Moments in Love

Know-It-Alls and Broomsticks

The premise for this is "consistent-character!Harry Potter" based on his "Pre-Ron" characterisation. And by that, I mean the way Harry is described at the beginnings of the books (particularly in the beginnings of 1-3... see my Gandalf's Beard profile at fanfiction.net for chapter citations... and in any other scenes in the books which are most reflective of Harry's fundamentals) before Rowling started writing Harry with lines of thought and dialogue which sound more like they were originally written for Ron.

As such, we see a Harry who is VERY interested in reading his schoolbooks, keen on learning everything there is to know about magic, and keen on doing his homework in a timely fashion - in other words, someone who has loads more in common with Hermione than Ron. And as such, we will also see a Harry who is more consistent in his behaviour regarding being very anti-bully, anti-bigot, anti-slavery, and very pro-fairness, not to mention being a fair bit smarter than he sometimes behaves when he's hanging around with Ron.

So there will be no Rowling style Out-of-Character moments where Harry goes from being someone who treats Dobby likes an equal, feels bad about house-elf enslavement, actually frees Dobby from house-elf enslavement, and then suddenly turns into Brainwashed-by-Ron-and-Hagrid!Harry who thinks Hermione is crazy for wanting to free house-elves two books later. And also no moments where Harry isn't smart enough to be suspicious of a super-expensive broom appearing out of nowhere when an alleged mass-murderer is hunting him. Nor will Harry be stupid enough to test out unknown spells discovered written in the margins of an otherwise very useful book on unsuspecting people.

In other words, again, a Harry who tends to have far more in common with Hermione in terms of goals, intellect, and basic outlook on life. Which isn't to say that Harry will be "Brainiac!Harry" who is a clone of Hermione - he will still have a more intuitive/visual style of intellect rather than a verbal/linear one, his memory will be normal - not eidetic, and he will still have a measure of impulsiveness, and some anger issues, all of which are strong features of Harry's core persona.

Likewise, in this series of moments, we'll see a more consistent-character!Hermione. A Hermione who once she learns to trust Harry's friendship and instincts, doesn't suddenly do inconsistent things like talking to McGonagall about suspicious broomsticks before discussing it with Harry, or stupid uncharacteristic things, like not believing Harry's all-too-credible deduction that a Son-of-a-Death-Eater, with serious Daddy-Issues, is very likely following in his father's DE footsteps.

Nor will Hermione be doing stupid OoC things like falling for a guy with a motor-mouth, or going to a party with a gropey-rapey jock (McLaggen) just to make that same guy jealous.... i.e. Hermione won't be portrayed as one of "those girls," a cliched smart assertive girl who inexplicably falls for thickheads who treat her like crap all time, and who never really show any appreciation for her unless she's helping them with their homework.

 No doubt some folk will think my characterisation of Ron is "bashing," (someone always does :P ) but frankly, it is based on Rowling's OWN portrayal of him. And Rowling does not treat Ron's character kindly (when it comes right down to it, she's the original Ron Basher, which is one of the things that really makes the Ron/Hermione pairing truly bizarre). Oddly enough, Ron is one of the most consistently written characters in the original series.

Anyway, Ron will be depicted in this fic with all of his canon faults, but also with all of his more positive canon traits. Likewise, the relationship between Harry and Ron in this fic will have its ups and its downs, much as it did in canon. Just to be clear I like Ron: he's funny and brave, and he always makes up with his friends after a row eventually.

Due to the fact that Rowling has stated that she downplayed the physical abuse of Harry by the Dursleys, at the behest of publishers who had her alter earlier drafts, I have simply reinstated the obvious, which is apparent from the bits Rowling left intact - see my profile (as Gandalf's Beard) at fanfiction.net for chapter citations. So there will be a bit more mention of it than in canon, simply for the sake of realism, but I'm not going to go overboard on it either. Also, the implications of the"his mother's eyes" trope will be explored more in depth.