I was under the impression that a bezoar only acts to counter ingested poisons.

Also, Nagini's venom isn't a toxin so much as an anti-coagulant-- Arthur's problem that kept him in St. Mungo's was that the wounds weren't closing.

 

During the Department of Mysteries fiasco, Harry cast the cruciatus curse on Bellatrix. He got away with it cold. It really bothers me that none of Voldemort's supporters used that against Potter.

I should reread this thread. I'm pretty sure I suggested this idea before.

(I wouldn't mind reading a revenge!Harry in which he holds Vernon hostage for Petunia's and Dudley's cooperation. After all, the blood wards are based only on the blood relation with Lily. Vernon is entirely surplus to requirements. No one ever uses that idea in a story.)

 

Haven't read the whole thread, so I'm sure some of these have been mentioned, but they are some of the divergences floating around in my head, some minor and some major. (a.k.a. Whatever I could pull out of my arse after clicking reply.)

Kreacher was actually loyal to Sirius and when Harry contacted him, he was told the truth that Sirius was still in the manor. Minor divergence that could have big consequences. Mainly Sirius doesn't die, and Harry doesn't find out the prophecy as soon as he did. Can be taken many ways.

Harry accepts Voldemort's offer to revive his parents. Voldemort actually honors his offer, Harry's parents were revived by the person who killed them, while their son follows their greatest enemy.

After Harry destroys the diary with the basilisks fang, he fears Tom Riddle might still be in Ginny's body, so he also stabs and kills her, for the greater good, even after having destroyed the diary. This has been done before a couple different ways, but I like this divergence a lot, so many opportunities, especially where Ron is concerned, has potential to make him a bad arse.

Harry lets Sirius and Remus kill Pettigrew. Voldemort's rebirth could be delayed much later without Peter, making for a more competent Harry.

When attempting to rob Gringotts, the goblins catch them before they get below the first level.

The ministry successfully expels Harry in his second year after the Dobby incident at the Dursleys.

^Or the Aunt Marge incident.

^Or the Dementors incident.

^How was he not expelled? (Not serious, don't answer that, just a thought I had while thinking of the numerous under aged incidents that broke the Statute of Secrecy.)

Harry was rejected from the tournament, because even though his name came out, he is still under aged and not allowed to compete. Plus it is recognized he didn't enter the tournament himself so he is not bound, legally or magically or whatever, cause fuck that. Legally makes no sense because of the rules, magically because it is a game breaking mechanic. (<-- Also belongs in pet peeves thread. )

Cedric reached the cup without Harry. Cedric disappears and doesn't return, no one knows what happens and no one knows Voldemort has been revived.

They are some quick divergences I could think of off the top of my head, hopefully they haven't all been suggested previously.

 

Harry would still have a connection to Voldemort via scar crux. So if Harry knows, Dumbledore would soon be informed too.

 

Yeah, also not to discount Severus. But it could still be a divergence. Voldemort could find out about the connection and block it earlier, another divergence, and also not trust Snape, again, another divergence.

Plausibility aside, it's just a divergence that could be used. I don't think Voldemort being resurrected would be something you could block for Dumbledore no matter which way you spin it, but it could be used as a starting point.

 

It always kind of bothered me that a 17-year-old seeker, triwizard champion, and all-around good guy like Cedric couldn't just dodge a goddamned curse. Let him not get AK'ed, they overpower Pettigrew, and return with the demon-baby Voldemort. I know there wouldn't be the same level of conflict that a lot of people like, but sometimes we just need a good laid-back laugh-fest.

Or, alternately - Cedric dies but the resurrection fails and Voldemort is once again disembodied. You could go a ton of different ways after this; My favorite idea is the Death Eaters finding out their master has fallen again after seemingly almost returning from the dead (as none of them even know about the horcruxes as far as we know). What effect does this have on their politics, their efforts to find out what the hell happened, etc.? Do the good guys convince Fudge and the government of what almost happened? Does anyone else in the goddamned world know what a pensieve is? Does the DMLE have expert legilimens on staff to check validity of claims? This stuff bothers me almost as much as my run-on questions probably bother you reading this.


How about if Dumbledore decides that a bit more experience would help in acquiring the ring before 6th year, and takes another heavy-hitter Professor with him. They stop him from putting on the ring, and therefore Dumbledore can deal with the plots on his life and searching for the other horcruxes way differently. Could be the start of a good mentor-Albus story, if you like that sort of thing, which I would love to see much more than yet another manipulator fic. I just thought this up while typing it, and may have to make this my first attempt at writing. Brace yourselves for the horror of amateur fiction unleashed. :awesome

 

Someone that Rita Skeeter abuses murders her quietly.
A) By the time someone figures out that she was killed and that she didn't just run away, the war has kicked off and no one cares. The book slandering Dumbledore never gets written, and therefore doesn't slow down the Resistence and ruin morale during Book 7.

B) instead of her disappearing, her head appears on a pike at the intersection of Diagon and Knockturn. Everyone that she has ever slandered is suspect.

C) The Daily Prophet is so terrified, they spend the next few months publishing fluff pieces and completely uncontroversial articles.


Different theme;
Another thing that bothers me is that the Malfoys didn't even TRY to shield their teenage (quite possibly virginal) son from Voldemort. The summer before book 6, Draco was a guest at a dark Revel in Malfoy Manor. Presumably, that's when he got Marked. He was only a couple of months older than Harry, so just fifteen or sixteen.
For all of us who have children, would you have agreed to this? Would you have just cooperated, or would you have used a house-elf or gone to Gringott's and had a teller mail a note to Dumbledore *pleading* for the old man to take your child back to Hogwarts or preferably get Draco out of the country?

 

Could see that being a decent short story, Harry investigating her murder. There would be a lot of people with motives to kill Rita Skeeter.

Spoiler

It was Luna trying to get rid of the competition for who could bullshit the most in a national newspaper.

 

Draco's birthday is listed on HP Lexicon as June 5, so he would've been 16 - his virginity or lack thereof doesn't matter much, as Voldemort is reassuringly asexual as archvillains go (half of HP slashfic notwithstanding).

At that point, the Malfoys were hosting Voldemort like loyal members of Jim Jones' Peoples Temple - of course they'd give over their son for induction.

 

Would be pretty interesting, especially if Harry did it.

 

I'm thinking that if your first actual intercourse is a violent gang-rape and murder of someone you know, then Mom and Dad aren't thinking things through.

 

To be fair, not thinking things through with regard to the consequences of cosying up to Voldemort is one of Lucius' defining characteristics. Not saying it's not a valid divergence, but I can totally see Lucius being ok with Draco attending a Revel (or at least not caring enough/not having the spine to do anything about it).

On a somewhat related note, and one I've used in some of my own fanfic to an extent (the older stuff, that I don't like to admit to on DLP)...when Lucius finds out that Voldemort is a half-blood* he throws a hissy fit, takes his toys (money) and goes home. Could lead to an enemy mine situation, a third faction, or simply a politically hamstrung Voldemort.

*You could have this going either from the Ministry in OotP, when Harry taunts Bellatrix with it, or earlier, even before Voldemort's fall.

 

It's quite possible that some know of Tom's blood status, but choose to overlook it as he is a descendant of Slytherin, no matter that he has muggle blood in him.

 

You guys are talking as if there was a "dark revel" in canon. I have read all the books but nothing come to mind. Am I missing something?

 

Yeah, a Dark Revel™ isn't exactly canon. We've got nothing on what was required to receive the Dark Mark. For all we know it was simply an oath of loyalty.

 

Or, more likely, they were too scared of him/fanatically loyal by that point to care.

 

It's been a long time since I read book six, but I remember at the beginning, during summer holidays, a feast with the Muggle Studies professor hanging over the table, calling "Severus" repeatedly to help her.

 

Yeah. She was kidnapped and killed because she taught wizarding children that Muggles were something other than filth. Not exactly a Dark Revel™ with gang bangs and torture.

 

Didn't Voldemort kill her and Nagini eat her? It was more about setting an example than any sadistic hedonism.

Edit - Plus wasn't she killed during the summer after HBP, Draco had already been marked for nearly a year by then.

 

I don't know whether to call this a point of divergence or suggested plot device:

Keep a group of fast-reaction forces in a closed room for their shift. Remember, the time turners were limited by the user knowing what happened in the original time line. When the alert for an attack goes off, have them time-turner themselves back to before the event. Take no prisoners to give Voldemort an idea of what happened - just disappear the entire attacking force.
Obviously, this must be kept secret from Dumbledore and the entire Ministry, all of whom appear to be trying to help the purebloods win, or at least not lose. This tactic would be appropriate for a group of bereaved muggleborns who decide to treat the Deatheaters like terrorists. A Jihad sort of response.


Edited to add:
The point of divergence would be Harry or Hermoine grabbing a handful of Time-turners during the DoM fiasco.

Expanding the idea:
paraphrase from https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9308763/1/Harry-From-Another-World

"most seers believed that they could see into the future. [...] A true seer [...] did not waste their time trying to make such predictions. Instead they used their powers to view things occuring in the present, as well as things that had happened in the past"

Oddly, this makes the power more limited and possibly much more useful. A seer who knows where/when to look could give the reaction force perfect intel on numbers and placement. A time-turn of, say, three hours would be a major advantage. If the attackers look to be too strong, just stay home. The seers could, theoretically, actually see unreported attacks if they happened to be looking in the right place - don't underestimate the value of pure luck. Some people *do* get struck by lightning twice, or win the US$500,000,000 lottery.