Not the person you replied to but; a rather vast majority of Slytherin!Indy!Grey! Harry have slytherin as this house of schemers and politics and Deadly decadent court trope. It's rather terrible fanon; have you literally ever seen an eleven year old argue politics or carry out intrigue IRL? This is a very common, and IMO terrible writing for slytherin.

 

As an eleven year old, I'm currently embroiled in 11 different schemes and have 3 different smirks I use in my day-to-day. I assume in fiction, with characters that are even smarter than I am, they would have multiple times more schemes that they carry out. Life is like a chess game. To win against your opponents, you always have to be thinking many steps ahead. It's only logical

 

Probably pretty boring for them, the poor fucks.

 

Shit fanon: Sirius calls Harry "cub" because he's a dog animagus.

Interesting twist: Sirius isn't an animagus, he's just a furry pedophile and is trying to convert and sleep with Harry.

 

*Laughs in Contractual Invalidation*

 

This genuinely reminds me of a Jason Statham movie whose name I'm forgetting. One in which he has to keep his heart rate up else he dies.

Edit: Let me add my own contribution. Relatively minor but it could make for far-reaching changes.

Shit trope: Harry Potter comes from a wealthy family, and has no issues with money whatsoever, his parents were well-respected citizens and well-loved people.

Interesting Twist: Harry's parents were living in a cottage in Godric's Hollow because James beggared the family (and not because he was funding the Order but because he had no head for managing money and lost it all) and the Potters were the laughing stock of the Wizarding World when they went into hiding. Lily was not a charms mistress/rune master she was an average muggleborn witch with no useful connections. Now Harry has to face the consequences in hard mode because not only was Vernon right about his parents having no job and James being an idiot drunk, but he looks extraordinarily like James and no one in the Wizarding World can get over that.

Even more interesting twist: James and Lily were killed by the Lestranges and Crouch (they may or may not have been tortured, but that's not important) and Neville is the BWL. No one wanted to be associated with the Potters, so his guardianship is turned down by everyone and he is taken by the Dursleys by default. But they're actually poor, and so Vernon's attitude is more that he's a burden on the family and he hates wizards because they don't understand that being poor in the wizarding world is different from being poor in the muggle world: you can't magic stuff up. Unfortunately, every attempt to put Harry into foster care is rebuffed because the Ministry of Magic Child Services is notoriously paternalistic and makes sure Harry isn't allowed to leave "his family's" care.

Twist TL;DR: The Potters aren't a respected family and Vernon is justified in calling Harry a burden on the family. Harry may or may not be the BWL.

 

Oh fuck yeah inject a Harry Potter/Crank: High Voltage crossover into my veins

 

Shitty trope: Harry learns (in Gringott's obviously) that he has an incredible inherited magical ability. No one else has any.

Inherited twist: Magical inheritance is a normal thing, but it's also terrible gacha in terms of what you get.
Bonus point: The only thing Harry inherited is getting a natural grasp of broom flying, but everyone assumes that he hides some trump card.

 

Shitty Trope: Harry goes to a foreign school that is much more advanced than the backwater Hogwarts and everyone is so much more powerful than in the UK.

Interesting Trope: Harry gets sent to a foreign school because Voldemort won after being resurrected by the Philosopher's Stone before Harry's second year and he needs to flee the country.

 

Shitty Fanon: Harry is sorted into Slytherin because the Dursley's were so abusive to him during his childhood, and apparently all abused children are cunning and ambitious by default.

Interesting Twist: The Dursley's were somewhere on the borderline between emotionally distant and outright emotionally abusive, which makes Harry keenly aware of the value of relationships and friendships and have a strong desire to form them. The Sorting Hat puts him in Hufflepuff because thats where he'll make the most friends. In every book Harry solves the problem with the power of friendship, with friends across all the years and all the Houses siding with him and helping him. A more realistic take on the "Harry builds alliances so that he has an army when Voldemort comes back", because for 11 year olds the closest they get to an alliance is friendship.

 

Double Twist: The foreign school is shit.

 

- Interesting twist: Sirius is murdered before he can reach his trial as a number of "imperiused" Death Eaters based their defences on Sirius being a Death Eater and Voldemort's right hand man.

Alternatively Lucius was waiting for Sirius to kick the bucket so Draco/Narcissa could inherit the "Black fortune"/whatever and now there is a chance he might go free Lucius has him killed.
--- Post automerged ---

More like a disgusting twist.

 

Shit Fanon: Harry's twin brother is falsely hailed as the Boy-Who-Lived, but he's really just an arrogant, moronic, attention-seeking fraud, and the two hate each-other's guts since Harry was abandoned by their parents on some flimsy pretext. Harry is sorted into Slytherin (incessantly referred to as "the snake-pit") and uses his newfound Machiavellian super-genius to politic his way to dominating his house, before finally revealing that he is the true Boy-Who-Lived, humiliating his idiot brother and handily defeating Voldemort with the power he knows not: a basic grasp of logic with a dash of genre-savvy.

Interesting Twist: Harry grew up with his brother (either at the Dursleys' or with their parents), who may or may not truly be the Boy-Who-Lived. His brother is genuinely humble, brave and clever, and they are inseparable best friends.

Interesting Twist #2: It turns out that Slytherin!Harry is actually just a bitter, jealous little shit with delusions of grandeur. His brother is the true BWL and deserves none of Harry's negativity. Much of Harry's personal journey is slowly recognizing the ugly truth about himself, learning to overcome his jealousy, and accepting that if he wants the same recognition and (deserved) adoration his brother gets, he's just going to have to put in actual work toward becoming a better person and wizard.

------------------------------------

Shit Fanon: Somewhere between PoA and HBP, Harry discovers the truth about how he is a horcrux and how Dumbledore's plan revolves around him dying "For the Greater Good". Harry immediately rebels against the "Manipulative Old Goat"(TM), and with the help of the core members of his future harem (but mostly Hermione), he learns that Dumbledore is just plain wrong and refuses to see it because... I don't know, arrogance or something? A bunch of teenagers handily outwit the headmaster, and over the course of a summer or two Harry learns everything he needs to fulfill the prophecy and save the day, in the process disgracing Dumbledore and breaking his stranglehold on political power. Harry goes on to inherit the lordship of six or seven Moste Ancient and Noble Houses, allowing him to legally marry his entire Harem and prance off into the sunset as the richest, most powerfullest wizard EVAH!

Interesting Twist: Harry learns that he is a horcrux, and that Dumbledore's plan requires him to sacrifice himself "For the Greater Good" years earlier than canon. Harry proceeds to talk it out with those closest to him, and finds out why Dumbledore sees this as the only way. After ruling out any other option, and after taking a mature, objective look at the situation, Harry determines that Dumbledore is right: For the good of the many, he is willing to die. The remaining time between that and the final battle is a bittersweet period where Harry learns to live in the moment with the people he cares about, while Dumbledore takes a much more active role as Harry's mentor.

At some point the Weasley twins jokingly suggest that Harry take the time to marry as many sexy witches as he can before he kicks the bucket, only to be slapped down by an irate Hermione, who points out that polygamy is just as illegal in Magical Britain as it is in the muggle world.

As Dumbledore comes more and more to see Harry as the (grand-)son he never had, Harry gently chides Albus for his high-handedness and secrecy, gradually teaching the aged, quietly cynical headmaster that people can surprise him in the best possible way, but only if he gives them the chance to do so. When the time comes for Harry to go to his death, he does so, at peace with the price he must pay. A grieving Dumbledore ensures that his sacrifice was not in vain, destroying Voldemort once and for all. At Harry's funeral, Albus gives an emotional eulogy thanking him for proving that it's never too late to learn how to change yourself for the better, and vowing to live up to the ideals that Harry Potter stood for.

 

I'm imagining Robin Williams emerging from Jumanji.

 

Could really work. Two people coming into the magical world with similar outside perspectives, but have wildly different reactions.

 

Not sure if it has already been said but...

Fanon: Harry inherites a lot of money, a lordship and quickly becomes influential and powerful, reforms the wizarding world, etc.
Twist: Harry inherites a lot of money, a lordship... and quickly messes up and squander it because he has no idea how to deal with it... he loses everything but actually gain some maturity in the process. He will become rich and influential again, but it is going to take time and he has to earn it the hard way.

 

A bit of a riff on @aAlouda 's SI fic twist:

Shit Fanon: Huge fan who knows all about fanon and canon of Harry Potter is sent for laughs to the HP universe by a Random Omnipotent Being (We're not saying its Q from Star Trek, but we're not not saying it either...). He immediately becomes best friends with the main characters, and learns that every fanfic concept and spell that he really liked actually applies to the world he's now in, giving him a massive leg up on everybody. In short order, he solves all the characters' long-running problems and becomes the wisest, most important person in everyone's' lives. Also, he fucks a lot of 14-year-olds.

Interesting Twist: The SI dumped into the HP world is, in fact, an expert on the fanon and canon... of the Dresden Files. He's heard of Harry Potter, but he's never read any books or fanfics, and never saw the movies. Basically, aside from a few poorly understood HP memes and pop-culture references, he has no fucking clue what's going on.

Between a bunch of incorrect assumptions about magic and his utter bewilderment about the HP wizarding world ("You mean violating the minds and memories of regular people is standard practice here?!") and magic system ("You teach fucking schoolchildren to transmogrify others?! How are you not all raving corrupted psychopaths by now?!"), he actually bungles things pretty badly, and may make things worse for the main characters. Also, instead of 14-year-olds, as a teenage student he aggressively, almost stalkerishly pursues Professor Sinistra, determined to pull off a reverse-Lolita scenario; hilarity ensues...

 

Sounds a bit like Hogwarts Battle School