The only difference between Tracey and Daphne is the name, but I definitely agree with you: I prefer Harry/Daphne. It's kind of like how Fred and George are pretty much the same person, but some people like Fred more than George and vice versa.

As to your 'random crazy idea', I'd be all for that. There are plenty of stories where we have a dark Harry who goes around collecting people for a harem, and while having Dark!Harry/Fleur is good and all, the story always ends up with a weak Fleur. I like Fleur because I think she's the badass older woman that everyone wants a piece of; having her weak, naive, or a sub just ruins it for me.

Anyway, you could even have the story start out B/F H/G, and have them meet up again at a family event. From there, Fleur's out to seduce and corrupt Harry, while he desperately tries to convince himself he loves Ginny. Lol, of course it sounds really gay when I attempt to put it into words...

 

Who cares what is 'vogue'?

Write/Read what you like, if Romance overtakes your story, then you're writing a poor story.

 

Madonna does, you fuck!! Have you no culture?!? Strike a pose, enembeeotch!!!

 

You umm... do realize there is such thing as a Romance genre, yes?

 

Meh. I've still never found a single fic with a pairing that wouldn't improve in my eyes by taking that pairing away. It's a fly in the soup, no matter if it's an old fly, a shit-flavored fly, or a chocolate-covered fly.

That said, for those sick of Ginny and Hermione, Fleur is definitely the in "vogue" choice. But I always seem to notice more Harry/Hermione fics when the movies come out. And they're almost always the worst ones.

 

Does this mean there will have to be a B/G as well? 'Cause... eww. :banana:

Oneshot:
You could have it during DH when they are all at Stone Cottage - Shell Cottage - Whatever lame ass name F/B lived. They get married and Fleur finds out that Bill was cursed years earlier in Egypt and as a result can't get it up. She sees Harry out there digging Dobby's grave... all hot and sweaty, and has to console him.

She stuns Hermione, Ron and Griphook, swipes the Sword and wacks Bill over the head with it, kidnaps Harry. Then she turns up the Veela charm just to the point where Harry has wood 24/7. That'll corrupt his ass.

(Posting a Longshot in the Plot Bunnies thread since I was going off topic here)

 

Woman, are you trying to make me puke? Weasley incest... Gah!

That's a great idea for a fic. Golden trio violence, hot veela, sub Harry, and leather ('cause that's a necessity)... Collective jizzgasm, anyone?

 

Dude, this isn't about trying to find the 'best' pairing to use in a story, it's just a discussion about what the community tends toward these days. I'm struggling to find the point of your comment, and I can't.

Just because there's a female interest, it doesn't mean it's going to overtake the story.

 

If you're reading Harry Potter for romance, something has gone wrong in your life.

I never said it did, but when people begin to define stories by romance or pairing, then it's overtaken the story.

I'd like to think that the community tended toward reading good fiction, rather than a certain vogue ship. But there you go.

 

Quoted for truth.

 

Jeconais is fucked.

 

If you're looking for a ship for Ectomancer, I approve of anything but Luna or Fleur.

 

And now, utilizing the power of SCIENCE!

Fics tagged Harry/x on ff.net, that have been updated since June 1st.
We will assume that even if a story is crap, it at least shows that someone likes that character (we hope, at any rate. God knows what they would write if they were bashing...)

Harry/Draco: 1,609
Harry/Ginny: 820
Harry/Hermione: 707
Harry/Tonks: 42
Harry/Daphne: 30
Harry/Fleur: 22

Basically, it's the same old shit we've seen since forever. The only exception is Daphne has had a massive boost since around May - the summer has been good to her (or not, looking at the abysmal quality of most of those stories). Fleur's numbers also seem a bit low.

 

You also assume that each of these tags indicates a romantic pairing. While this may be true in general, it may also indicate that the story simply focuses on those two characters. Thus, this statistic should be reviewed with slight skepticism with regards to pairings.

Still, it does indicate that the pairings have changed little, so your point is made.

 

Personally I would go for Luna/Harry, since this is a pairing which hasn't been abused to death to the point where I cringe when I see those two character tags at the top of the story like I already do with Harry/Hermione and Harry/Ginny. Also I rather like Luna


P.S. Someone earlier said that Harry / Edward fics have increased, pardon my ignorance but did he/she mean Edward from Full Metall Alchemist? It is not that I like slash (on the contrary) but i had always thought that those two genres would be extremely difficult to write a good crossover.

 

Ahh, innocence, how I miss it.

 

I envy you.

I'm sorry to inform you that they actually meant Edward from the Twilight series. Yes, the vampire that sparkles. (Although, I could be just as ignorant as you, but I have seen many of these lately, so I'm assuming this is correct.)

Too bad it's not Edward from FMA. He's fairly awesome, so it wouldn't be as much of a nightmare.

Edit: Damn you General Custer. You haven't seen the last of me. (Stupid 1 minute...)

 

Harry Potter and Full Metal Alchemist have been successfully crossed over before. I swear, the cake is not a lie.

 

Twilight is something I have managed to stay away from, as such it never occurred to me, kind of stupid now that I think about it. really liked that crossover by the way

 

Harry Potter fanfiction IS romance, at least 90% of the stories. Also, some of the romance stories can be fairly readable (Jeconais works and a few gems).

Other then that, I do agree with you. Pairings is now days the most important part of a summary but to be fair the pairing often tells a lot about the story.