I'm thinking either Hermione or Ron, to give Nathan that push he needs.

 

I hope it's Hermione. I've rarely seen her die in any fic. I've seen Ginny die (Forging the Sword takes it as its basic premise, I think), I've seen Ron die (and he's usually easily replaced, being an average teenager and all), but I've never seen Hermione die and Harry get affected by her death.

 

I would say it is Cedric since everyone here is guessing it to be not him.

 

Can't believe I'm saying this, but he's right. I wonder how champions' most important are chosen in this story -- is this Goblet's doing or are judges/Dumbledore responsible?

I'm hoping for Ron. He's annoying and useless. I wonder how it'll happen. As it's going to happen at the end of the year exactly (as opposed to "by the end of year 4"), the only reasonable ways I can think of are the graveyard or Crouch Jr. getting a kill after being found out. Unfortunately, I don't see how it can be Rita, not at that exact moment.

 

Am I the only person who noticed that he said at least one person you don't expect is going to die? Could be looking at a Red Wedding.

 

So both Ron and Hermione? Christmas come again!

Frivolity aside, I'm actually thinking that either one of Harry's and Nathan's parents could also be a valid suspect for the upcoming death count.

 

If we are speculating, I would put my money on Papa Rosier. There're many reasons, but among them 1)he's not required for the plot and 2)it would be a big step forward into adulthood for Calypso.

 

Count me in for this. Ron and Hermione's deaths would mean very little to Harry, so it would be quite pointless. Neither of Harry's parents (or Sirius, for that matter) have done much in the story, but any of their deaths would have a major impact on Harry which would in turn affect the plot.

 

If Rosier Sr. and someone close to Harry died, Harry could easily swear to kill anyone affiliated with Voldemort without alienating Calypso. I'm cool with that.

 

To be honest even if Harry would be chosen as Nathan's hostage I don't believe Harry would agree with that. I mean the whole situation would remind him Ivan's detention. He is bound, helpless and add to that unconscious.

 

Unexpected death?

Dumbledore.

 

That's another matter entirely. He may not even have a choice, but even if he does it doesn't matter whether he agrees. The insult is that the person Nathan would miss most is his retarded (in Harry's opinion) friend, not his brother. Now compare that to Fleur and Gabrielle and you're mashing salt into the wound.

 

I think it's too early for that, honestly. Him dying at the end of year 4 would really be too soon.

 

And unexpected, I'm not sure you've understood the purpose of the guessing game we've got going here.

Srsly though, that was the most unexpected death I could come up with that'd have relevance in the story and affect Harry in some way. I'm sure Stan Shunpike would be unexpected too but who the fuck would care?

Other likely candidates would be Harry's parents and uncles, can't come up with a viable candidate amongs his peers.

I can come up with a likely suspect though, I'd wager that Barty Crouch jr. won't come as quietly as he did in canon..

 

Unexpected? And now we will get hundreds of posts trying to guess who is that because speculating is our favorite pastime.

I will start with some assumption that may be wrong. I suspect that Santi will not want to completely derail the canon just yet. For now Nathan's side of this fic mirrors more or less the books with few changes and because of that it doesn't matter that Harry just hears about them afterwards. Once that changes he probably will be directly involved in changed events, but from Santi's comment it appears that the next year he will be back in Durmstrang. Because of that I don't expect for this unexpected person be someone that would have a big effect on the events from the canon fifth year.

Which means no Dumbledore, Snape, Hermione and Ron. Or anybody that would affect Nathan too much compared to canon!Harry dealings with what happened to Cedric which means his parents or uncles.

My other assumption is that it's someone not only unexpected, but somehow important to this fic. Krum would be a perfect person, since it would affect Nathan much and at the same time would be a major event for Harry, but Santi suggested he will graduate (could be a misdirection). Rita is another, especially if it's Calypso or Harry who kill her, probably unintentionally when they wanted to capture her and it would add to their descend into "darkness". Same goes for Kira.

And if I were to choose, I would say it will be Krum's ex-girlfriend after she tries to have a revenge on Hermione.

 

I don't think that matters, honestly. People see problems with the relationship. If what they're saying is true, saying "I was focusing on something else" doesn't really excuse it, I don't think. You should have been able to focus on the things you want to focus on without letting others suffer for it.

As it is, the relationship appears problematic, or at the very least weak. If that wasn't your intention, then you have a problem here because now your readers have a different idea than you of what's actually going on and it will color their perception of what is coming next in different ways than you expected.


Now go back to writing a fic a dozen times better than anything I could scrape together.

 

Most of these guesses are pretty good, but it's my opinion that we should look at it from the perspective of the writer: How will this advance the plot, and will it follow the direction I had in mind?

I agree with Pirazy that Dumbledore qualifies as an unexpected death, as evidenced by the reactions to his post. Not only is Dumbledore seen as Harry's grandfather and protector, he is portrayed as so much more powerful than Harry that it is hard to imagine a situation where Dumbledore will not be at the forefront of the battle against Voldemort, after the resurrection of course. His death would advance the plot by providing a significantly more powerful antagonist (Voldemort without Dumbledore to keep him in check) while also providing the vehicle for Harry's slow descent into what his family and the rest of Britain call darkness.

Having said that, his death would also set a tone for the rest of the story that does not hold much appeal to me, the tone of constant terror from attack and guerrilla warfare a la Rowling. Just a personal opinion.

One of the other candidates mentioned that have some merit is Romulus. His death would push Calypso towards Harry even further, perhaps setting the stage for their fifth year romance, as Santi mentioned, as well as making it easier for Harry's family to accept the possibility of a marriage later on (with none of that pesky Death Eater baggage). His death would also allow for a more challenging time at Durmstrang, what with Romulus' protection of his daughter gone (the ambush test aside). Perhaps a Dark Arts professor with a disdain for half-bloods and muggleborns, or one that has a grudge against the Potters? Along with Victor's disappearance, Calypso & Harry would have lost a great deal of their support structure.

Nathan is a weak candidate, in my opinion, as it would not follow the examples Santi has established so far. A mediocre (compared to Harry) wizard who killed a professor and slew a basilisk, Nathan has shown that he has more luck than is healthy for a reasonable person. Furthermore, killing off Nathan would be such an obvious answer to Santi's statement of a person we least expect dying that it would make no sense for him to even hint at it if it were true.

So in short, my insignificant opinion (or is it hope? Bias is so hard to identify) is that it will be Romulus who bites the bullet. I still can't figure out how he'll die though, given that he's at Durmstrang. Perhaps he visits under a disguise to watch the third task?

 

Killing old man Rosier so soon is unlikely in my opinion. I have two reasons for thinking this.
(Feel free to correct me if i am wrong)

1)The Santi has already established that Rosier is one of his favorite characters to write ( with having 4-5 different endings for him). Killing him during the "middle?" of the story seems like a waste.

2) The second reason is probably because the main focus or one of the main aspects of the 5th year will be Harry and Calypsos relationship. Rosier himself is a big part of that, especially the Rosier/Potter family drama that comes along with it. My person theory is that at the end of the 4th year, the Potters are gonna find out who exactly is teaching Harry and that is gonna kick off the drama/problems during the start of the 5th year.

Just my two cents.

 

True, I honestly didn't think about that aspect of the relationship.

 

First off, I'm extremely glad that this story is being continued. I think that you could stand to tweak the interactions between Nathan's friends a bit more, given the antipathy of Harry (and Calypso) towards Ron. Maybe the training regimen will cause a break between them? I can easily see Ron attempting to drag his friend away from studying.

I like your depiction of the dark arts being considered wrong not because of their effects, but because you have to be an inherently darker person to cast them. Sure, maybe casting a laceration curse doesn't make you want to cut people, but to even cast it in the first place you have to have some desire to do so. That's a much more interesting take than a simple direct form of corruption. A greedy person would be able to cast greed-based spells (if they exist,) but the casting would only reflect their inherent greed, not enhance it. It's a nice balance between "the ministry is corrupt and hates all non-traditional magic" and "the dark arts quite literally stain your soul and directly turn you evil." (Of course, there's some psychological backwash from forcing yourself to feel negative emotions often, but outright sadism and the like isn't really a learned trait at age 14 barring serious psychological torture.) It's not as if Harry is constantly casting these spells, either. If nothing else, I appreciate the appearances of Fawkes as a means to judge how deeply, if at all, the characters have darkened their natures.

As for dead person speculation:

Snape would be an interesting death, as he's just out of the picture enough that he wouldn't affect the primarily Durmstrang-based story, but would heavily influence years 5 through 7. Really, it's a wonder fewer people don't kill him off in fourth year, it's a rather massive change with minimal effort.

Maybe Krum? His death would definitely act as a catalyst regarding Harry's development as a dark wizard (though not quite an evil one. More pragmatic, if I read things correctly,) and set a darker mood for the next series of events.

Hermione is my third thought, as she's important to the story, close to Nathan (I still can't tell whether there's going to be romance there, though I'm hedging my bets and saying yes, if only because I truly doubt that this is going to stick to canon relationships given the rightful mocking of Ron throughout,) has a massive canon impact, and has been replaced as the female lead by Calypso, freeing her up for death.

My final thought would be Fudge. He's integral to the year 5 plot at Hogwarts, irrelevant afterwards, the last person I'd expect (seriously, I went through Filch before remembering him,) an important political figure, and liable to influence the story more by his absence than by his presence.

I can't think of any other major character whose death wouldn't either be relatively meaningless in the grand scheme of things (Sirius, Remus, Ron, McGonagall, various Durmstrang teachers,) completely change the tone of the story (Dumbledore, the Potters,) be a bit too important to die (Nathan,) or already die in canon (Karkaroff, Cedric, Crouch Jr.)

Of course, the author might be reading our speculation and deciding, based on who we mention, who not to kill off.