Title: In Spite of Obstinate Men
Author: Quatermass
Rating: T
Genre: Drama/Romance
Status: WIP
Library Category: Romance
Pairings: Harry/Fleur

Summary: When Sirius Black escaped Azkaban, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge sent for the Dementors to search for him. Dumbledore and Amelia Bones send for Mr H Delacour, former French Auror and consulting detective. Meeting Harry Potter by chance on the Knight Bus, Delacour, his wife, and his daughters are soon entangled with the story of the Boy Who Lived, and the truth about Sirius...

FF.net

I discovered this recently while surfing (without much hope) for something Harry/Fleur-y. I was pleasantly surprised. The author has a pretty good grasp of grammar and there was nothing that pulled me from the fic. Hercule Delacour is rather heavy-handed as a character but most of the rest are okay. So far Dumbledore has not been bashed, which is highly unusual for a story that introduces a new all-knowing adult character to the mix.

Fleur is somewhat interesting even if I'm not really sold on her motivations for reaching out to Harry. It has the same tired old I'm-A-Veela-Woe-Is-Me, Men-Are-Pigs and Veela-Allure tropes as 99% of all Fleur fanfiction. I'd rather they weren't present, I don't really think they add much value in this story, but because they're so very common I'm willing to overlook them.

Harry is fairly canon but it's obvious that a foundation is being laid to create a more rational and thoughtful Harry. I'm unsure how the current arc with Sirius will play into this. Usually I'd be worried about a Marauders 2.0 experience but in this case I'm not getting that sense at all.

Ultimately, it isn't particularly far on but at this point I'd happily rate it at 3.5, pending more content. If the content is good and the author doesn't fall into the trap of making everything boring because Hercule has fixed everything I can see this rising to a four. It might simply fizzle out though, in which case a three is probably about as good as it will get.

I put this, currently, in the category that includes stories like 'Triwizard Champions' by chris400ad.

 

I keep trying to read this, but every chapter has one of those annoying annotations, along with the author's replies to the reviews he receives. It doesn't help that sometimes said annotations compose a third of the chapter and are only separated from the story by being marked in bold characters.

The story itself is a passable time waster, but as you so noted it has the typical approach to Fleur by the fandom, whereas they make her the terribly lonely beautiful girl who suffers and just wants some real friends, which is very off-putting.

I'm on the 7th chapter so far, but won't rate the story until I've read all chapters that the author published so far.

 

I went back to re-read it and jog my memory. It's probably not quite as good as I remember it being.

It's a strange story in that I can feel the effort that has gone into it but on the surface something about it doesn't seem to work. It's like Hercule is simply in the wrong story, his characterization just feels out-of-place among the cast of Harry Potter.

I do not have such a problem with the numbered annotations. I read the first one, found it wasn't especially interesting, then proceeded to ignore all subsequent annotations. The author's habit of replying to reviews in the A/N is a little vexing and certainly contributes to why this story feels so short with a word count that should feel more beefy.

That said, the plot is actually moving forward and it doesn't commit the sin of many fanfictions by wandering around in a 60,000 word prologue.

My last concern is with the rather pretentious narrative. I'm all for folk bringing their literary knowledge to bear upon their stories but this just feels a little off. Like that one kid in every class who insisted on asking he teacher questions for no other reason than to prove that they know the answer. I feel like the narrative is expecting a pat on the back whenever it pulls out some vague Agatha Christie reference.

I suppose I don't really have much of a leg to stand on in that area though :facepalm

 

To be fair, you are/were writing crossovers, so they're completely within context and relevant to the material you write, whereas this author just has a thing for Hercule Poirot and that's about it.

Anyway, I've read the story (or what there is of it so far), and found it quite unremarkable. It doesn't drag on, which is always a neat thing, but it also resolved everything so quickly and neatly, or rather glossed over everything unrelated to the personal experiences of his select few POVs. I suspect the author just wants to move on fast enough to Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts, Fleur arriving there and making the romance happen.

 

I tried, even reached chapter 12, but couldn't bother to finish reading it. The biggest problem with the fic is that nearly half the word count is wasted in those garish bold chapter notes.

A good portion of what remains is from the point of view of Hercule who is a thoroughly uninteresting and bland character. Removing every scene from his POV wouldn't lose anything from the story.

What remains is good, but nothing notable, which makes the overall story pretty bland.

While I haven't finished reading it, I believe I've read enough to form an opinion on my rating.

2.5/5 rounded up for the good parts.

 

This story is unique as one of the main characters is an OC. The plot seems believable and the story has a certain flow to it. The interaction between Fleur and Harry is slow and more believable, as they seem to take time getting to know each other. I love the interactions between Delacour and the other characters, such as Dumbledore and Sirius. The detective angle is also well thought out. Overall, 4/5.