Sequel to “Harry Potter and the Cloud with the Silver Lining”
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:date: 2024-03-17T20:18:00
:category: literature
:tags: review, harryPotter, blogComment, storyPrompt, fromReddit

“`Harry Potter and the Cloud with the Silver Lining`_” by
ev11235813 is one of those stories which frustrate me to no
end. It feels like a prologue to a much larger story, but the
writing has stopped exactly at the moment when I felt the
real story may finally start. The whole story is one of those
“one tiny change unravels all powers of the darkness” kind of
stories (something like “`Petrification Proliferation`_” by
/u/TheWhiteSquirrel, but that goes a way further on that path). I
can even see the story, which could start, but unfortunately I am
absolutely not in the position of the one to write (firstly, I am
a man).

So, let’s make an inventory of what we have in the beginning of
the story, right?

- Harry changed into a girl, with a promise of lots of small
  substories on the theme “I had no idea your life is so
  different”, which could be funny (or otherwise).

- Group of five girls living together. I think that has
  a huge potential for a great story. Something in the
  style of a possible sisterhood, much like The Parlour in
  “`The Changeling`_”, but much smaller so more tight and
  personal. Sharing adventures, supporting each other, fighting
  together (in both senses of the word), The Power of Sisterhood,
  plenty of good stuff.

- Many of Harry personal problems resolved (either
  good!McGonagall, or liberated!Sirius or possibly even
  Sirius/Amelia Bones are her guardians, Dursleys and 4 Privet
  Drive are to be liquidated very soon, Malfoys are licking their
  wounds), Horcruxes are being searched for.

- good!Dumbledore (perhaps slightly confused or overworked,
  perhaps with `personal problems`_, but to use terminology of
  D&D he is chaotic good) and Competent Adults™ with Not Too Much
  Corrupt Government™

The point of our story should be probably a series of
interwoven sub-stories of all girls, some of them typical
afternoon-high-school-TV-series ones (boys, school, jealousy,
etc), some of them less so (hunting Horcruxes, hunting
Pettigrew). I know that the original story slightly hinted into
femslash fem!Harry/Hermione, but I wouldn’t go there. Aside
from the fact that I don’t like femslash (nothing against
lesbians IRL, but I am an adult straight man, so I have a hard
time to identify with them), I would be afraid that such strong
relationship between two of the most important characters would
completely derail whole story from my idea of a story of whole
group, not story of any of these individuals.

.. _`Harry Potter and the Cloud with the Silver Lining`:
  https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13185192

.. _`Petrification Proliferation`:
  https://archiveofourown.org/works/14031132

.. _`The Changeling`:
  https://archiveofourown.org/works/189189

.. _`personal problems`:
  {filename}broken_dumbledore.rst