I am considering writing some of these.

First Idea: Harry goes to a different school than Hogwarts. Maybe Beuxbatons or Drumstrang.

Second Idea: What if Sirius really did kill the Potters? What if he was the traitor? What if Peter was really dead? Third year AU.


Third Idea: The room of requirement makes thoughts into reality, so what if Harry had was a schizo and had a different persona... a more evil persona? What if he was trapped in the room of requirement where his thoughts won't work on the room, and his schizo persona's would? What if he had to live in a state of terror 24/7, fighting off beasts from his evil side's imaginations?

Fourth Idea: 10 years after Dumbledore's death, Harry is leader of OotP and leads the fight against voldemort... then Voldemort kills him.
Now he is a ghost, but can he still win the battle against the dark? can his people trust him, and follow him?


I already got nuhuh's opinion on this in #TheStudy. What do you peeps think of these four ideas?

 

The first has been done. Other than that they are a spark but all would need a lot of work and tons of fleshing out to make a story line.

 

That's a genre, not an idea. Should think things through before going with this one.

So what? You'll have just another evil dude + 3rd year Harry. What can you do with Sirius that you can't with Peter or Snape or Lucius or any other bad character you already have available? Manging of canon is another point against this one. Skip IMO.

This one has most potential IMO. It's original, unusual and has a clear ending (that is, there's a chance of you actually finishing this).

Out of canon-ness is the downfall of this idea. It's REALLY hard writing post-Hogwarts stories; definitely something a rooky should stay away from. As for ghost!Harry, that's an interesting idea, but I don't see what's stopping you from keeping this in canon, or making it an AU?

 

I also think that my Room of Requirement Idea is the best one out of all four. Thanks for the feedback. I know which one I'll be writing over the summer. I tweaked it a bit to make it more canony:

Summary: Harry Potter is stuck within the room of requirement and something is wrong. A remnant of Voldemort's soul lingers within Harry from the time Voldemort attempted to kill Harry when Harry was only a baby and the remnant is not happy.

 

I disagree, none of the other Death Eaters up to that point in canon had the same build up that JK gave Sirius Black. If you take out the revelation that he hadn't actually betrayed the Potters and was Light and look at everything else that the book suggested about him, he could have been the worst and scariest of the Death Eaters.

In the hands of a good character writer, a Sirius Black in line with what the book had set him up to be before the grand reveal would be very interesting to read.

He had the potential to be different than the other Death Eaters in that their motivations are blocked into ensuring the return of their Master, or varying degrees of sycophantism from Bellatrix's mad loyalty to Pettigrews servility because of cowardice.

He was set apart and highest in the Death Eaters.

And if that line was followed, it would be a better use of the 'death eaters can be from any house' than the cop out that Pettigrew was. But the last is just a side thing. Still if one wanted to show a Gryffindor-esque dark wizard this would be great instead of the stale characterization of every dark wizard having the 'slytherin' qualities.

 

I personally feel that you could definatly expand on the Sirius idea. If Sirius did something such as kidnap Harry to start his own side, took Harry to Voldemort, or even killed Harry and you made it an aftermath fic.

The Room of Requirment idea is very interesting. That could range from anything to corruption of Harry's good side, to the evil escaping yet being loyal to his overlord, Harry.

The ghost fic is the most intriguing. I've seen a small pickup in the amount of fics with Harry as a ghost recently. They've all been interesting and I think this could be the most interesting ghost fic I would read.

Any one of these could be great fics for a beginner to test their footing.

The problem with an alternate school is that you have to have a sound and reliable source of information on the different personality types each person can have. It could be a good start fiction but keep it realistic. I'm in favour of the Sirius fic.