Harry Potter Fanfiction Club (James Potter Chapters 11-16)
James Potter and the Hall of Elder’s Crossing Chapters 11-16
Now that you’ve read chapters 11-16 of James Potter and the Hall of Elder’s Crossing let’s get down to chatting! Discuss it with me and others on twitter, instagram,and on this blog.
I won’t lie, I was not really feeling this story in the first ten chapters. I had planned on definitely switching to another fanfiction after the first book was over, instead of continuing on to James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper. But this section of the story won me over. First of all, the Americanisms and the weird Gremlin stuff really died down a bit, which was key to my enjoyment. Second, the author really started excelling at the mystery and world building. I genuinely felt like this was a JKR adjacent universe. The way the intricate details of the mystery was woven in, just like the 7 Harry Potter books, was sublime. The characters got more interesting and the plot really drew me in, while the first half I was kind of meh on.
Cedric’s ghost appearing and helping I absolutely LOVED, as well as the clever mystery about Tabitha’s broom, and how Zane points out the conspiracy is a little too easy to figure out for them, a bunch of first years. The humor was also better to me this time around. I adored the weird subplot with the reporter breaking into school and I’m dying to read more about it, and who helped him.
There were a few things I didn’t love…Hermione acting like Mrs. Weasley had possessed her was awful. The last thing I want is a dull Hermione. Sure she was all about following the rules, but don’t you stick the brightest witch of her age into a box where she’s a mom that cooks and nags. I appreciated the focus on S.P.E.W. and house elves later on to remind us that Hermione is a boss ass witch.
I also was kind of ehhh on the Snape stuff. At least Lippert kept Snape a snarky, unlikable ass instead of retconning him into a fragile misunderstood hero like the abomination that the Cursed Child did. While it annoyed me that Snape purposefully kept relevant details from James about the mystery, that is also one hundred percent something that constantly happens in “Harry Potter” so I’ll keep it as canon compliant writing and let it go.
I’m not sure how I feel about the part where it seems Tabitha is not our villain. Snape is sneering about how James shouldn’t judge Tabitha blah blah but let’s be real…she sucks. Even if she’s not evil, she’s still mean. She blasts an innocent house elf aside like a gnat!
I’m also unsure why the hell Harry and Ginny gave poor Ralph not only no real gifts when he’s a guest at Christmas, but the shitty Half Blood Prince potion book that we KNOW almost caused Harry to kill Malfoy by accident. And Harry gives it to Ralph with only some mealy mouthed warning!
I ALSO don’t know what the hell Harry was thinking telling Teddy that Remus didn’t want him (???) and all about the shitty things Remus did in the The Deathly Hallows. I meant…there’s honesty, and then there’s “your dad abandoned you and wished you were never born for a while until I told him he was being an asshole and then you were born not a werewolf, yay!”
Overall though I really enjoyed this part of the story and I’m excited to read to the end. Now it’s time to discuss!
What should we read next? James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper? Or something entirely new?
Meet with me us two weeks on October 4th at 10am Pacific Standard Time to talk chapters 17-end!
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