As far as we know Harry is only good at Quidditch and DADA, the former because "he's natural" and latter because he inadvertently learned a bit in his tough life. We know almost nothing of his magical power, but we do know he is lazy and his grades aren't the best.

Just until end of fourth year, he had a run-in with a troll, Voldemort & Quirrel (twice), basilisk, was supposedly hunted by most dangerous criminal in Britain, was attacked by Dementors, met Death Eaters at World Cup, was entered to deadly tournament against his own will. And yet, the only thing he learns by himself is Patronus Charm. If he were to keep that up, he not only wouldn't be a match to Riddle in three years, but also in a hundred.

One example where even small change could help a lot: he didn't understand why not to say Riddle's nickname and got whole group captured.

 

Actually, there were seven Death Eaters in the Graveyard:

• Avery
• Nott
• Crabbe
• Goyle
• Wormtail
• Malfoy
• MacNair

ETA: Actually, reading Goblet of Fire again in that relevant chapter, there were more Death Eaters although I don't see any indication of just how many. So, we know there are seven Death Eaters for sure and an unspecified amount more. Either way, Harry is outnumbered.

 

I'm gonna have to go with Vylos on this, I could see Harry taking Peter out pretty easy, as I remember it, it wasn't like they fought some epic duel and Peter beat him through strength and skill, dude just jumped him after Harry just saw someone he knew well die right in front of him for the first time. A six year old having a temper tantrum could have fucked him up then. The way I see it Bella, Snape, Lucius and the rest of the inner circle are the threats and only Malfoy was there of the inner circle, however its been a loooong time since I read book four so I could be wrong on that. Voldemort at that point was still just some fucked up mutant fetus thing and not a real threat. Assuming he has cover and a relatively unobstructed path to run, if he hauled ass quick enough and didn't worry about some stupid stuff like taking Cedric's corpse I don't see it as impossible for him to get away.

Assuming he still has some semblance of stamina from his childhood of Harry hunting all he really needs to is make it to the woods and lay low. Remember powerful wizards they might be, but trained hunter killer teams they are not. These are generally all aristocrats used too the finer things in life and being waited on hand and foot by their servants. Excluding the possibility of magical tracking, I have extreme doubts as to whether or not these guys could track him in the wilderness as long as he was careful. I also think they'd give up fairly quick if he could lay low long enough. Then from that point depending on where you want to take the story, you could either have Harry start casting spells like hell and hope they pinged him for underage magic and came for him or you could have him run through the wilderness until he found civilization and take it from there.

 

Yes, it is true that we know nothing of his magical power so he could be powerful or he might not be. But considering the force of his Patronus, I'd say he is powerful. He is lazy as well, agreed and his grades while above average are not the best, but that does not make him a less than average wizard.

In the first four years, Patronus was not the only spell he learned. He is capable of casting spells from Charms and Transfiguration (he ended up with an EE in both at O.W.L after all, and McGonagall said she was impressed with his score). He also knows enough jinxes, hexes, curses and about how to block/deflect them that he got an O in OWL and managed to coach a bunch of students to better performances. This, given that most of the students there could not even cast Expelliarmus properly in the beginning. That should give you an idea of who is a good wizard and who is average.

You seem to be thinking that knowing great and powerful magic and doing flashy dueling stuff makes a better wizard. That may be, but I refer you to Taure's discussions on spells in HP (here). There are sets of base spells, the better you are able to wield these or the greater your skill with/understanding of them, the greater is your effectiveness. So, yes I can see a Harry who is perhaps a decade older, defeating Voldemort in a duel.

And as to not saying Voldemort in DH - I don't remember it very well but I recall a dues ex machina feeling. If he hadn't said that, they wouldn't have gotten into Malfoy Manor - and wasn't it there that they found out about the cup? And if we are going that route - Dumbledore knew that the Peverell ring was cursed and yet he put it on. He also bolloxed up a bunch of other stuff and admits it - does that make him a less than average wizard?

That still does not make them skilled Hunters/Trackers, Oz . Also, if they were, they would not have had the money to stay out of Azkaban unless they were clever enough to keep their Death Eater membership secret. And considering that Karkaroff named a large bunch of them...

 

Take it a step further: The only reason Harry was so good at Quidditch was that he has natural talent, supplemented by the fact that he was driving the Ferrarri of brooms.

I don't know where this 'weak' Peter comes from. Yeah, he cowered like a bitch for 13 years, but it was either that or Azkaban, what would you do?

The Marauders were not nice people. playing pranks on the bad guiz for honor of the underdog. They were bullies who picked on Snape because he was pathetic. Grow up, they might have, but they weren't the sort to let Peter hang out with them if he didn't have some innate talents, even if he was a natural follower.

Guy killed eleven muggles in one hit, framed not only James' best friend, but a member of a very highup framily, learned how to become a animagus, and brought Voldemort back to life. Sure, Rowling portrayed hims as snivelling and cowardly in Voldemort's presence, but that 1) doesn't make him magically weak and 2) shows that he bloody well knows that Voldemort is a massive dick, with no regard for him (Peter) personally.

So, in short, I'm hesitant of Harry just disarming Peter and waltzing away.

The best way I can think of to make it work is have Harry's one actual skill - his pretty good reflexes - let him catch Peter's attempt to kill Cedric, and knock the other boy down. Together, they start running the hell out of there - get out of AA wards or whatever - and have Cedric apparate them away.

Not very exciting, granted, but seeing Cedric basically saving his ass in what is obviously 'his' fight might just provide the spark Harry needs to get off his duff and actually learn something of use.

 

Assuming Harry and Cedric react quickly enough after being Portkeyed to the graveyard, and assuming they evade Pettigrew's initial curses, it's potentially possible that they could fight their way out (if the Death Eaters are holding back - IE, no Avada Kedavra), with Harry being wounded (So as to obtain his blood for the ritual), and Cedric dramatically killed while escaping.

The chain of events would need some reworking, but it's what comes to mind.

 

Harry escaping the graveyard could be possible, Peter Pettigrew still owes Harry a life-debt and the silver magic hand won't let him forget it. It grabs hold of Harry and hey presto, side-along apparition.

 

As far as I remember Pettingrew successfully kidnapped a witch, Berta Jotkins, I think, so he shouldn't be completely incapable.

If they evaded initial curses Riddle wouldn't be resurrected yet, so DEs wouldn't be summoned. Assuming Riddle is incapable of doing much magic in his small form, Harry & Cedric have real chances of escaping.


I don wonder how would ministry react about two witnesses of Pettingrew being alive and apparently Riddle too.

 

Crouch Jr. sees Harry and Cedric are still alive, and being unhinged already, goes ahead and kills Cedric on the spot, in front of everyone.

The ramifications are enormous. The ministry starts to crumbled earlier, and though they play it off as the late Crouch Senior's personal mistake, it's not enough to keep them from starting to collapse.

So, like canon, they start attacking Dumbledore.

Difference is though, is that Harry and Cedric escaped so quickly, that they never saw or heard Voldemort. Harry has no idea why he was kidnapped, no way of knowing what was going on, and so really has no story of his own to tell. So Voldemort is even more out of public view as Harry and Dumbledore don't come out saying Voldemort was retuning. Instead, the attacks are against how Dumbledore allowed a teacher to be polyjuiced and then how the imposter murdered a student within the halls. Dumbledore's disgrace can be more real - not the pathetic claptrap it was in canon.

From here, author can take it many ways. The classic severing between Harry and Dumbledore, where Harry comes to conclusion that Dumbledore has made one mistake too many. Or, Harry can publically side with Dumbledore, bringing on the more canonesque attacks that he's just an attention seeker.

 

The problem with Harry, or Harry and Cedric, escaping before Voldemort's rebirth is that Harry's blood is required both to give Voldemort a body and to keep his mother's protection going. Remember the look of 'something like triumph' in Dumbledore's eyes? We don't want to change that.

And Harry could survive the escape attempt if Voldemort thought him dead. He could try to escape to the woods behind the Riddle house, or try to go the opposite way, or never even get out of the graveyard. My idea isn't for him to actually escape whole, unharmed, or even as far as Voldemort knows, alive.

What I'm really looking for are realistic cause-effect changes his surviving might cause to the rest of the books. Different escape scenarios and different consequences would be fun to see.

Nice idea there, vlad.

 

Alright fair enough I should have been more specific here, knew well enough that it was far more of a shock than if they had just nabbed some random guy and whacked him. Also I forgot about his fucked up ankle so I'll give you that too but it still lends itself to my point.

About the second thing, I was a bit too specific here, I shouldn't have said Aristocracy but my point still stands that I highly doubt any of these guys can sprint down a street without wheezing much less chase down an active teenage "athlete" and I use the term loosely in the middle of the wilderness while trying to fight him at the same time.

 

The Silver Hand murdered Pettigrew for complying with the Debt, your argument falls flat.

Pettigrew is a shitty duelist, according to McGonnagall, but we have to remember that she was comparing him with Black and Potter.

ETA: I, personally, would like to see Voldemort return without having Harry's blood in his vanes, for once.

 

I disagree. It would be refreshing to see Riddle resurrected with somebody else's blood. It's not like he lacked enemies.

 

The only problem with using a different source for Voldemort's resurrection is that if Voldemort doesn't take Harry's blood, then Harry basically has no way to survive destroying the horcrux in him. Since, as far as I recall, canon never established that Phoenix tears could counteract the basilisk venom Harry would have to use...there's always a deus ex machina, I suppose, if you want to go that way.

 

Yeah I never meant he was fat, I always kinda figured he did whatever he needed to maintain the image of "The Noble House of Malfoy" but actual physical exercise was for the common folks because he had servants to do it for him.

 

Voldemort wouldn't kill him without actually knowing the prophecy. Well that is what I got from reading the books/watching the movie. He wanted to be cautious.

 

There is also the possibility that Voldemort's revival would be delayed if Harry and Cedric were able to escape before the ritual could be completed.

 

True, Mon, but I'd imagine kidnapping attempt after kidnapping attempt would get pretty boring as the main source of conflict in a fic. If his revival were delayed, Voldemort might then find a different wizard to steal blood from, leaving me with the same doubts about the horcrux in Harry.

How would you picture that changing things?