That would make an interesting twist on the Peggy Sue. I'd like to see it.

 

Reminds me of Robert J. Sawyer's "Flashforward".

 

Perhaps have the school be in the palace of Versailles or something similar.

 

Hey guys, remember when we talked about the Potterverse being rebooted? Well, here's a little something I did.

Re-characterized​

The Dursleys are decent, honest, hard-working people, living in the lovely area in London known as Little Venice. Vernon Dursley works as a chef at a local restaurant, while his wife Petunia takes care of the home and their beloved son Robert and their nephew Harry Potter.

When Albus Dumbledore arrived that fateful night to Petunia's doorstep and told her what happened, she was devastated at the loss of her sister, but also determined to raise Harry with love as she would do with her own child.

*

After Lily's life was extinguished, so was extinguished the fire in his soul. Instead of becoming petty, bitter and hateful, Severus Snape became cold, detached and unemotional. He treats all students with the same bored disinterest.

When the year finally comes when Harry Potter is to begin education, Snape feels nothing. Not rage, not hate, not irritation, not a thing. He will see Potter as just another student, just another mind to fill with potions facts, and nothing else. Why bother caring at all, if Lily is gone?

*

From the earliest days he can remember, Draco Malfoy was thoroughly educated by his Father and his Mother and many other Malfoys that appearances are everything. Tyrants fall, ministers are changed, power is temporary. But if one is careful, one can turn and twist every situation into an advantage. If one had an appearance which was commonly accepted, one would go far.

Draco believes mudbloods and muggles are nothing but filth not worth living. But you would never, ever hear or see him speaking this to anyone. Draco would never utter the word mudblood, he'd never reveal his personal views about this, or anything really. Secrecy is a powerful tool and he knows it.

*

When Hermione Granger learns about magic, she sees a new world filled with countless possibilities, a world which needs to be examined and researched. Hermione wants to reconcile her discovery of magic with all the things she already knows, like chemistry and physics. Hermione reads many books about magic, she does some small experiments in the summer before her fist school year.

What she learns is extremely shocking, disappointing and terrifying to her. Not only are her muggle sciences incompatible with magic, but magic actually breaks most if not all laws of physics. Suddenly, up can be down and two plus two really can be five.

Hermione's view of the world is shattered, suddenly she is just as uneducated about the real truth as the next person. She now knows that things like chemistry and physics aren't worth a damn. And so Hermione turns to magic for understanding, for a new way of life and for everything else.

*

Living with so many siblings has taught Ron Weasley several important life lessons, such as the importance of sharing, family loyalty and responsibility. His family's financial situation also teaches him how to be careful with money, how to never be cheated and it teaches him respect for the hard work of his parents.

But Ron's most defining trait is his empathy. He is somehow always able to know how others feel and he has a very accurate gut feeling. When his sister Ginny is sad, Ron knows instantly even if she is smiling for appearances. When Fred and George are playing innocent, Ron always knows that they're guilty. Some children grow up faster than others, Ron is more understanding and mature than most adults.

*

Ever since she was a little girl, Romilda Vane knew she wanted to live more than an average, regular life. Whether she became rich, reached a high position in the Ministry of Magic or became a famous singer, Romilda wanted people to look at her with respect and admiration. But how to achieve it, she wondered.

And then she learned Harry Potter would begin Hogwarts the same year she did. It was obvious that Harry would lead a very interesting life, he would have various adventures and would achieve great things. And so Romilda decided she would get close to Harry and in return, he would share these amazing things with her.

*

Having his parents condemned to a fate worse than death, Neville Longbottom could dedicate his life to revenge, or depression, or bumbling incompetence and shyness, or many other destructive paths. But realizing that the current healing techniques were insufficient/inadequate/not-enough to heal his parents, he vowed that one day he would change it.

He would become the best, most informed, most innovative and revolutionary healer in the world. He would learn all the required subjects for the field. Potions, Charms, he would master anything he needed to become not only a healer, but a miracle worker.

 

Or Worse, Expelled!

People are always poo-pooing Hermione's lack of perspective in this statement and it's often made out to be a joke. It's not. Hermione's completely right. Death is instant, being expelled is for life.

They get caught that night and all three are expelled. Their wands are snapped and they are sent home without anything more said.

Ron finds himself an outsider in his own family. After Molly gets over the initial anger the Weasley attitude is that he's an utter disappointment (though they'd never say it straight it's said in glances and tilting of the head). He feels utterly closed off from his family and then has to go to muggle school where he is ridiculed and put in the stupid kids class due to a lack of basic knowledge.

He lives the life of a squib, basically. Neither in one world nor the other. His family is distant because it's just "not safe" without magic. He finds himself becoming closer to the 'accountant they don't talk about much'.

He goes from boring job to boring job before eventually dying alone and surrounded by cats.

Hermione returns home devastated by the loss of her friends and the one chance she thought she had at a life. She knows now that she's different, that all the bullying kids are right and it weighs on her. She stops fighting it and basically rolls over to accept that she'll never have friends. She eventually completes school and goes to university. She has a moderately successful career as a [something] but always at the back of her mind the question rolls about in the back of her mind 'what if?' It drives her forward as well as holds her back. She'll never forget the feeling of magic and what it was like to learn but she knows she can never feel it again.

Harry returns to some very displeased Dursleys who are both pissed and extremely cheered that Harry has been cast out even by the 'freaks'. He goes to Stonewall High and, being a small rather weird kid who arrived late has very few friends. Some of Dudley's old friends attend Stonewall and keep up the cycle of bullying he'd known before.

Every now and then he's approached by a wizard who are extremely excited to meet Harry Potter but who also enjoy the feeling of superiority. They didn't get expelled after all.

Harry's life eventually becomes that of the reluctant celebrity. Asked to attend events and parties within the wizarding world he becomes a lonely drunk who eventually dies early from a drugs overdose.

Perhaps it would have been better if they'd died that night.

 

Not much of a plot bunny, so much as drabble vomit.

 

I don't get this premise that expelled=squib. There are other schools and countries. I rather doubt that they would just give up magic like that. They'll probably just move to another school, buy a new wand, and continue. Hell, their school years will probably be much better if they did that.

Coming to think of it, it could be a nice premise for a Harry in Durmstrang/Beauxbatons story.

 

They just go to another school or to another country. Goodbye GB, hello <country insert here>!

 

A few things that have been floating around my head for a while- do not expect either of these to he good.

1. Voldemort, in all his insane and ridiculously intelligent wisdom, decides to create a minion that he can rely on completely. A creature, a hybrid made of a dozen beasts, an abomination of magic. A perfect hunter, made to keep the world obedient after he succeeds in taking over.
Voldemort puts it in stasis until the time is ripe- but when he is killed, he spends his last breath sending a message across the world. Awaken. Awaken, and kill Harry Potter!
Alternatively, it could be a crossover with primeval , with Voldemort accidently making the future predator.

2: The anti bashing story. Contains Harry bashing, Madam Bones bashing, Daphne bashing, and so on. From Ron and Dumbledore's perspective.

 

You can't fight retardation with retardation, mate.

 

"You've been robbing the vault my parents left me, you old goat!"

Ron didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Dumbledore was nowhere around, and yet, Harry was screaming bloody murder, accusing Ron of things he couldn't have done. He resented being called a goat, as well, but that was of no consequence.

"Harry, let's just go get Hermione and she'll figure this out."

And so they did. When they found the bushy-haired Gryffindor Prefect know-it-all, she came running up to them. Then they realized she was actually running from Ginny. "Watch out," she said. "She's gone insane--"

"You didn't write to him for a whole summer! How could you, Hermione!"

"Dumbledore told us not to!"

"Dumbledore?!" Harry swung around to face Ron. Stunned, he barely had time to duck as Harry cast a spell of pure light at him. "You're going to pay for all those years I spent at the Dursleys."

Fortunately, Ron knew a shield charm, but it wasn't a very good one; feeling like he had been punched in the chest by one of his brothers, Ron grabbed Hermione and made a mad dash toward the tower. Hopefully, if he could reach it first, Harry wouldn't be able to come in, hoping to bash his head in.

But that's when he noticed that Hermione was laughing. In an instant, she transformed into Bellatrix Lestrange, who laughed musically and kissed him on the cheek. "Good job, Dumbledore. Knew you had it in ya."

 

wat

/10char

 

wat

/10char

 

noice

/10char

 

Harry Potter, Airship Captain. The Floo Network was never invented, Portkeys were only invented by Chancellor Dumbledore in the past century (the creation of which is a closely guarded secret), and a limited form of Apparition was only created by the Dark Lord Voldemort in the years of the rebellion. The Wizarding World is appropriately Victorian, and remains divided along nationalistic lines. Great Britain and France patrol their sides of the Channel, watching vigilantly for incursions by their age old enemy.

Muggleborns are taught magic in return for service in the Navy, and children of pureblood houses are sent to an officer's school as soon as they complete basic magical schooling, which is commenced at a young age.

Despite the domestic troubles suffered by Britain in recent times, they still hold sway on the international stage, mostly due to the great talents that keep popping up in each generation. The consequences of Dumbledore's invention of the Portkey are still reverberating around the world, after he revealed it by deploying the Navy to defend against a surprise attack by the French that was on the verge of piercing the heart of London unopposed. Relations between the two powers remain frosty to this day; Dumbledore, an Admiral at the time, deploying his flagship Arianna above the skies of Paris in warning likely did not help relations.

Harry Potter has just come of age at 17 and is deployed under Captain Black, an old friend of his father, as a lieutenant. They have the misfortune of being chosen to demonstrate the return of the Knights of Walpurgis and their leader, Lord Voldemort. A vicious air battle ensues, the MS Padfoot woefully outgunned by the Nagini. The Padfoot is destroyed, but in an audacious move, the surviving crew mount their broomsticks and attack the Nagini. Their valiant boarding action sees the Nagini damaged heavily, but as they move to flee, Lieutenant Potter comes face to face with Voldemort himself. He survives--and more, he draws blood against the Dark Lord. He is still a teenager against the most feared wizard of the age, however, and it is only via Sirius Black's Portkey, gifted to him by Dumbledore himself in an extremely rare act, that the few surviving crew manage to escape.

The whole situation is made worse by the nearby French frigate that witnessed the air battle, who are sure to report back and take advantage of Britain's renewed internal conflict.



That kind of got away from me there. Basically the story would be about the cold/hot conflict between the British and the French, with a more rational Voldemort lurking just off stage. Meat of things would be Captain Potter, promoted for his actions in the battle, working out how to actually be a Captain and lead men and women after only being in the Navy for a month or so, with a focus on his skirmishes, duels, and maneuverings against the beautiful Captain Delacour.

I'm seeing a political aspect of this too, with both Ministries trying to reach some sort of peace accord (Britain so they can focus on Voldemort, France so they can build up their forces after a small war with Germany), with all the associated diplomacy--mainly so I could throw Harry and Fleur into a ballroom together the week after they fought a skirmish that included a vicious broomstick duel between them that saw both their ships limping back into dock.

To be honest, I might even scrap the Voldemort stuff entirely, and just have a war between Britain and France, from the point of view of a young Captain Harry Potter, and his growing rivalry with the attractive and talented Captain Fleur Delacour. This whole thing would see HP raised by his parents too, and scrap the BWL aspect. Voldemort would probably come into things later, forcing the two to temporarily forget their countries' war and work together.

 

I would totally read this.

It reminds me a bit of Hornblower and the stuff I've been seeing about Jim Butcher's new series. Is that deliberate?

 

I've not come across Hornblower before and the only thing I know about JB's new series is that is has dickish talking cats and steampunk.

 

I absolutely love the idea (i'm always down for airships) but I think it's sufficiently different from the canon HP universe that you might as well go the original fiction route.

 

Is that gonna be sit in some kinda steampunk setting?

 

That's one of my favorite fanfic ideas that I've seen in months. It would be brilliant.