Title: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Author: The Mad Mad Reviewer
Rating: M
Genre: Humor/Horror/Adventure
Pairing: Harry/Etna
Chapters: 48
Words: 160,233
Updated: Jun 2, 2013
Published: Nov 10, 2009
Status: Complete
Summary:
After Cedric's death, Harry and company summon a demon to kill Lord Voldemort. Except, well, when the hell is summoning a demon ever turn out just the way you planned? A Crossover with Disgaea: Hour of Darkness that doesn't require you to have any idea what Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is beyond "Here be Demons."

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5501817/1/Something-Wicked-This-Way-Comes



The story isn't that old yet and kept me entertained for a while back when it was new. It's a crossover with the game Disgaea. I could easily follow the story even though I knew nothing about the fandom, but I was lost every time some name dropping started.


The story starts humorous, with the Demon Etna summoned and adjusting to life at Hogwarts. To kill Voldemort Etna sees it as one of her tasks to train the trio, then Luna, Ginny, an older Slytherin and eventually other students as well. Some of the humor remains, but it gets darker over the time. Soon they start to act, first at Hogwarts, then outside of Hogwarts as well.

The quality of the story varies a lot, but gets better over the time. The summoning isn't that spectacular, the first chapters are actually rather bland, until the training starts. Especially in the beginning quite a few scenes look like Rorschach-omakes, some even with only one line, which tended to annoy me. Some of the advanced training scenes are written like a level based computer game but it actually works well here. When they hunt down one Horcrux the setting and action looks like a quest, perhaps based on Disgaea.

Characterisation varies as well, though I think the main characters are somehow consistent in their development. There are some great scenes, i.e. when Etna and Harry try to get Hermione and Ron together. Later on the author adds some characters I didn't like, especially one penguin which's identity is revealed later in the story.

There are a few unexpected turns, some smaller, some larger. The author manages to avoid a lot of clichés, though some appear. I.e. there is some stereotypical Ginny - Molly behaviour, though it's been dealt with fast enough.

The story is unbetaed, with a few grammar and spelling issues, but that, too, seems to get better as well.


All in all it was a great time waster and I consider it to be solid three star material.

 

Yeah it has all the pros and cons of a guilty pleasure.

I abandoned it after some time but it had some potential as a cracky fic and is on par with other humour fics out there.

I remember it as being fairly enjoyable.

3/5

 

I remember reading this a couple of years ago. It was a fun read.

There were some things that felt inconsistent, mostly with the character portrayal, but nothing major. I also felt that the ending was disappointing.

3.5/5

 

I'm actually a big fan of this, and followed it from pretty early on.

The thing about this, and many crossovers out there, is that the crossover character simply steals the show. In this case, Etna, who is brash, outgoing, sneaky, and far more of a natural leader than Harry. Unlike most crossovers, the other characters don't suffer too terribly for her introduction.

I've always thought that Mad Mad Reviwer had a good grasp on the canon characters and knew where he wanted to take them after the point of divergence. His characterization of Harry and Dumbledore are particularly interesting to me.

Throughout the story Harry becomes far more quiet, speaking only when he has something particularly important to say, otherwise he simply takes his queues from Etna. I've never thought of Harry as a leader, a doer, but not a leader. In the books, he was always forced into the role of leader, especially from OoTP onwards. Here, with Etna in the position of leadership, Harry's personality shifts to something more natural to him, shutting the fuck up and doing what needs to be done.

Maybe I'm off on that, but really I think it suits him a lot better.

As for Dumbledore, he isn't a raving psycopath out to steal Harry's money and marry him off. He isn't the kind grandfather who gives Harry the key's to Gryffindor's secret fortress. He's the man who genuinely cares for Harry, and is still willing to see him killed if it will end Voldemort once and for all.

It's always felt like an incredibly accurate portrayal of Dumbledore to me. The dynamic between Dumbledore, Harry, and Etna is actually one of the larger subplots in the story.

And yeah, the ending is fucking disappointing. But truthfully, by that point you could tell that he was simply ready to be done with it.

Even if you don't really enjoy the story, it's worth a read simply for the fight scenes.

Spoiler

Harry vs. Pyramid Head ... glorious

There's a fairly significant Silent Hill crossover at one point, are you talking about that one?

Spoiler

What!? How can you not love Prinny!Lily? Ok, you might have to be a Disgaea fan for that one.

4/5

 

I remember following this from about halfway to the end. It was a while ago, though. Like said, it's a bit of a guilty pleasure, but I liked it, since I happen to love Disgaea. All the rpg meta stuff is actually Disgaea canon, too.

It was a bit boring at first, but as things and especially Harry changed and matured, it got enjoyable. I remember liking how Harry ended up, and the ending.

This is one of those 3.5/5 fics, but I guess I'll rate it 4 on the guilty pleasure scale.

Spoiler

And Prinny!Lily is basically given thanks to Disgaea 1 canon.

 

I read this one sometime ago and then reread it near the end of last year. I remember enjoying it a great deal. Not anything groundbreaking to be sure but definitely a piece of fanfiction worth your time.

The portrayal of characters and how they grown and changed was handled quite smoothly and presented in such a way as to show us the transition they underwent from desperate kids summoning a demon to how they turned out by the last couple of chapters.

I'll echo this. As you keep reading you get a sense that Dumbledore isn't someone to fuck with. He does care about Harry in a believable way. Cares what is happening to him, the influence Etna has on him, and the influence Harry has on others - particularly when you take into account how he changed under Etna's tutelage and what it may mean to/for others.

On the other hand there is the fact that Dumbledore would see Harry dead if it meant Tom Riddle would also be unmade...


Didn't care for the penguin all things said, but I'm surprised no one mentioned what happened to the Malfoys, and wow that shit was three kinds of twisted. :fire

I give it 4 stars.

 

I'm surprised it wasn't in the library already. Definitely a good read, 4.5/5 rounded down from me. I hope I won't be disappointed when I reread it.

 

I don't like it. At all. I found premise very interesting, but I feel that execution is lacking. Story is (as of chapter 5) full of little things that I don't like, for example:

This is so wrong on so many levels. Firstly, Ginny lectures Harry about his second best friend, although Harry is supposed to know her best. Secondly, We know from canon that Hermione knows something about relationships. She explained Cho's feelings to Ron in book five.

Another thing that I don't like is Etna. She is apparently awesome, all-knowing and all-powerful.

I found these parts about the trio duelling with Etna atrocious. Sure, Etna is amazing dueller. I get it. But I don't want to read about another examples of how awesome she is, anytime when I continue reading.

Yet another thing that I found somewhat off is how people react to the trio summoning demons. Sirius is like "That's fun. Keep it up." Dumbledore just shrugs, comments about how worried he is, and moves on. I expected many things, but not acceptance.

I noticed no grammar errors, but I just found writing style lacking.

And that thing with Molly bashing...

2/5, and I am being generous.

 

It's been a long time since I last read it, but that was a re-read, because I had really enjoyed it the first time.

I wasn't familiar with Disgaea at all when I started, but a few minutes of wikiwalking and tvtropes gave me nearly everything I needed.

The Silent Hill thing really confused me, because I haven't played that either. It felt like it could have been an idea for a fic by itself, but just was added in because 'why not?'

3.5/5, rounded to 4.

 

I finished rereading it. It has aged well. Harry becomes too powerful, too quickly, but it's acceptable (-ish) with the "you are what you eat" mechanic. I liked characterization in general:
- Dumbledore is willing to do anything for the greater good (without spewing the phrase the way some fics do it), while at the same time trying to his best to be a good person. And he's capable of making mistakes (as opposed to everything being his evil plan).
- Voldemort is more than a madman yelling "Crucio!" at everything living. What he does to his followers and his enemies actually feels evil.
- Harry and company do not have a fit after killing someone trying to kill them. yay.

I'm not sure how I feel about the whole Hufflepuff demon (literally) Etna. She's likeable, but doesn't behave like a demon, unless it's something taken from Disgaea canon. I hope so.

The story reads well, and the few "you'res" mistaken for "yours" do not detract that much from reading pleasure. If not for two annoyances at the end, it'd be a solid 5/5.

Cons:
1. Shitloads of OCs in the later part. It was a HP fic with one character from Disgaea. Then two for a second and it was okay. Then we move into that world and we have no fucking clue what's happening.

2. The ending was underwhelming. Sure, it was a step in the right direction, but I didn't like the presentation, and its length was most dissatisfying.

To sum up: I enjoyed it very much, despite the flaws. With some work it could become easy 5/5 and one of my favourite fics of all time, but right now it's 4.5/5 rounded up.

 

I had no idea what Disgaea was, but that didn't make me like it any less. As stated above, a little wiki perusing gave me all the background I needed to understand. About the only thing I wasn't that fond of was the item level concept, but the fights inside it were pretty well done, so that balanced it out for me. Solid 4.0/5 for me.

Also, I didn't realize until finishing and looking at the author page that this is the same person that wrote Jamie Evans and Fate's Bitch (which I also enjoyed), and they have another HP story, Elsewhere but not Elsewhen that I blew through last night and was pretty good - slightly angsty dimension-hopper, but just as solidly done as the others IMO.

 

I remember reading this a long time ago, knowing nothing about Disgaea. I'll echo the comments that it was great at the start and through the middle but the ending with all the Disgaea stuff coming to the fore had some issues. Solid 4/5