Potions and Snitches :: Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Summary:

Harry Potter doesn't want to be a wizard. What if the Durseys treated Harry far much better than in the books - and yet still damaged him a lot?

When Petunia finds the baby at her doorstep, she isn't very happy about it. The first days/weeks aren't very nice for Harry, but soon the situation change - one day, Petunia is very sad about something and the innocent baby approaches her to comfort her (maybe even calling her mum or something nice), something in Petunia snaps - and she finds that she just can't hate him, her only nephew and a sensitive and loving child. After a serious talk with Vernon a decision is made - they will bring Harry up the best they can, but do everything they can so that he won't become a wizard. They are nice to him, and when he responds to this kindness, they even allow him to call them "mum" and "dad", becoming a real family with two sons, Dudley and Harry. The Dursleys spend a lot of time explaining Harry that unnatural things as "magic" are bad; when something strange (magical) happens, they talk with Harry first and punish him later - strictly, but never being cruel, explaining to him about the importance of emotion control. When he is somewhere about seven or eight, Petunia very carefully explains Harry about his parents and the wizards world (and probably a bit about Voldemort too). She tells him that magic killed both his parents and speaks quite highly of Lily and even James - "their biggest fault was that they couldn't say no to the magic; they thought it made things easier and that it was beautiful. I had argued about this with Lily for many times, but she didn't listen. In the end, I was proven right, but would have given everything if she didn't have to die because of this." (or something like that).

Now, Harry truly believes that his relatives are right, and is trying to get rid of his magic. He is looking forward to going to Smeltings with Dudley [who isn't so spoiled as in the books, because he has grown up with his "brother" and wasn't the only child; he doesn't beat up smaller kids, even when sometimes makes fun of them or try to belitle them verbally (we can't have him as a completely different character, after all)]. Harry's second biggest fear is getting the Hogwart's letter, confirming that he is a wizard - and the biggest is disappointing his family with that. Then the letter arrives...

Harry by no means wants to go to Hogwarts, to become either a strange person with no friends, a criminal or a victim of one (the way he was told the magical world works). When the wizards want to show him that magic can be a good thing too, they force him too much and are too enthusiastic to bring him to the school (some Weasleys, Lupin and Order members appear there?). This of course only makes Harry stick with his relatives believes and resent and fear magic even more. But the magical world need the "Boy who lived", a "Savior" (Dumbledore knows Voldemort will return, and what would happen then?). Soon, they are left with the only chance - a former spy and a great strategist, dark and snarky Severus Snape.

Now, it's up to you how far to the past you will go, if you start on the Halloween, a few weeks later at Petunia's turn, at the big "talk" about magic, or a few weeks before the Hogwarts letter. I personally would prefer to see some nice Dursley - Harry family moments to explain his feelings better, but that's up to you.

Bonus points:

1) It would be interesting to see Harry and Dudley act like brothers, they may/may not feel very fond fond the other, but they definitely act like brothers. Can (will) Harry stop Dudley, when he bullies the others (classmates, children from neighborhood) somethimes?

2) Snape might have to go to Muggle world in disguise in order to approach Harry, Harry might even spend some time at Smeltings.

3) What if Harry's suppressing of the magic makes him ill in some way? When he was living calmly with the Dursleys, this issue wasn't so big, but when the wizards (Order? Ministry?) tried to force him to come, his magic wanted to burst many times in order to protect him - but he didn't allowed it to. How will the disease influence Harry's (not) using the magic? How will his family react, if they find that the only way for Harry to recover from something is to use his magic regularly?

4) How will the Dursley-Harry relationship change, if (when) he finally decide to go to Hogwarts? Will Petunia be able to admit aloud, that despite her love for Harry, she had wronged him with her actions - the fear and aversion to magic?

5) Oh, and try not to change the Dursley's characters too much, only make them like Harry and let them try to "help him" get rid of his magic (I thing it's something like alcohol or drugs for them, harmful and ugly, and they want to "protect" their nephew/adopted son from this). I think Vernon will still like Dudley better (after all, he is "big" and "strong" and everything that Vernon Dursley likes), but he won't make big differences between them. (and maybe this can be more of Harry's motivation - make his "dad" to see him as good as Dudley). It might be interesting to play a little bit with Petunia's part relation with Lily (especially before she found out about her being magical and became jealous, though she won't admit that later), and how that affected her relation with Harry.

I would like a lot of Dursleys in that fic, but a lot of Snape later as well.

PS: This is something a bit opposite to the usual "Dursley abuse" story. I quite like them, by the way, but sometimes they just copy each other. Feel free to discover a bit different universe. Good luck :)

Suggested Categories: Healer Snape, Teacher Snape > Trusted Mentor Snape, Teacher Snape > Professor Snape

Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Dudley, Dumbledore, Petunia, Vernon
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