Harry Potter and the Uncertain Direction

[kerravonsen]

I am stuck and dithering because I'm not sure which way to go next with "Harry Potter and the Lore of Fiction". So I am going to ask you, my flist, for your opinions.

Poll #10397

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 13

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What direction should this story go in next?

View Answers

Harry discovers more powers.
1 (7.7%)

Aunt Marge reports the Dursleys for child abuse and adopts Harry
2 (15.4%)

Aunt Marge chastises Vernon and he starts treating Harry better because the neighbours would notice
5 (38.5%)

Things go on as per canon until Harry's Hogwarts letter arrives
2 (15.4%)

Harry gets caught doing freakish stuff
0 (0.0%)

Harry NEARLY treads on Ripper's paw but manages not to
0 (0.0%)

Harry saves Ripper from choking on chicken bones
4 (30.8%)

Harry makes friends with Luna Lovegood
6 (46.2%)

Other (explain in comments)
1 (7.7%)

Regarding Harry's Hogwarts letter...

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things go as per canon
1 (7.7%)

things go as per canon, but Snape is sent instead of Hagrid
3 (23.1%)

Harry is living with Aunt Marge, and McGonagall is sent to give muggleborn orientation
6 (46.2%)

Harry is living with Aunt Marge, and Hagrid is sent
1 (7.7%)

Harry is living with Aunt Marge, and Snape is sent
2 (15.4%)

Other (explain in comments)
3 (23.1%)

Comments

[tptigger]

McGonagall shows up at the Dursleys after they won't let Harry open his first letter?

[cheyinka]

Oo, that'd be neat.

[watervole]

I like that even better than the one I ticked, especially if Aunt Marge gets to meet McGonagall. I could see those two relating in an odd sort of way. They both have a strong no-nonsense streak. The fun would lie in what they respectively consider to be nonsense.

Re Letter

[jaxomsride2]

Dumbledore sends either McGonagall or Snape when Harry doesn't respond to his first letter.

If they thought Hagrid was bad...

[tree_and_leaf]

I don't think Aunt Marge would report her own brother to the authorities unless she found evidence of physical abuse (and it would probably have to be pretty severe, since I imagine she's the sort of woman who would defend a parent's right to smack a child); she might be shocked by the cupboard business, but I think she'd want to resolve it without dragging the family name through the mud. She might offer to take Harry off their hands, possibly cunningly suggesting that it's unfair to Dudley to have to put up with a cousin he doesn't get on with, and claiming that she needs someone to give her a hand with the dogs.

[vilakins]

Ooh, I like that idea. I think that would work really well with what we know of Aunt Marge.

[kerravonsen]

I've been pondering a similar idea; not that she offers to take Harry off their hands, but that she offers him summer work in her kennel, which at least would get him away from them for part of the summer (since he would have to board with her). Being stingy, she'd probably only pay him room and board and perhaps a pittance, but he'd jump at it just for the opportunity to get away.
Well, that's what I was thinking.

[tree_and_leaf]

Ooh yes, that would work.

[watervole]

That works for me. Feels in character for Aunt Marge. I don't think she wants a child of her own, but she recognises Harry is more capable than he appears. Letting him look after her beloved dogs is a serious commitment on her part. It's not just cheap labour, it has to be cheap labour she can trust - and she'll let him know that. (part threat, part recognition)

[kerravonsen]

Yes, she would have to turn around on the trust issue, but I think if Harry saved Ripper from choking on a chicken bone, that would be enough.

[jhall1]

"What direction should this story go in next?"

That rather depends on which direction it's gone in up to now, and if you've posted a synopsis in an earlier post then I'm afraid I've missed it. However I answered based on the safe maxim that one can never have too much Luna. :)

[kerravonsen]

Ah, yes, well I'm posting the story behind flock because I'm posting it as I go, unbetaed, as an experiment. But the poll isn't locked, so that people from LJ can participate. Hence your confusion.

Indeed, one can never have too much Luna. But now I'll have to figure out how Harry can meet her...

[fred_mouse]

Well, as another who hasn't read anything of the story, I'm going with gut response - I really didn't have an opinion until you put Aunt Marge and Professor McGonagall in the same option - I want that one. I don't care too much how you get there, although I don't expect that Aunt Marge will end up as a sympathetic character, any which way you swing it.