A post Voldemort story, or rather, one starting at the defeat of Voldemort.

After the Final Battle, a beaten, weakened and broken Voldemort manages to flee the field before Harry makes the final strike. He apparates, but due to his condition can't concentrate enough. He ends up landing in a church. Its up to you what church he lands in, obviously it depends where you set the final battle. It might however be more effective for the story if it were a major cathedral of some sort. Anyway, when Voldemort arrives he passes out from exhaustion and pain.

Harry and Co manage to trace his apparation and follow him, landing just outside the church. When they enter, the priests, ministers, Abbots, monks, perhaps a Bishop or an Archbishop depending on what sort of church you choose, try to prevent them from killing Voldemort. They claim that since he appeared before the alter of God he was sent by Him and is under their protection. The wizards ignore them and destroy Voldemort where he lies unconscious.

Before they can manage to alter the memories of all the priests present, someone manages to send a message, and a recording of what happened from a security camera, to (here is where the author must decided what demonomation the church is. If they choose the catholic church then the message is sent to the Vatican. If they choose another denomonation then the message is sent to the appropriate higher ups.). When the message is recieved, but confirmation cannot be given by the senders, because their memories have been wiped. This leads to further investigation, and eventually the Church in whatever form discovers the existence of the Wizarding World.

Remember, from the point of view of the Church the wizarding world are cold hearted, senseless murderers who wipe the memories of holy men and kill messengers from God (which is what they think Voldemort was). The Church decides that the wizarding world is too dangerous, and that ordinary people are unlikely to realise the danger they are in if they knew about wizards, and would thus grant all sorts of protection and rights to those the Church thinks are the Devil's children. Thus it decides to make holy war on the wizards.

Basically the story is about Harry fighting to defend the wizarding world from religious fanatics who are determined to wipe it out, but Harry being Harry doesn't want to kill them because he knows their motivations are based on misconceptions. Despite Harry being an important figure in the wizarding world, he point of view of over shadowed by the fact that witches and wizards, as well as squib and muggle relatives who are aware of the wizarding world (and are thus deemed unclean and heretical by the Church) are being hunted down and killed, and in some cases tortured to purify their souls. Think Inquisition, perhaps if it is the Catholic Church, the Pope decides to invest the Holy Inquisition with this task.

The Ministry of Magic declares all out war on the Church, with Harry trying to moderate between the too sides.

It would be a long fic, and I think it would probably be based more around Harry's, and others, thoughts and feelings than loads of action scenes. There certainly would be plenty of opportunity for action, but it wouldn't be enough to carry the plot.

 

1. How would the church be able to stand up to the Wizarding world? I doubt they would just throw holy water on the wizards.

2. Why make Harry care about them? Here these "holy people" are torturing wizards just to "purify" their souls, and he thinks that's okay? What if that was done to one of his friends. I bet that would change his view on the war.

 

He doesn't care about them per se, more he cares because they are fighting, dieing and killing due to a misconception that is to an extent his fault.

As to why the church can stand up to the wizarding world, partially because its so large and widespread, partially because its so influential, and partially because the wizards fear what they don't understand, and to be completely honest the Church is so mysterious that most muggles don't completely understand it, how would wizards feel?

They can also stand up to them because they use modern technology to ensure that they can't just be forced to forget everything, ie keeping key players hidden away, so that they can continue to pass orders to minions, even if said minions come back with their memories wiped.

 

That's actually a well thought out and original idea (at least in my experience) but I can see two problems with it.

Firstly it will almost assuredly attract a virulently anti-religion writer to make the church the new bad guys. Personally I've got no beef with religion and even less with those folks who choose not to have one, but I don't think a preachy rant dressed up in Harry Potter trappings is an enjoyable read. We all know that organized religion (and it's hard to get more organised than the Catholic Church) has made more than a few screw-ups/brainwashings/human rights violations over the years, but who wants to read 50k words of bitching about pedophile priests and mindless followers when they they could have a decent fanfic.

That's not really a complaint about the challenge, just the type of person who would accept it.


Secondly, if it happens in England, it's probably safe to say it would end up in a Church of England/Anglican church just because it's the most common religion. CoE means that a message passed "up the chain" would eventually wind up in the Queen's hands and no doubt She is aware of Her magical subjects. Blame Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

A notable exception for this "England is CoE" oversimplification is that the Salesian Brotherhood of Don Bosco runs a cathedral/school for boys in Chertsey, Surrey. Privet Drive is just as likely as anyplace else for a "final showdown" so splinching himself into a nearby church wouldn't be too far. There's also an abbey/monastery/priory/wherever old monks go to die in Farnborough, Hampshire if you want to head south a smidge. Having a higher concentration of higher ranked priests/nuns/monks they might be better equipped to put in an "eyes only" message for a cardinal or the Pope.

I'm sure there are other places throughout England, but those two I know of for sure as well established sites (the Salesians chipped in a bit for my college, the Bishop of St. Petersburg is an alright guy aside from that whole catholic thing).

 

There are actually a fairly large number of catholics in Britain as well, but you are right that the Anglican church is the most prevalent. I do think that the catholic church would be the best to use for this challenge, simply because they have the historic bit about the Inquisition, and are generally more powerful and influential than most other churchs.

EDIT: Oh, and as for it being an original idea, its amazing what you think of when your revising limestone scenery for a major geography exam the next day

 

The Catholic Church has over 1,000,000,000 members. I think that if the Pope said something, it would be a world wide witch hunt. At least in Christan countries.

Though I do wonder how the Church would fight. Suicide bombers? Kidnappings? Torture? Help from world governments?

I think it would be a very intriguing story.

 

Suicide bombings is out. Catholics have a strict stance against suicide. As is torture, I cannot imagine the bishops or priests torturing wizards to the brink of insanity. Even if they would torture them, what would stop the wizards from just apparating away?

 

I'd read this. It'll be interesting to see who takes up the challenge.

 

Well if you look at history, you would see that they did torture alot back in the days. So it's not so far of that they do it again.

And as for the apparating away, muggle relatives or children can't apparate. Not only that, the church might actually have some wizards and witches under their control and they could prevent people from apparating away.

 

What I imagine the Church would do, is kidnap a number of magical children, and brain wash them whilst training them to use their powers. I would think they would perhaps work out some way of focusing power through 'holy' incantations, which would be the churches excuse for using their enemies weapon against them.

As for the torturing thing. The Holy Inquisition still exists. Benedict was the head of it before he became Pope. Its currently charged with enforcing catholic doctrine within the Church, thus it is filled with hard line conservative catholics. I can personally see them changing there job to hunting down leads to find enclaves of witches and wizards. What I picture is a fully ordained priest who is an Inquisitor, teamed with one of their 'pet' wizards, and a group of fanatic believers.

As for how the combat would take place. Not suicide bombing, but there is a difference between suicide, and accepting that death is immensly probably and still doing something. Lone fanatics might attack massed areas like Diagon Alley, where they would take as many folk down as they could before being taken down themselves, then perhaps having an explosive device linked to their vital signs, so it goes off if they are either killed or incapacitated. I think mostly the church would track down those magical folk either living in the muggle world, or those with relatives in the muggle world. Capture, torture, kill.

Also, about wizards apparating away. It required concentration to apparate, and what disrupts concentration better than pain? Create a collar or something which administers a constant electric current just strong enough to stop a person concentrating, and they would be able to capture a hold a wizard until they were under wards set up by their own wizards.

 

I'd actually rather see Voldemort become an arm of the Catholic church that aims to 'purify' wizards.

Suppose Voldemort survived when the many church officials protected him with their bodies.

Somehow the Pope would come along, find the weak, all powerful wizard, and bend him to his will - persuade him (perhaps with some potent chemicals/secret, ritualistic 'malleability' holy water) that wizards are the corrupted angels of God.

Voldemort would wage war to bring wizards back to the side of God or terminate otherwise for their pact with the Devil (and mixing with the muggles, causing imperfection of mere humans to destroy the perfection of Angels).

Imagine the former Dark Lord with a staff like this, leading his now white hooded minions on 'inquisitions'.

 

My take on this plot idea would go something like this…


In early days of the Catholic Church, after Constantine converted the Roman Empire to the Catholic faith a secret war began. Long before the word “Inquisition” would become a part of history the Church began to see magic users as a threat to their influence in the empire. In secret the Inquisition was formed to detect, study, and later combat the threat of the magic users.

The Inquisition quickly realized that without magic they were at a distinct disadvantage. In secret they began to kidnap young witches and wizards in order to bend them to the Inquisition’s cause. Unknown to either the Inquisition or Magical worlds this would create a new branch of magic. Without the knowledgebase of the magical community the children had only accidental magic and the rudimentary teachings of the Inquisition to train their magic.

In time the secret magical users of the Inquisition had developed a branch of magic that to this day remains a mystery to the magic world. All that is known is that when the Inquisition began its crusade again magic wielders the effects were devastating. The Hunters of the Inquisition, those with magical abilities, quickly became the boogiemen of the magical community.

The secret war would continue to rage until the middle ages with neither side having a decisive advantage. However, as the dark ages proclaimed the fall of the Empire, the rise of kings, and the rapid growth of the church things changed. Praying on the fears of muggles the Church expanded its war against witches and wizards beyond it’s small elite force of Hunters. Thus the history of the Inquisition became one that haunts the church to this day.

While the magical world hid itself away the Inquisition was forced to change. So few witches and wizards could be found that the church disbanded the Hunters and chose to try and forget its mistakes. Yet, the Brotherhood of Hunters did not go quietly into the night. It knew that one day they would again be needed to aid the Church and mankind against the threat of the magical world. In secret, even to the majority of the church, the Brotherhood continued to train.

In the 1970s the Brotherhood was officially reformed as muggles began to vanish and rumors of dark magic surfaced. When the rumors, disappearances, and killings ended in 1981 the Brotherhood waited and watched. In 1996 mysterious killings, disappearances, and catastrophes began once again and the Brotherhood knew it was the fault of the magical world.

In 1998 a rural church in England dispatched an emergency message to Rome about the slaying of a man they had granted sanctuary to by three people wielding unnatural powers. When the Brotherhood sent a team of Hunters to investigate it was discovered none of the church’s staff could remember anything about the event. It was the final straw for the Church and the Inquisition was reinstated.

By the year 2000 the Inquisition had prepared itself. The location of a dozen magical families and two small wizarding enclaves in France and Spain had been discovered. The Brotherhood’s numbers had been bolstered by muggleborn witches and wizards who had declined entrance into the magical world due to their religious beliefs. The Inquisition ordered the purging of the enclaves.

The Final Inquisition had begun.

The aftermath of the Inquisitions initial attacks left the magical world reeling. They were livid at the attacks and the Ministries of magic world-wide declared war against the Inquisition. The pureblood fanatics danced in glee as the muggles handed them justification for added restrictions on muggleborns.

The war had begun. The wizarding world thrust Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, the three heroes of the Dark War to the forefront of the conflict. Surely, after destroying Voldemort a few rogue wizards and muggles would be no problem.

The trio, however, had realized what started the war – them. It was now up to them to find a way to stop it before the entire world was drawn into a conflict that could only end with the destruction of the magical world.

 

I like it! I hadn't thought of back dating the Inquisition and having the church already know of the wizarding world. An excellent summation and modification of the challenge.

 

So do Muslims. Doesn't stop the terrorists though, does it?

 

The Swiss Guard, the personal army of the Vatican, is trained in every single weapons system imaginable. Small arms, hand to hand combat, knife fighting, explosives, you name it. Not only that, but they are all in peak physical condition, and if one can get past a wizards wand range (up close and personal) the wizard would be dead in seconds.

Here's what I think would happen after the Vatican figures out that the Wizarding World is a possible threat to them.

First, a couple of wizards are kidnapped, tortured until the give up the info to Diagon Alley, Hogwarts, the Ministry, and then brainwashed to lead the Swiss Guard right to it. The Vatican troops bust down the Leaky Cauldron door, and shoot everyone inside, before moving on to the rest of the alley, killing and burning everything they can, sowing chaos before the wizards can mount an effective counter-attack.

Now the entire social structure has been destroyed, the economy in ruins, hundreds dead in a matter of minutes, and the wizarding government has been slaughtered entirely.

All it would take would be a couple wizards from the Magical Tracking or Floo Departments to give the Vatican troops the addresses of every single magical family in England.

 

Does anyone else think that the British government might notice the Swiss Guard storming through the streets of London? I mean...they do wear those funny pajamas...they kinda stand out.