I hope this doesn't break any necro rules, I'm posting just a tad over a month from the last post.

I've been thinking lately about a fic that explored two things that are perhaps under-served in the HP fanfic community: divination and a strong Harry-Ron friendship.

Weasley bashing isn't as common nowadays, but Ron still often takes a secondary role (at least from what I've seen). Starfox5 has built an entire pantheon of fics revolving around the Super Best Friends Harry and Hermione. Where's my Super Best Friends Harry and Ron stories?

A plot that's been bouncing around my head is thus: Hermione, as per canon, leaves Divination because she has better shit to do. Ron and Harry stay behind because hey, who wants to go do Mathemagic or Ancient Runes with Hermione? Plus, they figure Divination will be good for a laugh.

Then the plot kicks in and they find out they're actually good at it. I want to set it up so that they have to play off each other as a team. So maybe you have Harry who's more talented at "short-form" divination, and Ron who's better at "long-form."

I envision short-form as being similar to the fight sequences in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock movies. Sometimes, in very stressful or dangerous situations, Harry will be able to get small glimpses into the future, allowing him see different possibilities or different ways a fight could go, and chose the best option.

Ron leans more toward "long-form" meaning he can see farther into the future, allowing for them to plan in advance. He can see, for instance, that Sirius is going to slash at his bed with a knife, and so they lay a trap for him. Then Sirius gets a chance to explain himself: Pettigrew betrayed Harry's parents, he's Ron's rat, let's catch him now, etc. Now you have Sirius exonerated.

Ron could foresee Snape attempting to sabotage Lupin's potion, or Lupin forgetting to take the potion, and they prevent it, leading to Remus continuing his position as a competent DADA teacher.

Now looking at it, short-form probably should be nerfed. It could easily spiral out of control, and I don't think it's something that could kick in every fight, and I don't want it to be over-powered. Also, Harry and Ron are each capable of doing the different types of divination, it's just they are more naturally suited for one or the other.

I'd like to capture a sort of buddy-cop tone, where they become a real team because their skills compliment each other so well. Divination wouldn't allow them to steamroll all of canon's problems, but I do see it as a nice augment in the fight against Voldemort. And you'll have a subject other than Quidditch that they're both super passionate about.

I also think there's a lot of potential in that buddy-cop Harry and Ron friendship, just two good friends who make a great team and work well with one another. That aspect would definitely be what I'd want to focus on most heavily.

 

I disagree. In fact, it is the long-form that should be nerfed, not the short-form.

Short-form, the way I see it, only assists in duels and other current unimportant situations.

Long-form on the other hand has world-changing ramifications and I honestly can't see how you'd think it's the one that doesn't need nerfing.

 

Right here. Courtesy of @vlad.

It's also dead, because, y'know. @vlad.

 

I second Andrela. There's a ton of ways to limit short-form, but long-form is more difficult.

It's a tad cliched, but the visions could be misleading, with Sirius stabbing the bed for instance - but I'd prefer he wasn't able to explain. That can be dark, or humorous as he keeps trying to explain and their powers allow them to keep cutting him off. Regardless, there's a great tension in that which seems a shame to lose. For other examples, see Harry-imperiused bowing to Voldemort, a Snape "revealed allegiance", the other Triwizard contestants imperiused in the Third Task, and so on. When these are revealed could also be powerful, for instance if the possession storyline from OOTP plays out one can imagine other visions.

Alternatively, they could be self-fulfilling of the Cassandric sort.


The point is, you don't want predictive powers to solve the characters problems in the story. Try to think of ways in which they can exacerbate their problems or create new ones entirely by the way they react to it. It's a careful line to tread to not let that be forced, especially as you're aiming for a specific tone, where actively malicious ones would be inappropriate, but I think there's quite a few things you can draw on there.

 

So .. that's So Raven but Harry Potter version?

I think the best way to limit short-form is to make the predictive capabilities always accurate but Harry not always able to respond in time, some spells are just too fast.
As for long-form just make Ron misinterpret some of the results, he is a little impulsive and so he draws some wrong conclusions due to anger.

 

Interestingly, JK says that in early drafts Trelawney wasn't the divination professor but rather there was a character who was actually very good at Divination. He would know the outcome of everything and for some reason not have done anything, and explain it all to the cast whenever she wanted. This dragged a lot of heft from the plot of a mystery, so he turned into Dumbledore, who knows a lot but not everything.

If you were writing that, I think you'd have to play up the magical aspects, in a way that is similar to potions and dissimilar to Charms. As well as having it so that the incomplete knowledge of the future caused as many problems as it solved, of equal magnitude.

If you had Harry being more like an auger, where his knowledge is coming from the way a bird soars through the sky, or a curtain pull taps against the post of his four-poster bed rather than making it like very easily comprehended knowledge then that'd be quite cool. They plan a trap for Sirius for example and Harry sees a sign that warns their trap will 'fail' if he lets Sirius speak - and then he assumes the complete wrong reason and attacks viciously or whatever, dodging the easy solution.
-----
Anyway, I've recently been thinking about a world without the statute of secrecy and a few other things too:

Elevator pitch: Grindelwald's attempts to separate the magical world from the muggle for the greater good of both came to nothing when Albus Dumbledore stood against his movement. Lord Voldemort met his defeat at the hands of a child even as he sought wizardly self-rule and the centralisation of magical authority. At eleven, Harry Potter travels to London to study the magical arts, but competing master wizards and their schools are not kind to a neophyte sorcerer, and, worse still, word on the street is that children are going missing and you-know-whats are to blame...

So the idea for this comes from Blood Crest, and the traditional idea that a wizard lives in his tower and takes on a student or two and is generally quite mysterious. There's no Hogwarts, and instead Professors start or inherit 'schools' that are essentially industrialised apprenticeships.

Professors and Master wizards/witches generally want to get on with practicing and studying magic, but in a world with wizards muggles are constantly requesting magical services and remedies, that most well-educated wizards think are beneath them. There's an uneasy tolerance of magic amongst muggles and this precarious relationship is viable because of the services that magic provides. Various aspects of muggle life would be similar to our own, some would be much improved, and a number quite victorian/20s as a result of this. Generally a professor will have a dozen+ students in their 'college'. The students will make boil curing potions, floo powder, do augary and such, getting most of their teaching from older students, and studying proper magic when they can find the time.

In this world, Harry would be accepted from the Dursley's to Dumbledore's establishment. Dumbledore would lead the premier college of the age, with a couple of masters (Snape and Mcgonagall) who work directly for him and are qualified enough to be professors in their own right. This is because he provides a slightly bigger establishment and has a lot more students than other Professors in London, taking in 7-10 students a year. Harry and most of the bigger characters from his year will obviously go here. The different world and the lack of houses means that interactions would be different even if their core personality should be similar enough (accounting for this altered world).

The story itself would cover how he gets tangled up in mystery surrounding disappearing children, and who is killing them. Is it a frame to rile up muggles against magicals? Is it Voldemort trying to come back? Do we even think Voldemort was that bad in this new world? I think this slightly anachronistic London, with some grimey underground scenes and a hint of revolution behind every muggle workers gathering would be the main excitement in writing this story.

---

Number two comes because I'm hyped for detective Pikachu, and pokemon indigo league is on netflix now.

Elevator pitch: A Harry Potter Pokemon fusion. All magical creatures are now pokemon. There is no statute of secrecy and wizards with their magic form the upper tier of society. No muggle trainer can hope to compete with the repertoire and co-ordination of a wizard trained pokemon team. In Little Whinging, eleven year old Harry Potter begins his pokemon adventure when a famous Pokemon Professor arrives on his doorstep and tells him he has what it takes to be a Pokemon Master!

So, in this, Hogwarts wouldn't be a school, but rather the seat of the league and the location where the Pokemon League holds its Poke-wizard tournament. The culture of magic would be such that wizards learn their magic from pokemon and vice versa. Muggles would possess pokemon, and train them, but like most of the normies you encounter as your travel around a pokemon game, they'd have one or two to their name and never be of particular note.

Wizard trained Pokemon grow bigger, hit harder, and evolve stronger. Across the continent, people travel over many years to accumulate enough qualifications (by defeating pokemon masters or studying under them) to compete in the League and become a member or fellow of the main body of government in this world.

Wizards would be able to teach pokemon their named moves via spell use, to a precision wild pokemon can't achieve. I'm not sure if wizards would have wands. They'd have the other aspects of magic definitely, as this would replace a lot of the futuristic tech that the Pokemon series uses like the pokedex and pokeballs. The Death Eaters would be a terrorist group a la team rocket, led by Voldemort or Malfoy. There would be seven badges instead of eight. I think that wizards would have certain affinities - explaining why you might assemble a team of certain type. A wizard whose patronus was a raichu would likely be able to train much stronger electric pokemon than if he tried to have a general team of various types.

The plot would be the standard pokemon adventure, with a gradual legendary plot device that would relate Voldemort and Harry's close relationship to each other and to death and rebirth. I think Xerneas would be Harry's patronus and the Voldemort would have perverted some physical aspect of Yveltal in his attempt for eternal life, in a way that was fueled by the abduction of and experimentation on pokemon - necessitating team death eater.
--
I think the first idea more easily constructs a reasonable and complete story arc. I think the pokemon idea sounds like more fun, but could be chaotic and easily abandoned.

 

Plot bunny: Crackfic. Voldemort infiltrates Harry's mind during his 6th year, hoping to discover what Dumbledore's plans are. Unfortunately, he decides to enter Harry's mind as he's in the middle of a midnight jerk-session in the showers. Tom is disgusted by several things: Harry's actions, the intense speed at which he's masturbating, what he's fantasizing about (Winky/Dobby/Harry threesome?), the obscenely large size of Harry's dick, and the massive amount of sperm Harry produces.

The Power He Knows Not is the ability to completely disgust the Dark Lord. It's better than any form of Occlumency. No one wants to enter Harry's mind.

 

Sometimes, I see a post and I'm struck by just how incredibly fitting the posters avatar is.

This is one of those times.

 

A muggleborn Hogwarts student in the post-Voldemort era decides to rebel against all tradition and take up work as a chef after graduation.

Spoiler: general synopsis inside

To their immense disappointment, the opportunity to cook for a living is few and far between. They're essentially like Fred and George, but without the money(who has that many galleons to invest in a property?), or the meaningful prospects(house elves do most of the cooking in the wizarding world), and the closest thing they can find is working at a place that caters to chocolate or candy in general in Diagon Alley, but even that isn't much more than a job pointing things out to customers rather than actually making food personally.

Sick and fed up with this after some time, they're ready to give up and accept that their parents and peers were right all along, when their life is changed by a late-night airing of [insert muggle cooking competition here]. And an idea comes to mind as they watch. If the wizarding world is so ass-backwards that it isn't feasible, they're going to look to the muggle world.

A few years go by. They're doing well enough to get by in a restaurant, but they're not that great at what they do. A few minor spells here and there have helped clean up some mistakes, help promote them a little sooner(they were due for that raise, really), and all in all, they're generally happy. But two things are brewing on the back of their mind-- that they could be greater still, if they just put a little more magic into this whole thing, and that if they went onto and won one of those still-airing shows, Gringotts converts muggle currency to galleons.

Eventually, they decide to push their luck. They apply to any show they can. And hey, would you believe it, but their name comes up for one? So they get there on set. They have to prove they're capable before the show actually goes up. And they have to be careful now, because too much magic and the cameras will fry, and if anyone sees an old stick poking out of their sleeves, well, they're as good as gone.

They do just well enough under pressure to pass. It's all sunshine and roses from here, no? Well, no. It turns out that they are not the only wizard/witch with this brilliant idea. The difference is that the other guy/gal was trained in Beaubatons(insert classical snooty French chef here). This isn't just a muggle competition with a single advantaged competitor, it's two such competitors, and so the various little tricks aren't going to fly under the radar any longer.

Maybe the other chef does it too, in which case, hijinks ensue as they try to out-do the other one. Or maybe not, in which case, our main character is probably going to lose in the end.

Regardless, I just think the entire notion of a wizard mucking about on set of something like Iron Chef or Chopped would be hilarious. Particularly if they run into another who had the same idea, wound up on the same set, and now they're forced to compete head to head.

 

I remember seeing a Willy Wonka crossover plot bunny on a similar vein.

 

"Charms and spells, they can be taught to anyone willing to learn. But the one thing even I can't teach anyone, is how to think. There are thousands of people with more knowledge than you, Harry. However, I can state quite confidently that none of them will ever be truly great. Saying the words isn't enough. You must understand, like Voldemort and I before you, one beautifully simple concept. Magic is Might."

Magical - A Post Goblet of Fire story starring Dumbledore's infinite wisdom and Harry's repeated failures at understanding magic itself. Along the way, they will learn, love, and laugh together, fighting through their greatest fears and experiencing their wildest dreams.

Anyone interested in reading this?

Anyone interested in betaing? (Beta work will be mostly light, relating to bouncing ideas and overarching issues. I will, of course, look to our friendly WbA for more gritty editing.

 

Sounds pretty good, I'm always interested in Mentor!Dumbledore stories.

 

There was something hanging over London. Harry calmly closed the window after Hedwig came through it in a storm of feathers, his eyes not leaving the- he didn’t know what. It was big and round, and even thirty miles away he could see the surface was far from smooth. He briefly thought of writing to Professor Dumbledore, or to Hermione or Ron, but they hadn’t told him anything. Besides, what could he say?

Going down for breakfast and the paper at least made it clear that whatever was happening didn’t impact the muggles. The television wasn’t full of rioting Londoners nor commentary on a massive sphere in the sky, which to Harry confirmed it was either a hallucination, or something magical he’d never heard of. There were a lot of those things, endless bits of trivia that Ron knew from birth and Hermione knew from her books. Most of the time they didn’t matter, but if the floating mass was like the Triwizard Tournament he’d get pulled into it. There was no need to borrow trouble, but nonetheless he found himself out in the front lawn staring to the north east.

It was there that Professor Dumbledore found him, appearing with a crack that split the air. Harry spun, his wand sped to his hand with a sudden burst of adrenaline which Dumbledore seemed not to notice. The immense black dog at his side didn’t, his tongue lolled in a way that suggested laughter before he sat back on his haunches.

“Professor, Padfoot!” All the irritation he’d felt was gone in an instant, the weeks of effective silence forgotten.

“Good morning Harry.” The professor looked past him, Harry turned to follow his gaze and saw his aunt in the front door mortified. “And to you, Mrs. Dursley. May we come in?”

Emotions warred on her face before she gave a sharp nod. Padfoot bounded forward, squeezing past his aunt while Dumbledore moved more deliberately. Harry followed, only to find Aunt Petunia staring at Sirius. His godfather looked far better, no longer ragged but sharply dressed and standing tall. He had an air of energy just barely restrained, his face split in a grin that seemed only inches from laughter or a snarl.

“Mrs. Dursley.” Dumbledore broke the silence. “Mr. Black and I have come to take Harry for the summer, if you don’t have any objections.” Perhaps sensing that Petunia’s only objection would be that they were still standing there, he turned to Harry. “Perhaps you can take Sirius up to help you pack?”

“Right, of course.” Dumbledore gave a slight smile which vanished as he looked back to his aunt.

Sirius followed him up the stairs, looking curiously at the pictures.

“How have you been holding up?”

“I’m fine.” He didn’t sound particularly convincing, but Sirius didn’t question him. “What’s going on with-“

“Lot’s of moves and countermoves, but there’s been a change in the wind to quote that muggle witch.”

“What?” Sirius paused as they entered his room, his wand tapping against the doorframe.

“James dragged us all to muggle movies when he was trying to impress your mother.” With a silent spell Harry’s books flew into his trunk followed by almost everything else in his room. There wasn’t a sound of crunching or shattering, so instead of worrying about his worldly possessions Harry resolved to learn the spell. “It didn’t work, not at all, but oddly enough incredible boredom isn’t something dementors like to feed on.”

“So you remember them then?”

“Only the worst parts, all the exposition and none of the exploitation.” Sirius tossed Harry a set of robes from the packed trunk as he walked over to his broomstick, which had escaped his spell. “Part of me wants to see them again to see if all the memories come back, but then the other parts of me realize exactly how little fun I had the first time. Throw those on.”

Harry pulled his robes over his head as Sirius glanced around his now barren room. “Where are we going?”

“Out the window.” Dumbledore was in the doorway, an ancient broom in his hand. “And then to London and above.”

Harry opened the window, and it was impossible not to remember last time he’d escaped the Dursely’s aboard the Weasley’s flying car. “What about-“

“Hedwig and your luggage will find their way to our ultimate destination.” Dumbledore had mounted his broom, and Sirius had one in his hand. “We do have something of a schedule to keep this morning however.”

Flying wasn’t something Harry could object to, and he launched himself into the air in Dumbledore’s wake. There was a shimmer around them, and from the two adult’s relaxed expressions he assumed it was to hide them from muggle observers.

“You have questions Harry.” The professor’s voice carried over the rush of the wind. “Some I can answer, others will have to wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“Some for a safe place to speak, and others for a safe person to speak to.” The thing above London was growing as they approached it, and the roughness was beginning to look almost like buildings. “Voldemort has always had a gift for learning secrets, and until I’ve investigated a few avenues I’d prefer to keep them secret.”

“So you can tell me at Hogwarts?”

“Eventually I hope to, yes. Much will depend on what we learn today though.” Dumbledore pointed at the sphere in the sky. “Tell me Harry, have you ever heard of Tír na nÓg?”

“No?”

Sirius let out a burst of laughter. “Binns fails once more.”

“Indeed. The Board of Governors must be made to act.” There was a sharp edge to the professor’s voice. “Regardless, that is Tír na nÓg before us.”

“What is it?”

“A city, a fortress, a bubble of otherworldly promise and power!” That was Sirius, sounding as if he were a tour guide. “A port that travels, an emporium of the epic and exotic, higher than Hy-Brasil, and drier than Atlantis!”

Dumbledore snorted. “I wouldn’t mention Atlantis there, but I suppose that’s not the least accurate summary.” Harry was beginning to see others flying towards the mass, and on its sides he could see terraces and buildings. “Tír na nÓg is a city founded by the last survivors of a dead world. They ripped a sphere of their space free and flung it away from their enemies.”

“They had some plan to rearm and return, but-“

“If you’ll let me continue?” Sirius nodded, but he had a grin that spanned his entire face despite Dumbledore’s reproach. “When they reached their first new world after a period of recuperation they began to grasp the power they had stumbled upon. New worlds came with new magics, new peoples, new ideas, and new powers. Their goal changed from simply recovering to instead gaining the strength to repair all they’d lost.”

“What were they fighting that they couldn’t just-“ Harry gestured at the city, and it was a city he could see clearly now, but he couldn’t find words for it.

“Dead gods mostly.”

The professor nodded. “And other things, but like Atlantis it’s best not to ask.”

The air was growing crowded, streams of flyers converging towards points on the surface of Tír na nÓg. It was good they’d left early Harry thought, or they’d be stuck in a traffic jam.

“Why are we all flying towards one point?”

“It’s a fortress, or it was originally. It has walls of time and space, and its defenses.” Dumbledore twitched his wand and the world telescoped towards Harry. There was ring midair where the flyers were all going. It reminded him of nothing so much as a massive Quidditch hoop. All along its circumference there were hard faced men and woman and other things who stood on ramparts wrapped around it entirely heedless of gravity’s directions. Besides them were what looked like guns with many barrels, rockets, and a squadron of giant dragonflies. “Are not inconsiderable.”

“Is that the Mag Mell gate?”

“That would be the one you remember Sirius.” Dumbledore smirked, and Harry almost had to check his eyes. “I can assure you that the rumors are all true, and that both of you are too young for it. Everyone is too young for it.”

“The path to the most beautiful women, and all the best of everything else?”

“It’s a magical place.” Dumbledore’s smirk had changed to something softer, nostalgia, before he shook it off. “However, that’s simply the Wardens’ gate. I don’t think I’d be able to keep us on task if we went to Mag Mell.”

“Where are we going then? What’s here that you need me for?” It was like the first time he’d been to Diagon Alley, Harry didn’t know where to look and he wasn’t even in the city yet. All around them were witches and wizards, a woman was riding a flaming horse towards the gate, two Indian men were on a flying carpet, and what seemed to be a sentient human shaped cloud was drifting in.

“We have several errands but brace yourself.” They were about to pass through the ring, and even with the professor’s warning Harry nearly fell from his broom. It was different inside, the noise of London below was gone, and even the light of the morning only came through the portal. They were surrounded by a night full of stars, but not as they usually were. Their lights burned in the darkness, beautiful and harsh. Dumbledore looked around before understanding dawned. “Of course, it is after the solstice.” Harry didn’t have time to wonder about the non sequitur, instead following the professor to the ground.

The old wizard stuffed his broom in a pocket, at his gesture Harry passed him his Firebolt which vanished similarly. Sirius shrank his own, but his godfather was almost as slackjawed as Harry. They had landed on a road that curved around the city into the distance, and above them concentric levels extended. It was bustling, a horde of humanity the equal to any of London’s streets, no not just humanity. There were tall moon pale creatures with pointed ears, others that seemed to be mobile sculptures made of liquid glass, a sphinx draped in saddlebags, and even what Harry was sure was a robot.

“This is the Prime Parallel. It goes entirely around Tír na nÓg, and it is the only part of it I would call safe.” Dumbledore was grave as he lectured both of them. “The further from the equator, where we are now, the less sway mortals have. If you go in, up, or down things will change in ways that are possibly inimical.”

“Where will we find the Old Guard?” Sirius asked as Harry kept staring, and he could hear the capitals.

Dumbledore shrugged. “I sold most of my memories of this place to ensure that when I left I owed no debts.”

Choosing to ignore that disturbing revelation Harry asked the question he’d been wondering instead.

“So you’ve been here before? Does it come on a calendar?”

“Yes, in my youth. I spent what felt like several years here, although like I said I don’t remember much of it. I came back with new talents I assume I worked for, and a rather useful scar that serves as a map of the London underground.”

“And several favors Albus.” The woman who spoke made Fleur look drab. Her hair shone in the darkness, as if the sun couldn’t bear to leave it. “Summer doesn’t forget what you’ve done, even if you have.”

“Just as I couldn’t forget you Lady Lily.” Dumbledore bowed low and extravagantly, kissing the presented hand. “May I present my colleague Sirius Black and his godson Harry Potter?”

“Charmed I’m sure.” They were attracting attention, although in an extremely welcome change none was focused on Harry. “My mother will wish to speak with you at your earliest convenience.”

Dumbledore seemed to be searching for an excuse to refuse. “I couldn’t make her wait any longer than humanly possible, but I do need to shepherd these two.”

“Where must they go? My Knight will ensure they reach anywhere in this citadel promptly and unharmed.” A man stepped forward, her knight Harry assumed from the sword at his side.

“I remember two English magicians who made a particular study of curses. I was hoping to enlist their expertise.”

Lily and the knight exchanged a glance that seemed to speak volumes.

“They’ve expanded their firm, but Fix will take them.”

“In that case I shall happily visit the queen with my conscience clear.” He sounded anything but.

“Excellent.” Lily’s smile was the sort of thing men would kill for. “Then walk with me, I remember you used to have such a keen sense of humor and I’m curious what time has done to it.” She took the professor by the arm and steered him towards an opening into the city’s center, a vast vaulted hall with open obsidian gates.

“He’s a lucky man.” Sirius said what Harry was sure everyone around them was thinking. Fix just snorted.

“Come along then. He might not remember what happened when he was last here, but I can assure you that others do.” His hand fell to the hilt of his sword. “It would be best not to mention his name where anyone can hear you, or even if they can’t.”

“Why? What did he do?”

Fix didn’t answer immediately as he started to lead them through the crowd. People seemed to recognize the wiry man, and he elicited all sorts of reactions, from terror to admiration.

“Your professor battled almost everything on this rock, and he’s still walking.” They had to pause as an eight-legged horse pulled a cart past them. “It would be better if he’d ensured those he’d fought weren’t.”

“But if it was in his youth that must have been decades ago?” Sirius had straightened as Fix spoke, his eyes flickering as he scanned the throngs of people.

“Time here isn’t quite the same. And even then, somethings here can nap that long like a Sunday afternoon.”

With that warning Fix went quiet and Harry almost forgot his words as he was once again swept up in the majesty of Tír na nÓg. Stores and houses lined the street, selling everything from art to “Artificial intelligence?”

Fix glanced back once and then went back to his silent watch. It was just another mystery, and Harry was beginning to be sick of them.

Finally after what felt like almost a mile down the busy Prime Parallel the knight slowed. “Your professor was friends with two of these magicians when he was here.” The building they were in front of looked like what Gringotts wanted to be when it grew up, all white marble and gold with a curious round window. “If anyone knows about curses it’s them.” He didn’t make any motion towards the door.

“Well then we’ll just go on in.” Harry was glad Sirius spoke, the entire morning had been more bizarre than he’d like. Fix just nodded as they walked forward to the door.

“Good luck.” He spoke just before Sirius picked up the heavy knocker, and then he vanished.

“That wasn’t ominous at all.” Sirius’s joke wasn’t quite as funny as he’d hoped.

The door opened before Sirius could release the knocker. The man inside wasn’t one, something about him made the hair at the back of Harry’s neck raise, and he knew despite all appearances, from his Victorian dress to his powdered wig the being wasn’t human.

“Welcome to the firm of Dr. Strange, Strange & Norrell. Masters of the Mystic Arts, Merlin to the Iron Duke, and the Heir of Alexandria.” The thing’s words were wrong, as were his actions. “Who shall I say is calling?”

________
So I've been thinking about multi-crosses recently, but I don't want to write the few hundred thousand words that typically would be needed for the sprawl I'd like. This is one of the mechanisms I'm toying with, thanks to some cataclysm in the Dresden Files the various goodish/non-outsider factions abandon their universe. They drift from world to world, picking up strays and assorted random things until eventually their original motive is half forgotten. If I was going to keep it Harry Potter focused the story would be just the summer between GoF and OotP, because after a season Tír na nÓg leaves, and the way the various factions exploit the magics of a hundred worlds. I'd probably scale the power so that Harry Potter wizards are upper tier in straight fights, but both Dumbledore and Voldemort would be searching for some silver bullet, or failing that Voldemort would use the Death Eater fortunes to buy an awful lot of bullets.

I think it could be neat, opinions are welcome.

 

Idea branching off yours.

In the town of Little Whinging, young Harry Potter is declared a wizard and a pokemon prodigy. He will go places, almost everyone says. At the age of 11 he has drawn the attention of Albus Dumbledore, Champion of the British Pokemon League itself, and a placement in the prestigious Hogwarts Academy. He was chosen by an actual Starter Pokemon. His talent is real, his future is bright and his potential is unlimited. Perhaps, one day, he will even achieve league championship, almost everyone says.
Almost. Everyone.
Because on the day Harry departed for Hogwarts, another boy left Little Whinging for his own Pokemon journey. Because, though he loved (and was loved in turn by) Harry Potter like a brother, Dudley Dursley has the same dream:
To be a Pokemon trainer and Master.
To play and win the game of Champions.

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Basically , the same setting and even perhaps compliant to your story, except Dudley stars in his own story as Red to be Harry as Blue. And while Team Voldemort fights Dumbledore and Harry, Dudley will be an OOC problem for them (like Red was to the Rockets).

 

Since I've been idling about in Westeros lately(in chief because I'm re-reading Clash of Kings), a disillusioned middle-aged(~30s) Harry Potter jumps ship from his world and lands at Dragonstone a few years before Jon Arryn is murdered. Mostly I want it to serve as a vehicle for Harry to change Stannis for the better(and the same of the Seven Kingdoms, even if it results in a rather more early division of loyalties and wars). He would still have access to his magic, but he isn't there to be a deus ex machina miracle maker. He's there to prod people into the right decisions at the right times by their own efforts(ie, he could make two people swear an unbreakable oath, but why should he if they could get to the same end results through talk on their own).

Only just thought of this about ten minutes ago. I want him to be older and more jaded about things so he isn't rushing off to be a hero and right all of the wrongs that he would no doubt observe. I guess more pragmatic? More Tyrion-like? Willing to do good, anyway. I mostly expect him to either circumvent Melisandre's involvement, or undermine her authority if she does meet with Stannis at some point.

 

The Gandalf like councilor is definitely the way to go with an A Song of Ice and Fire cross. When I attempted to write one I went the reincarnation route as Steffon Baratheon's younger brother. Mostly what I was writing was an exploration of Harry as a character. He had lived his whole life, died an old man, then began his next great adventure in Westeros. Harry was excited to be young and largely care free again. He went to the Citadel to study, he went exploring in search of magic. He offered good advice to his brother when he was around.

I was having quite a lot of fun writing it until I tried to turn it into an actual narrative. Then I ran into the problems every crossover like this has. Being that Harry is essentially a god in power. So trying to drum up some conflict that isn't contrived is a difficult task. I tried to write it as political and personal strife with the new Baratheon dynasty on the throne. Since in this story Harry's mother was a Targaryen there was conflict there while Harry was still trying to act as the sage adviser. I ended up bogged down in it and gave up since it stopped being interesting to myself.

 

Harry replacing Mellisandre as magician advisor to Stannis the Mannis I would read that so fast it would make yur head spin.

Would Harry have access to all his magic? Or would he have to reform it to fit the new world he found himself in?

Harry has his own ambitions too, I imagine. First trying to get back home. Then trying to fix the clusterfuck of events. Then trying to survive by keeping his sponsor/faction leader alive, then against white walkers?

So MANY possibilities. Zen, write dis plz.

Apropos of nothing: : D : D Harry Potter/Daphne Greenfield

 

Harry accepts his inheritance. Grimmauld Place 12 and several thousand Galleons debt with Gringotts.

 

Petunia and Vernon Dursley are killed in a car accident, leaving Harry and Dudley to be raised by Aunt Marge.

I've got a feeling this will lead to both Dudley and Harry having shitty childhoods. A sort of interesting solidarity between them perhaps? I don't think Marge has the capability to actually raise a child.