Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past - AuthorNotes

This could more accurately be described as a prologue. It's a bit grim, as you can probably guess from the story description, but essential to set things up.

Author’s Notes: The plot for this story came to me while I was working on another story — I started working on it so it would leave me alone. Kokopelli says that I don’t really need a disclaimer, as this story is non-profit writing exercise under the Fair Use Doctrine. If you recognize something in this story, it’s probably the property of J.K. Rowling and her licensees. Stuff you don’t recognize is mine.

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You didn't really think the story would end with that, did you?

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Yes, the title of this chapter is a nod toward Kokopelli, who has been pulling yeoman duty polishing up my grammar and occasional Americanism. (Though I could swear I heard the word 'gotten' used during a Monty Python skit...)

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The ripples are starting to spread, and some things change for the worse...

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Any questions and announcements will also be addressed on my blog, Viridian Dreams. The URL is in my author profile.

-Matthew

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This marks the end of Year One, as defined by the events of Harry Potter and the Sorceror/Philosopher’s Stone. If you have questions, or want to join in on the discussions regarding this story, my other fanfics, or my original fiction, please visit my blog, Viridian Dreams. The URL is in my author profile.

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If you have questions about the story or the NFP universe, feel free to visit my blog, Viridian Dreams, linked in my profile. I’m also distributing some of my original fiction to group members, starting with the novel Viridian Awakening.

I’d also like to take a moment to thank my Pre-Beta Runsamok, and my Final-Beta, Kokopelli. The final product would be much less polished without their efforts.

Stay tuned for the next chapter of Nightmares of Futures Past — wherein Harry makes a grave miscalculation and pays a heavy price.

-Matthew

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Insert author’s note here — sing the praises of the venerable Kokopelli and include a pay-pal address for contributing to the buy-the-beta-a-better-laptop-fund — or to pay for his next weekend away with Mrs Kokopelli, whichever comes first.

The Real Author Notes:

Unfortunately, I don’t have Kokopelli’s paypal address, so I was unable to comply with my Beta’s instructions. I’m a bad author.

The original release of this chapter introduced a bit of controversy. Yes, Harry could have and should have stopped Vernon in his tracks. He miscalculated, quite badly, and is paying for his desire to avoid diverging the timelines too much. An easy win against Quirrel made him over-dependent on his foreknowledge, and this is one change that caught him completely off guard. Keep reading to get some hints as to why…

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These last two chapters raised a few eyebrows, and led to some gruesome threats when they were first published. I address some of the concerns raised below, if anyone is interested…

Anyway, it should be clear now that Harry did, in fact, badly misread the situation. He has four main worries, and Voldemort is not the most immediate of those. In no particular order, they are:

· One, making sure he doesn’t blow his cover.

· Two, helping his friends realize their potential and are ready for what is to come.

· Three, figuring out how to neutralize Voldemort before he kills everyone

· Four, not disrupting the sequence of events so much that his foreknowledge becomes useless.

Number four is becoming a lost cause, and Harry is finally starting to realize it. He repeated his reasons to himself as he left the Knight Bus, but now he knows that even the subtle changes (like complaining to Dumbledore, though he doesn’t know it yet, and punching out Malfoy) have spawned their own consequences and his foreknowledge has already been compromised. He’s going to have to start figuring things out for himself more and rely on his memories less. If you had a choice between working to solve problems on a test or using the answer key, which would you prefer? Harry just got caught out when somebody changed the questions.

The Dursleys cannot be described in any way other than abusive, even though JKR doesn’t focus much on that in the books. Petunia’s frying pan swing at Harry’s head is called "assault with a deadly weapon" at best and "attempted murder" where I come from. Either one involving a minor results in all kinds of people coming to pay you a visit. Withholding food as a punishment for misbehavior (one cup of soup in two days) went out with Oliver Twist.

And yes, I hate Vernon too. And technically, I’ve already killed him once in this story.

Like I said, I sort of expected chapter ten to raise some eyebrows. People don’t like it when heroes do stupid things, even if there are reasons. But merged-Harry isn’t infallible, and it would probably be a *really* boring story if he was, eh?

-Matthew

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<< Insert high praise for the Venerable Kokopelli here, then random blathering about the story, along with a pitch for the Yahoo discussion group. >>

Okay, John! ‘Kokopelli = cool’, everyone understand? And my yahoo group, Viridian Dreams, is also highly entertaining… not to mention the only means by which you can get a chance to review the first original novel I ever (badly) wrote.

Random story blather as follows:

A bit of fluff, a stirring of plot, and a pinch of character development. *sniff* Smells like another update brewing.

Before you ask, no Harry is not even close to done with the Dursleys. Revenge is a dish best served cold, not microwaved like fast food.

If you’re curious, Stanhope is actually describing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

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Harry doesn’t know what form Fate really is taking. Does it exist? Is it a presence, or more of an impersonal force? Of course, that just means Harry is asking the same questions that started with the ancient Greek dudes.

I’m not always a huge fan of "Hollywood Endings" — which is one reason I like anime. On the other hand I’m not an angst-junkie either. Which means I’ve pretty much told you nothing about how all this will end…

For faster response to questions — feel free to visit my blog, Viridian Dreams and post there. I check it often.

-Matthew

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Disclaimer? We don’t need no stinkin’ disclaimer, and if we did, we already did it back in Chapter 1.

Yes, I know JKR said that Ollivander only makes wands with Dragon Heartstring, Unicorn Hair, or Phoenix Feather cores. Given the rarity of Phoenixes, and the number of combinations involved, it seems rather limited in terms of ‘every wizard needs to find the wand that fits them’. Two or Three, multiplied by a couple dozen varieties of wood, would hardly fill a shop. It wouldn’t be the first time that the numbers don’t seem to support the story.

However, if we posit the existence of other wandmakers, each making their foci using the available local ingredients, we return to the idea of the wand choosing the wizard, and Ollivander having a sufficiently varied inventory. All the various wandmakers do is ship their products to each other, for money or barter, to ensure that each member can always find something in their shop for that hard-to-suit eleven year old.

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Beta’s Author Notes: Still looking for the disclaimer here? Nope, still not here, try Chapter 1.

Real Author’s Note: A bit of tension, a bit of future sadness, and now — a bit of fluff. Enjoy!

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Insert stock beta comment — Disclaimer is in chapter one.

Space for mundane author muttering — Well, I’m finally getting into Chamber of Secrets territory for real now. Hope you enjoyed taking a look through Ginny’s eyes as well.

If you have questions or issues with the plot you’d like to debate (is Harry too vindictive with the Dursleys, or too hard on Dumbledore? Etc…) outside the reviews, please visit my blog, Viridian Dreams. Link is in my profile.

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My Beta says that 17 USC 107 means never having to issue a disclaimer when I’m not getting paid for the writing — so there!

This is the end of the summer, next chapter starts with the trip back to Hoggy Warty Hogwarts!

Thanks for reading!

-Matthew

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Hmmm… over ten thousand words to cover two days. But a lot did happen.

In case anyone was wondering, I’m not a Gilderoy Lockhart fan.

Thanks for reading!

-Matthew

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Yes, I’m having fun with Luna… as I’m sure you all noticed.

I’m offering one (1) original character for the person who recognizes the homage I paid with Neville and Luna in this chapter.

Plot discussions and Q&A will be addressed on my blog, Viridian Dreams, see my author profile for the link.

Thanks for reading!

-Matthew

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Still no disclaimer — if you’ve read this far, you know why.

Plot discussions and individual Q&A will be addressed on my blog, Viridian Dreams, see my author profile for the link. A lot of interesting discussions are taking place there as well.

Thanks for reading!

-Matthew

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Plot discussions and individual Q&A will be addressed on my blog, Viridian Dreams. A lot of interesting discussions are taking place there as well.

Thanks for reading!

-Matthew

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Plot discussions and individual Q&A will be addressed on my blog, Viridian Dreams. A lot of interesting discussions are taking place there as well.

Thanks for reading!

-Matthew

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As discussed in my previous author notes, I am now working full time and my update pace has taken a serious hit. 50-55 hours a week I was spending on writing and editing are now being spent as a spreadsheet jockey and on my unpleasantly long commute.

Plot discussions and individual Q&A will be addressed on my blog, Viridian Dreams. A lot of interesting discussions are taking place there as well, as well as some looks at my original fiction.

Thanks for reading!

-Matthew

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As discussed in my previous author notes, I am now working full time and my update pace has taken a serious hit. 50-55 hours a week I was spending on writing and editing are now being spent as a spreadsheet jockey and on my unpleasantly long commute.

That said, well thought out reviews do encourage me to devote more of what little time remains to writing. I find it a little curious that my Naruto story, Team 8, averages well over two hundred reviews per update, significantly more than NFP, despite the fact that more people read this story

Plot discussions and individual Q&A will be addressed on my blog, Viridian Dreams. A lot of interesting discussions are taking place there.

Thanks for reading!

-Matthew

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Yes, it’s a cliffhanger. Second year is heating up a bit as the law of unintended consequences smacks Harry in the head. Or is that a broken neck?

In any event, I’d like to thank my betas, Runsamok, Kokopelli, and Malkin for their work in helping polish this up.

As stated before, my writing time is a bit curtailed. I’ve made a start on the next chapter of Team 8, but this one was flowing better — so I invest my time in whatever seems to be the most productive venue at the moment.

Questions, answers, speculation, and progress reports can be found on my blog, Viridian Dreams.

Enjoy and thanks for reading!

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Well, that is the climax for year two. A lot of loose ends are wrapped up, and the original timeline is, shall we say, toast?

There will be another chapter to wrap up Harry’s second year. (You didn’t think I’d skip the Quidditch Championship, did you?). I was originally planning to do it all in 27, but this is already the longest chapter in Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past.

The ride will continue in Year 3: Harry Potter and the Dementors of Azkaban. (Yes, this will be the first year to have a different title.)

Before we go, I’d like to thank my Betas, Runsamok, Kokopelli, the illustrious Kokopelli (beta correction) and Malkin. Without them, this would be messier, and no doubt read like it was written by one of those nasty Yanks. =)

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This marks the end of Year 2.

The next chapter begins the Harry Potter and the Dementors of Azkaban story arc.

Yes, I know that first and second year students don’t normally know stunning spells. That’s one thing that the DA training is covering, for obvious reasons.

Many thanks to my Betas: Runsamok and Kokopelli.

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Welcome to Year 3: The Dementors of Azkaban.

Many thanks to my Betas, the comely Runsamok and the brilliant, if twisted Kokopelli! (Funny how my author notes seem to get edited, isn’t it?)

Sorry for the delays, my home computer was in the shop for a couple of weeks, and it’s the one I do ninety-five percent of my writing on.

I was tempted to end the chapter after the scene with Hermione and Neville dying, but I really would get tired of the death threats I’d receive if I did that. *grin*

Yes, reviews inspire me to write more often and for longer, and the ‘meatier’ the better. What did you like or dislike? What made you laugh out loud or gasp (if anything).

A couple of issues seem to pop up every so often that I will address:

Maturity level of the students: First, keep in mind that Wizarding children are born into a society where they are given access to deadly weapons at the age of eleven. Also, despite Wizarding life-spans, James and Lily getting married right after graduating from Hogwarts was not seen as anything unusual. Those two facts highlight that (well-adjusted) children grow up rather quickly in the Wizarding world.

Second, Harry acts more mature than his apparent age for obvious reasons. When you have a group of children when one member acts much more mature than the others, one of two things will happen. The outlier will regress to match the cohort, or the cohort will progress to meet the higher standard of behaviour. When the abnormally mature outlier is also the social dominant of that group, the second outcome becomes far more likely. This is why you see Ron and the others act more mature the longer he’s been friends with Harry. (With the occasional backsliding, of course.)

Romance/shipping: Yes, I am aware of the ages of the characters. Keep in mind the points raised above regarding Wizarding society, but relax for now. Harry hasn’t even definitely finished going through puberty yet. (He notices Cho Chang is pretty during the match in his third year, and that’s the first strong indicator of interest from canon-Harry. It also surprised him a bit.) So, while some characters are very aware of other characters, they haven’t forgotten what age they are either.

Well, maybe in Luna’s case, but she’s a little odd.

For most of them, call it "good friend for now, let’s wait and see what happens later on."

And of course, that doesn’t mean that other parties might not make assumptions…

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Welcome to Year 3: The Dementors of Azkaban.

Many thanks to my witty, diligent, and very personable Betas: Runsamok, Kokopelli, and Sherylyn!

If you have any questions about this, or any of my other stories, you can check out my blog, Viridian Dreams.

Once the training schedule has been set up, I’m not going to spend tremendous amounts of time detailing every topic covered. Rest assured that, among other things, they are getting a lot of practice with their wands. This will build up their accuracy and timing, as well as speeding increases in their magical power. This is a natural extension of the morning training they’ve been all been doing since the beginning of last term (or longer in some cases).

Note: When a dog has been running at top speed for extended periods of time, it will get little bits of foam around its muzzle. Sirius is not rabid.

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Welcome to Year 3: The Dementors of Azkaban.

Many thanks to my Betas: the comely Runsamok, the brilliant, but twisted Kokopelli, and the ultimate Beta: Sherylyn! (Note to self: Stop letting Kokopelli edit the Author’s Notes.)

If you have any questions about this, or any of my other stories, you can check out my yahoo group, Viridian Dreams. (The link is in my profile.)

I’ve also started a blog to show progress on the current chapters. The link for that is available in my profile.

A personal note to a thankfully small portion of my readers:

Positive, thoughtful reviews encourage me to continue the story and work on the next update. Obscene, threatening, and insulting messages, emails and reviews from readers angry at me because I don’t update faster have the opposite effect.

When you are paying my salary, you will have the right to impose deadlines… and not until then.

-Matthew

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Yes, it’s been a while. This story isn’t going away, but factors in the story, as well as outside situations have been holding it up a bit. I’m trying not to release any chapters smaller than 10,000 words, so it’s been a while. (My beta had a better idea for where to end this one, so I have a head start on chapter 33.) My blog has the progress meters for the chapters I’m currently working on, so you can check that if you are curious. The link is in my profile.

Regarding this chapter, I’ve been working on the pacing a bit. This chapter spans the time covered by chapters 4, 5, 6, & 7 of the Prisoner of Azkaban, with some groundwork laying, character development, and bit o’ magical action. Bit of a oops at the end there, eh?

And yes, I know magical trunks are a bit of a cliche, but really… Harry saw it used in book 4, he has a need for one and a lot of money… it would be stupid of him to ignore their existence, wouldn’t it? Sometimes a plot device becomes overused and cliched simply because it makes sense. Hermione hitting the books to research a solution to a problem is just as much a cliche, isn’t it?

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Here’s the latest chapter. As always, a big thank you to my Betas: Runsamok, Kokopelli, and Siriusseeker!

On a side note: Some people have sent me objections regarding the presence of the American Expeditionary Force in the prologue. I’m sorry, but while I do live in the States, regarding their presence as some sort of jingoistic ethnocentrism displays an appalling ignorance of history. Or, to put it more poetically:

"The British PM was somewhat trapped, somewhat unpleasantly because of the surprise factor, but the substance of the trap was that Britain and America always supported each other. The "special relationship" was as alive and well today as it had been under the governments of Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. It was one of the few constants in the diplomatic world for both countries, and it belied Kissinger’s dictum that great nations didn’t have friendships, but rather interests. Perhaps it was the exception proving the rule, but if so, exception it was." —Tom Clancy, The Bear and the Dragon.

The only countries as likely to intervene as quickly would be other members of the Commonwealth. However, either due to philosophical issues or population density, none of those Muggle governments maintain as large a standing military. While the Canadian and Austrailian Magical Governments may have engaged in their own relief efforts, the American equivalent of the Ministry is the most likely to field a large contingent of Wizarding troops. That’s not to say there might be some Canadians, or Australians, or other troops somewhere in future-Britain, but the Americans were who Harry and Ron ran into. Besides, it let me pattern Hastings after some people I knew…

And on another note, why do people ask me pointed questions in an anonymous review? If you don’t sign in and don’t leave an email address, that’s pretty useless, isn’t it?

Finally, if you want to know the progress on the next chapter, or to see excerpts and previews of coming chapters, please visit my blog, the address for which is posted in my profile. That’s the first place I update, so checking there is a lot faster than sending me an email or private message.

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It’s been a while; for some reason the conversation in Dumbledore’s office wasn’t cooperating. DH is out, but it’s not going to be as hard to incorporate the new canon as I feared. The AU divergence point will be Voldemort’s decision to make the Hat a Horcrux right under Dumbledore’s nose. That means he had one more Horcrux when he went after the Potters, and his soul was even less stable.

In the first timeline, Voldemort discovered Snape’s treachery, earning the spy a shallow, unmarked grave. The Dark Lord’s even more tattered soul made him more violent and vicious, so he went for a more destructive conquest than was seen in Deathly Hallows.

In the first timeline, Harry was unaware of the Horcrux within himself, but during that final Legilimency barrage, the fragment was expelled through the link between himself and Voldemort. It briefly re-united with Voldemort’s soul as he was experiencing a hint of regret as his mind was destroyed… just in time for the Blasting Curse that marked the beginning of the prologue.

In the new timeline, the arrival of Future-Harry’s soul, replete with memories of Occlumency training and a burning hatred of Voldemort, annihilated the accidental Horcrux, even as the two souls began to merge. I’m here to write an action/adventure story, not a passion play.

If you want to debate other elements of the new canon, we’ve been doing that on the Viridian Dreams blog. (I’d rather do it there than in reviews and review replies.)

And as always, many thanks to my betas: the comely Runsamok, the somewhat scarce Kokopelli, and the always final Sherylyn.

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And so we come to the end of another chapter. Tensions are rising in the Wizarding World and people are starting to point fingers. Harry has a plan, but as we’ve seen before, his plans don’t always go right.

Many thanks go out to Runsamok, Kokopelli, and SiriusSeeker for excellent beta work. Any mistakes in the final version are despite their heroic efforts to keep me on the straight and narrow.

And now a few polite suggestions for select portions of my readership:

Please realize that at least four pairs of eyes have gone over every new chapter before you see it. If you think you see a glaring canon error, you might want to double-check before bringing it up in a review visible on a public forum. Periodically some well-meaning soul ends up embarrassing themselves. Don’t let this be you.

My blog (the address is in my profile) has the latest information and updates on chapter progress. I do not respond to private emails that say "when is the next chapter going to be ready?" with anything more than the URL. I’m paying those hosting fees for a reason, folks. *grin*

A few people have remarked that they don’t like how merged-Harry reacts to things in this story. I’ll let you in on a secret: At times, I don’t either. No one could have gone through all the things that occurred in the future timeline and emerged unscathed. Harry has some serious issues to work through. Yes, he escalated things with Draco and Snape a lot faster than he needed to. That’s because he never knew that Snape was working for Dumbledore (the portrait kept the promises made in life) and Voldemort discovered Snape’s treachery and killed them both for it. I’d actually left it open to go either way before Deathly Hollows was released — you can check old Author Notes where this is discussed.

So yeah, Harry’s reasoning can be flawed and his reactions can be overly emotional. Despite everything, he still has some growing up to do. But aren’t perfect heroes kind of boring after a while?

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Time moves on, and while Harry is making plans and forming tentative alliances, he has no real idea of the forces moving to oppose him. *cues sinister laughter*

For some reason the argument between the adults was difficult to write. There were no right or wrong parties there, so it was important to keep it balanced, both in my head and on paper.

Thanks as always go out to Runsamok, Kokopelli, and Sherylyn for wonderful beta work. Going back and fixing minor errors, the majority of which were in the very early chapters, has only emphasized how much my betas have contributed to what could otherwise become a completely unwieldy task. I’ll post the revised chapters when I’m fairly sure I’ve swatted all the bugs.

As always, there are news and progress updates available on the Viridian Dreams blog - the address is displayed in my profile, along with our new forums (there’s already a discussion thread set up for this chapter). Runsamok and I were recently interviewed about this story on the PotterFicWeekly podcast, and I’ll have a link to it posted on my blog when it goes live.

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And with the end of the year comes the end of the chapter. Many thanks to Runsamok, Kokopelli, and Sherylyn, the betas that make this readable.

I’d also like to thank the people on the Viridian Dreams forums for commentary and encouragement. If you have questions regarding this or any of my other stories, you can get a lot of answers there, as well as preview new stuff before it is released. My blog also displays progress bars for whichever chapters I’m currently working on.

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Many thanks to Runsamok, Kokopelli, and Sherylyn for awesome beta work.

As you can no doubt guess, the new job has sharply curtailed my writing time, but I’m still at it. You can find a progress bar for the latest chapter I’m working on at the Viridian Dreams website, as well as multiple tangential discussions on the forums.

I hope everyone has a happy and joyous holiday season.

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A little short, but with a bit of excitement to cap off Year Three. As you can tell, this chapter fought harder than most, and I had some other issues limiting my productivity. Kudos to both Runsamok and Kokopelli for putting up with me and my irregular spelling!

Before anyone asks — no, this story is not abandoned. If had abandoned it, I would at the very least post my outline and all the snippets I've already worked out. (They currently reside at the bottom of my working file for easy reference.)

Also, there are no real-world political statements being made in the chapter. I have both English and Irish ancestors. Peter and his master are merely taking advantage of the situation, and those were the closest Muggles that met their criterion. If you don't think someone under the Imperius Curse would actively work to help formulate a cover story to fool their mates, I would only point out how that same curse was used on Pius Thicknesse in canon to subvert the Ministry of Magic — he was actively participating in the new regime as well. In the long run, I think that Unforgiveable has the scariest implications if used intelligently.

Any questions you might have will probably get the quickest answers on the Viridian Dreams forums.

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Yes, I am back on a semi-regular writing schedule again. An up-side to down-sizing? I’d like to thank Runsamok, Tempest, and Torbin for alpha-reads, and the illustrious Kokopelli for his beta-work! Some embarrassingly mis-used Brit-slang was avoided thanks to their efforts. I’d also like to thank the person who was cameo-ed in this chapter. Given what has been going on lately, your timing was simply amazing!

I’m off to work on Team 8 now. Yes, you could consider this a cliffhanger… but not when you think about it. Enjoy!

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Hello, back again with another update to Year 4 of NoFP… Yes, I am bringing in one of the most detested characters in the Potterverse, and I’m doing it early!

I’d like to thank Runsamok, Tempest, and Torbin for alpha-reads, and the ever-awesome consistently outstanding Kokopelli for his beta work.

In other news, I’m posting some of my original fiction on Patreon.

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Well now, history repeating itself. Fancy that.

As always, many kudos to Runsamok and Kokopelli for awesome beta work. Any delays in the production of this chapter rest solely on my shoulders (or rather my gimpy foot). I’d also like to thank my awesome Patreon supporters for helping make this continuation happen. They are also reading my original novel, Rhiyen’s Deal (which they helped rename). I’m listed on Patreon as Viridian Dreams. There’s even a real life picture of my face, so be warned…

As always, any questions can be addressed best on the Viridian Dreams forums because for every question you have, I bet ten fellow readers are asking the same thing. So feel free to register, wave hello to the captcha as it snares spam-bots, and say hello!

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