The Boys Who Died
mia madwyn18 Reviews | 7.56/10 (18 Ratings, 0 Likes, 14 Favorites )
What if Dumbledore's great plan hadn't worked, and Harry had simply died at the "Right Time." What if Harry had not gotten a chance to return from Kings Cross and finish the job? Where would Harry go and what would he do to find comfort in an afterlife where he'd been so betrayed by the one he trusted most?
Inspired by the Haunted House challenge, but since I ended up not writing about HG/SS it didn't fit.
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About mia madwyn
Author
mia madwyn
Member Since 2007 | 14 Stories | Favorited by 521 | 490 Reviews Written | 4,179 Review Responses
BEST AUTHOR, Moste Potente Potions
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Care of Magical Creatures recently received two awards on "Secrets of the Dark Vaults," a Russian fanfic site. Best NC-17 and Best Maxi Translation. The Nine-Year Plan was awarded Best Mini-Fic! I'm delighted to be in translation and to please the readers in Russia!
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With the completion of Care of Magical Creatures my fanfic output is going to slow way down, but if you want to be sure to know when new fics post, please follow me on twitter. I don't tweet much, but I'll surely tweet that kind of thing.
About Mia
I came to the world of Harry Potter relatively early, after first resisting it because it just seemed too trendy. But when the first book came out in paperback in the US I picked it up at the airport when I was about to catch a flight, and two chapters in knew I would be ordering the original from amazon.co.uk in hardcover as soon as I landed.
I came to fanfic late, waiting until after I'd read DH. That means I've been totally obsessed with the fanfic world of Harry Potter, and most specifically the SS/HG ship, since August of '07.
I'm helplessly and hopelessly hooked.
Reviews for The Boys Who Died
A surprisingly touching and poignant drabble - I enjoyed it very much (she says with an embarrassed sniffle)
I know that this is rather selfish of me, but this was such a great concept. Selfishly wishing there was more story, even though you wrapped up the idea very nicely in drabble form.I too, liked the idea that Dudley had changed in TDH and it is sweet that Harry would find comfort staying with him. The ruthlessness of Dumbledore has bothered me for some time, especially when I realised that if things had gone the way he'd planned on the Astronomy Tower, Harry would have been forced to kill Snape to gain mastery of the Elder Wand. That would have been an even greater betrayal.You make me wish I had the ability to write creatively. Thank you again for posting such an evocative/provacative drabble.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Thank you so much. This fic doesn't get read very often and it warms my heart when it does!
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Thank you so much. This fic doesn't get read very often and it warms my heart when it does!
Oh, so sad. At least Dudders is being reasonable.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
I was so happy with the way Dudders acted in DH. That's one thing JKR got right.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
I was so happy with the way Dudders acted in DH. That's one thing JKR got right.
Wow - what a refreshing look at AU. I especially love that Dudley is here, as he revealed a downright sympathetic side in the last book. And the final sentence is absolutely perfect. You convey so much in such a small space - it's very good.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Thank you so much. It's an odd little piece and I don't know quite where it came from.
The multiple worlds thery is a favorite of mine.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Thank you. I was also thinking of all the AU fanfics.
Excellent. That was really kinda touching. Thanks!
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
I'm glad you liked it. I realize it's a bit odd!
On a whim I decided to check your other fics...and saw drabbles and grimaced - I don't read drabbles. But I thought, hey, suck it up Ferv, there's a first time for everything.And I'm glad I did! It's delightfully bitter sweet. At the end I wasn't sure whether to cry or be happy that Harry had...well... Harry for company, that baby Harry wouldn't have to go through all of that, and that he had someone to take care of him. Fantastic!
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Thanks -- I don't know what got into me with this one. I guess I just needed an extra dose of angst! (Plus, I was so totally furious at Dumbledore and thought, what if it had failed and he'd died?)
Oh, my. That's weird. That's weird and that's compelling. And... poetic too.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Yes, weird, I know.
In one of the previous replies you said that if the explnation had taken longer than the actually story, something had gone wrong. No, it didn't. I got it all from the drabble itself. It's great. And I loved that he went to the cupboard after the Forbidden Forrest killing, and I adored the alternate universes idea that gave him a chance to take care of another version of himself (thus pointing out that while there might exist multiple lives, the afterlife unites them in the end). Dumbledore is such an evil character in cannon in so many ways. While it makes him human, the scope of his manipulations with the crucial HP characters also excludes him from possibility of redemption for me. In that way, I understand your feeling of betrayal.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Thank you for taking the time to express all of that. I really appreciate it.
I don't totally despise Dumbledore, but part of me kept asking, what if his idea had failed? What if Harry had sacrificed himself and died?
And I also was touched when I realized (wrote the words) that he didn't even wonder what was going to happen to the world where the Boy Died. He'd spent half his life worrying about the world, and this time, he only cared about the baby.
Response from nata (Reviewer)
Dumbledore is great. Grand, rather. And that would be my problem with him. That he had this goal in his life and used so many others to achieve it (Harry, Snape, Sirius). He happened to be right, but as you wondered - just happened. What if his idea failed? I agree with you so much. Harry's alternative afterlife is very human.
wow, that was quite intense for such a short piece. I like it.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Thank you. It's so very different from my chaptered story, which combines a lot of humor and angst. This one just came from a different place.
Oh gosh. I was only reading Care of Magical Creatures and decided on a whim to check out your other stories. Even without the SS/HG it's wonderful. I'm not sure how many of your drabbles I could take if they're this sad, but the writing is very powerful. It really was only in the cupboard under the stairs that Harry was safe wasn't it... how ironic.Please excuse me while I go weep and turn an unattractive blotchy red.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
I've never written a drabble before and am having the same reaction you did. I'm not sure I want to write any others if this is what they turn into. LOL
I did write something for the SS/HG exchange and it's not sad at all. So there! (It's also not a drabble, also won't be posted until they are all posted anonymously, and won't show up here under my own name until -- well next year sometime!)
Okay, I don't know if I get it. Is it Dumbledore and Harry under the cupboard or Harry and Dudley under the cupboard? See, you are too brilliant for me to get. That was SO meaty and full of such angst. I love it and I think I'd love it more if I understood it all.
Please explain for me, a lowly fan...
Livvy
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Ghost Harry Who was Sacrificed took Ghost Baby Harry who died home with him to care for.
Response from livvy6 (Reviewer)
Oh Okay, that is even sadder than I thought. Brilliant!
Livvy
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
LOL! Well, this is why I won't be doing too many drabbles, I don't think. I don't come up with any ideas that are sustainable in 100 words (or don't want to work hard enough to write them well). But my idea with the "haunted house" prompt went to Privet Drive, and the idea that Dudley, at the end, cared what happened to Harry.
I just suddenly got this image of Harry not surviving, and returning to Privet Drive instead of the wizarding world which ultimately had betrayed him, by training him up for seven years not to sacrifice himself.
The irony being that when all the dust settled, Dudley (I'm assuming at some point Lily and rat-bastard are no longer there) "cares" for Harry in the afterlife, by giving him a place to stay that is home -- the home he never wanted but now is the only home he trusts.
I didn't post this for a long time for just this reason -- when the explanation takes ten times as long as the execution, something didn't work. LOL!
OTOH, other people can interpret it however they want and may see something totally different there. Which I suppose it one of the other potential gifts of a drabble.
How sad that Harry was alone in his afterlife until finding baby Harry.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
I was kind of bitter (ahem) about Dumbledore training Harry to die at the right time, and was just playing with a "what if it didn't work" scenario. But I think it was the feeling of betrayal that was driving me -- that when it was all over, he returned to Privet Drive of all places, because of feeling betrayed. (Plus, I really loved that Dudley changed at the beginning of Book Seven.) Anyway, it was just me playing around in the alternate universes.
Response from FruGal (Reviewer)
I guess Dumbledore didn't care whose life got sacreficed, even his own, as long as Voldemort was defeated. But it was wrong not to inform Harry of the risk, especially as Harry matured.
i came looking for other (shorter) things by you, and stumbled on this. quite beautiful, poetic, and really perfect in its structure and sentiment. meaning, i wanted to single out something to remark upon, but nothing stands out because every sentence is remarkable. : D
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Thank you! I'm thrilled that you're looking for other things I've written! And thank you so much for your very kind words.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Thank you! I'm thrilled that you're looking for other things I've written! And thank you so much for your very kind words.
Wow. Another beautiful and deftly crafted piece. I think that you're take on this is incredibly accurate and very sadly human.BTW, I love the addition of Dudley and his compassion. Bravo.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Thank you. I loved what JKR did with Dudley in DH.
Poignant and heartbreaking, but somehow positive. Lovely piece.
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
And you're not going to nag about three missing words? ;-)Thanks!
But why would Harry be haunting the Dursley's? interesting thought thiough
Response from mia madwyn (Author of The Boys Who Died)
Because he felt betrayed by Dumbledore and the magical world, and Dudley ended up a good guy in the end.