Seven Queens in Darkness, Seven Ladies of Light
An R/NC-17 Challenge

Authors Note: I posted this challenge on my fanfiction.net account and Pottersplace3. This challenge was the brainchild of old Julie Bell calendars, alcohol, and the Dragoncrown Cycle. I really hope people take up this challenge because I think it could be great.

***

Voldemort has done the unthinkable.

Albus Dumbledore, aged leader of the light. Ronald Weasley, strategist extraordinaire. Hermione Granger, Brightest witch of her Generation. Luna Lovegood, Seer without peer. Ginevra Weasley, Harry Potter’s lover. Lily and James Potter, Harry Potter’s beloved parents.

War heroes one and all.

Dead. Worse than dead.

Harry was once told that the dead could not be raised. That was the truth for those who would walk the path of light. But Voldemort wandered shadowed halls where the rules were more mutable. He performed the darkest of ritual spells and brought these heroes to a twisted half-life. He turned them against the order of the phoenix and the rest of the Wizarding world. On the defensive and mad with grief, Harry sought out magic equal to the task of defeating the greatest of war heroes.

He found seven shards of the Philosophers Stone instead.

Seven shards and a dark ritual of his own.

He sought out the darkest of Black Queens, dark ladies one and all. Women of ancient and terrible power that date back to before the time of Hogwarts, before the time of Merlin. Women who go back through the misty ash heap of history to Atlantis and the Hyborean Age. Women who he raised from the dead with the fragments of stone and bound to himself with magic. They whispered their secrets of forgotten spells into his ear. They took him into their bed and made him in their own image. Bound to his slavery, they worked their wiles to turn him into a dark lord like which the world has never seen.

He may defeat Voldemort. But will it be only to take his place…

Or did he seek out seven ladies of light? The mightiest white witches of forgotten ages and fairy kingdoms. Queens of green glens and golden forests. They once ruled empires, but now bow at the feet of a pained boy wizard. Keen of mind and as mighty as they are beautiful, they take Harry Potter into their beds to soothe his hurts and grant him their powers of old. They will do their best to see that their new slave master will become the greatest of light side beings.

He can defeat Voldemort. But can he save what is left of his friends or will the mercy of the grave be the only gift he can grant them…

Or was it some mixture of the two. Did he seek out the fallen Battle Queen of Stygia and wise Lady of dreams? Does he have a Drow arachnomancer at his feet alongside the Star Dancer of Nocturnia? Who will win the tug of war for Harry’s soul, dark or light?

Challenge requirements:

No bashing of Dumbledore and Ron or any other of Voldemort’s enslaved. They are light side heroes and it is a tragedy that Voldemort has corrupted them so.

The seven that Harry raises must all be women and not any canon characters. They can be famous witches and goddesses from history or they can be totally original characters. They can be nonhuman like Veela, Elves, or Drow, or half blooded members of those races.

Each one should specialize in a different aspect of magic, whether that is healing magic, necromancy, or something more obscure. None of them should be all powerful, but they should each be on par with Dumbledore. Remember, they were killed at some point so making them impossible to kill is stupid.

Does Harry go dark? Is there a way to keep his friends alive without killing them? Does the resurrection ritual have any side effects? Are they at full strength or is their magic weakened while their knowledge remains? So many questions, so many possibilities…

Goes without saying but smut would be nice

let me know what you think about it.

Jon

 

Well, its decent enough, and well thought out, but many of these "Heroes of the Light" are well hated characters on this forum.

But, as long as there ain't any flashbacks to these characters actions, I am sure it would be read by the community here if done properly, by a good author.

How old is this challenge, before you decided to post it here?

 

I remember Vash finding and pasting this challenge in IRC a long time ago.

And I think this challenge could work out well...however it sounds like it would require quite a lot of thought and work into it.

Perhaps a bit of tweaking of the heroes of light part ..

 

My appologies. I didn't know someone had posted the challenge here before. I posted it on pottersplace3 several months ago. I finally got off my ass and became a member of these forums and I figured this challenge would be right up your alley.

As for not like the champions of light, who would you pick who could possibly drive Harry so far over the brink he thinks ressurecting dark ladies on par with Voldemort and Dumbledore is a good idea? In canon, these people mean a lot to Harry so well written stories should acknowledge that, in my opinion. I don't like either Ginny or Hermione but I still included them because it would be silly to not recognize their relationship.

I go out of my way in my stories to write every character fairly and I have gotten far more praise from doing so than flames.

Jon

 

lets see from the dead characters you mentioned the only ones i don't hate are ron and luna, good idea though..

 

Maybe the Heroes that have already presented themselves in the past books.

James Potter, Lily Potter, Albus Dumbledore, etc.

I wouldn't argue with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny, if they weren't considered Heroes, just close friends of Harry.

I think Albus Dumbledore alone would earn the disgust of the Wizarding Community at what Voldemort had done, I don't think the others need to be seen as heroes.

 

Aye, No offence but,


1)Ron couldn't cast a freakin levitation spell... you know did he ever actually do that?

2.)Ginny was subdued by an inanimate object.

......

You know, you should probably just drop the whole 'Hero' title and it would cause a lot less grief here.

 

1)Ron couldn't cast a freakin levitation spell... you know did he ever actually do that?

So what. Ron was eleven. I couldn't do algebra when I was eleven. doesn't prove I was either incompetent or stupid. Ron also survived combat with Death Eaters when he was fifteen, at an age with most of the other students in hogwarts couldn't find their ass with an ass finding machine.

Part of the conciet of the story was that it takes place a few years in the future when the younger characters have come into their own.

2.)Ginny was subdued by an inanimate object.

No, Ginny was subdued by the soul of a wizard so powerful and frightening most adults can't say his name fifteen years after he died. Something tells me he can overmatch a girl who hasn't finished puberty. Yet ginny had enough strength of character that she was able to resist him to the very end when she lost. That alone tells you how stubborn and strong she is.

And I don't even like Ginny.

 

The main problem with this challenge is sheer number of main characters introduced. 7 girls + 7 heroes + Harry & Voldemort = 16 characters that need to be developed into believeable 3D characters. And when you add to that people who are still alive and fighting the war and others... It's just too much even for the best of authors.

On the other hand, I agree that this challenge doesn't make much sense without Ron and Hermione on the Voldemort's side. Ginny isn't really neccessary, because even if you go by HBP, she wasn't a hero (Harry dumped her to go on the Horcrux quest). Also, Dumbledore should be excused too, because his power would overshadow all other resurected characters. Luna and Neville are more filler than logical choices. Lily, James and maybe Sirius, however, would definitely work great.

So, that would make 4-5 heroes resurected by Voldemort, which would make for much more managable number of girls on Harry's side.

Oh, and Harry's resurection ritual should definitely be love or sex based, seeing how all called heroes on his side are girls. That would also make the whole multiship/harem thing more realistic, since I suppose this is a big part of this challenge.

 

Err... No, she didn't resist at all. She was continuously possesed and released the Basilisk throughout the entire year, then when she finally gains the courage to throw the diary away, she steals it back like a moron when she finds out Harry took it. Also, despite being repeatedly told by her father to "Never trust an object that thinks for itself" or something to that effect, she still writes and the diary, and is so stupid she doesn't notice anything untill towards the end of the year.

"Gee Tom, I have rooster feathers and blood all over my clothes, and despite the fact that I know roosters are being killed I'm too stupid to make any connection at all, what do you think is happening?"

And honestly, I'm not even trying to make it look like it was completely her fault. She was 11, and at 11 you are allowed some leeway for not listening to adults and generally being stupid, however, acting like she was heroic or something is ridiculous.

 

Yep. The main thing that threw me off was calling Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna, Heroes. I think that it would be much better for him to just raise 4-5 people who were really close to Harry, like IP said.

And those three are just so overdone. The thing that makes Luna interesting is her craziness. I find that it ruins her character to have that craziness be logical, due to her being a Seer. Luna is, IMO, supposed to defy logic with her thoughts, personality and actions. While Ron may be an extraordinary Chess player, he just doesn't seem like he could be a great strategist. It's just not in his character. Hermione, on the other hand, may be the "Brightest Witch of her Generation," but is that really something to boast about? If you look at the students in Harry's year, there isn't anybody who could even match her. Everyone that we've seen in Harry's year is either lazy, incompetent or an idiot.

*shrugs*

It could be a good challenge, but it would have to be done extremely well. And calling the "Ministry Crew" Heroes just doesn't cater to this crowd. There would have to be some changes made by the author concerning the number of people that Voldemort and Harry raised, who Voldemort raised and why for this story to fly, in my book.

 

I like this challenge if the amount of people being resurected is lower, 3 or 4 on each side would be better.

I would love to see someone write this challenge and have harry bring back dark ladies and how they slowly manipulates and corrupts him.

 

I agree that fewer people might be easier to write. I happen to like the symmetry of seven considering that it is supposed to be a very magical number and the number of slices Voldemort has cut his soul into (IIRC). It fits neatly with the number of people who are that close to Harry.

Someone has started writing a submission to the story and he kindly let me read some of it. its very good and I believe when he's done polishing it I believe he is going to put a link up here at darklord potter. so look out for it and leave a nice review

Jon

 

Oh... then can you... well I better not. I was going to ask for the link but then I thought about how this forum views lazyness and all. Better not risk being flamed.


edit: on second thought I think this constitutes as spam. Not sure how spam is viewed here but if it is extremly unwelcome... please delete this post.

 

I like it, but not the Hero part. Take that off and you will get more positive reviews, I bet.
And Ron is weak, how can he be a Hero. I realize Voldemort would bring him back to cause emotional pain to Harry, but come on. Ron wont know intelligence if it came and gave him the middle finger in front of his face.
Ginny, she is a slut. No discussion.

 

Isn't Thal already in the process of writing a response to this challenge? It's on FFNet if I'm not mistaken

Here's the link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3092103/1/

A good challenge when I first read it before. But the introduction of so many new characters could be a challenge

 

The author who started this hasn't updated in a while and I don't know if it is just taking extra long or he abandoned it with out notification. Though judging by his update rate it's probably an update once every two months or something.

 

You are still alive?

Anyways post your comments about Thal's story in it's thread.

This challenge has been taken up by Thal and he has promised to update this week.