I disagree. What do we REALLY know about what Voldemort has done to become what he is? We know about the Horcruxes, and the murders of his parents, and Myrtle, along with a few others. It was not a lot of detail. Even the most in depth part of his past, the orphanage and his younger years was still very lacking in depth.

We know he was depraved even before Dumbles picked him up, and that he tortured other children. I don't clearly recall us being told why he was like this. Was he tormented at the orphanage? I may be wrong and it was answered in the books, as I haven't read any of the last 2 books in years. Even if it was, it would be great to read it from Voldemorts view, not the crap Dumbles picked up from dubious sources.

What I want to read is the gritty stuff that he went through. The bribes, the murders, the ascension. I want to see him consolidating his power, by destroying any who oppose him, or using tricks to bring him into the fold. Remember, his rein I believe started in the 1970s. He left Hogwarts in the 50's or 60's, don't quote me there. That's a full 10-20 years of material to use as a author sees fit. Sure, we will need to know about the Horcruxes, but let's also read other stuff; the rituals to increase his power, the manipulations of various people in the government, the atrocity's he commited. The deep, gritty stuff.

It won't be everyones cup of tea, but I daresay the majority here would enjoy it. Sorry if I didn't go into depth, but I wanted to leave it up to the person who would actually pick it up, if anyone, to do it by their own thoughts and opinions.

 

Last night I watched Sherlock Holmes. As a big fan of books I was sceptical about this movie but in the end when watching it I just forgot about original and enjoyed Robert Downey Jr. interpretation of Holmes. What it have to do with HP? Well, sometime ago I've this plot bunny where Harry as young kid was fascinated by mystery stories. Especially about our favourite detective form Baker Street. Now every book from HP series has a mystery, so enter truedetective!Harry who actively is trying to solve them. Of course because of smarter Harry his enemies need to be smarter as well. I think it has potential but still it wouldn't be to much different from every story were smarter Harry is doing the same, so author would need to think of more mysteries for him.

The second approach is having adult Harry who for some reason didn't become Auror (maybe because of political reasons?) but still wanted to help people. So he become PI. It would be funny if his methods and life style was similar to movie Holmes, because everybody would only sigh at what saviour of wizard world is doing with his life. He rarely would use magic to solve his cases and for his Watson I would see it be maybe Neville.

 

Had an idea a year or so ago and have been working on it since, so I want to know if it could work well or not. The main point of it was inspired by the Naruto character Pein, and his multiple body jutsu, adapted for the HP verse. It's basically an AU told in snippets up until the time of Voldemort's rebirth then it begins on the somewhat cliché three-sided war between Harry, Dumbledore and voldemort.

The first divergence would be one scene in PS wherein Quirrell does not try to grab Harry, but uses the Avada Kedavra curse, with predictable consequences. This is for no other reason than giving Harry the incantation for the Killing Curse.

Second is in Chamber of Secrets. In the Chamber Harry is just slightly too late to save Ginny and Tom is fully reborn. Destroying the diary does nothing so he uses the one offensive spell that could actually do anything and Tom dies, and Harry gets himself a split in his soul.

The idea then is that Harry goes over to Ginny, and with a mixture of his recently split soul, his unique status as a horcrux container already, and some phoenix tears he begged from Fawkes, Ginny comes back to life... Only when she wakes up it's not Ginny in her body, but Harry, who has somehow managed to warp his soul so that it covers two bodies rather than just the one he was born in.

Cue confusion and some major panic for Harry as he realises that he has effectively stolen Ginny's body and is going to be in serious trouble once someone finds out. After all, it's not like he could hide the fact, he barely even knows Ginny. Only, no, he does know her. He knows literally everything she ever did, since he is inhabiting her body and the brain is where memories are stored. So begins his charade, where he hides his and Ginny's condition from everyone as best he can (family wise I was going to go with Harry faking depression for her over the summer, so he doesn't have to face the other Weasleys as often).

I'll set out a list of the pros and cons now, since this would be the part to really go over them.

Pros: Since he's got two bodies to house his soul in, if one of them dies, Harry lives on.

Each body has its own brain chemistry and structure, which means that the unique skills and ways of thinking of both Harry and Ginny would be at his disposal (for example: Ginny could be really good at charms, while Harry is quite lacklustre, so when he is using Ginny's body to cast a charm it comes out slightly better than if he had used his own body. Of course after a while this would become moot as their experiences would eventually merge to the point where he performs equally well in either body).

Double the time in school basically means he's practising spells twice as often as he would have, and this gives him a degree of mastery over them that he wouldn't have had originally, and he effectively becomes a step better at spells than anyone else in his year(s). This would be especially true for Ginny's body, since Harry has already learned the magic she would be, she begins to be lauded as a prodigy (which comes with its own problems).

When the time eventually comes to destroy the horcrux inside his head, he effective has the ability to sacrifice himself without actually dying, thus no deus ex machina for him to survive purging the horcrux.

Those are the major pros I see for this, and they would theoretically become exponentially greater if he acquires more bodies... Such as the soulless husk of Sirius Black and eventually the memory-less Gilderoy Lockhart. Each brings their own problems (since Sirius' body would be spending a lot of time with Lupin, and Gilderoy is widely known to be in hospital).

The cons would be something along these lines: The soul is not meant to be used in such a way as this, and its presence in Harry's body is diminished by each body he takes. This is a big problem, especially since he is also housing the horcrux of a rather powerful Dark Lord in his skull. Thus, there is much greater risk of Harry (or one of his bodies) being temporarily possessed by Voldemort, which is a Very Bad Thing.

Hiding the fact that he is Harry inside another person's body (most especially Ginny, since their personalities are almost polar opposites at this point), is insanely difficult. As time passes people grow suspicious and the risk of either Dumbledore or Snape using legilimency on him grows exponentially greater. He eventually begins to get the hang of it (like not mimicking his original body's body language in Ginny's body, and co-ordinating himself so that he doesn't randomly move some body parts in a way his other body should be doing (such as moving to pick a weed at he kitchen table, or eat a sandwich of thin air). Dumbledore is especially wary since he knows Tom had created horcruxes, and the change in personality of Ginny points toward something bad having happened (not to mention the way Harry had basically been compared to Tom Riddle the entire year beforehand).

As he accumulates bodies so does he accumulate memories. One body can not handle the combined memories of two people, especially if he gains an older body like Sirius Black's. Thus, the memories are stored in the body that experienced them, with the occasional bit of crossover if, say, Harry's body thinks about something Sirius' is doing. This also opens up the major downside of Harry eventually losing a body and all the memories that body holds, though it's not quite like a horcrux in that if he loses a body his soul would just snap back into the collective pool among the other bodies, rather than be destroyed.

There is a major risk of this becoming a super!Harry story as he gains more bodies, knowledge, and experience. That's something I'd have to avoid too.

Not quite a con but still a major point nonetheless: Harry's character over the course of the story would change. A lot. As he experiences life as a somewhat unknown girl with everything he ever wanted (family, friends, not to be glared at by Snape), he grows resentful of the way his life has went. After all, if you suddenly went from being poverty stricken to being a millionaire, you would definitely have no illusions that your previous life sucked. Only this time he gets to experience both lives simultaneously.

After he gains a body on the outside too (Sirius), he becomes increasingly aware that someone is moving in the shadows, pulling the strings that placed him in the Triwizard Tournament, and becomes convinced that it's Voldemort. After all, if he can come back to life from just a diary, what's the chances of him having another fail safe? Thus Harry starts to see the need for other resources he could use, and especially combined with Sirius' borderline obsession with keeping Harry safe as well as his somewhat cynical nature, he thinks up the idea of purposefully taking a body. Namely, Gilderoy Lockhart's. After all, he's practically the perfect candidate. He's got nearly no memories, he's got a talent for memory charms (which Harry could easily relearn, since he already knows the incantation from CoS) and wouldn't really be missed if he disappeared. So Harry takes his body.

From then on we have what amounts to Harry becoming the next Dark Lord in the making as he fights the one that is reborn at the end of GoF. The top limit on the number of bodies he could/would take I'd say would be seven, since with his soul being dispersed over the various bodies there begins more of a crossover between Harry and the Voldemort horcrux inside him. Thus it seems right that he pick the most magically powerful number of bodies, and that he begins to view others less as people and more as potential bodies for when one of his dies. Empathy is something he begins to forget, and once his secret is out, he becomes ruthless, cunning. And then we have the final battle...

So, what do you guys think? I've been thinking about this for the better part of a year so I've got what I think is a workable plot lined up (since the majority of what I've just written would be effectively a multi-chapter prologue to cover the important bits of each year up to OotP).

 

With the Harry in Ginny's body thing.. how exacly is she dead? Maybe they merged and became someone else alltogether. He/she would be Harry but at the same time she/he would be Ginny aswell. They are in the body of a girl, so they are a girl. I'm thinking they would eventually become someone not Harry, nor Ginny. Like in Dollhouse, Echo wasn't really Coraline even if she is Caroline..

I'm confusing myself.

 

Interesting idea. A slightly similar plot bunny (Harry's ability to take multiple bodies) was already discussed in this thread though, by Taure.

If you're going to do this story, my suggestion would be to limit the number of bodies Harry can take. I know you've mentioned that Harry can take at most seven bodies, however, I think it would be better if you make them irreplaceable, that is, once Harry reaches the limit he can't replace any bodies that are lost. This limits Harry's power and removes any deus ex machina.

Also, if you were destroy Harry's body to destroy the Horcrux, then Harry would be essentially lost, even if he isn't dead. I think you could just allow Quirrel's Killing Curse to hit him and take care of the Horcrux in his first year.

And you'll need an overarching premise to work the story. The idea of Harry taking multiple bodies is intriguing but it won't drive the story by itself.

Overall, it's an intriguing idea, I'd read it if you're going to write it.

 

I'd like to read Aekiel's story. Kind of sucks that I know the basic plot now, but whatever.

I have to wonder though; wouldn't Harry just go crazy? Seeing through two sets of eyes constantly seems like it would overload a person. Assuming there was noise going on as well, and anything either touched the other would feel. Harry'd go bananas.

And how would he go through the summer without making too many mistakes with Ginny? Sure, he knows what she's like, but when someone catches her accidentally swearing at the Dursley's (or something), someone might think something is up. It seems really implausible, I think.

 

Since I've read Taure's plot bunny I was really interested in the concept and is good to see it revived. It's greatest difficulty is probably manage to write a fic which the main character is in multiple places and having multiple points of view at the same time, a first person narrative would likely be really messy.

As for power down Harry, I think that limiting the multi task that Harry can do, and therefore limiting his bodies, or maybe puting a limit on the amount that his soul can "spread", either restrincting the distance or just the number of the bodies per se. Also, the death of an body could be so traumatic that Harry would temporarialy lost control of all his body, so Zerg Rush would be impratical.

By the way, I aways thought that the Horcrux in Harry was a incomplete one, that while working as a anchor for Voldemort it had no conscience, and, in my view, making it an antagonist is kind of a weak plot device. Perhaps once that Harry's soul isn't 'complete' anymore, Voldemort would have no problem in possessing him.

@Insane Juggler: If Harry's was only using Ginny (and the others eventual bodies) as a puppet and receiving their sensorial information, then he would probably go crazy. But, the idea is that Harry spreads his soul, efectively turning their bodies and brains his, with all the bonus that lots of brains would give to a person.

 

Aekiel... uh, hate to break it to you, man, but I've already sort of utilized some of your plot points in Renegade Cause with the brand of magic called simulamancy... albeit without some of the 'personality' conflicts. Sorry, buddy.

 

Well I never said it was the most original idea in the world... Damn. Still, it's not the defining feature of your fic, whereas with this it would effectively be what the plot wrapped itself around, with the majority of the conflict stemming from the body stealing and the other 'good' peoples' reactions to it, with this eventually leading to Harry's own split. Plus, in Renegade Cause the person transfers their consciousness entirely from one body to another, in this it literally be Harry acting as all the bodies simultaneously.

 

But with simulamancy Harry can only control one of his bodies at the time, yes?

As for idea of multi body Harry, it's just me who thought of this disturbing images of Harry experimenting with HarryGinny when his hormones kicks in (for him it'd be probably like masturbation)?

 

Yeah... That's one of the reasons I was only going to do up to fourth/fifth year as snippets. As much as I like to think I could play it for comic effect, I know I'm not that funny so I think I'll leave it out .

 

If I'm not mistaken, this thread started out as a way for people to comment on authors' potential stories. With that in mind, I'd like a bit of help planning a story that I've already begun, but had trouble making a believeable transition. Kingsley Shacklebolt will be a main character along with Harry and Alastor Moody and a character I will mention later. You can find the beginning of that story in WbA... but I wouldn't suggest reading more than the opening sequence because 1. I was drunk when I wrote the next part and 2. it sucks as a result.

Alastor meets Kingsley in a diner and explains to him that Harry needs to be protected from himself. Harry is to receive a letter that is sure to infuriate him to the point of a breakdown (this is merely a few days after his arrival at Privet Drive after his fifth year). Dumbledore wants Shacklebolt on the scene for a reason that Kingsley is not given. Alastor warns Kingsley not to do anything irrational and to keep his cool.

Kingsley shows up at Privet Drive and rather then deal with the Dursleys and alert them to his presence, he sneaks into Harry's room and waits under an Invisibility cloak for the letter to come. He silences the post owl and snatches the letter, reading it before Harry has the chance. He finds that it is a letter from Algernon Croaker with the Department of Mysteries. Shacklebolt finds out that Harry is supposed to be picked up by Dawlish within the hour and taken to the Department to reveal the prophecy to Croaker and a select group of Ministry workers. Shacklebolt has no idea what Harry has to do with the prophecy, but assumes it has to do with Voldemort and realizes that Harry cannot show up at the Ministry and just give the prophecy away.

Harry wakes up while Kingsley is reading the letter and slowly grabs his wand, then makes an attempt to disarm him. Kingsley narrowly avoids the Expelliarmus and quickly and silently disarms Harry. Unarmed and cornered, Harry thinks that Kingsley wishes him ill will. The situation worsens when Kingsley hands him the letter, lets him read it, and then asks him to reveal the prophecy. Harry is tight-lipped and demands to see Dumbledore, unconvinced when Kingsley explains that he is sent by Dumbledore. Getting angry very quickly and positive that Dawlish will be on the scene within minutes, Kingsley uses the Imperius curse in order to force Harry to give him the prophecy; his plan backfires spectacularly when Harry fights off the curse and attacks him bare-handed. Shacklebolt wrestles the Harry off of him and then ties him down, using his limited Legilimency to bring the prophecy to the forefront of Harry's mind. However, he only discovers that Harry has a power that the Dark Lord knows not before a knock on the front door alerts him to Dawlish's presence.

Harry is crying as the prophecy is revealed, but realizes that Kingsley doesn't know the full prophecy - neither can live while the other survives. He pretends that that was the prophecy in full. Kingsley, aware that the Dursleys are yelling at Dawlish downstairs, snaps into motion, packing Harry's things, sending both owls out the window, transfiguring Harry's bed clothes into robes and tossing his Invisibility Cloak over Harry. They both hear the sound of the two Dursley's hitting the floor, and then a third flop as Dudley is presumably struck down. Warning the boy to stay quiet, Kingsley silences Harry and side-along apparates him to Diagon Alley just as Dawlish breaks in to Harry's room.

From there I have a few ideas but nothing concrete. Basically Harry and Kingsley are forced together when the Ministry notices his absence. Dumbledore cannot allow Harry to come to Hogwarts, and Grimmauld Place is compromised. Harry picks up a good few skills from Kingsley, and Shacklebolt becomes a mentor of sorts to the boy. Anyone willing to help me write this story PM me or discuss it here.

Thanks...

AV

 

I skimmed the rest of it after I saw this.

Kingsley would not get away with casting the Imperius curse on Harry Potter. Not only that, but the Ministry would've sent multiple owls at this point, explaining how Harry is to have his wand snapped for casting magic outside of Hogwarts and underage.

Then, Dawlish attacks the muggles unprovokedly? They're government workers, not Death Eaters.

And how was Grimmauld Place compromised? That's big enough for a part of the plot itself, it being one of the most well-protected places in all of London.

 

First logical error, why would Algernon Croaker believe that Harry knows the prophecy? It was broken at the ministry and no-one heard it. Harry only knows the prophecy because Dumbledore told him.

 

I think it's suitable for Croaker (Head of the Department of Mysteries) to want to interrogate Harry even without the acquisition of the prophecy. Think: Harry entered the Department after hours, took a prophecy from the shelves (as well as busting up a shit load of them), fought a number of Death Eaters and witnessed Voldemort himself, and then was Portkeyed away from the premises before he could be questioned.

In my mind, Croaker has been made a laughing stock because he had been refuting Voldemort's rebirth along with the rest of Ministry, and then had his precious Department infilitrated by a couple of school kids. I think it's reasonable for him to be angry enough about it to force Harry to come to the Ministry - even behind Dumbledore's back. However, Dumbledore knows enough to send Shacklebolt there in time to protect Harry.

So, even without Harry knowing the true prophecy (which coincidentally, he does) it's plausible that the Ministry would want to know as well. Dumbledore cannot allow this to happen, but neither can he allow himself to be at Privet Drive when Harry is removed. In other words, he's manipulated Shacklebolt into doing what he needs done without sacrificing himself or Moody, who in his opinion, is more important at the moment.

It doesn't hurt that Harry will be with someone that Dumbledore trusts to protect him, and he might learn a thing or two from an Auror as skilled as Kingsley.

Exactly. Although he at least made a passable attempt at reasoning with them before stunning them.

I thought it through but didn't elaborate 'cause I was pressed for time. Grimmauld completely disappeared for the Order when Sirius died. The only being in the house at the time of his death was Kreacher, and as he betrayed his master, not only was he forced from the estate, he was forced to kill himself. It would pop up in the story, but it probably wouldn't be a large plot point - just enough to point out that Harry can't hide there because the Order cannot find it and everything inside is presumably lost for all time.

I don't think I've ever seen that done before. Usually Harry inherits the house in some way, but I just can't see Sirius taking the time to write a will - and it's even more unlikely that Gringotts would enforce the will of a fugitive. I suppose that Narcissa could make a play at it, but regardless, the Order is fucked out of their hideout.

He wouldn't get away with it. Remember, he's officially on the run from the law as soon as he aids Harry in evading capture. His Auror "badge" is revoked, a number of spells are revealed to have been used at the scene as well as the Imperius... so your point is moot.

A number of different points of view would explain all of these things within the story. After Shacklebolt's escape with Harry, a scene with Croaker showing how angry he is and introducing him to the story should transition into Moody and Dumbledore talking - Moody watched under an Invisibility cloak while Dawlish entered Privet Drive and Harry and Kingsley left.

You feelin' it, yet?

 

I was thinking of a story where Harry receives one of those oh so loved voices in his head. By some way or another the piece of Voldemort left in Harry activates but because it wasn't an intentional horcrux only his knowledge up to his attack on the Potters is available to Voldemort. It could be interesting to see Voldemort try to influence Harry in his school years how much depending on when the horcrux is released. Like say when in COS Harry has a near death experience because of the venom causing the piece to be released, or if it happened before Hogwarts somehow.

This was just an idea I had that might be kind of cool.

 

I have an idea that I'm trying to get my hands around. My problem is how to introduce the "new" way of tapping into magic. Anything Hr can read at Hogwarts I would have assumed T.R. would have, thus negating the "power he knows not" . I also have a problem with the "book" answer to everything.
So I'm stuck, in of all places, at the beginning. So, what are the choices: a recently uncovered-thought-to-be-lost tome, a portrait that has more going on than most, a vision, a knowledgeable OC or undeveloped character in Canon.
I don't know, just something that is not lame. any ideas?

 

Assume for a moment that Riddle didn't know what the Resurrection Stone really was (which is canon) but that Harry figures it out when visiting Dumbledore for the first memory.
'Hey, that's the Stone from that goofy fairytale book Luna gave me!'
Since it's no longer a Horcrux and 'obviously' broken, Harry asks Albus for it. As a descendant of Peverell and holder of the Cloak, Harry is able to fix the Stone (also canon-ish, since Albus didn't fix it despite holding the Elder Wand).

So you can talk to anyone who's dead? A smart Harry might dump the whole 6th year curriculum for his personal tutors from Beyond. Albus is obsessed with his dead sister, but Harry doesn't need the parents he never knew- he needs help!