PoA Chapter Thirteen

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Oh no. It’s a Quidditch Chapter. Can I just say that Harry wins and skip this one?

It looks like the end of Ron and Hermione’s friendship because they’re so angry at each other. End of a friendship, beginning of a true love marriage. It’s often hard to tell the difference. They both involve so much hostility.

Yeah, I’m sure sex will clear all this constant bickering right up.

I have to say that even though Ron’s wrong? Crookshanks has been trying to attack Scabbers in plain sight for months, so it’s ridiculous for Hermione to claim that Ron's just got something against Crookshanks when what he's always had against Crookshanks is exactly this, that he's always trying to attack his dang rat. Ron just doesn’t know the real reason. Even if Hermione doesn’t think Crookshanks really did it she ought to show she’d feel sorry if he had, and in general have sympathy over Ron's injured and lost pet.

But then, this is the book for wizard pet owners blaming the victim and being proved right about it in the end.

Hermione's not even trying to prove Crookshanks didn't do it with logic or evidence or something. She really does seem to just be saying that he can't be accused of something because she likes him. Which is pretty much the way the justice system works in the Wizarding World so I guess that's why she eventually goes into law.

I wish I could just appreciate this as proof that Hermione's not really logical or fair at all when it comes to these things, but I don't think that's quite what I'm supposed to get out of this.

Oliver announces that Ravenclaw's playing Cho Chang as Seeker—shouldn't they have the same Seeker as always like everyone else?

Cho's had some problems with injuries. That's because she's weak, Oliver. Doesn't have the spine to really be a match for Harry.

Oliver seems like he's going to say something about Cho being a good Seeker, but then dismisses it by once again alluding to the fact that her broom can't possibly win against Harry's super broom. Which is still not unfair at all.

Harry gets on his broom for the first time and confirms that yes, he's now just about quadrupled his skill by riding a better broom.

The team cheers for Harry every time he catches the Snitch. Or more to the point, they cheer for the broom that's just given them a ridiculous advantage.

Oh, and apparently the Firebolt is so good it makes the rest of the team better too. They're inspired by "the Firebolt in their midst."

At least now we can see where Harry’s "Dementor problem" comes in handy. Wood can allude to it and make it seem as if Harry’s still got some sort of challenge in the game. Iow: Sure he's essentially been given a sports car for a bike race, but what if another bunny rabbit hops onto the track and he has to swerve? The suspense is killing me!

That must be why it still doesn't occur to Oliver to make sure the Dementors are kept off the field, or plan to call a time-out if they come near it. Oliver's too much of a good sport to call interference, but not enough of a good sport to eschew the Firebolt. It's a very specific level of sportsmanship.

Madam Hootch falls asleep while chaperoning, which is weird and out of nowhere.

Harry sees eyes in the darkness that he mistakes for the Grim, but it's really Crookshanks. Actually it presumably really was the Grim, with whom Crookshanks is hanging out. Clue!

Everyone in the school comes over to fawn over Harry’s broom, without a resentful eye in the bunch. And certainly no accusations that Harry's showing off by bringing his broom to breakfast. It's a well known fact that Firebolts are powered by Weetabix.

Percy says something funny to Harry, and Harry naturally takes no notice of it.

Oh wait, here comes the resentful eye. Malfoy comes over to have his face rubbed in the Firebolt. He makes a lame joke about it needing a parachute in case of Dementors; Harry makes a lame joke about Malfoy needing an extra arm on his broom to catch the Snitch. The Gryffindor teams laughs uproariously. Fun reader activity: Imagine the reaction of the school and the narrator if Draco Malfoy got a Firebolt and brought it to breakfast.

Malfoy returns to the rest of the Slytherin team and they put their heads together, probably asking Malfoy if it was really a Firebolt. The Slytherins can't actually walk over to Harry themselves like everyone else, so they just lurk in the shadows like a big, ugly mob with Malfoy as a messenger.

I can't imagine why people doubt that the Slytherins really did come back to fight in DH even though it's not in the text.

Harry takes off his school robes and sticks his wand in his tee-shirt. That sounds uncomfortable and difficult to reach.

Also, Harry wears tee-shirts under his robes now.

Ravenclaw’s only got one girl on the team. Because Gryffindor's always a leader in tolerance. They're the non-sexist house too! Right, Nu!Ginny?

This despite the fact that everyone who really loves Ginny treats her in a paternalistic fashion.

The history of sexism in the WW is kind of interesting, actually. There are some clues that they don't have the same history as Muggles since magic should be an equalizer. But when it comes down to it we usually get the exact same slightly old-fashioned stereotypes as you'd get in a Muggle story: few girls on the sports team, double standards in romance, no girls in the Slug Club back in the 50s etc.

Cho's a head shorter than Harry at 13? I never realized she was supposed to be so tiny.

Harry develops a chaste crush on Cho immediately. Gotta set this up for GoF! Work it, JKR!

Harry effortlessly outpaces Cho to the Snitch, but is set off-course by a bludger. Fred vents his frustration at the guy who hit it by hitting a bludger directly at him. Kind of like Crabbe will do to Harry later, only when Crabbe does it it's after the game's over and super super obnoxious. Also when Fred does it it’s funny. (But not as funny as when Super!Ginny plows into Zachariah Smith! The scurvy coward!)

McGonagall yells at Lee for commenting on the brooms instead of the Seekers, but since the last few chapters have made painstakingly clear that this really is a broom competition he actually is doing an accurate commentary. Cho’s Cleansweep having no chance really is what's going on in the game. (I can hear Malfoy in the stands now: "Now we're not even allowed to say that Potter's got an unfair advantage?)

Because of her bad broom, Cho actually shows herself a far better and smarter flier than Harry does in the whole series. No informed attributes here.

It sucks that she'll therefore need to be outclassed by super!Ginny in HBP, even though Cho's good flying skills are an actual character trait and Ginny's are just part of her general Ideal-girl-for-Harry-ness in HBP.

Fred yells at Harry for being a gentleman and orders him to knock her off her broom if he has to. Again, this is exactly the kind of behavior that's been established as the mark of a terrible sportsman when Slytherin does it.

I notice that mostly because of the people who used to try to claim that Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle dressed as Dementors on the field are guilty of attempted murder. As if they could make Harry faint just by just putting on black cloaks. And as if Fred didn’t just make clear that falling off your broom is a normal part of Quidditch.

It's a "low, cowardly trick" because they're Slytherins, but it’s actually not a bad distraction tactic to dress up as a Dementor here. If Fred, George or Ginny had done it it would no doubt have been considered quite plucky and clever and a good show all around. It might even have been funny in a slightly less nasty way when they wound up in a heap.

But let's pretend that Harry actually overcame something to catch that Snitch. Our poor little underdog hero!

Actually, props to JKR for playing it as the afterthought that it should be. It's just a little extra cherry on the sundae for Harry, really.

Harry’s carried off on everyone’s shoulders, because the rest of the team might as well not have even been there, as usual. They should really be carrying the Firebolt on their shoulders.

No signs that Ravenclaw resents this loss. Yet we know they house some sore losers, right Nu!Ginny?

Getting back to the animal theme, Ron says he won't forgive Hermione because she won't admit she's wrong. Which handily makes Ron the one in the wrong. But I'd think the real issue isn't that she insists her cat is innocent but that she shows no sympathy for people about their dead pets.

Ron's woken by Sirius standing over him with a knife. That must have been pretty exciting for Ron. Again, one of the weaknesses of this book is that the actual story isn't happening to Harry, it's just going on near Harry. Those of us in Harry's pov have to be contented with Quidditch matches.

Percy pins his Head Boy badge to his pajamas. Awww.

How exactly does McGonagall always hear noises in Gryffindor? Where does she live?

McGonagall immediately says that Sirius couldn’t have woken Ron, because he couldn't get through the portrait hole. Did she actually just say that? Sirius is the only person to ever escape Azkaban. That's kind of his thing. But he couldn’t get through this kind of idiot security?

Neville gets blamed for the break-in. Yup, no reason to look any further up on the chain of command there.

Things that happen more than once:
Harry wins a Quidditch match again.
Second Dementor on the field, only this one's fake so Harry hears nothing at all. It's like how in Jaws you know the first shark on the fourth of July is a fake because there's no theme music.
Owner of pet that seems to very clearly have done something wrong claims pet is innocent and doesn't apologize for it.
Sirius has gotten into the Tower again.
Somebody's declared the single hero of the Quidditch game--in OotP it's Ron.
Harry digs Quidditch chicks.
Ron gets angry at someone for reasons that seem to imply a genuine emotional hurt that this issue merely brought up, but it's set up so that it will be resolved by Ron admitting he was wrong on a technicality.
Harry sees the Grim again.

It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!

The Grim
Status: Totally fired. Bulls-eye.

Harry totally wants to date Cho
Status: Fired. But only as a practice shot before Ginny.

Harry dreams about following a silver thing with hooves.
Status: Fired in this book, but you can’t help but think of Snape’s Patronus reading it now.




Day-for-Night
Hootch falls asleep just so Harry and Ron can have a romantic nighttime fly together.

Designated Hero
Harry and Gryffindor win a game pretty much entirely because they have better equipment and we’re supposed to cheer for him especially loudly for it.

Idiot Picture
Sure Sirius Black escaped from an inescapable prison and we think he’s after this one kid to kill him. But Harry’s perfectly safe. The painting of Don Quixote’s idiot British cousin will protect him!

Monster Death Trap Proviso
Special mention, because in this case nobody’s even tried to catch the monster once yet, despite the fact that he's already made clear where he's desperately trying to go.

Offscreen Teleportation
McGonagall, where did you come from? Where do you always come from?

Jabootu Score: 5

Comments

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

eh...he's a 13 year old boy. In the emotional stunted Wizarding World, at that. I am not at all surprised that he'd consider the firebolt more important than Hermione's feelings.

Well, it's still *bad* that he did so, even if that sin would be shared by most 13-year-old boys in your eyes.

(I still cling to my belief that fanon!Harry - well, the Harry in H/Hr stories - wouldn't have held Hermione aloof for more than a couple of days, without Ron egging him on. No grounds for that in the canon though, I guess.)

As Hermione turned out in the canon series? She was no great catch.

Ah, but how much of that was due to her author forcing her to lust after Won Won? Confunding McLaggin, conjuring the killer canaries, all the juvenile love-sick stupidity of HBP ... all because of Ron!

[va32h.livejournal.com]

>Well, it's still *bad* that he did so, even if that sin would be shared by >most 13-year-old boys in your eyes.

>(I still cling to my belief that fanon!Harry - well, the Harry in H/Hr >stories - wouldn't have held Hermione aloof for more than a couple of days, >without Ron egging him on. No grounds for that in the canon though, I >guess.)

Well it's "bad" that Hermione doesn't give a rat's ass (literally!) about her pet killing Ron's pet. They are kids and they act like it.

Canon Harry never paid any attention to Hermione. This book is the most obvious example.

>Ah, but how much of that was due to her author forcing her to lust after >Won Won? Confunding McLaggin, conjuring the killer canaries, all the >juvenile love-sick stupidity of HBP ... all because of Ron!

Those are not Hermione's worst qualities - not by a long shot. She is self-righteous (about Crookshanks here, and about SPEW in later books), absolutely cannot see any perspective other than her own, and is gleefully and mercilessly violent toward anyone who thwarts her: kidnapping and blackmailing Rita Skeeter and permanently disfiguring Marietta Edgcombe had nothing to do with Ron.

Hermione is that type of woman - I know lots of them and I'd bet JKR is one too - who likes to be in charge, likes to be the boss. And this type of woman tends to marry a man who likes - or at least tolerates - being bossed around. In the HP universe, that man is Ron, not Harry.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Canon Harry never paid any attention to Hermione. This book is the most obvious example.

Harry was a self-centred git all 'round. He ignored everyone, including his 'soul mate'. But I think ignoring Hermione's misery in the tent in DH was by far the worst example of his selfishness. Ugh.

But DH embodies most of the 'worst of' moments in the series; it's almost not fair to quote it in any 'contest' between the books.

And this type of woman tends to marry a man who likes - or at least tolerates - being bossed around.

Sadly Harry *needed* the bossing - or a lot of it - even if he didn't like it, or ignored it sometimes. And I think ignoring it was much better than reacting to it negatively, as Ron did.

... absolutely cannot see any perspective other than her own, and is gleefully and mercilessly violent toward anyone who thwarts her: kidnapping and blackmailing Rita Skeeter and permanently disfiguring Marietta Edgcombe had nothing to do with Ron.

I'm out of practice defending canon!Hermione, alas. I don't suppose the "it was all for HARRY!" excuse will hold much water with you? No? All part of the double standards that Sister Magpie is mocking in these reviews? Rats. :-)

One of my most favourite ever stories is one in which Hermione's chickens come home to roost; particularly the Rita Skeeter thing, which she ends up *bitterly* regretting. And I know of another where she's forced to reverse Marietta's scar.

Hermione is that type of woman - I know lots of them and I'd bet JKR is one too --

Yeah. The most damning evidence of which was that question she answered about the permanency of Marietta's scar (http://www.mugglenet.com/app/news/full_story/1156); they were permanent, Rowling said, because "I loathe a traitor!". Well, she did say "I write what amuses me. It's totally for myself. (http://www.harrypotterrealm.com/mn_quotes_jkr.html)" The Harry Potter series ... the worlds most expensive course of self-psychotherapy ever! :-)

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

As we're recapping canon, we can't really refer to any fanfics as the defence of a character. Most fan-fics change the characters - subtly if they're good, or blatantly if they're like the majority. That way the story can go the way they want, which is fair enough if it's acknowledged. I preferred reading 'my version of the next book' mystery stories, not the all-out romances - which were the worst for changing the people to fit. It happened with canon pairings as well - there's one story where Ron is a James Bond-a-like, something even Molly Weasley would find hard to accept. I wouldn't quote from that to try to convince you that Ron is really a hard-core babe magnet;I don't think you'll be convinced... So we have to go by what's in the books.

I totally agree that by DH, a large majority of the characters had been completely changed/ruined - Remus, anyone? However at this stage (PoA) JKR was probably at her strongest as an author. There was no Hollywood bleed and no real Mary Sue yet (that started in GoF, where apparently she also started to lose control of the story). The characters and writing were basically sound. Yet Hermione was already cold and self-righteous. I don't see Hermione as a victim of JKR's decreasing writing ability (except in DH, along with everything else). Like the nasty twins for example, she was deliberately written that way. Yes she was always loyal, but so was Umbridge to Fudge. They are the same character, acting in the same way, for the same reason, with about 50 years age difference and JKR's support being the only difference (imo!). JKR has no trouble at all with people who behave unpleasantly, if they're on the side of 'good'. She certainly sees no need for them to learn from their mistakes and grow as people - which would make them more appealing. She probably doesn't see any mistakes to learn from. The twins never got any come-uppance for the whole 'Death Eaters in Hogwarts' thing in Book 6, but as we see here - their self-absorbed self *righteous* behaviour had begun when JKR was in total control. They never grew up and their bullying got worse. Hermione was self-righteous, Harry was self-righteous, the Twins were self-righteous - do we see a pattern here? This woman used to be a teacher!? Shudder.

Harry was selfish? Yes.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

As we're recapping canon, we can't really refer to any fanfics as the defence of a character. ... So we have to go by what's in the books.

Oh, certainly. Of course. I don't think you grasped the implication of my mentioning those stories, which was tacit agreement with va32h that yes, indeed, Hermione did some 'bad' things. Otherwise how could I enjoy so much tales where Hermione is punished for those deeds, if I didn't concur as to her culpability in the first place?

Your point about aligning our discussions with a mind as to Rowling's decreasing writing ability makes sense too. I'd said something along those lines in our previous exchange, you might recall, suggesting that we limit our debate to the first five books.

Looking back to when I read the first five books and entered the fandom it's interesting that I didn't really pick up on all of Hermione's bad traits back then. For me, her complete devotion to Harry and her intellectual drive exceeded and swamped those tiny tiny flaws. :-) I see them now - curse you and va32h! :-) - so it all comes down to one's subjective measurements of the characters pros and cons, I guess.

I think it was also easier to give some of the characters - and Rowling's books - a pass, back in those days when we thought the author knew where she was going and had a decent story planned for the whole series. Nowadays, knowing how Rowling failed us, how bad the last two books were, how terrible the story and writing became - and the characters - it's a whole lot easier to go back and pick out all the faults. Why else are we reviewing PoA now, enjoying Sister Magpie's snarking at hypocrisy and double-standards in book 3 which was unveiled or magnified further down the line?

Hermione most certainly wasn't a saint, and I have to - reluctantly! :-) - accept those events that va32h enumerated as faults. (In fact, not only was Marietta's permanent scarring a vicious act (although we're not told it's *permanent* in the canon, you know!), it was just stupid for that hex to be on the parchment in the first place, given as how it did nothing to *prevent* betrayal, but only enact vengeance after the fact. Rowling, indeed, as va32h and you have said, showed us something of a nasty personality there.)

I reject va32h's including Hermione's 'self-righteousness' with SPEW with her other misdemeanours - Hermione never *forced* her judgement about the elves on others like she did with the DA hex or blackmailing Skeeter. As to her other crimes ... well, I think she improved over the next few books. We see her most with Harry, of course, and I think there were signs of her softening and listening to others in books 4 & 5. Certainly there's a scene near the end of OotP where Harry talks her around to change her view of Hagrid (which is a pity, because I think she was right on that one).

But I guess in the end it comes down to a purely personal measurement of the character when summing up her personality. This sort of discussion - trying to sum up Hermione's personality - is a whole different kettle of fish from our previous exchange in the review of the last chapter, which was much more black and white (Harry's ignoring Hermione when she wasn't around meant she could never be his love interest, full stop). That was a yes/no sort of thing. But "Hermione was overall evil/nasty/good/wonderful, discuss", covering her every deed and appearance and attempting to boil them all down into one final score, is much messier.

In this case I acknowledge my poor Hermione's flaws but her positives outweigh the negatives in my opinion. Even when I - with your assistance! :-) - remove the 'but it was all for HARRY, which means it was GOOD' double-standard this time around.

Hermione stories

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Don't have that one, but here's one with adult Hermione taken to the logical conclusion. The title is taken from Hermione's secret personal motto: Caveat inimici mea ira


http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5508237/1/Caveat_Inimici

Re: Hermione stories

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thanks for recommending that... I think; it was chilling.

Although thinking about it more, there's something darkly, ironically, quintessentially *Hermione* about punishing someone in part by having her voice nagging at them for the rest of their life.

Re: Hermione stories

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

'The Golden Age' is on ff.net. It's also on Red Hen in .pdf.

http://www.redhen-publications.com/Publications.html

Re: Hermione stories

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

I think I'm too scared to read that story right now, given Lynn Waterfall's assessment - when the sun is shining and the birds are singing - I might wait until there's a thunderstorm right overhead and gloom pervades the land. :-)

But thank you for the referral, I'm going to print it out and put it in my 'to read (in gloomy weather)' pile!

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

The Golden Age is great, isn't it? Yes, it's a perfect story where Hermione gets pegged down a notch or ten.

The 'most favourite ever' story I had in mind was Semprini's "Harry Potter and the Ring of Reduction". Semprini is my absolute most favourite fanfic author (equal first with a few others). He's written five HP books; his 'Phoenix' trilogy, written after OotP, and then a post-DH duology.

He's on Fiction Alley here (http://forums.fictionalley.org/fics/search.php?quickjump=on&mode=Author&query=semprini) and fanfiction.net here (http://www.fanfiction.net/~semprini).

I think they are brilliant books. The post-DH two are a bit heavy-handed on the deus ex machina front, but on the other hand he sets things up nicely to 'replay' DH in the second, pointing out some of that book's silliest errors along the way. But his first trilogy is brilliant, in my opinion.

Anyway, Hermione's treatment of Skeeter comes home to roost most heavily across a couple of chapters early on in book 2 of the trilogy, "Harry Potter and the Ring of Reduction". Skeeter turns the tables and Hermione *bitterly* regrets her ever blackmailing the journalist. I won't say more than that. Hermione is one of six core students in Harry's cadre around which the novels are centred. Other flaws of Hermione's are examined as well, but overall in the trilogy she's a positive character, featured with the other four and Harry.

I should also mention that the trilogy has a completely original and fascinating view of Snape, who is a key character, fully as important as Harry and the other five students.

I do recommend you read them in sequence; the books are too good to spoil! Try not to skip to the Skeeter chapters in book 2, please! :-)

The other story I was thinking of was "To Fight the Coming Darkness" by author 'jbern' here (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2686464/1/To_Fight_The_Coming_Darkness). His first novel, the grammar is patchy, but he spares no mercy for any of the characters. There's just a couple of paragraphs in that one which addresses Hermione's 'revenge' on Marietta. Later on Hermione's intellectual arrogance actually compromises the Order's security and is instrumental in causing some deaths!

Now, in return for these two recommendations, you've got to give me two referrals to stories where Hermione is a SAINT and SAVES THE WORLD, you understand. Because I'm a Hermione fan and a H/Hr man and writing the above has hurt me deeply, it will take me all day to recover ... :-)

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Have you read Arsinoe's earlier Potterfic, 'The Prefect's Portrait'? That one is OotP-compliant (i.e., nobody'd ever heard of a Horcrux yet) but it has one of the best "getting rid of Voldemort" sequences to be found *anywhere*. I think you'd like it very much, even if it isn't H/Hr. I have that one on Red Hen as well.

I've read any number of stories where Hermione is instrumental, if not the driving force of saving the world. However, most of them are off in the SS/HG end of the pool.

During the 3-year summer that fandom really did appear to have a discernably higher level of writing skills than the run of the mill fanfic (probably because most of the fans were significantly older, and were no longer grappling with the basics of writing itself). But that can't really be said to be the case any more. It's all evened out considerably.

I've got a clutch of fairly classic SS/HG fics on Red Hen, but the majority of the collection are still pretty much mostly Gen/PG-13. A lot of them are GoF-compliant. There are a few OotP-compliant ones, and at least one HBP-compliant. Most of the ones added recently have been post DHs, though. I think it's a good sampling overall. There is only one that I might not have chosen to include if I were doing it over, but even though it was pitifully canon-shafted it's still a readable fic.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

I heard good things about "The Prefect's Portrait", oh, 3-4 years ago, and snaffled a copy then. But I haven't read it yet. I think I've seen you mention it lately around these parts too. I will definitely have to read it soon, thank you for the reminder.

I've read any number of stories where Hermione is instrumental, if not the driving force of saving the world. However, most of them are off in the SS/HG end of the pool.

That explains why I haven't seen any of them I guess; I've read one or two SS/Hr stories (very good they were too) but don't normally go hunting for same.

But that can't really be said to be the case any more. It's all evened out considerably.

All I know is that I don't seem to come across any 'truly super fantastic' stories any more, which is quite sad. I guess a lot of people just left the fandom once the series was over. I've always been the type to hang around to the very end (you'll see me right to the end of the closing credits at the movie theatres) and so I'm here to witness the slow decay of the HP fandom. :-(

I dare say the new writers coming in are on the young side of the spectrum, many at the lower end of the writing scale, and all accepting the canon ships as the norm. :-( They don't know enough to shake off Rowling's conditioning. :-)

So the fanfics on your Red Hen site are all SS/Hr (those that have a 'ship')? I'll have to give them a look one day. But "The Prefect's Portrait" first! Thanks for the advice.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Well, the closing of canon did shut down a lot of what was the biggest source of fun about fanfic. We still *didn't know* what was going to happen or how, so the possibilities were wide open. Very few of the authors (apart from the truly delusional) really thought that Rowling was going to take the series where *they* took it, but there was always the possibility that she *might*. Or that they might guess *something* right. Particularly during that 3-year summer.

But there was a visible lurch after OotP canon-shafted much of what was already out there. The fanfic writers gradually shifted gears and chugged off again on the new route, but there was a serious falling off after HBP and Rowling up-ended most of what she's spent 5 books telling us. There really did seem to be a much lower level of output in the 2 years between book 6 & book 7.

Of course, I may be misinterpreting the data. There was still piles and piles of fic, but I think by then the fic exchanges were getting into the swing of things and those were mostly on things like Lj, and unless you knew where to go, you wouldn't find them. And a lot of the things that came out on exchanges were fairly short pieces, since that is writing fic to order, to conform to a specific prompt, on a deadline.

Now of course, anyone who writes fanfic is either complying with canon or thumbing their nose at it. So apart from the "missing scenes", and the "next generation", or the "what-ifs and re-dos", what you are going to gradually be left with are the fans who *know* that they are playing in a sandbox that Rowling will never go near. i.e., The slashers, like the poor, are ever with us, and the SS/HG crowd, and the cross-fandom hybrids, and things like that. There are some goos fics in those, but if that isn't your cuppa, you are not going to seek it out.