I would love to hear a little more about the han au! It sounds like such an interest premise and I really like Hari & Theo's dynamic.
I am unfamiliar with some of the tropes you're using, particularly in regards to the blocks & Hari's appearance changing, and I would love to hear more about your lore, if you'd be willing to share?
Really, anything you want to share about this AU, I would love to read, be it lore or more Hari/Theo bonding or characters reacting to the running away/magic ritual or anything else 💗
Thank you for the ask!!!
Of course! I'm always willing to lore dump! Lol
I'll lore dump about the Potter/Patla family first.
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Before they were known as the Potter family, their surname was Patla. The literal translation is "thin", "slim", "diluted", or "gaunt". But it is also the name for a plant (Patla/ Patala which is actually what their last name stands for. The plant is a tree, its scientific name is Stereospermum suaveolens/tetragonum and it is known for its multiple therapeutic properties, with an example being anti-inflammatory. Its flowers are also used and beneficial in addressing blood-related disorders.
This tree is also known as the yellow snake tree.
It's a little-known fact that the Patlas/Potters are parsletongues but they are. They hid the ability once they settled in Britain after they realized the discrimination the language faced. They feared their place in Britain would be jeopardized if it was known they were parseltongues. They feared it because they came to Britain as basically nothing in the British Wizarding Community's eyes despite being considered Thakur in their home of India. Thakur is a status that came to represent the equivalent of a European Duke or Prince. In this case they were considered Dukes. They were nobility.
Ultimately they fled from their home of what is now known as Rajasthan because of the shifting of the dynasties and conflict that brewed from that. The conflict reached the magical side of everything and somehow the Patla family got caught in it. They lost many family members during this time and one family member, Lithesh, decided to run as he saw this as the right decision for his family. Some of the remaining family refused to leave their home but did allow him to take some of the younger ones along with his son. Lithesh ran with his wife, Veda, their son Hardik, two of his baby cousins (twins -boys), and three of his nieces and nephews (1 niece, 2 nephews). The cousins, niece, and nephew all of whom he adopted as his own kids.
They ran to Britain where they settled in Gloucester. Many people sneered at Lithesh and his family. To adapt to their new home Lithesh adopted an Anglican name. He became known as Linfred. He made money with his potion-making skills to support his family. He became known for it and for being eccentric though he has no idea why he got that label (he was always kind and went out of his way to make strangers smile. This earned him the eccentric label.) He rose in rank due to his potions helping many noblemen and eventually royalty. He received a lordship for his help and became known as Linfred of Stinchcombe.
Hardik inherited his father's skill at potion-making along with his twin cousins. The three took over the family business and made the Patla name known, which was helped by anglicizing Patla into Potter. It's not that they weren't proud of their name Patla but it made living in Britain easier when they went by Potter. But in official Goblin documents, they were still known as Patla.
Lithesh's Niece and Nephews took on the surname Stinchcombe in honor of Lithesh and his sacrifices.
Hardik went by Hardwin and ended up marrying Iolanthe Peverell.
No matter who they married, the Patla family honored their origins by giving their children Hindu names along with Anglican names. They also made it a point to visit their home Rajasthan whenever they could to visit the surviving Patlas who lived there which to their great delight was more than they expected.
But it was when the "first" Wizarding war started that the Patlas, Peverells, and Potters started to get smaller in numbers. Some of it was due to natural causes but more so it was sabotage and murder. Though the sabotage was masked well as natural causes or freak accidents.
Come the start of the "second" Wizarding war the only Potters left in Britain were Jaiman/James Potter and his parents Euphemia Potter nee Gamp and Fatehkumar/Fleamont Potter.
No one knows if Euphemia and Fleamont got Dragon Pox before they left to visit Rajasthan or while there. But they passed away because of it and so did the remaining Patlas in Rajasthan. Everyone thought this was just bad timing and natural causes but it was in fact an assassination which James didn't find out about until he went to the goblins to help cremate them as he wasn't sure it was safe enough to do so the usual way on a pyre since they had Dragon Pox.
Something told James to ask the goblins to do their own medical/death examination. There were traces of a magical signature that had placed a curse of failing health on his parents. He found out it was a death eater and would have gone to kill the man if it weren't for Lily who was pregnant needing him and talking him out of it.
Until James faced the man during one of his and Sirius's auror missions. He hadn't even meant to kill the man, it had ultimately been an accident but he wasn't sorry about it either.
Then of course James passed and Hari is the only Potter left.
After the cleansing and the tests done at Gringotts, Hari decided to go by his Hindu name and ditch the Anglican version. For one because he finally knew his real name and he wanted to honor his family and two because it was symbolic of him leaving Britain.
Rajasthan is where Sirius will meet them.
I am still trying with the idea of Hari changing Potter back to Patla while in Rajasthan and just keeping it that way since his family ultimately started as Patla and he doesn't want that legacy to die out.
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As for the tropes regarding the blocks and appearance change they are very popular tropes in a corner of HP fics where Dumbledore is not as grandfatherly as he is depicted/seen as. Some go to the extreme of him being evil and planning the deaths of the Potters because he is basically fame-hungry and in constant need of wanting to be needed and seen as important.
Those can be interesting but I'm more towards he knows what he is doing but he genuinely believes it is for the greater good and he loses sight of the bigger picture because of this. In trying to protect people he manipulates and lies.
In this kind of trope it's common for wizard parents to place a "core" block on their children when they are young as young magic is seen as somewhat unstable which is something I like, but add in Dumbledore placing his own block and it gets more interesting as usually it is done as a way to manipulate Harry because he believes he is too powerful, or the power would make him dark, etc.
In my version he placed another block because he knew he was going to place Harry with Petunia and he didn't want Harry's magic to ruin any chances of Petunia keeping him.
Another trope is Dumbledore placing blocks on Harry's magical abilities like Parseltongue which is always broken naturally and Parselmagic. Usually, this is done to mold Harry into the Gryffindor Golden Boy that Harry was expected to be once he grew older and this was Dumbledore making sure that happened.
In my version Dumbledore did it because he truly believed these abilities were somehow side effects of Voldemort's failed killing curse. Even he didn't know that the Potters were parseltongues.
Trope: Other magical abilities are placed because again, Dumbledore needs to manipulate Harry into being the perfect pawn/weapon.
My version: The abilities were blocked because of the Horcrux mixed with the original core blocks.
Trope: Intelligence block to easier manipulate Harry.
My version: No intelligence block but Harry purposefully dumbs himself down because it is what he did at the Dursleys. It's like second nature to him.
Trope: Compulsions are next on the trope list! Compulsions to mistrust Slytherins, Snape, Malfoys, etc are all part of Dumbledore's scheme to manipulate Harry and are very popular in fics of this nature.
My version: Dumbledore did place compulsions, but again because he thought it was the right thing. There is the typical distrust of Slytherin as a whole but he does it because he thinks if Harry befriends or even got into Slytherin it would somehow influence the "residual" magic left behind by Voldemort in Harry.
Trope: Compulsions of Shame to Home Life are common as well and usually done because Dumbledore doesn't want his pawn taken away.
My version: He did add this and felt extreme guilt because he knew vaguely what was happening to Harry at the Dursleys but he convinced himself it had to be done for the sake of the prophecy and greater good.
I truly believe Dumbledore put too much faith and belief in prophecies and would do anything he could to see the end of a prophecy foretold if it was a good end.
Trope: Charms placed are most commonly Trust charms keyed to the Weasleys, Hermione, and Dumbledore. Sometimes some of the Weasleys and Hermione are in on the plot and taking advantage of Harry being their friend. This trope usually has them being awful people and the Slytherins being good along with the Dark Side of the war being the actual good side and honestly, it's a little forced or overdone in my opinion.
My version: no charms of that nature.
Trope: Jinxes/Charms/Compulsions This one is odd because it is referred to as different things in different fics but essentially it's placed distrust against different people. It's along the lines of the loyalty charms and usually keyed to the Slytherins/darkside
My version: no distrust but Dumbledore did place a wariness whatever on Harry for those things.
Trope: Amortentia/Marriage contract is a big trope that is featured and usually Molly and Ginny are in on this scheme and sometimes even Ron and Hermione where Ginny was raised to believe she would marry Harry Potter. Usually so the Weasleys can gain wealth but also because Dumbledore wants it to sell the Golden Boy image and what better way to do so than to have Harry Potter marry someone who resembles his mother and into a Light family.
My version: There is a contract but it's not official or anything and Dumbledore only did it because he thought it was a possibility that would happen because even he knew about Ginny's crush on Harry. He thought it would be a good way for Harry to officially join the Weasley family who already saw Harry as family. It wasn't binding or anything but Harry was still not pleased to find out about it.
Trope: Money/Artifact stealing. Dumbledore steals money from Harry as his illegal magical guardian and uses it for himself, the Weasley family, Hermione, The Order of the Phoenix fund, etc. Usually Molly is in on it and sometimes so are Ginny, Ron and Hermione.
My Version: not so stealing, he sends money to the Dursleys from Harry's vault as they are his guardians. He didn't expect them to not use it on Harry as was expected so really it's not totally his fault.
Final trope: Glamour!!! One of the most popular tropes and one I feel like is done wrong. But that is just my opinion! Because usually Harry is glamoured to look like an exact copy of James with only Lily's eyes. The reasons why vary but usually Dumbledore does it to manipulate the masses. The bigger reason is so Snape hates Harry at first sight basically. But this glamour once cleansed ends up with Harry becoming pale as snow, his nose smaller, his hair straighter, etc. I find fault with this because a lot of the HP Fandom headcanon Harry being of Indian descent and I am one of them. Doing this erases the racial distinguishing features of Harry and claiming the new version is the better perfect version and that just makes me uncomfy.
My version: Because Sirius blood adopted Harry, he gained some Black features and they were obvious. Dumbledore thought that if people say them it would create discourse on the nature of Lily and James relationship and they were already seen as pillars and martyrs of the war. They were a symbol and Dumbledore fully believed their symbolism and reputation would take a hit if Harry wasn't a reflection of just them.
There are more but these are the basics!
