Summary: AU Harry Potter was not just any ordinary sixteen year old orphan. For one thing, he lived in the Garden of Eden. Everything seemed perfect, until the truth came. What will he do when he discovers who he really is? What will he do when he is told he must bring down an entire Dark empire and their Dark Lord? As his world crumbles down, Harry must learn that not all is what it seems and that sometimes one must endure darkness to finally see the light.

Author's Notes: I don't mind constructive criticism but no flames. Questions and advice are always welcome.

Warnings: This might contain slash, (malexmale), violence, and a lot of bad language. You've been warned.

Disclaimer: Not mine, please don't sue. : )

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"It's not only the most difficult thing to know one's self, but the most inconvenient."

- Josh Billings

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Once Upon a Chosen One

Chapter Two

The Bird's Song

Something was wrong. Harry was rather oblivious to things most of the time, but not this time, not when it concerned Magus. At first, he hadn't paid much attention to it, but as time passed, he could ignore it no longer.

Magus was a rather odd-looking person. For one thing, he was slim and tall and had a short silver beard, but one could never describe him as old. It just couldn't be done when you looked into his sea-blue colored eyes that shined with youth and vigor. He was also constantly filled with humor and wit and always seemed to mix his serious desire for Harry to learn as much as possible about dueling with his depthless love for him. He also always seemed to have a thing with goat jokes.

But recently his eyes looked... tired. And when Harry glanced at him, he no longer saw the spirited Magus, but instead he saw a worn and aged man.

And he had no idea what to do.

Harry could not ask Magus what was wrong because he knew Magus would not tell him until he was ready to and to be perfectly honest, Harry was not sure he wanted to know for whatever it was, it was sure to be something of a both serious and dangerous matter. But he could not just leave things as they were. He and Magus had lived alone in the Garden of Eden for about twelve years. Magus had practically raised him. It killed him inside to see Magus as he was.

Well, that was no surprise seeing as Magus had decided to increase training to three times a day.

"No, that is not it. Try it again."

Harry kneeled on the floor, gasping for breath. "I – I cannot do this!"

"Yes you can!" growled Magus, clearly frustrated.

Slowly Harry pulled himself off the floor and stood up, a trembling hand clutching his sweaty forehead. For some reason, this was the only thing Harry had true difficulty learning. Everything else hadn't taken too long for him to learn and excel in. His thoughts were broken when he felt soft nudge on his leg. Startled, he turned to see nothing but thin air. If it weren't for his knowledge of Obscurity's presence, he would have thought it was the wind that had prodded him.

Obscurity was a Thestral and Harry had never been able to see her, although he knew she was there. Harry patted her softly on what he thought was her mane and suddenly froze, his eyes narrowing upon his hand. He always wore a black cloak and long, black gloves. He always had, for Harry could never be allowed the luxury of touch.

"Harry," a soft voice said.

Harry turned to meet Magus's sad gaze. Magus had seen him looking down on his hand with longing.

"Harry, someday you will be able to have physical contact with the creations of the world, but for now you cannot. You know what would happen."

Yes, Harry knew the consequences very well. From an early age, Harry had always been able to See things merely by touching something. As he came to the age of five, his powers seemed to have doubled and he could no longer bear to touch anything. Memories, good and bad, swirled in his brain after having physical contact with any object. It was just too much for his soul to be able to withhold. At the very least, he could get lost in the other object's memories for all eternity.

So Harry had been forced to wear special black gloves that Magus had given him. These gloves did not trigger his power, although he did not know why. Magus never did tell him the origin of these gloves and he never really had the urge to ask.

Harry longed to be able to simply touch the wilderness's texture. He'd almost forgotten how cool water felt against his fingertips. Magus knew this very well and had tried to teach Harry to control his powers, but so far it had all been in vain.

Harry wondered if he was condemned to wear his gloves forever.

"Again," Magus insisted.

Harry obliged and carefully pulled off his right hand's glove. Magus suddenly signaled for him to stop. Harry paused, watching as his instructor slowly walked towards him.

"Close your eyes," Magus ordered.

Harry obeyed and closed his eyes, now staring into the darkness behind his lids.

From next to him, Magus spoke, "Now, I want to you to clear your mind and push away all your thoughts. Concentrate on the bird's song."

The last bit was what truly helped Harry. A canary was close by on a tree, singing a soft melody for all to hear. Soon, his mind was filled with nothing but the melody that now pulsed through his veins.

"Now Harry, grasp my hand."

Harry snapped his eyes wide open in shock.

"But Magus, I have never –"

"Grab my hand."

Clearing his thoughts while trembling, Harry obeyed and reached out, slowly, to grasp Magus's hand.

Harry could never even begin to describe what happened next. Memories swirled inside his head, to fast for him to recognize. He wanted desperately to stop them, or at the very least to let go of Magus, but he could not. He was no longer in the Garden of Eden standing in front of Magus, he was now floating through a long tunnel of memories.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Harry felt his hands burn in agony. He was pulled away from the memories and brought back to the Garden. At the sting of more pain, he looked down to see that his hands were no longer grabbing Magus and were somehow being corrupted by a dark shadow. He watched in horror as he saw the darkness creep up his hands and through his vein. His veins expanded and took a dark shade of purple.

Painful screams escaped his lips and he clutched his hair, feeling as the evil took over his entire being. A voice now streamed through his head, laughing and cheering at the scene. Harry felt Magus next to him, trying to tell him something, but Harry could no longer hear. The lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead, the one he had had as far as he could remember, suddenly split open, making his whole head burst in agony as blood dripped down from it.

"Leave me – please Magus, go! I cannot stop this! I cannot – I cannot control it!" he shrieked, flinching away from Magus's touch.

But Magus did not pay heed to his words. Magus grabbed him by the shoulders, frantically shaking him, his eyes wide with worry. Magus was suddenly thrown back from him, landing sprawled on the floor. Harry could not stop he thing inside him from attacking Magus. His mind screamed at Magus to leave. But Magus did no such thing.

Magus walking towards him, chanting something under his breath was the last thing he saw before the evil inside took over and he knew no more.

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Harry had never felt so much pain. In fact, he hardly had ever had any pain in his life. The only time he remembered true pain was before coming to the Gardens, back when he lived with what Magus called, 'a family of repugnant and despicable bastards called Dursleys.' Apart from that, he hadn't really ever felt pain. Once in a while he would get the wind knocked out of him during dueling with Magus, but in a matter of seconds all injury and pain went away just as fast as it had come. The power of the Gardens had always healed and protected him.

Until today.

His very bones burned in agony at even the slightest movement and his lungs collapsed every time he took a small breath of oxygen. And that was nothing compared to what he'd seen. While unconscious, he had experienced something resembling a nightmare. He did not remember ever having one, but this one had certainly made up for the ones he never had.

He had seen a young girl, running shoe-less through the darkness, her heart beating loudly in her ears. He had watched as she tripped over a tree root and fell into the mud, scraping her once soft flesh. Her screams were still pounding in his ears as he saw her crawling away from three tall figures dressed in black robes. Harry forced his eyes open in an effort to erase the image of the men torturing the young girl before slaughtering her without pity or remorse. Tears streamed down his eyes at the memory. He had never seen a death before and this nightmare seemed just too... too real.

"Harry?"

Gradually, Harry concentrated his eyesight to the sound of the voice. It was Magus. He had so many questions to ask and it seemed Magus could tell for he promptly stopped Harry from uttering a single word.

"Do not try to speak Harry. You are far too weak for that. Drink this," said Magus, pressing a small vial to his lips.

Harry complied and opened his mouth, letting the cool liquid into his body. Immediately he felt relief as it traveled through him, distributing a chilly sensation as it went.

"It is water from the Lake. You should be well in a few minutes."

Harry knew this to be true, for his pain was already leaving him. Carefully, he sat up and closely examined his forearms, making sure all traces of the darkness were gone. Thankful to have his arms back to normal, he finally looked up to meet Magus's gaze. Magus had brought a chair to his bedside and was now looking at him with a broken gaze. Harry waited for a moment and when silence still remained, he decided to break it.

"Magus?" he whispered softly, searching the older man's gaze for answers.

Magus let out a sigh and closed his eyes.

"Harry, I have never been completely honest with you. There are so many things I must tell you."

Harry shifted slightly closer to Magus in confusion.

"First, I must ask you if you can remember our first meeting," Magus said.

Harry frowned. "I am not sure..."

"Harry, my actual name is Aberforth Dumbledore. Magus was simply an epithet you came up with when you could not say my name as a child. After a while I began to get used to it and you forgot it was not my real name."

Harry was lost for words and remained silent.

"There were many things that led to our meeting, but it all truly began with one evil named Lord Voldemort."

And with that, Magus began.

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We were in the middle of war. A dark ruler had gathered followers and had begun a mass murdering spree among non-magic people, or Muggles. He also considered anyone of Muggle ancestry impure and in need to be destroyed, but truly all who crossed his path, whether Muggle or Wizard, were murdered. Our strongest fighters perished before him. There was no stopping him as he began to take over. There was nothing but chaos among our land.

Those were dark times.

The seven strongest witches and wizards came together for one sole purpose: to destroy this Dark Lord. The seven were: Minerva McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Severus Snape, myself, Lily Evans, and James Potter. Perhaps if things had gone as we had planned we could have defeated such evil, but things do not always happen as one desires them to.

You see, in the middle of the chaos, something completely unexpected happened: a prophecy was made. It spoke of a child, born to two that 'had thrice defied him' ... 'as the seventh month died.' It spoke of a boy that could vanquish the evil that had begun to take over. A light in the middle of darkness, you could say. Lord Voldemort found out of such a prophecy and sought to dispose of the child. But things did not happen as he had anticipated. Instead of killing the boy, he only succeeded in almost destroying himself.

And thus, the prophecy was complete. For Voldemort had not been aware of the last words the prophecy contained. They claimed that the Dark Lord himself would 'mark him as his equal' and so, this came true when the attack on the boy resulted in a scar. A scar that can only be made if one survives the Killing Curse.

Yet, there was far more lost than gained, for when the evil managed to find the child, he murdered the boy's parents, although he did not succeed in killing the child himself. This child, destined for greatness, was alone in the middle of rubble, unable to comprehend why his mother would never hold him again. Albus Dumbledore came to the scene and picked up the child, cold from the rain, and took him away.

The world was never to know what happened to the boy. They supposed he had been killed alongside his parents. Lord Voldemort returned not long afterwards and soon there was no one but a small resistance led by Minerva McGonagall to stop him. You see, of the seven witches and wizards: three were killed, one is yet to perish, one went into the claws of evil, another was imprisoned, and Minerva McGonagall was alone to lead the battle. And so, many gave up hope in ever vanquishing Lord Voldemort and he shortly took over. The Resistance soon became known as the Rebels.

Lord Voldemort ruled.

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Harry was now truly speechless. He unconsciously raised his fingertips to trace the scar on his forehead. Everything was just so confusing he hadn't the slightest clue on what to say or do. He was sure all color had drained from his face, but he paid no attention to it.

"Magus, what does this mean?" he spoke, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

Magus said nothing for a short moment.

"When you were young, Albus Dumbledore took you to the only family you had left. It was in your best interest since only they could give protection no one else could. A few years after, Albus Dumbledore was murdered. Another hope lost. I came to see the condition you were in not long afterwards. I saw what horrors came to place in that house and took you away.

"I only did this because at the time of the murder of Albus Dumbledore, my only brother, I had come across something truly magical: The Garden of Eden. Upon my first encounter with this Garden, I could not find my way out, but very soon I became to understand the Garden. I made up my mind and pleaded to the Gardens for shelter. The Gardens agreed to thirteen years of peace."

It was Harry's turn to close his eyes. "But then that means... that means... "

"Yes Harry, you are the boy that was spoken of in the prophecy. You are the Chosen One."

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The ache on his forehead had returned. Frustrated from the pain, he could not stop himself from yelling.

"Are you sure of this Magus!?"

Magus only nodded.

Harry clenched his fists. "Then why now!? Why must you tell me now!?"

This question seemed to make something similar to fear flash in Magus's eyes. "Harry, our time is up. The Gardens will stop protecting us very soon."

Harry held on to the covers of his bed. This was all just too much to take at once.

"What do you mean? You said the Gardens agreed to thirteen years. We have only had twelve."

Magus looked away from Harry and set his vision on the only window in the room instead.

"That is the last thing I must confess to you. The scar the evil gave you is not just any scar. It is a cursed scar. It seems as our deadline comes to a clear, the Gardens protection slowly begins to diminish. And so, I believe Lord Voldemort has begun to sense you are still very much alive and not dead as he thought you to be. With the Garden's barriers weakening, I have no doubt he will be able to break through."

Harry now how to clutch his scar from the throbbing. "But how can he sense me? How can he possibly know!?"

Magus gaze was fixed on Harry's scar. "You are both connected through that scar. I believe that the night he attacked you he unknowingly transferred a portion into his power onto you. That is why things occurred as the did when we were dueling."

Harry turned stone cold and immediately dropped his hand in the process of rubbing his scar.

"You mean a part of him is in me!?"

Magus did not deny it.

"So he... was taking over me? Is that what I saw? The darkness?"

"Yes. I believe your Occlumency barrier was weakened when we touched and you were lost in unknown memories - forgive me for not anticipating this. I was not aware how much control he could take over you. You must always practice your Occlumency so he can never access you."

Harry could feel his heart beating loudly in the silence that followed.

"And... he murdered my parents?"

"Lily and James Potter, the best people I've ever known," Magus answered sadly.

Harry suddenly felt strange, as if something in his head had clicked. Dreamily, lost in memories of the past, he muttered, "Potter... Harry James Potter... My full name is Harry James Potter... I had forgotten..."

Harry sat quietly as he listened to the harsh rain and thunder outside as it pounded on the rooftop.

It had never rained in the Garden of Eden before.

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A/N: Please review. : )