Harry Potter, it's characters and universe, belong to it's author, J.K. Rowlings. I claim no legal right to Harry Potter or any of it's trademarks. This story is made purely for entertainment and I make no profits off it.

Chapter One

The Woman Who Sold The Future

"Out of all of the deals," he mused as he watched her blood drip onto the parchment. The paper glowed for the briefest of moments before he pulled it from under her fingers. There was a hint of old world class as he handed her his handkerchief. Lucifer eyed the woman in front of him; she wasn't that hard to figure out, and normally he wouldn't have entertained a deal such as this but it worked out to his benefit more than hers. All of his deals did eventually, but this one was special in the fact that Kaya knew that she was getting the short end of the stick and she was content with that. "I had not thought you were this stupid."

The tall woman gave a shrug, and wrapped her wrist tightly with the handkerchief, "A soldier knows when to give up their life for—"

"Now, now, Kaya, we know that isn't true," Lucifer said; a set of glasses were perched lightly on the bridge of his nose and the former Angel and he read over the contract. It was air-tight as all of his contracts were. People dug their own graves better than he ever could. "You fell in love."

Kaya snorted, "I am in love."

"Foolish."

"You Fell for it," Kaya said, and didn't flinch when Lucifer's dark eyes were leveled against her soul. "I won't let them die. Not when it can be stopped."

"And if the future isn't fluid like you believe, and you've done this all for nothing?"
Kaya blinked, and shook her head. It was painfully obvious she hadn't thought of that. Lucifer smirked and clapped. Kaya flinched at the sound and closed her eyes before she schooled her expression into something carved from stone. She exhaled slowly and opened her eyes, "I'm at peace with my decision."

"Even the murder of a child?" Lucifer coaxed. He always wondered how far the Witch could be pushed before she went shattered. There were the hints, the subtle gestures that told him that she wasn't exactly all together there in her mind. The way her shoulders tensed, and her eyes steeled told him more than a single piece of paper ever could.

"She didn't die," Kaya said it slowly, "Her soul is alive."

"Trapped in a bottle," he grinned when the first crack appeared in the former soldier's armor. She tensed and started to move forward, before she pulled back.

"Enough," she said, her tone firm, "I need to leave before they find out."

Lucifer leaned back in his chair and nodded, gesturing towards the door, "Any time you wish to leave, the door is open."

Kaya looked over her shoulder towards the door and shook her head, "There isn't an opening. I don't feel the magick."

"It's something from your new home," Lucifer drawled, "Take the soul and leave before I change my mind about your contract. You bore me now. I know how you tick."

Kaya frowned and grabbed the bottle off Lucifer's desk and marched off towards the door. She spoke resolutely, "You don't know what makes me tick." Her fingers sparked when she touched the handle of the door and her eyes widened as her stomach was pulled out through her spine and her head spun off into one thousand directions.

She felt like she was drowning.

She felt fire lick at her skin.

She felt the dirt cling to her lungs.

Kaya's throat was too tight to scream as she dropped onto the ground. Her head rested against the moist ground and gagged on her own spit. It took a while for the shaking to stop, and the world to stop spinning whenever she thought about lifting her head up but eventually. Kaya rolled slowly onto her knees and sat still, watching the world around her. She didn't know what the joke was but this world looked too much like her own and Lucifer wasn't kind enough to do that. She was more surprised that he hadn't sent her to a dimension where everything was flat and there was no air.

She stood up and wove for a moment.

"Damn," she said and winced at her voice. Her throat felt like she had been dragged over jagged rocks, and her voice was more like crackling leaves than something human. She hoped that was only temporary. The last thing she needed was to sound like an old hag forever. She had never had a pretty voice, but it had sounded womanly enough to set off her appearance. With the butt of her palm, she rubbed her throat as she finally started to walk.

The air smelled of fire and cooked flesh.

People, she thought.

If Kaya were one to fall back on her training, she would have thought out her course. She had no idea if the people, if they were even people, were non-hostile and walking into an unknown situation was always asking for trouble. But she had never been good about her own safety; she was better at keeping other people alive. And she didn't have anyone to protect… "Well almost no one."

Her gaze dropped to the bottle in her left hand. The bottle was a crudely wrought thing with no glamour and rather than a cork at the top, it was a solid bit of copper that had been melted into the glass, keeping it sealed permanently. There were more elaborate and decorative ways to keep a soul trapped but a bottle was more traditional, and she could hide it in plain sight if she wished.

Who would want an empty bottle?

The smell of wood and charred skin got stronger and she wrinkled her nose involuntarily. It smelled like death. The thick, coiling sense of fear and trauma echoed through her as she walked closer and the field gave way to a fence that surrounded burnt out little cottage. The embers still smoldered and she was sure there were pockets of live fire underneath the wreckage. It caused her to shudder. She was reminded of the border villages she and her troops had marched on, the smell of cooked meat was the same.

A baby screamed.

She jumped and looked around; there was something hotwired into her, some terrible force that worked at her until she rushed to the smoldering building and eased through the embers. She moved lightly on her feet, feeling out for the cooler areas until she came to the only place there was no fire, in fact, she eyed the area critically. There was no sign of anything. A circle formed around the toddler who screamed.

His face was red and his hands were balled up in his blanket.

She knelt down and whispered, "Hello, little one."

The child sniffled and opened his eyes and Kaya melted slightly. He had the prettiest grin eyes and she could only imagine that the young boy would grow up to be a handsome man…if he grew up that was. She looked around, hoping that his parents would come out of the woodwork. While she had raised two children to their teens before she made her deal, she had had the help of her more experienced family. There were times in which she could honestly say her children may not have survived without them.

"Where are your parents, hm?" She asked as she brushed her finger over his forehead, "Seems like you were nice and protected by them."

He stared at her wide-eyed and the snot dripped from his nose mixing with his tears, creating a sooty mess all over his face. He reached out a hand to her and Kaya's shoulders slumped a little before she picked him up. He was small, too small to rest on her hip but almost too big to carry against her chest. She shifted him around until his cheek rested on her shoulder and his rested against her with absolute confidence. A child's trust, she thought. She sighed a little and murmured, "I need this as much as a sword to the gut."

The child hiccupped against her shoulder and wiped his nose against her neck.

"Precious," she closed her eyes and glanced heavenward, looking for a sign. God had never been on her side, but perhaps there was someone up there who would listen even if she had made a deal with the devil and thwarted the Grand Design. If her life had been more like a fairy-tale, there would have been a shooting star or something that would have told her what she should do but the sky remained unmercifully clear. Kaya shook her head and rubbed the child's back soothingly as she looked around.

A hand stuck up from the embers and she watched it with the same interest she would give a particularly interesting bug as it crawled up the wall. She frowned and walked closer to give it a good look; there was no way to tell the gender of the former owner of the hand but had a feeling it was one of the parents of the little boy. "That does explain of few things, but not how you—"

"Put him down!"

A lesser woman would have jumped but Kaya turned around and stared at the man. He was attractive, but not in a way she found particularly pleasing. She liked her men of fairer skin and hair, and this man was all dark and softer lines. She hated it when a man looked softer than she did. It made her feel like a man; at least, he was taller than her which was a good thing, she tended to stand a few inches taller than most women and more than once looked down at a man.

It made people uncomfortable.

"No."

He seemed shocked by her blunt answer, "N-no?"

Kaya shrugged, "I don't feel like it."

"Give me, Harry, now. He isn't safe here."

Again Kaya shrugged but she eyed the stick the man held out in front of him in what she assumed was supposed to be a menacing way. She just thought it looked silly. A gun would have been much more fearsome, or even a shovel. A thin, tapered piece of wood did not incite any fear inside of her and she wished she had a free hand to rub away the headache she felt forming behind her eyes. "Safer with me than you."

"Did Dumbledore send you?"

Kaya took a gamble, "Yes, Dumbledore did. He wanted me to protect Harry."

The man watched her warily and moved closer; "Then you know?"

"If I assume to know what you are thinking, which I don't." Who would have thought, that she would one day appreciate the slick mannerisms of the courts and use them to her advantage.

"You'll keep him safe? Get him to Dumdbledore?" He asked earnestly, his eyes half-mad as he motioned towards the child in her arms. His soft breathing told her he had fallen asleep and she had a mind to keep him that way. A child who had just lost both of his parents in a fire deserved all the sleep he needed. "He'll know what to do."

"Of course," she said, not meaning a single word of it. The man looked a little relieved and he nodded to her before he hesitated, and made a move like he was going to say something before he vanished with a crackle of air and she stared at the empty space. She blinked, and continued to stare for another moment before murmuring, "Ghosts. Who would have thought it? Was that your daddy?"

She smiled down at the sleeping toddler and murmured against his hair, "Well, I'll take care of you, Harry. I'll keep you safe."

Kaya held Harry to her and carried the bottle loosely in her other hand as she started to walk away from the wreckage of the child's home. She glanced back and half-heartedly prayed for Harry's parents, but she doubted any god worth his or her salt would pay attention to her well-wishes. Prayers had never seemed to help her in the past, why would they start now when she had wrested control of her life away from the Grand Design?

Pebble is the first book in a series I plan on writing named Ripples; it is an alternate universe story that covers a range of topics and emotions but mainly features a Harry Potter who was raised by someone who cares deeply for him and how that effects everything from his decisions to his friends. The story is a reflection of how the smallest rock can make the biggest ripples through time.

This story is also posted on my website, Once Upon a Time, which can be reached through my profile under the home-page tab. I will be updating the site regularly with goodies, sneak peeks, and extra story odd/ends so check it out.

Please review! I really love hearing your opinions on the story.