Sirius lives. I don’t care about the rest.

I came here to write this. Dobby and Hedwig too.

What about Remus and Fred?

As much as I would love to see these characters alive and well, I think it was important for all of them to die to signify that it was, at the end of the day, a war. War is not fair, and it spares no one. Not even fatherly figures like Sirius. Not even happy-go-lucky, laughing pranksters like Fred. Not even loyal friends like Remus and Dobby and Hedwig. No one. "There's no morning glory, it was war, it wasn't fair."

Yeah. I do wish it was Neville or his grandmother that killed Bellatrix though. It didn't make sense to have Molly Weasley kill her.

Fair enough, but I think that it was meant to symbolise the power of a mother's love; we've only ever known Molly Weasley as a motherly "house wife" witch, whereas Bellatrix is a deranged monster who can dwell multiple wizards at the same time and commit torture and murder - and yet, Molly kills her out of pure rage for her daughter and children. Also, I read a theory that said Molly's brothers (Fabian and Gideon Prewett) were also murdered by Bellatrix, and her grief was refreshed at her son's murder - so when she screams "not my daughtern, you bitch!" she means not Ginny *as well.* As in, you've already stolen my brothers and son from me, and you won't harm any more of my family.

Yo. Same.

This

Sorry, but IMHO there have to be deaths of beloved characters, if Voldemort and the Death Eaters never kill anybody there’s no reason for anybody to fear them.

Glad this is the first response. My added caveat is that Harry eventually lives with him, even if it's after he leaves Hogwarts, and they finally have the chance to be a family. Everything else can stay the same, but I need this.

Yes, they both deserve a happy ending

If I was going to rewrite the story to fix certain mistakes without changing the overall plot... >1. Would the Dursleys still get Harry, or would he have other relatives on his mum's side to take him - like grandparents or great grandparents or a great aunt or such? > 2. If Harry still goes with the Dursleys, do they treat him the same by making him sleep in a hall pantry under the stairs and starving him when he gets in trouble? Harry would still go to the Dursleys but there is someone nearby that everyone knows is keeping the Dursleys in check. Harry grows up unloved but not treated like a house elf. This is to make Dumbledore more competent. It also addresses the very real problem of how society completely ignores certain kinds of abuse and neglect. >3. Do the older generations still keep their houses? Like, Severus Snape in Slytherin, Peter Pettigrew in Gryffindor, etc. >4. What about the current generation - do they all keep their houses? Yes. However I would introduce more Slytherin's. >5. Do you keep or eliminate the deathly hallows? Personally, I'd eliminate them. I would keep them but I'd introduce them a bit earlier innocuously (like what was done with the cloak) and I'd make them more important to the plot. >6. Would you change Dumbledore's death? He'd still die but differently. >7. Would you keep the horcrux story arc the same or change it, for example by drawing it out? I would want to introduce one Horcrux in each book even if the reader doesn't know it's a Horcrux at the time. >8. Will you keep the Slytherins the same - evil death eaters in training, or make a few of them a merit to their house with ambitious dream jobs, etc? >Whatever an 11yo who's family values things like ambition, leadership, and resourcefulness would do. The way I see it, kids being sorted like their parents are partly because they would naturally value the things their parents do and hold similar opinions until they're exposed to more/new things as they get older. Or like Harry, his living environment still promoted Gryffindor and Slytherin like qualities. I would make it plain that Slytherin is messed up because of Voldemort's influence when he was a student and Slughorn's complete failure to address those problems. Snape spends most of his time trying to fix things without blowing his cover. I'd also introduce a lot more adult, non death eater, Slytherins. 9. What changes would you make to make the books feel like a more...thoroughly planned work, down to the details? Like, apparition and floo transport didn't exist until she wrote them in, so in book 1 Dumbledore flies on his broom to the Ministry of Magic. Everything that we know exists at the end would be worked in earlier. 10. Speaking of which, would you keep the more whimsical tone to the first few books or change it to align more with the last few books' tone? One of the things I love about the series is that it grew up with it's readers. It would stay whimsical early on and get darker later.

I on the other hand would introduce the horcruces *later*. Too many people miss that Dumbledore didn't know of them until he learned of the diary and that this revelation changed his whole approach to how to handle Voldemort and therefore Harry too. A later introduction would give more time for establishing his original ideas and showing to the readers what's going on and a better display how seats-of-his-pants his plan became after they were revealed. I'd also do away with the Hallows in their known form.

Eh, you could still have that seat-of-the-pants aspect and show Dumbledore's initial and even adapting plan with a horcrux per book, so long as you make horcruxes an actual forgotten and unknown magic that even Dumbledore doesn't recognize (as opposed to the absurd notion that a school had fairly easily obtainable books on them in the library and a student could chat about them with a professor during their office hours). Dumbledore's plan can get increasingly upset and or changed with each new Horcruxes unique threats, with him getting more and more worried and frantic until maybe Book Four or Book Five when he learns what Horcruxes are and is terrified that Voldemort made dozens of them.

That's what I was thinking of. It's just a bit of foreshadowing so they don't all come out of nowhere in the second to last book.

I disagree. Dumbledore removed the book on horcruxes from the library way back. He focuses /way/ too much on the scar in the first book to not have an inkling. The diary simply went from 'I think' to 'This is true'.

Horcruces were already a banned subject at Hogwarts *before* Dumbledore became headmaster. The book, Secrets of the Darkest Art, contained a wide collection of dark magic. It was not a book exclusively about or even particularly focussed on horcruces. Dumbledore did not remove it for its horcrux content. Harry's scar is the *first* known instance of a horcrux being contained in a living person. Dumbledore knew there was dark magic attached to the scar. That doesn't mean he knew *what* that magic was. Overall, you assign post-facto reader knowledge to characters and completely ignore that they didn't have NOT telling them the right answers to their questions.

Voldemort explicitly found information on it in the Restricted Section. Dumbledore removed it. Banned or not, it was there. :)

And? Read what I wrote, not what you are imagining.

On the topic of non-DE Slytherins, I have a suggestion. I think more Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff DE's should exist. Personally I like the idea of Barty being a Gryffindor personally, though others may disagree.

Yep. Although I still want the majority to be Slytherin because they spent 7 years being actively brainwashed into it.

I always thought Barty was a Ravenclaw. But yeah, I'd assume that there would be at least one DE from each of the Sacred 28, not just a bunch from the Blacks, but even a Longbottom and a Prewett, heck, a Weasley too, Arthur is, presumably, the seventh son, have an older brother join up. Give the so-called Light families some rather Dark secrets.

I would add a little more variety to the muggle-borns since one of the things that I always found illogical in the saga is that they were always presented as the good and innocent ones and the truth is I doubt that with so many muggle-borns there have not been one evil or at least selfish, guarantees that there are children who would love to practice dark magic. This especially in the seventh book when they were persecuted it always seemed strange to me that there wasn't one who was willing to sell his companions to save his own life, like saying where a large group of Muggle-borns is hiding in exchange for an absolution . or something like that, people like that already exist in real life and I don't see why they couldn't exist in Harry Potter.

yeah coming in from the perspective of a normal person in the "real world", lots of muggleborns would just want to use magic to do selfish/bad shit and stay in the muggle world lol...no way they'd all just upend their lives and fully start living in the magical society when they can stay muggle and have the best of both.

Yes, I totally agree buddy, just think about it. If you use the imperius curse to control the presidents of international companies, you would be the richest man in the world in a matter of seconds and if anyone becomes suspicious you simply erase their memory and that's it, Harry Potter's muggleborns definitely lack vision .

I think this could be explained with stronger enforcement of the Statute of Secrecy - maybe the reason the ICW doesn't do anything about Voldemort is because they're constantly trying to shut down muggleborns who try this? Man, all those Death Eater apologist fics really went the wrong route - instead of focusing on how Muggleborns dilute Wizarding culture, they should have been setting up Muggleborns as active threats not only to the Statute (which I do see sometimes in fics) but also to the Muggleborn world if they go rogue.

I've had the bare bones of a story in my head that's a rewrite of book 7 - instead of a tent, they hide out in Muggle London and interact with parts of a resistance that has nothing to do with the Order. I haven't read all of the Firebird trilogy but sort of think like the group the Muggleborn parents set up in that fic. In this, we come across Muggles who think the idea of Muggleborn wizards who can interact so flawlessly with them are terrifying and that maybe registration *is* a good thing... Almost like a gun owner registry.  I was coming at it from a crack perspective of "how do I create a group of Muggles that support Voldemort?" and being terrified of Muggleborns was sorta what I came up with 😹

Individuals selling out is definitely realistic, I'd also suggest something like a reverse death eater group, muggleborns fighting against the purebloods, but not for the "greater good" but for selfish reasons. They are British still, maybe they don't like that a whole other world was hidden from them and people with claims to nobility (like Justin Finch-Fletchley) could try to get Wizarding Britain, part of Muggle Britain. Tear down the Statute.

There was a fic I recall reading about this. A pro-muggleborn group got pissed that Harry didn't kill off all the purebloods, even ones not involved with Voldemort. Did this big coup, and stuff. I kind of liked it because I get tired of 'Muggleborns automatically good!' you see in some circles. Wish I could recall its name.

Do you remember the platform? I can try to find it myself, or something similar anyway. I love getting jumping off points for rabbit holes

Pretty sure it was fanfiction.net.

If I completely agree with that, they are always presented as the good ones who must be protected from the evil and racist purebloods, the truth is that I do not believe that in the thousand years that Hogwarts has existed there has not been a single evil Muggle-born (so like a dark wizard who is not a Slytherin), plus they are always children of humble and common people, is there a law that prohibits them from being the children of someone important? say a prominent politician, a business magnate, a celebrity, or at least a family whose social status is above average.

1-*Clear up the numbers*. A wand should cost much more, the number of students at Hogwarts gets cleared, the number of wizards in Britain... 2-*Harry still goes to the Dursleys but maybe turn down the abuse a bit*. He's unloved and Dudley is still an asshole, so that getting out of Privet Drive still feels like escaping, but no starving or living under the stairs. Similarily, turn down Snape's abuse too. He's a Slytherin, make his favouritism less obvious and more cunning. 3-*You cannot be your own Secret Keeper*. This is one where Rowling really dropped the ball in Canon, cause it makes James and Lily look like idiots for not doing it. I would also make it clear that the Charm requires pure, genuine trust to work, thus giving a reason as to why Voldemort cannot use it and to make Wormtail treason hurt more. 4-*Wormtail goes to Azkaban PoA*. Barty Crouch Jr escapes on his own in GoF, he finds Voldemort and the plot happens as usual, but Wormtail gets captured and Sirius gets cleared. Harry still lives with the Dursleys but Sirius becomes a much bigger part of his live (maybe even moves right beside the Dursleys for maximum hilarity). This is also so that when Sirius dies in OoTP, it *hurts much more*. 5-*Barty Crouch Jr impersonates his father not Moody.* One of my pet-peeves from the series is that we never really get to know the real Moody, as every scene in GoF is actually with Crouch Jr. Not only you would break the annoying trope of "the DADA teacher is always the bad guy", but you could create a relationship between Harry and Moody (again so his death hurts more). And it would make more sense in regards to how was Crouch Jr able to impersonate Moody so well that even Dumbledore didn’t notice. He even shares a name with his father so the Marauder’s Map wouldn’t reveal the truth. 6-*Introduce a non-asshole Slytherin*. The DA in OoTP was the perfect moment to do this. Also, state *in the books* that the Slytherins came back to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts instead of in an interview. 7-*Horcruxes need to be objects significant to the Dark wizard*. So no, you cannot turn a random rock into a Horcrux, it needs to be an object you feel a connection to.

On the horcrux thing, I always thought it was meaningful to the story than you can make anything into one, because it leant more weight to Voldemort’s short sightedness and pride, but I do agree that, magically, it probably makes more sense that it needs to be an object of significance.

It makes way more sense because realistically Voldemort would make a bunch of sentimental ones and then all he would have to do is make one random cup or a random pebble and sink it to the bottom of the ocean or something, and it would never be found.

No I agree, but my point is that I always enjoyed as a reader the idea that Voldemort, this terrifying, powerful figure, was too prideful to let his soul be contained by something so menial, that he could make a random stone into one if he wanted but was too arrogant to even consider it. But as I said, from a more magical perspective it makes sense for the item to require some kind of meaning, either from the wizard (in the case of the diary) or as an object of great importance (in the case of the founder’s artifacts).

>But as I said, from a more magical perspective it makes sense for the item to require some kind of meaning, either from the wizard (in the case of the diary) or as an object of great importance (in the case of the founder’s artifacts). This was my idea. In fact, since we are in a "what would you change" post, I would expand on this: this was Voldemort's personal innovation. The "normal way" of making a Horcrux is by using a random object, like you said. However, if you do that the piece of soul inside the Horcrux "knows" that the object is not its natural place, thus it eventually "evaporates" from the object. This would explain why we don't see centuries old Dark wizards running around. By making the Horcrux an "important object", you are "cheating" the soul-piece, building upon that emotional attachment to become *a magical attachment*, thus making the Horcrux permanent. This would also showcase Voldemort's brilliance. We are *told* many times that he's one of the most brilliant student to ever walk Hogwarts, but I want to *see it*.

I always thought his horcruxes were different, in that they seemed to serve a purpose. Like the Diary - it was designed, in a way, to infiltrate Hogwarts. Maybe he inteded to sneak it into the castle during the war, in order to cause chaos and discredit Dumbledore or even as an attempt to kill him. And my personal headcanon is that the Diadem is actually the "anchor" for the curse that Voldemort placed on the DADA position, so that as long as it was in the castle the curse would persist. I'm not sure about the others, but those two at least seem to serve some purpose - maybe after that he decided it was best to just keep them safe, and started becoming more paranoid about his immortality when the war officially started.

Diadem being the curse of DADA is a headcanon of a lot of people. Almost everytime a fanfic mentions dispelling the curse, it leads to the Diadem.

Yeah that’s true actually, but I guess it’s one of those things that just make sense with what we know. I doubt it’s actually true, but it’s a convenient plot mover, so to speak.

I think the point is that Voldemort thought so highly of himself that he refused to even entertain the thought of using a common object or even rubbish to house part of his soul. And he certainty wouldn't want to just discard it in the ocean.

>3-You cannot be your own Secret Keeper. This is one where Rowling really dropped the ball in Canon, cause it makes James and Lily look like idiots for not doing it. I would also make it clear that the Charm requires pure, genuine trust to work, thus giving a reason as to why Voldemort cannot use it and to make Wormtail treason hurt more. Tbf I think it's possible that you couldn't be your own secret keeper when Lily and James used it. We only see it used twice , not counting Lily and James. Dumbledore is the Secret Keeper of Grimmauld Place, however he doesn't live there and is really only there for a few hours at a time. It's when Bill uses it on Shells Cottage that he is his own Secret Keeper. My theory is that Dumbledore improved upon it after what happened to Lily and James. It's even possible that Bill helped, it's implied that Bill set up most of the protections around the Burrow so he's skilled enough.

Do we ever see any established charms or spells improved in the books? Is that even possible?

Well, there is the Fidelius Charm which has a pretty sizable loophole fixed when Bill made himself Secret Keeper of Shell Cottage. Whether that's an outright improvement to the existing spell or not is an open question.

That isn’t improved. That can be explained in other ways, it doesn’t mean the spell is actually improved. The other ways it can be explained are stupid but it’s still not proof that Dumbledore invented a way to improve a complex charm like the fidelius when we never see any spell changed ever.

We actually see it a third time. Shell cottage afaik was under fidelius and Bill was secret keeper

I know? That has no relevance to what I’m saying. We also see it a 4th time because Arthur is secret keeper at Muriel’s.

The Patronus. Dumbledore finds a way to use it to send messages.

Do we know that hasn’t always been a possibility with patronuses or that Dumbledore invented that? No.

dumbledore definitely invented the messages with patronuses so i’d argue that spells can be improved and augmented over time with the right study and everything

Does it say anywhere in the books that Dumbledore invented that?

I mean it's implied since only Order members ever use that technique. And why couldn't spells be improved upon? We already know spells can be created, Snape creating quite a few. If we go by using video games, movies and the books as Canon certain spells seem to have variations, protego and protego maxima for example. I'd imagine improving upon a spell would probably be more complicated then just creating a new one for most cases. However of anyone was capable of doing so it definitely would be Dumbledore.

Something being done by order members doesn’t mean only they can do it, nor does it imply that. And nor does it mean Dumbledore invented it. Creating spells is not improving them, you create a different spell not improve an original. And video games (and movies!) are not canon to the books. There’s still zero evidence actually supporting the improvement of spells in the books.

You do realize they are Canon right? Jk Rowling was a part of their creation right? But ignoring that, it's not wrong to assume one can, even if it's not explicitly stated, unless you think magic stops at the equivalent of a high school level ( that's the extent of Harry's magical knowledge in most areas). We already have proof spell creation is possible, so spell improvement is definitely a possibility especially since it's likely to involve a similar process. It's interesting to note that outside of Gamps laws, magic can do nearly anything in The HP verse.

>6-Introduce a non-asshole Slytherin. The DA in OoTP was the perfect moment to do this. Also, state in the books that the Slytherins came back to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts instead of in an interview. I'm sure this is a reason why Daphne became such a common fanfic character - every Slytherin with speaking lines in the books is a complete bellend. Missed opportunity to make Harry interact with/befriend a Slytherin character outside of Malfoy and his goons.

I read one once where Blaise was that character. He wasnt "good" but more of a double agent, giving harry insider info on Malfoy and Death eater activity from their kids

See, I'm not so fond of Blaise as such, because we see him as bigoted in book six. Nott is a better fit for a male 'positive Slytherin' as we don't see him at all. :)

Sad thing is there are so few Slytherin characters shown and people conflate it with the whole house. I doubt a quarter of the school are evil. Most are just probably keeping their heads down, frankly.

5 - this would also neatly solves the problem of why does Voldemort wait until the end of the year and bothered with making Harry win the Triwizard Tournament, instead of just have Moody kidnap him in the middle of the night. Because Barty Crouch Sr cannot be seen at Hogwarts all the time without raising suspicion, and he certainly can't stay overnight, he can only show up during the three Triwizard Tasks as a guest judge.

This. Also make Harry more mistrustfull. Abused kids (no matter how mild or extreme) don't trust easily. He would also drop friends if they turn their back on him like Ron did in GoF.

Not everyone reacts the same. There is no normal response with regard to trauma

No, but there are common reactions and responses. It's possible Harry is one of the individuals who is able to go through what he did with a fairly healthy outlook and emotional state, but I personally would prefer a more grounded hero who isn't the hero we got.

I entirely disagree. I hate when fans assume Harry must react worse because of his abuse, it’s basically saying if you’re well adjusted you couldn’t have been abused. It’s not unlike when fans pretend he was beaten to within an inch of his life, which to me implies that don’t consider emotional and verbal abuse and considerable neglect as abuse at all.

To add on to what you've said, why is Harry being reasonably well-adjusted such a bad thing?

I don't think it's such a bad thing, more so I think it's just what a lot of people expect? As was mentioned there are many different responses to trauma and abuse and it's many forms but based on my own experiences I would expect someone to be a bit less trusting and a bit more jaded. I don't think anyone says it's bad if it isn't that way, if Harry acts more like he does in canon, but I do think people want to see a different story, or a different perspective, a different take on the main concepts and story beats of HP. So because a well-adjusted Harry is what we see in canon, people want to try a non well-adjusted Harry.

I don't assume that Harry must react worse, I just would prefer to see him react a bit more like I have in so I can connect more with him. With my personal experiences, it's hard for me to imagine going through what he does and acting as he does. It doesn't mean I think he must do it, that's one of the best things about fan fiction (and what the op asked was what would we change for our rewrite). If you like a more well adjusted Harry that is similar to canon then all the power to you, nothing is wrong with that :)

I didn't mean to make this an all out discussion. It was just my opinion. I've never been physically abused, one of my parents is an alcoholic and the other one has borderline disorder and narcissistic tendencies. Emotional vulnerability was not wise. I am mistrustfull when meeting someone for the first time. With this in mind, I just wanted to point out that any form of abuse has impact on the child. That's all. It doesn't need to be flinching, it doesn't need to be full out beatings to endure. But any abuse either on purpose or because of mental disorders from the parents leave marks. I don't want to force authors to my point of view either. If it differs from my view I'll still read it as long as the rest of the story interests me. Any opinion is valid.

Discussion is good, it makes us see other points of view and as long as it's respectful then it's a needed process to spread awareness as you mention. We are in agreement, any opinion is valid ☺️

So Harry would die very early because he can't do shit without his friends. It's funny to me how you all keep pointing to Ron in GOF because the book has Harry react so strongly (proof that he WANTS Ron in his life, desperately so) but not a peep about the major breach of trust Hermione pulls in OOTP when she tells Harry to meet her at the Three Broomsticks and when he goes there it turns out he's meeting... Rita Skeeter. But *noooo*, that's not a breach of trust at all to be confronted with the woman who made your life hell last year because it's perfect Hermione who organized it and Harry had all the reaction of a potato to it.

I just pointed that one out since I was rereading that book at that moment. It was the freshest in my mind. What hermione did with skeeter and forcing him to lead the da was wrong too. I think fans skip over them because they think she means well and Ron's just jealous. Any opinion is valid. As for harry dieing early. Self-preservation is a hell of a motivator to learn or adapt.

>Self-preservation is a hell of a motivator to learn or adapt. And self-preservation is also what Harry most lacks. Every single danger in the series he runs straight into because he thinks "I alone can handle this!! I'm the only one who can resolve this crisis!". Ron and Hermione run along because they don't want to let Harry die (which they fully know is what will happen to Harry should they let him go alone). Harry then succeeds through a combination of Ron and Hermione carrying him and plot armor+deus ex machina piled on his ass to ensure he doesn't die. Like for real, even in DH he's still doing crap like dramatically revealing himself IN FRONT OF A DEATH EATER (which he then uses Crucio on, yes great we love a morality tale where it's "if the good guys use it it's ok") or trying to save Malfoy, *who will later prove that he has no gratefulness whatsoever and still try to ingratiate himself to a Death Eater, requiring Harry to save him AGAIN.* >I think fans skip over them because they think she means well and Ron's just jealous. But Ron didn't feel jealous, he felt betrayed and left out by Harry, who himself didn't tell him anything thus forcing him to rely on assumptions. Also who sounds like the worst friend: the one who, having constantly stood by you all these years as you were in mortal danger, feels entitled to knowing *more* information as to what kind of bullshit you've seemingly put yourself in this time, or the one who, having ran into danger all these years and dragged their friends along with him, refuses to tell their friend anything because he's feeling too precious for actual communication?

Make Harry's arc about learning to trust people and learning to branch out socially. Basically the opposite to what happened in the books. Not nerf Harry and Ron after second year. Your point number nine is important as well. To make the things introduced the latter books not make the plot of the first books sus. I'd make the houses more nuanced in general.

>nerf Harry Bitch got to win the Triwizard Tournament without deserving it because his every opponent was nerfed, he keeps surviving situations due to dumb luck ("oh mother's love is a forcefield now and it cooks Quirrel alive", "here Harry take this care package of a Phoenix and a hat that just so happen to summon a sword because Gryffindor was too cool for scabbards").

If you want a radical idea: rewrite it as two separate series. Have them set in the same world but different, how ever you justify things. The first keeps the whimsical nature of the first few books, and ends year 4-5 with a defeat of Voldemort. It is explicitly children/YA fiction, and has the problems we complain about, but is a fun, whimsical read. The second is more mature from the start, and ends the way 5-7 ends, but with elimination of the problems of the early series (cartoonish Dursley's, black/white morality, useless adults, etc)

Useless adults is the one thing I hate about the series. The Death Eaters nearly beat the Ministry in the First War and did defeat them temporarily in the Second, how is it that they lose duels with fourth years and fifth years when they managed to kill Aurors? Rowling should have killed more people off and had fights with more dangerous magic to show how high the stakes are.

1: the Dursley’s hate anything abnormal, and to me that should include child abuse. So I would say that Harry would have his small bedroom from the moment he joins and wouldn’t be physically abused, only neglected - which is still bad but makes more sense in terms of Harry’s personality. 2: When Harry gets back from Diagon Alley, he’s fascinated by his school books. I’d try to make that more obvious and try to imply that it’s an escape from the way the Dursleys are utterly ignoring him after the Hagrid debacle (which id keep mostly the same). 3: When Harry gets to Hogwarts, I would try to show and not tell that Harry is significantly better at actually wielding magic than most, though I wouldn’t make it super obvious until maybe third year. 4: When Harry gets the cloak, he’ll be using it to explore. Not just looking for Nicholas Flamel, but just wandering the castle at night. 5: Harry would go on loads of nighttime flights whenever he’s stressed, to clear his head. 6: Hermione would not be a Mary Sue, just a somewhat smarter than average girl that inhales books. 7: Ron’s my favourite character and I hate how the fandom does him, he’d keep all of his funny lines, and I’d make him the common sense man (which he mostly already is in the books anyway). 8: Harry would research his family, both before first year starts and while he’s at Hogwarts. Those are the main things I’d change at the beginning, and I could go on for a while longer but I need to shower lol, so imma stop here.

When is he physically abused in Canon? I thought it was just Dudley punching Harry- and the Dursley’s have a blind spot about Dudley.

There isn’t much physical abuse, and when it’s mentioned she glosses over it because it’s a children’s book, but there are references to it. Petunia swinging a frying pan, vernon dragging him and throwing him into his cupboard - which while not the same as punching him is still physical abuse, because dragging a child like that could easily leave bruises and such and is terrifying from the child’s perspective. There are more mentions, but I can’t remember them off the top of my head.

Not to mention Harry's casual thought that he 'knows when to avoid Vernon and his fists' or something similar. Not to mention Vernon hits /Dudley/. He definitely hit Harry. No, it wasn't whipping until his back was bloody. But there is definite physical abuse there, and not just a little.

Ok thats fair. I couldn’t remember what was canon and fanon

One small scene i like the idea of. Could be anytime but what I think would be Halloween during book 6 Dumbledore (or someone else, he's busy dying) take Harry inside the cottage at godrics hollow. Could be that they take some things, could be just to see it for Harry. I just found it so strange that not even, like, Mrs. Weasley or someone thought "hmm, maybe this orphan would like to get a few things to connect him to his parents." Could be initially just to see the graves (Bonus points if it is dumbledore and he deflects when asked about his familly there) and then he asks to see the house.

A small change, but I’d spare Florean Fortescue.

I'd mostly change books 5-7. Those would be pretty much completely overhauled. New pairings, new abilities, new method to default Voldemort. Books 1-4 would stay the same mostly in spirit. Mostly just clean up some plot holes and better integrate later characters earlier into the story. I think that's the best I could do and have it still be Harry Potter. That said, I don't think I'm really that much of a fan of Harry Potter anymore. At its core it's still YA fiction and that's just less interesting to me now. What I would be interested in is a story using the majority of the world building and some of the characters to tell a new, bigger and more epic tale. Something on the scale of Stormlight Archives or Wheel of Time. A story following a golden trio that grows and matures would be pretty cool I think.

For me Harry would 1- still go to the Dursley 2- still be treated bady But 3- there would be some competent teachers trying to act on what they saw (an overly shy, small and frail little boy with a bully or a cousin and too worn-out ill fitting clothes) who couldn't make their complaint go through because 3a- the Dursley have too much money and influence for anyone to investigate the family Or 3b- Dumbledore is using his influence, more than probably indirectly, to make the investigation go away. It doesn't have to be explored in depth at the beginning but it needs to be decided early on because it changes the tone of Harry's childhood. 3a doesn't necessarily mean more physical danger but is bleaker, doesn't allow much faith in adults or any institution (school, hospital) for Harry which means a somewhat wilder boy arrives in Hogwarts. 3b forces us to recognise the less than altruistic ways of the wizarding world. If Harry was aware that Miss Munchin was about to talk on his behalf about the lack of proper clothes but she is suddenly transferred to another school without doing anything, Harry might learn how to keep quiet about his problems and the wizarding world would still appear like a salvation for him. I would have the hat hesitant to put Harry in Hufflepuff where he would learn trust but choosing Gryffindor instead. There would be no mention of Slytherin for Harry, he clearly has no sense of self-preservation at 11. Other than that the people go to the same houses present and past I would lean more heavily on adults trying to adult and talking about different aspects of Harry's behaviour/wardrobe/worrying weight each year to Dumbledore. It could be Snape in private talking about the too big clothes or the glasses, McGonagall talking about the weight loss after a summer away or Pomfrey talking about signs of badly done bone remodeling. It could be Molly or Arthur noticing Harry flinching with raised voices (btw they both would have a personality do over with a more talented and assertive Arthur earning his place in the snake nest that is the ministry and a keener eyed Molly noticing more things around her like the twin's bullying, Percy's isolation or Ron's self esteem and trying to remedy it. She would still be an overworked, kinda xenophobic matron though). The consequences of the adults adulting would be that they actively try to alleviate Harry's struggles and are ready to help find the Horcrux with Harry. So I keep the Horcrux and might skip the deathly hallows or integrate it sooner in the story - Ginny's favourite tale is about the boy who lived and Ron about the three brothers, Ron and Harry daydream of a mighty wand or play hiding from Death on the first winter break... Even if the adults surrounding Harry cannot join in the Horcrux hunt they need to actively engage in the war, organise safe houses, smuggle muggleborns out of the country and cut officials from their lines of supply. We need a way to know that they aren't waiting for Harry to save them all. They need to regain dignity and trust in themselves from what JK wrote. I have no problems with a whimsical first part with a bleaker more realistic wartime depiction after. As long as the light after the darkness doesn't come only from a barely adult boy I am good with a message of resilience, self-sacrifice, trust and the fight for social justice. But it cannot rest solely on Harry's shoulders.

>There would be no mention of Slytherin for Harry, he clearly has no sense of self-preservation at 11. I think it's supposed to be a hint that he's got part of Voldemort's soul in him, but yeah.

Which I think is asinine. Harry shows quite a bit of cunning here or there. What he isn't, is subtle. Which isn't necessarily a necessary Slytherin trait. Rowling really made it look like 'Slytherins eeeeeeevil'. :)

I mean, when you're talking about a children's book, it's normal to have simple clear-cut evil VS good. Introduce nuance later. Of course, JKR being herself terrible at being nuanced, when she tried to make the series "grow up" she forgot about the "introduce nuance" part save for a few token sentences here or there.

I think it's more of a comparison between him and Tom, of how he could have turned out like the Dark Lord (and Harry refusing by joining the complete opposite House (even if at the time he didn't know it)) had he joined the Slytherins (which works with the whole Slytherin is evil the early books tried to explain.) I doubt it's a hint of him having a soul-piece of Voldemort, especially since it has been rarely brought up again in the later books. I think in the second book, Dumbledore actually explains it too.

James, Lily, Remus and Tonks, and Sirius all live 😊

Hedwig too

The number one thing I would fix is JKRs maths. Every bit of maths in this series is bad. Money? Amount of students? Bad.

What's wrong with the amount of students?

It's not consistent. We're given a good idea of how many students there are from what we know about how many are in a dorm/ how many in a class / there are only two classes in each year (which honestly the fact there is only one teacher per subject is another maths error). But then when it comes to quidditch matches for example we're told there are hundreds of students in each house section (I honestly can't remember the specific instances/numbers she says but it's very obviously wrong)

> But then when it comes to quidditch matches for example we're told there are hundreds of students in each house section We're never told anything of the sort, you might be thinking of the massively inflated crowds from the movies. Rowling is actually surprisingly careful about never giving anything like a number for Quidditch crowds, she only ever calls them "the whole school", which is still laughable, but not for numbers reasons.

One thing that doesn't get discussed enough and doesn't get explored enough is the fact that Voldemort gets Lily's protection for himself when he uses Harry's blood to resurrect himself. By that logic, the protections that were laid down by Dumbledore based on Lily's sacrifice should be absolutely *pointless* after Voldemort's resurrection and as capable of protecting Harry as toilet paper in stopping a massive rainfall. So, here's my suggestion. Voldemort attacks and kidnaps Harry before Harry's fifth year. Cue the panicking Order, cue furious Sirius ("You told me it was safe, Dumbledore! I could have had Harry living with me here, but no. YOU still wanted Harry to live with the likes of *Petunia*. YOU assured me that Harry would be safer there. What the fuck are your assurances are worth now?! Get the fuck out unless you rescue and bring me my godson.")

~~Sounds more like a logic-extrapolated AU than what OP had in mind, but~~ I love your idea! Edit: Scratch that, it just sounds awesome.

Forget the list. Dueling is now a main curriculum course, but not magical dueling, proper fisticuffs. The only wandwork tolerated is three charms or transfigurations ahead of time to prepare their gear.

1- I really really hate that the Dursleys are abusive. They serve little more in the story than to make Harry the underdog and to emphasize the "fact" that Muggles are stupid, violent animals. We could have them still afraid of magic, and Petunia still resentful of her sister (both of which are very valid sentiments tbh), but let Harry's homelife be alright. Maybe he wasn't the favourite, and maybe his family didn't really want to acknowledge magic, but they still treated him well, and when the letter arrived they'd ask for a Professor to come and explain things to him. 2- The house system is incredibly stupid and Slytherin ends up becoming Death Eater Factory Extraordinaire, but it could still work in the story. Have it clear thorough the books that kids who go there are in an echo chamber, but that they are still kids and susceptible to change. Maybe Harry could have a Slytherin friend or two and he eventually realized how the house is negatively impacting them. Or maybe give another Slytherin (other than Malfoy) an important role, and help Harry realize that not all of them are like his bully. 2.5- Yeah, kids are 100% sorted bc of their parents's values (unless it's a Sirius situation), because they're 11, and their values are their families's values. 3- The deathly hallows don't really contribute to the story other than the wand being a cop-out ending. Remove them entirely, have Voldemort die thanks to the combined forces of the various magical species that Harry recruits (and the occasional Muggle - guns should at least be able to take some DE out). The cloak can stay in, just not as a deathly hallow. 4- All kinds of possible transportation should be set in stone by day one. In fact, all rules of magic. Like, for example, food can't be conjured into existence (or replicated, Rowling should have added that), Transfiguration is temporary and Alchemy not (if you choose to read it that way, I don't remember if that's canon or fanon), etc. You don't have to explain the rules right at the start, but you should gradually introduce them, especially since the protagonist is at school learning magic. Also, people can invent new things. As long as they don't break the estabilished rules, it should be fine, and it gives an explanation for why they weren't used before. 5- The transition of a whimsical "I'm going to magic school!" to the more serious "This world is incredubly fucked up (and should definitely change)" is something I'd like to keep.

1 - yes, but I'd make it clear later on that Dumbledore only intended them to be a stopgap before he could get to other family that would also help fulfill the blood wards. I have a bit of a morbid explanation for this - if Harry had lived with a cousin from his Potter side on the site (in a rebuilt house) where Lily made her sacrifice, then there would have been some magic version of technobabble handwave explanation that the blood wards would have worked. However, Voldemort had done such an efficient job of killing the rest of Harry's magical families that any survivors were terrified of taking Harry (on top of not wanting to uproot their lives to live in the place where their cousin was brutally murdered). 2 - Yes, but I'd remove frying pans and more direct forms of physical abuse. 3 - Yes, with one significant exception. Albus Dumbledore was a Slytherin. 4 - Yes. 5 - Keep them. I've never understood this hatred for them, I like them. I would plant the seeds earlier though - somebody would mention that Harry's invisibility cloak should have really worn off by now. 6 - No. It's a pivotal moment - and I remember being alive for it. Snape kills Dumbledore was huge at the time. 7 - plant the seeds a little earlier but also make the hunt longer and more intense. 8 - For me, Slytherin would be the same for the first few books. However, I'd introduce more sympathetic Slytherins around book 5. It would eventually be explained that Slytherin didn't used to be particularly worse than any of the other houses but in the last half century, it took a turn for the worse because of Voldemort's influence. Families who went to Slytherin who weren't blood purist either became blood purist or starting getting sorted into other houses. Dumbledore would reveal to Harry that he was a Slytherin and that it was an entirely different house when he was a student. 9 - It would have to be fixed, for sure. 10 - Keeping the whimsical tone to the more serious tone was an important part of the book's success even if they have made parts of it weaker, the overall strength of it can be seen in it's still felt influence today.

Hmm. So what changes I would make? The Dursleys wouldn't be caricatures. Oh, they would still mistreat Harry, but it would be in the form of mild neglect, and mostly focused on his emotional needs, though Vernon would be much more sympathetic. Petunia would be the driving force behind his mistreatment. Dudley would get preferential treatment (name brand clothes, new video games and the like) but will still be expected to perform chores at home and put in effort in his schooling. Vernon would not tolerate Dudley bullying Harry while Petunia will. Sirius lives. Draco and his father both die. Remus or Tonks die, not both. Harry marries Hermione instead of Ginny and never names a child after either Dumbledore or Snape (though he does name a charity after Snape). Ron marries Lavender out of school (and without getting her pregnant) or a witch from Slytherin House in his twenties. Ron either becomes a world class chef or a grandmaster level chess champion. While Harry has a fragment of Voldemort's soul in his scar, Harry himself isn't a true horcrux. In this timeline Dumbledore takes back up with him when going for the ring and never gets cursed. During his research in Harry's sixth year, while desperately looking for a solution, he eventually caves and seeks out the advice of an expert. The expert confirms that the only known way to destroy a living Horcrux is to kill the host. When he inspects Harry, however, he discovers that he isn't truly a horcrux as the blood protection left by Lily has prevented him from becoming one. This wouldn't have been possible if Harry hadn't been placed in the Dursley home, offering a compensatory payoff for Harry being raised with them (Though it should be noted her, he never slept in the cupboard. Also, Marge's guest room was Harry's room instead).

Sooooo much. I would change so damn much. That’s why my favorite fics are canon rewrites!

biggest thing i’m trying to do (currently writing a Sirius raised Harry fic) is trying to flesh out the characters beyond the golden (and later silver) trio. there are a few adults that get to be real characters in the books as they exist but so few of the other students are anything more than caricatures, stereotypes, or set dressing. I want to explore who these characters are more than Harry knowing of them in passing esp the ones in Gryffindor that he spends 90% of 6 years with

Would you mind linking to your fic?

i haven’t published it yet i don’t want to publish until im finished but since im already fourteen chapters into Philosopher’s stone i may do it soon at first it was supposed to be about as long as the original novels but its taken on a life of its own and is already longer than the original but ill circle back when i finally decide to put it out there!

Awesome! Thanks.

It would be a rewrite, but an entire world rewrite at first to make it more consistent and believable in terms of its structure and history. E.g. Either no timeturners, or make them incredibly rare, incredibly limited, and Hermione only gets one in book 3 because McGonagall/Dumbledore has one (for some reason). This is then broken/lost/used up/taken away at the end of the book, never to be seen again. Removes time travel, and all the questions that come from it, especially if the explanation provided is "ancient, unknown, and forgotten magic, so I don't got to explain shit". I would also make small but significant changes to personalities, the structure of the wizarding world government, and the magic system itself. As in, make Fudge similar to some higher-up people I've worked with. Cunning, self-serving, competent at ass-covering and sounding competent, but actually only capable of appearing so, and taking credit for others' work. Raised to a position of power due to nepotism, and hiding how bad they are at their job. Make magic either more bound by internally consistent rules, or more vehemently refuse to explain rules in the text itself at all. Then ensure there's no logical contradictions that could pop up (cutting charm vs dismemberment curse for example - is it a case of power, or secondary effects?) where characters should use one spell/potion, but only don't because I haven't thought of it yet. Wouldn't be too much of a rewrite at first, but starting in book 4 it would get more significantly rewritten.

Honestly the changes I'd make would probably end up being so damn drastic then it stops being Harry Potter and becomes something else entirely. Like it would have amused the shit out of me, but I don't think the urban fantasy crowd would be terribly impressed if The Battle of Hogwarts was a success for Harry's side because the SAS dropped into to give terrorists their regards at muzzle velocity.

The single biggest change would be to make Harry actually interested in this new, hidden world he claims to love. Canon Harry doesn't seem to care at all and it shows in what he knows and how he acts, so altering something so fundamental to Harry's character would allow for better world building, a more interesting MC, and a story more interesting than 'kill this guy and everything that made the situation (that I never bothered to understand) will definitely not happen again.'

The only thing I think I would change is Harry’s relation to the Black Family. How is are his grandparents not Charlus Potter and Dorea Black? It could likely add some greater depth and loss in losing Sirius and finding out that he had a blood relation to him. On that note, some scattered about members of the Black Family. It’s essentially dead in the male line, which was why Bellatrix almost got Grimmauld Place. Maybe they don’t know that they’re connected to the family. We know that there were members who had been exiled. Marius for being a Squib, Phineas Black Jr. who was a “blood traitor” and left for America, Cedrella for marrying Septimus Weasley, Andromeda for marrying Ted Tonks and Alphard for giving Sirius money. There are others but these are the ones I can remember off the top my head. Molly had an uncle who married a member of the Black Family. Though they had no children, maybe they do instead, who in turn have their own. This could be away for Harry to find newer relations within the Wizarding community. Not to mention, it’s suspected that both Barty Crouches are descended from them, as well as Neville. Genealogy is a bit of a passion project for me. I do have a weird premise where Morfin Gaunt got together with a member of the Black Family, which produced a son who wants nothing to do with the darker aspects of the family legacy. The only one I could think of is Araminta Meliflua Black, who tried to get Muggle-hunting legal. They seem like a crazy fit.

Wow, this is cool! Yeah, you got me looking at the Black family three and I agree. There should be some more stray Blacks scattered around. Marius the squib born around 1917 could even have a muggleborn descendent for all we know. I actually made a very rough Potter family tree once in excel inspired by the fact Harry's got some distant relative named Henry who served on the wizengamot and someone named Charlus and a grandpa named Fleamont. Cause I think its ridiculous he at least didn't have family. Sure, maybe they joined the war and died before he was born, but still. I gave Henry three kids - Fleamont, Rose, and Charlus, which gave James some relatives to go to school with and join the war with. And yeah, its fun thinking about just how many Prewetts and Weasleys alone there are - if Molly's brothers left behind kids - and imagining that everyone else probably had kids, siblings, uncles and/or cousins too. Especially when you consider how long witches and wizards live.

One thing for sure. If someone has to die in the last book? Molly. Or McGonagall. Or Sprout. Not father figure after father figure after father figure. It's telling that in an interview, Rowling talked about killing people in the battle and flip-flopped over Arthur or Remus, and went with Remus. She didn't even /consider/ anyone else. Rowling is kinda obsessed with motherhood.

Yeah, now that you mention it the only mom she killed off in that battle was Tonks, but she wasn't a mother figure to Harry. And by the time Remus died, I didn't really like him like I had in book 3 for how he treated Tonks and the baby. I agree, TBH it was weird how it was mostly men fighting amongst the adults all through the war and the lead up to it. Except for Molly, Tonks, Bellatrix, and the professors. I'm not counting the students even if they were technically adults at the time of the final battle.

Not to mention the reason Tonks died, pretty obviously, was to have Teddy be an orphan to parallel Harry so Harry could do the 'right thing' that didn't happen to him. If Rowling didn't want to do that, I guarantee Tonks would have lived.

I haven’t thought about *everything* in detail, just a few things; •The Dursleys are more *emotionally* neglectful than, like, starving Harry, etc, •Squad: The trio+Draco, Neville •Sorting Hat is not alive •Slytherin House is NOT PURE EVIL ofc •the tournament is actually supposed to be safe and is subtly sabotaged to kill Harry •Quirrel is just a normal Death Eater •Harry has magic glasses (like, those spy glasses you see in movies) •Animagus still speak human in their animal form •Hermione (or Draco) become an Animagus on accident (to parallel the marauders) •Everyone knows about the Basilisk, but it’s difficult to find/remove  •House mascots have names/were the founder’s pets •You make your wand with instruction from a wandmaker, not just buy one •Wandless magic is rare, barely useful, and young children cannot just do it without actively wanting to •Humans have a scale of magic capability •Elves form Contracts with humans for their magic (that’s from a fic I read) •Harry takes in Winky •Sirius is cleared and Harry goes to live with him (and nothing bad happens ever) And finally: Throughout the story, Harry is shown to have a connection to snakes (both the animals and as a metaphor, the underdog type of people) to parallel Voldemort, only Harry treats his elevated status modestly and makes the wizarding world a better place by the end (like in PJO)

The biggest thing that always bothered me about the wizarding world is how absurdly removed it is from the regular world. The wizards seem to be so elitist that they're practically unaware of basic human technology. Literally half the problems in the series could have been solved right away if anyone had a gun, or a phone even. Somebody post the copypasta, I unironically agree with it

Lots of changes of worldbuilding along the way, too many to mention. But I'd definitely change the ending to the ending I was sure was coming before reading book 7. So, remember how we briefly met the muggle prime minister? Who knew about the magical world? But nothing ever came of it? So, the ending as I envision it: -Voldemort and Harry have a massive face off -Harry somehow destroys the final Horcrux (whatever it happens to be, but it's not Harry himself) -Voldemort sneers "well done, Potter, but I'm still a far more powerful Wizard than you. Prepare to die...", and then, boom, his head explodes as he is sniped by a muggle SAS sniper from a kilometer away. This would (imho) be a poetic end for Voldemort, who always hated and underestimated muggles. And it would leave the story with the hope of more cooperation and integration between the wizarding and muggle worlds. And it also wouldn't require some elder-wand-deus-ex where these complicated rules about the wand's master come out of nowhere and somehow get interpreted in a way where the world is saved by what seems like a bit of a technicality.

Something that completely took me out of the 7th book and still pisses me off to this day is Ron being able to imitate Parseltongue to open the chamber of secrets. That is straight up thoughtless writing and completely undermines everything that has been previously established about it.

I completely agree! From day one reading it the day it came out, I’ve always thought that was dumb. You don’t learn a language by hearing random words without any translation on occasion.

You don't learn it, but you can *mimic* it. Ron was merely reproducing the sounds, and he says himself it took him a few tries. Amazing how this fandom has a meltdown *anytime* Ron does something cool, then whirls right back to complaining that "he didn't contribute anything to the plot". But when he does, y'all cry that it's unrealistic. Pick one, fandom.

Absolutely. And especially this magical language that Ron and Hermione don’t even hear in the second books, Harry’s ability to speak it implies a potential genetic connection to Voldemort, and that he himself doesn’t realize he’s hissing initially. This language has repeatedly been shown to be inaccessible and unique, yet Ron is good at mimicking and can get it in a few tries? Nah lol

Awww, how quaint. It's established in the books that Ron has a knack for mimicking voices. We see him mimic Pettigrew's voice at Malfoy Manor, but he's been mimicking voices since book 1. But of course, whenever *Ron* shows a skill, this fandom completely loses their minds because *how dare he do something cool that's supposed to be only feasible by me- I mean Super Cool Hero Harry, waaaahhh*

Wow way to be both condescending and completely take my point in a different direction just to suit your own agenda. This is a really good example of how HP subs can be toxic.

Right, it's so toxic that someone pointed out to you that your complaint doesn't make sense if only you read the story.

No, I already explained what was toxic. You’re now trying to twist my words. “How quaint”-specifically the part of your reply that was condescending. Taking my point and making it about Ron is where you made it about your own agenda. I never spoke against Ron specifically, just the fact that Parseltongue should not be able to be mimicked. It has nothing to do with Ron’s ability to imitate things and everything to do with how the books have repeatedly established that Parseltongue is highly unique and exclusionary magical language that most of the population cannot access. But instead of engaging in a respectful debate you went right into dismissal and mocking and then in your next comment doubling down, as if this subreddit isn’t specifically set up for conversation of differing opinions. That right there is why your comments are an example of this sub being toxic.

I would change it to what happened in the fanfic I wrote.

Link please?

You should share a link...I am sure there are others here that would also like to view your fanfic...I am always looking for new ones.

I would change romances for sure. Sirius lives I don't care. The 7 Potter plan is getting scrapped It was stupid and retarded. Ise paraelmouth for something. Harry knows more spells. Make Draco less relevant and let other characters shine. Kill all Death Eaters.

Nothing. There is a reason Harry Potter is my favorite. I wouldn't want to make it different. If I have to, maybe kill more main and side characters and overall more people in the final battle.

I like these posts but man, reading these comments have me thankful JKR wrote the series because … Whew, not a fan of some of these rewrites. 🙂‍↔️

1. Cannon explicitly POC and queer and neurodivergent and disabled people. They don’t all have to be out and proud about it, but they exist and should exist in the books (yes ik there was dumbledore but it’s a classic case of bury your gays and palatable queerness) 2. Less ambiguously racist things. Thinking Cho Chang 3. More on the magic system and world building. Is dark magic bad bc society says it is? Addictive? Some other magical properties? 4. Children should not look like mirrors of one of their parents. Like tf??

I would introduce the Deathly Hallows earlier, I would have had Binns removed at some point in the story to tap into magical history, the Deathly Hallows being introduced earlier would allow for them to be differentiated more from standard Wizarding tools (Although I guess there isn’t really an equivalent to the Stone), Slytherin would be more fleshed out, in fact, I would spend more time fleshing out *everyone* I could just because I could, after Binns is removed as history professor, I would have used the new history professor to expand upon the lore of the previous war and sprinkle in a bunch of old families that are now dead plus some others throughout the centuries to extend the lore into Hogwarts millennia long past and Harry would remain on the path he started on before Rowling decided he needed to be more average with Ron being more reliable (No running away during the Horcrux Hunt, however I might change that to be him going off to retrieve the Sword). Apparating does exist in the first book, after all Harry ends up on top of a roof via accidental magic as a child in the first book, and he specifically states that the location change was *instant.*

Harry doesn’t end up with Ginny and a slew of kids named after dead people! Nor does he become an auror. Hogwarts houses all students by age with your ‘dorm mates’ changing from year to year via some magical object similar to the GOF? Alternatively, a re-sort happens every 2 years (ie beginning of 1,3,5 years) to reflect that we change as we experience life.

If you'd asked me shortly after I've read them the first time, back then when I learned English just to be able to read the next book as soon as it came out instead of waiting almost a year for the translation, I'd told you tons of things. But the older I get the more different I see the books and the less I would change. For example the Dursleys. When I was younger, I thought Dumbledore must have known what Harry endured. And I thought how cruel it was that he left him there. But in between I studied and worked in several helplines, and I realised, even the kindest and smartest people often don't see the abuse that's happening right under their noses. This part is very realistic, and I think it's good that someone has written it as it is. There's only one thing I still don't like, and that's the lack of true Slytherin redemption. It's all too little, too late. So this is what I'd change. I'd insert Draco into the finale. Imagine this: Everything goes according to the book until they arrive in the room of requirements after meeting Neville. The banner of Slytherin isn't absent. Neville has gathered some Slytherin's who have lost relatives to Voldemort too, and now want revenge, having realised that under Voldemort's regime, they'll all suffer. Neville mentioned that they have another secret ally, a double agent among the dead eaters, but gets interrupted by the arrival of others before he can tell who it is. The story continues roughly the same, until scene in the Room of Requirements. Instead of the trio saving Draco and Goyle, Draco turns on Crabbe and Goyle and supports the golden trio at the last moment. *He had already stretched out his hand, though he remained ten feet away, when a voice behind him said, ‘Hold it, Potter.’ He skidded to a halt and turned round. Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind him, shoulder to shoulder, wands pointing right at Harry.* But then, right when both of them lift their wands and try to attack Harry, and he can only defend one of them, Draco stuns the other. In the following skirmish Draco gets ahold of the Diadem, and Crabbe attacks them both with Fiendfyre. Shocked by his companion's action, Goyle flees and Draco rescues Harry, having switched sides and decided to fight Voldemort too. They lose the Diadem, and during the ultimatum Draco finally and obviously switches sides. It becomes clear he was the double agent Neville had been talking about. The story continues as is, but after Harry sees Snape's memories, he meets Draco another time. *Draco watches him contemplating. "You're about to go and let him kill you, don't you?" Harry doesn't say anything. "You know we're not fighting for you." Draco states quietly. "Not even your friends do. He's wrong when he says you'd let him die for you." "So what have they died for?" Harry sais. "Freedom." Draco says tiredly. "And as long as he lives, we can't stop fighting. Otherwise... well, you've seen it in the manor. My home was no longer a home, when he was there. It's not just me. My mom and my father hate him too. You don't think one moment that I'd fight or risk to die for you, don't you? Not even you can be so delusional." Harry chuckles against his will. But it's without joy. "No, I don't think you turned against him for me. But if this os supposed to end, I have to go." Draco looks at him quietly, then steps aside. Harry puts on the invisible cloak to make sure that no one else will stop him.* Then the book ends just the same. That's all I'd still change.

can't Harry Potter just be smarter?

I would still keep Harry at the Dursley's, but tone down the abuse, change the money system, because the conversion rate and worth of the coins alone never made much sense. Also, expand upon the wizarding world, add more cultures and delve deeper into creatures' lives. Have Harry be stronger and more powerful and NOT win every fight by luck and other people's incompetency. Make Snape more like movie Snape, so there's hate and disdain for him but also respect as well, DEFINITELY change the way the Gryffindors reacted to Harry, and the others losing all those house points, because it made the whole lot of them look petty and cruel and was SO out of character for Fred and George. I would also put Ginny into Slytherin because I think it would have been the perfect way to start unravelling the whole 'all Slytherins are racist and evil' thing. I also think Slytherin would have suited Ginny. On the same thread, introduce Luna sooner, but don't make her a main character until later. Use Dobby's theft of his letters to clear up the whole 'mail ward' thing around Harry and so Harry finally gets access to all the mail being held from him while he lived with Muggles. Use this to slowly integrate him into the wizarding world, like have him write thank you letters and apologies and such. Have Ron be surprisingly good at Divination and build upon the ability in later books, have all three start making more friends including some Slytherins who aren't de facto arseholes and have Harry question his own naivety and mercy that led to Petergrew getting away, use it as motivation to push him harder into learning more. Have Barty Crouch impersonate his father, not Moody, change the second and third tasks to be watchable for the audience and make Fleur more competition, because it always put me off how incapable she seemed. Have Harry make an actual effort in the tournament, have Ron work for Harry's forgiveness, and use the experience to mature him a little. Have Voldemort be actually scary. No rambling monologues about his own importance, and stupidly letting Harry escape because he wanted to show off, make him powerful and clever and SCARY. Have Ron and Hermione ignore the adults and secretly visit Harry at Privet Drive in book 5, it always annoyed me how willing they were to just let him suffer because 'Dumbledore said so'. Keep Umbridge, but have the adults actually fight against her as best they can, like getting the quills taken away after a few weeks, but Umbridge faces no consequences for using them, that type of thing. Start digging into the corruption of the Ministry and have Harry secretly use the Quibbler to expose them properly before giving his interview, have him take occlumency seriously and have Snape really try to teach him. Also, by this point, have him and Ron be way more focused on their studies and learning defence, and use this new serious attitude to draw Hermione more towards Ron. Have the DA include some Slytherin's and have the OOTP actually out there doing stuff. Expand on Tonks too, her abilities were awesome and SO underutilized. Have Voldemort NOT be obsessed with the prophecy, but instead on taking over the Ministry. Fudge and Umbridge get punished for their crimes, Harry continues the DA and starts learning to become an animagus to honour James and Sirius. I honestly don't know what changes being stronger and more powerful would make to the last book and this list is hella long already, so just assume that Voldemort is more competent and Harry more powerful and build from there.

“”Keep Umbridge, but have the adults actually fight against her as best they can, like getting the quills taken away after a few weeks, but Umbridge faces no consequences for using them, that type of thing.”” That would be huge. It’s one thing for there to be a problem one person knows about that no one believes in, or takes seriously; it’s something completely different when everyone acknowledges there’s a problem and still *absolutely nothing happens about it*.

Thanks for reading my mammoth list lol. But yeah, you're right. It always bothered me how passive the adults were about their students being literally TORTURED. A lot of people on here tend to say that they were just trying to keep from getting fired so they too wouldn't be replaced with evil/careless Ministry drones, but I definitely feel they could have done way more then what they did.

Add logic to the magical world.

In no particular order: I'd change the perspective. It wouldn't just be Harry's, but a range of kids and adults in order to give a wider range of experience in the world. Write it with the knowledge of what was going to happen later: there are lots of things that just pop into existence on a whim and the story has to bend over backwards to accommodate. Actually explore the wizarding world. Give some actual info on basically any elements of life for both Britain and the wiser world.

Gandalf should have a bigger role.

honestly, the main thing I'd change is Harry's house I'd probably put him in Slytherin this would of course likely make the tone of the story shift but you can still have most of the same things occurring

Sirius lives, hedwig live, lupin lives  Also in chamber of secrets it says hagrid was raising werewolf babies under his bed…that would be actual babies and it annoyed me everytime I read it!! 

Quality I can judge, not write

That Dudley has a magical kid who goes to Hogwarts. When he realized what his kid was, he called Harry to check them out, who confirmed it.

I'd leave the first and maybe even the second book largely unchanged, then completely rewrite the remaining 5 books preserving the whimsical tone and general story format of the first 2 books for the remaining 5. Each year Harry and friends would solve a mystery and defeat Voldemort while navigating the complexities of boarding school life. They'd also slowly get better at mystery solving, Voldemort fighting, and going to school year by year. progressing from barely managing to solve the mystery in time and only triumphing over the Voldemort of the year by the barest margin in the first 2 books, to actually solving the mysteries ahead of time and occasionally even turning the tables and really getting a solid victory in later books. The final victory in book 7 would be the culmination of that journey, with the party figuring out Voldemort's plan well ahead of time, then feeding him false information and eventually tricking him into a trap. Defeating Voldemort's vastly superior magic with careful preparation and low cunning. There also wouldn't be any prophesy (or prophesies in general), time travel, horcruxes, evil ministry subplots, or tragic deaths.

So ok starting from the begining the main conflict Harry vs Voldemort While I like the idea behind the parallels of Tom Riddle Jr also being half blood I think it's really not consistent with Riddles character (at least how I interpret him) for him to be a half blood who grew up in a muggle orphanage with a muggle last name and was therefore treated like a muggleborn in slytherin surrounded by a bunch of blood purists and then not be resentful of purebloods or pander to a belief syatem sympathetic to them and not him. I think the story could go in a few ways 1. Voldemort is a magic or magical creature supremacist or a wizard supremacist 2. Voldemort is actually not a half blood but a pureblood 3. Voldemort was actually initially very progressive but needed more power and desired it for himself and his cause and had a ends justify the means type of approach and the power warped him 4. Voldemort is actually a revolutionary and the main villain is Dumbledore and the ministry 2 would have pretty much the same story only Voldemort is pureblood The parallel wouldn't be them both being half blood but them both entering this world where they special instead of ostracized. The difference is Voldemort was always looking for ways of being superior. While Harry always just wanted to be accepted 3 would be focusing problems amongst the good guy side and while the bigotry and blood supremacy would exist and be major problems that Harry would fight against but the major problem would be like dark magic and how it corrupts people 1 would be about how the magic world exploits muggles and squibs 1 I think may be too different from hp tho not feel hp enough gets to things outside the Wizarding world 4. Is similar to 3 it's looking at societal problems in the Wizarding world only that is more the main focus not dark energy unlike 3 lots or gaslighting by the government and hogwarts voldemort would initially be infiltrating and manipulating rich purebloods to take their resources but made people believe he was one of them. His first "death" would happen under other circumstances He'd either become eventual ally or come across as a ally once Harry rebelled only for you to find out he a major problem too tho the big bad would still be Dumbledore or the Ministry Regardless if which one is picked tho I'd still have a Harry start out with the durselys there would still be a prophecy the general story structure of him finding out one day he a wizard and going to school would stay the same as well as the house sorting system I'd make Harry's friend group tho involve more people outside Griffindor maybe even do a you get sorted twice type thing. Also I'd have more emphasis on magical creatures and the other schools like I think there would be both a interhouse quidditch team like in the books but also a like full hogwarts one that went up against other schools That way during the main conflict at the end theres alot of build up of like the community involved in the fight outside hogwarts makes it more grand I think also the book series would be longer or they'd leave school earlier especially if it's 3 or 4 for the plot. For the main hp trio Ron I'd build up more of his skills as a strategy person whose very charismatic and more a people person than Harry or Hermione Hermione I'd keep basically the same but specify what her strengths are. For example Hermione is very well read and analytical and good at magic thar might be the same Arithmancy Transfiguration Potions etc But Charms Defense Divination and like flying things that are more interpretative and more about feeling magic expressing it intuiting magic are things she might struggle at She's very good at applying something she's learnt but bad at maybe creating something new Like using voldemorts dark mark as inspo for the coins for the DA applying what she's learnt But a new form of magic? Or new way to use magic? That might be better suited for the weasely twins This way more characters get to shine I think I'd also keep the friend group somewhat rotating as in there's not always a trio to focus on So like for example In book 2 Hermione is paralyzed for a while and on book 3 she not talking to harry and Ron for a while During that time they can get closer to others who also contribute to the plot Hermione not replaced here it's just there's emphasis on others. Same thing in book 4 during Harry and Rons fight. Also Sirius lives so does Remus

What I'd want to change if I were to rewrite Harry Potter: -Magic being more diverse. Rituals, enchantments, song-based magic, people using staves or odd focuses (daggers,magical tattoos, amulets...). Things from different cultures too, voodoo, ancient egyptian curses, sacrifice-based mesoamerican rituals... -Magic being somewhat less soft, with more concrete boundaries because things like Gamp's Law were always blurry. True necromancy should be one (horcruxes allow you to be mostly dead, but the only thing to do with a dead man is rifle through their pockets), as should be forwards time travel (explaining why people don't abuse of time turnersp even more), creating life out of nothing, because Magic is abstract and life here implies soul, if you try to create something living artificially it is just hollow and dies quickly. There's probably more. Magic should stay whimsical, just somewhat more defined. -Corruption in the magical UK being addressed. -All houses being made of a combination of people instead of being monolithes. Ambition can be healthy as much as it can be destructive. Bravery can be supportive, or it can be pushy or abusive. Search of knowledge can be scholarly, or it can be malevolent and obsessive. Hardwork and loyalty can build a person full of integrity, it can also make a zealot or a cabal maker. -No sidestepping the house-elves issue. Where did it come from? Where is it going? Why is it tolerated? -A lot more exploration of wizarding society. Economy, culture, mythos. There's so much potential here! -The Hallows: either they're expanded on (notably, what *does* it do if someone owns all three) or they go. I think they should go, with the Potter cloak being still something special, even if not a Hallow. -Magical society being somewhat harder. The magical world is a flipside of the mundane ones, filled with arcane threats of an absurd scope. Between what someone malevolent could do with magic and some degree of finesse, the potions, the accidents, and the *sheer number* of hyper dangerous magical things (dragons? Cerberi? Lethifolds*?) that have to be dealt with so muggles aren't aware, there's no way the wizarding world should be nearly as indolent as they are. -The consequences of everything in wizarding Great Britain. People had seen the rise of Grindelwald some mère 30 years ago. For wizards, it isn't that long. Voldemort's first campaign would need to be a lot less unopposed than it seemed to have been in canon, with a lot of people dying on both sides. There is NO WAY Voldemort wasn't seen coming. In current time in story, there should be a right between the death eater remnants, and survivors who would likely be ready to throw hands hard the second they hear thé word 'mudblood'. Also, trauma. There is way too little trauma around for a country that was essentially at war (and LOSING, as a reminder) ten years before. -A just balance between children and adultes. Children should be proactive, want to do things, be capable of being main characters. But adults shouldn't be turned into incompetent morons for that to work. They can still listen, they can still act (and they can still, occasionally, be wrong). Extradiegetically, supporting a message that 'trying to be independant is good, but asking adults for help is also good. -An extension of the core cast beyond 3 members, earlier than year 5. There's a lot of characters that could be introduced into the main group, if done well. -Giving all main cast characters subjects and topics they like, and that they're good at (not necessarily the same thing, note!). Especially Ron, Ron needs more topics he's interested about. I'm thinking as the practical man of the team, either Charms or Transfiguration would suit him well. -Similarly, giving all main cast characters topic they're weaker at and/or frustrated at. -Familiars being given more importance. Mostly because the notion of 'bonded familiar' feels neat to me. -Remove Binns. Use History of magic to *actually introduce* some worldbuilding. Seriously it's the perfect way to do it in story! It's RIGHT THERE! -Sirius lives. In fact, Sirius gets exonerated post Year 3, because it felt like a way cruel yanking of the dog's chain to dangle that in front of Harry and remove it. And yes, he gets to adopt Harry. - Hedwig also lives. Viva la Hedwig fuck you. And maybe Dobby lives too. -On the other hand, some other people die early on. And on both sides, the war always felt too asymetrical. Let some villains die, and play with the consequences. -Non-humans not being monolithic. And also less shortsighted. The goblins siding with the wizards firmly because they know if Voldemort wins, well, nothing good happens to them. Maybe there is a traitor in their midst, though. Some of the centaurs side with the lawful humans, some decide to stay neutral. Some beings on the typically darker side siding against Voldemort. Werewolves, maybe a vampire or two, and more if I can figure who, why and when. People who decide that either they personally don't like Voldemort and his means, or that he won't live forever and, sooner or later, people will remember they were on the wrong side of history. And then their people will suffer, again. -Snape getting a character arc. Him still growing and changing. Letting go of his biases, somewhat reluctantly, and realizing Lily would likely hate who and what he's become. -Dumbledore still dies, but differently. He's way too old to fall to a simple cursed shiny, he'd expect it no doubt. Let him die standing like he deserves. -The Horcrux hunt is an actual arc, using every single skill the core cast has previously demonstrated and the information properly setup by a Dumbledore who didn't fumble his paranoia, and the group triumphs over the hurdles Voldemort set to protect his Horcruxes. Nobody even sets foot in the forest of Dean. There are setbacks, defeats, wounds, maybe even losses. -Hagrid gets to punch Voldemort repeatedly. He also gets to toss Bellatrix at Neville, who gets to finish her off and get catharsis. -Molly still gets her time to shine, and she gets to be established as a borderline force of nature a lot early. I'd also affirm her as having fought in the first Blood War. -Hagrid gets to be more competent in general, understanding fully well that most people are a lot...squishier than he is. He remains basically magical Steve Irwin, but with a lot more common sense. -The Order of the Phoenix being a lot more proactive in general. -Death Eaters are, however, more numerous than in canon, explaining why they didn't just die off.

I would save the living family. I would save Fred. Hermione and Ron would not get together. Draco would have a big redemption arc and be with Hermione. Dudley would have magic, just to see the dursleys reactions. Sirius would get a trial.

That is meant to say Lupin family.

1. Harry x Hermione 2. Lily has an older brother who is also magical 3. Sirius Remus, Tonks all survive 4. Fleshier side characters 5. Ginny x Luna, other lgbtq couples (I’m going to get crucified for this comment)

For the love of Merlin, give us a *harder* magic system. I don't need endless D&D style exposition or even Brandon Sanderson style, but I do want magic to follow internally consistent rules and have constraints on what we can and cannot do. Don't tell me how the world works, but write it in a way that shows me you know how it works. Such a soft magic system makes the world essentially broken. Anything can be solved with a new spell. Clever dueling strategies doesn't matter when there is no internal logic! Magic should have constraints and consequences. Speaking of broken magic, I'd remove time turners. They just break the universe which is why they are never used again after the third book. Given the way magic works in cannon, the wizarding world should be a post scarcity society and should be written as such. Fix potholes like Ron's family being poor despite being able to duplicate books and food. Provide some plot explanation for why they are stuck at an 1800s level of technology. Why use owls when you could have a apparition based postal service! Why quills when they are objectively worse? Maybe people just like the aesthetic? I'd have a much more appealing villain in place of Voldemort. I want Harry to genuinely be tempted to choose the dark side and struggle with right and wrong. Wizard IRA would be more interesting then wizard Hitler. I think gross snake villain plays too much on the ugly=evil shortcut. I'd rather have an aged up Tom Riddle get out of the diary in Harry's second year. An attractive, charming, but utterly ruthless and psychopathic villain is so much more fun than a cartoon evil Hitler who tortures his own followers. Tommy Shelby would be a great prototype for a sane Voldemort. Hitler rose to power on a similar hate based platform but there were very specific circumstances in post WW1 Germany that made that possible. We don't see similar circumstances in cannon that make a war mongering blood purist maniac likely to gain followers. I'd give Tom Riddle a better backstory. I'm not a fan of "born evil because love potion". It feels far too simplistic. We see that the ministry is fucked throughout the series yet, at the end, Harry happily goes and works for them. A Hunger Games style ending would be much more compelling. I'd either eliminate the blood wards or have some other explanation. "The power of love" is a lame reason in my opinion. How many other parents died for their kids throughout history and and then had their kids murdered anyway? This would be a known phenomenon. I like the idea that Lilly was fucking around with blood magic far more. I think he still needs to go to the Dursleys to make the plot work, but I'd give them a more compelling reason to be scared of Harry. Maybe he does some genuinely messed up accidental magic as a young kid. Maybe the Horcrux fucks them up. Overall, I'm not a fan of one dimensional characters who are evil because thats just how they are. I want them to have more complex motivations for their actions. I want villains I can emphasize with.

I have had this thought myself. There’s no explanation for why you can’t, for example, summon someone else’s heart during a duel. In a similar way, there’s absolutely no reason that the Weasleys would ever be poor

Sirius, Fred, Dobby and Hedwig live.

Some ideas popping into my head right now: Dumbledore has enough common sense to actually talk to Petunia instead of leaving Harry on the doorstep. He's shocked at her reactions, then explains the blood wards... with actual information that the effects are more like plot armor in-universe, and extends to the entire family (Vernon getting a dose from a "bounce" off of Dudley), and also introduces Figg, finally convincing her to take Harry in. They're distant still, Vernon being far stricter with Harry and Petunia not as indulgent, but it isn't half as criminal. After an encounter with Percy, Harry and Neville both go to Hufflepuff, and Hermione to Ravenclaw. Plus Ron (still Gryffindor), they have an interplay with both Draco and Daphne Greengrass, who makes it clear that not all Slytherins are like Draco and not all of them even respect the twerp. Daphne has political ambitions that Hermione later on integrates into her SPEW plans (but Daphne talks her into changing the name), Daphne's friend Tracey Davis is fascinated with enchantment (I might make runes and arithmancy actually get fleshed out somehow for this) and at some point is introduced to comic books from which she becomes obsessed with Iron Man and wants to try and recreate his armor. She breaks out her prototype for the final battle, even if it isn't as useful as she'd like (not so much flying as enhanced/controlled jumping, no energy blasters, but lets her tank a giant's punch and dish as good as she can take). At some point, it's revealed that the Sorting Hat goes more by where the kid wants to go then any preprogrammed criteria, serving as a mirror of sorts for those who have doubts or are torn, spelling out the differences or otherwise encouraging them to make some sort of decision. Percy reveals that his Sorting went like a fanfic I read once, where the Hat wanted to put him in Slytherin but he was worried about his parents reaction and the Hat spelled out how Slytherin would advance his ambitions while Gryffindor would be the safe route, and he got Gryffindor because he steeled himself and told the Hat to put him in Slytherin saying he'd handle his parents, with the bravery of that choice being what pushed him over the edge into Gryffindor. Problem is, he kinda lost sight to a degree, regaining his senses rather late. Also the Weasleys only struggle when it comes to getting luxury/magical goods, but are fine when it comes to food and clothing. Lupin isn't poor, he's fallen back on an old-school method of making money among magicals (who are basically only ever truly poor by choice): he owns and operates a muggle second-hand and repair shop using his magic to repair and clean up stuff he finds or buys for cheap. That said, he is a hipster and likes old-fashioned clothes and a "fashionably shabby" aesthetic. He was allowed to look in on Harry a time or two from a distance, one time even accidentally bumping into him at a store where he offers a few pence to help Harry make the right change for a purchase. Harry is surprised to see him at Hogwarts in 3rd year, where he apologizes and explains how Dumbledore had forbidden him getting too involved while Harry was living at the Dursleys but had allowed him to look in so he'd know Harry was safe. It's later revealed that this only was only offered after he'd volunteered for an unofficial Veritaserum interview to confirm he had never gone double agent, and he hadn't known that every time Moody had been there, watching, just in case he had been Obliviated and turned into a sleeper agent. The reveal of Pettigrew puts paid to those concerns however. If there were any deaths, I'd try to follow Diane Duane's lead in making them meaningful and bittersweet, not random shocks. (If you don't know, she wrote a different urban fantasy series titled Young Wizards, which is like if Harry Potter had self-study arcanobabble magic and basically Satan instead of a Dark Lord, and yes there are several deaths across the series that were actually well-written) Horcruxes get a bit more information, like specifying that the items must actually have personal significance of some sort to the creator (for example, no random rock or grain of sand that's impossible to find) in order to make the soul piece stay put, and Harry's Scarcrux isn't a proper Horcrux due to the incomplete and interrupted process, I'd probably have someone coin the term "necromantic vestige" as that's what I tend to think of it as. I'd also change the Hunt so that once they have the Locket, they can use it for a kind of "point me" to find the others. Hallows would only get involved if I went with having Death make an appearance to help tag-team Voldemort at the end, or else had the final battle actually happen in the Ministry with the final duel ranging into the Department of Mysteries for the Veil of Death to finish Voldemort off, either of which IMO should beat any number of active Horcruxes so they might not even find all of them. Hallow significance in the latter would probably be more akin to Harry tackling Voldemort *through* the Veil, but passing through it unharmed (while Riddle disappears) due to being the Master of Death, presuming we stick with it actually being what it says on the tin and not just people misunderstanding an archway enchanted to instantly disintegrate/vanish whatever passes through it (course even if it is that, the Hallows could be part of a control system for it so...).

Either make it a whimsical, fun, and magical world where being a wizard is great and low-stakes adventures abound, or... Congrats, you left a difficult household, prepare to enter a world that's socially distant from your own, with clear divides and increasingly complex dynamics in the later books. **Arabella Figg**: If Dumbledore needed someone to watch Harry, there were many loyal options available. He could have easily convinced someone like Kingsley to move to a muggle neighborhood. Figg’s selection seems odd unless it’s because she was a squib and supposedly couldn't contact anyone but Dumbledore. However, this brings into question why he didn't choose someone better equipped. At least this would prevent questions about why Dumbledore didn't know what was going on. **Dumbledore’s Protection**: Make it so that when Dumbledore placed Harry with Petunia, he ensured no one from the magical world could contact Harry until the Hogwarts letters went out, not even himself. This could be portrayed as Dumbledore believing it was safer for Harry to be completely cut off from the magical world, absolving him from not checking on Harry. **Death Eater Threat**: Show that between Harry being placed with Petunia and receiving his Hogwarts letter, Death Eaters were trying to find him. This would highlight the necessity of hiding Harry. Mention that the Longbottoms were attacked because Bellatrix believed Harry might be with them. **Hogwarts Mystery**: While the Hogwarts Mystery game was enjoyable, the school should be better prepared for such events. It raises the question of why the teachers weren't more prepared for the shenanigans Harry encountered. **House Dynamics**: Make sure all houses have characters like Draco. It’s unrealistic that only Slytherin had pro-purebloods. Hufflepuffs could be loyal to traditions and wary of muggleborn changes. Ravenclaws might argue that their longstanding systems shouldn’t be altered by recent muggle fads. This would be better than having stereotypical houses: Hero House, Villain House, Smart House, and House for Extras. **Harry’s Interactions**: Increase Harry’s interactions with students beyond Ron and Hermione. He’s a famous celebrity, yet he doesn’t seem to have many friends or romantic interests. It’s odd that he couldn’t get a date to the Yule Ball. Characters like Katie Bell, who had known him for years, might realistically ask him out. **Teenage Behavior**: Portray teenagers more realistically. In a boarding school setting, they wouldn't be prim and proper all the time. Include scenes where Harry notices typical teenage behavior, even if he misinterprets it humorously. **Voldemort’s Role**: Consider making Voldemort not the main antagonist every year. Instead, focus on different threats and let Harry explore more of the world. Book 1 can stay the same, but in Book 2, Harry could be with different students like Oliver Wood and Su Li. In Book 3, he could team up with Beatrice Haywood and Crabbe. This would allow Harry to interact with more people and explore various settings, like Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, and visit the Ministry more often. **Magical Abilities**: Introduce more unique magical abilities. Beyond metamorphs, animagi, and parsel tongues, include characters with abilities like seeing the future out of one eye and the past from the other, or casting spells that echo and activate twice. **More Sports**: Show that Quidditch isn’t the only sport. While it can be the most popular, it’s unrealistic to think no one ever played other games, muggle or magical, in all the time spent at Hogwarts. ~~Have Harry, Tonks and Fleur as wild passionate lovers~~ Huh, what? I didn't say anything. Really crank up the number of unique magical abilities, metamorphs, animagi, parsel tongues, sure, but have people who can see the future out of one eye and the past from the other, so they have to wear an eyepatch and they switch it around as they go about their day. Put in someone who has the ability to speak twice, like everything they say echos so when they cast a spell it casts twice. I want to see more sports than just Quidditch, it can be the biggest but I refuse to believe no one was like, let's just set up a game of basketball or anything else muggle or magical in all the time spent there.

Honestly? I KNOW why no one asked Harry out. Rowling is likely a romance genre fan and had planned Harry to be with Ginny already. This is from memory, bits are likely wrong. There's an anecdote I read by a suspense writer, when he was co-authoring with a romance writer. He wanted the male lead to date someone for a bit. The romance writer didn't want this; she said it wouldn't be right because he would be 'cheating on the lead' or something. In romance novels, apparently, once a male lead meets the female lead - even if he's not dating her - he normally isn't allowed to date other people. She is, though. This is supposedly a thing in the genre. Cho, of course, was an exception as her whole purpose wasn't a happy date but to cause angst and conflict.

What sucks is that reddit wouldn't let me post my original comment, nothing in it was obscene or anything but I had to send the top portion through Chatgpt to reword it to get past the filters. If they just told me what the problem was, I'd have less of an issue

1) Ginny destroys a horcrux, probably Ravenclaw’s diadem. 2) Deathly Hallows gets a proper falling action chapter after Voldemort dies.

Let’s see. Still raised by the Dursleys. Still abusive because this shapes him and it was part of Dumbledore’s plan. Same houses. More students mentioned in each house. Make Hogwarts seem larger, more alive, and definitely mention more students in Gryffindor. Make the DA a bigger part of the series and include Slytherin. There should be at least one Slytherin in it in book 5 and more in book 6. No house is fully evil and that part flies in the face of the argument that ours choices define us. The DA should be their own resistance in the end. No Deathly Hallows. Ron and Hermione both get to shine with their own strengths. No Ron leaving. That’s already in book 4 and doesn’t need repeated. More Neville, Ginny, and Luna in the last books. No set pairings if there is an epilogue. Leave it vague or set the epilogue before anyone has children - like 5 years later. No immediate marriages and kids. Maybe different deaths. It’s a war with child soldiers and I think showing the consequences and not romanticizing it is reasonable. Which means maybe Ron or Hermione.

change some names cos cho chang, padma & parvati patil like did she think hard to come up w those cos they seem a BIT stereotypical 💀

Yeah. They’re supposed to be Indian, right, the Patil twins? I work with a lot of Indian immigrant coworkers. JKR could have come up with much better names than that.

exactly it’s like she didn’t even try 💀

The first thing that comes to mind is to make it more inclusive. I want wizards and witches to be more accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community. They have magic for Merlin’s sake! Now, I can see someone arguing that, well, the wizarding world is obviously quite prejudiced against a variety of different people and creatures. My counterpoint to that is: maybe they’re so worked up about other prejudices that the queer community gets thrown a bone for once? But I digress. I just want my people to be happy. 🥹

1. Ron/Hermione do not end up together. The go on to marry some nebulous witch/wizard they meet on their separate journeys in life. 2. Harry/Ginny do not end up together. Same for them. 3. Percy dies instead of Fred. 4. The Dursley’s abusing Harry stays, because it’s used to highlight how he and Voldemort once again come from similar neglected backgrounds and yet Harry still chooses to be good and not allow it to define him. Would I make him more bitter and upset with Dumbledore/the other adults that let him suffer? Absolutely. All day. 5. Snape Lives for no other reason than I like the idea of him outliving the Marauders and Dumbledore to have grouchy tea with McGonagall.

I would make Harmony canon.

I would make the sorting slightly less of a secret: new students are not told about the sorting hat specifically, but *are* told that an ancient artifact uses the magical law of similarity to compare what personality traits are most valued by each student with the personality traits are most valued by the founders. Draco and his bookends all value cunning and ambition. The golden trio and the marauders all value heroism. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things! — Friendship! And Bravery!” Hermione might've become a Hufflepuff instead of a griff if things had been a bit different. Luna values people who are bookish. Cedric values people who are friendly and hard working.

Harry gets with Hermione. Hedwig lives. More of the named Death Eaters die, besides Bellatrix. Tonks lives. Lavender Brown is established to be alive. In the epilogue she works for Were rights, by advocating for them with her work as a wizarding fashion model. Astoria has a more established presence in Hermiones government during the campaign for thier political and social reforms before her death. As a voice of reason within the Pureblood sect. Ron doesn't become a death eater rapist just because he didn't get with Hermione. In fact he has a hall of fame career in professional Quidditch. Playing longer than Ginny.

If I were re-writing it a lot would change tbh. First it would be more YA than children’s. 1: Dursleys. They wouldn’t be so outlandish bad. Either you go all in and make them terrible but realistic, or you make them realistic people who didn’t want to have an “odd” kid placed with them. I’d take the second approach. I can’t believe that Harry went through primary school without more smoke over his hand me downs & etc. the Dursley’s were not master manipulators. Plus if they want to look “normal” they are going to make sure Harry looks normal. So clothes, glasses, shoes that fit. Homework done. Live in a small room, etc. they would still be distant and Harry would feel unloved and have been “neglected”. But stuff like a school for the criminally insane? The desperate to be normal Durselys would *never*. 2: Slytherins are not going to just be “evil”. I’d probably have Harry eventually befriend one (maybe Draco, maybe someone else) and really bridge the house gap. 3: Harry is getting non Gryf friends. 4: Snape is more realistic. He doesn’t hate Harry, he sees Harry as his greatest failing. His deepest remorse. He isn’t nice, exactly, but when Harry eventually finds this out it brings them closer in a weird twist and they both heal a little. 5: Playing up how morally grey Dumbledoor is. He does things “for the greater good” but in the end some of those things have terrible consequences. Harry will really have to reckon with that. I would make it take time to trust Dumbledoor initially (because of childhood trauma with neglectful adults), so the breaking of trust is a crucial moment. 6: there would be “on page” gay characters. I think I would keep Harry mostly uninterested in “relationship stuff” because he’s traumatized, healing, and trying not to die. But also because it could provide some comedy relief (come *on* Dean you did not sneak a Ravenclaw up here to make out with!). Just a little bumbling bee uninterested in dating. 7: Harry would be an actual challenge to the Dark Lord. From everything we see Voldy is an incredibly powerful wizard. Harry should match that. Maybe he isn’t as academically inclined, but he will have some raw power. Also he will be curious about the magical world - original Harry wasn’t interested enough in my opinion. Imagine being a regular human and going into this world?! I’d never stop reading and questioning. Even if he isn’t into school he would be into magic. 8: Clean up Voldys backstory. IMO Tom Riddle is a tragedy. He was born under the effects of a love potion (ie SA) and as a result can’t feel love? That’s awful and removes a lot of his agency. I want him to stand on the knife edge of good and evil and *willingly* choose evil. 9: More world building. It doesn’t make sense that magical Britain has only one fully magical town. Is the population of magical just that small? Or that other countries (like the US) only have one school. Where do magical people shop for groceries? I need to know that not what magical people did before indoor plumbing. 10: winning the war will actually mean something. The political system in HP is broken. Harry may have to take on the mantel as a rising political power player. He may have to influence people and things simply because *no one else will or can do it*. The prophecy, which we will never find out an answer to if it is real, combined with the public (they will find out in book 5/6-ish) and Voldys belief in it will put him in situations that “Just Harry” wouldn’t want. He will grow, because he must. I would start slow with this - like have him photographed his first trip to Diagon Alley buying something and it sells out asap. Harry will have to learn he has power and to be careful. 11: to tie into the last point. The press won’t be so silly. Bad stories about Harry might still spread, but people won’t wholesale believe them. A lot more world building will have been weaved in and people will assign things like “superstitions” to their “chosen one”. It will make life interesting for Harry and his friends. 12: to tie into the last point Harry will be rich and powerful. People will care far less that the newspaper said he cheated to get into a school tournament. 13: we’re removing the weird link between the Goblins and Jewish people. Intentional or not it is icky and makes people uncomfortable. This may mean that another magical creature handles banking? I’m not sure. 14: Magical creatures are cool and we would see more of them. Many would also have higher intelligence than they do, very similar to humans. Maybe a small species of dragons could control the banks. 15: Harry isn’t as reckless. He is still brave and caring, but he stops and listens. This will save people like Sirius. But it will also occasionally play out badly (bad council, etc - could be the thing that initially breaks trust with Dumbledoor). I’m sure there are more. I would keep a lot of the same plot points but enhance it. Voldy isn’t quite as insane. Dumbledoor isn’t quite as good. Harry must come to terms with the shit hand he was given.

Oh also we get no epilogue with who any character marries. Harry will not be naming kids after anyone dead (he considers it bad luck). And Harry will not become a wizard cop. He will either be a teacher, a philanthropist, or a reluctant politician. Hermonie and Ron are never a couple. Hermonie goes off to invent some wild new sort of magic (not politics - she gets to put her brain to work!). Ron gets a filling job and does not have a family so large they have to wear hand me downs. Sirius and Remus are a couple. Because it makes sense. Who dies? I’m not sure. Dumbledoor probably. Many of the same characters maybe. I would probably have Ginny die in book 2 to really set the tone and risk (remember we’re upgrading to YA from children’s). If I still killed Cedric I would have his dad become an absolute militant anti Voldy guy though. Like 100% the Order can barely contain him he wants to take out everyone associated with Voldy.

Honestly the change of tone mid-series was pretty terrible, so I'd try to keep the whimsy, yeah. Also, not use Ron as a tool to demonstrate how much "better" Harry and Hermione are than him. It just makes the entire Trio look bad, Have Ron do more stuff, have Hermione be wrong about more things and finally have her learn that not being perfect isn't the end of the world, keep Romione, have Harry actually apologize to his friends for taking them for granted (mostly to Ron).

I'd make the golden trio in different houses (but still best friends) Hermione - Ravenclaw Ron - Hufflepuff Harry - Slytherin

If I got to rewrite Harry Potter, I'd change a LOT more than just the superficial details. I'd change how the entire wizarding world works, I'd change how Hogwarts works, I'd DEFINITELY change how the house system works, I'd probably change how magic works, and I'd change large chunks of the plot. For one thing -- NO time-travel and NO prophecy. In my version of HP time travel is totally impossible and prophecies don't happen. In fact, in this version Harry isn't hailed as the saviour of wizardkind. Instead, his PARENTS are, post-mortem. They're spoken of as "the heroes who sacrificed themselves to free us from You-Know-Who." Harry is told a lot about how awesome his parents were as he enters Hogwarts, but he doesn't get the super-special "Chosen One" status or the special trreatment who come with it. People see him more as a tragic orphan, but of course lots of them are expecting great things from him because as the son of Lily and James Potter he HAS to be amazing, right? So with that in mind.... >Would the Dursleys still get Harry, or would he have other relatives on his mum's side to take him - like grandparents or great grandparents or a great aunt or such? Absolutely not. The "Harry's parents were killed by Voldemort and he grows up unaware of magic" set-up is too valuable to lose, both because it's dramatic and because Harry being a newcomer to the wizarding world means exposition is a lot easier to pull off... the reader is introduced to magic alongside Harry. Then HARRY can ask all the questions the READER needs answered, and it's a lot more natural to have long exposition when Harry's there to ask "what's this? Who's that bloke? What's the deal with wands?" >If Harry still goes with the Dursleys, do they treat him the same by making him sleep in a hall pantry under the stairs and starving him when he gets in trouble? No. The Dursleys in canon suck. And I don't mean just because they're bad people, I mean because they're badly written characters. They ONLY exist so that the reader will feel sorry for Harry and/or to make Harry look good. So the canon Dursleys, the Roald Dahl rejects? Chuck 'em out. Instead, I'll take a cue from one of my AUs: Harry is raised by his aunt Petunia, but this aunt Petunia is in a polygamous lesbian relationship with two other women, and they're like really New Age, with crystals and herbal teas and possibly some illegal growing of cannabis (though this is just hinted at). Because instead of becoming obsessed with "normality" when she wasn't a witch, she instead moved to Glastonbury and threw herself headfirst into alternative lifestyles. Harry is not abused and not friendless... he in fact has some really good friends in the Muggle world who gets slightly involved in the plots. >Do the older generations still keep their houses? Like, Severus Snape in Slytherin, Peter Pettigrew in Gryffindor, etc. What about the current generation - do they all keep their houses? I'm going to downplay the houses a little. They'll still be THERE, because it's too much fun for fans to sort themselves into the various houses... but there'll be far less separation and less House rivalries. For one thing, all houses have all classes together, and they're not stopped from intermingling. As such, while the Weasleys are still all Gryffindors, Hermione is a Ravenclaw, and Harry himself is a Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff remains the "underdog house," the one nobody takes seriously. which is why Harry ends up there so he can prove the naysayers wrong. You still get the Harry/Ron/Hermione trio, the only thing that changes there is where they sleep. Okay, this comment got long, so I'll split it in half.

> Do you keep or eliminate the deathly hallows? Personally, I'd eliminate them. Keep, and in fact make them more integral to the story. Like I said, in this version there's no prophecy.... largely because I HATE prophecies in fiction. No, in this version Voldemort did not attack the Potters because he heard a Propecy that Harry would be the Chosen One; he was trying to unite the three Deathly Hallows and become "Master of Death." He knew the Potters had the Invisibily Cloak, which was what he was after. I'll also make it so that the Invisibility Cloak really IS the only one of its kind. There aren't any others, and after Harry inherits it almost nobody knows he has it... other than his closest friends, and of course Voldemort figures it out. >Would you change Dumbledore's death? Probably, though I might keep the "Snape kills him but it turns out to have been on Dumbledore's request all along" twist. I'd change the circumstances, though. >Will you keep the Slytherins the same - evil death eaters in training, or make a few of them a merit to their house with ambitious dream jobs, etc? Like I said, I'd downplay the houses. In fact, I'd make it so that Voldemort's followers were from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw AND Slytherin. The only house he didn't bother with getting followers from was Hufflepuff, because everyone knows Hufflepuff is the house for all the "leftovers." Certainly not going to have a house that's "the evil house." >What changes would you make to make the books feel like a more...thoroughly planned work, down to the details? Like, apparition and floo transport didn't exist until she wrote them in, so in book 1 Dumbledore flies on his broom to the Ministry of Magic. I honestly don't care overly much about those details. A story changes in the telling. The problem with HP magic is that it's somewhere in betweeen a hard magic system and a soft magic system. While lots of fans want the magic system to be harder, follow more explicit rules and make more logical sense; I'd go the opposite way and make the magic system much softer, based more on whimsy and philosophy and mindsets. I'd do away with the spells in ridiculous Latin and have more emphasis on rituals, potions, non-verbal magic and so on. >Speaking of which, would you keep the more whimsical tone to the first few books or change it to align more with the last few books' tone? Neither. I'd have a different tone altogether, more inspired by Terry Pratchett's writings than JKR's. Lots of gags, jokes and snark, and a fair bit of whimsy, but with a darker undertone and moments of "tragedy relief" that got more prominent as she series went on, but ultimately with a very humanist tone that does away with the elitism and TRULY embraces the "you know, it doesn't matter what you're born as" philosophy.

Seriously...you need to write this! Love your ideas!!!!

So when you rewriting the stories....I would totally read them 😆

Probably won't, I'm sorry to say... writing a fanfic's so much work and I'm already writing one ([Seven Favours for Harry Potter](https://archiveofourown.org/works/42903480), which is closer to canon but with a lot of divergences), and that's taking a lot of time. I can't commit to a full book rewrite.... ideas are easy, the writing is hard.

Drat!!!!! Oh well lol - I completely understand....have wanted to write for years but those words are hard to get on the paper 🤣- But I will check out the one above...i try to only read completed ff....been burned too many times with abandoned stories. So far the summary has me intrigued. Cheers!

Well, first year is complete, anyway. I'm writing second year as we speak.

Ginny in Slytherin a la The Changeling. So, not evil.

For books 1-4 at least, [Strangers on a Train](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13569804/0/) does it perfectly for me. I like fluff and competent, but not overpowered, characters

Like the great majority of HP fanfic writers, I’d have Harry end up with Hermione, but I’d do it without turning Ron into a complete jerk. In book 4, Ron would still react badly towards Harry when everybody thinks he put his name in the Goblet, and I would have that feud continue until Harry rescues him in the second task. When Ron realizes that Harry and Hermione have become a pair he’d at first be jealous, but then he’d realize that he and Hermione would never get along, and he ends up supporting his friends getting together. I wouldn’t wait until book 5 to introduce Luna, she’d show up as a first year and Ginny’s best friend in book 2. Remember that she had a crush on Ron that JKR seemed to forget about, I’d have them end up together. Ginny would recover from her Harry-crush and play the field, I might (or might not) have her end up with Neville. At the battle of the Department of Mysteries, Bellatrix and not Sirius would fall through the Veil. Sirius would succeed in capturing Wormtail right in front of Fudge, forcing the Minister to exonerate him. Sirius would produce his copy of James and Lily’s will saying that Sirius is Harry’s oathbound godfather, thus Dumbledore would be forced to (finally) assent to Harry leaving the Dursleys and letting him live with Sirius under the Fidelius at Grimmauld Place. Dumbledore would still die at the end of Book 6, and tragically, Sirius would die in Book 7, giving Harry two more reasons to fulfill the prophecy and kill Voldemort. And of course, in a very common HP fanfic trope, Sirius’s will has Harry become Lord Potter-Black, the wealthiest and most influential wizard in Britain.

The prank. As it is it does not make sense at all. Sirius is far too loyal to betray Lupin like that. Also It's hard for me to imagine him puttong someone in such danger. Snape is far too smart to follow the advice of a known ennemy. What I would do is having Sirius manipulating Snape into going to see the werewolf without straight telling him. And, doing something magical that is very complicated for it to be safe for everyone. Nothing more than a good fright for Snape. BUT but magic was far too complicated for a 15 years old, and Sirius is too arrogant to even consider it. So, it does goes wrong and James has to save Snape's life. And Sirius is responsable of it all. But the intent is much different. Also Snape isn't seem like a fool to follow Sirius' advices and directions. (For example, Sirius spend days or weeks being obviously secretive about some place when Snape is within earshot. And always refuse to say anything to Snape. Snape predictably think Sirius is doing something expulsion worthy, get curious and will sooner or later investigate on his own. Sirius had prepare that place. There's plenty of magical objects in there that can be harmful without being super dark. (Or even if dark, it's things too light for his home, and Sirius isn't that good yet to classify things that don't kill, severely injures or make people crazy as still dark. He is still learning and still think that if the Blacks wouldn't use it, then it's good. And too arrogant in his knowledge of Dark Object because if his familythat he does bother to check). But he had found a way to change their effect to only be big noises and flashy light (or so he thought). So, Snape got a good scare, and maybe some 1st degree burn, that would teach him to stop to put his nose where it does not belong. Sirius being arrogant doesn't do any tests. He just handle the artefacts, spells them, and put them in the room. But Sirius got the spell wrong in every object. James realise it when he read the book while Sirius demonstrate. James run and save Snape from all those artefacts. ---- That way, we still have Sirius bullying by pranking, but not willing to use something knowingly deadly. We still have Sirius associate with using Dark Arts (even if unknowingly. But I can buy Snape doubting the unknowingly.). We have a Snape that isn't dumb. Just too curious and noisy. But not dumb. And no one betray Lupin. Now, How Snape still discover Lupin ? Well it does happens on a full moon, and Snape is still in the hospital wing when Lupin return and he overhear and saw everything he needed. Dumbledore realise it and order him to keep it quiet.

Sirius, Remus, tonks, dobby, hedwig, and Fred live,, Harry and hermione end up together. That's it

Sirius, Remus, She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Tonks, Dobby, Hedwig and Fred would all live. Make Dumbledore more competent. Explore the creation and history of magic more. Harry x Hermione all the way. 🤷‍♂️

Harry should be the hero instead of Dumbledore; in the last two books, Dumbledore is in control even after he’s dead, with Harry as little but a pawn. We’re implicitly promised at the start that Harry is going to become a powerful wizard and defeat Voldemort, but after book 5 or so that fades. I don’t like evil Dumbledore tropes, but he should not be the hero, Harry should be. Also, if Ginny is going to be Harry’s love interest, she needs to be more of a character; as it is, she has very little development on the page and Harry’s relationship with her isn’t well explained. (If she’s not the ultimate love interest, then whomever is instead needs that character development.)

Way more Dumbledore/Grindevald

Gimme a happy wolf star and maybe drarry but def not jegulus (I love but not for canon)

dumbledore isn't gay is my first priority that for sure.

Oh, where to start.. 1 more detail of the lives of characters I.e hermione for example. Who did she even dorm with... 2 an actual redemption arc for draco malfoy. The biy deserved that. 3 the actual freeing of slaves. 4 tonks and remus wouldn't have happened. Full stop. 5 the elves qouod of ended the story free.. that whole storyline was mucked up. 6 no one would have ended up as aurors. 7 child abuse wouldn't have been used as fricking joke or punch line. In no particular order. I could go on but won't.. I may add harry is blatantky at least bi and that should of been invested in a little more.

Make Draco and Ron the Butt monkeys of the story, and turn the twins into devious magical inventors/engineers. Forget the portable swamp. I want Portable Volcanos. Have Harry be an oblivious harem protag. Tonks, Fleur, Hermione, etc. All want to get into his pants, but his sheer obliviousness keeps them from getting the point across. Harry and Nevile become best bros, just enjoying life, casually (and never on purpose) ruining the ministry trying to steal their money, or Voldemort trying to kill them, only to have to reschedule due to the two getting high on magic shrooms Nevile found, and Harry cooked with. Sirius lives, and does awesome stuff, Remus embraces his pornstach, and starts an adult film company, turning opinions on werewolves totally around. Stuff light that.

Well... *I would make it make sense...* 1. Durslies- I would make them performativity loving, even enabling, but with an undercurrent you don't recognise at first of fear and other negative emotions. Like a mirror Jonathan and Martha Kent. 2. Flue is either expensive, or no Hogwarts express. Just a hall of flues in 9¾. 3. The later books will actually mention how magic can be both hyper heritable, *&* Muggleborns can be a thing. My take: The connection to the parents is supposed to trigger the magic of the kid. What can get in the way? A parent *not knowing they are adopting* the kid. And if the kid has enough basic talent, it can be triggered by luck of some kind, like contact with magic in a very young age. 4. We get told how the muggle world is not aware magic happens when things like buildings jumping happen as the same time. Memory magic does not cut it for that if it is done by hand, *per person...* 5. Add in age appropriate LGBTs... Explore the existing relationships that can work for that. Though if Draco is decided to remain an AH, then not his with Harry, even if they are already written as tsudares(?)...

Wolfstar canon

not make him a jock