A Fresh Start by Talen Dari

Massive Harry Potter AU that starts at the point in which Harry's name comes out of the goblet of fire during the fourth year. The fic over powers Harry and Hermione but does attempt to keep the playing field level by also powering up the villains. I dislike that Sirius Black is now a villain and find it pretty stupid for Sirius to merge with a demon (though I do wonder what their third year, which is not really mentioned, was like considering the differences). I don't like how Harry and Hermione view Molly as a surrogate mother (because really they haven't been around her enough to do so - even in the books themselves they spend very little time around her nowhere near enough to bond that closely). I like that Harry and Hermione are actually trying to improve themselves to better deal with situations since that is something they really should have done in the books but didn't do much of. I don't like how quick and easily they are to trust a complete stranger (last real druid or not). I like that Hermione's parents are magic hating and they have real problems with it, bordering on hating Hermione, because it is an interpretation that fits the original story (in that the source material really doesn't contradict it at all); since she rarely interacts with her parents at all in the books (as in barely spending any time with them and spending more time at places like the burrow or Sirius's house rather than going home to be with her parents and she never talks about them). I like that even though the Tri-wizard tournament is used the tasks are different (mainly because the ones in the book/movie is used to often) - though really the new tasks are not better than the ones in the book. I like that Voldemort is not anywhere near as stupid as he was in the books but find it annoying that the story tries to compensate for an intelligent Voldemort by dumbing down other characters. I like that Harry and Hermione become animagus since that is something they should have done in the books; Hermione because she wants to acquire knowledge and Harry because his father was an animagus if for no other reasons. It is a very useful ability to have though I don't like that their animal forms are magical creatures. Just changing into an animal is enough no real need or reason to make the creature magical (though I would like to see the animal be an extinct animal - how cool would it be for them to be something like a Tyrannosaurus or Deinonychus). I dislike how much they trust their head of house because looking at the books she doesn't really give them a reason to trust her. I don't like that Hermione is made out to be a half-blood (she was adopted but didn't know it) partly because being muggleborn is a big part of her character but also because it shouldn't make any damn difference. Who there ancestors really shouldn't matter.