Fanfic is like any other creative output - some of it is good, and some of it is bad. I mainly started to read it (and have continued to do so) since my favourite character is Sirius, and he gets limited time and character development, compared to those characters who are there for more than 3 books! So there is a lot of scope for fleshing out what we as readers think he may have done in other parts of his life, or how the character we see in book situations might be realised in other situations.

I don't read any fanfic where the central characters are the same as in the novels (especially the trio) but it is fun to read about the more peripheral characters in a new way.

I agree with your distaste for shipping (I've grown a few (or more) years past the desire for teen romance literature), and I can recommend Inverarity on the MNFF site, especially the Alexandra Quick novels (yes, they're that long). I find these to be engaging as well as internally cohesive and consistent. I can also recommend DobbyElfLord and arinus, but I only found them on fanfiction.net.

Seriously, MNFF has some good fanfic authors on the site, even if you're not into shipping. I agree that some of it is dreck, but there are a few beautiful pearls among them; I'm fairly certain I haven't found them all, and I haven't even named all the ones I like; these are ones whose handles have lodged in my mind for quick retrieval, that's all.

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Can you provide the source for that?


ASU Sun Devil Quidditch fan, Ravenclaw
On Pottermore: MidnightMoonstone15, wielding a wand that's 10 and three-quarter inches, Fir, Unicorn core, Unyielding

Oh my.... I did too. Well I didn't cry, but it stung. I was taken care of by my grandmother and had to endure her abuse in speech and more. I think people like you and I are the lucky ones when it comes to this series... How many other books truly make people like you and I connect?

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House: Gryffindor
Pottermore: MugwumpSpirit52
Wand: 11 inches, Cherry, Unicorn, Quite Flexible
Youtube: Quirkybookchick
These are dark times, there is no denying.

I want to see the light leave your eyes!

Completely agree. I love how emotionally touching it is to most people no matter the background. Every time I meet someone who is a fan I feel like we're part of the same family, I love it.

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House: Ravenclaw
Pottermore Beta: MidnightLeviosa139
Wand: Adler, 11 1/2 in, dragon heartstring core, slightly springy

I first read "Harry Potter" around the time "Prisoner of Azkaban" was released. I was in the sixth grade, and my mother worked at the Harold Washington Library in downtown Chicago. She knew I was an avid reader, and always brought books home that she thought I'd like. One day she brought in "Chamber of Secrets." I'd heard of "Harry Potter" before and I knew that they were on the verge of being a literary phenomenon. I read the couple of chapters of CoS and really liked what I read, but I told myself not to read another word until I'd read the first one. I finally got "Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone" and read it. I was in awe of how detailed the book was, how fleshed out the characters were, and how quirky and inventive Jo's universe was. Suffice to say, I've been hooked ever since!

I am a grandmother and have always wanted to ensure my grandkids would love reading as much as I did. I have made it a practice to read aloud to them nightly. I was aware of the popularity of the books and knew adults even my own age who loved them, but I had never read them on my own. I was waiting for them to be old enough for such long books. In the last two years they showed a desire and ability to sit through rather long chapters so I bought Philosophers Stone. I was also keen that they read them before seeing the films. Kids see everything these days and it is a shame to spoil the mystery of a good yarn. Well we had a hard time sticking to the chapter a night routine, usually begging their mother to let us read " just one more?" We plowed through and they were hooked. Me? I really enjoyed it but still thought it for kids. But by PoA I understood I was now reading for my own pleasure as well. We were discussing it constantly when we weren't reading. GoF was like jumping off the deep end. I was beginning to obsess on it out loud to my daughter who was not reading with us. Harry' s trauma at the end was so painful to me and as we began to read OotP, I began to really wander around the house during the day worrying about him, feeling so much sympathy for him. In HBP I began reading ahead late at night by myself but still able to fully enjoy re reading the next evening with them. DH was the most exciting and the most moving book I have ever read. I have never felt so invested or so intimate with a character before. I have never cared so much. I reread the last half of DH immediately and then all of DH from the start, then HBP again and the back to PS to start the series all over again. I began writing my thoughts about Harry and the others and the themes and symbolism and the tight way she wove this amazing story. I remembered my close friend had said long ago she' loved the books. I rang her to tell her how much I felt obsessed by it and she confided she never stopped and has been reading them for over ten years. I am like her now. I read it every night just going from book to book, never tiring of the beautiful way it is written and the amazing story it tells. It was a real gift to the world.

How did I find Harry?

Well, first you must remember that I had friends in my class, but I also had friends a grade above me. So when I was in first grade (ah, youth) my friend Stephanie, who was a year older than me, invited me to her birthday party. It was a lot of fun. We watched the first movie. I didn't understand it at all (I thought Snape's name was Snake) but the party was still fun. After that, whenever I played with my older friends at recess we would play Harry Potter. Of course, I barely knew what to do, but I still joined in.
In second grade, I decided it was time to read them. My second grade teacher had them in her room. However, when I picked one up (I picked one up at random, it was Goblet of Fire) she said, "Maybe you should wait to read those."
I was a good little child. So I waited...well, for a week, until we had library again. Then I checked out Philosopher's Stone and the rest is history. I read it in a day, and quickly devoured all five others in that same year. Deathly Hallows came out when I was in fifth grade. I wanted to go to the midnight release party so badly, but my mom said we could just get it at the library. So I read it 2 weeks after it came out, and once again, it took a day.
I wasn't a part of the Internet fandom until around June 2011, though. I mean, really, can you imagine a second grader as part of the fandom? Reading fanfictions? Typing? No. But I'm glad I did join, and...

I love magic. That's all.

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Pottermore username: AccioMidnight169
Hufflepuff Pride! (Pottermore sorted)
Wand: Vine and unicorn hair, eleven and a half inches, hard

Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?

The first book came out when I was in third grade and shortly after it was released my teacher started reading it to our class. Unfortunatly she had to stop because some parents complained about it. By that point, I was hooked and finished the book on my own after my mom read it and became obessed!

My friend's mother introduced me to Harry Potter while our families were on vacation. It was the summer before second grade, so--1999? Only the first three books were out, but I went through them quickly, and by the time GoF was released, I was completely hooked. I found MuggleNet before the OotP came out, and I've been part of the fandom ever since.

My grandparents gave me the first two books when I was in kindergarten. I'm 16 now, so that was..... I think in 2000. All I remember from the first reading was looking at the chapter artwork from the first chapter and then getting that feeling when Vernon first sees all of the wizard craziness going on. I also remember sitting on my couch and trying to keep myself from falling asleep- I think I made it up to the first Quidditch match reading that one night. I wish I had been older so I could have had the opportunity to attend the midnight release parties.

I remember waiting for my dad to bring home Goblet of Fire. I had been sitting on the floor when he got home with it, and when he handed it to me, and I started right away, I didn't even get up and move the couch.

I also remember waiting for my dad to bring home OOTP one evening. For HBP, I was driving in the car with my mom and begged her to pull over the Borders (RIP) that was on the side of the road. I bought it and began right away.

For Deathly Hallows, I had ordered it on Amazon, but I had to wait for my dad to bring it to me, because we had been on summer vacation and I wasn't at home. When I finally got my hands on it, my mom wouldn't let me read it because it was my sisters birthday. The next day I sat on the couch and finished it in just over 5 hours.

Ahhhhh. Harry Potter made my childhood exciting.

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Pottermore: acciofirebolt62