A/N: Hello, this is a Harry Potter universe short-fic. It is complete and there is a total of 7 chapters in this story. I will be uploading two chapters every week, and the final one will stand alone. I was aiming for dark and mysterious in this story, and I really hope you will enjoy reading it. As mentioned in the description, this is neither an AU, nor a crossover. It is Post-Hogwarts, in real time 2017.

P.S. Many thanks to Janeinabottle for helping me edit this story! And to J.K. Rowling for giving us Harry Potter, those wonderful characters and that magical world!

CHAPTER 1

Harry Potter led a quiet and peaceful life in the suburbs of Boston, MA. He was a 37-year-old History teacher in a local High School. Days went by smoothly. Every day, Harry Potter would wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast with his wife Martha and their son James, and he would bid them farewell with a peck on the cheek before heading off to school. At nights, the family would gather around the t.v. to watch their favourite show and silently eat dinner.

Harry was a man of habit, he liked the routine, he felt safe. He never thought of straining out of his everyday life schedule unless it was an absolute necessity, and usually it was because other people would mess up with his routine. A very drunk neighbour friend that needed consolation, which would lead Harry to be up past his usual bedtime, or maybe an unruly student that would need some time in detention and that would lead Harry to stay longer than his usual teaching hours, and so on.

But even those hiccups in his daily routine, they were a habit of their own. And as much as Harry detested them, he had managed to implement them in his day to day life, as in schedule for them to happen.

This day though, was a particularly peculiar one. These disturbances in his regular schedule seemed to happen all at once. At first the previous night, Robert, the usual neighbour friend that would get drunk and come pester Harry, did so up until 3am in the morning hours. Apparently, Robert had fought with his wife, one of the many fights, and she had left the house. Robert couldn't stay alone in the house, so with a bottle of whiskey he had moved to the Potter residence, where after 7 hours of explaining the fight with his wife thoroughly, he fell asleep on Harry's couch.

As a result, Harry woke up an hour late for work, something that had never happened before. In all his career life. Of course, waking up late meant that there would be no breakfast with the family as Martha was already at work and their son at school. So, Harry grumpily got dressed and left the house with a piece of toast in hand, leaving Robert on the couch snoring.

At the later hour Harry left the house, the small suburb town was already up and buzzing, which led him to be even more late at work due to the unexpected traffic. Harry reached the school two hours later than normal. He parked his car and with a hang head he walked straight to the headmaster's office to explain his tardiness. Of course, the headmaster didn't even scold, as this was the first time Harry came at school late.

Harry felt disoriented and defeated all day. To add to that, a ruckus between two students before Harry's class was about to start sent him over the edge. As he caught the two teenagers battling like wild cats on the floor, Harry dropped his briefcase on the ground hard and screamed from the top of his lungs. That effectively ended the ruckus but it also drew attention from nearby classrooms, teachers and students, so Harry found himself for a second time this day to the Headmaster's office.

Seeing the slight tremble in Harry's hands and voice, the Headmaster decided to let him take the day off. Something that didn't sit well with Harry at all. He tried to protest that he was fine and that he would like to go on with the rest of his day but the Headmaster wouldn't have it. The slight shriek in Harry's voice didn't help his case either.

So, he left the school emotionally exhausted and got into his car to return home. On the way, back Harry was cursing his bad luck under his breath. He blamed Robert for all the mishaps of this day. Of course, it was all Robert's fault, if he hadn't kept Harry up until the early hours he wouldn't have slept in. He wouldn't have to face traffic on the way to the school, not to mention that he would have eaten breakfast with his family. He might have had to deal with the ruckus at school, but that would be only one incident and Harry would have been able to cope with that one.

He was so lost in his train of thought of blaming and cursing Robert that Harry failed to notice the red light ahead of him, and as if bad luck wanted it today, he crashed into the car that was halted in front of him. His knuckles turned white from grabbing the wheel too tight and a silver veil fell in front of him.

Harry found himself walking down the street, hands in his pocket, head low. It was already dusk. Images of two policemen asking him questions flashed in his mind, his car being towed, a woman flailing her hands and shrieking to him "Are you blind?! What's wrong with you!?". But the images were all blurry and distant. He slowly dragged his feel on the sidewalk, he wasn't even sure if this was the right way for him home.

Sighing heavily, he stopped and looked around effortlessly trying to identify his surroundings and gain his composure. At that time, the aroma of freshly blended coffee hit his nostrils. Scanning around he noticed a small coffee shop dimly lit at the end of the road. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, he made his way towards the coffee shop and walked inside. Afterall how much can this day go any further worse.

The small coffee shop was very cosy and beautiful, like it was taken out from a Victorian English novel. Several floral-patterned, grandma-looking armchairs with tiny, wooden coffee tables beside them filled the room. At the entrance to the left, the barista was busy making hot coffee for the customers behind the bar. At the far back of the shop there was a large wooden bookcase, sporting several books and board games. The place smelled of fresh coffee and hot chocolate and all the residents of the shop seemed to be peacefully engaged in their reading and sipping of their beverages.

Without much thought Harry ordered a Cappuccino Latte and moved to the back towards the bookcase. After a brief scan at the titles, his eyes fell on a rather withered, hardcover, crimson book. He absent-mindedly run his fingers through the golden letters on the back, "The boy who lived by Tom Marvolo Riddle".