Harry Potter Earl of the North

[Lord Raine]

Right. Here's the deal. Earl of the North is an awesome premise that I, personally, feel was marred by a combination of a writer who was just starting out and the insistance of forcing an obscure and exotic ship sideways into the story itself.

I fully intend to seek Lord Silvere's permission to do an official rewrite/remix of Earl of the North. If he agrees, I will add it to my project que, and will hopefully have a Chapter 1 out soon.

In the meantime, I am rereading the story from beginning to end. As I do, I will be using this thread to note things that I see as being unnessary or in need of changing. I will critique the story as honestly and fairly as I can. I will not pull my punches, but I will not bash it either. Unlike my MSTs, which derive a portion of their entertainment value from the bashing and personal attacks I level against the fic and the author, I will not insult Silvere, degrade the fic, or even mention Silvere at all.

I will also list changes I feel should and/or could be made to improve the story.

Please feel free to chime in with your own input, advice, critique, or suggestions. This is essencially both a "let's read" thread and a story idea thread, so you can comment on Earl, my ideas for the rewrite, or both.

Let's begin, shall we?

 

[Lord Raine]

North's heir shall be taken to his dominion

Where his heritage will manifest itself.

The long forgotten power will wake

And Ice's armies will flock to him.

Traitors will quail before the betrayed

And will be reckoned with.

Voldemort's fate will be decided

by he who holds the Black Rod.

This could use some parsing and rewriting. The one propecy we've heard was fairly vauge, and from what other people have said, they're pretty much all that way.

I'd go with something like this:

In the dark fortress of Britannia, the North Star will be rekindled, and the scion of the Old World shall claim the Throne. The dead and dying will follow the North Star. Three shall stand, the Star of the North, Protector, the Wand of Death, Healer, the Lord of Shadow, Destroyer. Three shall stand, but only one can rule. In the dark fortress of Britannia, the North Star will be rekindled, and the scion of the Old World claims the Throne.

That seems vauge enough, but It should probably be shorter. Hmm. I'll have to think about it.

Lucius Malfoy picked Harry Potter's wand up from the wet street as its owner took deep breaths to prevent himself from collapsing from magical exhaustion. He then muttered a long winded incantation and waved it at the Muggle households that surrounded them. They all burst into uncontrollable flames.

Malfoy smirked as Harry collapsed and then dropped the wand in front of the teenage boy. He then drew his own wand and cast a Charm that erased any presence of his own magical signature. Hopefully his Master's signature would be mistaken for Potter's.

His malicious work done, Malfoy went to the fallen form of Voldemort and prepared a Portkey. The Dark Lord would survive, but it had been close. He then said the word to activate the Portkey as he grasped his Master's cloak. "Impossible."

Harry James Potter was left lying in the street as Privet Drive burned and countless Muggles perished in flames and smoke that had been caused by his wand.

"I didn't do it." Harry said, his voice showing how close he was to tears. "There's no reason for me to kill innocent Muggles." He was bound to a hard chair in an office deep beneath the Ministry of Magic.

"That's why it's illegal." the Ministry agent said snidely. She had wasted no time in letting Harry know that she and everyone else despised him.

"I'm innocent!"

Dumbledore looked at Harry sadly. "We tested your wand, you were the one who cast that spell, Harry." He held up his hand to prevent Harry from interrupting. "There are witnesses that say you had a big fight with the late Dursleys on that same day."

"I've always fought with them!" Harry yelled. "I've never hurt them! I swear that it was Voldemort and Malfoy! They appeared out of nowhere and I nearly killed Voldemort. Malfoy must have done it!"

"Tests indicate that you were the only magical person to even be in the vicinity of Privet Drive since you came home for the Holidays." the woman said.

"I and the rest of the Order suspected that you may have allied with the Dark. Even Snape. You knew about attacks long before he did." Dumbledore said morosely. "How else would you have gotten all that information without having your dreams?"

Harry was now getting angry. Why wouldn't they listen? "I told you! After I got home for the summer after fifth year, I kept getting short letters telling me where attacks would be. I simply passed on the information to you."

"Who where they from?"

"I don't know!"

"Why didn't you warn us about the attack on Hogsmeade? Hundreds died." Dumbledore questioned.

"The person stopped writing letters to me." Harry explained desperately.

The woman who had not even identified herself shook her head grimly as she made some notations in what Harry assumed to be his permanent record. "I think you were trying to give everyone a false sense of security. Your warning prevented minor attacks and filled Azkaban with rookie Death Eaters, but they were hardly significant."

"As if Voldemort did anything significant since June." Harry muttered.

The woman flipped the folder shut. "All of the evidence is against you. You had a fight with the Dursley's. These mysterious letters. Your wand initiated the spell. You are the only wizard or witch to have stepped foot on that street."

Instead of trying to defend himself, Harry looked at the situation logically. The evidence was more than damning. He couldn't prove any of it wrong unless . . . "Veritaserum! I'll take a dose and tell you that I'm innocent."

"Too expensive and pointless. This is an open shut case, Potter. I hope you enjoy rotting in Azkaban." The woman sneered at him. "Traitor."

"But . . . a trial!"

"No time." She appealed to Dumbledore. "You can see that this is solid. He obviously did it. There's not much point of making more trouble over this."

"Yes, Whitney. I have to agree." He gave Harry an extremely disappointed look. "Normally I wouldn't dare put him in Azkaban, not matter what he did, what with Voldemort about. Things have changed though . . . there's a new prophecy."

"That settles it then. Life in Azkaban. No parole."

This silenced Harry and he watched Dumbledore snap his wand. What would happen to the rest of his possessions? 'Stupid thing to be wondering about.' Harry concluded.

This definately needs to be changed. A more plausible reason to end up in Azkaban is a must. We need to keep some things in mind, here.

This has to be late enough in the timeline for Harry to doing adult things like ruling from a frozen throne, stabbing things to death with magical swords, and keeping a hypothetical harem of snowbitches entertained in ways that do not involve boardgames. Even with magical aging or something similar, it would just be creepy if he was 'actually' twelve.

Dumbledore would never believe Harry would be guilty, even if the evidence was stacked enormously against him. We have to assume Dumbledore is going to do everything he can to get Harry off. Fortunately, there is precident for Dumbledore's best not being enough. Even with basically nothing to stand on and an argument shoddier than an IKEA desk, Fudge almost railroaded Harry into Azkaban. If there's an actually decent case against Harry that makes him look guilty, I'm not having much difficulty in seeing Fudge being able to pull it off in spite of Dumbledore's efforts to the contrary.

I view it as being in-character for Dumbledore to attempt to get Harry out of Azkaban using every means at his disposal. I also see it as being in-character for Dumbledore to, once exhausting those legal options, to just flip the system the bird and walk right into Azkaban and remove Harry by force. Fortunately, Harry just has to get to Azkaban. He doesn't have to be there very long. By the time Dumbledore is at the "Plan G: Fuck This Shit" stage, Harry should have already escaped.

So that puts us in a Fifth-Sixth Year timeline here. In Fifth Year, Fudge has reason to hate Harry, and Voldemort has been returned to a body, creating an environment ripe for Harry to be set up up by Voldemort. In Sixth Year, Harry and his friends invaded the Ministry. Depending on how these events fall out, it could give Fudge all the reason he needs to set Harry up himself.

So. Dumbledore would potentially fail if the setup is good enough, which puts Harry in, and Dumbledore exhausting all of the legal means at his disposal to extract Harry gives him the time he needs to escape before Dumbledore can come after him personally. Harry also needs to be older.

 

[nairit]

I like that you aren't starting with Dumbledore already against him. The idea of their differences being idealistic rather than moralistic is one that I have never seen pulled off well.

So, I say, Good Luck.

 

[Karnath]

If Voldemort hadn't revealed himself at the end of book 5 I could easily see Harry being sent to Azkaban for breaking into the DoM.

 

[Lord Raine]

As the fortress loomed closer through the dark fog, Harry came to the conclusion that he couldn't really blame the people who had turned against him based on the facts. But the Ministry could have given him a proper trial with Veritaserum and those who had known him for so long should have believed in him.

Harry has already had bad experiences with the competency and adaquecy of the Ministry thus far. Seeing how one of the core conflics I want to exist is a not-evil Dumbledore against Harry due to Dumbledore being for the Ministry and Harry being against it, I'm for keeping this particular end result. This could be the push Harry needs to believe that the Ministry isn't worth the space it's wasting, which, when combined with his new authority and power as the Earl of the North, means that he not only has the motivation to get rid of the Ministry, but the ability to do something about it. Or at least make very convincing and serious threats in the Ministry's general direction.

So this sentiment needs to stay. And in order for that to happen, Harry cannot be given an unbiased or fair trial. It needs to be clear from the beginning that the Powers That Be are seeking his conviction, and are willing to disregard their own laws to do it.

Considering how Fudge behaved at Harry's 'hearing' in canon, I don't think this will be much of a problem for his actual trial here.

The cell was quite small and was windowless. The only opening other than the closed door was a small hole in the corner which Harry assumed served as a toilet. The thing that startled him was that he was not alone. Another inmate was huddled in a dark corner that the light from the barred cell door opening didn't touch.

Harry decided to be social, even though the other inmate was quite likely insane. He stepped towards his cell mate and took a good look that left him reeling in shock. "Bellatrix Lestrange!"

Bellatrix raised her head and her moist and slightly-dead violet eyes met his. "Black actually. My husband divorced me." She sighed and returned to gazing at nothing in particular on the floor.

"Why?"

"Because I betrayed V-V-Voldemort." she whispered. "I wasn't killed because they thought it would be amusing for me to rot in this hell-hole. Didn't stop them from torturing me though."

To say that Harry was stunned would be an understatement. Why would she betray Voldemort and how had she ended up here without it being all over the newspapers? The second answer was actually quite easy really. Fudge would not want to admit that she had escaped in the first place. Any reports that she had escaped could now be dismissed as false.

Harry elected to sit down next to her. He was itching to know how she had betrayed the Dark Lord, but decided that a little sympathy might get him further in the long run. "Crucio?"

A weak snort answered Harry. "That's nothing." Bellatrix turned towards him and pulled the neck of her ratty dress down a bit further to reveal a mass a red-welted lines all over the skin of her upper chest. After Harry had gaped a moment she let go and sat back against the wall. Now that he looked closer, he realized that the numerous stains on her dress must be blood.

"I'm sorry." Harry said sincerely. She may have been a Death Eater who had tortured and killed many, but he couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards her. Besides, if she had betrayed Voldemort, she couldn't be all that bad. "How was it that you betrayed him?"

She looked at Harry with a bit of a smile. "I sent you all those letters."

"Why did you do that?"

Bellatrix sighed deeply. "I was trying to make up for my crimes. Fifteen years in Azkaban changed my outlook on life. I rue the day that I decided to become a Death Eater. When V-Voldemort broke me out I had no choice to but to follow." She stopped and looked away from Harry. "I'm sorry about Sirius." she said quietly. "I tried to stun him. I didn't know that he would fall through that thing."

Alright. This, I think, will be the biggest deviation from Earl.

In Earl, Bellatrix is here. She confesses to actually not being evil and having helped Harry, identifies a tattoo on Harry's arm that is called a "Warlock's Mark," which is a kind of arcane birthmark that only very powerful wizards have, and uses the Mark to train Harry in wandless magic, which they eventually use to escape Azkaban.

I don't want Bellatrix involved. At all. However, that presents a rather unique dilemma, because the Earl's powers (most of them, at any rate) only work once he gets declared the Earl at the ancient fortress of the North, whose name I can neither remember nor pronounce. Until then, we're dealing with Harry Potter, not Superharry. So Harry needs to be able to escape.

My idea for this is to have a very simple, but very important deviation. Fudge never gives Sirius his paper.

Think about what that means. If Fudge doesn't give Sirius the paper, Sirius doesn't see Peter disguised as Scabbers. Without seeing Peter, Sirius has no motivation to escape Azkaban. With Sirius still in prison and Peter still hiding out as Scabbers, Pettigrew doesn't need to be revealed.

It could be Sirius that Harry winds up bunking with in Azkaban, and it could be Sirius who winds up helping Harry escape. How do they escape? Simple. Sirius teaches Harry how to be an Animagus. Harry picks it up in record time, which is just fast enough for Harry and Sirius to be able to slip away before Dumbledore can come break Harry out by force.

Not only does this create a unique diversion from canon, in that Sirius is still in jail during the events of books 4, 5, and 6, but it also presents a perfectly valid reason for Harry to become an animagus. It's so he can escape Azkaban.

Now, naturally, Harry can't come into this completely virgin. If he knew nothing about Sirius, there's no way Harry would buy the story. So here's my idea:

Peter is still the one who was there to help revive Voldemort. Harry didn't know who he was at the time, but told Dumbledore about it. Dumbledore, shocked that Peter is not only alive but apparently working for Voldemort, begins to suspect that the story everyone accepts about how the Potters died is not nearly as sound as it seems. He explains his concerns to Harry, explains who Sirius Black is and what he alledgedly did (remember: if Sirius didn't escape, Harry doesn't know about him), and postulates that Sirius may, in fact, be innocent. However, Dumbledore confesses that, at the moment, there is nothing that he can do about it, because even if Sirius is innocent, there is no proof of it. He could not be extenorated without strong evidence. Strong evidence, like a living Peter Pettigrew. So Sirius has to stay in Azkaban, even though both Dumbledore and Harry believe he is innocent. Dumbledore is also at a loss as to how Peter managed to hide and evade capture for all these years.

Cue Harry getting thrown in with Sirius, who is able to fill in the rest of the blanks. It's Sirius who tells Harry that they were all Animagi, and that Peter was a rat, and it's Sirius who tells Harry that they switched Secret Keepers in secret.

So at this point, only Harry and Sirius know the full truth of what happened the night his parents died, and Peter's hiding place as Ron's pet rat is secure.

Cue Sirius teaching Harry how to become an Animagus, thereby enabling their mutual escape.

This scenario also has an additional benefit of further biasing Harry against the Ministry of Magic. It didn't just have a miscarriage of justice with him. It did it to his godfather, too. The Ministry is so bloated, incompetent, and corrupt that it totally ruined both of their lives. Harry could have grown up with Sirius, and not the Dursleys. Harry knows it, and Sirius knows it.

This revelation will not endear Harry to the Ministry. At all. In fact, it will further drive him into the anti modern magical government corner, which is exactly where I want him to be. Harry cannot be neutral or willing to compromise on this issue. He has to want to bring the Ministry down, period. I strongly believe that this will help in that.

 

[Black's Phoenix]

What about also having something like Narcissa ending up being in Azkaban. Her being set up because she planned to interfere with Voldemorts plans for the Malfoy gold and Draco would give enough of a reason for him to make sure she gets sent to jail. After all he doesn't want to just have her killed as that would most likely eliminate his chances to access the Malfoy connections and gold.

Between her and Sirius Harry could have a pair of very useful allies as Narcissa would have every reason to try and remove Draco from Voldemorts control asap and she would probably have a great deal of knowledge in the idea of politics and the who's who to deal with that neither Sirius or Harry would have ever had access to over the course of Harry's life.

 

[Shadowseraph]

I very much like the idea of using Sirius for this, if only because Harry & Sirius' Excellent Adventure has far more fun potential than nonsensical shipping. At this point I'm hoping you really do get to do a rewrite.

 

[jimmy73]

First off let me say that I'm a fan of this idea. Earl of the North was a great concept that didn't quite reach it's potential, and I hope that you'll continue to be excited enough about the idea to write as much as it sounds like you want to. On that note, however, I just wanted to remind you of how easy it is to lose track of events when you start changing what happened in the past.

Again, I'm sure this has already occurred to you, but make sure to keep in mind what leaving Sirius in Azkaban will do to the timeline. All of a sudden Harry will never have learned how to cast the Patronus and if Umbridge still sends the dementors after Harry in his 5th year he'll need another way of escaping. Also, he will have never felt their effects before and, as his initial exposure to them demonstrated, he was unusually vulnerable to them. You could also make the point that learning how to overcome the dementor's abilities helped develop Harry's own resistance to the imperius, so if he lacked that initial mental conditioning he might be more susceptible to legimency, occlumency, and imperius.

Lupin's relationship with Harry would also change dramatically. Either there would be an entirely new teacher in his stead, or he would never have gotten the opportunity to bond with Harry over their private lessons. Oh he might have found some other reason to spend some after class time with Harry and tell the lad some stories of his parents, but it wouldn't create quite the same dynamic between them and that would change the way they interacted with each other in the future.

Another issue, should you plan on going the Ministry invasion route, is why they invaded it at all. Originally it was the fear of Sirius being tortured that drove Harry to take such a drastic action and since Lupin isn't as close to Harry since they never got the opportunity to bond he wouldn't make a truly believable stand in. Although you could have them trying to save the prophesy from Voldemort, that seems like a dramatic and important enough artifact to risk your life protecting.

That seems like more than enough words of warning, I hope some of it helped

 

[Obfuscated]

If you go with 'Sirius is still in jail':

-Headquarters of Order of Phoenix ?
-Battle in the DoM, how was Harry lured ?

Also this would make third year Harry's best year, have him remember it fondly.
("A year without plots. A whole year.")

 

[Pirazy]

I'll be interested if you actually manage to get Lord Silvere's permission (which isn't really necessary if you really wanna do this), the same scenario was discussed for the Delenda Est thread over at DLP and the author wasn't very pleased at all with the idea of his story being hijacked and rewritten..

 

[Lord Raine]

Well I didn't want to be a dick about it, but even if I don't get Silvere's permission, I'm still going to do it. That just changes where I'm going to post it. With permission: here, DLP, fanfiction.net. Without permission. . . probably just here. DLP might take it. Might. But definately not fanfiction.net.

Yes, I am aware that keeping Sirius in Azkaban will have repercussions. Yes, I know that among them, the biggest is "explaining why they went to the DoM" and "explaining how Harry could defend against Umbridge's Dementors." I have some vauge plans for solving those problems. The second involves Dumbledore teaching Harry the Patronus personally after the Dementors Fudge brings for protection in Fourth Year cripple Harry by their mere presence. The first involves blatant lies on Voldemort's part, and possibly someone 'else' being fake-kidnapped. I'm still working on the details.

ALSO, I would like to note that, as I plan this, the story starts with Harry in Azkaban. All of these changes will either be mentioned with by Harry who is filling Sirius in ("You can cast a Patronus!? Where the hell did you learn that!?" "Dumbledore taught me in fourth year. Fudge brought Dementors with him to the Triwizard, and they didn't agree with me."), or will be brought up incidentially in discussions of other things ("I didn't know who the guy was at first, but then Dumbledore filled me in, and I knew it had been Pettigrew.").

There will be no long flashbacks, and there will be no sixteen chapters of setup until we get to the good part. We will start at the good part, we will move forwards from there, and the gaps will get fillled in as we go. Fortunately, that won't be too difficult, because Sirius, having been cut off from the rest of the world, would be almost wholly ignorant of any recent events, thereby making him the perfect candidate to hold the Asks Questions Ball.

Now where were we? Ah yes.

 

[LOLRAINE]

Well I didn't want to be a dick about it, but even if I don't get Silvere's permission, I'm still going to do it.

Not to be rude but motherfucking lol. So does this mean that I can work on WiMTBS?

Also, I've always liked Lord of Caer Azkaban take on the whole thing far more than Earl. Earl just feels far not much not like Harry Potter whereas Lord of Caer Azkaban has a feel that is more grounded in Harry Potter.

Ice Bitches? Lol boring.

 

[Lord Raine]

The two sat in companionable silence mulling over their own thoughts for a few hours. Harry was just barely considering asking Bellatrix about the normal prisoner routine when she abruptly drew a ragged breath. "What's wrong?"

"The Dementors are coming." she gasped as she slowly slumped sideways from her sitting position to the floor. She instinctively curled up into a ball.

"Oh." Harry instinctively thought of a happy thought, but then realized that without his wand, it would do no good. He also then realized that he couldn't feel anything that he normally associated with the presence of the evil creatures. "Are you sure?"

Before Bellatrix could respond the door opened and two plates of some sort of food were shoved into the cell. Apparently it was the evening meal. The door slammed and within a few seconds, Bellatrix had recovered from her fit. The Dementors must have left..

Harry wasn't thinking about why they hadn't affected him because Bellatrix was staring at him with a confused expression on her face. "Don't they affect you at all?"

"Yes." Harry said nervously. "I usually faint." He stood up, grabbed the two plates, and gave one to Bellatrix before returning to his sitting position next to her.

This is something that I do not happen to agree with. Nothing has changed between now at the last time Harry bumped into Dementors, so him suddenly showing absolute immunity to their aura is something I find unrealistic at best, and wankish at worst. Even if being the Earl does give Harry some type of authority over them, that shouldn't do anything to stop the aura. Plus, Harry isn't the Earl yet anyway, because he hasn't set foot in the ancient magical citadel of the North that I can neither spell nor pronounce. Until he does that and is recognized as the Earl, he isn't the Earl.

Maybe the Dementors aren't beholden to the Earl. Maybe it's the other way around? What if, instead of being servants, the Dementors are the natural enemies of the Earl? Maybe some rival Dark Lord in ages past created the Dementors to try and wipe out the Polarix bloodline. That could actually explain Harry's canon weakness to them. As a Polarix, the Dementors have a much more severe effect on him than they do on any other, because it was those of his blood that they were born to hunt. Harry is weak to the Dementors because he is Polarix, and the Dementors are afraid of Harry and leave him alone because they can sense his true nature as the Earl-in-waiting, and will not approach or attack him willingly without being ordered to do so.

Not only does that make sense, but it would be a nice change of pace if a magical superinheritence like being the Earl also happened to come with some very concrete drawbacks and disadvantages. Like, for instance, a crippling weakness to Dementors, which were literally created to assassinate you and all of yours.

Harry had just discovered that it was possible to scratch impressions on the dark walls and was about to take on an artistic project when Bellatrix finally broke her silence. "The Dementors don't affect you, and they are somewhat afraid of you."

Baffled, Harry looked at her. "Afraid of me?"

"Yes, afraid of you." Bellatrix confirmed. "They almost always loiter near this cell to torment me before or after mealtime. I guess I have more guilty memories than other prisoners. However, they must be afraid of you. But why?"

"Umm, I don't know."

She didn't answer for several moments. Finally she beckoned Harry to come over and sit next to her. Having nothing better to do, Harry complied. She stretched forth one of her hands and gently traced the scar on Harry's forehead.

Harry shivered slightly as her cool fingers remained on his forehead after she had traced the scar as if she was checking for a fever. He didn't ever remember someone touching him in that way and it made him nervous. Finally she gave a defeated sigh. "It's not that."

"Okay then." Harry said, not quite sure what she was talking about.

"It's a mark that serves as a link, but it isn't associated with power." she muttered absently, unsuccessfully attempting to explain her thoughts to Harry. Before he could ask what she meant, she spoke again. "Roll up your sleeves."

Harry rolled up his long sleeves until they were very close to the shoulder. Bellatrix took his right hand and slowly stroked his arm from the wrist to shoulder. Finding nothing, she took his left hand and did the same.

As her hand got a few inches above the elbow, Harry started. She had touched something and it was making him feel really strange. Bellatrix had also discovered something because she began to trace something on his arm with a finger. "Bingo." she whispered.

Harry craned his neck to see what it was she was talking about. All he could see was some white rune thing on his skin that was glowing brightly. "What is it?"

"A phoenix clutching a lightning bolt with shackled talons. A star. . the North Star is above the phoenix." Bellatrix said in awe.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry was confused, but he thought it looked fairly interesting anyway.

"It's a Warlock rune." Bellatrix explained. "Only the most powerful wizards have them. I don't think there's been a wizard that has had one of these for ages!"

"A shackled phoenix stands for someone with great power?" Harry asked incredulously.

"No, no, no!" Bellatrix said quickly in a slightly annoyed voice. The details of the rune are very personal and apply to each person differently. It's the fact that you have a rune. I suspect that a shackled phoenix signifies that you're a Light wizard, but you've been imprisoned. The lightning bolt is for your scar of course."

"What about the star?"

Bellatrix frowned thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. It's the North Star, so that must be significant. It's technical name is Polaris . . ."

Harry looked at her inquiringly as she raked her brains for any hint of what the star could mean. "It's on the tip of my tongue!" she growled unhappily. I read it somewhere. "A star. . . Polaris." Finally she realized what the star denoted. The thought made her giggle gleefully.

"What is it? Tell me!" Harry pleaded.

She stopped her merriment long enough to answer him. "You're the Lord of Polairix."

The Warlock Rune, however, I intend to keep in it's entirety. Because magical birthmark tattoos are fucking hardcore.

However, that being said, Bellatrix knew entirely too much about it, and was able to deduce exactly what every bit of it meant. In about a minute, to boot. I find that highly unrealistic. It smacks of plot device.

A more likely scenario, I think, is Sirius recognizing the Warlock Rune for what it is, because he's a Black, and knows about such things, and because Warlock Runes feature prominently in wizarding culture and storytelling, popping up in fiction, fairy tales, and even bedtime stories. Nearly any pureblood or halfblood could tell you what it was, but Sirius knows a lot more about them from a factual point of view, specifically because of what he was forced to learn as a child.

Sirius might attempt to decipher what the symbols mean, but he would just be guessing, and would admit as much to Harry. He would probably say something along the lines of 'it's supposed to be a personal mark. You're more qualified to interpret it than I am.' He might take a stab at figuring out what the North Star indicates, potentially reeling off a list of attributes and traits associated with it, such as royalty, fertility, masculinity, the sea, and both magical and physical strength, among other things, but would likely get no further than that.

"It could just indicate that you're a man, and not a woman. Or that you'll have lots of children. Or maybe you're secretly a prince, or something. Hell if I know. It's a pretty powerful symbol, but what it represents here is anyone's guess. I mean, the Phoenix is here, too, but I very much doubt that you're immortal."

 

[LOLRAINE]

Because magical birthmark tattoos are fucking hardcore.

No, they just suck.

 

[CatOnFire]

I've never read Earl of the north so take my suggestions how you want:

Well to me it would be best if you started the fic off with a one-shot pre-fic that shows the deviated timeline, this would not only help set your story apart from the original 'earl of the north' but make the story have an even better storyline. It doesn't need the be a full story just enough to show the butterfly flapping it's wings.

It would start with Fudge not giving Sirius the paper and snowball from there to the eventual trial for Azkaban.

The way I see it happening is since he never learns the Patronus and doesn't come in contact with Dementors in his 3rd year, after the tri-wizard tournament Umbridge still sends a single Dementor to kill Harry. Without the Patronus the Dementor runs down and kisses Dudley. After using every spell he knows and fearing death Harry uses the one spell he knows that supposedly has a 100% kill ratio and severely damages the lone Dementor with Ava Kadavera driving it off. Now when the Ministry gets word they have a soulless cousin and Harry Potter who cast an Unforgivable.

The icing on the cake would be the fact that the main Dementor that is guarding the hall with him in Azkaban is the same Dementor he hit with Ava Kadavera.

Harry's animagus form should be distinctly arctic like an Albatross, Emperor Penguin, Walrus or Polar Bear. The Albatross would make escaping easy, the Penguin, Walrus and Polar Bear would be harder to get out but once out and in the ocean impossible to catch. The Walrus could brute force it's way out once beyond the walls and the Polar Bear is a fantastic digger, much better than a dog at any rate.

However, that being said, Bellatrix knew entirely too much about it, and was able to deduce exactly what every bit of it meant. In about a minute, to boot. I find that highly unrealistic. It smacks of plot device.

The Blacks and a number of other families could have one been subjects of the Earl of the North. It certainly wouldn't be knowledge of the tip of someones tongue after spending years in a slovenly hell hole. I say Siruis recognizes it but can't say where, heck he himself could have been born under and Astrologically important event that says 'he will cause great change' so he could know a thing or two about these things.

 

[Obfuscated]

I've never read Earl of the north so take my suggestions how you want:

Well to me it would be best if you started the fic off with a one-shot pre-fic that shows the deviated timeline, this would not only help set your story apart from the original 'earl of the north' but make the story have an even better storyline. It doesn't need the be a full story just enough to show the butterfly flapping it's wings.

It would start with Fudge not giving Sirius the paper and snowball from there to the eventual trial for Azkaban.

The way I see it happening is since he never learns the Patronus and doesn't come in contact with Dementors in his 3rd year, after the tri-wizard tournament Umbridge still sends a single Dementor to kill Harry. Without the Patronus the Dementor runs down and kisses Dudley. After using every spell he knows and fearing death Harry uses the one spell he knows that supposedly has a 100% kill ratio and severely damages the lone Dementor with Ava Kadavera driving it off. Now when the Ministry gets word they have a soulless cousin and Harry Potter who cast an Unforgivable.

The icing on the cake would be the fact that the main Dementor that is guarding the hall with him in Azkaban is the same Dementor he hit with Ava Kadavera.

Harry's animagus form should be distinctly arctic like an Albatross, Emperor Penguin, Walrus or Polar Bear. The Albatross would make escaping easy, the Penguin, Walrus and Polar Bear would be harder to get out but once out and in the ocean impossible to catch. The Walrus could brute force it's way out once beyond the walls and the Polar Bear is a fantastic digger, much better than a dog at any rate.

However, that being said, Bellatrix knew entirely too much about it, and was able to deduce exactly what every bit of it meant. In about a minute, to boot. I find that highly unrealistic. It smacks of plot device.

The Blacks and a number of other families could have one been subjects of the Earl of the North. It certainly wouldn't be knowledge of the tip of someones tongue after spending years in a slovenly hell hole. I say Siruis recognizes it but can't say where, heck he himself could have been born under and Astrologically important event that says 'he will cause great change' so he could know a thing or two about these things.

Maybe several one shots setting up the various backstories

-A senior Polarix giving his childrena lecture on what exactly warlock marks are and what they can mean.

-The beginning of the Snowbitch/Polaris alliance

-How the crazy sorcerer island with the dark magic casters came to be.

-How a distrustful Polaris slipped some enhancements into the Azkaban ward schemes just in case.

That way you fluff dump the reader and keep Harry ignorant for a time.

 

[LOLRAINE]

What do you have planned for the culture of whatever place that Harry will gain dominion of?

 

[CatOnFire]

-snip-

Maybe several one shots setting up the various backstories

-A senior Polarix giving his childrena lecture on what exactly warlock marks are and what they can mean.

-The beginning of the Snowbitch/Polaris alliance

-How the crazy sorcerer island with the dark magic casters came to be.

-How a distrustful Polaris slipped some enhancements into the Azkaban ward schemes just in case.

That way you fluff dump the reader and keep Harry ignorant for a time.

That kind of back story can be covered in the main fic, possibly as interludes. The purpose of the one-shot is to tell the back story of the fic but also to easily work as a 'stand alone' story. It might tell the beginnings of the Earl of the North but works the same as a completely separate story abit with a classic '<a href='http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DownerEnding' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Bad End</a>' and a '<a href='http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OrIsIt' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>to be continued?</a>'.

 

[LOLRAINE]

Also, make Harry's residence really really weird and magical.

 

[LOLRAINE]

God damn. Harry living in a fucking gaint mushroom/tree will be awesome.

 

[LOLRAINE]

No romance at all please unless it is with one female please.

 

[LOLRAINE]

And I think that it would be best to make Harry's forces be pretty average at the beginning and have Harry recruit stronger allies.

 

[LOLRAINE]

Make magic seem magical and just something that is used to kill/destroy shit.

 

[LOLRAINE]

Also, why the fuck does Sirius need to be the one that tells Harry about the Rune and shit? Why can't it be a random dark wizard? It would avoid a whole lot of problems.

 

[Lord Raine]