This feels very familiar. I think I've seen exactly this prompt before (perhaps even in this thread?)

 

I mean, it's just a variation on a LOTR quote. It's possible it has been done before.

 

I think someone posted a plot with basically that premise in a story comp thread a while back, sharing an idea that they didn't have time to write. People might be thinking of that, or it might've been posted in this thread too.

 

AU.
During his lifetime, Albus Dumbledore had acquired skills and knowledge that no other living man possesses. Whenever powerful dark wizards rear their ugly heads, and aurors fall before them, Albus is asked to deal with them. Eventually, he gets tired of being the sole bearer of such responsibility, and yet he knows that he cannot simply teach his dangerous abilities to just everyone, as it could be used for malign purposes. Therefore, Dumbledore gathers a select group of wizards, handpicked carefully, to whom he can pass his knowledge and skills. He names them the Order of the Phoenix. He would no longer the only one Voldemort ever feared.

HOWEVER, to make sure that his selected apprentices have their hearts in the right place, he passes them through a series of unwitting tests of skill and character. As it turns out, the adventures Harry had in his first four years at Hogwarts (obviously with some alterations) were simply tests that Dumbledore constructed for potential apprentices. Voldemort doesn’t return, and the next three years have even harder tests…

You can take it in a number of ways from there. Maybe Harry suffers some terrible loss or accident due to the tests, and when he learns the truth, he cracks. Maybe, at the end of his seventh year, Dumbledore dies unexpectedly, and Voldemort returns, leaving Harry to work with the rest of the Order. Maybe the actual plot only starts when Harry is 24, after he had experienced seven years of apprenticeship to Dumbledore, and he has his own dangerous ideas on how to change society.

 

This is some new level of manipulative!Dumbledore. There's some merrit to the idea but I feel it'd need rewriting of the most tests since Harry survived them barely and not because of his skills. I figure most of his to-be-apprentices would perish before he'd get to teach them a single thing.

 

That's why I wrote "with some alterations". Like the Basilisk may be not real, just something that Dumbledore transfigured, and it would involve more active magic usage, though the fact that Harry figured out those mysteries (like finding the Chamber of Secrets when no one else managed, knowing about the Stone and when it would be stolen, gathering pieces of hidden knowledge from adults etc.) should be a big part of the tests as well - not just magic prowess, but deductive reasoning, personality and noble intentions.

 

Bill took down the mummy in Hamunaptra.

Charlie resealed Dracula in Romania at the turn of the millennium.

Fred and George eliminated a rival magical cartel lord in the Congo.

Ron (and maybe Bill in a more supportive role) helped restore El Dorado after the oathbreaking goblins secreted it away centuries ago.

Percy (and Harry?) stopped Rasputin's revival in Siberia, and cleaned up the aftermath of Grindelwald's vampire supporters.

That leaves Ginny, Arthur, and Molly to craft narratives for in my overlapping alternate universe split up among stories started and others still planned. Any suggestions?

 

Just based on the Weasley naming thing, Arthur has got to have something to do with Camelot and the King Arthur mythos in some way.

 

Arthur's job is about keeping wizards from enchanting muggle artifacts, and from keeping magical objects out of muggle's hands. So a fitting adventure for him would focus on something regarding those. Like maybe a major cursed item has gotten into muggle hands and is used for extremely destructive/nefarious purposes, something along the lines of the mask or a death note.

Ginny pulls a femme fatale and following a coup in a nearby magical government manages to integrate herself with the upcoming dark wizard of the century well enough to assassinate him.

Molly uncovered a squib conspiracy led by her cousin that aimed to position themselves at the head of muggle society through precise application of potions, magical trinkets and creatures purchased in the wizarding world.

 

Excalibur escapes the ministry's Asylum for Eccentric Artifacts and goes around promising Kingship to whoever catches its eye (and hilt). Aside from having some means to transport itself and maybe the ability to change its shape to be more innocuous, the only power the sword gives its wielder is crazy levels of confidence and the delusion that they're in fact the once and future king.

Only Arthur Weasley has the name and skills to hunt down the mad sword as it leaves a trail of chaos and pretenders on the muggle world.

 

Back when GoF first came out, I had the idea that Voldemort’s servants were called “Death Eaters” because they were actually some kind of cannibals who ate wizards to gain power or life force (which corresponds to historical magical practices – google corpse medicine). Of course, nothing of the sort was ever revealed.

But, why not make it an AU? Where Voldemort was the one who discovered (or re-discovered) a way to cannibalize wizards in order to grow in power, and cure diseases. Perhaps he was initially somewhat magically weak and really wanted to be powerful (yeah, I know there’s no such thing as inherent magical power, fuck off), or had a disease that couldn’t be cured any other way (resulting in his monstrous visage), which prompted him to find the cannibalistic ritual, and commit his first murder.

He used that discovery in order to attract wizards who wanted power, or wizards with otherwise incurable diseases. Together, they hunted the most powerful wizards and imbibed their powers.

Maybe Voldemort even discovered that this added life force could allow users to survive the Killing Curse, and other methods of killing, thus conquering death.

Before the prophecy, he also learnt that the organs of infants can be used for rejuvenation, and he wanted to regain his normal looks, so he cast the spell that prepares the ritual, and tried to kill Harry. Because of Lily’s protection, the ritual went awry – Voldemort’s body was destroyed, and Harry imbued almost all of his life force before Voldemort managed to escape, significantly weakened and stripped of all magical potential.

Since no body was ever found, and there were signs of the ritual, people speculated that Harry indeed took Voldemort’s powers, and are therefore pretty wary of him. This is verified when Harry is seen talking to a snake. Some of them may even try to raise him as the new Dark Lord.

Without Voldemort, the Death Eaters can’t use the ritual anymore (he kept it secret, only letting them see a bit) and have gone underground. Years later, a young and weak wizard by the name of Quirinus Quirrell, with ambitions of power, seeks out the weakened Lord Voldemort, and finds him. Together, they concoct a plan to restore Voldemort’s power… by consuming Harry Potter’s body.

 

That is fucking horrifying, I love it.

 

I just woke up from a dream that had an idea that felt worth saving. As is normal for most of my dreams, it was too chaotic and self-contradictory for any description that would make sense, but there was this bit:

{Wizard} is swinging their wand overhead, pointed towards the sky, in a slow circle. The clouds are gradually darkening and swirling in response. The {wizard} thinks to himself that he never liked performing sky magic, because he can feel a tension gradually building in his wand, as though some force was trying to pull it from his grip into the clouds, which rumble with thunder. The force slowly builds up, until it feels like his wand is going to be ripped out of his hands, then he swings it down in a swift motion to point at {target}, and an absolutely massive bolt of lightning smacks down at the target point.

 

Reminds me of the "elemental magic" thing you sometimes see. I like the concept but it's rarely pulled off well.

 

Post Epilogue: A new movement in the wizarding world had popped up. It’s anti-muggle, but for some reason it’s being spearheaded by muggleborns. Their cause? The muggles are destroying the environment and must-be-stopped!

Featuring environmental wizard terrorists who think muggles can’t be left in control and that maybe Grindelwald was right after all. Another movement who think it’s time to remove the Statute of Secrecy and offer their powers to fix the damage. All of this leaving a rather conflicted Harry Potter who agrees in spirit something should be done, but the proposals offered by both sides are not right.

 

Does anyone here remember Archy and Mehitabel? Archy was a cockroach who typed poems by jumping from one key to another on a typewriter, while Mehitabel was a cat who was Archy's best friend:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy_and_Mehitabel

Someone on reddit asked about ultra rare pairings in HP fanfic. I'm not into shipping and I figured there was a rule 34 variant that said every conceivable pairing must already exist anyway, but I don't think I've ever heard of McGonagall's cat animagus pairing with Rita Skeeter's beetle. They could do any Archy and Mehitabel thing while their human forms still couldn't stand each other. Hmm.

 

Oh, no...!

 

So I’ve been playing around with a soul bond plot bunny for awhile… it turns out, if you build it like a relationship it works out decently:


Starts a year or so after canon, Hermione is in a happy relationship with Ron (though something is missing and they have normal couple problems) and works as a liaison in the Goblin relations office, part of her responsibilities is to catalogue artefacts that the Goblins bring into the country through their curse breaking enterprises.

Fleur still works in Gringotts, her and Bill are trying for their first child but they're having issues because her veela blood and the partial werewolf curse Bill has clash. Part of Fleur’s duties include escorting the ministry liaison around when they're on premise. Fleur and Hermione have formed a friendship through this, they have inside jokes, have lunch together once or twice a week and see each other outside of work. They know about each other’s problems and are supportive as friends would be. This is all built up over several chapters.

Then one day Hermione and Fleur are going over the latest batch of artefacts. Something happens which sets off the McGuffin soul artefact then either Fleur or Hermione protect the other. Afterwards, it is found that the artefact has entangled their souls together, they are bonded. No one is quite sure what this means, they aren't suddenly in love, nor do they have a feeling of rightness or closeness. They treat it as just another facet of their friendship and move on.

We show their feelings towards their current partners become muted, while their closeness growing (despite the fact that neither of them are bi). Eventually Hermione, breaks it off with Ron on amicable terms and Fleur and Bill split because they can't start a family. They decide to be roommates and a romance forms, all the building blocks are there and they realise that the soul bond had been slowly shaping them to complement each other. They love each other and are truly content with each other.

 

TLDR: How to get Fleur topping Hermione.








I'd read it.

 

The reverse of 'ignorant wizards knowing nothing about modern science and technology'.
I thought of wizards preserving all kinds of knowledge from the ignorant barbarians and the religious fanatics. They enchant the books and scrolls to preserve them from fire, and use muggle-repelling spells to hide precious relics from the destruction in the wars.
The magical world is created by combining the magic and science. In the end of XX century mages are way ahead of muggles. They explore the stars using the enchanted spaceships cloaked to hide from muggle radars. Goblins mining the distant planets, werewolves and centaurs working on terraforming etc.
Just imagine the culture shock of muggleborns entering the magical world...