-Challenge-

Main Idea -

What if the prophecy is fake? What if Dumbledore himself fabricated it so he wouldn't have to kill Voldemort?

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Dumbledore, wishing no more burdens upon himself, could have easily used an imperio against Trelawney forcing her to say the dreaded words followed by a obliviate to rid her of the memory. Being a master occlumens means he can fabricate false memories too. And why was Snape right outside the door? How was he able to know what would take place?

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Though not perfect, this struck me as an interesting view on the events of that fateful evening in the "Hog's Head" when Hogwarts received a new Divination teacher.

-Rules-

*The character inventing the prophecy could be anyone, not just Dumbledore.

*The idea can be tailored to your own liking, however a powerful Harry (not god-like) and him being independent is required.

*Think of this as an extremely loose prompt

* Tell me of all stories written


And there you have it

 

Problem with all the plots like this one is that Harry is from a hero turned into just another regular Joe.

The whole point of post-OOTP and post-HBP fics are Harry training himself and heading into the war against Voldemort. If it turns out he doesn't have to fight, then he'll just say fuck it all, sit on his his ass and do... what? What's exactly is the point of the story if Harry doesn't go to war or doesn't have to do anything at all interesting?

This can be used if you already have some other plot in mind and need just a convenient way to ditch the whole canon theme (fight for blood superiority). Other than that... shrugs, not good IMO.

 

Thats sort of true. However Voldemort still believes in the prophecy, and will still continue to pursue Harry forcing him to become active in the war. This could also allow Harry to ditch his golden boy image, and dabble in the darker arts.......

 

One letter to Voldemort, followed by a pensive memory, would be enough to fix his misconceptions. As for the dark arts, I kinda feel that Harry who is forced to become Voldemort's equal would sooner go dark then just an average boy, with no obligation in the war whatsoever.

 

IP82, i understand what you're saying, and i never claimed for this idea to be fully thought out; i leave that to the author(s).

But as far as I can tell, any story line following this basic idea would be totally free from cliches and in my opinion, pretty cool. At least I think it would.

 

Its an interesting idea, but despite the way you've shown it, the idea has already been used a million times to justify writing a Manipulative!Dumbledore.

What always bugs me is the convenience.

What are the chances that Trelawney would ask for an interview, and just when its going badly, start spouting off a prophecy?

Its far too convenient, I guess...and for it to be in such favorable circumstances...she says the Prphecy to Dumbledore, the leader of the Light. She doesn't say it while she's cooking food, or while she's flying a broom or anything else....its jsut so convenient that the prophecy not only gets her a job, but it also gets delivered entirely to Dumbledore, and partially to Voldemort through Snape.

I'm not talking Manipulative!Dumbledore...just saying that it was somewhat predictable. It always irritates me when Harry out of the blue decides to visit Trelawney, only to be witness to a new super!Prophecy...I can't stand when an Author takes that route. Same with the "We Goblins also have our soothsayers, so here you go, Harry Potter!"

 

True, that seems to imply that a prophecy is always told when someone is present. Perhaps it _needs_ to be heard. For all we know, prophecy is always self-fulfilling. If this is the case, and considering the scene in PoA, then the person who witnesses it has to be someone who can somehow participate in its fulfillment. A weak theory, but it can somewhat explain the convenience. On the other hand, perhaps Trelawney _has_ made a bunch of other true predictions, but since nobody heard them, we wouldn't know, would we?

 

Ok then.

What if is were Trelawney portrayed as the manipulative mastermind?

I can't say I've seen that one done before.

 

But the idea for this is that if a pensieve memory can be fooled once than what's to say that Voldy won't believe that the memory that claims that there is no prophecy is just a fake. It seems to me that voldy really believes in this prophecy, and no pensieve memory will change his mind..

 

I think I have read a story similar to this. It was a HP/Highlander crossover. Snape was immortal and Methos student and they had been working to kill voldemort but when snape was supposed to finish voldemort at the potter house after tricking him there with the prophecy so did james stun snape before he could finish voldemort.

I love razz's idea with Trelawney as the manipulative mastermind.

 

Like magnetic fields can wreak havoc with credit cars and disks, I've been entertaining the idea of an extremely powerful magical person having a sort of 'Magical Field' around him.

Movement of magic through the wand creates a Field of M*...

 

Razz, I actually entertained that idea myself (hence the change character mastermind rule), but i think it would end up as more of a humor fic if trelawney was the mastermind behind the prophecy. Though if you can make it a serious story, by all means go for it.

 

I completely agree, was thinking that too. It might perhaps work as a one-shot, but any more would be tedious, IMO.

 

The story could be like this:
It starts as the average post-ootp story, with Harry training to become strong enough to kill Riddle. Then, after the war, after Harry's live is destroyed because of all his friends died, etc. he learns somehow that the prophecy was fake.
Harry would be furious of course and fight against Dumbledore and the order. If Harry wasn't dark before, he'll go dark now.
You could either describe the war against Riddle in full detail, or just write a short summery, the real plot is the fight Harry vs. Dumbledore.
This idea isn't well thought out, but that's what I thought as I saw the challenge.

 

I dunno. If he finds out that the PROPHESY-EY-ey [echo... echo] is bullshit, he's gonna hit the wall. "Holy bloody fuck! I don't have to die facing a psychotic megalomaniac with five years to every one of mine. Now I can go and play Quidditch or something else vaguely normal!" Except, he's the only one who knows that (aside from the schemer), and everyone else wants him to play his role. The Dark Lord isn't going to stop trying to kill him because of this; in fact, this will make him try harder - there's nothing really stopping him now.

I'd kind of like to see Harry forced by circumstances to continue being the Boy-Who-Lived, at least visibly. He can do whatever he feels like doing, or thinks he can get away with, so long as he still appears to be the Saviour of the Wizarding World. Extra points for creatively and amusingly showing the frustration and frantic searching for something that will enable him to get away with this charade for a little while longer.

Gosh, it would be like a twisted-mirror of Make A Wish, where Harry isn't lucky enough to have all this freaky stuff happen conveniently, but has to do it himself and make it look like luck or something.