Well, to ultimately get the same effect (his change of character, etc) with Harry being placed at a different family than the Dursleys, you could always have Harry go to the Dursleys, but be influenced by someone or something else as he grows up.

It's what I'm currently planning for with my main fic' atm; Harry's influenced by the old Celtic gods/goddesses as he grew up because he is their 'chosen', and thus it's a very different Harry Potter that enters Hogwarts, aged eleven, compared to the meek and impressionable youngster seen in canon.

(The main trouble at the moment is the actual research; pure Celtic mythos are so damn screwed up and contaminated with either Christian or Romanic elements/lore, it's horrible).

 

I might eventually, but I'll have to work out a ton of details first or it's going to fail hard. Especially if I attempt to do it at all seriously. I'm out of school next week, so I might give it a go then, but for now I'm just to busy to sink the appropriate amount of time into it.

As for reasons why she would be the order's choice.... Partial AU, Arthur died from the snake bite?

That would cause quite a ripple effect, potentially making Ron and Ginny less worthless. Or you could take it the other way, having it make them grow reckless during the fight at the ministry and causing one or both to be severely maimed or killed. Either one of those would probably cause a few ripple effects of it's own.

Another question is why it managed to kill Arthur when it didn't in canon. The best explanation I can think of is that in this universe Harry has a little bit of talent at Occumancy (sp?) or tried harder in his sessions with Snape, which prevented him for getting the vision at all. That would probably cut down on the angsting from him a fair bit.

Thoughts?

 

It certainly makes for a less useless!Harry, so it's not a bad idea.

 

JKR originally planned for Arthur to die during the fifth book, but she let him live; it's why Tonks and Lupin died at the end of Deathly Hallows, because "[she] gave Arthur a reprieve in book five."

Personally, I'd rather of had Arthur die and Tonks live.

 

Wow...that's worse than Del Rey and their constant killing of Star Wars characters, at least they had a reason and it was balanced by heroism sometimes.

Am I the only one who sees treating character deaths like their some stones in some sort of imaginary scale stupid? She could have just killed Arthur, instead he killed Tonks (Lupin I could give a fuck about). Arthur=/= Lupins.

 

Instead of killing Ginny and Ron off because you don't like them, change them. Have Arthur die because of the snake, and Molly needing to get a job to support her family. You could actually make a pretty kick ass Ron and Ginny by having them evolve because of their fathers murder. Ron could actively go into politics... I have never seen this adaption of him before.

Molly, new to working and the Ministry, sees first hand everything that goes on in the Ministry. Because she is a simple clerk or something, no one pays notice to her and she learns information on all sides. She could begin to blackmail and move her way up the ranks.

She could also use the influence of Harry Potter and Dumbledore if she wanted.

Woah, if written well, this could make a bad ass Molly...

We really need that compared to how much Molly bashing there is.

 

I like that idea even more - a Molly who works her way up through the system has much more potential for a real fic rather than crackiness. Also, polotical!Ron? Lulz.

 

Frankly, I could care less about most of the Weasleys. I don't hate Ginny or Ron, exactly, so much as I find them written badly the majority of the time when they're used at all. I've never seen a Harry/Ginny story that didn't have Ginny as a mary-sue. That said, it's usually better for an author to correct characters they don't like and improve them. It's part of the point of fanfiction. However, out of the couple hundred stories I've read, I've found a likable Ron a dozen or so times and less then half as many Ginny's.

That said, I guarantee absolutely nothing as far as me picking up this plot bunny goes. I just don't have the time right now, and it's a pretty big maybe for giving it a try next week. If you'd like, feel free to give it a shot. I'd love to see someone manage it.

I think Draco senses a disturbance in the farce.

 

Phone != good spelling

 

I'd like to think of the times I've written her, she's not been a Ginny Sue (except for when I made her deliberately so, a la Life of Brian). Come to think of it, I think I've done an adequate job with Molly as well (Mother In Law's Love).

Regarding the Molly for Minister plot bunny, permit me to play with the idea a bit. The following is canon (or at least not in contradiction to canon as I remember it) and makes, I think, a plausible story with canon-consistent subtext:

We don't know much about Molly's life before children, but it's entirely plausible that a witch who could defeat Bellatrix in mortal combat was incredibly talented. Molly, you see, had long had political and social aspirations. Indeed, she was arguably one of the brightest witches of her age, with several advantages--she was pure-blooded, politically connected, was born into a prominent family, and she was physically a knock-out in her youth. Had the comparably talented and beautiful Lily Potter not been canonized a few years later (and had Molly not fallen from grace to marry the impecunious Arthur--more on that later), her star would have burned so much more brightly.

Molly's brothers had distinguished themselves as Aurors (fanon, but consistent with JKR's comments and supported by the names given them; they'd have to be tough to face down five Death Eaters, including Dolohov). While we know that Arthur was passed over for the Slug Club (canon), we don't know about Molly. It's plausible that not only was she a member, she was one of his treasures, a talented up-and-comer with a brilliant future ahead of her.

And then it all came crashing down when she got knocked up by Arthur Weasley in one of the most salacious scandals ever to face Hogwarts. Stripped of her Head Girl badge and forced to leave in disgrace, Molly and Arthur married in a rush (her parents, disgusted by matters, did not attend the ceremony) and begin her family instead in a ramshackle cottage that would later be named The Burrow. Her child, a girl, was stillborn in the Spring of 1968; the fetus bore the stain of dark magic. How this came about is a mystery known to few outside of close family, one that remains unsolved to this day. The viciousness of Arthur Weasley's and Lucius Malfoy's rivalry suggests a probable culprit.

Molly's brothers, never fond of the affable but unimpressive Arthur, had always been disappointed at the turn her life took and had suspected foul play, given the whirlwind nature of their courting. Shortly after Molly was made to leave Hogwarts, Arthur was accosted by the two and fed Veritaserum. While he was shown to be oblivious and was cleared of wrongdoing, Molly did show signs of having been snared magically, a violation of her virtue that her brothers could never forgive. (According to them, had Arthur just kept it in his pants or learned with his meager skills to cast an infertility spell, their baby sister would never have had her life destroyed).

Molly's last interaction with Gideon and Fabian before they were slain ended in a horrible row. Her grief over their loss is part of why she's so keen on family and staying together, no matter what and no matter how much her children might protest. (This is part of why Percy's betrayal of the family was so personally devastating for her). Add to that the frustration of years of wiping snot from noses and the undercurrent of frustration of opportunities wasted, and you get the occasionally shrewish woman we see in canon.

It's a pity, really. Arthur has only become more hopeless and borderline senile over the years and he's barely able to hold his job at the Ministry. Molly's attention to all the little details he misses and her prescriptions for how he needs to handle things at work (she's living her career vicariously through him) are what has allowed him to navigate the political minefield and stay relatively unscathed. Unfortunately, because of his dependence on her and her love for him (she really has learned to care for him over the years), she can't return to work just yet.

Arthur's death in the Department of Mysteries is a wake-up call that ultimately proves liberating for the matron. It forces her to take stock of her life and to to become proactive. She begins to renew acquaintances, make connections, notice the little things that she didn't pay attention to before--in short, to start to play the game again. The event awakens a fiery lion who can be a force of nature when roused. Months down the road, after Fudge is ousted, she is proposed as a dark horse candidate for Minister, one whom those loyal to Dumbledore accept, those supporting Voldemort don't take seriously enough to destroy, and one whose convictions for taking the fight to Voldemort are never in doubt, given her martyred husband. Add to that that she is friends with Harry Potter, the choice of Dumbledore, has a newspaper that is sympathetic (the Quibbler), and that she's stubborn enough that everyone sees she's nobody's pawn, and she takes the vote in a surprise upset.

The rest, dear friends, is history.

 

It'd work out like some kind of Australian government, that focuses on social issues, rather then infrastructure, trade, industry etc - kind of like what we have now - except that shit would actually get done.

i.e. taxing Alcohol, Cigarettes, other vices to the bejeebers trying to get people to quit and live proper, healthy lives.

 

[A short take on the premise]
I felt like it was good enough to post.

Arthur Weasley was a model citizen. He was loyal to his office in the Wizarding government's Ministry. He owned his land, he owned his home, and though he didn't have much in the way of comfort, he and his wife had always found a way through.

He was a Pureblood but not a supremacist. He loved being around Muggles (and often dreamed of moving to a Muggle city far away from his desk job and corner office) but he wasn't likely to go out of his way to promote their rights. He was not bothered with Politics. He had a healthy fear of Goblins. More than anything, he enjoyed a warm cup of coffee and the presence of his wife and children. More than anything, he loathed any thing or person that ever dared to hurt his family.

For that reason, Lucius Malfoy was one of the only enemies Arthur Weasley ever had. He had hated the pretentious politician enough to fight him in a bookstore, and that was well before the wild, righteous anger he felt thinking of his youngest and her near-death in the Chamber of Secrets.

Ironically, his daughter would survive, but two years later, in a dark hallway inside the Department of Mysteries, her father was found eviscerated by the fangs of a large snake. Though Harry Potter had sent the Order of the Phoenix immediately to Arthur's location, it had been moments too late, and the mediwizards at St. Mungo's had been unable to resuscitate the Weasley patriarch.

His family was distraught, as was the aforementioned Boy Who Lived, but no one felt the loss more than his wife. The funeral was brief and poorly attended, and her husband was lain to rest in the drizzling rain.

The six Weasley sons consoled their mother and little sister as best they could, but their father's death hung heavy in the air. Molly began to spend less time cooking and mothering her children, and more time ranting to any who would listen.

Lucius Malfoy.

Voldemort.

Bellatrix Lestrange.

Though it was certain that the snake who had killed Arthur was Nagini, the familiar of Lord Voldemort, Molly was absolutely convinced that Lucius had played a part in her husband's death. Albus Dumbledore tried to persuade her otherwise, but at the desperate look in her eyes, he soon gave up trying, instead offering her silent remorse and a warm hug, behavior that became commonplace around the Weasley household.

Soon it was time for the youngest children to return to school. They promised to write as often as possible, and even a determined-looking Fred and George declared that they would push themselves academically. It was a tearful goodbye at King's Cross, and Hermione gave Molly a lingering hug. Molly stiffened, but returned the hug. She watched her children join the rest of the students on the train. She waved sadly as they disappeared around the bend, off to Hogwarts.

The teenagers did their best to push the melancholy situation at home out of their minds. School was demanding, Quidditch was particularly time consuming, and they found less time for writing letters home. Harry wasn't likely to write, and with his and Ron's personal tutelage in Occlumency courtesy of Albus Dumbledore, they were both far too busy. Ginny and Hermione struck up a strong friendship, and dedicated themselves to their studies, and Fred and George did as well as could be expected 'under the circumstances'.

It was understandable for their mother to be upset, they reasoned, but the children expected their mother to snap out of it, return to cooking and cleaning and generally caring for them. Her letters seemed much the same as before, though without mention of their father or even of anything going on at the Burrow.

A break in Easter was a nice chance to catch up, and even Harry and Hermione had been invited. They fell through the Floo, and Hermione was startled to find two house elves welcome them into the Burrow.

They were also surprised to find Molly reading a large tome in the attic. Her hair was unwashed, and her clothes dusty, and she smiled faintly as the students walked in.

Harry stepped forward, noticeably wary of Molly's strange behavior. Ron gave him a look and then nodded.

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry said slowly. He didn't like the way her eyes moved jerkily across the pages. It reminded him of Tom Riddle. "Can I ask you what you're doing up her?"

No response. Molly continued to read the pages of a black book, a little larger than Riddle's diary. Then she snapped it shut, causing Harry to take a step back and put his hand on his wand. She ignored him. "I've got it," she said excitedly. "Arthur knew it all along. He even had it all documented!" She stopped, looking pained. She whispered, "Why didn't you tell me? We could have stopped him together..."

Ginny walked towards her mother, arms out-stretched and said carefully, "Are you okay?"

Molly laughed. "Oh, I could be better. But things are about to change."

Harry stepped forward to stand protectively in front of Ginny, and asked, "What is about to change, Mrs. Weasley?"

"Everything," she drawled, looking more than a little sinister in the dim light of the attic. "Lucius Malfoy is going to Azkaban."

 

A part of me is like "Shit son, this is gonna be awesome!" but another part of me's all "I'm so not reading a story about Molly Weasley".

 

Dark.Lady!Molly ftl

 

I can see Molly's campaign slogan right now: "Molly Weasley: You're Entitled To HER Opinion!"

 

I hate Molly. Only way I'm reading this is if you build Molly up to be a great witch, leader, etc and then have Bellatrix fucking assassinate her with a cleaning charm.

 

The_Santi: a mission where Bellatrix takes her orders (to 'cleanse the blood-traitor filth') literally, and uses the cleaning charm repeatedly to agonizingly tear off a layer of tissue each time, instead of using a 'common' (for her) dark curse?

--

Nutter!Daphne where she's completely obsessed with Harry, through no fault of his own...

Malfoy after threatening Harry? Wakes up in the hospital wing two weeks later with no memory, and he had to have every bone in his body aside from his skull and spine vanished and regrown one at a time due to the trauma involved.

Ron, after turning his back on Harry during the Goblet of Fire incident? Finds himself under a horrible curse that stops him from eating; anything aside from water that goes down, comes back up again in a mixture of bile, blood and shit.

As Hermione is close to Harry like a sister, she's therefore important to Harry because he sees her as family and vice versa; she finds that anyone who has called her 'mudblood' suddenly develops acute pain in the testicles/lower feminine areas every time they utter that word to her. Every time Ron says a mean word to her, he finds himself horribly punished in some form or another.

Everyone suspects Harry/Hermione because they were the 'wronged party' involved every time; even Dumbledore is starting to doubt him...no one would suspect the atypically aloof Slytherin that is slowly and secretly drawing Harry closer and closer into her clutches...

 

To rape him in the butt, and then dump his cold,lifeless body in the lake, right? RIGHT?

Awesome bunny:awesome

 

You COULD do this with Ginny and still be pretty much not OC if you start early enough in the series...
Is there any particular reason you chose Daphne?

 

Ginny could work as well, especially if she's still under Tom Riddle's 'influence', either during her first year/Harry's second year or due to lingering psychological damage dealt to her after that.

Daphne? She's pretty much a blank slate; all we know is that she's the sister of Astoria Greengrass, a pureblood, and her name itself, unlike Ginny. Daphne has the potential of being anything that you want her to be, whilst Ginny's development could be restricted because of what we know of her canon history/pattern of behavior.

Plus, being in Slytherin would mean that she would have access to resources that someone else in another house would not.

If not Daphne, there are always other minor, secondary characters that could fit the bill, although they may also suffer from the same problems that Ginny as an antagonist would have: Lavender, Katie, Cho, etc.