There are plenty of stories in which Harry becomes Head of the House of Potter or Black and usually gets a sword for now other reeason than going around and slicing Death Eaters up (and usually he has no training what so ever.)

I just finished reading one, and thought 'If Harry has to have a sword, why can't other Head of Houses challenge him to sword fight's other various things?' That way, you have a new and more dangerous political climate in the Wizarding world and Harry actually has areason to have a sword- which he can also use to slice up Death Eaters.

And, not only that, but for every year a a family is inactive in the Wizengamot (or without the Head of House being present) the family looses a vote. That way, if Harry must have an ungodly amount of votes, he has to earn them. They could be earned through various ways, such as being rewarded the Order of Merlin 1st Class and earning 3 extra votes at the next meeting. It would add to the political ckimate.

Thoughts?

 

If you're going to that level why not sell the votes? One extra vote, five grand? Sure some like Malfoy could wield a lot of power at any given moment but no family could afford to buy their way to the top for very long unless they were ungodly businessmen (and thus pretty influential on their own).

Let's assume that a person wants to buy one vote at every monthly meeting (pretty insignificant powerwise but it's a good base for scaling powerlevels), they'd need 60,000 extra galleons every year to keep that insignificant bit of political might. To keep up a moderate presence (say five votes) that'd be 300,000 galleons per year. A powerful person or family might have ten votes for just over a half million galleons per year.

And there's nothing stopping the others from immediately repealing any changes they don't approve of once someone buys a law through a one time splurge. Malfoy wants to make the unforgivables legal in cases of "self defense"? Sure take his ten million galleons as he overrules everyone else on the 100+ member legislature. Once the meeting is over, call an immediate emergency meeting and repeal the law. Now he is shit out of luck and ten million poorer.

It'd make for a really interesting political system, only the cream of the crop rise to the top. A family doesn't stay powerful if they buy votes, in fact it's just about the worst thing they can do unless some of the members are business geniuses to support it. They get powerful, and stay powerful, by being useful or extraordinarily good at something.

 

Thats seems to make sense for the way the Wizarding World is portrayed. There is theoretically no reason why a muggle born couldn't buy themselves a few votes for every meeting, but its more likely the purebloods who have an established presence in the magical world, and probably have established family businesses, will rise to be able to buy votes with more frequency.

This sort of fic could work well, if perhaps Harry used his fame to garner sponsorship from various companies, perhaps the likes of nimbus would give him a vote per meeting if he lets them use his name for advertising, and so forth. Or perhaps if you want to greatly involve the Goblins, they provide him with money for votes in exchange for his support on Bills that benefit them.

 

Why have him fight with swords? Seriously. He has a wand which can do Cutting Hexes as well as other things. In a world where wizards (even Light purebloods) value magic above all else, why would they need to whip out swords when even Muggles have moved on to guns? The idea of sword fighting in HP irks me - particularly when Voldemort brings his out.

 

Maybe sword aren't used as weapons but more as decoration (I.E the Marines). Another topic of discussion is how good is a wand in melee combat IF someone does get that close?

 

Thats pretty much what I think. I like the idea of having them a decoration only. It makes absolutely no sense to have a story where he learns how to fight with a sword. Just AK him and hes dead, kinda like that scene in Indiana Jones (the first one) where he shoot the ninja or what ever that guy with the sword was.

 

Swords are pretty iffy IMO. I don't really have a problem with someone whipping out a sword and having a duel when they could just say two words and kill each other. If you think about it, wizards have most likely used swords before, and they are extremely resistant to change, so it might make sense. One thing I do hate about sword-stories is when the sword is a goddamn katana. Harry lives in England, not Japan, dammit! Why can't he just use a damn longsword or something?

 

Yeah, katana and wakizashi are neat but are not culturally viable. Sabre, short sword, foil, or claymore would be better.

 

I doubt they'd ever use a claymore...

Also I dont see why any wizard would ever use a sword as anything more than a status symbol. The only evidence in canon is that knight in POA, don't remember his name, and the sword in COS. But I guess thats enough to show they could be used as no one really objected or was surprised when Harry presented a sword. But it truely makes no sense, it just seems cool. I really hate when people bring anything Japanese at all into Harry Potter that has no reason at all.

 

Speaking from the POV of someone who has actually learned to fight with a katana, I can tell you that the katana is the lightest and most versatile sword as far as large, sharp, pointy objects go. It's adaptable to just about any style you can think of, including the time honoured hack and slash method.

Of course, I'm sure that's not what goes through most people's minds when they write about Harry having an ultra-cool japanese sword.

 

Even if the katana is the best weapon overall, it still just doesn't fit into Harry Potter at all. Its not like the wizarding world is really objective when it comes to things fromother cultures

 

I really wish JKR would publish another side book about the rest of the wizards of the world, we got a glimpse of them in GoF but no real information.

 

About the sword: I've always imagined them have having swords that would have been used by their ancestors (like the Vikings did). Also, sword fighting has, to me at least, been something amongst 'noble gentlemen'. And if wizards have anything to do with the muggle businesses (as it is in so many stories) what's to say they didn't try becoming Lords and/or Barons? Then, they would have to learn such a noble sport.

And about the buying votes: knowing what we do, that isn't to far off what would happen. Bribing the ministry for extra votes, via Order of Merlin's or other things, and we can actually guess that. After all, didn't a Black donate a lot to the Ministry and received an Order of Merlin?

Also, each business is likely to give their votes to me influential people- but the most influental woulod have to be remarkable at business, as you've said.

 

Perhaps you are awarded a permanent vote for certain things. Like for instance, Order Of Merlin. It appears to be a sort of great honour, so perhaps a single permanent vote for 3rd class, 2 for 2nd class and 3 for 1st class

If you think about it, that actually makes sense. After all, who would nominate and probably award such things? Minister of Magic. So he could give his political allies Orders of Merlin and so forth, to ensure a continued supportive membership of the Wizengamot.

 

That's actually a good idea. However, it would work if the Minister had the right to remove votes from a family. For example, a racist minister is in power. He or she will be able to give votes to the other racists, through Order of Merlin's by saying that they are real wizards/witchs in the modern age. But if they have a short time in office, and a non-racist Minister is in power they'd have the right to remove the votes that were giving to the racists.

After all, each minister has different policies which mean different political allies.

 

Well...Perhaps the Order of Merlin is like some muggle medals are. If you are convicted of a crime you are stripped of it. We've seen how much power the Minister wields when it comes to causing legal trouble for people he doesn't like, so I imagine it would be feasible for him to cause a smidgeon of trouble, just enough to get rid of those superfluous Order of Merlins.

 

The Order of Merlin thing is a good idea, assuming it doesn't stack over generations. Cause then the old pureblood families, who actually had a lot of members who deserved them, would have tons and tons of votes.
The swords in Harry Potter don't work. Decorative maybe, but no where else. In fact, I like the idea in Demon's Feign, Merlin's Pain, where Harry's wand could stop the sword from Morgan easily.
And aside from that example, why would anyone ever want to get in close to a duelling wizard? Other Wizards would have the same disadvantage as the wizard they were getting close to, and nowadays what kind of muggle would attack a man/woman with a sword, when that man/woman is dressed in a robe and is blowing people away with coloured lights.
Realistically, swords just aren't as efficient as guns or wands. Those who live by the sword die by those who live by the gun.

 

The sword idea was supposed to fit in with the votes idea. If one family believes another one has gained points unfairly, they can challenge them to a swordfight which can only take place if the minister agrees. That way, it doesn't rely on magical power/knowledge at all. If it did, Harry would be battered away like a fly. But if he becomes somewhat decent at weilding a sword, then he'd stand a chance. I see duelling as something that takes longer to learn that swordfighting.

And Moredcai, that's a good idea.

 

Inferno, I can see where you're coming from with the swords, but to be honest, speaking as someone who has learned how to use a sword, it takes a loooong time and a hell of a lot of practice to learn how to fight with a sword.

Magical duelling, if you can develop your own, semi-unique, style then you can manage fine.

Marine, why would honourary votes from Order's of Merlin stack up over the generations? The Order of Merlin is awarded to a single person for an act by them. And whilst Im all for a hereditary aristocracy, I don't think that the Order of Merlin is equaitable with noble rank, its more like a knighthood, which is not hereditary.