"Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness" by thanfiction

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4315906/1/Dumbledores_Army_and_the_Year_of_Darkness

I'm not really familiar with thanfiction's fandom history  but this is a pretty well-done fic with a fairly ardent fanbase. I usually try not to rec stuff that's already well-known unless I truly love it (like "My Immortal" or "Slytherin Spy") but I really quite enjoyed this and I figured, Why the hell not?

It's about what happened for the DA during year seven. Pretty enjoyable.

The "Alexandra Quick Series" by Inverarity

A series about an American witch at an American wizarding institution.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3964606/1/Alexandra_Quick_and_the_Thorn_Circle

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4684861/1/Alexandra_Quick_and_the_Lands_Below

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5784632/1/Alexandra_Quick_and_the_Deathly_Regiment

One of the few things Rowling got right in the last books was that she didn't address the Veil, (and I commend her for that because in every other regard she threw subtlety out the window,) but Inverarity discusses the Veil head-on, and comes out with a pretty good story.

I love this series. It's especially amusing if you know anything at all about American history.

I believe it's Inverarity's plan to write seven books (admirable, really), and the series is much more tightly-connected than the HP books, I would say. Book three feels like the second half of book two, for example.If I had to make any complaints, it would be that I miss some of the canon characters we know and love. There are references to canon sprinkled throughout, but it's not quite the same, you know?

And also, I'm just stating for the record that any coincidences between this series and the (non-fan)fiction series I'm working on are purely that. We even use similar names. Maybe that's why I like this series so much. Sheer narcissism.

"Loved By All" by Draug419

Wow. This is a weird, weird fanfic. And I mean that in a good way.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5092272/1/Loved_By_All

I can't even really properly tell you the plot without giving anything away. It's Remus/Sirius, but, once again, that is more of a backdrop to a really, really weird story. It's an AU, and Remus, Sirius and James (there's never any Peter in these things, is there?) attend another wizarding school, which is Hogwarts minus the charm and warmth. What you have here is a thriller that I couldn't stop reading almost despite myself. I kept wondering, What the FUCK is going to happen next?

Draug's writing isn't particularly good, but she does have a knack for interesting plots (she could almost release this as a whole new novel, given the way it strays from canon; I think she was influenced by The Chocolate War, but let me just say, it's not very much like that book, either), and she introduces some interesting concepts about magic (Imperius vs. Veritaserum for example) and that's where the rec comes from. A place of WTF.

"The Spy Game" by ttfn.tahtahfornow

This is a really lovely AU fanfic; it's subtle Remus/Sirius, but there's so much more to it than that. It's basically written as if the Marauders were muggles and neighbors and went to the same school.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3622968/1/The_Spy_Game

The plot to this fic isn't exactly amazing, but ttfn's writing style is really lovely. It's more a collection of viginettes than a fleshed out novel, but the pacing is done well - so well, in fact, that her lack of description seems to be almost the perfect way to write. She never hits you over the head with anything, and when the threads come together, you just have a nice a-ha moment in your head.

If I had any complaints it would be that it's a bit angsty, but not even I, who HATES angst (I really do), was turned off by this fic - the author just hands it all so delicately that scenarios that would be eye-rolling in any other fic just make you desperate for more in this one.