I think I've been reading one too many time travel fics. But I got to wondering if Harry Potter could be remade what could make it a better series. So I'm askking what do you wish would have happened in canon that didn't? What do you think JK should have done?

Off the the top of my head, I can say I've always wanted that locked room in the DoM to actually be important, like the super weapon that we're lead to believe it was. That should have been the power he knows not, instead of love/being the master of death, or whatever.

I would definitely have Harry be a bit smarter than constantly being in the back seat of the short bus with Hermione driving.

Any other suggestions?

 

The final duel. I would make it an actual duel, with spells flying all over the place, not just a single spell fired - and an expelliarmus, no less! - killing Voldemort.

 

Personally, I'm pretty glad the "Power He Knows Not" wasn't in that room. I wanted it to be something about Harry himself, not something external to him (which is what I dislike the most about Nuhuh's fic).

Honestly, there isn't much I'd change that would adjust the major plot. For example, I wouldn't make Harry into a genius at magic able to defeat Voldemort at the age of 17 through skill. That would have felt even less realistic than what did occur, unless some serious changes in the world took place. I would, however, have upped his competence strongly, so that he was about the equal of Snape/Lily in terms of talent (a younger Snape, that is).

This wouldn't impact the course of the plot much, but it would give a greater weight and realism to his actions. Incompetent Harry being able to evade the Death Eaters as in DH is hard to believe, a competent Harry who is not quite up to Voldemort's level but still pretty good at magic is. This would have also avoided the need to turn Hermione "I summoned books on Horcruxes" Granger into a Mary Sue.

I'd also have included far more on the Hogwarts side of things, particularly magic lessons. I would have put in far more explanation and detail about how different bits of magic works (this would accompany a more competent Harry nicely). I wouldn't necessarily change too many things in terms of the overall feel of magic, but I would have made sure it was both consistent, detailed, and fit with the society that uses it.

Which is the final point. I would have made the society work. Stuff like families with ratty clothes when transfiguration exists, a large gold coin equaling £5... this would all go.

I could go on forever.

In fact, I have, elsewhere. I had this idea for a fic which I will probably never write because it's just far too epic, but it was a complete revamping of the Harry Potter magic and world (and thus story) so that it was consistent. I believe my planning got up to ~20k words, and I wasn't anywhere near finished.

 

I'd actually change the romance part (Because Ginny sucks..) I'd make it Harry/Luna ('cause obviously Harry wasn't going to end up with some Slytherin).
Well, that and the Horocrux hiding places. I think I cringed when I read that part of DH -well, I think I cringed in most of the book anyway...
Can you believe this is my first post... I should go to the into thread..

 

Oh yeah, horcrux hiding places. A rational paranoid person (which Voldemort was) would have protected all/most of them with at least as much protection as the locket. Leaving them lying around was just stupid.

 

A more competent Harry is a given. Not uber-intelligent but above average and filled with curiosity about magic. I wanted a hero you could believe in and frankly Harry wasn't that.

I would have liked to have seen a more malevolent Voldemort with greater depth and more screen time.

I wasn't a fan of the Hallows and Horcruxes but I would have been more accepting had they been given more foreshadowing (say the Elder Wand being mentioned in a History of Magic class). Personally, I don't count the diary as foreshadowing for the Horcruxes.

I wish there was more depth to the magical world where we could see, for example, what magical folk did for entertainment. I wish Harry had visited more places in the magical world than the, what, seven or so he did in canon. In the same vein, I really wish the magical system was more detailed, especially on the subject of spell creation.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

 

Regardless of how naturally intelligent Harry would be in my own ideas for a rewrite, I think him being hardworking as opposed to lazy would have made a big difference. Hermione might have been a decent study partner and friend instead of coming off as a horribly smug, I-know-everything, walking dictionary whose every page seems to read "I told you so."

But yeah, Harry would actually have shown true interest in at least one subject, and would have been competent in at least a couple.

The Weasleys: A.) Never would have become the breeding ground for Harry's future romantic interest, and B.) Would never have become the center or introduction for damn near every plot. Of course, then we might actually have to think harder and plan better about how to work certain plot points into the stories. Then again, more intelligence and creativity wouldn't have hurt unless it went the route of Horcruxes becoming such a major problem so near to the end of the series.

 

Well, as a new poster my Opinion may or may not count, but....

First thing would have to be the pairings H/G, R/Hr, and so on. I think it's fair to say that none of us wanted Harry to get with Ginny. There was more material and interaction between him and Hermoine, or even Cho for god's sake. I would have introduced the pairing in his fourth year and let it develop slowly, being a friend first who supported him through the tri-wizard and Umbridge, then later on with his suspensions of Draco in his sixth and finially would have gone with him to hunt for horcruxes during the seventh year.

Next would have to be a mentorship with someone that would actually teach him something of value about fighting and surviving, like Mad-eye Moody.

Third, more time with Sirius' character being a god parent. That would make the angst better after he died in the fifth book.

Fourthly, magic. We only got to see 'real' displays of magic twice in the books, first when Voldemort and Dumbledore fight at the end of the fifth book, and later in the Seventh book when Harry and Hermione go to Godric's Hollow and Harry has the encounter with the snake-person.

And last but never least, end revenge. Molly should have never survived the battle with Bella, that should have been Neville in my opinion. Draco should have died somewhere at the end of book six, after realizing his misguided beliefs were wrong, not surviving and having kids with the younger Greengrass girl. Umbridge getting kissed when they lost control of the dementors in the hearing room. I think you get my drift here...lol

The series was good, but in the end it left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I figure that is why I read fan fiction in hopes of finding that better ending.

 

I'd choose a scenario that would fill Rowling's coffers significantly. How?

Extend the series into Harry's adulthood and fill the way with more enemies and villains. That way, the final duel would occur in Harry's late twenties after serious time travel, world travels, hunts and may near death experiences (of not death itself)...

And, as she did with the current set of books, mature each book progressively so that the final books are written strictly for adults.

 

I agree with you. Sirius dying in book 5 wasn't that big deal for me since we really didnt know him that well anyway. I think it should have been Neville dueling Bellatrix in the DoM, and he should have fell in instead of Sirius. Or better yet Neville should have fell in dragging Bellatrix with him.

 

If I ever got control of the rights for HP, I'd eliminate Horcruxes, annoying philosophy, Hallows, Weasleys (or at least put them on the back burner), and all relationships after Cho.

All of these things detract from the series, in my opinion, and would be easily replaced.

I'd also minimize the role of Dumbledore, and bring a few of the more awesome characters out of the woodwork; Cederic(?), Mad Eye, Sirius and Dung would be possible candidates.

 

I'd have made HBP more an an extension of OoTP. I really liked the dark, mysterious feeling in a few parts of the books, I'd have played more on that.

Removing the Occlumency fiasco is also necessary, there are a lot of other ways to the ending point with Dumbledore. Competence at Mind Magics is a must, it is an excellent interrogation tool.


I would also have spent more time on the romance, or taken it away completely. Throwing two characters haphazardly together really doesn't work, even if they are fairly compatible in the author's mind.

That's all for now.

 

This thread is win. I would make Harry a Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor, simply because it would allow a much more in-depth universe. With Harry in Ravenclaw, he would focus more on schoolwork, and therefore, magic in general.

If I could go into the HP universe, I would learn as much as I could about magic, along with memorizing all the spells I could get my hands on.
I would change the pairings obviously, I would have preferred HP/HG, but that's just me.

I think that Sirius wasn't explored enough, we barely know him before he dies, and he is a interesting character and deserves more back story than he got. Tonks, Remus, Mad-Eye, also were not explored enough, IMO.
On a side note, could someone recomend a few good Ravenclaw Harry fics? Thanks in advance.

 

My main issue with the book is threefold and has mostly been said.

Harry's lack of skill or motivation
The lack of depth in her universe
The lack of character evolution and emotion


Harry's lack of skill or motivation.

This is what keeps fan fiction alive since it is the book's greatest flaw imo.
Here you have a character who is thrown into a world where he has a chance to expand his horizons and really be his own. He's not retarded, he comes from smart parents, who he looks up to. You would think he'd do well. He doesn't need to be some genius but to make him as he is in the books is unbelievable. If you have someone out to kill you, you don't sit around the common room everyday playing chess, you fucking do something about it. Not saying enlist in the army and age 11, because kids are kids, but to spend 7 years eating shit with Ron was just a farce. Hell I will even grant you that maybe in the first 4 books she could get away with it, but after Harry saw the duel between Voldemort and Dumbledore, and how the death eaters dueled you would think he would get his act together.


The lack of depth

Jk created an expansive world, but failed to deliver when it came to explanation or connection. It's almost like she just threw it in for the hell of it without thinking how useful that information would be. I would have liked to see more information on the other wizarding countries, and how the international system works. How is the political system in Britain? How does the economy work? All these are open ended questions that were never fully developed.
The Departments were never really discussed. We know what were they are a vague understanding of what they do, but we really don't know much else. WTF does the Department of Mysteries really do? We saw time-turners, a giant planet room, a room with prophecies (which is odd that they're collected since according to Dumbledore they don't need to come true)- unknown how they are collected- a death chamber with an unelaborated, undiscussed veil, and a plot-hole room that was never talked about again. If she never mentioned it, it would have been fine but to say it and then never speak of it again is poor writing imo.
Creatures are another failure on her part. We know many magical creatures exist in HP, yet what do we know of them? Werewolves are probably the only creature we saw regularly and only because of Lupin and Greyback, But what of vampires, veelas, goblins, and centaurs? These characters all seem to just make a brief cameo in the books with each character being a stereotype of what little we know of the creature. We never see a rebellious goblin, just the bankers. We only see a really hot veela or a avian one, never learning anything more of them. The only vampire we see is that Sanguinni guy in HBP, learning nothing about them, and the centaurs just make the occasional appearance to say something prophetic. It would have been nice to learn more about the culture of the magical creatures that are included in the world.

Classes- I'd redo the way classes are described and how the teaching occurs. She seemed to try and mimic how normal schooling is but just with magic, but I would have changed that a bit. Lessons are an opportunity for her to elaborate on her magical rules and boundaries, and yet we never see that.

The lack of character evolution and emotion

It really bothered me how there aren't any strong emotional ties in the book, or any close bonds besides the Trio. Sirius's death was irrelevent when he barely gets any screentime. When you have Harry bawling more for Cedric, a guy he barely knew, than his godfather, something is wrong.
Second, for a guy who was so close to Harry's parents you would think Lupin wouldn't be so unemotional in regards to Harry. We never hear of him until book 3 and then he disappears until 5, picks up Harry at Privet Drive, and bam ignored until 7th book where he decides to make Harry godfather, and dies. The character had potential to be worthwhile but was ruined.

To me it seemed that JK wanted the Trio, Dumbledore, and Snape to be the stars of the show, and every other character got a backseat. I would change that.


EDIT: Damn that was annoying, thanks for pointing it out, I always make that stupid mistake and never catch it. I guess 'of' is easier to type than 'have', so I automatically do it. I think I caught them all though.

 

Besides obviously making Harry more competent, and making all the details consistent there are only a few things that I'd really change. After all I'm not looking for an entirely different series. The big thing I'd change is giving all the characters depth. After all this is the main reason I did not like the Harry/Ginny pairing. If she had devoted more time to developing her as a character in the five books she had to do it I think I would have accepted the pairing more. Funny thing is I knew from the beginning of Book 1 that Harry and Ginny would end up together. It was just that cliche romance that I knew would happen. But back to the character development. In Book 4 she introduced a lot of new characters that she hardly devoted a page or more for developing them in the readers eyes. She continued to do this in Books 5-7, so that by the end of the series we had almost an entire cast of paper thin characters. Also Harry didn't really seem to mature past 13, which is definitely something that needs to change. Also I'd get rid of the focus on magic objects over personal skill focus she took in Book 5.

 

I would make the books a lot more logical, and would not pull so many deus ex machina solutions to problems. Also, I would give the hero a bit of a backbone and initiative with his own ideas.

 

I would provide a damn glossary/encyclopedia at the end of the first novel that detailed the entire Magical World.

That way it could...possibly cushion the blow of having shitty devices like the Three Deathly Hallows get pulled out of JKR's ass at the last possible second.

 

I would expand the scope of the story. Not only England, but real world "magical" places around the world - Greece, Italy, Spain, Prague, Constantinople, Middle East, Central America, Black Africa. Everywhere that some interesting could happen.

Final Duel between Harry and Voldemort - while Hogwarts is the main setting I think that a duel at Stonehenge (or other place like it) would be more interesting (and would look awesome in movie).

Arthurian Legends - why Rowling did not include them is beyond me. Yeah, she included Merlin, but where is the Lady of the Lake, Knights of the Round Table, Excalibur, Holy Grail? If that could be incorporated (without Harry wielding Excalibur) into HP world, it would IMHO improve the entire series.

 

I'm pretty "meh" about Arthurian myth. It's quite possibly the most boring mythology in the world.

 

No more of those damn Deus Ex Machina's, like summoning the book, or Hermione's prodigal knowledge of everything magic. I swear, it seemed like she had the perfect spell for every single occasion!... Or, in CoS, Fawkes bringing the Sorting Hat sucked ass. Also, I'd fix the damn plotholes, and actually research what I'm writing about... Might seem hypocritical of me, but that's what I would do.