I mentioned this story in another thread and thought I'd mention it here too:

New story from DigiFruit,
Title: Sanctuary
Category: Harry Potter
Character(s): Harry P. & Hermione G.
Words: 22,679
Genre(s): Romance/Drama
Rating: Rated: M
Summary: After Harry nicks a Time-Turner in order to save Sirius, reality
starts shifting around him. One day, he's not the Boy Who Lived, and the next,
magic doesn't even exist. So Harry, being the only one aware of it, sets out
to find out what went wrong.
URL: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6631603/1/

Another Harmony novelette from Digifruit. The writing is solid, the characterization is decent and better than his last attempt at HP fanfiction, and the dimension-hopping premise is unique, if more fantastic than we're accustomed. (I didn't completely buy it in the end, but it wasn't so upsetting that it ruined the story for me and it did service the plot idea he had lain). 3/5

 

Didn't think I'd need to as when I posted the prequel I said it was a slash fic. I doubt you got further than the summary of the first fic anyway so your innocence is still pure, Johnny.

 

I read that last night, and although it does have its flaws, the way that the premise has been pulled off makes it a decent rec', in my humble opinion. Plus, for some reason I like the idea of Hermione doing something questionable in order to give Harry some happiness, even if she is (for some odd and unrealistic reason in canon) pining for the red-haired waste disposal unit.

 

Title: Alternate Endeavors
Author: Sillimaure
Pairing: Harry/Fleur/Hermione
Words: 102,210
Genre: Adventure/Romance
Rating: T
Summary: The Dementor attack on Harry during the summer after his fourth year leaves him on the verge of having his wand snapped. Unwilling to leave anything to chance, Sirius Black sets events into motion which will change Harry's life forever. HP/HG/FD
Link

This story gets points off for being a) harem (though it was labeled as H/F when I started reading it) and b) involving a marriage contract...

However, it gets big points in its favor for giving realistic, interesting characterizations to the Weasley family, namely Ron, Ginny and Molly. Balancing the whole story towards something pretty average, 3/5.

 

Been following that for quite a while. It's average, but the thing I like the most about it is Ron's characterization: it's realistic, and the big setup for his 'big fall' when it comes to Hermione and Harry is going to be a good one, methinks.

 

Well then, catch up on it. It updated just today.

@Ichor: I totally agree about the Ron part. That's maybe the biggest reason for me putting it at a solid 3 than a solid 2. Personally, I'd also be interested whether the author maybe, maybe goes another route with Ron, in that he actually comes around in the end. But with everything as it is now, I doubt it.

 

Do you have a link for this?

 

Shit. Forgot it. Here you are.

 

I read Alternate Endevours a while back, didn't like it at all. Delacour senior is such a Gary Stu it's unbelievable. The way he casually defies a man who is by all accounts the strongest wizard in the world - one who has shown a contempt of the law - is not right.

But then the Dumbledore characterisation is all wrong anyway. Which is pretty typical for this type of story: the writer can't be bothered to write complex characters, so they just make the antagonists hilariously stupid cartoon characters to act as a contrast for the saintly protagonist, to make the characters the author wants to show off look beter.

Bleurg. It's on the lower end of "Almost recommended".

 

I agree with Taure; while it is entertaining to read the smackdown during the trail, his character is a gary stu nontheless. Still I feel the story deserves a 3/5, so it works in this thread..

 

Yes he is a gary stu. If he wasn't (and some other things were better), this would be the wrong thread for it. Though I cannot particularly remember what you're referring to when you say he's casually defying the strongest wizard of the world.

Uhh... what? Have I missed the entire fic? When was Dumbledore an actual anatagonist?

 

I may be misremembering it. Did Dumbledore not oppose Harry moving to France etc.? Didn't Sirius develop that plan behind Dumbledore's back because he didn't trust Dumbledore to get Harry out of trouble?

 

I've been following that since chapter 2 or 3. I liked it until Hermione got involved as a love interest tbh

 

You remember correctly, but he never put up much of a fight, or even pretended to. Fudge and Umbitch were the main cronies.

 

Yes on both accounts. Kinda. Sirius was the one to develop the plan, and while Dumbledore definitely opposed it, he complied, and as of now (chapter 10) is still seen as a brilliant wizard, wonderful headmaster and kind old man, and not a 'hilariously stupid cartoon character'. Maybe you're mixing it up with other stories?

 

I haven't read the most recent chapters. Most likely I saw the way that a random French wizard and Sirius walked all over him and assumed it was business as usual.

 

Huh... there was that one scene when Fleur's father tore into him for not telling Harry the prophecy, I think. Chapter 2, 3 or 4, maybe. W/e, it's not like you're missing something big by not reading it.

 

I'm with Taure. I read this a while back and x'ed out in disgust after about 4 chapters. The politics are atrocious and Dumbledore and all of Delacour's opponents are reduced to caricatures. The fact that Fudge whose ready to expel Harry and throw him out of England suddenly can't abide the idea of Harry marrying a foreigner and leaving England is bizarre. The characterization of Fudge isn't consistent even within one chapter.

Furthermore the idea that Delacour can dictate what Fudge and Dumbledore will do in England just because of a betrothal and a vague threat of "the ICW" makes me laugh. I also thought it ridiculous that the betrothal contract is just sprung on Harry in the courtroom. If it's as ironclad as the author makes it out to be, then there's no reason not let Harry know that this is an option of last resort.

Also the legal reasoning the author provides for the contract's inevitability is also incredibly shoddy. It's unbreakable because "international law" says that it is. Well that's all well and good except that the author has already stated that the ICW, the international legal body, has no authority to enforce any international laws or regulations in Britain. Also the continued meme that Sirius, an escaped convict in Azkaban for life is somehow Harry's guardian is an incredibly failed cliched.


At the very bottom scale of Almost Recommended. I'd hesitate to give this even a 2/5