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Harry Potter and the Skittering Spouse

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Dumbles really doesn't want her in Hogwarts this year; Harry will claim Draco is up to something, and unlike his friends, Skitter will investigate and if she figures out what his plan is...

Well, the Malfoys will just have to get a new heir, won't they?

That, of course, implies that their first meeting doesn't end with Draco getting a beating that even Obliviate can't remove.

Word of advise, Draco. Don't start no shit on the train this year. See, Potter's wife? She's got this thing about bullies, and being both a stranger and an American Warlord, she doesn't care about you. Your money, your family name, none of that stuff will save you from a beat down that will spontaneously appear in "Hogwarts, A History" as a warning to future generations.

And Snape? He's so screwed this year. Kill Dumbles, save Draco, keep Skitter from depopulating the entirety of Slytherin house. Oh yeah, and he's got to teach as well. Man's going to need a timeturner of his own this year.
 
Lycanthromancer said:
Given Dumbledore in canon and the wizarding world in general, I think the solution involves the word "Obliviate."
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In other words, suicide by Skitter. I hope he doesn't, it would be too quick.

sunsunsunsunsun said:
Does dumble have the ring yet? because it was when he got cursed by the ring that he set the whole "die and fuck everything up" plan in motion
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What if, because he had no time to go himself, he eventually allowed Moody and the bloody cursebreakers to retrieve the Ring horcrux? Them not going alone could prevent any incidents like putting it on

And yes, the plural is on purpose, Arthur's job literally is cursebreaking on cursed muggle objects. So in a way, Bill followed in his footsteps
 
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Possibly worth considering? The important third... being in the Taylor-Dumbledore set-to. Queen Administrator. What does she want out of the situation? *

I'm guessing The Simurgh isn't directly involved in the mess on Magical Earth, but, given her precog wasn't messed-up by any trigger events, or other blocking factors (possibly like Acts of Eidolon), she may have done some prep work before Taylor left Earth Bet that's worth considering... Even incorporated things into the Path to Victory, as I don't think Contessa is immune to her influence... Riddling a precog war tween those two may... not be a desirable writing experience. :)


* Doxies and the Hogwarts Library. QA may want all that magical [DATA].
 
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I doubt very much Simurgh did something to Taylor . Or she knows about the Wizard World and magic.
Considering how much of a surprise magic is for the shards Simurgh is not in the know. Because otherwise it will not be Simurgh that would have made a beeline to the Wizard World but Scion.
 
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thor2006 said:
I doubt very much Simurgh did something to Taylor . Or she knows about the Wizard World and magic.
Considering how much of a surprise magic is for the shards Simurgh is not in the know. Because otherwise it will not be Simurgh that would have made a beeline to the Wizard World but Scion.
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The Simurgh doesn't work for the Warrior. Was a tool of the Thinker. Or, at least they're on a semi-disconnected network. Also, the issue is about being a 'worthy enemy' for Eidolon. Which would be a bit tricky if the Warrior killed everyone/wrecked everything?
 
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Ace Dreamer said:
The Simurgh doesn't work for the Warrior. Was a tool of the Thinker. Or, at least they're on a semi-disconnected network. Also, the issue is about being a 'worthy enemy' for Eidolon. Which would be a bit tricky if the Warrior killed everyone/wrecked everything?
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Yet the Warrior and Thinker didn't knew/doesn't know about the Wizard World. Otherwise they would have made the Wizard World prime research world and not Earth Bet. Or Simmie will engineer a situation she is sent there. Or meat puppet and Simmie bomb for just the occasion. Or all the shards that are in the know will put their human to make a beeline towards the Wizard World.
So the simple explanation is that the Wizard World and magic isn't something the shards/Endbringer/Scion know. And Cauldron (Contessa found out recently) but not even full Cauldron are in the full known. I doubt any of the Triunvirate knows about magic and the Wizard World.
 
Fencer said:
I know how I want it to go it's just that Dumbledore and surrender… don't really go together. He gets his way always. And it's tripping me up because I'm not sure how to write the man when he's been forced to choke down an option he doesn't like.
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I believe the canon way he does this, as shown in CoS and OotP, is to accept that he lost a round, drop out of the story for several months, and then wait for Harry to stumble on evidence that he was right all along, at which point he swoops in and tells his detractors that he told them so.
 
Looking back, I don't know if this is ever addressed. @Fencer is Taylor aware that she is now in the late 90s yet or is this going to be handwaved so the story can focus on the Magical Community?
 
You're falling into the trap of pigeonholing Dumbledore. Remember, as he is written by Rowling, he's meant to be a genuinely wise leader and altruistic, did she fumble it during the transition from Childrens fiction to older YA. Absolutely. But, despite his flaws Dumbledore is meant to be a move or thirty ahead of everyone else.

There's no great sin in writing him as such.

Also, remember that what we see of the Order in OoTP isn't the Order on a combat footing. They're playing a shadow game under the noses of a Ministry that is being aligned against them. In a very real way all we're seeing is spy games and shaping operations from both sides throughout Order of The Phoenix. When actual combat is joined and the gloves come off Molly fucking Weasley fucking merks Bellatrix Lestrange.

We have plenty of evidence During the middle books that The Order as it existed in the seventies was a combat force. The biggest perhaps being what we learned about Gideon and Fabian Prewitt from Alastor Moody when he reminisces about the original order. He's quite proud of the two of them accounting for a number of Death Eaters during their last stand. We also know that Sirius and the young Potters were active combatants during the first war. James and Lily explicitly called out by prophecy for having 'Thrice Defied' The Dark Lord.


Dumbledore is an old man. A man who is most proud of being an educator by the end of his life. He's hesitant slip the leash, figuratively speaking, but we have no evidence that his pacifism is absolute. And plenty to the contrary. It's just that the business of war is not something he is willing to engage in as a first option.
 
Dahashi said:
Looking back, I don't know if this is ever addressed. @Fencer is Taylor aware that she is now in the late 90s yet or is this going to be handwaved so the story can focus on the Magical Community?
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Basically she's just shrugged it off. It's a different earth with magic. And it's only… a decade or so? Time difference. Notable but considering she's been tossed to a new dimension not exactly noteworthy, especially compared to magic.
Álli Méra said:
The Order as it existed in the seventies was a combat force. The biggest perhaps being what
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I get that but after rereading book 6? There are zero indications that the order has acted proactively. We get mentions of dumbles agents trying to convince giants and werewolves to stay out of the fighting. We get dumbledore sharing memories he's apparently been collecting since the last war…. We don't get any mentions of actual death eaters turning up dead or going missing. Maybe there's some evidence of combat missions in book 7? But my memory of that book is distant and summarizes as… lengthy broom flight where order members die, ministry falls and then everyone is too busy keeping themselves alive and hidden. Right up until the battle of Hogwarts.

No that doesn't necessarily mean no one fought back before that point, but really? Honestly if that's how things played out without Moody or Dumbledore to rally around and keep them focused they suck at the whole shadow war thing.

And that's all ignoring the fact that in snapes chapter where he talks to Mrs. Malfoy and Belatrix he claims credit for selling out an order member.

Snape claims credit for the death of an order member. He wouldn't risk that if it wasn't partly true because word would spread among the death eaters and if it was an outright lie…. Anyway. That's what we see in book six.

Dumbledore sacrifices one of his people to secure Snape's position as spy. Sets a teenager with no training an important espionage mission instead of letting Moody force the memory from slughorn. Hands out critical information one drop at a time over months. Then leaves his resistance movement leaderless right before open combat breaks out to secure his spy's position.

You can claim that's some master plan that never should have worked out like it did in canon. You could claim Dumbledore has no clue how to fight a war like this, you could claim he's just going senile, or you could claim JKR had no real clue what she was doing and chose to flail about with the romance plot-lines instead of taking things seriously.

I'm trying to make the order not completely useless by showing them actually gathering intelligence and Moody raring for a fight and Bill actually contributing to the hunt. If Dumbledore was smart he would let Taylor loose with a team to cover the magic angle. But… *waves hands* he is hyper focused on tom, or trying to minimize loss of life, or senile, or I don't even know what else and the order follows his lead because they trust him.
 
Fencer said:
There are zero indications that the order has acted proactively.
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My impression was that it was effectively a Neighborhood Watch group.

Someone would be attacked in their home, and the Order would rush out to fight off the Death Eaters.
At most they might try to lure Voldemort into a trap, but they don't really seem set up for any kind of offensive action or planning.

On the other hand, that's what they are.
Grab a bunch of civilians, practice a few spells, and what do you expect?
 
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Blaflaix said:
On the other hand, that's what they are.
Grab a bunch of civilians, practice a few spells, and what do you expect?
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That's what the Death Eaters are too, but they're capable of offensive operation.

TBH, I don't think armed civilian groups tend to be especially lacking in willingness to attack...

The Order also has a few Aurors, who are as non-civilian as wizards ever get.
 
Blaflaix said:
My impression was that it was effectively a Neighborhood Watch group.
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And don't forget that Dumbledore's experience with war was during World War 2, so he modeled his force after what he saw of the conflict: the French Resistance. The Order of the Phoenix isn't an army, it's a resistance group. They fight like they fight because Dumbledore modeled the "current" war on "his" war.

It's classic "fighting the last war" from leadership without adapting to the reality on the ground. And what makes it kind of tragic/hilarious is that a lot of people who grew up reading the Potter novels ended up going to Iraq and Afghanistan to see "fighting the last war" play out. It never works, but they always try it first. It's not that Dumbledore is stupid, he's just old and thinks he knows how to fight because he fought in France, Belgium, etc. Except Voldemort isn't Grindelwald and England isn't France, so his decisions are all just slightly wrong enough that the audience sees it but no one in-universe can see it because he was so successful in World War 2.
 
Blaflaix said:
I would argue that they aren't very good at it.

They're generally successful, but that mostly seems to come down to having the initiative and their ability to run away at the drop of a hat and bribe people not to look for them.
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But except for the bribery point, all of that is simply the nature of taking offensive action. It's not a special trait the Death Eaters have. If the Order of the Phoenix attacked Death Eaters at home, they'd also have the initiative and the ability to run away at the drop of a hat.

(And they also had money, political influence, and influence in law enforcement, so they're not unarmed in that side of things.)
 
My read of Dumbledore in 'Order of the Phoenix' is that after he got cursed by the ring, ALL his plans were ruined and he had to make a new one. If he was alive he would have kept moldy Voldy from acting openly, and researched ways to free Harry from his Scar. With him dead, all that time is gone and he has to speed run that year when his usual methods are longer term, not his strong suit.
 
Fencer said:
the order follows his lead because they trust him.
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I find it hilarious that so much of Dumbledore's mystique is about him challenging Grindelwald and yet, he only did anything when forced to at the last minute.

Yeah, here is your trusted military planner, his experience is avoiding confrontation at all costs until his hand has been forced by outside influences. Sound familiar to what's happening with Voldemort?

Oh well, I guess it solved one conflict and so should be just fine for the next. Too bad at all the dead people though, such a shame.
 
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Dumbledore never struck me as malicious exactly. More like the kind of guy who's been the smartest guy in the room so long he forgets how to trust people. Maybe I'm too charitable, though.
 
kaosisreality said:
Jo Rowling wrote him that way because she couldn't/can't fathom anything being worse than death.
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Um. What? Have you read Order of The Phoenix. Chapter 36:

"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?" called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. "Above such brutality, are you?"

"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk toward Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit —"

"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" snarled Voldemort.

"You are quite wrong," said Dumbledore, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. Harry felt scared to see him walking along, undefended, shieldless. He wanted to cry out a warning, but his headless guard kept shunting him backward toward the wall, blocking his every attempt to get out from behind it. "Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness —"
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It's Voldemort who is the one who cannot think of things worse than Death. Rowling didn't show it, but Dumbledore's canonical reaction to Taylor leaving Voldemort blind, death, and limbless would be to quote Dumbledore: "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit."

Without Rowling being Rowling? From just the quote I used? Dumbledore would probably decide to give Taylor her combat missions.
 
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