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Heh, you are talking to a man who got a paperback version of the Marquis De Sade's Philosophy in the Boudoir out of his local library when he wasn't yet sixteen years old, and whose favourite childhood books were by Sven Hassel and Charles Whiting, (writing as Leo Kessler). I would love to know what watchlist I am on.
Or indeed how many? (Hiya Echelon operators! Having a nice spot of tea whilst monitoring one's web traffic are we? Darjeeling or Earl Grey?)
edit
I think I figured out who Rational!Harry most reminds me of.
Leo Szilard. A very young, probably pre-pubescent and still nascent Leo Szilard, but the parallels are unmistakable if you just look at Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres hard enough.
edited 10th Apr '12 12:07:36 PM by TamH70
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." Yogi Berra.
Yup. Like many of the Wizards of Armageddon, he was a deeply troubled man. But I do not think to his dying day that he considered the Manhattan Project and its inevitable results as being anything other than a tragic necessity.
Yet more folks know about Robert J. Oppenheimer than Leo Szilard. Odd.
As to the point of the Four Houses, well, best I can come up with is that they respect the memory of the Four Founders of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Probably more than they should do.
Yet when the children leave school, there are in de facto only two. As House Ravenclaw tend to side with House Slytherin and House Hufflepuff tend to side with House Gryffindor thus setting up two Super Houses. Of course, that is speculation based on information from the fic and the canon!Potterverse.
edited 10th Apr '12 4:49:57 PM by TamH70
As the Slytherin-Ravenclaw secret staircase illustrates, there are already strong ties between the Houses.
Is that canon? It has been a while since I read the books.
I think that was just a throwaway. Perhaps the girl restriction is some random, irrelevant restriction. There are probably dozens, if not hundreds of "secret" passageways like that; I wouldn't be surprised if there was a direct passageway between the commonrooms of Slytherin and Gryffindor.
New chapter up, with one hell of an implied prophecy twist.
Welp, too late tonight to read it. Damn my need for sleep and stuff.
Quirrell can inflict significant physiological trauma through humming. That is somehow more impressive to me than his devious plotting or implied magical abilities. I just got such a pleasant Douglas Adams vibe from that whole scene.
I'm starting to wonder if Magical Britain is a backwater relative to OTHER magical nations.
edited 10th Apr '12 7:49:43 PM by AlexRose
Do we even have a trope for Quirrell's Opt Out/Refusal of the Call combo?
Sage of Stories
Know When to Fold 'Em or It Sucks to Be the Chosen One or Stratagem 36.
What's more interesting is the revelations about Quirrel's backstory. I don't believe any of it of course, but I can see why it's compelling.
Hell, I feel like Mad-Eye now, I expect that all this was set up in 1970 when that guy disappeared by Voldemort, or that Voldemort was set up by this guy in 1970, or something. Damn it.
edited 10th Apr '12 8:07:41 PM by Shinzen
The question now is who does Amelia Bones think Quirrel is? So far there haven't been any significant original characters, so it seems pretty safe to assume that it's someone from the books. But who? I'm wracking my brains but I can't think of anyone for whom the dates and facts mentioned fit at all. Anyone else have an idea?
Sage of Stories
This person would be oldish. 70-80s as they were born in 1926.
Has Rufus Scrimgeour been mentioned in here yet?
2939 nomuru2d10th Apr 2012 08:24:16 PM from Port Saint Lucie, FL
, Relationship Status: Longing for Dulcinea
Gamer-turning-maker
Scrimgoeur was interrogating him a few chapters ago.
Sage of Stories
Hmm
What about a more badass version of Slughorn?
Interesting tidbit:
Merope Gaunt was abandoned by Riddle Sr. in 1926, and died giving birth that year.
Merope Gaunt was abandoned by Riddle Sr. in 1926, and died giving birth that year.
The question now is who does Amelia Bones think Quirrel is? So far there haven't been any significant original characters, so it seems pretty safe to assume that it's someone from the books. But who? I'm wracking my brains but I can't think of anyone for whom the dates and facts mentioned fit at all. Anyone else have an idea?
Tom Marvolo Riddle was born to the noble house of Gaunt in 1926, sorted into Slytherin, and had his family killed by Voldemort.
Yes, Amelia Bones is REASSURED by the fact that Quirrel is merely a disguise of TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE.
You may commence laughing now.
So it's pretty obvious Voldemort was playing both sides of the fence in the last war.
I posted a more extensive comment on the same topic in the reviews section on fanfiction.net
e;f,b
edited 10th Apr '12 8:40:09 PM by MagneticFieldDensity
Sage of Stories
It can't be that simple. Hasn't Dumbledore called Voldemort Riddle here?
No?
He doesn't know?
... It makes sense. Riddle would even be a Noble House, since it's an acknowledged direct line from Slytherin. And if Riddle was smarter than canon, he'd know it's much better to play the hero than to obviously kill your parents...
Huh.
Slughorn's an interesting thought, as one of the few older characters and one of the few good Slytherins that we know about, but would have to be pretty radically different in age, life story, temperament etc.
Could Amelia Bones somehow be unaware that Tom Riddle and Voldemort are the same person? The dates given for this person's life match up pretty exactly with Voldemort's life: born 1926, attends Hogwarts as a Slytherin until 1945, disappeared for a long time, and eventually returned to Britain for the Wizarding War. It seems like too much to be a coincidence. Perhaps Voldemort was playing the long game, and setting 'Tom Riddle' (Tom Gaunt?) up to be the one who defeated 'Voldemort' and use that to seize power? The main problem here is references to his family, which would require a rewrite of a lot of Tom's canon history to work out. Plus, Bones seems to be pretty on top of things, and given that Dumbledore knows about the Riddle-Voldemort connection, I can't imagine why he wouldn't tell her.
It's quite the puzzle.
Whoops, looks like I got scooped mid-typing. I am remembering correctly that Dumbledore identified Voldemort as Riddle right? There have been retroactive edits in the past, we'll have to check if that line is still there.
Dumbledore knowing doesn't totally destroy this theory, but it certainly adds some difficulty.
Sage of Stories
It could be another of those "I tried to tell them, but they're all Wrong Genre Savvy or Selectively Oblivious."" things.
Shadowed Philosopher
It is plausible that Dumbledore, and by extension everyone else, simply never knew that Voldemort was Tom Riddle here. After all, there wasn't necessarily much physical connection, with all the Dark rituals and all making him look like a humanoid snake, and I'd easily believe that smart!Voldemort would be smart enough to 1. leave himself an out rather than permanently mutilating himself and marking himself irrevocably as evil, and 2. exploit people's expectations by putting on some temporary disguise that mimics said permanent mutilation.
Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)
I didn't foresee this being a plausible interpretation, and have just now edited the birthdate to 1927 to avoid further confusion. It was intended as a bit of an, "Oh no, is she about to identify Voldemort?" moment, to be contradicted soon after by the Gaunts not exactly being on the Wizengamot or having a patroness grandmother. But as it's plausible-to-the-reader that the Gaunts are different in this fic, I feel like I need to do something to cut down plausible misunderstandings I didn't foresee. (I've also edited Ch. 53, fyi.)
edited 10th Apr '12 9:11:27 PM by EliezerYudkowsky
As much as I like this speculation:
"Because it says 'Tom Riddle' on the easily moved headstone," Snape said dryly. "And I have just won ten Sickles from the Headmaster, who bet you would think of that before the fifth bottle. So much for constant vigilance. (Chapter 63)"
Voldemort's paternal heritage is known at least within Dumbledore's group.
With that said Mr. Y, I do hope you don't alter too many canon constants, or at least are very careful with it. Stuff like Alberoth is fine, but (say) making Slughorn into some complete badass adventurer just opens up a huge can of speculation for other characters. It makes reasonable speculation considerably more difficult when we have to account for possible variables like that.
With that said Mr. Y, I do hope you don't alter too many canon constants, or at least are very careful with it. Stuff like Alberoth is fine, but (say) making Slughorn into some complete badass adventurer just opens up a huge can of speculation for other characters. It makes reasonable speculation considerably more difficult when we have to account for possible variables like that.
edited 10th Apr '12 9:19:05 PM by AlexRose
For the most part Mo R has a single point of departure, and if the solution to a problem depends on an alteration to canon, that alteration will most certainly have been telegraphed/foreshadowed/visible beforehand somehow. You were told well beforehand that Aberforth was dead, etc.
edited 10th Apr '12 9:24:50 PM by EliezerYudkowsky
