So, I was reading Harry Potter: The New Life by SilverAegis, and it got me to thinking about writing my own fic based on the concept of Harry going back in time to discover that Neville is the Boy-who-Lived instead of Harry.

Where my idea diverges from SilverAegis' is that Harry wakes up at the Dursley's as a ten-year-old and when he realizes he has no scar (after freshening up in the morning), and after the events at the zoo confirm he is still a parslemouth, he waits for his Hogwarts letter and hides it when he gets it. After cornering Petunia, he discovers that his parents were tortured into insanity when he was about one and a half, and the Dursley's have never taken him to visit them.

This will be DH compliant (though, DH epilogue incompliant), which means that he has defeated Voldemort just as described in DH, but somehow got sent back in time shortly afterward.

This Harry is NOT an uber-baddass. He's still essentially Dumbledore's man through and through; although, he is a little wiser to Dumbledore's mechinations. Deciding to trust Dumbledore, he contacts the headmaster and strikes a deal with him. Dumbledore decides to keep this wellspring of information about the future under his strict supervision from now on. At first, he had only sent Harry to live with the Dursleys because they were his relatives, but since there are no blood protections (no need, he's not the BWL anymore), he is apologetic about the shit-life Harry endured there, and agrees to take Harry away from that.

This is where Harry's inner-Slytherin comes out. Freed of the responsibility of the prophesy, he realizes that too much of his education was spent in the infirmary and decides to go back to school and study his ass off. Part of the deal he makes with Dumbledore is to be adopted by him (though he retains his own name, adding the name Dumbledore to it only on official documents) so he can remain at Hogwarts as his home, and he be allowed unfettered access to the Restricted section of the library. After showing Dumbledore many of the key memories he holds Dumbledore agrees.

Part of the plot here is a play on the Manipulative-but-Good!Dumbledore cliche, in that Harry is going to now become the Manipulator-but-Good in training.

Harry also discovers that Sirius Black is still in prison. However, the reason is that the Potters decided to keep Sirius as their Secret Keeper, but the Longbottoms didn't trust him and chose Peter Pettigrew. After Voldemort's defeat, Sirius went to avenge his OP-comrades' deaths and Wormtail still faked his death and blew up the street full of muggles. This time however, everyone knows he didn't betray the potters, but they tried him and convicted him for killing Pettigrew and the muggles (as a consequence) for revenge. Pettigrew is still alive.

After his conviction, the Potters dropped the Fidelius charm on their house and shortly after Bellatrix, the LeStranges and Crouch Jr. tortured them.

Neville lives with his Grandmother under the blood-wards.

Dumbledore personally teaches Harry Occlumency, but this time, in order to protect the vast stores of important information he has therein.

I will treat Occlumency as the ability to hide the true info behind false images so that when the legilimens enters the occlumens' mind, he will find the info, but the info will conform to only exactly what the occlumens wants the legilimens to see, and that info will conform to what the occlumens is saying. I dislike the idea of "Shields" since that is a dead giveaway that something is being hidden, and the occlumens is probably lying. I also dislike the idea of a clear mind (though, that will be part of the process of occluding). A blank slate on the brain is another dead giveaway that something is being hidden. However, images that seem to naturally flow and confirm what is being said will let the occlumens lie through his teeth like Snape does to Voldemort as a spy.

Harry's and Dumbledore's goals here are to allow many of the more important events that shaped Harry into what he needed to become in order to defeat Voldemort, such as going through the traps in first year, fighting the basilisk in second, and so on; but, prevent, or at least abait somewhat, the unnecessary bullshit that Harry had to endure such as Malfoy's persistant assholishness (No, I will not have slash!), or Snape's bullshit.

To this end, Harry allows himself to be sorted into Slytherin. From there, he will keep an eye on Neville from afar, but not be tempted to save him from everything or hold his hand through the trials and tribulations. He'll also use his position within Slytherin house to help get the Slytherins off Neville's back, as well as present a model for what a Slytherin CAN be (Slytherin =/= Evil) to both help the potential Junior Death-Eaters choose the light-side over Voldemort, as well as show the school that they don't have to hate Slytherins. Harry is going to allow the golden trio form from Neville, Ron and Hermione in Gryffindor. He will attempt to be on friendly terms with them, but I imagine that they will have a hard time trusting a Slytherin. Harry will also be spying on Slytherin house for Dumbledore, as Dumbledore discovers from Harry's memories just how abusive and biased Snape is in class, and how much information Snape either twisted or neglected to mention to the headmaster. Snape will likely be just as abusive agaisnt Harry in this timeline, and the BWL will likely not have to put up with much shit from Snape since Harry will be taking most of that flack. It won't affect him as much this time around, and Harry will have ways of dealing with Snape (Remember MANIPULATIVE-BUT-GOOD!Harry)

Harry's going to be a lot less affected by the childishness - he's got a seventeen-year-old mind with a set goal of learning just about every spell known to wizard-kind (he's going to attempt to put Granger and Tom Riddle to shame), and he's going to be a lot more manipulative.

There won't be any of this bullshit angsting over Gingin. He figures that if it happens, it happens, but he also realizes that right now, he's got the body of an 11-year-old, and he has loftier goals than fucking, or romancing someone who probably has a deep-seeded crush on the famous Neville Longbottom, the BWL.

Assuming I can even get more than a year written, I am thinking of making a Daphne Greengrass pairing.

Anyway, as for the reason of this post. I'd like some others' thoughts on this, and any helpful ideas you might have. Part of this is that in order for a story to be decent, it needs some form of conflict. I can see a few possibilities given this Manipulating-things-for-the-better!Slytherin!Harry, but any other input would be greatly appreciated.

Remember:
With LITTLE exception, all the characters will be exactly the same as they were in the original until the AU divergence begins taking effect. For example, Neville, while now the BWL, will still be the same Neville we know from cannon, and not some Junior Lockheart.

Oh, and, due to the Voldemort brother-wand thing, Harry is surprised to discover that "his wand" is no longer compatible at Ollivanders. Dumbledore ends up having to call in a favor and get harry a Gregorovitch wand. It will not be some uber-custom-made jobber. In fact, it will be holly and phoenix-feather just like his old one, but it just won't be the Fawkes feather. I MIGHT have Dumbledore convince Fawkes to donate one more feather.

 

As an idea I like it, though as you said you still have a long way to a good story. What you have now is basically the skeleton and you need the meat (like conflict as you said). I also hope you don't fall into the pit fall of making your Harry some super!political!genuis!Harry like so many time travel fics tend to make him, he is after all the same old Harry from DH and he wasn't exactly the most amazing wizard ever. I look forward to seeing what you can do with this idea

 

Yeah, right now, I'm in the process of writing up an outline. This is actually, in part, a reaction to all those "super!political!genuis!Harry" fanfics out there. The first chapter will deal with trust issues, where he evaluates his life and whether he can trust Dumbledore with this. I dislike the idea that Dumbledore would just automatically obliviate Harry and be done with it. I think that Dumbledore would see him as a wellspring of information and want to keep him as close as possible (just like he did with Trelawney).

I this, I also plan on having Dumbledore realize that he can trust Harry, who demonstrates via his memories in a pensieve, that he remained true to the light, and defeated the dark lord.

There's going to be no Lord Potter/Black/Gryffindor/Ravenclaw/Slytherin/Merlin here. There's no gigantic Potter vault. Harry is most definitely NOT going to be Goblin-Friend!Harry with his trusty sidekick Griphook. He's not going to angst over what his friends think about him, or whether he can bone Ginslut.

Harry realizes that his education is at best lacking, and that he now has a solid foundation on which to rebuild it from the ground up to what he wants it to be. He's definitely going to be ahead of the class, but he's going to make sure he actually learns every little bit he can where he would have otherwise missed it.

 

I like the concept and rest assured I'll be sure to read but just a few notes:

Harry lost his Parseltongue ability when the Horcrux within him was destroyed.

Also would'nt it be Harry traveling to an AU not back in time since the world is so different?

And how badass will Harry be? Are we talking Hermione, Snape, or Dumbedore badass. I used those three as a point of reference.

 

If it is possible, can you find a different way for Harry to end up in the past? A lot of fics have him just waking up in another dimension. Word.

 

Crap, I forgot about that. Oh well, it's immaterial to the plot whether Harry retians his parslemouth ability or not.

Yes, Harry will be traveling to an AU. However, he is also technically traveling back in time as well.

As far as how badass Harry will be . . . hmm . . . well, he's got a sixth-year's education, so his first couple of years, he's going to appear VERY capable. He's not going to be lording it over anyone though. He'll do extremely well in class, and appear brilliant, by virtue of the fact, but at the same time, he is going to be devoting much of his time in class to paying attention and taking detailed notes. Since he knows many of the spells, he'll be getting them out of the way and helping others with their practical work. He'll be driving Hermione nuts. However, as he gets older, things will begin leveling out. His main goal here is to fill in the gaps of his education and use the extra time for keeping ahead. He's no Dumbledore.

He's not going to be shooting off NEWT-level spells at people, and he'll make sure people never see him actually using spells that are well beyond his level. Later on in first year, he might be pulling a few second and third-year spells out, and chalk it up to studying ahead like Hermione does, but certainly not a fourth-year spell. Also, I plan on having him taking Arithmancy and Ancient Runes in thrid year with Hermione and that is where his true level will become apparent - he never took those courses. That won't stop him from making sure he gets a solid introductory foundation in them in third-year.

Other goals include making prefect and possibly Headboy (he was upset in cannon that Ron got prefect and he didn't). Finally, he'd like to be able to enjoy his time at Hogwarts, rather than worrying about the yearly plot on his life. He's going to be working behind the scenes, rather than being worked by other's mechinations.

Absolutely. At the moment, I haven't decided how he will travel back, but the "waking up" part could still be used as the travel method might knock him out, or might be exactly what causes him to suddenly wake up.

Any suggestions about the specifics of the travel method? At the moment, I have a rought outline that extends to about the first week of school. The outline will need to go through first year first before I actually get to writing the story itself.

 

So, a 16 year old who is extremely 'brilliant' in the First Year classes will be taking detailed notes?

This is the problem that most of the people who try this plotline fall into: they fail to compensate for the fact that Harry is, actually, 16 (or whatever age he goes back from). The have him repeat the same mindless timetables, make friends with the same group of people. As much as I like some of the 11 year old's I know, I cannot hold a conversation with them for long, nor can I have a lot of fun with them. And since Harry is as average as he is in cannon, the most certainly he cannot keep up this particular charade for long.

 

Well, you could always have Harry figure that casting a certain Ancient spell could temporarily alter the Veil to allow such a thing. Another option would be to have Harry somehow get past that door in the Department of Mysteries and find something there - maybe some sort of gateway that opens with a specific incantation? - that would allow him to travel into an alternate dimension.

And, if all else fails, there's always messing around with Stonehenge.

 

Read this one shot and try to think up a way to do it. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3387910/1/Veneficus_Dementia

I have a few very interesting, however convoluted, idea of time travel springing from that particular one shot.

 

Actually, Harry won't be friends with Ron and Hermione. He'll be friendly with them, but like you, I recognize that his more mature mind will lead him to seek conversation with people his mental age, or adults. When I was growing up, I was a lot more mature and intelligent than most of my classmates. I ended up spending all of my free time talking to teachers, usually on their level.

Harry recognizes, in this story, where his education has gaps. He would prefer to fill in those gaps. I interpret cannon Harry as having the potential to be better than merely average, and in fact the Sorting hat itself said that he had a good head on his shoulders. I think that Ron Weasley was a huge part of those gaps in his learning. Ron's sheer laziness rubbed off on Harry. This Harry is going NOT going to be part of the golden trio. He's also more mature and driven. Likely, he's going to end up being a loner most of the time, or conversing with Dumbledore, McGonagal, and Flatwik.

Thanks for bringing up the issue. I'm attempting to make this much more realistic than many of the ones I read.

 

I would guess that Harry's biggest educational gap is theory. He doesn't seem to know any theory about magic like Hermione or Dumbledore does. If he can get the theory down I bet he will have an easier time doing magic like Hermione can.

His next gap is spell knowledge. He doesn't know any spells of great use. Like Lupin said, the Death Eaters think that the Disarming hex is his trade mark. If Harry had a wider variety of spells, maybe some dangerous spells, he would be much more competent.

Harry should struggle with the Theory. I think that Harry learns better with a practical approach rather than learning from a book. He will learn it, but he is going to have trouble learning theory from a book. If anything he should talk with his teachers about it so he understands it easier. He is a lot like me, I learn better when I learn something from a teacher rather than reading it.

Does Harry keep the Elder Wand? Or does it go away like his Holy wand? I can't imagine there being two Elder Wands.

How powerful will Harry and Neville be? Using this crudely made bar graph measure his power compared to Dumbledore and Voldemort...

Voldemort: IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (20)
Dumbledore:IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (18 )
Harry: ?
Neville: ?

 

I love you just for this. Finally, someone who understands how Occlumency was meant to be in canon.

Anyway, the biggest problem here is the one that no one has brought up: what is it that is going to get Harry sent back in time? It's gotta be good; saying "fate" or whatever is a cop-out.

 

Why've you made Voldemort more powerful than Dumbledore? Bare in mind that when Dumbledore was at school he was famous from practically the start for being a genius, for making breakthroughs and advances good enough to be published in professional journals. Thats like a High School science student making a breakthrough in physics or chemistry and it getting published in whatever the big physics or chemistry journals are. He was corresponding with the big names in magical theory and development when he was still at school. Voldemort never did any of that.

He didn't make breakthroughs in transfiguration, or in charms, like Dumbledore did. He didn't go on and find a dozen uses for something that had been around for millenia like Dumbledore did. Sure, he killed a few folk, masters the Unforgivables and the like. Admittedly he did create a horcrux when he was 16 or so, but thats one thing, compared to Dumbledore's dozens from that age and younger.

As for this actual thread, what you said about Harry struggling with theory; I don't think he so much struggles with theory, as he never truely applies himself at it. If he concentrated in class, and worked to master what they were learning (like he did with the summoning charm) the he would have no problems.

As you say, he needs to master the theory and also to improve his spell knowledge. The books show that he doesn't know a wide variety of spells. I'm sure that the things that are taught in class are useful, but I'm also sure they're meant to be building blocks for pupils to go on and learn more useful spells of the same type. There are obviously too many spells for you to teach everyone every spell there is. So they teach basics, and seemingly only a few go on and learn other spells.

With Dumbledore adopting Harry, its definitily plausible for you to write private lessons between them. Have Harry get Dumbledore to teach him advanced magics, or simply have him teach Harry a wide range of spells, some common, others esoteric.

What will his relationship be like with the various teachers. Will Snape warm up to him because he's in Slytherin, or will he hate Harry even more because Dumbledore adopted him. How will McGonagall treat him?

 

I think it more likely that Dumbledore would help Harry with his current studies than teaching him a seperate set of advanced magic. I mean, if Harry is struggling with 6th-year Transfiguration, how is he going to cope with the really advanced stuff? Not very well.

 

Thats the thought that made me add the bit about teaching a wide range of other spells. Just because it isn't taught in Hogwarts doesn't mean it has to be really advanced or difficult.

 

Just because Dumbledore was conversing with the greatest magical minds of his day, making break through in various subjects like Transfiguration, Charms, etc, it doesn't mean mean he is more powerful than Voldemort because he didn't do the same. I think that is more, Dumbledore being a better scholar.

Sure, Dumbledore absolutely is wiser and overall probably knows more about magic than Voldemort. But remember, Dumbledore said that Voldemort is capable of using magic that even he can't preform (or was that fanon?)

Besides, he is old. His old age has to have had some dampening effect on his power. I think that Voldemort > Dumbledore at 150 years old, but Voldemort < Dumbledore in his prime.

 

Dumbledore was hunting for trophies and recognition - he flaunted his knowledge, abilities and brains, while Tom, on the other hand hided his abilities (like parseltongue). Remember, Dumbledore said that Tom had rather ingrained instincts for secrecy. He didn't want to attract much attention and leave Hogwarts in "blazes of glory". Especially when he was opening a Chamber of Secrets, killing Riddles and making horcruxes at the time.

Imagine famous young genius Tom Riddle - author of numerous articles in "Transfiguration Today" - graduate from Hogwarts with perfect marks and working later in Borgin and Burkes? It will raise automatically red flags from numerous people later - he couldn't pretend to be "poor Mr.Borgin's assistant" any more.

 

PS British Edition p 14:

I would take that to mean that Voldemort has delved deeper into the Dark Arts than Dumbledore has, and is more ruthless, rather than that he's more powerful. Quite equally Dumbledore probably has powers Voldemort didn't have. Simply because Voldemort couldn't understand that Light magic could be equally as powerful as the Darkest of magics, and discarded it to his own detriment.

 

Makes you wonder what kind of wizard Dumbledore would have turned into he if went Dark, or he wasn't as noble as everyone thought. I would bet that Voldemort wouldn't be able to hold a candle to him if that were the case. Hey, maybe we will get some good Dark!Dumbledore fics eventually. One where he decided to partner up with Grindelwald, or killed Grindelwald and decided to go solo.

 

That could never happen because out Lady-Ariana sacrificed herself to stop it! But, yeah that would be some scary shit.

BTW, I like the idea but what's the point of the plot? If Neville is the Boy-Who-Lived than only he can destroy Voldemort so you would have to some up with some other goal for the fic to reach. It can't just be training into an uber!warrior. Training is fun to write I think but it really isn't any fun to read in huge chunks.