My HP shipping manifesto

Actually, it's not nearly as sophisticated (or even as important to me) as the title suggests. But a couple of nights ago lizbee and I were chatting about HP in general and my latest fic in particular, and these thoughts just sort of crystallized...

( Here's my basic premise. )

( R/H is cute, but dull. )

( H/H is like a soap opera. )

( H/G started out with a lot of puppy fat, but it's got good bones. )

So yes, I've come to recognize that if I have a ship at all, it's H/G. And I'd welcome some recs for mature, thoughtful H/G fics written post-OotP, if there are any out there (I'm sure there must be, by now). Where are the H/G fics being archived these days (besides the general archives like FA and FF.net, I mean), anyway?

Bring out your recs!

The lovely and talented amylud, who did such a great job of beta-reading What You Never Knew You Wanted for me, turns out to be a big HP fan. The only reason she hasn't got into the fandom before this is because it's so biiiiiiig, and she doesn't know where to start. (I can't blame her, either -- if I hadn't been in the fandom practically since it hatched, I'd be overwhelmed, too.)

I asked her if there were any specific things she'd like to read, and she said:

Generally, I love and adore the Weasleys above all else. I enjoyed Harry of OoTP -- in other words, the conflicted/angry Harry. He was much more real to me... In terms of timeline, I don't think I'd want to read anything pre-OoTP. That is all too "canon" for me to be messed with. So I guess the future-fic type of stuff. But you know me -- I'll read anything as long as it is well-written. Good character studies with fabulous writing rock my world.

So, does anybody have some good suggestions for amylud? She's already read After The End, by the way, so you can leave that one off your list... but do leave any other thoughts you might have in the comments.

Season Finales

Just came up from watching the last ep of this season's 24.

Wow.

( No specifics, just general reaction stuff )

Which brings me to the thing I haven't commented on, the season finale of Alias:

( Yahtzee, you might want to skip this )

Sigh.

ETA: ( Very minor 24 spoiler )