I recently read a novel that featured genetic memory, "Gene" or "The Minotaur Conspiracy" by Stel Pavlou. The main characters are descendants of two warriors fighting on opposite sides of the Trojan War, and are compelled to kill each other through their descendants and genetic memory in a form of reincarnation.

Has anyone found a story incorporating this idea? It's a great idea to sidestep the obligatory training. Harry learns swordsmanship through genetic memory of a knight in the Dark Ages, dark and light magic through previous wizards in his family, etc.

It would even make a decent read if Harry and Voldemort were like the main characters of "gene" and are the latest reincarnations of rivals, and are instinctively compelled to kill each other. Voldemort became powerful in the field of dark magic through his genetic memory of a predecessor Dark Lord, and Harry only begins to catch up when his genetic memory begins to surface.

 

That's pretty close to the idea that Harry and Voldemort are linked by the founders and the descendants will always fight. The idea that they gain knowledge is newer but not that different.

 

Is that so? Well, fuck. I can't say I've read any as I pointedly ignore those stories. I was thinking of a more sci-fi/thriller-esque kind of thing.

In one of my numerous one-chapters-stories Harry is confronted by the Dursleys after he is influenced by Voldemort's attempt at possession. he snaps, and kills the Dursleys

Dumbledore is notified by a monitoring advice, and goes there with Fawkes in tow. He comforts Harry, but they realize that Petunia's death nullified the blood magic protecting him, and are ambushed by Death Eaters and are unable to escape. Dumbledore dies, and Harry's genetic memory of an assassin surfaces conveniently, allowing him to slip past the Death Eaters.

When he is branded a fugitive by the Ministry, one now dominated by Voldemort's supporters, Harry witnesses a memory of his ancestor carrying out an assassination, and kills off Lucius Malfoy. According to my outline, he eventually... arrives in France and somehow ends up with a relationship with Fleur. I was pretty vague at the time I wrote it.

Witnessing the memory of an assassination is kind of like the video game Assassin's Creed, now that I think on it.

 

I've seen this in Harry Potter/Stargate crossovers, but it's always the Ancient's knowledge.

Also, it'd be a pretty interesting thought experiment to think about how different the wizarding world would be if all wizsrds had genetic memory. The pureblood movement would have a lot more weight behind it for one. Who wants to have a child with a muggleborn who only has 1 generations worth of knowledge when you can marry a pureblood and give your children the maximum possible advantage in life.

 

Well Andro has taken it upon himself to write this fic.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3836799/1/Assassins_Creed

I find the idea to be an intriguing one. With Dumbledore's death(my guess was correct) Voldemort's #1 focus becomes Harry. So this is going to be a Harry vs Voldemort story without interference from anyone else. It also has Harry on somewhat equal footing with Voldemort. That is a brilliant idea, I have a few questions though. When is Harry coming back to confront Voldemort? Are they going to just have one final battle or are they going to have confrontations at different times? Is Harry going to work alone like an assassin? Is he going to take out high priority Death Eaters like an assassin? *sigh* I have way too many questions and very little answers. I need more of this fic to satisfy my curiosity.

Also I have no clue how you are going to do the Harry/Fleur pairing. The only way I see it possible:if Bill gets killed. Fleur flees to France. Harry meets a grief-stricken Fleur and comforts her.

Other than that I can't figure out how you are going to have a Harry/Fleur pairing as the Bill/Fleur pairing was already canon in Book 5.

I like the idea for this fic. As long as this doesn't interfere with the To Define Treachery(Andro assures me it won't) I have no problems. I look forward to this unique fic.

Homer

 

I usually like Andro's writing, but I can't help but be a little horrified at how you portrayed Occlumency and Legilimency. It is strangely reminiscent of those in bad indy!Harry fanfics.

The plot of Voldemort's mind overpowering Harry's and causing him to kill the Dursley's is interesting however, as is Dumbledore dying so early to save Harry. Why is this not up for review or in the WBA section, Andro?

 

That Occlumency mess really killed my momentum in Serpent of the Haradwaith. I'll revise it.

I'll post up the first chapter to this latest idea.

As to why I didn't early... well, you can't handle the truth.

It was that I feared that I would draw warranted/unwarranted criticism because the title matched an upcoming highly-anticipated video game.

Pretty fucked up, no?

 

Well I read the Assassin's Creed fic and I have to say I like it. My only problem is like others have said the occlumency and legilimency was...indy to say the least. Things only seen in sci-fi epics? Bah anyways great fic so far and the idea of Voldemort's mind overpowering Harry's was very creative in its execution. I would say 5/5 but I need to see more.

This is all besides the point, the whole genetic memory idea is very interesting at first glance but I can see a hell of a lot of problems that you would need to work around to get this to work. For instance would you have Harry remember everything that the ancestor knew like spells and where his money and home was, or would you stick with a type of "muscle memory" in the case of an assassin and he would only gain the instincts and movements of a killer but not the actual memory of the other's life? If you went down that route then I could see something kind of interesting where instead of an assassin you went with a serial killer and had Harry then have to attempt to limit his killing urge to death eaters and other bad people
Example: Dexter- A serial killer who works for the police and kills the criminals that they can't catch.

 

You bring up good points sepiroththebrokenangel. What I was planning was that Harry has something like a dream sequence - he literally remembers his ancestor executing an assassination, and once that memory is sort of "unlocked", so to speak, he stores the memory in his Pensieve, and studies it, extracts the basic concepts, and duplicates it. Muscle memory comes along naturally, but only in times of dire need.

And Phil, what I was thinking was having Harry realize one of the doctrines of an assassin - they are the hunters, not the hunted. Thus, no one expects him to run away. While Britain becomes increasingly dominated and as he gets closer to being caught, he moves to France, where he appeals to the French head of the Aurors in an attempt to get them to ally with the underground resistance.

When the French Auror commander refuses, Harry prepares to assassinate him, but decides against it when he learns that Fleur and Gabrielle are his daughters. Then it'll go moral-y.

 

Seems like a good start so far, and I somewhat disagree with the others on the occlumency. It does seem a bit 'indyish' but there looks to be a twist to it that leads to the genetic memory coming out. The whole sequence with the DNA seemed to point in that direction.

What seems strange to me is Harry lamenting over his darker side, because you aren't really aware of how you think. Though such a sudden shift would be bound to cause a bit of psychological pressure. It's like old people say, you feel the same age but your body gets older without your realising it.

Still, I'm gonna watch this some more and give it a mark.

Aekiel

P.S. Don't give out important parts of your plot just to satisfy others' curiosity, takes away from the twists of the story.

 

Speaking of plot details, I'm planning on having Harry going on a killing spree - just joking, I understand Aekiel.

I've posted the revised version on the WBA subforum. I've substantially changed the whole mind sequence, but I kept the DNA sequence. Otherwise, I sent it careening in another direction. Basically, Harry uses his worthless memories to keep his valuable memories intact, but he cannot use the same tactic for his personality. Think of the memories and his traits are different data types in comp sci - a boolean can't be compared to an int.

What do you think of a spell that Harry can use to absorb DNA? By doing this, he can view genetic memories of the owner of the DNA. This of course, can only be cast at the expense of enormous power, translating literarily to it being cast very seldomly, on top of Harry being inherently very reluctant to further mutilate his persona with the conflict with Tom, and will be relegated to a plot device rather than a way to make it Super!Harry.

I'm planning on sneaking in an off-hand comment of pairings that others would like, in hopes of baiting bobmin to making some bitchy, would-be sarcastic comment about voting for Harry/Neville's grandmother/Hagrid's mom, like he did to another story. Unfortunately, the author did not see or take the opportunity. I, however, will write that scene, and send it to his inbox.

On an off note, is anyone buying the game? While I don't have a PS3 or an XBox 360, I am planning on buying the novelization.

 

Yeah, its just a pet peeve of mine when authors say what they have planned for the next chapter and the likes.

EDIT: Ok, I've had a look and I can say the scene is vastly superior to the previous version. You did use the cliché method of guarding important memories with everyday ones, you put a spin on it that was quite interesting. I am wondering if you're going to continue with the mental attacks instead of the normal route of Voldemort backing off after he's got what he needed. Having information is good, but affecting your enemy's personality to your side of the battlefield is good.

Overall, good chapter, still. I liked the revision of it better than the first, so you've done a good job there and I'm gonna look forward to the second chapter.

Hmm, it does seem like a quick way to make Harry super powered... It needs a severe drawback, and maybe an upper limit on the number of times he can do it. Could consider having it only absorb the memory section of the DNA, otherwise he'd just be taking on useless data, and that could result in deformities and other such physical changes. Also, instead of it requiring loads of power as a drawback, make it so that it causes genetic instability in Harry so that if he does it more than... say once in 6 months/a year it could cause his cells to decay. Upper limit I would just as 6/8 at most, possibly even less so that he can't go around absorbing memories from just anyone.

You also have to consider the effect on the target. Will it just be like a DNA swab, painless and quick, or will it kill/hurt them grievously?

That would be highly amusing, so if he does, make sure to post it on here .

I don't have a PS3/XBox 360 either, though my friend does so I can always bribe him into letting me play it .

Aekiel

 

The DnA absorption would result in increasing genetic instability, but I’m uncertain about what side-effects it will result in. The results will be detrimental, but I don’t want a deformed guy as the story’s main character. Anyone have any thoughts? I was thinking his magic manifests its degeneration through his inability to Apparate over long distances, but I’m at a loss for what else.

It will be lethal. If this were HBP-compliant, Slughorn doesn’t want to give up his memory about the Horcruxes, Harry fucking cannibalizes him and views his memory that way.

Actually, I think it could be HBP compliant. Harry consumes the memories of certain Death Eaters to locate the Horcruxes.

 

Could work, though I was thinking more of periods of crippling pain after the DNA starts to integrate. I don't think an instant process would be a good idea, because even in the magical world healing takes time, and this is just another form of 'healing'. Give him maybe an hour's grace to find shelter before a couple of hours worth of pain lays him out. Inability to apparate long distances is also a good idea, along with anything else that dematerialises the body or transforms it. Make him unable to use polyjuice potion or some such thing.

Your method of using the memory transfer on Slughorn would be a great idea, as it not only gives him the knowledge of the horcruxes, but gives him the memories of a potions master who can brew Felix Felicis. If that ain't a good idea nothing is .

Though this does bring up the point of the consequences on the victim. Slughorn dying wouldn't effect the plot too much I think, though explaining a suddenly dead body would be quite uncomfortable.

Aekiel

 

I wracked my brain for the solution to the why Fawkes can't take Dumbledore to safety and return for Harry, or vice versa, and I came up with something like this.

The Dark Mark is basically a curse that affects its area of effect, and kind of dampens Fawkes ability. Fawkes is allowed to leave because they share a repelling effect, but because of that, cannot return.

I will demonstrate Voldemort's ingenuity further by having Dumbledore and Harry board the Knight Bus, which is filled with disguised Death Eaters that attempt to subdue them. Fawkes is separated from them both because they assume that they are safe once they leave on the bus, and so can't rescue either of them.

So, do they work?

 

It is a well thought out explanation and I deem it to be plausible.

May I, a mere mortal, make a request O' Mighty Andromalius?

Please do not have the leader of the light go out with a whimper. Albus Dumbledore should go out with a bang. Taking a good number of Death Eaters with him to the next great adventure, as Dumbledore so graciously puts it
-----
"Harry, dear friend, the Unspeakables have other sources than captured Death Eaters for these little tidbits."

It just doesn't seem right to me. I don't know "Harry, my dear protoge, might fit better, but friend doesn't seem right.

Homer

 

Yeah, I've decided how Dumbledore's going to go. It won't be an ignoble death, trust me, Phil.

I agree, dear friend doesn't seem to fit well. Protoge doesn't seem to be a word actually used in a conversation between two people though. I'll just truncate that part entirely and go with "The Unspeakables have other sources than captured Death Eaters for these little tidbits."

As for the explaining of dead bodies, I don't think this Harry will really care, since he won't return to Hogwarts, and I don't have to force myself through heart-to-heart conversations between Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

 

If there were heart-to-heart conversations between Harry, Ron, and Granger, I'm afraid I would be severely wounded by the treachery by one of my favorite authors.

Speaking of treachery, any news on the next update for To Define Treachery?

Homer