Title: Daphne Greengrass and the Importance of Intent
Author: Petrificus Somewhatus
Rating: T
Genre: Family/Romance
Status: Complete
Library Category:
Pairings: Harry P./Daphne G.
Summary: This is the story of how Voldemort and the tools he created to defy death were destroyed by Harry Potter and me while sitting in an empty Hogwarts classroom using Harry's idea, my design, and most importantly, our intent. Set during 6th Year.
Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13133746/1/Daphne-Greengrass-and-the-Importance-of-Intent
OS-followups: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13232699/1/The-Importance-of-Intent-After-the-Credits

Found this a while back thanks to Scryer. Despite the unnecessary prologue, it was a very decent read. It focuses almost exclusively on the relationship between Daphne and Harry. It's written from Daphne's POV, and it seems to work well - her little mantras seem particularly fitting. Popular tropes are employed, but in reasonable fashion.

I'm curious what other folks think of it.

Checked by Sorrows 05/08/2019

 

I love Harry/Daphne fluff, and this was full of it. I also love a good plot, and though this story wasn't exactly a beacon of plot-driven narrative, there was enough of a well thought out one to satisfy me.

The characterization was great, the interactions felt real, and I squealed a couple of times for good measure.

One of the better Harry/Daphne fics, and a wonderful look at a new solution to the Horcrux problem (though it probably took at least a little inspiration from Delenda Est).

4/5 from me for a great Harry/Daphne, and an extra 0.5 on top of that for an enjoyable read in general.

 

For me this fic commits the same sin as a lot of Harry/Hermione fics, which is to upgrade the love interest from a supporting role to a place of equal importance in the plot to Harry. But the story of Voldemort's defeat should be Harry's story, and I have little patience for usurpers to Harry's role in that tale.

This kind of thing is increasingly common. It seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to all the fics where the love interest is nothing but arm candy with no real agency of their own. But these authors confuse agency with plot importance. A character can be fully fleshed out, with their own views, interests, abilities and social circle, without becoming important to the plot.

 

This story, for all that it’s not Harry-centric, is fluffy romance, and has no real action to speak of.. was actually a fun little read.

The writing is mostly clear, the perspective was a bit strange but fun, and the story does well for what it is; a lighthearted romance idea with a semi-believable (if not gripping) plot.

It isn’t the most gripping, suspenseful tale to hit DLP’s For Review section by any means, but it is a decent way to pass some time. 3/5 from me.

 

... I guess?

It's competently written, and I did read all of it, but I also skimmed a fair bit.

My main gripe is that there's literally no conflict. There's no stakes. Harry and Daphne's relationship has zero bumps or complications aside from a token Slytherin/Griffindor tension thing and like a quarter of a chapter where they argue about something and don't talk for a couple days. Neither of those things is anything more than a speed bump. They have chemistry, but it's pretty lukewarm and the lack of zing there really makes the lack of outward or inward obstacles stand out.

And aside from the relationship, Dumbledore is a token semi-antagonist and that never goes anywhere. Draco doesn't do shit. Ginny's jealousy is handled in a mature, easy way. Hermione doesn't really have a problem with Daphne's smarts other than some token grumbling. Daphne's parents are 100% behind her and supportive.

It's just a straight line down the middle of a highway. Smooth and vaguely pleasant, but not super exciting.

The approach to the horcuxes was somewhat interesting, but moreso in a "that makes me think about where you could take that" rather than it really being all that compelling in this actual story.

I think a 3/5 here is on the generous side, but it's not outright bad, so 3/5 it is.

 

Cutesy story that is pretty solid as a nice little palate cleanser, imo. Hits a couple of clichés, but they don't really overstay their welcome in my opinion. A lot of plot moving revolves around Daphne as the protagonist of the story, and perhaps too much in a story that's at least somewhat dealing with Voldemort.

Main gripes are that things work a bit too easily: there's basically no blowback to their relationship in a world where tensions should be inflamed to hell and back. It's an almost fairy tale relationship too, and while I do enjoy a fic where (part of) Harry's 'original' group of friends doesn't throw up stupid-ass excuses to him getting in a relationship, the way this is handled again feels easy. I get that the idea is fluff, but the amount of resistance to the two of them in the plot is basically zero.

That being said, if you want a timewaster or just something to lazily read while not expending too many brain cells, there's far worse options out there. Probably in the 3.5 area for me, so a 3/5 it is.

 

I think at this point we've reached such a saturation in the hp fanfiction community that original ideas like the focus on intent here are interesting to me. I also feel like the author made a very mature and intelligent choice to limit the length of the story to not wear out the welcome of the plot point.

The focus on romance and fluff though could have done with a higher word count. Their relationship is never well enough written to be believable past their initial meeting and interaction which I enjoyed. The story states that its happening in one chapter and that's it, at no point before that did I ever get the impression that the two liked each other.

Harry's letter at the start was filled with hogwarts house stretotypes and nearly turned me off the story completely. Also I think the story could do with a thesaurus because the overuse of brilliant really started to get to me.

3/5

 

I'm 7 chapters in. Holy fuck, this shit is *boring*. It's bland, it's generic. And coming from me, that's saying something. This is pretty much every Daphne story ever. Like, take them all, put them in a paint shaker, and this is what comes out. It doesn't really do anything wrong, but it really doesn't do anything at all.

It doesn't feel like there's a single original thought in this entire fic. It doesn't try anything new. Sure, it doesn't go that extreme with the tropes, but the tropes are all still there. There's shit in here that I was using in my Daphne fics a decade ago, and they were already dated by the time I came across them. And none of them are used in a particularly interesting way. They're just there. There's a hundred nameless fics that have already done this exact same thing. If there was every truly a pain-by-numbers story, this is it. Sometimes, that's all an author wants in order to farm reviews, but I want the shit I read to actually be entertaining rather than just being a time waster.

2/5