A/n: Before we begin, here is the real story on why I had to pull Across The Time out. Wanting to return to StarCraft is a small part of the reason. I ran into huge trouble with this website that caused me having to temporarily remove that story. So anyway I'm still in the middle of sorting things out and once things are sorted out, that story will make a return. It may come out differently though but the plot will remain the same. For now, it has to lay low.

This story will be short.

Chapter 1 – Prologue

Lord Voldemort was dead. As in really-really dead. He couldn't get any deader than dead. Horcruxes? Those were just elaborate pranks preyed on dark wizards who were ironically deathly afraid of the dark. Well, graves and tombs were dark. Of course, some pranks were never funny. This one took a lot of lives with it.

Of course not many knew this. Not many were willing to truly study the Dark Arts. Even Voldemort could make mistakes.

And it all thanks to a certain one-year-old boy. Of course, like everything else, it came at a cost. In becoming the hero of the wizardkind, Harry Potter ended up an orphan. It became a well-known fact that James and Lily Potter gave up their life for him and it also became a well-known fact that Harry was the one to finish Voldemort off.

That was basically the official version of the story Ministry of Magic came up with. But the truth was, nobody really knew what really happened. Even Albus Dumbledore.

But one thing sure, Harry was the only one in the written history of the wizard kind so far to survive the Killing Curse.

But despite Harry's 'accomplishment', Dumbledore felt that the boy was still very much in danger, either from the Death Eaters who would very much like to avenge their master's death or from Voldemort himself. Despite what everyone else believed, the Headmaster of Hogwarts had a suspicion that the possibility of Voldemort rising up from his grave was there, that the Dark Lord wasn't really dead. This was why he objected to the Minister of Magic of that time's decisions to place Harry under the care of one of the more accomplished wizarding families. Harry would become an open target.

Under the nose of the Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore placed Harry under the care of one of his still-living relatives, knowing that the sacrifice made by his mother would invoke magical protection and that protection shall hold just as long as Harry continued to live with his relatives and could call the house he lived in as his home.

At least until it can be sure that Voldemort was truly dead. That was Dumbledore's original plan.

The next ten years were never easy for poor young Harry. He never got the love a young child deserved. He was constantly subjected to cruelties, ridicules, and hatred by the Dursley. None of them was willing to accept him as one of their own.

And throughout the years he kept on dreaming of a hero who would someday whisk him away from all the pain and suffering he endured.

He found that hero in Rubeus Hagrid.

His first year in Hogwarts was the happiest he had ever been. Of course, being the main protagonist of this story, he couldn't avoid becoming a hero himself. He foiled a certain teacher's plot to steal the Sorcerer Stone and singlehandedly - well not really – together with Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger helped to overturn the school's decision to hand over the House Cup to the House of Slytherin.

His second year was no less interesting. Rumors of the Chamber of Secrets being opened once again spread like wildfire. Students were found petrified. The rumor was unfounded though. One of the parents was angered by the school board's decision to dismiss his boy from school due to disciplinary issues. He decided to camp inside the school and began petrifying students one by one, hoping that it would introduce the rumors of the Chamber of Secrets and caused the school to be closed and all the teachers to lose their jobs. The perpetrator was arrested and Harry once again saved the day.

Oh and Ginny got a new diary courtesy of the kindness of one Lucius Malfoy. Probably wasn't his intention. That diary was just a stupid diary. Nothing more.

The events in Harry's second year somehow gave Dumbledore a pause. Right before Harry left Hogwarts to spend the summer with his 'beloved' family, the headmaster came to see him. They had a chat. Dumbledore nearly slapped himself in the face when Harry revealed to him that he never called the house he lived in throughout the years his home. The headmaster realized the folly in his plans. Harry was never in any protection. The only advantage he had was the location of the Dursley's house remained a closely guarded secret only Dumbledore knew.

Dumbledore made his decision right there and then. He told Harry that the boy would no longer have to go back to Surrey. He apologized profusely to Harry and told the boy everything, much to Harry's surprise. He promised Harry a new, more permanent place of accommodation would be arranged. Until the matter was resolved, Dumbledore gave Harry the chance to choose where he wanted to stay temporarily.

Naturally of course Harry chose the Burrow.

Ron and his family were delighted by this new development. During the summer, Mrs. Weasley went ahead and told Dumbledore that if Harry chooses to, he could make the Burrow his forever home. Dumbledore in turn relayed what Mrs. Weasley told him. It was something that Harry could not refuse.

Dumbledore offered the Weasley a small financial compensation for their willingness to shelter Harry but the Weasley vehemently rejected the offer. They told him that Harry would be treated the same way as they treated their every other child and that he would be loved just like they loved their own children.

Staying with the Weasley and knowing that he no longer had to return to those wretched Dursley had a profound effect on Harry's psychological being. He became more jovial, more optimistic, more outgoing, focus-driven, and became truly confident in himself. This was shown in his third year and it had a huge effect on his education and social life.

The girls of Hogwarts started to notice him even more. Not because he was the Boy-Who-Lived, but because of the new man in him. Unfortunately for the girls, Harry had no interest in romance. At least not yet. He never had a good childhood as far as he could remember. He wanted that before he moved into something more serious.

Of course his third years like the years before offered no less danger. A convict escaped Azkaban and was said to be in pursuit of Harry. He even got into Hogwarts. But that didn't dampen Harry. Not a bit. As a matter of fact, he put the situation to his advantage. Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup for the first time after so many years. The house of Godric also won the House Cup that year.

Many things happened in between. It was finally revealed that the convict wasn't actually looking for Harry. He was looking for Ron's rat. It was revealed that the convict saw Weasley's picture in the Daily Prophet. Mr. Weasley won a huge lucky draw and decided to bring his family and Harry on a vacation to Egypt. Scabbers was in the picture as well. That rat was actually an animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew got caught and was forced to confess via Veritaserum and Sirius Black, after so many years, was finally exonerated.

Harry played a part in that of course. Just like before.

The summer after that was interesting for Harry. He got to stay with Sirius in a flat his godfather rented in London. Sirius was given generous financial compensation by the Ministry for the wrongful conviction and the years they put him through the horrors of the Azkaban. They even offered him a place within the Department of Law Magical Enforcement, citing that his experience in the previous war would be invaluable.

Sirius declined, citing his mistrust of the Ministry was the reason behind his rejection. Anyway, he didn't really need a job. The huge Black Estate he inherited and the compensation he received was more than enough to allow him to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

So for the first half of the summer, Sirius and Harry lived like two rich bachelors, spending their time in London. Remus Lupin, an old friend of both Sirius and Harry's parents and current Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts would drop by every now and then for a visit. Sirius would have wanted Harry to stay with him until the end of summer but Harry told him that he wanted to spend the second half of the summer at the Burrow. He had not forgotten the kindness the Weasley showed him and he honestly missed them.

Sirius of course agreed and promised he would hand Harry over to the Weasley on the eve of the Quidditch World Cup.

Things were looking good for Harry. He had a family that loved him as if he was one of their own, a godfather whom he never knew existed before, and a school that he loved going to. His life was complete.

Or was it?

Perhaps the French, the American, the Japanese, the Brazilian, the Russian, the African, and someone from Hogwarts would have a thing or two to say about that.

This is the story.

To be continued...