The premise behind my challenge is rather simple, yet at the same time, it is hard to write which is why I bring this challenge to you guys. Also I've italicized all important parts for you lazy people.

The Premise:

This story is post-HBP during the middle of Harry's 7th year, so Dumbledore is dead etc. Now, Voldemort sees that Hogwarts is vulnerable without Dumbledore's presence, so after destroying the Aurors and the Ministry, he launches a full out invasion against Hogwarts.

Albus Dumbledore forsaw that this would happen before his death and he actually casted down a powerful ward which would prevent anybody with malicious intent entrance into Hogwarts after he died for a period of 10 years. The wizards and witches of Hogwarts knew that eventually Voldemort would find a way to cross the barrier, and when that time came, they would all be slaughtered by the Dark Lord's incredible army. But suddenly, Voldemort offered them a way out- In exchange for the life of Harry Potter, everyone, including loyal Order members, and sympathizers of Mudbloods, and the remainder of the Hogwarts population would be spared a most painful death.

At the blink of an eye, almost everyone that Harry has trusted in his life decided that they would betray the savior of the magical world in exchange for their lives. With an agenda in their mind, almost everyone, including former Order members, Dumbledore loyalists, friends of Harry, Mudblood sympathizers, set out to send Harry Potter into his death.

Betrayed but hardened by the actions of his former comrades, Harry Potter sets out to survive this terrible ordeal, and more importantly, to get revenge on every single one of the traitors.

Armed with only his wit and his wand, Harry seems to be the underdog in this battle... But is he? As soon as the Chosen One heard about this betrayal, he heads straight to the Chamber of Secret along with only a handful of loyalists, where they use it as a base of operations in their attempts to take control of the castle.

Rules


- The "none" pairing is preferred, but if you want to write a pairing make it het. The romance must not be an integral part of the plot, and at most a side story.

- The people who've betrayed Harry, which is pretty much the entire student/teacher body, are told by Voldemort that they shall not be let out safely until they have proof that Harry is dead. So they are pretty much scrambling to kill him.

- Factionalism is very important to this story, and while the student body is united by their wanting to kill Harry, political factions are formed. The masses are manipulated by a select few in order to achieve their agendas inside Hogwarts.

Ideas on factions

One faction, the Slytherins led by a Slytherin of the author's choice, yearn to slaughter the Mudbloods while they are trapped here, in order to get in good with Voldemort. They do so in secret, kidnapping dirty blooded wizards one by one, and they planned to sacrifice them all at once in a big ceremony in front of Voldemort someday. But in actuality, Daphne Greengrass or some other Slytherin of your choice, is manipulating them all and he/she intends to use those mudbloods for another reason. He/she intends on sacrifing them all secretly in a ritual which will grant her power. They are the most powerful in terms of power and numbers.

Another faction, a neutral one, is led by the pureblooded wizards who do not want to be involved in this. They were the ones who neither supported nor was against Harry's death, and they merely intend to go t hrough this alive. They are quite large but weak.

These are my only ideas for factions for now, but you can feel free to add or get rid of them.

- Harry and his loyalist shall be ruthless but they will not be evil. That means no molesting little children, but he's pretty much fine with torturing anyone in his way.

- Harry shall constantly stay pissed off against his betrayers, but it is allowed for him to make amends with a few of his traitors though that is up to the author.
---------

Anyways, here's my challenge! I'm going to try and write this, but I think it would be good if somebody else is interested in writing this too.

 

So while Voldemort and his death eaters fling themselves uselessly against wards that won't drop for a decade, the inside of Hogwarts turns into a battleground? Interesting...

I like the idea of Hogwarts as a battlefield for the students. We've seen the Dark Lord storm the castle a million times *yawn* and any mentions of long, drawn out sieges of the castle are usually glossed over and summarized in the prologue before Harry goes back in time to fix it all or what have you.

Hogwarts as the setting for trench and guerrilla warfare though... I could see each faction holding their own section of the castle. With Harry holding the Chamber of Secrets, he'd have access to everything the pipes lead to.
The Marauders' Map quickly becomes a priceless artifact for the combatants in such a situation; not to mention the invisibility cloak.

Having house elves on your side to supply food is a must. Imagine Harry making it his first order of business to call Dobby and confiscate as much food into the Chamber as possible. Hermione wants to ruin their way of life, so I can't see too many elves cooperating with her.

Actually, her first act would probably be gaining control of the library. The Room of Requirement may or may not be a valuable territory to lay claim to. Knowledge of the numerous secret passages would be a key to success and allow the bearer of such intel' to slip behind enemy lines, wreak havoc and get back to base without going through any barricades or checkpoints. Once again, this makes the Map a precious resource.

Ah, wargames...

We've all seen Betrayed!Harry before, but a detailed account of Betrayed!Harry waging a multiple-sided guerrilla war within Hogwarts is something I haven't seen.

Edit: I also wouldn't mind seeing the Ronald Weasley, Master of Strategy cliche turned on its head. Imagine, Ron struts into the mass of students that are in the same faction he is and says, "Don't worry, I'm a master of battle strategy. After all, I play chess." Then he proceeds to get his and his allies' asses handed to them in every skirmish. His side loses people to Daphne's kidnappers and Harry's marauders every night as they disappear without a trace. Muhahahaha!

 

This is quite interesting--it would be tough, but surely anyone who could pull this off would be a fanfiction God.

When I saw this challenge I had a mental picture of Hogwarts laid out like a Risk board. Slowly each faction moves across Hogwarts until one is wiped out, and then the two combat eachother.

I always loved the thought of picking your group like a draft as well -- " I like what I see in Theodore Nott. Small, quick with his feet, quite powerful, good knowledge. Let's see if we can't make a deal with him."

And two groups eventually working together to out the other?

There's so many possibilities... Great challenge.

 

I want it to start out with everyone friendly with each other- But along with Harry being "betrayed" many other events will transfire. Like previously stated, nobody with an intent to harm Hogwarts can enter Hogwarts- But what if somebody was being controlled by Imperio and he acts as a seed and devil's advocate unwillingly under the command of Voldemort?

Also I'm thinking that there should be a neutral ground- How about the Great Hall? While there are different factions and political parties, who are each vying for control of the Castle, all of them know that in order to survive, they must cooperate. So while they feign camradarie amongst themselves, each faction is secretly trying to stab the other one in the back.

 

Hmm, what about an option where everything looks normal (kids go to classes, Malfoy exchanges insults with Potter and etc.), but under a guise of normality fractions are fighting between themselves? It'd certainly be interesting.

Students acting normally, while thinking how to get rid of their enemies... An atmosphere where people don't know, who is their enemy and where the next attack would be. Situation where fractions aren't strong enough to risk an open confrontation, because... hmmm... maybe teachers are interfering?

E.A.

 

Why normality? I'd figure the place to be a battlefield with a liquid front. I'd also want Harry's loyalists to be a new group. If I wanted Golden Trio, I'd read canon. Someone other than Malfoy, too. Thinking about this gives me the coolest image of a gallows in the Great Hall, rotting bodies hanging from several ropes while a sign proclaims "Blood Traitor".

Edit: Now I feel like picking this up.

 

Why normality? I just can't see a story, which resolves only about trying to kill off other fractions in a limited environment, which is Hogwarts.

I also can't see how Voldemort would destroy Ministry in such short period of time. His army sucks! They couldn't kill a bunch of kids in the DoM, so I just don't see how they could destroy English auror corps so fast. Voldemort has some hidden resources? But we saw every DE he had on GoF (if I remember correctly - an absence of six Death Eaters, was counted as a big break in the circle). Now he probably has a few new ones, but I just can't see him having an army bigger than forty or fifty wizards (many of them are probably Wormatil like - even he got the Mark after all!).

Also, a situation, where you don't have the slightest clue who is your enemy and a person, you thought was your friend, kill you without a doubt has some a strange kind of appeal.

Tension in the air. Teachers trying to stop this mess and a constant war of wills and wits.

[EDIT] After a bit of thinking, changing Hogwarts to a war zone would also have it's pros. Reading as people snap under pressure would be awesome.

E.A.

 

It's to start in the middle of seventh year so an alliance with the giants and vampires wouldn't be that big of a leap. He might just use them to take out most of the auror corps before the DE's come in with AK blazing. Also, the ministry is weak and corrupt. Help from the inside wouldn't be that far-fetched either.

A bit of a Battle Royale would be pretty cool. Here comes Theodore Nott behind you, throwing out reductos and killing curses with his band of merry men. I would have lots of fun reading this story, though it would be incredibly hard to write.

 

I'm thinking that Tonks who was secretly assigned to be Harry's personal guard after Dumbledore's death, tips of Harry about the plan to betray him. She volunteers to be the one who kills Harry but as they entered HP's room, she warns Harry about the plan and that he should escape to the Chamber of Secret. Sadly, Harry's other roommates were told about this plan too, and it was there job to make sure things happen. Ron or one of Harry's other friends, suprises them both and stuns Tonks while HP runs away to the Chamber. After Harry successfully manages to make it to the Chamber, he makes it his first duty to save Tonks who was imprisoned for tipping Harry off about the plan. He is alone for now, but he starts to recruit people who might decide to join his side.

At the same time, tensions start to increase between the factions/houses simply because there is a conflict on what government should happen. Many of the purebloods, including Slytherins and Gryffindors, agree that it should be a heirarchy with the most magical folks on the top of the pyramid. At the same time, many others wish to turn it into a democracy where each person gets one vote each. Lastly, another factions wishes to turn it into an anarchist state. The teachers have lost power inside Hogwarts, since there's also a power struggle inside the faculty ever since the Headmistress lost her life at the battle.

 

Make Mcgonagall a death eater insurgent. She has been been insighting the various factions, and killing off the other teachers.

Come on, Death Easter Mcgonagall is full of win, and I don't think anyone's ever done it.

 

No! Make Flitwick a Death Eater!

 

That reminded me too much of the hunter and Snow-White when he's about to kill her. Most of the factions you enumerated are focused on Slytherins. I'd really like to see a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw faction too. I thoroughly dislike the D.A. because it's been used so much so I'd have Harry form his faction with more versatile characters than the main DA ones.

One more question: the 10-year time lapse seems very long. 10 days probably wouldn't be sufficient to properly develop either characters or factions but something in between might be better because the story would more likely to be finished. Maybe a year or two instead of ten? What do you think?

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to whatever you're willing to write based on this challenge. This is exactly the type of story that makes me want to read (and write) fanfiction.

 

I've already started to write it actually, and I've already finished the first chapter. I don't plan on posting it, until I've written a few more chapters.

And I think you're right, we should make the time shorter itself. To be honest, I only said 10 years because it was the first number to come to my head.

 

No, post it, I really want to read it.

Make sure such a brilliant idea is in capable hands and all that.

 

Noxious potions fumes + powerful wind spells + pipes conveying these fumes + castle essentially in lockdown + surprise attack = all you base are belong to us, or at the very least very very decimated enemy forces culminating in total dominion soon after. There are probably other loopholes that you should address in this challenge, but the idea of a internal war for survival, though it resembles something that Matthew Reilly would probably write is quite intriguing.

 

I'd like to thank you for writing this story, and encourage you to post it quickly. A story like this is brilliant, but will be hard to undertake.

And yes, I haven't posted here before. That's beacause I couldn't be bothered as I'm lazy.

Edit: That first part made me sound like a idiot slightly, didn't it?

 

To be honest, I'm still in the part where I'm busying nitpicking and searching for plotholes- I can be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to these things. Also, I'd welcome anyone who'd like to beta since I'm not exactly the greatest when it comes to spelling and the like.

 

Now that would be a great story to read.
But as many others said before me, it will be extremely hard to write .. I hope you can do it though, these speculations made me curious!

 

I have a question.

While the whole idea about warfare within Hogwarts is cool, what happens when a victor (presumably Harry) emerges? Voldemort is still outside, as strong as ever, with his horcruxes intact, and Harry will still be rather below his level in magical skill.

In short: how will you bring it to a satisfactory ending?

 

I think the story will end as the battle for Hogwarts does.

Edit: Or perhaps Harry turns the castle into a deathtrap when Voldemort moves in.