I want to write a dark HP fic. I'm not sure how i want harry to turn to the dark though. I was thinking of having him befriend Malfoy.... But i don't want any of the gay shit and their such a popular pairing. Please any advice or thoughts are totally welcome.


=]CARRIE[=

 

Holy Jesus. I don't know where to even start.

 

I want to know what normal people want to read I don't want to attract a bunch of silly fangirls.


=]CARRIE[=

 

Don't write what other people want to read. That's stupid. Write what you want to write, and go from there.

 

Yeah, generally you have an idea that you want to write, not the other way around.

That said, to address the original point: having Harry befriend Malfoy is a terrible way to turn him to Voldemort's side. Malfoy isn't the brightest pumpkin in the patch. In fact, I don't think there's anyone at Hogwarts who can convince Harry to join Voldemort.

The only convincing way to do it would be a reason to turn away from Dumbledore/The Ministry, in which Voldemort is his only option. I'm not sure how that can be achieved without going into terrible manipulative Dumbledore though.

That or love. As Dumbledore says, love is the most powerful magic. If Harry were to fall in love with someone who was allied with Voldemort, that might do it. But that's just passing the problem along: how to realistically get Harry to fall in love with someone he should hate.

Scarcrux shenanigans could be another direction to go.

P.S. You don't need to sign off your posts. Your username is immediately to the left of the post.

 

Loss also works. This is no doubt why most independent/Dark Harry stories kick off somewhere in fifth year.

Harry watches Cedric die and the government calls him a liar and crackpot + Dumbledore is worried Voldemort can see through Harry's eyes, so he gives the kid the cold shoulder. Then Sirius dies and Dumbledore lays the prophecy on Harry's head.

If that won't make a 15-year-old homicidal, you only need to add a girlfriend getting killed and that powderkeg is officially lit.

You can have more fun by twisting the knife; despite their best efforts, Voldemort isn't seen at the Ministry so Harry and Dumbledore are still treated like nutters. Harry says screw the Dursleys and his mother's protection and decides to stay in Grimmauld for the summer, kept company by Kreacher and the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black.

You don't even need to make the Weasleys into monstrous caricatures, either. If Kreacher pulls a Dobby and filters Harry's mail, he may not hear from them or Hermione for long enough to make a bad bargain with a dark ritual or something.

The best tragedies are the ones where you can sympathize with the main character as they make all the choices that seal their doom.

 

The easiest way to go about this to create a polarity universe, where the side Harry is on is the dark side. You could make Tom Riddle the champion of Muggle-borns and Dumbledore/Ministry oriented towards Pure-blood ideologies and maintaining a status quo (which isn't too much of a stretch for the canon of the Ministry of Magic). Hell, you could even keep the Prophecy, only make James and Lily supporters of Voldemort - when Dumbledore (the Dark Lord) kills them and looses his power (not that the Ministry is aware of him being the Dark Lord and not Riddle instead), the Ministry steps in and assures that Harry is raised by a proper family (Weasleys, Longbottoms, Pettigrew) with the right views and burries James and Lily's connections to Riddle and purports them as being for Dumbledore/the Ministry.

It's not exactly simple and you'd have to figure out who is on which side and how the Ministry portrays Dumbledore and Voldemort to the public, but it would be interesting and an actual plausible way of putting Harry on the 'Dark' side.

 

Your unfortunate biases aside, you need to figure out a few things here.

1. What is "Dark"?
   In this context, what are you trying to go for? What makes a "Dark!Harry" story anyway? Is he evil? An antihero? A sociopath? A troubled kid easily swayed into crossing the lines of morality? A decent kid seduced into it?
2. Why Malfoy?
   He's an arrogant, cowardly, racist toerag. Doesn't seem like Harry would like him.
3. Don't you want to do any interesting idea?
   Say... what if Dumbledore was secretly a Dark wizard searching for a new protege to take his old one down? Sort of like a take on the whole Sith thing but without any explicit crossover elements. Or you can go the epic myth route, use something with a secret society that Neville and Ron are a part of that's planning on attacking Asgard to free the Svartalf slaves.

Something new, that's what I'd like to see. Also, something that YOU WANT TO WRITE. That's the most important, otherwise you won't care and won't put in the effort needed.

 

You don't, necessarily, even have to have him join Voldemort in order for him to be considered dark. Harry could just develop an interest in the dark arts and the further he gets sucked into them, the more his personality warps enough for him to not care for using them.

The problem comes in when you use common cliches like manipulative Dumbledore or his friend betraying him. Another issue is the transition of canon Harry to a Harry that would be considered dark. You can't do it too fast or it becomes unbelievable, you can't have it be too slow, otherwise, it becomes boring to read.

 

I always thought a decent way to drive Harry insane would be to eliminate those he cares the most about. Maybe have Ron and him not make up after the first task, and kill Hermione somehow. Maybe Umbridge tortures her into insanity? Maybe she dies in the department of mysteries?

Shouldn't this thread be in fanfic discussion?

 

I viewed the dark always as a misunderstood more pagan based magic, as a little girl I always felt horrible for Draco and thought that he was acted the way he did because of his father and the constant need to please him turned him into the canon draco Malfoy my idea of them being friends would be completely AU where he and Harry met as children, possibly in a foster care type situation or a runaway situation and it would inevitably change both of their characters


=]CARRIE[=

 

I am new to this group sorry if I'm not posting in the appropriate area. I toyed with the idea that he and Ron didn't make up after the first task but when I tried to write it, it dint come together for me.


=]CARRIE[=

 

This is the type of help I'm looking for, I dont want to lose Harry's real personality or do any of the cliche or i would write a family story with Snape adopting Harry and Draco. I am thinking now of a runaway situation where the boys happen to find each other and together learn of dark magic and quite possibly still end up killing Voldemort


=]CARRIE[=

 

I think the whole Harry leaving and meeting Draco is overdone. On the other hand, if you did something like have Lucius die while Draco is a baby, that would change a great deal. That's immediately more interesting to me.

 

Fyi: You don't need to post multiple times if you forgot to add something. You can edit them by clicking the edit button in the bottom right hand corner of your post.

EDIT: Everyone is going to have different ideas on what you should write. If you have an idea in mind, start writing it, and post it in the Work By Author section (WBA) to get feedback and advice.

 

I'm not biased, most of the successful dark Harry Fics I've read have gay relationships and I enjoyed the stories thats just not what I want to write. I always felt Malfoy was misunderstood and had great potential, had he escaped his father when he was younger. What is your opinion on a runaway situation where Harry and Draco leave their families when they are young meet somehow, not sure how yet... And end up with some 'dark' witch/wizard mentor. I dont want to write another Snape adoption fic so it would have to be another..... Perhaps grindlewald? I cant imagine him taking care of children though.......


=]CARRIE[=

 

Especially what with him being imprisoned and all.

 

I can't believe this shit is actually happening and no one's said anything. We're getting old, DLP.

 

Any fic that has Harry simply running into another wizard pre-Hogwarts is absurd. If they've deliberately come across him (like Diggle), fine. Otherwise, no. The odds are astronomical.

 

It's not that astronomical he ran away and accidentally signaled the knight bus and took it. Harry knew little about the Wizarding world before he was 11 so it would have to be a detour from their first year. This is why I'm asking others peoples ideas it helps me clear out some of the clutter in my head. I'll get excited over a half plotted idea and not be able to finish it. I like the people here. Everyone seems perfectly honest thanks