...or at least the Jo of the last two books. So, which writers do you think handled the Potterverse and it's characters better than Jo did by the end? Who seemed to have a better grasp of the characters as they were in the first five books, who picked up on little touches and details and fleshed them out? Who should have been handling which character if a group had been put together by the editors to finish the series when it became clear Jo's heart just wasn't in it, any more? I'll start...

The writer that really got me into HP fic was Nineveh. Her series of interlocking stories on the Black sisters are enough to make you wish the series had been about them. Love, passion, secrets, Slytherins, Ravenclaws, butterfly effects (A 7 year old metamorphmagus getting sick starts a chain of events), and more dark magic than you can shake a wand at. See most of her stories here...

http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/nineveh/

And some she didn't put on FA but are still part of the series... Apocrypha, in which the war concludes in a different manner, as our Slytherins handle things the Slytherin way...

http://community.livejournal.com/omniocular/130019.html

He Turned And Heard Her, inspired by a Tolkien line and following the one above...

http://nineveh-uk.livejournal.com/23985.html#cutid1

Some drabbles done by requests. Scroll down for the one of Luna making a dress. Just keep in mind that her Ravenclaws are as scary as her Slytherins.

http://nineveh-uk.livejournal.com/28895.html

Next up, the writer who got me into both H/L and L/Hr, our own Michelle, arguably the Luna writer. Never mind the Epilogue, there's been this romantic triangle going on behind the scenes. Featuring Likable!Harry. Remember him? See her stuff here...

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/439695/michelle-31a

This includes a much better reason why no one says the Dark Lord's name.

Another great Luna writer is Bagge, who's work you can see here...

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/891156/Bagge

Then, we come to Bellona, who converted me to Tom/Luna, and demonstrated that yes, it was possible to write Ginny as an interesting, complex, character. Like Nineveh, Bellona hasn't posted any Potterfic since DH. I hope we're not losing the Fandom's best writers...

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/768219/BellonaBellatrix

Speaking of Tom/Luna, this ship produced a better, IMO, more poignant conclusion to the series than DH was, with everybody true to character, Twelve Dark Moons by Sophiax. See it and other stories, here...

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/945569/Sophiax

I'll add more when I think of them (Took a while to track all these down). Add some of your own.

Off the top of my head, Vorabiza's Secrets comes to mind. Probably because it actually takes the mess that was Book Six and makes it work while making the characters (especially Harry) better people. Ginny even has something of a key role there, just like most (even though we dreaded it) expected to happen. The fun thing, or interesting thing, is that I do actually like the Ginny of this story where I simply ended up just not caring at all about the canon one.

Now don't get me wrong, I know many of the things in that story were not likely to be written by Rowling. But what makes Serets good (better than canon) is that it takes the dangling plot threads of the previous books and ties them together much better than Rowling ended up doing. I was (and will probably always) be impressed with how well this fanfic handled things.
(I didn't link to Secrets because it NC-17)

The only downside to Secrets (in my opinion) is the complete lack of Luna.

Another story, while having more mistakes and some problems, but still (I think) better than canon is Make A Wish by Rorschach's Blot. When all is said and done there probably aren't any more spelling/grammar errors in this fic as their was in the final book, so I guess it evens out.

But I admit I don't like how many Wizards ended up dying in this story, because I think realistically (going by what we know) killing that many people would put the WW in series danger of dying out.
Yes, I know Rowling has said there are more than we think, but going by the numbers seen in the books, I just can't believe Rowling on this one. So all the deaths that happen in Make A Wish makes me think that the WW itself would eventually die out.

But this story, unlike Secrets has lots of Luna.

Another story that I think ends up being better than the canon is Slytherin Connection and it actually has the Harry/Ginny pairing, plus Voldemort is a much more interesting (and scary) villain in this fic than he ended up being in the canon.

And I'm sure if I put real thought into this I could come up with a large honkin' list of fics that I personally felt were better than the last book.

Actually, I will list one more (for now), it is a crossover with Anita Blake, and doesn't actually cover the final battle except in narrative. But still the way the battle ended and Harry's character here is all around better than canon. Of course, the downside is evil!Lucius (though he never makes an appearance) and if you don't care much for the Anita characters... Well, some of the ones I liked least seemed to have big parts here. But it is still a worthy fic.

Black Magic by Moonlight by Beren

I linked to this one, because the author has posted to versions and NC-17 and an R one - be honest and read the version you are supposed too!

Continuing the writers who handle these characters Better Than Jo, we come to Bitterfig

Want a Ginny Weasley for the final book that actually lives up to her hype? Here's a two parter set during DH, where we see that complex, complicated, girl we'd pretty much created on our own deal with... stuff, also starring Luna, Severus, and Horace. The first part is PG-13, the second R. Oh, femmeslashy overtones, but this is Bitterfig.

http://bitterfic.livejournal.com/88015.html

http://bitterfic.livejournal.com/88224.html

A very nice take on Ginny and Severus, staying within Canon yet giving them all sorts of layers and scars. Luna is, as always, a little too perceptive for everyone's comfort. One interesting thing about Bitterfig's Luna: She was writing Luna as an artist long before DH made it Canon.

Before this, though, Bitterfig was trying to undo the damage to Tonks done by HBP. Ah, the great character Tonks was for so short a time, and could have been, again... An R rated series (very) that now serves as an improvement to DH centering around the complicated relationship of Luna, Dora, and Remus, with a little Sirius and (Why not?) Severus thrown in. Oh, and the slashiness in this goes beyond overtones.

http://bitterfic.livejournal.com/14073.html#cutid1

http://bitterfic.livejournal.com/21438.html#cutid1

http://bitterfic.livejournal.com/16567.html#cutid1

http://bitterfic.livejournal.com/13071.html

http://bitterfic.livejournal.com/32850.html#cutid4

http://bitterfic.livejournal.com/50037.html#cutid1

http://bitterfic.livejournal.com/50037.html#cutid4

http://bitterfic.livejournal.com/13677.html#cutid1

Oh, during this series Dora finds out something really... squicky about her Mum, but I didn't link to those, even though they're very well written and intense. I'm pushing it enough for most just with what Remus goes through.

She can write sweet and fluffy, as she does with her Dorothy/Ozma stories, which really don't change how those two are with each other in the books too much.