Challenge #1 :

Summary:

Harry is born blind and the Dursley's place him at an Orphanage for the disabled. He is fascinated with the stories of Daredevil, the masked vigilante who lives in NY. He plans to re-ennact the situation that gave Daredevil his powers. He is offered a place at Hogwarts but his blindness would be a problem so instead he is sent to be tutored by Nicholas Flamel. Harry sees (not literally) his chance, working with an alchemist to attempt to create the substance that will give him the higher senses he craves.

EDIT The Challenge:

The power the dark lord knows not (The prophecy still exists though Harry doesn't know about it until 5th year) is the heightened senses Harry will ultimately achieve. This doesn't make him the ultimate magic mage, just gives him a higher sense of physical ability.

Harry and Flamel must invent a potion that heightens his remaining senses. Not his magic potentioal or anything. He is still a normal kid that recieves the basic education, plus a little more in-depth potions training.

Rules:
*Harry is blind (obviously)
*He is placed in an orphanage at a very young age, in England
*Is taught by Nicholas Flamel (his alchemy knowledge is the key)
*Harry does not become some leather wearing vigilante

EDIT MORE RULES
*No angst. Harry accepts he is blind and strives to improve it. That is all.
*After 2 years of working with Flamel, where Harry's main focus is potions and alchemy he returns to Hogwarts after the death of the Flamel's Small angst is acceptable here but only a small amount.
*Harry will not spend his life in America. Britain is an ancient wizarding community and no doubt well respected in the magical community. America is not some super excellent land. Harry may travel there but ultimately, his home is, and always will be Britain.
*Harry is not to be some uber-intelligent prodigy at anything. He recieves intense potions training as well as all around general knowledge.
*No Severitus or anything similiar.

Thats all I can think of in the way of rules at the moment. I hope the challenge layout was correct, I read the sticky but I'm sorry if it''s not.

 

I see a few challenging problems with this challenge, handicapping it a lot. Idiotic use of words aside, it suffers from a lack of challenge. I must confess I am a hater of the Disabled Harry genre, but I will not let my feelings interfere with the matter.

All right, Harry is blind. The inclusion of the USA is retarded, and has the potential to turn it into a "go the US and become uber cool!Harry" idiocy that we have seen before. Add in the Dark Arts as combat magic in revolutionary America, compared with backwards Europe and you have a recipe for disaster.

So what if Harry is blind? Do we have a challenge, a confrontation, a way to defeat Voldemort, or is this going to be a never-ending training with Flamel and angst fic? At least you have included the rule that Harry does not become some leather wearing vigilante, but this still smells of some crossover plot that does not wish to admit it's a crossover.

Some things crossover well, some don't. I have to say Marvel comics, if Daredevil is Marvel, I have no knowledge of the matter, do not crossover well with Harry Potter.

The fact that he is not placed at Hogwarts creates huge problems. He is privately taught by Nicholas Flamel, who unfortunately dies rather soon after his first year. We will ignore that for now, for the sake of the challenge. Except for his wife, the largest extent of social interaction Harry will have will be with servants, most likely of the house elf variety. Perhaps Dobby can come work for Nicholas after Neville, Hogwarts hero saves Ginny?[/sarcasm]

A sea of OCs, unnecessary angst, "I am blind!Harry", no idea as to what an actual plot will be. Is he introduced to Hogwarts later on? Is there a plot, or canon events will happen?

This seemed to come from an admiration for Daredevil comics/film/whatever it is. It is not a plot, nor a good idea.

 

Ok, yeah this did come out of admiration of Daredevil. There doesn't have to be an inclusion of the USA at all. Harry just likes a superhero yank thats all.

Thankyou Methene. I've edited it a little.

 

We'll need a reason for Flamel to be willing to accept a blind, muggle-raised apprentice, especially if Harry doesn't even have a basic training in potions. I doubt that simply having Dumbledore make the request would do the job - Flamel undoubtedly has his pick of the finest post-graduate Potions/alchemy candidates in the world. There is no reason to expect that he'd WANT a kid in his laboratory.

It might be better to approach the problem sideways
A)have Perenelle be willing to take the kid. I don't remember Perenelle's character being fleshed out at all. Perhaps she's a relative of Harry's foster parents, or owes them a favor. She could lean on Nick to train him. Nick might even resent it, which would make for interesting character development.
B) If Harry's been turning himself into a Chemistry prodigy (think of a Batman-level obsession, driving Harry almost as a monomania,) then that might get someone's attention. A muggleborn wizard or squib who recognizes Harry might arrange an introduction. That could include some fun scenes convincing Harry to study something as "fuzzy" as magic.
C) Do comic books come in Braille? I assume that ordinary chapter books are written using the characters. Harry would have a braille computer - I know they exist, but I have no idea how the interface would work.
D) As a state-sponsered orphan, Harry wouldn't be eligible for a seeing-eye dog: they are expensive, and prohibitively incovenient for an orphanage. If he's been adopted, it's more likely, but he has to be a certain minimum age (I think 15) to be eligible. Depending on when he's actually approached by the Wizarding world, his age could be adjusted (though probably not THAT much.)
E) I prefer the idea of Harry being blinded by the Curse over a birth defect. Frankly, I'd expect the Wizarding world to have tests to detect and correct (or abort) congenital defects. An old family might well have developed its own safeguards, as well. Is there anyone in the books who didn't Start Out physically perfect? Those people who aren't healthy all have obvious reasons for it.

 

Sweet mother of god another IlovePotions!Harry fic.

 

Actually, I was seeing this less of a caped crusader, or potions!Harry fic, and more about self-actualization. This Harry could be a realist about the Voldemort threat - he could be pragmatic and ruthless. In fact, he could be Absolutely at cross purposes with Dumbledore's view of morality. And if AD decided that Neville Longbottom was The Boy Who Lived, then Harry could actually be contemptuous of the old man, especially if AD tries to force Neville into a classic "hero" role.

 

I hate to play "devil's advocate" on your challenge, but...
...why not just create a less-crazy version of Moody's "mad" eye?

(haha, didja get my joke? "Devil's advocate", as in Daredevil,and advocate = attorney, cos Matt Murdock is an attorney!!!!!! lolzki'mdonebai)

Plus, heightened senses would be horribly easy to combat with canon magic, let alone the more creative inventions of the notable DLP authors present. But in the case of canon magic, it's either completely silent (Imperio, for example), or extremely loud- which fucks with heightened senses. Muffliato means he won't hear me coming. Bubblehead charm aimed at HarryDevil means he can't smell me. Levitation charm means he can't feel me creeping up behind him.

All I'd need is a really loud dungbomb and your HarryDevil would be in trouble.

Also, another question, but one that might add an element of challenge to your story: would HarryDevil's heightened senses make him more sensitive to comparatively weaker spells? Yes, he can hear/anticipate/dodge the spells coming at him, but what happens when they hit: is a stinging hex like a crucio? Is the Imperius curse not just a whispered suggestion, but a loud/booming command? Just some food for thought.

 

Most Hp/Marvel crossovers are doomed to fail. For one, are few ways to make magic and mutations/super powers the same power level. How could, say dumbledore be able to defeat the likes of say Thor? He's a god, and has been shown to have limited resistance to magic. At least in certain comics. Or all wizards are insanely powerful, all magic is super unblockable except by wizard magic. No one can scale the power levels correctly, and Hp magic has no down side. That makes pretty much any smart wizard almost unbeatable.