Oh, Fanfic

I didn't realize that the Draco Trilogy was so long! I can't even fully comprehend reading a fanfic that long, let alone the idea of someone's life being devoted to writing it (or is it the other way around?).
The concept of fanfic itself is strange, because its motivation, at least in my opinion, it to fill some void that fans feel is left untouched by the author, to create an alternate universe where the world fans have fallen in love with can be expanded and endure indefinitely. So long as there is fanfic, the characters never have to stay static--there can always be another adventure.
I can't decide whether HP fans have taken that too far, with things like the Draco Trilogy. It is a story that was written before the author herself had revealed what happened to her characters; therefore, the fanficcers were building stories from sketches, not fully realized characters. I feel that after Book 7, a lot of fanfic like The Draco Trilogy can no longer claim to be about the same characters. It's not just about the plot, but the characters authors are using. They've diverged into two different planes, and I don't think that a fan who disregards Book 7 can really say that they've fallen in love with J.K. Rowling's characters so much as the idea of Hogwarts and Co.
That being said, I'm still not entirely sure that it's really wrong, either. I had a discussion with Alyssa about how we didn't like the idea of a Ron/Hermione relationship, because it seemed so out of character for each of them. But if J.K. Rowling says its true, then doesn't it automatically make it in-character? Maybe that's where fanfic comes it--fans can actively protest something they see as wrong in their understanding of a character. And when it gets to the point where fans are appropriating a character as their own, then I think it is fair game. I mean, look at the Batman character (yes, I had to bring Christian Bale into this). The Batman of the new Batman movies is not the Batman of the Val Kilmer generation, nor does he bear resemblance to the original Batman, he of the bright yellow utility belt and gray spandex. The character has evolved through several comic book authors to one who is completely different, but still accepted by fans as canon. Characters like Batman and Nancy Drew (Carolyn Keene, the "author," was a pseudonym for many different writers) have become such cultural institutions that they are now open for reinvention by anyone. Maybe the same has happened with Harry Potter, with the complication that the original author is still alive and vocal about her own vision of what REALLY happens. I'm really curious to see what will happen to the franchise in the future...