I know that there is cannon evidence to support it, but it bugs me when authors write about Hufflepuff being the useless, unpopular house. As in, when they really stress it's a house full of squibs who are barely competent cowards. Rowling herself was guilty of this, but you would think the 'hard-working' house would be pretty decent in terms of schoolwork. Also the fact that it is considered a house for the 'loyal'. Seems like the perfect place to recruit from if your going to fight a war.

I like seeing fics where Harry gets sorted into Hufflepuff, simply because it is never done. It's plausible for a child, starved for affection with a 'thirst to prove himself' would at least be considered for Hufflepuff.

(NB: Although my personal favourite remains Ravenclaw Harry).

As a side note, I hate it when the hat marvels over how difficult it is to sort Harry. How he is the very embodiment of everything the founders had wet dreams about.

 

Peeve:
Standing for twenty minutes trying to guess the password to the Headmaster's office. Especially when it's a command performance.

 

Uh...

Hi.

That's even worse when the accent isn't well done. You'd think people would be aware of the difference between 'th' in "there" and 'th' in "thing"... Or that the French don't say "'arry I 'ove 'ou!"

Other peeves: online translators. Bill is a first name. It does not translate as 'facture'. That is the bill you get for using the telephone.

Bad characterisation, which includes the following:

- Mary Sue/Gary Stu.

- Super!Harry. Includes, but is not limited to, multiple-Animagus-forms!Harry, kills-you-with-a-wave-of-his-little-finger-at-6-years-old!Harry, effortlessly-reading-minds!Harry, etc. There's a happy middle between too powerful and too weak.

- Mindless character bashing. If you're going to make your readers dislike a character, do it well, preferably in a way suggesting you have several braincells working at the same time... Weasley bashing and Dumbledore bashing irk me the most.

Others which have already been said countless times.

 

Actually, elemental magic is canon, it's just not known by that name and needs a wand, just like all other spells a wizard can do. Examples include:

The "Incendio" spell.
The "Aguamenti" spell.
Dumbledore's fire whip.
Fiendfyre.
Gubraithian fire.

All these spells involve the elements, thus, they are elemental magic.

In addition, "Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration", of which food is an exception (one of five) contains the word "elemental" in. This could mean elemental as in elementary (basic), but I find it more likely that it indicates that Transfiguration has something to do with the 4 elements which used to be believed to be the constituents of all matter: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Considering Transfiguration is all about adjusting matter, I find it likely that Transfiguration works by changing the balance of the 4 elements that a particular object consists of, thus changing the object.

 

It's rather good that it's not called elemental magic, because fire isn't even an element. I find the whole notion of using the four classical elements to be one of my own pet peeves. Not only has that idea never been used in canon, but it's just factually wrong. If you want to use elemental magic, have Harry have power over Hydrogen or something. Consider that's what makes up most of the universe, it's probably preferable than to have power over fire or anything else like that.

 

According to Muggle science. But wizards aren't Muggles. They do many things that would be considered impossible or factually wrong by modern science. For all we know, the 4 elements matter theory may be the one that is magically correct.

 

Claiming Hydrogen as your element...
* boggle *
Wow. The possibilities.
My mind keeps trying to grasp this, then it ends up spinning around a few times and falling over.
Imagine the bends as an attack form. Harry could cast some sort of "compress N" spell on someone in the Leaky Cauldron, and by the time the effects start he would be out of the room. By the time someone realizes that the condition is serious, Harry could be back in Surrey. Two/three days of agony, with escalating nerve and brain damage, then the victim dies. Would St.Mungo's even recognize the symptoms? I bet that Wizardly folk don't SCUBA - they probably use "breathe water" or "create enviornment" spells to go deep.
Develop some sort of "ignite H" spell, and vastly increase the cases of Spontaneous Human Combustion. Or break H2O and burn water.
Could Harry develop sufficient power to actually effect Sol?
Maybe he could ignite Jupiter?


Edited to add:
If an infiltrator could significantly raise the humidity in Riddle's hideout over a period of days (so no one really notices) or "accidently" breaks a water pipe in the basement, then Harry could start a cascade exothermic reaction. Or use barrels of sugar water as bombs. Or throw glass bottles of water (or sugar soda) and trigger a hand-grenade effect.

 

I can see a comedy fic coming out of this, with Harry accidentally collapsing the sun and causing a black hole to form.

 

* grin *
Harry could be really useful on a colony ship - he might save a lot of space and weight that would be used in scrubbing the air of pollutants. Now we're back to the Wizards in Spaaace!! idea: "Hogwarts in the 'Belt."

 

nonjon did the whole 'Wizards in Space' thing really well.

I honestly don't remember reading any other fics that feature wizards in space.

Perhaps more Firefly!HP challenges?

 

Harry uses his control over carbon to corner the diamond market.

 

Can I be controversial and say that crossovers are my biggest pet peeve?

 

I'm inclined to allow it, since the large number of HP/Naruto and Harry Potter and the Inexplicable Japanese People Showing Up in Britain with Purple Hair stories annoys me.

 

Sure you can. This thread is Opinions. We aren't having one of the standard DLP discussions. There's no need to appease the canon police or to justify one's position any more than you want to do.
I suppose we don't even have to stick to HP, although we probably won't drift far away.

Personally, I love crossovers as a genre, although generally HP doesn't seem to cross with any grace. I read alot of BtVS crosses over at TtH.
I also tend to deeply enjoy long stories: if I like the characters and the writing, I want it to go on into the indefinite future.
I've read a great deal of het, kink, slash and femmeslash, and if it doesn't take over, I don't mind it. Sex Is Not A Substitute For Plot. <-- That's a Peeve, by the way.

 

Cosa Nostra is pretty good.

 

Dammit Taure! I was going to recommend that one!

Edit: Link

 

Personally I don't mind crossovers, it's just that 97% of them are with Naruto, something you would need a microscope to locate my interest in. The other 2% are with the Dresden Files, and I'm not going to read any of that until I've read the actual series (I'll get around to it, I swear!).

Okay, I tell a lie. Some cross HP over with Inyuasha and Buffy, but I couldn't give a shit about those two either.

 

heh.

genius.

Why the hype about the Philosopher's Stone when you can do Subatomic Transfigurations?

I'm presuming the wizarding world doesn't know about cells, atoms, molecules, etc. It seems likely because most wizards don't even know what a gun is (when black powder based weapons have been around for 600+ years), and most can't pronounce words like 'electricity' and 'telephone'. The general level of stupidity among wizards in canon leads me to believe that wizards aren't even up to 1600's era science and physics.