Hi! My real name is Travis and I share my birthday with Harry Potter though I would be 7 years older.

First off, I want to direct you to some truly great Harry Potter fan-fic authors, not all of whom post here due to the restrictive guidelines.

Jeconais: jeconais[dot]fanficauthors[dot]net

Hope is my favorite Harry/Gabrielle fic & one of the very best Harry Potter romance fics out there. It is complete and has a beautiful ending. There are many other great fics here too though, like White Knight, Grey Queen.

Kinsfire: kinsfire[dot]fanficauthors[dot]net

I love too many of his fics to enumerate them here. Go have a read. One of his fics, Family Matters, was removed because a part of it's plot contained subject matter (teen sex) that he deemed questionable/inappropriate for the site. Personally I loved the story and it is one of my favorites.

Ruskbyte: ruskbyte[dot]fanficauthors[dot]net

Evil Be Thou My Good is a chilling Harry Potter/Hellraiser cross-over that is a great read. Backwards Compatible is another that I really like. Culture Shock is currently in-progress and has thus far proven to also be both fun and interesting.

Draco664: draco664[dot]fanficauthors[dot]net (Apprentice Potter & Journeyman Potter are really great stories and feature Harry/Hermione/fem-Blaise. Master Potter continues the story but Harry ditches Hermione permanently (let's just be friends...) when she runs out on him after they both say some pretty stupid things to each other in anger. So it winds up becoming just Harry/fem-Blaise. Just as, if not more importantly, they feature a powerful and seriously butt-kicking Harry who is tired of being used and abused by others. A Harry that is the prophesied equal to Voldemort in power and will that learns how to fight; not the continuing Dumbledore sycophantic little boy suddenly with a Super!Wand, Super!Cloak and Super!Ring that make him immune to death.)

I also have many favorite authors here on fanfiction[dot]net and they can be found on my favorite authors lists.

Now I don't like ALL of their stories since I am rather unable to tolerate Harry/Fan-girl (whoops! I mean Ginny) pairing based fics. I prefer stories with Harry paired with ANY girl whose feelings aren't based upon her hero-worship of the BWL. (In Ginny's case ever since she was a little girl.) I can't stand Ginny because the root/basis of her feelings are for the BWL first and foremost. It's disingenuous, shallow and disgusting for Harry, a boy denied love most of his life by an old-man using him as a weapon in a war, to wind up in a relationship with a fan-girl whose feelings are for the heroic image and fame of the BWL - NOT the real Harry Potter, a boy enslaved by the Dursleys and knowing little but "neglect and often cruelty" for most of his life. He needs love, not someone attracted to (lusting for) him because of his fame and/or wealth. Ginny was every bit as shallow as those young women that chase after sports stars, rock bands and/or pursue and marry 75 year old millionaire guys for their fame and money. Another reason I dislike her is that she is a textbook example of a "Mary-Sue" character - the sudden and "perfect" in every way soul-mate for the poor abused hero. However, the best argument against this pairing is to ask yourself who Ginny would have pursued and married had Neville Longbottom been the Boy-Who-Lived instead of Harry Potter. There is no denying the truth to that. Quite sad isn't it? And it proves my point entirely.

I am as equally unable to tolerate Ron/Hermione pairings. Ron had done nothing but abuse, belittle and/or hurt Hermione in some way all seven years because of her intelligence, hardworking and caring nature while hypocritically USING that same intelligence, hardworking and caring nature to help him with his homework or his own wants/needs. He did nothing but USE and ABUSE her and even in the last book he was still just as immature and uncaring of her feelings and well-being as he was in the first. He always put himself first in direct contrast to the very definition of love - where you put the happiness and well-being of the one you love before your own. Granted, Hermione was far from perfect but she NEVER intentionally tried to hurt anybody unlike Ron's own vicious verbal assaults against her where he knew and intended for it to hurt her. I reiterate, Ron was abusive and/or dismissive of Hermione and her feelings in EVERY book. So, why in the hell would this intelligent young woman suddenly be so stupid as to even date much less marry such an arse?

I can only guess that it was JKR trying to insert a little realism in that Hermione's lonely childhood because of her intelligent and assertive nature combined with 7 years of Ron's put-downs and abuse had destroyed her own self-esteem so badly that she figured that Ron was the best she could hope for. She had been reduced to absolutely zero self-respect and thus gave herself over fully to her abuser. Either that or it was the old good-girl goes for bad-boy routine in which case the stupid btch gets everything she deserves. Oh yes, he abuses me all the time so he MUST be a truly great male specimen! Let's make babies! That is one aspect of some women that I'll never be able to understand.

Whichever it is, the whole situation is utterly ridiculous for a series of books directed at children and teens. It tells them that shallow and abusive relationships are perfectly normal and a sound basis for lifetime relationships. If these pairings are JKR's idea of an ideal fantasy romance then I must truly pity her real-life experiences such that these disgustingly shallow and abuse ridden pairings are the best she can imagine. The epilogue of Book 7 proved that the ENTIRE story of Harry Potter was a tragedy to the bitter end and remained tragic for the rest of their lives.

It's also really quite sad that by the end of book 7 we learned that Harry was no "great wizard" or really even a hero at all. He was just a naive boy/young man brainwashed and manipulated by Dumbledore into suicide for a cause. It proved no different than like any other child brainwashed and manipulated by certain religious extremists into strapping themselves with explosives and blowing themselves up along with "the enemy." After all, in those adult's minds, it too is for "the greater good." I hope you'll pardon my extreme disgust with any adults using children in a war and knowingly setting them up to die. It is an ultimate evil to use a child like that no matter what the cause or reasons may be and it truly makes Dumbledore every bit as much a monster as Voldemort.

OotP, Chapter 37, Dumbledore to Harry:

“Five years ago you arrived at Hogwarts, Harry, safe and whole, as I had planned and intended. Well - not quite whole. You had suffered. I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle's doorstep. I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years.”

HBP 3, Dumbledore to the Dursleys:

"He has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands." ...

"The magic I evoked fifteen years ago means that Harry has powerful protection while he can still call this house 'home.' However miserable he has been here, however unwelcome, however badly treated, you have at least, grudgingly, allowed him houseroom."

What Dumbledore did was no different than kidnapping a black infant and forcing the poor child onto a family of fervent members of the Ku Klux Klan with a threat to provide the child a home. Harry received the same treatment you would expect for that poor child assuming (s)he wasn't killed outright, don't you think? Sure, he survived but as nothing more than a horribly abused slave of the Dursleys. It was stated clearly that Harry's abuse was physical as well as mental and emotional. There was mention of Petunia striking at him with a frying pan (presumably hot) in the kitchen as well as Vernon's comment about nothing being impossible to "beat" out of the "freak" implying that beatings were common. Then of course they also encouraged Dudley's "Harry hunting" and attacks on the "freak."

Dumbledore could have done something to ensure that Harry's childhood wasn't dark and difficult but instead chose not to and in so doing he proved that "dark and difficult" childhood is in fact precisely what he really wanted Harry to suffer through. (Remember his admonishment regarding doing what is "right" rather than what is easy is further proof that he considered Harry's suffering "right" unless he hypocritically ignored his own advice and just dumped Harry there without care for his well-being because it was the easy thing to do.) The wizarding world is rife with spells and potions compelling particular behavior. It would most certainly have been preferable and much happier for both the Dursleys and Harry if Dumbledore had at the least used a compulsion ward or charm to ensure Harry was at least accepted if not loved by the Dursleys. After all, his living with them was deemed by Dumbledore to be necessary regardless of their clearly not wanting Harry. Thus he proved by forcing Harry upon them that they lacked any real free-will in the matter; that what they wanted was unimportant anyway in the much greater need for Harry's safety. (Dumbledore's howler to Petunia "REMEMBER MY LAST!" when the Dursleys were about to throw Harry out along with prior statements peppered throughout earlier books proved that Harry's residence with the Dursleys was coerced upon the Dursleys by Dumbledore.) So why then didn't he take the added step to ensure Harry grew up well since the Dursley's free-will didn't matter to him anyway? In fact, his coercion absolutely ensured the Dursleys would take out their resentment and hatred upon Harry. It was abundantly clear that he fully intended Harry's sufferance through an abusive and enslaved childhood because he needed the boy (and prophesied weapon) meek, weak and fully cowed into easy control by adults.

After all, Dumbledore fully admits that he knowingly subjected Harry to more than a decade of abuse and enslavement by his relatives with no such effort to ensure Harry's well-being. Is it any wonder that Harry trashed his office afterwards? It might be puzzling to some how later Harry did an about-face and was again "Dumbledore's man" despite the evil Dumbledore knowingly inflicted upon him. But all that was needed to fully regain and seal Harry's fervent loyalty was Dumbledore paralyzing and forcing Harry into watching Dumbledore intentionally martyr himself. He was dying already but was careful not to tell Harry that. He made Harry believe that he sacrificed himself to protect Harry and thus forever sealed Harry's zealous loyalty. It is a tactic called "martyrdom" and it has been used to seal fervent and zealous loyalty to a cause or person very successfully for more than a thousand years by cultists, Islamists and also to a historically lesser extent by Christians as well. It was also the very fate he had planned for Harry - to die as a martyr.

BOTH Dumbledore and Voldemort fought what is called a "proxy war" where they used others (cultish followers mostly, though in Harry's case he was simply a kidnapped and brainwashed child) to fight and die for them. BOTH of them manipulated, used and endangered or outright sacrificed the lives of others, often innocents and children - without those people's knowledge or informed consent. Just because one's ends may be deemed noble does not mean that such evil methods are acceptable to reach those ends. Why is it to be any more tolerated for Dumbledore and the "Light" to commit such atrocities than the bad guys that are doing it? In fact, Dumbledore often hypocritically used that very argument to discourage anyone from using lethal force against the Death Eaters but yet most of his own actions and intentional inaction proved equally vile and evil in result, if not intent. Knowingly enslaving an innocent one year-old infant to 15 years of hatred and cruelty as a means of shaping that child's personality for easier influence and control is but only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. How about discouraging his followers from properly defending themselves but rather instead let the enemy kill them? His total insistence upon stunning and releasing torturers and murderers only allowed them to be revived or released to later go off to torture and kill someone else. Something that is far more evil than putting down a rabid dog for what it is before it could hurt someone else. Note how the Malfoys among others were walking free at the end of DH despite the murders and tortures they had done. How many others have since then likely been tortured and killed by them in the intervening 19 years before the epilogue? Dumbledore operated under the premise that the lives and well-being of everyone else, particularly future victims, are unimportant compared to his belief in giving infinite chances of redemption to murderers and terrorists. Many good people died unnecessarily all thanks to Dumbledore's cult of personality.

I think the most telling difference between Dumbledore and Voldemort though was that Voldemort's followers had the choice whether or not to serve him. Dumbledore, on the other hand, kidnapped an infant boy and then conditioned (aka brainwashed) him through years of slavery and abuse followed by manipulation into suicide for Dumbledore's cause. In other words, Voldemort's followers had a choice whilst Dumbledore enslaved innocent children into his service. You can't get much more vile and despicable than that. Ultimately Harry Potter was nothing more than a poor kid that was kidnapped and brainwashed by the so-called "good guys" into being a suicide bomber. (I would compare Harry to Jason Bourne but Harry had absolutely no choice in the matter and no special training or preparation beyond the brainwashing to die for everyone else.)

By the end of DH there is a huge amount of suffering, blood and death on Dumbledore's hands (arguably as much or even more than on Voldemort's and his Death Eaters) for his usage of others and refusal to use his own power (magical and political/governmental) to truly stop any of them from harming or killing others. It's much like a police officer that chooses to stand by and merely watch whilst someone rapes and murders a child - refusing to help for whatever his own personal reasons. Who is the bigger monster? The sicko doing the raping and murder or the person who has taken on the title, position and responsibility - trusted by all to protect the victim - but instead refuses to do so? Dumbledore even went so far as to not only protect such monsters from being rightfully killed in self-defense or justice but even worse invited such monsters into a school full of children. Equally as horrific was knowingly enslaving children to hateful monsters as a means of brainwashing and control. Not just the Dursleys, but also Snape. Ask yourself about the "coincidence" of the only long-term professor outright abusive of Harry just so happened to be "promoted" to teaching Harry's best magical subject the year Harry would have left his influence in Potions class because he failed to meet the minimum grade Snape required. It was blatantly clear that Dumbledore used Snape to keep Harry abused and down-trodden while at Hogwarts and away from the Dursley's abuse. Harry was never given a reprieve from the bullying and abuse because that is what Dumbledore wanted and needed in order to shape him into a martyr who believed his own life had no value and was better to sacrifice for others more deserving of life and happiness.

That is what disappointed me most about canon. Ultimately, Harry Potter was revealed to have never been a hero at all. Instead he was nothing more than a severely used and abused victim, kidnapped as an infant from his legal guardian and brainwashed into his role of suicide for Dumbledore's cause. Those who read the series should heed its hidden warnings against adults in positions of authority over children exploiting children for their own purposes/ideals and the use of children in wars by adults indoctrinating them into certain views and then sacrificing their lives for the adult's ideals/goals.

Well, that's all for now. Maybe more later...

Update: I'm happy to see that JKR has come to her senses and has admitted that the Ron-Hermione pairing was a terrible mistake and that such a pairing would never have worked except with perhaps extensive counseling. And even then, doubtful. She admitted that Harry and Hermione as a wedded couple made much more sense and was far more "credible" as a happy couple together.