Hi!

My name is Rick. In real life I am a project manager for a major company. Writing is my way of dealing with all the BS that comes with being an adult. I write for enjoyment. If you have a problem with my stories and have constructive comments to make, I would love to hear from you. I have disabled anonymous reviews due to a small percentage of people that feel it gives them a license to lose all common courtesy and behave like a three year-old Dudley.

My writing time is being seriously restricted right now. I am currently taking a second Master's Degree on top of my work schedule so something has to give. I am still working my stories but I had to sacrifice some free time to do my class assignments.

On Pairings and Slash:

I've had questions/requests supporting particular ships or slash. First off, I am not a particular shipper. I've read good HP/HG and good HP/GW. I've seen some really bad ones too. In my opinion, no female character was ever really fleshed out in canon enough that fanfiction can't spin a pairing in the desired direction. One of my old favorites was actually a Harry/Pansy pairing. Personally, I prefer writing the non-standard pairings but that might be on account of less heated opinions.

As to slash stories, I will not write them for HP. I don't change Harry's hair, eyes, parentage, gender or sexual orientation. I enjoy changing the world around Harry and his circumstances but I try to keep to the core of who I see Harry as. In a similar note, I would not write the Vampire Lestat (if we could) as a straight character.

Completed Stories

"Altered Destinies" - AD is a time travel fic. Harry defeats LV but loses everyone. Aberforth offers Harry a chance to kill Riddle as an infant but at the cost of staying in the past for 10-12 years. Can Harry carry through with his mission? What history will be changed by Harry's actions? WWII and Grindelwald serve as the backdrop for this story. I have tried to stay with canon characters or at least their grandparents in this story.

"The Sniper"- Sniper was written in two nights of research and writing. It is not really a super-Harry as he doesn't develop major magical powers. Instead what he gets is a "Power the Magical World Knows Not" - the power of a British Army paratrooper sniper. I will admit I was watching the movie "The Shooter" just before writing this story. I read the much better novel it was based on just recently.

"The Sniper II - Babylonian Nights" - Sequel to Sniper (obviously); I decided to make a trilogy of the Sniper world. Harry is called in as the involuntary interface between magical and Muggle during the early days of the Iraq War.

Harry Potter - Mercenary" - It's a cliche that I think every HP fanfic author takes a crack at sooner or later. I started with the standard 'Harry goes to Azkaban and develops incredible powers'. Then I twisted and pulled them into new directions. I wrote it over the course of a year at odd times. 50 pages of fun and attitude. It might be my favorite story I've written to date. It's not beta-ed so read at your own risk!

"Harry Potter - Hit Wizard" - A lot of reviewers were not happy with the open ending of Mercenary. This is the second part that brings Harry back to England for a bit of payback.

Works in Progress

"The Final Battle" is my spin on Book 7. It is my firstfan fic so be nice! I will be getting back to this eventually. I may do some rewriting and editing though after finished AD. It will remain true to my outline and ignore DH. My author notes are missing from when I 'ported this story onto this site. The character of Mike Dursley based on a composite of characters by John Ringo. He is a great SF/military author. I highly recommend his books. Look on the Baen website or your local bookstore for his stories This story is not abandoned, just on a really long hiatus. I may go back and rewrite several sections and repost after Balancing Destinies is completed.

"Beyond the Veil Lies... Chicago" is a crossover between Harry Potter and the Dresden Files, which stars another wizard named ... Harry. Aside from the name, they also share a similar attitude toward authority. This should be fun! People familiar with the Dresden Files should know this story is based entirely on the books and occurs between Dead Beat and Proven Guilty. Chapter 5- Elves is in review and the remaining planned 5 chapters are mostly outlined

I had a couple of questions about pairings in BTV. I mentioned in chapter 1 that Harry is married to Ginny, but she will not appear in the story. There will not be any romantic pairings in the story.

"Balancing Destinies" is the sequel to "Altered Destinies". Harry returns to 1997 to find the magical world peaceful and filled with Potters. A new prophecy states that Harry's return starts a new rise of Darkness. I am still working this but just set it aside for a bit. (Okay, it has been over a year now.)

"Weres Harry" came to me as a one-shot but it just demanded more. At this time it will go as far as Third year. After that will depend on your response to the story. (No, that wasn't a call for more reviews... but it doesn't hurt. :-) )

On my Yahoo site, I am also playing with crossovers for HP/ Highlander and HP/Assassin's Creed. Neither will be posted here until BD is completed.

Please R&R. I would love to know what you think of my ideas!

I have created a new Yahoo group for comments and discussion on my stories. I will also be posting pre-beta versions of the chapters before they are posted here. PDF versions of completed stories are also posted. Click the link above for homepage or use http:///group/dobbyelflord/