Or: Tom Riddle wants to be that leader, but D&G saw through him (just wanting power, blood purity etc.) and didn't want to give it to him.

 

1. Harry was the defiant type of kid. And he really does look out for Fleur and Gabrielle - while the other servants hate the two to varying degrees, Harry shows nothing more than exasperation, ever.

2. Yeah, none of it is really polished, and I really reallllly suck at writing limes, I think I did it when I was drunk or something. xD

3. Harry has a sort of contempt for Lord Delacour that he doesn't recognize - the man isn't too bright: over the years, after he stopped being cute-German-boy she pretty much picked up a ton of contempt for him herself, and Harry's always been treated better by the other members of the household.

The point is that Harry has an almost worship of magic - he sees it around, and he loves it, he feels it in nearly everything. The combination of seeing Lord Delacour, who doesn't have the luxury of blaming youth (like Gabrielle) in his shitty personality - hell, he tortured a girl over a broken vase which he probably knows that she didn't break, and it's definitely not the first time. Added to the fact that Harry is finally finding his magic...

@Invictus: That was just a quick personality sketch, it doesn't really represent the sum total of Tom's ideals or anything. Tom wants power in post-society. The difference between him and V is that his morality is far far more eroded.

More answers pending.

 

Thank you for your honesty. After realizing how close it was to TLIL, I have decided to abandon that plot.

I'm trying to see if I could write an alive Lily/James story with Harry/Fleur, but it's ... being difficult. Any suggestions anyone?

 

Lily and James being alive as a turning point for an AU isn't especially compelling. It's like one of those ideas that was interesting in like...2003. Harry's orphan status and early life with the Dursley's really define him, and if you are going to have somebody raise him there are more interesting people than his parents.

As for it affecting a Harry/Fleur relationship. I actually think it makes him less likely to hook up with Fleur. His hard life from canon lends him a little more maturity and gravitas then a standard teenager. I've always views a Harry raised by Lily and James as sort of a generic vapid pureblood type, maybe a little more studious in canon, but sacrificing character.

Most stories that feature his parents have something else as the main draw. Dimension hopping (which I absolutely adore), Wrong Boy who lived stories (most of which are pretty awful, but if you do it decently its a better way of using Lily and James) or feature a changed world, like Harry Potter and the Last Avatar, or a world where Voldemort won or something of that nature.

The reason you are having trouble is because your creative foundation is weak. It just doesn't change enough to give you something to write about other than bad canon rehash.

To address your 3rd idea. Dark Harry/Fleur time travel empire fic. Awful. Really, really awful. Like, go back in time, find out Dumbledore and Weasley's and everyone was secretly evil and controlling, awful. No offense. But...

...on the bright side it gives me an idea for how I would do a time travel story.

It would feature a canon Harry who at some point either had Ginny or his friends murdered after the fall of Voldemort. In his quest for revenge he sinks deeper and deeper into the dark arts, violence and his Harry Pottery goodness begins to fade. He wouldn't be "Dark Lord" dark. But he would be on the path where in maybe 5 years or so he would be at that level. So as he slowly deteriorates towards darkness and in his research he discovers some method of time travel. A spark of hope and optimism returns and he decides to go back and do something.

Now you could go back to anytime before 4th year (because you want Harry/Fleur and that's the best place to do it, although its workable in 5th year on too.). Maybe beginning of 3rd year would be best, because you don't want to get bogged down in the early adventures crap and how that affects things. Plus the Sirius plotline has potential for darknessy goodness.

Now, say he goes back in time. But he's not the good noble Harry anymore. He's essentially dark wizard material. As such, his solutions to various problems might be too destructive, or expose, or don't go at all as planned in someway. Maybe Sirius never escaped for some reason due to him coming back, and he cant' get him out legally, so he busts into Azkaban and breaks him out.

Or maybe he gets into trouble for some Dark Magic, or an overly violent response to Malfoy being a twat. If you need an example of a Dark Harry time travel story, I'd recommend Circular Reasoning by Swimdraconian.

Now...this leads Harry to begin losing hope again as things begin to go wrong and he thinks he's failed, or failing. Which brings us to Fleur in 4th year.

Fleur is an interesting time travel romance interest. Most time travel fics run into the weird problem of having some 20 year old, perving on a 12 year old Ginny or Hermoine. Fleur however, at 17, is both young and old enough at the same time. She's young enough that she could conceivably be with a 14 year old mature Harry Potter, as well as still having a youthful innocence or naivety that Harry could find appealing. She's old and mature enough, being a hot teenage Veela babe, that an older 20+ Harry could be with her without it being creepy. Plus she'd be old enough to be able to understand and handle the darker aspects of Harry without resorting to "zomg you're doing dark magic!".

Now, this gives you plenty of room to play around with Harry and Fleurs relationship as she changes his outlook on life, brings him back to the right path on his mission, and is the light to his darkness.

This would then give you room for them to go out together and destroy his Horcruxes and stop Voldemort at the end of 4th year, thus ending the fic in a concise way. Or, as an alternative, you can stretch it out beyond that into the clusterfuck every time travel becomes, and have him do later year stuff too. (although that route probably bogs it down, I'd go the other route.)


Anyway, does that sound like a better idea? If I was gonna write out a time travel fic (which is a real pain to actually write) that's how I'd do it. Butterfly effect is always important and fics that try and have Harry keep everything the same usually work out very poorly.

If nothing else maybe it gave you (or another Harry/Fleur lover HOoraah!) an idea.

My other Harry/Fleur ideas I'm putting into the great story in my head, that I should probably force myself to try a hand at writing.

 

Let's see, if I were to do it...

How about turning the storybook Lily/James "romance" on its head? Make it that the canon split is that their perfect marriage fell apart as a result of the prophecy, stresses of the war, disagreements in how to protect their son, disagreements over Dumbledore's leadership, etc. In the end, after a scandalous and acrimonious split, Lily escapes with Harry to France, leaving James behind to fight the war. This changes him, making him brusque and cold. Neville eventually becomes the BWL through the standard way (Pettigrew's betrayal, in this case giving up the identity of the secret keeper, who is tortured to insanity for the Fidelius secret). Sirius doesn't go to prison.

Harry grows up with Lily. He has a difficult relationship with his father, having only seen him occasionally throughout his life. He generally considers Sirius to be a womanizing asshole and wants nothing to do with him. James remarries, but the marriage is on the rocks as well by the time the story picks up (4th year?) Lily never does, though there has been the occasional fling in her life as well. She has lingering attachment/commitment issues and compensates by being a bit overprotective of her son (something that leads to no small amount of friction between them). Harry attends Beauxbatons, befriends Fleur, etc. He finishes school and takes a job (your choice what) in England just as the war there starts to heat up. Fleur is there as well, working for Gringotts as in canon. The two hook up against the backdrop of a raging war. As adults, the minor age difference doesn't matter so much any more. (They couldn't really date in Beauxbatons.)

Lily returns to England, perhaps to be closer to her aging parents (and with Harry gone, there's a bit of an "empty nest" thing going). She finds that after being away for so long, she has little in common with her former friends, etc., and she tends to stay out of the Magical world. She and James meet, now older, grayer, wiser. They may or may not make a thing of it, but both recognize that they made mistakes along the way and had a hand in how things turned out.

As Facebook teaches us, people who marry straight out of school tend not to stay that way, as it's rare that "twoo wuv" lasts past the first real crisis. (It's nor surprising, as neither party tends to have the life experience and maturity to deal with things.) For once, I'd just like to see a more realistic treatment of James/Lily, where they're human beings and not some sort of Platonic ideal of warm, parental goodness.

 

Sounds great, Pers. Only "problem" is that it seems to me that it should really be Lily-centric.

 

Realism?

Inspiration inspires...

Prologue:
Voldemort came to Godric's Hollow ready to kill Harry. James was away following up on a tip that the Order had been betrayed. When confronted, Lily isn't quite ready to give up her life and she asks Voldemort if this is about the prophecy.

The Dark Lord pauses.

Lily explains, "B-because you don't know the whole thing. Dumbledore told me- the line you haven't heard is that the one to defeat you will be your equal. It can't be Harry!"

Voldemort forces what she knows from her mind, including her belief that the one in the prophecy must be Neville because of his purer bloodline.

Voldemort takes her and Harry captive and then goes to Longbottom Manor, where the outcome is much the same as canon. With Voldemort gone, Lily and Harry are freed.

The Lestranges and Crouch Jr pounce on James just as he catches up to Peter. They torture James for a bit but are interrupted by Sirius and Remus. The ensuing running battle is a mess resulting in many muggle and magical deaths, including Peter and Rodolphus. Everyone alive is thrown into Azkaban except the comatose James, as the surviving Lestranges insist that they were suffering from an internal Death Eater rivalry. Sirius' wand is traced as the source of the Killing curse that killed Peter- guilty. Remus is executed as soon as his Lycanthropy is detected (possibly by anonymous tip from a certain Potions master). James recovers from his coma weeks afterwards. Lily seems really broken up about Remus dying- more than James.

Later investigation by Crouch Sr. reveals that Lily betrayed her friends Alice and Frank for the sake of her child. She's sent to Azkaban for eleven years (her conviction occurs in 1982).

James is stuck raising Harry alone, and falls into drunken depression over the loss of all his friends (also possibly pain-management a la Dr. House). Both James and Lily are labeled cowards in the press, and the Potter name is dragged through the mud.

Main story:
When Harry and Neville come to Hogwarts, Harry is a bit of a punk and Neville is the humble hero (his Gran kept him isolated at Dumbledore's insistence, but his self-esteem is higher overall since she has no doubts about his worth- and he has a proper wand from the get-go; cherry and phoenix feather). Despite these differences they bond on the Express and Harry takes on the role of Neville's bodyguard.

Can you imagine the fun with Snape vs. a fully-prepared son of James ready to declare a prank war in his first week?

1st year: With Neville's return to the magical world, Voldemort's return is inevitable. Harry has to deal with his father's reputation creating distrust for him.

2nd year: How desperate would Dumbledore have to be to hire a recently-sobered James as the DADA instructor while Snape is teaching as well? Is James' vendetta the reason people are being petrified?

3rd year: Sirius' and Lily's imminent release stirs up much trouble from the past, complicated when Albus hears from his pet prophetess that Voldemort will soon return with the assistance of a loyal follower, now free.

Spoiler

Bellatrix worked a wandless whammy on Lily for the last decade, programming her to enable Bella's escape; afterwards, Lily seems kinda broken and is placed in St. Mungo's long term care.

4th year: Albus arranges for the Tournament to assess the other schools and establish ties between them in the current generation. Fleur becomes a dividing point between Nev and Harry. Factions in the school begin to form around Harry, Nev, Draco and Cedric. In the chaos, Voldemort rises again. Harry wins over Fleur, causing a break with Nev.

5th year: more Voldemort-induced tension, ending when James sacrifices his life to save Neville. As Nev has fallen for Ginny, they mend their fences and ready their factions for the war to come.

etc.

(There are times when I think of myself as the conductor of train wrecks.)

 

Dumbledore was more paternalistic thinking about the responsibilities to Muggles as their rulers. Grindelwald just wants the wizards to rule. That was the source of friction between them.

James and Lily Potter are alive, maybe Neville is BWL (or there is no Voldemort). Harry grows up with the influence of Sirius. He is kind of your regular horny 14 yo with no maturity and a bit of talent. Enter Fleur, a hot 17 yo veela babe. Harry having a little extra willpower to overcome the allure, bets with someone that he can get into Fleur's pants. Cue, romantic madness.

 

Wow, thanks! Didn't expect my question to get such a response. Thanks!

I'd personally wanted to portray a failing marriage between Lily and James and its effect on Harry. If Harry will have his parents alive, he should have the good and the bad parts of it.

Perspicacity, I'm liking your take on the alive Lily/James. Do you mind if I take the basis of it and twist it?

EDIT: Just had another idea.

Post DH: Binn's words had more meaning that anyone could have predicted. Another Goblin Rebellion begins and Harry, Fleur and friends must fight for the most basic rights of all. Life, Liberty and Fraternity.

Ideas? Thoughts? Suggestions? I would appreciate any advice! Want to get my first HP story right after all.

 

1. Dumbledore and Grindelwald compromised on how to treat muggles and created a global wizarding empire with them as rulers. They could have achieved this by religious movement, everyone worshipping some Magical Goddess and believing that magic is might.

2. Anyone who has magic is a first-class citizens (like nobles in medieval times). Muggles are second-class citizens (like peasants in medieval times). If muggles produce a witch/wizard they will have a better life and the muggleborn will be first-class citizen.

3. Potters will be a powerful family what with Charlus Potter helping Dumbledore. James Potter with Sirius Black as his right hand will be running most of the British magical province. Lily Potter being the good hearted witch she is, forms a small peaceful movement to better the lives of muggles (maybe with secret support of Dumbledore).

There can be many interesting plots evolving out of the above.

 

Go for it. You (or anyone else) can do with it what you like.

 

It's not very likely that muggles would simply accept being ruled by others for "their own good", and attempting it would inevitably lead to bloodshed. The question is how far would Dumbledore be willing to go to ensure that the wizarding rule is established (Grindewald obviously has no qualms with killing people). Would dosing all muggles with mind-altering potions be okay, or maybe using imperius to their leaders and lead by proxy? What kind of resistance movement there would be amongst muggleborn wizards to help their families?

V for Vendetta is definitely something that comes to mind as a reference.

 

Hell, you'd be better off visiting Spartan and Athenian history and the number of times someone either took or was given the authority of a tyrant, and they used it to change society "for the betterment of all."

Isn't that quaint? Someone actually had the decency to gain permission for a story rather than ripping off another author.

 

No prank wars.

For the love of god, that juvenile shit is the bane of many indie!Harry fics.

 

Its not like people aged between 11 and 17 are juvenile at all, right?

 

Nobody wants to read another insipid prank war. I think the only one I ever encountered that was mildly entertaining was in nonjon's You Did What? story.

 

Nobody wants to read another one like they've been done so far. If someone has the ability and desire to make it work, I'd be all for it.

I once thought I'd never enjoy another alternate BWL, the Santi changed my mind.

However I admit, a prank war is something quite limited. I'll be exponentially more surprised than I was back then if someone manages to do it well.

 

@Fatality, harsh, but true. I did quite a bit of rambling, but the worst was, how you put it, the "wall of text", basic mistake in writing anything. English is not my first, portuguese is and sometimes I put an english speech in the way it would be in portuguese, and that is stupid. Sorry.
@Lungs, liked the way you answered, it sounds very cohesive.


Now addressing the ideias. A James\Lily Alive! fic doesn't appeal me very much. In my opinion the time Harry spent with the Dursleys is the most defining part of his life. And I think that Little Whinging is underused. Come on, Harry lived there 9 years and 6 summers and almost no fic goes past the Dursleys and at most, Dudley gang.


About time travel, go for it, sounds nice, but please, no dark! Harry. Not a fan of a Gobln Rebellion fic, we know too little about them, you could make their whole society, but it would be quite tricky. I know a fic did that, and very well at that. Don't remember the name though.


A nice Harry/Fleur idea from me: It would be the 5th year. Fleur should be having a hard time coping with life after school, there she was the queen, the alpha female. Her veela powers gave her popularity not that "oh poor me all men wants to rape me and only you harry knows me", yes she was desired and had unwanted advances, yes women were jealous, but so many popular hot woman passes for that. Her personality would be a mix between spoiled sweet (spolied but really a nice person) and alpha bitch.

She wants to be a healer, so she would go to Hogwarts as Madam Pomfrey assistant. Cliche I know, but is the only way I can think to place her there. Her parents won't be super rich or powerful, just wealthy. And she would have to deal at the same time with: the world not spinning around her anymore, living in another country, be independent for the first time and having real respomsabilities with grim consequences if she doesn't do her work really well. She would suffer a minor breakdown and while in it she would encounter Harry after his first detention with Umbridge. Harry being the guy with hero complex that he is, he goes after her. And they talk, and Harry sees that he likes her, he goes visit her as friends, and after the nightmare with Nagini and Mr. weasley he has a major breakdown and Fleur becomes his rock. He falls for her, and then it play his inexperience, his insecurities. But no major inferiority complex, that's ilder than the HP series.

A fic that is in first person, that starts with Fleur as the narrator, than passes to Harry as the main narrator, and then switch to Fleur sometimes. The crux would be how the relationship would change both, how would they woukd deal with the pressure, anger and drepession they both feel. Make that without much angst, not a Whiny! Emo! Harry or Fleur also. And also, how and why Fleur would recipocrate his feelings, and not just because he is Harry Freaking Potter. Despite just being that makes him badass. I would make Sirius like Wallace just because, and make him assume a paternal role, but Marauder style. The DA is something that I still don't know how to include in the plot. And her veela part, I want to make it something that she is proud of. And I don't want her as completely human either, some inhuman characteristics would be nice. Which? I don't know yet. So what you think? Ideas, criticism?

 

Yeah but how do you use Little Whinging well? I'm trying to think all the ways people have even used it in the past and they are all terrible.

Harry runs into Hermoine early. Basis for a ton of stupid Harmony insta love crap and quite a few sister hermoine fics.

Harry finds some Asian martial arts dojo that changes his life. Ugh.

Harry makes a bunch of stupid muggle OC friends. What's worse than an OC wizard friend at Hogwarts? An OC muggle friend.

An older teenage Harry meets some punk muggle girl, bangs her, goes to some clubs, gets a tattoo, smokes some weed, and spend the rest of the terrible Indy fic you are reading being a master at Ancient Runes?

He reads at a library more? This happens quite a bit and it works, but its such a small uninteresting thing.


I'm not really sure how you are supposed to use Little Whinging. It's as boring a muggle community as you can get. None of the magic of the series happens there, even though I totally agree his Dursley life is a HUGE part of his character and vastly important.

What do you guys think is a good way to use Little Whinging...apart from Harry leaving it that is.

 

My god that was hilarious, really, and I agree. Little Whinging is a boring Stepford wannabee, and nothing should be changed in that.

And the dojo part, did someone really did that?My faith in humanity is lost. I hate Harry\Hermione, for me is a pairng that is solely made because she is by far the closest female in Harry life. And nothing else so that cuts it for me.

Harry Ancient Runes fic is too below everyone in this forum so may we never metion it again.

Muggle friend OC is out of question, there Harry is ferared as an Deliquent, so it should be idiotic that he finds "bestest buddies in the wholly whole world" there.

No, Little Whinging must be about how Harry views muggles, based on the place. It should not be about Little Whinging itself, but about Harry and how that place molded him. They are almost all the muggles that he met, specially after Hogwarts. How he views them? That should be interesting.