Alright, after reading all of your comments, I'm still uncertain. Does updating chapters through the "update chapter" feature remove reviews/views from the original copy? If not, I may simply rewrite the story in a similar fashion to its current form. I don't plan to change most of the story, only to change the pacing and make it more believable. For instance, here's an excerpt from my current Chapter One:

Harry had had a hell of a week. First, the Quidditch World Cup had devolved into madness, and then Ron had gotten his school books by Owl Order. The latter wouldn't normally have been a problem, far from it, really. No, the problem Harry was stressing over today was less on the problematic side and more on the unexpected side. Over the summer, Harry had forgotten to get his required source texts for the upcoming school year.

"Well, I'd rather deal with this than another World Cup."

Hence, Harry was in Diagon Alley alone for the first time ever, making his way to Gringotts. Molly, bless her heart, had given him some change to purchase his necessities, but Harry wouldn't have any of it. He knew he had money in his vault and he wouldn't take a penny from the family that had accepted him as their own. Arthur would have joined him were he off of work, but he wouldn't arrive home for another hour or two anyway; Harry had kindly declined Molly's offer to send someone with him, sure it would take less than half an hour.

Molly, being the mother hen he'd grown to love, wasn't satisfied with that. She'd made certain that he wasn't recognizable as the Boy-Who-Lived before he left. Harry had been more than astonished that she was able to tame his hair and cover his scar, but she chalked it up to simple experience - one simply can't raise six boys without learning a few tricks along the way.

"The trick isn't to make the hair lie flat, dear, it's a modified bubble head charm. The air itself keeps it down. And the scar! Oh, the scar is simple, just conjure a little piece of skin-tone paper and use a sticking charm to lie it down flat over the scar," she excused. Harry admired how simple she made it appear, though later he would try to imitate without any luck.

I feel like that's much better than destroying his wand and making him survive a dragon for no reason. This way, he has a valid reason to be in Gringotts, and his reasons for refusing money and companionship are going to be elaborated on later. He's an abused child from the Dursleys and I doubt he'd be comfortable taking anything from the Weasleys.

I'm thinking about including a modified version of Mrs Rowling's prologue as a way to introduce the canon of my story - thanks to SamanthaKasa for explaining the necessity of a prologue in relation to the original fiction.

Someone mentioned that the story isn't tagged as tragedy, which I will admit is one of my reasons for desiring a reproduction of the story. I went too fast and too crazy with it, and that's the result. So, I'd like to produce something believable with ways for Harry to grow and strain himself that don't include defying death with zero training.

I must also mention some of my inspiration for creating a believable and subtle transition from a teenage boy with very little that's impressive to a warrior that can wipe away the empowered Voldemort. My Hero Academia is a good story, though unrelated to Harry Potter, is a good example of how to write someone with unbelievable strength as a compelling character.

With all of that said, and a preview of what's to come, I ought to leave this here. The changes I'm thinking of writing are written from the same timeline I've set out, and are more akin to a phoenix coming back to life than a whole other beast.

Thank you for your feedback and continued patience,

The Reborn Writer,

Garrick Ollivander