If anything, Dumbledore would get the blame for death of Hermione if the troll turns her into human paste. Trolls aren't exactly supposed to enter schools of all places free to cause havoc.

Speaking of dangers, I never read a story where Harry comes back to Hogwarts a couple of years post DH and kills off all the acromantulas in the forest, or at least the ones that are still alive.

 

Funny how the last plot bunnies always fly around teen!Harry. I think it would be more ingenious and less overdone if the author (anyone) works with an adult!Harry. Every problem mentioned in the last posts could be fixed if you write Harry as a grownup. Because, seriously, you can modify the Hogwarts years a number of times before it becomes a repetitive formula. Writing about a teen means: teen drama, teen action, teen romance, teen madness, etc. And FF.net it’s full of that kind of stories. And why people always trap themselves in the 1-7 year span, I'll never understand.

Writing about an adult!Harry provides you with a bigger context. Love and romance feels more realistic because the characters are grownups; the political plots have a chance to be plausible for once, because no matter how intelligent and cunning a 15/17 year old Harry could be, he’s still a kid ergo you need to downgrade the political game for a teen to succeed, and that’s utter bullshit. The fall trough darkness has more background, plot wise, if the character had years to fall, not only weeks or months. You want to make him skilled, talented or with bigger comprehension on magic, it’s more believable if he had a decade or more to practice and study (after Hogwarts of course).

Think about every genre here in DLP, every one of them develops a more realistic touch if the main character has between 25 and 70 years.

 

I made a thread, but I figured I'd put it here as well

Snorkackle's Challenge - The Other Minsiter!
I was thinking about different AU's - like some of the significant roles played and losses from the first wizarding war and stuff - and I thought to myself, "What if instead of Fudge becoming Minister, Barty Crouch just became the Minister of Magic?" Like what if he managed to cover up his sons fuck ups and saw his pompous way through the rest of the war? We all know he was a hardass and stuff, so how would everything change before Harry even learns what magic is - or, would Barty try and use Harry to some extent, maybe even try and turn him from regular!Harry into Auror!Harry? Barty was a cunt, but apparently he was one of the good guys...who liked to torture information out of the bad guys.

I've never seen a story like this and I've poked at the idea of trying it, but I just didn't really feel like it so I thought I'd at least put the idea out there for anyone to give it a go.

 

Mentor!Bartemus Crouch. I like it @Snorkack. If Barty became the minister, I can't see Malfoy stuttering around the ministry like he owned it. If anything, he might be arrested for some other reason or most likely 'suffered' an accident. Except for imprisoning Sirius and protecting people taking more importance over his own family, Barty Crouch has a lot of potential.

A political second innings perhaps.....

 

Uh, because adult Harry isn't as interesting? I'm pretty sure I can count on one hand, maybe two the number of adult Harry stories I have ever liked, and many, many times that of school years Harry.

Probably because the school years provide the fanfic author with a general guideline, which lends itself well to author's who aren't ready to write completely original plots.

I think the other issue with making Harry an adult is that it tends to run counter to the way we envision Harry when we think of him, he's a kid, or at the latest a brand-new adult at 18 or so. Which isn't to say an older Harry can't be done, but it requires a lot more effort, and I think divergences are a more interesting read in any case, at least if they are well thought out.

 

^ This.

I know that I couldn't pull off a decent length fic about an adult Harry. Sure there is the Auror angle that could provide a bit of a guideline and give me a 'big bad' to work with, but crime dramas (outside of Sherlock Holmes) don't tend to capture my interest. A romance is always up for an option, but again it isn't something that I like to read. Action/Adventure/Fantasy is what I like and is what fits with Harry's Hogwarts years.

I suppose that I could send an adult Harry off on an epic adventure in the Congo or something of the sort, but then there is the limit of my current abilities to do an extended, almost original fic. In fact, if I'm going to diverge that far from the canon, I might as well just try my hand at writing an original piece.

If I truly wanted to be lazy, I could write about a new dark lord rising from the remains of the Death Eaters and the ensuing race to put an end to another rise of war, but it just seems like a fucking retarded idea (read: cop-out) and is the reason why next-generation fanfic has no appeal to me.

That's just me though, but I imagine that others feel the same as I do about writing adult!Harry fanfiction.

 

*shrugs* Britain isn't the only country where wizards live and Gellert Grindelwald certainly wasn't a Dark Lord confined to a dim island. There certainly can be a continental Dark Lord and a war of the same scale.

But yeah, I get it. Adult harry pushes the creativity of even talented writers since they are basically writing an original novel using Harry Potter characters.

 

But that's the thing. You can't let what you think is lack of creativity or author skills determining your work. And what I just read are awful excuses. Basically, you would write (or read) about the Hogwarts years because you feel more comfortable following a structured plot. That's just lazy. How do you know you're going to fail writing about adult!Harry if you don't try in the first place?

But I digress. Evidently I am tired of reading the same thing all the time and subjectivity clouded my judgment. But I'll still prefer Sesc's work (or enembee, IdSayWhyNot, Amerision, Voice of the Nephilim, Roarian) over everyone else.

 

Joe Ducie's my favorite. Heartlands and Wastelands kick some serious Atlantean-ass. However, I agree that writing a kick-ass post DH Harry Potter story is the pinnacle of Harry Potter fandom.

I'll probably even pay the author if he manages to remove Ginny from the picture(Not necessarily a death) and manages to come up with a believable break-up with her and not the cliche ridden "Blame Harry for all deaths" crap.

My original intention was for Averis to see this thread. I figured that the lad needed an ego boost since it's been a while since his post DH curse breaking adventure 'Gone No Goodbyes' was updated.

'Averis writes some pretty good OC's too. Oh wow Averis your Harry is soo awesome.'

I think I'll stop since I think I've made my point.

 

I have no problem reading about an adult Harry, if the story is to my taste. I just know that I'm not quite there as an author and the same can be said for a lot of others as well.

Right now I'm working on an original short story, which I hope will help me progress towards more original ideas and possibly a longer piece that would implement a an adult Harry and an epic adventure, as epic adventures are my favorite story to read.

 

Firstly, the vast majority of post-HW fics suck. There's the whole next-gen thing, Rose/Scorpius, Lily-Luna/Scorpius... Albus Severus/Scorpius.

While not true, some people feel like, if they go post-HW, they have to stick more closely to canon. This leaves the author trudging through explanations of why Harry and Ginny split up, why Hermione isn't with Ron, or why Luna didn't hook up with some non-entity, or why Fred isn't dead, or why Dumbledore isn't worm food, how Scrimgeour is still Minister...

Which brings us to the issue of the Hogwarts years being when many things happen that, unless you rewrite a ton of stuff, you can't take back: Sirius, Cedric, Voldemort's return, Pettigrew's escape, Dumbledore's death.

If you want to change any of those things, but are writing adult!Harry, then you have a few options, with varying degrees of unattractiveness.

You could go the bullshit route, and just ignore that X thing ever happened, without explaining why it didn't happen, leaving the reader to wonder why Sirius is organizing Harry's bachelor party, when he should be pushing up the astral daisies.

You could briefly mention, "Oh, and, by the way, Sirius is still alive." in the briefest, most amateurish, and least satisfying way possible, which only the lowest common denominator reader will let slide without questioning your ability as a writer.

Another option would be delving into the changes via a lengthy flashback (or several), or devote your opening chapter to those changes, which is often an undesirable option since, if you go that route, you're basically just writing teen!Harry again, then doing a huge time-skip to get to the adult!Harry story you wanted to write.

Writing a good post-Hogwarts story is certainly possible and has been done before, but these are some of the reasons people don't bother.

If an author wants to write about firsts, whether we're talking about a first kiss, first girl/boyfriend, first time casting a certain spell, first time killing an enemy, and so on, then post-Hogwarts is a tad late in many instances.

And, as thebrute7 said, writing during Harry's school years provides a basic, easy to follow story outline that all readers of HP are intimately familiar with. It gives the writer a solid, proven, plot arc to work with, into which they can insert their own ideas, adding, subtracting, or changing as much or as little as they are comfortable with.

And, yeah, adult Harry (as he is most often written) is boring as hell... though, no more so than in canon.

 

I have two ideas for an adult Harry Potter fic, but no time to write them (especially because both fics would be quite long). I've always wanted to read more adult Harry fics, there is so much potential, especially if you expanded the magic system.

The first one is a HP/Dresden crossover that takes place in England. Harry Potter is an Auror investigating Daphne and her family for dark art dealings and trying to figure out why vampire attacks have been increasing. While staking out her house, he hears her scream and rushes in to see Red Court Vampires killing Daphne, taking some sort of book (about blood/family rituals...) and escaping through the nevernever. Harry, of course, follows, gets trapped in the Nevernever and accidentally makes a deal with some sort of Fae to get out. Of course, they let him out in Chicago, where Harry manages to track down Dresden.

Whole bunch of stuff happens, Harry learns about a new treaty being made with the Red Court Vampires which is concerning. Harry brings Dresden to Kingsley to tell him this is wrong, but Kingsley dismisses him. Weird things begin to happen, the Wizarding Government begins to talk about another type of wizard that is planning on taking over the government, dismantling the school and killing anyone for simple magic. People get freaked out, Dresden and Harry are trying to stop it. Kingsley is becoming more and more cunning, smooth and passing bills making him more and more powerful. Some shit does down between the wizarding world and the council which causes the Wizarding World to take the Red Courts side and plan for the annihilation of the Council.

Fae courts get involved, shit gets real. Harry finds out that Tom Riddle had dealings with the fae courts and did anything for power, and there are rumors that he may have picked up a certain type of coin along the way. But of course, if there was a coin, it had been missing since Voldemort's fall.

I always wanted to see Dresden in Harry's world and more interactions between the Council and the Wizarding World. Here we get both awesome things.

My second idea is similar to Homeland using HP. I was thinking Tom Riddle was born around the same time as Harry's parents, leading to him gaining power later when Harry is an adult. Harry joins the Hit Wizards and has to track down an up and coming terrorist group on the mainland. They lose a battle and are taking hostage. Years later, HP is found alive and freed, and he returns a hero with a hidden past.

 

You're right. But I just don't get it, you know? If people like Sesc, IdSayWhyNot, Silens, enembee, Etchelion or Syao can write about adult!Harry, they can't be the only ones. I'm right?
Post-HW to me doesn't necessarily means Post-Canon HW. What I'm saying is, you can take all (or some of) the bullshit that happens to Harry in canon and make them happen when he is like, I don't know, between 25 and 70. That gives you, IMO, a bigger field to play. You're not limited as you would be if the hero is a teen.

You need to be skilled to write what I ask, but to write about HW years you need to be even more skilled (if you want your fic to be any good). Because when you sit to plan your plot, there're certain limitations you can't fight with and you're already competing with hundreds of fics out there featuring HW years.

 

I've actually outlined a story I'm working on, and it goes past 7 years. The only problem is if I can do it justice, as I've really only just found a style of writing that works for me. So don't actually expect anything.

Anyway, (Potentially stupid/crack-y) plotbunny:

Basically, Accident with the Time-Turner flings Harry and Hermione's conscious-es (consciousi?) back in time and end up as voices in a 13 year old James Potter's mind. No idea where it'd go from there, but it was just a random thought. Somethings could most likely be changed if need to make it less...iffy, but it was, at most, a pasing thought.

 

So all the talk about an adult Harry gave me a plot bunny. Hogwarts starts at 17 (or 20 or something) instead of 11. Maybe the time one goes is shorter. Like 4 years instead of 7. It allows for a much more competent Harry without overused plot devices, and still keeps the Hogwarts setting. You could keep most of the basic plot from canon, but crunch a few plots into the same years to keep it fresh. Combine PS, GoF and PoA into one year, for example. But with a competent, mature Harry. All the characters would be similar, but significantly different due to age to make things interesting.

Some other changes could be to make the houses more inclined to competition, advance the rate at which they learn things and make the tone much darker. Muggleborns (and Harry) would be at a much greater disadvantage. I like this idea a lot. I'm not that great of a writer, so if it strikes anyone's fancy, they are welcome to it. If no one wants to though, I'll take a crack at it.

 

This will be a bit difficult to work on.

Think of how 17 yrs of Harry under Dursley's will behave. And Hermione with 17 yrs of overshadowing her peers.

There will be a lot to think on.

 

Meh. The Dursleys would be long gone and dead by the time Harry reached 17 had Hogwarts hadn't entered Harry's life at 11 years of age. Voldemort, sensing the potential, makes Harry his apprentice and son and they take over Britain killing all the mudbloods and muggles. :facepalm

 

I doubt that. Voldemort needed Peter Pettigrew to help him rise. If it's not for getting discovered I doubt Peter would have ran.

Putting that aside. I haven't seen a proper "Dark Lord" Potter fic until now. You know, a megalomaniac, machiavellian Harry Potter who wants to rule the world. Most of the existing ones always get abandoned while developing the character itself. Of course, sympathizing with such a character is difficult but I thought I would have come across at least one. (Disregarding the porn fics).

 

Do tell from where that Harry is going to get his minions from and the ideology he is going to follow. The pure-blood agenda is scrapped coz everyone knows that Harry is a half-blood and going after muggles isn't even realistic to begin with. The only way is championing muggle-born rights and killing off all the pure-bloods.

The only 'realistic' way I can think of is Harry going to 1890, killing off Dumbledore and Grindelwald and rising based on Grindelwald's ideology immediately. I doubt the muggles can stop wizards with the 1900's technology.

 

Muggle's treated Harry like shit, I can see it making him biased against them