Fanfic / The Accidental Animagus

The Accidental Animagus by White Squirrel (who also wrote The Arithmancer series) is a Harry Potter Fanfic in which Harry Potter flees the Dursleys and is eventually adopted by the Grangers. Sweeping changes result, with a more mature and educated Harry avoiding many canonical pitfalls, but the villains stepping up their game in response.

The first fic, detailing years 1 through 4, is complete, while the sequel Animagus at War, detailing years 5 to 7 and the Second War, is in progress. There's also a series of one-shots detailing the broader magical world, The World of The Accidental Animagus, which is complete.

Unmarked spoilers below.

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This Work Has Examples of the Following Tropes:

• Abusive Parents: The Dursleys' abuse is worse than canon, as here Vernon actually engages in physical abuse as well. Fortunately, part of the point of the fic is that this doesn't last long. The Grangers, Harry's actual parents in every way that matters, are loving and supportive… not that this stops the Malicious Slander of course, especially once the truth about the Dursleys comes out.
• Actor Allusion: Barty Crouch acts like an evil version of the Tenth Doctor, especially when he's in a good mood. He's very fond of saying "Allons-y!"
• Adaptational Intelligence: Quirrell, because Voldemort doesn't want to bring unwanted attention by acting so unusually. He is also actually one of the best Defence teachers, even if his bias shows through.
• Adaptational Upbringing Change: Having escaped the Dursleys after becoming the titular Animagus, Harry ends up finding the Grangers, who adopt him, meaning that he and Hermione grow up as siblings. Additionally, because Dumbledore tracks down the missing Harry, both children learn about the wizarding world at a far younger age, resulting in them being raised with more knowledge of magic, and the dangers they will face in Hogwarts, resulting in the Grangers signing their children up for Karate lessons, as well as them teaching themselves wandless magic.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: In Animagus At War, both Hogwarts and the Ministry are successfully occupied by Death Eaters in a climactic battle.
• Alternate Show Interpretation: The Diagonal Theatre often has plays based on the works of The Tales of Beedle the Bard; however, they often use the older versions that don't conform to pureblood politics. For example, the Christmas Play in 1991 is based on "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot", in which the wizard's son is based off a French Dark Lord, and the story takes a much more muggle-friendly attitude compared to older versions including a ship-tease between the wizard's son and a muggle girl.
• Ambadassador: Edward Grayson, who is the Australian Ambassador to the ICW and is similar in power to Dumbledore.
• Animal Stampede: Kinani Ngeze conjures up one during his Wizard Duel against Grayson and Dumbledore. There is another when the Forbidden Forest burns.
• Animalistic Abomination: Ngeze's secret weapon. It's a Nundu, which in this verse is an artificially created Living Weapon. It has enormous physical power, is virtually immune to magic, and spreads Ebola.
• Artistic License – Gun Safety: Professor Quirrell brings an unloaded shotgun to his Defence Against the Dark Arts class and waves it around, causing the Muggle-raised students to panic. This is done intentionally by him, as he uses the experience to demonstrate to the wizard-raised children how dangerous non-magical weaponry is.
• Artistic License – Economics: The pound to galleon exchange rate is 51.25 pounds to a galleon, rather than the canon 5 pounds to a galleon.
• Backhanded Apology: Charles Nott gives one of these after calling Andromeda Tonks a common whore and is then forced to apologize when she points her wand at him.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • During the Yule Ball, it looks like Ginny Weasley is about to make a scene regarding Luna being Harry's secret date, but instead she just chides Luna for not enjoying her Bragging Rights Reward.
  • Also at the end of the first fic, Cornelius Fudge is denying Voldemort's back and it seems the plot is headed towards a repeat of Goblet of Fire but at the last moment Harry gives a What the Hell, Hero? speech that convinces Fudge to try to cooperate with Dumbledore.
• Big Storm Episode: Chapter 11 of Accidental Animagus has a portion is dedicated to the 1987 Great Storm, which results in severe damage to the Grangers' neighborhood. Also, Harry and Hermione's fear causes them to magically repair a broken window. In the aftermath, a visiting McGonagall can only provide internal repairs due to The Masquerade.
• Blood Magic: La Pantera is a specialist. Part of her payment for working with Voldemort is Lucius Malfoy providing her exotic animals for sacrifice.
• Boring, but Practical: The Grangers' home is heavily protected, both magically and legally, making it nearly impossible for wizards to find by spells or paperwork. However, Dobby merely follows Harry to his home, and even Hermione is surprised that it worked.
• Bigger on the Inside: Mezli's pyramid is only a hundred feet high, but at the top there's a hidden palace inside due to extensive use of expansion charms.
• Broken Masquerade: Downplayed. The Queen, and the royal family in general, has always been aware of the existence of the Wizarding World. They even employ a wizard as a magic adviser.
• Burn the Witch!: Subverted. Lord Draben, a ghost wizard cavalier from the mid-1600s, says that Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General, actually hanged his victims rather than burn them alive.
• Cartesian Karma: One specific example is cited, casting the Cruciatus Curse while under Imperius. This is because the Cruciatus Curse requires sadistic enjoyment, which the the Imperius Curse cannot make you feel. This is the exception rather than the rule, however. Also played with, because while the above is true, it was mostly used as a means to prosecute Death Eaters who claimed Imperius after the last war.
• Cassandra Truth: Played for Laughs. Madam Pomfrey decides to keep Parvati in the hospital wing after she faints and starts saying that Snape gave two points to Gryffindor.
• Chekhov's Gun: During their first visit to the Potter vault, Hermione finds jewelry and a green dress that used to belong to Lily Potter, which Hermione later wears to the Yule Ball.
• Chummy Commies: Democratic socialism seems to be pretty popular amongst Latino Wizards, which might be a Historical In-Joke due to the fact that Harry Potter is set in The '90s when the Pink tide was at its strongest in Latin America.
• Condescending Compassion: Quirrell teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts, teaching many useful things like magical pest control, anti-theft measures and other information that is useful for Muggleborns, but he acts in an arrogant way towards Muggles.
• Cool Old Guy: Edward Grayson, Dumbledore's equal and friend.
• Court Mage: The Royal Court Magician, a holdover from before The Masquerade that is not officially affiliated with the Ministry or the muggle government. Amongst other duties, the Royal Court Magician informs the Queen of affairs going on in the wizarding world and teaches them and their closest relatives Occlumency. Sirius convinces the current Court Magician, Maxwell Barnett, to teach Occlumency to Harry, Hermione and Daniel and Emma Granger.
• Creator Provincialism: Averted. The fic dedicates a lot of time to extensive worldbuilding, describing the various magical communities and cultures of the wizarding world. One consequence is that Dumbledore is not considered the most powerful wizard in the world, having many people as his equals, such as the former Australian Minister of Magic Edward Grayson, while Voldemort is not the only dark wizard to have claimed the title of Dark Lord.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: During a dueling tournament in Third Year, Harry makes it to the fifth year tournament but he's ultimately beaten by Cedric Diggory in seconds.
• Damaged Soul: Voldemort, as per canon. La Pantera is appalled, noting that it is just a good metaphysical shove away from falling apart entirely. They eventually patch it together with a particularly gruesome ritual.
• Darkest Hour: The prophecy which forms the driving arc of the sequel sets this up, making direct allusions to Ragnarok. It begins with a massive attack on both Hogwarts and the Ministry.
• Disgusting Public Toilet: Private toilet, in this case. The toilet located off the kitchen at Grimmauld Place is filled with many varieties of fungus, some of them carnivorous, and is gunked up with disgusting stuff.
• Doing In the Wizard:
  • Part of explaining the wizarding world to muggle relatives. Daniel Granger explains to his parents that what wizards call magic is simply a natural phenomenon that science has not yet explained.
  • Also inverted in a side story about introducing magic to a young witch from a deeply conservative religious household. The wizard delivering the news, himself a minister, opines that their magic is a gift from God.
• Doorstopper: By itself, the original fic is nearly 700,000 words long. Add in Animagus at War and The World Of... and you have a series currently over 920,000 words long!
• Dramatic Irony: When discussing the relative merits of each house, Harry counters the idea that only Slytherins are Dark by pointing out that Sirius Black was a Gryffindor, and he betrayed Harry's family. As any reader of canon would know, the Gryffindor who betrayed the Potters was actually Peter Pettigrew — and just to make sure, the fic "randomly" draws attention to Scabbers (Pettigrew's secret rat Animagus form) currently napping in Ron's pocket.
• Dying Race: Purebloods' obsession with blood purity has led to inbreeding and the decline of pureblood birth rates. Purebloods from twelve families founded the Wizards' Council, but only six remain by The '90s and according to Andi, there will be only two pureblood families in a hundred years. It also means that Sirius is in very poor health, especially for a wizard, and will likely have only a normal human lifespan.
• Exact Eavesdropping: Artemis, a werewolf member of Greyback's pack, is able to hear Harry discussing the Shrieking Shack's secret tunnel when he's trying to impress Cho.
• The Extremist Was Right: One of the major arguments against the efforts to make Wolfsbane available to werewolves is that transformed wolves that kept their human intelligence would be an incredible threat. While this is rightly treated as prejudice based fearmongering, this is exactly what happens when Fenrir Greyback secures a supply for his pack. The fact that the supply was very limited was the only thing stopping the pack from being even more dangerous.
• Face–Heel Turn: Arguably the Malfoy family, over historical time. Or, at a minimum, a shift away from Pragmatic Villainy. They made their original fortune through successful dealing with the non-magical world, while the Blood Purity movement is relatively recent.
• Flower Motifs: The Language of Flowers, which is a series of codes and meanings assigned to flowers which when combined can give a message.
  • In the first potions class, Harry notices that Draco is surprised when Snape asks a question about asphodel and wormwood. Later, Andromeda responds in a letter that it means "I regret absence".
  • During the Hogsmeade visit during the Third Year's Valentines Day, Neville gives a bouquet of flowers to Hermione. The bouquet has agrimony (thank you — in reference to helping heal his parents), pink roses (friendship), snowdrop (hope in adversity), lilac primrose (confidence), cedar flower (strength), and ripe cherries (good education).
• Flying Broomstick: Because Draco became the Slytherin seeker a year earlier, his father purchases Nimbus 2000 brooms for the whole team.
• Forced into Evil: The protagonists are trying to avoid this. A major arc is devoted to starting a foundation to provide Wolfsbane Potion to werewolves at no cost, and fighting prejudice against them in general. It is pointed out that many of them have no choice but to join Voldemort if they want even a chance of a decent life, and that the treatment of werewolves as monsters encourages them to act like it.
• The Fundamentalist: Discussed. Metzli Ocelotl says that Voldemort's followers would have been more loyal if the Death Eaters had been a religious movement rather than a political one, as religious zealots do not go astray when things start to fall apart. Voldemort replies that he tried, but British wizards as a whole are too secular.
• Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: After Voldemort's defeat in 1981, there was a lot of celebration going on in Britain. The result is that in Harry's fourth year the number of first years more than triples after having half-full classrooms for years.
• Good Is Old-Fashioned: Robert and Vera Granger, the former especially. They initially think that Harry and Hermione's magic is Hollywood Satanism (although they eventually come around), and Dan refers to his parents as traditionalists.
• Godzilla Threshold: Dumbledore and Grayson cross this when Ngeze summons a Nundu, the most dangerous magical beast in the Potterverse. One had famously never been brought down by fewer than a hundred coordinated wizards specifically hunting one, and they had far fewer than that. A Killing Curse will just cause a loss of fur, and most spells simply slide off it entirely.
• Government in Exile: As of Chapter 22 of Animagus At War, the British Ministry, student population, and people targeted by Voldemort's regime have fled to exile in France.
• Government Procedural: A lot of the first fic focus on political affairs going on wizarding Britain, especially in the Wizengamot. In fact, Harry and Sirius become political allies and seek to reform the country. Some of their policies become law, while other have to be watered down or are even rejected because entrenched interests oppose them. Much like it happens real world governments.
• The Hecate Sisters: Madame Cho, a famous seer, is brought in to give proper instruction to Professor Trelawney. And then Cho Chang begins to deliver prophesies of her own. It's specifically pointed out that together they form a sacred triple.
• Heel–Face Turn: Draco is gradually heading toward one, mostly due to Professor Lupin's History of Magic class. Thanks to the perspective he gains, he realizes that Voldemort and the Death Eaters, should they win, will ultimately be a disaster for the Wizarding World in general and his family specifically. He and his mother finally cement this in Animagus At War, refusing to side with Voldemort and fleeing the country, though he does take the time to sneer at Harry that he still won't be having dinner with him any time soon.
• Heel Realization: Dumbledore realizes how manipulative and ruthless he has become early on, too willing to sacrifice people for The Needs of the Many.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The first Lucius Malfoy cursing Queen Elizabeth led to the rise of James I, who viciously persecuted witches and wizards and Wrote the Book on witch hunting.
• Honest John's Dealership: Finn McLaggen, who sells fake protective amulets and charms to muggleborn students during Harry's second year. When confronted by Percy Weasley, Finn says he never claimed that the amulets provided protection. However Percy doesn't buy it, confiscates his merchandise and drags him off to McGonagall.
• I Choose to Stay: Hagrid refuses to go into exile after Hogwarts falls, staying with Grawp to help protect anyone who couldn't escape.
• I Have Your Wife: Voldemort effectively cripples the ICW by killing Karkaroff and installing Dolohov as the new Headmaster of Durmstrang, since most of the magical children of northern Europe attend the school, and are essentially hostages. While magical Scandinavia are already willing allies to Voldemort, Germany is left neutered since any attempt from the ICW to move against Voldemort requires their support.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Lucius Malfoy when Draco sends a letter informing him that Harry is a Parselmouth.
• Ironic Echo: Alecto sarcastically says that her brother Amycus is not a total idiot and later on Barty Crouch Jr says that the Carrow siblings are not total idiots to their face.
• Kill It with Fire:
  • Sirius says this word for word when he sees the state of Grimmauld Place's toilet room.
  • Newt Scamander had this to say about Nundus:
    Newt: Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
• Kissing Cousins: Barty Crouch Jr and his cousin, Artemis Crouch, are in a relationship together.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: The Grangers decide to teach martial arts to Harry and Hermione, something Dumbledore supports because it will increase their agility and ability to dodge curses.
• Like Brother and Sister: Harry and Hermione as in canon, but more literally since he has actually been adopted by the Grangers. Some people try to make insinuations based on the fact that they are Not Blood Siblings, which they find completely disgusting in-universe.
• Longer-Than-Life Sentence: Peter Pettigrew offers to make a Plea Bargain, until Amelia Bones points out that he's facing sixteen charges that carry life sentences.
  Amelia: Are you hoping to plead down to one life sentence?
• Loophole Abuse: Realizing that Potter and Dumbledore had a way to track people, Barty Crouch Jr. legally changed his name to David Monroe.
• Make It Look Like an Accident:
  • Hermione thinks that this was Snape's plan when he allegedly jinxed Harry's broom.
  • Later on Barty Crouch Jr and the Carrow siblings make it look like Crouch Sr. died in a robbery gone wrong, to cover up their trail.
• Malicious Slander: This gets pretty vicious. After Harry's animagus abilities are exposed at the end of the Tetrawizard Tournament, many students and especially Slytherins spread rumors that Harry was neutered. They also make baseless insinuations about him and Hermione, and that he was abused by his muggle parents when the truth is the exact opposite.
• Mayincatec: La Pantera evokes this deliberately, organizing a cult centered around her blood magic.
• More than Mind Control: The Imperius Curse cannot force someone to cast the Cruciatus Curse because they have to mean it and the Imperius cannot make the target feel that kind of hatred. The result is that even though almost all of the Death Eaters claimed they were put under the Imperius after Voldemort fell, most of them still ended up being prosecuted, since using the Cruciatus took away their deniability.
• Muggles Do It Better:
  • Professor Quirrell explains to Defence students how dangerous guns are. You can really tell Voldemort grew up during World War II.
    Quirrell: Yes, guns. Muggles have quite the fondness for guns. Mind you, when it comes to weapons of war, this only scratches the surface. Over the past century, muggles have become very, very adept at killing each other... There are things called "cannons", which are guns so large that they can blast through buildings, "machine guns", which can mow down an entire line of enemies in seconds, poison gas, which condemns the victim to a painful death as it eats away their lungs, "tanks" — rolling instruments of death with armour tougher than dragon hide that crush everything in their path, "blockbuster bombs" dropped from aeroplanes, powerful enough to destroy an entire street full of buildings, "missiles" — like fireworks, but with huge bombs attached to them, and of course, "atomic bombs", which are so powerful that they can destroy an entire city in one blast! Yes, muggles are so fond of killing each other that they invent new and better ways of doing it every year, and it is too often we who get caught in the crossfire!
  • Wizards do have a few spells that defend against guns specifically, but there is nothing they can do against heavy armaments, especially nukes. The Cold War was just as terrifying for the wizards as it was for the muggles, as a nuclear war would have wiped them out along with everything else.
  • While magic medicine is far superior in most cases, there are a few fields where muggle medicine is better, most notably with brain damage and other neural issues. The wizarding world lacks an equivalent of MRI machines, and has no way of diagnosing different types of brain damage, which is the reason why Neville's parents never recovered. While they'll never be completely the same, muggle treatment (while slow and with side-effects) allows them to regain a semblance of their former selves, rather than the empty shells they had been left as by Bellatrix's torture.
  • This trope is brought up a few times throughout the fic, and it's pointed out to be a numbers issue. Muggles outnumber wizards 5000 to 1 and end up with solutions wizards never even considered just through the law of averages and having to fix their problems without magic one way or another.
• Mystical Plague: The legacy of Ngeze's Nundu. Even after it is brought down, it still results in a massive ebola epidemic.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Amos Diggory, who is also an Unwitting Pawn of Lucius Malfoy, helps enforce the Board of Governors' plot to bait the Heir of Slytherin. As part of the bait, Amos slowly eases up the various restrictions imposed by Dumbledore, which results in Finn McLaggen finding Tom's Diary in the Room of Requirement, hidden there by a desperate Ginny.
• Noodle Incident: Augusta Longbottom once snapped a mousetrap on Gilderoy Lockhart's nose when he tried to take a photo with her.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Because of Harry's use of Flower Motifs, Snape gives two points to Gryffindor. The effect is such that it causes Parvati to Faint in Shock.
• Oddly Small Organization: The Ministry of Magic, due that the total British wizarding population numbers ten thousand. Dan Granger compares it to small town politics, and the analogy holds up remarkably well.
• At the Opera Tonight: At least once a year the Grangers go to watch a play in Diagonal Theatre in Diagon Alley, which is owned and operated by the Brocklehurst family. These visits play an important role, both in developing the wizarding culture, as well in the Character Development of Draco Malfoy.
• Open Secret: The Ministry cannot track all magic, only spells.
• Pimped-Out Dress: The green dress that used to belong to Lily Potter that Hermione wears to the Yule Ball. Also the pretty but outdated Renaissance dress that Luna Lovegood wears, also to the Yule Ball.
• Playing with Fire: The revamped ritual in Year 4 (thanks to a cauldron made of Blast-Ended Skrewts) gives Voldemort this elemental affinity — amplified, of course, by his Phoenix core wand. Whether it would work on Fiendfyre is hard to say.
• Point of Divergence:
  • In spite of changes, Harry and Hermione still find out about the three-headed dog, but mostly because all upper-years decided to investigate the third floor corridor.
  • Draco, taking advantage of school rules, becomes the Slytherin seeker a year earlier. This also results in Slytherins having Nimbus 2000 broomsticks, rather than Nimbus 2001s.
  • The cleaning crew that Sirius hired to clean up Grimmauld Place finds the Slytherin locket. This allows Dumbledore to know about Horcruxes and by the end of the first fic, most horcruxes are destroyed.
  • Barty Crouch Jr. still impersonates a teacher to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, but instead of Mad-Eye Moody, it's David Monroe.
• Politically Correct History: In-universe. Wizarding history books written after the implementation of The Masquerade in the 1600s completely whitewash or diminish the wizard-muggle relations and how certain wizarding families like the Malfoys integrated themselves into the muggle aristocracy. Draco is shocked to find out that Armond Malfoy helped William the Conqueror in his invasion of England and that discovery leads him to seek answers in the Restricted Section.
• Power at a Price:
  • All powerful magic comes at a price, according to Andromeda Tonks. This is why all forms of instantaneous travel — the floo, apparatition and portkeys — are unpleasant. The Knight Bus is even more uncomfortable.
  • The Philosopher's Stone: Only a finite number of stones, more specifically seven, can exist at the same time. Also, the Elixir of Life permanently displaces the water in the drinkers' body, meaning that the immortal will have to continuously drink the Elixir or die of dehydration.
• Power Incontinence: A bout of accidental magic is what triggers the plot.
• Power Tattoo: Kinani Ngeze is "tattooed from head to toe", with many of the pictographs being of animals, both magical and mundane. They empower his magic, such as when an Erumpant glows and he brings down an airplane with a fireball.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • While still being a Politically Incorrect Jerkass, Draco starts to develop a more pragmatic view of wizarding politics, being willing to question his father's views on how politics are done, and starts questioning pureblood supremacy. All this happens because he wants to increase the power and prestige of his family.
  • This is Lady Pantera's whole schtick, where she emphasizes reason and practicality for the most part (though she also isn't above just having fun — she is, after all, still a cat). She rightly derides Voldemort for creating more than two horcruxes. This eventually leads to her streamlining the revival ritual in Year 4, which then which gives Voldemort fire powers.
• Psychic Static: Occlumency, which can be taught to muggles, to Sirius' surprise, requires to focus on something with strong associations in one's mind to get an advantage over any intruder.
• Real Event, Fictional Cause: The assassination of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana was done the same way: his presidental plane was shot down, but instead of rockets it was fireballs conjured by the Dark Lord Kinani Ngeze. This events kickstart the East African Crisis during Harry's third year.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • The Hogwarts Board of Governors, after Lucius Malfoy's expulsion, as they prove to be more amenable to Dumbledore's reforms such as allowing Remus Lupin (a known werewolf) to teach History of Magic, along with allowing werewolves to attend Hogwarts.
  • The Ministry of Magic; during the Quidditch World cup, they work with the muggle government to set up a large, closed-off tract of publicly-owned land under the pretence of a military exercise, which allows wizards to practise magic openly without fear and ensures that Laser-Guided Amnesia was not needed. This continues after Voldemort's return, with one of the sequel's tags being "reasonable ministry" with the Ministry colaborating with Dumbledore and even getting the International Confederation of Wizards to send a policing mission to help against the Death Eaters and their international allies. It fails.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Fenrir Greyback gives an epic one to the Wizengamot, accusing wizards of being Hypocrites, no different from everyone else, and that Humans Are the Real Monsters.
• Real Men Love Jesus: Wizards, especially the American ones, have their own interpretation of the Bible. Sequoyah Proctor, a professor at the Long River School of Arcana, himself is an ordained Southern Baptist.
• Renegade Russian: Konstantin Jugashvili, the Dark Lord of Leningrad, who's been terrorizing the former Soviet territories for years.
• Ridiculous Exchange Rates: One galleon is equivalent to fifty one pounds and twenty-five cents. Or ten sickles being equivalent to thirty pounds.
• Rule of Symbolism: Enforced. A lot of wizards, including Voldemort, see symbols as Serious Business which is why he tried to kill the Potters on Halloween because that's when Black Magic is at its strongest. This trope is also the reason why something awful happens to Harry on Halloween.
• Sanity Strengthening: It is strongly implied that the damage to his soul was a reason for Voldemort's irrationality and poor decisions in his later years. When it is patched back together he gains a great deal of stability. Needless to say, this is bad for everyone.
• Scary Black Man: Kinani Ngeze, a powerful African Dark Lord covered head to toe in Power Tattoos. He was directly responsible for the Rwandan Genocide.
• Schmuck Bait: The forbidden third floor corridors. Before Christmas, most students know there's a three headed dog at Hogwarts because all the upper years decided to investigate it.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Luna Lovegood, who wears a pretty but outdated Renaissance dress for the Yule Ball, as Harry's date.
• Shout-Out: Several to Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, which the author has named as his gateway fanfic. For example, a major Original Character is named David Monroe.invoked
• Show Within a Show: There is a running subplot about the politics of putting on plays in Diagon Alley, such as the original version of "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot", and a historical epic about the Malfoy family's involvement in the Norman Invasion. While theoretically neutral and historically accurate, they are considered enormously controversial for taking a solidly pro-muggle stance.
• Sleazy Politician: The Ministry, and especially the Wizengamot whose seats are hereditary amongst wealthy pureblood families.
• The Stations of the Canon: Averted.
  • While things initially line up quite well, and some events such as the Triwizard Tournament are present in an altered form, the third year is replaced because Sirius has been exonerated. And by the fifth year, everything is completely off the rails.
  • Also, because Voldemort doesn't die at the end of first year, it makes Dumbledore, Remus and Sirius start the Horcrux hunt.
• Supernatural Sensitivity: Because of their practising of wandless magic, Harry and Hermione are able to sense spells. Remus points that this is a skill learned during a Mastery.
• There Are No Global Consequences: Subverted, unlike canon; the International Confederation of Wizards plays a significant role in the first fic and intervenes in the Second Wizarding War, because of Voldemort's alliance with Meztli Ocelotl. Also the series of one-shots, The World of The Accidental Animagus, is dedicated to showing the worldwide reactions to Voldemort's return.
• Three-Point Landing: Ngeze does one during the siege of Zaire, and he lands hard enough that the cobblestones are shattered in a ten foot radius.
• Tom the Dark Lord: Voldemort is not the only dark wizard to claim Dark Lordship. In East Africa, there's Kinani Ngeze, whose attempts at seizing power result in an international crisis (the Rwandan genocide). And then there's Meztli Ocelotl, the Dark Lady of Veracruz, who becomes Voldemort's ally.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: Voldemort and his allies manages to effectively conquer magical Britain early in Part II, forcing the heroes to flee to mainland Europe along with anyone who can join them. To maintain an air of legitimacy, Voldemort doesn't outright assume a dictatorship, instead giving his minions leadership positions in the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts, and assumes the role of Chief Warlock for himself.
• Ultimate Job Security: Professor Binns, who was the History of Magic professor while alive and he's been teaching for so long that there's no one qualified enough to replace him. Neville even makes a Lampshade Hanging about this trope.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting:
  • Animagus forms, of course, though Harry's is the result of accidental magic. His form is a cat, while Hermione is an otter; Grayson is a Tasmanian tiger (which are not extinct but hidden in the wizarding world) and Meztli Ocelotl's is a jaguar.
  • The rules for Animagus forms are also elaborated on. The animal must have been extant in the region of your birth. If an animal becomes extinct afterwards, sadly a very real possibility, it doesn't change anything.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: The Dark Lord Ngeze flees while Grayson and Dumbledore are occupied fighting his secret weapon. Naturally he returns to trouble the world further.
• Villain Team-Up: By the time of Part II, Voldemort and La Pantera have joined with Kinani Ngeze and Konstantin Jugashvili, creating one of the most powerful Dark alliances since Grindewald.
• War Is Hell: When entering the Great Hall for the first time, Harry and Hermione notice that a third of the seats are empty. According to Andi, the birth rate in wizarding Britain fell by half by 1979 and Harry's class is the smallest in centuries.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Josiah Monroe, a wizarding author in the early 19th century, opposed the very narrow definition of Being accepted by the Ministry... except for trolls, whom he declared could be properly called "subhuman".
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: La Pantera cannot believe the amount of damage Voldemort has done to his own soul by making seven horcruxes, and lays into him for reckless stupidity.
• A Wizard Did It: When Hermione, during a visit to a pensieve memory, asks how they can see what's behind the source of the memory, Dumbledore says it's magic. After she glares viciously, he explains that the pensieve can tap into anything the person saw at any point in the memory and reconstruct from that.
• Wizard Duel: At the end of the East African War, there's a duel between the Dark Lord Ngeze against Dumbledore and Grayson. They have a rematch at the Siege of Hogwarts. Everyone involved goes all out, but neither duel ends conclusively.
• Wizarding School: Unlike canon, there are over 50 wizarding schools worldwide.
  • The Grangers visit Beauxbatons in the summer after first year, as the parents look for potential and safer alternatives to Hogwarts. There's also Durmstrang, which is taken over by Death Eaters during Hogwarts' sixth year.
  • After the fall of the British Ministry of Magic, the majority of Hogwarts' students go to Beauxbatons.
• Zerg Rush: An intellectual version is brought up a few times. Wizards have an enormous problem producing quality teachers and textbooks simply because they have a small population and thus a limited talent pool. In contrast, Muggles have an enormous weight of numbers on their side when it comes to research, talent, and technology.

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