I've been reading a lot of fics recently and I've passed "what you leave behind" several times now. I had no idea that it was written by someone here, but reading the summary doesn't really get my hopes up. I'm not a fan of when Harry's age is changed for no good reason so I never click them, but maybe I'll give this one a shot.

 

I've read Letters, but I felt so incredibly cheated. There wasn't enough of Fleur until the relationship started, and then it just went to fast. Plus, Harry basically had the same friends, same almost everything when compared to GOF.

And having Daphne was cool, although it felt odd to have her be such a dominant character in a H/F story.
Lie i've lived was great in terms of humor, and action. The romance felt forced. Although, I would stil rank it as one of the best H/F stories, even though I often felt surprised that people refered to HJ as Harry. I always expected James, since the internal thoughts put me in mind of his character.

I must also agree that I hate it when Harry's age is changed. I fermly believe that age is no measure of wisdom, experience, or maturity. As captain Rex says, "in my book, experience outranks anything,"

 

Read What You Leave Behind. If I can put up with terrible Veela Soul Bonds that aren't even written well to get my Fleur fix, you guys can read one of the best stories in the entire fandom where you will barely notice the age difference.

 

The blind prophet: Here's a tip: Stop being so picky. Learn to appreciate varieties of Fanfiction mechanics, otherwise you're just hurting yourself by excluding a good chuck of stories that you could otherwise enjoy.

Plus it makes you look like a douche when you ask for decent Harry/Fleur and then ignore one or more of the better stories out there because of a single mechanic that you allegedly dislike (hint: you don't, not really).

Next you'll tell me you havent read Knowledge is Power for the same reason.

 

If you're looking for heavy romance then "When a Veela Cries" is what you're looking for. Tons of action, over 250k words, lots of romance/veela "history" and a darker Harry.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7544355/1/When-a-Veela-Cries

 

To be honest, I prefer the age difference being left alone. Mainly because that's half of the allure of H/F. Why? Because not many people would expect it to work, and it ends up working anyway.
The other half of the allure for the pairing, for me at least, is emphasizing how both are ther is veela. The aspect that I like emphasized is both are not quite what they seem on the surface.
Before everyone jumps to conclusions, think a minute about the little information about myself that I have provided and think why I might enjoy that.
I've already blasted through When A veela Cries, and I think that's my favorite. I've already read Knolege is Power.

 

Just out of curiosity, what would you say is a good reason to change Harry's age?

 

I think the main reason I probably still enjoy the aspect of neither being what they seem on the surface since I've only recently discovered H/F. So I'm not quite so annoyed by it yet.

The only thing I don't like about it, is that many times it is overdone, or underdone. Basically, I don't see why in stories where neither is what they seem to be, Fleur hates her veela nature. I mean, I know perfectly well how annoying it is to have people judge your worth and potential based on an external aspect, but I myself have never wished I was different. Maybe I'd like to see one that does it properly.

Maybe I could try that? Only, I don't know how to with out using the familiar GOF timeline. Any ideas?

 

Changing the age ruins the whole point of Harry trying to get together with an older girl - the lure of impossibility. It's arguably one of the reasons why writing the pairing can be quite difficult, and why I feel to this day, there still isn't a single story that's done it right - when in reference to a 4th year fic. 14 year old Harry and 17 year old Fleur just doesn't have the same improbability as a 15 year old Harry and 17 year old Fleur, or even 17 year old Harry and 20 year old Fleur if we're doing post-Hogwarts. It's just taking the easy way out.

And yeah, there's no good reason to do it - it's a cop out. I put in the word 'good' to save some face, just in case the author somehow actually came up with a good reason, but like I said, I still haven't seen one. And I stand firmly behind the fact that I do believe it is possible to make the age gap work in a believable way that doesn't involve changing either of their ages, or stupid bullshit like Harry getting his fathers personality.

-edit- I know some people would say I should put my money where my mouth is, and the truth is I'm not the greatest writer, I know that. But, I do do a lot of writing, and I do have a Harry/Fleur fic in the works that takes place year 4 and doesn't use any stupid crap to try and shoehorn the two people together. I've got about half the year done, but I won't even consider posting it until the whole thing is done and is considered perfect in my opinion. It's not going to be amazing plotwise, but it's going to accomplish exactly what I set out to do, and fill in that gap in the fandom that's never been done - a normal Harry/Fleur story without gimmick magics, veela allures, soul bonds, secret familial connections, age changes, etc. Oh, and Syao has already seen the parts I do have done and he didn't call it terrible, so I have high hopes.

 

You have to admit though, Ly I've lived was funny as hell. I think my favorite aspect was the hat.

 

I've said it a billion times on this site, and probably a bunch in this thread as well, but it's a JamesPotter/Fleur fic, not Harry. I hate how that fic is considered the pinnacle of this pairings fandom. That alone should indicate that this fandom is in serious dire straights. In my opinion, it's the second most overrated fic ever made.

 

14 year old canon Harry has no chance with 17 year old canon Fleur though--so to make it work, you have to change an aspect of his personality, and if you change that, what's wrong with changing ages?

 

Hey bro, I didn't want to offend you. In actuality I agree with you. I wish I saw a GOF with out using mentioned devices. I was just commenting on why I liked Lie I've lived.

I mean, I don't think I've ever read anything funnier.

 

See, you say that, but I don't agree. Well, not entirely. He's 14, he's growing up, changing, maturing, whatever. His personality is going to change as he grows up. It's obviously going to take a lot of work to get them together, which is why a lot of authors change a bunch of crap arbitrarily to get them to 'work' quicker, and in doing so, it doesn't actually work. The truth is, Harry's the one that has to do the work (Fleur isn't going to be the one to initiate friendship afterall), not us, and that's where everything falls apart. in TLIL, Harry doesn't do anywork, he just suddenly merged with his dad, and he's good to go and do whatever.

The blind prophet. I too, found the Hat funny the first time I read TLIL. I've actually read the story 3 times now (first read in 09), and the second and third times are when I noticed all the shit I didn't like (what was pretty much everything - the third readthrough was solely for the purpose of doing chapter-by-chapter review), since I had more time to be exposed to the fandom and no longer had the rose-tinted glasses, and the Hat in those readthroughs tended to be more annoying than anything - shock comedy only works once after all.

 

Nah. Harry's a celebrity, he's close to what you might call the height of his popularity after the first task and he's amazingly naïve. If you write Fleur as a gold digging bitch then it's totally possible for her to pursue Harry. Sure a lot of people are likely to hate her but it's totally within the limits of known characterisation at the time. We know Fleur later on isn't like this but during GoF she seems pretty shallow and one dimensional. All you need to do is play that up and not succumb to the urge to soften her up just to make her more sympathetic.

If you really want to make it 'work' then you can sprinkle in some character growth after the fact so that you can have the required happy ending.

 

A lot of debate here about Harry being older feeling like a cop-out to get him with Fleur... just for the record he is a year older than his canon self. A fifteen year old Harry probably has as much chance (and hence the resultant conflict) with Fleur as a fourteen year old.
The main reason the fic works is 'cause it allows the author and by extension the readers to explore characters which haven't been really delved into... like Cho and Cedric for instance which in my opinion is awesome.
A good story is a sum of its parts. A great story is more than that. If you're looking for stories with exclusive focus on the romance with everything else as filler then this isn't the fic for you. But then you really wouldn't be here if that's all you were looking for.

 

Well, inspiration has struck. I'll start with GOF, and proceed from there. Basically, I'll avoid aging Harry, Fleur suddenly falling for him, etc etc. I'll also add different tasks. However, in order to make the rest of the story believable, I'll have to force the romance a little bit. I'll stretch out the period before the romance starts as much as possible.
In order to make the story interesting, I'll also include a political plot that is occurring alongside the tournament. Has anyone read Cloak of Deception by James Luceno? Basically, what happens to Chancellor Valorum will happen to the French Minister of Magic. The result will of course be that a new Minister is elected, one who is not necessarily as open minded as the former. This can lead to both France and Britain falling to Voldemort. Then you have a wizarding war on a larger scale than the one in canon. Now, you'll ask what about Fleur? I have plenty in mind, I'll write all of it down in my notes later. She will play a central role in the story. I hate wimp Fleur. Even His Angel doesn't portray her as a wimp during and after the second task.
I'll of course have a happy ending, however, what I didn't like in canon was that everything went back to the way it used to be. I think the wizarding world should change somewhat to at the very least make it harder for another dark lord to rise so easily.

 

I agree with the comments about Lie I've Lived. It really doesn't hold up all that well. I still think it is a solid fic, but it does a lot of things wrong. It also helped to popularize that whole misunderstood Fleur characterization that we see a lot these days.

I don't think you need to go as far as making Fleur a golddigger to make the pairing work though. I'm not sure that is in her personality in GoF and would kind of defeat the point by making it too easy. From what I remember of her in that book, she came off a arrogant and a bit haughty at times but very much caring when it came to her sister. I'd wager she was about as dumb as Harry when it came to that clue given how she reacted to Harry saving her sister. She seems to have a thing for attractive/cool guys given the men we've seen her actively go after.

Harry is famous world wide and he just went one on one against a dragon on a broom pulling off some really crazy shit to get that egg after the first task. He has that going for him, and all of the crazy rumors about the things he has been up to in his time at Hogwarts, but he doesn't know how to use it nor am I sure he would even use it given the chance. He doesn't even have any experience with dating at this point. It presents some serious challenges from a canon perspective, but I don't think it is impossible to do.

 

What about my idea? I actually have a way to use the over used characterization of Fleur with out it feeling to familiar. Basically, something happened to her in her passed, not anything as far as rape, but I would develop that storyline alongside the other.
Oh yeah, something I've been wanting to say for a while, Fleur went to the Ball with Roger Davies. He was younger than her. How do I know? He was also in OOTP. And I think that Harry has much more willpower than he does.