Harry Potter The Saving People Thing

[loki-l]

Harry discovers the truth about his Saving-People-Thing in the summer after his fifth year.

In the summer after the battle at the ministry Harry experiences problems with his hand. He fears that scars that Umbridge inflicted during her detentions might have become infected and sneaks out of the Durseleys' home to travel to London and St. Mungos.

At the wizarding hospital Harry learns that writing something in your own blood over and over again while thinking more or less the same thing and feeling very strongly about it as your magic flares wildly can have consequences. Harry's healer fears that Harry might have unintentionally made some sort of primitive blood vow to tell the truth when Umbridge tried to torture him into recanting it. He makes a complicated scan of Harry's mind and magic.

Harry does not understand the procedure or its results. When the Healer later shows him a picture, Harry can only see a collection of differently coloured blobs surrounded by numbers, Greek letters, Runes and symbols that Harry does not recognize. The Healer points out a small slightly of-colour blob at the edge of the structure. The Healer assures him that this is the result of the primitive blood vow and tells him that its shape, size, position and colour are good news and that Harry's problem should go away soon on its own without trouble. The Healer explains that a human's mind is constantly growing and changing as someone gets older and that it can heal from all sorts of injuries on its own. The healer gives Harry an example of someone who has been under a love potion for a long time. Eventually the mind of the affected person will organically grow around the foreign artifact and adapt to its presence. When the love potion is withheld after some time the thus created structure might very well hold on their own despite the absence of the original artifact. Or the whole thing might collapse catastrophically overturning lots of acquired behaviour traits and views.

It turns out that while the blood quill did not do any irreparable damage the test did reveal something else of concern. There is another group of artifacts on the picture. Harry has no idea how to interpret it, but the black spider-like connected structure do not look like a good thing to him.

The healer explains that the colour means that this was not something that Harry did to himself but something that was done to him. Unlike the blood quill blob the structure are of foreign origin and not using Harry's own magic. They also won't change or adapt and are basically fixed in place. The fact that they are much closer to the centre and further from the edge means that they were likely placed some time ago, most likely shortly before Harry first learned that magic was real.

Harry is confused and wonders who might have done this tom him and why and most importantly what exactly they do. Might Quirrel have placed these compulsions when he first met him?

The healer wonders if Harry noticed any changes in his behavior around that time. Harry explains that so much changed for him back then that it is hard to say. Harry went from being neglected and bullied to being popular and famous. He suddenly had real friends and people he could trust so of course he would act in ways he had not before.

The Healer makes some guesses what the structure might do and Harry latches onto the words selflessness and forgiveness among the suggestions. Harry thinks back to what his life was like before Hogwarts and he starts having an awful suspicion.

The Durslesys never taught Harry to be selfless or forgiving. Harry remembers a small fat boy with a stutter at muggle school who almost got bullied as much as Harry himself. Harry never helped him and even passively encouraged the other kids picking on him so he himself would not get picked on. Harry remembers a friend he had at school. A girl with braces and freckles who was almost as much an outsider as he was. They were not friends but the helped each other. One day the girl had to choose between Harry and a chance to join the popular crowd. She choose the chance to be popular and abandoned Harry. Harry never forgave her for that and when she later was kicked out of the popular group again and tried to befriend Harry again he rebuffed her even after she tried to apologize. Harry also remembers that time that Dudley almost got run over by a car. Dudley had been standing in the middle of the street after retrieving a football that went wild and had not seen the approaching car. Harry had seen it from where he had been standing but he had kept silent and not shouted a warning to Dudley. Luckily for his cousin the driver had managed to break in time. Dudley probably did not even realize how close he came to being seriously injured or even killed that day.

Those actions and other were not the actions of a Chosen One. The hero that the wizarding world expected had to be selfless and forgiving. He had to be the sort who would help those who had slighted him and even risk his live for those who had betrayed him. Harry fears that Dumbeldore might have helped things along when he discovers Harry's character by implanting these compulsions into him, chief among them the one that Hermione called his saving people thing.

Harry is torn. On the one side he knows that Dumbeldore die this for the greater good and that Harry actually benefited from it. The old Harry would not have come to the rescue of Hermione or Ginny, he would never have forgiven Ron for abandoning him during the tri-wizard tournament, he would not have started a club to help students who in previous years had worn potter stinks badges and accused him of being behind the petrifications of various students. The old Harry would not have stuck out his neck to help warn a wizarding world full of people who wrote stupid letter to the editor about him to the prophet. Harry clearly would not be the person who he was today with these compulsions and he feels that he is a better person with them.

On the other hand Harry can't help but think that his eagerness to forgive Dumbeldore might actually be cause by the compulsions and that without them he might not think that risking his life for a bunch of ungrateful sheep is something to aspire to.

Harry has to decided on whether or not he should try to have these compulsions removed.

 

[snthsnth]

First, don't have the healer be the only method that he gains the information from. Make the discovery of what does what in his magic something that only he can learn for himself. Color and shapes, even symbols can be specific to an individual. This negates the usefulness of the scan, unless it's recent and the spell is known.

Doing this removes some of the 'god-teir' feel that this spell has.

Second, don't have him assume that it's Dumbledore, even if it is. It could be part of the compulsion's effects, even if Dumbledore didn't intend for it to happen.

Harry could also believe that without the compulsion he would have changed on his own. He could have come to value his friends highly enough to help them when they were in need. With the compulsion he hasn't got a learned, measured response; it's either forgive completely or you're an enemy.

He could fear that any friend may irk him, tipping a scale that he can't see towards the 'foe' side. The compulsion to forgive 'neutrals' and friends wouldn't work, he'd consider them like Draco.

 

[zeebee1]

Whether it is true or not he would suspect Dumbledore.

 

[loki-l]

First, don't have the healer be the only method that he gains the information from. Make the discovery of what does what in his magic something that only he can learn for himself. Color and shapes, even symbols can be specific to an individual. This negates the usefulness of the scan, unless it's recent and the spell is known.

Doing this removes some of the 'god-teir' feel that this spell has.

Second, don't have him assume that it's Dumbledore, even if it is. It could be part of the compulsion's effects, even if Dumbledore didn't intend for it to happen.

Harry could also believe that without the compulsion he would have changed on his own. He could have come to value his friends highly enough to help them when they were in need. With the compulsion he hasn't got a learned, measured response; it's either forgive completely or you're an enemy.

He could fear that any friend may irk him, tipping a scale that he can't see towards the 'foe' side. The compulsion to forgive 'neutrals' and friends wouldn't work, he'd consider them like Draco.

I hadn't thought of the healer's diagnostic spell as somehow overpowered. I was thinking of a magical version of a CAT-scan that you would use to look for brain-tumors to explain sudden changes in a patients behaviour. All it really does reliable is taking a picture of a persons aura (Kirlian photography?) and look for artefacts. Self-imposed geasses, unbreakable vows, imperius curses and love potions might show up to some degree or another. interpreting what they are and what they do would be not easy. All the healer can tell him about the old artefact is that it is foreign and not self-imposed and that it is old probably from around the time he first started Hogwarts.

Harry's first reaction would be to suspect Voldemort/Quirrel who had both the means, motive and opportunity to fiddle with his mind. Only problem being that if Voldemort had successfully changed his mind somehow wouldn't there be some more obvious results? When the Healer throws out some guesses at what the compulsion might affect Harry's sights turn to Dumbeldor who also had abilities and the access and had some good motives to change Harry from the type of person he was to the person he has become. Harry might not jump to this conclusion instantly, but through a lot of soul searching and flash-backing about his childhood.

To explain why the healers diagnostic spell is not used more often, I guess I could show that it involves Harry having to drink a special potion beforehand to flare his aura, sit very still in a special room for a long time while his aura is photographed and having to wait hours for the result. Not really something that would see much use outside a healers office. One could even invent a an equivalent to the unhealthyness of x-rays. Maybe those superstitious muggles were on to something and repeated photography of ones soul is potentially dangerous. Of course if kirlian photography can steal ones soul that might open the prospect of an equivalent of radiation therapy to get rid of soul-fragments.

Harry angsting about how much the whole compulsion affected him and whether it would be a good idea to risk trying to unravel it would form the meat of the story, eventually transitioning to having to redefine himself.

 

[zeebee1]

So angst is the basis?

 

[snthsnth]

First, don't have the healer be the only method that he gains the information from. Make the discovery of what does what in his magic something that only he can learn for himself. Color and shapes, even symbols can be specific to an individual. This negates the usefulness of the scan, unless it's recent and the spell is known.

Doing this removes some of the 'god-teir' feel that this spell has.

Second, don't have him assume that it's Dumbledore, even if it is. It could be part of the compulsion's effects, even if Dumbledore didn't intend for it to happen.

Harry could also believe that without the compulsion he would have changed on his own. He could have come to value his friends highly enough to help them when they were in need. With the compulsion he hasn't got a learned, measured response; it's either forgive completely or you're an enemy.

He could fear that any friend may irk him, tipping a scale that he can't see towards the 'foe' side. The compulsion to forgive 'neutrals' and friends wouldn't work, he'd consider them like Draco.

I hadn't thought of the healer's diagnostic spell as somehow overpowered. I was thinking of a magical version of a CAT-scan that you would use to look for brain-tumors to explain sudden changes in a patients behaviour. All it really does reliable is taking a picture of a persons aura (Kirlian photography?) and look for artefacts. Self-imposed geasses, unbreakable vows, imperius curses and love potions might show up to some degree or another. interpreting what they are and what they do would be not easy. All the healer can tell him about the old artefact is that it is foreign and not self-imposed and that it is old probably from around the time he first started Hogwarts.

Harry's first reaction would be to suspect Voldemort/Quirrel who had both the means, motive and opportunity to fiddle with his mind. Only problem being that if Voldemort had successfully changed his mind somehow wouldn't there be some more obvious results? When the Healer throws out some guesses at what the compulsion might affect Harry's sights turn to Dumbeldor who also had abilities and the access and had some good motives to change Harry from the type of person he was to the person he has become. Harry might not jump to this conclusion instantly, but through a lot of soul searching and flash-backing about his childhood.

To explain why the healers diagnostic spell is not used more often, I guess I could show that it involves Harry having to drink a special potion beforehand to flare his aura, sit very still in a special room for a long time while his aura is photographed and having to wait hours for the result. Not really something that would see much use outside a healers office. One could even invent a an equivalent to the unhealthyness of x-rays. Maybe those superstitious muggles were on to something and repeated photography of ones soul is potentially dangerous. Of course if kirlian photography can steal ones soul that might open the prospect of an equivalent of radiation therapy to get rid of soul-fragments.

Harry angsting about how much the whole compulsion affected him and whether it would be a good idea to risk trying to unravel it would form the meat of the story, eventually transitioning to having to redefine himself.

Crap, lost a bunch of text. Accidentally closed my browser. You've dealt nicely with my god-teir fears, but I don't have the patience to retype all that text, so here are the main points.

1. Snape would also be a suspect. Probably better than Voldie, as he wouldn't be able to move openly against Harry.
2. The M-CAT and healer would have to be able to tell that it's actually a compulsion if you want Harry to know.
3. Harry should have many irregularities, the Scar, the Basilisk's fang, ect.
4. I have slight fears of Skysaber/Perfect Lion Heart's love of *suspicion? --> accusation. --> guilty!* through nothing but flawed deductive reasoning. That's why I would like a delay.

You may decide to have old compulsion removal be a slow process. If the compulsion also obscures it's own function (ie, effects memory recall) to the point where there is no appreciable difference between before and after there could be a period where Harry rejects Dumbledore as a possibility out of hand.

He could chip away at it for a while, thinking of scenarios where it's Snape, Voldie, or even Lucius, but always wondering what the purpose really is, until he reaches the part that affects his memory.

I like a bit of authorial foreplay. Lots of little climaxes are good too.

 

[sytang]

You can put in a twist, Harry suspects it's Dumbledore, the evidence points to Dumbledore, but it turns out it wasn't Dumbledore! After some research and development, it turns out that the same thing happened to Dumbledore when he was young!

It could turn out to be an action/mystery fic. Maybe some secret organization is instilling Hero-complexes into young people around the world, or maybe some people are just destined to develop them.

 

[snthsnth]

If you were destined to have a hero-complex there wouldn't need to be external magic to cause it.

If there is an organization forcing people into heroism wouldn't someone be forcing others into villany?

All of the magical heroes and villains were created by one organization. The only group so dastardly would be... The Stonecutters.

 

[loki-l]

Crap, lost a bunch of text. Accidentally closed my browser. You've dealt nicely with my god-teir fears, but I don't have the patience to retype all that text, so here are the main points.

1. Snape would also be a suspect. Probably better than Voldie, as he wouldn't be able to move openly against Harry.
2. The M-CAT and healer would have to be able to tell that it's actually a compulsion if you want Harry to know.
3. Harry should have many irregularities, the Scar, the Basilisk's fang, ect.
4. I have slight fears of Skysaber/Perfect Lion Heart's love of *suspicion? --> accusation. --> guilty!* through nothing but flawed deductive reasoning. That's why I would like a delay.

You may decide to have old compulsion removal be a slow process. If the compulsion also obscures it's own function (ie, effects memory recall) to the point where there is no appreciable difference between before and after there could be a period where Harry rejects Dumbledore as a possibility out of hand.

He could chip away at it for a while, thinking of scenarios where it's Snape, Voldie, or even Lucius, but always wondering what the purpose really is, until he reaches the part that affects his memory.

I like a bit of authorial foreplay. Lots of little climaxes are good too.

You are probably right about the jumping to conclusions part. I hate it when characters use bad logic and unproven assumptions to jump to conclusions that only turn out to be right because the author agreed with them. I thought that briefly suspecting Quirrel would be enough, but I was probably wrong. I hadn't thought of Snape as a potential suspect at all. I probably should give Harry a hint that it would have taken someone magically strong and well learned and a time frame that hints to a date before he first went to Hogwarts to narrow down the list of suspects.

In the end Harry would need to suspect Dumbeldore mostly based on the apparent results of the spell. Of course McGonagle also knew where he lived and had an interest in him being a bit more heroic. Maybe Molly got him on the trainstation. After the events of OoftP Dumbeldore would probably be the one Harry would suspect whether justified or not.

 

[snthsnth]

Crap, I keep losing my text. I'd try to make it more of an existential crisis than angst. Something like this would cause incredible amounts of self doubt. "Do 'I' like pumpkin juice, or does 'IT' make me like it?" type of thing.

You could have one of his friends comment on his saving people thing a couple times in the past to reveal it to him. The reveal of this sort of thing is tricky, if it feels contrived the story will suffer.

If you place the compulsion before Hogwarts then it would be harder for him to see the radical change, as there were far more situations after he started than before, and memory degrades over time.

Personally I would consider putting it in during Summer before second year. First year had only one big SAVE SOMEONE moment, you'd have to find an excuse for that. Maybe he tries to get her because he thinks (at the time) that she'd be useful, maybe he really does want friends.

I personally like the thought that he tries to save her as revenge against Ron for hurting her feelings, as he would value friends/allies. Ron helps, repaying more back than was owed, so he forgives his treachery.

Dumbledore could easily put the compulsion on Harry when he's recovering from the fight with Voldie.

EDIT: Forgot to add this.

McGonagall would be dismissed pretty quickly, she's too straight laced, and she goes into RAEG mode whenever the students are in danger.