Challenge #1: HP - Matrix Style

Summary:

The first war with Voldemort never ended. Voldemort had Pettigrew kidnap Harry at some point. Since then, Harry's life was a forced hallicunation. All the adventures are meant to keep his mind busy and his body producing magical energy. That way, Harry was incapacitated and his magical reserves were used for LV's projects.
Then Harry wakes up and the story starts.


Rules:
- must play out in the magical world, no muggle weapons or other technolgy
- Snape is the one that invents and implants the adventures. He is the only one besides Voldemort that knows what happened to Harry. His loyalties are open but he enjoys the task to much to stop it. It might even be an addiction of his.

 

Would Neville be the boy-who-lived then?

 

Is there even a prophecy in this version, or does stealing him and creating this false life count as "marking" him?

 

It sounds interesting. Since all the adventures are just invented, you can write pretty much everything. This is an upside and a downside. But I think it would be too complicated, since you have to characterize all the characters new.

 

This would work better if Dumbledore was the one pulling the strings. He has 16-17 years to craft Harry into the perfect hero of the light and then he engeneers one of those Alternate Reality shifts, while in fact he wakes up Harry. Thus, Harry beleives that he had been transported to some sort of alternate universe, where he was in coma for 16-17 years (while he was in fact dreaming the canon events). Of course, the real world can turn out to be just as canon, or some total fuckup, with Voldemort controlling everything; it doesn't matter. Harry could eventually figure out Dumbledore's game and turn against him OR go back into his enchanted sleep OR join Voldemort OR never figure it out at all (in which case, it could all be from Dumbledore's POV).

 

sounds like an interesting start for a fic.

 

Sounds very intruiging. Like CGB said, you have complete freedom to do whatever you want for his "adventures" in the matrix, which could be awesome. Just think of the POSSIBILITIES! Especially if it was Snape controlling them. He could have Harry murder the Weasleys over and over and over again. Great idea Olfrik.

 

I think it would be great start for a dark Harry fic. He would be overly critical of everyone and not make any friends he knew. It would also be interesting if he got freed domehow before his first year at Hogwarts, thus trying to avoid all the known things. He would have a real good case against Snape and that would make a nice slaughter scene.

IP82's suggestion is a good one, either way, he has the background to be wiery of both Dumbledore and Voldemort, I'd think he'd make a nice dark wizard fighting for his own, not for someone elses cause.

I came up with the idea and I like it, because it can go in any direction the author wants and give a valid reason for him to be dark without the whole abuse or betrayal-by-his-friends plot.

I even thought of the idea that the whole waking up process process could start if he starts to replay events and manages to change them in some way, and so altering the proceedings, living some posibilities all over again. Tom could use it to make him loyal to his cause without actually investing anything.

Harry could for example just hiss a 'STOP' at the basilisk in the chamber and it would obey, changing everything in the wake of the second year ending.
I think it would be good to confuse him about how much time has passed, essentially making him aware that something is wrong with his perception of the world.
But I think this would be too restrictive for a challenge.

 

I like the idea that Dumbledore was the one pulling the strings and when Harry wakes up does he first belive he is in another universe and then figure out what Dumbledore has done.

It would also be interesting to see if the people in the real world would support harry or dumbledore when they find out what dumbledore did. Will they even care that some kid they dont know was being kept in enchanted sleep to train him to kill voldemort?

 

Lord Apophis:
That would be some cruel twist to have him in ministry custody and later enthralled to the ministry. Nobody has any attachement to him and so he wouldn't have any support when he was declared a weapon of the ministry.

It wouldn't be a great effort to have his parents killed in the meantime. That would be a reasonable path for the ministry and nobody would care, he doesn't need to be betrayed for it to happen.

EDIT:
PS: How many Challenges have actually resulted in stories? Is it nessesary to clear up the challenge or should it stay as a discussion of what could happen if?
I remember the 'The Cult of the Dark Lord Potter' thread going on for quite a while and it could have been a good thing if someone would have taken the story or even some initiative. (Just a thought, I dont want to bump the thread for it)

 

I like this idea, but it wouldn't be easy to pull off convincingly. I'd rather have it where Voldemort has been keeping Harry prisoner, and Harry wakes himself up.

Note: Rarely do challenges result in stories. I don't think anyone has taken any of the ones I like the most (ie: my own, Amerison's, etc.). They are still fun to talk about.

 

I really like this idea. Maybe he could stay in the sleep though once he figures it out, able to bend the reality and perform the Matrxi stunts. Then when he comes out he is so used to doing this stuff that he can do it still.

Also, what if, like in the matrix, deja vu means that something has been changed. Snape realised that he could do something better but would have to change it a little. He hadn't done this before but was quite sure that it would work. He went and changed something, Harry having to relive through it, but he does something different, changing everything.

From this he then realises that something is wrong, he lives through things again sometimes, changing them slightly. He begins to practice changing things himself without reliving them.

Snape doesn't realise that anything is wrong with it and so carries on, but eventually notices that Harry has changed some things and stops changing them.

It is too late thugh because Harry has begun to learn how to change things, but Snape doesn't know this. Eventually he gets too good and Snape is forced to tell Voldemort because Harry has actually been changing stuff using the magical energy that he was outputting for Voldemort. This may bring in a slaughter scene from Voldemort if you want.

If Snape dies or something then nobody could do it as Voldemort had ordered him not to tell anyone of the spell. Voldemort researches it but just as he figures it out Harry, who has gone into a white void as nobody had made up what happened next, wakes up, able to use his powers, though tiring easily.

Whew. So, what do you think?

 

That was actually so close to what I would write IF I would write it that I ask myself if you can do Legilimency via the internet

Actually the only change would be that when Harry woke up, he would put Snape in the appartus and get out.

 

I just thought of another thing. Maybe Snape, with his hate of Harry and everything, gave him completely useless magical knowledge.

Wingardium Leviosa was actually the killing curse.

Basilisks, when ordered to do opposite things by different parselmouths, could follow the orders but the mind fights the order, ending in a large magical explosion.

This could happen if Harry had to relive the CoS episode. Snape decided that it wouldn't be completely life-threatening if basilisks did that.

Harry tells it to stop, it does but the mind argues, resulting in the explosion. When Harry wakes up, he finds he is back in the time he was in before, Ginny is dead and Hogwarts was crumpled. Harry survived because the backlash formed into a shield, protecting him from the rubble.

This might make the story into a HP/Matrix/Butterfly Effect crossover though, at least for a while.

Once Snape realises what happened in Harry's world, the reson he didn't realise before is because the spell made up memories to catch up to the proper time, he send Harry back to the start of 2nd year to stop Ginny from the start.

When this is done Harry realises something is wrong. He begins to take himself back in time sometimes. He doesn't make friends with Ron. He doesn't reveal himself a parselmouth, thus killing Ginny(yay).

From this Harry uses up his magical reserves doing that stuff, manipulating the spell. Snape tells Voldemort who incapacitates him, allowing Harry to wake up as not even Voldermort knows the spell.

My posts are getting longer but this story could go in so many different directions.

 

The idea of harry traveling on his own would be great but I fear it would end up being just another SaveLoad.
The other objection would be that it wouldnt be Harry Potter magic anymore. It would be too complex a world to create and maintain if Snape made something up. I like the Magic in the Harry Potter world enough.

Obviously, you can start any crossover with this theme because nobody knows, how the real world looks. For all the reader knows, Hogwarts could really be a muggle gay ballet school

But seriously now, I want it to be in the Harry Potter world and be basicly consistent with it, just not the history.

Another tought: One could have Harry live out a lifetime of years in his mind but realtime is not so long, thereby implementing the 'go back into younger body' - idea in a new way. It would be reasonable for him to act mature beyond his supposed age, know a lot of magic and be suspicious about everyone and everything.