mid-book 1. By book 2, the tables have reversed, and Harry is formidable and a bit terrifying.

Lastly, the author writes each book before posting, leading to a much more condensed and balanced story.

All-in-all, I rate this fic 4/5 with the potential to be a 5/5 depending on where the story goes. The only reason it isn't a 5/5 now is the small typos in the first two stories (the author is likely not a native english speaker and sometimes uses the non-English character names), and the slightly weaker beginning.

 

How much of a re-hash is it?

 

First year is a bit of a re-hash but with a delightful twist at the end (mentor!Quirrell).

Second year starts off similarly to canon but goes off the rails relatively quickly.

It's too soon to say anything about the third year. My guess is it will contain a general outline of the canon plots but the author will twist them and make them far more unpredictable.

Personally, I felt the plot was refreshing compared to most alternative house stores.

 

Sooo... like canon?

You might actually enjoy book 2 more as a lot of these issues are addressed. Dumbledore and the other teachers do a lot more in book 2 than they do in canon even. You also get the rippling affects of what happened in book 1 influencing book 2.

I would say book 1 is 3.5/5 myself but book 2 is closer to a 4.5/5, largely for how much the adults actually get involved.

 

Hmm. I'm 3/4 through year two now and i'd give this a solid 3.5 rounded up to 4. And its been growing on me. Some spelling splices early on but nothing crazy. And it started to diverge from canon pretty heavily in year one.

Plot wise... I really like the road this is taking. Harry sorted into other houses (mostly slytherin) is maybe my favorite sub-genre in HP. I really like that this one isn't treading the same old ground.

Usually most Slyherin Harry stories follow one of two paths. Either 1) He just makes friends with all the gryffindors and is a gryffindor harry who happens to be in slytherin or 2) he turns into either indy harry or dark harry and its all poltiics and maneuvering

While on the surface this story seems to have elements of both of those (he is friends with neville and hermoine and is experimenting with some dark magic) it actually seems to me to be walking an interesting middle path. Harry's experiments with politics, dark magic (and bullying) don't read like an Indy harry but like a confused kid in a tough situation not coping well with lots of pressure.

Spoiler: spoiler

the Sinistra conversation really brought it home and was well handled.

Likewise while he has some friends in gryffindor this doesnt feel like gryffindor harry in green robes.

I like the middle path Harry is walking.... and the way the author uses Dudley as the foil that pushes Harry down some paths that would not be considered 'good.' And I like that Harry is still clearly the Harry from the books but that there is an influence of Slytherin that is clearly discernible.

Or in sum... no this isn't so far one of the 'greats' of HP fanfiction. But it is very good. An entertaining read. And for those of us that like this sub-genre I appreciate it isn't walking down the same well worn paths.

And I really do think the characters are very well done.

 

I don't disagree on the money aspect, but the way McGonagall failed to properly assess and handle the situation... is pretty accurate to how bullying in middle/high school tends to play out in real life, even if the authority figure is smart and/or caring. I can certainly attest to that. If anything I like how Dumbledore ended up becoming aware of the severity of the situation and handled it.

The story overall is a pretty good take on a tired plot bunny that is usually very poorly executed. It manages to deviate enough from canon to avoid being the usual rehash (earlier chapters of book 1 notwithstanding) and does so in well thought-out ways. Without going into spoilers, the end of book 1 made me raise an eyebrow but not by too much, and I thought the ministry hearing scene and Sinistra's speech were a bit hammy, but Dudley's character arc around the latter? Very well done. I'll generally echo the praise for the characterization and the writing, and agree with Lindsey that this is a 4/5 with potential for a 5/5. Not because of the occasional error (I like how you can tell the author is German from those), but because I don't think it's earned a 5 as it is. It might get there though.

 

Characters with actual flaws? Villains with redeeming qualities? Wow. Nothing special enough for a 5. But a solid 4/5.

 

I'm not sure how much of it is the rehash that made me bored in the first couple chapters and how much is the lack of thorough editing and obvious ELL grammar mistakes (strange pronoun agreement and sentence structures), but the prose got on my nerves quite a bit. However, the writing shows visible improvement throughout the series, and I'm hoping that with the recently acquired beta (starting after the conclusion of second year), the third instalment (fourth, if you count Ron's side story) won't suffer from such issues nearly as much. That being said, even nearing the most recent updates, the prose has only barely reached the stage of what I would term "unobtrusive".

Disregarding all of that, the characters are written very well, with minimal bashing, plenty of character development, and extremely believable flaws. Though the worldbuilding is nothing special, it also avoids the pitfalls of the tired tropes and clichés that haunt this fandom. Moreover, the plot of it all, at least after one triumphs over the 50k or so worth of rehash, has been captivating enough that I've subscribed to the series.

The interesting characters and story would make for a very tentative 4 at best, but I'm marking it down to 3/5 due to the shaky start and the lacklustre prose.

ETA: Upon the most recent update (Chapter 7 of Year 3), I can confirm that the weirdness of the prose remains, if faintly. It's not even that the grammar is bad anymore, but rather that there's still a rushed sort of feeling to reading some of the scenes. Perhaps my taste in pacing is just slower than that of the author's. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. All the stories are pretty quick reads, and the characterization is really good. Dudley's arc, in particular, is well done, and Harry himself is more interesting than the canon version. Could go any number of directions from here, but for now...

4/5

 

This is a bit meh. Most of it is cheap rehash with a few very simple twists to get exactly where we were after canon year 2. The beginning with Harry knowing nothing feels exasperatingly stupid. At least it avoids the godawful decision to make Voldemort return in Year 1 (which ruined "Blood Crest") which would have lead to a comically large power imbalance and just opened up issues for the writer, but this doesn't mean you can't/shouldn't diverge more from canon and fill the divergences with your own plot.

Dudley as a character doesn't seem to have any purpose except for pushing Harry's character growth, and he's overstayed that welcome several times in year 1. Harry's hopelessness for someone to believe him rather than Dudley even in later chapters is seriously annoying and makes him feel stupid. The conlusion of Year 2 with the attempted murder on Harry is the best thing about this story as of now, but I really could have done without the Dudley sob chapter. In general, I feel like Harry's character change from Year 1 to the latter half of year 2 was somewhat abrupt, but I liked the outcome. With the newest arc, I fear the darker take will be reversed again.

This story feels like it's on very broad rails; sometimes you might see some new landscape, but you still know the destination you're gonna go to, which is going to be the Voldemort Year 4 resurrection scene, having visited every larger canon station by perfecting the art of deviating without really deviating. As a result, you can skip portions of it, which I've sometimes done, because there are several lacking aspects to this. The magic system is bland, the plot doesn't actually lead to things except when it's already done so in canon and the dialogue can at times be witty, but rarely moves anything forward.

In general, James' backstory is far more interesting than anything between Harry and the useless blob, hope that gets explored more. In general, I'd like the story to turn far away from Dudley, because he's just a hindrance at most times (which is exactly what I predicted him to be, and why so little people read this story despite it being quite decent and regularly updating - Dudley at Hogwarts is NOT an inspiring premise). Hopefully he dies somewhere soon.

Some ideas in this are fun, like Percy being a troublemaker, gotta give it that, but that's one of these ideas you smirk at and then forget.

However, I have to say that third year has managed to intrigue me a lot more, mostly because most stories of this kind don't get this far, and because the author has shown promise to do a little more than just "not do/incrementally change" plot stuff this time.

3/5, because while it avoids being bad, there's not enough that makes this truly good. Quirrell mentoring Harry has become a trope in itself by now, and with Harry's latest Dudley character arc, this doesn't really seem to be about to make a real difference. Rating's subject to change upwards as story progresses, because at least I've got to give the author that they've got me convinced that they're capable.

However, it continues to mystify me how, after three decades of HP fanfiction, there's still not a significant amount of plots for the first years compared to what JKR did. Taure did something brilliant with year 2, The Sinister Man did something good with year 2 (but needed far too many words to do it), but apart from that, I wouldn't know of anything iconic done with the plot in this time period at Hogwarts. Well, there's "Old Blood" by Oil on Canvas, but the update rate of this is comatose.

 

As the third book is nearing its last stretch, I decided it's probably time to update how I'm feeling about this fic as I think it's going to be very controversial on DLP.

While it has its issues (mainly the fighting between James and Harry), I have enjoyed where the fic has been leading. It hits some of my favorite tropes I rarely see done, including: an actual decent redemption arc as well as a fall from grace arc.

Dudley's plotline is the best I've ever seen for his character. He has a solid redemption/learning arc that feels natural and in-character. Over the year, Dudley struggles, faces challenges and slowly overcomes them while finding his place in the wizarding world. It's rather refreshing, and I love seeing him grow into a rather likable character.

Harry, on the other hand, is having a complete fall from grace arc. He is... very unstable in this book, and many people are not going to like it. The author is going with the whole 'dark magic is addicting' trope, which can be very problematic. Personally, it's a cheesy trope I like, so this hasn't bothered me. In fact, I hope it goes further, as I would love to see a fic where Dudley, the shitty character we all hate, becomes a good person while Harry becomes the little shit.

Next we have James, who has become the character who 'just needs to communicate better'. The fighting between Harry and James will irritate many, as you want to scream at them to talk and tell each other what is happening. That being said, the most recent chapter might explain why James struggled so much with telling Harry what was happening.

If it has the twist I am hoping it has

Spoiler

Sirius being the traitor all along

, I will probably rank this fic a strong 4.5/5 for the sheer balls of the author and the potential conflict it will have in the future. This decision would take away most of my worries on where this fic is headed (Sirius and family 'redeeming' Harry from his 'dreaded' dark magic path and everything will be flowers and rainbows.)

Here is what I am hoping will happen:

Spoiler

Sirius was the betrayer all along. It was Peter who found Harry, and went after Sirius. During this fight, Peter was able to hold him off long enough for the Aurors to arrive but was cursed to remain a rat/lose memory/something. When Sirius escaped, he went after Peter because it was him who got him put into Azkaban. It is revenge pure and simple. He has been imperiusing James all year, making this the reason the communication has been poor.

James isn't going to believe that his father is not innocent, steal/convince Hermione to use her timeturner, and go back to 'save' his father, which will free him in the process and make him realize his father is not good.

I really really hope they go this route because having Peter reveal himself, and Dumbledore believing him, and it coming out that he was a Death Eater all along will be very disappointing. Undermines Dumbledore's character to the point it is no longer believable.

 

Very good review. Except what you put in story tags as a guess to what might happen... maybe ill be wrong but ive not gotten that vibe at all that this is where the story is going. So id hate for someone to put all their eggs in that basket happening? Though who knows maybe im wrong.

 

The story isn't controversial. It's shit - mostly due to the ineptitude of the writer. Characterizations are done very poorly, drama is prolonged for far, far longer than necessary, and the so-called twist?

The twist is the semi-liquid droplet decorating the steaming pile sitting in the corner.

1/5

 

I've been reading HP fanfiction for awhile now, and I've read some pretty awful fanfiction over the years, I wouldn't say this story is even close to fitting into that category. The author has managed to write two passable stories in the span of 2 years and did so in under 75k words without feeling like the pacing was off. That alone is something more then a significant portion of the half finished, abandoned books pushing 200k+ words sitting in the library around here can't attest to. Especially the ones written by authors that enjoy writing 1 star reviews with 1 hand.

My biggest gripe with the story was in the first book where the author had 3, maybe 4 ways of spelling Nicolas, and I don't think they ever spelled it correctly once, they also somehow managed to use 3 different forms of the name in 1 chapter, honestly it was impressive.

The characterization is good, the different perspectives are distinguishable, the story is interesting, but the writing isn't the best. However, if I'm comparing this to current library material I give this a 3/5.

 

Aaaaaand ... nope. Would've honestly been too good a twist for that author to think of. Especially because she's dead set on keeping every outcome how it was in canon, only playing with the way leading towards it.

 

An interesting premise and mostly adequate execution, for the most part. It's got the writing style of a stereotypical AO3 fic, which I can't really adequately describe. I consider it a bad thing. What really hampers it the most, is that despite the premise and admittedly different characterizations for Harry and Dudley, the fics end up being a repeat of the actual books. See the most recent fic in the series. 3/5 - I'd say it's almost worthy of being recommended but the writing style and re-hash hold it back from being library-quality.