Pet Peeves in Fanfiction stories

[Kitty279]

Yes, she was ten - and already obsessed with Harry, who she had never even seen. Am I the only one who strikes it as strange that these books telling stories about Harry even exist? No one knew what happened Halloween 1981. There were four people in the house; two are death, one a wraith, one a baby. So, how does anyone know? Dumbledore had his ideas, as usual, but we all know he loves to keeps all his facts on a 'do need to know only after it's too late' base anyway. So, where did all that rubbish come from? And why did he never do anything against it? He was so worried Harry could get a big head, but didn't do anything to keep these ridiculous stories under control?

It wouldn't have been so hard to include Ginny a bit more, to make a quartet instead of a trio on occasion. She was in the same house and Ron's little sister, it wouldn't even have been such a stretch to include her, particularly after the Chamber.

So what if we want to read it that way? And yes, it's our problem if we don't like the pairings, as much as it is your problem when you like them.

Besides, I like your story even though I don't think much of the canon pairings, so what's the problem?

[lucyolsen]

People have celebrity crushes, it's just a fact of life. It doesn't mean that the person will be obsessed forever.

I figure that Ginny met Harry, and then realized he wasn't all that. If she was so obsessed, don't you think she would have hung around more in books 3 and 4?

[Trilonias]

Eh, I wish Ginny was included a bit more, but I think Ron was a major issue there, especially with his jealousy and his getting rid of her on the train at the beginning of book three. Otherwise, I'm sure things would've been much different indeed...

And I'm pretty sure Ginny wasn't the only witch like that... she was just the only mentioned. Cause rumors, stories and legends all work like that. Sadly, I do agree Dumbledore could've said something to put lie to those rumors, especially since he was still a beloved figure at that point.

[Kitty279]

Not while she could barely talk to him. And Ron could get rather rude to get rid of his little sister. To me that whole pairing never made much sense, it came just out of nowhere and was never developed very well. So I am rather cynical about it.

[lucyolsen]

I'm not a fan of Ginny or of the pairing myself. I just have a problem with attributing characteristics to her that were never intended to be a part of her makeup.

I also can't stand it when people make Ron or Hermione evil in the paid-to-be-Harry's-friend sort of way, or Percy a death eater. Even if you genuinely do not like a character, that is no reason for them to pull a complete 180. It always seems to me to just be a plot device to get Harry separated from those who would normally be on his side, because he needs to be alone for the sake of the plot, or, in reality, Draco and Lucius and Voldemort are actually darn nice guys.


It just makes no sense to me. Just because you would not want to be this person's friend does not make them totally irredeemable. Ron and Hermione might not be perfect, but they do genuinely care about Harry. Percy would never be a DE in a million years. He is not so much against his family, than he is with the ministry to the exclusion of all logic. He might be a rule follower, but he's not a total idiot. If he was ordered to do something like join Voldemort, or murder, he'd figure out something was hinky pretty damn quick.

[IceBlueRose]

I don't really care about the pairing of Harry/Ginny but a large part of that is because Ginny is so underdeveloped. That pairing came out of nowhere. In every single book, Harry thinks of her as Ron's little sister and they barely talk and then he sees her kissing Dean and is suddenly getting jealous. It was so random to me.

Another pet peeve of mine is when people ignore the fact that James actually, you know, grew up. Yes, he was a bullying jerk when he was 15. But he grew out of that (well, I do fully acknowledge that he still got in fights with Snape but neither James nor Snape were innocent in those). Yes, he was a prankster and troublemaker. But he grew into a man that loved his wife and son very much, enough to try and take on Voldemort for them to try and get away even though he'd left his wand in the other room. So I always find it really annoying when I see a RtB that's set when James and Lily are alive (and especially after Harry has been born) and Lily is the only one that acts like a parent and James just goofs off the whole time and acts like he's still 15. This is the guy that chased his kid around the living room while said kid flew on a broomstick and who would just sit and make colored puffs of smoke come out of his wand to entertain his son, he's going to be more mature than that.

One of my favorite RtB fics is one that hasn't been updated in forever but is about James, Lily, Sirius, and Remus reading starting with GoF and the author did a really great job with all four of the characters. You still get that sense that the Marauders love a good joke but you can see that they've all grown up since Hogwarts and since they've been involved with the war. Same with Lily - Lily still is more about following the rules but she also has a definite sense of humor and mischief there. (And baby Harry is quite the crack up in that fic as well.) For me, it's one of the best ones out there and one that I'm sincerely hoping gets updated again one day since they left off right after Harry's name comes out of the Goblet. I think of that one as the best Marauder/Lily characterization that I've seen. Including their interactions (especially with the little bits of backstory that we get - like the story they include about Sirius in Padfoot form getting chased by a pitbull named Princess that wanted to get....friendly with him).

[monkeymail]

yeah i know what you mean JK could have easily fleshed out any of the characters, it just annoys me that people get so worked up about pairings...like before my story was removed from FF one of my reviews was that the person stopped reading my story because i made the joke that harry marries ginny cause she has red hair....it was a joke and the person stopped reading...i know thats not why harry married her and if you think about it harry's grandmother was a black and how many of them do you know of that have red hair honestly...i dont have a clue what the problem is and people usually just do what they like and its not like anyone can stop them

[MaraudersFTW]

I hate it, when in Azkaban!Harry fics, Harry gets thrown in jail for killing Voldemort with AK. First of all, I know that the ministry is really messed up but seriously I don't think it's messed up enough that they would incarcerate Harry for killing Voldemort of all people. Even if they do and argue that AK is an unforgivable with a one-way ticket to Azkaban then why doesn't Molly and all those on the good side who killed get the same treatment, I mean Harry's lawyer should atleast bring up that Harry isn't the only one to use it. If you're going to send Harry to jail, atleast use abit of logic.

[Kitty279]

Weren't the Unforgivables allowed during the first war for Aurors? So, that really doesn't make much sense.

The problem is that lawyers seem to not even exist - look at Sirius, at Harry's hearing ... And besides, the way the light side is fighting AK's with stunners is so stupid it hurts. Truly. They really can't complain about having to deal with all these Death Eaters again when they are so incompetent and completely unable to do their job properly!

[kumainpink]

I just flat-out refuse to read Harry in Azkaban. Just...NO. It never sits right with me.

[MaraudersFTW]

Jun 17, 2012 7:43:31 GMT -5 Kitty279 said:

Weren't the Unforgivables allowed during the first war for Aurors? So, that really doesn't make much sense.

The problem is that lawyers seem to not even exist - look at Sirius, at Harry's hearing ... And besides, the way the light side is fighting AK's with stunners is so stupid it hurts. Truly. They really can't complain about having to deal with all these Death Eaters again when they are so incompetent and completely unable to do their job properly!

Only Aurors were permitted to use them so Harry and Dumbledore could still go to jail.

This is why I say JK's world could not function outside the books because half of the time, it doesn't make sense. The way Sirius was sent to Azkaban without a trial just doesn't make sense. Bellatrix and countless death eater's get a trial but Sirius out of all people doesn't get one.

Looking back on the books, they don't use lawyers at all man.

[MaraudersFTW]

Jun 17, 2012 7:55:30 GMT -5 kumainpink said:

I just flat-out refuse to read Harry in Azkaban. Just...NO. It never sits right with me.

I have never really read one fully, just a few chapters of one before I figured it lacked any sense of logic. His character tends to do a 180 spin!

[kumainpink]

I could see Harry being put in Azkaban if he's framed for murdering Cedric or something like that. Heck, with the way the Ministry is run, it would have been easy for that to have happened. *shivers*

[lucyolsen]

Yeah, but most of them go with Harry being framed for some random crime, and suddenly everyone is against him, even his friends. Hell, many of them have Hermione doing the framing.

[kumainpink]

And that is why I avoid Azkaban stories like the plague.

[Silvertongue]

I tend not to read Azkaban fics but the ones I've read were ridiculous and bashed pretty much everyone. I think there was only one that I really enjoyed but even that one I couldn't finish.

[Kitty279]

It's not something I read, either. Too depressing. If I want to read about someone in Azkaban at all, I'd prefer it to be Fudge and his toadie.

The whole legal system isn't the only thing lacking common sense and logic. There are the blood wards, the Fidelius, and so many other things. Maybe we should start a plothole list ...

[Silvertongue]

That would take far too long and would take up the half of the internet by the end of it.

I always wondered about the Fidelius and Blood Wards because it seems to me that the Fidelius s actually safer than the Blood Wards. I also want to know what Blood Wards are based in (how much blood is shared, the love given or whether they call the place home?).

[Kitty279]

LOL! You mean the whole internet would be one huge plothole

Of course the Fidelius is safer, as long as the secret keeper is more reliable than a certain rat. What confuses me about it was how it worked for Godric's Hollow, how Dumbledore knew of the attack and how Hagrid got there, as I said elsewhere. That never fit.

If the blood wards on Privet Drive were anything to go by (if they exist at all, that is) then only the amount of blood shared would make any sense. There was no love lost, and Harry saw Hogwarts as his home, The Burrow, Grimmauld Place - but certainly not Privet Drive. And how did they work if Harry could be approached by strangers outside of the house? That was not safe at all, and even if he would never have been alone, the Dursleys were no protection at all. A wizard guardian could at least have tried to help in the worst case. Plus, when did Dumbledore put the wards up? During the day, Minerva was there, and didn't see him. When he came, hd did nothing of the sort.

[kumainpink]

And this plot point pissed me off to no end, as Kitty already knows

[lucyolsen]

You know, something that bugs me is how Dumbledore says that it's because of Petunia sharing Lily's blood that the wards work (I can't remember the book or exact wording).


Doesn't Harry share Lily's blood? So why can't the wards be set up wherever Harry lives? Why do they have to rely on someone else?

[Silvertongue]

And it never mentions him putting up wards to stop Harry walking away from the doorstep or getting sick after the weather report forecasted rain...in November.

[Kitty279]

Oh, I know, Kuma. Actually, I've been complaining about that topic at length elsewhere repeatedly.

The cynic in me says Dumbledore needed it to be Petunia so he could dump Harry into a home where he was not loved. Or to protect the muggles. And I still don't see how on earth the wards were supposed to work after the graveyard.

Of course. I suspect the blood wards were a late invention. Plus, I don't think Dumbledore has any idea that a 15 months old baby could actually do more than lie and sleep like he wanted him to.

Oh, and what about legal papers? HOw could the Dursleys prove the boy was their nephew? Where were birth certificates and everything? A proof they were his legal guardians? And if they were, how was Dumbledore still deciding over Harry?

[kumainpink]

Ah, so many damn plot holes....

[Silvertongue]

Lol. This really makes me want to sit down and read the books with Rowling and point out everything wrong and get her to explain herself. It would take a very long time...

[kumainpink]

Yeah, it would. A week, maybe two...

But it would be interesting.

[Kitty279]

You'd be both old, wrinkled and white by the time you were finished! And don't forget, you'd have to report all her answers here!

[lucyolsen]

It might take a long time to ask the questions, but not answer them.



"It's magic", she said.

[Silvertongue]

Yep. Can we do that? Mob her house and demand a reading and explanations? Or maybe less violently and post a video online where we point out everything that bugs us. Make the video so popular that she wouldn't have a choice but to answer.

[kumainpink]

That would suck...

XD