Harry Potter [Harry Potter]Miscellaneous ideas topic.

I don't think this combination can possibly lead to anything that isn't on the most godawful, ghastly tier of unadulterated fail.

Edit: Huh, didn't know this would be the first post on page 100. That's awesome, what a great milestone.
 
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Hmm... Sounds like it's in need of a twist.

So, there's a professor Harry has a rapport with, his mentor and the closest thing to an actual father this Harry has: the Potions professor Severus Snape.

We (and Harry) are given hints that he's not who he seems: a reference to a Potion better than the Polyjuice Snape invented years earlier that is not mentioned anywhere; slipping up and referring to events over forty years earlier as if he had been around (Snape is supposed to be 31-38) ; all that culminates in Harry finding out about his mentor's youthful mistakes leading to being expelled at the age of 16, for unleashing a basilisk and accidentally killing Myrtle Warren.

Yes, it's Tom Riddle in disguise, hiding from his mistakes. In a thorough reversal, Harry tempts Tom into becoming a Dark Wizard and is the driving force behind a civil war more terrible than the Wizards have seen in this timeline, in living memory.
I won't pretend I don't like that, but it's not the way I want to go. The idea of Tom Riddle being expelled at sixteen, though, wow ... that could go places. I don't know what places, but definitely places.
 
Looking at it from what canon shows us, if Tom is expelled at sixteen in his fifth year before his OWL's, he's screwed in Britain; that seems to be complete disenfranchisement, considering what happened to Hagrid. i imagine people expelled in sixth year or up at least keep wand rights, though they might lose them until 17th birthday if they are 16 at expulsion.
 

AoMythology

Apparently a report-er
Looking at it from what canon shows us, if Tom is expelled at sixteen in his fifth year before his OWL's, he's screwed in Britain; that seems to be complete disenfranchisement, considering what happened to Hagrid. i imagine people expelled in sixth year or up at least keep wand rights, though they might lose them until 17th birthday if they are 16 at expulsion.
Yeah. Well, I was thinking the investigation took a while and Tom got expelled shortly after OWLs.

Still a strong wake-up call for Tom, though.
 
Building off that, I'm tending to assume Tom already knew about the Gaunts, since he knew about Slytherin and had found the Chamber and been opening it for a while. I don't think he';ll be able to get back into Hogwarts, certainly not while Dumbledore is still alive, maybe not ever.

It's possible he doesn't make the Diary Horcrux. I don't think he'll be deterred from his desire to be immortal, though. And honestly, given that Dumbledore outright said Tom was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts ever had, he's probably NEWT-standard in everything by the time of his OWL's as it is.

I could imagine Tom tracks down Morfin Gaunt -- Marvolo would be long dead. If Tom somehow made it out of Hogwarts with his wand -- doubtful, but perhaps if he simply ran and wasn't formally expelled, if he was formally expelled, that's it, wand snapping is part of that. There's no reason for Tom to be impressed with Morfin, and Morfin should recognize Tom's appearance just as he did in canon. what happens next kind of depends on Morfin; if Morfin doesn't bring up that Tom's father is still alive and lives nearby, Tom may never act on that old grudge of his. but i think it's more likely that Morfin does mention it and so Tom overpowers Morfin, takes his wand, and goes off to murder his father and his father's parents. he probably never returns the wand, though, thief that he is. or Morfin's ring. and then that ring becomes the first Horcrux instead of the second.

without even OWL qualifications, or maybe just them, would he get the job at Borgin and Burke's that eventually put him in place to steal Horcruxes three and four (the locket and cup)? who knows. equally, he may never be able to act on the diadem, assuming he'd even charmed the Gray Lady by the end of his fifth year.
 

seitora

Well-Known Member
Now for an actually truly stupid idea.

In book lore, Cornelius Fudge goes to visit Margaret Thatcher when he's elected Minister of Magic (well, supposedly the PM he visited was male, but given the timeline, it has to be Thatcher). Thatcher throws him out a window, but Cornelius is none the worst for it. In this idea, she actually succeeds in defenestrating him. As a result, a different Minister of Magic is in power starting from 1991, right before Harry goes to Hogwarts.

Merely because I'm amused by the idea of Fudge getting defenestrated.
 

AoMythology

Apparently a report-er
Now for an actually truly stupid idea.

In book lore, Cornelius Fudge goes to visit Margaret Thatcher when he's elected Minister of Magic (well, supposedly the PM he visited was male, but given the timeline, it has to be Thatcher). Thatcher throws him out a window, but Cornelius is none the worst for it. In this idea, she actually succeeds in defenestrating him. As a result, a different Minister of Magic is in power starting from 1991, right before Harry goes to Hogwarts.

Merely because I'm amused by the idea of Fudge getting defenestrated.
Hahahahaha. Silly idea, but definitely amusing.
 
Now for an actually truly stupid idea.

In book lore, Cornelius Fudge goes to visit Margaret Thatcher when he's elected Minister of Magic (well, supposedly the PM he visited was male, but given the timeline, it has to be Thatcher). Thatcher throws him out a window, but Cornelius is none the worst for it. In this idea, she actually succeeds in defenestrating him. As a result, a different Minister of Magic is in power starting from 1991, right before Harry goes to Hogwarts.
In which a Muggle--the Muggle Prime Minister, no less--gets charged for murder by the Wizarding World?
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
In which a Muggle--the Muggle Prime Minister, no less--gets charged for murder by the Wizarding World?
This feels like the kind of thing top-level government would put in a *lot* of effort to cover-up ... and when it gets botched badly, we get funny stories to tell our grand-children. :D

-chronodekar
 
"Aunt Lily? Uncle James?"
Lily and James Potter -- the couple in question -- had been watching the girl holding their young son and making faces for him, neither adult hiding their smiles at the cuteness of the sight. Lily looked at James briefly and then answered for them both. "Yes, Nymphadora dear?"
The girl so named scowled briefly, but then asked the question she really wanted to ask. "When Harry is all grown up, can I marry him?"
Cheesey, for sure, but there's how an idea starts. Arranged marriage between Harry and Nymphadora Tonks, based on the idea that the Potters almost certainly knew the Tonkses before Lily and James were murdered. Nymphadora is seven years older than Harry, maybe closer to eight depending on when her birthday is; she is old enough to have held him at his first birthday party, for example.
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
I was about to ask you where I could read that story ... when I realized that this was the ideas thread. It would depend on how the author wanted to take the plot - seriously or with humor?

-chronodekar
 
This isn't an idea so much as a mini-rant, and I am not sure where to put it exactly, so here it is. I just typed it on a Discord.

"So, this is a bit of my headcanon, but frankly I think it makes way too much sense and can't be persuaded otherwise. here goes. Severus Snape murdered James Potter's parents. I don't think he murdered Lily's parents, but I wouldn't be shocked if he was present at their murders. Fact: Harry's grandparents are all absent despite neither of his parents reaching 22. Fact: Severus hated James Potter so much that he was more than willing to extract vengeance from his son with James dead at that point for a decade and climbing. I can even suggest a method for how Snape killed the elder Potters. Sectumsempra. In the Potions book it is listed as a spell "for enemies". i think that is what Snape used on James in the Pensieve flashback to their OWL's, though it may not have been perfectly ready for use. I think he perfected it on the elder Potters. Another fact: Snape was a DE for years before he went to Dumbledore. And I'm pretty sure Rowling has never said anything at all about his time as one. And no, that isn't suspicious whatsoever. Have at it."
 
Um, okay? I mean, it makes sense and I could easily see it being used in a story without issue, but, there's nothing really there to build a story off of? Unless you wanted to write a story about Snape killing the Potter elders?
 
I have wanted to work it into a story for a while; it was not recently that I first thought of the above, I just had an urge to talk about it. I know it's not really an idea at this point. Just wanted to get the thought out there.
 
Well, like I said you could build a full fic around the idea of Snape killing them. His planning, preparations, and eventual execution while reflecting on his opinions, or how his hatred of James has poisoned him to such an extent that the murder of Jame's parents only brings him joy at the thought of his suffering.
 

AoMythology

Apparently a report-er
I've always seen Snape as just the 'get off my lawn' kind of guy, except maybe magnified; even in his teens. :p Not as a complete monster, but your interpretation is valid, too.
 

seitora

Well-Known Member
Terrible idea time.

What if Petunia and Vernon Dursley were the opposite of canon, and as children of the 1960s, grew up espousing beatnik ideals or whatever the British equivalent was (British underground?). This backstory is entirely unimportant except to set-up for a Harry Potter arriving at Hogwarts fully immersed in the British counterculture.
 
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