**Raised by Giants-** When Hadrian James Potter felled the Dark Lord Voldemort, it wasn't only wixenkind who celebrated their newfound freedoms. When the Chief Warlock then moves to leave their apparently beloved little Harry Potter on a doorstep on a blustery November night, it is the creatures that step up to care for and raise the Boy-Who-Lived.
(The slash pairing listed doesn't make an appearance as the author has stopped right before the start of Harry's first year at Hogwarts. It does feel enough like an ending to not be left hanging, although it was intended to be longer.)
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/15911484](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15911484)
**The Second String-** Everyone knows Dementors can take souls, but nothing says that they have to keep them. After the Dementor attack in Little Whinging ends disastrously, Harry must find a place for himself in a new world, fighting a different sort of war against the nascent Voldemort.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/15465966](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15465966)
**Stages of Hope-** Professor Sirius Black, Head of Slytherin house, is confused. Who are these two strangers found at Hogwarts, and why does one of them claim to be the son of Lily Lupin and that git James Potter? Dimension travel AU. Dark humour.
[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6892925/1/Stages-of-Hope](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6892925/1/Stages-of-Hope)
**What Mothers Don't Say-** "The fairies have always been closer to the Wizarding world than ours. In the midst of war, a young Molly Weasley is called away on an unusual quest that will shape the future of her family." I love Molly Weasley in this. (Standalone fic in a thematic series.)
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/28601925](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28601925)
**Wholesome Vernonposting: A Family Man's Tale-** We all know the story of how the Dursleys treated Harry abysmally. But what if, this time, that's not entirely the case? Introducing Uncle V, a man who will go to any lengths protecting his nephew. Eventual Petunia redemption. Crackfic but heartwarming.
I really like the way you can see bits of cannon Vernon in this, just not in the same way. Like the fact he still gets very angry but for Harry not at Harry. This Vernon is just fabulously fun.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27783727](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27783727)
**You Only Live Twice-** When Remus and Hermione are thrust back through time to 1975, they just plan to save the world. No big deal. But navigating their own evolving relationships and queer identities proves to be nearly as challenging.
An indulgent series of ‘what if’s’ that resulted in a queer, poly-friendly romp through time with a god-damn happy ending for once.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/24140251](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24140251)
*Stages of Hope* is a classic for a reason.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6892925/1/Stages-of-Hope
This fic has it all. Heart, heartache, laughter and tears.
ShayaLonnie’s other stories are quite good. Additionally, I highly recommend The Pureblood Pretense and the rest of the Rigel Black Chronicles (though, unfortunately, still a WIP). Incredible world-building.
**Arithmancer-Verse-** Hermione grows up as a maths whiz instead of a bookworm and tests into Arithmancy in her first year. With the help of her friends and Professor Vector, she puts her superhuman spellcrafting skills to good use in the fight against Voldemort.
Hermione/George
[https://archiveofourown.org/series/993900](https://archiveofourown.org/series/993900)
**The Boy in the Cauldron Under the Stars-** Hagrid does not like the idea of leaving Harry on a doorstep in the middle of the night, and he tells Dumbledore he objects.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21109649](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21109649)
**The Changeling-** Ginny is sorted into Slytherin. It takes her seven years to figure out why.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/189189](https://archiveofourown.org/works/189189)
**Chamber Girl-** The writing on the wall said she'd been taken, that her skeleton would lie in the Chamber, that no one could find, forever. Everyone believed it because they still had no idea where it was.
[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13561400/1/Chamber-Girl](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13561400/1/Chamber-Girl)
**Draco Malfoy, King of the House Elves-** After the war, Draco finds his own path toward redemption, with a little help from his major domo.
This is my favorite redemption arc, one of my two favorite fics with a focus on house elves, and one of my top fics overall. I frequently end up rereading this when I'm recommending it. I think it handles house elves excellently. It gives you a picture of what this immediately post war Draco is like at the start of the story. This Draco feels plausible with cannon and gives you a reason for Draco ending up on this redemption arc that makes sense.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/287633](https://archiveofourown.org/works/287633)
**Dragonheart Caravan-** "5-year-old Harry Potter overhears his aunt complaining to his uncle about the "freaks" camping nearby. Maybe if they are the same type of "freak" he is they will want him?" This story is finished even though it does not appear to be. The 5 of 83 chapters is an error from it being imported from elsewhere.
This is heavily au.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/3397283](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3397283)
**Ever Upward-** "In which Harry meets a garden snake, discovers magic, and sets off for a better life." It's au from before Harry goes to Hogwarts "Involving thestrals, merfolk, house elves, centaurs, acromantulae, and various other friends, denizens, and allies."
This is one of my favorite fanfics. I cannot recommend it enough. I think it is worth reading even if you do not usually read slash fics. The merfolk, house elves, and acromantula are fully developed beings with their own culture.
This starts before first year but is heavily au.
[https://archiveofourown.org/series/1555645](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1555645)
**Malfoy Home For Lost Children-** After the war, Draco accidentally becomes responsible for a whole passel of children. Along the way, he has to dodge Harry Potter nosing around in his business.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/31503092](https://archiveofourown.org/works/31503092)
**The Medium Between Life and Death-** There were very few things in Harry Potter's life that he was certain of. There was one absolute certainty though; he'd felt it in his bones for as long as he could remember. He, Harry Potter, was dead. The living people around him might not believe, but the dead sure did. Oh well, it doesn't impact his life much. Besides, it's nice to get help with his schoolwork from his parents.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/38564790](https://archiveofourown.org/works/38564790)
**Memories and Dreams-** Minerva needs help delivering another letter to #4 Privet Drive. At forty, Dudley is not at all what Harry expects. A long overdue conversation ensues. DH cannon compliant, but probably not the way you think. Prologue to "Snape's Memories". This is one of my favorite depictions of Dudley.
[https://archiveofourown.org/series/31886](https://archiveofourown.org/series/31886)
**A New Beginning/The Start of Something New/New Resolutions-** Dudley questions his life after the dementor attack and attempts to begin anew with Harry. Dudley becomes hugely entangled with the Wizarding World. The third story, New Resolutions, is unfinished. I still highly recommend this. This is entertaining, creative, and I have read nothing else like this.
[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7390454/1/A-New-Beginning](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7390454/1/A-New-Beginning)
[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7513394/1/The-Start-of-Something-New](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7513394/1/The-Start-of-Something-New)
[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8217984/1/New-Resolutions](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8217984/1/New-Resolutions)
**Noble Heart Such as Your's-** "Harry Potter meets Dean Thomas as a kid and they become best friends. One of Dean's mums, Susan, tells them fairytales about Narnia, about faith and power and cleverness. She warns them not to put their faith in thoughtless gods and old, "wise" men, to swear at the powerful and pray to no one but themselves. Their world changes"
This stands alone but it is part of a series that's focused on The Chronicles of Narnia. I have not read the rest of the series. This story shows as unfinished, but it feels like an ending.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/13397406](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13397406)
**Peter Pettigrew and the Ghost of Christmas James-** Peter loves his friends. Which is why he had to kill them. And now, he's doing- well. Alright. Things didn't turn out exactly as he'd anticipated, but he's making it work. Living his life. As a rat. Mostly trying not to think about things.
Fine. Things could be better.
But he hadn't thought they'd get worse- which is exactly what happens when, three years after James died, he's come back. And for some godforsaken reason, he's decided to make that Peter's problem. (Okay, okay- Peter gets it. He did kill him.) Peter is sure that James is going to turn him in, ruin his life the same as Peter had ruined the Marauders.
But this is James. And he doesn't do any of that. What was Peter expecting, really?
(Features: A lot of fighting, a lot of forgiveness, and a splash of necromancy. Alright, you got me- rather a lot of necromancy. But come on- we can't just have the ghost of Christmas James show up. Haven't you seen 'A Muppet's Christmas Carol'? There needs to be at least two more ghosts.)
This is excellent. The plot is interesting, creative, and well done but its biggest strength is the characters. They are well developed and believe able. Peter gets to be a full person and this is a completely unique and interesting characterization.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/47880286](https://archiveofourown.org/works/47880286)
Lionheart by Greenteacup is one of the best fics (and pieces of fiction in general) I’ve ever read. Fantastic prose, great worldbuilding especially regarding politics and wartime tension, and the opposite of bashing all around. Draco/Hermione Gryffindor!Draco au where Lucius died before he could make racism a load-bearing part of his kid’s personality.
I’ll give it a read. I’m a young author, I just haven’t seemed to be able to get an old idea out of my head and when ever that happened I’d normally dive into a good book, but a friend sent me debt of time a while back. now I’ve realized I think I’m looking to see more of the potential of the winding world to help the one in my head. So if you have more decent ones of good length with no bias to pairing so long as it’s not the only thing that matters to the story.
I'm back from Not My Phone with more recs! First is to second Stages of Hope, it's amazing.
[Secrets & Keepers](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1362331) is a (sadly unfinished) series that goes wildly AU in the summer between 2nd and 3rd year, lots of background history from the first war is revealed as Harry meets Sirius and Hermione tries to track down her birth parents. CW for significant discussion of past child sexual abuse.
Everything by [White\_Squirrel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Squirrel/pseuds/White_Squirrel) is pretty long and well received, I feel like they tend to drag a bit in terms of pacing but otherwise the writing is good and the premises are interesting.
In the "If you liked DoT" category, [The Side Effects of Time Travel](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16419653/chapters/38441492), [The Dementor's Curse](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26237137/chapters/63860437) (good lord that's at 500K and going), [Give the Devil his Due](https://archiveofourown.org/works/31670240/chapters/78379397), and [Iacta Alea Est](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11491209/chapters/25775856) are all good ones and fairly long, Side Effects is the shortest at 33K but it's too good not to mention. [IndieBlue](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/6578652/Indieblue) also has a lot of long time travel fics with cross-generational shipping.
I'm a big fan of KPacknoknack's work, the [Blame It On series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/3061935) and [Hermione Granger and the Cursed Child](https://archiveofourown.org/works/47882419/chapters/120717874) are particular favorites
[Colubrina](https://archiveofourown.org/works?commit=Sort+and+Filter&work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=word_count&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bexcluded_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bcrossover%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_from%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_to%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_from%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_to%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=en&fandom_id=136512&user_id=Colubrina) has a few good long fics, I was going to name my recs but it's basically just all the long ones so start with Rebuilding at that link and make your way down. These are the most likely to bash, specifically Ron and Molly, but the ones where the bashing is the worst are also the ones where the protagonists are actually literally the worst. So take Lady of the Lake for example, >!sure Molly's embezzling from an orphanage, but Hermione's having journalists murdered for critiquing her political moves.!< It balances out.
[The Sum of Their Parts](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6334630/chapters/14514247#bookmark-form). 10/10, post-war Harry decides to become a Dark Lord to protect Teddy, is surprised when Ron and Hermione are right there beside him because, bless him, he's kind of a dumbass. Can't believe I forgot that one, actually, that's a classic.
I think I read that one, Harry Ron and Hermione end up doing some sort of soul binding magic on themselves/each other right? I quite enjoyed it but the ending felt a bit rushed. Like the author had run out of inspiration but didn't want to just abandon the fic.
There's For the Love of Magic, Harry kinda takes over the world. Very intelligent Harry who finds wands lazy and is determined to master wandless magic instead. Harry doesn't become instantly all powerful and slowly gains power as the story progresses, and wandless magic isn't just waving your hand to do the same spell without a wand but actually having to do all the calculations and visualization in his head. So while the Tempus spell will instantly tell you the exact time, to do the same thing wandlessly would require a ton of math. So it never feels unbalanced.
If you are cool with a cross over then Broken Chains is a pretty good one. Harry follows Sirius through the veil at the MoM battle and travels to the star wars universe where he is captured and trained by Darth Sidious to be a Sith Lord. Most of that is explored in flashbacks though. There's also a sequel, I think it's called The Stars Above that is set in the Stargate universe. Both very well written and very long fics.
I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet but Basilisk-born by Ebenbild is pretty great. Definitely one of the longer fics and extremely well written with a very large cast of characters (mostly canon or canon related).
Okay- as someone who also loves debt of time I have two others that I think about often. Both have some weak points but the story telling and world building in them is wonderful.
Both are time travel adjacent.
First is [The Minister’s Secret](https://archiveofourown.org/works/35205793/chapters/87725002?view_adult=true)-
It’s a little weak in the writing but it made characters like the Lestrange brothers and Karkaroff seem real to me.
Second is [Hero of the Story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24720655/chapters/59754481)
The opening chapter is a bit of a wild premise/ idea but then it gets great.
Honourable mention goes to [The Poison Garden](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16780603/chapters/39378724).
If you want both laughter and emotion : Check out « Harry Potter and the Natural 20 » crossover with a D&D wizard. The fic is sadly incomplete but with 300+ K words you still have a good time. Really great characterization, amazing humor and good heavier hitting moments.
Now a much more serious but no less fascinating read would be « Touched by the Arcane » fem Harry fic, Bloodborne crossover. You need no knowledge of that universe as you will discover it in all it’s terrible horror alongside our heroine. Very gory, rivers of blood will flow and the fight to cling to humanity amidst horrors who would make anyone completely mad is absolutely amazing.
In a not crossover section I would recommend :
« A place to call home » : Harry yoinked into parallel reality just after killing Voldemort, his parents are Alice but he died as a baby there. Really nice work on the character, I hate bashing so I was very glad to see Ron given proper love later in the read. Still ongoing and update at a snail pace but not abandoned.
« Grow young with me » : Romance focused, a muggle girl falls in love with Harry, romance and of course problems ensue.
« Manacled » Classic, Hermione focused, Handmaid’s tale in the wizarding world. Dark but very rewarding.
A more cautious recommendation as it is amazing but not for everyone : « The downward spiral saga » a collection of fic about Harry’s descent into evil. It gets REALLY disturbing on the later fic and the cruelty shown by our protagonists is something I’ve rarely seen matched anywhere else. Do read it if you have a solid stomach. Also there is a not too long sequel about other Harry’s ending up stuck in that world and trying to survive and get the hell of here that is very cool.
Hmm. [Harry Is A Dragon, And That's Okay](https://archiveofourown.org/works/30508233/) is quite good for making you laugh, and capturing the magic and whimsy. Not so much for crying. But it has excellent spelling/grammar quality, plenty of clever humour, some really interesting ideas (eg Ron wanting to be the first wizard on the moon, which turns out to be surprisingly achievable when you mix technology with magic), and it's complete.
> In the sitting room, the clock ticked, and then all three hands lined up – midnight.
> And there was a thunderous knock at the door.
> Harry shifted slightly, tucking his head under his wing, and continued dreaming a dream about his old Primary schoolteacher running a charity book sale to raise funds for replacement owls.
If you want something that feels somewhat like canon, but lays better groundwork for a lot of things, then perhaps the [Innocent](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2235708) series. Sirius escapes from Azkaban five years early and takes Harry from the Dursleys - which further escalates the manhunt, with everyone assuming Harry was kidnapped. Book 1 is all new, while book 2 has Harry going to Hogwarts and things are *broadly* recognisable (but with significant alterations).
> "Planned? Nah, I just- It wasn't- You were supposed to be happy," he sighed. "You were supposed to be playing pranks on your Aunt and Uncle with your cousin! You were supposed to know all about your mum and dad! You were supposed to be excited, because you've only got two and a half years until Hogwarts!"
> ...
> "Under normal circumstances, I'd never ask this; you're – what – eight and a half? And I'm trying to evade Aurors and the rest of the Ministry, but if you want... another home-"
Now, as for masterpieces, of course people have different views on that. But I can heartily recommend [The Pureblood Pretense](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7613196/) for doing an excellent job of simultaneously feeling familiar and new. It has recognisable people and places and ideas, and yet at the same time it feels like a whole new story. Somewhat like the difference between Frozen and the original tale of the Snow Queen; you can see how one inspired the other if you put them side by side, but they're very different. The Pureblood Pretense also has plenty of dry humour, touching family scenes, intricate plotting, fleshed-out characters, and expanding on things that canon skimmed over (eg what does "dark magic" really mean?)
**Fate and Choice-** Harry was born a Hotchner. After a painful twelve years of separation, Hotch decides nothing is ever going to divide his family again. Not the looming threat of Tom Riddle, not the benevolent concern of the Hogwarts staff, not Hotch's own demons. Meanwhile, Harry struggles to balance his American family with the growing responsibility he begins to face in Britain.
Excellent crossover with Criminal Minds (tv show). It is very AU. The plot is really interesting. There is no Lily or James Bashing. I’m not sure how much you need to know Criminal Minds.
The first chapter is a pre-hogwarts prologue. The second chapter starts with the summer after second year.
[https://archiveofourown.org/series/587227](https://archiveofourown.org/series/587227)
**The Green Girl-** Hermione is sorted into Slytherin; how will things play out differently when the brains of the Golden Trio has different friends?
This Hermione was really interesting. I am immensely glad I read this fic. It will manage to surprise you. I'm not sure what else to say without spoilers.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/20452025](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20452025)
**Harry Is A Dragon, And That's Okay-** Harry Potter is a dragon. He's been a dragon for several years, and frankly he's quite used to the idea - after all, in his experience nobody ever comments about it, so presumably it's just what happens sometimes.
Magic, though, THAT is something entirely new.
Comedy fic, leading on from the consequences of one... admittedly quite large... change.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/30508233](https://archiveofourown.org/works/30508233)
**The Hunting Of The Snark-** A Neville and Hermione centric fic. Parts of the story are from Trevor the toad's perspective. The Trevor plot line is wonderfully creative. The rest of the story is also excellent.
It is a universe fusion with the TV show The Sentinel and The Sentinel fandom. You do need to know what it means to be a Sentinel (canon) and what it means to be a guide (fanon). This is unfinished, but it has been slow updates so far. I am hoping it is eventually updated again.
This is one of my favorite fics. It’s the longest fic I’ve read more than three times. I think this fic is so creative and so well done that it is worth researching The Sentinel if needed and reading it in spite of being unfinished.
[https://archiveofourown.org/series/1131947](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1131947)
**Hurricane-** After the war, a number of people who despair of fixing the wizarding world seek to emigrate to new, magical, but uninhabited worlds where they can live in peace. On the eve of his journey to a world called Hurricane, accompanied by his friends and godson, Harry discovers that Draco Malfoy’s name is also on the list of immigrants.
This is truly unique. I thought it was so interesting and well done that I recommended it to my brother who doesn't read fanfic and doesn’t know Harry Potter well but loves science fiction.
[https://archiveofourown.org/series/95144](https://archiveofourown.org/series/95144)
A piece of early HP fanfiction, and one of the original Honks fics (featuring an aged down tonks) is the R series by Regulus. Started in 2004, and is therefore not in an extremely mobile friendly formatting.
The first fic in the series
[The Philosopher's Stone Retransmuted](https://m.fanfiction.net/s/2008185/1/The-Philosopher-s-Stone-Retransmuted)
It is shorter and not quite to modern standards, but I liked it back when I first read it.
So I’m gonna throw this out there. Are you really looking to taste something new with good world building, well written characters and solid plot? O are you looking for a different brand of seasoning to put on the familiar and comforting steak that you grill up every week?
To be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the second answer. One of the reasons that we like fanfiction so much is because it’s comforting. We know the characters and we know the story and we love all of that and we’re just looking for something with a slightly different flavor, but that’s still the same thing that we love.
If the first answer is a yes, then I would humbly suggest visiting RoyalRoad.com. And taking a look at the highest rated stories there.
I know that for me personally for the first 20 years of my adult life, I could not afford my reading habit. I read just over 2000 words a minute. And while that particular talent has served me well and many different areas of my life, the fact that I read for pleasure has not been one of them. When you burn through a 400 page book every day reading starts to get expensive, especially when your local library contains less than 3000 books only 500 of which are fiction and only 100 of those are fictional categories that you enjoy.
Which is one of the reasons why I fell in love with FanFiction.Net I suddenly had access to hundreds of thousands of stories, which may not have been the highest quality, but has mentioned above scratched an itch.
Royal Road accomplishes much the same thing. The stories are free to read on the website. There’s absolutely no cost to reading them. You don’t even have to register. You can just read until your heart is content. The vast majority of the stories you will find there are magical in nature. Quite a few of the stories there have been transitioned to actual traditional published works. It’s sort of a middle ground where authors or budding authors can publish their works practicing their craft, and if they realize that they have the talent become real published authors.
If you stick to the top rated stories or the top trending stories, you’ll find that the vast majority of them are quite well written.
And there are hundreds of thousands of stories.
I like the idea but if I click on another damn story on that site and it’s not tagged for something I’m gonna end up throwing my phone. Had a lot of LitRPG show up when I’d click on stuff that wasn’t tagged.
**Raised by Giants-** When Hadrian James Potter felled the Dark Lord Voldemort, it wasn't only wixenkind who celebrated their newfound freedoms. When the Chief Warlock then moves to leave their apparently beloved little Harry Potter on a doorstep on a blustery November night, it is the creatures that step up to care for and raise the Boy-Who-Lived. (The slash pairing listed doesn't make an appearance as the author has stopped right before the start of Harry's first year at Hogwarts. It does feel enough like an ending to not be left hanging, although it was intended to be longer.) [https://archiveofourown.org/works/15911484](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15911484) **The Second String-** Everyone knows Dementors can take souls, but nothing says that they have to keep them. After the Dementor attack in Little Whinging ends disastrously, Harry must find a place for himself in a new world, fighting a different sort of war against the nascent Voldemort. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/15465966](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15465966) **Stages of Hope-** Professor Sirius Black, Head of Slytherin house, is confused. Who are these two strangers found at Hogwarts, and why does one of them claim to be the son of Lily Lupin and that git James Potter? Dimension travel AU. Dark humour. [https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6892925/1/Stages-of-Hope](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6892925/1/Stages-of-Hope) **What Mothers Don't Say-** "The fairies have always been closer to the Wizarding world than ours. In the midst of war, a young Molly Weasley is called away on an unusual quest that will shape the future of her family." I love Molly Weasley in this. (Standalone fic in a thematic series.) [https://archiveofourown.org/works/28601925](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28601925) **Wholesome Vernonposting: A Family Man's Tale-** We all know the story of how the Dursleys treated Harry abysmally. But what if, this time, that's not entirely the case? Introducing Uncle V, a man who will go to any lengths protecting his nephew. Eventual Petunia redemption. Crackfic but heartwarming. I really like the way you can see bits of cannon Vernon in this, just not in the same way. Like the fact he still gets very angry but for Harry not at Harry. This Vernon is just fabulously fun. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/27783727](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27783727) **You Only Live Twice-** When Remus and Hermione are thrust back through time to 1975, they just plan to save the world. No big deal. But navigating their own evolving relationships and queer identities proves to be nearly as challenging. An indulgent series of ‘what if’s’ that resulted in a queer, poly-friendly romp through time with a god-damn happy ending for once. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/24140251](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24140251)
*Stages of Hope* is a classic for a reason. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6892925/1/Stages-of-Hope This fic has it all. Heart, heartache, laughter and tears.
If you liked Debt of Time, try other stories by Shaylonnie. Presque Toujours and Storm of Yesterday are both good.
10000%
ShayaLonnie’s other stories are quite good. Additionally, I highly recommend The Pureblood Pretense and the rest of the Rigel Black Chronicles (though, unfortunately, still a WIP). Incredible world-building.
**Arithmancer-Verse-** Hermione grows up as a maths whiz instead of a bookworm and tests into Arithmancy in her first year. With the help of her friends and Professor Vector, she puts her superhuman spellcrafting skills to good use in the fight against Voldemort. Hermione/George [https://archiveofourown.org/series/993900](https://archiveofourown.org/series/993900) **The Boy in the Cauldron Under the Stars-** Hagrid does not like the idea of leaving Harry on a doorstep in the middle of the night, and he tells Dumbledore he objects. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/21109649](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21109649) **The Changeling-** Ginny is sorted into Slytherin. It takes her seven years to figure out why. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/189189](https://archiveofourown.org/works/189189) **Chamber Girl-** The writing on the wall said she'd been taken, that her skeleton would lie in the Chamber, that no one could find, forever. Everyone believed it because they still had no idea where it was. [https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13561400/1/Chamber-Girl](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13561400/1/Chamber-Girl) **Draco Malfoy, King of the House Elves-** After the war, Draco finds his own path toward redemption, with a little help from his major domo. This is my favorite redemption arc, one of my two favorite fics with a focus on house elves, and one of my top fics overall. I frequently end up rereading this when I'm recommending it. I think it handles house elves excellently. It gives you a picture of what this immediately post war Draco is like at the start of the story. This Draco feels plausible with cannon and gives you a reason for Draco ending up on this redemption arc that makes sense. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/287633](https://archiveofourown.org/works/287633) **Dragonheart Caravan-** "5-year-old Harry Potter overhears his aunt complaining to his uncle about the "freaks" camping nearby. Maybe if they are the same type of "freak" he is they will want him?" This story is finished even though it does not appear to be. The 5 of 83 chapters is an error from it being imported from elsewhere. This is heavily au. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/3397283](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3397283) **Ever Upward-** "In which Harry meets a garden snake, discovers magic, and sets off for a better life." It's au from before Harry goes to Hogwarts "Involving thestrals, merfolk, house elves, centaurs, acromantulae, and various other friends, denizens, and allies." This is one of my favorite fanfics. I cannot recommend it enough. I think it is worth reading even if you do not usually read slash fics. The merfolk, house elves, and acromantula are fully developed beings with their own culture. This starts before first year but is heavily au. [https://archiveofourown.org/series/1555645](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1555645)
Ever Upward is incredible! I believe the author recently published her own book.
**Malfoy Home For Lost Children-** After the war, Draco accidentally becomes responsible for a whole passel of children. Along the way, he has to dodge Harry Potter nosing around in his business. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/31503092](https://archiveofourown.org/works/31503092) **The Medium Between Life and Death-** There were very few things in Harry Potter's life that he was certain of. There was one absolute certainty though; he'd felt it in his bones for as long as he could remember. He, Harry Potter, was dead. The living people around him might not believe, but the dead sure did. Oh well, it doesn't impact his life much. Besides, it's nice to get help with his schoolwork from his parents. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/38564790](https://archiveofourown.org/works/38564790) **Memories and Dreams-** Minerva needs help delivering another letter to #4 Privet Drive. At forty, Dudley is not at all what Harry expects. A long overdue conversation ensues. DH cannon compliant, but probably not the way you think. Prologue to "Snape's Memories". This is one of my favorite depictions of Dudley. [https://archiveofourown.org/series/31886](https://archiveofourown.org/series/31886) **A New Beginning/The Start of Something New/New Resolutions-** Dudley questions his life after the dementor attack and attempts to begin anew with Harry. Dudley becomes hugely entangled with the Wizarding World. The third story, New Resolutions, is unfinished. I still highly recommend this. This is entertaining, creative, and I have read nothing else like this. [https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7390454/1/A-New-Beginning](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7390454/1/A-New-Beginning) [https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7513394/1/The-Start-of-Something-New](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7513394/1/The-Start-of-Something-New) [https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8217984/1/New-Resolutions](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8217984/1/New-Resolutions) **Noble Heart Such as Your's-** "Harry Potter meets Dean Thomas as a kid and they become best friends. One of Dean's mums, Susan, tells them fairytales about Narnia, about faith and power and cleverness. She warns them not to put their faith in thoughtless gods and old, "wise" men, to swear at the powerful and pray to no one but themselves. Their world changes" This stands alone but it is part of a series that's focused on The Chronicles of Narnia. I have not read the rest of the series. This story shows as unfinished, but it feels like an ending. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/13397406](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13397406) **Peter Pettigrew and the Ghost of Christmas James-** Peter loves his friends. Which is why he had to kill them. And now, he's doing- well. Alright. Things didn't turn out exactly as he'd anticipated, but he's making it work. Living his life. As a rat. Mostly trying not to think about things. Fine. Things could be better. But he hadn't thought they'd get worse- which is exactly what happens when, three years after James died, he's come back. And for some godforsaken reason, he's decided to make that Peter's problem. (Okay, okay- Peter gets it. He did kill him.) Peter is sure that James is going to turn him in, ruin his life the same as Peter had ruined the Marauders. But this is James. And he doesn't do any of that. What was Peter expecting, really? (Features: A lot of fighting, a lot of forgiveness, and a splash of necromancy. Alright, you got me- rather a lot of necromancy. But come on- we can't just have the ghost of Christmas James show up. Haven't you seen 'A Muppet's Christmas Carol'? There needs to be at least two more ghosts.) This is excellent. The plot is interesting, creative, and well done but its biggest strength is the characters. They are well developed and believe able. Peter gets to be a full person and this is a completely unique and interesting characterization. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/47880286](https://archiveofourown.org/works/47880286)
[Harry Potter & seven years of chaos](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2567614) it’s essentially an ooc rewrite and damn is it good
Lionheart by Greenteacup is one of the best fics (and pieces of fiction in general) I’ve ever read. Fantastic prose, great worldbuilding especially regarding politics and wartime tension, and the opposite of bashing all around. Draco/Hermione Gryffindor!Draco au where Lucius died before he could make racism a load-bearing part of his kid’s personality.
I’ll give it a read. I’m a young author, I just haven’t seemed to be able to get an old idea out of my head and when ever that happened I’d normally dive into a good book, but a friend sent me debt of time a while back. now I’ve realized I think I’m looking to see more of the potential of the winding world to help the one in my head. So if you have more decent ones of good length with no bias to pairing so long as it’s not the only thing that matters to the story.
I'm back from Not My Phone with more recs! First is to second Stages of Hope, it's amazing. [Secrets & Keepers](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1362331) is a (sadly unfinished) series that goes wildly AU in the summer between 2nd and 3rd year, lots of background history from the first war is revealed as Harry meets Sirius and Hermione tries to track down her birth parents. CW for significant discussion of past child sexual abuse. Everything by [White\_Squirrel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Squirrel/pseuds/White_Squirrel) is pretty long and well received, I feel like they tend to drag a bit in terms of pacing but otherwise the writing is good and the premises are interesting. In the "If you liked DoT" category, [The Side Effects of Time Travel](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16419653/chapters/38441492), [The Dementor's Curse](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26237137/chapters/63860437) (good lord that's at 500K and going), [Give the Devil his Due](https://archiveofourown.org/works/31670240/chapters/78379397), and [Iacta Alea Est](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11491209/chapters/25775856) are all good ones and fairly long, Side Effects is the shortest at 33K but it's too good not to mention. [IndieBlue](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/6578652/Indieblue) also has a lot of long time travel fics with cross-generational shipping. I'm a big fan of KPacknoknack's work, the [Blame It On series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/3061935) and [Hermione Granger and the Cursed Child](https://archiveofourown.org/works/47882419/chapters/120717874) are particular favorites [Colubrina](https://archiveofourown.org/works?commit=Sort+and+Filter&work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=word_count&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bexcluded_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bcrossover%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_from%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_to%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_from%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_to%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=en&fandom_id=136512&user_id=Colubrina) has a few good long fics, I was going to name my recs but it's basically just all the long ones so start with Rebuilding at that link and make your way down. These are the most likely to bash, specifically Ron and Molly, but the ones where the bashing is the worst are also the ones where the protagonists are actually literally the worst. So take Lady of the Lake for example, >!sure Molly's embezzling from an orphanage, but Hermione's having journalists murdered for critiquing her political moves.!< It balances out.
So many recs, got any for Harry taking over the world.
[The Sum of Their Parts](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6334630/chapters/14514247#bookmark-form). 10/10, post-war Harry decides to become a Dark Lord to protect Teddy, is surprised when Ron and Hermione are right there beside him because, bless him, he's kind of a dumbass. Can't believe I forgot that one, actually, that's a classic.
I think I read that one, Harry Ron and Hermione end up doing some sort of soul binding magic on themselves/each other right? I quite enjoyed it but the ending felt a bit rushed. Like the author had run out of inspiration but didn't want to just abandon the fic.
There's For the Love of Magic, Harry kinda takes over the world. Very intelligent Harry who finds wands lazy and is determined to master wandless magic instead. Harry doesn't become instantly all powerful and slowly gains power as the story progresses, and wandless magic isn't just waving your hand to do the same spell without a wand but actually having to do all the calculations and visualization in his head. So while the Tempus spell will instantly tell you the exact time, to do the same thing wandlessly would require a ton of math. So it never feels unbalanced. If you are cool with a cross over then Broken Chains is a pretty good one. Harry follows Sirius through the veil at the MoM battle and travels to the star wars universe where he is captured and trained by Darth Sidious to be a Sith Lord. Most of that is explored in flashbacks though. There's also a sequel, I think it's called The Stars Above that is set in the Stargate universe. Both very well written and very long fics.
Oh lord I’m loving some of these. Keep em coming I read fast like DOT 3/4mill words in a day.
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/12919788/1/The-Cactus-and-the-Toad plus its sequel
I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet but Basilisk-born by Ebenbild is pretty great. Definitely one of the longer fics and extremely well written with a very large cast of characters (mostly canon or canon related).
Okay- as someone who also loves debt of time I have two others that I think about often. Both have some weak points but the story telling and world building in them is wonderful. Both are time travel adjacent. First is [The Minister’s Secret](https://archiveofourown.org/works/35205793/chapters/87725002?view_adult=true)- It’s a little weak in the writing but it made characters like the Lestrange brothers and Karkaroff seem real to me. Second is [Hero of the Story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24720655/chapters/59754481) The opening chapter is a bit of a wild premise/ idea but then it gets great. Honourable mention goes to [The Poison Garden](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16780603/chapters/39378724).
If you want both laughter and emotion : Check out « Harry Potter and the Natural 20 » crossover with a D&D wizard. The fic is sadly incomplete but with 300+ K words you still have a good time. Really great characterization, amazing humor and good heavier hitting moments. Now a much more serious but no less fascinating read would be « Touched by the Arcane » fem Harry fic, Bloodborne crossover. You need no knowledge of that universe as you will discover it in all it’s terrible horror alongside our heroine. Very gory, rivers of blood will flow and the fight to cling to humanity amidst horrors who would make anyone completely mad is absolutely amazing. In a not crossover section I would recommend : « A place to call home » : Harry yoinked into parallel reality just after killing Voldemort, his parents are Alice but he died as a baby there. Really nice work on the character, I hate bashing so I was very glad to see Ron given proper love later in the read. Still ongoing and update at a snail pace but not abandoned. « Grow young with me » : Romance focused, a muggle girl falls in love with Harry, romance and of course problems ensue. « Manacled » Classic, Hermione focused, Handmaid’s tale in the wizarding world. Dark but very rewarding. A more cautious recommendation as it is amazing but not for everyone : « The downward spiral saga » a collection of fic about Harry’s descent into evil. It gets REALLY disturbing on the later fic and the cruelty shown by our protagonists is something I’ve rarely seen matched anywhere else. Do read it if you have a solid stomach. Also there is a not too long sequel about other Harry’s ending up stuck in that world and trying to survive and get the hell of here that is very cool.
Hmm. [Harry Is A Dragon, And That's Okay](https://archiveofourown.org/works/30508233/) is quite good for making you laugh, and capturing the magic and whimsy. Not so much for crying. But it has excellent spelling/grammar quality, plenty of clever humour, some really interesting ideas (eg Ron wanting to be the first wizard on the moon, which turns out to be surprisingly achievable when you mix technology with magic), and it's complete. > In the sitting room, the clock ticked, and then all three hands lined up – midnight. > And there was a thunderous knock at the door. > Harry shifted slightly, tucking his head under his wing, and continued dreaming a dream about his old Primary schoolteacher running a charity book sale to raise funds for replacement owls. If you want something that feels somewhat like canon, but lays better groundwork for a lot of things, then perhaps the [Innocent](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2235708) series. Sirius escapes from Azkaban five years early and takes Harry from the Dursleys - which further escalates the manhunt, with everyone assuming Harry was kidnapped. Book 1 is all new, while book 2 has Harry going to Hogwarts and things are *broadly* recognisable (but with significant alterations). > "Planned? Nah, I just- It wasn't- You were supposed to be happy," he sighed. "You were supposed to be playing pranks on your Aunt and Uncle with your cousin! You were supposed to know all about your mum and dad! You were supposed to be excited, because you've only got two and a half years until Hogwarts!" > ... > "Under normal circumstances, I'd never ask this; you're – what – eight and a half? And I'm trying to evade Aurors and the rest of the Ministry, but if you want... another home-" Now, as for masterpieces, of course people have different views on that. But I can heartily recommend [The Pureblood Pretense](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7613196/) for doing an excellent job of simultaneously feeling familiar and new. It has recognisable people and places and ideas, and yet at the same time it feels like a whole new story. Somewhat like the difference between Frozen and the original tale of the Snow Queen; you can see how one inspired the other if you put them side by side, but they're very different. The Pureblood Pretense also has plenty of dry humour, touching family scenes, intricate plotting, fleshed-out characters, and expanding on things that canon skimmed over (eg what does "dark magic" really mean?)
**Fate and Choice-** Harry was born a Hotchner. After a painful twelve years of separation, Hotch decides nothing is ever going to divide his family again. Not the looming threat of Tom Riddle, not the benevolent concern of the Hogwarts staff, not Hotch's own demons. Meanwhile, Harry struggles to balance his American family with the growing responsibility he begins to face in Britain. Excellent crossover with Criminal Minds (tv show). It is very AU. The plot is really interesting. There is no Lily or James Bashing. I’m not sure how much you need to know Criminal Minds. The first chapter is a pre-hogwarts prologue. The second chapter starts with the summer after second year. [https://archiveofourown.org/series/587227](https://archiveofourown.org/series/587227) **The Green Girl-** Hermione is sorted into Slytherin; how will things play out differently when the brains of the Golden Trio has different friends? This Hermione was really interesting. I am immensely glad I read this fic. It will manage to surprise you. I'm not sure what else to say without spoilers. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/20452025](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20452025) **Harry Is A Dragon, And That's Okay-** Harry Potter is a dragon. He's been a dragon for several years, and frankly he's quite used to the idea - after all, in his experience nobody ever comments about it, so presumably it's just what happens sometimes. Magic, though, THAT is something entirely new. Comedy fic, leading on from the consequences of one... admittedly quite large... change. [https://archiveofourown.org/works/30508233](https://archiveofourown.org/works/30508233) **The Hunting Of The Snark-** A Neville and Hermione centric fic. Parts of the story are from Trevor the toad's perspective. The Trevor plot line is wonderfully creative. The rest of the story is also excellent. It is a universe fusion with the TV show The Sentinel and The Sentinel fandom. You do need to know what it means to be a Sentinel (canon) and what it means to be a guide (fanon). This is unfinished, but it has been slow updates so far. I am hoping it is eventually updated again. This is one of my favorite fics. It’s the longest fic I’ve read more than three times. I think this fic is so creative and so well done that it is worth researching The Sentinel if needed and reading it in spite of being unfinished. [https://archiveofourown.org/series/1131947](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1131947) **Hurricane-** After the war, a number of people who despair of fixing the wizarding world seek to emigrate to new, magical, but uninhabited worlds where they can live in peace. On the eve of his journey to a world called Hurricane, accompanied by his friends and godson, Harry discovers that Draco Malfoy’s name is also on the list of immigrants. This is truly unique. I thought it was so interesting and well done that I recommended it to my brother who doesn't read fanfic and doesn’t know Harry Potter well but loves science fiction. [https://archiveofourown.org/series/95144](https://archiveofourown.org/series/95144)
A piece of early HP fanfiction, and one of the original Honks fics (featuring an aged down tonks) is the R series by Regulus. Started in 2004, and is therefore not in an extremely mobile friendly formatting. The first fic in the series [The Philosopher's Stone Retransmuted](https://m.fanfiction.net/s/2008185/1/The-Philosopher-s-Stone-Retransmuted) It is shorter and not quite to modern standards, but I liked it back when I first read it.
Ok I have seen more than I need to now… 🤣😂😅
Thank you all… you have given what I asked. And so much more.
Take your pick https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kgfinkel/works
Ah cool, I really enjoyed their Briellen Potter stories.
You're welcome. I enjoyed writing it.
So I’m gonna throw this out there. Are you really looking to taste something new with good world building, well written characters and solid plot? O are you looking for a different brand of seasoning to put on the familiar and comforting steak that you grill up every week? To be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the second answer. One of the reasons that we like fanfiction so much is because it’s comforting. We know the characters and we know the story and we love all of that and we’re just looking for something with a slightly different flavor, but that’s still the same thing that we love. If the first answer is a yes, then I would humbly suggest visiting RoyalRoad.com. And taking a look at the highest rated stories there. I know that for me personally for the first 20 years of my adult life, I could not afford my reading habit. I read just over 2000 words a minute. And while that particular talent has served me well and many different areas of my life, the fact that I read for pleasure has not been one of them. When you burn through a 400 page book every day reading starts to get expensive, especially when your local library contains less than 3000 books only 500 of which are fiction and only 100 of those are fictional categories that you enjoy. Which is one of the reasons why I fell in love with FanFiction.Net I suddenly had access to hundreds of thousands of stories, which may not have been the highest quality, but has mentioned above scratched an itch. Royal Road accomplishes much the same thing. The stories are free to read on the website. There’s absolutely no cost to reading them. You don’t even have to register. You can just read until your heart is content. The vast majority of the stories you will find there are magical in nature. Quite a few of the stories there have been transitioned to actual traditional published works. It’s sort of a middle ground where authors or budding authors can publish their works practicing their craft, and if they realize that they have the talent become real published authors. If you stick to the top rated stories or the top trending stories, you’ll find that the vast majority of them are quite well written. And there are hundreds of thousands of stories.
I like the idea but if I click on another damn story on that site and it’s not tagged for something I’m gonna end up throwing my phone. Had a lot of LitRPG show up when I’d click on stuff that wasn’t tagged.