#ficpicks

Read below the cut if you want to know a bit more about the reasoning for each recommendation.

Summary: Severus Snape desperately wanted to stick to the plan. 1. Get to Hogwarts. 2. Be sorted into Slytherin with Lily. 3. Become the wizard he was always meant to be. But things go sideways when Lily ends up getting sorted into Gryffindor. And Severus? He throws the plan away.

In which Severus is a Gryffindor, Lupin is hiding something, Potter and Black are the worst, and there's a Wizarding War about to erupt.

Gen Fic - Severus Snape, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter - 16/28 Chapters- Words: 84,471 - Rated Teen and Up

Read it on AO3

Status: WIP

Review: The Gryffindor Sort is one of those stories that I read slowly and with a deep fondness, because it's the closest I've gotten to that feeling of reading the Harry Potter books for the first time. It's such a fun fresh take on a Gryffindor Severus Snape, that I forgot my penchant for avoiding first-year Hogwarts stories.

I love the affinity with which small_spyglass writes their characters - each character is so fully realized, full of heart, allowed to make mistakes and to grow. Severus is our not-quite sympathetic underdog character who we can't help but root for. But this same sort of care is put into Sirius, Lily, Remus, and even James - which just had me immediately hooked.

Overall, The Gryffindor Sort is the perfect character-driven fanfiction for readers who are looking for more Marauders-Era stories without the typical romantic relationship angst.

Summary: The true time-turner was slammed savagely into Hermione's throat. It shattered against her neck, bits of glass and gold piercing into her skin. The last thing she saw before blackness consumed her was a plume of metallic dust and vitreous fragments, tiny prisms dancing behind her eyelids.

(In which Hermione accidentally ends up in 1950, pitted against an ascending Dark Lord in his prime, caught in the entanglement of pureblood politics, dark magic, and Tom Riddle's interest)

Time-Travel - [Hermione G., Tom R.], Hepzibah S., Abraxas M. - 22 Chapters - Words: 116,690 - Rated Explicit

Read it on AO3

Status: WIP (last updated Nov. 30, 2020)

Review: I have read my share of 'Hermione travels to the Marauders Era stories' and finally feel ready to explore Tomione (despite finding the pairing a bit random). After my review of Nightmare, Blood and Gold was recommended to me by @migozaranad - and let me just say to them - thank you very much!

This story has got so many things going for it: a strong heroine with a great voice, an intriguing and somewhat frightening antagonist/romantic lead and well-developed side characters. Hermione's character is written in a realistic way - she has no concrete plan about how to navigate her situation - because well, she never thought she'd be dealing with this in the first place.

The only question that I ask, which is what I need to keep track of my expectations for this story, is - what is the main plot of this story? Is it a fractured fix-it tale - where Hermione's desire to stop Tom Riddle is at odds with her growing feelings for him? Or will it be more of Hermione dabbling in dark magic in the effort to shift Tom Riddle's focus away from his original plans.

Overall though, I thoroughly enjoyed Blood and Gold and cannot wait to see how the story progresses further.

Summary: A broken time turner shouldn't have sent me back so far. It was unprecedented. Stepping on it--smashing it--nothing should have happened. At most, I should have lost a week. At worst, I should have disappeared altogether. I shouldn't have traveled back fifty-two years; half a bloody century.

This should not have happened.

Time-Travel AU- [Hermione G/ Tom R.], Albus D., Horace S. - 30 Chapters - Words: 156355 - Rated Explicit

Read it on AO3

Status: Complete

Review: I went into this story expecting a toxic romance, and left it with the realization that the true toxic romance was the relationship between me and the untagged teen pregnancy that crept up in this story.

I don't really mind unsympathetic characters - at least not when their personalities are interesting. Which is why I found so many of the characters in this story exhausting. Abraxas - Dude? She's just not that into you. Edmond is non-existent until the plot calls for him to be there. Dumbledore and Slughorn's roles leave you wanting more from their characters.

I also found myself extremely confused by the disjuncture between Hermione's purported intellect and what she actually did in the narrative. I think this is a result of all the telling-not-showing that consistently occurred in the story. I don't want Hermione to tell Tom that he's been underestimating her - I want to see a moment where she genuinely catches him off guard, where we can see his shift from being wary of her to respecting and admiring her.

What saves this story is the chemistry between Hermione and Tom, the author writes tension extremely well and even though this was definitely a toxic pairing - it kinda worked? I also liked how Grindelwald was used in this story even if there were parts where I was left asking "huh?".

Overall, I'd say that Nightmare was a confusing, but semi-enjoyable one-time read.

Summary: Draco breaks a time turner and starts jumping around in time (very similar to the premise of the Time Traveler's Wife). At first when he sees he's married to Hermione in the future, he's horrified and fights against it any way he can. But the love he sees in the future is unlike anything he'd ever imagined for himself. Meanwhile, his future self is coming to the past to charm Hermione. When they both meet up in the same time, it gets fun, because they each know different versions of the other person well, but have limited experiences with the person in their same time.

Romance/Drama - [Hermione G., Draco M.], Harry P., Theodore N. - 50 Chapters - Words: 315,235 - Rated Teen and Up

Read it on ff.net or AO3

Status: Complete

Review: Timeless took me by surprise with its sincere romance, its large group of side characters and a lovely use of time-loops.

I cannot even begin to comprehend all the drafting the author must have done to make this story happen. At first, I found it extremely hard to keep track of all the time jumps and what past-Draco had already seen in the future. But it got easier to understand as time went past, and it's hard for me to describe my joy when I read a passage and suddenly understood why someone behaved a certain way in an earlier chapter.

The development of Hermione and Draco's relationship from unfriendly acquaintances to romantic love was exceptionally done. I like seeing how the topic of forgiveness was handled between the two as well as the ups and downs of their relationship.

The supporting characters also felt realistic and added to the depth of the story. With some few exceptions, I could believe in the genuineness of the character's interactions with each other.

The only thing that fell short for me was when we revisited the familiar time-jumps around the middle of the story. It's hard to revisit a scene from a different perspective and still have it hold my interest.

Overall, I'd say that Timeless was an emotional, heartwarming story that utilized time travel in a positively delightful way.

Welcome to Themed Tuesday - where I take two stories with a similar theme and compare them to one another.

I don’t know about you, but once in a while, I read a story that makes me fall into a mood, where all I want to read is a certain topic/theme (be it a trope, motif or plot) over and over again until I feel ready to try something different.

This week’s theme:

A currently updating story about fem!Harry x Tom Riddle, with Harry accidentally traveling back to the 1940s.

When Harry Met Tom by The_Carnivorous_Muffin. Harry accidentally attracts the attention of Tom Riddle and very quickly derails his path to becoming Voldemort. It's loosely based on When Harry Met Sally, which I haven't actually seen, but I will say that this story is addictive, full of plot twists and very genre-defying.

Metamorphosis by Lojuba. Harry and Tom are both at Wools Orphanage, and the premise suggests it goes from enemies to friends to lovers. This story is a lot shorter than the first but it's a premise I haven't seen as much and seems promising. TW: sexual assault is discussed and attempted by a character in one scene.

These stories are hard to compare, because aside from the fact that they both qualify for the week's theme, they have wildly different takes on their characters and their general plot. As far as similarities go, both stories have Tom and Harry start out as reluctant friends, with Tom being curious and initiating more interactions.

Summary: As she looked around her living room - at the green velvet ottoman she didn't remember purchasing, the 14th century Wizarding texts on her bookshelf, the hideous and obnoxiously ostentatious grandfather clock that could only belong to a Malfoy - she pictured the toothbrush next to hers on her bathroom counter, the old Slytherin quidditch jersey she regularly tripped over in her bedroom, and the mint chocolate chip ice cream in her freezer - a flavour she abhorred, but that a particular, pale, pointy faced aristocrat sat across from her had a tragic fondness for.

Her chest burning, as if she drank a barrel of bubotuber pus, Hermione turned to him with narrowed, accusing eyes. "Malfoy...are we dating?"

If there's one thing Hermione Granger knows, it's that she simply doesn't have time to date. Draco decides to date her, anyway.

Fluff/Romance - [Hermione G., Draco M.], Harry P., Pansy P. - Chapters 9/12 - Words: 64,228 - Rated Mature

Read it on AO3

Status: WIP (last updated April 25, 2021)

Review: Once More, With Feeling is such a joy to read. The idea of being in a relationship with someone for so long without realizing it is outrageous to me, but the way it was written was so entertaining I didn't even mind.

Some of the supporting characters really fall into the stereotypical fanon portrayal types, but I don't particularly find it an issue that all characters aren't 'well-rounded. I think their role isn't necessarily to have their own narrative arc, but rather to provide alternate perspectives to Hermione without resorting to heavy-handed exposition. Side note, can I just mention how much I've been loving the trend of Ron-friendly Dramione stories??

Overall, Once More, With Feeling is charming, cute and well-written. More than simply being a story about Draco and Hermione's relationship - the story also touches on topics like friendship, ambition and forgiveness.

Summary: Being reincarnated as Harry Potter's fraternal twin sister really puts a new meaning behind "death is but the next great adventure."

Parody/Humor - [Tom R./OC], Harry P., Albus D. - 51 Chapters - Words: 245,501 - Rated T

Read it on ff.net

Status: WIP (last updated April 10, 2021)

Review: Harry Potter and the Bucket List is a fun take on the 'Harry has a female twin' stories that manages to avoid the pitfalls that typically cause a falling out between Harry and his twin.

Rosie and Harry, while lacking in any particularly definable characteristics that make them stand out in the genre: the author knows when to stop with the dramatics and to reign their characters in.

That's typically my biggest problem with the OC twin sister stories: writing the protagonist as a smart, powerful morally grey character in Slytherin obliterates most of the stakes that can rise up within the fanfic, and it gets boring seeing our main character just easily side step every possible problem that comes their way.

That's not to say that this story doesn't lean into the power of Plot Armour - it definitely does - but I think that the story has enough things going on for it to keep things fresh. I am often surprised at the abruptness of certain events, until I continue reading and see what new set-up the author has planned.

Overall, Harry Potter and the Bucket List may not be the fic that comes to mind for this genre of fanfics, but I will be tuning in to the updates to see what happens in the end.