Harry Potter Fanfic Cliches

[Bob Schroeck]

Hmm let's see:
--magical trunks which turn into small houses on the inside, including potions lab and library ... standard equip for the newHarry! (TM) or self-insert

Well, this is canon, or nearly so.  We know that Barty Crouch, Jr. owned -- or borrowed from its owner -- a multi-compartment trunk, one compartment of which was big enough and deep enough to use as a cell for Alastor Moody.  The film version of Goblet of Fire is pretty explicit on that -- looking into it is like looking into a room from a hole in high ceiling.

--Wizarding World is super ignorant of modernization, to the point where modern writing utensils, television, and cars are muggle curiosities (this has an Arthur Weasley basis in books, but fanon takes it to the extreme)

This one is very definitely disproven by Draco Malfoy in something like the fourth scene he ever appeared in -- the first flying lesson.  He boasted of having played chicken with a helicopter.  And clearly knew what a helicopter was and what its flight characteristics were like, and expected the other purebloods to know as well.  Arthur's clueless fascination seems a definite odds with this.

--ministry is corrupt and/or stupid, often beyond absurdity

Well, I think this one is canon.  We see examples of both throughout the books, though far less of the "stupid" (that seems to be Fudge's territory alone) and far more of the corrupt (we can start with Lucius Malfoy's influence and the simple existence of Dolores Umbridge, then move on to things like Sirius' lack-of-trial, Harry's "hearing" for underage magic use and the legal shenanigans surrounding it, Barty Crouch breaking his son out of Azkaban, and the various Death Eater sympathizers in an organization that has canon magical means to make sure there are no enemy agents among their number).  The Ministry is corrupt; there's no doubt about it.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.