History Fanfic / TwoHouseholds

''Two Households'' is a ''Literature/HarryPotter'' ForWantOfANail fanfiction series written by mad_martha. It can found [[http://archiveofourown.org/series/8496 here.]] This series differs from the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' canon in two ways. Firstly, Harry is Sorted into Slytherin instead of Gryffindor. Secondly, Peter Pettigrew is captured by Sirius when the latter breaks into the Gryffindor dormitories. As such, Wormtail does not escape and Sirius is eventually exonerated.

Two Households is a ''Literature/HarryPotter'' ForWantOfANail fanfiction series written by mad_martha. It can found [[http://archiveofourown.org/series/8496 here.]] This series differs from the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' canon in two ways. Firstly, Harry is Sorted into Slytherin instead of Gryffindor. Secondly, Peter Pettigrew is captured by Sirius when the latter breaks into the Gryffindor dormitories. As such, Wormtail does not escape and Sirius is eventually exonerated.

* InterruptedBath: Susannah Black, the ghost of a teenage girl that haunts the Black mansion, has the unfortunate tendency to spy on Harry whenever he's undressing, and at one point, catches him in the bath while he's [[ADateWithRosiePalms polishing his broom.]]

* IllBoy: James Potter turns out to have been this as a young child. He was also the only surviving child of his father Henry Sr, whom all died in stillbirth. Henry himself was the only surviving child of six, who all died from an unspecified wasting sickness, implied to be the result of the inbreeding common among the pureblood families. Harry was born healthy because of the fresh blood provided by his mother. [[spoiler: Harry ends up becoming this after Voldemorts death, as the final battle takes an enormous toll on him and almost kills him. After nearly a month in a coma, Harry eventually recovers, but is left with lingering health issues for the rest of his life]]

* IdiotBall: Draco Malfoy gets hit with this hard in the seventh fic, when he crafts a trap spell set up with a static Sectumsempra, considering he would be the main suspect after his attempted murder of Ron. Taken UpToEleven when Harry decides not to report him

** Taken UpToEleven with the fact that [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Professor Binns]] was one of the professors who supported segregation

* RealityEnsues: The pureblood ideology of the First Families have come back to bite them in the ass in a major way, as many branches are not giving birth to healthy children. In the Potter line, James was something of a miracle as all his older siblings had died within a few years, and his own son being born healthy was mostly due to Lily's muggle origin. As anyone with a passing understanding of biology could tell you, a genetic pool needs as much fresh material as possible, not delusional fantasies about supremacy.

* BadassGrandpa: Petaurius Pettifer is still a great duelist despite being the same age as Harry's grandfather

!Tropes found in this series include:

* CreepyCathedral: The Holy Bones church sponsored by the Black family. It's decorated with human bones on the inside, including the bones of children. Somewhat justified since, like a few Muggle churches, the bones are simply relics rescued from cemetaries and catacombs threatened by development, and there is nothing sinister about the origin of the remains.

--> '''Blaise''': (talking about the ''Sunday Prophet'') Do you want the cartoons section?
--> '''Harry''': No thanks. I like my humour to be funny.

* AltumVidetur: Members of the Wizard Orthodox Church are called Omnis Arcanum Christians, which means All Secret Christians

** Discussed regarding the statue of [[GreekMythology Pan]] having sex with a goat in that[[DoubleStandard it's okay]] because Pan is a god

** Many purebloods hold Muggleborn or mix-blooded wizards in disdain. That's not even getting into how they feel about Muggles...

* DearNegativeReader: Due to vitrol relating to the religious themes, the author adds a header on the first page of ''Mortal Flesh'' that is DontLikeDontRead

** Once Sirius takes his place as the ''paterfamilias'' of the House of Black, he is required to produce an heir. Since he's in a committed relationship with Remus, he finds himself in a difficult situation

* MoralGuardians: Hogwarts' Board of Governors used to be composed of these

* PerversePuppet: Sirius's father, Mercurius Black, was a powerful Aniamtor given to experimentation. He created many horrifying automatons while alive and set them around Black Manor to spy on his kids. Although these contraptions didn't have minds of their own, they were programmed by Mercurius to attack people (including his own sons).

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Adverted. The Board of Governors was composed of MoralGuardians who did not want their daughters to be around [[UnusualEuphemism lower class]] boys and thus created a dress code that included corsets and bloomers and there was even an attempt to have segregated Houses but [[MalevolentArchitecture Hogwarts]] did not cooperate. When Dumbledore became headmaster, the dress code ended

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Many characters hold homophobic and/or elitist views that would not fly in modern Muggle society

* StrangeBedFellows: The opposition to Voldemort means that this is how the Order of the Phoenix works. It's membership includes Christians and pagan wizards, as well haughty purebloods, talented muggleborns, criminals and Aurors. Not the sort of people that would normally work together

* NoSocialSkills: Spending his formative years with the Dursleys did a number on Harry's social skills. His years of isolation at Hogwarts didn't help either. Harry has a lot of trouble making meaningful interpersonal relationships with others. He tends to rebuff any friendly overtures with pointed sarcasm, alienating potential allies and isolating himself.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Any attempts at changing the status quo in the Wizengamot is shot down by the elitist purebloods in attendance (read: basically all of them).

* HatesEveryoneEqually: Harry views the majority of humanity with suspicion and mistrust, with very few exceptions. He expects just about everyone to have an ulterior motive and for every favor to come with a hidden string. Blaise Zabini even half-jokingly calls Harry a misanthrope.

* HeirClubForMen: By Wizarding law, male heirs take precedence over any female heirs in matters of inheritance. While women ''can'' inherit if no other suitable male candidates can be found, they will always be the last resort.
** Once Sirius takes his place as the ''paterfamilias'' of the House of Black, he is required to produce an heir. Since he's in a committed relationship with Remus, he finds himself in a difficult situation.

* GoodIsOldFashionable: Pettifier

* TheFace: Harry becomes this for Slytherin after usurping Malfoy's position as 'king'. [[TheLancer Zabini]] reminds Harry that the latter must make himself available and visible to his House if he wants to stay in power. He is also the go-to guy for any problems with his Housemates.
* FantasticRacism: The wizarding world is not kind to werewolves. They are banned from many jobs, forcing them to find whatever work they can (legal or not). They are not allowed to live among Muggles (preventing them from getting a more mundane job) and cannot inherit anything in the event that a family member dies.

* FlatEarthAtheist: Voldemort is mentioned as being an atheist, despite, as Harry points out, the very concept of some magic requires incantations that call on demons, angels and other higher beings. After some thinking, Harry concludes that it's more likely that Voldemort is a HollywoodAtheist who thinks that if God is real, then he/she doesn't care one way or another about humans, which is more or less Harry's own position, though less founded on psychosis and narcissism.
* ForWantOfANail: Harry shook Draco Malfoy's hand on the Hogwarts Express, causing Ron to storm off in a huff. Because of this, Harry was disinclined to share a House with Ron, resulting in the Sorting Hat placing him in Slytherin.
** Also, Peter Pettigrew was captured and tried by the Ministry of Magic. This allowed Sirius to be exonerated and return to his life with Remus Lupin. He later adopts Harry, taking custody of his godson from the Dursleys.

* HappynessInSlavery: As canon, house elves although a few wizarding families are greatly abusive

** Taken UpToEleven with the fact that [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Professor Binns]] was one of the
professors who supported segregation

* TookALevelInJerkass: Harry is much less friendly and compassionate in Two Households. He's very prickly and sarcastic, as well as self-serving and reserved. For much of the series, Ron is his only friend. Harry tends to snap at people, alienating them and preventing them from getting closer.
** Fred and George Weasley are very hostile towards Harry. They are prejudiced against Slytherins and assume that Harry is a typical snobby Slytherin (not that Harry's cantankerous attitude helps). Ginny Weasley is influenced by the twins's opinion of Harry, turning her crush on Harry into intense resentment.

* BestialityIsDepraved: One of the secret rooms in the Black mansion turns out to be a Secret Museum (a collection of obscene artwork and literature), which ranges from titillating to shocking and/or disgusting. One item in the museum is a statue of the god Pan having congress with a goat.
** The Black's bath house has a large Roman mural on the wall depicting a huge orgy involving men, women and animals. Being a magic artwork, it's actually supposed to MOVE, but Remus put a spell on it with the motivation that just the imagery was perverse enough without adding movement to it. Yeah, the Black family before Sirius came along weren't just evil, they were gross too.

* HappilyAdopted: Harry, eventually. At first, he's quite happy to be away from the Dursleys. However, he frequently finds himself at odds with Sirius, who has a bad habit of sticking his foot in his mouth around his godson. Eventually, Sirius learns not to treat Harry like James's replacement and Harry loosens up around his godfather.
** On the other hand, he has always gotten along with Remus. It helps that Remus got to know Harry as a professor before adopting him.

* TheLancer: Blaise Zabini acts as Harry's number two in their seventh year. Zabini supports Harry in his bid for Slytherin 'kingship', often providing him with advice.

* MoralityPet: Ron is the only person that Harry is unequivocally nice to.

* PetTheDog: Although he's rude to pretty much everyone, Harry never fails to show kindness to House Elves. He always makes sure to thank them for their help and show his appreciation.

* RealityEnsues: The pureblood ideology of the First Families have come back to bite them in the ass in a major way, as many branches are not giving birth to healthy children. In the Potter line, James was something of a miracle as all his older siblings had died within a few years, and his own son being born healthy was mostly due to Lily's muggle origin. As anyone with a passing understanding of biology could tell you, a genetic pool needs as much fresh material as possible, not delusional fantasies about supremacy.