This contains Deathly Hallows spoilers. If you jacked the E-book, you'll understand

Because the Epilogue of Harry Potter was probably the worst idea since foot fungus...

Basically the premise is this: when Harry was hit with the killing curse, rather than (presumably) Voldemort killing off the spirit of himself that lives inside Harry, he kills Harry himself and the spirit of Voldemort possesses Harry.

Rather than Harry seeing Dumbledore, he returns directly to the present and, making sure to not move a muscle, stays silent as Hagrid carries him to the castle. Filtering through Harry's memories, he realizes that, instead of joining teams with himself (which would at least be hard to explain, and more likely suicidal) and possibly becoming a lackey rather than an equal, he should resume the persona of Harry for the present. He'll be able to take up Harry's place in society, be the charming, handsome Riddle he was before, and rise into power with general amount of wealth and prestige.

And all under the watchful eyes of Ron and Hermione.

Meanwhile, he's plotting revenge against those, like Malfoy, who have betrayed him. Instead of killing him, however, he wants to use political clout to have the lot of them locked up, indefinitely, and somehow regain hold of Malfoy Manor.

He will build ins to the Ministry, as he knows who to manipulate and is quite proficient with the Imperious curse; through the use of the sword of Gryffindor he will build an ins with Griphook and the Goblins...

And, of course, rather than dropping the Elder Wand off in Dumbledore's tomb...

Rules:

1. You may have Harry kill someone--but he must have good reasoning (in the eyes of the law, that is), cannot use Avada Kedavra, and needs to be able to explain it with something feasible.

2. He may take over the Ministry, but I'd prefer to see him work behind the scenes. The Malfoys getting wealth-raped is a necessity as well.

3. The Death Eaters are not to be saved. Riddle is disconnecting all ties with known Death Eaters to keep himself out of any possible trouble. Let the bastards rot in Azkaban, in fact, he should gain political clout by locking up every Death Eater he knows. However, there's nothing against persuading other Dark wizards to ally with him--but he should be able to manipulate Light wizards just as well.

4. Though I know most of you will hate it, for the purposes of this story, Riddle needs Ron and Hermione in order to play the part of Harry. Otherwise, he looks like a jackass. Now, there's nothing wrong with setting them up for death in a way that he is not seen involved...

5. Fuck a Ginny; however, the rest of the Weasleys may be useful. Arthur is well-respected amongst Light wizards; George has a knack for big-booms; Bill and Fleur have their ways with Goblins, and are marginally powerful; Charlie has access to dragons and Eastern European connections. And he has to be nice to Molly to get these things.

6. Eventually, I'd like to see, as Riddle gathers allies, Ron and Hermione (or if you decide to explodinate them, Neville and someone from the DA) turn against him as they find the real truth.

7. It's up to you whether you want Riddle to conquer or not: I'm not much on Muggle slavery, but if you hate non-magical folks I won't judge you. Personally, I'd have him killed off in a blaze of glory, Scarface style.

 

That is a great challenge, and I would love to see someone take that up. Maybe IP?

 

Rep for you. I thought for at least an hour and I couldn't think up an even somewhat good plot idea for a post DH/ pre epilogue fic. This one sounds extremely fun if someone can pull it off. It is actually the first post Hogwarts story that even sounds intriguing.

 

My challenge is getting no love.

Insert love immediately.

 

/me inserts love.

I really love this challenge, though it's very open ended. It has a beginning and a bit of a middle, but no clear ending...

I specifically like the way that Voldemort will be forced to keep using normal magic (I'm reluctant to call it "Light magic") instead of Dark magic. As a result he would adopt a more Dumbledore-like style: having to do everything through Charms and Transfigurations rather than the Dark Arts. As I like this style much better, this sits well with me.

One interesting idea would be Voldemort (the one that's in Harry) deciding to play his second chance the opposite way: instead of taking up the banner of the purebloods and using that side of politics to gain followers, he can play on the fears and insecurities of the Muggleborns, and start a revolution from that side of wizarding society instead, to see if it is any more successful that way. Really, I don't think Voldemort cares too much about blood - he knows that he himself is a Half-blood - he just wants power.

 

You could always write Voldemort that way: 'not really caring about blood' but I always got that he was truly obsessed with his Slytherin heritage. And as Slytherin was pro-pureblood, Voldemort will be as well.

But this is fanfiction and you can write him any way you desire. I definitely like your idea Taure. A Voldemort in Harry's body playing on the insecurities of the muggleborns to get them to fight back against the prejudiced purebloods would be great. I also like the tranfiguration fighting idea. Fighting scenes are so boring when all the main character does is throw around powerful curses that make big explosions. I'm a fan of the more subtle approach.