Heart of Fire

Chapter One: The Survivor

A/N I don't own anything from the Harry Potter universe.

Harry Potter breathed in as he knocked and pulled the arrow back to full draw, setting his sights on a handsome young buck, Two hundred feet from him, it wasn't the biggest that he had seen in the area but it would keep him alive, breathing out he loosed the arrow, he didn't even reach for another arrow from the quiver on his back, as he watched the arrow sailing through the air before hitting the deer, killing the animal instantly, Harry slowly walked up to the animal before kneeling beside it to retrieve his Arrow.

One thing he had learned in his 7 years of isolation in this part of the world, was to never waste an arrow, because that same arrow could save your life one day, he then proceeded to gut the animal, leaving the entrails for scavengers, Harry picked up the deer he slung it across his shoulders and began the long trek back to his home.

His name was Harry Potter, and he has lived in these woods since his Uncle came up here and left him. Far away from civilization, the only nice thing he could say about them was they had left him with enough food and water for at least 3 days, along with the clothes on his back, and the hunting knife that his cousin had given right before his Uncle yelled at him to get in, looking back he supposed Dudley knew what going to happen, and Harry could never thank Dudley enough for the farewell gift.

He could still remember that fateful day 7 years ago.

A seven year old Harry sat in the back of his Aunt's and Uncle's car as they drove through the middle of nowhere, for the hundredth time or so it seemed he asked, "Where are we going?" to which his Aunt and Uncle didn't answer, not that he had expected them to after the first Ten time's he had asked. suddenly the car stopped and his Uncle got out, Harry scrambled to look out the window to see where they were, the door opened, and the next thing he knew he was being picked up and thrown across the small clearing they had stopped in, still dazed he watched as his Uncle threw a bag down on the ground and said "listen here freak I've had enough of you wasting space in my house I never want to see you again" he then hit Harry so hard it knocked him out, then he climbed back into his car and drove off.

Harry remembered waking up all alone in the middle of nowhere with a headache and just enough food and water for three days , the first three days were relatively easy, but once he ran out of food and water his life became a living hell, the next week was him barely surviving eating berries and the like, he had managed to find a source of fresh water two days after his rations ran out, after that he survived how he could, he began to learn the ways of the forest, now seven years later he was fourteen, he could have tried to find a way out of the forest and back to civilization years ago, but after a year the forest had become the home he never had, and as the years rolled by he became stronger, faster, and better equipped, everything on him he made himself, from his bow, to his leather boots, the only thing he still had from the world outside, was the hunting knife his cousin had given him before he left.

But he didn't just have his clothes or his equipment, he had well, he didn't know how to describe it, abilities maybe, it began about a year after he had been left here, he didn't know how he did it, but with enough concentration he could lift things without picking them up, he could summon and control fire, he could manipulate water and earth, he could also change the course of the winds, as well as being able to teleport to anywhere that was within line of sight, he could even transform into a Black, White, and Gray, Wolf. he could also talk to snakes, and that was only to name a few of the things he could do, he was continually learning new abilities and as he got stronger and faster so too did his power increase, after a couple months of practice, he found that it wasn't as hard to lift a rock or set fire to a pile of wood, and since he had these abilities as he called them, they had both saved his life and made living in this forest a little easier, but it still was a hard life and knew he could die any day, if he wasn't carful he learned that the hard way.

Just about two years after being dropped off by his Aunt and Uncle, he thought he knew all the forest had to show, how wrong he was.

It happened on a Thursday or was it Friday, he couldn't keep track of the days very well anymore it just didn't seem to matter, well back to the story, he had awoken one night to a howling on the winds, at first he thought it was a wolf but as he listened he thought it didn't sound like the wolfs he'd listened to before, he reached over and grabbed a spear he had made which was just his hunting knife tied to a long stick, he got up and warily looked around, the first glimpse he had was of a shadow moving slowly around him like predator getting ready to pounce, he readied his spear but what came into the light of the dying flames from the fire pit, was a werewolf, he was so shocked he dropped his spear causing the werewolf to see an opening and pounce, he barely retrieved the spear and got it up in time.

Warm liquid splattered his hands as he held the spear out, he opened his eyes not realizing he had closed them to see his spear and bin driven right into the werewolf's heart, he stared at it for while in shock before he fainted causing the werewolf to fall on him.

Waking up the next day he thought he had been dreaming until he felt the crushing wait of the werewolf's body, since that day he had seen more creatures that he thought were myth or legend, but he learned that day, not only could he never let his guard down, but that he was not alone in this forest, over the years he has seen many other creatures, he didn't think existed, like unicorns, giant spiders, centaurs, winged horses of some kind, but there were to many to list,

Pulling himself out of his musing he looked around to find himself in his little camp already, his smiled to himself, "wow" he thought, "I must have been really deep in thought" he then kicked himself, "I let down my guard I could have been ambushed, you complete idiot, hasn't living here for seven years taught you anything yet, NEVER LET YOU GUARD DOWN!" he yelled in his head before moving on to other choice words about his stupidity.

Harry let out a sigh, before placing the dear on the ground next to his little cottage he has managed to build over the years, he then went over to a small pond, before pulling his hood down and tugging down his mask so it was now hanging around his neck, he knelt down to wash his face, once the ripples cleared he looked at his reflection.

A fourteen year old boy looked back at him, with black untidy hair that came down to just above his shoulders, with bright green eyes. Ever since he transformed that first time into a wolf, his eyesight along with his hearing and sense of smell had increased, he no longer had to wear glasses, which was useful because with all the scrapes he had gotten into over the years the glasses wouldn't have held up anyway. he also had two scars, one in the shape of a lightning bolt on his forehead, the other went from just above his right eyebrow down over his eye to his cheekbone, the first he had been told he had gotten in his parents car crash, that killed them thirteen years ago, the second he had gotten from a fight with a werewolf, he got that scar and the werewolf lost its life, a fair trade in his opinion, he knew he had been lucky, any deeper and he would have lost his eye.

Sitting back on his heels with a sigh, he looked around his campsite, his little cottage with just enough room for him to sleep and take shelter when it rained or snowed, the wood shed that held and protected his fire wood and all his tools was right next to the cottage, the fire pit was in the center of the camp, even the pond he had just washed his face wasn't here naturally, it had started out as a freshwater stream that slowly wound its way through the trees, he had dug a 4 foot by 3 hole, and let the stream fill it up before moving on downstream, the pond provided a way to wash-up at the end of the day, and last but not least a little garden that was on the other side of the cottage, where he grew anything he could from berry bushes to carrots and potatoes, he had gotten the seeds for his plant's from the local herd of centaurs, not that they were friendly, but after a while, a while being 2 years, they got used to his presence in the forest, and begun to trade with him, not very much but he traded them animal skins that he hunted as well as anything else that might interest them. "wow" he thought, "I've come a long way since that first night taking shelter under that tree, sighing he got up and went over to the wood shed to get some wood, before getting a fire going for the night.

As he sat back and watched the flames dance, he had a thought, "I wonder how much the outside world has changed since I left?" shaking his head he got up to go get the deer ready to roast over the fire.

He finished preparing the deer, placing it on a spit over the fire he began cleaning up the mess from preparing the deer, turning the spit every so often so the meat didn't burn, when he finished cleaning he went to set the small pond again before stripping down starting with his quiver and knife, before working his way through his clothes, soon he was fully undressed, stepped into the pond, the water was chilly but not to an unbearable degree, he scrubbed quickly before hopping out and getting dressed.

When he returned to the fire he checked the meat, finding it was done he settled down for his dinner.

One thing that had changed about Harry was his appetite, when he first transformed into his wolf form, he notice a change in his food preferences, he started to like rarer meat, he also started to eat as if there were two of him, as well as his increased senses, needless to say it began to become a problem during winter when he started to store the produce from his garden, there wasn't enough to last the winter so he started to depend more on meat from hunting, his garden doubled in size after that particular winter, and it has steadily grown in size every winter.

Finishing his dinner, he tossed the bone in the fire pit before grabbing his bow, before heading inside the cottage to get some sleep, unstringing his bow he set it against the wall with his quiver, before climbing into bed, which consisted of blankets he had made out of the animal skins from the animals he had hunted, as he was just settling down to sleep he had a feeling, he shivered, Harry didn't like it when he got these feelings, he had only gotten this feeling 3 times before, and every single time it signaled that change was going to happen, and he knew that the chances of it being good weren't in his favor, to Harry good was an interesting concept, for every good thing that happened in his life 2 bad things followed, Harrys last thought before drifting off to sleep was "oh boy not again, well how bad could it really be?" He has fought werewolves, he has negotiated with centaurs, and he survived the poison from a poison dart, from a hunting hob goblin, although that last one was a close call. "Well it's too late to worry now I'll just have to wait and see what happens".

A/N this is my first fanfic so I hope you like it, it's probably not the best, but if you have any suggestions on how to make it better let me know.