I agree with you, Cal, on fanfiction. I don't read it much either, and the HP thing I've begun is my first foray into fanfiction using canon characters. I tried as best I could to keep to intended characterizations, but I'm not J.K. Rowling and I do know where I want the story to go, so I probably didn't do too well.. x__x
But I know what you mean. I complain bitterly about this all the time to my friend Kai, who of course does not care. I think a lot of Gundam fanfics, at least the pro Duo x Heero ones, blatantly mischaracterize Relena and it really pisses me off. x__x

I also read this one Sailormoon fanfiction, one of the 'new senshi' ones like Clarity is but it had the canon cast as well, that GROSSLY, DISGUSTINGLY mischaracterized Usagi. I mean, this writer made her out to be a worthless, expendable character, and she just isn't. It made me violently, violently, angry. x__x I hate it when people let their bias against a character seep into their writing, and this was painfully obvious. I'll not even get into how her new senshi team was ten times more perfect and beautiful than the original cast. x__x;;