I'm a 37 year old male, and the Author of Torchwood/Archangel. It isn't a crossover, it isn't a rip off of the show. I only took the name, I thought it was badass and decided to use it for my version of Vigilante!Harry. And because of the name confusion, I'm changing it to Archangel.

I've been a Harry Potter fan for almost 14 years. I started reading the series after a friend made me a deal that I could stop reading after the first two chapters of Sorcerer's Stone (Yeah, I'm a dirty Yank, so sue me). She said I had to read two chapters, since the first wasn't that strong. After that, I was hooked, I read the first four books in a week. I've been a Harry and Hermione shipper since book 2, Had some inklings before that, but book 2 I knew it. I was among the legions of pissed off fans when book 6 came out, and it got worse with book 7. I've never been a Ron fan, or Ginny either. Not that we've had that much to do with dear Gin Gin. First thing I thought when Harry mentioned that flowery smell in book 6 was Love Potion. Never liked Ron, he had some funny bits, but reminded me too forcefully of the jock assholes in high school for me to ever like him. His one and only redeeming quality is chess, and that only was worth a crap in book 1. And him getting the "Hermione Trophy" as he considers her, pisses me off to no end. So book 6 and 7 don't exist as far as I'm concerned.

Dumbledore was a funny, if weird, helpful old guy. Kinda in the vein of Gandalf the Grey...in books 1-3. Book 4, I had some hints that things weren't boding well, which went into a full blown Red Alert when book 5 hit. After that, he's a manipulative old Geezer that needs a royal ass kicking and then be thrown bodily off the Astronomy Tower.

Anyway, I've read fanfics for a few years now, it had never really occurred to me before then, and I'm sorry I missed out on so much, but I'm here now and I hope to contribute to the great fan fic writers out there.

Harry and Hermione believer to the very end. And proud of it. To hell with HBP and DH!

10/4/2013 - Well, I've changed my mind on Dumbledore. The man is either senile to the point of throwing him into a rubber room, or he's more evil than Voldemort could ever hope to be.

I think the person who put it best was Kalen Darkmoon search him out, great author and the best breakdown of the utter Insanity or total Evil that is Albus Dumbledore. I'll put his synopsis here.

Now I don't like ALL of their stories since I am completely unable to tolerate Harry/Fan-girl (whoops! I mean Ginny) pairing based fics. I prefer stories with Harry paired with ANY girl whose feelings aren't based upon her hero-worship of the BWL. (In Ginny's case ever since she was a little girl.) I can't stand Ginny because the root/basis of her feelings are for the BWL first and foremost. It's disingenuous, shallow and disgusting for Harry, a boy denied love most of his life by an old-man using him as a weapon in a war, to wind up in a relationship with a fan-girl whose feelings are for the heroic image and fame of the BWL - NOT the real Harry Potter, a boy enslaved by the Dursleys and knowing little but "neglect and often cruelty" for most of his life. He needs love, not someone attracted to (lusting for) him because of his fame and/or wealth. Ginny was every bit as shallow as those young women that chase after sports stars, rock bands and/or pursue and marry 75 year old millionaire guys for their fame and money. Another reason I dislike her is that she is a textbook example of a "Mary-Sue" character - the sudden and "perfect" in every way soul-mate for the poor abused hero. However, the best argument against this pairing is to ask yourself who Ginny would have pursued and married had Neville Longbottom been the Boy-Who-Lived instead of Harry Potter. There is no denying the truth to that. Quite sad isn't it? And it proves my point entirely.

I am as equally unable to tolerate Ron/Hermione pairings. Ron had done nothing but abuse, belittle and/or hurt Hermione in some way all seven years because of her intelligence, hardworking and caring nature while hypocritically USING that same intelligence, hardworking and caring nature to help him with his homework or his own wants/needs. He did nothing but USE and ABUSE her and even in the last book he was still just as immature and uncaring of her feelings and well-being as he was in the first. He always put himself first in direct contrast to the very definition of love - where you put the happiness and well-being of the one you love before your own. Granted, Hermione was far from perfect but she NEVER intentionally tried to hurt anybody unlike Ron's own vicious verbal assaults against her where he knew and intended for it to hurt her. I reiterate, Ron was abusive and/or dismissive of Hermione and her feelings in EVERY book. So, why in the hell would this intelligent young woman suddenly be so stupid as to even date much less marry such an arse?

I can only guess that it was JKR trying to insert a little realism in that Hermione's lonely childhood because of her intelligent and assertive nature combined with 7 years of Ron's put-downs and abuse had destroyed her own self-esteem so badly that she figured that Ron was the best she could hope for. She had been reduced to absolutely zero self-respect and thus gave herself over fully to her abuser. Either that or it was the old good-girl goes for bad-boy routine in which case the stupid bitch gets everything she deserves. Oh yes, he abuses me all the time so he MUST be a truly great male specimen! Let's make babies! That is one aspect of some women that I'll never be able to understand.

Whichever it is, the whole situation is utterly ridiculous for a series of books directed at children and teens. It tells them that shallow and abusive relationships are perfectly normal and a sound basis for lifetime relationships. If these pairings are JKR's idea of an ideal fantasy romance then I must truly pity her real-life experiences such that these disgustingly shallow and abuse ridden pairings are the best she can imagine. The epilogue of Book 7 proved that the ENTIRE story of Harry Potter was a tragedy to the bitter end and remained tragic for the rest of their lives.

It's also really quite sad that by the end of book 7 we learned that Harry was no "great wizard" or really even a hero at all. He was just a naive boy/young man brainwashed and manipulated by Dumbledore into suicide for a cause. It proved no different than like any other child brainwashed and manipulated by certain religious extremists into strapping themselves with explosives and blowing themselves up along with "the enemy." After all, in those adult's minds, it too is for "the greater good." I hope you'll pardon my extreme disgust with any adults using children in a war and knowingly setting them up to die. It is an ultimate evil to use a child like that no matter what the cause or reasons may be and it truly makes Dumbledore every bit as much a monster as Voldemort.

OotP, Chapter 37, Dumbledore to Harry:

“Five years ago you arrived at Hogwarts, Harry, safe and whole, as I had planned and intended. Well - not quite whole. You had suffered. I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle's doorstep. I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years.”

HBP 3, Dumbledore to the Dursleys:

"He has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands."

"The magic I evoked fifteen years ago means that Harry has powerful protection while he can still call this house 'home.' However miserable he has been here, however unwelcome, however badly treated, you have at least, grudgingly, allowed him houseroom."

What Dumbledore did was no different than kidnapping a black infant and forcing the poor child onto a family of fervent members of the Ku Klux Klan with a threat to provide the child a home. Harry received the same treatment you would expect for that poor child assuming (s)he wasn't killed outright, don't you think? Sure, he survived but as nothing more than a horribly abused slave of the Dursleys. It was stated clearly that Harry's abuse was physical as well as mental and emotional. There was mention of Petunia striking him with a frying pan (presumably hot) in the kitchen as well as Vernon's comment about nothing being impossible to "beat" out of the freak implying that beatings were common. Then of course they also encouraged Dudley's "Harry hunting" and attacks on the "freak".

Dumbledore could have done something to ensure that Harry's childhood wasn't dark and difficult but instead chose not to and in so doing he proved that "dark and difficult" childhood is in fact precisely what he really wanted Harry to suffer through. The wizarding world is rife with spells and potions compelling particular behavior. It would most certainly have been preferable and much happier for both the Dursleys and Harry if Dumbledore had at the least used a compulsion ward or charm to ensure Harry was at least accepted if not loved by the Dursleys. After all, his living with them was deemed by Dumbledore to be necessary regardless of their clearly not wanting Harry. Thus he proved by forcing Harry upon them that they lacked any real free-will in the matter; that what they wanted was unimportant anyway in the much greater need for Harry's safety. (Dumbledore's howler to Petunia "REMEMBER MY LAST!" when the Dursleys were about to throw Harry out along with prior statements peppered throughout earlier books proved that Harry's residence with the Dursleys was coerced upon the Dursleys in some way by Dumbledore.) So why then didn't he take the added step to ensure Harry grew up well since the Dursley's free-will didn't matter to him anyway? In fact, his coercion absolutely ensured the Dursleys would take out their resentment and hatred upon Harry. It was abundantly clear that he fully intended Harry's sufferance through an abusive and enslaved childhood because he needed the boy (and prophesied weapon) meek, weak and fully cowed into easy control by adults.

After all, Dumbledore fully admits that he knowingly subjected Harry to more than a decade of abuse and enslavement by his relatives with no such effort to ensure Harry's well-being. Is it any wonder that Harry trashed his office afterwards? It might be puzzling to some how later Harry did an about-face and was again "Dumbledore's man" despite the evil Dumbledore knowingly inflicted upon him. But all that was needed to fully regain and seal Harry's fervent loyalty was Dumbledore paralyzing and forcing Harry into watching Dumbledore intentionally martyr himself. He was dying already but was careful not to tell Harry that. He made Harry believe that he sacrificed himself to protect Harry and thus forever sealed Harry's zealous loyalty. It is a tactic called "martyrdom" and it has been used to seal fervent and zealous loyalty to a cause or person very successfully for more than a thousand years by cultists, Islamists and also to a historically lesser extent by Christians as well. It was also the very fate he had planned for Harry - to die as a martyr.

I strongly encourage everyone to read up on the subjects of brainwashing children, the effects of neglect and abuse on a child's personality and also children brought up in cults with figures/followings (such as Dumbledore was in the wizarding world). Only then could you truly understand how horrific of a monster Dumbledore really was in not only what he did to Harry but also how he used his position as Headmaster of the premier wizarding school in Britain to ensure generations of children (and later adults) awe of him and fervent belief in his apparent goodness and infallibility. That belief allowed him to do virtually whatever he wanted (ignoring laws at whim and even enslaving the infant hero of the wizarding world to hateful and abusive muggles) with little or no question from anyone. The only one who would have questioned Harry's placement was conveniently thrown in prison without a trial by Barty Crouch of the DMLE with the ASSISTANCE of Chief Warlock (aka Chief JUDGE), Albus Dumbledore. He admitted that he gave the DMLE "evidence that Sirius Black was the Potter's Secret Keeper" to ensure Sirius was sent to Azkaban. This is interesting since any such evidence would have to have been fabricated or exaggerated by Dumbledore since not only was Black NOT the Secret Keeper but according to canon Dumbledore himself actually cast the spell to "hide" the Potters. (It was later revealed that it was the 'Fidelius Charm' that hid the Potters, so Dumbledore would have most assuredly known who was the real Secret Keeper.) It's a very poor and/or very corrupt judge that sends people off to life-imprisonment and torture (Dementors are torture) without a trial. It was awfully convenient that the ONLY suspected Death Eater that was mentioned to have been sent to Azkaban without a trial just so happened to be the legal guardian of Harry Potter and Dumbledore's only obstacle to control of the prophecied weapon. Especially when known and confirmed Death Eaters walked away free and clear without effort by Dumbledore to ensure justice for them either.

Also, particularly take note the effect and effectiveness of isolating a child that has been exposed to extreme trauma - limiting their access only to an environment of people who hate and abuse them with the sole outside "friendly" contact and source of information being the one person who wants to control them. He ordered Harry's friends to cut off all contact for "security" reasons but there was NO reason whatsoever Hermione couldn't have remained in contact via phone or muggle post or that the Order guards couldn't have passed messages on for him at Grimmauld - EXCEPT that it would have given Harry other people he could trust and rely upon in his time of need. Dumbledore couldn't have that. He needed total control over Harry and so he blocked Harry from ALL other outside "friendly" influence except his own when Harry needed friends most in order to keep Harry dependent on him.

In essence all of this proved Dumbledore to be much like a wizarding world equivalent of Charles Manson or perhaps closer to being like Jim Jones with a touch of mafia behavior in ensuring obstacles to his plans are "out of the way." The sole difference being that instead of getting his followers to murder for him like Charles Manson and Voldemort had done, Dumbledore instead got them to die for him and his cause like Jim Jones. Harry and so many others essentially committed suicide at Dumbledore's mere "asking". Anyone up for some Kool-Aid? Do you deny that Dumbledore could have convinced a significant number of people in the wizarding world (especially many of the children) to drink? (If you are not familiar with the reference, google "Jonestown" and steel yourself should you choose to view any of the images.)

BOTH Dumbledore and Voldemort fought what is called a "proxy war" where they used others (cultish followers mostly, though in Harry's case he was simply a kidnapped and brainwashed child) to fight and die for them. BOTH of them manipulated, used and endangered or outright sacrificed the lives of others, often innocents and children - without those people's knowledge or informed consent. Just because one's ends may be deemed noble does not mean that such evil methods are acceptable to reach those ends. Why is it to be any more tolerated for Dumbledore and the "Light" to commit such atrocities than the bad guys that are doing it? In fact, Dumbledore often hypocritically used that very argument to discourage anyone from using lethal force against the Death Eaters but yet most of his own actions and intentional inaction proved equally vile and evil in result, if not intent. Knowingly enslaving an innocent one year-old infant to 15 years of hatred and cruelty as a means of shaping that child's personality for easier influence and control is but only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. How about discouraging his followers from properly defending themselves but rather instead let the enemy kill them? His total insistence upon stunning and releasing torturers and murderers only allowed them to be revived or released to later go off to torture and kill someone else. Something that is far more evil than putting down the rabid dog for what it is before it could hurt someone else. Note how the Malfoys among others were walking free at the end of DH despite the murders and tortures they had done. How many others have since then likely been tortured and killed by them in the intervening 19 years before the epilogue? Dumbledore operated under the premise that the lives and well-being of everyone else, particularly future victims, are unimportant compared to his belief in giving infinite chances of redemption to murderers and terrorists. Many good people died unnecessarily all thanks to Dumbledore's cult of personality.

I think the most telling difference between Dumbledore and Voldemort though was that Voldemort's followers had the choice whether or not to serve him. Dumbledore, on the other hand, kidnapped an infant boy and then conditioned (aka brainwashed) him through years of slavery and abuse followed by manipulation into suicide for Dumbledore's cause. In other words, Voldemort's followers had a choice whilst Dumbledore enslaved innocent children into his service. You can't get much more vile and despicable than that. Ultimately Harry Potter was nothing more than a poor kid that was kidnapped and brainwashed by the "good guys" into being a suicide bomber. (I would compare Harry to Jason Bourne but Harry had absolutely no choice in the matter and no special training or preparation beyond the brainwashing to die for everyone else.)

By the end of DH there is a huge amount of suffering, blood and death on Dumbledore's hands (arguably as much or even more than on Voldemort's and his Death Eaters) for his usage of others and refusal to use his own power (magical and political/governmental) to truly stop any of them from harming or killing others. It's much like a police officer that chooses to stand by and merely watch whilst someone rapes and murders a child - refusing to help for whatever his own personal reasons. Who is the bigger monster? The sicko doing the raping and murder or the person who has taken on the title, position and responsibility - trusted by all to protect the victim - but instead refuses to do so? Dumbledore even went so far as to not only protect such monsters from being rightfully killed in self-defense or justice but even worse invited such monsters into a school full of children. Equally as horrific was knowingly enslaving children to hateful monsters as a means of brainwashing and control. Not just the Dursleys, but also Snape. Ask yourselves about the "coincidence" of the only long-term professor outright abusive of Harry just so happened to be "promoted" to teaching Harry's best magical subject the year Harry would have left his influence in Potions class because he failed to meet the minimum grade Snape required. It was blatantly clear that Dumbledore used Snape to keep Harry abused and down-trodden while at Hogwarts and away from the Dursley's abuse. Harry was never given a reprieve from the bullying and abuse because that is what Dumbledore wanted and needed in order to shape him into a martyr who believed his own life had no value and was better to sacrifice for others more deserving of life and happiness.

That is what disappointed me most about canon. Ultimately, Harry Potter was revealed to have never been a hero at all. Instead he was nothing more than a severely used and abused victim, kidnapped as an infant from his legal guardian and brainwashed into his role of suicide for Dumbledore's cause. Those who read the series should heed its hidden warnings against adults in positions of authority over children exploiting children for their own purposes/ideals and the use of children in wars by adults indoctrinating them into certain views and then sacrificing their lives for the adult's ideals/goals.

I agree with all of that, and I applaud Kalen's insight.

And Snape? I don't understand the outpouring of love and respect fans have for what really boils down to a childish, sadistic bully. Now I have the utmost respect for Alan Rickman, I think the man is a phenomenal actor and can portray good guys and bad guys equally great. And his bad guys are legendary; Hans Gruber, The Sheriff of Nottingham and Severus Snape.

Snape is a bad guy, no ifs ands or buts about it. One good deed does not a saviour make. For 7 books and 8 movies, Snape was an unmitigated jackass of epic proportions. He is evil on many levels. First, destroying the careers of who knows how many Potion Masters, Aurors and Healers. Not to mention any other career that required Potions expertise. His so called "teaching style" is one of never ending bullying and insulting remarks. Only his beloved Slytherins were exempt from his vitriol and abuse, and that's only in public. Who knows what he did behind closed doors in the Dungeons. I think a person who has ready access to the knowledge and ability to make some of the most personally invasive and horrible potions known to human-kind should be someone of unparalleled morality and strength of character. Not a petty, self important, evil little bully who gets his rocks off by abusing children.

What kind of damage could Snape have done with access to students and their DNA, added to Polyjuice or any other kind of custom made potion?

I've had teachers who were assholes before, but the level of abuse Snape constantly levels at his students would get his ass fired, if not arrested, in any Mundane school. But not Hogwarts, where he's protected by the Master Manipulator. I wonder if Dumbledore would do anything to his precious potions master if he killed someone in the Great Hall during a feast? I mean, more than just obliviating everyone and vanishing the evidence.

The mere fact that one student's greatest fear is this black hearted monster should be evidence enough of his evil. It's not funny, it is not something to be laughed at or about. It is something that should be investigated and dealt with. Preferably by giving Snape a good killing. Neville Longbottom is a child who should be more afraid of his parents never getting better and never recognizing him, or his overbearing harridan of a grandmother who constantly forces him into a role he is not meant for, just so she can try to make him like his father. When Snape surpases both of those things, something is seriously wrong in that classroom.

Second, he can claim to love Lily all he wants, but his behavior is more akin to an obsessive stalker than a lover. If he truly loved Lily, he would never have harmed her by abusing Harry, never. No matter how much he hated James, he saw Lily's eyes everytime he looked at Harry. Every time he brain raped him during those Occlumency "lessons" he was looking into Lily's eyes.

Severus Snape is a Monster, and should never be around children, much less teaching them.

HIATUS!!!

Unfortunately, my writing muse has left for places unknown, and as a result, Torchwood is on a permanent Hiatus until, or IF, she ever comes back. Sorry to those who few of you who are waiting, if there are any, but it doesn't look like it'll be happening any time soon.

UPDATE Torchwood/Archangel and all my other fics are on Permanent Hiatus until I get my writing muse back. So don't expect anything anytime soon. Sorry.

Ships I support:

Harry/Hermione

Harry/Hermione/Luna

Harry/Luna

Harry/Tonks

Harry/Fleur

Harry/Hermione/Luna/Tonks/Fleur (Misfits and Masks have to stick together!)

Neville/Luna

Harry/Harem fics, so long as Hermione has a starring role, and stuff doesn't get too damn weird.

Ships I don't mind:

Harry/Pretty much any girl but Ginny, Cho, Pansy and Daphne (Mainly because I can't understand why she's so popular in fanfiction when she never said word one in the books. Kinda like a Slytherin!Ginny)

Ships I loathe with a burning Hatred of a thousand suns!

Hermione/Ron - Please, the greatest genius to walk the Halls of Hogwarts since Rowena herself, someone with a killer work ethic and vast, far reaching ambitions and interests. Paired with a walking food disposal unit, who's interests top out at Food, Quidditch, Chess and maybe girls. In that order. Really? Is that why in several interviews, JKR has said she was married to a Ron, was miserable and divorced him before she married her Harry? Is that why JKR has repeatedly said that she is most like Hermione? Is this her way of punishing a fictional character? Or were people too awed by her money and power to tell her that the pairing was really damn stupid? Is the Epilogue that she wrote years before she even got to book 7 that damn important?

Harry/Ginny - Honestly, I've changed my opinion on Ginny. Not that I read or even like the Harry/Ginny only pairing, it's just Ginny I've changed my mind on. I used to consider Ginny a gold digging, dick chasing harlot with no redeeming defects who is hell bent on becoming just like her mother. Since then, I've read several stories where Ginny wasn't paired with Harry, yet was a decent person, even helpful and a good friend. So I've decided that Ginny is best described, if I can borrow The Oatmeal's (Google search it, awesome comic strip) description of Bella from Twilight, a pair of pants that any character profile can slip on and they'll fit. Ginny can be a harpy shrew from hell, she can be a cute friend, she can be a smoking hot lover, and all the shades of colors in between.

Hermione/Anyone besides Harry - No one is a match for Hermione, but Harry comes the closest!

Harry/Any Male Character - I'm not a homophobe, I support Harry/Hermione/Luna, and I don't think that they are simply his wives and don't enthusiastically enjoy each other when he isn't around or is trying to get his strength back. I also support slash, I'm not a fan, but I support your right to create whatever story you want. I just don't see it or want to read it. Not that I ever saw Dumbles as gay either, but any slash fics with Harry don't sit well with me, especially ones with Harry paired up with people he hates and should kill or males that are damn near Harry's father.

Fics that are billed Harry/Hermione and turn out that Harry or Hermione is really someone else Polyjuiced. That's rape, and I have no tolerance for rape. Hence my hatred of Love Potions.

Oh, and to any Heron (Hermione/Ron) or Choco (Harry/Ginny) (Sorry, but dumbest name for a ship EVER! Especially when I found out what it's based on! I thought this meant Harry/Cho at first!) Shipper? If you want to flame me, go ahead, but at least try to make it more interesting than the standard, tired, sissy pansy reason of "OMG! IT'S CANNON, THAT MEANS i'M RIGHT U WRONG!" crap. If you actually think cannon is right, I'd love to hear why, so long as you can come up with real reasons why those relationships will work. And no pulling the JKR card either, I want real reasons.

UPDATE Torchwood/Archangel and all my other fics are on Permanent Hiatus until I get my writing muse back. So don't expect anything anytime soon. Sorry.