KenderCleric’s Challenge #8 – Failsafe

Summary:
When Harry Potter appeared back at Hogwarts near the spectator stand he was far more injured than any suspected. His ordeal shortly after with the fake Alastor Moody only exacerbated the injuries. As Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall took him to the Hospital Wing he was already slipping into a near-comatose state. It took only a few quick spells for Madame Pomfrey to confirm the worst. Harry Potter was dying and there was nothing she could do.

Dumbledore obliviated and dismissed the midwitch and his Deputy Headmistress before summoning Snape to his side. Neither witch would remember Harry Potter being much injured beyond the lingering effects of the cruciatus and a deep cut on his arm. When Snape arrived he quickly found himself at Dumbledore’s side at the foot of Potter’s bed. What neither man knew was that Harry had come back to a state of awareness as the moment of his death drew near. He could hear their words and their meaning was clear as crystal.

“Severus, this one is about to die. Prepare another and be quick. Pomfrey believes this one’s dead any moment now.”

“Of course Headmaster. Though I wish you would do something to make the fools more cautious. It grows tiresome having to replace them so often.”

Harry knew he was dying, but now he also knew that they were planning to somehow “replace” him. Those were the final words he heard before succumbing to his injuries.

Oddly, when Harry awoke he found himself not in the afterlife with his family, but in his bed in Gryffindor Tower. He was whole and healthy with no sign of the significant injuries he had sustained in the graveyard. Only his forearm ached were Wormtail had cut him to take the blood. No matter the evidence to the contrary Harry knew he had died. He remembered the injuries and the conversation Snape had with Dumbledore. It was in that moment that he knew something was very, very wrong.

While Harry puzzled out his continued presence among the living Dumbledore and Snape were meeting deep within the bowls of the dungeons. The room they occupied, like the dozen attached to it, were unknown to any save themselves for they held the greatest secrets of the age. The two professors stood silently as they watched the remains of Harry Potter’s body dissolve in a large cauldron filled with a dark purple potion.

“The reclamation potion seems to be a success Severus. Well done. This shall save us a great deal of effort in replacing the lost clone.”

“Thank you Headmaster. I have also managed to perfect a new variant on the aging potion. With only three drops of the original’s blood it will now age the clone to a perfect age synchronization. They will age appropriately from near creation now.”

“Excellent my boy! One less thing to worry about. Now, tell me how are they getting along?”

Snape waved his hand dismissively. “They are as oblivious as ever. The glamour-sustaining wards have been renewed just this week. None are any the wiser that they are all the same. I believe they enjoyed a game of Quidditch just yesterday. Sadly it was called when one team’s star Seeker suddenly succumb to a migraine and unconsciousness.”

“Oh dear. I trust the one in question recovered?” Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled in amusement.

“Sadly no. Their friend perished from the fall,” Snape’s lips thinned in a vicious sneer, “though I believe he’ll find himself in his bed in Gryffindor a suitable ‘after life’.”

“Truly remarkable. How is the original?”

“Still in perfect status as you well know. You don’t fool me Albus; you have a dozen instruments in your office monitoring your little insurance policy.”

A slight shrug of the shoulders and an increase in the twinkle of his blue eyes was the only response Albus gave.

A few doors away, in a room that duplicated the magical abilities of the Room of Requirement sixteen young men went about their lives. None knew they existed under glamour charms twenty-four hours a day. None knew that they did not live in St. Hogwarts Center for Long-term Spell Damage. Not a single one of the sixteen teens knew that they were the ultimate culmination of combined Potions and Alchemy by two of the greatest minds in the wizarding world. Most of all none of those young men knew their lives were totally expendable to the two adult wizards who had created them.

Sealed away in a room warded away to near impregnability lay Harry Potter. Under the effects of a dozen spells and potions the boy remained motionless and unaware of his surroundings. He had not been awake or aware since he fought Professor Quirrell in his first year.

The Challenge:
Write a story with an end-of-4th year divergence from canon based on the summary above. This story was inspired by the move “The Island” and should play out similarly. Harry now knows there is something wrong and will try to discover what is going on. The fic should be about his trying to uncover the truth and his subsequent actions after discovering that both he himself, and sixteen other clones, are simply Dumbledore’s insurance policy against risking the real Harry. The story should span at least years five and six. Voldemort should also play heavily into the conclusion of the fic.

Rules:

• When a clone dies a crystal implanted behind their scar transfers the clone’s experiences to the next in line to be “Harry Potter”. A similar crystal on the real Harry’s forehead maintains the link between Voldemort and the “active” clone.
• Only Dumbledore and Snape know about the clones.
• The story must include back history to explain how and why Dumbledore and Snape began the project.
• There are sixteen clones in holding, one active as Harry, and the Real Harry for a total of eighteen.
• Voldemort has just returned to life and is still a concern

 

The idea is absolutely brilliant. I'm not sure about the execution, though. The problem is - what Dumbledore and Snape are doing actually makes a lot of sense. They are just looking after real Harry ensuring that the prophecy is fulfilled. I suppose when Harry gets to the bottom of this, he might even agree to keep the charade, aware that he's being given a sort of an immortality.

I think this could be more effective if you went with absolutely evil Dumbledore and put together one of those plots when he's looking for the secret of immortality or creating a massive dark ritual that will transcend him to godhood or something like that.

Also, I don't think I like the fate of real Harry. It turns out he was really sent to Dursleys and finished his first year like an average shmock. Wouldn't it be cooler if the real Harry was being trained in secret and coordinating the operation with Dumbledore and Snape? Or if he was in a coma since the original attack? Dunno, something less mundane than the 1st year AU.

But yeah, the basic idea is great. In capable hands could make for one fantastic story.

 

KenderCleric is a one man challenge factory...

A good star wars ish hp story this looks like. However what happens after? You have described a situation but unless something happens like Voldemort attacks and releases the clones... the story won't go anywyhere.

 

Ah, but that's up to the author who answers the challenge. I just give you the plot and the challenge to make a story out of it. If I was going to write the fic then it wouldn't be posted as a challenge.

...not that I won't eventually fall for my own challenge(s) (f-ing plot bunnies).

 

This story would be near impossible to string out as far as two more years unless you pull in every kind of plot device imaginable, including all the cliches. Every time he's about to find out he dies or is called away by something or another. It would get a bit repetitive. Maybe if he were to find out after a solid half a year and then help keep the charade going, though it is of course almost spoiled quite a few times.

I am with ip on the fact that the real Harry should be training his arse off to be able to beat Voldemort while his clone is taking his place at school. Of course, he'd be an almost complete social recluse, but that would happen either way. If you went the comatose!Harry road, it would have to be a very unrealistic and cliche'd way for him to beat Voldemort like a spear of love after he wakes up and finds he is cared after so. /me gags at the thought, but loves the challenge.

 

There's no reason for unnecissary plot devices to keep Harry from discovering the truth. We're talking about a serious secret that Dumbledore doesn't want uncovered. Include the normal plot devices of years 5 and 6 causing Harry's research to be stretched out and it's not unrealistic. Remember that the summer months are dead-time for trying to uncover the secret. He also can't very well go asking for clues. Learning the truth should be a gradual process that requires cunning. Harry isn't stupid...he knows when to use his Slytherin side and when not to. Well, most of the time he does.

As to the real Harry...who says he's going to be the one to defeat Voldemort? Think outside the box. There's nothing saying he has to ever wake up, much less just in time to off Voldemort. That would be cliche and boring. Even if he did wake up who is to say that he would defeat Voldemort alone? There's a million better options than having the Real Harry secretly training.

 

I just think that things like 'wow, I was supposed to be dead and now I'm alive and Dumbledore along with Snape have something to do with it' would keep his mind more occupied then shoddy defense against the dark arts lessons. I don't know, maybe I'm just being irrational, but I just can't see him caring more about stuff like O.W.L's when is own mortality is in question.

Well... the prophecy. Dumbledore and Snape made the clones and they weren't 'born as the seventh month dies' so I assumed that it must be the real harry who defeats Voldemort. *shrug*

 

Who says the prophecy is anything other than a control device? In fanfiction anything can be twisted and manipulated so long as plausible and logical reasons are provided.

As to the mystery being more important to Harry than OWLs - of course it is. Harry can't very well just stop going to class and whatnot though. This shouldn't be a Hardy Boys adventure where you can rush blindly around asking obvious questions and stumbling over overt clues.

 

Well I'm not going to debate the points that have been brought up. This is a great idea, the rest is all on the execution of this. Someone can take this and mold it any which way they want, keeping the basic cloning scenario.

I know that there are rules that Kender posted but if I were to take it up I think I'd break quite a few . At any rate, very interesting idea, very complete parameters, would love to see this done. As I haven't seen The Island I'm not predisposed to this story following the movie's storyline.

18 Harrys, come one guys, that's money for a one man army scenario. All puns intended.

 

Meh, rules are always meant to be broken.

...well except the unstated "No HP/GW, HP/SS, or HP/DM" rule. That may not be broken.

 

Amen to that~

 

If there is no prophecy than what is the point of the entire plot? The only reason for 'Dumbledore's insurance policy' is to insure that Harry lives to complete his role in the prophecy. What other point would there be to spend so much time, money, and energy to keep one boy perfectly safe?

Though I guess whoever wrote this could give Dumbledore and Snape a completely different plan. First they give Harry perceived invincibility when really all his clones had died from things like the fall in third year and the injuries from fourth year. So people believe that Harry Potter is some sort of immortal who can come back from anything when really they have never even met 'Harry Potter' just clones that have died multiple times. So their little pet projects takes down the badies and every one that dies gets brought back to the hospital wing and makes a miraculous 'recovery'. Then the name 'Harry Potter' becomes even more famous then Dumbledore when one of the clones manages to kill Voldemort. And then Dumbledore, with the sorceror's stone that had never been destroyed in the first place, takes the name of Harry Potter and lives forever as the invincible defeater of Voldemort.

Or at least that is the plan. But clone Harry finds out about it slowly. But he decides to not try to do an uprising. He is Harry Potter in all senses of the word and he wouldn't mind the real Harry being some sort of immortal god. So he fights Voldemort and his baddies and eventually wins knowing that his existence will never truly end until he does. But after his victory he doesn't allow Dumbledore to take the real Harry's place. Instead they destroy Dumbledore, Snape, and fifteen other important people. In the end it is the clones and Harry Potter that win. Harry takes back his own name- which is now considered invincible- along with the sorceror's stone. The seventeen clones take the faces of Dumbledore, Snape, and the other fifteen people and they use that to take over the wizarding world. The End.

(At least that is how I see the story going down. Eighteen Harry Potters all taking over the wizarding world with seventeen of them having the face of people like Fudge, Malfoy, Dumbledore, Snape, and others. Sounds fun.)

 

That's not half bad. Hellovalot better than what I had.

 

I was going to just comment but then that whole plot appeared in my head so I just wrote it out as I thought.

 

I think that it might work to have the real Harry as a part of the plan. He trains and lives his life while the clones take all the attention.

Once a week does the crystal behind the clones scar's download the clone memories into harrys mind. So when he wish can harry take the place of a clone for a time if he needs to do something as Harry Potter.

Of course the main character would be the real harry while the clones are just puppets for Dumbledore, Snape and Harry to control.

 

This plan reminds me of Kingdom Hearts, when Roxas learns everything he knew was basically created and was a lie. It ended with Roxas learning and meeting Sora, since Sora needed his "half" to fight. It ended..

Roxas: Your lucky Sora... because my summer vaction is... over!

God that cutscene was so sad.