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 :)

Using their minds' contact, Voldemort has succeeded in trapping Harry in his mind (or they're both in Harry’s? Decide on your own). Harry is strongly depressed (possibly after Sirius’s death) and doesn’t have the will to fight Voldemort. With this state of things, it will take Voldemort only a few days –or even hours - to change Harry into his obeying slave, to destroy his mind completely or to manipulate him into becoming Voldemort’s loyal servant. Severus Snape must somehow persuade Voldemort to let him into their minds too, or get there by Legillimency (or any other way). There, he has to give Harry back the will to fight and live, he must go with him back to some of his memories, both good and bad ones, and help to heal Harry. He discovers the truth about Dursleys, see himself from Harry’s point of view in some potion’s class (or during another occasions) and finds out why Harry‘s friends like him and honour him. He must find a respect for Harry and show him that his friends care about him and that he isn’t quilty of all bad things that ever happened. Then, together, Harry and Snape can fight the battle against Voldemort. PS: Snape must be very careful or Voldemort will discover too soon what his intentions and he could try to kick him out of this

Bonus points:
1. You can play with other peoples‘ reactions to this whole matter. Where was Harry when his mind was trapped? At the Dursleys? At Hogwarts? At the Grimauld’s Place, at Weasley’s home or hidden somewhere else after he had escaped from his previous location? What will Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, Remus, McGonagall or Sirius (if you doesn’t kill him) think about this? How does Harry act during the trapping? Does he eat? Can he be seen as mentally unstable by the Ministry again?
2. The sharing of one mind requires also sharing of the memories. For every memory of Harry’s life that he is forced to see, he will see also one of Voldemort’s and later Snape’s. Voldemort can be using those memories to manipulate Harry even more, Snape – that’s up to you. If you feel to it, you can even do a bit of Voldemort-psychology, like why he’s a bad guy or if there is some hope for him. OR Voldemort’s memories doesn’t show up at all, but Snape has to share his with Harry for a reason (so Voldemort won’t kick him from the connection, to make Harry listen to him etc.)
3. Enjoy the mind land. Desribe it as you like it. Invent new laws that stand there.
4. How will Harry and Snape (and Voldemort) feel and act once the link is broken? Where was Snape during the process, next to Voldemort? What happens?

Harry’s friends kidnap him to save him from his relatives and Snape is one of the Order members looking for them, finally finding them in their refuge…

After Sirius’s death and the end of the fifth year, Harry is sent back to the Dursleys'. First they leave him alone because of the Order’s threats, but later when Dudley beats Harry severely and there is no retribution, they decide to show Harry precisely how much they "appreciate" the Dementor incident. They monitor all the letters Harry sends to his friends and the Order doesn’t bother to check on the situation personally. Harry is slowly reaching the end of his powers and finally after some hesitation, put a secret plead for help into his letter. Ron and the twins go to their parents and the rest of the Order and press on them to act, however the only result is that Molly sends Harry some food, which is immediately confiscated by the Dursleys'. After that, Vernon beats Harry even worse than before. When Ron recognizes three drops of blood in the corner of Harry’s next letter that Vernon and Harry had overlooked, he decides to act on his own as the adults clearly won’t help. Therefore, one night Ron, Hermione, possibly the twins, and some others (like Ginny, Neville or Luna) sneak into Privet Drive, take a badly battered Harry into a Muggle car and escape a Muggle way, never intercepted by the Order. The next morning the parents discover that the teens are gone, and Harry as well.

Two days later, when Snape finally finds the mistrusting children hiding in a small cottage far away from Surrey, all desperately trying (and failing) to treat his many injuries and discussing the possibility of contacting the Order or bringing Harry to a Muggle hospital, he has to use all his powers to save Harry’s life. Of course, the day when Harry’s high fever finally seems to lower a bit and he begins to heal, a big article appears in the Prophet that the wards around Privet Drive have fallen and the Dursleys have been killed. The article also points out that Harry and his friends have mysteriously disappeared about the same time. The previous events on the Ministry, when twisted a bit, also don’t help Harry’s case. So now Severus Snape must somehow coexist with the children who forced him to swore an oath not to reveal them to anybody until Harry heals completely because they no longer trust their elders, heal the boy he hates (or hated), start to think of the way to clear Harry and possibly his friend from the accusations of the Dursleys’ murder and keep both Dumbledore and Voldemort far away from him for a time long enough.

Lily Evans happily married James Potter and had a child with him, called Harry Potter. Severus Snape loved Lily Potter dearly. However, Severus Snape was also a Death Eater and a very selfish man.

James Potter was nearly killed (by Voldemort, Death Eaters? Your choice.) Snape could have easily saved him... but he decided not to. Instead, he let him die - and went to comfort his young beautiful widow.

In a year or two, Severus and Lily legally, but secretly married and together with Harry became a family. Lily later found out what happened with James. She was extremely angry with Severus, but didn't want to endanger his position as a spy - she left him, but they never divorced as it would require too much paperwork. Half year later, Voldemort killed her - and Harry became the Boy who lived at the age of four or five.

Severus, who had grown up to love Harry in his own way, claimed him and Harry grew up with a snarky, sneering and moody but loving father. Hovewer, what would happen when Harry discovers what Severus had done?

Notes: Snape IS on the light side. He was a great bastard and he still isn't a very pleasant man, even though he changed for the better with Lily's and later Harry's influence. He hates the fact that Harry resembles James, but loves Harry nonetheless. Harry loves him back.

Have fun!

Voldemort attacked the Potters when Harry was c. five. Lily and James both survived, but James had been terribly injured - he lost most of his memory, his mind was damaged and he regressed to the state of a five-eight years old child. Lily and Harry are glorified and James ignored by the magical society.

Lily repeatedly refuse to put James to a mental ward at St. Mungo's, however, she can't do everything alone. Some of her friends support her. She hopes that James might recover. Severus is her friend, strongly dislikes James and is one of the few probably capable of finding a cure.

1. Harry knows something happened to his daddy. (Really, he has to.) What does it do to the family?
2. What caused the change in timelines? Play with fates of Severus, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Dumbledore... You can even have the Weasleys, the Dursleys, the Longbottoms, whoever you like.
3. Make a simple, realistic story - don't overdo it for forty chapters, but don't make it two either. Don't overdo the drama, but don't forget about it. Don't forget to include some happy moments.
4. Be extremely careful in your characterization of Lily, Harry, Severus and James and of their relationships. I'm not that great fan of SS/LL, but I can enjoy it when it's well written. However, a story where Lily jumps into Severus's arms the first moment James is gone (disappeared, dead, incapabled) is sick. If you really have to see them together, at least make it believable first.

You should put some work into this. Besides that... good luck!