A/N: This is my first Harry Potter fix… it's not that I'm not a fan but I just never came around to it… but I wanted to do something special for my Harry-fanatic friend and so I thought I'd give her a small story =D Hope you like it and let me know what you think…

Menna, this is for you! Hope it stands up to you expectations... Enjoy =D

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea for my story…

Spoilers: Major spoilers for Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2.

The scent of burnt flesh. The view of devastation. The sound of pained cries.

All these dead and he is still alive. All these losses, losses of war, in the fight to stop he who must not be named. A war between good and evil.

In another timeline far away from ours, a land of peace and calm.

A shining sun. Spring blossoms perfume the air. Merry.

"I can't believe we're Seniors. Think of it, Harry. A few more months of this and we're free to do whatever we want." An excited Ron was strolling alongside his best friends.

Harry was elsewhere with his thoughts. He didn't hear a word Ron had just said.

"You're still thinking about that Prophecy." Hermione realized.

"The one Dumble… um… I mean the one we procured last week?" Ron wondered, avoiding the memory of the late Dumbledore a second too late.

"Yes, Ron. Dumbledore's last words to me. The prophecy he left for me, to warn me." Harry was clearly annoyed. Not by Ron but he was just too tense to contain himself.

"He'd been training you for this your whole life Harry, even without your knowing." Hermione suggested.

"Yes and now he's gone and I'm supposed to face an enemy, that's bound on defying the rules of space and time just to get back at me. All by myself!" Harry exclaimed moving a bit further away from his friends.

Ron was hurt by his friend's words. "Well, if you're so hell bound on pushing your friends away, you're probably going to face him alone!"

"You know he doesn't mean it that way, Ron." Hermione shot Ron a warning look.

"No, he's right Hermione. I've been acting like a jerk. I'm sorry Ron. I definitely can't go through this without you. I'm just… it's overwhelming… and with Dumbledore gone… it's just too hard." Harry apologized.

"It's ok Harry. I should have been more understanding with all you've been through. And we're not going anywhere. Whatever this prophecy foretells we're going to face it together. I mean you beat this guy once, from the confines of your crib. You're almost a graduated wizard now. I say let him come!" Ron, always the joker, attempted to encourage his friend.

"Yeah, but this time, he knows what he's up against. This time he'll be prepared." Harry was still worried, although he was more relaxed than he'd been a few minutes ago.

"And so are you, Harry. Dumbledore… he and the others, they've been preparing you for this. Remember all the lessons. Remember the special training. Now we know why. Now all the pieces are coming together."

"Hermione, you suggesting that Dumbledore, let the other teachers in on the prophecy, that's why they all took such special interest in Harry?" Ron was still piecing it together.

Hermione just nodded.

"If he told all these people… why didn't he tell me? Why couldn't he tell me while he was alive. Why did he have to wait!" Another outburst.

"Because he hoped, that he'd be alive when it happened, I guess. He hoped you wouldn't have to face him alone. He wished to spare you the encounter with he who must not be named. But in the event he couldn't, he had some failsafes in place."

Harry just shivered.

"So now what?" Ron wondered.

"Now we wait." Harry replied but Hermione thought otherwise "Now we start to prepare ourselves even more. We need to be ready for anything he might throw at us. As you said Harry, this time he thinks he knows what he's up against."

"You're right, Hermione. But we're running out of time. The prophecy foretold that he… Voldemort should arrive with the rise of the next moon." Harry was already walking towards the Griffindore quarters.

"No need to waste more time then." Hermione led them directly towards the library instead.

Harry Potter and Voldemort are standing toe to toe. Voldemort threatens. Harry stands tall. Hearts beating. Wands at the ready. They both know it's their final battle. One of them isn't walking away from it. Voldemort knew that it was going to be Harry. He knew he would survive. He'd spent several lifetimes putting this plan in motion. He would see to its fulfillment. He'd divided his soul into horcruxes. He knew of his fate. He knew what would happen on this fateful day. And he knew how to overcome it. One more wave of his wand and all this would be over. One more turn to the hourglass in his pocket and he'd be in another timeline. A timeline where he would forever rule. His original timeline.

True, after killing this Harry Potter, he'd also be the single might in this timeline but it wasn't significant for him. In this timeline, he'd already had his fame. He already returned and proved to the world that he's the great Lord Voldemort. In his timeline… they have forgotten about him. He's just an ancient villain they teach about in old history books. He's the ancient villain that got killed by an infant and never returned. But this would soon change… One wand swish away.

…. Sunrise ...

"Today's the day…" Ron exclaimed.

"Let's get this over with." Harry jumped out of bed, wanting the day to start fast, in hopes of it passing by before they know it.

…. Waiting ….

…. More Waiting ….

"So… what happens when the sun sets?" Ron asked.

"We'll wait and see I guess. I don't think Voldemort, is going to miraculously appear where we are." Hermione replied. Harry just sat there silently, bracing himself for the confrontation.

…. Sunset ….

"So?" Ron asked again. He had been very persistent the whole day.

"Ron!" Hermione warned.

"When death eaters start to roam the skies. When darkness looms and thunder cries. That's when the Dark Lord will rise." Harry just recited the first verse from the prophecy.

This caused both Ron and Hermione to immediately stop their banter. Harry was looking in the distance. And they shared his thoughtfulness and the three friends let the silence fall over them.

…. Waiting ….

The boy was a horcrux. How did this happen. Voldemort hadn't been counting on that. And now, while he was free falling with the boy in his vicinity, he was lacking his earlier confidence. What if they die when they hit the ground. What if he doesn't survive. Worse… what if he does only to have the boy kill him. He'd apparently underestimated the boy on many occasions. Were he to survive this, he vowed to never underestimate Harry Potter again. In his rightful timeline, he should be prepared for Harry Potter. Even if the boy has never met him. Even if he isn't as well trained as this one. He shall show him no mercy. But that's only if he survives. Yes, it has come to that! For the first time since he's set his plan in motion, he had doubts within him wether he'd be able to fulfill it or not. And that was bad. It was a sign of weakness. The beginning of the end.

THUD…

"It's been a few weeks!" It was Ron, who stated the obvious. Again.

"We know Ron." Harry had grown more relaxed. Of course, he hadn't completely let his guard down but still.. one can't stay en guard none stop.

Hermione came running form afar. "I got it! I got it!"

The two guys intercepted her midway. "What?"

"We got it all wrong. Dumbledore did, too. We misread the signs." she explained.

"What signs? What did we do wrong?" Ron asked.

"What are you talking about Hermione?" Harry's question followed more calmly.

"The prophecy. We got it all wrong. See?" she held out the piece of paper with the text of the prophecy written on it. She had a few parts encircled and marked out.

"When death eaters start to roam the skies. When darkness looms and thunder cries. That's when the Dark Lord will rise.

He shall return to seek retribution. He shall return and rise again. He shall return to kill the boy. He shall rule over all men.

Fight the fight. Lose your loss. Only death will save the light.

Time transcended. Moons arise. The end begins with the boy's demise.

Two alike, but not the same. Two have suffered by his flame.

Who will live and who will die? Where and when but never why.

Hourglass tells the time. Hourglass decides the space.

Two of them against darkness' single face."

"We know the prophecy Hermione. We read it a million times remember?" Harry wasn't getting what his friend was talking about.

"Don't you see it? First of all the passage here says 'suffered' not 'will suffer', suggesting that this has happened in the past. Which got me thinking… the prophecy mentions an hourglass and time being transcended, so I searched in the library and guess what I found: there's a device… an hourglass, similar to the pocket watch I found a few years ago, only more complicated. It was deemed so powerful and dangerous that it was supposedly destroyed in fear of keeping it intact, even under the heaviest of safeguards. This hourglass was capable of truly transcending time, meaning it was able to travel through timelines, bending our own space-time to reach an alternate one: 'Hourglass tells the time. Hourglass decides the space.' It's a direct reference to this device. Meaning that Voldemort used this hourglass to travel to an alternate timeline, where an alternate you had to suffer, like you suffered when he killed your parents… both events are in the past. But there's only one Voldemort: 'darkness' single face' against the two of you… you Harry and the Harry from the alternate timeline. 'Two alike but not the same'."

"We had always thought that this was a reference to Harry and Voldemort." Ron realized.

"And we were wrong. This was a reference to Harry and his counterpart. The other Harry must have stopped Voldemort that's why he never got here."

Harry still wasn't buying it. It was too much for him to digest "But the prophecy also says 'The end begins with the boy's demise' and 'Only death will save the light'. And I haven't died and the other… me couldn't have died if he supposedly stopped Voldemort as you suggest."

"We can never know what happened over there Harry. But my guess is that Voldemort returned there and regained power as the beginning of the prophecy suggests. The other timeline, they lived through all this. Maybe Voldemort knew this was going to happen. Maybe this was his plan all along. Given the fact that we're still alive with no sign of him, it's more than probable that his plan didn't work."

"You… the other you… saved yourself… I think" a baffled Ron was trying to wrap his head around the news.

"Still, we can never be sure." Harry dismissed his friend's enthusiasm.

"True. But we can hope and wait and see another day." Hermione encouraged.

The Dark Lord is no more. He's dead. And a new era… an era without fear, without dark magic has started.

Harry and his friends figured out Voldemort's plans. They figured out what he'd been doing in their timeline and they found the hourglass. And before Harry destroyed it, he was set on using it for one last thing. He sent a message. A message through time.

"Hermione probably figured it out but just in case: Voldemort is no more. We stopped him before he could return to your timeline. You are safe and shall never have to face the darkness we've seen. Farewell, Harry Potter."

For the first night since Dumbledore died and all this had started, Harry fell into a deep slumber with a smile on his face and a reassuring note from himself in his hand.

THE END

A/N: So? What do you think? Please let me know… I really wanna know how I did on my first attempt to write Harry and his friends…