History Fanfic / HarryPotterAndTheNightmaresOfFuturesPast

* BadFuture: Er...Yes? To sum up, when the story begins, Harry has at last defeated Voldemort for good, and the rest of the Death Eaters died with him... but Hogwarts has been leveled, all his friends and family are dead, Diagon Alley is gone, and the Death Eaters had been committing purges of the British Isles at such a scale that the US Military had to step in. The devastation had also spread to continental Europe, which was why the US Military stepped in; to keep Voldemort on the east side of the Atlantic Ocean.

** In the BadFuture, Alastor Moody rallied the Aurors posted at Azkaban, and held off a siege by Voldemort's forces for several days, destroying everything Voldemort wanted on the island and ultimately giving him a PyrrhicVictory. The battle apparently traumatised the Death Eaters to the point where from that point onward, any prisoners they took could shout out Moody's CatchPhrase, "Constant vigilance!" to get instantly executed and avoid torture.

** Neville is generally a quiet, polite, private person, very affected by the fate of his parents, who were [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]] until their minds broke and they were reduced to [[EmptyShell Empty Shells]]. And then Draco, the nephew of the psychopath responsible, taunts Luna Lovegood, in front of Neville, by suggesting that she's not talking because she's lost her mind. Neville proceeds to leap over the table and pound Draco's face in.

* BriarPatching: Harry repeatedly denigrates the sweets he bought from the trolley witch on the Hogwarts Express, and acts as if Ron would be doing him a big favour by trading a corned beef sandwich for some of them -- knowing that Ron's pride means he will be much more likely to accept the trade that way than if he suspected Harry was being generous. (Harry also genuinely likes Mrs Weasley's cooking, and has reason to appreciate it more than Ron does.)

* ButterflyOfDoom: A refreshing change in the PeggySue genre, as Harry's efforts to rewrite history frequently have totally unintended consequences, both good and bad. He starts seeing the effects almost from day one, such as his conversation with Ginny causing Ron to [[BigBrotherInstinct approach him differently]] on the train.

* ClusterFBomb: Not on-screen, but when Colin Creevey enchants a photo of Harry to make it talk, it pours out a stream of vulgar language.

** He later pretends to have pulled a muscle in his shoulder as an excuse to let Ginny try out his top-level broom.

** In his first year, Draco attempts to steal a letter Harry is about to post to Ginny. When that fails, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle all cast Stunners at Harry simultaneously, which he shields himself against. Professor Snape then turns up and announces that he'll have Harry expelled for duelling in the corridors.

* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Mr. Weasley proves the inefficiency of a magic gun to Harry... by putting the gun to his head and pulling the trigger. The worst part? ''It was loaded and the only reason it didn't fire is that Mr. Weasley wasn't pulling the trigger correctly''. It takes Harry several minutes to stop shaking, and he confiscates the gun as soon as Mr Weasley's back is turned.

* [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy I Want My Friends To Be Happy]]: With his friends ignorant of his future past, Harry is painfully aware that his manipulation of them for the greater good makes him no better than Dumbledore, but he's prepared to accept their hatred if it means they'll survive the coming war. [[spoiler:When he finally tells them, he finds out he shouldn't have worried.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Dumbledore under the GoneHorriblyWrong example above.

* ARiddleWrappedInAMysteryInsideAnEnigma: Dumbledore ponders these exact words in regards to Harry.

** {{Literature/Discworld}} at the end of chapter 38.

* SpannerInTheWorks: The reason why [[spoiler:Pettigrew]]'s plan to cause chaos at Hogwarts (see WesternTerrorists) fails is because [[spoiler:the Gryffindor Six and some other students know how to use the Patronus Charm]].

With nothing left to lose, Harry gambles his life on a second chance, and hits the jackpot when his spirit [[MergerOfSouls merges with his younger self]] partway through the summer before his first year at Hogwarts. In classic Peggy Sue fashion, "young" Harry then begins subtly altering the timeline to make things better... with [[ForWantOfANail mixed]] [[InSpiteOfANail results]].

** This is how Harry breaks the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery: [[spoiler:Someone (implied to be the Malfoys) sends him a box of doxies which inevitably bite him and attack Hedwig, forcing him to use his wand to stop the doxy from tearing out her eyes]]. The resulting owl triggers Vernon Dursley into a rage.

'''Luna''': No. You’ve just never had friends before, have you?

''[[https://viridian.fanficauthors.net/harry_potter_and_the_nightmares_of_futures_past/index/ Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past]]'' is a ''Literature/HarryPotter'' PeggySue fic written by [[IHaveManyNames S'TarKan / Viridian /]] [[FanNickname Evil Author Lord]] Matthew Schocke.

* AbusiveParents: The Dursleys of course, but Vernon more so than usual thanks to the ButterflyOfDoom.

* AmbiguousDisorder: When Harry and Hermione use legilimency on Luna, all they get is PsychicStatic and a headache. Harry remarks that she is "either a genius or a functional schizophrenic."

* AcademyOfEvil: While Durmstrang had a reputation for this in canon, it became this outright in the BadFuture; after Voldemort razed Hogwarts many of Voldemort's supporters sent their children to Durmstrang, with Dolohov as headmaster. [[spoiler:At the end of second year, Draco and Professor Snape both transfer there.]]

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler: Harry's confession in the Chamber of Secrets]] might seem similar to someone coming out to their family, with the fear and very real possibility of being rejected once the truth is out. [[spoiler: Harry's resignation that his friends would automatically hate him right afterward would also hit close to home.]] The fact that his fears are proven wrong also may be similar to being accepted rather than rejected like one would fear.

* TalkingInYourSleep: Harry dozes off in the Weasleys' car, and wakes with several of them staring at him. Luna later tells him that he was making death threats and using "[[NarrativeProfanityFilter some words I'm going to have to look up when we get to school]]."
* TaughtByTelevision: Leave it to Luna to learn the basics of DrunkenBoxing from watching television.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Plenty of these.
** Harry's change in behavior after the merge, particularly in the Dursley household, when he realizes that he can't expect everything to stay the way it was with the changes he's making.
** Also happens early on regarding Malfoy and Snape.
*** Harry tries dropping a not-so-subtle hint to Draco that his decisions will affect him negatively in the future should he stay on the path he is now, but did he really expect a spoiled, racist brat to take a good look at himself and have a JerkassRealization?
*** He tries making a better impression on Snape during the first Potions lesson, but Snape is [[ManChild an immature man who never let go of a grudge against Harry's dead father]], and sees Harry correctly answering all of the questions as either cheating or cheek.
** [=McGonagall=] is automatically appalled when she learns that Snape was [[MindRape using Legilimency on her students and that Dumbledore let him get away with it]]. Her relationship with the man sours afterwards.
** [[spoiler: Vernon beating up Harry]] struck readers the wrong way, who thought that [[spoiler:Harry would have been able to kick the man's ass with his new fighting abilities. WordOfGod points out in the next chapter that Vernon got a few good hits in before Harry realised he was serious, and despite TakingALevelInBadass, Harry is still a scrawny kid against an adult.]]
** While still holding feelings for [[LostLenore Ginny]] from his original timeline, Harry in his 11-year-old self is hesitant to instigate a relationship since he is both mentally 30 and wants to know Ginny as a person, rather than an idea he has in his head. He spends his first year writing letters with her, getting to know her and bonding with Ginny over time.
** Ron and Hermione got together in the original timeline, but it took them years before Ron realized his feelings for Hermione and made his move. Harry, while wanting them to get together faster based on future!Ron's regrets over how long it took, doesn't know how to nudge them without creeping them out or being forceful. He purchases a psychology book to help him with this, since Harry has no idea how the mind works aside from his scarring experiences.
** Dumbledore's portrait discourages Harry from telling his younger self about his time-travelling, since he knows that his younger self wouldn't be that helpful and might even stop Harry. CharacterDevelopment is called that for a reason; it took portrait!Dumbledore time to realize his mistakes, and his younger self certainly wouldn't have experienced the same things yet.
** Moody's first lesson involves hiding in the corner with a Disillusionment Charm and attacking when the bell rings. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville are caught off guard but still manage to stay conscious. When Luna and Ginny enter the classroom, Luna goes over to the place where Moody is hiding...and says hello. Camouflage is pointless if someone is able to pick up your scent, and Moody's breakfast that morning consisted of pickled herrings, something that Luna smelled right away.
** Harry's attempts to clear Sirius' name don't go that well; either Dumbledore is reluctant to make accusations about the proceedings or the Ministry refuses to admit that they put an innocent man in prison.
** Also, Harry has no doubts that using his knowledge of the future, while beneficial to his loved ones, makes him feel no better than [[ManipulativeBastard Dumble]][[WellIntentionedExtremist dore]]. He's resigned to being rejected by his friends if he ever tells them he is from the future. [[spoiler: However, that doesn't mean [[TrueCompanions his friends]] will agree with that cynical view; they accept him after the secret is out, recognising that Harry did his best to make up for his 'advantage'.]]
** When Moody observes Harry's lessons to the Defence Association, he is able to make a few observations about weaknesses in Harry's tactical abilities, which Harry acknowledges as valid as he was basically self-taught in the future and had to constantly improvise rather than get professional instruction.

* EnlightenedSelfInterest: Horace Slughorn's ''modus operandi''. He's genuinely helpful and friendly to anyone whose company can be profitable, which Harry decides is easier to deal with than outright villainy. Exaggerated when he spearheads, supervises, and brokers [[spoiler:the rendering down of the basilisk and the sale of its parts]], yielding substantial rewards for each of the Gryffindor Six -- and a tidy commission for himself.

* EnlightenedSelfInterest: Horace Slughorn's ''modus operandi''. He's genuinely helpful and friendly to anyone whose company can be profitable, which Harry decides is easier to deal with than outright villainy. Taken UpToEleven when he spearheads, supervises, and brokers [[spoiler:the rendering down of the basilisk and the sale of its parts]], yielding substantial rewards for each of the Gryffindor Six -- and a tidy commission for himself.

-> '''Dumbledore''': Do it better, Harry?\\

* BatmanGambit: The Gryffindor Six run one to [[spoiler:capture Barty Crouch Jr]], and it works, masterfully, when he snatches up the bait.

* CrimeOfSelfDefense: How [[spoiler:Harry breaks the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. Someone (implied to be the Malfoys) sends him a box of doxies which inevitably bite him and attack Hedwig, forcing him to use his wand to stop the doxy from tearing out her eyes.]]

* AbusiveParents: The Dursleys of course, but [[spoiler:Vernon more so than usual]] thanks to the ButterflyOfDoom.

** Harry pays a visit to Azkaban to [[spoiler:meet Sirius]] shortly before Year 2, a whole year before Sirius' canon escape. Justified by the fact that Harry was intentionally aiming to get Sirius out as soon as possible.

* AdultsAreUseless: Harry seems to have this opinion firmly in mind given [[spoiler: what he saw unfolding in his future]]. However even when an adult figure does do something right, Harry is still prone to reluctantly awarding them a point in his mind and bitterly remarking to himself what a wonder it was.
* AgeDownRomance: Played with. Harry is strongly tempted, but also considers it very unethical, and worries that with all his efforts to build Ginny up, he's engaged in WifeHusbandry. Ginny [[spoiler: is not impressed by his concerns, especially when [[BigBrotherInstinct Charlie]] [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer weighs in]]; she's just fine with how her crush has behaved, and wants Harry to have more faith in himself and her. As of chapter 43, they're not actually dating, but it's pretty clear that they're an unofficial item.]]

* AmoralAttorney: [[spoiler:Mr. Bendricks, the advocate Mr. Weasley hired, turns out to have been bribed by Lucius Malfoy to sway things in his favor at Harry's custody hearing.]]

* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Harry uses his inheritance to buy shares in his uncle's company in case he needs leverage at some point. [[spoiler:It becomes moot when his uncle beats him within an inch of his life, and the Weasleys become Harry's guardians -- so instead, once out of hospital, Harry uses his shares to have Vernon [[BestServedCold fired, prosecuted, and turned out of his home]].]]

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: As Gryffindor Tower begins to celebrate [[spoiler:Harry becoming the new champion, Hermione contributes to the effort to cool down the celebration by pointing out that, despite the talk of 'eternal glory' for winning the tournament, nobody there can name a past champion without looking the names up in a book]].

* BatmanGambit: The Gryffindor Six run one to [[spoiler:capture Barty Crouch Jr]], and it works, masterfully.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Downplayed with Ron. When he was younger, he might have wanted to surpass his brothers in something good, but time spent with Harry slowly eroded that. [[spoiler: He realizes it's all not all it's cracked up to be when he becomes besieged by others following his killing of a Dementor with the Sword of Gryffindor.]]

** When a Boggart transforms into [[spoiler: a succession of his friends' dead bodies, exactly as he saw them in the future, followed by a representation of Voldemort]], Harry freaks out and reacts as if it was real. Which, in this case, means annihilating it with a spell that reduces half the classroom to kindling -- and that was the half that was ''behind'' him. Everything it actually ''hit'' is just gone without a trace.

** Invoked by Harry when Neville gets upset and wants to immediately pummel [[spoiler: the boy who told Neville's grandmother that he's still spending time with Luna]]. Together they plan a more subtle and sophisticated revenge.
** Goldfarb the goblin is impressed by Harry's plans for subtle yet effective revenge [[spoiler:on the Dursleys]], since his people consider it to be an art form, and participates in setting up a HumiliationConga. The chapter 14 title specifically references this trope.

** Neville is generally a quiet, polite, private person, very affected by the fate of his parents, who were [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]] until their minds broke and they were reduced to [[EmptyShell Empty Shells]]. And then Draco, the nephew of the psychopath responsible, [[spoiler:taunts Luna Lovegood, in front of Neville, by suggesting that she's not talking because she's lost her mind]]. Neville proceeds to leap over the table and pound Draco's face in.
** In the BadFuture, [[spoiler:captives of the Death Eaters could shout '''CONSTANT VIGILANCE!''' for an instant kill thanks to Moody's DyingMomentOfAwesome.]]

* BringIt: After [[spoiler: he kills a Dementor with the Sword of Gryffindor]], Ron taunts all the other [[spoiler: Dementors]], who decide to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere book it]] as fast as they can.

** Arthur Weasley does this to Dumbledore [[spoiler: after the Dursleys' abuse of Harry is discovered.]]
** Neville calls out his grandmother [[spoiler:for interfering in his developing relationship with Luna]].

* CatapultNightmare: Several of the eponymous nightmares have Harry awakening violently, often throwing himself into action. After his mind replays [[spoiler:the deaths of each of his friends, one by one]], he not only wakes up in mid-air, he's also set the blanket on fire.

** Chapter 29's reference [[spoiler:to a magical core exploding]] in nightmare form is ominous in the extreme. The accuracy of Harry's previous nightmares doesn't help, nor does the fact that the author pretty much states that it's foreshadowing.
** [[spoiler: Almost certainly a literal example in the Glock. It's an enchanted gun that Harry picks up fairly early in the story, and is referenced enough times that the only way it's not a Chekhov's Gun is if it's a RedHerring.]]

* ClarkesThirdLaw: [[spoiler: Pettigrew banks on this to convince some Provisional IRA terrorists to attack Hogwarts]], passing off the Imperius Curse and other spells as advanced technology being developed by the British government.
* ClockRoaches: [[spoiler:The "agent-in-place", who is working behind the scenes to ensure that certain things happen as they did in the original timeline. It's unclear how much he knows, but he has been responsible for delivering the Diary to Ginny despite Harry's efforts, and endangering Harry's life in the first Triwizard task.]]

* TheCorruptor: [[spoiler:Lucius Malfoy tried to become this by attempting to sway things in his favor at Harry's custody hearing, even bribing Mr. Weasley's advocate.]]
* CrimeOfSelfDefense: How [[spoiler:Harry breaks the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. Someone (implied to be the Agent-in-Place) sends him a box of doxies which inevitably bite him and attack Hedwig, forcing him to use his wand to stop the doxy from tearing out her eyes.]]

** Harry promises Millicent Bulstrode that [[spoiler:if she can get proof of who killed her sister,]] the Aurors will never find the body. She doesn't think he's serious, but after the war he's fought, chances are that he is.

* EnlightenedSelfInterest: Horace Slughorn's ''modus operandi''. He's genuinely helpful and friendly to anyone whose company can be profitable, which Harry decides is easier to deal with than outright villainy. Taken UpToEleven when [[spoiler: he spearheads, supervises, and brokers the rendering down of the basilisk and the sale of its parts, yielding substantial rewards for each of the Gryffindor Six -- and a tidy commission for himself]].

** Also in the same situation, Mrs. Weasley doesn't like to apparate if she can't help it, preferring to use the Floo Network. However, [[spoiler:Harry is in a bad state, so she apparates with him to St. Mungo's.]]

** Harry pays a visit to Azkaban to [[spoiler:meet Sirius]] shortly before Year 2, a whole year before Sirius' canon escape.