Part of Harry Potter’s charm is the remarkable wizardly world that JK Rowling has created. She has painted an alternative, magical Britain with politics and problems all of its own and characters that are believable, but wacky and engaging too.
With the release of the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it looks as though forays into this unique dimension are set to end. But droves of fans have other ideas. They have taken Rowling’s universe and its characters and fashioned their own stories and plot lines to create new adventures for Potter and his friends.
Many of their efforts have tried to predict what the last book will disclose and how it will all end. And if you think that these tales are only a few pages long, think again. Although there are numerous short stories, many fans have written 500-word-plus epics.
Melindaleo, who writes on fan-fiction website Phoenixsong, wrote a 700-page thriller she called Harry Potter and the Seventh Horcrux. Her story was so gripping and well written, and copied Rowling’s style so well, that the book was distributed over the internet with claims that it was indeed the highly anticipated Deathly Hallows. Many people fell for the hoax, although Melindaleo never intended it to be anything more than fan fiction.
Her version of the seventh book tells how Harry hunts down the remaining horcruxes. But, early on, Peter Pettigrew reveals to Harry that the seventh horcrux is Potter himself and that Harry will therefore have to die to defeat Voldemort. Harry’s friends — Ron, Hermione and Ginny — refuse to accept this and spend a large part of the book finding a solution to this problem, while Harry grows to accept that he has to commit suicide to defeat the Dark Lord. This fiction has a sunny ending that involves babies and everyone lives happily ever after.
Melindaleo’s version is more sexual than Rowling intended the series to be. Ginny and Harry have some serious hormones to navigate and both lose their virginity in this version — much to the horror of Mrs Weasley. The Weasley matriarch is not impressed when Ginny, Hermione and Ron run off to Albania with Harry without telling her.
Many of the other monster-page fan fictions have taken ‘alternative universes” as a theme in which Harry’s parents, James and Lily, are alive still and able to raise Harry. These fictions explore the ‘what if” questions that many fans have longed to ask.
Another ‘alternative universe”, Echoes of Power, puts Harry in the custody of his father’s friends, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, creating an entirely different personality for Harry that borders on arrogant and cynical. He is also much more powerful.
Harry’s personality takes on many shapes in the different fan fictions. Many fans seem to take issue with his timidity in the real books and give him more powers and a more forceful personality. There are quite a few arrogant Harrys walking around in fan-fiction land, easily flirting with girls and smirking.
Fans have also written stories on what will happen to Harry after Voldemort is defeated. While Rowling hinted that Harry Potter and the Midlife Crisis is not quite on the cards yet, readers have taken up the challenge of laying out scenarios around Harry being an Auror or a father.
Some paint him as a dedicated law-enforcement officer while others, such as the Coven of Echoes, depict him as a smouldering twentysomething who loves loud music and fast brooms. The last is a superior fan fiction, with an engaging plot line that mixes Harry Potter, the TV series Alias and British mystery novels together.
Though it becomes predictable in the end, it is quite gripping and very imaginative and creates wonderful sexual tension between a sexy Harry and a hot (headed) Ginny, who has grown up to be a healer and does not tolerate Harry two-timing her.
Many fans have speculated about how Lily and James got together at Hogwarts. Most have the same plot line of James growing up from being arrogant and childish and convincing Lily of his love.
Another story follows the Marauders (James, Lupin, Sirius and Peter Pettigrew) at school, showing how Lily falls for James and then illustrates their lives after Hogwarts, before their deaths. Written before the Half-Blood Prince was released, it introduces Lily’s best friend as the main character and shows the adventures of the friends through her eyes. In the end, the best friend is introduced as the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. This is one of the better fan fictions around.
Unfortunately, most stories by fans are heavy, Americanised, Orange County remakes of what Potter devotees wish their favourite characters would get up to. But if you are willing to venture into the quagmire, there are some real gems that will keep Harry Potter followers happy long after they have devoured Rowling’s last offering.
Dabbling in magic
Fan fiction sites: More than 41 000 fan stories can be found at www.harrypotterfanfiction.com. But be careful what you read. A better option is leading Harry Potter site Mugglenet’s fan fiction at fanfiction.mugglenet.com, though some of the stories here are poorly written. One of the best sites is www.phoenixsong.net, which probably has the best quality collection, if not quantity.