To make it go away, write a ficlet based on what you think happened to make it "the most haunted place in Britain". It could be anything from a lighthearted character piece about the Marauders, to a humorous one-shot, or hell, even a blood bath that took place in the Founders' time.

Actually, that last one would be superdope.

 

I'd love to see a fic were the marauders lost control of Lupin and he attacked the people of Hogsmeade, then went on the run. Could be a nice little one shot.

 

If we look at the way ghosts and ghouls are treated in HP, they seem to be common, even expected. I wouldn't think 'haunted' would have the same meaning here. Perhaps it has a connotation more closely linked to the concept of ghosts, than the beings themselves. The howls from Lupin would probably sound like some tortured soul, or some godawful creature, and would inspire fear in the populace. There prob isn't anything to compare for most people, as this is pretty close to a village and so more publicised.

That's my interpretation, anyway. Applying the actual idea of 'ghosts' wouldn't really be fear-inspiring in of itself - individual ghosts might be frightening or intimidating, but that seems to be more due to their personality than their status.

 

I guess my biggest gripe is that since Wizards can actually see ghosts, maybe one of them would have checked out the abandoned house for the seven or so years that Lupin frequented the place.

I suppose the word haunt could be similar to the word inhabit (I hesitate to use 'live in'). Such as "I am traveling to my favorite haunt."

 

Meh, I'm not thinking that way. I'm using haunt in the sense, there is something like a ghost there - something like what we think of as ghosts, you know, scary and supernatural (perhaps) and really dangerous. Ghosts as we know them are different from ghosts in the HP world, so when wizards think 'haunted' they don't think 'ghost', but they think some other word that would be equivalent for us.

I don't know if it's canon, but I doubt anybody is scared of the Shrieking Shack because a ghost lives there. Maybe they think it's a banshee, or maybe they have invented some supernatural horror. 'Ghosts' to them are not scary, is my point, so their interactions with ghosts are moot here.

 

Just think of it this way. Twilight is a story about fairies that drink blood, not vampires. Plenty of lore about blood drinking fairies out there, just mentally replace every instance of 'vampire' with 'sparkly, sadomasochistic, stalker, virgin fairy' and you'll be sorted.

 

Lmao :awesome, I think thats the best write off for Twilight I've heard in a long time.

 

"I know what you are."

"Say it."

"sparkly, sadomasochistic, stalker, virgin fairy"

 

You sir, are awesome.

:awesome

 

... and now, all that creepy feeling I've always had about Twilight finally makes sense. It's not the vampire/adolescent-girl-diva/werewolf triangle, it's the blood fairies.

 

Maybe that's why they're creeped out. How often do you hear the screaming howls of a tortured soul and yet are unable to see them, even in the same place they came from? Not only that, these howls come on the full moon, and while everyone knows that werewolves are out then, nobody would expect the shrieking beast in the shack up the hill to be haunted by a werewolf. It just adds to the mystery that they suddenly stopped after a number of years.

Tourist attraction, much?

 

Ya know, that actually does fit: the "vampires" in Twilight aren't vampires after all! They're blood sucking pixies!

Edit: also been thinking about the 'psionicVmagicalVtechnologicalMuggle' plot bunny, and I might work on it after I start on the A/U series I'm planning on writing.

The only trouble I'm having is deciding on which pairing to go with, and how to write it in properly.

 

Do you really need a pairing? Really?

 

Seconded. Planning a story around a pairing is an immediate way to fail miserably.

 

"Expelliarmus!" came the cries of the golden trio.
The ghostly form of Voldemort writhed and surged against the luminecesnt tendrels of the three spells
"Harry!" screamed Hermione. Beside her, Rod sent Harry a nervous but serious glance
"Mate, get over here so we can contain him" he added.
"No Ron, we can't!" Harry shouted back, cotton in his ears from his extreme concentration
It wasn't working. Eventually Harry worked his way around the wraith that was the darklord.
Having a Griffindor moment, Harry decided that the containment field needed more power and so he apparated right between Hermione and Ron.
"NOW!" he commanded.
"But Ha-" Hermione was cut off by Ron's horrified shriek, and the widening eyes of our green eyed hero.
"No Harry!" shouted Ron... "DONT CROSS THE STREAMS."


Yeah I never got the whole "Ghosts" in HP either.

 

The A/U that I'm fleshing out is not directly based around the pairing itself (e.g., 'too much sugar or flour in the cake mix'), but due to the nature of romantic pairings, it is going to be a part of the storyline in a major way.

This is mainly due to two things: one, interactions between different characters in a pairing lead to different decisions (e.g., one character being more sneaky/underhanded, another being rash, etc) which can affect the storyline direction in general, and two, Harry's numerous struggles with his newly acquired burden/nature, his already existing 'Voldemort' related destiny/troubles, and the way how his changing viewpoints/attitudes slowly cause himself to unintentionally distance himself away from the people that apparently care about him/love him, and in turn their own struggles to remain connected with him.

I'm still fleshing allot of the fic's mythology out, and it's all still sort of vague (mostly scattered notes at the moment), and I'm -at the moment- checking out the European folklore/mythologies to see how I can adapt them for usage in a plausible, 'JKR' style manner (see Slavic 'Vila' and Harry Potter 'Veela') so that they fit in as best as possible with the canon material.

I'm also doing quite a bit of background research on the characters/plotlines themselves in order to try and make it as realistic as possible and to prevent him from becoming a male 'Mary Sue', e.g., Harry being a naturally poor Occulmens due to the fact that his emotions are always volatile/running on high, as well as digging out the plotholes seen in every book so that I might address them/correct them if/as they come up/become an issue.

I'm also trying to avoid allot of the more obvious/glaring cliches in Harry Potter fanfiction (such as Harry suddenly becoming a five foot eleven 'muscle man' during his summer breaks or Harry suddenly becoming the 'Heir' of some rich and prestigious lineage like Merlin or ol' Godric G').

(Believe me, for example, no cheesy 'Shadow Walking', 'Shadow Mages' or 'Harry as a suppressed Metamorphmagus' cliches!)

At the moment, I'm torn between having either Harry/Fleur, Harry/Tonks or Harry/Daphne as the titular pairing(s?), as well as whether to either keep him with one partner throughout the entire arc (from start to finish), or for him to have more than one relationship as the storyline goes onward, e.g., some time after one relationship breaks down/burns out half way through the arc, he starts dating another character.

 

This idea is something I have recently been giving a lot of thought and I might actual start writing. It would be a HP/Inception crossover, a 7th year AU, wherein Dumbledore and Harry, unable to find any horcruxes apart from the diary and ring decide to utilize the unique connection between Harry and Voldemort to plant a idea into the Dark Lord's mind: that horcrux creation has weakened him as a wizard and it would in his best interest to reclaim his soul pieces and seek another path to immortality.

The reason they(Harry and Dumbledore) would resort to this particular idea is because the ring curse is killing Dumbledore and their time is running out. Additionally, planting the idea that horcruxes have weakened Voldemort magically would be infinitely easier than trying to pry the locations from his mind(accomplised Occulmens).

Essentially the roles of characters from Inception would be filled in by the appropriate HP characters. Harry, would be the architect(Having sharp eyes from quidditch and Dumbledore's mind and magic both getting weaker from the ring's curse and imminent death). Dumbledore would fill partially fill in the role of Dom Cobb, his mind getting weaker and his subconscious images of Arianna and Grindelwald tormenting the team as the descend further into the dream. Snape would be the chemist(brew's the potion necessary for uninterrupted sleep), he would also serve to add conflict by adding animosity between him and Harry. Tonk would be the forger(metamorph abilities) and the other roles I have yet to decide who I think would be appropriate.

Anyway, I have a lot more in mind. I would type more, but already knowing the plot of Inception ruins a good bit of the story and I would like to keep the original bits I've thought up to myself in the event I go forward with writing this.

Thoughts?

 

It could work, actually, but several subplots featured in canon would need to be either fixed, tied up or included:

The 'Draco-killing-Dumbledore' and 'Vanishing Cabinet' plot.
The strange fixation that JKR had with getting Tonks together with Lupin, if she's apart of the 'team'.
Gin-slut in general.
Snape's Potion Book.
Hermione being OOC for the entire book. (Blame JKR for that one!)

Uh, there are a few others, but since I'm half asleep at the moment, I can't think of them.

Oh! And if for sone reason Fleur is included in the 'cast of characters', her relationship with Bill will need to be included.

 

I like the idea, Red - it sounds promising.

A thought, though: how will they be able to get close enough to Voldemort to link their dreams?

Also, don't try to follow the plot of the movie if you can help it: plot rehashes with different names and slightly different situations behind them aren't all that fun to read. You don't really need Dumbledore to do the same as Cobb to have an interesting story.

 

Snape. He is the only one who can get close enough.