Ender’s Game battles go another way entirely. More science with Hermione instead of Draco. Hermione doesn’t get framed because the only reason she was is to remove Lucius and protect Harry from his retribution for messing with Draco. Hermione doesn’t die. Trelawney gives no prophecies as Harry is not driven to extremes this year. Final confrontation doesn’t happen at all. Harry helps Quirrell obtain the Stone to save his life, he has no reason to suspect him as nobody has died. I think Azkaban arc stays the same, the rest is completely different.
Trelawney gives no prophecies as Harry is not driven to extremes this year
I don’t think the text as-written supports this inference at all. Harry being driven to extremes[1] is the cause of bringing apart the very stars in heaven? The latter is an extreme action and much more likely the result of his drive to fight against Death and to enact World Optimization, which he would do anyway, not because of Draco or any specific events that Hermione went through. Harry knew the magical world in HPMOR was crazy and exploitable all the way from the beginning (with his arbitrage scheme).
Hermione doesn’t get framed because the only reason she was is to remove Lucius and protect Harry from his retribution for messing with Draco.
“And you also thought,” Harry said, even with his dark side’s patterns he had to work to keep his voice level and cool, “that two weeks in Azkaban would improve Miss Granger’s disposition, and get her to stop being a bad influence on me. So you somehow arranged for there to be newspaper stories calling for her to be sent to Azkaban, rather than some other penalty.”
Professor Quirrell’s lips drew up in a thin smile. “Good catch, boy. Yes, I thought she might serve as your Bellatrix. That particular outcome would also have provided you with a constant reminder of how much respect was due the law, and helped you develop appropriate attitudes toward the Ministry.”
he has no reason to suspect him as nobody has died
Harry holds the Idiot Ball in Chapter 86 for not putting two and two together and figuring out all the clues about Voldemort’s existence matched with Quirrell, prior to Hermione’s death. The Aura of Doom, the ‘always one level higher than you’ combined with the David Monroe persona and Moody’s Constant Vigilance, the sickly Defense Professor who is always cursed to bring doom to himself and his position… none of this has anything to do with any deaths. There are alternative HPMOR endings where this flash of idiocy is avoided.
Indeed, the reason Harry ultimately figures out it was Quirrell in Chapter 104 isn’t because he suddenly had a flash of insight about Hermione or Firenze, but because Quirrell’s explanation for why he was at the door wasn’t predictable ex ante, and it felt too storybook-y for everything to do down at that exact time, and Quirrell’s plots were too much like Harry’s dark side.
This all happened because Quirrell sought to trick Harry into helping him with the Stone; if Quirrell had simply told Harry about where the Stone is in Chapter 102 and convinced him to keep quiet by saying Dumbledore has been tricked by Flamel into hiding this artifact (as in this alternative ending), Harry very likely[2] would have said ‘yes’ to one more adventure to save his mentor’s life. For Harry, this moment would serve as a first stepping stone towards defeating Death forever. In the context of the story, Quirrell’s decision makes perfect sense,[3] but the point is that the deaths were not the trigger for Harry peering beyond the veil and seeing the truth.
Because Quirrell, cold-hearted as he is, lacks the necessary theory of mind to understand positive emotions like the at-the-time love and care Harry felt towards him
Ender’s Game battles go another way entirely. More science with Hermione instead of Draco. Hermione doesn’t get framed because the only reason she was is to remove Lucius and protect Harry from his retribution for messing with Draco. Hermione doesn’t die. Trelawney gives no prophecies as Harry is not driven to extremes this year. Final confrontation doesn’t happen at all. Harry helps Quirrell obtain the Stone to save his life, he has no reason to suspect him as nobody has died. I think Azkaban arc stays the same, the rest is completely different.
I don’t think the text as-written supports this inference at all. Harry being driven to extremes[1] is the cause of bringing apart the very stars in heaven? The latter is an extreme action and much more likely the result of his drive to fight against Death and to enact World Optimization, which he would do anyway, not because of Draco or any specific events that Hermione went through. Harry knew the magical world in HPMOR was crazy and exploitable all the way from the beginning (with his arbitrage scheme).
Except there’s also this, from Chapter 108:
“And you also thought,” Harry said, even with his dark side’s patterns he had to work to keep his voice level and cool, “that two weeks in Azkaban would improve Miss Granger’s disposition, and get her to stop being a bad influence on me. So you somehow arranged for there to be newspaper stories calling for her to be sent to Azkaban, rather than some other penalty.”
Professor Quirrell’s lips drew up in a thin smile. “Good catch, boy. Yes, I thought she might serve as your Bellatrix. That particular outcome would also have provided you with a constant reminder of how much respect was due the law, and helped you develop appropriate attitudes toward the Ministry.”
Harry holds the Idiot Ball in Chapter 86 for not putting two and two together and figuring out all the clues about Voldemort’s existence matched with Quirrell, prior to Hermione’s death. The Aura of Doom, the ‘always one level higher than you’ combined with the David Monroe persona and Moody’s Constant Vigilance, the sickly Defense Professor who is always cursed to bring doom to himself and his position… none of this has anything to do with any deaths. There are alternative HPMOR endings where this flash of idiocy is avoided.
Indeed, the reason Harry ultimately figures out it was Quirrell in Chapter 104 isn’t because he suddenly had a flash of insight about Hermione or Firenze, but because Quirrell’s explanation for why he was at the door wasn’t predictable ex ante, and it felt too storybook-y for everything to do down at that exact time, and Quirrell’s plots were too much like Harry’s dark side.
This all happened because Quirrell sought to trick Harry into helping him with the Stone; if Quirrell had simply told Harry about where the Stone is in Chapter 102 and convinced him to keep quiet by saying Dumbledore has been tricked by Flamel into hiding this artifact (as in this alternative ending), Harry very likely[2] would have said ‘yes’ to one more adventure to save his mentor’s life. For Harry, this moment would serve as a first stepping stone towards defeating Death forever. In the context of the story, Quirrell’s decision makes perfect sense,[3] but the point is that the deaths were not the trigger for Harry peering beyond the veil and seeing the truth.
By mundane-in-the-grand-scheme events
Based on the story as-written
Because Quirrell, cold-hearted as he is, lacks the necessary theory of mind to understand positive emotions like the at-the-time love and care Harry felt towards him