I was reading some Discworld books the other day, and it got me to wondering, are there any fics that deal with SCIENCE! being totally and completely wrong?

I know there are a lot of fics that deal with SCIENCE! as being the answer to everything and use it to destroy/recreate the magical world, but is there any fics where SCIENCE! is a total crock? Instead of diseases being causes by bacteria and viruses, they are actually caused by ill humors, lighting is actually generated by the giants who live in the clouds, and so forth?

 

No, because Harry Potter is set in the real world, where science works. Your idea is bad and you should feel bad.

And stop calling it SCIENCE!, you idiot. Full-caps and exclamation mark refers to mad science, which has little to no place in Harry Potter.

And no, Nikola Tesla was not a squib. Fuck you.

 

Yup, it is set in the real world where vampires, unicorns, and giants don't exist and magic is simply a fairy tale.

Almost all the Harry Potter fics I've read that try to incorporate science and magic end up creating mad science anyways. Transfiguring the air into highly volatile gases and igniting it all a bomb that portkeyed in. Creating a robotic hand that shoots lasers. Creating power armor. I can't remember everything that was created in Make a Wish, but I do know that it was chock full of mad science.

The only fic that I read that didn't head that way was dark and gritty and didn't use so technology so much as muggle military.

 

The idea has some small amount of potential, both serious and humorous. Firstly, it would be a good way to give Hermione a complete breakdown. She learns that everything she was raised to believe in, ie the sanctity and truthfulness of science, is wrong.

On the other hand, it provides for a...different basis for a fic, something not well explored, something not done into the ground.

But in the end, it would probably lead to the old argument of wizard vs muggle, and the sub-argument of whether magic is just a tool or a way of life. Everyone has different opinions on it, so people would keep critisising the fic because they didn't agree with your interpretation of something.

 

It is an interesting and mostly unique idea, but the problem is that it's simply an idea. I'm not sure what kind of story you could write with this idea besides a short one shot. It also has potential to denegrate into Muggle Bashing.