Not really

He did use mandrakes in the final battle, they didn't seem to be overly effective.

If you would like a quote

 

Oh? My bad then

 

It wasn't a complete piece of crap. Tbh, I enjoyed it because it was Harry Potter, and I refused to look for plot-holes when reading it, but even after, there are a lot of good things about it - like Neville being a BAMF, and the actual Horcrux bits, to name a couple.

 

Obviously the mandrakes were defective, next time please return them to the manufacturer for a full refund or exchange for an equivalent product.

 

You know how in Indy!Harry the dark arts corrupts your soul, but luckily, occulumency prevents the deterioration? Well, that's not actually true, and Indy!Harry establishes his cliche "mind walls" to prevent the deterioration of his mind/soul, so confident that it works that he never notices that, in fact, it does not work at all.

I'm pretty sure there's nothing that distinguishes that idea from your general dark! Harry but I don't think I've ever seen the twist.

edit: I fucking hate my phone sometimes.

 

I'm not sure I understood more than three words of what you just said...

 

I was pretty confused as well but the general gist was that Harry thinks occlumency protects you from the downsides of dark magic, learns it and starts casting dark spells, only to become mentally unstable as the whole occlumency thing was just a bullshit misconception.

Could be a somewhat interesting one shot if you really make the reader believe Harry is completely safe from these ill effects, but then he becomes erratic and insane in a twist, etc. Don't think it would work as a more drawn out multichaptered story though.

 

Oh I see. That sounds like it could lead up to a pretty fucked up Harry. I reckon if it was a longer story, then it could really show the gradual downfall, as well as the realisation that Occlumency isn't protecting his mind. Perhaps a sort of Schizophrenic!Harry.

 

Sorry about the confusion. I did not proof-read, evidently, but now that I'm more cohesive I went back and cleaned up the idea.

 

That's not a terrible subversion of the trope, but it doesn't really constitute a plot bunny.

 

It feels more like a minor plot arc, rather than anything else. I can sort of imagine it being an early turning point in an Indy!Harry, where he discovers that there truly is no easy path to power if he wants to stay as Harry.

As is, it might make an interesting one shot/shortie.

 

Just spit-balling here to see if anything sticks. Hopefully someone has some input as I haven't finished outlining this. If this had a genre it would be somewhere between Romance/Tragedy/Mystery.
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Post-Deathly Hallows, 3 years after Voldemort's death. Harry/Ginny. Ron/Hermione.
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After fighting for most of his teenage years and finishing Auror school with solid grades, Harry has finally determined that he doesn't want to solve petty cases and file paperwork for the next ten to fifteen years. Unfortunately for him, his name is in the papers again, this time for something good; he single-handedly stopped the murder of a high-ranking official (Dawlish, Shacklebolt, OC?) though he was out-numbered and disarmed at the time. His quick-thinking and dedication to public duty is being lauded in the papers despite the fact that he wants to get out of the Aurors.

Ginny works in a Diagon Alley apothecary as an Apprentice and hopes to get a spot as a Potion's mistress in the next year. Ron failed Auror school after showing up late several times for no apparent reason and is working in Quidditch (not as a player) and Hermione is so wrapped up in her job as an under-secretary to the Minister that she comes home late and Harry rarely gets to see her.

Ginny loves Harry, this much is obvious to him, but he doubts his own feelings for her enough that he's making other arrangements just in case. On the side he's being seeing Cho Chang, who coincidentally lives only a few blocks from his apartment (Ginny still lives at home) and has rekindled the feelings she once had for him without tearing up about Cedric every five minutes. Their relationship has been kept hidden from everyone, including Cho's family and friends, but Harry is strongly considering uprooting his entire life.

Whilst eating dinner at the Burrow, Harry is called into the Auror division to team up and investigate a disturbance mere miles from his home. When he gets there, he finds Cho's throat cut, and her body naked and bruised. Unable to believe it, he breaks down in tears. The other Aurors have no idea they have been dating (except for Nott, Zabini, Entwhistle? who has an idea but isn't sure) so they just assume Harry is shaken up by an old friend's death.

Harry goes to the funeral and never says a word to her parents, who are so distraught that they are struggling to hold it together. Ginny cries through the ceremony and repeatedly tells Harry that its not his fault, and that she was a good person.

Unable to take leave without explaining his loss, he continues working, and a week later receives an unmarked envelope with pictures of Cho, alive and dead, as well as a letter telling him to meet the sender at Cho's home just after midnight.

Harry begs off dinner with Ginny by saying he has been asked to do overtime, and then he sets off for Cho's. At 11.45 he arrives to a scene from a nightmare; all of Cho's family have been murdered and placed in different spots in the house and with their blood a swan has been painted on the wall, almost exactly the same as her patronus. In her bedroom a message is painted, also in their blood - "You can't save everyone, Harry". Without using magic so that he doesn't leave a trace, he washes the blood from the wall, crying his eyes out the entire time.

Unsure what to do or how to explain that he was in Cho's home he flees, running down the block before apparating to Diagon Alley. It is just after midnight, the perfect time to be in Knockturn Alley, and he begins investigating the scene where he saved (Dawlish, Shacklebolt, OC) trying to find clues that will lead him to Cho's killer.

Asking questions only leads him in circles so he eventually gives up, deciding to call it a night. He is unable to return for three days, during which times Cho's family is found and the Daily Prophet goes public with the story, but when he does get the chance he posts up outside the door with his Invisibility cloak.

For hours he watches people come and go, and just when he's about to nod off, he senses something - there is magic being used near him but whoever it is is as invisible as he is. When he hears footsteps he follows them, and comes to a part of the alley he has never seen. When the wall ripples and the footsteps stop, he makes an attempt to follow but only finds a solid wall. Nothing he tries will reveal the path, so once again he is forced to return home.

 

That sounds pretty cool, but I have just one thing to say:

GO WORK ON NO ANGST.

 

I swear to god, if you don't write this I might kill you.

But first finish Yule Ball.

 

Sorry dudes, no more No Angst until the beginning of next week. Going to Virginia Beach tomorrow to work on some music. I got you soon as I get back though.

 

Not much to say since with the mystery stories, it's the last reveal that decides if it's any good or not. Right now these are just events and clues leading us to nothing.

And at least while writing it as a plot bunny you should stop with describing how Harry is crying every few sentences. In story it will work, but here it's pointless and stands out.

 

I'll take, but I won't be goddamn happy about it.

 

Fidelius shenanigans ahead

So I was reading VOTN's Unforgiving Minute and there was a particularly powerful passage about the torture of Peter Pettigrew, and how he regretted what he did.

What if Peter Pettigrew never blab'd?

I mean, there are a whole bunch of interpretations on how the Fidelius works, but there's no cannon interpretation of what happens when the secret keeper dies. I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, it could have been used to hide the household of James and Lily Potter - the people and not the physical home.

Read Ghost Story from Dresden and I wondered what it would be like if James and Lily were unable to interact with anybody, but only through objects, sort of like ghosts, etc.

Meh, it's a strange idea.

 

Sure there is; Dumbledore carked it and everyone brought to Grimmauld vacated it in fear that Snape, like the rest of those who knew the location and thus were dozens of new Secret Keepers, would bring in the Death Eaters to run purge.

If Pettigrew kept his fat lips shut and died, than Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, James, Lily, and presumably Harry would inherit the responsibility and power of Secret Keeper.

 

But it still is an interesting idea, screw canon.

So James, Harry, and Lily all aren't able to interact with the world. Actually no, lets make it so that Harry is the only one who can interact, but he cant' tell anyone (either the secret keeper lockdown was made before he was born, or less than a year doesn't qualify, or something) about his mom and his dad.

Comedic cut-away: Harry is continuously sent to the Durselyes, as they are his only living family, only to repeatedly run away from home.

Serious coninuation: So Harry is an angry, upset young man who can't talk about 95% of his life, and goes to hogwarts, to figure out how to cure the disease that his family suffers from, all while dodging the bullets of the war between the death eaters and voldemort.