A group of stories by Anne Walsh (known to her fans and friends as the PAGE).A very alternate universe series for Harry Potter. Its initial divergence is the existence of an older Granger sibling, college-aged Gertrude (nicknamed "Danger" thanks to a somewhat wild childhood). Orphaned by the recent death of their parents, she is the unemployed guardian of her toddler sister Hermione at the start of the first story. When a desperation job babysitting brings her into contact with the (very) young Harry Potter her life (and that of Hermione) takes a turn for the stranger... and better.A cascade of events leads from this to her meeting Remus Lupin and the two falling in love, with unexpected effects on his lycanthropy. Discovery of the Dursleys' already-visible mistreatment of Harry leads them to kidnap the boy and go into hiding together. Then they break Sirius out of Azkaban and facilitate a reunion with his Healer ex-girlfriend Aletha; the two reconcile, eventually marry, and join the household. Harry and Hermione grow up as brother and sister in a magical household, adding Meghan Black (Sirius and Aletha's daughter) and then Draco Malfoy (rescued from the clutches of his father in a complicated gambit) to their number, forming "The Pack".And that's just before First Year.Just a note: "Living with Danger" is the author's first real story, and she was sort of learning how to write as she went along. If you find yourself disliking the first few chapters, don't worry—it gets better.
Abusive Guardians / Abusive Parents: The effects of the Dursleys' canon neglect and psychological abuse of Harry is laid out in excruciating detail, as are the long-term effects, which JKR never touches on in canon. Lucius Malfoy also qualifies, as, arguably, do a lot of the fanatical purebloods in regards to their kids, including Patroclus Nott, who gains compliance from his son by scaring the ever-loving crap out of him.
Actor Allusion: Possible inversion. In one of the AU fics, Nearly Headless Nick names John Cleese (who played him in the movies) as a descendant.
Adults Are Useless: Refreshingly averted—as often as not the adults are heavily involved.
Adventure Rebuff: Remus reminds Harry that just because the prophecy says he can defeat Voldemort doesn't mean it's guaranteed, and also that he should enjoy his youth while he still can. They're basically trying to make sure Harry doesn't turn into a Fearless Fool.
Affectionate Pickpocket: While she is staying at the Weasleys' house after the Pack's adults have been arrested, Meghan hugs Mrs Weasley, telling her she is a great mum, and takes the chance to swipe her wand. She needs it to activate the Marauders' Map and find Hagrid.
Anyone Can Die: Numerous canon characters have been killed off (though more than once it has involved a CMoA or a CMoH), and numerous original characters.
Apron Matron: Molly Weasley and Minerva McGonagall.
Ascended Fanboy: Brian Li admires Remus and ends up doing exactly what Remus did in the First War.
Ascended Fanon: More than one fan's suggestions (usually peripheral stuff) has become Dangerverse canon, and utilized in-story.
Author Avatar: A character called Anne Walsh and who even looks like her hooks up a very hot male character. Subverted in the fact that she appears in three scenes. As a moving painting.
One alt-story starts with someone asking to write the story that would follow a certain "What If" mentioned in the main line. The resulting story follows...
Badass Family: Arguably the Pack. Definitely the Weasleys. The Pride may also qualify.
Bad Dreams: Sirius has these for a while in Living with Danger, a result of his guilt over Lily and James finally catching up with him after Azkaban.
Snape borders on this, especially in the first book.
Author's Note from Chapter 21: Our favorite Potions Master will make an appearance in this story, and get his greasy little rear kicked. Which member of the Pack would you like to do the kicking?
Cardboard Prison: Azkaban, while ostensibly The Alcatraz, sometimes resembles this. So far there have been three breakouts, and each time more prisoners manage to escape.
Card-Carrying Villain: Lucius Malfoy sometimes resembles this, even if his apparent motivations—getting his son back so the family name will continue, and becoming immortal so he can make sure the family name always means something—make a twisted sort of sense.
Cerebus Syndrome: Averted. There is still plenty of humor; much like the canon, the tone and story perspective have aged with the characters. However, the dark element—again, like the canon—was there from the beginning.
And now, like the last few books, it is definitely taking a turn for the darker, but with touches of the author's signature humor.
Characterization Marches On: Averted in the case of Narcissa Malfoy (as in the canon, does it all for Draco). Played fairly well straight with Lucius Malfoy.
Alternate Character Interpretation: Then again, his motivations when it comes to Draco make more sense if you consider that he doesn't love his actual son so much as the concept of his son—in canon Draco is very much a reflection of his father, which Lucius is perfectly fine with. The Dangerverse version of Draco, however, hates his biological father and everything he stands for, and is determined to be his own person.
Tonks probably qualifies, though—the author clearly didn't see her relationship to Remus coming. (But then neither did most of the readers.) It was, however, alluded to.
Debatable in the case of Dudley Dursley. In this version, he is both a wizard and a Slytherin, and never has the experience with the dementor that triggers his canon turn-around. In canon, he moved beyond being a bully—in the Dangerverse, he's surpassed JUST being a bully, and by the looks of things, he's headed for a bad end.
Chekhov's Gun: The author LOVES these, to the point that not unlike the canon fanbase, the series' fanbase has become savvy enough to actively look for them.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: red for Gryffindor, yellow for Hufflepuff, blue for Ravenclaw, green for Slytherin—it's inescapable and usually plot-important.
Comm Links: The Zippophone, a lighter with Floo Powder that is recognizable as a Wizarding cell phone... about a decade before cell phones had gotten that practical for Muggles.
Possibly justified in that the Pack and the Pride appear to have the only ones in Britain, and they were provided by Aletha's wealthy aunt in America.
Competence Zone: Averted; adults in-story are presented as being competent, intelligent, and perfectly aware of what's going on around them. That said, the kids save the day more than a few times. The story tends to center more and more on the kids as they grow up, and need the adults' help less.
Dead Serious: Hagrid's death is a textbook example of this.
Derailing Love Interests: Played with. Though this version of Cho is significantly less weepy than her canon counterpart, hearing of Harry's swearing an oath in blood causes their relationship to go very rapidly downhill and contributes to her eventually betraying the DA.
Played pretty straight with Krum, though. He even admits it didn't take much prodding to motivate him to take Ron out of the equation.
Discontinuity Nod: In a version of this trope, the author has ignored Dumbledore's feelingstoward Grindlewald (to be fair, they had little relevance to canon anyway, and he comes across as asexual), but does make some nods to Dumbledore's canon man-crush on Grindelwald: in a recent chapter, Dumbledore's reading room is revealed to be a closet.
Doomy Dooms of Doom: The patented "Minerva McGonagall I-Know-What-You-Did Look of Doom."
Door Stopper: The mainverse alone has more words than all sevenHarry Potter books (1.4 million words and counting), and (at the time of this edit) it's only at the start of Year Six! Taking the AU fics and side-stories into account, the number is probably closer to 1.6 million...
Not bad for a story that, by the author's own admission, was born of a bit of Fan Wank (Hermione's similarity to Remus, Harry and Hermione being Like Brother and Sister), was originally supposed to be "completely fluffy", "plotless", and with an original outline that was only eleven chapters long! Needless to say, it didn't work out that way. The original plan involved a Time Skip from the first meeting to the final defeat of Voldemort, but she got to enjoy writing it.
Double In Law Marriage: Considering how Harry and Hermione were raised, their relationships (with Ginny and Ron, respectively) are likely to end up as this.
Downer Ending: Dealing with Danger ends with Voldemort returned, an unidentified spy playing both sides and Harry being sent to the Dursleys. It Gets Better, honest.
Evil Detecting Baby: Harry as an infant—he latched on to Sirius, but couldn't stand Peter. Subverted in that it's only years later that Remus realizes that Harry understood what no one else did.
Evil Gloating: Voldemort is prone to this, as is Lucius Malfoy.
Expy: Patroclus and Theodore Nott are pretty much Lucius and Draco Malfoy. (Lucius and Draco have other roles, on opposite sides, as The Dragon and The Big Guy respectively).
Fandom Nod: The author manages nods to both the Harry Potter fandom in general (including jabs at numerousfanon cliches such as, for example, Veela!Draco) and the Dangerverse fandom in particular. A chapter in FD even (repeatedly) references the Harry Potter fanfiction podcast Potter Fic Weekly, which featured Living With Danger several months before. (The section in question is essentially a series of inside jokes that are funny in themselves, but a great deal funnier if you listen to the podcast.)
Fiery Redhead: Ginny and Molly Weasley. Lily is also portrayed this way.
Fire-Forged Friends: Played with: Harry, Draco, and Hermione bond with Ron over a running snowball fight with the Weasley Twins. Ron even shows the first signs of his future role as a tactician.
Best example (also a Brick Joke): after the encounter between Danger and the Founders, Danger curses both Gryffindor and all of his descendants to waking up on Christmas and discovering their best present was opened by someone else. That same Christmas, Draco opens Harry's present with James' Invisibility Cloak, in an oh-so-subtle way to foreshadow that Harry is Gryffindor's descendant.
Former Teen Rebel: The Marauders. The cubs are well aware of it, hence the need for what's called the Hypocrisy Agreement, which basically states that the cubs won't be punished for things the Pack-adults do themselves.
Friendless Background: Draco (before the Pack rescues him); Ron (before the Pack moves to Devon); Neville (before meeting the Pack at King's Cross). I'm sensing a pattern here.
Goofy Print Underwear: Draco wears green boxers with little yellow smiley faces on them.
At one point the Pack-parents sleep in their underwear to keep their clothes clean for their upcoming trial: Sirius is embarrassed at his choice of Christmas tree boxers... but at least they aren't the ones with little yellow duckies.
Good Parents: The Pack-parents (along with the Weasleys and the Lovegoods. And the Longbottoms.) Or at least they do the best they can.
Happily Married: Quite realistically; just because the various couples are quite happy together, it doesn't mean they never fight.
Happily Adopted: All of the cubs, save for Meghan (Hermione is at about the halfway point, raised by her sister, but adopted by Remus).
Has Two Mommies And Two Daddies; the Pack is essentially two married couples sharing parenthood of four kids, so the cubs basically share two sets of parents.
During a trial at the Ministry to determine whether Remus, as a werewolf, can adopt children, this is actually discussed:
"Most people do perfectly well with just one father.” Shybrook smiled as if he’d said something clever.
Hermione raised her eyebrows. “I suppose I’d do perfectly well with just one hand, too,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean I want the other one cut off.”
The spectators laughed again, and even Warlock Longwood chuckled at this.
Shybrook looked down at his hands, frowning, then back up at Hermione. “Yes, but having two hands is a natural condition, Miss Granger-Lupin. People are born with two hands.”
“And as far back as I can remember, I’ve had two fathers and two mothers,” Hermione said. “That’s a natural condition to me. It means I have more role-models, more places to go when I need help, more hands to help me up when I fall. More people to love me. Why do you want to take that away from me?”
Heterosexual Life Partners: Remus and Sirius. And, to a certain extent, their wives. Harry and Ron probably also qualify.
Hidden in Plain Sight: Honestly, who'd think to look for the Boy Who Lived, the Boy Who Disappeared, and the most wanted fugitive in wizarding Britain in a little semidetached in the London suburbs?
"Well, you know what they say." Alex reclined in his chair. "If one man calls you a niffler, ignore him. If another man calls you a niffler, think it over. But if a third man calls you a niffler, dig for treasure." *
The original version is: "If one person calls you a drunk, laugh it off. If two people call you a drunk, start to wonder. If three people call you a drunk, go home and lie down."
Humiliation Conga: Lucius Malfoy. In the first book, he loses his wife, son, home, fortune, influence, and his freedom—his wife pulls a Heel Face Turn and gives Draco to the Pack, knowing they'll raise him better than she could, before turning herself in and telling the Ministry of Lucius' various crimes and atrocities. The Aurors then throw Lucius in Azkaban, where he stays for nine years. Upon his escape, not only does his plan backfire, he is then turned into a werewolf, though this was unintentional.
What happens to Umbridge also probably qualifies. However, in the Dangerverse she gets a shot at payback. Before Voldemort offs her, anyway.
What happens to the Dursleys definitely qualifies; the author once asked in an A/N if her readers "want the Dursleys to stay part of the story, or should I let them fade miserably into the sunset?" The fans naturally chose the former.
I Always Wanted to Say That: A meta-example—the author pulls one of these. Thanks to an podcast interview on Potter Fic Weekly) a lot of people saw it coming; a character named William Robinson, apparently created solely for a scene where he would be introduced to Danger.
Charlie led the way back across the room. “Will, this is Gertrude Granger-Lupin, but she always goes by Danger. Danger, Will Robinson.”
Idiot Ball: Not too often, but when it does happen, you will cringe. Draco receives a rather sinister looking globe marked with dozens of runes, described as a "study tool." None of the adults think to check it out at all, despite knowing that there are two dangerous fugitives dedicated to causing Draco harm or capturing him. Third year, Sirius and Aletha not bothering to stun Malfoy or Pettigrew, leading to their escape. Fourth year, Danger being a complete idiot and 1) Not stunning Karkoroff, 2) allowing him to take out his wand by her command, and 3) not reacting fast enough to a spell he cast after all of that. And then Cedric decides to literally run away from Voldemort instead of apparating, despite outright saying that he could a minute ago...leading to his death.
A lot of moments from the series are turned around or happen quite differently. For example, Draco still composes "Weasley is Our King"... but as Draco is Ron's friend, it's meant to motivate Ron from the start.
Also, Draco still gets turned into a ferret, but he was under the influence of the globe at the time and provoked the Weasley twins into it.
The author really wants Cedric to die, no matter how unlikely and nonsensical the events leading up to said death are. See Idiot Ball above.
“Padfoot,” said Remus’ voice quietly. “You fell asleep in the sun. That made you hot. Therefore, you were a hot dog. And certain inhabitants of this Den took advantage of that.”
Innocent Innuendo: Harry actually pulls this off once, though he is aware of how it sounds: "You all have dirty minds, you know."
“What is it that mine is longer than Draco’s, Ron’s and the twins’ are all exactly the same, and Neville’s is longer than anybody’s?” *
Their surnames: "Black" has five letters, "Potter" has six, "Weasley" seven and "Longbottom" ten.
Harry, Hermione, Draco and Meghan are laughing about their hiding under Hagrid's bed when the Pack came back from America. Ginny asks Harry to share the joke, but he asks her for a sec until he stops laughing. Ginny immediately replies with the sentence "No secs." She immediately realises what she said.
Insult Backfire: When, during the trial to determine whether Remus can be her guardian, Hermione says something that prompts the prosecution to ask whether she has lost her manners. Hermione answers that probably she forgot them because the man she regards as her father isn't there at home with her and her siblings.
Nearly an hour and about an acre of shredded wrapping paper later, the children were ignoring all their new toys and playing in the large cardboard box one of them had come in.
“Never fails,” Remus said. “We should stop getting them presents and just get them boxes.”
“Don’t think I haven’t considered it,” Danger said ruefully.
Kill It with Fire: Gryffindor's power, passed down from generation to generation.
Lampshade Hanging: Numerous times in Living with Danger, the characters muse on the oddity of recent events in their lives.
Loophole Abuse: Voldemort takes advantage of a loophole in Sirius and Aletha's wedding vows—which dictated that there would be dire consequences if they ever used their magic against each other—but they never thought of what it would mean if they were forced to do so against their will...
Maybe they didn't take into account the possibility of being forced to use magic against each other, but they did take into account the chance that something may happen...
Manipulative Bastard: Of all people, Dudley Dursley becomes one of these—he slanders Harry so Dudley's parents hate Harry even more, asserting that Voldemort's goal is to "keep the worlds separate". Dudley's lies have just enough truth to them that Harry is unable to do anything about them. Odds are, however, that Dudley's been manipulated himself.
Meaningful Name: Quite a few characters (even some of the Founders' children) have these.
For example, Alexander Slytherin, known for helping our heroes whenever possible, is indeed a "helper of men."
Adam Hufflepuff spends a lot of time in the garden ("Adam" comes from the Classical Hebrew for "earth, soil, light brown").
Sophia Ravenclaw is wise.
Margaret Ravenclaw, shares the root of her name with Meghan, her descendant.
Brenna Ravenclaw is a "dark-haired beauty" whose Animagus form is a raven.
Morphic Resonance: Animagi and transformed animals can recognize others in form. This is also a Chekhov's Skill and even a plot point.
Most Writers Are Writers: Sirius writes romance novels under a pen name. A female pen name. Naturally, Hilarity Ensues. Though, to be fair, it's not like he has anything else to do while the Pack's in hiding.
And they even manage to gain an audience among Muggles!
Further hilarity ensues when it turns out Minerva McGonagall is a fan of Sirius' works. She does not take the revelation well.
Murder the Hypotenuse: Krum tries to bump Ron off during the Second Task, leaving the field open for him to gain Hermione. Also, as a meta example, Cedric is killed off in a rather contrived manner so that Harry and Cho can get together the next year.
Noodle Incident: Referenced, along with the Trope Namer. One fan-written story has this incident as involving everyone in Hogwarts getting blue noodles for hair, but whether this is DV-canon is as yet unknown.
Oracular Urchin: Arguably deconstructed in the form of Luna Lovegood, who actually asks to be rid of her ability after seeing something she's not ready for, then is unprepared for and overwhelmed by it when she asks for it back years later.
Parental Substitute: The Pack-adults for Harry, Hermione, and Draco. Neville's gran also qualifies until Neville's parents are brought out of their insanity.
Prompt Fic: A variation—Draco's involvement was triggered by the author noticing a "Make Draco a Gryffindor" challenge.
Prophecy Twist: In Dealing with Danger, Remus believes that "when cup is touched, the respite ends" refers to Harry's name coming out of the Goblet of Fire—it actually refers to the Triwizard Cup, the respite being the time between the wars against Voldemort.
Mindlink Mates: Remus and Danger after Danger's first true-dream.
Twin Telepathy: A literal case—Draco and Hermione after being blood-bonded, though they have to be in physical contact. But to be fair, they'd pretended to be twins for most of their lives. Fred and George come pretty damn close. Twins in general seem to finish each other's sentences, despite this never happening in canon.
The Weasley Twins probably fall under Rule of Funny.
Raised by Wolves: Referenced: Draco surprises Theodore Nott by saying he was actually raised by wolves though technically one was a wolf Animagus and the other a werewolf...:
“—looked a little like a rabbit,” Draco was saying as Harry and Sirius rejoined the main group, who were standing outside Flourish and Blotts. “And he would not leave me alone—he kept asking me questions about what House I wanted to be in, and did I play Quidditch, and on and on, and finally he got offended because I was ignoring him, and he said, ‘Honestly, were you raised by wolves?’ And I said, ‘Yes,’ and by the time he recovered I was already gone.”
Recursive Fanfiction: More than a few fans of the Dangerverse have written their own fics utilizing the author's interpretation of various Potterverse characters and concepts.
Relationship Upgrade: Several over the course of the series, Lily and James and Sirius and Aletha in the backstory, more recently the couples within the Pride.
Right Under Their Noses: The Pride pulls off a version of this, rescuing a kidnapped student.
Sacrificial Lion: Andromena Tonks, though Cedric dies in the same place and time as in canon, so...
School Play: Joseph is played with none of the usual problems. The Pride want to take part and Luna and Draco kiss all the time but then there is the problem of someone trying to kill Harry, which is actually quite usual.
Snake Talk: Taken advantage of here more fully than in the canon; Parseltongue seems to be a language of sorts. Harry has befriended several snakes over the years including Slytherin's basilisk.
Superpowerful Genetics: The stories play a little with JKR's loose association of the Hogwarts houses with the four classical elements (Gryffindor with Fire, Hufflepuff with Earth, Ravenclaw with Air, Slytherin with Water). A direct descendant of a Founder will have control of a certain element:
According to the Dangerverse summaries, each Heir has two powers; one major power, one minor. Parseltongue is the minor gift, like Hufflepuff's invisibility, or Gryffindor's skill with magical artifacts, but the major gift, the power like Gryffindor's fire or Ravenclaw's Healing, is still unknown.
That Didn't Happen: Ron and Hermione in third year; the Relationship Upgrade happens a little less than two years later. One one-shot, written by another author, has Harry and Ginny pull one of these.
Upbringing Makes the Hero: Harry is a good deal far more well-adjusted, Hermione far less insecure, and Draco turns out all right. Neville's parents taking over raising him after their revival doesn't hurt either.
Values Dissonance: Happens a few times in-universe with one instance leading to both Harry's breakup with Cho and Cho's subsequent betrayal of the DA.
Weirdness Magnet: The Pack, the Pride... Hell, Hogwarts in general could be considered this.
What Kind of Lame Power Is Talking to Snakes Anyway?: Probably unintentional on the author's part, but when she reveals the special abilities associated with Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and even Hufflepuff, it's kind of hard not to think this about Parseltongue. Gryffindor could control fire, Ravenclaw could heal people, Hufflepuff could make plants grow, and Slytherin could... talk to snakes. Harry does put the ability to good use in the story, but it still seems like Salazar got the raw end of the deal here.
Fridge Brilliance: Is it any wonder the guy got so obsessed with blood purity? His "unique power" was a joke, and would have been even moreso to someone with his ambition and lust for power. He needed some way of feeling superior.
What You Are in the Dark: Referenced. Dumbledore is convinced the Pack are telling the truth once he sees they remain decent people when no one is watching them.
What the Hell, Hero?: How Sirius's prank involving Snape and Remus usually gets treated in the Dangerverse.
Write What You Know: The author is a bit of a theatre geek (a bit of a geek in general, really) with a fondness for fantasy novels, Shakespeare, and the various things Shouted Out to. Also, at one point she planned to teach, and is apparently fluent in Latin.
Xanatos Gambit: Lucius Malfoy manages more than one of these, though they don't always work. Also the canon example of the events surrounding the Triwizard Tournament though it doesn't work out exactly like it did in canon.
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