This is an idea that came to me all of a sudden during the massive Muggle vs Wizard thread, and partly because of the book Mistborn.

The idea is this. Young Harry Potter sucks at magic. Ever since his first year, he's only managed the theory and a sputtering of sparks whenever he tries a spell. Use whatever reasons for this you see fit.

And then we get to the root of the challenge. Harry /is/ able to cast a spell of your choice, and to a degree of perfection and strength that outshines both Dumbledore and Death-Pants combined. But it's the only spell he'll ever cast. Converserly, for the fic, he could modify the spell, so long as it still moreorless does either the same thing or directly oposite what it normally does (like instead of levitating, forcing something into the ground)

The fic can be any length, from little one shot, to gigantic plot bunny mutation of epic proportions.

Go!

Extra points if it's something amusing.


EDIT: doesn't have to happen during his first year, he can have been able to cast the full range of spells up until the point of the ficlet.

 

Maybe the Avada Kedavra? Harry's torturing someone, and continuously kills and revives the torturee?

 

Who is Death-Pants. If you mean Voldemort, just use the characters name. It is standard practise here.

As for the challenge, no. It is pointless. If Harry could only cast one spell, he would not get past his O.W.L's. Also how would he find out which spell he could cast? Surely it would have to be taught at Hogwarts. If it was the Killing Curse he could cast, how would he find out. If he knew he couldn't do magic, why would he bother experimenting with spells?

 

Expecto Patronum. It has the advantage of canon-Harry being quite handy with it as well. Instead of being an avatar of joy and happiness, it should summon an avatar of Harry's darkness, anger, hate and pain.

Harry's near-squib status could be a psychological block due to child abuse by the Dursleys, or abuse from his magical peers, or just plain old self-loathing.

As for Harry's dark avatar, that could be anything you want. It could even be a jumping off point to introduce a manifest evil from another 'verse. Yes, a crossover.

You're overthinking this. The challenger said the fic can be just a scene. Hell, the challenge just about demands a very short fic. It won't easily sustain an interesting multi-part fic. You don't have to answer all of those background questions to come up with a worthy response to the challenge. Just put the right characters in the right places and let the reader fill in the blanks if they want.

 

True, but I'm a fan of the Harry Potter World, That is what draws me to fanfiction, and I believe that is the case for a lot of of other DLP members. Therefore a fic where Harry is magically retarded is pointless to me. And I don't much like a fic where I have to fill in the blanks. JKR left us with enough plot holes as it is. I much prefer a detailed and well thought out plot, but that is just my preference, my way of looking at things, an opinion if you will.

 

Okay, I'll bite. Not quite what you ordered, but close. Harry can only cast scourgify and uses it to defeat Voldemort.

*****

Harry stands, weary, his arms aching. Hours spent cleaning the potions classroom every evening for the past several years has taken its toll. Gone is the bright-eyed student eager to escape his muggle upbringing and learn the delights of magic. That child has been replaced by this pale husk, bent by labor, broken by grief, bone-weary, unable now to recall any spell other than a scourgify.

He remembers the night it happened, the night Death Eaters broke into the school to slay teacher and student alike. The night Harry's prodigy failed to forestall the slaughter.

Morning found him covered in blood.

Their blood.

He had never since felt clean, can never cleanse the stain.

He is fortunate that the new Headmaster, Professor Snape, bless his name, has allowed him to stay on as caretaker and take over for the late Argus Filch. Sure, he must suffer the taunts of pureblood children and parents alike. But it is a small price to pay to remain at his only home, Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts. Hogwarts, whose floor is dirty now... Filth! Must clean, clean Hogwarts.

Great doors bang open as a pale, snake-faced man strides into the Entrance Hall. Harry mutters under his breath at the dust that is stirred up. He looks up into red irises framed in mirth.

"You like to clean, don't you, Harry Potter?"

Harry Potter. That was me once... yes.

The Dark Lord flicks a wand, thirteen inches, yew, with phoenix feather core, and dust rains down upon the Hall. Harry stands, enraged.

"You," he says, voice quavering, "you filthy, filthy... filth." In his time of greatest need, eloquence fails the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Clean.

"Yes, me." The Dark Lord tosses his head back and cackles.

"SCOURGIFY!" Harry screams and crystalline bolts fly from his outstretched hands. They strike the dark figure in the chest and he is consumed in a violent whirlwind.

Harry stoically grabs a broom and starts in on the new mess. "Must clean. Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts..."

 

Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts... lol, made me smile. Still smiling.

Perfect.

 

Very nice and exactly what I was aiming for. Sort of the whole 'when people go blind, their other senses get better' idea, but with spellcraft.


As for Voldemort, I call him death-pants just like the Wizarding World calls him He-whose-name-must-be-hyphenated. Call it a quirk if you will.

As for the idea of Harry's only spell being the AK, I think it's a little, oh, contrived. Aside from the fact that the whole challenge is contrived, but that's a little ridiculous, I be thinking. Scourgify. As we just saw, an overcharged scourgify... very amusing. And it leads to wonder, like what if Harry's spell was Movie!Dumbledore's 'Arresto Momentum' but supercharged?

Stopping every instance of movement within the target? The heart, the lungs, the very atoms that make them up?


Yes...

 

I was personally thinking of 'Stupefy' when I read the challenge. The ability to force a permanent coma upon a person, a stunner that can't be reversed by anyother opponent or the stunning of one part of the body, be it heart, brain or genitalia. Yeah, it needed a genitalia joke in there

 

I was thinking vanishing charm here. Imagine Harry being able to make ANYTHING vanish with a word and a flash of light. He could vanish physical things like castles, magical creatures, clothes, Malfoy's balls, and Ginny, but he could also vanish inhibitions, fear, intelligence, and anything else. And, as you said, he could also make all those things appear where he wanted as well. Even with only one perfect spell he would be god.

 

"Try harder, Harry. I know you can do it!"

"Oh will you shut up!" Harry screamed at the red-headed bint, and to his amazement, the gingerr-haired skank disappeared. Harry stared at his wand - the damn Vanishing Charm, again. He could do a little magic, but only sheer luck had saved him from death for seven years in a row.

Which couldn't be said for Ron Weasley - left at the bottom of the lake after his attempt to Vanish the water had failed. He shrugged. Life was better without him, anyway. Making his way back to the Common Room, Harry suddenly had a crazy idea. He changed direction and ended up at the back of the library, where Hermione was reading through Sweet Merlin! 1001 Ways To Spice Up Your Fanfiction.

"Hermione, I just got the best idea!"

She looked up at his smiling face and scowled. "Not the whip again, Harry. I swear, the next time, you're going to be the one strapped down and begging for mercy."

Harry smirked.

*****

"And now, Potter," the Dark Lord screeched, "you will -" and he vanished, along with the Death Eaters, and ever girl in the Great Hall's clothes.

"Mr Potter-!" McGonagall began, but Harry promptly vanished her clothes as well, leaving the school to gaze upon the seventy-year old's naked form.

It was quite a feat for Harry to get it up after that, but nine months later there were indeed several little Potters running (or is it crawling?) around.

~Fin~
​

 

I haven't written a narrative in about 7 years. I'm trying to get back into it. Idea forming isn't a problem for me, it's more of the actual writing process. Any feedback appreciated, even if the idea rather sucks.

Without further stalling...

:


Draco’s silent bone breaking curse slammed into the stone pillar with a loud crash, spraying bits of stone dust in every which direction. Draco squinted into the murky grey, trying to catch a glimpse of the sworn enemy of his master. He did not see Harry Potter send out the very jinx that every Death Eater feared above all others. The grey jinx struck Draco square in the chest, knocking him onto the floor, unable to take command of his body’s convulsions. Harry’s footsteps never faulted as he advanced upon the person who had been Harry’s main rival throughout his time at Hogwarts. Draco’s eyes widened with fear, but in his current helpless pose, he was powerless to do anything but watch as Harry stomped upon his right hand, his two longest digits and thumb breaking with a wet snapping sound. It was when Harry kicked away his wand from his useless hand that Draco began to believe that perhaps he had begun to draw his last breaths in this world.

“I am short of patience; you may choose a fast death, or the fate that met your Father. I prefer the latter, but it would be unfair of me if you did indeed choose to cooperate.” Harry began.

Draco was in no real shape to put up any real resistance, yet currently was unable to speak due to the garbled sounds emitting forth from his throat. Harry seemed to concur with this sentiment, and lowered the intensity of the jinx to the point where Draco was actually able to communicate.

Harry continued, “Where is the locket?”

Draco’s mind was made up in less than a second. Loathe as he was to admit anything to his arch nemesis, the memory of what had happened to his father was stronger, and he wished to avoid that scenario.

Decided, Draco spoke up. “Severus came upon it while you and the Weasleys were cleaning it out. It was entrusted to my father, who put it in the hollow beneath the drawing room in Malfoy Manor, with strict instructions it was never to be removed from there”

As his final words left his mouth, he wondered if Harry would be good to his word. His questions were answered as his brains exited the back of his skull, courtesy of the Glock .38 sidearm that Harry kept on him. If nothing else, Harry was a man of his word.




Ever laugh so hard that your stomach hurts? That’s your body telling you that the oxygen supply is low, and to breathe again. Most of the time, we’re able to comply, and bring ourselves back into normalcy. Others, it becomes more pronounced, with the pain becoming sharper, and the ability to emit sounds is lost. I’m sure this has happened to you at some point. However, for very few it ever becomes more than that, and in fact, there have only been roughly four recorded cases in the last hundred years. That’s because it takes anywhere for an hour or more to die from it. A most unpleasant way of suffocating. Lucius certainly found that out. Though I’m sure the humor of the situation was lost to him about 3 minutes into his 210 minute laugh fest. Who needs a Crucio when you have an over-charged Rictusempra? Sure it’s not as diabolical, but it does have the benefit of not being an Unforgiveable, and unburdened with a stint in Azkaban.

 

I actually liked your little fight scene VN. Most would have used "faltered" instead of "faulted" though, but that was good.

My only issue is that Draco isn't worth a bullet.

Edit: I meant VN, not VP. I thought I read "Voice of the Paraphernalia" for some reason.

 

This is a little awkward to read. in every direction reads better.

I like the idea. It brings up images of pale corpses wearing macbre clown-like grins after the Joker has dosed them with his poisonous laughing gas. Laugh, Mr. Malfoy, laugh until you die!

I didn't see any problems with your writing in this brief piece. Write something longer.

 

Andromalius:
Thanks for the kind words. I remember when writing, I thought that "faltered" would go there. Apparently my fingers had other ideas. Draco really isn't worth the oxygen he consumes to keep his lungs filled either.

Yak:
Thanks for the kind words. I believe I had seen that phrase used somewhere else, and it sounded good at the time. Not so much so anymore.

We'll see about next time, I think I'm going to use these challenges as a way to sharpen my writer's blade, but i do have an idea forming shape for an AU fiction, which i write down on a daily basis.

Perspicacity:
Very well done.

 

Thanks! And not bad yourself, Voice of the Nephilim. (Though I always pegged Harry as packing a .357). I do the same with the challenges--Lord knows my writing chops need the workout....

 

I think my sig speks for iteslf.

 

I remember something that I think is a psionic ability - "molecular activation." It would make water boil by moving the molecules rapidly. Imagine that, taken to the logical extreme. You could use bottles of water as bombs, start a fire that would melt stone, turn road tarmac into a sticky trap, make acromantulas cook in their shells.
Or the opposite - suck the heat OUT of something - make a bridge brittle so that it collapses, fast-freeze an attacker's arm and shatter it.
The gruesome possibilities are fascinating.

 

Or reduce the molecules down to absolute zero inside a person. Even just in a couple of places it could make for an awesome torture method. Imagine freezing all the acid inside someone's stomach then forcing a cup of coffee down them. Fuck me that would be painful .

 

Death pants is dumb.

And so's this challenge.

Magic is about variety in HP books. There are a gazillion spells and he can only do one? Ya that will be real interesting.