A/N: Welcome to my brand new story...that has no name. I've been reading a lot of 'Harry travels back in time' stories and I felt that, rather than do a pairing of some sort, this should just be about Harry and his path to discover himself. When I figure out a title, I'll rename it, but until then, it's New Story...sorry for the lack of creativity. Please review; I'm not sure if I'm going to continue, but another chapter or two will go up before I decide, so your reviews are crucial at this point. I also haven't finished Colors of the Wind yet, so I'll probably alternate the two...if you're a loyal reader of that story, I'm sorry, but I promise, it will be updated much more regularly than previous. Anyways, enjoy the Prologue!

Prologue: According to Plan

He couldn't remember the last time he had really smiled, and, as he watched the landscape roll by, he wished desperately someone could help him. Six years ago, he had discovered he was not only a wizard, but one destined to destroy the Dark Lord Voldemort; quite a lot to take in when you're an eleven-year-old that's been tormented your entire life by the only family you have left.

To him, it had seemed like a fairytale, as real as a dream and untouchable by someone as normal as him.

When he arrived at Hogwarts that first year, made his first friends and some new enemies, he had finally started to believe there was no joke to the whole magic thing; it was real and he wasn't dreaming. Everything seemed brighter and bolder than before; the sun shone twenty times brighter and grass had never looked so green. He didn't see the world for what it was; it was like a dream brought to life.

By the end of the year, he realized reality, even dreamlike reality such as Hogwarts, has problems; every rose has a thorn. The first meeting with Voldemort face-to-face made him realize he had more dangerous enemies than Draco Malfoy and the Slytherin Squad.

But it was still better than the Dursleys'.

Second year progressed much the same until the misunderstanding of who exactly Slytherin's heir was mucked the rest of it up. His friends stood by him, though, and he got through the year. Slowly, he was beginning to realize he was either going to have to deal with constant abuse from the Dursleys or moments of danger that cropped up more often than those of fun and safety.

Danger always seems more exciting than fun activities, though, right? They also tend to be more costly.

After all, hadn't his losses of Sirius and Dumbledore proved as much?

His summer had been comprised mainly of getting everything ready for the stroke of midnight on his birthday when he could apparate to the Burrow. The rest was spent dueling with different Aurors that happened to stop by, keeping his skills up to par.

Not one good thing happened over break he thought miserably to himself. Sure, he had received proof of Snape's innocence, but he could tell no one, lest it get back to Voldemort. Not even Ron and Hermione could know.

On his birthday, in addition to multiple gifts, Harry had received a letter and a corked phial with a strand, a memory, inside. The letter went on to explain that Dumbledore was already dying from touching Gaunt's ring, a mistake he had made in a moment of weakness at finally finding a Horcrux. The phial, he learned, contained two memories. One was of the headmaster instructing Snape to kill him if Draco could not, including a horrified Snape when presented with his instructions.

Harry could not bring himself to believe that anyone, even a spy such as Severus Snape, could fake revulsion that genuine.

The other memory strand contained every piece of knowledge needed to successfully learn Occlumency. It seemed that since he could no longer teach the boy, he was giving him the end result and praying it worked; luckily enough, it did. Harry had not had a single vision since he began properly occluding his mind.

But proving Snape innocent didn't bring Dumbledore back. He had lost his friend, his mentor, his father figure, and it hurt him more than he cared to think about. Nothing could make him smile anymore.

Ron and Hermione had long since learned that trying to make him smile did nothing and did what they could, staying by his side, helping him with homework, inviting him for a bit of flying or a round of Wizards' chess, but he went through the motions now; coming back to Hogwarts hadn't even been his choice. When McGonagal heard he planned to give up his education to go on some half-baked adventure that Dumbledore had assigned, she demanded that he return.

He planned to leave at Christmas after gathering the proper information on where to find the other Horcruxes, but our things never go according to plan, do they?

A/N: I'd love to know what you think! My little drabbles at the end like my other story probably won't start until a tad later, and I don't know my chapter names yet, so it'll be a little different.

X's and O's,

VampireAlchemist