Author's Note: This story takes place before, during, and after the Immortal Trio's fifth year at Hogwarts. This story will mainly be about Draco, however. [audience gasps in shock] Even I feel kind of weird about that. I like to read stories about Ron, myself. Basically, anything where he's not killed off or turned into a cold wraith is good. As long as our ickle Ronniekins is happy, I'm happy. *bats eyelashes at Ron*

Ron: *blushing* Don't call me that.

nycscribe46: Okay, how about this? *lowers voice an octave* As long as our tall, gorgeous, auburn haired sexy boy is happy, I'm happy. *leers suggestively*

Ron: "…"

Draco: *appears out of nowhere* I thought this story was about me! *pushes Ron off a cliff*

nycscribe46: Ron! Noooo! *leaps after Ron*

Draco: Stupid muggle.

nycscribe46: *yells from a ledge on the cliff wall* I heard that! *glances down at Ron* Hang on, Ron! Draco, help us!

Draco: Why the hell should I help a muggle and a Weasley?

nycscribe46: Jerk. Hmm, I feel a nice, sappy Harry X Draco fic coming on…

Draco: *pales even more, if possible* You wouldn't.

nycscribe46: Try me.

Draco: *conjures a rope* Damn you.

nycscribe46: *whispers* Don't tell Draco, but I don't own Harry Potter, or any characters or places that are obviously the creation and property of J. K. Rowling. On with the fic!

Fate vs. Free Will

By nycscribe46

Prologue

Kayla Ross set down her Game Boy sadly. Her mother had finally come through on her threat.

'If your room isn't clean by Friday, I'm stealing your boyfriend away until it is.'

Her boyfriend being a pocket sized electronic toy, it wasn't much of a challenge. Her mother took it away, and Kayla sat on her bed, disgusted. She didn't have time to clean her room. She was busy with other stuff…really important stuff. Like getting Dominic to notice her. Hanging around the basketball court in his neighborhood seemed to do the trick, until he discovered her complete and total lack of hand-eye coordination. Plus, he lived in Yonkers, and it made her late, having to take the train back home to Manhattan.

Her parents were starting to worry.

Maybe she should just give up. Maybe Nicole was right. Maybe Dom was gay.

"Oh, damn it all to hell," Kayla muttered, searching beneath a pile of clothes on the floor for her wand. She could at least clean her room faster, and get her Game Boy back. At least it had never ignored her to stare at another boy's ass. God, she'd been blind. And she'd made a complete fool of herself, once Dom remembered that Kayla lived in Manhattan. And then she'd tried to play basketball. Ugh. That had been pathetic.

Kayla found her wand at last, and proceeded to put everything in its rightful place as fast as possible. If she was doomed physically, and couldn't fly a broom to save her life, then at least her work with a wand was second to none. The slacks and jeans appeared to fold themselves, and slip onto hangers and into drawers as if by magic. Which it was. Kayla was a student at the Manhattan Intra Secular School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and she had just completed her fourth year.

And this was supposed to be the summer that she got a boyfriend who didn't run on batteries.

Kayla sighed, and looked at herself in the mirror. She pushed her hair out of her face. Maybe it was her hair. It was black, just past her chin, and chemically straightened. Naturally, without a perm, it was a kinky nightmare that looked like it belonged in a shower drain somewhere. But she'd taken care of that, and hopefully, no one remembered how she'd looked when she was eleven, anyway. Her eyes were brown, but so dark they appeared to be as black as her hair. She had dark brown skin like her mother's. Some said they looked alike, but fortunately, Kayla's nose was not nearly as large as her mother's. Her father had a smaller nose, which she'd inherited, and lighter tan skin, which she had not. It was all for the better anyway, Kayla thought. He scarred and sunburned far too easily.

Kayla stopped analyzing her features long enough to put away the last of her clothes, only to hear her father yell up the stairs,

"KAYLA!!!"

"I've cleaned it, I swear!" she cried. It had only looked so bad for a few months, he shouldn't be that mad.

Kayla stuck her wand in her back pocket, and raced down the stairs.

"Give me my boyfriend back, Mother. I cleaned my room. Go look, if you don't believe me."

"I believe you, dearie. Here, take the freeloader," said Ebony Ross in her smooth Georgia accent, handing Kayla her Game Boy.

Mrs. Ross then turned to her husband.

"Now what was so important that you had to use that dreadful bellow, hmm?"

Charles Ross sighed. It had seemed like good news when he'd left the office, but now he had to tell his family. Gulp.

"I've been promoted," he started.

"Hooray!" shouted Kayla.

"That's wonderful, Charles!" Ebony hugged her husband tightly. Strangely, he didn't hug her back.

"It's the kind of promotion that you can't refuse."

"That good, huh?" smirked Kayla, who was oblivious to her father's dreary undertone.

Ebony was not.

" 'Can't?' " She repeated warily.

"Apparently I've done so well here, they want me to represent our product in another area. Permanently. I'm to go there and stay with it, until it sticks, and remain to see it through till the end. Which is my retirement, it seems."

Charles' rich voice had lost all of its cheer. Kayla was reminded of Grandfather Ross' voice when he told her that her puppy had gone to Jesus.

"Where?" Ebony asked, fear evident in her voice.

"London."

Silence. Then…

"WHAT!?!"

"First we have to leave Atlanta to come here, and now this? I don't believe this crap!"

"It's not my fault. I don't know what to tell you. I'm sorry, but it's either this, or I try to find a new job-"

Poor Charles felt the burn of two sets of identical coal black eyes staring at him angrily.

"Which would be difficult if I left my current one under such circumstances…"

The heated glares reduced slightly. Kayla and her mother looked at each other and sighed. They turned back to Charles. He had no idea what was coming; he hated it when they seemed to communicate with their eyes alone, and ganged up on him like this.

"Charles, dear, it is not your fault you're the best sales associate they have, and they want to use you to their advantage," Ebony started soothingly.

"But you could stand to develop a backbone, Dad!" cried Kayla desperately.

Charles decided to use the last weapon in his arsenal.

"My pay has increased to a six figure sum."

Ebony was silenced.

Kayla was not.

"I still have to change schools. Again. It's not fair."

"There's a good wizarding academy in Scotland…"

Kayla put two and two together.

"I have to go to a BOARDING SCHOOL!?!"

Charles shrank from the thunder that was Kayla's angry voice. Yes, she had indeed inherited his bellow. And from a female it could be deadly.

"I'm sorry, honey. I'll do anything to make it up to you."

Kayla shut her mouth immediately. Her mind went to work.

"At least twenty regular season and five playoff Braves games, every season, until I graduate."

"Done."

"Sir, we have a deal."

Kayla shook her father's hand and ran up the stairs to pack, shrieking with happiness. So she had to move. Who gave a damn? She was going to at least twenty-five Braves games every season for the next three seasons. She practically drooled. She had to buy film. Screw that, a video camera. Oh, wait until Nicole found out. She was going to die.

Kayla put her favorite CD on, and turned it on as loud as she could.

Ebony heard the familiar opening sounds and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes, yup!" said Kayla happily.

"You're too easy," Ebony told her husband, who sighed.

"Welcome to the Kayla extravaganza…" Kayla continued.

Charles put his head in his hands. At least his daughter was happy. And it was better than hearing her bellow, right?

Kayla sprinted down the stairs and began to sing and dance to her favorite song,

"…Can't touch the untouchable, break the unbreakable, shake the unshakeable, it's Kayla, baby, can't see the unseeable, reach the unreachable, do the impossible, it's Kayla baby, can't move the unmovable, stop the unstoppable…"

Modified a bit, obviously.

Kayla, the biggest Jay-Z freak in the Eastern hemisphere, continued to shake and shimmy, posing and placing emphasis on the mention of 'unwrapped the gift and the curse in one session,' and winking at her father, who couldn't help but laugh along with her.

Ebony was on the phone, complaining to her twin sister.

"I tell you, Opal, it begins again. This time it's permanent. I thought that we'd have to spend a year in New York, and then get to come back home. But it's not to be. What! Mother says she knew this would happen? Put the old biddy on the phone, Opal. I can't believe this."

The song died down, along with Kayla's exuberance. Grandma Merewether did have accurate predictions occasionally. She went upstairs to turn off the stereo.

"Kayla," her mother called. "Grandma wants to talk to you."

Kayla picked up her extension and waited for her mother to hang up.

"Hello Kayla," started her grandmother.

"Did you know about this?" Kayla demanded.

"I knew that the waves of change had not ceased their motions upon your shore."

"Lovely," muttered Kayla. As usual, her answers were cryptic and obscure.

"I wish to speak with you about your gifts."

"Which ones are those now?"

"The ones you inherited from me. The power to feel the emotions and energy of others."

"Oh. It doesn't really work, Grandma." She only felt things from members of her family, and could only sense the energy of someone she knew. She couldn't tell that Dom didn't like her, she thought bitterly. What was the use of having empathy if it only worked with people who you knew so well they would probably tell you what was bothering them anyway?

"It must. It will. It passed your mother, therefore it belongs to you. It will speak, and you must listen. Never ignore a sign from your heart. You are one who is to be guided by your feelings and senses."

Kayla sighed. This was a new angle, but it was the same Grandma. She didn't have the power like Grandma did. She certainly couldn't see the future. Divination was a joke to her.

"Okay, I'll pay attention to what my senses tell me, but honestly, Grandma, they really don't say much."

The old woman's voice turned to steel. She was not to be ignored.

"This time they will be saying plenty. And they will be split. I can see the divide as clear as day."

"Split? My senses will be split? What does that mean?"

"You will be divided. Your mind will be confused. There will be a fork in the road. But you will know where to go."

"I sure hope so," Kayla grumbled. Grandma could be scary sometimes. But you just knew she was right. Well, because she was. Always. It was a lot to live up to. Kayla was supposed to be the heir to all this. But she wasn't a seer. And Grandma never said she would be. It would probably be Nicole, she thought. Aunt Opal didn't get the gift either. It was nice to know that she wasn't alone. Nicole was going to sucked into this too.

"Hey Grandma, can you put Nicole on?"

"All right, dear. Remember what I said."

"Yes, Grandma."

Nicole picked up the extension in her room, which looked extremely similar to Kayla's. In other words, both rooms resembled miniature Atlanta Braves Halls of Fame. The girls themselves looked alike too, seeing as their mothers were identical twins.

"Hello?"

"Hi Nick-Nick!"

"Kay-Kay! What's up?"

Kayla didn't even mention that she was moving to London.

People in Atlanta turned around, wondering where all that screaming was coming from.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draco will be in the next chapter, I promise. I had to do the back-story, obviously. I wanted it to be funny. I hope I succeeded. I don't own Rocafella Records, or Jay-Z's hit record 'Hovi Baby'. Now ya'll go run out and buy The Blueprint2: The Gift and the Curse, you hear? J And don't forget to review!

Chapter One- First Impressions