Darkness. It was all around him. Up, down, left and right. It was all consuming, oppressive and yet comforting at the same time. How strange. He wondered how he had gotten there. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep on his desk in his home office after finally managing to modify a spell. Maybe he was dreaming and this was one of those lucid dreams, where one controls what happens. Harry concentrated hard but nothing happened. So this wasn't a dream. If this wasn't a lucid dream, then what was it? And why was he here?

"You are here" a voice said, "because I will it."

Harry whipped his head, trying to see where the voice came from. It was an impossible task; the voice seemed to come from everywhere. "Who's there? Why did you bring me here?"

"Fear not, young one" The voice said, sounding more feminine the more it spoke. "You are here, in this place, because I will it to."

The rational thing was to feel fear but it seemed impossible, the tone of the voice seemed to calm him instead. "Where is here?"

"Here, this place, is nowhere and everywhere. Nothing and everything" She, for it was definitely a woman, said. "It is the Void, the in-between of life and death, time and space."

The fear was back, a slow trickle in the back of his mind. The in-between life and death? Was he dead? How did he die? Harry swallowed dryly. "W-who are you?"

"I have been called many names throughout the centuries of your world. Shai, Moira, Aisa, Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos, Destiny and many more. But most would call me Fate."

The fear started turning into anger. His insides burned with fury. "You're Fate?! The Fate?! The one who practically ruined my life?!"

Fate hesitated before she spoke. "Yes"

Harry's eyes narrowed with pent up fury before he closed his eyes and tried to relax. He breathed out before he spoke again. "I have a question. Why? Why did it have to be me? The prophecy, the death of my family, the stifling life, why?"

Fate seemed to hesitate before speaking again. "Do you truly wish to know?"

Harry didn't hesitate. "Yes"

"Very well." Fate said, her voice resigned. "The first thing I would like to say is that everything happens for a reason."

Harry didn't say anything. He stayed still and tried to stay calm.

"Many years, before the birth of your parents, a child was born. Born on the Winter Solstice, one of the most magical of days. He had tremendous magical power and a very analytical mind, but he was damaged and incomplete".

"How come?" Harry asked, wondering how this concerned him.

"He was conceived under the effects of a love potion" Fate said like that should have explained everything.

"And? Plenty of children are conceived that way" Harry said, "I should know, I used to work as an Auror".

"Children conceived under the effects of a love potion tend to lose the ability to really love shortly before birth. Love Potions give a mockery of the emotion, a parody of the feeling, to the person who ingested it. Anyone conceived while one of the parents is under its effects will inherit a parody of the emotion instead of the emotion in its entirety."

Harry hadn't known that. He was pretty sure nobody knew. No wonder Voldemort turned out the way he was. Wait, could it be?

"Is it Voldemort?" Harry asked.

"Yes" Fate answered. "Tom Marvolo Riddle was conceived under the effects of a love potion and could not feel love. It was because of this that hate and anger festered in him so early, so young, in his mind. Because of this, Tom Marvolo Riddle turned into the dark aspects of magic. This is why he was revered as the most ruthless Dark Lord the Wizarding World had ever encountered."

"Wait, but don't you make everything happen? Didn't you will it to happen, the whole love potion and everything?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I do control what is to come, however, I do not control it completely" Fate said, "Every living organism has free will and so, while I can weave what I want to happen, It can be easily broken when a person chooses a different path, a different choice."

"Oh" Harry muttered.

"With Voldemort killing muggles and muggleborns, people that had a destiny that would change the world if they only would have lived, I had to act. I made a prophesy and spoke it through a young seer telling the world of the coming of a Savior, the coming of you, Harry Potter."

"But why me?" Harry asked. "Why did it have to be me?"

"Your story and that of Tom Riddle are vastly similar, even from the start. While Tom Riddles mother, Merope Gaunt, drugged his father, Tom Riddle, with a love potion, your father, James Potter, made your mother, Lily Evans, fall in love with him, something Merope could not do with Tom. You were born from a union of True Love, one of the most powerful of magiks, but Voldemort was born from a mockery of it. So you see, you and Voldemort are similar and yet different; truly black and white opposites".

"So that was why…"

"Many things were changed from my original design. Your parents were killed when they should have lived, you should have grown with your parents and know love. Everything changed with decisions made not by me."

"So my life has been hell because of that?"

"No. Your life has been stifling, as you mentioned, because you were meant to die but lived."

Harry's eyes widened. "So I should have died with my parents?!"

"No. The day Voldemort cursed you with Death for the second time, you were not meant to stand up again."

"But I did." Harry said dryly.

"You did, and with doing so Life and Reality could not, would not, accept you. Your soul should have passed unto the afterlife thirty years ago. You wouldn't find work anywhere except where you were expected to, nobody listened to you, and nobody cared because you were never meant live past your eighteenth birthday."

Harry was speechless, the anger he once held for everyone ignoring him, for the unfairness of it all, was gone. It hadn't been their fault. None of it had been.

"Am I dead?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes"

"How?"

"No physical or magical way. Your soul simply ebbed away from your body as you slept."

Harry could feel tear in his eyes. So that was it? His life was over in the brink of an eye and he hadn't even known until he asked.

"Why am I here then, if I am dead? Shouldn't I be in the afterlife? Heaven or Hell?" Harry managed to say.

"Normally, yes"

Harry lifted his head and gazed Into the Void. 'Normally?' He thought with confusion.

"But this is a special case. I was the one who weaved your path and, although made harsh by the will of others, I do feel regretful for how your life turned out. To show how remorseful I am, I will give you a choice to live again."

Harry's ears seemed to ring. 'Live again?'

"What?"

"I will give you the choice to live again" Fate repeated. "To be reborn".

"To live again in the Wizarding World?"

"No, the world in which you hail from will not accept your soul anymore, rebirth or no rebirth".

"Then where…"

"Will you like to live again or pass unto the afterlife?"

Harry hesitated. He didn't know what to choose. On one hand, if he chose the afterlife he would be able to see his parents again, to see his family and friends that died before him. On the other hand, if he chose to live again, to be reborn, he could do what he could never do in his old life and live, experience life at the fullest, learn what he wanted, have a family and friends without the fear of war on the horizon, he could have that and so much more. So, what was he going to choose?

Harry cleared his throat. "I choose to live again".

"Very well. May you experience what has been stolen from you, young wizard, and cherish that which you have."

Everything seemed to turn even darker, if it was even possible. He couldn't feel his arms or legs anymore. He closed his eyes and let unconsciousness take hold of him.

Harry slowly came to himself, the feeling of drowsiness slowly seeping away from his body. He could hear people moving around him, concerned. He didn't know why and he certainly didn't care. He wanted to sleep again, to burrow onto the warmth that was slowly leaving him to be replaced with harsh coldness. He tried to sleep again, and yet he could not, so he listened to what was being said.

"Not a screamer, unusual." Someone said.

"There's nothing wrong with him, is there?" A woman said.

"Oh, no. On the contrary, he's the healthiest baby I have seen in my entire career!"

Baby? Harry was jostled out of his drowsy state and open his eyes. Everything was blurry, blurrier than usual. He was moved around in the air only to be placed onto something warm and soft, which seemed to curl up around his body.

"Look at him, so awake already"

He tried to see around but everything was blurry. Too blurry. Harry frowned. He tried to flow magic into his eyes, to force them to see, but it seemed to slip from his grasp. His control was abysmal, but how? His control should be excellent from years and years of practice, so why was it horrible all of a sudden?

"He's just the cutest!"

Harry yawned and burrowed onto the source of warmth. He would figure it out in the morning.

"He's yawning! How cute!"

He was jostled again as he was wrapped in a soft fleece blanket. Oh, it felt wonderful against his skin. Harry smiled sleepily.

"What will his name be?"

"Ash" The woman said softly, "Ash Ketchum"