Chapter Four – Destiny Is Never an Easy Choice Part 1

Standing on the balcony of the Headmaster's Office, his office at Hogwarts, Harry was reading the letter from his mother for the seventh time. It had been delivered by Stolas, his mother's favorite raven, as well as the fastest in her aviary, and it was the first time he had heard from Mab in over six months. This was unusual, as he had kept in touch with her on a weekly bases since leaving the Faery Realm; however, six months ago when he had not received his customary letter he had begun to worry. That is when he had first seen Stolas.

His mother's favorite method of delivering letters to him was by owl, as they were far quieter and more mystical looking. Not this time though. Stolas, being the King of Ravens in the Night Realm, was larger than the typical raven by a good four or five times. His plumage a devouring pitch black like his mother's hair and brought with him a feeling of foreboding. That last letter from Mab had said something was going to happen; not yet, but soon. And he was at the center of it. Heeding his mother's wishes he had stayed at Hogwarts for the time being, fulfilling his role as headmaster for the past 90 years, and loving it quite dearly, and to wait for her next letter – which may not be for the foreseeable future.

He had now seen many students come and go through these hallowed halls, most of which were going out into the world to explore and spread word of their swiftly growing hidden society. There was even word of an aspiring young man by the name of Ulick Gamp starting up a movement to create a "Ministry of Magic"; and in recent years, Harry had to refuse over a dozen letters from their group requesting his involvement. Harry was rather content in his current role as an educator and had no wish to go into government until his return to the Night Realm, which was not scheduled until after another century or so.

That was all about to change now though; the letter he had been reading over and over again for the past half hour now felt like lead in his steady hand. It was all there laid out before him, and it left his heart to ache in his throat as he mulled over the paths ahead. Popping into existence on his left Dobby stood with ears drooping and head bowed, "Great Master Harry Potter Sir, I have requested the others to comes here Sir," he spoke softly. "Can Dobby be getting yous anything Master?"

"No, thank you my friend." Harry replied just as softly.

After another few minutes lost deep in thought Harry heard the expected knock on his door, and bidding them enter, made his decision. "Come in my friends, please take a seat, there is much we must speak about."

Slowly seating themselves in the offered chairs were the four other founding members of Hogwarts; Helga and Rowena had aged gracefully over the years, and were each now sporting silvery-gray hair tied back in loose buns, their usual yellow and blue gowns hung around them, belaying their thin frames, another sign of advancing age. Salazar had gone bald in recent years, a joke between them of the stresses of teaching. Finally, Godric, the last to sit now using a staff to lean on. It was painfully obvious to Harry how much time had passed when he looked them over. While he at 202 years old still looked to be in his early 20's, the others were not so fortunate. The average lifespan of a magical depended on their magic power levels, as well as if they lived in highly magically saturated areas or not. After living in one such area that is Hogwarts all these years, it had helped to extend their lives to the near century and a half they are now.

Looking to the four, Harry decided not to delay things any further as he played with the gold signet ring on his right pinky finger. "My friends, thank you for coming so quickly," at this Helga let out an unladylike scoff due to how slow they each moved in their old ages, "I have some news to share, and it saddens me to have to do so now.

"You see, six months ago my mother, Queen Mab, had written to me of possible things to come and a choice that I would have to make." Continued Harry. "In this letter" he said raising it up for them to see, "she has finally shared with me the choices she spoke of. I must either choose to stay – to continue as we have, and a choice that will ultimately lead to the end of all we have worked for; or I must choose to leave you all behind, and continue my journey out into the great unknowns." Coming to stand before his solid mahogany desk he handed the letter to Rowena to read for the others.

"It says that you will fall in love and take an apprentice if you stay," she read allowed for them, "but that if you do, she will eventually betray you and all the things you have taught us. That if you stay, you will be brought back into magical society from a long absence, as a martyr to fight some dark lord, before being betrayed by your friends, and our world falling to a great pestilence brought on by the muggles." At this they all looked to Harry who looked at them with saddened eyes. Motioning for her to continue, "The other path she mentions, it is darker for a time, but will lead to a brighter future. Queen Mab states that in the second path, you will return to the Night Realm and reign for 950 years, but that you return to the Human Realm periodically to help guide events to keep the dark lords to come from permanently taking hold. Someone else will take your place as the Martyr, but you will prevent their death; that you will eventually leave Earth and go out to explore untold mysteries and spread your knowledge and teachings." Rowena's words were met with silence from the others as they tried to absorb the letters contents. "Do you know what you will choose, Headmaster?"

Heaving a sigh, Harry looked up to them again from the view of the Black Lake beyond his tower. "I do, my dear. I will leave, and take up my mother's throne; as much as it pains me to leave you all, and to see darker times ahead, knowing I will not be able to prevent all of the suffering that we know is to come. I know this to be the right choice.

"I will pack my things tonight and will depart tomorrow after the leaving feast. I have had some trouble deciding who to replace me however," stated Harry with a chuckle. "Would any of you like to volunteer for my position?"

Looking between themselves they each nodded, "None of us will take your place Harry. We will elect someone from among the faculty after you are gone, we shall cast a vote."

"Very well then. In that case, let us have a small drink, and toast to all of the amazing things that we have achieved together. For I fear that this will be the last time we do so in this life, my dear and wonderful friends." Small tears leaked from all the eyes of those present as Harry handed out small tumblers with two fingers worth of his favorite 50-year-old, single malt firewhiskey. "To you, a finer group of friends than I could ever ask for."

"To friends!" they each cheered.

#

Harry sat, once again contemplating the past 930 years with Hestia curled around his waist as she usually like to do. He seemed to be doing that more and more as he drew closer to the end of his reign. And while he could say with a level of certainty that he had done his best and enjoyed his time as a ruler – he was more than happy that it was almost over. He longed for the day that he could get back out and explore again, and his mother could see it in him also – a dreariness just behind his eyes. She too looked forward to the time that her son would be free.

Mordred, Frik's son, was almost ready to take Harry's place. He had been groomed from a young man for the throne and taut by all three of them, to value the lives of his subjects and to strive for their betterment. Already he was Helping Harry with matters of state, coming to learn the ins and outs of the realm, the seemingly endless amounts of documents that needed to be signed to keep everything running, as well as the tireless amounts of politicking that went on between the crown and the nobles.

Unlike Mab, Harry was a more laid-back ruler, preferring for his subjects to take on a more do-and-learn-by-experience approach to growth within the kingdom. The Night and Light Realms having strengthened their bonds under both rules, had already begun to merge, with talks of a marriage alliance to occur once Mordred took over. He was certainly looking forward to the proposed marriage between his young friend and the lovely Guinevere, the princess to the Light Realm.

Looking back, he examined his excursions into the Human Realm over the years, most of which were not as pleasant as he would have hoped, as he spent most of his trips preventing messes, and cleaning up even more caused by greedy, power hungry individuals.

#

His first trip back to the Human Realm was made after Stolas had brought him word of the impending rise of the first major dark wizard to set the world on its path to destruction. There had already been quite a slew of dark wizards to come about since his departure, but thankfully most of them had either died early in their rise, or they were simply after as much monetary wealth as possible, hence posing little to no major risk to world destruction. The two individuals he had been told of though could pose serious problems if left to their own devices however.

Dumbledore and Grindelwald, two promising young wizards once. Now nothing more than power hungry idiots who wanted to rule the world through some misguided sense of purpose and right to do so; Grindelwald using the fears of magicals against them and manipulating them into the belief that, as the next step in evolution, they should not be made to hide away from the world, and to cower beneath the muggles. Dumbledore on the other hand, being a well-studied idealist, wanted to obtain the power of the Deathly Hallows – three supposed objects of power from Death herself – to cast a mass Imperious Curse upon the leaders of the world. Bending them to his will he wanted to take the world back a total of 200 years, back to when his father was a boy, and magic was less restricted to what it was now. He wanted to learn, and be the most leaned on person in history, to eclipse even that of the one known as Merlin – his idol who he believed had left this world for another on account of the decline in magical standards, rather than what was written in the biographies at Hogwarts.

It was during one downcast afternoon that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were having another of their many ideological arguments that things finally went too far.

Dumbledore's sister Ariana, a sickly girl, had been trying to calm both wizards, when in a surprising move, Dumbledore had drawn his wand and let loose a curse at Grindelwald. Seeing this as a chance to be rid of the only tie left to his disgusting muggle stepmother, and Dumbledore's mother, Grindelwald cast a curse at Dumbledore, obstructing his vision, and sending a killing curse at Ariana. Upon hearing a high-pitched scream, he believed that he had succeeded and quickly fled the house. Dumbledore swiftly pursued him to take his revenge, leaving the house in ruins. Neither seeing more than the dust cloud before fleeing, they missed as a tall figure strode from the back of the house with a woman in their arms.

Poor Ariana was not dead; however, the curse thrown her way had missed and caused the roof beam above her to collapse on her, breaking her legs.

Taking Ariana with him, the figure departed back to the Night Realm. Frik lowered his hood after setting the beautiful woman down on the bed in front of him. Harry had taken him with him on his first trip as backup. Looking down on her, Frik knew this woman was meant for him; he could feel it in his heart as her skin seemed to shine up at him in the candlelight. She would be the mother of his child. Needless to say, Frik was very grateful to Harry in the coming years and spent the majority of his time nursing Ariana back to health and showing her around her new home. She was understandably upset at first. Grindelwald was supposed to be her family, yet he had tried to kill her.

It took her a while, but she warmed up to the gnome named Frik, who seemed to delight in taking care of her. She learned about his and Harry's part in her survival, and while she did not fully agree with them abducting her, she was happy with her new life. Especially when Mordred was born. She had always wanted a child of her own but was fearful of what would happen to any man that approached her. Dumbledore and Grindelwald were not known for being kind to anyone she brought home for some strange reason.

#

On his second trip to the Human Realm after that Harry discovered that it had been many years since the first time, and many things had now changed. Grindelwald was now dead, and Dumbledore was being toasted as the strongest wizard in recent memory, coming close to himself. This set Harry back a full day in his plans as he could not stop himself from breaking down in laughter whenever he thought about that little tidbit, as Dumbledore was not even to the level of the founders and as such was nowhere close to himself. Continuing his fact gathering, he was furious to learn that not only had Dumbledore manipulated those in charge after his defeat of his best friend into granting him the title of Grand Mugwump, but also installing him as the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Upon learning this Harry jumped straight to the school and into his old office.

Imagine his delight and sigh of relief then as he found that not only was his office still sealed from when he had first departed, but that as the new Headmaster, Dumbledore had been forced to set up shop in a newer and smaller office in a room a few floors below his. It also appeared that the school herself had not accepted him as her headmaster, as the wards still remained firmly within Harry's control. Sitting upon his old chair, he could see four new portraits surrounding his desk, containing the much younger and smiling faces of his old friends: Godric, Helga, Salazar, and Rowena. He spent the next few hours catching up on the goings-on of recent decades.

"- and then the little shit starts hammering on the door Harry, screaming at us to let him into 'his rightful office'. Honestly, Harry he is more childish than any first year that I can remember." Laughed Helga and Godric while Rowena and Salazar smirked on. "We are just glad that the castle has not accepted him, and that you still control her. I shudder to imagine what would happen to our home should he take up the full mantle."

"Agreed!" stated Godric. "We are especially disappointed on how he has already started trying to twist history to fit his narrative. Just last week the castle had to forcibly remove him from the library for trying to deface school property; he was attempting to alter the schools charter to allow for less and less admittance of muggleborns each year, and he was also trying to alter our biography pages – he wanted poor Salazar depicted as some sort of muggle-hating, evil fiend who abandoned us after we had a falling out." Godric glared. A small smirk returned to his lips as he added his final tidbit, "he even tried to remove your first name from the biographies. Apparently, he thinks that Merlin is too great a name, and should not be proceeded by one as common as Harry" he laughed.

"Some sad news I am afraid" said Helga, coming to the less pleasant part of their reunion. "Dumbledore, in his attempt to guide things in his favour, has contributed to the rise of another dark lord going by the ridiculous name Voldemort. His real name is Tom Riddle, and he hasn't the slightest amount of decency in him whatsoever.

"In fact, the blighter even tried to use poor Hestia, Salazar's pet basilisk, to create a Horcrux and store it in the school." Helga groused.

Salazar continued as Helga took a sip from the painted brandy in her hand. "Luckily, even though he is a parselmouth, he was not able to get past the protections we had placed upon the basement before our passing. Also, can you believe that Dumbles has started calling it the Chamber of Secrets!" he chortled. "The idiot! Anyhow, the child resorted to sneaking into the forest one night with another student, a poor girl named Myrtle Warren; he lured her to an acromantula's nest and pushed her into their waiting maws. Due to the wards not excluding such creatures, he was able to create his first Horcurx, but thankfully the wards were able to capture and eradicate it. We are unsure as to if he knows that this was done or not."

"I see. Thank you for all the information my friends." Said Harry as he stood from his comfortable chair. "it has been truly wonderful seeing you all again, even if it is through your memories. I will take Hestia with me, Salazar. I promise you she will be kept safe and happy with me." He spoke solemnly.

"Thank you, Harry," replied Salazar. "What do you plan to do now?"

"Well, first I will take a walk down to the basement and fetch our little friend, and then I will head over to the ward stone and make a few updates – we cannot be allowing such dangerous creatures onto school grounds now can we! Next thing you know that idiot will be allowing the presence of trolls, dragons, Cerberus', and sphinxes. Can't have that now can we."

With his time now spent with his friends, he first collected Hestia, who despite being over a dozen meters long and about as tall as a house, tried to wrap herself fully around Harry as she remembered her masters close friend. With the ability to shift her size, she quickly shrunk down to slide up his sleeve and wrap securely around his waist like a belt. Once done, he walked into the open statue's mouth of Salazar to see the ward stone; making the needed changes, he was once again leaving the school.

However, before going back to the Night Realm for a few more years, he had one more stop to make.

Landing outside of a nice 18th century manor, Harry rushed to crouch by one of the windows to the sitting room as he heard screaming. Peaking over the window ledge, he could make out the sight of a group of wizards in black full robes wearing skull masks, and in the center of their group stood who he assumed to be this Voldemort fellow.

On the floor in front was a man and woman who he guessed to be the parents of one Neville Longbottom, making them Frank and his wife Alice. They were busy writhing on the ground at the feet of three sickly grinning individuals. Taking careful aim, Harry fired off a blinding hex into the room, followed shortly by a smoke charm.

The sudden disturbance caused the three wizards to stop holding the cruciatus curse on the Longbottoms, letting Harry flame into the room and quickly extracting them to a bedroom on the upper floor before returning to the sitting room. Staying low, he carefully crept around incapacitating all but Tom Riddle, as he knew that he could not be the one to take him down now. In order for the intended outcome of fate to occur he needed to let some events play themselves out. No matter how sad they were.

As Harry was killing his Death Eaters, Voldemort climbed the stairs to the second floor where he could hear the Longbottoms suffering the aftershocks of the cruciatus. Barging into the room, he quickly killed Frank Longbottom before turning to Alice; before he could make another move however, Harry quickly caught him in the leg with a tripping jinx.

With Voldemort on the ground in front the baby Neville, who had been hiding with his grandmother Augusta, he made a grab for the wand now in the infant's hand. Due to the angle of his grab and the wand having been cracked when he fell, the wand was snapped, sending the killing curse Riddle was firing back through the handle, blowing his body to bits. The force of the explosion was enough that the wood from the wand littered poor Neville's arm and causing him to cry out in agony.

Careful not to be seen, Harry took one of the robes of the Death Eaters that he had killed, turning it into a portkey and sending the surviving Longbottoms to the local magical hospital – St. Mungo's.


Author's Note:

Hey guys, thank you again for reading my story! Please enjoy, and remember, any constructive criticism is welcome.

Until the next chapter.