brainstorming session

[tigriswolf]

So, I wrote this fic, right? Where Merlin the most powerful sorcerer/magician/wizard ever was reincarnated and attending Hogwarts. His first year is Harry Potter’s fourth.

And my kid!Merlin accidently released every dragon in the world from the chains the magical communities had placed on them, and all the dragons went to The Isle, a place only dragons and the sorcerer who made it can find. (And, yeah, the dude who made it? Was Merlin.)

So, that means that everything in Harry Potter canon goes AU a few days before the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament, right? The thing is, all I can remember involving dragons is when the Trio rode a dragon out of Gringrotts.

I don’t suppose anyone out there can imagine a couple other ramifications? I’m pretty sure people would be talking about the dragons going missing, right?

Because, yes, more and more bits of Second Year keep sauntering into my brain.

Comments

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

Perhaps a mention of powdered dragon claw being harder to find when students wanted to illegally use it as a brain stimulant for their O.W.L.s in fifth year? (Although the "dragon claw" being sold was actually dried doxy droppings anyway)

[tigriswolf]

You remember that? Wow. I hardly recall anything but the major plot points from any of the books.

Also, who is your icon? It looks like Vincent D'Onifero (which I totally just spelled wrong), but I'm pretty sure it's not.

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

It's Aaron Douglas as Deck Chief Galen Tyrol from Battlestar Galactica.

[vorpalblades.livejournal.com]

I remember quite a few wands use dragon heartstring as a core.

Plus, there's was Dumbledore's 12 uses of dragon blood (oven cleaner, spot remover, etc.), and dung was used as fertilizer on Hogwart's ground.

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

Doh, how could I forget the wands and the twelve uses of dragon's blood?

[tigriswolf]

Yeah, thinking about the wands makes me angry.

... and why would anyone use blood to clean anything?

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

I thought they meant "heartstring" in the emotional sense. If it's the physical heartstrings, I'm sure they take them from dead dragons, since dragons aren't populous to begin with and seem to be conserved species.

[caffienekitty]

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon

The link above seems to have a good rundown on the mentions of them in the series.

Dragons are classified as sentient, but they certainly aren't being treated as a sentient species by wizards (Hagrid has a dragon steak on his eye in the first book, and then all the heartstrings in wands, etc), so if Merlin freeing them from the bonds includes them regaining free-will and full awareness, the Wizarding world could be in for a major war with dragon-kind, or at the very least fear some serious reprisals, even if the dragons write it all off as not worth the effort of pursuing in favour of recovering their own kind and staying safe. Serious resonating repercussions for sure.

[tigriswolf]

Oh, thank you! The wiki didn't even occur to me for some reason.

I think there could very well be a war in the future, but at the moment, all the dragons are just trying to acclimate to their new freedom. And only one wizard in the world can find them, and he'd be on their side, should a war happen.

But since the dragons are gone, anything made from them just jumped to top prices, right?

[caffienekitty]

Or became illegal if the wizards are in a panic to prevent a war before it happens. Think ivory from elephants, or things made from dolphins and whales, if elephants, dolphins or whales were as dangerous as dragons and (even if only in the wizard's minds at the moment) as likely to seek reprisal.

There could also be wizarding groups lobbying on the side of the dragons as well. It wouldn't be a welcomed sudden change in their society. Sort of a cross between a forced end to whaling in a whaling society and a sudden non-socially motivated emancipation of slaves, speaking very roughly. Quite a few wizards might even be after Merlin's head for it, depending how dependent their lifestyles are on dragons and dragon products.

[tigriswolf]

Oh, no one knows what happened to the dragons. Basiscally, the world woke up one morning and they were all gone. No contact either, so far. Just gone.

And even if they are classified as sentient, it's either not widely known or forgotten.

This is getting to be far more of an intricate situation than I imagined when I wrote it.

[caffienekitty]

It can be. The situation has a lot of potential meat to it.

The sudden disappearance would get any paranoid or conspiracy-minded wizards on the alert (subscribers to the Quibbler? which would be in there with theories flying). Whether the conspiracy-minded suspect the dragons of something, or whether they suspect someone or some group has taken away the dragons (which is true, so the conspiracy folk have some traction) it's all stuff that might be making a big enough noise in the background to effect the plot or setting.

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

Oh. Steak. I forgot about that.

[kateandromeda.livejournal.com]

OK. I think the most was said already, just to speak of the obvious: The first task of the Tournament would have to be changed. ;)

[tigriswolf]

Well, yeah, I did that in the first fic. I'm working on the sequel, now.