Hi, welcome to my authors page.

You’re either very curious or extremely bored, I suspect the latter.

I’m a huge fan of Harry Potter, and after reading all the books and probably a couple hundred stories here, plus seeing the movies, I can say this… I personally think Harry and Hermione should have ended up together. And now I feel like trying to write it my way; I hope well enough to convert some of you to my way of thinking. If not, well maybe you’ll enjoy the story anyway… We’ll see. Also I'd like to say, any similarities to others story here on FanFiction are unintentional. I will gladly credit any author who had the idea first, just let me know.

Well let see… I’m from California, USA, and I studied engineering not English, so I’ll probably butcher my own language, and God knows what I’ll do to any British colloquialism. I will however, try my best to research spelling, grammar, and Harry Potter/British particulars before I post. But please understand I’m not a professional writer by any stretch of imagination and will probably have very little help. In fact, the only help will most likely come from you. Thank you in advance. Constructive criticism is both wonderful and appreciated. “Don’t quite your day job” really doesn’t help. I only ask that if you don’t like my story(s), tell me why but please don’t get ugly about it. If you can’t do that, then just move on… there are plenty of other stories on FanFiction, surely you will be able to find one that is more to your liking.

My Personal View’s on the Saga of Harry Potter

I personally think J.K. Rowling’s created a fantastic universe in Harry Potter. The characters, the places, even the animals showed an incredible attention to detail, so rich and colorful, it’s was easy to suspend one’s disbelief, and imagine a world full of magic, complete with wizards and dragons. If one were to look at the names alone, they would see that a tremendous amount of time went into making sure her characters had a name that fit them perfectly. Another example that shows the attention to detail is the castle. Hogwarts is not just an ordinary castle, but one with moving stairways, talking portraits, and animated suits of armor. You might imagine a great hall with a high cathedral ceiling, lit by torchlight. However, she didn’t stop there. She made her ceiling magical, so it represented the real sky outside, and instead of just torches for light, she added floating candles. All of these things and so much more add up to make Harry Potter truly a unique and wonderful story to read.

Unfortunately, the saga is not perfect. They're some rather large plot holes and discontinuities. And again it’s only my humble opinion, but I feel JKR failed in one very important aspect of the story, her main characters! The way she wrote the story, it seems to me that it’s about a tragedy. Starting from the very beginning; Harry is brought up in an abusive home (there is evidence of both physical and emotional abuse), unloved by his only relatives. The abuse continues throughout school, as Harry is tormented by both other students, and by teachers, his sole reward… to be sent back to his relatives for the summer. Finally, in the end, he is left with an impossible task and the weight of the world on his young shoulders. He does manage to succeed, but barely, and then only with a tremendous amount of luck; and also only after giving up (he walked willingly to his death). Then, finally when it’s all over, there’s no sense of victory, or fulfillment in the completion of his task. I found myself asking, “Is that it, that’s how he wins, what about…?” Then there is that dreadful epilogue; years later, we find Draco is apparently off the hook for all of his crimes, Hermione is married to ‘no ambition’ Ron, and Harry to his biggest fan girl, Ginny. What about their jobs, did they finish school? We aren’t told. And there’s no mention of what became of any of the others. We don’t know what they are doing. We don’t have any idea, if any of them made something of worth with their life… tragic to the end.

I have many issues with the story, some in general and some specific. I can overlook a few of them, but others just bother me too much to ignore. JKR’s plot while full of detail and imagination, failed to tie up to many lose ends, plus the issue of continuity.

Most all stories are about a quest, Harry Potter is no different. Somehow a small boy must grow up far too fast, so he can face a terrible prophecy. Harry has a rough beginning, but he manages to persevere. Later, he finds friends that also have had hard times in their young lives; Harry is meek, Hermione lonely, Neville shy, and Ron is looking for his identity. As we read the story, we see them form friendships, learn new things, gain confidence, and become wiser to the world around them. Then this growth just seems to stop, in fact, in the last two books they act more immature, and considerably less intelligent. When I was reading the last book, I keep asking myself, where are the smart kids who figured out the sorcerer’s stone and the chamber of secrets? And where are the kids who rescued Sirius, who fought a dragon, and formed an army? Surely, those kids wouldn’t sit around for weeks at a time moping about how unfair it all was. Nor would they wander aimlessly about the countryside without a plan.

Ms. Rowling created intriguing characters, but I think it’s the way they turned out, that bothers me the most. All of the main relationships are full of abuse, jealousy, and betrayal. We’re led to believe for example, that things like arguing constantly are a prequel to love, or that it’s okay to lust after someone you want. That all these things are part of a perfectly normal relationship, and will lead to a long and happy life together… rubbish, they’re shallow and disgusting, far from an ideal relationship, yet alone a romance.

I’ll start with Ron. He appeared to be trying to find himself in the beginning, but as time went on, he just became a jerk. In every book, he treats his friends poorly, by insulting them, using them, or abandoning them. Each time he gives them a lame excuse and is welcomed back into the fold. At some point, I would have expected either Harry or Hermione to have said, enough is enough. Harry never should have taken him with them in the last year, and there is just no way an intelligent girl like Hermione would have gone along if he did. Next, the idea of her dating Ron, yet alone marring him is just unfathomable. Constant bickering and arguing is not pent-up sexual tension, not to mention it would only get worse if they started a relationship. For seven years, Ron did nothing but belittle Hermione because of her intelligence, and then had the gall to ask her for help. He was always putting his needs first, and disregarding hers. He took advantage of her constantly. That seems more like abuse than love. Ron abandoned Hermione’s friendship in third year over a rat, then Harry over a game in fourth, and the both of them again in seventh year, when the going got tough.

I have two problems with Ginny; first, she’s a fan girl. Long before she’s even met Harry, Ginny thinks she’s in love with him. How can that be, can you know a person just from reading about them? I don’t think so. From the beginning, she can hardly talk to Harry because she has this heroic image of the Boy-That-Lived. Harry probably more than any other character in the story needed someone who truly knew and understood him. Ginny certainly did not, she practically knew nothing about the real Harry, and how could she, when she never spent any time with him. He came from a horrible childhood where one did not talk back or speak of their troubles. Harry needed someone who saw him all the time, so they could learn how to read him, and learn his moods. Someone who could get him to open up, and thus learn who the real Harry was. This would take a patient and intelligent girl, one he trusted, or at least knew very well, one that could help him to understand himself better, and later to understand and find love. As the story hinted, love is a very powerful emotion, and I believe it’s the ‘Power-He-Knows-Not’. It’s hard to deny, that love can give you the strength to go on, to do the impossible, even against all odds. I doubt Harry would have willing walked up to Voldemort ready to die so easily, if he knew love. To match Harry up with Ginny, was to deny him the love he so desperately needed. Secondly, it seems as though Ginny just came out of nowhere. She only ever had a few lines at best, and suddenly she is the girlfriend of the main character. Even in the last book we barely see her. I think JKR just wanted them together, but didn’t bother to worry about making their relationship realistic. I wouldn’t necessarily have had anything against Harry and Ginny together, if the story had been written differently. However, as it stands, they just don’t work. In fact, Hermione is a far better choice.

All I will say about Draco is, Why was he allowed to get away with so much, where’s the justice? Did he ever redeem himself, and if so, how?

Now we come to Hermione, who was by no means perfect, in fact, she starts off with many flaws; bossy and condescending to name a few. Nevertheless, as she grows, we see her tone it down, as she starts to transform into a wonderful young woman. In the first four books, she is always trying to help Harry regardless of the consequences. Then around book five, she starts to regress. Why would she, ‘The smartest witch of the age’ suddenly stop acting like the intelligent girl she was? Why would she stop asking questions? Like why won’t Dumbledore allow her to write Harry after the death of his Godfather? And why was she jealous of a book? In the last book when they’re all on the run, why didn’t she sit down with Harry and come up with some kind of a plan? And what in God’s name did she see in Ron? Being married to Ron would have been awful for both of them, surly she would have known that. Hermione would have grown weary of his laziness, bad attitude, and general lack of initiative. Ron would have grown tired of her complaining about it. Again like Harry and Ginny, If JKR had written the characters and or the story differently, then sure, they could have worked…but she didn’t.

I think people view Dumbledore a lot of different ways, good, bad, and certainly manipulative. To me, he’s mainly manipulative and not in a good way. For example, he’s supposed to be old and wise, and completely on the side of the light, yet he put Harry with an abusive family. Either he knew, but had his reasons; making him ‘Not so light’ and a manipulator…or he didn’t, making him not so wise and at least a little arrogant for not listening to those who warned against his decision. As the story continues, it becomes fairly obvious that he is steering Harry in a certain direction, to what purpose, I’m not completely sure, but probably towards becoming a martyr. It certainly appeared as though he had an agenda, one that wasn’t very favorable to Harry. It could be said he was good, because he was thinking of the whole magical world, and it was okay to sacrifice Harry. However, we don’t see that he made any effort at all to find another way…maybe because of ego or senility. Nor did he do anything to make Harry's life bearable in anyway. No matter how you look at it, Dumbledore’s relationship with Harry is troubling at best.

Finally, we come to Harry. In the beginning, I found myself cheering for him, “Way to go Harry, you did it.” He with the help of his friends (mainly Hermione) would figure out the problem and solve it. They’d have a few set-backs, but eventually they’d succeed with pretty much a happy ending. But later on in the stories, I’d find myself thinking, what the hell? Why are they being so stupid? Why are they being so stubborn? The stories are first and foremost about Harry. I really thought that he’d rise up to the occasion. That he’d become the leader (like with the DA), that he’d finally notice, how much his friends had sacrificed to help him (again especially Hermione). But most importantly, I was waiting for the hero to show his face…he never did. That single aspect alone disappointed me more than anything else. And here’s the thing, it’s not Harry’s fault, it’s Rowling’s, she the one who wrote it that way.

Only Ms. Rowling’s knows why her characters acted the way they did. Some say maybe she didn’t actually write the last couple of books. Others say she put too much of herself into the characters. Perhaps when she started, she didn’t truly think the story would be successful, and therefore, never completely planned out all seven books before she began. Whatever the reason, I genuinely don’t care. I love the idea… the world of Harry Potter, just not necessarily the story as she wrote it.

Others may say, well that’s the way the story is supposed to be. It’s not about happy endings, or romance, or even heroes. You might even say it was meant to be the tragedy it was. If that is indeed what JKR wanted, then she did an excellent job. Even so, I’m not so sure. If you say, well these are children’s books, so there wouldn’t be any depth to the relationships. Again I don’t think so. JKR shows us several relationships developing over seven years! They are all real, and certainly have depth. Unfortunately, they show us just about the worst possible way relationships can turn out. I can’t imagine any of them being good examples for children, not to mention all the torture, death, and sadistic themes in the later parts of the story. They may have started out as children’s books, but they sure turned adult in a hurry.

Like the title says, these are my personal views derived in part from my personal feelings. I like happy endings, where the hero gets the girl. If I wanted to be depressed, I’d watch the news. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Harry should have become super powerful, or that he should have had a fairy tale romance with Hermione. I’m saying, I would have liked to have seen both Harry and Hermione grow into someone I could have been proud of. They should have been heroes, even if one or both died in the end. However, after all of their ordeals, it would have been nice to see them finally happy and with someone who really loved them, maybe with each other. Likewise, I would have liked to have seen both Harry and Hermione go on to do great things. Even Ron could have found himself, and had a better life outside of the shadow of Harry (or even his brothers).

Neville, Luna, and so many more were just forgotten. They did their share, they deserve better. I would have loved to have seen more of them in the later books, certainly at the end…could they not have also been heroes in their own way? Lastly, was it really necessary for so much death? So much potential, underutilized, and unexplored, what a waste.

Ultimately, I was very disappointed with the canon versions of Harry and Hermione. Harry never became the hero. Instead he played the part of an abused and exploited victim, brainwashed by Dumbledore into suicide for the so called greater good. Hermione after years of being told by Ron how little she was worth, finally gave in. Hermione with little or no self-respect left, settled for Ron.

Hopefully, any story I write about Harry Potter will change these things; Harry will find happiness, maybe even love, and he will become a hero. Hermione will do great things also. Both will find happiness. The rest of their friends will hopefully round out the story, and be remembered to the end. After all, it’s about the characters, not the hocus-pocus. In general I think people, certainly myself, want to see the quest come to a gratifying conclusion, and if it’s a happy one, all the better.

It doesn’t have to end the way Rowling wrote it.

Another FanFiction author wrote;

“J.K. Rowling created a magical romance, sadly she herself couldn’t see it.”

I couldn’t agree more!

“Feeling Like A Girl” was my first attempt at FanFiction, and is actually a small part of a much bigger story (Chapter 11 of "Always and Forever") I currently working on. This part occurs in the middle of forth year. The “Yule Ball” was one of my favorite parts of the whole Harry Potter story, I just didn’t like canon. So when I started to develop my own story this was one of the scenes I couldn’t wait to write about. I decided to pull this chapter out, add just a bit, and post it as a one shot, hoping to get some feedback and maybe improve the rest of the story.

"Feeling like a Girl - Revised" is just what you'd expect, an updated, or revised version of "Feeling Like a Girl". I went back and did some very minor editing, and fixed as many of the errors I could find that were pointed out to me.

Current Work; "Always and Forever"; I'm working as fast as I can on my main story (of which "Feeling Like A Girl" was a part of). It is currently completely outlined through fifth year, and I have a rough outline for sixth year, with an option to do seventh. Fourth year is completely written and fifth is about fifty percent written. Because it take me a while to get everything done, I'm waiting till I'm about half way through a year before I start posting it. Hopefully, that way there won't be any interruption to you (except maybe between years).

Future Work; "For the Love of a Girl" I have started outlining a new story that will take place around fifth year. It looks like it will end up being around 60,000 words...we will see, and of course, it will be Harry and Hermione.

lorelover

From "Old Crow"

"I promise to review (kindly) every fanfic I read whether it be fantastic, useless, or anywhere in between. I make this pledge because I know how frustrating it is for an author to have hundreds (or thousands) of hits and only a handful of reviews." Copy and paste this onto your profile if you promise to do the same.

I think this is a great idea. BTW; he has several great stories of his own.

UPDATE; 03-05-2012, I'm still working on my story, I have not lost interest! My goal is to have enough done by May or June to start posting. I hope the wait is worth it.

UPDATE; 01-30-2015 Wow, I can't believe it's been so long! Sorry, but a family... problem interrupted my work, but all is good now. I'm back to writing my story. 16 chapters are complete, with 3 to go... so I'll start posting soon. Hopefully there are still a few people interested.

Update; 02-01-2015 I've started posting "Always and Forever"

Update; 04-12-2015 I've finished writing the fourth year of "Always and Forever"

Update; 08-22-2015 All of year fourth year has been posted (Chapters 1-23) I hope to start posting fifth year by the end of November.

Update; 12-29-2015 I have not forgotten about "Always and Forever". Life is taking its toll on me right now, but I'm still working on the story, I will not abandon it, don't worry!

Update; 06-01-2016 I've started posting fifth year of "Always and Forever" (Chapters 24-50)

Update; 09-28-2016 Well, I certainly didn't get too far before running into a problem. I have a family member with a reoccurring health problem, and at the same time, my beta has had a major problem of his own. So, updates will be delayed for a while... but as soon as things get back to normal, I'll try and start posting again at regular intervals. Thanks for your patience.

Update; 03-02-2017 I'm still here. My beta is back, and as soon as my family is healthy again, I get back to writing.

Update; 10-10-2018 Wow time sure flies. My ill family member is doing much better, and I find I now have a bit more time and so I'm back to writing. It's still a little slow, but I should be able to start posting again soon. Thank you for all your support.

Update; 02-03-2019 Finally, I'm back to working on my stories. Chapter 28 of "Always and Forever" should be up by tomorrow.