Hello DLP,

It's been a while, and while I regret only coming back to you in my time of need I feel that you may find my request intrusting. Because, you see, I need to add conflict to a story that is not yet written.

But, I am getting ahead of myself. We could use all use some exposition to get us into the right frame of mind. As long as I can remember I've been bothered with the Slytherin house; not for there deviousness and cruelty, but because they lack it. Rowling made what would have been one of the most interesting houses into a group of shallow, one dimensional characters. It should be a crime.

So when I went to write my first Harry Potter fic, which for the sake of the world was discontinued and summarily deleted, I made sure to try and go deeper into the Slytherin house; not, the first years who really can't plan anything significant(writers tend to overestimate eleven year olds), but the upperclassmen could be brutal. I can't imagine the Slytherin beaters were paticularly please at being outflown by a first year. But, when I was drafting the fica I found myself digressing further and further away from the plot. I've never cared for fics that don't focus on Harry and I was writing one that focused on characters that were mentioned once or twice in the whole book.

So it led me to the conclusion that I have to find some reason to make Harry associate with Slytherin. After much consideration I feel that this can not be done within the Canon timeline at any point(barring Severitus which I have no intention of writing). After much frustration I invited Occam to the problem and he pointed out that the simplest solution would be to have Harry never meet Draco previous to the sorting. Harry was so naive at the time that if he had no bias going in he'd have taken Slytherin just to get away from the hat.

Now Dumbledore is faced with a problem- he has to keep Harry alive because Slytherin is filled with children carrying the grudges of their fathers. So he does whatever any good leader who is forced to deal with an eleven year old does and delegates. To Snape. Now Snape is a bastard but he likes his job(freeingredientsftwamirite?) and knows that Dumbledore doesn't really like him enough to keep him around if he messes up.

On a tangent I've never seen why people have Dumbledore as either a grandfatherly-type or go the whole Manipulator route. I can't see how he would have time for either. For christsake running a normal school is bad enough. Running a school that magically changes, with preteens that have highly dangerous weapons and being the leader of the parliament all at the same time makes it difficult to micromanage an eleven year olds life.

Shall we move back to the point? Now, Snape is hit with a dilemma; he needs to protect Harry but doesn't want to deal with him. So, he delegates his responsibilities to a prefect who he has firmly under control. I've not decided whom yet but I'm tempted to make an OC from India who would be the first exchange student to come to Hogwarts since the India broke from the commonwealth. That way I have a character who understands what it feels like to be treated like scum(because I'm sure their were many purebloods that didn't approve of foreigners on many levels) and allows me to introduce Harry to Parvati and Padma and thus to the other houses.

In Slytherin Harry learns that unless you have some power life will be like the Dursleys all over again. OC steers him toward Draco, because being in a Malfoy's graces is tremendously useful in school and out, but it blows up and Harry is at odds with the rest of the house which sides with Draco mostly due to his father. So, OC says that if Harry is not connected he must simply be the best. At everything. So Harry struggles through potions, begins to drill DADA, Charms and Transfiguration and learns that copying off folk in History is the best way to go. After a while, people come to him for favors. Not anyone in Malfoy's circle but Harry is able to build bridges with Greengrass and Nott or some other nonames.

Now, here is my problem. I run dry on how to incorporate the plot of PS. How do I add conflict in the story. This Harry is too wrapped up in his own problems to do any exploring and while he doesn't like Snape he doesn't hate him either. I can't think of any motivation for him to snoop around.

And so I come to you for help. Any ideas would be welcome.

Mannequin

P.S. Tell me if this is in the right section. I'll move it if it's not.

 

Simple Harry realizes he likes money, and that money brings power. Harry along with the help of the OC dude from India becomes a drug dealer. When Harry is introduced to Padma and Parvati they introduce him to their drug lord father who supplies Harry with the drug. Doesn't matter what drug could be magical or non-magical. Now Harry then gains many friends and contacts throughout the school. Now you can use this as a platform for Harry to go snooping around I guess.

That or Harry can gain uber powerful magical powers and becomes the next Merlin, like thousands of other stories.

 

Give him chronic insomnia and make curiousity a big part of his character. Takes care of the need to explore, gives him a good way to have dirt on everyone later, and gives you a way to get him into shitty situations for subplots.

If curiousity isn't a good enough reason for Harry to be looking for hidden corridors, secret passages, and even find himself in a forbidden 3rd floor corridor, you could write him being ambushed in a hidden passage. Self-preservation says he should learn where all of them are so that he is mindful of them and can't be caught there later. Or some such. Or maybe he just gets lost in one after taking a wrong turn on his way to classes.

Either way, I definitely like the fact that what looks to be a full story with Harry in Slytherin (and not a Severitus) is being well thought out.

 

That's a rather unique idea and I'll be sure to give it the attention- Actually no, this doesn't even deserve a tasteful dismissal. This is an awful idea. You've basically decided to rape canon for no good reason. This will in no way trigger the whole fucking philosopher stone angle and it makes an eleven year old a drug dealer. Now, I realize in some places this isn't strange. I've lived in some places this isn't strange. But, you know where it might raise some eyebrows? In a fucking expensive boarding school. Also, what the hell will Harry do with all this money? Buy more chocolate frogs? Hell, he'd have to pay a third year to get them in because first years are locked inside the castle forall intents and purposes.

tl:dr: You're a fucking moron.

 

I don't think you can do a competent Slytherin!Harry without including a heavy dose of politics and power brokering. I'll mention a couple of stories that touch on this:

Chris Widger's Grey Maiden series. It has many of the elements of Slytherin!Harry you mention in your post, if somewhat different motivations. An overarching element of the conflict is political, namely Harry's attempts to acquire and consolidate power. Slytherin culture is complex and well detailed. (Fair warning: the stories are heavy on the angst and the later ones have a Harry/Slytherin!Ginny pairing; still, I recall it being readable).

Another story where you might find inspiration if you like an unapproachable Dumbledore and intense political maneuvering is Japanese Jew's Wit of the Raven. While Harry isn't in Slytherin House, the story has solid writing and several clever ideas, some of which might be built upon in your political story.

 

BE GONE MUGGLENET SPAI!

 

First off, were you the one with the Runes fic? Because that was a good fic and you should update it.

Anyway, my problem isn't the politics, but rather the point that this Harry wouldn't go looking for trouble, and I need a way for trouble to come to him. The politics is much easier than that.

 

So this is going off in a different direction, but I felt like I needed to throw out an idea.
Hagrid get's a dragon that is taken away when Ron writes to Charlie, but since Harry is in Slytherin, that's not going to happen. Hagrid is discovered with the dragon, and Dumbledore realizes it's not safe to have the stone in the school anymore. Quirrell/Voldemort is enranged and attacks Harry out of anger to spite Dumbledore.

 

.... Why is Harry in Slytherin? What caused him be in Slytherin? Why would Voldemort attack Harry out of anger? He has been shown to be a more cool headed fellow than that.

 

Why don't you use this OC to lead Harry to trouble? This OC already seems to have a great influence in him anyway. Okay, this is a bad idea because if the OC starts leading Harry around you will fall into your first problem: the fic stop being Harry-centric.

Use ParseltonguePhoenix idea, with the insomnia and curiosity or Dumbledore manipulations, I know that you said that Dumbls already is busy with Hogwarts, but the guy is a "genius", he is famous for it, so maybe he can run a school while manipulating people and being a chief warlock without counting the help that he gives the minister...

Or maybe you should just ignore the PS plot, create an original one. Consider the canon like a guide, not a law, don't let a stupid stone stop your story.

Now about Harry in slytherin: It was Hagrid, Draco and Ron acts that convinced Harry to go to Griffindor, not just Draco.

 

Sounds promising, but many promising fics fall by the wayside. At least you're trying to think of plot holes in advance, a lot more then most fan fic authors do. With Harry being in Slytherin, I don't think you need to go too deep into the PS plot. There should be enough there to provided some conflict without Harry actively pursuing the stone.

If you want to involve the stone and tentative PS plot, one simple solution is Voldemort. He'd have an interest in Harry and he's in a position of authority. Several different ways you could go with it.

I would avoid the Quirrel/Voldemort mentors Harry plot. It's difficult to come up with a logical reason for Voldemort to do so. Voldemort wants Harry dead, not more competent.

Perhaps Voldemort discovers Dumbledore hid the stone in the mirror and he'll need a patsy to remove it. What better way to return to the wizarding world then to destroy Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived, on the day of his resurrection? This would at least get Harry to the mirror and stone as Voldemort is likely to simply kidnap him.

Perhaps Dumbledore foresaw this method of circumventing the mirror, so he cast a charm of some sort to prevent anyone from entering the chamber against their will. No imperius, no "go into the chamber or I torture you", no anything except complete desire to enter. In that case, Voldemort would have to actively manipulate Harry to pursue the stone, but not for his own use (or else he wouldn't be able to pull the stone out of the mirror). This idea might be reaching a bit, could come off quite badly if it isn't done extremely well.

If you don't want to use Voldemort, another simple but cliche method is to have Harry become friends or associate with someone who does want to protect the stone and does pursue it. If Harry is rejected by his own house, he might try to reach out to other houses for friendships, even if only in secret. He is an eleven year old boy after all, he'll want friends. Hermione (rejected by her own house), the fifth year, a Patil, whatever. He'd be a reluctant pursuer, but pursuer nontheless.

However you choose to do it, good luck.

 

Conflicts are easy to come up with for this scenario. You are placing Harry into an entirely under-developed house of Hogwarts with undeveloped characters and a clean slate that you can chisel into just about anything you wish. He can have fights with roommates, get into detentions with Snape over the most trivial of things (because Snape will not like Harry or change his mind about him just because he's Slytherin), and you can even add some filler homework segments. Just remember, all sub-plots must inevitably lead back to the main plot.

Honestly, the easiest way to add conflict is to use the insomnia tactic. From that point on -and adding in everything I was saying before- you have yourself an interesting base by which you can build an original Slytherin!Harry.

 

He couldn't sleep. The springs within his mattress had worn through the cover, and no matter which way he lay or sat, they dug painfully into his bare skin. His only blanket was itchy and smelled absolutely horrid; he had cast it aside long ago and refused to sleep with it anywhere near him. A light fixture dangled above him, shining almost unnaturally bright, but he restrained himself from trying to put it out; the first time that it had gone out he had been beaten soundly and the bulb had been replaced. It had been the last time the light went out.

Being forced into the cupboard underneath the stairs every night when his relatives went to bed didn't help, he supposed. He swept back his fringe, his black hair matted with sweat. The entire home was heated by the room next to his, and with the walls paper thin he couldn't avoid waking up with his entire body soaked; he had learned to deal with the jeers from his schoolmates by staying eerily quiet and staring them down. He wasn't a big boy--he supposed the never would be--but if he looked into the other children's eyes long enough they went deathly pale and stopped trying to embarrass him. Every child he had ever met feared him.

He smiled. Being feared was one of the few things he enjoyed.

 

I think you'll find that this idea may well have been a cunningly disguised joke.

On a more thread related note, sideline PS for a year or several hundred thousand because that shit has been done more times than your mother and think of something interesting that might happen.

 

If you want to try and do something original, let Harry deal with his own life and develop in slyterin, and allow Voldemort to gain possesion of the PS letting him regain his body in Harrys !st year, that way it lights a fire under everyones ass and It can become a more realistical Mentor/story. then tie that in with the new AU universe that you have created.

 

Rocks fall. 'nuff said.

 

I don't see anyway you can keep the story the way you want and add in the PS storyline small as it may be.Either get rid of it or do what somebody suggested and sideline it or have Voldemort regain his body, maybe disappear for a few months to cause mystery?

And on a second note your OC, I have to say this OC's have a way of falling flat in the HP fandom, either people don't want to read about them since they have a hundred of their own, or they beome too involved in the fic and change the story into 'Harry, Ron, Hermione and Gary/Mary Stu beat everything thrown at them.I don't particularly mind but I don't really see a lot of good OC's.You could just use a minor character from Slytherin instead.

 

I've got this weird theory here... when constructing a personality of a character from canon whose personality isn't remotely mentioned - that is an original character. So, all those Daphne Greengrasses, Tracey Davises, and all those unimportant canon characters are just OCs waiting to happen.

That said, it's funny what familiar names can do. For instance, I'd read a third-person POV story where Harry is called "Harry" rather than a third-person POV story where Harry has the exact same personality and what not - but isn't called Harry.