What kind of person would Harry potter have become without Hogwarts?
Like if his Aunt and Uncle had succeeded in preventing him from seeing the invitation to go to Hogwarts, and he never know about wizards, You-Know-Who, or his parents.
What kind of guy would he have been? What job? What future?
He would have died at the age of 17, or soon after Voldemort managed to resurrect himself, whatever came last.
Hmmm. Considering his upbringing, the first thing that popped into my head was “He was a good neighbor, kept to himself. Never would have imagined he could do such horrible things.”
Dead is the likeliest answer with a small chance of locked away in an insane asylum for talking to snakes and the oddball things that happened around him.
If he survived and for some reason Voldemort failed to get him and was dispatched in some other way then I think he would have been a poor student and probably very messed up being raised by such horrible people. Perhaps he would have join the military or lives off the welfare of the state. It does not seem like he would have grown up in such an environment to be a successful adult.
Someone like Hermione would probably have been fine without Hogwarts and grown up to be a successful scientist or some such.
I think he would have been incredibly bitter, angry, and resentful, and probably not a very good human being. Growing up in an abusive household takes its toll on you forever. Who knows? He could have been the next Voldemort.
This is assuming that Voldy doesn’t smack him down as is referenced in post # 2.
If I were Voldemort and ascertained that he knew nothing of being a wizard, I’d tell him about it, let him know I’m the most powerful wizard in the world, and try to get him to be my apprentice. If he’s embittered, so much the better.
Do you consider the Dursley’s abusive? It came up because my son asked me what would happen if Harry called the police and reported how the Dursleys treated him. WOuld CPS take him away? They don’t beat him, but they did lock him in his room with only minimal food.
They didn’t beat him that we know of, at least. But, yeah, forcing a kid to live in a locked cupboard under the stairs is abuse by my definition.
Well, Voldemort would certainly return due to the events of The Chamber of Secrets, not having been thwarted by Harry and Friends. Ginny would be dead.
Voldemort would then reassemble his Death Eaters and go on to try to take over the Ministry and all that.
The only real question is what to do with 12 year old Harry Potter, untrained Wizard. He can’t just kill him, because look what happened last time he tried that! He’d probably slaughter the Durstleys, capture Harry and try to figure things out from there. At very worst, having one or more of the Death Eaters kill Harry just to be rid of him.
So if Harry doesn’t go to Hogwarts, odds are very high that he doesn’t live to see 13.
Neglect falls under “abuse” in some jurisdictions.
One has to wonder if Harry wouldn’t figure out he had powers sooner or later, and without the good teachers of Hogwarts and the Ministry to keep a check on him he might have gotten a bit of ghastly revenge on the Dursleys. Magic has DEFINITE potential to harm as we’ve seen, and even if his talents were lefts unfocused (no wand) and unrefined (no training) the powers may have had wildly erratic magnitudes with very unpredictable results (I’m talking on the level of accidental living room explosions when he just wanted a spark to come from a fireplace here). That is, of course, assuming the Ministry didn’t come and abduct him when they figured out the repercussions.
Voldemort himself was using magic to manipulate and cause harm when Dumbledore found him in the orphanage, so Harry probably would have worked out that he was causing *something *to happen.
Malfoy may not have released Riddle’s diary if Harry hadn’t been at Hogwarts, there would have been less reason to close the school and Voldemort probably would have come back by himself with the aid of the philosopher’s stone from book 1.
By the time Harry lost the protection of his family, Voldemort would have been much stronger and better researched, having had seven years to work on that one particular problem instead of spending the same time trying to re-corprealise himself.
Interesting theory.
If I were a 13 year old girl with gobs of time on my hands, I am pretty sure I could crank out some fanfic along these lines. Some of it even coherent.
He wouldn’t have been left to rot. Harry’s world seems to have pretty good tabs on rogue wizards, and I doubt he would have been overlooked. My best guess though, is that poor upbringing would result in a pretty nasty, cynical man who would be easily convinced to join the dark wizards. The sorting hat seemed to indicate that he had a lot of ambition, and a strong desire to prove himself. That would be a lethal combination if he hadn’t had good influences to keep him in line. Voldemort redux I should think.
What if he hadn’t been treated so badly by the Dursleys? I think he wouldn’t have been as eager to go to Hogwarts. When Hagrid showed up he would have told him to bugger off (or the child lit friendly equivalent.)
But other kids from Muggle families, like Colin and Hermione, seem to go eagerly off to Hogwarts when told of the opportunity.
I wonder what happens to wizards or witches who decide they don’t want any part of it. Unfocused magic seems like it could be dangerous.
But other kids from Muggle families, like Colin and Hermione, seem to go eagerly off to Hogwarts when told of the opportunity.
I wonder what happens to wizards or witches who decide they don’t want any part of it. Unfocused magic seems like it could be dangerous.
Hmm… what would Harry have been like if the Dursleys were a far German family? 
Or sports enthusiasts, or ninjas…
voldemort mum and uncle didn’t go to hogwarts. things did not go well for them.
Hell-even Muggles probably want to go, if they have a sibling who’s going, and they can’t, I would imagine.
Aunt Petunia wanted to go when she was little, and was turned down-though very kindly, by Dumbledore. So she resented her sister and Harry out of pure jealousy.
How about-what would Voldemort have been like without Hogwarts? Or if his mother hadn’t died-would he have been better off?