History Fanfic / WeAreNothing

* WithholdingTheBigGood: Dumbledore is absent for pretty much the entire story save for a few scenes near the end. Initially, this is because he had just been ousted as headmaster of Hogwarts after taking the fall for the creation of Dumbledore's Army, and is now a fugitive hiding from the Ministry of Magic, so obviously he can't show up at Hogwarts to help out with the Freddy situation. After news of Freddy's gruesome murders at Hogwarts spreads, it's mentioned that Dumbledore has left Grimmauld Place and is searching the countryside for potential leads to solve the murders. [[spoiler:When Harry is finally able to meet up with Dumbledore in Chapter 10, the latter isn't able to stay around for long as he has to leave shortly afterwards to help the Unspeakables at the Department of Mysteries attempt a (likely futile) ritual to get rid of Freddy. This means he is absent for Harry's final battle with Freddy and only returns mere moments after Freddy is seemingly killed in the real world.]]

** After Umbridge nearly killed Harry through Veritaserum poisoning, Amelia took personal interest in the case and did everything in her power to ensure Umbridge would be detained and prosecuted for attempted murder.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, is presented as one to contrast Fudge and Umbridge. Unlike the other Ministry officials, she doesn't have it out for Harry nor does she think he has what it takes to engage in cold-blooded murder. She is also among those who accepted Harry and Dumbledore's claims that Voldemort has returned; when Fudge is still in denial despite the increasing evidence, Amelia leaks the details of Harry's Veritaserum interrogation (in which he confirmed Voldemort was back) to the press while simultaneously strong-arming Fudge into ceasing his smear campaign against Harry. When Harry finally decides to tell Amelia everything he knows about Freddy Krueger in Chapter 7, she not only listens to him, but actually takes his claims seriously (despite confessing that she finds the idea of a serial killer with dream powers [[ArbitrarySkepticism hard to believe]]) and does her best to convey his warnings to the public.

* OutsideContextProblem: Freddy Krueger presents an unprecedented threat to the Potterverse wizards because he is a foreigner in more ways than one. He originates from the Muggle world, is an independent threat from outside Europe with zero ties to either Voldemort or Dumbledore, and possesses supernatural abilities that don't abide by the rules of the Potterverse's magic system. He is so disconnected from the wizarding world's history, factions, and conflicts that he hedonistically kills whoever he pleases regardless of his victims' importance in the setting. Unlike the majority of ''Harry Potter'' antagonists who commit evil deeds as a means to an end (ex. Fudge wants to maintain a peaceful status quo, Voldemort wants more power, the Death Eaters want to promote pureblood supremacy, Umbridge is a fanatical bureaucrat looking to advance her Ministry career, etc.), Freddy kills kids solely because [[{{Sadist}} he finds it pleasurable]] and [[ForTheEvulz there's no one who can stop him]].

* TheWorfBarrage: [[spoiler:While curb-stomping Voldemort in the dream world, Freddy casually shrugs off being hit in the chest by ''multiple'' Killing Curses from the former, even throwing in an OhCrapFakeout just to troll with him.]]

* PoliceAreUseless: As is par for the course, the Aurors are depicted as having no chance or clue against any situation that arises in this story.
** They are utterly ineffective at stopping Freddy's murder spree at Hogwarts. Their only real response is to assign an increasing number of Auror squads to patrol the school halls at night, none of whom are successful in catching or even deterring the killer. Whenever the Aurors try to investigate, they always hit a dead end and fail to turn up any leads. This results in the Aurors looking like a major embarrassment to the public and their failure [[spoiler:forces Hogwarts to permanently close down for the students' own safety.]]

** They are utterly ineffective at stopping Freddy's murders at Hogwarts. Even as more and more Auror squads are assigned to guard the dormitories at night, nothing they do works. [[spoiler:Which eventually leads to Hogwarts shutting down.]]

** Hermione, a fifth year Hogwarts student, is able to correctly deduce how Freddy is killing his victims by herself. By comparison, none of the Aurors actually investigating these murder cases seemingly bothered to notice how all the victims were SlainInTheirSleep or thought that was worth looking into.
** Even once Harry finally spills the beans about Freddy's existence and his nature as a dream demon, the Aurors are at a loss for how to actually defeat Krueger with various characters noting that they have no means of entering the dream world or intercepting Freddy's murders before they happen.

* OutsideContextProblem: Freddy Krueger presents an unprecedented threat to the Potterverse wizards because he is a foreigner in more ways than one. He originates from the Muggle world, is an independent threat from outside Europe with zero ties to either Voldemort or Dumbledore, and possesses supernatural abilities that don't abide by the rules of the Potterverse's magic system. He is so disconnected from the wizarding world's politics, factions, and conflicts that he hedonistically kills whoever he pleases regardless of his victims' importance in the setting. Unlike the majority of ''Harry Potter'' antagonists who commit evil deeds as a means to an end (ex. Fudge wants to maintain a peaceful status quo, Voldemort wants more power, the Death Eaters want to promote pureblood supremacy, Umbridge is a fanatical bureaucrat looking to advance her Ministry career, etc.), Freddy kills kids solely because [[{{Sadist}} he finds it pleasurable]] and [[ForTheEvulz there's no one who can stop him]].

* PoliceAreUseless: As is par for the course, the Aurors are depicted as being completely useless against any situation in this story.

** Hermione, a fifth year Hogwarts student, is able to correctly deduce how Freddy is killing his victims by herself. By comparison, none of the Aurors actually investigating these murder cases seemingly bothered to notice how all the victims were SlainInTheirSleep.

* PoliceAreUseless: As is par for the course, the Aurors are depicted as being completely useless against any threat in this story.

** When a MexicanStandoff occurs during breakfast in the Great Hall between Dumbledore's Army and the Slytherins following the night of Zacharias's murder, none of the on-duty Aurors standing guard in the room do anything to intervene or deescalate things. It takes the sudden arrival of a furious Professor [=McGonagall=] and Amelia Bones in order to avert a literal full-blown battle breaking out between the students.

* OutsideContextProblem: Freddy Krueger presents an unprecedented threat to the Potterverse wizards because he is an OCP in several ways. For starters, he originates from the Muggle world and has zero ties to the wizarding world. He possesses supernatural abilities that were bestowed onto him by literal demons from Hell, and these powers don't abide by the rules of the Potterverse's magic system. He is an independent threat from outside the UK who has no past connections to either Voldemort or Dumbledore. Lastly, unlike every other ''Harry Potter'' antagonist for whom committing evil deeds was merely a means to an end (ex. Fudge smeared Harry's reputation to try maintaining a peaceful status quo, Voldemort is driven by a hunger for power, the Death Eaters terrorized the magical community to promote pureblood supremacy, Umbridge made Harry's school life miserable out of an obnoxious self-righteousness and fanatical loyalty to the Ministry, etc.), Freddy is motivated purely by ForTheEvulz. Rather than being for some grand vision or ideology, Freddy kills kids solely because he finds it pleasurable and there's no one who can stop him.
* OutsideGenreFoe: Whereas almost all ''Harry Potter'' antagonists are British wizards or fantasy creatures inspired by European folklore, Freddy Krueger is a ResurrectedMurderer from the USA who normally haunts suburban teenagers in small-town Ohio.