Well, I have posted this story here, so I'm probably the one who should answer nonjon's question.

First, my interpretation of categories:

- Dark Harry but Lightsided - Harry uses "dark magic" but he's still a good guy. That's it. He can work for Dumbledore or not, go to Hogwarts or not, learn/use other magic or not. The only thing he must do is stay a good guy. He can kill around, even torture, but there has to be a very good explanation for doing so.

- Independant Harry - Harry is proactive. He isn't just living his life (living peacfully in his cupboard, going to classes, being led on by the Order), until something happens and he's forced to react (canon is like that). Independant Harry is instigator of plots, he plans his own actions and executes them, throwing his enemies on defensive. This usually includes anti-Dumbledore attitude, but that's not neccesary.

Now, about this story. Harry is definitely not independant, since he's going to school and practicing magic under Dumbledore's watch. You could also call this a romance, but I kinda felt that romance isn't what made this story this good, nor is it it's main focus. Almost all the stories have some kind of romance included, the only question is whether it is the primary focus of the story, or only a background sub-plot. For this story, it seems more like the second one (the main focus of the story is described in it's title).

On the other, Harry here does learn a lot of forbidden spells and then uses them in duels. Notice that Voldemort here uses the same spells as Harry during their duel. Then, it's only logical to assume that these "forbidden" spells are in fact what wizards refer to "dark magic". That's the main reason I have decided to clasify this story here.

I realize that this is not the perfect category - the perfect one would have been "Powerful, lightsided Harry" or something like that. But since this site don't have a category like this, "Dark but lightsided" feels like the closest match.

 

mediocre at best. although i like the dumbles in this. on a side note, the most off topic thread i have ever seen.

 

So I don't usually read H/G, but this story was recced in the Action Scenes thread and I decided to check it out.

This is by no means great, but it isn't bad either. I didn't find the H/G to be awful, though were was quite a bit of it and it was fucking angsty at times. Harry's a bit of a little bitch, but it's an understandable level for a semi-traumatized 16 year old. The action scenes were definitely ok, but they do show how much the genre has improved over the years as they are certainly not up to a Jbernian level of excellence. There are some interesting ideas touched on in the fic including Super!Pensieves and one-syllable bludgeoners (almost like a primitive form of the spellchaining idea). Some of the plot is a little lolzy, but no more lolzy than to be expected from canon really.

All in all, this is very lightsided, extremely canon-friendly H/G that has aged fairly well. It's a shame the sequel was never written, as the story is a shining light in the troubled genre.

4/5

EDIT: This totally belongs in Gen

 

So I read this whole story, and I enjoyed it, but have one major issue. The new potions professor who just shows up is a medium sized part of the story until Harry and Ginny hook up. And then *POOF* she kinda disappears until the very end. I really liked her character, and I'm confused at why she got cut? I mean she was a teacher hitting on a student which was disturbing, but did she chicken out? Did she get told to stop? I want to know what happened...

 

I'm quite sure she was a dude in disguise. When he saw Harry hook up with Ginny, he realized that Harry didn't swing that way and gave it up to write emo romance novels on the beach.

 

Obviously she recognised the awesome awesomeness of Ginny and H/G and realised she had no chance against it.

I remember reading this story back in my neophyte days in the fandom, and enjoying it thoroughly. Looking at it briefly again lately, though ... yeah, it seems a bit 'simplistic' now in places compared with the grimmer, darker, more mature second generation stories, as Rhys has said. (And I dare say I'm a bit more sceptical/demanding of the canon pairings these days.)

But it still was and is an excellent story and furthermore a HP tale which one could happily recommend to children; probably one of the best HP fanfics for kids out there, would you think?