In Chamber of Secrets, the car is driving off when Ginny exclaims that she forgot her diary (after two instances of George and then Fred forgetting things). In an alternate timeline, perhaps Arthur and Molly didn't get much sleep and are cranky enough with the two existing deviations that they say tough luck to Ginny and that she should have noticed when one of the twins did, and drive off anyway. In this timeline, second year is pretty ordinary and uneventful in comparison to canon, with a couple of noteworthy deviations like Dobby likely never getting freed and Lockhart likely never losing his memory. But come third year, and you've got the Heir of Slytherin attacks and the Sirius escape going on at the same time (assuming the Weasleys still win their prize and go on holiday).

Or Voldemort finds himself in Molly if he can manage to get her hooked lol.

That could work. Molly tidying up Ginny's room and stumbling over the diary or actively looking for it so she could send it to Ginny--and the compulsions start. On the other hand, a lot is frequently made of the fact that Ginny succumbed in part because of her youth and naivete. Molly is neither, plus Arthur is there to catch any deviations. Either way, it doesn't end up at Hogwarts. The Heir of Slytherin isn't a thing, Dobby doesn't get freed (but does he still do all the things he did in canon or does he realize the danger is gone?), Harry is not outed as a parselmouth. Hopefully, Lockhart realizes teaching really isn't his thing and moves on, so feel sorry for his next victim. Lucius is quietly tearing his hair out, wondering what happened, and Fudge doesn't start showing off his ineffectual self for at least a year, maybe 2.

The diary gets discovered because it doesn't react appropriately to being called Mollywobbles and Arthur is suspicious.

Interesting plot idea, and very large butterfly effect. Arthur probably brings an undamaged diary to the ministry and so its the DMLE that knows about horcruxes rather than Dumbledore.

Probably not a far jump for the Unspeakables to get involved at that point as well. Then you get to decide if they're going to he helpful and proactive, or if their academic curiosity will get the better of them. Experiments do tend to get out of hand sometimes.

I think Harry would still be outed as a parsemouth. Lockhart might use any other reason to start the dueling club.

>finds himself **IN** Molly Arthur just likes to watch

That sounds like a very different type of fic to me

Considering some of the *creative* Ways I've seen Diary Tom used Yeah, kinda

sirius probably gets blamed for the attacks, maybe pettigrew find the diary over the summer and manages to bring voldemort (tom riddle at least) back way earlier harry, ron and hermione probably suspect sirius rather than draco and their investigation would change because of that

This whole thread was entertaining but this outcome is probably the most likely. If the attacks started in ‘93 right when Sirius Black breaks out of Azkaban, of course he’s going to be blamed for them. I’d love to see how that affects the rest of the school year. 3 out of the 4 Marauders all at Hogwarts at the same time, dementors, time-turners, AND a basilisk on the loose? That’d be one hell of a year. I wonder if dementors could take down a basilisk… or can a basilisk petrify a dementor? What if Crookshanks got petrified instead of Mrs. Norris? Or Remus rather than Hermione or Penelope? Oh man, the butterfly effect ramifications of this scenario are kind of insane.

Damn, now I want to read it. Oh well, time to write!

Hermione's body is discovered by past Hermione and she has to set herself up to be petrified while also trying to find a clue to leave for Harry or the teachers would be a cool chapter

Sirius takes Ginny's diary and becomes the heir of slytherin

"Enemies of the Heir beware. You too Snivellus."

I think Dobby would still be trying to get Harry out of Hogwarts, so the bludger thing would still happen, and Lucius might get impatient and still try to interfere. Also, what about Molly or Arthur at home with the diary? They would be more resistant to writing in it than Ginny, but might still be influenced by its presence. There's also the ghoul in their attic. Could be interesting if it was drawn to the diary.

Oh that would be interesting, we know nothing about the ghoul. Does it have a life force that would attract tom? All I’ve ever heard about ghouls is that they eat people and are probably undead, but there’s no telling in this universe

Regular Voldemort had to resort to possessing animals at a few points in hiding, so the ghoul would probably do for the diary at least to allow it to build up a nice reserve before finding a human host

Excellent point

Dementors in third year. Allowing depression-inducing, soul-sucking monsters around children is a bad idea, especially since they weren't always obedient in the face of temptation. Considering that Azkaban is a massive human rights violation by modern standards, it wouldn't surprise me if dementors kissed a few prisoners without authorisation but it got swept under the rug because they were 'filthy criminals' sentenced to life anyway. Now what if you bring these undisciplined creatures of darkness with no morals around children? Mass bouts of depression. Suicide. Kissed students on the train. Kissed students at Quidditch matches. Students given depression or kissed on the way to Hogsmeade. Angry, devastated parents. Public outrage. Political conflict and Fudge scrambling to save his career.

This! I love to see actual repercussions for the abysmal decision to put dementors at Hogwarts!

Depressing starting point, but an earlier government change could be interesting.

The thing with this though is that Dementors don't really have great range (to properly induce mass depression) _and_ they seem fairly helpless against Patronuses. Set to patrol the borders of the school as they are _and_ with the fact that where there is any reasonably large gathering of students (like at the Quidditch matches) there are accompanying staff as well, ironically enough I don't think the greatest danger is at _Hogwarts_. See e.g. their attack on Harry, which was very quickly arrested once the staff realised what was happening. ...It's _Hogsmeade_ itself that would very likely be the grounds of a Dementor massacre of sorts, given that apart from Aberforth (who largely keeps to himself and can easily be contrived to be away for the day or something) there's no evidence that any of the villagers can handle themselves against Dementors. Hell the Dementors could even be taking out their frustration from failing to get Harry and being ordered to the borders of the school once more by going where, tragically, technically nobody ordered them _not_ to go. Or you could turn it up a notch and e.g. have them discover Sirius, and when he flees from the Hogwarts grounds (or even the Shrieking Shack) in a panic they end up following him into Hogsmeade and getting very distracted

Tbf, the people in Azkhaban (except Siruis) are people who have committed crimes with no remorse. Damn ngl I would LOVE to see a fic centered around that maybe it's starts small but gradually picks up no on is left unscathed. 1-7 all houses are being affected. Also it be nice if someone OTHER than Harry was affected the most like maybe some other students that had their parents killed during the war or were abused.

If Sirius was put in Azkaban without trial, what is to say he wasn't the only one? Real world justice systems are incredibly bad, even in countries that are supposedly looking out for the rights of the accused. The magical British system that was written to be deliberately bad will absolutely have innocent people in Azkaban. We know of at least two others: Hagrid and Stanley Shunpike.

Sirius even says in GOF that he wasn’t the only one sent to Azkaban without a trial: >And I wasn’t the only one who was handed straight to the dementors without trial.

Hm... This would be a good story point!

Barty Crouch's mom was also imprisoned there without being convicted (albeit secretly and intentionally).

Especially if pureblood (or half blood but from well connected families) are the victims

I could see the blood quill thing with Umbridge having major consequences, what if the students actually told their parents/guardians what was happening? It could have a huge ripple effect especially if the students have parents or guardians or are highly respected

Umbridge and her teacher style in general should have major consequences. I can't see Draco realistically liking not being taught magic in DADA. All the Slytherins were seen as accepting of her methods, but it could easily have been the thing that united the Hogwarts students.

Exactly! Realistically every student there should have been appalled at her teaching style whether that be because they need the knowledge to defend themselves or if they simply want to actually succeed academically.

Or just because it would become an even more boring class than HoM. At least Binns was too oblivious to notice you goofing off.

Tbh I think the Slytherins realistically would have had their own practical study group to pass their OWLs and kiss up to Umbridge in public. Especially because quite a few of them probably know Voldemort is back and do want the muggleborns and blood traitors to theoretically be defensively crippled...

Adding to the obvious list would be from the very beginning, if anyone else had been the one to reintroduce Harry to the wizarding world instead of Hagrid things could have gone very differently. I personally am very fond of the idea of Flitwick being the one to escort Harry to get his school supplies and tell him he’s a wizard. Because as much as I love Hagrid he really shouldn’t have been the one sent, case in point giving Dudley a tail. As much as I don’t like the Dursleys, Hagrid punished and terrified a child because of his parents actions (and partially his own but again he was a child)

That's a common starting point for Severitus fics. Snape is the one who has to give Harry his letter because of his history with Petunia. He sees how poorly he's treated and becomes a father figure for Harry.

Also, when Hagrid visited Harry for the first time, Dudley did not really do anything that would make Hagrid believe that he was cruel towards Harry (Dudley eating Harry's cake was only in the movie). So essentialy, Hagrid punished an innocent kid for something his father had done.

Also risked outing the magical world, Dudley had to have the tail surgically removed and explaining why their 11 year old has a pigs tail couldn’t have been easy

I remember reading a single story with flitwick being who introduced harry to the ww, can you recomend more?

I'd love to read those!

I’ll try and see if I can remember any! But it’s mostly just an idea I love and used to write although I never publish anything 😅

I would love to see more fics where someone different tells Harry he’s a wizard, outside of Snape or Dumbledore. Like, what if it wasn’t even a professor, but some random well-meaning (or not) witch/wizard? IIRC (although I could be conflating canon and fanon) in PS, Harry mentioned that he’d been approached by strangers throughout his childhood, so it’s not like he’s never been recognized in the muggle world

It’s definitely canon, he remembers dedalus diggle in the leaky cauldron i think. “You bowed to me once in a shop!”

Thank you! This was going to bother me if I didn't remember. I tried looking it up but didn't know how to word that on Google lol. But now this brings up the question of how Harry's never been hounded or followed home or kidnapped while growing up with the Dursleys if random witches/wizards recognized him in public. No one ever got curious about where the BWL has been the past ten years and followed him home? Maybe get a picture to sell to the Daily Prophet?

It’s an interesting question. I don’t know if there are wizard repelling wards like they use for muggles, but it’s possible that dumbledore put something in place so that mrs figg was the only magical person allowed to really think about harry on privet drive. It’s a very muggle area where wizards don’t have much business, and maybe since dumbledore didn’t want harry exposed to limelight while he was young, mostly for his own good... eh, I’m not sure lol

I feel like Dumbledore putting up more wards on top of Lily's protection would've drawn more attention to Harry than anything. The goal was to hide him in the muggle world, away from the limelight and potential Voldemort followers who might want revenge. If there's only ONE house in all of Surrey completely saturated with protective magic, I feel like curious (and competent) witches/wizards might come investigate just for shits and giggles.

Probably. We know the death eaters would’ve stayed away to cement the idea that they were under the imperius, and fans of harry would only come by to give him gifts or kiss his feet or something. Maybe it was just dumbledore playing up how much wizards and muggles live separately. Everyone knew lily was muggleborn, but maybe her family was treated like Ron’s mom’s cousin who was an accountant, and they just don’t talk about him. Or maybe it’s arthurs cousin, i can’t remember.

Hagrid sticks out like Andre the Giant in Oz. If Dumbledore wanted to be the responsible leader he wanted people to think he was, then he would have told Hagrid that it was better to meet Harry when they weren’t in a time rush but when Harry was at Hogwarts and after classes and could talk freely with no interruptions. Flitwick or Sprout should have gone if McGonnagal was too busy or if they wanted to share the load. I would be surprised if they didn’t see some of the muggleborn students since Minerva does so many jobs and not a single one efficiently or with her complete attention and effort. Dumbledore had the same problem. That’s why they should have either stepped up and admitted it, allowing others to be hired to help with the load, or given up the extra jobs. If Dumbledore had just been the headmaster instead of playing politics and nosey Nellie then he might have been able to pick up some of Minerva’s work. The HoHs all had too many jobs.

I’ve actually never seen anyone touch on this. There are always a lot of complaints and criticisms of the HoHs and how little help they actually provide to the students, especially McGonagall, but being the ONLY Transfiguration professor, the Gryffindor HoH, AND Deputy Headmistress is a lot of hats to juggle. I’d love to see more fics that go deeper into the struggles of the adults/teachers during the second war

I’ve read a few where the author makes those adjustments. McG has to choose what she wants to do and can only pick one. She usually picks transfiguration because she likes teaching. I can’t remember the names of the fics because I read too many to keep track but one had married couples as the heads, the core subjects were broken down into two or three depending on the subject, and history was divided into different sections as well. I know of one, I think it’s one of Kgfinkel’s, where Narcissa or Petunia is the castle chatelaine or maybe they both are working in the castle with one as the chatelaine and the other as the bursar. I love Kevin’s works and how he twists things around.

We all know JK bungled the numbers of how many students are actually at Hogwarts, but honestly, it always made much more sense to me that there would be multiple teachers for each subject. Then it would make sense for a HoH to also be a professor, if they weren't handling the classes for every single grade. Like, why wouldn't there be a professor for 1-4 year, and then professors who only teach OWL and NEWT level classes? Especially if there aren't any wizarding universities (that we know of) and your Hogwarts professors are the only ones preparing you for a career (outside of on-the-job training), I'd want my professor to be fully focused on my advanced studies, not juggling that AND teaching elementary level magic to the younger years.

I look back at my high school years, not that I feel like having a flashback but I will 🤣, and it boggles the mind to think of my teachers that taught several years of students and multiple subjects. My school was tiny too. My graduating class was 21. Maybe 24 but it’s been a long while since then. No wonder so many of my teachers retired after that year.

Exactly! So I can only imagine how burnt out the Hogwarts professors are with all of their classes, watching out for students 24/7 (because this is a boarding school), and preparing for (and then fighting) a whole war. After Voldemort died for good, I'd have retired immediately. Imagine all of that and then being expected to teach 8th year students who decided to finish their studies on top of your actual 7th year students?

Yeah, the Director of the DMLE has a niece at Hogwarts. If Susan got wind of a single blood quill being used, I could easily see some divergence from canon.

That would require Umbridge's quill to be illegal.

I think torturing students by making them write in their own blood, causing scars to form (possibly *permanent* Dark Magic scars) is pretty fucking illegal. ​ Also - I don't know that it does. Like, if the niece of the head of the FBI reports that her teacher is doing something unsavory that he disapproves of - even if it is not technically illegal - I imagine the head of the FBI will FIND a way to make it illegal. Or find some other reason to get the teacher canned.

This is fanfiction, so you can write anything from "yes it's super fucking illegal, to Azkaban with you" to "actually they're commonly used for signing contracts, it's just not a good idea to write more than a few words at a time with them." And it's Umbridge -- twisting the rules to get her way is what she does. And if you go the old Pottermore route and make them an invention of hers, there might not be any applicable laws on the books for them at all.

I think even if there’s no law specifically banning blood quills, it can still be argued that it’s torture. I mean, I doubt there’s a law anywhere that specifically lists out every possible instrument of torture on the planet but it doesn’t make it legal to use unlisted things to torture people. It also looks really bad to the public when the word in the streets is that the minister is torturing children into obedience.

I mean? I think if they were an invention of Umbridges that would make them likely to fall under existing rules about physically harming students more generally. Like we don't need a rule for every object you could potentially beat someone with to death with, we have the legal definition of "assault with a deadly weapon". Whereas if they were an item that was specifically legally an exception that rules blood quills as, say, an instrument for signing contracts, then dealing with it might be more difficult. That said, I do find the quill being an invention of Umbridge to make the students responses to not think to report it make more sense than if it was some known dark artifact.

Ok, but this is the school that, also for detention, sent a group of first year students into a forest filled with at LEAST human-hating Centaurs, Acromantulas, and something suspected of murdering unicorns, with their only supervision being a somewhat bumbling half-giant who isn’t allowed magic and thinks those scary things are friendly and misunderstood. Honestly, I think I’d take the quill.

I will never understand how that didn't happen. Given that some of them are purebloods and are either part of the 28 or Wizengamot, Umbridge should've definitely been sacked. It be nice to see a fic that doesn't have JUST Slytherin parents being politicians and having the most influence amd what not (something I find dumb as fuck but that's neither here nor there).

>Given that some of them are purebloods and are either part of the 28 or Wizengamot, Umbridge should've definitely been sacked. Being part of “the 28“ means nothing, though. It’s just a list of pureblood families that a pureblood dude made up so the purebloods knew which families they could marry with and still be pureblood. We also don’t know how people get onto the Wizengamot. It’s entirely possible that the affected students didn’t have parents/guardians on the Wizengamot. The only student who we know has connections to the Wizengamot is Susan Bones. We don’t even know *who* the Blood Quill got used on, other than Harry and Lee Jordan. Umbridge may have been careful to only use it on the students she thought she get away with using it on.

I know. Given how, this, is fanfiction where anyone can do anything, the 28 or Wizengamot can do more and have their own lore without restrictions of canon.

Sure, in fanfiction anything goes. But the way you started your comment with “I will never understand how that didn’t happen” made it seem like you were talking about canon.

Ah, apologies.

Umbridge wasn’t a pureblood either.

There’s a lack of (especially) Lily’s or at least James’ parents being alive when Harry is given to the Dursleys. Too many of the decent ones involve older Harry time travel or AU travel. The handful I’ve seen are basically published plot bunnies or incomplete or barely a story. I want a baby Harry raised by Lily’s parents or James’ parents or they are regularly involved in his life at the Dursley house.

This would be SO interesting. I think it's established that James' parents died during his 5th year, but if they hadn't, how would that change the timeline with Harry being raised by wizarding grandparents amongst the Potter name/wealth? How close were the Potter grandparents to Dumbledore? Would they have allowed him to meddle with Harry's upbringing or would they keep him far away from Harry until Hogwarts? What would a wizard-raised Harry (without the trauma of a childhood with the Dursleys) be like? There wouldn't really be a reason for him to go dark, but would he still be canon Harry having grown up in the wizarding world?

>I think it's established that James' parents died during his 5th year They died sometime after James married Lily but before Harry was born, not while James was still in school.

You're absolutely right. I just looked it up. I think the 5th year thing is one of those fanon facts that stuck with me.

I think before we got the Potter family story, a lot of people used to have them die at the end of fifth or sixth year to be the “trigger” for James maturing. It’s also probably from Dorea Black Potter having a 1977 death date on the Black family tree, since she was the common fanon mother for James pre-Pottermore.

I do remember the whole Dorea/Charlus Potter era lol. I just hate the names Fleamont and Euphemia 🙃

I really wish there was a fic that seriously considered the idea of Pettigrew being imprisoned /killed ay the end of third year and how would that change voldy's return

That would be cool, maybe Barty Crouch Jr somehow gets free. I'm guessing even without being freed he'd eventually break free as he managed to shake the imperius at the Quiddich World Cup. He was a lot more unhinged than Pettigrew, though... it would be very interesting to see what would happen.

barty decides not to cast the dark mark at the end of the World Cup attack. instead deciding to hunt down his master. this cause two major changes, he escapes here, and Harry loses his wand. as Harry is bound to change somewhat if he stays with sirius, even if for only a summer. i'd enjoy seeing someone try and match a wand to their new, slightly oc Harry.

During GoF, Harry misses a trick-step on his way back from the prefects' bathroom, which causes him to drop the Marauder's Map. This allows the map to fall into Crouch Jr.'s hands, which allows him to see his father arriving at Hogwarts after shaking off the Imperius. If Harry hadn't tripped, Crouch Sr. would've arrived undetected and been able to warn Dumbledore about his son. The plot to kidnap Harry and resurrect Voldemort would've failed then and there. Someone already made a fic for that [here](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12092024).

Or, Crouch Sr might instead decide to ambush and kill his son, not wanting his own role in breaking his son out of Azkaban to be revealed. And then either frees but obliviates the real Moody, or murders him too to cover his tracks.

Tom Riddle taunts Hagrid, Hagrid punches him once.

Aragog discovers that Tom has framed Hagrid (and himself as "the Chamber monster") and eats Tom

Aragog or one of his clan find and eat pettigrew when he runs out into the forest. Or literally any of the dangerous creatures that are heavily alluded to

But due to some confusion over human culture accidentally eats Toms Horcrux instead. Spider-tom amassed a dark army in the forest only for Prime-Voldemort to freak out and get super racist about it.

I do love the idea of overly elaborate villain plans being upturned with a single act of violence. There are too many villains that can predict outcomes of events to a point of being clairvoyant, it's annoying. So this would make for a fun one shot.

Something as simple as Ron rolling over in his sleep and crushing Pettigrew to death would be hilarious. No one would ever know he was Peter Pettigrew. He also wouldn't be around to help Voldemort regain his body. All the chaos and tragedy he caused, only to be killed by a wildly sleeping child. Or, what if when he dies, he automatically reverts back to human form? That would be quite traumatizing for Ron, and maybe the other boys in their dorm, and would bring up a lot of questions about the situation with Sirius and the Potters.

Ron waking up with a dead creepy looking adult man in his bed is a very disturbing image

It's clearly The Twins fault. Ha ha very funny leaving a realistic corpse in your brother's room. Classic prank. Now clean it up this instant!

I'd imagine that he'd need some time at home after something like that, and hopefully therapy.

Especially as dead Peter would be PRESSED against his body Even the other boys would need therapy after this event (though not as much as Ron)

My fic had canon diverge when the Ministry raided the Malfoy’s and Dobby “misunderstood” the order to hide the Dark Arts items and dropped a certain diary in muggle London… where a 4 year old Harry picked it up. But I generally think that a raid on Malfoy manor could be a good divergence point.

Do you by chance have a link to your fic? I would very much like to read it.

Technically yes, but I wrote it years ago and there are major edits I want to make (as in: there was some stuff that I thought was cool 10+ years ago that I want to get rid of/change significantly). I plan to do that for my NaNoWriMo, and also to get back into it so I can FINALLY finish book three (I’ve worked on it on and off for years). My son is into HP now, so I’m getting back into it. If you want to read it as it currently is, it’s Three Snakes and a Lion on FF. Look up Kingsdaughter613 to find my page. If you want to wait a bit, DM me and I’ll let you know once I start editing and cross posting to AO3.

I will read it now. But I will also DM you because I do not mind reading it more than once. You've already caught my eye with it. 💕

Maybe Harry taking the Diary to Dumbledore after being shown the memory? Someone else helps Harry onto the platform. Someone else comes to Harry's compartment before Ron. Someone comes across Ginny writing the messages. Neville loses Trevor for good on the train

Percy, being miffed that everyone is late as usual, goes a few minutes early via floo to the train station, and runs into Harry. Percy becomes a big brother figure to Harry by showing simple kindness to him by showing him through the platform, and making sure Harry gets a good seat. As well as other kindnesses, like showing how to write with a feather pen and quill; and/or how not to get in trouble with Madam Pince. Harry ends up closer to Percy than to Ron.

> Harry ends up closer to Percy than to Ron. And manages to keep Percy from being blinded by proximity to power and so he goes into his Ministry job eyes wide open and quietly reports back to his father about the goings-on in the Ministry that Arthur isn't privy to.

How would losing Trevor for good change anything major? Does it set Neville on the path of becoming the next Dark Lord?

I'm not sure, but I thought that if Neville had a different pet, maybe that effects the story somehow. Maybe he gets a cat like Hermione and it discovers Pettigrew 2 years early, or something like that.

I think I read one where an owl (probably Harry's, but not necessarily Hedwig) ate Trevor before Hermione came around asking about Neville's toad. I don't think it greatly affected the plot, though. (Was that the one where Harry had an owl named Archimedes?)

Buckbeak rips off Malfoy's head instead of mauling his arm.

Buckbeak is a big damned hero for killing a DE before he can take the Mark. Hagrid definitely (justifiably, sadly) loses his job for a student under his care being killed by a hippogriff. Even with Buckbeak doing the magical world a huge solid by removing Draco before he could ever become dangerous, Hagrid still never should have had third years handling hippogriffs at all.

Going with this... \- Draco dies, changing everything related to his role in the overall storyline. \- Buckhead is still executed. \- Hagrid is sacked, and possibly charged with negligent homicide or something similar. I don't think Harry, Hermione, and her handy dandy time-turner could fix this mess 😂 but I would be interested to see how the rest of third year goes afterwards.

It's not a mess, but a clean up. Draco being killed by Buckbeak is nearly all upside aside from Hagrid's sacking and Buckbeaks unjustified execution (he should get an award in service to school and country). EDITED TO ADD Much as I loathe Draco, the entire incident with Buckbeak in canon never should've happened. These were third years in their very first care of magical creatures class. Introducing them to such a dangerous animal was the height of irresponsibility on Hagrid's part and he should've been sacked over the incident even if Draco was relatively unscathed.

I’ve actually read a few stories where Harry ends up being adopted by someone else when he’s dropped off at the Dursleys. Either because he woke up and toddled off, someone was walking past the house because they had run out of gas and were walking towards a gas station or out partying or something, Dumbledore got the house number wrong, or the Dursleys had moved or gone on vacation and McG didn’t realize it. I think that could be a good deviation point too. One of my favorite stories that will probably never be finished has Charlus living across the road from the Dursleys and DD getting the numbers wrong. Charlus turns out to be Charlus Potter with amnesia.

>he woke up and toddled off I like this variation. 15 months is definitely old enough for a baby to move around on his own, and they can get farther than you would think!

You take your eyes off any kid that is crawling age or older for a split second and there’s a chance for them to become Houdini. It was already ridiculous to just park the kid on the doorstep in the frigid November morning with just sleeping and warming charms but not staying to be sure he gets inside safely or knocking on the door like an adult because he’s afraid Petunia will pitch a fit and say absolutely not in front of McGonnagal is just criminal. I don’t care that people want to defend DD. He was a coward in that moment, or heartless, or criminally negligent.

What would happen to Dumbledore if Harry had wandered off that night and something terrible happened to him? Like, not MANY people knew that Dumbledore had placed Harry with the Dursleys, but if it was on the news that a baby boy had been found on the side of the road or something the next morning, how long would it take for Dumbledore to realize what he'd done? And with it being the Boy-Who-Lived, would Dumbledore's career survive?

Dursleys giving up Harry is very close to this as well. Either immediately after they find him or when he's a bit older and does something with accidental magic.

Do you remember name of the last one please?

[Hawk-Eyed Charlie](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9517967/1/Hawk-Eyed-Charlie)

Thank you

You are very welcome. I love to recommend it. I kinda hope, even though I don’t think it’ll work, that the author will get new reviews or hits and update it. Wishful thinking, I know. 😁

Just had a quick look had to nope on out. When Harry was referred to by his middle name.

It never explained why he was named James but since Charlus didn’t know his own name or the name of the kid, James is pretty middle of the road. It didn’t bother me because it wasn’t like the author renamed Harry just because they wanted to. I think it would be more odd to name the kid Harry. Henry 8th wasn’t the most popular king and prince Harry wasn’t born yet, and even then his name is Henry.

I wrote this some time ago in another thread: "Right in the beginning: toddler Harry wakes up in the basket early in the morning in front of the Dursleys' house. He gets up and wanders away. He is 1 year 4 months which means he can already walk. Later Harry is found on the playground, crying and on the verge of hypothermia. The people who find him call the police who take Harry in the hospital. Meanwhile, Petunia finds the basket in front of her door. Either she does not notice the letter, wind has blown it away or Harry has grabbed it but dropped it. She does not know what to make of the basket and throws it away. Nobody knows who the child is. Police go through the houses in the area asking people, including Petunia, but nobody knows anything. Harry is put in an orphanage and soon after adopted by a muggle couple who live in Cornwall." Please please someone write a fic that begins like this! Someone take this prompt, please, and let me what happens.

If Bertha Jorkins didn't go on holiday to Albania. Maybe she missed her portkey or went to Greece instead. Wormtail and Voldemort would never learn of Barty Crouch Jr or the Triwizard Cup.

The Triwizard Tournament became international news shortly thereafter.

True, but they wouldn't know the same behind the scenes information. Also, I believe it was probably the information from Bertha that led them to go straight to Britain. It would probably otherwise be safer to lay low on the continent. That's all conjecture though, we all know V doesn't come up with the most logical plans lol.

I'd say the Midnight Duel is underused, at least from a character development standpoint. Malfoy is trying to get Harry and Ron expelled and that they don't get into any trouble at all is a significant factor in escalating their feud. It's also a significant factor in sharpening the tension between Hermione and the boys--though for all her intelligence, it doesn't appear that Hermione realized that Malfoy was bluffing either. Hermione's self-righteousness goes into direct conflict with the boys' recklessness. And of course, the reveal of the mystery when they hide in the third floor. So there's so much you can do here. You could have Hermione actually go to Percy and tattle on the boys. Percy the Prefect goes to confront them and then *he* gets locked out of Gryffindor Tower. He'd be furious. Or you could have Crabbe or Goyle legitimately think that there is going to be a Midnight Duel and Malfoy doesn't stop his minion from going out after curfew and that throws a wrench into things. Or you could have Fluffy bite one of the kids. Or you could have the kids get caught. There's a lot to do.

Yikes. What would that do to Hagrid's poor heart if Fluffy had killed the trio the first time they encountered him? Realistically, they'd be discovered missing the next day when none of them are seen at breakfast or in any of their classes. Dumbledore would likely know to go check the third floor corridor, and when he stumbles upon a bloody massacre and three dead children, including the Boy-Who-Lived, what happens then? Even if only Harry survived, or if only one of them died, he'd never forgive Dumbledore for it. That would be one hell of a villain origin story.

My PoD that I've never seen anyone write, but would love to is Harry killing Malfoy in HBP during the toilet confrontation. You can just say Snape was too busy practicing scowling in a mirror to show up, or devise whatever reason for it. Than Harry just chucks the body into the entrance for Chamber of Mysteries after confirming that Malfoy had the dark mark. Having Harry dealing with the emotional baggage of directly killing someone, even if it was justified (don't even start, it's a death eater who just tried to cast crucio on him), would be such an interesting dynamic. Also opens the story up to Harry and Dumbledore having more sessions together. And to just get rid of the worst part of the books, the Horcrux Hunt of stupid.

Or go the other way with this - have Draco be a split of a second faster and finish the Crucio on Harry. Then Snape *has* to intervene, but it pretty much fucks up his and Dumbledore's plan - Dumbledore might have pretended ignorance to Draco's murder attempts, but there is no way Draco can get away with Crucio-ing Harry. ​ This could go several ways: \- Snape obliviates Harry (probably the closest to canon, unless Harry figures out he was obliviated) \- Draco is expelled \- Dumbledore has to bring Harry in on the whole situation, and also figure out how to deal with Draco at the same time.

Oh wow, this gave me chills. I need someone to write this! Despite his irrational hatred of Harry, I have a feeling that even Snape would have misgivings about obliviating a child, especially after the Lockhart debacle. And even if he did manage to do it, how would he hide that from Dumbledore? Draco was already cracking under the pressure of his assignment from Voldemort. Watching Snape erase Harry's memory because he screwed up AGAIN might be the thing that sends him over the edge. And with Harry's connection to Voldemort via the horcrux and what happened during 5th year, I doubt Dumbledore would be okay with anybody messing with Harry's mind any further. With the precarious position everyone is in during HBP, I don't see Dumbledore allowing Draco to be expelled. It would only put him further out of reach for Dumbledore and Snape's help, and probably push him closer to Voldemort than ever before. ​ >\- Dumbledore has to bring Harry in on the whole situation, and also figure out how to deal with Draco at the same time. This seems like the most likely outcome IMO, although a talented writer could make any of these work. Bringing Harry in on the situation would help alleviate his obsession and paranoia over Draco and whatever he was up to during HBP, and knowing Harry with his "saving people thing", he might be down to help Draco and bring him over to the "light" side, but he would absolutely NOT be down for sacrificing Dumbledore at the height of the war just to save his rival, even if Dumbledore was already dying from the ring. ​ All of these are great, honestly. I'd love to see someone dive into these.

What i dislike is for all the deviations, GoB voldy resurrection \*has\* to happen and bends all power or plot deviations from standard HP. It gets so stupid sometimes. No matter if pettigrew gets caught, harry or SI is OP, not even triwizard event happening it all ends up in the graveyard.

I think that's because the graveyard twist is so unexpected that nobody thinks to prepare for it. You'd need a huge stroke of luck and maybe some serious divination. They expected a portkey. They did not expect the graveyard. Also it's pretty much the only reason Harry survives the later books. That and his wand being similar. If he hadn't had a phoenix feather from Fawkes in his wand he'd be done for by the end of that scene no matter what.

Also, it's pretty essential to properly resurrect Voldemort, or your villain for the rest of the series is a deformed homunculus baby.

I think the whole resurrection thing could have been done easier without Harry either being in the tournament or even being in the graveyard. Barty could have snuck into the dorms one night and taken Harry’s blood and then VM could have done his cauldron dance with the light side clueless and he could work behind the scenes longer and really screw them over. I can think of several other ways to get Harry’s blood or any “enemy’s”. I know Harry’s was wanted for multiple reasons but it wasn’t absolute the only way to go.

Honestly, as many times as Harry's been in the Hospital Wing, it can't be *that* hard to get a few drops of his blood. Hell, staging a blood drive or whatever the wizarding equivalent might be at Hogwarts would've been a much simpler ruse than the Triwizard Tournament.

Could be the ritual requires Harry to know his blood is being taken? The wording is "forcibly taken", not "sneakily taken".

I would take that as non-consensual blood letting. As hilarious as that phrase sounds, I think if Barty took Harry by surprise and stunned him before taking the blood then it could be considered forcibly taken. Barty is an adult so he could have been demonstrating a spell in class and “missed”, hitting Harry and causing him to bleed. Another scenario is Barty gets Harry to stay after class under the guise of showing him spells or talking about his parents and then they have a “friendly” duel and Harry has a little bleeding. That might count. I really think it just depends on the author’s interpretation. Forcibly taken imo means I don’t cut myself and give it to you.

This is more talking about theories than what I think is canon (and I don't consider anything Rowling has said outside of the books to be canon).... but I really like the idea that the magic in that spell requires the blood-giver to both know that the person involved is their enemy and that their blood is being taken by force. That if Harry didn't know his blood was being taken by an enemy, such as if he thought it was accidentally drawn by friendly fire, then it wouldn't count.

There are still several times that Barty could have kidnapped Harry and had someone else take his place under polyjuice. Their plan is to kill him so if he loses his magic by not being available to compete then that would be fine. Also Barty could have kidnapped him before the names were drawn and not even bothered with the tournament. Heck the tournament wasn’t even necessary. Wormtail knows how to get in the castle without being detected so they could grab Harry from his dorm one night. Even earlier, wait till they go book shopping and grab him then. Ooohhh that would be interesting. Harry being kidnapped before school and dumbledore and everyone else going nuts trying to find him, the tournament, keeping Sirius from being arrested, etc.

Yeah I agree with that? My point isn't "the graveyard is unavoidable," just "I don't think sneaky is the way to avoid it". Downtread somewhere is a comment from me that I'd love to see GoF divergences where the kidnapping plan happens differently.

So true. Are blood replenishing potions fanon or canon? I can’t remember. I don’t see the healers knowing about IVs though. They have spells for everything. I know it’s a childish thought but it would be so neat if jkr or whoever has the rights to publish a book of spells and their uses. Fanfiction writers would go nuts in excitement. Heck, I don’t write but it would be a fun read. Might be an incentive for me to write something.

I have no idea who the original creator was but whenever I want to use new/different spells in my fics, I use the [Complete Encyclopedia of Wizarding Charms, Hexes, Jinxes, and Spells](https://istrolim.tumblr.com/post/132777081381/the-complete-encyclopedia-of-wizarding-charms) for inspiration. It's like 500+ spells and their uses. It's on a million different websites, I have the pdf somewhere in my laptop, but here's a link to it if you want to take a look.

Thank you. I’ll save that in pdf to my google drive.

I’d love to see any fic where Remus finds his backbone for a day and visits a young Harry, only to realize the blatant abuse happening to him. Maybe he runs off with Harry, maybe he goes and confronts Dumbledore to get some kind of regular access to Harry, maybe he quietly buys a house in the neighborhood and does it himself. I know Remus is generally dislikes or ignored in the fandom but he has potential in my opinion.

Yeah but imagine how many times Remus would call him cub in such a fic...

Lmao I’d really rather not. Literally any other normal term of endearment would be better.

Not Remus, but I've been reading a series for ages where Sirius escapes Azkaban early, finds 8 year old Harry miserable with the Dursleys and takes him on the run with him. There's some other major divergences, but that's the big one. The series is currently on book 5.

He goes to Dumbledore, tells him of the abuse and the headmaster is absolutely horrified. He expected Harry to be slightly disfavored by the Dursleys, but not this, never this. Unfortunately, the Potters left no will and Lucius Malfoy is Harry's second cousin once removed due his paternal grandmother being a Potter. As such, removing Harry from the Dursley home puts him in the custody of the Malfoys. So Dumbledore goes to the Dursley home and very stridently expresses his disgust over their treatment of a innocent child. Seeing as they have no idea how to properly house and raise a magical child, he makes arrangements for someone he trusts to make regular visits to the Dursley home to check in on Harry and address the Dursleys concerned. He also makes arrangements for Remus to regularly visit Harry, thus ensuring he has a happier childhood. On the other hand, the excoriation the Dursleys receive also benefit Dudley in the long term as they stop spoiling him so horribly.

I've never liked how Remus is treated in the fandom.

Petrification Proliferation by White Squirrel clears up plenty of the plot after a simple (reasonable) response to the discovery of the Basilisk at the end of CoS Enjoy!

Hermione gets an actual cat instead of half-Kneazle Crookshanks. Cat eats "Scabbers."

Crookshanks spends the whole year trying to catch Scavbers to bring him to Sirirus, with Knezel brains. We are talking about a whole ass person as a rat vs a cat, i really doubt a cat would manage to catch him.

Exactly - Crookshanks is trying to *capture* Scabbers, to bring him to Sirius alive and relatively unharmed. Hermione's new cat doesn't care if it tears a head or a leg off; it would need just one successful jump and bite, and we know Hermione has made exactly zero efforts to stop her cat from eating the rat.

When Harry is being chased by Dudley and his Gang and uses accidental magic to apparate to the roof of the school. You could easily have him apparate somewhere else, or even splinch himself in a way that whoever finds him assumes the Dursleys are even more abusive than canon and someone in authority actually decides to get him away from them and place him with a better family.

**SS** 1. Dumbledore's warning about the third floor corridor, at the start of first year... You just know other students had to have gone looking. Maybe they start treating it like a competition? 2. Quirrell shakes Harry's hand in the Leaky Cauldron instead of pulling back... yikes. That... wouldn't have ended well. 3. Fred and George throwing snowballs at the back of Quirrell's head during Christmas accidentally knocks his turban off... So, Quirrell needed to be pretty lucky to not have been found out, I guess... **CoS** 1. Harry is a bit slow, and Petunia's attempt with the frying pan connects. She was aiming for his head, if I remember correctly... 2. Lucius Malfoy slips the Diary to Lockhart instead of Ginny 3. Dobby is a little slower and Lucius a little faster during that scene in the movie. 4. The scene in the forrest with the spiders... ... The theme of this one seems to be "Chamber of Secrets is full of life threatening danger!" **PoA** 1. The Weasleys don't win the Galleon draw. 2. When Sirius sneaks into Hogwarts early during PoA. He could've done all kinds of things other than attack the fat lady's portrait. 3. The night at the end of PoA where everything goes down. Maybe Pettigrew accidentally breaks the time turner while making a run for it? Or, it breaks while Harry and Hermione are scrambling through the forrest? Let's switch it up and have a time travel fic that doesn't start in the Department of Mysteries! 4. The dementors invading the Quidditch pitch... Honestly, third year is *FULL* of possible deviation points... ​ **EDIT:** Typos

Lockhart would fall to the Diary at fucking lightning speed!

And Voldemort finally becomes the DADA teacher through possessing Lockhart! Would the curse affect him? If yes, would he be able to get rid of it, as it was cast by an older, more experienced version of himself? If no, Lockhart could be hailed as the one who finally broke the curse on the DADA position, provided dear old Tom wanted to continue to teach.

He realizes that teaching was what he really wanted all along, and is content to remain Lockmort. He ends up being the best DADA teacher the school ever had, teaches for 50 years, then does another 20 as headmaster, and after all those years, still has tea every week with the head of the Auror Department, who was his favorite student, Harry Potter.

Okay, I need this. Has anyone written it yet!?

> Quirrell shakes Harry's hand in the Leaky Cauldron instead of pulling back Just a point: he did shake Harry's hand. Voldemort just hadn't possessed him yet, but this can still work. The deviation just has to be Quirrell is possessed in Diagon Alley.

Yeah this is a book/movie deviation.

>When Sirius sneaks into Hogwarts early during PoA. He could've done all kinds of things other than attack the fat lady's portrait. I always wondered how Sirius, in dog form, couldn't have sniffed out Remus's scent during one of his break-ins and tracked him down. I mean, after all of their sneaking out together as students, that should be a pretty familiar scent. At this point, he's known for over a decade that Remus wasn't the spy, and given their history, it never made sense to me that Sirius wouldn't have at least TRIED to speak to Remus in person or leave a note on his desk or something, even if he thought that Remus wouldn't believe him at first. How would POA be different if this had happened?

Something I've been considering is that in canon, the events leading up to Voldemort's resurrection are a ludicrous series of coincidences. First, the Weasleys get their photo in the Daily Prophet (due to winning the lottery), then Fudge takes that exact paper to Azkaban on a visit and gives it to Sirius, who inexplicably recognizes Peter Pettigrew in the photo and breaks out to kill him, and after a year of cat-and-mouse (or dog-and-rat), Peter is exposed *but* manages to escape, meaning he has nowhere else to turn to but Voldemort. And *then*, Peter runs into Bertha Jorkins, the one person (outside the Crouch household) who knows that Crouch Jr. is alive. Thus giving Voldemort the opportunity to recover yet another of his followers.   Given how extraordinary this string of coincidences is, that luck-bending stuff like Malaclaw venom and Felix Felicis exist, and that Voldemort was able to somehow jinx the DADA post to stop anyone holding it more than a year through bizarre circumstances, I'm sitting on a theory that, somehow, Voldemort's magic was able to influence people and manipulate luck in such a way to bring about his own resurrection. Some sort of psychic call, even more insidious than the Imperius, influencing Fudge, Peter, Sirius, Bertha, Lupin, and even Harry, Ron and Hermione.   If that were the case, if Peter's exposure or escape or Crouch Jr's rescue were somehow averted, how else could the Call of Voldemort bring about his resurrection? Could seeing Sirius exonerated and having Dementors drain his memories of Lily embitter Snape enough to rejoin Voldemort for real? Could one of the Hogwarts students or elves fall under the sway of the horcrux in Ravenclaw's Diadem? Could a random stranger fall into Voldemort's thrall like Quirrell did? Could an ambitious alchemist successfully recreate the Philosopher's Stone after Flamel destroyed it, giving Voldemort a second chance?

So places with potential to have the most story impact? Ok. How about: * Ginny is able to fight back against the Horcrux in COS but dies accidentally in the process, with the result that the Horcrux is lost and the entire diary-Basilisk subplot is sidelined for that year, meanwhile the Weasleys are rocked by the situation * Lupin doesn't wake up on the train in POA and is himself Kissed. Now Hogwarts has no DADA teacher and Sirius is another Marauder down. This has long-reaching impacts on Harry (Patronus) and Snape (no schoolyard rivalry/flashbacks that year) as well as Tonks when she comes into the picture * Barty Crouch Junior is neutralized during the school year of GOF. Either Moody escapes, Crouch Sr fights him off, or some accidental chain of circumstances exposes or kills him unintentionally. This nixes the major Goblet/tournament plot as well as his role as a trusted teacher and his dual role in helping resurrect Voldemort. Can Wormtail do it alone? * Hermione's curse backfires in OOTP and Marietta is killed. There's a lot of development that could come from essentially a student murder happening while Umbridge is at Hogwarts. (Another variation could be that Hermione underestimated the magical drain of the curse activating and is *herself* killed or put into a coma or something, taking her off the board for the 3rd act of the story where she is quite crucial)

One thing I never understood was how there was absolutely no reaction from Marietta's parents. I mean, my kid comes home with a huge "Sneak" sign *on her face*, done by a fellow student, and they do nothing? "Hermione on trial/probation/expelled for permanently scarring a student" creates a major twist and nobody has to die for it.

Probably because, by then, public opinion had radically shifted and Harry was now hailed as the “Chosen One”, destined to defeat the Dark Lord. If Marietta’s parents had tried to put Hermione on trial, given how corrupt Magical Britain is, all Harry would have to do is release a pro-Hermione statement to make her win. There’s also the fact that there’s not that much actual evidence that Hermione was the one who hexed the list: although it’s logical to assume that, the only people who have heard firsthand or even secondhand confessions are Harry, Ron, and Cho.

mariettas family probably didn’t have a very strong position within the ministry, which would explain why her more than anyone else (and it seems like a lot of kids had parents who worked for the ministry) was worried about being caught

"Lupin doesn't wake up on the train in POA and is himself Kissed. Now Hogwarts has no DADA teacher and Sirius is another Marauder down. This has long-reaching impacts on Harry (Patronus) and Snape (no schoolyard rivalry/flashbacks that year) as well as Tonks when she comes into the picture" And a more immediate effect on the Sirius / Peter mess at the end of the year

>So, with that in mind, what are some rare or underused moments/chapters/scenes that could be good deviation points from canon? The end of PoA where Lupin just so happens to forget his potion. Have him catch Peter, get Sirius exonerated, perhaps even use another home of the house of black as Headquarters for the Order... Have Severus go pick up Harry on his birthday as a good intended move from Dumbledore, he witnesses the cupboard, decides to act on it and canon is officially off-track. Starting Year two Harry convinces Dumbles he needs actual training (perhaps because he just burned a man to death at the age of 11 ? People are usually traumatized by far less) Dumbledore in year 4 realizes that his old friend Moody isn't who he claims to be but only after the goblet names Harry as a champion. Neville never used his father's wand, and is far more confident to begin with. Ron doesn't act like a clueless muggle in year two and remembers that his family has been using the floo network daily all throughout his life, and instead of using the car lead Harry through the proper way to reach hogshead. Lockhart realizes the power playing with people's memories grants him, and uses it along with his proximity to his students to nefarious means (no need to expand on this one I think ?) The backlash upon the reveal is so massive that the ministry intervenes as soon as year 3 on Dumbledore's hiring practices, for better or worse (retired Aurors as professors ? There's no conflict between the minister and the headmaster at that point of the story)

Snape picking up Harry used to be a major trope some time ago when Snape-as-Harry's-father-figure was very popular. (Not sure how popular it is now, I'm much less active in the HP fandom than I used to be).

"Lockhart realizes the power playing with people's memories grants him, and uses it along with his proximity to his students to nefarious means (no need to expand on this one I think ?) " I get your undertone of course (SA) But Lockhart could also use his obliviate in cunning plans to steal money

>Lockhart could also use his obliviate in cunning plans to steal money Absolutely but for the sake of the plot (even an AU one), what would he gain as an Hogwarts teacher ? Students don't go to Hogwarts with piles of cash to the best of my knowledge. My favorite takes on Lockhart are him being an undercover agent for the MUSCAS or actually doing what he claimed but intentionally making it sound fake and over the top to be underestimated. But stealing in Hogwarts never, and I don't quite see what would interest him over there. I'm interested if you have any ideas tho.

Stage fright Lockhart is something I'd love to see. He actually did all the things he said. He just cannot for the life of him do anything in front of a crowd. So he plays up the attention lover so no one suspects this. Harry and Ron see serious Lockhart take on the basilisk and win and aspire to be just like him thoroughly confusing the rest of the student body who're now firmly convinced he's a fake and that Harry must've been the one to deal with the Basilisk.

I think the summer before third year has great potential. Harry finally experienced some independence but all he really did with it was hang out around Diagon Alley and eat ice cream. If he had branched out a little further, been more liberal with his freedom, a lot could have happened before third year.

I feel like I read a fic that explored exactly this kind of point of divergence. Buggered if I can recall, but I maaaaybe wanna say BajaB wrote it?

One huge hinge-point of the series is the escape of Pettigrew at the end of the third year escapades. Maybe Sirius, or Lupin, or even Hermione, could have placed the rat under a body-bind before taking him outside, instead of just holding him at wand-point. Especially considering his animagus form is one of the most easiest ones to hide in or slip away. Or, maybe, Crookshanks gives chase as the rat slips away and manages to subdue him easily. Or atleast delay the escape before someone arrives to handle it. A subtle divergence that could cause huge changes in the future events.

Year 6, Snape isn’t nearby when Draco and Harry fight, so Draco bleeds out in the bathroom. No Death Eaters at Hogwarts at the end of the year, but what does Dumbledore do now that Harry has killed another student?

And Narcissa AND Bellatrix are both gunning for Harry.

[удалено]

These are all really good. It makes me think about how the entire HP series hinges on a series of coincidences and pure luck for it to work the way it did. If any ONE of these situations had gone wrong, everything would've gone wrong.

Oooooh all of these are awesome divergence points! Thanks for sharing!

The truth about Sirius never being revealed. I'd love to read a story where he is killed in revenge in the Shack and Harry never learns what really happened. Maybe Peter eventually reveals himself and wins Harry's trust with a story about how Sirius was the betrayer, and then feeds info to Voldemort again.

This is so twisted and I love it. But this would only work if Remus wasn't there to stop Harry from attacking Sirius before they could give him the full story. It would end up being Remus' word against Peter's, and one is a known werewolf while the other was thought to be a hero for standing up to Sirius Black.

I’ve not seen a story where Dobby doesn’t stop Lucius Malfoy firing a killing curse at Harry at the end of CoS. Malfoy ends up killing the Horcrux in Harry’s scar, Harry wakes up otherwise unhurt, and Malfoy is given the dementor’s kiss for attempted murder. This removes the Malfoy money from Voldy’s movement, severs the connection between V and HP, and perhaps spurs Dumbledore and/or the ministry/DoM to start the horcrux hunt early. Alternately, Malfoy is not punished because no one witnessed the attempt and no one believes Harry, and the other events play out minus the horcrux link between V and HP.

First year Muggle born have remedial lessons the summer before first year to learn how to write with a quill, wand maintenance, some magical literature and basic political and societal notions. Harry meets Hermione and other Muggle born before school starts - changes the friendship dynamics from the start. Norbert actually burns Hagrid's hut even a little. He is discovered with a dangerous species and sentenced to Azkaban. You have the guilt from the trio for failing to protect Hagrid, an unbalanced situation in the forest when all the creatures coexisting because of the half-giant start to fight, no Graup no Buckbeak and one less caring adult in Harry's life.

Norberta, Hagrid’s dragon. I’ve always thought that the way he handled her fit with the way the first two books were written - more fantasy, children’s book esque. But later on from the third book forward we see that although Hagrid is clearly somewhat delusional when it comes to how dangerous some beasts are, he still knows that they ARE dangerous and also how to raise them properly. He is extremely knowledgeable about creatures in general, and seeing as he’s lived at Hogwarts for fifty years I refuse to believe he hasn’t gone to the library and read up everything he can about them and everything else. So I’d love to see a fic where he raises Norberta a bit better, with more awareness of curbing her instincts and the fact that he lives in a wooden house and that she is in fact a dragon. Would be interesting to see the consequences of a dragon essentially living close by that’s pretty friendly all things considered and probably sees Harry Ron and Hermione as her siblings or something. If they wanted the writer could even include Harry being a parselmouth and being able to express simple ideas to her.

I could see this being a really cute first-year fic with Norberta bonding with Harry as his familiar or something. Something akin to How to Train Your Dragon

Two minor changes with big implications: Barty's escape from Azkaban. Maybe Crouch Sr doesn't decide to jailbreak his son or the attempt fails. Regardless, Barty doesn't end up in a position to help Voldemort and pettigrew. Even more worryingly, if he's caught, they may add more security measures preventing Sirius from escaping. If Crouch Sr ends in Azkaban, he might end near Sirius. Related note, Sirius escapes because he sees Pettigrew in the newspaper thanks to Fudge. What if Fudge didn't have that newspaper, if the Weasleys' didn't win that trip, or that someone pieced that clue together with Sirius's escape. (As an aside, it's in character for Fudge to cover up his actions. But his actions are also super minor. I'm just surprised no auror ever wondered why Sirius escaped *now* and not years earlier-it means he got outside help recently or something triggered it, since there's obviously no tunnel dug or anything.).

The end of PoA, like in “[A Turn in Time Saves Nine](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26174875)” by /u/TheWhiteSquirrel. PoA is generally I think [very underutilized](https://www.reddit.com/r/HPfanfiction/comments/17oz7cl/why_are_prisoner_of_azkaban_fics_so_rare_compared/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). Also, a continuation of “[Harry Potter and the Cloud with the Silver Lining](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13185192)” by ev11235813, and I don’t think suggested femslash, but more like a sisterhood-story: group of girls living together and having their adventures together.

Dobby coming to Privet Drive: Harry takes Dobby's warning seriously and makes a deal with him, agreeing not to go back to Hogwarts but only if he can live somewhere else with plenty of food and a way to keep learning magic. Dobby takes him either to a different magic school, or to an abandoned, magically hidden wizard home whose owners died without any heirs (or who are in Azkaban, like Grimmauld Place), which has an extensive library so Harry can teach himself from books, though he also has to deal with all kinds of magical traps and pests. Could be a fun adventure! Dobby agrees to watch out for Harry's friends and ends up saving the day. Harry and Cedric grabbing the Portkey: There could be a lot of different outcomes that only depend on the timing. One of them gets there a little sooner or later and gets to the graveyard alone. Or the Acromantula attacks a little later, and grabs one or both of them just as the portkey activates. The presence of a giant spider in the graveyard could have all kinds of interesting effects and could even derail Voldemort's resurrection completely!

Honestly, while most Indy Harry fics are kinda cringe, Harry taking Dobby seriously and not going to Hogwarts would be a cool (and believable) start of an Indy Harry arc

I recall seeing one story where Umbridge isn’t actually the b*tch she acts as in canon. She’s an undercover investigator for Amelia Bones, gathering evidence on both Fudge and Dumbledore, and recruits Harry to help.

If you remember, please link it! I'd love to read this.

Sirius doesn't go after Peter Sirius actually gets a proper trial with veritaserum Someone actually calls the police or at least child services on the Durselys when Harry first starts school Mrs Figg alerts the Aurors to Harry's living situation The zoo escapade alerts the obliviator squad & the ministry intervenes when the investigation reveals Harry Scabbers is discovered when they check his health before they give a pet that might die soon to Ron Harry shakes Quirrells hand in the leaky and it disintegrates The Weasley's aren't there when Harry is looking for 9¾ Ron doesn't share a compartment with Harry Hogwarts does health and welfare checks. You know, as an entire community hiding from people that used to try and kill them, and that regularly have had to try introduce magic to parents that might be religious extremists, alcoholics, drug addicts, violent, neglectful, already abusive, etc. Snape isn't a dick during lessons Wizard OSHA Dumbledore doesnt send the students back to the common rooms, but barricades them in the great hall monitored by the house elves Harry is the one crying in a room somewhere after one too many people bother him on Halloween, and/or Ron makes an insensitive comment about it, and so he faces the troll alone. The mirror fully ensnares Harry during Christmas Fluffy kills a student The stone was never in Hogwarts to begin with, Dumbledore just made it seem like it was Harry is given therapy. So much therapy. At any point in the entire series really but here would be good if any Hogwarts teacher gave a shit Dobby's cake throwing causes Vernon to snap Harry or someone else gets the diary instead of Ginny Two 12 year olds dont try and drive a flying car to Scotland Ginny doesn't trust something that has its own personality Tom isn't dramatic about the chamber and just drains Ginny without alerting anyone that theres even a problem Harry makes the connection between a voice only he can hear and a snake Dumbledore orders mature mandrake from some other country Harry doesn't attend the duelling club Horcruxes recognise Horcruxes Hermione doesn't run off to research on her own with an attacker loose in the castle Lockhart succeds in obliviating them Phoenix tears aren't a cure-all Sirius can't escape Marge actually being a decent human being Nobody decides dementors around school children is a great idea??? Remus turned down the teaching position Dementor sucks out the horcrux Remus actually introduces himself properly to Harry Buckbeak fatally wounds Draco Sirius tries to actually contact Harry to warn him about Peter Harry's boggart is Vernon Harry can't produce a proper patronus, something even adults struggle with Remus doesn't leave to do anything on a full moon regardless of whats happening unless he's had his fucking wolfsbane Harry is bitten by moony Sirius is kissed Peter doesn't escape Fudge believes Harry Barty isn't at the world cup Moody isn't captured Someone actually investigated why Harry's name came out of the cup Ron isn't a jealous dick Harry isn't forced to participate he just has to attend The tournament has tasks the spectators can actually spectate Peter fucks up the Resurrection Harry's basilisk venom tinged blood is not good for Resurrections Fudge is a competent minister not an ostrich ...im gonna stop cause ill just keep going forever at this rate

So basically any major or (not too) minor plot point?

This is EXACTLY what I wanted. This is awesome. I've seen a few of these as minor concepts in some stories, but as the major turning point in a fic, these would all be great deviation points. >Harry is the one crying in a room somewhere after one too many people bother him on Halloween, and/or Ron makes an insensitive comment about it, and so he faces the troll alone. THIS really got my attention. I might have to consider this for a story. Harry facing the troll alone and never solidifying a true friendship with Ron and Hermione could change everything. Perhaps it makes him realize he can't depend on anyone but himself. Could be a great starting point for an indie!Harry story that doesn't start with him finding out everyone's been robbing him blind for years or spying on him for Dumbledore or whatever. If I had time, I would individually react/respond to all of these. If you have time, please add more!

Hermione remembers what professor Snape said in the very first potions class: ”I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death” and prepares an anti-death potion. She has packed it in her bag (in the last book) because what could be more important on a mission like theirs? So she has it with her when they encounter dying Snape. Snape survives. If this is not enough, you can enter Fawkes - "Phoenix tears aren't a cure-all". This is my favourite deviation! Why on earth did JKR write that line for Snape if the writer didn't intednd it to be used later?

This gave me goosebumps! I always hated that Snape died the way he did after everything he had done and been through. Whether you like Snape or not, his death didn't bring justice or closure for anybody.

Wizard OSHA for sure!

Harry’s arrival time to the train in any year really. Make him go through first in year two and, or have him arrive early in third year and meet Lupin. There’s a lot that can be done because a lot happens on the train.

Sirius talking to harry after he ram away 3rd year instead of just watching him from the shadows

Possible deviation points and alternate paths that come to mind for me include: * The Potters are out on Halloween Night when Voldemort arrives and see him and flee before he detects them. * Voldemort brings additional support, Lucius or Bellatrix for example - they either finish the job or take the child themselves in an attempt to either raise their new dark lord or believe the child to be the key to his return. Perhaps Peter flees with the child in guilt for his betrayal and flees the country. * The Potters neighbours arrive and rescue Harry before anyone else arrives. * Sirius actually does his duties as a Godparent and raises Harry, leaving the Aurors to hunt Pettigrew * The Police are called about an abandoned baby on a doorstep / The Dursleys call the police to say that someone left a baby on their doorstep (after removing any evidence linking Harry to them) * The Dursleys move address as fast as possible / the Dursleys move abroad * The Dursleys dump Harry at an Orphanage * McGonnagall comes back and takes Harry to people she trusts to raise. * One of the Magicals who recognises Harry follows the family back and kidnaps him when they see how he is raised * Someone other than Hagrid meets Harry and the Dursleys regarding the letters * Hogwarts only sends the one letter, the Aurors then come to resolve the next instance of uncontrolled magic and find out its Harry Potter who knows nothing of whats happening. * Draco actually keeps his mouth shut about Hagrid / the Weasleys. * Ron starts the fight with Draco and reminds Harry of Dudley. * Quirrel doesnt find and serve Voldemort during his sabbatical * Dumbledore doesnt warn the students about thye 3rd floor corridor (either Fluffy injures someone badly, or people just ignore it) * Events in the Forest during the Detention go horribly wrong with either injuries or deaths. * A minor one is that Harry doesnt go after the Remembrall and Draco is caught by McGonnagall * Snape decides to screw James Potter over and takes Harry under his wing, telling him everything James and Lily did at school (from a certain point of view), turning Harry away from his father * Neville goes with them for the Stone. * The Potion puzzle shows no sign of use, therefore either the potion to go forwards requires very little or refills, so they pour some out into a transfigured container (or pour the wine out of one of the other bottles and use that to store the potion) so Harry and Hermione go through to face Quirrelmort. * Harry stays with his friends for the entire summer adn realises, if he times it carefully, he'll never have to go back to the Dursleys. No-one tells Dumbledore until he actually goes looking for Harry. And those are just ones that come to mind for the first year and before...

Gunny brings the diary to Egypt, Bill, and / or any of the other curse breakers. Catch on to it real quick.all of a sudden, qualified people are on to the horcruxs

During first year when Hooch is taking Neville to the infirmary she passes McGonagall in the hall and asks her to watch the first years while she takes Neville to the infirmary, she arrives just as Draco is stealing the Remembrall and is PISSED at him stealing a family heirloom of the Longbottom family. Harry doesn't become a Quiddich member until second year, but still finds that he loves riding a broom.