Let's tag team this one, shall we? I'll go first.

Try "The Fourth Force," or don't. I don't like that name.

 

How did this group get so organized without anyone noticing?
After all, all these powerful people would each have attracted attention in their home countries...

 

"Exactly ten or so" is lulzy. [Tags the next guy.]

I'm not sure if I'm grokking your idea right. Sounds like Harry and company are joining some kind of magical equivalent of the Superfriends with plans to set up base camp in Westminster. I guess Luna would be Gleek and Ron and Ginny, the Wondertwins.

I don't know enough about the fourth group to care, but I will say that mere specialty is not terribly exciting. Imagine a nonmagical analog: A championship archer, the world chess champion, the Poet Laureate of the United States, the world's greatest yodeler, and a top-flight biochemist decide to form a group to take over Belgium.

The question that jumps out (after "WTF?") is "why?" If the "why" is interesting, you might make a story. If not, you're better off filing this and waiting for the next idea.

 

@ Howdy: Yes, it was a typo, sue me...

@Banner: Maybe they have been noticed, but just not in Britain. Maybe not, as I said it is still in planning and I am open for ideas. Also I was planning that the first two or so chapters would deal with the founding of this organization. I know that at large it isn't the most original idea but I thought that perhaps its different execution would be interessting. The thing is, most times it is Harry who breaks loose and has his own side, this time he is with the order and the fourth side has mostly people we don't know.

@Perspicacity: well maybe not exactly ten years but you get the idea, the important point was that it dealt with an adult Harry. Ten years just sounds better then eight, at least to me. The thing about specializing is, a championship archer is only good for arching while a wizard who is really good at charms is also quite adept at other branches of magic. A good enough writer could pull it of to make this group interessting it is just that I don't think I am the writer who can do this, so maybe someone can pick this up.

 

Sounds like an interesting set up to me, especially the woman with the unbreakable Imperius curse. If you need someone to bounce ideas off get on to irc some time and I'll have a go at it. Of course you'd need a very detailed plan for what divergences have taken place, and the first problem I can come up with on that front is that canon Voldemort would not wait ten years without revealing himself. His arrogance is basically his defining feature and I don't think he'd be able to go so long without declaring himself a god or something.

EDIT: For the recognition thing, you could take the chance to take magical Britain in a V for Vendetta route, with the Ministry cracking down on 'terrorist cells' and vigilantes while suppressing information of the outside world. That would give you the opportunity to introduce these new players to the scene without making it seem contrived. It also gives the Order a credible reason to stay under the radar and not declare that Voldemort is back from the rooftops as they did in OotP since those who did would be arrested and 'interned for questioning'. You seem to be going for a dystopian future here and there's no better way to show that than having the Ministry take a more radical approach to the threats facing them without fully going over to Voldemort's side. It's also the way I'd see a pureblood controlled Wizengamot voting with Dumbledore deposed as its head.

 

I want to see a humor fic where it turns out Harry's love life is actually cursed, similar to the DADA position.

 

I want to see a humor fic that's a HP/One Night in Paris cross...

Also, no One Night in Paris fanfiction on FFN? I'm...oddly surprised by that.

 

Wizarding Career Day.

It doesn't really make sense to have students pick their electives at the end of second year or beginning of third year not knowing they'll be denied certain jobs based on classes they picked (or didn't) as children.

Thus, Career Day. Representatives of each profession tell Harry and classmates about their jobs and give them information (pamphlets and such) about classes they'd need to get them. The danger and excitement of the Auror, Hit Wizard and Cursebreaker professions would probably really appeal to a 12 year old boy.

Each job has its own academic requirements (see link at end of post). Aurors and Healers each must have at least 5 OWLs of Exceeds Expectations or higher (Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, DADA, and Charms) and auror applicants also have character and aptitude tests to take. Cursebreakers are required to have an OWL in Arithmancy. And you get the idea--Harry would find certain jobs he thinks are exciting and such.

Then have Harry pick classes based on which careers he thinks are cool, and you wind up with Harry learning different magic, rather than wasting his time with Ron in Divination. He'd probably be just a bit more studious, too, since he'd know he needs certain grades to achieve his goals, leading to a more competent, or at least more intelligent, Harry.

It might not be as exciting as having Harry pick up an overpowered artifact or go shopping in Knockturn Alley to become an overnight expert on dangerous combat spells and dark magic, but it's a logical way to write a more competent, skilled Harry.



Jobs in the Wizarding World: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Jobs_in_the_Wizarding_World

 

And here I was saying to myself, "One night in Paris? Did I miss something here? Maybe it's the new book or film of the moment? Maybe I'm just out of the loop?"

A short Google later...

me/ facepalm

 

Too contrived and for no good reason. There are various better ways to reach the same thing, such as Harry asking McGonagall what he should pick for electives. Anyway, a career day in Howgwarts is a bad idea.

 

You know in Muggle Britain kids have to make subject choices which will determine their future careers at age 14 and don't have a career day.

The reason for this is probably because people don't just live in a school, they live in a society, and as part of living in that society will know about jobs.

We as readers don't know about them in HP because either Harry was impressively ignorant about the world in which he found himself and incredibly lazy about finding out more, or simply because it wasn't part of the story and thus this knowledge was all "off screen".

 

lol...awesome idea, kmfrank. Indulge us a little. How might the plot play out, save for Harry nailing a ho under bad lighting and then acquiring herpes?

 

Don't forget the tattoo. And probably getting sandbagged and rolled in an alley.

 

kmfrank in ur internetz, givin u da pronz

I could do this, but I'd need to do FAR more research. And right now I'm too busy with class for that much fappin'. Maybe over Labor Day, when I get a week off...

Never seen a "Dear Penthouse - I never thought this would happen to me..." HP fic, but I think it has possibilities...

 

One-shot bunny:

Who says a wizard can't have a magical animagus form? After a long stint of training, Harry discovers his. His animagus form is a Boggart.

It would probably work for Luna too.

 

Crack-fic about Harry having shape-shifting abilities would be pretty neat, especially if he uses it to scare and frame enemies.

 

If you were going to have a Boggart as his animagus form (nice idea, by the way), I think you'd have to take it all the way. Not just give him shape changing abilities - make it so that he has no choice about changing into what people fear the most.

For a plot you could have something like the Boggart's nature beginning to bleed over to his human form (slowly, at first people just feel a bit nervous around him, then some trait of his will remind them of some fear, and so on) and he has to figure out a way to stop it before it completely takes over and the world begins to despise him.

 

Wouldn't that be more Dementor than Boggart?

I think it would be pretty awesome as a short story though. Harry walks up to Neville and just *pops* into Snape. Then sees Lavender and becomes a pregnancy test. This idea has potential.

Walks up to Malfoy and absolutely nothing happens.

 

Christ, that's got potential. Love the Malfoy one, by the way.

Boggart!Harry walks up to Hermione, expecting to become a Disappointed!McGonagall, only to turn into Ron's freckled ginger root. Talk about ending a friendship... Ironically, when Harry tries to talk to Ron about it, he suddenly finds that he's morphed into a vaguely correct albeit exceptionally bushy vag that happens to be shouting instructions at Ron and admonishing him to try to find the little man in the boat and could he please try to make it last this time? Loss of friendship number two.

Boggart!Harry walks up to Bellatrix and POP! he's Voldemort, naked but like a Ken doll - no genitalia. When he meets Bella's husband he just becomes Bellatrix? How about meeting Umbridge? He becomes a centaur? A non-hung centaur...?

I can't decide about Snape; obviously I'm on a sexual tangent, so maybe Harry is forever scarred by turning into his mother's quim, or perhaps even more so by becoming an image of his dad plundering Snape's dungeon. Ugh. I should go back to bed and try to sleep this off.

Although after a few times of this happening, word would of course get around about Harry's Animagus form being a Boggart, and suddenly everyone's worst fear would be meeting Harry in the Great Hall and him becoming their worst fear, and so Harry would become everyone's worst fear, and he'd eventually stay as himself when around them, whether in his Animagus form or not, and the Boggart!Animagus would end up only working on people who didn't know Harry or for whom, like Malfoy, Harry in fact was their worst fear.

 

Only the last paragraph has any potential for lulz. Why would Harry turn into his mother's quim when he's around Snape? That would be Snape's fantasy, not his worst fear.