To be fair, Portus, my idea actually removed Katie in favor of Harry. I could see potential in a Harry/Anthony friendship and possibly a Harry/Susan/Daphne love triangle but a story like this should be more about the time travel and what they are actually doing instead of how they relate to eachother. Doesn't hurt if Anthony and one of the girls dies at some point and are lost on the trails of time.

I think we all agree that the plot could have potential. That said, it could also be horrible so it really all depends on how good of a writer Countess is. Speaking of, I have a PM to check so hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Letcha'know...

 

This has given me an idea about time travel itself. Now, from some other threads about time travel and Time Turners in particular, I think we can all agree that actually *changing* the past is patently impossible. Here's my idea on how time travel might work and why, if it *is* possible to "change the past," more people don't actually try it.

Okay, so let's say that time travel is possible, though not in the classical sense or within your own universe. Time Turners are sort of an exception, in that you only go back a short period of time and no matter what you do, you're unable to actually change anything that happened "the first time around." I like Warlocke's explanation a few days back that Time Turners are less of a time travel device than a "be in two places at once" device.

Anyway, when a person tries to go into the *actual* past, i.e. trying to do something other than what occurred concurrently in PoA, that person really leaves their own universe completely, and is shunted over to a parallel universe, and ceases to exist in their original universe. That is, their soul/spirit/whatever leaves that universe.

The version of that person's soul in the new universe is destroyed when the displaced soul arrives, but now the displaced soul has no metaphysical anchor in the new universe. What I mean is that the incoming soul is not "native" to that new universe, or is out of sync, etc. And so, when that physical body dies, the traveling soul is destroyed as well, with no chance of an afterlife or The Next Great Adventure.

Alternatively, the displaced soul could be reeled back into the original universe, arriving back at the same instant they left and again stuck in the hellish place they left. That would make the prospect of time travel "to right the wrongs" seem pretty damn futile, which would be one way of making sure everyone *knew* what a zero-sum game it is to attempt "real" time travel.

Or another option: Time travel - really just interdimensional travel - requires the displaced soul to have an anchor in the original universe, and so is only possible for those who make a Horcrux. Voldemort travels to the past (or just another universe, if he understands the concepts involved) and Harry is forced to make a Horcrux so that he can follow Voldemort, who is attempting to scatter his Horcruxes over several dimensions.

 

Alternatively, do use the Time-Turner for history-altering time travels - except that the time-traveler knows that it meant certain death, or even destruction of the soul, or worse (Hermione mentioned horrible things happening to time-travelers back in PoA). You can write a pretty neat one-shot out of that: a suicide mission, "the need of the many" etc., someone sacrificing his soul to save the world.

 

So lately I've been contemplating buying Soul Caliber V, friend said it was good. Add in some epic music from Youtube and I was wondering....

With the time and dimensional fuckery that goes on in the SC verse how workable do you think it would be to drop Percy Jackson, pre heroes of Olympus into the mess?

The image I conjured during said music was Percy and Nightmare going at it, how's that for epic?

 

So, this isn't a full plot bunny, more of an idea that I can't get out of my head. What about a twinfic where a nonBWL Harry is given up by his parents for his own protection? They decide to give him up so he can have a normal life away from the hype and danger of being the BWL's brother but, of course, he gets drawn back into the life through one method or another.

The impetus of this idea? Utter disgust at the number of twinfics where nonBWL Harry is abused, neglected or outright abandoned by his parents.

 

Averis: I'm in agreement on the point that any romantic relationship between time travelers should more or less be behind the scenes or implied rather than focused on and that the story should be about the time travel and what they plan to do or are doing.

Portus: I rather like the Time-Turner as a "be in two places at once" device. I think we've all seen them used that way where it's used merely as a "time to train" device and that there's like three of one person running around instead of just two. While I'm thinking on it is the "Time-Turner is the most successful way of time travel" canon or fanon? I can't quite remember Hermione ever saying anything beyond what little she said in PoA, unless it was said in OotP or if the amount of fanfiction I've read is bleeding into what I remember from the books.

That said what's with the older self taking over the younger selves body and Doing Everything Over Again... including puberty. Gag me. Why not just have the older self somehow forced into that parallel universe and go on living at that age while their younger self does the whole Hogwarts mess. Which would free up a lot of time to keep a dark future from happening. Granted they probably would have to live under an alias and partially change their appearance so if they ever ran into their younger selves it wouldn't create a paradox.

Oruma: Staring at what Hermione said in PoA makes me laugh. From a time travelers view point, what future self would kill their past selves? That's just idiotic, one of those things that could create a major paradox and end up destroying the entire universe! Ahahahaha! With that said I'm going to step out of Jo Rowling's mess for a minute here and step right into where that comes from, while risking showing some age. XD

Since those Are a re-telling of Doc Brown's words, I feel compelled to look at something a bit more comfortable and not so inconsistent. Back to the Future: Part Two, two Marty's and Doc Brown's running around in 1955. The 1985 Doc Brown telling Marty basically the same thing and after seeing Jennifer pass out at seeing her older self, it has more merit, I think. The whole "you have to be extremely careful since there are now two of both of us here and not to bump into your other self because it could prevent your past self from getting back to 1985 and we'd have a major paradox..." and then we see future Doc and Marty helping their past selves and past selves see them do it if not realizing it right then. Lol. Which then leaves the question of how old Biff got back to future 2015 after giving that Sports Almanac to young Biff in the first place. Oops XD

Point I was making is they were there doing all that concurrently and it eventually all worked out even if it was a little messed up.

 

This, a thousand times over. Going out in a blaze of glory with the intent to change time for the better despite the fact he knows he's fucked sounds exactly like something Harry would do. I think I'm going to write a lil' somesome

 

Had a longer response written but I fat-fingered my phone's keyboard and lost it.

Anyway, Averis and Oruma: That sounds somewhat like and reminds me of VotN's "The Unforgiving Minute." An excellent story that was both poignant and action-packed at the same time.

 

Done to death. Nothing can make such a plot into a good story now. Besides, Santi's fic is the definitive twin!fic and seriously, nothing can stand up against that fic.

 

I've got a stream of consciousness here, hopefully with more than enough details to build a great story around

I started reading Robert E. Howard's Conan in the past few years, and in the very first Conan story he published:

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600811h.html

-we are introduced to Thoth-Amon, a Stygian (what is today Egypt) sorceror who regains his ring of power, a symbol of the serpent god Set. Howard also wrote a story set in the present that establishes the ring is still around.

You can probably see where I'm going with this.

12,000 years is a long time for the ring to still be in Stygia (Egypt), but it's not that much of a stretch for Bill Weasley to find it in the course of his usual duties of curse breaking. Have Voldemort turn out to be a Set worshiper and you have your story; the ring could be an alternate means of resurrection; it can summon demons and could therefore probably build Voldemort a new body.

How much more does the story have to relate to the Hyborian Age? Well, Cimmeria, Conan's homeland, was located in what is now Scotland. The natural temptation is for Harry to be the reincarnation of Conan, but I have a problem with this for a few reasons:

1. It could lead to the fanon cliche of Harry growing super buff after two months of training in the hand of more than a few authors.
2. It also gives credence to the idea in Howard fandom of Thoth-Amon and Conan being arch enemies when they never met in any story he wrote, and Thoth was thoroughly unconcerned with Conan; he almost kills him purely because he is in the wrong place at the wrong time- the story does end with him saying they have a wizard to find, but Thoth gets away and in a story set at a later time it is established he got away, returned to Stygia, and re-established his power.

If you want to make Harry Conan reincarnated, it should be attitude only- no nonsense, no patience for preamble and a bit of a lovable lech at times. There would have to be a line about Harry's frustration at not being as strong as his memories of his past life, but Cimmerians are genetically closer to apes than most humans, so a lot of Conan's strength is natural. Other amusing details would be Harry's frustration at knowing over a dozen languages but all of them are dead.

Harry would not gain any other advantages, otherwise, and it would be amusing to contrast his awakening memories, along with Conan's distaste for magic, with living in an entirely magical world. But Conan lived in a time where all magic came from knowledge gained from Cosmic Horrors, a glimpse of whose minds could drive a man to insanity. Set himself, if I recall correctly, was acknowledged in letters from Howard to HP Lovecraft to be one of the Great Old Ones. So contrasting what magic is today with what magic is back in those primordial times would be almost ideal. I would have to comment on the fact that this story was written before it was known that continental drift took millions of years:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyborian_Age

Of course, Howard unknowingly gave himself an out in the novel "The Hour of the Dragon" by having an undead sorcerer who intended to rebuild the kingdom of Acheron he lived in 3,000 years prior- not just conquering the land and re-naming it Acheron, but physically re-shaping the land back to what it was.

If you want to tie the discovery of the ring to Bill, then he almost has to die. Have this happen in third year, the spirit of the sage Epimetreus warns Harry of the rise of a worshiper of Set as he did Conan in "The Phoenix on the Sword," and you have your story. If you wish to make Harry Conan reincarnated after all, have Ron think the new Harry is awesome but have Hermione be a little perturbed at his disdain for tact, his sexism, as she sees it, and his aggression. If you want a pairing for a reincarnation fic, make it Harry/Fleur to highlight the change in Harry's personality- I'm willing to bet Conan lost his virginity to an older woman, after all.

And I just realized that saying that Harry gains no advantages was a little off the mark- Conan had all the skills needed to survive in a barbaric age- hunting, fighting, archery, tracking. He would still be at a disadvantage against a Voldemort with the power of Set, but that can only be a good thing. And this would definitely be a Harry out to kill his enemies.

But I think a story with Harry just being Harry would be something I am just as interested in seeing.

I think that's about everything. And if you're wondering at my vision of Conan, think Ray Stevenson after six months of hitting the gym, using his natural Irish accent, since Howard intended for him to be a prehistoric Celt.

 

As above, but the reborn Cimmerian is Neville- a tall boy naturally drawn to a sword, with an affinity for growing things and not much talent with magic. Make this post-Voldemort and Neville could still get assistance from his heroic friends, but the journey from near-squib to nemesis of the awoken could be marvelous. After all, it isn't always about Harry.

 

...Cue the cries of "Not Harry-centic, not interested"...

 

I've always thought this is quite an ignorant mindset. I mean, sure, the series is called Harry Potter, but there's still fun to be had with fics from the perspective of other characters.

 

Lol no.

If there's no Harry, not interested, end of story. Don't give a shit if someone comes up with a brilliant character sketch or meditation for the Weasley twins or Remus Lupin, or whoever.

 

It's just a matter of interest and time. I care about Harry's story, so I'll read well written fan fiction about him. But I don't care enough about any of the other characters to invest the time. When I want to read about different characters I'll read a published novel, which is almost certainly going to be vastly superior anyway.

 

Harry is us. Neville, no matter how badass he is, is still just Neville.

Here you have it. A whole philosophy behind HP fanfiction in two sentences. Damn, I'm good.

 

What?!? Ya'll bitches be trippin'.

I'll now direct you to my sig like a bawse.

/unapologetic pride

 

Geminio was like, the ultimate exception. OUTLIER.

 

Normally other characters are easier to read in one-shots because it's just a short story showing their point of view.

 

Actually, now that I think about it, it's a short and down-toned version of Wasteland.
Not sure if want.