This is an Alternate Universe and / or Dimension Travel idea I have been playing with. I would like opinions on if it is interesting.

In the first war Voldemort’s goal was to take over Hogwarts and the ministry. When he, as many before him, failed to take Hogwarts head on, he began his take over of the castle from the inside; using assassination, propaganda and other forms of subversion.

The house infighting gets so bad in one battle inside the castle that Dumbledore expels the majority of the student body and faculty out of the castle. He himself leaves the building to stop his dueling faculty and students.

However, the Huffelpuff head is left behind in the castle as he did not take part in the duels. Under his command, those of his house left within the castle throw out any students left over from the other houses. And he invokes a fail safe the founders created after fall out with Salazar Slytherin for a situation like this and locks the castle down, bringing it effectively in the sole control of one house, Huffelpuff. (I quietly whisper to you to suspend your disbelief)

From then on only Huffelpuff house, its alumni, those sorted in it can enter the castle. Suddenly, the foremost and most comprehensive source of magical knowledge is taken away.

Voldemort moves to bring printing presses, private libraries and any outside sources of magical knowledge under his control and those of his house. Alumni of the Ravenclaw house move just as quickly but using methods less brutal than Voldemort fail miserably.

The ministry falls between Order of the Phoenix and the death eaters. Dumbeldore himself takes control of the Department of Mysteries and commands his order to destroy or recover all means of tracking magical signatures in England. The rest of the ministry is ravaged by deatheaters leaving it in rubble, and thinking that the department of mysteries is lost.

In the decade that follows there is a complete breakdown of magical Britain’s government and societal structure. Power flows from the four houses. Voldemort is the head of Slytherin, OC is head of Ravenclaw, OC is head of Huffelpuff and controller of Hogwarts, and Minerva McGonagall keeps the headship of Gryffindor. It is unspoken knowledge that the real power behind Gryffindor house is Dumbeldore.

Ravenclaws become more and more militant over time in their quest to protect the knowledge they have and the knowledge they want. Under Minerva McGonagall’s leadership the Gryffindor house is not nearly as brutal as the other two houses in their effort to bring sources of magical knowledge under their control.

The Order of the Phoenix and Deatheaters when not involved in the activities of their base houses (Gryffindor and Slytherin respectively) are bent on destroying the wards that keep them out of Hogwarts and form a government.

The only time the four houses meet in peace is on the annual day of sorting, when the gates of Hogwarts open and the hat is brought forth. Each house brings the magical children they have found to be sorted and the hat as always splits them. The Huffelpuff new years are taken into the castle told to forget their families and any ties outside of their house. Students split into the other houses are taken by the heads and taught in the systems and places they have established and hidden (I won’t go into detail of that yet). Knowledge is a precious commodity and it is not freely given even within the houses because it forms the power structure within each house as well.

The one goal that is largely shared by Ravenclaw, Huffelpuff and Gryffindor houses is the protection of muggle borns. Using methods of divining each have, they scour the country and usually take away the magical children to keep them safe from Slytherin, who actively hunt and cull any magical child not of at least half magical origin. Each surviving magical child is brought up by the house that found them and raised with ideals of that house and loyalty to it, in an effort to ensure that on the day of sorting they return to their houses and boost the numbers.

Every few years, students of Huffelpuff who have finished their education and can not abide to live only in the castle and its grounds leave the sanctuary of Hogwarts. They are coveted as teachers, and for their knowledge of the workings inside Hogwarts. All the expelled houses try to woo them to their side. The Slytherin and Ravenclaw are not above torture, mind control potions etc, but money, influence, women/men (love slaves) are used equally to entice them.

So the conflicts are:

1. Taking back Hogwarts
   
2. Protecting newborn magical children. For the moment Slytherin and Deatheaters are more interested in the magical world than destroying all of muggle world.
   
3. Gaining, maintaining and most of all defending sources of magical knowledge each have.
   
4. Catching and keeping Huffelpuffs stupid enough to leave Hogwarts grounds.
   
5. In the shadows the Phoenix and Deatheaters continue to war over forming government and each other, along with attempts to infiltrate the other group.
   
6. Someway to bring Voldemort down, because the Hufflepuff head won’t even consider retracting the wards if the death eaters and he are still active.
   
   
7. I have not forgotten about other magical schools or other nations. Their role is something I am still working on, the idea is not fleshed out completely but I am so excited I am itching to write it.

Yes, there is the prophecy.
No, Voldemort was not killed or vanquished that night in 1981 (correct year?)


So now if this is to be Harry centric, if it is to be anyone centric, than I want it to be dimension travel Harry. Someone who was trained inside of Hogwarts, appears in this world wearing Gryffindor robes and is marked right away by the other houses. They try to kill him or take him to drain him of his knowledge but in a surprising show of power and knowledge for someone his age he defeats his opponents.

Gryffindor students see him stupidly flying the house colors in public (no one does this of any house) and then having the balls to back up the brashness, take him in to bring him to the higher ups of their house…and the story goes from there, in case it is Harry centric.

So what do you guys and girls think? It is a massive idea, I don’t know how I would start it with the big project I already have. I also have to wonder if I should even place it in the Potter verse or make it an original fiction, taking away the HP factors.

 

I like it as a completely AU HP fic. It would be complicated, and could get quite long and complex, but, I think you have stumbled on a real lump of gold here.

 

I agree, really wonderful ideas.

As for the original fiction route. Why not do both. Test out your ideas. Flesh it out in fanfiction to find out what sort of world you would need to build.

This, as original fiction, could be truly epic.

 

In other words, you want to describe a post apocalyptic world, somehow similar to all those post worldwar III novels out there. Other than Shezza's resistance story, where the Ministry is taken over by Voldemort and a organised society exists, you want to describe a scenario, where society is crumbled.

I've read only few post-apocalyptic novels, and all jump right into the prepared scenario. Thus, dimension travel makes sense. Harry appears somewhere and wonders about the situation. You inform the reader about the current state of the wizarding world while you describe, how Harry gathers information about the situation.

The reason for the dimension travel might be Dumbledore summoning him (in a very dark ritual that requires the sacrifice of one redheaded virgin) because of the Prophecy. Harry might even trust him at first, but soon learns that the old coot just needs a weapon.

If you make it Harry-centric, you could give him a separate goal - to return to his original (way better) canon world. The way back could lie inside Hogwarts and require to kill Voldemort. The moment he has finished the tasks he finishes off Dumbledore, too, and returns to his world - as a changed and far more experienced man.

Thus you have the apocalyptic world as your playground but you wouldn't need to solve its problems.

 

That's a VERY interesting idea, basically bringing old Chinese hierarchy and structure to magical Britain. Unfortunately, there just MIGHT be too many problems and plot holes for this idea ever to fly.

The biggest problem I see is believability of a social structure you suggests. Basically, you want to have 4 different houses in 4 fortresses at each others' throats. But in the foundation of all this is basically just a school system of creating a class schedule. Now I know that Hogwarts is a giant part of HP setting, but when all is said and done, in the end it's just a boarding school; not a place where wars and politics are decided. I don't see ordinary people flocking under school houses and letting such an unreal distinction govern their lives.

Side in side with this comes the question of economy. In this setting, EVERYTHING seems to be based on education. Wizards sit huddled in their fortresses and scratch each others eyes out over scarps of knowledge. But in real world, people need other things besides knowledge - food, water, entertainment, tools etc... How are you gonna supply them with that without any sort of supporting structure outside the fortresses?

All four houses are at war with each other over magical knowledge, right? Can you really see Gryffs and Puffs fighting each other over books? I don't honestly see such violent reaction coming out from mere desire to learn. In each society, only the top clique is governed by selfish craving for power (knowledge in this case). To rile up and polarize ordinary masses you need something less tangible - big ideas, promises, prejudices against others, etc... I just can't see entire society structured according to knowledge.

You rightly noticed the problem of other countries. What's stopping people from just apparating to France and getting all the knowledge they desire?

Then there's the problem of characterization. There's no indication whatsoever that in the 1970's there are other people who could oppose Dumbledore and Voldemort on equal footing. Besides powerful leaders, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw miss another important thing - motivation for creating their own sections.

In the end, why would Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fight each other. Can you really see Dean Tomas charging at Justin Flich-Flinchley.
- "I'll get you you loyal bastard!"
- "Your bravery won't save you this time, filthy lion!" ...etc
It's just surreal. Since Voldemort is obviously a bad guy, I don't see why Dumbledore and your two OC's wouldn't ally against him. After all, it's not like they weren't drinking tea in teacher's lounge together mere 10 years ago.

To conclude, you'll have your work cut out for you if you really want to explain how this came to happen.

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Here are some things I can think of that could make this at least a BIT more believable.

Move the split to 1940's. Make it that a Hufflepuff OC kicks out Dumbledore (Gryffindor) and Grindelwald (Ravenclaw). 17 years old Tom Riddle won't be so corrupted at the time, so he won't have the whole world against him - he could offer much more reasonable Slytherin side then Voldemort 30 years later.

More time could also give people time to adjust to the new situation and create a proper atmosphere of mistrust between the houses. Remember, there'll be like 2 generations living in such conditions before Harry pops up. Much more reasonable period for animosity to develop, then mere 10 years in your outline.

Also, scratch the idea of constant war between the houses. They should be closed and self-sufficient. Animosity should be high. They should definitely mistrust each other. But outright war would make the whole setting rather unbelievable.

Oh and work on economy some more. Maybe there are poorly educated people who don't belong to any house and can trade freely with each? Of course, all the best magical items and products should be limited to one of the castles.

And have all 4 heads form some sort of isolation agreement with the rest of Europe; It's the only way such world could possibly work. That could also let you do something with the Muggles in Britain. Kill them all or enslave them?

Dunno. It's an interesting idea, but like I said, it requires a LOT of work before it's anywhere near realistic enough for writing.

 

I wasn't really going for a post apocalyptic environment, but I suppose the outcome is something of that. What I want to show is a new system subplants the old one, where the four houses rule basically. So there is not much fall out in the muggle world. What I would have preferred is to write this as it happened and through multiple perspectives...also that line of thought gets me into thinking of using some of the elements here which are not necessarily HP centric into an original fic, but that's neither here nor there.

Yes, I am sure I could throw in a bunch of DLP member fan favors by a 'red head virgin sacrifice' etc.

Bringing in a Dimension Travel Harry takes care of wrapping up the story I guess, and primarily he was there to avoid the the further complication of writing an AU Harry. When the world is already so different, with so many things, to bring a new life history in would be even more daunting. Specifically because, in this world he would not be left with Dursley's he would be taken in and raised by one of the houses and effectively cease to be the Harry from canon.

 

For the House split with Dumbledore, I would have him be truly manipulative and have others discover his machinations. That seems like a good starting point to create enmity between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff towards Griffindor.

This could also make him more desperate to have Harry in his grasp. Especially if you are going to have the Harry of that universe loyal to another house.

 

Ip82~ First, thank you for the in-depth analysis.

I think the problem is really coming from where the story is set. It is much more suited to be set where it all begins rather than HP time. At any rate, one I do not imagine this to be a Hot War, with constant skirmishes, battles etc. There is much more infiltration, theft, assassination, that kind of thing.

Now, it seems to me that magical Britain is very strongly affected by which houses they belonged to in Hogwarts. Yes, those who are able to afford it, and from that follows that typically those would be the ones to hold power in the country as well, and could make the have-nots submit to them in varying degrees.

No just out of the outset ordinary people will not join old school banners. There is a progression there which either makes them a part of a house or allied to a house or just under the protection of a house. It would be difficult showing that progression if I place this when Harry jumps a dimension. So again probably better to have it set few decades earlier. Initially I wanted to show that only Voldemort and his deatheaters would have the sense to take in the Slytherin and continue their education. Other normal people would have looked to avenues of education for their children and found poor options, as Voldemort would attack any institution that would form to educate regular people. This is where the militarization of Ravenclaw would begin, more as a wing of those people who tried to set up an alternate to Hogwarts that anything else. In absence of the ministry people would look to other sources of security, either submitting to the rule of deatheaters, or for someone like Dumbledore, and coming under his protection. These circles of influence would form the economic sources for each group.

The education is important in the sense that it equals power. If a ‘plot hole less’ progression of such a world can be written then I would be able to show that people in the magical world are generally helpless (since magical knowledge is being hoarded) and need protection of the powerful from deatheaters, and are so willing to provide fiefs, money, goods etc in exchange for that protection. Also only Huffelpuff would really have a fortress, the others would be a little more fluid. But like you said there is a lot here that needs to be written out.

Hehe No, I can’t see that, and that is not what I am going for either. The puffs, ravens, and Gryffies will in general not be at each other’s throats as much as Slytherin’s. In fact they will cooperate in protecting newborns, but the head puff is convinced the gryffindors and Slytherin can not exist together and will not hand them more weapons (education) to wage their war proxy deatheaters and the order. The Puffs will not open up Hogwarts unless the Slytherin, or especially the death eater influence can be kept out. The Militant Ravens, will be those who got as bad as Deatheaters and Slytherin, because they were constantly targeted by them, as more of a reactionary thing. The ‘main stream’ Ravens will not have a bone with Gryffindor, but the militant wing will abhor being weak and have schools in secret, and their separation will bear out because of all the secrecy necessary against deatheaters.

The Gryffindor’s being led by McG will be more of a defensive than offensive organization. Again a school formed in secret to protect from deatheaters. I want there to be cooperation between them and the mainstream ravens, maybe even a joint program of sorts. But since McG takes cues from Dumbeldore who is the head of the order, the main defense against Deatheaters, they will be either too involved in the war or not brutal enough for others. The others will join the Ravens.


Now the above is just immediate thoughts that came to my mind. This is way too big to be fleshed out on one page, as you have clearly demonstrated, I need to work on this more. Now to your suggestions:

Moving it to the 1940’s to establish a better atmosphere mistrust appeals to me, but providing a more reasonable Slytherin does not. That may be a personal thing than anything else. The Hufflepuff head, is not meant to be especially powerful, he is only able to activate those wards (and this idea needs to be written out more as well) that the remaining founders created. Leaving control of the castle to those who were least involved in the current conflict inside the castle. His power only comes from the fact that he is the only one who can bring down those specific wards, and so he will hardly be seen, never leaving the castle, for safety’s sake. Having a head kick out Grindelwald and Dumbeldore makes creating a militant Ravenclaw much easier, and that is something I need to consider definitely, so thank you for that suggestion. Now why they are kicked out again will have to be written out, and again one more reason in favor of setting the story in a much earlier timeline.

For this I was thinking of establishing circles of influence, pseudo serfdoms or something like that. More work to do…

The idea was to create enough unrest within the magical Britain that no one would really have the time to enslave/ wipeout the muggles until they took care of the opposing faction.

At any rate, this idea is so huge and with each question it gets bigger, and keeps on getting daunting. But it keeps bugging me, so I have to sketch it out and see if I can go somewhere with it…or more importantly have the time to.

 

Hm, I like the idea and it's something that I haven't really seen or heard of yet, so that's already some big point for creativity. As well as it can be done by a good author is the biggest concern, though I think if you take it one it would be fine.

ip poked some pretty big holes in the possible storyline although you did a pretty good patch job on the following post. But the question remains, whats stopping them from just going to France to get more knowledge? Maybe have each major school or source of knowledge in allegiance with a different house. Each house would specialize in a certain magic, so the conflict still exists between each house for more, or a more specific kind, of knowledge.

 

I'm not saying make Voldemort into a good guy; Just give him a period of time where he's still be a promising young man, ex head boy, before getting labeled as a dark lord. That would give him time to set up the Slytherin side properly and build up equal relations with all other houses, without all of them immediately ganging up on the big bad dark lord.

In fact, Tom Riddle's 'damasking' could be coincidental with Harry Potter's arrival to that world. You now, the cold war is over and the real one begins, just as a lonely hero appears out of thin air...

 

I think this part would be pretty interesting, what with Harry's knowledge of Voldemort's future could perhaps push Tom Riddle faster down the "dark path", or perhaps Harry is the one that shapes Tom Riddle into Voldemort?

 

Remember, the '40s were the time of WWII. opens all sorts of possiblities.

These would be the Fletchers, Shunpikes, Crabbes and Goyles...

Or, since it is WWII, how about some sort of warding against the German Blitz that goes wrong and cuts the UK off, completely, from the rest of the world...something like some idiot put the whole island under Fidelius and went and got himself blown up before he could tell anyone about it. Oh, yeah, he made it Unplotable, too...(of course his last name would have to be Fudge...Cornie's dad or brother).

 

Hmm....I'm hopeful that It will be fair long and by what you(nuhuh) have written it would be immensely complicated not to mention the possiblity of smut in the story as well, the only thing I'm wondering is what house would harry be in? who are his friends ?, his parent?

But it show alot of promise if it is written well.

one last question will there be more than just wand magic,you know rituals,staff,elementalism that sort of stuff.

 

Well this looks like a really sweet idea. IP82 pretty much pointed out all of the potential problems, and if you do get the chance to write this it could become truly epic. I'm interested in how you plan to balance out the power within each faction, and the matter of power between the purebloods. For instance, there will be some purebloods who share a lot of views with the Slytherins, but were not in Slytherin themselves. How will that pan out, if they have a history of friendship and alliance but are from opposing sides? Any thoughts on how the collaboration between houses will work?

 

Damn, I wasn’t expecting such a huge response. Thanks to everyone for the input.

[QUOTE: HomicidalPsychoJungleCat] Hm, I like the idea and it's something that I haven't really seen or heard of yet, so that's already some big point for creativity. As well as it can be done by a good author is the biggest concern, though I think if you take it one it would be fine.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for the vote of confidence, and it did seem like something new so I am pretty excited about it.

[QUOTE: HomicidalPsychoJungleCat] whats stopping them from just going to France to get more knowledge? Maybe have[/QUOTE]

As I said in my first post, this was a part I hadn’t figured out completely. But there are several ideas on this thread that are more than workable. My initial un-worked-out idea was that Deatheater and the militant groups of other factions may steal important artifacts, tomes from other magical centers and basically make all English citizen persona non grata (sp?) in those countries. Consequently I also am playing with the idea of other nations wanting to have influence on England and so actively taking part in supplying, sheltering the faction(s) that are willing to let France for example have a major say in English politics. As you can see this is a further expansion of the idea.

[QUOTE: mjc] Or, since it is WWII, how about some sort of warding against the German Blitz that goes wrong and cuts the UK off, completely, from the rest of the world...something like some idiot put the whole island under Fidelius and went and got himself blown up before he could tell anyone about it. Oh, yeah, he made it Unplotable, too...(of course his last name would have to be Fudge...Cornie's dad or brother).[/QUOTE]

I am not in favor of a super nation wide ward going wrong in WWII and isolating England, simply because I have seen that done before – I don’t remember where, but I have. WWII does open up possibilities, and of course it lets me show the conflict between Grindelwald and Dumbledore, but I am afraid that it would become a huge digression from the main story. Still it is unavoidable if I begin the story there, I have to mention it, write it out one way or another.

[QUOTE: HomicidalPsychoJungleCat]Each house would specialize in a certain magic, so the conflict still exists between each house for more, or a more specific kind, of knowledge. [/QUOTE]

Yes, this did occur to me, and I am very interested in this. Also, to make this happen, I would again have to agree with Ip82 that the timeline should be moved backwards. Because at the outset of the split, there really would be enough witches and wizards in the public with training to teach all the disciplines. It would take an atmosphere where becoming a teacher or a known specialist is dangerous, and for lines of knowledge to be hoarded and lost for this to be effectively believable.

[QUOTE: ip82]In fact, Tom Riddle's 'damasking' could be coincidental with Harry Potter's arrival to that world. You now, the cold war is over and the real one begins, just as a lonely hero appears out of thin air...[/QUOTE]

Now THAT is a very interesting idea. Makes it much more reasonable for Harry Potter to appear too. Also, having two dark lords, if Grindelwald isn’t taken care of by Dumbledore by then, could make things even more interesting.

[QUOTE: Son of the Forsaken] Hmm....I'm hopeful that It will be fair long and by what you(nuhuh) have written it would be immensely complicated[/QUOTE]

Yes, yes, yes, way too frikkin’ complicated. Just the notes are going to be long enough. I have no idea how long the actual final product would be. 

[QUOTE: Son of the Forsaken] not to mention the possibility of smut in the story as well [/QUOTE]

It took me a while to think of where you found the possibility of smut and then I realized ‘oh! I did mention love slaves’ ha! Yes, I guess there is the possibility of that, but I wonder how I would fit that in when there is so many plots. I am sure there will have to be ‘interludes’ where I can’t write any more and say hmm! This story could use a harem sequence!

[QUOTE: Son of the Forsaken] the only thing I'm wondering is what house would Harry be in? who are his friends ?, his parent?[/QUOTE]

He will be in Gryffindor, simply because he will appear wearing something that gives him away as belonging to that house. I suppose I could use the cliché of the Gryffindor sword, it might give him legitimacy, but I honestly was just going to go with Gryffindor robes, crest.

I am not decided if his parents will be there, or if they will be married to other people etc. I see a role for James Potter in the Gryffindor hierarchy including the Order hierarchy. In canon it is mentioned that he was one of the top students in his year, ‘brilliant’ is the word McGonagall or Rowling  used, so it would be interesting to write him. If his parents exist, I think it will be one not the other.

[QUOTE: Son of the Forsaken] one last question will there be more than just wand magic,you know rituals,staff,elementalism that sort of stuff.[/QUOTE]

If I am able to show a progression where certain disciplines of magic become specialized to each faction/school then, yes.

Rituals, definitely, there is evidence in canon for it, and if we have a social structure where surviving means to be powerful then magic like rituals would make sense.
Staff, I have never been attracted to the idea of staffs in HP verse. I have seen quite a few fics which employ a staff, but I have never been convinced why it was important other than to add another quirk to Super! Harry badassery. Now, if you’re sending him into a crossover, or a verse where magic is channeled through staffs, then sure go ahead.

I can think of using them as a disguise. People would expect to be attacked with a wand, but suddenly some old biddy points her walking staff at you and boom you’ve been banished a hundred yards away. But, eh, I would be forcing it, if I put staff magic in there.

Elementals, are again something that I am not completely in agreement with when used in the HP verse. They have spells to create and direct fire and water, why can it not be that there are simply more powerful spells for more powerful mages to use. In my current fic I will be using elemental spells (without calling them elemental) but they will require brute magical force tempered by significant ability to control and presence of mind.

Although, I will say, given what we can infer from canon the houses do have a single element designated to them; Gryffindor (fire), Slytherin (water), Huffelpuff (Earth) and Ravenclaw (Air/Wind). So it can be that in their quest for power Slytherin and Ravenclaw heads are able to unlock some kind of innate elemental ability, forcing the other two to look in that direction as well. However, Huffelpuff head will not be a magically powerful wizard, so that pretty much means no elemental power for him.

[Quote: DreamRed] I'm interested in how you plan to balance out the power within each faction, and the matter of power between the purebloods. For instance, there will be some purebloods who share a lot of views with the Slytherins, but were not in Slytherin themselves. How will that pan out, if they have a history of friendship and alliance but are from opposing sides? Any thoughts on how the collaboration between houses will work?[/Quote]

The idea keeps morphing a little so I will just give you my immediate thoughts on this. I meant to keep the Deatheaters around, so anyone could join their cause. That would mean those students who have graduated from their secret schools could choose to join Deatheaters or defect as it were. The purebloods would pay an important role in being the mouthpieces and ambassadors for each faction, since large parts of this will be a cold war, their old alliances would be needed. Now if the dark war with Grindelwald has not been resolved then already we are looking at a division within the people, add to that deateaters rising first before Slytherin is thrown out of Hogwarts, you have another group besides Grindelwald who is taking in like minded people free of house affiliation. The houses will become important when they are expelled. The deatheaters (of mixed houses) would immediately take in the Slytherin students and try to get the others. Grindelwald will take in the Ravenclaw, those who are willing to join his side. The rest would be left largely on their own, until the Order realizes that they can’t afford for Voldemort and Gindelwald to be the only ones with magical schools training future members of their groups. So they will provide an alternative, where the moderate expelled Ravenclaw and Gryffindor will take their schooling.

There will be collaboration between the houses. Several scenarios where they will look at another as a lesser evil or an ally of necessity or moment. For example, Huffelpuff head may release the names of the magical newborns tracked at the castle to Minerva McGonagall so she can ensure they are not killed by Deatheaters.

I still have to work on Grindelwald’s character, his motivations, final goals. Almost, seems like too much work for a fanfic The little voice in my head keeps telling me write you own story dammit! JKR is going to redeem Snape and marry off Harry to Ginny anyway!

~~~

I think the story would have to start off as a non-Harry centric fic. I will have to go back in the timeline and begin laying out the foundations. Since I have to cause the expulsion of the three houses from Hogwarts, when should that be?

One option is to have it during the time of Grindelwald and Dumbledore. When say both are teachers, and Grindelwald created a situation like the one in my first post above. The problem I have with that is that why the hell would Grindelwald care to own Hogwarts? Voldemort’s motivations are clear, he is the heir of Slytherin, his ancestor was forced to leave the castle, and so he as his descendant wants to reclaim it and change into Salazar’s vision for it.

That brings me to the second option. As ip82 suggested, Dumbledore and Grindelwald are forced to leave the school and continue the fight outside of it. However, the war with him does not come to an end and continues as a cold war. This would make it much easier to create a militant faction of Ravenclaw.

So the war with the dark lord Grinderwald continues, as does Hogwarts. Tom Riddle goes to school, grows up, does his nasty things, and seeing the current professor (whoever he may be) as weak, doesn’t even attempt frontal assault of the school. He is simply able to get the defense against the dark arts job and start seeding unrest within the school. Bringing it to the point where the weak Hufflepuff headmaster uses the last resort.
Thrown out, Voldemort becomes reactionary and for sometime gives up the shadows, making his deatheaters known publicly, while himself remaining unnamed. The Dark Lord Grindelwald is now aware of another dark lord, and divides his endeavors against Dumbledore to include yet unknown Voldemort…so on and so forth.

I also have to think about the style of writing for this. If it is anything like my current fic (those of you who have read it please comment), then it will become very difficult to write. I’m usually more descriptive than not.

 

If you do write this, you won't need to flesh it out as you did with The Binding. With The Binding, you took a somewhat cliched idea and added your own twists to it. This idea is completely original, so you won't have to work as hard to escape cliches. Not that I didn't like the writing style of The Binding, but it was cumbersome after a while.

 

Wisdom is right about the writing style with The Binding. I liked it very much, but it suited the story you were writing, whereas it might not suit this one so well. You'll still have to do some damn hard work to pull in the backstory to all this, but I think a lot more could be explained through action and some well-placed conversations so that what's happened is revealed in fragments rather than in larger narrated chunks. Obviously you had to do that with The Binding because we saw a lot of what happened only through McGonagall's eyes, but because the majority of readers will know the history (since it seems you're thinking of starting at the beginning of the houses splitting, sometime when Riddle was in school) there'll be less to fill them in on. I'd say try and spend less time on description than you would otherwise, and you'll end up falling into a pattern of using less to say more.

When I first read that the idea that came to mind was setting it sometime in the ten/twenty years after Riddle leaves Hogwarts, when he's gathering followers and expanding his knowledge, but he's neither at the height of his power nor out in the open. That way when he returned and made his big debut in the eyes of the wizarding public there would already be a sense of unrest from the expulsion of the other houses that he could exploit, and that might give you a way to up what is merely unrest into some proper violence, say if he calls in favours or ties he's made over the years with different houses.

For Grindelwald, it seems a little strange having him as a teacher at Hogwarts. I'd never really imagined him coming to England, just fighting in Switzerland or Germany or wherever he came from, but him teaching could be interesting. The outlook for the 'light' doesn't look good with two powerful Dark Lords teaching or having taught the future generations . I'd suggest keeping Grindelwald as an outside force rather than a teacher, because it might balance out the forces and keep everything from being associated with Hogwarts. That way you'd have them sort of beset on all sides - a rising dark lord in Hogwarts, a fully established one outside, a Muggle war going on, and unrest between the four houses culminating in the expulsion of three.

Assuming there's a Ministry still at this point, what were you thinking of doing with them?

 

While I have to say that this looks to be a good idea for a story.
You said: "The Huffelpuff new years are taken into the castle told to forget their families and any ties outside of their house" The Huffelpuff's are LOYAL and the muggleborn Huffelpuff's are not very likely to forget their family as I would assume that house tie's are not as important as those of family.
So it's a good idea Nuhuh but that bit disturbs me a bit.

 

You would have to explore the Hufflepuff head a bit more. Why did he kick out every student not part of Hufflepuff? How did he learn of the failsafe(I assume Dumbledore told him but expand)

Another possiblity is instead of having this seperation happening over 10 or sixty years but have it start when Dumbledore was still a student. Dumbledore/Riddle etc were the rising stars of their respective houses and such. I'm not sure why but I think the way you have Dumbledore it would be important that he has grown in this enviroment so he see's nothing wrong with his actions. The Dimenstional Traveler Harry might have very diffrent views than the Grrfindors in this world. And I think you are trying to make the Grryfindors to noble or reactionry under Mcgonagle. I am not sure how she would react however Grryfindors would probly be raring to go at the Slytherins. More to the point the fact you were mentioning the 3 sided alliance, or the possiblity, against Slytherin seems to cut and dried. Spread distrust between the houses. Perhaps the Ravenclaws, who you mention have become incredibly millitant about knowledge, basiclly steal and entire library of the stuff from the unsuspecting Grryfindors?

More to the point, expand on why the Wards could hold against Dumbledore/his followers or Voldemort/his followers with years to work. We know these wards were set by the founders, however we need to know why these wards are so speacial. Do they have speacial power source, or something like that.

Does Dumbledore as Headmaster, or at least he was have any speacial relationship with the wards, or has that been cut of.

I like the idea of the undeducated making a small living while the educated operate in sort of serfdoms. Its very cool.

All in all it could be quite good, however you need to exand on the idea a bit.

 

'Puffs can be ambitious too. Maybe the Hufflepuff Head saw his chance at glory and decided to take over Hogwarts. The house someone is placed in does not dictate every decision that person makes.