azurite | Can't sleep, Snorkacks will eat me

I just got to thinking that if I was ever insane enough to go into HP fandom (you know, fics) of my own free will, here are some stories I'd love to see (or questions I'd love to see answered by stories, to be more precise):

* George starts hearing Fred's voice in his not-an-ear. At first he thinks he's going crazy and worries about what (not) to tell his family, and what will become of his business (which has been in trouble with Fred gone, anyway, and George is having doubts about), but then there start to be some pretty sweet benefits to having a dead twin brother guardian...

* The Adventures of Luna Lovegood: I would love to see Luna not taking over as editor of the Quibbler (what with her father's press destroyed and him having played a role in them nearly having gotten caught by the Death Eaters, I wonder if Luna could possibly lose SOME faith in her father that might prompt her to undertake any sort of journey), but going on an adventure in her own personal quest to find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack or similar. Her adventures would take her everywhere, allow her to meet all sorts of new people, and test her belief in many things.

* Teddy Lupin's years at Hogwarts. 'Nuff said, right? Well, he was already 19 at the time of the epilogue, which means he was out of Hogwarts when he was "snogging Victoire" (Victoire, by the way, was the name of my high school homeroom teacher, something which gives me both hilarious and disturbing mental images). What did he do in Hogwarts? Was he part of the next generation of Marauders, now that the original four are dead?

* The Dursleys After: We never did find out what happened to the Dursleys. Dudley sure as heck showed some improvement, and maybe Petunia as well, a little. It would be interesting to see how they fared after the War, and if Harry and his (new) family ever visit them... or if anyone ELSE does. *dark hint*

* The new Wizard War: brewing between the lines of all the HP books, especially the last ones, was a new war-- not between Dark Wizards and others, but between the various magical creature races. Hermione was the champion of house-elf rights, but what about Centaurs, Giant Spiders, Goblins, Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, Unicorns, Giants, and so on? What about the House-Elves post-War-- the ones Kreacher led, or the ones from previous books? (Whatever happened to Winky?) Such a war would very likely threaten the secrecy of the Wizarding world, making it unstable (Gringotts without goblins? Perish the thought!), and perhaps even pit friends against one another-- Hermione, despite her beliefs, might be against Hagrid, who is much more liberal in his beliefs... and there could be even starker extremes.

* The Train Will Take You On: The after-life of sorts that Dumbledore vaguely alludes to... is it something for everyone (as in, everyone goes there, good or bad), or is one PUT there, or does one CHOOSE to be there? For example, Voldemort so feared death that it's unlikely he would go anywhere consciously (or sub-consciously, for that matter) that resembled an after-life, it would be a constant reminder of his failure- he'd also likely be surrounded by those he'd killed, whether they'd once been loyal to him or fought against him (depending on the first question). But what about the others-- the Marauders, those that died in the Hogwarts battle, those that died later, of one thing or another (Arthur Weasley seems to have been alluded to being dead in the epilogue), Lily Potter, Snape... and so on? And in that after-world, what can one do/see/change? What if it were something like the Shinigami realm of "Death Note," where one can look on to the living world, perhaps even travel TO it, under particular circumstances?

What separates those in that world from ghosts (like the Gray Lady), the disembodied (memories within photos/mirrors/etc., those that spring forth from wand magic or elsewhere), and so on?

I, for one, would love to see a Snape-after-death somehow mending things with James (if it's possible), Sirius, and/or Lily. And what about his other personal turmoils-- his mother, for one?

What if the dead could return to the world of the living, but only as creatures-- for example, Sirius as the Grim (or simply his Animagus self), James as a stag, Lily or Snape as a doe... and so on? It could be pretty interesting... a bit like "The Crow," really.

* Hogwarts, A History: As the world changes and time goes on, it might also be interesting to see how the courses at Hogwarts change. Surely Neville became the Herbology professor, but would the Centaurs stick around to teach Divination after Trelawney retired/died? If there WAS an interspecies war between the magical races, who would take over, if anyone? What courses might be dropped from Hogwarts, and what others might be added or changed?

I mentioned some other random ideas in the previous post, like about what happened in the 19 years between the end of the story and the epilogue. I'm sure Harry and Co. had to go through some more trials and tribulations (perhaps not of the very magical kind, though) in order to become as happy and safe as they seemed in the epilogue. Anything else would basically mean they had learned all they needed to by age 17, which I find downright preposterous, especially if they ended up marrying within the trio and creating that whole OBHWF. Ron and Hermione, I think, grew a lot in HP7, but they must have had longer to go before they could really form the basis for a strong and lasting marriage.

I personally had my first R/Hr fic idea (doubt I'll ever write it, though), in which Hermione ends up being the one to propose to Ron (rather accidentally) when she has a premonition of sorts that she's pregnant-- right at the moment of conception. Turns out Ron was going to propose to her anyway, but things got heated and he never quite got around to it. Or perhaps he'd been planning to ask later (which seems to imply that a) either he and Hermione had never done it before, and the very act of finally having sex distracted him THAT MUCH, or b) he had something special planned out and simply got distracted, as men are wont to do). Either way, the whole idea of them finally maturing and really becoming a family seems pretty amusing, especially since everyone else and their owl would get involved.

* Those Who See Death: James seemed to allude to Albus in the epilogue about the thestrals, which implies he's seen death. How? Or did Harry simply TELL him about the thestrals? I doubt that would be the case, though... in any case, the original trio (and everyone else from the original HP books, really) would have seen enough death in that last battle to definitely see the thestrals whenever they appeared.

* Oh, the Drama: Me being a D/Hr shipper (despite the R/Hr moment described above), I could totally see a torrid affair springing between Draco and Hermione, especially if Hermione and Ron got into some sort of fierce fight that left her truly thinking it's over, the way she (almost) was in HP7. Draco might be craving to prove himself to someone, anyone, again, and show that he can belong in the Wizarding world. It would take a lot to redeem the Malfoys, but Draco is the family's best chance. The two offset each other in an interesting way -they both have brains and egos to fill a blimp, but Draco needs someone to kick him down a notch, and Hermione needs someone on her level to question her and occasionally shut her down. Of course, an actual affair would probably be traumatizing to Hermione even in her most desperate of mindsets, so it'd be fun to see someone write THAT and still make the HP7 epilogue work.

There's probably a lot more to be picked from the loose ends of HP7, but I really should be sleeping...