Sounds like something a muggleborn or wronged 'blood traitor' would do...this could also apply to Neville, due to his parents?

 

An idea I had:
Basically, for whatever reason Quirrell manages to escape from Hogwarts with the Philosopher's Stone (I'm not sure if this idea has been suggested or not in this thread, but I wasn't keen on going through all 62 pages to find out, so sorry if this is a duplicate). I was thinking that either one of two things happens:

1. Ron fucks up during the chess game, and Harry gets taken as a piece and knocked out. Ron still wins, but he and Hermione decide to get the hell out of there rather than press on.

This one doesn't really work though because, if I remember correctly, Dumbledore was on his way there (its been a while since I read the first novel) and would have probably apprehended Quirrell while he was at the mirror.

2. When Harry confronts Quirrell at the mirror he gets his ass handed to him. Dumbledore arrives just in time to prevent Harry from being finished off, but he has to let Quirrell escape in order to save Harry, who is on the brink of death.

In any case, Quirrell manages to escape and has the stone. When Voldemort uses it he takes over Quirrell's body entirely. Voldemort now appears completely human, and looks different enough from either Quirrell or young Tom Riddle to avoid detection, and can move about openely. He of course immediately sets off gathering followers and rebuilding his power base. Voldemort is more sane and reasonable than in the novels, and proceeds carefully.

Dumbledore of course realizes that Voldemort is back, and so decides to tell the prophecy to Harry much earlier. Harry is forced to man up earlier, and is prepared much better than in the canon time line.

I'm not sure exactly how the story would precede after this. The author would have to be careful not to create an overly powerful Harry. The war would kick off earlier, and would probably be more brutal and large-scale. Plus it would be difficult to write something that goes over such a large period of time that does not follow much of canon.

I would try to write this, but I'm way too busy being a lazy, drunken college student.

 

Well, I can't really see why it would be more brutal or large scale. Mostly what I see happening on Voldemort's side is what happened in the earlier books, more or less, only earlier. Maybe a little more aggression to take out Harry earlier, possible use of the Chamber as it hasn't been exposed yet. Perhaps something about using the philosopher's stone changing Voldemort's mind in some way (I don't mean 'healing the horcrux damage' or some such, but a more subtle, not entirely positive effect) that makes him more cautious or something (or more aggressive, whatever, just something to justify a divergence from canon tactics). The idea has potential, but like you said it's pretty easy to fuck up and create a Super!Trained!Leader!Harry or something completely unrealistic.

 

It seems alright at first glance, but what would really happen in the story? A war that starts in Harry's second/third year doesn't really mean anything. At best it becomes a training montage as we get to watch Harry gasp in shock as Hermione reads the Prophet to give him an update on what is going on. No thanks.

Otherwise we get a timeskip to the end of 5/6/7 year to some kind of gritty pseudo badass Harry that will probably lament at how all the deaths from the years of war blah blah blah who cares?

It would take a very good author to make it even half readable.

 

Pretty much the above.

 

Points taken. I'll think on it a bit more and see how I could clean it up a bit. Thanks for the advice.

 

Possibly, though Snape, Barty Crouch Sr. and a young Harry Potter are choices as well.

 

You'd need another plot twist in the story I reckon. After Voldemort returns. Don't bother writing without one of those.

 

Well, yeah, I had thought that was a given. It was just an idea to get a story off the ground, and get a major early divergence from canon.

Edit: Sorry if I came off as a bit rude, but I don't know any other way to express it.

 

/reflects on the massive plot he had for Diadem.

 

I've got an idea for you. Do what you want to do except make the whole thing a Fem!Harry. Also have her go Dark/Evil. DLP loves a good Fem!Harry and there's only been one good fic written like this. So a lot of opportunity to write something really good and original here.

Another suggestion. Gloss and skim over Year 1 and 2. Maybe single 10,000 word chapters for each. It's really hard to make those years interesting otherwise.

 

I've got 3 little plot bunnies currently trapped in my head:

1) An easy one shot, maybe 10,000 words long. Really a writing exercise, it would take advantage of some sort of cliché Dursley scenario which produces a more shy Harry that gets sorted into the lamest of houses - Hufflepuff. First year only, Voldemort manages to obtain the philosopher's stone, and the end is pessimistic.

2) A cross over of the Discworld novel Sourcery, and HP verse. Firmly set in the usual HP verse. For anyone unfamiliar with the story, the sourcerer produces magic, so much so that it places great strain on the world he's in. *spoiler* At the end of the novel he leaves the world through a portal *endspoiler*. If he arrived in the Harry Potter universe the battling of wizards and witches would become much more epic. In my head it takes place after GoF.

3) My final idea, and the one I'm most excited about, is a missing Harry story with a twist. I haven't thought of when in canon he'd go missing, or how it would work, but Harry reappears a 100 years into the future. Voldemort is firmly in charge, and the wizarding world has dramatically changed. This would be the most difficult to write, as it would have a lot of OC's. I would be really keen to write it, but I don't think I really have the skill to pull it off even half-bad yet. The opposite of a Harry travels back in time to re-win the war fic.

 

With Harry going 100 years into the future, you'd have to have a contrived reason for his survival. I like the thought of what it would be like in that time, but I just can't think of a reason Harry would be alive after so long, even with magic. A coma wouldn't work, because he'd have to be in a Voldemort-proofed place, and that means contrived BS ahoy.

Perhaps he went to a safe-haven underground, and started a risky ritual to go back in time. But when it failed, he was buried under an avalanche triggered by the magic, and kept in stasis through the ruined time magic. From there, you could make quite a few different points of how he got freed of it (magical explorers? Curious ward-breakers? Mining crews looking for more rocks to build monuments of Voldemort?). Could be good.

 

Or he just went forward rather than backward in time?

 

I'd like to point out that Dumbledore is a little over a hundred years old.

I'd also like to point out that his OWLs transfiguration examiner is still around and kicking, so she should be at the very least 130, quite possibly around 150.

... This post is way more hilarious than it should be. :awesome

 

It seems so much more reasonable, but maybe it's just me who's seen so many time travel rituals where either the ritual works or it backfires and the person is thrown into X time/universe/world (done well or otherwise). Probably not a good idea to complicate things, but I just found the thought of a time travel ritual not working at all... refreshing.

 

Yes, I thought of a hundred not just as a nice, typical number but specifically because of the wizarding life span. From what I've gathered most wizard and witches live to the 110-120 mark, so there would be a small number of his contemporaries still alive at this time, but they're hardly going to pick up sticks and go travelling with him.

I was thinking about that problem. Having Harry go forward in time intentionally would be terrible and contrived. Also, depending on when I sent him forward he might have horcruxs and stuff to deal with that would be terrible. So the two scenarios I have are:

Harry gets 'killed' by Voldemort during the seven Potters escape. He sinks into the mud on crashing.

The other take place immediately after his sacrifice. Bottom of the great lake. This has the benefit of a first chapter that visits Hogwarts. It also means no horcruxs, which would be nice to not involve.

 

Maybe instead of just Harry transporting forward in time, someone goes with him. That way you shape the story around those two people instead of a story full of OCs.

I see it as Harry and Voldemort transporting forward in time, stay in that period for a short while (a month or a year, something like that), and then being transported yet again in time - many times over. This results in them having a very short period of time to shape the future to their benefit.

It should have an epic feel, as though no matter the time and place they're in Harry and Voldemort are still dominant due to their force of character and sheer will - as well as magical might. It would require of course, like most plots in this thread, a very talented author, but it has some potential, methinks.

 

That seems like an inverse Amulet of Time. I really didn't like that series. I prefer the idea of a fixed point in time rather than continuously jumping.

I don't think I stated it, but Voldemort would of course still be around, and in regular form. It's all the others who would wither and age. I wouldn't want a story too wangsty, but there would be a dollop of survivors guilt. I think part of the appeal for me is exploring a really nasty society that has become 'their' society, and one that's very good for the right type of wizard and witch. Harry really would become undesirable number 1, the terrorist they hate.

I think it would be a nice touch if saying Harry's name was forbidden. Could lead to a less than welcoming first impression for him.

 

Except Harry would have been almost forgotten by then, and then the last remnents would have been wiped out by Voldemort. If you want Voldemort to be smart enough to control a society, he also has to be that much better then canon Voldemort.

I could see the story evolving where Harry becomes the antagonist for this society, but not one where he is at the start. Voldemort has bigger fish to fry then a teenager who disappeared a century ago.

And when I said Harry will have to survive the 100 years, I meant undisturbed. Unless you do plan on him just jumping forwards in time, which would have an interesting effect anyway(what if there's a house where he originally teleported from, and other such things).

What sort of government would a smarter or more sane Voldemort run? I imagine he would just change the current system to whatever he wants, instead of actually destroying it and starting over, but the options are limitless.