Oh, Harry Potter fans and Brits, and those who happen to be both, lend me your wisdom!
I've come across a couple of things in HP stories I've read recently, things which puzzle me.

A. Dementors
The assertion that "Dementors feed on happy thoughts". When I came across this the first time, I thought it was an aberration, a misinterpretation, but when I came across it a second time, it obviously isn't a solitary one. Where did people get this idea? To me, it seems the complete opposite of what canon tells us. Dementors don't feed on happy thoughts, they feed on despair. Or, more precisely, they create despair and feed on souls.
How could Dementors feed on happy thoughts when happy thoughts (in the form of a Patronus) drive them away?
How could they feed on happy thoughts when people who have lots of unhappy thoughts (such as Harry) are more vulnerable to them?

Is it that people give that interpretation because they think that "evoking worst memories" is equivalent to "destroying happy thoughts" which is equivalent to "feeding on happy thoughts"? But I don't think that's the case at all.

My personal theory about Dementors is that Dementors bring up people's worst memories because they need to induce despair, suicidal despair, in order to more easily consume someone's soul.

B. Forms of Address

"Miss Granger" versus "Granger" versus "Hermione":
1) "Miss Granger" is the most formal (yes)
2) "Hermione" is the least formal and most friendly (yes)
3) "Granger" is less formal and more friendly than "Miss Granger" (huh?)

That last is what puzzles me, though I've come across it more than once in Severus Snape/Hermione Granger stories; that Snape calling her "Granger" is a form of respect and/or friendliness, and that when he goes back to calling her "Miss Granger" it's an indication that their relationship has gone a step backwards.
Maybe my puzzlement is due to the fact that I'm not British, but I thought that the Surname form of address is less friendly than the full honorific; certainly Snape doesn't mean it in any friendly manner when he addresses Harry as "Potter". I thought the Surname form of address is one that emphasises the Teacher-Student dynamic, while the Honorific-Surname form of address, while being more formal, is also more polite, and thus in some ways is more friendly.

Any Brits care to enlighten me?

Cross-posted to http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/601095.html.

I am pretty well organized with my fanfic reading. When I want to read a net-fic story, I download it and add it to my personal private net-fic archive, which is a wiki which has all the stories cross-referenced by fandom, author, series, etc. And I make notes in the wiki as (or after) I read a story. More recently I've been adding indexes by character, too. So there I was, browsing over the Hermione Granger stories, and came across the following notes on a SS/HG story I'd read a while back (The Other Side of Darkness):

I could believe, by the end, that they were actually well-suited. Which is impressive, really, since I don't really ship SS/HG, though I like it when the author can persuade me, probably more because I like to see Snape get a happy ending, rather than a desire for a particular pairing.

It's been creeping up on me. I had forgotten there was a time when I didn't ship SS/HG.

Cross-posted to http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/599237.html.

I try to avoid reading works-in-progress, because it's so frustrating waiting until they are finished. But in spite of that, I have been sucked in to reading them every now and then, and I keep on accumulating them. So I thought I'd share my frustration (and who, knows, encourage some authors) by giving my current list of works-in-progress that I have started reading and wish the author would update and finish soon.
( mostly Harry Potter and Doctor Who )

Cross-posted to http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/597016.html.

Karmic Koala (Ubuntu Linux) has bad karma. At least with me. Spent hours downloading to upgrade to it, hours and hours. Finally got everything installed. Reboot. Aaaand... my display kept flashing on and off. And half my keystrokes were ignored. But because I'd cleaned my cache before upgrading (oops), in order to downgrade back to the previous release, guess what? Yep. Downloading for hours. (looks) Oh, the ETA has gone down to about an hour now. It was hovering around 2 hours for the past... four hours? Something like that. (sigh)

While I was waiting, I read fanfic. More HG/SS, silly me. One called "The Traveller", which had a number of good things going for it; decent prose, a twisty time-travel plot, some lovely angst, a happy-ever-after... but in the end, it felt contrived.
But it left me with a desire for Steampunk Harry Potter. With Mad Science, clockwork, polished brass, elegant Victorian-style clothing, a melding of magic and science, with, of course, Hermione Granger right in the middle of it.
Someone write it for me? Pleeeese?

Another story I wish someone would write (where does one issue challenges for HP folks to write, anyway?) is this: Hermione + Snape friendship, with Hermione/Ron 'ship, and Snape and Ron have to work together to save Hermione. Wouldn't that be fun?

Edited to add: (22:45) I have now broken my desktop. It will need to be wiped and reinstalled from scratch. Which I do not have time to do now. (sigh). I am glad I have backups of stuff.

This entry was originally posted at http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/595609.html.

Much as I have been enjoying reading SS/HG stories, as I said earlier, they're all starting to blur together in my mind, so I'm taking a break from them.
However, one of the ones I got half way through before realizing that I couldn't remember which events were attached to which story, well, anyway, that particular story was different because there was actual Hermione + Snape friendship in the story before it turned into romance.
And I love friendship.

So... does anybody know if there actually exist any pure Hermione & Snape friendship stories?
Or even Snape & anybody friendship stories?

This entry was originally posted at http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/595175.html.

You Know You've Been Reading Too Many SS/HG Stories When...
they start blending together in your mind, and you forget which one you're reading.

"Is this the one where Hermione's parents are dead, or the one where they're in hiding in France, or the one one where they're still in Australia, or the one where they haven't forgiven Hermione for oblivating them and sending them to Australia...?"
"Is this the one where Draco assaults Hermione, or the one where he rescues her from assault?"
"Is this the one where Hermione wants to study Potions, or the one where she wants to study Arithmancy?"

I really should take a breather from them, shouldn't I?

This entry was originally posted at http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/594585.html.

Fan writers are inventive. One of the things they invent is mocking names for Lord Voldemort.
My two favourites are:
* Lord Moldywort
* Lord Vol-eu-vent

Also, I discovered at my brother's birthday dinner last night that my nieflings are in the "Snape is an evil git" school, and that they strongly dislike the actor who played Harry Potter. Oh well, I guess it takes all sorts.

I have been reading Pet Project, which I have been enjoying greatly, but alas it is a work-in-progress, and I have no idea when it will be finished, considering that the author keeps on being delayed. Foolishness on my part, probably, to have started reading it when I knew it wasn't finished, but so many people had it listed as a favourite story, and the premise sounded intriguing, so I caved. And as I said, I have enjoyed it; Snape is snarky and cunning and walking on a razor's edge, Hermione is brave and thoughtful and foolish, there's nifty extrapolation about the HP world, particularly in regards to House Elves and Arithmancy. I wish she would hurry up and finish it!

This entry was originally posted at http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/594265.html.

I'm still on a Harry Potter obsessed streak, and something occurred to me about events in Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, something that I'm kicking myself for not realizing at the time, since it's bloomin' obvious.
( spoilers for HBP and DH )

This entry was originally posted at http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/583691.html.