A butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil and a tornado brews in Texas. A simple choice: Today or Tomorrow? Conceived a day earlier, the Boy Who Lived was never born. He wasn't even a glimmer in his parents' eyes.
But she was; Harriet Lily Potter... Harry; the girl that grew up in a cupboard; the girl with safety-pinned knickers; the girl that was never wanted by the only family she had left; the girl that would give anything for the slightest bit of love.
With a lightning bolt scar, her mother's face, and her father's messy hair, Harriet Potter has always been far less than welcome in the Dursley household. Ten years old, unloved, and uncared for, Harry has already seen more hardship than most will see in their entire lives. In fact, her life can't get much worse. Yet on July thirtieth, a strange letter is pushed through the Dursley's mail slot, turning her miserable world upside down. Discovering her magical heritage, Harry finally finds a place to belong and, after a chance meeting in a train station, she just might have found someone to love her.
What happens when the shoes of a hero are filled by the feet of a heroine? How does the world change? How do relationships change? How important can one person possibly be?
Follow Harry down the familiar path. Follow her as she steps off it. Walk with her as she creates ripples of flux that grow and twist into massive tsunamis, changing the course of history as we know it... for better or for worse.
A Butterfly Effect
by SlyGoddess, is a Gender Flip What If? Harry Potter fanfiction epic that stars Harriet Lily Potter, the Girl-Who-Lived, and fleshes out J. K. Rowling's universe while skillfully avoiding many of the common fanfiction pitfalls.
Currently a Dead Fic.
This fic provides examples of:
- Backstory: Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald.
- Cannot Dream: Harriet can't let herself dream else she has a murdermare freakout that makes her lose control of her mind to Voldemort's soul fragment, turning her into the scary-as-all-hell psychopathic 'Harrymort' who commits murder like it's her day job.
- The Chessmaster: Many characters. On a literal level, Ron and Dumbledore; Harriet is also quite good, though still not quite as good as Ron, even at her best. Yes, this often leads to a Gambit Pileup, for better or worse.
- Closet Key: Marin has a reputation for this. Works on Harriet.
- Darker and Edgier: Harry suffers from some rather serious abuse early on. It also contains (sometimes graphic) violence like decapitation, torture, and rape.
- Doomed Protagonist:
- Harriet is clearly going to die at the end of the series and yet somehow, there is still supposed to be a happy ending.
- Considering how the canon story ended, it isn't that hard to imagine ways for Harriet to survive just like Harry did.
- Equivalent Exchange: Incorporates a dark, 'Fullmetal' element to the magic of Alchemy.
- Evil Counterpart: Though they're never actually shown to encounter each other, Herpo the Foul is arguably this to Nicholas Flamel-two impossibly old, quasi-immortal wizards who have a massive influence on history under various pseudonyms, teaching powerful figures of legend the craft of magic.
- From Bad to Worse: There are only a handful of chapters where none of the main characters are seriously injured, nearly killed, tortured, maimed, sexually assaulted, or worse. And that's just the characters. Harry gets possessed by her horcrux on multiple occassions, one of which causes the deaths of 30 people and the destruction of the Hogwarts Express.
- Flashback: So many.
- Gayngst: Plenty.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Ginny's first impression when she sees Harriet's magically augmented eyes, though she quickly sees past the Freakiness Shame.
- Hidden Depths: His role shrouded in mystery, Nicholas Flamel is made relevant to the underlying original plot.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Harriet detests the dark magic she is privy to and hates herself for using it, despite these instances often being out of her control.
- "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: Happens on several occasions.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Both Harry and Ginny fit this role, with Ginny being dominant and Harry being sub (though they do "switch" sometimes, depending on the circumstances). Emotionally (and in terms of the overall relationship), Harry and Ginny normally avoid any sort of dominant and submissive roles, though Ginny's brash, stubborn, and headstrong personality do come into play.
- Longing Look: Nowhere near as prominent in this fic as they are in a certain sparkly vampire novel, but they're still noticeable. Usually precedes major outpouring of feels.
- Love Dodecahedron: Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Draco, Pansy, Michael Corner, OC named Marin... and that's all by the end of 3rd year. This gets largely resolved and simplified by the end of 3rd Year, though whether or not anything will complicate it again remains to be seen.
- Necessarily Evil:
- Gellert Grindelwald... who can be surprisingly endearing and yet totally despicable at the same time.
- This is also how Dumbledore describes the Dursleys being forced to experience Harry's "death" from her perspective, to show them the other side of their horrific abuse.
- Noble Bigot: Draco Malfoy is still a jerk, but he's a helpful jerk that tends to do the right thing in the hopes that he will someday get into Harriet's pants.
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*: "I... I don't like peas." - Who doesn't love Luna?
- Original Flavor: Subverted. It feels like this...at first. Then the author puts the characters through the wringer. Also, some of the characters are far more sexual than in canon.
- Round Character: Canon Ginny is somewhat flat in terms of background and personality, whereas 'A Butterfly Effect' Ginny is detailed. Dozens of characters also get this treatment, from Dumbledore to Lavender Brown.
- Serial Escalation: The power levels of some characters. Think Harry is powerful? Nah, she's still no match for Dumbledore. Voldemort is more powerful still. Of course, Herpo the Foul makes all of them look like toddlers. Thankfully, though, it's presented as foreshadowing, exposition, or mythology-level storytelling instead of a cliche drama-producing tool.
- Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility: Roughly Type 2.
- Smells Sexy: Harriet and Ron really like the smell of strawberry (Ginny) and toffee apple (Hermione), respectively. To a lesser degree, Hermione and Harriet enjoy the smell of grass (Ron) whereas Ginny and Luna enjoy the smell of pine (Harriet).
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Pansy Parkinson is the end all be all of Alpha Bitch Tsunderes. She has the rather miraculous ability to oscillate her behavior patterns between those of a full-blown Ice Queen and those of a consummate Princess Classic.
- The Power of Love: Considerably more powerful and significant than in canon.
- Transparent Closet: Ginny's attraction to Harriet seems to be headed this way.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: All of the main characters at one point or another.
- Villain Teleportation: Obviously, wizards in HP can apparate, but Grindelwald, thanks to his fourth Hallow, can portkey anywhere, passing seamlessly through any and all magical protections. The portkey is powered by thought. Almost feels like he is a everywhere, always watching.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Ginny has quite a few moments, only some of which are called out. Likewise, Harry uses Legilimency to force Pansy to view Quirell raping Lavender every time she closes her eyes. Why? Because Pansy was shooting spitballs at her
