Project Potter

Project Potter

Chapter Five

Harry's Treatise on Powers

Harry attacked his subject with relish. Long before he knew he was a wizard, he had loved every film, TV program and story that had to do with magic: the Sword in the Stone, Bewitched, the Wizard of Oz, Sabrina, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and so forth all grabbed his attention, while Dudley was only interested in them as long as there was "action."

In a way, Harry had developed some expertise on "special powers" even before he knew for a fact that he had any. He never had money to buy superhero comic books with, but he would read them standing in the shops, and could tell you in detail what special powers every one of them had. It was one of the weird things about him that Vernon and Petunia found so irritating.

But as a "connoisseur of powers," so to speak, Harry was alert to the same thing Ron and Hermione were: internal consistency and logical possibility. Just as his invisibility cloak didn't make him pass through walls, for instance, he knew by instinct that Superman's X-ray vision was not limitless - or else he'd see through everything and therefore see nothing. Harry wasn't sure if he was creative or talented enough to write for those magical comic books and TV shows, but he knew one thing: if he ever did, he would know how to keep them in character! He knew that giving those heroes a new power to get them out of a tight spot was not "playing fair." Like everyone else, they had to use what they had - and a good storyteller would still find a clever way to help them triumph.

Harry nearly used the pseudonym "H. J. Porter" but realized it was dancing on the edge of the cliff. Instead he went for complete obscurity, keeping only the initials. Having had enough attention for ten lifetimes, he was quite glad to be anonymous for once.

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Magical Powers

by Herbert Prince

Essentially, all super-hero stories and much science fiction and mythology deal with "magic," in one form or another. It has been shown that even quite "normal" people can pick up some unusual gifts, such as distant viewing or psychic perceptions. But the more "powers" characters have, the more unapproachably fictional they become.

One of the endearing aspects of canon Harry Potter is that he has so many of the fears, weaknesses and failings of a normal person, while still rising to the occasion and becoming a hero in spite of himself. Think of Harry as a magical Everyman - everything happens to him, he's a vortex who inadvertently draws to himself these amazing people and adventures; he has horrible luck punctuated by wonderful luck; he has experienced every negative and unattractive emotion, but still possesses a fundamentally good heart. His specialness is more that he is blessed and cursed with an interesting life! And not that he is Superman. His greatest blessing is that he is loved.

If you give Harry (or others) too many of the powers below, you risk turning him into a god - or a parody. Harry himself doesn't want the adulation and worship, as he has often pointed out. See if you can restrain yourself from making him too powerful; let your story be powerful instead!

(Don't get me wrong: I enjoy quite a few of the "super-powerful Harry" stories; some are brilliantly imaginative. I always wonder, Can they pull it off? A few do; but most become overdrawn, letting the "wow" factor replace good story-telling.)

Magic is one essential factor in a good Harry Potter story. But so are humor, adventure, mystery, sensitive character portrayal, astute social observation and parody, and moral principles. JKR even sprinkles in some mythology, pathos and horror, and this deft weaving together of virtually all literary genres is why she owns mansions and millions, and we don't!

Still, it is good to follow her lead in this as well. While magic and fantasy are indispensable to Potter-fiction, over-reliance upon it can make it flat and two-dimensional. Even authentic ancient grand master war mages have to take a day off.

So here are some of the magical powers I could identify; if you can think of more, let me know!

Control of Self:

Invisibility

changing appearance, adopt disguise

flying & levitating

weight loss and gain

becoming tiny or huge

freeze time but stay active / super speed

shield of protection

invulnerability

clone self / bilocation

immortality

Control of Others:

mind control; implant a thought

cloud or illumine others' minds

read others' minds

merge with another's mind

illusions / sleight-of-hand

induce terror, doubt, forgetfulness, silence

transport someone to another dimension

healing

disease or death ("Avada Kedavra")

pain ("Cruciatus")

puppet control ("Imperius")

impairment (leg-locker, jelly-legs, full body bind)

put others to sleep

rebounding spell / cause any violence or curse to return to sender

control genies

speak with animals & plants

use music and sound to alter consciousness and direct energy

mass influence / speak to the inner ear

touch someone (shake hands) leaving behind a timed charm

be charming

enter others dreams and intervene

force others to tell the truth

Control of Objects:

conjure/materialize objects

transmute matter/objects from one form to another

focus power through gems

"apple-pie order" / house tidying, spring cleaning

create wealth / multiply riches

imbue object with a timed radiant spell

self-preparing potions / dinners

virtual photography

make objects light or heavy

make objects large or small

Control of Nature:

seamlessly direct natural forces (i.e. the untrained eye cannot tell it is magic)

Summoning Windstorms

start/stop earthquakes

divide water

warming/cooling/rain repelling/noise silencing globe

virility / fecundity

Return (restore any spell back to a prior state)

conquering death

divide nothing into two equal but opposite somethings

erect magical wards and energy fields

dream of reality and intervene

Mental Perception:

mind reading / seeing through another's eyes

absorbing knowledge from a book without reading

premonition

distance viewing

sensing energy fields / reading auras / perceiving energy patterns at a distance

x-ray vision

predict the future (imagine an inner tv with time dials)

telepathy

symbolic visions

contact gods and ancestors

humor

see invisible creatures / beings

spy on a sealed room in visions

play personal chess (i.e. stay 14 moves ahead of others)

hear distant conversations

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"Gee, Harry, if you had a tenth of all those powers, you really would be the greatest wizard of all time!" mused Hermione.

"I've fantasized about writing a fanfic where a character has every one of those powers, just to show how silly it can get!" smiled Harry.

"Ooh, get this," said Ron, "a fanfic where Harry Potter has more powers than God, and God is jealous!"

"Now I do feel embarrassed, Ron. Though I reckon I probably shouldn't. You know the old saying that if enough monkeys had enough typewriters, eventually one of them would type Shakespeare? Sooner or later, someone will probably write Ron's scenario!" Hermione nodded; Ron was about to ask what a typewriter was, but bit his tongue.

[End of Chapter 5]