The Ships That Fandom Forgot

[snorkackcatcher]

I know I've mentioned this before, but ... where are the Cho/Michael and Hagrid/Maxime stories? Two indubitably canon ships -- both of which seem to have lasted at least a couple of years to judge from the books -- but Crumpled-Horned Snorkacks are spotted more often than either of them. Are the characters really that unpopular?

I went looking on the two big general HP fic sites, and a search for Cho/Michael on FictionAlley (well, Cho/Other Canon Wizard with the current character list) produced precisely zero fics for the pairing. A search at Fanfiction.net produced only one ficlet, which was of the painful-to-read type. Typical extract:

He went on to explain about the pretty red head the Wesley girl that beat me to the snitch. I listen to his story. Happy for once people weren't picking on my problems.

"And I don't think her brother licked me very much."

He concluded. I chuckled the close thing to a laugh I had in a long time. He smiled at me. "So, it seams to me that your having more problems then you just lost the quiditch match."

I don't think Ron licked Michael very much either, although now you mention it Ron/Michael slash would make great crack ... (Yes, I looked on FA and FFN. No, no-one's written that either.)

As far as Hagrid/Maxime goes, things are very slightly better -- FA and FFN have a brace each. Unfortunately, the FA ones consist of Fraternisation (which is a great fic and well worth its Niffle, but the Hagrid/Maxime is purely background), and one which basically ignores GoF canon. The FFN fics consist of one with the summary "This is a story of Hagrid and Olympe Maxime. Apperently Hagrid can't use protection so guess what happens to Olympe" which didn't inspire me to click (although you never know, it might simply mean she got burnt by a Blast-Ended Skrewt through lack of the right gloves), and a somewhat mundane (and abandoned) one which only covers GoF material anyway.

What I really want to see is the story of their mission to the giants and the bringing back of Grawp -- the author of Fraternisation did have a fic on this subject drafted, but unfortunately she's been largely out of the fandom for the past couple of years due to pressure of work. It seems like an obvious Missing Moments tale to tell, but one that fans don't seem to have rushed to write.

I suppose the lack of fics is simply a reflection of the fact that a lot of fans dislike Cho and Michael for shippy reasons -- and find Hagrid, and presumably Olympe, Eww, Gross unsexy. But I happen to like all these characters, and think both pairings have rather interesting character dynamics, and would love to see a good treatment of either -- i.e. one that explores the potential of the particular characters, rather than just being colour-by-numbers shipfic. Does anyone know of any such stories?

Comments

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

I cannot stand Hagrid and Hagrid/Maxime definitely makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth, but even I wondered what the heck happened to them in canon! (Which is not what your post is about, but I just had to say it, lol.)

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen very much Cho fic at all, really, which has always puzzled me since she get a fair bit of canon attention. Maybe people don't write about her for the same reason people don't really write about Fleur -- they nurse some deep-seated hatred for girls who are attractive and are willing to admit it?

As for Hagrid/Maxime, I'd be curious about that missing moment, although I've got no particular interest in the ship as a ship.

[masterofmystery.livejournal.com]

I've always been dead curious about Roger Davies and his rather impressive list of relationships. Why doesn't he get more loving (well, outside of the various girls at Hogwarts and beyond, I mean)? I love Roger; he's like the closest we'll get to a canon man-whore, and that's just pretty hilarious.

[ozma-katiebell.livejournal.com]

Because I have taken on michael in a rp game, I am very curious about this myself
If you ever do find any, I'd love to see what other people make of him.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

she got burnt by a Blast-Ended Skrewt through lack of the right gloves
I now want to read exploring Hagrid's struggles with his hereditary allergy to latex (it's a problem for all giants), how this causes difficulty in his everyday life, and how Madam Maxine introduces him to an exciting world of latex-free gloves and other CoMC related products. But that is probably not what the FFN writer meant.

[snorkackcatcher]

Well, you know what they say about long-distance relationships. :) (Then again, travel time between Hogwarts and Beauxbatons by Floo is probably about five minutes, so it's hardly impossible._

[snorkackcatcher]

No, neither have I really, but it would be interesting to know how they actually did get on when they were trekking through the Urals or wherever it was, and the complications caused by Hagrid insisting on bringing back Grawp on the return journey -- there's a genuine dynamic there which merits exploration. The way she throws herself into his arms at the end of HBP indicates there's something still there.

As for Cho, it may just be what you say, although it does seem worse with Cho than Fleur -- presumably simply because she had the temerity to date a major character. :) There's a fair amount of Fleur fic about, but then she was only dating Bill, who less people were invested in shipping.

[snorkackcatcher]

Roger Davies is another one of the very minor characters I like for no particularly good reason! Though to be fair to the chap's reputation, we only actually see him with two girls, one of whom was Fleur. :)

[snorkackcatcher]

The only good Michael-centric piece I've seen is Grace has Victory's Turning the Corner, but that's set in the run-up to the Yule Ball so probably wouldn't be much good to you.

[snorkackcatcher]

Probably not. :) (And conversely -- given that the products they probably did have in mind used to made out of animal skins -- about the manifest benefits of dragonskin protection for other activities.)

[msmoocow.livejournal.com]

Ahem. Why don't you try your hand at a year seven Michael Corner story? I'd LOVE to see that. I think you may have guessed that I'm a Neville fan (can't imagine what might give it away...) but chapter-length Neville fics have been popping up everywhere. While I enjoy reading those, I fear that one day they'll be a fandom cliche akin to the OBHWF-Bill-and-Fleur's-wedding fic. I'd love to see more about Seamus, or Dean, or Michael, so if you do happen to stumble across anything really good please Niffle!

I always thought Cho got a bad reputation for having snogged the wrong guy, too. Kind of like Lavender, who I'm actually rather fond of.

And I think the main reason that there's no good Hagrid/Olympe fic is because nobody wants to bother writing those damn accents. :P

By the way, that excerpt has inspired crack in my head. I blame you in every way.

[snorkackcatcher]

A Year 7 wouldn't have mucvh Michael/Cho though, as she'd left! I did have a vague pre-DH idea about the DA doing something in the break between years 6 and 7 without telling the Trio and getting into trouble as a result -- it would have been narrated by Michael, and ended up Michael/Luna, among others -- but that was one of several ideas that never actually got written. I do have a similarly vaguely planned Dean story covering ages 11-17 in vignettes, which is currently on the ever-growing plotbunnies pile. :)

Good point about the accents, actually -- Hagrid in particular is awkward, and I've only ever written him in a couple of drabbles.

[ozma-katiebell.livejournal.com]

*bookmarks*