How I would have ended Harry Potter (possible spoilers)

[MNM]

Ah, Harry Potter. Having bought a couple of the films on bluray recently and watching them, I am reminded of how disappointed/underwhelemed I was with the whole ending in the books.

Compared to the ideas I had for how I felt it would/should end, what actually happened, I just didnt like.

And since I am bored right now, I thought I would elaborate to anyone and no one regarding how I would have ended the whole thing.

Just a couple of notes. I dont mean ended it as the last few pages, just the final confrontation with Voldemort. I put "spoilers" in the thread title as while there may not be much in that way in my post, any possible replies might contain them, so best be safe rather than sorry. And three, when I mention Harry's love interest below, I refer to Hermione. I do this as that is the relationship I prefered and felt was right within the books, so it is how I would have it end. If you do not like that, whenever you see "Hermione", just read it as "Ginny", or "Luna" or even "Ron". It really doesnt make a difference except for one small part which is a call back to a specific thing that happened to Hermione.

Cracking on...

Final confrontation. Voldemort has set up his base in Azkhban, not Malfoy's mansion. Harry has gone to rescue Hermione who was captured by Death Eaters (in an attempt to get information Harry has. Naturally she didnt crack). Long story short, the raiding party of wizards has attacked Azkhban and it comes down to Harry finding Voldemort in a big room, Dementors floating everywhere. Voldemort has a Patronus drifting around him keeping him safe, Harry and Hermione (H/HR from here on in) cast their own patronuses.

Dialouge ensues etc... A couple of warning shots fired between each other, nothing that hurts either. What happens is that Voldemort tries to forcefully take the info mentioned above from Harry by doing the same kind of scene we see between Harry and Snape in book five. Voldemort uses his mastery of Legilimency and invades Harrys mind. Obviously this makes Harry's focus stop and his patronus fades, Hermione then has to use all her focus and energy on keeping many, many dementors at bay, so she cant actively attack Voldemort.

So we have Voldemort invading Harry's mind, Dementors swarming around the room, Hermione right next to Harry keeping her patornus going and fending off the Dementors.

Voldemort taunts Harry while digging in his mind, Harry is trying to use Occulmancy to stop Voldemort, but we all remember how poor Harry was at learning that...

Voldemort starts to get cocky, as all villans are want to do, and, again in remeniscence of the Harry/Snape scene from OotP, Harry casts a sheild charm which reflects the Legmilency back onto Voldemort. This staggers him disorienting him. Suddenly Harry is probing Voldemorts mind, digging up all his terrible childhood memories. Hermione continues to shout encouragment to Harry, emploring him to not break this new conection (remember the graveyard scene in book 4 where the wand phantoms are encouraging Harry to not break the connection with Voldemort so he can save himself? yep its slightly homaged/ripped off here.)

Now with Harry's probing of Voldemorts mind, Voldemort is finding he cant defend himself and keep his patronus going.

We see the struggle, Hermione defending Harry with a patronus while Harry presses home his advantage, Voldemort gets assualted by more and more bad memories, his concentration slips further and eventually his patronus fades away. Dementors swarm in and we see Voldemort surrounded, Harry's attack still going, Voldemort struggling to recast his patronus, doesnt happen, and the Dementors get him. We watch as a Dementor sucks out Voldemorts soul. Ending his threat forever.

At this point H/Hr are near collapse as Hermione is fending off many dementors and Harry is exhausetd from keeping the Legilmency up. they collapse together in a heap, sad moments as they think they will be next.

Who saves the day? Why Grawp of course (they originally got carried by Grawp and a couple of other giants who werent total dicks (there are a couple, Hagrid mentions them as the ones who took shelter in the mountains with him and the French chick) to Azkbhan as there is some charm that prevents apparating. Having emerged the victor from a scrape with Voldemorts giants he went looking, and this the opportune moment he found them, breaking down the wall, he sees H/HR and shouts "Hermy" (the bit from before which needs Hermione here to work), and he grabs H/Hr who are huddled together and they escape. Final shot is of Voldmorts body stood there, no soul, forever lost, Dementors trailing around.

I am not done with the call backs and recognising foreshadowing. On the way out of there as Grawp carries them away mumbling "hermy", H/Hr hug and are happy they survived, Harry mentions how great it was she managed to keep all those dementors away. Hermione admits her happy thought was the memory of when H/Hr first said "I love you" to each other. We fade out to a final chapter of celebratons etc...

Now, you may like that or not, its cool. But if nothing else, my ending has call backs to the following stuff that was set up in earlier books (which I do not think the proper ending did):

* Love being the Power that Voldemort doesnt understand - it kept H/Hr safe as the happy thought to power Hermiones patronus was one of love.
* We call back the legilmency/occulmency scene/issue from book five and see the trick Harry learnt there (you can reflect such an attack with a shield charm to disorient your enemy worked.)
* We see Azkabhan, a place mentioned multiple times
* Grawp makes a worthwhile contributon to the story.
* The whole "things worse than death" that Dumbledore kept going on abot to Voldemort is finally shown, as the dementors kiss in the books is described as a fate worse than death and it ends voldermorts reign of terror. No uber wand powered expeleriamus charm blocking and deflecting the "unblockable" killing charm to make Voldemort's fate worse than death be...death, here.

And I'm done for the post.

 

[Gaith]

I'm all for re-writing parts of HP, but one has to start, IMHO, with Year 5.

 

[Timby]

We do have a Fan Fiction forum.

 

[MNM]

Right, and if I ever write my HP fan fiction I'll post it there.

I wrote this post more in an attempt to outline a way I felt the ending could have gone which would use the themes established within the books to a better degree (in my opinion) than the book did and do a small contrast to how it actually ended.

If you consider this fan fiction, move it, I dont thats why it is in the forum nearly every harry potter thread goes in.

 

[Thestral]

One question, would this be replacing the Battle of Hogwarts or an additional scene afterwards?

 

[Gaith]

I don't think Voldy could even cast a Patronus, being as literally soulless as he was.

 

[MNM]

One question, would this be replacing the Battle of Hogwarts or an additional scene afterwards?

I was thinking as a replacement for the showdown with Voldemort specifically. So that wouldnt preclude having the battle at Hogwarts itself, in fact that could easily be the event that spurs this scene into action as Harry's love interest is captured during that battle and taken back to Azkabhan.

I don't think Voldy could even cast a Patronus, being as literally soulless as he was.

Maybe. I assume he has "happy thoughts", even if they are twisted and wouldnt seem happy to anyone else. As far as the books go, that along with the required amount of magical power seem to be all thats needed.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

tl;dr ... And really, once I got to your "when I mention Harry's love interest below, I refer to Hermione" shipper line I lost all interest and possible respect for your post. There are a myriad of issues with how Rowling's plot unravels itself in the final books, but I've neither the time or patience to sift through the thoughts of someone who still hasn't/cannot accept that their preferred 'ship didn't come to pass.

 

[Sci]

My biggest problem with the finale of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was that it wasn't revolutionary enough. The fundamental origin of the prejudice and bigotry that drove the rise of both the autocratic Ministry of Magic and of Voldemort's regime was the Wizards' decision to keep their existence secret from the Muggle world. The defeat of Voldemort should have involved the exposure of the Wizarding world to the Muggle world, in order to create a greater sense of thematic unity with the idea of freedom triumphing over oppression.

 

[MNM]

tl;dr ... And really, once I got to your "when I mention Harry's love interest below, I refer to Hermione" shipper line I lost all interest and possible respect for your post..

Good for you. It's nice to know that people decide on whether to respect you based on a preference from a fictional book

Though of course getting yourself all worked up like that did cause you to miss the fact I said who Harry's love interest didnt matter for this thing. I dont discuss this ending because I think "omg Harry should have ended up with Hermione not Ginny", I prmote this ending as I think it deals with Voldemort/Harry confrontation better and pays off multiple threads throughout the books to a better degree than what we got. Hence why I said who the love interest was doesnt matter.

If you disgaree then cool.

To give your point more attention than I initially was going to:

, but I've neither the time

Lies!! Because if true you wouldnt have wasted the time it took you to write your response...

still hasn't/cannot accept that their preferred 'ship didn't come to pas

Hmm.. now I have read the books, I know which ships came to pass in those books, I dont live in denial and pretend it didnt happen... is that not acceptance? Would you prefer if I said "Rowling made the right choice in putting Hermione and Ron together while pairing Ginny and Harry together" ? I dont think she did make the right choices based on how the majority of the books, more specifically the interactions and relationships of each charcter, were written,but, who the Hell cares what I think? I'm just some dude on the net. Does it bother you that I dont think the same as you? Does the fact I dont say "Rowlong did a wonderful job" upset you? Or are you simply annoyed that many people, despite the books going a different way, are perfectly happy to enjoy a different ship that they feel was a a better choice?

I need to stop editing this post.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

I said who Harry's love interest didnt matter for this thing.

And yet your post explicitly highlighted a preference for "Harry's love interest." If it didn't matter, why mention it at all? (That's a rhetorical question, the answer is self-evident.) Sorry, but that doesn't get a pass from me. I find posts that continue to harp on the Harry/Hermione 'ship at this point to be pointless and, quite frankly, pathetic. There are far more salient and relevant criticisms of Rowling's work than make-believe relationship between Harry and Hermione. If you wanted to focus on those elements, your post shouldn't have confused the issues with an already-sunk 'ship.

I need to stop editing this post.

Too bad your initial post hadn't exercised such restraint when it came to a wish-fulfillment fantasy between two fictional characters. Otherwise I might have bothered reading the rest of it.

 

[Anwar]

My only issue with the ending was how, straight to the end, the Slytherin students were shown to be cowardly backstabbers. They were the only ones who thought about giving Harry to Voldemort, while it would have been a touching moment for them to say "Aw F*** it, let's all fight this nutbag together!".

Then again, there weren't any really sympathetic Slytherin characters for the entire series (which I also thought was annoying).

 

[Gaith]

I don't think Voldy could even cast a Patronus, being as literally soulless as he was.

Maybe. I assume he has "happy thoughts", even if they are twisted and wouldnt seem happy to anyone else. As far as the books go, that along with the required amount of magical power seem to be all thats needed.

He's always struck me as too one-dimensionally eeeeevil to have any conception of happiness. Even Palpatine took visible pleasure in being a dick; Voldy never comes across as anything more than mildly and vaguely pleased with being evil.

I find posts that continue to harp on the Harry/Hermione 'ship at this point to be pointless and, quite frankly, pathetic.

And do you never harp on anything, sir? Such as the PT's use of Williams' compositions, hmm?

 

[Greylock Crescent]

I find posts that continue to harp on the Harry/Hermione 'ship at this point to be pointless and, quite frankly, pathetic.

And do you never harp on anything, sir? Such as the PT's use of Williams' compositions, hmm?

I do indeed! But one is a matter of execution/neglect while the other is a matter of creator intent. Rowling never intended the Harry/Hermione 'ship (intent). Lucas never intended to royally sodomize Williams' compositions (execution/neglect). For that, I blame Ben Burtt.

EDIT:
I sincerely hope Gaith doesn't find an example of me harping on creator intent.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

1.Voldemort would be utterly incapable of casting a patronus, as I highly doubt he has very many memories that are happy enough to do so. Not to mention the fact that the dementors were Voldemort's allies after his return.

2. Harry did learn occlumency. After Dobby's death, it finally clicked with him what he had to do to shut Voldemort out.

 

[Gaith]

@ SW: I wouldn't have to to argue my point. Yes, Rowling clearly and consistently intended to pair off Ron and Hermione, but yes, that was, to many, "executed" badly, and "neglected" the far better potential pairing of H/H. I would still have massive problems with the last three Years without Ron/Hermione, but even with all other factors as similar as they could be, I might have been able to enjoy them had H/H won out; as they stand, however, I simply can't. Ergo, as long as we're willing to nitpick much finer aspects of the series, I hardly think it "pathetic" to keep objecting to such a major point regardless of Rowling's authorial intent.

 

[ColeMercury]

I'd just like to point one thing out: where the hell is Ron?

You know, Harry's best friend? The one person he'd miss the most? That Ron?

 

[Sephiroth]

wouldn't Voldemort, having only 1/8th a soul simply not appeal to a dementor's appetite?

 

[MNM]

And yet your post explicitly highlighted a preference for "Harry's love interest."

Yes. H/Hr is my preference. Personal. That relationship is not however required to make the ending I suggested work. The ending is in fact a seperate entity from shipping. There is a difference there. I know subtle differences are not easy to grasp, but there it is....

Too bad your initial post hadn't exercised such restraint when it came to a wish-fulfillment fantasy between two fictional characters. Otherwise I might have bothered reading the rest of it.

You know, for someone who didnt read my post and finds it a whole waste of time, you are spending a lot of time responding in this thread, seems pointless to me....

Now as fun as it is trading psuedo-insulting lines, I will just say one more time, you seem hung up on the notion that this ending is to get H/HR together so I can be happy or something. I suppose that is a consequence of you not being bothered to read the post. Alas for you, it is not for that. It does, for me at least, provide a more satisfactory ending in terms of Harry and Voldemort. Nothing more, nothing less. Write this ending with Ginny and I would still like it.

However I did not create this thread as a means to discuss HP shiping. God knows there are enough threads around the net to do that in. So if you remain hung up on this point, it is only going to derail the thread. If you want to debate the merits or not of the actions I suggested in the ending great, I'll do that with you, if you want to keep repeating the phrases "wish fullment" etc.. just a heads up, I wont bother responding.

1.Voldemort would be utterly incapable of casting a patronus, as I highly doubt he has very many memories that are happy enough to do so. Not to mention the fact that the dementors were Voldemort's allies after his return.

All that is required to cast a patronus is a memory that is happy for you and the required amount of magical power. Clearly Voldemort has the power needed, and he will have memories that are happy for him. Like I said, twisted memories of evil things, but he is a twisted and evil man, I am confident if he needed to he could cast a Patronus.

Plus, Dementors as "Allies" stretches it a bit. At best they align with him as he promises them more scope to do what they do. At worse they "follow" him as he is more powerful than their former masters the ministry. I have no doubt that in a situation where Voldemort became weak and defenceless around them, even momentarily, that would seize the opportunity to feast on him. It is simply what they do. They are certainly more instinct than sentient. For instance, they were "allies" with the ministry/"good guys" in book 3 and yet still couldnt resist the Quiditch match gathering and came over to try and feast.

wouldn't Voldemort, having only 1/8th a soul simply not appeal to a dementor's appetite?

8th of a soul is still a soul. But if you were changing the ending you could always change the Horocruxes, if you kept them in at all, so that when they were destroyed, his soul simply went back into him, it would give the same end result, destroy the horocruxes and then if you killed Voldemort he wouldnt survive as his soul was not spread around anywhere to survive.

 

[Thestral]

Of course, the other problem with using Dementors as the thing which ultimately destroys Voldemort is that you're thematically confusing things. Are they an ultimately evil thing which nobody deserves to be the victim of even when a corrupt Ministry was using, as they've always been portrayed, or can they be "harnessed" for good ends?

I was thinking as a replacement for the showdown with Voldemort specifically. So that wouldnt preclude having the battle at Hogwarts itself, in fact that could easily be the event that spurs this scene into action as Harry's love interest is captured during that battle and taken back to Azkabhan.

So where's other people to help Harry then? Where's Ron or Neville or Luna or Ginny or Molly or... the problem with putting it after the Battle is that Harry would be a total fool to go attack Voldie's stronghold alone and nobody should let him do so. The problem with putting this scene beforehand would be that Voldemort couldn't die - that said, if Voldemort escaped in the end, this would work as a set up for the end.

My biggest problem with the finale of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was that it wasn't revolutionary enough. The fundamental origin of the prejudice and bigotry that drove the rise of both the autocratic Ministry of Magic and of Voldemort's regime was the Wizards' decision to keep their existence secret from the Muggle world. The defeat of Voldemort should have involved the exposure of the Wizarding world to the Muggle world, in order to create a greater sense of thematic unity with the idea of freedom triumphing over oppression.

Yeah, but that was never going to change and the idea of a "hidden world" kept away from normal eyes is such a prevalent theme in fantasy/urban fantasy.

My only issue with the ending was how, straight to the end, the Slytherin students were shown to be cowardly backstabbers. They were the only ones who thought about giving Harry to Voldemort, while it would have been a touching moment for them to say "Aw F*** it, let's all fight this nutbag together!".

Then again, there weren't any really sympathetic Slytherin characters for the entire series (which I also thought was annoying).

Yeah, this was rather obnoxious. The problem with Slytherin House is that we never got to see their positive aspects that would lead them to be respected enough to be one of the Hogwarts Houses.

I'd just like to point one thing out: where the hell is Ron?

You know, Harry's best friend? The one person he'd miss the most? That Ron?

Dead, of course. Harry had to kill him for betraying his friends to Voldemort which led to Hermione's capture.