I need to compile a list of the biggest clichés in Independent Harry fics, so that i can take the piss out of them in my Harry Potter/Space Invaders crossover.

At the moment all I can think of are:

• Letter from Dumbledore telling Harry he can't do anything
• Going to gringotts and being the only wizard to have ever been nice to Griphook
• Meeting with the bank manager and getting some special treatment
• Going on an pointless shopping spree and buying a trunk with a billion compartments
• Using names like Dumbledork and Moldeyshorts seriously.

I can't think of any more really, mainly because I never get much further than that in fics with such horrible cliches in.

 

A moderately intelligent 16 year old trying to play adult.

 

Uber-wand made of uber-rare-wood and uber-powerful-core. And the wand costs 2 knuts only.

 

Really doing absolutely nothing but "training" endlessly, and ignoring the fact that combat experience kicks solo practicing's ass every time.

 

Super duper elite powerful hidden power being locked away for safety.

 

Too many to list, though not all exclusive to the Indy genre.

Emancipation
Becomes Lord of Potter/Black/Gryffindor/etc...
His own private mansion, Potter Manor
Portraits of ancestors/family to train
Ron and Hermione "spying" on him
Like the uber-wand, uber-other weapons
"Allies" with some 'not-so-bad' Slytherin
Just about always Occlumency mastered (or problem fixed) before school starts
Before his inevitable "escape" from Privet Drive, he also figures out a way to practice magic undetected. Frequently wandless.

 

Nonjon forgot the one of the biggest ones.
Dark!ButNotEvil!

 

I have written around 1500 words of it, I am also going with the nice cliche of Tonks being on guard duty and Harry discovering her and talking to her for about 2 minutes then her shift ending.

 

I made this list a long while ago. Anything on it should not be in a story, most also included in a Indy!Harry story.

 slash/none at all
 super-trunk
 timekeys
 great ancestry of super wizards or super families
 H/G
 wand with multiple cores/cores from extremely rare and power animals. I.E. no extinct ancient Arctic Basilisk blood and Manticore heart-string from the leader of the Gurg’s Manticore herd.
 Dumbledore’s apprentice
 Goblin helpers whatsoever
 Lists
 love-bonds
 becoming Super!Harry over night
 Dream visiting
 Rock Band!Harry
 Emo!Harry
 Raped!Harry
 Abused!Harry
 Pussy!Harry
 Ledbythenose!Harry
 SnapeMentor!Harry
 Good!Bellatrix. She can only be evil
 Reformed!Malfoy/Snape
 Harry overcoming SuperManipulative!Dumbledore by himself or in a day
 NinjaWarrior!Harry
 KungFuMaster!Harry
 Pop culture in story, Author placing in his favorite > 2000 music
 Knockturn/Diagon Alley drawn out shopping trip
 ReductoAddict!Harry
 Arranged marriages, especially between two males
 Vampire!Harry …. Better yet, no vamps at all
 Handicapped!Harry
 American Exchange Students
 Herman/Ginslut going super powerful in a few days
 Super!America (for magic)
 Uber!RoR
 Omni!Animagus
 Omnipotent!Harry
 Rich!Harry
 Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw!Harry
 MWPPera!Harry
 Neville’s parents waking up
 Changing Voldemort’s name. IE voldypants, moldyshorts
 Azkaban!Harry
 Harry has family still

 

- Mundungunus/Snape/Moody watching over Harry, when he is on Privet Drive,
- katana,
- magical credit cards,
- Harry having car and an driving license,
- social service checking on Harry after 14 years.

 

OOO, the credit card thing needs to be included, so far i have only managed to get these in:

A List

• Harry saying Dumbledork
• Harry saying Moldeyshorts
• Tonks on guard duty and talking to Harry.
• Letter from Dumbledore telling Harry he can't do anything

The next step is for Harry to go to Gringotts and be the only human ever to recognise a goblin and address it by name.

 

Then, of course, they bring him to the head of Gringotts, who just so happens to also be the head of the goblin nation, and they make an alliance for no reason what-so-ever. After that, he puts his blood on an 'heir stone' and finds that he's heir to almost twenty different titles, including Merlin and all the Founders. Going down into their vaults, he finds that he's the richest man in the worldn and also acquires all of their keys and mystical items that allow him to be a metamorphanimagus and give him elemental powers. This leads him to do the opposite of everything he's ever done and now he uses 'the most noble and ancient house of...' in almost every sentence to make all the muggleborns -who know nothing about the pureblood crap- and everyone else get down on a knee and give him discounts on their items because he's so awesome and uber.

If you need any help, mate, Indy!Harry is my specialty and I'll be happy to assist.

 

Help would be good, because to be honest, I can't be fucked to write loads of the stuff that needs to be included.

I have around 1500 words written so far, and the space invaders bit won't happen for a while.

 

I can't believe not one of you mentioned phoenix!Hedwig. For shame.

 

You are forgetting:

-AmericanSlang//Cursing!Harry (I honestly cannot imagine Harry saying 'fucker' or 'pussy', unless the story has him live on the streets for a while – he's too sheltered)
-Articulate!Harry (Sometimes, single sentence (or single word) rebukes >>>> 20 paragraph speeches)
-Super!Dobby/Houseelf
-Extraincompetent!Fudge (Aurors cannot be so incapable that they cannot round up some erring 16-year-old)
-Suave!Harry (because Harry knows exactly what to say to a girl he knows hardly anything about. He lasts 2 hours in bed too.)
-Snake/Phoenix-familair!Harry (seriously, when you're trying to avoid your enemies, having distinct pets following you around is counter-productive)
-Polygot!Harry
-Tortured!Harry (becuase Harry endured torture, he can now can no longer communicate to others, can kill other people without remorse, and can hate The Order with indestructable conviction [but conviently, he does not have nightmares about his torture that has changed him so])
-MuggleMedicine/Technology!Harry (because whatever wizard's cannot fix, muggles can without consequence)
-MageSight!Harry (because having magical vision suddenly gives you an incredible advantage over everything that breathes)
-BattleCommander!Harry (he can command respect from grown men twice his height for no reason)
-WorldrevolvesaorundHarry!Harry (Harry is an important person in the world of "Dark-wizards-named-Voldemort-killing", but he is no idol people think of when they need inspiration –– people do not often think about others as often as we think they do. Dumbledore has more important things to do than stare at a ceiling and mastermind a way to manipulate Harry into doing something. Fudge does not sit in his office going "CURSES! HARRY HAS FOILED ME AGAIN!". Girls do not suddenly notice something slightly different in a boy they have been around since they started going to shcool. Harry is important, but he is not the leading-thought on everybody's mind).
-Eyesarewindowstooursouls!Harry (Because if you look somebody in the eye, you can divine their thought patterns or concerns just like that. It's a pretty phrase, but when I look somebody in the eye, I see blue or green or brown. I don't see "SHIT HE'S CONSPIRING TO KILL ME!" eyes lack any means (ie muscle) to communicate feeling. The eye brows, and other muscles in the face, dictate such outward presentations of emotion –– although "brow raised" or "eyes widened" are also annoyingly-overused phrases among the fanfiction community ... as if there aren't any other ways of conveying surprise).

I think I went off Indy!Harry for a moment there, but I've noticed most of this stuff present in the genre, even if it encompasses the other types of HP fanfiction.

 

Smarter than Hermione? But he hides it?

 

Bad Cliches that I don't think have been brought up.

Several Hereditary seats on the Wizemgot.
Uber!staff that no one since Merlin has needed with thirty cores, four gem stones, runes, and at least one intricate carving.
Harry glows when angry.
Harry is now the richest wizard in the world.
Harry runs magical Britain by black mailing Fudge with his own incompetence.
No one may write Harry letters on Dumbledore's orders.
At least one Order member guards Harry's home 24/7 and has no means of actually raising an alarm or contacting Dumbledore fast enough for it to matter.
Books of Ultimate Dark Magic are available at corner book store.
Rituals = five minute power ups.
Harry knows muggle things that he would have never learned at Hoqwarts or primary school, pop culture, science, gourmet cooking, etc.
Wardmaster!Harry
Harry actually being devastated by Sirius death and giving a shit about Lupin.
Spells taught at a school full of hormonal children are actually effective in real
fight-to-the-death combat scenarios. I know I wasn't taught to kill people in Middle school.
More backup wands than he has places to hide! Harry
Makes sweet business deal with Gringotts that requires no real effort on his part.
Voldemort being either incredibly reasonable down to earth guy that's misunderstood or just bat shit crazy.
Voldemort is so dangerous that a mouthy 16 year old with no exceptional training can out fight him and survive after reading the seventh year Standard Book of Spells.
Aurthur/Molly Weasley calling Harry son.
Harry using inmature versions of peoples names as insults, calling Ron the weasel, Hermione the-know-it-all, Snape Sniviulus, the list goes on.


I'll see if I can think of more.

 

Working Out = Sex Expert

 

- Harry carrying about Dursleys,
- Harry Potter - the wizard that gets support from goblins/centaurs/merfolk/vella/vampires or some other random oppressed magical race.

 

No one has mentioned these yet so I guess its up to me.

-You all forgot the uber time turner that happens to fall in his pocket in the department of mysteries and now lets harry go back in time up to x number of days/weeks/months/years, instead of the the several hours normally allowed.

-indy!harry also usually has an assortment of edged weapons hidden about his body that he almost never uses, or if he does use them he trains with them constantly because everyone knows that powerful bloodthirsty wizards have NO idea what to do when confronted with a knife/dagger/sword.

-Britain is also usually a completely backward and racist/bigoted country with only one newspaper, that each and every person on the aforementioned island gets all their news from, and believes what they read in it like monks believe in a bible.