History Fanfic / TheDogfather

* SecretKeeper: Remus is the Secret-Keeper for the [=MacIntyre=] house.

* AdaptationalUpbringingChange: Instead of being raised by his abusive aunt and uncle, [[Literature/HarryPotter Harry]] was adopted by a loving family. He turns out more well-adjusted, less lonely (he has ordinary Muggle friends) and less prone to reckless heroics (as he doesn't need to prove himself as much).

* ForWantOfANail: Many changes occur thanks to the Dursleys surrendering Harry to foster services:
** Harry's personality is formed differently as a result of being raised in a loving home. For one thing, he has less of a need to prove his own worth, which means less of a drive toward reckless heroics.
** Without the blood protection, Death Eaters that evaded Azkaban ambush the Dursleys and murder Vernon and Petunia. [[spoiler:Dudley miraculously survives and grows up to be a healthy, well-adjusted adult]].
** The news that Harry has disappeared from the Wizarding World inspires Sirius to break out of Azkaban several years early. He finds Lupin and proves his innocence, and they track down Harry. Sirius can't bear to separate Harry from loving parents and instead plays the part of a stray to watch over his godson. In time he and Lupin reveal their magical heritage and Tim and Caro adopt them as well. It also means that Bellatrix doesn't kill Sirius in the Ministry of Magic because Harry knows that "Padfoot" is perfectly safe.
** Pettigrew runs away from the Weasleys months before Ron goes to Hogwarts, and Ron's new rat is named Whiskers. Later on, Pettigrew busts the Lestranges and one other Death Eater out of Azkaban, in the hopes of reviving Voldemort.
** Sirius reaches an understanding with Snape, and thanks him for watching out for Harry when Sirius couldn't.
** Draco never develops a full rivalry with Harry because Harry doesn't associate him with Dudley, and doesn't even consider his insults worth a response. They become friends by the end of first-year, and Draco fights his father about werewolf rights.
** The [=MacIntyres=] never hate the Malfoys, but instead pity them for how they've raised their son to be hateful. This also means that Harry never develops a loathing for the Malfoys, even sending birthday gifts to Draco. Narcissa in year five sends Draco to live with Harry's family for the summer after Lucius is arrested for the whole prophecy debacle and Voldemort wants to use Draco as a scapegoat. [[spoiler:After Draco is coerced into trying to kill Dumbledore and is horrified that Snape did so instead, he spends the summer at Aunt Andromeda's where Hermione makes it clear that everyone forgives him because he was used as a pawn and is not a killer]].
** Thanks to the latter, Neville never becomes a NervousWreck due to Draco bullying him.

* INeedToGoIronMyDog: After the confrontation with Quirrel, Sirius starts avoiding Harry because he feels guilty about not being there to back him up, and that makes Harry afraid that Sirius blames him for going into danger without backup. On the train home at the end of the year, Hermione makes a transparent excuse to leave the compartment and take Ron with her, so that it's just Harry and Sirius and they've got no excuse not to talk about it.

* RealityEnsues: The Death Eaters wouldn't have been able to track down Harry in foster care services because wizards don't even bother learning cursory facts about the Muggle world, though Remus and Sirius obliviate the Muggle detective who knew and destroy the documents they used to track Harry down anyway just on the off chance the Death Eaters manage to dig up someone a bit more savvy.

** Without the blood protection, Death Eaters that evaded Azkaban ambush the Dursleys. [[spoiler:Dudley miraculously survives and grows up to be a healthy, well-adjusted adult]].

* RealityEnsues: The Death Eaters wouldn't have been able to track down Harry in foster care services because wizards don't even bother learning cursory facts about the Muggle world, though Remus and Sirius destroy the documents they used to track Harry down anyway just on the off chance the Death Eaters manage to dig up someone a bit more savvy.

** Pettigrew runs away from the Weasleys after Sirius escapes, and Ron's new rat is named Whiskers. Later on, Pettigrew busts the Lestranges and one other Death Eater out of Azkaban, in the hopes of reviving Voldemort.

** The [=MacIntyres=] never hate the Malfoys, but instead pity them for how they've raised their son to be hateful. This also means that Harry never develops a loathing for the Malfoys, even sending birthday gifts to Draco. Narcissa in year five sends Draco to live with Harry's family for the summer after Lucius is arrested for the whole prophecy debacle and Voldemort wants to use Draco as a scapegoat. Draco is never given the SuicideMission to assassinate Dumbledore.

The fic follows Harry up to the end of his first year at Hogwarts. The author has posted snippets from later in the timeline, but indicated that a full sequel is unlikely. A prequel, "The Black Dog", follows Sirius and Remus in their search for the missing Harry.

** The news that Harry has disappeared from the Wizarding World inspires Sirius to break out of Azkaban several years early. He finds Lupin and proves his innocence, and they track down Harry. Sirius can't bear to separate Harry from loving parents and instead plays the part of a stray to watch over his godson. In time he and Lupin reveal their magical heritage and Tim and Caro adopt them as well.

* WrongAssumption: Snape assumes Harry is going to be a smug glory hound like he remembers Harry's birth father being, and is constantly wrong-footed by how much Harry isn't. (Canon Harry at least took pleasure in being Harry Potter The Boy Who Lived, because it was a link to his parents and a support to his self-esteem; Harry [=MacIntyre=], who has a healthy self-esteem and a perfectly good set of parents, completely astonishes Snape by regarding the whole business as something of a nuisance.)

* RealityEnsues: The Death Eaters wouldn't have been able to track down Harry in foster care services because wizards don't even bother learning cursory facts about the Muggle world.
* SideBet: After the news breaks that Harry is the Boy Who Lived, all his dorm-mates hurry to find him and ask if it's true. When they find him, they get distracted when he calmly hands some money over to Ron: the outcome of a bet on which of them would reach him first.

The fic follows Harry up to the end of his first year at Hogwarts. The author has posted snippets from later in the timeline, but indicated that a full sequel is unlikely. An in-progress prequel, "The Black Dog", follows Sirius and Remus in their search for the missing Harry.

* HazyFeelTurn: [[spoiler:Draco comes to an understanding with Potter after Sirius Black saves him and Harry from Quirrel in the woods. But he doesn't become fully Face until Year Four, after "Auntie Bellatrix" nearly murders him]].

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/13760487/chapters/31624473 The Dogfather]]'' is a WhatIf fic by Holli Michelle, which started on Tumblr as a [[http://nonasuch.tumblr.com/post/170420662680/all-right-so-this-is-a-harry-potter-au-in post in bullets]].


On November 1, 1981, the Dursleys drop off baby Harry at the police station. They relinquish all custody rights and surrender him to foster services. The police set up Harry with a childless couple, Tim and Caro Macintyre. That should be the end of it, except a few years later rogue Death Eaters murder the Dursleys, and Harry Potter has vanished. Cue a black dog showing up at the Macintyres, and reveals himself as an Animagus.

** Sirius breaks out of Azkaban several years early, finds Lupin and proves his innocence, and they track down Harry. Sirius can't bear to separate Harry from loving parents and instead plays the part of a stray to watch over his godson. In time he and Lupin reveal their magical heritage and Tim and Caro adopt them as well.

* HazyFeelTurn: [[spoiler:Draco comes to an understanding with Potter after Sirius Black saves him and Harry from Quirrel in the woods. But he doesn't become fully Heel until Year Four, after "Auntie Bellatrix" nearly murders him]].
* InsistentTerminology: It's not Harry Potter, it's Harry Macintyre, as he will tell everyone.
* InternalReveal: The Macintyres are the first to learn that their dog is an Animagus. During Harry's first year, this extends to Hermione, Ron, [[spoiler:Draco, the Weasleys, and Dumbledore]].
* RealityEnsues: The Death Eaters wouldn't have been able to track down Harry in foster care services because wizards don't even bother learning cursory facts about the Muggle world.

** Without the blood protection, Death Eaters that evaded Azkaban ambush the Dursleys and murder all of them. [[spoiler:Dudley miraculously survives and grows up to be a healthy, well-adjusted adult]].