Warnings: Spoilers for all seven books, Alternate Reality / Universe, some sexual references and innuendo in the very far future, some language/swearing (though mostly of the wizarding kind, such as "Merlin"), and mild (non-graphic) violence. Also, this is not completely written yet and I need a beta, so this will be slow to update.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, DH and that ridiculously cliché epilogue never would have happened. And Sirius would not have been killed by drapery.
A/N: All mistakes are my own and I appreciate them being pointed out. ^_^
Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice.
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Prologue:
The Unsung Hero
***
Hogwarts Castle had been around for a very long time. When the Founders initially created her, she had simply been a castle with powerful wards and a few magical quirks. However, several centuries of watching generations of students pass through her halls, each the possessor of at least a little magic, had greatly changed her. Her walls absorbed a bit of magic from every spell that was cast within them, which had accumulated over the years and made the castle herself sentient. And as with all sentient beings, if she became bored, she would find ways to entertain herself. During the summer months when there were no students to watch, Hogwarts became excessively active: incarnating suits of armor, rearranging the rooms and, to Snape's everlasting frustration, almost constantly moving the staircases.
It was one afternoon in the middle of July when the Hogwart's staircases were feeling particularly frisky that Snape had finally had enough; he had climbed no less than twenty-three flights of the ever-revolving stair cases in an attempt to return to his dungeons after lunch before he finally decided that using the Headmaster's floo would be easier.
Snape was fully prepared to start muttering the name of the ridiculous candy that Dumbledore seemed to favor this week, but was slightly surprised to see that the stone guardian had already stepped aside. As Snape made his way up the revolving staircase, he could hear the thick brogue Minerva only adopted when she was truly riled about something.
"…got to do something, Albus! The boy hasn't replied once! You know that-"
Snape gave a mental sigh, resigned to the fact that, should he enter the office now, he would also be subjected to Minerva's rant. He was standing outside the door, trying to decide if could run in and use the floo without being waylaid or if the risk of being caught was worth not climbing another mutinous stair, when something rather miraculous happened (although no one would ever describe or even recognize it as such). A tiny dust particle, absolutely microscopic in size, had been dislodged from its home on one of the stair cases during all of its earlier spinning and twirling. It had floated up and down through the air in the castle, flitting from current to current, until it finally came to rest within one of Snape's noticeably large nostrils.
This, of course, caused Snape to sneeze and miss the next couple of words (which just happened to be an important name) in the conversation, and thereby completely changed destiny as it had been previously written. Sadly, however, the dust mote was never recognized for his contribution to the wizarding world, and its only reward was a shower of mucus saturated with disgusting potion fumes.
After Snape shook his head to clear it, he thought it might be best to see what bee had gotten in Minerva's bonnet. If it was too bothersome, he could always go back and attempt to tame the stair cases again. Decision made, he climbed the last few stairs to the office, the accented voice becoming more distinct with every step.
"-must come to Hogwarts; are you sure that he is receiving his letters? The owl may have become confused by the wards. Maybe you should send more owls, just in case…"
Snape sighed, and wondered what would happen to Hogwarts if he were not there to state the obvious.
"Minerva, if one owl was confused by wards, chances are that any additional owls would also become befuddled by their presence. If it is so important that this student attend our humble school, why not just send someone to the house with a letter, instead?"
Albus's eyes began twinkling, which made Snape freeze in his tracks. Twinkling was almost never a good sign. In fact, it usually meant that the Headmaster was going to find some way to make Snape do something that he dearly did not wish to do, but would be forced to anyway because he had already walked neatly into the trap.
"What a splendid idea, Severus, my boy! Minerva and I are quite busy at the moment planning the security for the third floor, so we quite appreciate your help in this matter…"
Albus knew that Snape wanted nothing to do with this little errand, but even the Head of Slytherin's most evil glare, the one he used to make Hufflepuffs cry on a regular basis, did not phase the old man. Minerva took a step back, however, which placated Snape somewhat.
Albus continued on, blissfully smiling in his immunity to Snape's attempts at casting the Killing Curse with his eyes. "Here, let me give you the coordinates so you can apparate…."
Snape glanced at the address and silently cursed his poor luck. On top of having to leave the castle when I only wanted to retire to my dungeons for the day, I am forced to travel all the way to Surrey? The place is packed with muggles, which would explain the presence of such powerful wards: no proper wizard would want all of those muggles on his lawn. How could this day possibly get any worse? I suppose I should just resign myself to my fate and get it over with.
"Very well, Albus. What is the name of the unfortunate student whom I will be visiting?"
Snape had the inane thought that Albus's twinkling now resembled the fireworks that the Weasley twins were so fond of before the Headmaster replied:
"Why, it's Harry Potter, of course."
Oh, hell.