Disclaimer: Rowling owns the sandbox, I'm just playing in it. This story also borrows from other worlds, but mostly in a a "Hey, I've got an idea! I saw it in a movie!" way.

Poorly Done Synopsis – Every world has one great Hero and one great Villain. Hundreds of other heroes and villains may be there, but only those two matter. The "powers that be" make sure that both the Hero and the Villain have equally opportunities and potential, and guide their destinies to finally face off for in a battle to decide the fate of their universe. A single "small" mistake leaves the Hero of one dimension powerless and multiplies the Villain's powers to godlike levels. After the Hero dies pathetically without ever learning his destiny his soul is guided to other worlds to train up until he can properly defend his home world.

Prologue: Living After Death

It was such a nice day. The clear blue sky was mottled with just enough wispy clouds to keep the sunlight gentle. A soft, cool breeze teased the last leaves of fall into a whirling dance. Meandering students, relaxing after final exams, enjoyed the aroma wafting from the snack cake factory just off campus. Kites were flown, ducks were fed, bikes and boards and a few unicycles were ridden. The beautiful day was enjoyed by all.

This is good, as it was the last such day they'd see for a long time.

The experts claimed it was a form of nuclear winter and spent days, weeks even, telling the world just how lucky the people of one college-based town where that somehow only one man had died when the blast occurred. Some people told a different story. They told of a man from the sky landing softly on the cross-campus promenade. They told of him approaching a nameless student. They told of him laughing scornfully before magnesium-bright lightning a dozen yards wide wiped the student from the face of the earth. After telling their tale, these few witnesses were locked in small white cells and denied visitors so they couldn't be a danger to themselves or others.

It was only one mistake, but when you're in charge of the fate of worlds, mistakes aren't allowed. In all the multiverse, out of all the infinite worlds, never had They made a mistake. They couldn't afford to. Not a one of Them could remember when They had been given Their task, or Who had given it to Them, but They knew the potential consequences of even the slightest errors.

Only one flaw in the structure of a single world, in only one of an infinite number of universes. Perhaps They could have contained It, if only She had told Them immediately. Sure They'd have to purge the whole system, burn an entire universe off the face of the cosmos, but the Taint would be contained. And one world is nothing to infinity. But She, a lower Entity with only a few dozen worlds in Her care, couldn't just watch Her domain be destroyed.

The only mistake They ever made in creating worlds to contain the Taint was shortly by the first time one of Them ever broke the Rules.

The weather was only the beginning of what made the day so beautiful to James. His shoulder blade length hair was smooth and stayed in his ponytail without frizzing into his eyes for once, he'd gotten the internet working on his computer again, he'd passed every class (even racquetball), and the sparring club he'd been trying to form had just been approved. He was also pretty sure sure that the cute girl in his Personal Finance had been hitting on him, but he'd been wrong about that sort of thing before... frequently. All in all, it was an amazingly beautiful day for James Marcus Wilcox.

But good things never last, do they? Just as James decided it really couldn't hurt to take a chance for once and actually ask the girl out, the wind shifted. For an instant the pleasant breeze became menacing, pressing down on him, demanding his attention. A soft thump behind him revealed the presence behind him just before it spoke.

"James?" the voice whispered scornfully. "You're the Hero?" Something about the voice was oh-so-familiar, but the person was speaking to softly to figure it out, and a nameless terror kept him from turning around. "You've got to be kidding me!" Then the voice burst in an unmistakable, harsh laugh, and then...

Peace, warmth, and a sense of security enfold James and held tight for time unknowable before a terrible cold pressure swept across him. Mercifully the cold was swept away by a new sensation – a powerful, all-enveloping sense of love. This lasted even longer than the warmth, but just as James' muddled mind cleared enough to begin to appreciate it, the next change came.

Screams sounded. Words! He had somehow forgotten words – they held no meaning to him, but he knew they should. He still recognized fear though, and those words carried much fear. Fear was scary, and he tried to form words to say so, but all that came was an inarticulate wail.

Then came the light. A blinding bright flashed twice, turning the screams green. Then the green faded into terror, strong and concentrated, as if the light had gathered all the fear into a swirl of pure chaotic horror.

Chaos! That was it! One of the Words! His thoughts were in Chaos, no wonder the Words were all lost.

The light came again, bought this time it brought something more than green – it brought Pain. Jagged streaks of Pain sliced into his brow, pushing James deep within himself, but not out. The Pain tried, and James would have fled before it, but something was holding him in... something familiar -

A cloak of darkness took the pain away.

The world reformed – or was it just his mind? The Chaos was slowly fading, and some of the Words began to make sense again. But the love was gone, and the Pain kept coming back. James thought it seemed weaker now, but he wasn't sure. Maybe he was just used to Pain now...

He began to notice things, things that he slowly recognized as being Not Right. Like the stairs – or at least he thought they were stairs, only remembering the bottom side of them – his house didn't have stairs. Then there were the people – two were flabbily huge, one was pointily tiny – all wrong! The people were supposed to be big, all three of them, but not like that! One tall, one roundish, one both. And the people were not supposed to bring Pain.

And what was the deal with the doorknobs, always so far over his head? The two taller people – the scrawny one and one of the blobs – could reach just fine and -

The Chaos fled as James finally realized, as he finally recognized his reflection: a two year old child.

It took time but James eventually got used to being a toddler – again? - and learned his place in this – new? strange? - world. Seeing brilliant green eyes and shiny black hair in the mirror stopped startling him, the scar on his forehead stopped looking out of place, and finally James even learned to go by a new name – Harry Potter.

Author's Notes: Well, that's the prologue, sorry if it took some wading through. James' mind is currently limited by the brain chemistry of a toddler, but he'll quickly mature enough to make use of logic and his old memories – many of which are from reading books (including comics and manga) and watching TV (and movies and anime). He's a bit of a pack-rat geek who views the impossible as a logic puzzle and tries to learn how to do everything – or at least fake it. Reviews welcome, especially constructive critcism.