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The Wanderer

(Edit: Replaced the text with a line-wrapped version, incorporating a few wording tweaks I missed last night.)

This bit me on the way home from work tonight, and I've spent much of the last hour writing it up; I really should be asleep by now, but I want to run it past you all and ask for opinions and suggestions.

I do have ideas for where to take this from here, but nothing of nearly this level of detail; I'll probably expand on that in the morning.

This began life as a general outline and explanation, but I think it could serve equally well as an intro sequence, if I wanted to use it that way. (The trouble there is that this is about as far as I can go with actual writing; I can do copyediting in as much detail as I need to, but writing descriptions and dialogue and so forth from scratch seems to be beyond me.) I apologize for the style in which it's written; it just seemed to demand to be written this way.

================

On that famous Halloween night in 1981, something went wrong. No one had ever

learned what it was; even I cannot yet say with any certainty.

It is known that the Potters were betrayed by their Secret-Keeper, and that the

Dark wizard known as Lord Voldemort came to their house to kill them; it is

known that he succeeded in killing both James and Lily; it is known that he

tried also to kill Harry Potter, and that when that was done with Voldemort was

no longer there; and that Harry was found, alive and well, the only survivor in

that place of death.

But after the confrontation between Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, when the

confusion settled down and the wizards who had come too late to the Potters'

aid began to pick up the pieces and take stock amid the impending dawn, Harry

Potter was nowhere to be found.

They searched, of course, by means both mundane and magical; but there were no

traces of Apparition or of portkey travel, or indeed any identifiable magic at

all after the thrice-cast Killing Curse, and when they sought to track him by

the simple yet reliable Point Me spell the pointing wand simply spun aimlessly

in place. There did seem at first to be physical traces, a trail leading from

the place where he had last been brought away into a nearby stand of trees; but

that trail ended abruptly after a short distance, and no more sign of his fate

could be found.

After a due time, the search was called off, and their attention turned to the

aftermath of the war, in much the usual manner. The return of peace was

celebrated, and the Death Eaters were sentenced or acquitted largely according

to the contents of their pocketbooks, and the disappearance of Harry Potter was

considered even more mysterious than is common; and life went on.

But those who knew of the prophecy about the Potters and the Dark Lord were not

quite satisfied that things were truly over, and the question of where Harry

Potter had gone never entirely left their minds. And some ten years later, the

night after the letters for the coming year's class of new Hogwarts students

had been sent out, one of these people thought to check the records of those

letters; and in those records, there was indeed a copy of a standard first-

year's letter, addressed to Harry Potter. But even by wizarding standards, the

address was an unusual one indeed; for it read,

        Harry Potter

        The Lowest Bed

        Third Bunk from the Left

        Second Bedchamber

        Hangman's Tree

        Neverland

The wizard who first discovered this record (though it may, indeed, have been a

witch) could not make head or tail of this address, having never heard of a

place called Neverland; but it happened that this particular wizard had not

been present for the original search, and so thought to make the attempt of a

Point Me spell. And this time, the wand immediately found its compass, and

pointed fixedly in a single direction; but that was hardly less peculiar than

the address, because it pointed off into the starry sky.

The wizard, having made both of these discoveries in quick succession, hurried

off with the record in hand to wake up Albus Dumbledore, and demonstrate the

success of the pointing spell. The elderly wizard found both the record and the

demonstration to be quite interesting indeed, and sent out word to gather other

interested parties, both to investigate this mystery and to prepare an

expedition; but it was several long hours before they were all ready together,

and when the Point Me spell was cast for Harry Potter for the third time that

night (or morning, as by then it had become), it merely spun aimlessly once

more.

Those of the gathered wizards who had so recently seen that same spell succeed

found this mystifying; the others, of course, were more inclined to be

skeptical, and to cast doubt upon the claim that it had succeeded at all. Yet

the word of the two who had seen it was persuasive, and so they stayed, to

examine the puzzle; and late that afternoon, the owl which had gone out with

that letter returned looking tired but not visibly worse for the wear, with no

letter attached to its leg.

A wizarding post owl, as is well known, will not voluntarily release its

message except to the named recipient; and so the unruffled owl bearing no

message was taken as confirmation that indeed Harry Potter had been found at

that address and had received the letter addressed to him, and research into

the possible location of Neverland resumed in earnest. And as the day wore on

into evening, and the stars began to emerge from behind the bright veil of the

day, someone tried the Point Me spell once more; and once more it found its

compass, and pointed off into the sky.

The word of the renewed success of the spell was quickly spread, and the

assembled company turned just as quickly from their researches and prepared to

follow the pointing wand; and in relatively short order, a small flock of

wizards on a small flock of broomsticks rose into the air, and departed across

the countryside.

They flew long and far, over hills and plains, and then for a long time over

ocean, with the wand which was their compass never wavering; until as the

horizon began to brighten, and the stars to fade once more, it turned to angle

downwards, and they saw an island ahead of them.

And it is possible that they saw also an old-fashioned ship, and had the need

to dodge cannonballs as they approached the land; and it is possible that they

landed on the shore of the island, and were distracted - however briefly - by

the presence of mermaids in the waters behind them; and it is possible that as

they flew over the trees of the island, or walked among them, they were

accosted by its seemingly savage native tribesmen, and had either to dodge

arrows in their flight or fight off a more direct assault on the ground.

Yet whether any of these things happened or not, they arrived in time deep in

the forest, at the foot of a gnarled tree, which bore a striking resemblance to

a gallows; and it was near that tree (or perhaps underneath it, if they

discovered the hidden entranceway, which was too small for any of them to

readily fit) that they encountered a tribe of seemingly-feral children, and it

was among those children that they discovered Harry Potter.
I always suspected Tinkerbell was a house elf...
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
(O_O) BITCHIN'!
I hate to say this but...
And Then What?
How does Harry being a Lost Boy change the story? He can already fly. You'll also probably end up with a personality so dramatically different than canon!Harry that this will be Harry Potter in name only.
-----------------
Epsilon

The Wanderer

Well, although I don't know that it would need to be quite that different - the nature vs. nurture argument gets involved there - the different personality is almost part of the point.

I do, in fact, have some ideas for And Then What, but they're a lot less specific, enough so that I didn't think I could continue to write in outline form without narrowing things down first. (There are also a few things I don't have specific ideas on even within the existing outline; some of them should be easy enough to spot, and any suggestions are appreciated.)

For starters, I'm not sure how old Harry would be when they found him, physically speaking. I believe it's "Peter Pan" canon that infants can become Lost Boys (I recall mention of a mother whose baby carriage rolls away while she is conversing with a neighbor), and that they do grow to independent childhood (since there are no infants among the Lost Boys we see), and Peter himself could be as old as twelve some of the time - so there's room available for Harry's being anywhere from still one year old to the full eleven he should be.

However, part of the idea I had is that although they would eventually succeed in persuading Harry to return to the larger world and go to school (and in explaining what "school" is to the Lost Boys who hadn't heard of it, and persuading the ones who had that it wasn't so bad after all - probably relying quite heavily on the fact that he would be learning magic), and he would grow and age (and mature) normally during the school year, they would be forced to agree to his returning to Neverland over the summer... and he and the other Boys would have to deal with the fact that he was aging and growing, but the rest of them were not; there's room for conflict in that, on both sides of the divide. In order to make the most of that possibility, he really shouldn't be older than about six, and I could see argument for his being as little as three - old enough to have the physical proportions and so forth to walk, talk, get around (and grow physically fit and able in other ways), and take care of himself to the extent that the Boys do, but young enough for the age difference at Hogwarts to remain obvious for all seven years. (And young enough that, if desired, he could potentially return to be a Lost Boy permanently even after the seven years were done.) However, the younger he is, the harder it is to make things work on the Hogwarts side of things.

As far as "different personality" goes, part of the idea is that Harry would in fact come to the wizarding world with the mindset, worldview and general background of a Lost Boy. I have some ideas of what that incorporates, but not enough to really be concrete (beyond a general "not receptive to the concept of discipline"), so I can't readily write his viewpoint and reactions yet; likewise, I don't yet have a clear handle on the minds and viewpoints of any of the people who would be reacting to him.

In addition to the social conflict from the age issue (too young at Hogwarts, increasingly too old in Neverland), there's also the possibility that as Harry does grow up, he might lose the mindset of a Lost Boy, and potentially some of the things which come with it. (Such as the ability to independently fly, which I do think could make more of a difference than you seem to expect; for one thing, how would it affect Quidditch? Would he even be interested in playing? If so, would it be for the same reasons? Would he even be allowed to play for a House team, given his physical age?).

There's also the possibility that other people from Neverland might come out to visit (Peter in particular), and that other wizards might track Neverland down (possibly by following Harry home, or simply exploiting the "follow a post owl" approach which is the main plot hole in my existing outline), and the likelihood that the wizards who had made the visit and discovered the existence of Neverland would themselves want to learn more about it; interesting fallout could arise from any of those. I don't have anything specific there, however, because figuring any of those possibilities out would require knowing the context in ways which I haven't developed yet.

Beyond that, I thought I had more (and more specific) ideas last night, but if so they seem to have faded; I discussed this to some extent with one of my brothers at the time, and once he wakes up I'll see if he can jog my memory.

(Oh - and no, I don't think Tinkerbell as a house elf works, if only because that would imply that other house elves should also be able to shed pixie dust and let people be able to fly...)
Quote:(I recall mention of a mother whose baby carriage rolls away while she is conversing with a neighbor), and that they do grow to independent childhood (since there are no infants among the Lost Boys we see)
If I'm not mistaken, that's Peter himself.
Quote:they would be forced to agree to his returning to Neverland over the summer...
Presumably because Peter forced the agreement somehow, and because the Dursleys simply aren't in the picture any more -- the blood wards certainly have decayed to nothing in the ensuing years, so there's no point -- except for a Manipulative!Dumbledore's typical plot to keep Harry downtrodden -- in putting him with them anyway. Although it would be interesting to see the wizards decide they don't need to abide by the agreement because they figure a boy in Neverland can't do anything to them if they abrogate it, only to find out they're very wrong...
Quote:he really shouldn't be older than about six
Physically. Chronologically, though... but then you note that already in your bunny text.
Quote:part of the idea is that Harry would in fact come to the wizarding world with the mindset, worldview and general background of a Lost Boy
I am so anticipating the first time he crows in the Great Hall.
Quote:Would he even be allowed to play for a House team, given his physical age?
Would he be disqualified for not needing a broom?
Quote:and the likelihood that the wizards who had made the visit and discovered the existence of Neverland would themselves want to learn more about it; interesting fallout could arise from any of those.
I could see one or more Wizarding factions deciding to exploit Neverland in some way... which could lead to an interesting coalition of "native" forces united to repel the invaders...
Quote:I don't think Tinkerbell as a house elf works
Of course not.  She a non-Cornish variety of pixie, obviously.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

The Wanderer

(Argh. Nested quoting on these forums is a royal pain to make come out well.)

Bob Schroeck Wrote:Presumably because Peter forced the agreement somehow
Peter and the other Lost Boys, yes - and the "how" is simple: they simply refused to agree to Harry's going unless he would be coming back. (Not that they necessarily would have stopped him if he wanted to go anyway, but do you really think any Lost Boy would be willing to leave Neverland if Peter told him not to?)

Bob Schroeck Wrote:Although it would be interesting to see the wizards decide they don't need to abide by the agreement because they figure a boy in Neverland can't do anything to them if they abrogate it, only to find out they're very wrong...
Well, if I do write this, that would be unlikely to happen - largely because I neither like nor subscribe to the notion of an overcontrolling, my-way-or-nothing manipulative Dumbledore, and with him taking the honestly benevolent approach the odds that the others would actually go ahead with that reaction are fairly low. It's certainly an alternate angle on the situation, though.

Bob Schroeck Wrote:
Quote:he really shouldn't be older than about six
Physically. Chronologically, though... but then you note that already in your bunny text.
True - although note that chronological (perhaps better called "experiential"?) age specifically does not correlate with maturity, in this context.

Bob Schroeck Wrote:I am so anticipating the first time he crows in the Great Hall.
I hadn't even thought of that. Thanks; that's the seed of a scene which can be developed...

Bob Schroeck Wrote:
Quote:Would he even be allowed to play for a House team, given his physical age?
Would he be disqualified for not needing a broom?
Hmm. If he is in fact interested in playing Quidditch, perhaps he would want it badly enough to be willing to promise to not fly in a game apart from the broom unless he fell off (and agree to be disqualified or at least penalized if he broke that promise), and that could be a hook by which he could begin to learn self-discipline.

(Edit: Alternately, he might just propose giving all of the other players pixie dust and non-broom-based flying lessons, to even the playing field that way. Whether that would be accepted, or whether they could even arrange it, is another question - but it does lead to some interesting mental images.)

A couple of tangents from this led me to another potentially interesting idea: since he not only never knew his parents but might very well not care much about them (I think there's considerable variation among the Lost Boys in that respect), what would his Patronus look like?

By further tangent from there - although the Lost Boys' independent mode of flight has several potential advantages over flying on a broom, and so Harry would be likely to disdain the use of one for practical (as opposed to Quidditch) purposes, that independent mode of flight does have one serious relative disadvantage in a certain context: it relies on continuing happy thoughts. What happens when Harry (or, a worse horror to think of, Peter) encounters dementors?

Bob Schroeck Wrote:I could see one or more Wizarding factions deciding to exploit Neverland in some way... which could lead to an interesting coalition of "native" forces united to repel the invaders...
Or there's the chance that some of wizards might ally themselves (temporarily, of course) with Hook, by promising to help him take down his nemesis. (They probably wouldn't have much respect for him at first, to have been thwarted for so long by mere children, but that probably wouldn't last past the first couple of encounters.)

Bob Schroeck Wrote:
Quote:I don't think Tinkerbell as a house elf works
Of course not.  She a non-Cornish variety of pixie, obviously.
And either the Cornish pixies are a degraded breed somehow, whose dust (if any) no longer grants the power to fly - or, because of the somewhat specialized requirements for actually using it to fly, it had simply never been discovered to have that peculiarity...
Hmmm. Would you be using Barrie's original Tinkerbell, the Stage-and-Original-Disney mute Tink, Hook's Julia Roberts one, or the "Sparkle Princess Tomboy" of Recent Vintage?
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

The Wanderer

I'm not entirely familiar with all of those, but I think the Barrie original is the closest to the one in my head. (Perhaps not quite so immature as I remember her being, though, albeit definitely not as adult as the one from Hook.)
How about the Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates version, who actually had dialogue?
--Sam
"Elf finger magic.  I hate that."

Necratoid

Ah, Internet Nesting Quotes.... how I loath thee.
Anyway, first thing that comes to mind is that Dementors will not be Super Effective! against this Harry.  He just doesn't have the background suck   On the other he will have five years of experience with continuously channeling happy thoughts during combat.  Someone teaches him patromonious... and it will be treated as a pokemon.  A summonable attack beast.  Depending on this Harry's mind set, it could be a stupidly huge crocodile.  Considering he'll being going on 8 physically then, I can see one over heard conversation (Harry being on/around the rafters flying indoors) and deciding that the patromonious IS a pokemon and earning Fudge's ire by leveling his croconaw on the dementors.  They are ghost types and bite is a dark type attack by then.  You also must remember that 8 year olds do accidental magic and Harry will be... he could get away with this by just not understanding he is doing something impossible... after all he knows this will work and the fact he just did it will prove any comment or logic to the contrary as clearly and deminstratively wrong.  Though getting him to stop catching other people's patromonious is going to be an issue.  As will the volume of people that patromonious aren't shiney pokemon.
Diary!Riddle is going to have severe issues second year when Harry accidentalyl off the basilisk... I mean he will be crowing like a rooster after all.  Which will lead to him whining about the awesome fight he just missed.  He'll be searching for the troll for fun first year.
A lost boy Harry will end up wandering off for adventures.  The Forbidden Forest is Lost Boy Bait.  The Weasely Twins are Lost Boy Bait.  Hook and Co don't know it yet, but he loathes the Twins with the fury of a million suns.
Harry needs a familiar.
Necratoid Wrote:Harry needs a familiar.
FAWKES!   (^_^)
That, or Harry will think it's Ho-oh, which is a damn-close approximation of a phoenix in Pokemon.  Next closest might be Moltres.
blackaeronaut Wrote:
Necratoid Wrote:Harry needs a familiar.
FAWKES!   (^_^)
...Now I've got a Harry Potter/Fallout 3 crossover burbling in my head...
.... I got his name wrong, didn't I?
Quote:.... I got his name wrong, didn't I?
'Sallright - I'm reading this thread without my glasses on, thought you said "FRAKES!", and wondered why a Trek-actor-turned-director would make a good familiar...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
robkelk Wrote:
Quote:.... I got his name wrong, didn't I?
'Sallright - I'm reading this thread without my glasses on, thought you said "FRAKES!", and wondered why a Trek-actor-turned-director would make a good familiar...
Because having David Xanatos as your familiar would be awesome.
--------------
Epsilon
You know, I've seen the pokemon patronus done before. It was in the fic Harry Mewter.

(Also, if I may ask, how does harry being a lost boy make his patronus into pokemon?)
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
Quote:robkelk wrote:
Sallright - I'm reading this thread without my glasses on, thought you
said "FRAKES!", and wondered why a Trek-actor-turned-director would make
a good familiar...
"Now Harry, a Frakes is a power familiar mind, but it really hits it's
stride once it's beard grows in."
Quote:Epsilon wrote:

Because having David Xanatos as your familiar would be awesome.
"Watch out for the gambits. They can't help themselves, but it's seasonal and they settle down once they have a family. Just keep him clear of  the Headmaster's door statue, there's a history there of some sort."
I don't think it makes the patronus into a pokemon. It's more the mental additude in how the patronus is used (like a pokemon)
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
A few other aspects to consider are:

1) As a lost boy, Harry is going to be decent with a sword, and possibly quick to draw it.

2) Harry's understanding of girls is going to be based on Tinkerbell, the indian girls, mermaids, and maybe Wendy.

3) In some ways, Harry will have even less understanding of muggle science/technology than the average pureblood wizard.

re: Harry's Patronus being a crocodile, Hook's hatred of Harry is going to rival his feelings for Peter starting the summer after Harry learns that spell.

Also, I suspect they'll have an easier time getting Norbert away from Hogwarts this time. Lost Boys: "Sure, Neverland could use a dragon."

Peeves is more lostboy bait.
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

Necratoid

Its a bit of both sweno.  You have to remember that this Harry is LostBoy!Harry.  He has been raised by wolves.  First year he is a six year old from a very unstructured society being put in a boarding school.  One with class schedules.  Large portions of the area he isn't allowed to go in.  Lots of adults and age based social stratification among students... and they force him (or try at least) to get him to read (something that hasn't been covered with the Lost Boys since Wendy was involved... which in unaltered cannon was literally over a century ago).  LB!Harry is going to redefine special needs student.
This is an effectively six year old Harry with a magical core of a ten year old and the closest thing he has to a mage mentor is Tinkerbell.  He'll be surrounded by new things.  Shiny new things. New places to explore and this Peeves guy who is vasty entertaining.  Then told sit still for most of the day and read things.  Major Culture Clash here.  Most of  his interactions are going to be combative (or playfully malignant like a feral kid acting normally).  His friends are likely to those that he clings to for that feel of home (Weasely Twins) those doing extracredit tutoring with him while tricking him into learning things (Hermione), or social misfits that are chafed by the school's social structure (Luna.)
As a six sear old, he is going to be armed with the dreaded endless need to ask 'Why?' until the line of questioning is run dry or the only answer is 'Because!'.  He'll only really pay attention to things long enough to get what he wants out of it.  This is where the Pokemon thing comes in.  The idea is two muggleborns are discussing the games with a wizard born.  Harry misses the first part about it being a game and then spies on them... hearing about trainers and their loyal beasties... and how they aren't aloud to bring them to school.  Then an array of beasties and their abilities.  Which means that he'll be getting things massively out of context and taking these things a Gospel Truth.  Even if they do manage explain it as something nonexistent in the world they are living in (Earth) Harry will understand the concept of other worlds as he is basically from one (Neverland).  The kids aren't likely to know this factoid and Harry has been spying on them from above.  Meaning they don't exist here, but do exist in Harry's view.
So excepting Pokemon are from another world and then being taught a spell that makes an animal form of a shiny summoning to smite demony things (one that follows your commands, until you unsummmoning/recalling it or it runs out of HP)... and having only a lose idea what a pokemon should look like.  Harry manages to summon a big old crocodile patromonious (he has only actually seen one of the species).  He is a lost boy and that is a beasty made of happy memories and pirate nightmares.  What is weird about LB!Harry's one is that he is going to see it as a beasty he has heard of before (shiny crocognaw) and that he knows to get it to that point it had to evolve twice.  So it knows some attacks already.... like water gun.  He already knows that move himself.  So ordering the crocognaw to use it is only matter of him casting the spell through the patromonious focus instead of directly from a wand.  Not that he understands it that way at all, he'll be as much sorcerer as wizard here, if not more so.  His view is if it look like a duck, moves like a duck, and beat people with a leek like a duck it IS a Farfetched.
Thing is if LB!Harry will hear about the weirdness where bite was a meh, normal attack that did okay damage to being a dark type (ghost and psychic killer) move that has a rather high critical rate and often cause flinching.  What LB!Harry is likely actually doing is layering up happy thoughts, he is used to constantly having them run through his mind (the flying thing), creating a stronger and stronger techniche.  In otherwords LB!Harry is leveling his skills up thought use and thus his 'pokemon'.  Each success convinces him of its increasing power, which gives him more and more happy deeply related thoughts to use as the basis of the move.  Which makes it more and more powerful... which lets it level more and more.
Once LB!Harry comes to the conclusion he must catch them all!  He'll have to find some people sumooning them and them battle them for their pokemon.  At which point he'll have to level a new set of happy memories.  This likely won't actually work, at first.  It will then occur to him he needs pokeballs (a focus that will convince him he can actually pull this off).  Once he makes a model that works and he 'catches' one it will likely kill off the other guy (dementors you know) and then once he starts using the other one (needs to level it and all) and others actually see him use the 'captured' pokemon, they'll get increasingly convinced that actually happened.  Once that happens LB!Harry can take someones patromonious and the guy has to think of a new happy thought.  This gets him a new 'pokemon' (not that he understands the term in context)... which Harry having the old one it grants credance to the idea that just actually happened.  As the ones likely to be using a patromonious aren't likely to be pleasant people and they won't actually be able to ask him how he does that... he can basically create a new superstition and get this to work by inflicting a delusion on wizarding society.  The ones who will be close enough to actually ask him about such things aren't going to share with the general population.  That the idea of focusing on multiple related happy thoughts at once is more useful that one single minded happy thought is going to be easy enough for Hermione to write off as something that escapes the general public:  They do have a militant wing dedicated to enforced inbreeding after all.  The Twins with end up with ones made out of memories of successful pranks and items.
So, its not that they are actually pokemon so much as that LB!Harry is convinced they exist and he is summoning one.  They aren't actually real pokemon, people are just convinced they are.  That and they don't actually understand what specifically a pokemon is in the first place.  Their attacks are just spells with a displaced origin point woven into a patromonious spell construct matrix.  It won't help LB!Harry is going to end up spending summers and holidays in Neverland and most of their knowledge on the subject is going to come from him.  Self replicating delusions and all.
I think a LB!Harry will have a love of charms.  Each spell can be actually useful.  The teacher is good natured and shorter than him.  Random stuff explodes.   The point of such things is easy to see for one such as him.  Transfigeration I can see as a hard, but rewarding thing.  Convincing him that Snape is not actually a pirate in his bedclothes and that the point of potions is not to fail in a spectacular manner will be difficult.

The Wanderer

...congratulations, Necratoid; there's just so much wrong with your original post in this thread that the thought of trying to frame a response to it has severely dampened my interest in this idea.

Your second post is considerably better, but I'm still going to have to think about it for a while before I can put anything together, and I'm really not sure how much of any of this is going to fit with what I had in my head.

And no, I'm not bringing in Pokemon, even as a reference; I'm not planning on bringing in any other crossovers, not without serious justification, and possibly not even then. At least as I originally envisioned it, this just isn't that type of story, and I don't want it to be. (Other people are of course free to write what they wish, whether or not I would be happy with it.)
Also there's a degree of "Bad BTVS Halloween Ep Fics" here. See, according to canon, Harry Potter's First Year at Hogwarts is 1991. The first Pokemon games aren't even out in Japan yet. It's like the Halloween fics that have 199x Xander dressed as 2006 or so Naruto.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

Necratoid

My first post was to disrupt the war crime known as Internet Nesting Quotes.  As the thread had degenerated into nothing but INQ I killed the flow of the thread.  From there I responded to the actual flow the thread had taken. Note it started off with someone else's comment being silly and about the last part of my post.  (If your interested I can explain the war crimes comment.)
What Harry's familiar is is going to effect its survivability.  I have a hard time seeing some Lost Boys not eating it, or at least trying to.  If not that then tormenting it.
The pokemon thing was a throw away.  Seriously.  The Muggle World is Sir-Not-Appearing-in-this-Film.  It has basically no purpose involving anything here.  The pokemon comment could be any pop culture reference.  It was an example.  An example expanded upon, but a throw away example taken for being a driving force behind LB!Harry's intrest in this highly anti LB thought process known as paying attention in class.  Your dropping a possiblely illiterate 6 year old (mentally and physically if not chronologically) into a highly boring and regimented place.  One He Can't Leave... and rescess is against the wizarding religion as too, too Muggle.  This is all about establishing a mind set for LB!Harry, without his personal mind set establish the rest is largely pointless to consider.  This is the driving force for all the changes more than anything else.
On another note... will sending letters actually do anything?  I mean if they can't read.  Won't they be forced to drag Hook into things and capture a pirate and force him to read these squiggles?  Even having Peter and Tinkerbell out on an adventure for a few days could lead to this... Swarms and swarms of owls bombing them with unreadable arcane gibberish for weeks.  The Lost Boys may be forced to declare war on those terrorist owls.
Necratoid Wrote:My first post was to disrupt the war crime known as Internet Nesting Quotes.  As the thread had degenerated into nothing but INQ I killed the flow of the thread.
Thus stifling the conversation and removing the conversation's context - two offenses at the same time.

Nested quotes are there for a reason. I don't care whether you like or loathe them, but please respect them.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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