Living in a cupboard is abuse. Being called a freak is abuse. Being blamed for every little mishap, even if they know it was someone else's fault, is abuse. Harry was abused. Just because he didn't get the shit kicked out of him every day doesn't mean he's not been neglected and abused.

Back on topic though, I just don't see how this could actually work without turning Harry in to a one man army. Think of it this way - highly skilled serial killer + magic + Harry's luck = invincible.

Aekiel

 

But serial killers hunt and kill one person at a time, I believe. He would not be invincible, merely impossible to blame/catch. If he ever made a stupid mistake, and got into a fight unprepared, he would probably either lose or have a very difficult fight on his hands. Serial killers are not necessarily highly skilled fighters.

 

No but in this sense we are putting Harry as Riddick, and Riddick is more then a serial killer. I agree that this would make Harry invincible and for now I have given up on the idea, but we'll see where this discussion goes.

There is the option of having Harry know very little magic, or rather the magic he does do is accidental and its not only till the end that he would use 'normal' magic.

 

Didnt have time before to add on this:

It wouldn't work.

Harry with Riddick's personality would kick ass, he's simply need to be trained up good, say by a crazed ex secret agent type dude. Preferably muggle, so Harry could just go batshit with muggle toys and then use magic to assist his already insane dexterity, via speed charms, etc.

And as far as using anything out of the second book/movie... scrap it, that thing was the worst pile of crap ever, save for the initial quarter of the movie or so, with the ship hijacking, and the snow monster killing.

But as far as trying to flat out transplat Harry to equal Riddick would just result in too many strange holes to make worth it.