As I've been re-writing one of my older HP fics in hopes of being able to look at it and not cringe, this little thought decided 'hey! I think I'll pester him till he either writes me down or goes insane.'

Anyway, I'm not an avid reader of HP fics, mostly I stick to whats here and what's on some of the authors' favorites lists. So tell me, has this been done to death, and if not, is the premise interesting?

I'm a big fan of intelligent!Harry, or at the very least semblance of a brain!Harry, so instead of child Harry being constantly on the run from Dudley and all that, he takes refuge in a public library, and spends a lot of time reading. Not fantasy books however, I know that's been done, but good books by prolific writers, such as Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky and the like. Making Harry a bit of a fledgling philosopher.

So, what do you think?

 

The idea hasn't been done horribly to death, although it has been done enough in the sort of rewritten-canon-series. I happen to love that genre, so I'd encourage you to write that if you have time and inclination, but the catch is not to make Harry's sudden philosophical nature become a hidden key to his power. That goes beyond cliche.

 

I think it would only work if you yourself are a philosopher.

Also, "Harry is intelligent and reads philosophy books" isn't really enough of an idea to construct a whole story around. You'll get the first few chapters, but as soon as he has to go to Hogwarts, or the fight with Voldemort starts, or any of the major plot points, unless you have something original then it will just turn out like a slightly different canon, which isn't very interesting at all.

I also think you need to come up with a motivation: sure, Harry is intelligent, but what 5 year old boy reads Nietzsche? It's gonna have to be a pretty big motivation to get past that.

 

Five year old boys can't even have complex thinking. But I could imagine a 14-15 year old intelligent Harry reading Nietzsche and doing quotes contest with Dumbledore.

 

Ohh...I like that idea...

Kinda makes you think of Smallville, the cool little see-who-is-better-read battles Lex Luthor and his father have.

 

I was reading Nietzsche when I was 7. Of course that was mostly because of my grandfather's influence, but it is possible. But in retrospect I can see your point. Thank you all for the advice.

 

Look, you're gonna have to have Harry mentored by some sort of old--really old--philosopher-type, and the only way that a 5-year old would is by gaining him as a sort of person to look up to, but at the same time, you don't want Harry to go and live with the random philosopher type person, because that's an overused cliche and doesnt sound good. Make the philosopher-type some sort of vagabond who inspires young harry to learn about what's real in life and what's not. I think that that's a very plausible way. Oh, and the vagabond only has to show up once.

 

After OotP, Harry reading Neitzsche is asking for an angst fest, or else the kind of nihilist dark Harry we all love. One of the two.

 

Harry steps into a library after 15 years of avoiding it at all costs? I doubt it. What, he's gonna sneak into london, or bribe/threaten his uncle into taking him? Somehow, I just don't buy it. Too OOC.

If you want to make him into a philosophy-type, then you're gonna have to start him young and alter his character very early on. Make him go into a library when he's, like, 5. On an excursion with the dursleys, they lose track of him, he finds himself at the library. See my previous post for referrence on how he discovers philosophy--I'm very partial to the meeting the old vagabond.

 

...When did it ever say Harry avoided the Library at all costs?

 

Harry wasnt an avid library-goer during hogwarts. yeah, not avoiding at all costs. So, did you have a thought about anything significant?