Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the Potter-verse. Everything you recognise belongs to the magnificent Ms Rowling. I do, however own any characters you don't recognise.

A/N: Okay, it took a bit longer than I had planned to get this chapter out (but it is well over the 2,000 word goal I set myself!). This was a chapter I hadn't had completely written yet, I had thought it would only take a little bit to finish it off, but then I decided to introduce Connie early. (And then was down when I finally got it finished!)

Thanks to:

hErMiOneRULEZ – sorry, there's more bad things than just Ron and Ginny, but they will be in the story! Regarding Harry's relationships, there probably won't be much, as I don't know how well I can write it. But, at least at first, Allie will be with someone else, I haven't decided if Harry will find anyone yet, so I'm open to suggestion!

Rosaline Kellsthanks :)

Hermes09All I'll say is that the title is a hint! (And it's probably overdone in this sort of story, but I haven't seen that much of it) Any guesses?

And onwards to chapter two!


Fulfilling Prophecies

Chapter Two

October 20th 2000

Sighing from the exhaustion that comes from a long week of studying, Harry walked into the flat at just after five, followed closely by Allie who was in a similar state. It was just the two of them living here now; they seemed to go through flatmates rather quickly and were currently advertising for what must be their fifth one since Harry moved in a year ago. Harry amusedly compared it to the Defence teaching position at Hogwarts, where the 'curse' hadn't been broken until the former auror Kingsley Shacklebolt managed to make it past the one year mark. He's probably still teaching there now, thought Harry as he remembered back to how much the man enjoyed it when Harry had been his aide for part of his first year out of school.

"We really need to find a decent flatmate. Nobody seems to want to live with us for very long!" Harry said to Allie as he started boiling the kettle for a cup of tea. "I think you might be scaring them away." He added the last in a mock-thoughtful tone, deftly catching the cushion the blonde threw at him. He raised an eyebrow in a mild Snape-like manner, "was that supposed to prove me wrong?"

Allie rolled her eyes, "just finish making the tea Evans, I'm buggered." That said, she collapsed on the sofa, feet resting on one arm, head on the other.

"Yes, ma'am, right away ma'am, anything else for you ma'am?" Harry had to do his best to imitate Dobby without laughing, he pulled it off too.

In all apparent seriousness, Allie responded, "I do believe a rich, dark, chocolate cake would go rather nicely with that tea." The cushion Harry was still holding in his hands ended up square in her face.

"Keep dreaming, blondie." Harry said as he carried the tray of tea and biscuits around from the open-plan kitchen to the coffee table in front of the sofa. "Oy, budge over." She didn't move from her stretched out position. Shrugging, Harry sat down – on her stomach.

"Evans! Get off me!" She really does have a loud voice when she wants, thought Harry to himself as his 'seat' continued to scream at him. "You big overgrown male!"

"Nice insult there, Al's. Tea?" Harry asked, his face the picture of innocence.


That night Harry was sleeping fitfully in his double bed. Sleeping wasn't a pleasant thing for him at the best of times; he had far too many difficult memories to have peaceful dreams. Most nights he relived one of the bad memories that continued to plague him. His parents, Cedric, Sirius; he saw them dying in front of him, because of him. The time he spent in Voldemort's company for over a month, being tortured almost constantly before finally escaping. Hermione, he saw himself once again making the decision that took her life. All the people he had seen die; the memories of the people he had killed; he was plagued with nightmares that played on his fears and most desperate moments. But tonight his dream was one of the ones he disliked the most. 'Disliked' probably wasn't the best word for it; something stronger would be a better description, like 'hated with a passion'. It was a memory of the moments before the final battle. There was nothing to the dream but the actual events; the memory in itself wasn't too bad it was the fact that he knew what followed it that made it hard to bear.

Harry was looking across the Great Hall from his seat at the head table. He wasn't sure why, but something was different tonight – he sensed that something was going to happen, but didn't want to give in to anymore of his 'insights'. They usually only led him into trouble, even if they were partially or completely right.

Looking across the four house tables, Harry longed for his first years, when he was still relatively innocent and carefree. Hell, he wished he could face off against a possessed Quirrell again! Tearing his gaze away from the students, he focused on the meal in front of him. It was still untouched; he had been pushing the food around his plate for the last quarter of an hour and was continuing to do so.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?" sounded a smooth, only slightly sneering, voice from Harry's left, pulling him out of his musings.

"I must have missed that one." Harry replied, matching the potion masters tone. The two had grown more comfortable around each other over the last year, ever since Snape's position as a spy had been found out. While some comments Snape made still brought out Harry's anger, he was learning to distinguish between those said in his style of light-hearted jest, not meant to offend, and those that the man still used to cuttingly get his point across. Harry guessed that his previously snarky potions professor had finally seen that he wasn't the same as his father, and didn't deliberately antagonise him – either that or the headmaster had manipulated him into being nice. Both options were equally likely; although Harry had a feeling the first might have had something to do with the second. Since Harry had completed his NEWT's, he had stayed at Hogwarts so he could be around if he was ever needed. While he wasn't working on Dumbledore's orders for the Order of the Phoenix, Harry had taken up positions as a teacher's aide in both Defence and Potions – having shown a surprising aptitude for the subject once he learnt to ignore Snape in class.

Looking around the Great Hall, Harry looked at his girlfriend of just over two years. Ginny Weasley's red hair made her easy to find and usually filled him with a sense of comfort. But tonight it only strengthened his feeling of wrongness.

Snape, noticing the raven-haired boy's sudden shift in attention, spoke in a concerned tone which was seldom heard. "Is something the matter Harry? You look worried."

"I'm not sure. Something feels wrong, but I don't know what. I keep thinking something bad is going to happen. And soon." Harry looked at his former professor seriously. "I tend to get these feelings just before something happens, they're not always right but when they are they –"

Harry was cut off mid-sentence as the castle alarms went off. The loud wailing sound sent the students into a panicked frenzy. All the teachers sent glances at Dumbledore and Harry, the two who were to lead the school in this situation. Harry felt the pressure threaten to overwhelm him as he thought about the lives he needed to protect. Glancing out across the panicked students, Harry locked his emerald eyes with a pair of brown ones. Drinking in the love and support they gave him. He mouthed 'I love you' as the noise reached a fever pitch, and saw her do the same in return.

Pushing through the crowding students, the teachers tried to regain some control over the situation. Control that was lost, when, all of a sudden, a loud voice echoed through the school.

"Hello Harry. Are you ready for me? Are you ready for death?" Voldemort's taunts continued to echo through Harry's mind as he struggled to escape the dream.

Harry woke up slowly, forcing himself out of the dream and back to the present. Noticing that it was still dark through his curtains, he glanced over at his digital clock on the bedside table. 4:37. Great, just what I need. Another night of bugger all sleep. Groaning, Harry shuffled out of bed, placing bare feet in a pair of slippers, and walked down the hall to the kitchen.

Making his way around obstacles in the half dark of the night, the raven-haired young man fumbled for the light switch, losing some of his usual grace and confidence he held when he was wide awake in the daylight.

Settling himself down at the table, Harry played absently with his half-full glass of chocolate milk. It was something he had become addicted to in his summer after fifth year. He had had many sleepless nights, and when he was at Grimmauld Place, Molly Weasley or Remus Lupin had always made him a drink – although it was Remus who had first given him the chocolate milk, Molly had soon learn that it was the best thing to calm him down. His dreams hadn't changed much since then, he still saw his parents being killed as they protected him from Voldemort, Cedric was still murdered after they shared the cup, and Sirius still fell through the veil after being hit with a curse by Bellatrix. The only differences were the additions to the dreams; he had gained a lot more things to dream about since then.

Downing the last of his drink in one quick gulp, Harry stood with a sigh and headed back to his room to attempt to sleep again.


The next morning Harry had felt like absolute crap. He hadn't been able to sleep after going back to bed, so had stayed awake until six am writing in his journal – another habit he had acquired in his sixth year. Once he had decided the morning had properly come, he had gotten out of bed and gone out for a long run. While the run had managed to wake him up some, he was still tired, and knew he would need a quiet day and a good night's sleep to catch up, preferably dreamless.

Unfortunately that day wasn't going to be restful with what Allie had planned.

"Do you remember what day it is? It's October the twenty-first. Remember what you promised you would do today? You promised you'd spend the day with me and my friend! She hasn't been to London for an age, and needs someone to keep her company. You can't back out now, please Harry?" Allie really is persistent, Harry thought as he tried to think of a way to get out of spending the day with his overly-energetic friend and what would undoubtedly be another energetic person.

"You don't need me do you?"

"Haarreee!"

Rolling his eyes at her childish attitude, Harry said, "all right, but you do know that you are almost 21 and shouldn't be acting like a little kid, right?" She stuck her tongue out in response, and he had to chuckle. "So who is this friend anyway? Have I met her before?"

"I don't think you have met her. She's one of my oldest friends; I went to school with her. She's been away overseas for the last couple of years and only got back yesterday."

"Oh, right. I think I remember you mentioning her, what was her name? Connie something?" Harry asked, racking his brain to try and remember the name.

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd remember. Connie Granger." Harry froze imperceptibly. Granger… it couldn't be, could it? He never really knew that much about Hermione's family, she could have been a cousin or some other relative. He prayed that she wasn't – that Granger was just a common surname. He didn't think he could handle it, even after so long. Despite the low likelihood of it being a relation of Hermione, something was telling him that there was some sort of connection. It felt like one of his insights that always preceded so much trouble.


Allie drove them to a small apartment complex on the other side of the city where Connie Granger was living. Allie always drove as she was the only one of the two who had a car, Harry owned a motorbike, but that was only practical if he was going somewhere by himself, or with one other person. Leaving Harry sitting in the car, Allie got out and ran to the doorbell to let her friend know they were there. She came back a moment later and started the car up again.

"What are we doing?" Harry asked. "Where's Connie?"

"She's busy at the moment, so we are going to meet her at the park just down the road. She said she would be about half an hour." Allie spoke as she pulled back out into the London traffic, heading to where the park was.

The park wasn't very large, but there was a dairy across the road and, since it was a hot day, Harry treated his friend to an ice cream while they waited.

It was about thirty-five minutes later, and Allie had gone off to find a bathroom, leaving Harry sitting alone at the bench where they were meeting. Absorbed in watching a group of children playing on the swings, he didn't notice anybody approach until they were only a couple of metres away.

He looked up at the sound of light footsteps and couldn't help a sharp intake of breath. "Hermione," Harry whispered the name softly as he saw Allie's friend. Connie Granger was most definitely a relation of his Hogwarts friend. She had the same hair and the manner with which she carried herself – sure of what she was doing, but not necessarily confident – was the same as the girl he had known for over seven years. Harry must have said the name louder than he had thought, because Connie looked at him, startled, fixing her blue eyes on his face.

"What did you say?" She asked in a low voice, disbelief evident in her tone. It was at that moment that Allie chose to come back; she took in the scene between her two friends with an expression of confusion.

Not wanting to go any further with the topic in the company they were in, Harry muttered "nothing" before trying to turn away and excuse himself. Unfortunately for him, Connie put a hand on his arm stopping him from going any further, though he did not turn to face her.

"You're Allie's friend – Harry? Why did you say my cousin's name?" Cousin, thought Harry, so that's the relation. Not much hope in avoiding it now.

"You look so much like her, and you act like her as well. I-I'm sorry."

"You knew her well? Then you must have gone to her school. Harry, you're Harry Potter, aren't you?" Same calculating intelligence, Harry thought in wry appreciation.

Finally turning back around to face Connie, Harry gave her a sad smile. "How much did she tell you? About school, about me and my history?"

"Enough." Her single word told him what he needed to know. She knew about the wizarding world.

"We'll talk about this later then." He sent a significant glance towards Allie, who was still looking at the pair in confusion, and saw Connie nod briefly in return.

"Harry? Connie? What's going on?"

Harry looked at his short friend and had the grace to look slightly sheepish, "err, it turns out I knew her cousin very well." He didn't elaborate further, he couldn't right now.

Allie simply raised her eyebrow and locked eye contact. I wish she would stop doing that, Harry thought with a mental groan, it just brings back memories of certain greasy-haired professors. "Why did she call you Harry Potter, rather than Harry Evans?"

Great, just what I needed today. I'm tired; can't I leave the complications for another day? Harry silently pleaded. "Harry Potter was my name. I am now Harry Evans." Seeing her open her mouth to speak again he got there first, "and no I do not want to talk about it right now."

The three stood in a brief awkward silence, Harry and Allie each trying to stare the other down. Harry won, of course, and Allie turned to properly greet her friend and fill her in on what they had planned for the day.