Right... I've had the idea for quite some time and I just saw it implemented, though not in the way I mean it, in the final chapter of The New Order by padfootjr24 -T(an interesting fic with great, but unfortunately not very well executed ideas. Still it is recommended read for those times when there is really nothing better to do). Unfortunately the sequel of the story seems like it won't be continued and so will the idea remain undeveloped.

Back on the main topic...

What we know of Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black) (1951 - 2 May 1998 )... A pure-blood witch and Death Eater who was fanatically loyal to Lord Voldemort. All time crazy bitch(more so portrayed in the fandom) and deathly set on her believes of pure-blood supremacy. Right, so the question here is why a witch raised and taught in the pure-blood agenda, would actually follow a half-blood master and even lower herself to the point to kneel before him?

Yes, the cannon answer is power and that the self proclaimed 'Lord' uses the purging of the magic world to gain the support of the old families, but how hypocritical is that?

So, giving a bit more credit to the Death Eaters, mainly assuming that not all of them are mindless drones who are borderline retarded, we can accept the idea that some members of the Dark Lord's merry men band are well aware of his half-blood status and are not very happy of being subjected to the Cruciatus curse by a mongrel.

The next is copied straight from padfootjr's aforementioned pic... just too lazy to write it in own words...

So if we all agree that that^^ is entire possible scenario(Bellatrix does not like the idea of being a trophy wife aka Narcissa and 'RAB' was not the only one who knew of Voldemort's horcruxes and I do thing that the death of Sirius can be written off as an accident... been done plenty of times already so I'm sure you know what I mean) a situation where Bellatrix and a groups of people with her line of thinking can try to get the Boy-Who-Lived on their side for pure political support and voice for the masses.

So, just to make things clear, I'm not talking of idea featuring a goody-goody or imperioused sex doll Bellatrix but a pure-blood fanatic who doesn't neccesarilly puts killing of muggles on her top priority list(which is a thing of an abused as child lunatic with too much power, not a wizard's of noble stock agenda) but wants to see the magical Britain progress rather than been coddled(protected by that very dangerous thing called magic, which the Ministry and Dumbledore both seem to think is for the best) and so she along with other sympathizers do plan a 'small' revolution.

The involvement of Harry in the story will be based on the knowledge of the first part of the prophecy... Snape can't be the only one who knows it... and the public support the young Potter can wield.

On the Harry/Bellatrix front... well as impossible as it seem, because of the age difference, a nice and dynamic relation between the two could be done on basis of merging old families or simple educational sex for the boy who will have to be taught a lesson or two before he sees life from Bellatrix's point of view.

I want to rant on all Ministry classifications for Dark magic and laws prohibiting children of using magic... ah an of course the suspicious fact of Dumbledore not being able to find a proper instructor for the Defence class positions(class which by its name suggests that the kids should have passing familiarity with the dark arts in order to defend against them) but that is rather pointless at this point.

I created the thread to seek thought and suggestions on the idea. I very much doubt that I'll be the one to implement it in a real story(I'm simply not confident enough in my skills with the language to do a proper job, but who knows I might give it a go) so another bonus would be attracting the attention of someone with the skill to actually write it.

So... suggestions?

 

Yeah, but there is not gender bias in the wizarding world. Helga and Rowena are just as important as Godric and Salazar. Amelia Bones rises to power within the Ministry, and there is a female Minister of Magic. There are also female Death Eaters besides Lestrange, like Carrow.

There is nothing in the books to point to the idea that wizards are favored over witches in anyway by society.

I see that as a major flaw in you plan.

 

I see your point and yet there is nothing in the books to point out how hard it was for Amelia to rise to her position. You can give also Umbrige as an example for another woman close enough to the minister to wield some power. But still the point is that beside the few examples of women with power there is nothing in cannon to point out sexism and yet in a society where heads of families do apply marriage contracts(if they are mentioned in cannon I'm not sure, another thing if there is anything in cannon about female heads of families) I can easily imagine women being held with some level of respect but that would come to their social status which is close related to the family they are part of.

So overall it's not necessary that in the magical world the sexism be obvious but the all thing is painted in a way that screams medieval society(where women with power can be found in every history book but they are few) with patriarchal structure. Agree?

EDIT: Even if that is not the case I can't see it as such a major problem. The place of women in the Magical society is really not the point in my idea and the only place in my post with it is the quote which I did copy straight from a story, so it's not a "must be used in that way only" thing.

 

Pretty sure Marriage Contracts are Fanon.

Why would a fairly intelligent woman subject herself to Dementors for an undetermined length of time?

You would also need to deal with the Longbottom plot.

Why do so many Post-OoTP fics still use Gringots for Sirius's Will? I'm pretty sure that real banks don't deal with such matters, and DH even even supports this by making the MoM delay the fulfilment of Dumbledore's last wishes. But that tangent is for a different thread.

 

If Voldemort is indeed that powerful it stand to a reason that people would expect him to be back in fairly short time. The 14 year period that took him to obtain his own body simply suits the cannon plot but doesn't make sense. But I'm not about to argue that.
Anyways I think that it can be written off as an error in her judgment. Or is it such an issue?

I have to go through the HP books to find whatever information there is about that night but I'm fairly sure that the events are described vague enough so with a little twist they could be presented in another light.
Another thing is that I didn't say anywhere that Bellatrix is actually a positive character... "light character". She has killed and tortured people and she won't be loosing any sleep over what she had to do to reach her goals. You know "for the greater good" and all that rubbish.

Was that one a comment on anything I wrote or general question?

I for one, think just along the same lines. I dunno who was first to introduce the Goblins executing Wills thing but I'm fairly sure that it has been done along the stupid notion that Harry would gain the favor of the little buggers if he does remember their first names and be polite to them. Cock and bull... the goblins hate wizards and no one likes them for a reason. That's it... plain and simple.

 

Fair enough, I suppose.

That was just a general question, your idea made me think about Sirius's death, which made me think of wills, resulting in a tangent about bad plots in Indy!Harry fics.

 

Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black) is a very complex character in canon. She came from a family that holds blood purity above all things. By all accounts she was a very powerful witch and considered as a prodigy. With the Black heritage she was literally a princess in a society ruled by purebloods. Based on this belief the only one Bellatrix can respect or hold loyalty will be a man/woman with great heritage than the Blacks, ie Salazar Slytherin Family and her own family. During this time comes along a very powerful Dark Lord rumored to be Heir of Slytherin looking for followers to eradicate Muggles and Mudbloods to fulfill the dream of Salazar Slytherin - Ideal Pureblood Magial society. Naturally she got interested and gets into a personal meeting with Lord Voldemort.

Note that during this time Lord Voldemort was not only a charismatic leader, he can inspire tremendous loyalty among his followers. Seeing the potential in young Bella, Voldemort takes personal interest in her and goes so far in teaching arcane dark arts to her personally. I think during this time Bellatrix falls in love (in a twisted kind of sense) with her lord. In Wiki it states that, Lord Voldemort was unquestionably the most important person in Bellatrix's life. Bellatrix marries Rodolphus Lestrange a few years after leaving Hogwarts "because it was expected of her" to marry a pure-blood, However, Bellatrix truly loved Voldemort. She was both in love with him and sexually attracted to him. she is described as regarding him with "worshipful fascination" and speaking to him as if to a lover. He did not reciprocate, as Voldemort did not know love at all, but he considered Bellatrix among his most valuable and loyal Death Eaters. He trained her in the Dark Arts. Also Bellatrix was slavishly devoted to Voldemort and flew into a mad rage if she ever felt he was being insulted, such as when she screamed at Harry Potter for using his name. When he praised her in Malfoy Manor in 1997, Bellatrix's face "flooded with colour" and "her eyes welled with tears of delight".

In that time not many knows Voldemort's true heritage. For them he is the Heir of revered Salazar Slytherin, very powerful and capable leader who can bring pureblood supremacy to its full glory. We can clearly see why she was attracted to him, in her mind she is the only female death eater Voldemort holds in high regard and during Voldemort’s first reign of terror, Bella was so high in Voldemort’s trust that she was entrusted with one of his Horcruxes. While its doubtful that Voldemort told the true nature of Hufflepuff's cup, he atleast told her it's importance and he defied death by becoming immortal. At this point Voldemort's true heritage didn't matter to her, while it's regrettable but her Lord corrects this blemish by eliminating his own family. It's no wonder that Bella becomes so loyal to Voldemort. Coupled with the devotion and love she felt towards him, in her mind she sees herself as Dark Lady / Queen to the future empire the death eaters trying to achieve.

How are you going to bring Harry's character?

Post OOTP will be an ideal setting for this story. So far his life has been a hell of rollercoaster. During his childhood he was belittled by his aunt and uncle. He was bullied by his cousin regularly. All this was due to Dumbledore's choice in his placement. In magical world, one minute he's heralded as a hero and next minute they turned against him by declaring him as a lunatic. Throught his Hogwarts career he was being judged and turned on more than one occation by the students. He holds no love towards his peers and due to their reluctance in defending students against Snape, the teacher's (Minerva, Filius & Pomona) were proved to be not trust worthy. That includes Dumbledore, not only he's careless in regards with Harry's well being, he's more or less engineers Sirius's death (intentionally or not left for debate). Since Dumbledore knows Snape is the one who ran to Voldemort with the Prophecy it'll fuel harry's hate further towards both of them. Logically thinking he can come to the realization that "In war people die". While Sirius and Bella believes in their respective causes, in the end both are clearly pawns to Voldemort and Dumbledore's warfare. Simply Sirius was in wrong place in the wrong time. It's easy for Harry to come to the conclusion that, had Sirius continued the duel he'll not hesitate to kill Bellatrix given a single oppurtunity. Remus is a weak link, he clearly didn't help during Harry's childhood (if remus wanted to create a emotional connection with harry he would have contacted during his first year. He came to Hogwarts to teach under Dumbledore's request and even then he was reluctant to be part of Harry's life). The only connection held them was Sirius and with him gone remus will be forced to choose side. Naturally he'll choose Dumbledore, since he believes Dumbledore knows best (For Greater Good we need to sacrifice small things like harry's life) and on personal level he believes that Harry is the cause for Sirius death, due to poor decision making part in harry's side. With that only Hermione and Ron remains.

1. Ron is a narrow minded individual, who turned on harry already during fouth year and obviusly jealous of Harry's fame. Ron adores Dumbledore and out of family loyalty it's easy for him to side with Dumbledore rather than Harry.

2. Ginny is also the same. While her crush/obsession with harry is notable she'll not side against her family and Dumbledore to openly support Harry.

3. Hermione is also a problem. While she's clearly loyal to Harry she'll not side against her hero Dumbledore. Her attitude towards authority clouds her judgement. It's also doubtful that she'll help Harry to rally Pureblood cause with Bellatrix. Throught the series we can see that she considers herself superior to both Harry and Ron in Magical Knowledge. She is arrogant, always trying to figuring out Harry. She is insistent on knowing his every secrets while she hides her personal secrets. In canon Harry didn't even know her correspondense with Viktor and not once she offers Harry to accompany her in world tours. I'm pretty sure that harry not even visited her house. She shot downs harry's ideas frequently and in HBP she refuses to believe that he can out perform her in potions. The only subject she acknowledge that harry is superior is Defense, even then she tries to outperform him. So when push comes shove she'll try her best to convince Harry to follow Dumbledore rather than support harry to act independently.

4. Neville hates Bella and while he holds some loyalty to Harry it's doubtful that he'll support him this time. He'll want revenge, with Dumbledore's grandfatherly charms he'll side with Greater Good. I think he'll not fight Harry but will try to get revenge against Bella.

5. Luna is an odd ball. All the students belittle her and her own friends consider her loony. The only one respects her is Harry. May be she'll side with harry, may be not.

So we have a Harry who hates Dumbledore and holds no love for ministry & Wizarding world. While he prefers to be left alone Voldemort will not rest untill he's dead. He'll need allies in this conflict not manipulative bastards trying to control his life. He'll realise that even after Voldemort dead, his life will be controlled by public expectation and will be under Dumbledore & Ministry influence. So if he wants to lead a life, he has to become a leader rather than the pawn. With right approach Bella can convince him to fight for her cause and lead the society rather than become it's scapegoat. There will be lot of hate to overcome between them but it can be pulled of with their dynamic approach in their relationship.

So at this point what would turn her Bellatrix against her lord to side with Harry to rally pureblood cause?

1. One more powerful than voldemort and strives to rally the pureblood cause. In Harry's case she can mould him to her thinking, also it doesn't hurt that harry already known to be the cause for voldemort's first downfall and widely famous with masses. While Harry himself is a half blood , he comes from a long line of pureblood family (If Dorea Black was his Grandmother, it's bonus in getting Bella's attention) and his connection to Blacks as Sirius's Heir adds credibility. James and Lily and Sirius sacrificed everything so that Harry may live a long life. They fought for the cause they beleived and died for it. But their main wish was harry to live in peace. So when faced with the choice of sacrificing himself for wizarding world greater good or to live by taking another cause to fight for himself, Harry will choose Bella's side (Rather his own side with bella's help). The fight will be not for revenge, it'll be for his life. It's the cold truth.

2. After resurrection Voldemort only interested in eliminating Harry and Dumbledore. He clearly becomes insane with no control. He frequently punishes his followers and in Bella's case she can see that it's impossible for him to return the love she felt for him. She was punished severly for DOM failure and frequently humiliated by Voldemort. So you can make her like coming to the conclusion that beliving in Voldemort to bring her dreams true is no longer possible. If she wants to rally the cause, she'll need a leader/puppet . With the Prophecy known to her, you can make Harry as an ideal candidate.

3. With the Prophecy she can see that Voldemort can be beaten. Did she want to serve the one who uses her and discards her once she outgrowns her usefullness or the one who can make her dreams come true with the possibility that she can mould him to her thinking (possible lover)? it's an easy decision. There are other death eaters who wants to leave Voldemort but fears his wrath can join her. It's easy to serve a benovalent leader then a lunatic who crucio's for even small failures.

4. Bellatrix agenda must be Purebloods ruling over magical community while not killing other lower classes. It's easy to bring halfbloods, muggleborns and half breeds into submission rather than eliminating them. Muggles can be controlled by treaties or with imperio on it's leaders. If you execute this with your own ideas, I hope you can bring a solid fic with Bella/Harry Pairing.

5. Corrupting a naive Harry by training him in the field of dark magic can be a delicious task for Bella. She will enjoy it immensely and since Dark arts based on emotions it may change the dynamic in their relationship.


It'll be interesting to see the change in loyalties and the three front war will bring lot of confusion and intrigue. Who will side against whom?.. who's cause is the worthy cause?.. who is the least evil ?... I think the hardest part will be writing Bella turning against Voldemort while focusing her love and obsession on Harry. Will Harry attracted to her sexually?.. that will be difficult. If you are interested in writing such a fic, good luck!. Hope whoever takes the idea to implement in a fic will do one hell of a job.

 

Shit, wall of text.

Who said Tom Riddle ever told anybody about only being a half blood? Seeing that Bellatrix was a generation after him in Hogwarts, she wouldn't know the real name of her leader, as well.

And even after that, I have my doubts of Harry/Bellatrix happening without serious OOC. Harry doesn't seem like the type to go for older maniacs who kill his family, and if he did, Voldemort would be his first choice.

 

She wouldn't go to Azkaban for it when she could hunt and destroy his horcruxes while he was gone. Heck, she wouldn't go for any reason at all. Also, I doubt she knew he was a half blood, and canon pureblood views hardly seem to push women into stay at home jobs- I'm thinking Madam Edgecombe, Amelia Bones, Umbridge, Tonks, Mafalda Hopkirk and a whole horde of other females working in decent jobs.

 

Re: Gringotts for wills, I see it as more of a Swiss style private bank, Rather
than an American Savings & Loan. I understand the English have a different
set up, But hey why go to all the trouble thinking up a lawyer's name, telling us about his office, When you can have (que Music Please) the goblin king read the will.

That's a joke son.

 

Well, I don't want to promote my own stories, but a story roughly along the plot line you have suggested is already being written by me. It does not feature Harry/Bella, but otherwise runs along the lines you suggest and also deals with the Longbottom business. It is called `Black Vengeance' and is on fanfiction.net

 

Starting in a LIFO order...
@maidros Yes, I've read your story and it is a nice one too, but to be honest although I remember to like it quite much, I could barely stand, yet another, Harry goes in his own independent way story where he apparently lacks the mental capability to breath without his uber- smart friend's proper instruction. Although I should admit that I read it quite some time ago and I do remember only the idea behind it and the aforementioned Hermione involvement, so I should perhaps re-read it and then leave you a proper review(saw there is a thread in the forum as well. Though seeing that you haven't updated in 5 months is another negative point for you ; ) )...

@IBG walking the same plot that was mentioned in the beginning of the thread - Bellatrix goes to Azkabant with the very clear idea that she won't have to stay there longer than it takes for Voldemort to come back from wherever he is. She doesn't believe that an infant could possibly do anything to the exceptionally powerful Dark Lord and at the time she is still "in love" so to speak with her master.
Hunting for the Horcruxes by herself is a line of thought that one can follow only if we presume that she is not that devoted to her master, but as Montclair pointed out

Of course 14 years with the Dementors have that way of twisting someones perspective of the world and even change the attitude towards the half-blood pretender who was vanquished by a mere child. As I'm typing right now I even thought of the idea of having her insanity turning her adoration for the powerful black sorcerer to the one who had managed to defeat him at the age of 1, instead of Bella not really loyal in that trial-scene,(although it is very doubtful it is not impossible and again I should add that I'm not talking about a mere love romance type of a attraction but something on the line of Sesc's though:

Well I also doubt that anyone would be so foolish to follow someone on the mere claim that he is a descendant of the Slytherin line and not actually check his family roots. I might be wrong here, but wasn't it even in cannon mentioned that some of the death eaters have been to school at the time Tom Riddle was? From there on, it's not an impossible task for someone to find out about his muggle father.

As I said earlier, whether there is sexism in the Wizarding world or not - that is not a crucial point in the thread.
But still, from the list of names you have, which one of those women is actually in marriage in an old family like the Malfoys? The better part of a society might not be ridiculously blind to the topic, but tell me what is Narcissa Malfoy's occupation exactly?
My point is that in cannon there are female characters in high positions of power but there are no evidence of how hard it has been to get to where they are and more importantly how hard it is for them to stay in that position.

@ Sesc

Quote for the absolute truth...

@Montclair

The only reason I'd consider starting a story is that I can't find what I think is the logical way for the events at the end and after OoTP to take place and that they are implemented in readable way.
The way I want to see it... Harry Potter is a 15 years old teen whose world changes from the small space of between the four walls of his cupboard and life of neglect to a fascinating new place where magic exists and he is one of the most famous people around.
After finally making friends who won't be bullied away by Dudley he clings to them and forms his opinions so to fit in and satisfy the people he feels close to certain degree.
But starting at the end of his fourth year with listening to Fudge disregarding the idea of Voldemort's rebirth, the consecutive events - his trial in front of the full Wizengamot, Umbridge's 'torture sessions', the all light sided Griffindors along with most of his school(that is practically the entire wizarding world for him at that point) turning against him when manipulated by the media, Dumbledore's lack of attention, Snape's lessons and his dreams the young boy simply cracks under all the pressure and very likely loose any trust at the society as a whole.

The plot idea here...
-So, at the Ministry, the Voldemort has gone himself and taken the prophecy while his death eaters round the students. The Order comes to a rescue on time(warned by Snape... the greasy bastard does warn them in fact and it takes him less than several hours o_0 and just on time because the kids are not flying horses there but use the very same floo that has access to the Ministry after unable to find Sirius)
-For more realistic picture I think the death of at least one of the kids is necessary to prove that the Death eaters are actually capable of handling a few snotty brats.
- As Sirius flies through the Veil and Harry gives a chase on Bellatrix, they get the opportunity for some small talk where the Black witch shoots at a few flaws in the light side way of thinking that our Griffindor has been taught to.
- Voldemort appears. He is quite aware of the connection he shares with the boy and is reluctant to kill him as the youth is quite literally his life insurance. A small talk where the Dark Lord goes on how Harry is being manipulated and that him, Lord Voldemort won't seek him out for Harry will come for him because soon there won't be anywhere else he can go.
- Voldemort fights Dumbledore(needed to impress on Harry how stupid the idea of him facing Voldemort by himself is) Voldemort possesses our hero but leaves before the Ministry personnel appears in the building.
-Aurors and the Minister himself appear just as on queue(Voldemort has actually done some planning for the whole previous year) to find several people trespassing security areas, the wanted at the time Dumbledore and Harry Potter... who of course has cast an Unforgivable.

From here on it follows the summer where it pretty much is everyone against Potter and him trying to wrap his mind around the points that were raised from both Voldemort and Bellatrix.

Does it sound plausible?

 

I can accept Harry getting disillusioned by 'the Light', particularly given Dumbledore's distance from him in OOTP - hell, I'm running with a rather distorted version of that idea in my fic 'Renegade Cause'. But the real flaw I can see this argument is the 'small talk' between Bellatrix and Harry after Sirius' death. I mean, I can accept that Harry's going to be disillusioned, but why on earth would he listen to her? She just killed Sirius, a pretty big figure in Harry's viewpoint. Even disillusionment can't compete with raw grief and rage.

Furthermore, your thinking about the Dark Lord seems a bit flawed to me. Why would Voldemort have any desire to inform Harry of anything? Assuming Voldemort manages to understand the prophecy in its entirety in that short timeframe, why would he bother to inform Harry of his knowledge? There's no gain for Voldemort by seeking Harry out. Furthermore, given Harry's feelings at that time, Harry would have plenty of inclination to attack him outright, particularly if any of the 'Ministry Six' (Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna) were killed in the battle.

And why would Voldemort even stay behind to duel Dumbledore at all? This was one of my biggest problems with OOTP - there's no gain for Voldemort in a duel, especially considering that Dumbledore clearly has the terrain advantage, and an intelligent Voldemort will have easily realized that. He got what he came for - why would he bother hanging around?

And finally, how would the Ministry find out that Harry cast an Unforgivable unless they witnessed his fight with Bellatrix - and subsequently seen the Dark Lord reappear?

Your ideas are good, but your premise needs work, I think.

 

Hell, I'd read it! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write that story...:awesome

SC makes some very valid points, but to be fair, the logic in canon was far, far flimsier than any "why would he/she do that?" aspects of psihary's quick shot at a plotline. A gifted author could take that premise and run with it, but I agree with whoever said that there can be no actual "love" between Harry and Bellatrix. I don't believe she knows what real love is, any better than do Harry, Snape or Voldemort. The story couldn't be Romance, except in a very twisted and doomed way, where they use each other physically.

And yes, one of the students should get whacked in this fiasco; that would serve to drive another wedge between HP and Dumbledore, with Harry blaiming himself (hey, he has guilt issues, okay?), but also placing a load of blame on Dumbledore for keeping him clueless since Year One. Let's say Neville buys the farm. Now, half of Gryffindor and all of Sprout's H'puffs can blame/avoid Harry, and the Ministry could possibly charge him with the magical equivalent of reckless endangerment for not only Neville, but all the other students as well. And of course, if LV isn't proved to have returned, there's the whole mess with Umbridge to still deal with.

It definitely has potential, and I would actually say that the writer should throw the Harry/Bellatrix out the window unless it fits the refined plot, and go from there. So, psiharry, are you writing yet?!?

Ooh, I just thought of something. Suppose Ginny is killed (as well as Neville? I like Neville, but he doesn't get killed often enough), which would drive the Weasleys away from Harry and possibly strain the Order to the breaking point. That would also estrange lots of Gryffindor since she's "so popular" and with her being a pureblood, the author might have there be a public and/or Ministry backlash against Harry, especially in light of LV's return continuing to be covered up. That guilt over the Weasleys' pain could also leave Harry open to LV's or Bellatrix's suggestions.

Suppose also that Hermione's injuries force her to level with her parents about all that's happened, and they in turn force her to choose between them and magic/Hogwarts/Harry, whatever. Perhaps with her influence either gone or diminished, HP would be nearly alone against Hogwarts students and the Ministry? That could work, though I'm loathe to promote it, being a fan of Hermione myself. She's not quite of age at that point, so she'd be limited in what she could do.

 

From the discussion here and on other threads, it's quite easy to gather that Sirius's death is one of the bigger obstacles for the Harry/Bella pairing to work, unless we're taking Harry's sanity away from him like Sesc did in his fic. Why don't we just remove that troublesome but dramatic sequence from the outline?

There's no reason to tone Bellatrix's evil psychotic behaviour down because of this, aka the Longbottoms. But it should be easier to convince the reader of Harry's apathetic response to her 'heroic' deeds, because they're not up-close and personal.

Just a thought.

ETA: Psihary's idea's pretty damn interesting, but it has a bit too much angst-centred potential for my taste. I would definitely give the story a fair chance, though.

 

1 of the ministry 6 dies?
Prophecy centric fic = kill Neville. not? kill luna...or ginny..or neville..
In fact that's 2 Nevilles. cya Nev old son, nice knowing ya.

Love has no place in a bella/potter ship? Must not have read Oedopus Rex...
In canon, he does end up with a chick who looks like his mum, and is bff with one who was as smart.

Harry IS a freak. You could probably alter the ship to include frequent menage et trois with Voldemort.. in fact do so, just to do complete justice to Harry's sick little proclivities. We all understand that his pathalogical need to be "just harry", is an outward expression of his desire to be a bottom as well right?

I do agree though, Voldemort must be aware of what his link with Harry means. If so, why is he so intent on killing him??

 

Yeap, a valid point that I thought of before and made me rethink the whole scene and what I came up with is:

-Harry does give a chase after Bellatrix

-In his rage he is throwing recklessly spells at her with the only desire to hurt her

-Because of the difference in their skill levels Bellatrix naturally mocks him and chooses to anger him even more if possible by simply deflecting his spells. The "talk" was meant to be more of a one sided monologue rather than friendly chatter between the two. The whole "gloating over that I killed Sirius and you are too pathetic to do anything about it" speech is suppose to server the purpose of character alternation and later on as motivation for the boy to push himself further in his preparation to fight for his own side... and no, I'm not a fan of Harry being a one-man-army stories, so the idea behind "his own side" means that he will have help but won't see things from neither Voldemort's or Dumbledore's perspective... somewhere in between.

- after several spells HP finally cracks and sends a Cruciatus at her which goes through her shields and the power behind it(yes it will work just fine... he does want to hurt her at the moment, righteous anger or not) later will server to add for her twisted attraction to him, apparently it is a difficult spell to cast and hardly accomplished on first try... but we all know our hero doesn't follow the usually accepted restrictions, just like with the Patronus.

-Voldemort appears. Prophecy in hand and a few nice words to say. (the orb doesn't contain the full prophecy but just the part which Tom already knows... we should give it to the old man that he is cunning). So, Harry, already calming down (the Cruciatus should at least leave you with that nice feeling when you seriously dislike somebody and you've just introduced your fist to his head, just my take on the Dark part of the magic). So the boy has vented his initial rage and the depressive thoughts start sneaking in. Of course I don't mean it that he had cooled down but simply that he doesn't see only red in front of his eyes.
After Bellatrix's dressing down Voldemort has a few moments on his own to point out a few chosen things which should plant the doubt in the boy's head about how right the 'light' side of the conflict is.

My take on Voldemort is one of a twisted sociopath with unhealthy amount of cunning in him and magical power that anyone would be hardly pressed to rival, that includes Dumbledore himself.
So, Voldemort using his brain for difference, understands that the only thing between him and taking over the Ministry is Dumbledore and The-Boy-Who-Lived power over the magical population. So he spends Harry's fifth year to alienate them both and turn the masses on them.
My idea for the preparations before the second conflict, is Voldemort manipulates the Minister to push forward a number of new laws and edicts that have the goal to prepare the magical society to full separation from the Muggle world. Anyone read Prince of the Dark Kingdom? My idea is to present Voldemort's agenda create exactly the world presented in the beginning of the fic.

He doesn't see Harry as an obstacle in any other means. He thinks that the prophecy has been fulfilled and he is quite right to do so. Someone who has supposedly spend years in the pursue of knowledge and power could hardly believe a teenager could possibly be a threat to him. Now that he has heard the "full prophecy" he is sure that he is over the power he knows not a.k.a the blood protection he got rid of in the grave yard.
Now, I suppose you call it an amusement on his part or simple safe policy, but just in case Dumbledore manages to bring the boy along to his light-sided agenda he tries to show the young Potter the flaws in Dumbledore's thinking and actions.
In his monologue/talk with HP, Voldemort uses the Ministry campaign against him to exactly disillusion the boy's view of his life.
Key words in the talk would:
-Dark magic doesn't exist, only magic, power and intentions(no, not really the usual chat where someone pulls the "levitation charm could be harmful as well") The idea is that Voldemorts "explains" Harry's ignorance of a society he was raised apart of but now tries to integrate in(later used as a reason why Dumbledore acutally kept him apart from the W world). So basic idea behind the "Social contract" and etc.

- freak - a word the boy should be especially sensitive to. Pointing out that the only way HP can dream of coming remotely close to his own level would be through rituals and use of harmful magic...
Example:
“To them… you are just a freak… just like I was. The wizarding world needs you now but what happens if you somehow manage to kill me? What happens when you actually gain enough power and knowledge to rival mine? Tell me Harry Potter, what do you think will happen then? Do you believe that they will praise you? That they will worship you as their savior? Tell me this Harry, without undertaking rituals and learning about the darker side of the magic, how do you think you could possibly come even close to my prowess. I can tell you boy - none! And if you do take your chance and actually take the hard path do you think all the sheep will still see you as their savior or simply my replacement? Do you think Dumbledore will let you roam free when you can turn in any second and become what he fears the most? And you very well know what that is, don’t you Harry?”
“Say if a fifteen year old could be send to Azkaban for a use of Patronus charm, what do you think they will do to a man using dark magic?”
“I can tell you Harry, they will avoid you, your friends will forget you and spit on you. They will forget in an instant what you have done for them and simply lock you away for something you have done to save them!”
“Why? Because they are afraid of anyone with power over them. Because they are simple minded sheep raised in a society where limitations and restrictions are set by the people with power to easily control them”

Or something like it... I always imagined agent Smith like speech(from the second matrix before the mass Smiths vs "the good guy" fight) from Voldemort. His performance is brilliant in the movie and the charisma he speak with is very Voldemort like, or so I think...

How about Dumbledore attacks first? He comes in, sees Harry disarmed and Voldemort pointing/waving his wand around, so he attacks and Voldemort doesn't wait a moment before he returns fire, so to say. In a few moments the Ministry's atrium is filled with magic and thoroughly destroyed and young Harry is left with the image and feeling of magic like he has never seen/felt/heard of before, which is yet another turning point for his characterization.


So... to clear that out - Bellatrix has changed after 14 years in prison and after loosing the man she had been by all means in love with(Voldemort is back but something is missing, something has changed and not just his physical appearance) she finds out Harry as target for her new attraction. Of course that would develop after several encounters with the boy where both try to kill each other. The initial idea is possible but obviously strips her character off from what we like the most in her.

I'm not much of a fan of angst myself but it s necessary evil when we talk about making cannon Harry loose it and come to where we like to see him the most - the bad ass plane.

I was told in quite straight text that if I don't graduate in the next couple of month I will be loosing my student rights... I suppose it took them 3 years to realize that I was suppose to have graduated a long time ago... so my thesis takes higher priority but then there isn't much left from it

Ok, there is much more to write but I guess I'll keep the post under 5k words to be readable, so... any more input/suggestions/ideas will be very welcomed...

I do have a problem of deciding whether the boy will be powerful magically, politically or both. I prefer realistic development over the summer where someone explains to him that the result out of magical fight is not determined only by the knowledge of offensive/defensive spells but skill and experience of how you fight.
Clearing his name would put Harry back into a position to control the masses and therefore be able to fight Voldemort and battle Dumbledore politically.

The biggest problem so far is that I have plans for novel length story with a sequel and I'm yet to post even a readable one-shot... so I'm still not convinced I can actually execute my ideas the way I see them, and I have plenty of them, each one better than the other =)
Another thing is that I have planned the beginning, hell I have even mostly written it but very vague idea of how to go wherever I want it to go. And we've all seen a number of good beginnings without the fics being completed, which is something I dislike a lot!

 

@psi: I think your idea has a lot of potential, but it also looks like a very long and very complicated story. You should definitely give it a shot, but if I were you I'd have everything plotted out before you posted a chapter. That way you won't get stuck as easily and abandonment is less likely.

I've thought about doing a Hellatrix story in the distant future, and one of the ways of getting them together is to have them thrown into some situation where they have to work together to survive. Their personalities remain the same, of course, but there's a chance for some mutual respect to develop. This would definitely be AU.

I think I've seen a story that does this, but I can't remember where or how well it was done. Does anyone know the story I'm talking about?

 

Only enemies perhaps?

And yes, that is another way to force them together and from there on build it up between the two.