Shit Fanon: In the summer after OotP Harry gets a letter from Gringotts requesting a meeting. He goes and finds out he's the heir to 14 titles, 10 billion galleons, the True Owner(tm) of Hogwarts, holds the undying loyalty of all non-human magical races, has been manipulated by Dumbledore/Weasleys/Lupin, and starts a quest to overthrow the Ministry, Voldemort, and Dumbledore.

Twist: The meeting is actually about how Harry isn't meeting the minimum balance requirement for all Gringotts accounts because Voldemort, now with Harry's blood now in his veins, emptied every Vault in Harry's name.

 

Shit Fanon: In the summer after OotP Harry gets a letter from Gringotts requesting a meeting. He goes and finds out he's the heir to 14 titles, 10 billion galleons, the True Owner(tm) of Hogwarts, holds the undying loyalty of all non-human magical races, has been manipulated by Dumbledore/Weasleys/Lupin, and starts a quest to overthrow the Ministry, Voldemort, and Dumbledore.

Twist: The goblins pretend to suck up to harry, and convince him to invest in all sorts of ventures, businesses, so on so forth. He invests in all sorts of profitable ventures on the advice of the goblin account managers, who get 100% of the profits by contract. He donates to trusts, only to realize (or not) that they aren't exactly charitable ones. He lends money, at no interest, to Gringotts, which lends it right on for a profit.

The wizengamot are extremely concerned about the political situation, because it turns out Dumbledore, as Harry's legal guardian, is suddenly due quite a lot of power. The sudden alliance of sentient magical creatures is also troubling, so some of them assasinate Harry to return his giant inheritance to the ministry, wherein it is controlled by the wizengamot.

Ownership of Hogwarts would've been a big deal, if it wasn't purely a ceremonial title with no significance, because the school wasn't made to be for profit, and the decisions are taken by a board of governers. Even so, the wizengamot passes a resolution dissolving any legal significance of the ownership of hogwarts, just in case.


Honestly that's kinda the problem with inheriting power. The only way you get anything is through mechanisms of state, and you have to respect them for your 'power' to mean anything. So unless you completely outvote the entire legislative body, which would be unlikely because that's the kinda obvious thing people build safeguards for, they'll have no choice but to unanimously vote on resolutions to strip any and all power you have.
And ask any lottery winner if coming into wealth means you can hang onto it for more than two consecutive months.

 

Shit fanon: Harry becomes the first ever magical animagus and can turn into a dragon or a pheonix, which somehow turns out to be exactly what he needs to kill Voldemort.

Twist: He instead turns into an actually interesting magical animal. Honestly, I just want to read a story where Harry turns into a Beholder and decides there is no reason to ever turn back. And I mean an actual, smarter than humans and always Lawful Evil beholder.

 

This reminds me of Hellraiser 2. There's a sadistic psychiatrist who gets turned into a demon. It wasn't his plan to become one and he suffered while it happened, but after the transformation was done he said "and to think I hesitated" and then gladly goes to torture others.

 

Shit fanon: Harry's brother is the wrong boy who lived. When Harry is introduced into the Potter family's life, he successfully takes his rightful fortune from them and disgraces them using his sneaky Slytherin skills and pointing out Dumbledore's manipulative machinations. Also gets Hermione as his girlfriend, because of course.

Twist: Due to Harry's upbringing, he pretty much acts identical to Dio from JJBA. The second he's introduced to his genuinely nice twin brother, he sets off trying to humiliate and outclass him in every way possible, so his parents have him as their heir instead of his brother, even though his brother is technically the rightful heir, in order to take their power. This only gets worse once they go to Hogwarts.

"Hermione, you thought your first kiss was with my brother...but it was with me, HARRY!"

 

Fanon: Harry's brother is the WBWL.

Twist: Harry is the WBWL. While the killing curse hit Harry and rebounded, Tom Riddle's horcrux entered the nearest living thing... Harry's brother.

If you want to go full trope, have Harry's brother being left at the Dursleys, get sorted into Slytherin and all along we think Harry is the one in the prophecy.

Or you can have the two brothers grow up very close at the Dursleys but start going in different directions when Harry's brother starts getting influenced by the Horcrux or sorted into Slytherin.

 

Isn't Harry technically the Boy Who Lived here? He is the one marked by Riddle. Love this idea though, it's got great potential for conflict.

 

Technically yes, but at the same time no. It's more that Dumbledore and others assume BWL = Prophecy Child. In this case it's probably safe to say they both are the BWL. Harry's marked with the scar, his brother the horcrux.

 

I'd argue that Boy Who Lived is the one that survives the Killing Curse. And not technically, but, like, 100% BWL.

I understand that "WBWL stories" basically go the route that one (the wrong) child gets all the things - stops killing curse, training, etc - publically, and the other (harry) is actually the hero.

But in my opinion, the BWL "title" is just public acknowledgment of the surviving of the killing curse, and the prophecy, or possible horcrux, or which one deflected the curse in reality have no bearing on the fact.

So I'd say that Lindsey's twist isn't in fact a twist, but Harry is correct BWL, and Harry's brother is (potentially) the one prophesied to end Voldemort.

 

I would argue that Harry is the one who was raised by the Dursleys. I suppose the horcrux played some role, but isn't that what made him who he is by the time we meet him?

 

I guess we are mixing up "The Chosen One" and "The Boy Who Lived" titles. I'd argue that in @Lindsey 's scenario, Harry is both the Boy Who Lived and The Chosen One, as he both survived the killing curse and was chosen by Tom Riddle as a threat.

You could make an argument that Riddle's soul fragment chose Harry's sibling and that it was a deeper/more meaningful choice. This ambiguity is good, you could throw in some philosophy here re free will and conscious choice.

Doesn't the HP universe have souls? Identity should be independent of experience then.

 

It very much does have souls, but the souls seem to serve as containers of memories. Dumbledore states that it is our choices that make us who we are, and if therefore no one is born one way or another, and the characters are born with souls, then souls have no personality forming properties.

 

Useful Parseltongue

-Shit Fanon: Harry finds out a special use of Parseltongue that gives him strong benefits, like having spells cast in parselftongue being more powerful, using it to talk to dragons or having a powerful snake familiar. All this has minimal actual plot relevance save for a single moment(likely during the triwizard tournament) to show off.

- Interesting twist: Harry's body starts breaking down because of his frequent use of parseltongue, since his body isn't suited for it, now Harry has to find a way to restore his body, while his strongest skill has become a double edged sword.