Unread postby demonclownbaby » August 10th, 2010, 3:24 pm
I found Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past from a link on tvtropes.org. This is a fantastic story. I read it all the way through so fast I got a headache from screen glare.
As far as I am concerned, this is the real 7th Harry Potter book.
I find myself wishing that it had been written before they started filming the movies; can you imagine if, while doing principle photography for the first films, if they filmed this story alongside?
I'm currently re-reading it, but it is utterly depressing to realize that the last update was 9 months ago and that a new chapter isn't even being worked on.
On the one hand, I've done creative fanfic type stuff before (see tfradio.net) and I know how easy it is to get burned out or otherwise occupied with real life. The muse that drives to create gets tired after a while, and 5 years is a long time to still be working on a story (of course, I haven't finished a radio play I started nine years ago, but that is a collaborative work and I'm waiting on other people...)
Anyway, if the authorlord, as I guess he is known around here, reads this, please know that I donated $38 via paypal, because even if you never update again, you deserve because I had hours of reading pleasure from your work. Kudos to you, sir, and kudos again. I beg of you to continue to work on this fic.
I read it on fanfiction.net, and there are some typos, would you like me to document them?
My preference is to not try to integrate JK Rowling's book 7 into your story, because it really isn't possible; the portrait of Dumbledore would have told 30-year-old Harry, after the war was won, if not before, that Snape killed him by request. There's really no good reason (that I can imagine) for him not to tell him that. (He wouldn't have to reveal the Snape-loves-Lily stuff, though, and I can see him continuing to hide that, because he promised Snape after all.)
But the Harry in this story is still convinced that Snape murdered the headmaster, and so this story is irreconcilable with Deathly Hallows. The stuff about "if Snape was good, Voldy found out and killed him" doesn't really wash, because Harry has access to Dumbledore's portrait but doesn't know Snape killed Dumbledore on Dumbledore's order; therefore in this story Snape really has to just be evil.
Which is fine by me, as while canon!Snape may have been working against Voldy, he still really was a scumbag.
Also Snape is quoted as using "the M word" while in private with Dumbledore, with whom according to Deathly Hallows he has nothing to hide. So this Snape is definitely not the Snape from Deathly Hallows, and I don't think it makes sense to try to reconcile them.
I'd rather rather see Nightmares of Futures Past as an alternative 7th book, than try to make it the 8th book.
Highlights of the story for me:
Harry/Ginny relationship. We got mostly cheated of this in canon, but I was rooting for Harry/Ginny all along so I'm thrilled to get some real relationship-building going on. And while it may be frustrating with them taking so long to actually start officially dating, story-wise it makes complete sense and I applaud the restraint.
Luna/Neville is just awesomely cute, and it's great to see Neville come into his own earlier this time.
I loved Harry obliterating the boggart. My recommendation if he sees his loved ones dead again, to instead imagine them dressed as zombies for Halloween and doing the dance from Thriller.
There is sooooo much blushing going on, it seems like that's all anyone ever does! Of course, we skip long periods of time when they aren't. It's lampshaded when Harry notes it's convenient to have such fair-skinned friends.
"Accio Dementors!" was a crowning moment of awesome.
Strange that Lupin isn't steered towards Occlumency right away, but on reflection, anyone who starts learning Occlumency is obviously part of Harry's conspiracy, even if no other useful info is gathered, and so even that information is dangerous. The Weasley's being known to be part of it is unavoidable anyway, so they might as well know it.
I loved Harry's interview with Rita Skeeter. One of my major issues with the canon is the horribly corrupt Ministry, and how no one except Harry and some of his friends even seem to realize it. I shouldn't read about a magical world and be glad to NOT be a part of it. But with this Harry taking charge for the first time I feel like I'd want to be a part of that world instead of just reading about it.
Glad to see Ron acting more mature; this Ron I can understand Hermione being interested in, always wondered a bit why canon!Hermione like canon!Ron... he seemed a bit thick too to me.
Luna is a great character, and her being (possibly) a functioning schizophrenic makes sense.
I know the timeline is totally off the rails, but the changes are all good ones; Slughorn in and Snape and Draco out, it really needed to happen.
Dumbledore is ridiculous sometimes, as he was in canon of course. "By fleeing custody he placed himself beyond the protections afforded him by law." You mean the protections already denied him? That makes NO SENSE AT ALL. But then in canon a lot of Dumbledore's decisions made no sense, even in foresight, and it's nice that this story is addressing that.
Basically everything I disliked about the canon is being addressed properly, and everything I loved about the canon is being improved upon.
And JK Rowling is a billionaire and this story isn't finished. It's not fair. We need a pledge drive or something to get enough money to bribe the author to finish this thing. I've got $39 waiting for when chapter 39 is written.