Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story besides the ideas and concepts outside the sole ownership realm of Lucasfilms, LucasArts, Skywalker Imaging, Scholastic Books, Timothy Zahn, Aaron Allston, other writers in the extended Star Wars Universe, Delray Books, Bantam Books, JK Rowling, and Warner Bros. Inc.

The Force Shall Set Me Free

Chapter One

To Runaway From Home

History has a strange and seemingly inevitable way of repeating itself. In some ways, it is a comfort to know that there is a continuous cycle of events taking place and, no matter what, this cycle does not allow for things to always be bad. While this theory has merit and happens to be the mainstream thought of most religious sects, in one way or another, it has a massive flaw: perception.

History, while being an obvious reality, is a man-made concept. The term is derived from Latin and molded to fit the definition man gives it. This "history" is written in accordance to the perspective of mankind; for to them, they are all that matters. This perspective has allowed for an obvious cycle to be noticed, a cycle that bounces from good to bad and vice versa. What men do not take into account is the Earth before they were brought into existence. They do not realize that eventually their own cycle of life will end the same way it began, extinction.

(Little Whinging, Surrey, Great Britain.)

Fifty thousand light years is the radius of the Milky Way galaxy. Twenty six thousand light years from its center exists a single solar system that is mostly ignorant to the size of the universe surrounding it. The solar system's star, the Sun, burns as a third generation star. Of its nine planets, only one, the third from the sun, supports life. Of all the life on the planet, only about three percent is known to be sentient.

The third planet, known as Earth, has one main sentient group called humans. These humans are divided into two main groups. The largest, of about 6.7 billion, relies solely on primitive technology developed over a few thousand years. The other group, of about fifty million, relies on an inborn sense of energy they have learned to manipulate. It is referred to as magic, and they call themselves witches and wizards.

One particular wizard lived in a small country known as Great Britain. Despite the island nation's size, it had become one of the most powerful nations in the world. That, however, was unknown to the wizard sitting in the smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive Surrey, Great Britain. Because he was a wizard, he had been isolated from the non-magical world since he was eleven and had begun to attend Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The day of his eleventh birthday had been the happiest day of his life. It was on this day that he had found out that he was a wizard. After that, time sped by. Hogwarts became his new home and he had managed to escape, with the exception of the summers, the hell-hole that had been his aunt and uncle's home. It was, however, the event that led him to his relatives' home that made him different than most wizards and witches, even the ones at Hogwarts.

When he had been only one year old a dark wizard had come into his parent's home with the intent to kill him. While the wizard had killed his parents, the very same curse used to do the job reflected off of him and struck the dark wizard. It was because of this that the Dark Lord Voldemort's powers had been broken and Harry Potter had become famous for something he could not even remember.

Now, on his bed at Number 4 Privet Drive, the Boy-who-lived felt alone and lost. His mentor and guide, Albus Dumbledore, had been murdered by two Deatheaters at the end of the last school term. All he had left Harry with were instructions to complete the unfinished task of finding and destroying the last four of Voldemort's Horcruxs. He knew that it was the only way to stop Voldemort once and for all.

Harry did not shed a tear as he thought of Dumbledore. He had done enough crying and now the raven haired teenager's eyes were devoid of tears and filled with bright emerald green flames. No, regret and sorrow would not do anyone any good. Now was the time for action, and he knew that he was the only who had a hope of succeeding.

While most seventeen year old boys, even wizards, would not take on such a responsibility, Harry had no choice. Months before he had been born, a prophecy had been made that only one could defeat the Dark Lord, and this one would be born as the seventh month dies and the Dark Lord would mark him as his equal. Harry's birth day had been July 31st, only a few months after the prophecy had been given, and the night he had reflected Voldemort's curse, he had been left with a lightening bolt shaped scar. The Dark Lord had not had a clue that he was in fact marking his prophesied equal.

Harry looked around his room with a final, determined sigh. There was not much to gather as far as belongings, but he knew he could not carry much with him where he was going. He walked over to the window and unlatched it. He turned to the owl perched on the half broken desk in one corner of his room. The snowy owl had been his first friend in the wizarding world and it was with a sad frown that he turned to her. He held out his arm for her to come to him. Hedwig obeyed.

"Girl," he said almost crying. He did not realize that this goodbye would be so hard. "I need you to take the letters to Ron, Hermione and Ginny," he tied three letters to her leg. "Stay with Ginny until I get back girl."

Instead of leaving, the owl gave him a stern look before nuzzling her feathered head against his own. This was enough to push Harry to open tears. "I cannot let you come with me Hedwig. Where I am planning to go, it would be too dangerous for you to follow and I cannot risk losing you too."

The owl gave him a look that clearly said she did not wish to lose him either. Harry shook his head in understanding. "You won't girl. I will be back. Just stay with Ginny until I get back." He closed his eyes and gulped before giving Hedwig one last stroke. "I love you girl."

He lifted his arm out the window and Hedwig took off. He watched her go in the distance, trying to not let anymore tears fall than he already had. As she faded into the horizon he swallowed again. Another chapter in his life had ended and he would now begin a new one. Grabbing his wand, his vault key, his father's invisibility cloak, a bag full of personal belongings, his broom, and the last bit of money he had from the school year, Harry turned towards the door of his room.

To be honest, he had no idea where he was going or what he was going to do. He did know that he somehow had to get back to Hogwarts and there was only one place near him that he could find out how to do that, Diagon Alley. He slowly opened the door and tiptoed down the stairs. The early morning twilight just did peak through the window and Harry thought that his aunt and uncle would still be asleep. He was quite surprised to see his aunt standing in the kitchen when he walked by.

"Where do you think you are going boy?" she asked, snapping the last word in obvious dislike. Harry's eyes narrowed, he did not feel like dealing with the overly thin horse-like woman this early in the morning.

"I am leaving Aunt Petunia," he said with cold indifference. As he turned to the door he added as an afterthought, "After today the Potters and Dursleys will no longer have to associate again. Harry Potter is dead Aunt, and you are the last of the Evans."

The words were chilling and he knew it. He hoped they would hit his aunt hard and to the core. The woman had disgraced the name of his mother's family over and over again. He hoped that his words hit her blackened heart. He barely heard her gasp as though stunned by the words from her nephew. He hoped they stung. Somehow he knew, she would never bother him again.

He opened the door and the rush of the chilly air hit him quickly. He did not mind the breeze as it helped to knock him out of the daze his thoughts had put him in. He looked around the outside cautiously and started his walk down the sidewalk. From the corner of Manchester and Privet he would be able to signal for the Knight Bus without attracting too much attention.

He sighed again. He had been doing that a lot lately; he supposed old age was catching up with him. That caused the only grin of the day to come on his face; he was only just about to turn seventeen.

The thought was quickly wiped from his mind as something prickled the hairs on the back of his neck. He did not know what it was but not even a second later he had his wand out in one hand and his broom being brandished in the other. "Who's there?" he asked out loud.

There was crack of a fallen tree limb from the row of trees separating Number 3 and Number 2. Harry spun around only to find his wand focused on the smiling face of Nymphadora Tonks, an auror and member of the secret Order of the Phoenix.

"Wotcher, Harry," she said happily, oblivious to his sullen mood. "Good reflexes. How did you sense me?"

"Hello Tonks," Harry said in the same cold voice he had used on his aunt. He did not want to hurt Tonks like he had wanted to his aunt, but he could not let the clumsy auror stand in his way. Dumbledore had given him a task.

"Not running away are you Harry?" Tonks asked innocently, a mischievous twinkle clear in her blue eyes.

Harry groaned, not dropping his wand. It looked as though he would have to do something about her, but before he could act, Tonks had snatched the wand from his hand and banished the broom from his other.

"Now before you go attacking people," she said, both her wand and Harry's pointed at his head, "I have you know I am here to help you with whatever quest it was Dumbledore sent you on."

Harry's jaw dropped as Tonks lowered the two wands with a smile. His stubborn hero complex shown through despite the shock at having his wand taken away, "B-but I can't let you get hurt. This is my task," he argued in a convicted voice.

"Mate, in case you did not notice I had your wand before you could blink and you tried to fight me with a broom," she said, nodding towards the discarded Firebolt. She offered him his wand back, "I think it is you we have to worry about getting hurt."

He blushed slightly as he thought about what she had just said. The broom would have been comical in any other situation. Though his resolved was not lessened by her words, she did have a point. He would need help and he would need training. He just did not have the time. "I think you might be right Tonks, but how are we going to get the time to train me, Voldemort is attacking more and more."

Barely flinching at the mention of the Dark Lord's name, Tonks replied is a more serious voice, "We will just have to train you as we go then. Besides, Dumbledore himself told me to help you with this, so I am pretty sure he didn't want you going about it unprepared."

She looked around to make sure the area was clear as the sun was starting to rise higher and higher in the sky. "We better hurry, I will tell you the rest when get to the Leaky Cauldron." As though reading his thoughts, she added, "Don't worry Harry, your friends aren't coming. McGonogal and Remus are going to explain to them what is going on."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief; just as long as they were not going to try to come with him he would be ok. He had already come to terms with the fact he might have to sacrifice his friendship with them so that they would remain safe. He had already done as much with Ginny.

He watched Tonks check the area again and then hand him his broom from the ground. He gathered his other things from where they had dropped and turned to follow her. He had never seen the clumsy girl be so together and organized. In made sense though when he thought about it, she must have been more together than she let on, she had made it through the auror academy.

They had walked a little ways toward the dark intersection and it was still a couple of blocks away when Tonks broke the silence and asked Harry, "So what had you planned on doing with that broom? Dust me off?"

This made Harry laugh, despite the seriousness of what they were setting out to do. He was not sure how Tonks had known about his assignment from Dumbledore, but he was suddenly feeling much better about it all. It was good to now that he would not be alone in this whole ordeal. And that thought alone gave Harry hope that just maybe they would succeed.

"Well I figured you would need it after hiding in trees watching people all morning," he said lightly. He had not meant it to sound accusing, but he noticed that Tonks flinched a little nonetheless.

"Trust me, I had not wanted to spy on you, but I could not very well walk into your relatives house and say 'Hey, how about you and I go do a deed for Dumbledore and grab a pint or two afterwards.'"

He grinned back at her, noticing the playful light in her blue eyes. "True, my aunt would not have liked the pink hair." He paused before adding, "Can we still have the pint."

"Don't push it kid. You can't seem to handle a wand sober, much less with a pint or two in you." Now that had stung.

They were almost to the intersection when the pandemonium and constant rush of the morning's events came to a peak. In what seemed like a rush of wind Harry and Tonks were knocked flat on their backs. In front of them stood a single individual clothed in a dark brown cloak with the hood raised. "Do not be afraid," said a female voice

Tonks only had the chance to shoot off one spell before the woman had drawn a silver cylinder from the inside of her robes. In less than half the time it took Tonks to cast the spell, a snap-hiss echoed down the street and a blue beam of light extended from the cylinder and blocked the spell. Before the auror could shoot again the woman had outstretched her hand and the last Harry knew was the cold loneliness of unconciousness, his wand falling limply from his hand.

Author's Note: Thoughts. My story is my own. I am not here to bend to your suggestions. I am here to entertain you.