I read one , where she was so into the law, that it didn't matter who you were to here if you followed the law to the letter she didn't do anything, but one misstep for anyone and she was on them like wolves. Harry thought she would sympathetic to his cause, accidentally admitted something illegal, bumm azkaban.

 

Weak Voldemort or weak Dumbledore.

These two are undisputed badasses in canon. They are, to use Taure's title, the Lords of Magic.

And then you have fics where Harry, being a shitheaded angsty rebellious teen manages to defeat both of them with ease, all because he trained a little during the summer.

No, just no. Both Voldemort and Dumbledore should be unreachable by Harry or anyone else except each other. They operate on a whole another level of skill and understanding of magic.

This is why I have absolutely no problems with the canon ending, that is Harry winning with the power of love deus ex machina. This is the only reason he would be ever able to defeat Voldemort, so I have no problems with it.

 

I agree and it's one of the reasons I like the idea of time travel or Harry with Voldemort's memories. Because those are really the only ways I can see Harry standing any chance against him.

 

I have to add a caveat to that; if he's fighting fairly he shouldn't be able to win, but if he fights unfairly...

For example could win if he poisoned their dinners or some other underhanded or sneaky methods. If you're fighting fair then you're fighting wrong.

 

All of Dumbledore's meals are cooked by house-elves, who use magic to prepare food. How in the world do you get poison past that? Its simply ridiculous to suggest.
Also Snape exists, so poison is unlikely to be lethal. Also Fawkes. Etc.
Poison wouldn't work against Voldemort because he's far too paranoid, Snape exists, and in the worst case horcruxes. Basilisk venom would work on Voldemort (but not Dumbledore) but how in the world would you deliver it to him? Not through his meals is all I'm saying.

 

This is where Dobby makes himself useful.

 

Magic, maybe?

 

Yes and no. Time travel as in using a time-turner is so over cliched at this point it's not even fun to read. Time travel as in going back in time . . . never have enjoyed time-travel stories. Too many what-ifs.

Memories are a different ballgame. The problem is that you have to (1) find a legitimate way of getting Voldemort's memories, (2) realize that memories are intellectual, and there's something called muscle memory that is not passed with it, and (3) memories does not equal wisdom, because experience isn't just remembering the situation, but remembering how you failed or succeeded and everything else crowded in on you at the time. So, it's still an iffy proposition, and if used as a Power-Up without a hitch, is just as much a fail as anything else.

 

I only said that it made it make sense, not that it was usually written well.

 

There are plenty of getting around the problem of meals being made by house elves. One has already been suggested and anyone with an ounce of creativity can come up with more.

As for Snape, well I'm sure there are poisons that can kill faster than he get from the Great Hall to his lab and back.

 

Ever heard of a Bezoar?

 

I don't think Bezoars counter all poisons.

 

Curing most poisons is a start though.

 

'Cast' is the past tense of 'cast,' m'kay?



The die was cast.
They were cast in the school play.
I had cast my fishing line.
Many spells have been cast, here.
That curse has been cast only once.
And so on, and so forth...

This casted[sic] stupidity has to stop. :facepalm

 

With how big the fandom is, there's probably a fic out there that features all the usual misspellings and other assorted abominations together.

Such a thing could likely blind readers.

 

Well I guess that's why we haven't heard about it, no one that's read it would have been able to navigate back here.

 

It's called "My Immortal".

 

Pet peeves:

• When an author makes "don't like it, don't read it"-statements. They're a testament of the author's inability to take criticism. A good author should write something like that: "Notice: This story contains <blah blah blah>. You have been warned, proceed at your own peril."
• Begging for reviews or much, much worse, telling the readers, that there will only be an update, if the story get n (positive) reviews.
• Author's notes, which are almost as long as the text of the chapters itself, especially, if they contain some kinda drawn-out copyright disclaimer trying to be funny (and failing). This is one of the many sins against good fanfic writing Bobmin is guilty off.

 

Is the disclaimer actually necessary or just something everyone does because they see everyone else do? I can't imagine why you need to say that you don't own the original work when you clearly don't and you're writing on a site designed for work based on other work.

 

Nothing wrong with asking for constructive criticism. Begging on the other hand...