I was going to include them in my story at some point, but I never got to it. Still might. I agree, though. Vampires make even more sense than werewolves or Giants. They NEED to feed off people. Presumably they don't have to kill, but even so.

They'd likely be ostracized to some extent and since a vampire is shown in book 6, I'd like to see them mentioned at some point.

 

I wonder if HP vampires can perform magic, and if being made into a vampire can increase their magical power.

Anyway, I'd love to read a good vampires-centered dark fic, though sadly most of the once I tried are horrible.

 

If a wizard or a witch kept their magic once turned, then I can't imagine Voldemort not going that route.

 

It's one road to (quasi) immortality, but compared to simply creating a Horcrux, the drawbacks are much greater, and it comes with lots of weaknesses as well, so I'd imagine he'd stay away from that path.

 

He might consider the vulnerabilities and the need to feed unacceptable compromises. Horcruxes seem to do the job with far fewer downsides.

 

What vulnerabilities? The traditional ones? I can't really remember if Rowling even mentioned what her vampires were like or if she just mentioned it once (Slughorn party) and never again.

 

Is it even clear that vampires are "turned" at all? I thumbed through my copy of Fantastic Beasts and other than being classified as "beings" it doesn't say anything (likely because they're "beings" and not "beasts").

 

I bet they're like in the classic Dracula novel. So sunlight, crosses, etc.

 

Reviving this thread because I was brainstorming about Easter magic and was inspired by Taure's posts in the recent thread on the Philosopher's Stone.


What are some possible Eastern magics that fit in with the traditional religions/folklore of those area?

How can we balance those with the magic seen in Harry Potter, thematically and in terms of utility?


There could be some interesting Chinese or Tibetan or Indian magics that rely upon years of focused training, and trying to achieve enlightenment. It'd be a bit overpowered and cliche to give really enlightened Eastern mystics very OP powers, but the following might be interesting magics achieved through sustained mental training that don't harm setting balance:


1. Visiting the dreams of others. This kind of magic isn't so powerful because you can't substantially harm people through their dreams, but it can be scary.

2. Remove viewing is often said (in the more folklore-laden parts of Buddhism) to be a psychic power obtained with enlightenment and great ability in meditation. It's a bit OP, but maybe make the information you obtain be very symbolic in nature?
So if you send your mind out to scout an enemy fortified village you see a representation of it-- a dragon curled around precious jewels-- that isn't super helpful in practical terms. But it might help understand the magical significance of a place-- someone projecting to Harry's home would find his home encircled lovingly by a pair of female arms representing Lily's protection.

There would obviously be more practical daily analogues to those magics-- Dumbledore and Voldemort certainly have ways of understanding the magical protections or significance around a place or person-- but these kinds of magic would be a window into a more ancient form of magic that isn't so potent nowadays because wand magic is so versatile and powerful, but may have niche applications.

 

Augmenting the Mind Arts

-- Occlumency and Legilimency are fairly rare and generally not well known arts. A few are familiar with the incantation with Legilimency, but actually using it competently takes years of instruction: as Snape said, it's not mere 'mind-reading.' On the flip side, Occlumency is an art that is generally passed down from master to apprentice - it's not the sort of thing you're going to find much of any in books about and it's the sort of magic that you learn by doing, at the hands of skilled Legilimens. Consequently, few people are aware of the existence of Legilimency and Occlumency and even fewer have even passable skill in either Art. Some old pureblood families do have a tradition of those skilled in the Mind Arts, such as the Blacks. (So, Bellatrix was familiar with Occlumency, and was able to tutor Draco Malfoy into a passable Occlumens)

-- This might be canon anyway, but passive wandless Legilimency cannot do more than retrieve impressions of immediate surface thoughts of the target. Wanded Legilimency allows the Legilimens to sift deeper, but it's also obvious to the target what's going on (that they're suffering a mental intrusion of some kind -- Voldemort's ability to Legilimise Harry wandlessly and from a distance is an exception due to Harry being a Horcrux). Also, because Legilimency isn't mind-reading, skilled usage of it involves developing a sort of synchronicity between one's own mind and the target's mind -- so Legilimency is sort of the art of reading one's own mind through the lens of another, in a certain sense. The more similar the minds, the easier Legilimency is. (So, one could barely comprehend the thoughts of a lion, for example H/T: Wittgenstein)

-- Also, needless to say, NO SHIELDS as far as Occlumency goes. There are basically two components to Occlumency - evasion and resistance. An Occlumens is able to divert a Legilimens from seeing the hidden memories in question and a skilled Occlumens can mentally eject a Legilimens. (The latter part will alert a passive Legilimens that his Legilimency has been discovered by his target and in addition that his target has some skill in Occlumency) Ejecting a Legilimens from one's mind involves an effort of will similar to resisting the Imperius Curse and can involve either clearing one's mind or focusing very strongly on an image or memory antithetical to the Legilimens, so as to break the synchronous connection (so, Harry was able to fight off Voldemort at the end of 5th year by focusing on his feelings of love and he was able to eject Voldemort in DH by focusing on his feelings of grief -- emotions that were utterly alien to Voldemort).

 

But still, wouldn't ejecting someone from your mind be tantamount to saying, "hey I'm hiding something!!" It's just as egregious as mental shields and labyrinths and stuff. I mean, it's canon that the occlumens can eject the legilimens from his mind, but I always felt that was just because they were amateur in the art; it's all they could do to thwart the legilimens, which isn't to say it isn't useful, but it seems to lack a certain... elegance.

 

Something I played with for a few days a month ago before discarding was the idea that we could actually make the "magical core" thing viable under one setting - Professional Dueling. The referee or other appointed transfiguration/charms expert creates a core for/inside of each Duelist that limits the amount of magic they are allowed to cast for the duration of the dueling circuit/tournament. Waste too much magic early on and you're screwing yourself toward the end game, whereas if you have the talent and the skill to minimize your spell usage in the beginning you can have more breathing room in the later rounds. Imagine a 10-spell tournament, where each match can or must be completed within one or two spells?

That would subsequently tie into raising the level of ingenuity within Dueling- we've seen wands and staves, but when you can't use but x-many spells before you are quite literally out of available magic, what can you turn to? Potions, for example. A field of potions designed with battle in mind, imitating the effects of varying spells or conditions, and rising in intensity, risk of damage, or death.

Regulations would be in place to limit the usage of the truly dangerous stuff per Duelist and/or tournament, inventory checks would be made before each round to ensure no one is fudging the rules, so on and so forth.

 

Thats quite a cool idea. Its almost analogous to timed chess, in that it takes the basic competition and adds an additional layer of challenge to it. You could even use it to balance duels between veterans and novices, with the novices having more magic available.

On the other hand...would it not lead to a lot of duels ending in either 'no result' or fisticuffs? Equally skilled opponents would work through their magic, both would still be standing at the end and have no more spells to cast. What happens then?

 

I suppose in some circuits you could have it come down to the judge/referee's decision, but what about offering the option of designated Seconds' to step in for each Duelist in the event of a tie to that point? And if they also come up even, then they both lose. It could open a further avenue where elite Duelists seek to partner with other elite Duelists to guarantee they have stronger odds of seeing the end of the tournament, but you could still have a freak happenstance like an Albus Dumbledore/Professor Flitwick breeze in one day and rain on everyone's parade.

 

I would provide a backstory for Salazar Slytherin. Some information about what his beliefs about muggleborns really were, and why he left Hogwarts.

I personally don't believe that Slytherin was evil and truly believed in blood purity/superiority. If he did, he wouldn't have been accepted by the other founders, especially by Gryffindor (who was Slytherin’s best friend, according to the Sorting Hat).

So, I would give him a backstory about how Slytherin didn’t hate muggleborns necessarily, but was worried about the danger that the muggleborns might reveal the existence of magic to muggles, accidentally or purposefully. So, he took a more selective, conservative stance, wanting only purebloods or those of wizarding families to attend Hogwarts. Not because of blood purity, but because of caution and safety’s sake. However, Gryffindor (a more liberal spirit than Slytherin) opposed this, thus the huge fight between Gryffindor and Slytherin happened.

At the end, he left Hogwarts, maybe because of the fight. But because of reasons (maybe because he was fond of the school he established), Slytherin made the chamber of secrets and assigned a basilisk to protect Hogwarts in times of danger, instead of to purge the muggleborns. However, the basilisk became insane because of hunger by the time Tommy Riddle came along, which is why it tried to kill students instead of its assigned role of protecting them. And maybe because it subconsciously remembered his original task, the basilisk tried its best not to kill the students (hence, none of the petrified students actually got killed during the CoS).

Slytherin didn’t actually believe in blood purity, but some of his descendants (The Gaunts) propagated the idea that Slytherin did. That way, since the great Slytherin "believed" in blood purity too, they would have a justification of some sorts. Sort of like how religion was used by leaders to control the people during the crusades, luring people to fight for the name of God/Jesus. That’s why, to Harry’s day, Slytherin was believed to be a supporter of pureblood supremacy, when in fact, that was all propaganda.

I understand that this probably isn’t canon (I don’t keep up with Pottermore updates much). It’s just my interpretation of Slytherin that makes sense to me.

 

I've seen a lot of fics that hold a similar viewpoint to you. Very few are good, but I dont consider that to be an actual correlation. But I personally prefer having Slytherin leaving the basilisk deliberately to kill muggleborns as he leaves the castle. Not everyone has to be misunderstood, and I'd like more examples of the past not being better than the future in terms of evil people and stuff, and maintain a more realistic focus. That's not to say that Slytherin cannot be wrote that way, its just not my personal cup of tea.

 

But Slytherin came before the Statute of Secrecy.
The founding of Hogwarts came around the 9th/10th century, the Statute only comes about in 1689.
I can buy he was ahead of his time somewhat, but 6 centuries?

 

If I could add anything, I would make Voldemort less concerned with blood purity.

I feel like he should hate everything, including purebloods. The Death Eaters should have been a tool that he used, rather than a cause he believed in.

I can just imagine Harry confronting him, telling him that Snape, one of his most trusted lieutenants, was a half-blood all along.
Only for Voldemort to turn around and give some speech about blood being insignificant, and the only real measure of value being power and willingness to wield it (along the lines of his spiel about good and evil in Philosopher's Stone).


Any other additions I would make would be about the magical world outside of Britain.
What is America like? Is it a wild-west, too big for any organisation to police?

Was Australia used as a prison for British Wizards as well, possibly as an alternative to Azkaban for lesser crimes? Has this had any affect on the attitudes that Australian wizards have?

What other systems of magic exist/existed in the world? Did anybody use really different ways to cast spells? We know of wands and potions, did anyone use tattoos, smoke signals, rings or songs?

Colonialism replaced a lot of 'barbaric' cultural practices with more civilized ones. Did the magical community do something similar by forcing wand use on other cultures?

 

I would like to see more magical theory than what is currently available. Maybe a compendium of all the laws of transfiguration.

 

I would love an exploration of the international scene, particularly in relation to Voldemort, how other magical communities reacted, or if they reacted at all. The plot of HP is very "local". ICW is popularly thought of as the wizards' United Nations equivalent. I'd like to know more about how this institution operates, the membership and jurisdiction. It's practically a throwaway detail in canon.

I'm trying to do something in that vein myself. Will see how it goes.