Harry Potter and the Power of Paranoia
is a Harry Potter Fanfiction by arekay. Set after Book 4, it demonstrates a What If? scenario in which, as a result of the radio silence from his friends, Harry grows overly paranoid, and the sequence of events that follow this.
This work contains the following tropes:
- Babies Ever After: In the epilogue, Luna is mentioned to be pregnant with twins.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- Chapter 8 details the sequence of events that lead to the "Great British Muggleborn Diaspora", detailing the fallout from Harry using the Fidelius to hide his identity by showing how Hermione's decision to leave Britain results in other muggleborns and half-bloods also departing the country out of fear for their safety. In the middle of this, Luna Lovegood is focused on, standing out because A) she is not muggleborn, and B) her departure is motivated not by fear for her safety, but because of her Friendless Background and status as a bullying victim. In Chapter 11, it turns out she left Britain in favor of America, where she crossed paths with Jim Dobbins, AKA Harry Potter, whom she ends up dating.
- When Dumbledore brings Sirius and Hermione to Harry and Luna's house, Sirius takes note of the strong wards, making reference to an old drinking buddy of his who's a warding expert. This friend turns out to be Jim Dobbins.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Voldemort is the main threat facing Britain, but the primary antagonist for Harry is actually Dumbledore.
- Internal Reveal: In Chapter 17, Harry finally finds out that the "Death Eater" he knocked out in Chapter 1 was actually Mundungus Fletcher, a member of the Order of the Phoenix sent to protect him.
- Mistaken for Flirting: This is why Harry did not reconnect with Hermione as Jim Dobbins like he did with Sirius. When he — a random guy as far as she was concerned — approached her in a bar, attempting to strike up a conversation, Hermione presumed he was coming on to her and shot him down, to her later mortification when, having regained her memories of Harry, is reminded of this.
- Mistaken for Gay: After the Fidelius goes into effect, Dumbledore, trying to identify the Boy-Who-Lived, notes that Ron was his hostage in the second trial of the Triwizard tournament. This, in combination with having ignored his own date to the Yule Ball, objectively an attractive young woman, causes Dumbledore to presume this of Ron and the Boy-Who-Lived, to the horror of the former.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Numerous events in the story would not have occurred if not for Dumbledore's actions.
- For a start, the whole radio silence deal causes Harry to develop excessive paranoia, and cuts off any channels of communication between him and anyone he did trust, resulting in Harry running away.
- Having an untrustworthy-looking stranger like Mundungus Fletcher guarding Harry without informing Harry he was being guarded causes Harry to knock Dung out and flee, mistaking him for a Death Eater.
- Sending Remus, who Harry barely trusts, with only Tonks, whom he doesn't know, and Snape, whom he explicitly distrusts, results in Harry fleeing from Europe to America and believing that Remus was a Death Eater.
- Dumbledore believes that killing Voldemort is this, since it condemns Harry to have to die in order to destroy the last Horcrux; this is not true, as Harry had the soul fragment removed years ago, but Dumbledore refuses to believe it.
- Sadistic Choice: In the final chapter, Harry is faced with one; having killed Voldemort, Dumbledore believes Harry must die to destroy the Horcrux, unwilling to believe that the shard of Voldemort's soul in his scar, which was not a Horcrux, was removed a long time ago. Unable to convince him otherwise, Harry is faced with either turning over Dumbledore to the authorities, where he risks Dumbledore convincing them of his theories about Harry, putting him at risk, or killing him. Harry chooses to Take a Third Option; wiping Dumbledore's memories and dumping him in a nursing home.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- After receiving a notice from the Ministry expelling him for using a Patronus Charm in Little Whinging, which he did not do due to having fled the area after knocking out Mundungus, Harry chooses to flee England entirely, eventually settling in America.
- After Harry's Fidelius caused Hermione to forget him, she can no longer remember why she was staying at Hogwarts, resulting in convincing her parents to pull her out of the school and move to Australia. When she leaves, this prompts all the other muggleborns at Hogwarts to leave as well, and this exodus convinces all the other muggleborns in Magical Britain to leave as well.
- Stating the Simple Solution: After the Fidelius breaks when his initial secret keeper dies, Harry begins plans to find, use, and obliviate another muggle, only for Luna to point out that, as his girlfriend who he trusted, she was a better option.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Averted; twice, Harry seems about to be faced with someone about to give him hell, only to be able to talk them down.
- Immediately after the Fidelius breaks, Luna is naturally upset that the man she loves hid who he really was. Harry is able to remind her of a specific incident in which he tried, but that the written secret has a shelf life, and had already expired, and he had no way of renewing it, meaning he was unable to tell her.
- After he is reunited with Hermione and Sirius, they are angry, both at him running away without a word, and for not reaching out afterwards. Harry notes that, having followed Dumbledore's instructions, they had cut off any way for Harry to contact them, before revealing his secret identity of Jim Dobbins, who Sirius recognises as his drinking buddy, revealing Harry had kept in contact with Sirius, noting that he had tried to do the same with Hermione, but she mistook him for hitting on her and turned him down.
