Important AN - Hey guys, how's everyone's summer going so far? With all the heat waves :) I decided to make this AN because of the story's first milestone - 10000 words. Now I know it's not much, but with the success and positive feedback of the story, I wanted to just thank you guys.
I thank every single person who took the time to read and enjoy my story, the 29 Favourites and 54 Alerts are more than heartwarming :)
A special thank you for everyone who reviewed, with a total of 29 reviews so far, your kind and encouraging words always helped me stay motivated. I really want to thank the people who actually reviewed multiple chapters and showed their support for a long time, especially to Janelly Slytherin, who have been here pretty much from the start and reviewed almost every single chapter, thank you :)
Well a lot of plot twists are coming up, the story should be picking up the pace soon, so get ready :D
Chapter 6
Harry stared at the stranger for a moment, not completely sure how to react to her sudden change of heart.
Before he could stop himself, he blurted out questionably: "Aren't you going to kill me?" Wincing only when the words left his mouth, berating himself for basically asking for it.
She shook her head negatively. "It wasn't my intention in the first place Harry. To be completely frank with you, I'm surprised it took me so long to recognize you, but my memory has been failing me lately." Her words sounded almost wistful, yet her eyes kept their piercing quality, set on the black-haired teen.
"Well I am the boy-who-lived. So, I'm not really surprised you know my name, unless it's something else?" Harry asked hesitantly, his throat still raw from the rough treatment it received moments ago.
The witch snorted and looked at him strangely. "The boy-who-lived? Is that the best they could come up with? Reminds me why I decided leave the magical world, it's full of uncreative and old-fashioned farts." She laughed for a moment, a sound that surprised Harry once again, the light and careless attitude of people in this town felt so different to him. He couldn't even remember when was the last time he was able to produce or even hear a genuine laugh.
Her voice turned softer. "No, Harry. I should've recognized you, you look too much like your father that it actually gives me chills, yet you have your-"
"My mother's eyes, yes I know." He finished the sentence he heard too many times to count anymore. The only people who actually bothered to notice it were close friends of his parents; Sirius (his heart clenched in pain before he was able to prevent it), Remus and many of the Hogwarts professors. That meant that this woman was most likely very close to his parents, yet she almost killed him. Something just didn't feel right.
"I know that my actions do not make sense Harry, but I'm afraid you'll have to accept them as it is, you are not exactly in a position to argue with that."
The teen felt angry since her words sounded too much like Dumbledore's when he hid things from Harry, but he realized that he had no choice.
"Okay. Can I at least know how you knew my parents?" Harry asked, letting only a small amount of irritated sarcasm sneak into his voice.
She ignored it, preferring to look behind him, her eyes glazing from whatever memories she was reliving.
"Well, believe it or not Harry, I was quite a good friend of Lily back in Hogwarts. Her Ravenclaw study buddy." She smiled fondly and the teen was too caught off guard by that revelation to comment in any way.
"These were some good happy years, blocked from the war by the unbreakable Hogwarts walls. Without a care or worry, just teens in a one big happy family." She smiled sadly. "I miss that."
"You are looking at the official matchmaker of Hogwarts, young Harry, and the main reason why your parents got together." She winked at him playfully. But when he tried to demand what she meant by that, she simply shushed him.
"There is no time Harry, we both have to leave very soon and I still have a lot to talk about with you." The woman said sternly, successfully shutting him up.
"You see, by deciding to part from your friends Harry, you provoked quite a reaction in the depths of magic. Fate has quite a big influence on that, and that argument you had with your friends bended the normally linear flow of time." The witch explained slowly, knowing that it would be hard to grasp something like that.
"Wait. So you're saying that some events were already planned and that I somehow changed them? I thought the future wasn't set in stone." Harry asked, finding himself intrigued by the subject.
She nodded in agreement. "Yes, that is true, the future is vague and not set in stone until it happens. But, there are always some events that can be foreseen even before they happen, which is what prophecies and divination are based on. Some living beings can glance into that plane of mystic energy to be able to foretell important events that shine in that 'plane'. But, these events always shift and change, which makes divination unreliable at best."
Harry frowned as he tried to understand what she was trying to say, finally speaking after a few thoughtful moments.
"So what you're saying is that there's this 'plane' where, by combining some important factors like people and their emotions, the most likely events are predicted?" The wizard asked, not completely sure yet if he got it.
However the grey-eyed witch smiled at him.
"Yes Harry, that's basically what it does. Most changes are unnoticed by anyone but the seers, while others can send alarm bells through many magical beings' consciousnesses. It depends on how drastically the outcome changes. This one has been most likely the most major one I ever felt, not even Voldemort's death or rebirth had such a major impact on the plane."
He looked sharply at her. "Wouldn't an end or a start of a war have a big enough impact on this 'plane'?"
She shook her head negatively. "These events were already predicted beforehand, don't forget the prophecy Harry."
The teen jerked in surprise and looked at her. "You know about the prophecy?" He asked suspiciously.
She chuckled slightly. "Don't forget I was a close friend of your mom, Harry. After all, it was me who pressured Dumbledore into telling your parents about the prophecy when he considered to withhold that information from them, manipulative old fart." She huffed in annoyance.
"Heard he died."
"You knew about the prophecy before my parents? What-"
She raised her hand to halt him.
"No time Harry. All I wanted to tell you is that the plan you have in mind is the best one I've heard in a long time, and believe me, if I could I would support you all the way through. But, I can't. With this major change, you're presented with a chance to follow out with your plan and change the face of the magical world forever, either you realize it or not."
Her sudden seriousness caught him off guard, and he felt slightly intimidated as she grew more and more passionate.
"You can't do it alone Harry, you need people that you can rely on and trust completely. You will have to face many hardships that you can't even imagine yet, believe me, I know, but you can never give up."
She stopped suddenly, cocking her head to his left and staring intently at the wall for a moment, her teeth clenching in frustration. The witch turned to him again, this time speaking more urgently.
"You are the only hope of the magical world, without you, it'll burn in its own devised fires. You can't stay any longer. Listen to me closely, there are seven presences closing to your parents' house; two of them seem to be favouring the light side, while five of the other ones are marked with Voldemort's foul mark. I am guessing they have tracked the unusual activity that was caused by your arrival. You need to get there fast and help your two friends, this is the start of your new journey, and you will know what to do once you face it."
Before he could even say anything, she hurled at him to go and physically dragged him out of her shop. She slammed the door in his face.
Harry stood confused in the middle of the still crowded street. It was emptying from the sudden light rain that arrived and covered the sunny sky.
For a few precious moments, the young wizard stood speechless on the pavement, his emerald green eyes staring bemusedly at the shut door. Then, when her words finally sunk in, he jerked violently and broke into a run towards the Potters' house.
Two of my friends are coming to the house? Could it be them? No she said that it was a new journey, I really doubt it would be them. Wait, I don't even know her name, or anything really. Harry thought while still sprinting towards the house, realizing how little information he gained.
All she did was to speak in riddles and confuse me even farther. I guess I'm just going to have to find out.
He barged through the front door without even thinking of the consequences of that action. His wand settling on the two shadowed figures he saw in the room.
"Stop!" He shouted as they turned to him, his next word coming out in an instinct and making even himself feel silly. "Who are you and what do you want?"
"Harry?"
"Remus? Kingsley?" The teen started questionably at the two men, his wand slowly lowering down. Not completely sure if he was glad to see them.
"Harry, are you al-"
"Get down!" Kingsley cut off Remus' question as several spells were sent in their way from behind them. They ducked and raised a few shields to avoid the sudden assault, backing off as the ferocity and suddenness of the attack slammed down on them.
The chaos blinded Harry in many ways; he could only see blurs as everything moved rapidly around him. The shrill shrieks of a death eater woman and grunts of the men blended together into an explosion of sounds. The pain and exhaustion quickly caught up with him from the spells and flying particles in the air. The smell of sweat and burnt wood agonizingly suffocated him. The taste of blood in his mouth slowly and steadily overwhelmed his senses. And above anything else, he could feel his magic reacting viciously with the sudden static-like charge, moving around in Harry's body like a giddy school girl.
Harry's last thought before darkness swallowed him was that in a twisted way, this was exactly how he would expect a drug high to feel.
Reviews, as always, are welcome and will be replied to. Let's try to get it to 50, please? Thank you :)
