Mkay, so the shipping debate is winding down (for the moment, I know that horse shall never die) and we're all dying for a new ring to stomp in. Well, I'm closing in on something, and like the geek I am, my outline allows for all four houses.

Yep. I have a plot branch for each. Question is, which? Thoughts below!

There are primary divergent branches in the canon that facilitate his choice for Gryph: Meeting Draco in Malkins (won't happen), running into The Brood (those-who-know-not-contraceptives) outside King's Cross (Hey, no train either hah! Take that canon), and also no eye-gougingly idiotic blathering by Ron.
Harry will be a blank slate here, but there are good points for him to be in three of the houses.

Gryph:
Pros: People expect it, and it would be easy to slip under the radar. The 'brave and heroic' tend to either work alone, or in small groups and that's ok. A 'hero' position also puts him in a place to inspire more easily.
Cons: Done to death. Accessory dealing with Weasleys, which may have me bashing them. Or preying on them. I don't want to cheapen the story with my pettiness though. Closeness to Hermione (Planned buddybuddy stuff), as I really do want to mess with her a bit.

Slyth:
Pros: It would shake things up like mad, which achieves the 'mess with people's minds' aspect of things. Could help work on his skills in intrigue and subterfuge – but doubtable. Somewhat fresher people to deal with.
Cons: I can't, or rather won't, pull a mentor!Snape, nor will I focus on removing him here. Snape will be Snape. So, any Slyth House traits he could foster would be almost learned by osmosis rather than instruction. Draco interactions MUST stay hostile.

Claws: (More verbage because we've all heard the Slyth/Gryph shit a thousand times)
Pros: Access to wizard material without looking suspicious – everyone expects Claws to be booksluts. Possibly able to get Hermione in here, as she won't be tied up with Ron's bullshittery as well. Makes more sense for a world-aware Harry. Future Luna hilarity. Less public face to allow more subversive plans. Cliché counterargument – I'd rather use Claw for fostering his world-knowledge. Like it or not, he's a human wizard changeling, which puts him in a three-world crux.
Cons: Kinda cliché by now. Everyone wants to build up Harry into some superman, so the easy way is books. Well I'm making magic harder so it's not going to be a 'Book of Spells to End Your Nemesis – Vol. 4' kind of thing. I'm also a bookslut so if I go Claw the story WILL get a bit technical in places. I like technical. (I revamped the 'system' of magic a bit to make it a bit logical, since supposedly there are logic systems in it already. See Arithmancy. No point in it all being so... Rowling, if I can help it. She was lazy. I'm not.)

No. No Puff!Harry here. Sorry Badgers. Well unless someone can give me a really stellar reason (even if I did outline it. It sucked. I can't do Badgers within this framework )

OK! Get to tearing those reasons up!

Oh, as an aside: Plot bunnies are evil. I need to figure out something to do with this stupid idea. "Metal Gear Hogwarts - Solid Snape". God don't ask.

Er. Scheiß. Should this go in WbA instead?

 

I will give my take on where Harry should belongs. Based on things Maeve described about summer fey in chapter 1, change is their antithesis and beauty inspired its own right, you got this idea from the Seelie and Unseelie code in your research. If you did then in comparing the fey codes with the house traits the Gryffindor house is incompatible with the winter court. <O</O
<O</O

The Seelie code is death before dishonour, love conquers all, beauty is life, and never forget a debt. The Unseelie code is change is good, glamour is free, honor is a lie, and passion before duty. Summer foster love, preach peace and maintains the idea of chivalry. Winter does the opposite and foster madness and mayhem, and upholds freedom and change to any chivalric codes. Gryffindor’s trait of chivalry and courage is very compatible with the summer code. This is not the place for the winter prince.

The Slytherin traits of cunning and ambition might suit the Harry well and does not go against the Unseelie ideals. However, if you decide to put lots of closed minded people in that house like many authors then it is not Harry’s best interest to be with a group that wants to cling on to their traditions and never change. Make sure the characters are much rounder than the stereotypical Slytherins in every other story.

Ravenclaw has nothing that goes against the courts. I personally think this is the house that suits Harry well. He has shown interest in understanding more about the worlds and his peculiar situation. He wanted money go buy books, an early sign of a bookslut.

I would like to see Harry in Ravenclaw or Slytherine and not Gryffindor.<O

 

I'm not sure you're seeing things from the good end : you're too slitherin it would seem. You have to remember that the sorting is more of what your character is at the moment (or aspire to be, or would like to be or what house he would benefit the most from).

Hogwart is a school. If you view thing from your point of view, that is to say the author point of view, you're obviously going to be sorted in the snake house. I think there are two things you must decide before writing this scene :

First,what is the sorting? How does the hat procede?

Second, who is harry potter? How does he think?

As it is i don't know the inner workings of your harry. The difficulty is of course in the developing of a complex character before reducing him to those house qualities.

But perhaps all those qualities are meaningless for him, after all he has not be raised to thing in those four box. The sorting is an old storie, and recreating stories is what maeve is raising him to be.

I wanted to say ssomething else but my ideas are a little mixed. Later...

 

I agree with blogquerty, we don't "understand" you Harry as good as you do.
But as far as I see him I would say Ravenclaw suits him best, he seems to indifferent to suit Gryph & Slyth

 

If you want Harry in Ravenclaw, why not have him meet Flitwick by chance one day in Hogsmeade. Later that day, Harry has an unpleasant encounter with Snape.

If you decide to put Hermione in Ravenclaw, she could learn two important facts during the train ride. Ron Weasley is a jerk, and most Weasleys get sorted into Gryffindor.

 

Lot of good ideas here so far, and Blogquerty makes a solid point. Regardless of me having Harry's file on hand, I have solid hooks for all the houses really, but more than anything wanted to see if I had faulted logic in my thoughts.

You're right - how the sorting goes is as important as where many ways. And I can't spill why the hat would go this way or that, because that reveals un-published plot. But we don't want it to become the equivalent of super!shopping as I saw it mentioned recently... Diagon sprees are rather boring.

Excuse the rant but - Why does everyone get the UberTrunk of Rental Apartment Dimensions? If they were so damn common, people would have billets to rent in a space the size of the Leaky, and there'd be nothing but halls of doors, leading to closets for trunks. It'd feel like the... coffins, from um... William Gibson's Cyberpunk stuff. Neuromancer or Mona Lisa or something. Huge buildings where you only get space for a trunk - but the trunk is a flat. I hate TheTrunk as much as I hate god!Dobby.

Don't get me started on how irritable all that Klein space makes my inner Oppenheimer. Ugh.

Back to colors. So far, my thoughts have been this:

Gryph: Good place to hide, but he wouldn't know this when it happens. And I'm not telling him. He'll have shown appropriate traits (I mean he is standing up to Maeve, Centaurs and Aber at age 8 here.) There are also unpleasant Gryphs as well. Romilda Vane comes to mind, where brash, bold and brave can be twisted to basically mean obsessively driven at times. Still, I don't think I want to deal with them.. Bah! Next!

Slyth: The hat will want this, for reasons yet stated. I will still have the racism of blood here, and it'll spill over into any 'impure' creatures too. Essentially, Grimm!Harry in Slyth would be a Dursley reprise. Not really fun to write and would be another Weasley issue.. my pettiness would explode and make all those little snakes just horrible to read about. If I don't put him here, I have the option of angular focus - I can approach them without making it so damn up front. I can I could circumvent the whole House leaning on him, by giving him a support group, but this would by rule need to be male for the dorm issue, and that leave me Zabini and Nott. Greengrass and Davis would fill out the females, but I'm unsure. I have no plans to make a 'silver' trio. Plus, large does of Snape are bad for you.

Claw: The 'acceptable' non-polar answer really. The main difficulty is population - which is easily handled. Why population? I actually am going to be using the abysmally small classes as a plot point later. Now, there are two students.. *digs* Aha! (Cornfoot, Stephen & Entwhistle, Kevin) that get no screentime or very little that I can 'uproot'. This also allows me to use a plot idea I had stewing a while for Gryph filler as well. Difficulties will be with classes, Quidditch schedules and having a new House Head. Ugh.

Would you lot flay me over having a 'rusty' class schedule? I'll make the quidditch work, I promise. The only downside of Claw!Harry here will be that classes will be a bit... dull. No snakes to force interactions.

Then again, there will be reason enough for just about anyone to get a bit snappish with Grimm!Harry. Stated before, the Unseelie presence will be working against Harry, in a lot of ways. I can sow chaos and dissent with just about anyone just fine~

More material! Have fun!

 

I'm gonna jump on the Ravenclaw bandwagon here. I've always been a fan of that house, and I'm more interested in strategy than brute force in general.

Slytherin wouldn't be too bad of a choice, though.

As for class schedules, I recommend you either make a new one from scrap, or ignore the issue altogether like canon.

 

The only 2 Slyh!Harry stories I've ever read that were great were "Harry Potter and the Hero's Path by TheJackOfDiamonds" (R.I.P.) and the oneshots by Baja.

With that said, Claw!Harry wouldn't really be too bad for this story. Put Malfoy/Snape in the same house as Harry and the Fey just might be tempted to kill them.

 

I say you put him in Merlin house :awesome...you know, the house that author's create in which HP is the only member.


Ok, all jokes aside, I'm going to have to agree with Ravenclaw. I dislike Gryffindor as that would mean a lot of Weasley interaction, plus we have enough of Gryffindor from canon.

Slytherin also presents unique problems, chiefly the interactions that would have to take place between Harry and Draco/Snape, as well as other Slytherin's who would try to take advantage of him.

Ravenclaw is nice because it's probably the most underused house for Harry in fanfiction. I can't think of any stories off the top of my head that have Harry as a 'claw, although I think I might have read one awhile ago. You also get Luna as a friend, a way to make him more intelligent and 'wizardly' as he will constantly be in the company of booksluts, as well as the fact that you can have Flitwick show Harry spells and give him extra teaching. We know that Flitwick was fond of Lily, who was said to be a hand at charms, so as long as Harry shows aptitude for the subject I think Flitwick would favor him.

The big problem I'm seeing is, if you decide to go Ravenclaw or Slytherin you are going to have to create some OC's and would have to go into some detail about their personalities and upbringing. And by OC's I mean characters like Davis, Greengrass, Nott, etc. At least we have a line or two with Zabini in it in HBP, but they are all pretty much blank slates. And the same with Ravenclaw. Creating personalities and backstories without using rehashed cliches or annoying readers is a damn difficult thing...very few authors can pull it off successfully.

Also agreed on the class schedule. You are the author and can change whatever you what. If it's convenient for character interaction and story progression to have Ravenclaw's have classes with Slytherin (or whatever), then go ahead and do it. I don't think anyone really cares too much that traditionally Gryffindor's have classes with Slytherins, or whatever the canon schedule was.

 

Well this was an unexpected gem. I thought it was a dresden crossover but not so much.

I liked that your brought the concept of ideals, dreams, and stories back as empowering things. Maeve is written interestingly, I like her loathing of complacency.

Redcappas are also fun to read, didn't really have anything attached imagination wise to them from reading canon, so it was cool to see them expanded on.

Anything to do with Harry and the Fae world get a 5/5 from me.

Anything to do with Dumbledore gets a resounding wtf from me.

Seems like you either don't want to deal with writing him, or are taking out your hate of canon on him. Initially the idea of the magic turning on him was interesting. After that the characterization got to be something out of Lifetime's depiction of an alcoholic woman on a 12 step program and 5 kids from different fathers.

It might be better that you show DD through just Harry's eyes. I am sure you will be able to get across your depiction of DD being erratic and remorseful and in penance. And, more importantly, you can continue your theme of Maeve offering choices while DD makes arbitrary changes in Harry's life. You can still show those things with Harry's pov w/o showing DD being...whatever the hell he is being.

I look forward to more, I think you're doing really interesting things with the fae aspect. A few more followers than the red cappas and little folk might be fun to see.

And if my vote counts, put him in Gryffindor like before. An Unseelie Gryffindor is somewhat of a contradiction, which makes it interesting.

Edit: Btw, the only major trait of Harry we have seen so far is concern for his little folk friends, complete trust in Maeve, and a certain willingness to break the rules. I say that's a Puff there. C'mon an Unseelie Puff, that is fucking asking to be written.

Also, search for Slytherin Eater. A MGS/HP cross posted here long time ago. Unfinished but I enjoyed following it.

 

I don't usually involve myself in conversations such as this, as I rarely feel a burning urge to add in something, but I felt like I had to bring it up. YOU may be looking for end results, which house would fit your story best, but you have to remember that you can't just shove him in House C because of a handful of scenes and plots down the line.

You mentioned how slytherin would shake things up a bit, and it would- but the Unseelie is about Chaos and Change- obvious things, not subtlety accomplished. When the redcaps hunt, it is VERY obvious where they left their prey. When the Unseelie stalk the shadows, you can argue that they are doing so with the purpose of GRABBING attention, not hiding from it, forcing the change upon people in a way that makes their idea stronger. They Need to be known as instigators, so their idea can persist. Isn't that what Maeve reflects upon? That they had gone lax, that people still told stories, but no longer remembered the Unseelie hand? And that this was what she needed to change? I cannot see Harry as a cloak-and-dagger persona from what you have released so far; he may mislead, he may fuck with peoples heads, but it is very obvious that it is him. Draco's idiocy aside, I've always seen Slytherin as a place where the ambitious go moreso than the up front doers, the glory hogs. Isn't that what Maeve wants-glory, and remembrance of her court?. Slytherin!Harry would have found a way to bind the elf (milly?) to silence on his true nature- Grimm Harry has not.

Ambitious? Yes. Behind the scenes power plays? Not quite as much. For this reason, I have to say his best fit would be as a Gryph. I HATE this idea, but when I break it down, character-wise, he seems to fit the best: Bravery, courage, yes. Morals? Not in the way typical wizards or humans hold, but you can see with the centaurs and with his interactions with Raith and Raede, he has his own set of guild lines (I really hesitate to call them morals, because he isn't human). In your face, I'm here to change the world and you will change with me or be swept up in the flow; this is the dramatic of the Gryph.

Would the Claws work? You would need to portray him pushing Raith and Raede more for information, and the fey nature of planning before action more. He seems a bit lost right now- somehow highlight his ignorance, and give him a burning desire to correct it. It could be as simple as him discovering the trace when he gets a wand and hating the idea of a collar on his magic. It could be a teacher interaction with McG in Diagon Ally where he chafes under the restrictions of magic that she preaches to a muggleborn tour group, perhaps with being an animagi. Give him some burning reason to need knowledge, or freedom from ignorance. Perhaps Dumbledore (Alberforth) puts up a dark creature ward, and he realizes that his family could be contained or even harmed by wizards and their arithmathcy on a large scale if his nature was revealed. I trust in your creativity.

You need an impetus to put him in here where the reader can maintain a suspension of disbelief to the contrast of a Chaotic nature in a house of learning, where stereotypically order, laws, and rules are a mainstay. The Unseelie nature needs to not be overwritten, but worked into this desire for enlightenment. I can't wait to see how you do it, but I really feel as to the fact that the people in the house shouldn't make the decision for Harry- He's not riding the train, he's not poisoned by Ron et al, hell, for all we know he'll hear the train roll in and walk up to the castle, skipping the whole lake entrance ceremony. Whatever it is that makes him go into this, it can't be a one-liner, a throw away thing. You can have it be essential to the storyline, or something that gets overwritten midway through first year, but it needs to be something that has enough of an impact for the sorting hat to justify Not Gryf.

I guess my bottom line is don't be hasty on picking a house for the sake of a house- Look at what is best for the plot, and how you can use it to develop Harry and other characters into your weave.

Hopefully this wasn't too rambling- it's late, and I wanted to say something while it was on my mind.

 

Basically, I love you. This post summarizes why I had initially picked Gryph; not because he was traditionally displaying the ideals, but that in himself, he was them.

This whole house thing has me waffling and it's irking me to no end. Not the discussion: I adore that. Just looking down plots, how twisted the outline gets in places, opportunities in other ways. I really want Gryph, but at the same time I feel the same with Claw.

Either way, I promise not to disappoint. Or if I do, I'll be unapologetic about it.

On an unrelated note, this thread makes me smile.


See?

 

I enjoyed this fic, though it wasn't quite what I was expecting. Good background, but it occasionally moves too slowly. 5/5

 

Just finished all available chapters. The writing is simply excellent, I couldn't stop myself from reading even in boring parts.

So far, characterization is perfect, everything is logical (which is rare). Overly!Abused!Harry cliche is avoided, even though it seemed nearly impossible at first. Dursleys, while not perfect, did not beat Harry into unconsciousness or other shit like that.

The plot premise is great. I'm sucker for ruthless and cynical main character and Harry is exactly that. Not only so, he has a strange set of morals: Dumbledore treating another being as slave outrages him, but he feels nothing towards killing Dudley, his enemy.

As much as I loved flow of narration and general idea behind the story, Maeve's musings in first chapter (or was it second?) were really boring and were it not for how natural it felt I'd skip it all.

Pacing of the story is another problem, and one that the author should work on in my opinion. It has 50k words now, and we aren't even in Hogwarts. Or even close to (well, at least in meaning of time, not distance).

All in all, solid 4/5 from me, but I'm not going to vote any time soon. There might be 5 chapters and 50k in the story, but we aren't even in Hogwarts yet. And there are lots of ways to fuck up a story.

I totally agree with Shezza on Hermione. Reasonably or not, I hate this character, both in canon and most of fanon. Unless the author is going to write her completely OOC she's going to be this annoying stuck-up dominatrix little bitch. That's a "no" from me. Even to friendship. And seriously, it would be either friendship based on lies, or she'd treat Harry like Luna (seeing strange mythical or made-up creatures noone else can see, anyone?).

As for Luna, I think it'd work better if she didn't see Fey. Although I'm fairly sure she'd believe Harry should he tell her he did.

As far as pairings go, I'd support Harry/Ixi, she's going to be loli-sized in the future.

 

Hrm, too many people have mentioned Maeve's diatribe being too much like a... well diatribe. So, I do think that will be my first main rewrite, when I'm done with Ch.6.

Harry/Ix hmm? And here I was trying to shy away from the OC pairings.

Guiltily, I have a few... questionable scenes that I've pitched together just to relieve noise. It's not out of the question. Most of the pairing issues will likely resolve in direction (wizard, muggle, fey) around Yr.3.

 

I love it.

Not that you will end up using it or that I'm throwing any sort of official vote behind that pairing (I wouldn't want to be pushy)...

Still, I love it.

--
Anyway, I'm really enjoying this, though you may want to pay close attention to Its/It's confusion.

It's = It is
Its = belonging to it

--

In a word, no.

You see, the thing is that so many people here have hard-ons for Harry Dresden that, when they see a story with named faeries, particularly Maeve, using terms like Seelie and Unseelie, they just ass-u-me that it must be a Dresden Files crossover.

Your story isn't similar, they're just being lazy and leaving their brains on autopilot instead of thinking (been there, done that).

It could be worse; there are undoubtedly people out there who think that Jim Butcher invented Maeve, Titania, Seelie, Unseelie, and all that other stuff out of whole cloth.

You know, like those people who see an old movie and moronically claim they must have stolen the idea from a newer movie, simply because they saw the new movie first and are too stupid to tell time or read calenders.

"Durrr, Jumper stole Apparation from Harry Potter."

"Umm, no, Jumper was written first. Also, teleportation, as a concept, is older than dirt."

Yeah, I hate that shit.

 

I really wasn't expecting the characters from Ever After in there. I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Very nice. I've been reading this story, and I like it thus far. I look forward to reading future chapters.

 

Chapter 7 is very well done, much better than chapter 6 which is partly filler chapter. I really like the way you portrayed Harry's changing nature and his gradual losing of humanity. His willingness to kill is a win. I hate how canon Harry is afraid of killing or hurting people that wouldn't have a second thought killing him. After reading the later books I feel that the message Rowling is trying to make is survival of the fittest failed.

The early development of Harry's relationship with Filius Flitwick is great for future chapters. It beats Harry going to Hogwarts and all a sudden Flitwick suddenly takes a liking to him while other people are wary of him. I have some questions. Will Harry be close with other adults at Hogwarts? How will Dobby and Kreacher react to Harry? Somehow I think that Kreacher is the type who is mad enough to worship Harry. Here's an idea, let Kreacher become Harry's psycho bloodthirsty killing house-elf who always holds onto a butcher knife.