Harry Potter And The Methods Of Rationality

In this universe, getting rid of all the Horcruxi isn't going to be at all easy. Seeing as how one of them is the Pioneer Plaque, after all...

^Politely ask the whole magical world to Summon the Pioneer Probe, or Phoenix-travel to it.

Regards Horcrux size, I thought of a counterexample to the hand-held rule of thumb: Harry Potter. Yes, I know he technically isn't a Horcrux in the sense of deliberately made Soul Jar, but he does anchor a soul fragment, so we know it isn't a limitation of the soul-magic itself. As I mentioned a while ago, if size isn't a limitation, just Horcrux the Earth.

Remember, Harry Potter was a baby at the time he was made a Horcrux. He actually wouldn't have failed the size test.

... Although he does lead to interesting questions regarding dispersal of Horcruxes... it occurs to me that Harry Potter did not break as a Horcrux the next time he urinated. Which means that, to some extent, Horcruxes are allowed to disperse.

edited 4th Oct '12 10:48:16 AM by Exetera

To quite a major extent, considering that by the time the series began, pretty much everything that had been part of Harry's body when he was a baby had already been replaced. Human bodies are a lot like ships of Theseus that way.

Maybe it was binded it Harry's soul, not his body.

I'm pretty sure that A) the physical effect of the horcrux was confined somewhat to the area of his scar, and B) it was to a significant extent bound to his soul rather than his body anyway. After all, it managed to give him Parseltongue, so....

Or, perhaps, it operates under the same discrete object rules as Methods Transfiguration. Harry may be entirely replaced, but he's still the same "object" from a naive point of view and has not been destroyed as an object.

Ehhh... The scar tissue was surely replaced as well. Also, they didn't AK his scar in the 7th book, they AK'd all of him. I'd also note that "killing" and "soul-destruction" surely count as destruction states for living things...

edited 4th Oct '12 3:05:15 PM by Exetera

OK, there are several things about this that didn't bother me until much further in, since they weren't in the earlier chapters.

A 6th grader making wild leaps forward in magical theory via consistent experimentation? Cool, though slightly implausible. Something I'm willing to forgive given the rest of the writing quality. Behavior from other adults in the story, such as Dumbledore, Snape, and Mc Gonigal, also willing to grant some leeway as their reactions towards Harry are obviously going to be different, though I still think Dumbledore is plain crazy in MOR rather than crazy-like-a-fox in canon.

Baddass!Quirrell has me going "Where TF did this come from?" Because canonically, nothing in the wizarding world should have changed prior to Harry receiving his Hogwarts acceptance letter (and damn little after that). But Quirrell was supposed to have Voldemort stuck on the back of his head well before the school year started, and he was a cowardly little piss-ant in public even with it. Suddenly throwing out the curriculum in a blatant, obvious fashion and making statements*

Wormtail not really being the Weasley rat also threw me, because there 1) is no reason for anyone to suspect that Wormtail was that particular rat, and 2) no real justification for Bill having a psychotic break*

"A 6th grader making wild leaps forward in magical theory via consistent experimentation? Cool, though slightly implausible"

We have a trope somewhere on this website that states every writer's main character in their first book is either Jesus or Satan. In this case we have both.

As far as things changing there have been a ton of changes to canon from even before voldermort chose that name.

edited 4th Oct '12 3:53:43 PM by thatguythere47

Eliezer has stated that Mo R isn't strictly a single-point-of-departure fic, but insofar as the changes do follow from a particular point of departure, that point is further back than Petunia marrying someone other than Vernon. You'll see more of this later.

Harry does have elements of both, but the saying is somewhat off in that Mo R isn't Eliezer's first book.

edited 4th Oct '12 4:36:54 PM by Desertopa

OK, it might not be a single-point fic, but that is still coming from so far out of left field that it's hampering my enjoyment of the story. Mind you, the whole Sunshine-Dragon-Chaos war was amusing, as is his teaching method, but it's just not compatible enough to the HP universe to rate my enthusiasm.

I don't see how Harry Potter suddenly having more than two brain cells to rub together could possibly be less jarring than Voldemort being even half as competent as you'd think he should have to be given his success rate. I mean, Voldemort was at least once kinda smart in canon; Harry Potter was always stupid.

It's also worth noting that this would have been a really short fic without rewriting Quirrell - see the first Omakes for details.

edited 4th Oct '12 5:28:13 PM by Exetera

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

(I'm not going to say any more than that. Just:)

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

(That's been building for a while and I had to get it off my chest.)

... perhaps he was dictating?

Paraphrased, Methods Ch. 22:

Eliezer, if you're still around, I have a question which might be useful for a fan thing I am trying to make... How does the Azkaban aurors' area connect to the spirals?

Semi-related: Unless the Wizarding world has an insanely high crime rate or Azkaban accepts international prisoners, Azkaban is ridiculously oversized and underpopulated.

edited 4th Oct '12 6:47:55 PM by Exetera

Considering who Quirrell is, the story would be completely borked if he didn't get a major upgrade. Methods! Harry versus Original!Voldemort could make a decent conflict, but only for a flat out comedy.

Methods!Harry vs. original!Voldemort would be a farce. Harry would end up completely disgusted that someone so stupid managed to seriously threaten the wizarding world, leading to...something. Maybe. But it wouldn't be comedic.

I suppose you could play it that way. But comedies involving Voldemort are always going to be very dark by their nature, due to, you know, the whole mass murder thing.

Death of the Author: The story doesn't specify the connection from the living quarters to the spirals, so you're free to make something up.

Now personally, I had in mind that the top level of the building had three open connected corridors in a triangle, with stairs leading down from each corner into the start of each of three spirals. The Aurors' quarters are at one point on the triangle, I forget which I had in mind, the visitor entrance is at the same point. But by Death of the Author, you're welcome to ignore that if it doesn't work.

Azkaban is mostly empty - it has many different levels corresponding to different intensities of hell; it's not entirely full of victims, or even close. A majority of doors have no person behind them - though some others have two, or more.

Ahhh, Eliezer, how much I yearn for your (authorial) touch...

On the Pioneer Plaque Horcrux issue? Exactly how are you going to breathe in deep space if you Phoenix travel to it?

Plus, teleporting an object requires you to know where that object is, so even if they wanted to do that and send the thing into the sun, it would take them a pretty long time to do.

As they say in Armageddon, it's a big assed sky.

On the Harry not being as thick as pig shit issue, like he is in canon.(I mean, come on, look at what Rowling makes him DO - how else would you explain it? Okay, he has had most of his brains battered out of his skull by the obligatory EVUL fosterparents and stuff but the point still remains.) Well, this Harry makes more sense to me. Seeing as how in this world, his PARENTS (emphasis emphatically mine) love the little sod unconditionally. They aren't perfect, but boy, do they make mine look sane.

edited 5th Oct '12 12:31:36 AM by TamH70

@Blue Ninja 0: If Harry gets a boost, his enemies must as well. That's simply good storytelling. As for why Quirrell is the one to benefit from the arrangement, rest assured that he is not the only one; Voldy himself is also much sharper.

One of my favourite WM Gs is that MoR actually is point of departure fic. The point of departure is the Words of Power and Madness being lost. The words? Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak.

Anyway, EY specifies Methods is Alternate Universe, and that the First Law of Fanfiction dictates that Quirrel has to be badass or the story doesn't work. Actually, would anybody be willing to write a short fic pitting Methods!Harry vs. Canon!Voldemort?

Regards Pioneer Plaque: Transfigure a space suit, or just an airtight suit with an Air-Freshening Charm.

It's not just the lack of air that kills you in space. It is bloody cold out there as well. Remember, these are people that do not believe that Muggles landed on the Moon, or have even heard of the possibility. Remember how shocked Draco was when Harry showed him the picture (and Mister Yudkowsky,if you read this, will you possibly tell us what book that picture was in? I want to buy a copy.) Snape probably is an exception, but I doubt if Mc Gonagall knows, or Dumbledore.

How in short would they know what a space suit was? And would Harry tell them?

And all this presupposes they actually know where the damned thing is. Perhaps in the Methods!verse, the flight path of the Pioneer Probe isn't the same as in our world's timeline.

Or for an even shorter story, Methods!Quirrell versus Canon!Harry. Curbstompius Battleius or what?

edited 5th Oct '12 4:05:12 AM by TamH70

You won't feel cold in a vacuum, since there's no way for you to lose heat. If you touch a space rock, on the other hand, you'll freeze.

Actually, in a vacuum you would lose heat from radiating it away; you wouldn't freeze instantly but it'd be pretty fast, since there's almost nothing to radiate heat back to you. If you're unlucky enough to be close to a star, you'd probably be vapourised on one side and frozen solid on the other. But as a magic space suit:

Transfigure a thick stone suit in two pieces with a diamond visor, apply wards for the heat problem, Air-Freshening and Flowing Stone enchantment, step inside with Fawkes, seal suit (with airtight gap for wand), Phoenix to Pioneer Probe, Fiendfyre, return. Or just tell Fawkes to go and fetch the Probe and Fiendfyre it back on Earth.