I would totally read that if you can pull it off!

 

If you are going for something different, why not make Harry a lot like his father was when Luna starts Hogwarts? Perhaps even have Lily be killed during the last war, and James spoiling him. Harry could mature faster than James if you want to eventually make him into a friend of Luna.

Keep in mind that Voldemort was close to winning the war when he died at Godric's Hollow. If he lives until Luna is nine, the war should probably have started later in relation to Luna's birth than it did in canon.

 

That is actually a good idea. If Lily dies, then Harry would have something in common with GWL!Luna. Moreover, it would set Harry up as taking canon!Luna's role in this AU: the helpful friend whose path you cross every now and then.

To be honest, I think Harry's core personality traits are more similar to Lily's anyway, so even if you make him James-esque, he'll still won't be as reckless, I imagine. A James-raised Harry would be more relaxed than canon!Harry, but would probably be more lazy and carefree than prankster. A sense of humour, sure, but I can't really see him trying hard to be "one of the boys".

It's befitting; this Harry takes Luna's role. He's the carefree and "cool" boy who isn't mega-popular, but not because he's weird but because he doesn't really care. Obviously, he'd have James's charisma, though.

 

Just a quick question: it feels like that people assume that after Lily dies (especially if it's in a horrible, almost canon-like way), that James would be the same as he was before his wife's death...

If, for example, James became more cynnical and/or broody after Lily's death, then why would Harry, who grew up with his father, be like a 'mini-James' like how he was pre-Lily death? Wouldn't Harry, having a role model like that as a father, end up being more cynnical, sarcastic or even quite intolerant of people, etc?

 

Or, you know, James could re-marry. It's a sad fact that people die before their time but that doesn't stop the widow(er) from leading a new life afterwards. Introduce a stepmother and give Harry a bit of conflict from that area if you want. I've read so many fics where Lily dies and James just seems to fall into a rut, but from what we've heard he's always been popular with the ladies so I don't see why he wouldn't try to pick himself up again afterwards.

 

^ I suppose it would matter how close Lily and James were. I like how James had a personality switch in a Black Comedy which is sort of how I'd see a cynical, more mature James possibly act.


If you wanted, you could always have him remarry. James could often have flashbacks to his first wife on their anniversary and days that held meaning for the two of them, but he could still be happy.

He doesn't have to stay the lone bachelor when his 'one true love' dies.

Edit: Ninja'd damn.

 

Amelia Bones is probably a good choice for a stepmother. She's a reasonable person, so you'd avoid the "evil stepmother" cliche and add a layer of depth. Moreover, it would make Harry and Susan relatives (in a way). I'm tired of reading fics where Harry is attracted to Susan's "large tracks of land". Can't a guy just be friends with a girl without actually boning her?

 

A James/Amelia tag-team would rule the Auror Department if he was one.

 

No. That's why when you call any female as "your girlfriend" everyone knows you're boning her, instead of thinking that she's simply a friend who is a girl.

 

Excluding family members.

I do wonder what Xenophilius would be like if Luna was the GWL after Mrs Lovegood made the blood sacrifice. Would he be as eccentric as in canon? He was pretty protective of Luna in DH, even doing some pretty dick things to save her.

 

???

If you refer to a female family member as your girlfriend, you've both claimed her and incriminated yourself.

(...at least in the northern hemisphere it works that way.)

I could see a really interesting wrinkle with Albus meeting with Xeno after the Dark Lord is vaporized. Most likely the Lovegoods would disappear from England entirely, leaving Albus in the position of providing a false savior for the public to lionize or telling the truth and risking Xeno's paranoia dooming them all.

This is getting interesting...

 

Yeah, I came off as stupid with the "family members" thing. What I was going for was that you can claim that your sister is a friend as nobody will think you're boning her. But now I'm aware what I actually said.

Studying for the finals is vaporising my brain. ;;

Xenophilius would probably have weird conversations with Albus if Luna was the GWL. He'll probably not want to expose Luna to the public that much, believing that Nargles would invest her brain or some other strange reason.

A conversation between GWL!Luna and Rita Skeeter would be pure win. Rita would probably tear her own hair out after a session of Luna's unaffected, evasive answers.

 

So I've just had an idea that is potentially doable for this month's challenge, and although I think it sounds good, I am utterly sleep deprived and want to hear opinions of people who aren't out of it.

So, here goes: Post-DH, a Master of Death!Harry, disillusioned with the Wizarding World and the power vacuum that ensues after the Battle of Hogwarts, decides to slip out of the limelight and leave his life behind to explore the powers granted by the Hallows. Soon after, Death personified appears to Harry and reveals to him that the title "Master of Death" is more than a title, it is a mantle. In return for a rather significant amount of power, Harry is to police those who would interfere with death taking its natural course (creators of horcruxes, necromancers, etc.). A distinct lack of any purpose for his life coupled with his saving people thing has him accept, and the first true Master of Death comes into existence.

From there I'm thinking a time skip for the next several years as he assumes his new identity and learns the ropes of his new life. During this time he would also tutored directly by Death, as a "being" like Death can hardly be embarrassed by a sub-par "knight", and as he acquires an assistant of sorts (thinking Luna, because she wouldn't mind leaving the Wizarding World I think, but that is still mutable at the moment.)

Cut to 8-10 years later, two nights before Halloween, outside of Bock's Order Books. Potter, now going by the moniker Cowl in order to hide himself from the wand wizard world, is systematically destroying every copy of Die Lied der Erlking and the Word of Kemmeler in order to keep the Darkhallow from taking place. The first arc would be about preventing the Darkhallow from Potter's point of view.

Now, I realize that Cowl is firmly "Black Council" at this point, but then he appeared to have somewhat good intentions as of that meeting in Dead Beat, and he truly had no reason take to to take Dresden at his word, having never encountered him before. He knew of him, from the Council, but they were skittish of Dresden too. As of the first meeting, Cowl is a blank slate, and really the only thing that would have to be changed is references to Dresden being young and the wandless magic Cowl and Kumori preform.

So, there you have it. A good idea? Lurk moar? Somewhere between the two?

 

It's not a bad set-up for Harry in DF, but where do you want to go with it? You could involve Potter in this action without making him Cowl, but a new player, so what is the point of it? Maybe you should have him take the place of the real Cowl as a way to infiltrate the Black Council or other groups having the rest of Kemmler's student as members.

 

Cowl!Harry sounds like a good concept. If you weren't floating this around as a potential contest entry I'd ask permission and try to run with it in the WbA.

However, a few issues:
1. Training during timeskip and personal tutelage from the anthropomorphic personification of Death.
Training montages are often tedious and a chore to read. While it's not necessarily bad, you might want to think about other ways for Harry to acquire the skills he needs.

2. Shoehorning Luna
Completely unecessary, even though there is a dearth of Harry/Luna. I guess if you make her his accomplice, then she would be Kumoori.
Why can't Harry fly solo, and why would Death approve of her?

3. Cowl is just a name that Dresden came up for the guy. Because he wears a cowl. He never divulges his name (names have power yada yada). He and the rest of the folks in town were all apprentices under Kemmler, and Cowl was the one who got Dresden to summon the Erlking.


You would have to rework a fair bit of DF canon, but it sounds interesting.

 

Honestly, getting Potter in DF is the main idea. That seems to be one of the more difficult hiccups to overcome when merging the two universes, along with the magic system incompatibility. Short of summoning Harry as an outsider (which, coincidentally makes him immune to almost all magic and has been done several times) or just throwing him in there, which generally adds the entire Wizarding World, I don't really see many other logical options. And frankly, Cowl could have well been a good, or at least a "grey" (how I loathe that term after reading indy HP) guy at that point, and is still anonymous as of book 12, which makes it easy to slip Potter in. Potter infiltrating the Kemmlerites and eventually the Black Council in place of Cowl is a rather excellent idea for a long term story, and if you don't mind I think I may very well do so. And many thanks for the response mate.

EDIT: I forgot to say that another reason for making HP Cowl is because presumably MoD!Harry would have necromancer tendencies, and seeing how Cowl was/is a Kemmlerite, it just seems to... fit.

First of all, thanks for the response, and the kind thoughts. To address your concerns, in order:

1. I might have used the wrong term there, but when I say time skip I mean that I will perhaps show a scene here and there, but largely I intend to gloss over that time period, because frankly canon!Harry is a slightly above average wizard, and I need him to be something of a powerhouse. He needs the training, and the story would be forever long and likely immensely boring if I detailed 8-10 years of growth. However, I think by showing the reader his power and giving the explanation in the bunny (Well, Death can hardly allow his knight and representative to be kicked around, now can he?) they can fill in the training montage mentally with 100% less suffering.

2. Honestly, I wasn't even really thinking about Harry/Luna. Personally, I think the romance can built to fit the story, if at all. This idea is still fluid at the moment, I'm hardly lining things like that out. Rather, I was merely attempting to fill in the role of a Kumori, and, besides that, I'd imagine even the bad ass champion of death might need assistance every now and then. Luna simply seemed the female with the least attachment to the Wizarding World and potentially the fewest moral qualms of HP's allies. As for Death's approval, perhaps he likes her for standing strong through the untimely demise of her mother or for her unusual perspective. Or maybe Death disapproves, but realizes that Potter needs somebody. Like I said, the idea is still fluid, for now, and I'm still making alterations constantly.

3. Actually, Cowl tells Dresden "you may call me Cowl." And I can't refute the rest of that point, but none of that had taken place by the first meeting. And you are correct, I'd have to rework a fair bit of canon, but if I just directly rehashed canon then there wouldn't be much point in writing the story.

 

Cowl wasn't a Kemmlerite. He was a necromancer, sure, but he was never one of Kemmler's disciples.

 

That makes it even easier to keep to () canon.

---------- Post automerged at 08:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:26 PM ----------

That makes it even easier to keep to DF canon.

 

One problem with Amelia is the age difference. I don't believe here age was ever stated, but she would have almost certainly have been an auror for at least a couple of decades before becoming head of the DMLE. For that matter, dating one of her employees is rather unprofessional for a woman who takes her job as seriously as she seems to.

Perhaps some unknown, but canon character, could be Mrs Potter #2. Hestia Jones is a possibility. You also could have Alice Longbottom survive as a widow and eventually marry James. If you wanted Susan as a stepsister, then Susan's mother could outlive her husband.

 

Maybe it's just me, but I can't see James being interested in someone wearing a monocle. If it's a canon character you want, try some Hogwarts professors:
- the severely underutilized Professor of Muggle Studies Charity Burbage
- the not-quite-canon Ancient Runes professor Bathsheba Babbling
- the hot-sounding Astronomy professor Aurora Sinistra
- the also not-quite-canon Arithmency professor Septima Vector
- the Flying Instructor of indeterminate age but grey hair, Madam Hooch

Of course there's always Hestia Jones, but also Emmeline Vance, Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadows from the Order. Look into the parents of the kids in the DA. There's also Mary MacDonald, Lily's friend (?) at Hogwarts who was attacked by Mulciber.

If you're going to shake things up (and contemplating Luna as the GWL makes that a colossal understatement), you might as well go for broke and have James perhaps be with one of the Black sisters.
- Bellatrix leaves the DE's in the time between 1981 and the attack on the Lovegoods, or hell, she never even joined up to begin with.
- Narcissa is a widow, as Lucius is killed in that time period as well. Or maybe Lucius is caught and imprisoned, and this Narcissa either changes her ways/ideals or takes the opportunity to make a new start.
- Andromeda is widowed when Muggleborn Ted is murdered. This is actually my favorite so far, as then Tonks and Harry would be step-siblings, allowing a mentor!Tonks, or, given DLP's proclivities, some hawt Harry/Tonks smut with the forbidden fruit of the added quasi-incestuous taboo/stigma.

Maybe James likes his chocolate after losing his fire-in-the-hole gingerbread? He could hook up with Dean Thomas' Muggle mum, or if he has a death-wish or still has thrill issues, he could start nailing Blaise Zabini's black-widow-esque mother. She was reported to be very beautiful, and if not James, maybe hook her up with Sirius and have a running gag about bezoars and counter-curses? <-- I like that idea and reserve the right to use it someday, whether anyone else does or not.

If it's absurdity you're after, have James hook up or fall in love with McGonnagal, Trelawney, Umbridge (!!), Madam Malkin, Bertha Jorkins, Mafalda Hopkirk, or (a possibly widowed) Molly Weasley. Go with Olympe Maxime and for the lulz, have Hagrid both jealous and reminded of his own father.

That's enough, I think. I've spent about 20 minutes thinking on this, and that's something like 18 minutes too long.

Oh, and about this?

If the girl is reasonably attractive and the guy isn't gay, then the answer is that no, he cannot just be friends, without at least *contemplating* fucking her. This may be negated if she tends to be nuts in relationships, is a high-maintenance drama queen, has some other issue, or they've already hooked up and decided that was a bad idea.

Nonetheless, I can almost guarantee you that under those conditions (she's attractive, or at least not hideous and he's straight), then at some point, he will have entertained the idea of sleeping with her. Whether he took any steps to make it happen or even if he refuses to admit it later, he will have thought it over. That's just human nature for the (straight) male of the species. I'd imagine this axiom would also apply to gay men, just with a their male friends, but I can't say that for sure.