For Harry Potter

My preferences for stories:

Slytherin Harry: This just offers so many possibilities! I believe that Slytherin would ensure that Harry becomes great in his own right. The Gryffindor Harry of the books has a place in my heart, but the truth is that without Hermione and his friends he would get nowhere. I believe that Slytherin would force Harry to grow in his own right and still have friends that help him to reach even greater heights.

Smart/cunning Harry: While it is very funny for a children’s book to see all the idiotic stuff that Harry engages in I really want a Harry who is competent! JK Rowling made Harry so average that it sometimes seems as if he has no talents anymore. There are only three things he is really good at: flying, casting spells with tremendous amount of power and getting out of bad situations with an impressive amount of luck. Honestly, the reason Harry doesn’t think his plans through is because the results are better if he simply wings it.

Wizarding history: This is one of the things that I really want in stories. It might not be mentioned in the original books, mainly because the classes that should describe it give no information beyond goblin rebellions, but the wizarding world is an old civilization that should have tons of intricate customs and uses. Therefor I dislike stories that go from the fact that: wizarding world = muggle world magic – common sense. Yes, wizards do a lot of things in a strange way and seem to lack the understanding that their actions have consequences. But that is understandable to a certain decree. With magic almost everything is fixed in a jiffy. Broken bones? Skele-gro. A nasty cut? Essence of dittany. You broke your glasses? A simple reparo. The entire civilization grows up in a certain mind-set. The problem is that they extend this mind-set to problems that can’t be fixed with magic and for these things they suddenly seem quite ignorant and ineffective.

Wizarding culture: Another thing I dislike in stories is when witches have no rights and Hermione Granger is needed to insert a good dose of feminism. When you look at the wizarding world you should notice some important things.
- First off, Hogwarts was found by two wizards and two witches. Seems quite emancipated to me! 11th century and not only are they professors, but they also helped build a magical castle.
- Next there is the fact that there are quite a few (in)famous witches mentioned in the books. Think about Morgana LeFay a witch as powerful as Merlin, Artemisia Lufkin the first female Minister for Magic in 1798, …
Interesting fact about the last one: the muggle world had his first prime minister in 1979, compare that to the magical world in 1798. Not only was there a woman in the top position a lot sooner (and less than 100 years after the founding of the ministry), but after that the presence of female Ministers remains very high.
- Witches possess a wand and can use magic exactly the same as their male counterparts. Try to explain to a witch why they would defer to wizards… not going to work. Witches have always been independent which cannot be said about females in the muggle world.
End tally: wizarding world 1 – 0 muggle world.

All in all I find the belief that the muggle world would be better than the wizarding world a faulty concept. They are indubitably different, and simply have different histories and values that are influenced in different ways.

New friends: There are a lot of possibilities to discover new and intriguing personalities. It is also quite interesting how these people can influence Harry into becoming a different person. Whether you want it or not a big part of who you are is defined by the friends you keep around you. Especially as a child when you grow and discover the world together.

My dislikes for stories:

Friendly goblins: No goblins aren’t good friends who will help you with any problem you may possibly have. The one thing the books quite firmly state is that there have been tons of bloody goblin rebellions. Goblins desire money and fighting. No amount of friendliness is going to deter them if they can make a profit. So, while it makes for a convenient way to further the plot, if people want to write a good story they really should avoid using this.

Gringotts has everything: While Gringotts probably does offer some facilities aside from their vault service like investments and perhaps legal representation, I highly doubt that you can simply hire them to rebuild your manor, ward it, drag people in front of court and other things like that. They are a bank for Merlin’s sake! Not a Swiss pocket knife.

Hermione Granger is God: Yes, Harry would get nowhere without her in the books. It is a simple fact that he needs her. However this does not mean that Hermione is a perfect person. She has a lot of character flaws, is socially inept, lives her life in her books and forgets that other people might just have other ideas about things. This is quite a harsh way to represent her bad qualities, but it is true all the same.

Weasleys are evil: There are a lot of reasons why I don’t want Harry to be friends with the Weasleys. Mainly because they stand in the way of all the things I prefer in the fanfics I read. Ronald Weasley, as he is in the books, pretty much stops any character growth Harry can have. He is lazy and has a very limited circle of friends (read: Gryffindors). Molly Weasley is a kind mother in my opinion, however she overdoes it and as a result smothers her children, which results in them leaving the house as soon as possible. A case of doing a bad thing with the best intentions.
There are a lot of points against them, but in my opinion they don’t deserve the bashing they get in so many fics. Especially if Ron gets all the hate and Hermione is portrayed as a wonderful girl.

Pairings I like:

Honestly, I believe that pretty much every girl can be good for Harry in some way or another.

- Fleur Delacour is one of the people who know what it is to have people stare at you for something you have no control over. It honestly saddens me that she and Harry never bonded over that in canon. There could have easily been an awesome brother-sister-relationship there, but no … Instead we see Harry make fun of her with Ginny.

- Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot are quite generic pairings, but I like them well enough. They can give Harry good, loyal friends or can become nice girlfriends who give Harry some much needed confidence. Susan Bones has the nice bonus of having a connection to Amelia Bones and the DMLE.

- Gabrielle Delacour is described as a bubbly, happy personality. Add some veela characteristics and some French temperament and you get a perfect partner to get Harry over his moodiness. Granted you have to work around the fact that she is still a child, but so worth the effort!

- Daphne Greengrass is my personal favourite! She is a Slytherin, pureblood, her family is one of the ‘Sacred Twenty-eight’ and as an OC you can make her as perfect or imperfect as you would like. There are just so many possibilities. And let’s not forget the element of a secret forbidden relationship between a Gryffindor and a Slytherin.

Pairings I dislike (sort of):

- I don’t necessarily dislike Harry with Ginny Weasley, but it just seems like a wasted opportunity to me. They have quite a bit in common when you think about it: they both know what poverty is, both have been dragged into one of the Dark Lord’s plots, both love flying and they both are more of a hands-on type of person. If you add that she is not a girly type of girl because of her brothers I can really see this happening.
But where is the fun in that? Come on Harry! There is a whole world outside of the Burrow. Go meet some new people whose last name isn’t Weasley. Don’t stop with the first people who showed you some kindness.

- I have quite a few objections to Harry and Hermione’s friendship as it is. Hermione often acts as if she is Harry’s mother and as such ‘superior’ to him. And while she does consistently help him with his problems, he doesn’t exactly learn how to solve them himself. So I firmly disagree to any pairing between them as long as the dynamic of their friendship doesn’t change. And even then I find it weird based on the simple fact that you don’t date your best and only friend whom you met when you were eleven years old! Again, there are other people in Hogwarts. No need to stop at the first girl you meet.