I recently came by 'Knowledge is Power' and loved it. I had read it earlier too, but had judged it through the eyes of a simple reader, not an author. Now that I have the honor, I wish to rewrite the story. I don't think I can do this story justice, what with my feeble powers of writing, but I can try.
- Harry, in this story, is two years older than he is in canon. Nobody else's age is different, as far as I know, except for Harry being born two years earlier than normal.
- The year in which Harry will start Hogwarts will be the year 2006, rather than 1990, or 1991 like it is in canon. Eventually, the story will branch out into the muggle world, it will make things more exciting and easy for me if I can write in technology I know about, instead of having to refer to wikipedia and discover what technology was around in the 90's . . .
- This does not change the fact that he, too, is a candidate to be the "child of prophecy", for if you read it carefully " the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches" does not necessarily mean they are about to be born.
- Hermione, Ron and Ginny and pretty much the rest of the Weasleys will not play as much of a main role as they do in Canon, or many other fan fictions. Yes, Harry will be in the same year as the twins, but he might not befriend them. Ron and Hermione won't come into the story until Harry's third year, due to the aging change.
- Harry is not the "Boy-who-lived".
- The prophecy will force nothing in this story. It will be as it should have been; a possibility rather than a sure thing. I hate it when people make the prophecy give Harry god-like powers or make Harry and Voldemort Invincible "it just won't happen in this story.
- Harry's strength will be believable, as in, anybody who works as hard as he does could achieve it. This is the case because he"ll be strong using magic available to everyone" he"ll just be better at it because he worked for it. Also, he can't speak Parseltongue so no Parselmagic.
- Neville Longbottom is the Boy-who-lived and his personality will be different because of it. Instead of suffering ridicule for his whole life, he has been showered with praise. He will not be evil, or mean. Just a little stupid, self-righteous and arrogant, like a young James Potter or Draco Malfoy. Neville lovers, don't be disheartened. Neville's character will undergo a change once he comes to Hogwarts. By the time he is in his seventh year, he will be exactly like he was in DH, that is, a ridiculously brave guy who doesn't lack a backbone.
- Therefore, what actually happened that night is that Riddle chose to go to the Longbottom's manor first; Wormtail is still the Potters" secret keeper, while Bella, Rodolphus, Rabastan and Wormtai went to the Potter's house instead, after Wormtail sold them out. What actually happened that night will be explained in the story.
- Ignotus Peverell is Neville's ancestor, not Harry's; the cloak belongs to Neville.
- Yes, Harry will be better in many types types of magic as compared to other wizards by the time he graduates from Hogwarts. He will never flaunt his power or use it to beat down bullies and flex his magical muscles.
- Harry's powers and abilities will be believable; no power boosting rituals that no one but him, funnily enough, performs. No multiple or magical Animagus abilities that allows him to become a phoenix/basilisk/dragon etc. No famous magical ancestors who, upon Harry's magical maturation, give him super powers. He is not related to any of the founders. Basically all the annoying shit like that won't be here.
- Harry will excel (ridiculously so) at Transfiguration, Defence against the Dark Arts and Arithmancy. All his powers will be believable, and in my opinion, make the fight scenes all the more awesome.
- Don't expect Harry to go all out for the first time until the end of his seventh year (Fifth year canon).
- Harry is an anti-hero. Many people will think he's cruel, a jerk and not a nice person. Those people will be right. Think Greg House, he's bitter about something, absolutely brilliant, and a smart-ass who doesn't care about anyone but himself " the only difference is that he does care for people he considers family, he just won't tell them.
- Harry will not be dark, evil, or light. He"ll do things his own way, not caring what anyone thinks of him when he does.
- The magical world will be expanded on in a major way. Don't be worried, much of the story will still be based in Britain
- Harry isn't a ridiculously brave or anything like that in this fic. He gets on by wit and a certain amount of manipulation. He is likely to be sorted into either Slytherin or Ravenclaw.
- Dumbledore is not evil; he genuinely does want the best for everybody. He might have done unwarranted stuff in some of the later books but it was all done for the best. Since Harry pardons him, and since I've got no truck with him, I will not portray Dumbledore as an evil man. He will be a trifle manipulative but with some excellent qualities to drown out this little bit. The best thing about him is that he has no problem with admitting his own mistakes. That, in my opinion, makes him more of a man than the rest. All in all, he will be a good man and Harry will be his protege of sorts.
- There will be OCs. Harry's best friend and the best friend's love interest will be OCs from Canon families. People usually don't like OCs because they either become Mary/Gary Sues, or die off early. I won't make promises, but tall OCs in my story will have their characters developed, even more thoroughly than some Canon characters. I also hope to make them more likable than Hermione and Ron (their personalities always rubbed me the wrong way). Remember that, at first, you may not like the OCs, but their characters will be developed and, I hope, you'll grow to love them and not even think of them as OCs later on.
- No Slash or Severitus, Nuff said.
- Harry will be paired with Fleur, eventually. I have rather unique, in my opinion, views on love and how relationships form. I don't believe in love at first sight and I'm not really good at writing fluffy scenes. However, Harry will be a bit of a playboy, as will be seen in later chapters. It is just his way of coping with the tension. Still, he will fall in love with the one girl (or veela) who will then become an obsession for him. Expect that bit of personality to be implanted into Harry's psyche "he's the kind of guy that will fall in love with one girl, and that's it. Do what you want with that information; I"ve already figured out how all pairings in my story will be formed.
- Lemons may or may not make an appearance. Definitely Limes though, as sex will be a heavily discussed subject in this story. What teenagers don't talk about it? Or, in most cases, experience it.
- The humor in this story will be the kind I find funny and the kind you would usually hear if you hang out with my friends and I. We like to rag on each other a lot, and we laugh as we do it. Sarcastic, downright slapstick at times, or even classic one-liners, these are the kinds of jokes to expect.
- Also, in terms of length, expect it to go well beyond Hogwarts. In my opinion, the story won't really start until Harry graduates. Think of Hogwarts as one huge, character building, Prologue. An interesting prologue, but one that doesn't really get into the story that much, merely goes through Canon events in a different perspective
For the readers who know this bit, please don't gape and send me e-crucios or something. I warn you, quiet a bit will be lifted from the original, but the plot and character etc. are completely my own. Please tell me what you feel. If you think that I will desecrate the masterpiece that was, I will stop writing now. Take it from me that I won't progress until I have had at least 15 reviews telling me that it is all right for me to continue. I will again repeat, my intention is not to copy what has already been written, but to rewrite it my own way. If you think I can't do it, I will delete this story.
Just give me the 15 reviews. I assure you that my updates will be super fast.
