Game Changers - Fic

The Arithmancer by White_Squirrel

Author's summary: "Hermione grows up as a maths whiz instead of a bookworm and tests into Arithmancy in her first year. With the help of her friends and Professor Vector, she puts her superhuman spellcrafting skills to good use in the fight against Voldemort."

My summary: Hermione grows up with a flair for maths that means her Arithmancy skills are far beyond those of the normal magical population and soon surpass that of her teachers. Cue Hermione researching all sorts of topics that the magical world has never even thought about, creating spells to do things not even considered possible and generally just being one of the smartest witches of her age.

Reasons why it's a Game Changer: Excellent writing and tons of interesting ideas and new paths explored. [More to be added on re-read. I forgor...]

Either Must Die at the Hand of the Other by Metalomagnetic

Author's summary: "Voldemort survives the Battle of Hogwarts because Harry Potter had not been the one to kill him, as the prophecy demands."

My summary: Voldemort doesn't die at the Battle of Hogwarts. He remains held at the Ministry whilst they try desparately to find any means to kill him — including asking Harry himself to cast the fatal curse. But Harry is too soft-hearted to cast in cold blood — and sure, Voldemort was terrible, did atrocious things, but did he really deserve all this, being chained, naked and alone in the depths of the Ministry?

Reasons why it's a Game Changer:

Holy shit, this fic. This ficccccc!!! Honestly, I seriously hesitated putting my own summary for this fic because I honestly think it could not do service to this fic at all. I don't even want to say too much because it's kind of a snowball fic — it starts slow, drawing you in delicately, carefully, so gradually you don't notice you're sinking until suddenly you're knee deep in deeply repressed trauma, manipulation so deep that the subject doesn't even realise it's happening and a strange, desperate feeling that he's trying, right? Right!?

If you love wheels within wheels, this fic is for you. If you love unreliable narrators and/or reading between the lines of the narrative to find the truth (or your version of it), this fic is for you. If you love your Harry/Voldemort with a sociopathic!Voldemort and a soft-hearted!Harry (and let me tell you, I do, and they are rare), oh boy is this the fic for you.

This fic is in some ways almost unrelenting — in many others, it is almost gentle. I honestly feel that this fic is almost a "meta-fic", in that, in the experience of reading, I felt a lot like how Harry might, and that the author was my Voldemort: what it gave with one hand, it took with the other — and yet always left enough to keep me moving forward, however nervously, however despondantly, however broken-hearted.

There are many great lines and moments in this fic, but the one that stood out as the first wham line for me was this:

"Voldemort looks at Harry, tilts his head in disbelief.

'No, Harry Potter. That was you.'"

Harry Potter and the Siren's Lament by Ivycloak

Author's summary:

"'Selkies steal your heart. Merrow drown your children. Sirens sink ships,' Ron whispered, eyes downcast now. 'Everyone knows that. There’s a reason wizards aren’t big into going swimming and sailing.'

Harry sank, wide-eyed, to the bottom of the tank, a massive lump in his throat. Hermione nudged Ron with her foot, tipping her head towards Harry reprovingly. Ron dragged his eyes up again and grimaced.

'Not that… not that I think you’d do those things,' Ron said awkwardly, glancing at Hermione and then shuddering. 'But… you could.'

Harry shook his head, curling his nauseatingly flexible tail against the smooth walls of the tank. He hadn't meant to imperio Hermione - he'd never!

Except, he had, hadn't he?

Monster."

My summary: Voldemort realises that Harry is a horcrux and in one fell swoop, cuts Harry off from his friends, causes the wizarding world at large to fear him, and makes his survival entirely dependent on Voldemort - by turning Harry into a siren. With most of the wizarding population believing he's a dumb but ruthless animal, trapped behind thick panes of glass in his own personal tank, Harry struggles to reach out to his friends and convince them it's still him - despite all the changes.

Reasons why it's a Game Changer:

I've tried not to make a habit of mentally marking fics as 'Game Changers' whilst they're still WIPs because you never know where the author's going to go and how they might fumble it at the last hurdle. However, I can't deny that this fic MUST exist as a Game Changer because it completely blew my mind open on what a creature!fic can be. I've long read creature!fics with a sort of bafflement as to why they are so popular. Don't get me wrong, I've liked them fine, but I've never seen what drives people to change Harry so radically for (to my mind) very little payoff — until now.

The author dives wonderfully into the uncertainty such a change would cause: Harry still feeling like the same person but undeniably having new skills - dangerous skills - that he cannot entirely control; friends who fiercely insist that he is still their Harry; yet others who are scared of this new "creature" because of the propoganda surrounding them, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he is still a rational being... I particularly like that the author has struck a good balance with these viewpoints. It is all too easy to have characters become caricatures to rally against, but all the characters feel wonderfully three-dimentional: the teacher who treats Harry like an animal but loves him like a pet; the friends who believe he is still Harry but wouldn't dare get into a tank with him...

The characterisations so far are great and the writing is exellent. It's clear the author has put a lot of thought and love into this story, and I can't wait to see where this journey leads.

The Second String by Eider_Down

Author's summary: "Everyone knows Dementors can take souls, but nothing says that they have to keep them. After the Dementor attack in Little Whinging ends disastrously, Harry must find a place for himself in a new world, fighting a different sort of war against the nascent Voldemort."

My summary: Time travel, but not as you've seen it before. Harry ends up in the 1980s and is terrified of messing up the timeline, so, trying to keep a low profile, takes a job at the Hog’s Head while pretending to be a squib. Turns out that Magical Britain REALLY hates squibs that don’t know their place...

Reasons why it's a Game Changer: Excellent writing, exciting new ideas, and wonderful characterisation. [More to be added on re-read. I forgor...]