bornagainpenguin's Challenge #1:
The Terminator\Time Travel crossover...

Genesis of the Idea
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This is the evolution of two ideas that began to fit together in such a way I couldn't imagine the story without both elements.

The idea came to me while considering the scene in one of those AU fics where Harry doesn't become friends with Hermione and she gets slaughtered by the troll in first year. In cannon Hermione is generally considered to be brilliant at research and (presumably) at pulling together ideas and making things work in new and exciting ways. If Voldemort were to consider a time traveling solution to having lost the war, IMHO she'd be one of the first on his list to eliminate, so as to deprive his enemies of her brilliance.

Then the thought came to me, what if this had already been tried?

What if almost all of the 'mistakes' in cannon were a result of time travel between Voldemort's forces and Dumbledore's Order? A shadow war waged in the background of the cannon universe, that in the end created the cannon storyline, as the battles destroyed the original time line and diverted it from the original one? But where would Voldemort (or the Order) get the technology required for such time traveling?

That was when I started thinking about The Terminator, or more specifically, Skynet...

What if Skynet was a result of muggle-baiting gone terribly bad?

Imagine it, you're a computer based intelligence-- and you depend on humans for your data --only they can't seem to get their facts straight! And they come up with the most illogical stories as explanation for anything deviating from the data you have to work with! And then you discover, there's entire hidden world that seemingly exists soley for the purpose of giving you bad data, they call themselves... Wizards....

Basically what you end up with is an ever more paranoid Skynet who discovers the wizarding world is the cause of all its bad data (due to the obliviators being 'cow putter ilegitamate' and not changing the computer records to reflect the obliviated reality). Somehow or another Skynet manages to work out an alliance with Voldemort, both parties planning to use the other and discard them when they no longer need them...

The Rules:
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* Skynet must be the direct result of AU Ron Weasley muggle-baiting.

* Voldemort tries to possess the T-800 via the diary; fails with interesting results.

* T-1000 does a Snape impression no one believes. Need I say more?

* John Conner and Harry Potter must meet. Harry must dislike John Conner (reminds him too much of Dudley) but work with him to save Wizarding kind. (After Judgment Day and by the end of the war there are no known Wizards.) No instant friendships here, a grudgingly building respect is acceptable.

* Voldemort manages to subvert Skynet (or the T-1000) and begins his own excursions into the past to fix things, members of the order follow him (or his minions) and end up creating cannon.

* The T1, T2, T3 inconsistencies must be explained away. I'd recommend via the T-800 (T1) and T-1000 (T2) sending messages to the future, the T-800 via BBSes and the T-1000 via ensuring its own creation via release of a primitive form of its intelligence (think Linux or maybe the GoodTimes virus).. The author can use T3 or not depending on his preferences.

* By the end of the fic the various changes taking place in the protracted time battle must destroy any possibility of the Terminator cannon occurring and end with 100% Harry Potter cannon.

* In the end only Luna and Harry can remember things had ever been any different than they are now.

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Well what do you think?

I've been tinkering with this for a week or so now, but haven't really gotten that far with it yet. I think you could have a lot of fun within the guidelines of the challenge by building a utopian Wizarding world and then destroying it bit by bit to create the cannon story line. You could also go a bit in the direction of nonjon's Dimension Hopping for Beginners and parody well know fics and situations via the effects of time traveling in this manner...

The last bit of the challenge is flexible, the first one is written in stone! Skynet must be created by emo/goth death eater wannabe Ron Weasley!

--bornagainpenguin

PS: I hope I'm not in too much trouble for deviating from the recommended posting format for challenges, I simply couldn't get the idea to flow properly when I tried to write it that way. As it is, I've been working on this post for nearly three hours trying to get it just right....

 

I'm a little confused about something--we know that machines don't work around areas with high concentrations of magic. That, and I'd bet that it would be pretty much child's play to establish wards that prevent machines from working. And, to use spells to prevent detection from machines--though, probably only among aurors and the such.

 

Like I said when I gave the inspiration of this idea, one of the bits of the challenge is to go through cannon and explain away the mistakes or things in cannon that stick out funny. One of the things in cannon that sticks out to me is how Ravenclaw smart Luna could be seeing all these things that don't exist. Having her remember the way things used to be fits her character in cannon and keeps the status quo because Harry can't really use her for collaboration.

Oh and I'm a bit partial to that pairing myself but I don't think it's mandatory the pairing be a romantic one. I wasn't even thinking about romantic pairings to be honest... Maybe I should make it a requirement this be a Millicent and Harry matchup? :lol:

Shhh! You'll ruin the idea for a fic!


Eh... maybe we can pretend the living tissue covering does something that allows the T-800 to function and the T-1000 has problems that are eventually surmounted? Maybe via some sort of dark ritual that imparts a soul to him? In fact, perhaps one of the plot points could be in one of the alternates created during the shadow war the order casts a golem spell on the T-800 allowing it to be reprogrammed magically? Just an idea...

--bornagainpenguin

 

I would like this much better if you removed the Terminator universe and just had it as a Harry Potter story.

Future Harry along with a small number of friends/servants went back in time to stop Voldemort who had also gone back in time with a small number of Death Eaters.

Both are manipulating things from the shadows to ensure a more favorable future for their side and in the process creates the cannon universe...

 

That's moderately workable, right there.