History FanFic / WhenInDoubtObliviate

%%* BlatantLies: Most of what Lockhart says.
%%* BrainBleach: Mentioned by name.

* TheRival: Invoked and Parodied. Apparently a Hogwarts/pureblood custom, where one must decide who their best friend ''and'' arch-rival would be on their first Hogwarts train ride, and this relationship is supposed to carry on for life (also, the relationship has to be declared on the train, or else it would not have complied with the "proper procedure", and is therefore invalid). Zacharias Smith decides to claim Harry as his rival, but Harry is having none of it, and doesn't really treat the former any differently from other students. Zacharias complains that Harry isn't even willing to snark at his expense, while Harry wonders if all Pureblood parents would give their children a pep-talk about finding their arch-rival.

* MistakenForGay: The other students theorize that when Zacharias Smith and Ernie [=MacMillan=] were caught in the Trophy Room at midnight that they wanted “a little alone time” (they were actually waiting for Harry and Draco to show up for a duel).

** While under the 3rd floor corridor and Ron [[spoiler: kills the troll in the same way Pansy did]], he wonders if he’ll get into the newspaper too. Only Hermione points out that a troll is still a living creature.

* MoralityPet: It would seem like raising Harry does wonders to Lockhart's own personality. Although he's still a vain man who enjoys attention and flattery, he is not as much as a coward or as flippant about letting his students get into harm's way as he is in canon. He does genuinely see Harry as his own after all, and he wouldn't remain idle while his son, nor his friends, are in danger. He's also a lot more subtle (and therefore less obnoxious) in flaunting his fame than his canon counterpart, likely because he's had to stay off the radar for ten years in order to raise Harry in secret.

** The relationship between Harry and Snape clearly pokes fun at many fanfic premises where 'Snape becomes Harry's mentor and father figure after discovering how badly he's abused by the Dursleys and finding a newfound affection for the child's noble virtues'. To drive this point even further, Snape goes on a long-winded, and {{Suspiciously Specific|Denial}}, rant about how the aforementioned scenarios will ''never'' happen (to Dumbledore's amusement)--despite the fact that Harry is neither abused nor is as virtuous as he is in Canon due to being raised by [[GuileHero Gilderoy Lockhart]]. Harry, for his part, plays along with this scenario... lying to Dumbledore that Snape is his favourite teacher, then allowing Fred and George to spread the rumour that Snape's friendship with Lily makes him favour Harry, just to infuriate Snape even further.

* MisterExposition: Theodore Nott.
* MoralityPet: Harry is this for Lockhart.
* [[HumansAreBastards Muggles Are Bastards]] / [[HumansAreWarriors Muggles Are Warriors]]: According to Quirrell in his Muggle Studies class.

* PolitenessJudo: How Harry deals with Zacharias Smith.
* TheRival: Parodied. Apparently a Hogwarts/pureblood custom, where one must decide who their best friend ''and'' arch-rival would be on their first Hogwarts train ride, and this relationship is supposed to carry on for life (also, the relationship has to be declared on the train, or else it would not have complied with the "proper procedure", and is therefore invalid). Zacharias Smith decides to claim Harry as his rival, but Harry is having none of it, and doesn't really treat the former any differently from other students. Zacharias complains that Harry isn't even willing to snark at his expense, while Harry wonders if all Pureblood parents would give their children a pep-talk about finding their arch-rival.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: No one is concerned over the fact that the troll at Hallowe'en was killed; they only worry about [[spoiler: Pansy because she reduced its [[OverKill head to pulp by smashing its club into it about a dozen times]]]].

* WorthIt: When Lockhart points out that, had Sirius killed Pettigrew, he would be arrested for it in spite of what Pettigrew did to deserve it, Sirius says "It would have been worth it".

* DeconstructiveParody: A lot of the dialogues in the stories take jabs at some of the Canon's premises and of other typical fanfiction settings, and most of it is played for laughs.
** Lockhart criticizes Hogwart's sorting system and how it promotes labeling and segregation. This criticism is brought up again when Harry is first sorted, with Nott [[ConspiracyTheorist theorising]] that the Hat simply pigeonholes the students into the houses at random, to make sure that each house get an equal number of students.
** Ron angrily confronting Harry about being sorted in Slytherin. In most other Slytherin!Harry fics, this falling out would be played for drama. Here, the dialogue takes a hilarious turn when Harry was able to point out the irrationality of Ron's outburst, and the latter had to resort to an increasingly stupid InsaneTrollLogic to back up his claim that Slytherin is the evil house.

%%* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have To Be Birds?]]: Poor Hermione.

* WorldOfSnark

* BenevolentGenie / JackassGenie / LiteralGenie: Harry, Lupin, Sirius and Lockhart have a discussion (prompted by [[JackassGenie Kreacher’s behaviour]]) about the different types of genies; they even uses the trope name for two of them (they call the JackassGenie a Malevolent Genie).

* SeinfeldianConversation: Happens all the time, especially with the Slytherins. Apparently Draco walking in covered in blood and chicken feathers isn't enough to stop a discussion about whether or not [[Theatre/WaitingForGodot Godot may have shown up after the play ended]], or what it had to do with ''LiveActionTv/QuantumLeap''. (He's actually a bit upse/ to be ignored like that.)

* ForWantOfANail: Lockhart happens to meet Sirius the night Harry's parents are killed and finds out where Harry is before Obliviating him and taking him to St. Mungo's. Thus, Sirius wasn't able to carry out his plan to murder Pettigrew, and the latter was caught in this story) would walk around free. Also, because Sirius was acquitted, he provided his allies with emergency portkeys (fearing that they would be targeted by Death Eaters), which the Longbottoms used to escape from Bellatrix Lestrange. With his parents intact and healthy, Neville grows up to be a confident and self-assured man.

* StopBeingSteretypical: Usually inverted for laughs. Even though the sorting system is often criticized, many of the so-called critics would often call out on each other for ''not'' behaving like the stereotypical behaviour of their respective houses enough.

* TheRival: Apparently a Hogwarts/pureblood custom, where one must decide who their best friend ''and'' arch-rival would be on their first Hogwarts train ride, and this relationship is supposed to carry on for life. Neville and Malfoy seems to have their rivalry pre-planned, as Neville off-handedly mentions how Draco ''suddenly'' becomes insufferable after boarding the Hogwarts Express, and their subsequent banters have more of a VitriolicBestBuds vibe rather than being actively hostile.

** TheHufflepuffHouse being an in-universe AcceptableTarget, and is generally seen as a holding place for the losers, with a stupid name to boot. Even ''Neville'' didn't want to be sorted in there.

** Also, “Not France!”

* ForWantOfANail: Lockhart happens to meet Sirius the night Harry's parents are killed and finds out where Harry is before Obliviating him and taking him to St. Mungo's. Events proceed from there.
** To explain, if Lockhart hadn't encountered Sirius, then [[spoiler: Sirius would've been wrongfully framed for multiple murder and locked away in Azkaban with no trial, while the real culprit (who was caught in this story) would walk around free]].
** Also, since [[spoiler:Sirius was acquitted]], he provided his allies with emergency portkeys (fearing that they would be targeted by Death Eaters), which the Longbottoms used to escape from Bellatrix LeStrange. With his parents intact and healthy, Neville grows up to be a confident and self-assured man.
* [[FriendlyEnemies Friendly Rivals]]: Hermione and Daphne Greengrass; so friendly in fact that the only reason they are rivals in the first place is that they agreed to be rivals so not to get caught up in the antics of being in a real rivalry.

* AdultsAreUseless: Averted. Harry and company fetch Lockhart to go with them into the third floor corridor.
** The method of disposing of the horcrux diary is to leave it to Dumbledore who then destroyed it.
** PoliceAreUseless: Also averted. It was a team of Aurors that took down the basilisk.

* BlatantLies: Most of what Lockhart says.
* BrainBleach: Mentioned by name.

* ConspiracyTheorist: Theodore Nott.
** [[TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight The Conspiracy Theorist Was Right]]: After the announcement that a troll was loose in the school, Theodore theorized:

* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted.

* RunningGag: Other characters wondering how Snape manages to make his robes whip around him dramatically when he enters.

** ScrewTheRulesImBeautiful

* SeinfeldianConversation: Happens all the time, especially with the Slytherins. Apparently Draco walking in covered in blood and chicken feathers isn't enough to stop a discussion about whether or not [[Theatre/WaitingForGodot Godot may have shown up after the play ended]], or what it had to do with ''LiveActionTv/QuantumLeap''. (He's actually a bit upset to be ignored like that.)
* TakeThat: To the {{Twilight}} series in chapter 25. We get a description of a book that sounds suspiciously like {{Twilight}} if a few details were swapped. Also, Hermione finds them sexist.

* [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer When All You Have Is A Memory Charm]]: And yet, it’s surprisingly effective; [[spoiler: it works on trolls and Dark Lords]].
* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have To Be Birds?]]: Poor Hermione.

* GenreSavvy: Pansy Parkinson.