A/N: I'm trying something I've never done before: write in third-person limited. I always write in third-person omniscient. The change will challenge me and will leave more mystery for you and Harry, as information will only be made apparent when Harry discovers it. So, about this plot bunny…I was thinking, how would the world turn out if no one knew about the prophesy so no one ever acted on it. I figured Voldemort never fell, he would grow stronger and take over, and Severus Snape would never have incentive to switch sides as spy. Here's Harry's story:

When the Tree Falls

If a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a noise?

O0o.o0O

Prologue

O0o.o0O

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches---born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies---and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not---and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives---the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies."

Trelawney slowly awakened from her trance. She coughed and looked around. "Oh, I must've dozed off for a minute."

She was all alone in her small, smoky bedroom and her prophesy went unheard.

O0o.o0O

Chapter I: The Retrieval

He couldn't see any of their faces. They wore robes of billowing black and masks as white as bone. The only thing he could see was their eyes, through the slits in the ivory masks. They were full of hatred and malice, unaffected as they slaughtered his only family. He was hiding in the curtains before they showed up, trying to watch some television without being caught in the same room as his "family." They would have punished him. Now, it seemed, he had a deeper fate awaiting for him. The curtains couldn't hide him from their eyes. One of the figures held a stick in his hand and murmured, "Point me." The stick turned in his direction and eight sets of eyes turned to his hiding place.

The curtains were ripped back and they grabbed him. They had him by the arms in a painful grip, not letting him squirm or move -- not that Harry gave up fighting the grip. The more he squirmed, the more painful the grip came, till his whole arm was aching from the pressure.

Even though his body could not move, his intense green eyes whipped back and forth as if hoping to burn them with his glare.

"Let me go!" he shouted over and over again, his voice going hoarse from the volume. "I said let me go!" and with more strength than his little body should have, he kicked out with his feet, bringing a robed and masked man to his knees and was able to use the distraction to break loose from the capturer that had his arms in a tight grip. He took off running as fast as he could, away from them.

His feet took him over a fence and through his neighbor's backyard, but even as he looked back to see if they were following in chase, he heard a crack, like a car back-firing, to his front, and he collided head-first into one of his would-be capturers. They fell in a pile of awkwardly folded limbs and tangling fabric. More cracks resounded and Harry looked up to find himself surrounded by the masked group again.

"What are you people!?!" He whispered in shock.

This seemed to amuse the people around him. They chuckled darkly. "The question you should be asking is 'what are you?', because you are one of us too, little one," a voice said – a man, by the sound of it.

"I highly doubt that," Harry responded, concentrating on getting away from the body he was tangled in, all the while the body trying to keep him still.

And like it always did, strange things happened to him when he really wanted to be somewhere else and was under enough stress. One moment he was tangled on the ground, and then next blink, he was standing behind his captors.

"What the hell!" the man on the ground yelled as his quarry disappeared from his arm. Arm, because, as Harry quickly found out, he had brought one of the man's arms with him.

"Ah!" he gave a shout at the squirming, dismembered arm still clutching to his wrist. He shook it off quickly, and then realized his error as the group of masked foes turned around at his shout.

"Oh, for Merlin's Beard!" a feminine voice sighed. She pulled out a thin, polished stick and said, "Pertificus Totalus!"

Harry's arms snapped to his sides and he found himself unable to move. What was this? Magic? Was it real? Real or not, he had to fight it. They were going to take him! They were going to kill him like they had just killed his family!

"He's just a kid! And look how much damage he did to you, MacNair!" A whimsical female voice laughed at the man on the ground. Two others were helping reconnect his arm. It was morbidly fascinating to watch the arm come back together.

"Yeah, well, how was I supposed to know that the little mudblood could apparate?" A rough voice answered.

The whimsical voice chuckled again, "The Master is going to have a lot of fun with this one. What was the name again?"

"Dursley," someone answered.

"How dreadfully muggle," she cringed, "His new name, whatever it is, will be much better…but before that…I wonder if the dark lord will let us torture him." She approached the frozen boy, whispering in his ear, "I bet I can make you scream like a little girl. No, I know you'll scream like a little girl. And you'll wet your pants and be crying for your mother. How does that sound? You want to come play with Auntie Bellatrix? We'll have lots of fun!"

Harry glared at her as best as he could from the angle he was at. The woman was standing closely behind him, nearly intimately.

"What's that? What did you say?" she played with him. She snaked a hand around to his chin, forcing it to open and closing in a mockery of speech. "Yes, Auntie Bella," she squeaked and then she screamed as Harry felt fire flowing through his veins and the spell that held him broke, so he bit down on the fingers near his mouth…hard.

Harry could taste the woman's blood in his mouth and it gagged him, but he ignored it for the moment and flung his elbow back into the woman's stomach. She fell to the floor trying to breath.

In the confusion, Harry was able to make another run for it. The other masked men and women quickly regained their senses and spells began to shoot at Harry. He dodged as many as he could, but eventually a yellow beam caught him in the back of the shoulder blades and he was frozen again. It felt as if he had ropes binding his body, but, looking down, he could see nothing.

A bag was thrown over his head he was pulled to his feet by rough hands.

"Come on," a bored voice drawled. "Let's get him to the Dark Lord before he can cause more trouble."

"I'M GONNA KILL HIM!" he heard the woman whose fingers he had bitten yell out before he was knocked unconscious.

O0o.o0O

He woke up painfully on a cold, slimy floor. He sat up and looked around slowly, careful of his pounding head. He seemed to remember a sudden pain before he passed out. Oh, right. That crazy woman… His glasses were missing and he couldn't make out much of where he was. It was a cell, with rough stone floors and walls, and bars facing another cell across a narrow hallway.

"Psst," he heard, "Psst…over here! Come on, you haven't got much time!"

Harry shook his head, futilely trying to better his vision. He made his way slowly to the bars and peered out. Across from his own cell, there were two other people in another cell. He couldn't make out much other than their bright red hair.

"Hey, you're awake! Look Fred, old sleepy-bones here decided to grace us with his presence!" One of the boys said.

"Oi, I guess he did, George. Looks right nasty though, with blood covering him like that. Reckon that crazy bitch got to him?"

Harry interrupted their conversation, "Excuse me, but could you tell me where we are?"

"I guess we could," said the boy on the right.

"Fred and George Weasley," the two boys chorused, sticking their hands through the bars to shake both his hands at the same time. "You're in the dudgeons of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, not that it's much of a school anymore, mind you."

"Witchcraft and Wizardry? What sort of rubbish is this?" Harry asked.

"Not rubbish at all, really. But we forgot – they just picked you up from Retrieval didn't they? I knew I hadn't seen you around before."

"Did you two just get picked up too?" Harry asked, trying to see make them out. From what he could tell, they were identical twins.

"Us? No. We go to school here. We're just in trouble down here."

"Of course, anyone who thinks stealing all the toilet seats in Hogwarts deserves to be punished in quite barmy in my opinion…"

"…need to be locked up for no sense of humor at all…"

"…I swear we stole one right out from under Snapey's ass…"

"..if that's not skill, I don't know what is.."

"Ok, really, I don't understand a word you're saying," Harry intruded in their conversation. There was a sudden clanging up the hallway.

"Bullocks, they're coming!" One of the redheads whispered, "Okay kid, answer quickly: What's your name?"

"Harry Potter."

"No it isn't. Potter is a Light family name and if you go by it, you will be killed. So what is your name?"

Harry looked at him through guarded eyes, catching on, "Harry Dursley."

"That's better," the redhead on the left said. "And how old are you?" The sounds of footsteps were getting nearer.

"Ten."

"No, you're not. You're 11. Say you're freshly 11. It will save you from the Adoption, but you'll still have to go through Process. Good luck, mate," they said, before backing up from the front of the cell, just in time as the group of robed figures that had kidnapped him came into sight.

Even though they were masked, he knew they were mostly the same ones, it was just a feeling he had.

"Look who's awake, Bella: Your little friend. Be careful, though. I hear he bites," A smooth voice joked, earning the laughter of the others in the group.

"Shut up, Malfoy," hissed Bella, "He'll get what's coming to him soon. The Dark Lord wants to process the boy himself. Wants to see who took eight Death Eaters to bring in, and the boy even injured three of them. I'm sure the Dark Lord will let me play with him afterwards, and I'll be sure to pluck every last little tooth out of that cute little mouth."

Getting Harry out of his cell proved more difficult than expected. No spell lasted very long on him before his bouts of accidental magic broke through it. When they got close enough, Harry would lash out with his hands, feet, and teeth, making none of them want to approach him. In the end, they conjured some magical rope and spelled it to be unbreakable and the knots were spelled so they couldn't be undone. Four death eaters each had a rope and they pulled them taunt, keeping the boy in the exact middle, not letting him near enough to bite anyone.

But not even that was fool-proof. Harry then used all his strength and focus to tangle the ropes around edges and corners. Doors proved to be tricky. By the time the Death Eaters got to the Process room, they were sweaty and tired, and their hands had blisters from the rope.

The Death Eaters didn't dare complain though, for when they finally got their prey into the room, they found themselves face-to-face with their Lord.

"Master," the one named Bella called out, "Here is the boy." She bowed before the Dark Lord.

Harry tried to look at him, but all he could tell about him was that he had pale skin and dark hair.

"Boy, indeed," the Dark Lord said. His voice had a hissing quality about it, like a snake made human. "What boy is this that needs such muggle methods of confinement?"

"A very stubborn one, my lord," a smooth voice said. It was a man with long, blond hair, but that was all Harry could tell with the man's mask on. "This boy is unnaturally gifted in breaking spells meant to confine him."

"That's a high praise indeed from a Malfoy, but tell me, why would he have reason to try to break free? The Retrieval is meant to help the children, not scare them."

"Forgive me, my lord, but we were unaware that he was in the room as we carried out the rest of our duties," the smooth voice said.

"Duties," Harry repeated darkly. "'Duties' means murdering my family, you bastard!" he screamed.

"Now, now," The Dark Lord mused, "What terrible language, even for a mudblood."

The woman named Bella spoke up. "I don't know what he's even complaining about, master. His family was Houndies. He should be glad we killed them!"

"Now, this is turning out quite interesting indeed," the Dark Lord said, an eyebrow rising in quizzical amusement. "Now tell me boy, do you know what you are here for?"

"To play your sick games," Harry growled.

"Hardly," the Dark Lord continued. "You're not quite old enough for those, yet." He gave a sinister smile as the Death Eaters laughed at some joke that Harry couldn't see or understand. "No," the Dark Lord continued when the dark laughter died off, "You're here to be processed to see where you will fit within our society. Your society. As a muggleborn, you do not know of your own place in this world, and we are here to help you find it."

Harry didn't believe a word he was hearing, but stayed quiet. He hoped he could get through this and then hopefully he could find the Fred and George Weasley, and they could help him figure out what was going on.

"So, now that we have an understanding, I must tell you to stop struggling. Any further rebellion or attempts to escape will result in your death. Understand?" Harry nodded. He could feel the danger rolling off this man in waves. "Good. We may continue. First, what is your name?"

"Harry."

"You're full name," the Dark Lord said irritably.

"Harry James Dursley."

"Disgustingly common and horribly muggle. The first part of being in wizard society is having a wizard name. We'll see to that before you leave this room." He turned on his heel, his dark green robes billowing. "How old are you?"

Harry figured he might as well go with what the Weasleys had said. "11," he answered. A robed figured wrote his answers down on a form as the Dark Lord queried.

"Your birthday?"

"July 31st."

"You will be attending school then, and, as such, there will be no need for you to go through the Adoption. Now, to determine what classes you will be in, we must test your magic."

The Dark Lord motioned him over to a table, with 20 wands (for Harry realized what they must be) laid out in a line. The rope that was holding him was taken off and he was unbound.

"Now, boy, you will pick up each of the wands in order from the left to the right. You will try to make sparks fly from the end. You must figure out how to do this yourself."

Harry nodded. He picked up the first wand and the thought of sparks barely passed through his mind before golden sparks erupted from the end. It surprised him so much that he dropped the wand ungracefully. He quickly retrieved it and placed it back before moving to the next wand. Sparks shot out again. He kept successfully doing this and barely noticed picking up the last wand and another hardy round of golden sparks exploding form the tip.

"Well, what was that supposed to prove?" he wondered aloud, in awe at how easy it was.

When he turned around, he noticed that everyone was staring at him in shock, and some had even taken off their masks to see his performance better.

"Young man, that was supposed to show how magically gifted you were. Each of the wands had decreasing amounts of magical core. It is rare to see a pureblood get through them all, even rarer to see a half-blood or muggle-born to get past more than 13," the man with the smooth voice said. "My Lord, where would you like us to place him?"

The Dark Lord approached Harry slowly, turning up his head to look into his eyes. He whispered softly, "I see a lot of myself in you, child. And yet," he paused as he saw the unfocused look in Harry's eyes. He laughed softly, "You see very little at all." A whispered incantation and a sharp jab of his wand and suddenly the world came into focus for Harry.

"Hm…" the Dark Lord thought audibly, still studying Harry intently. "His name will be strong… So, from now on, you will be Acrux Cirrus…" he paused, contemplating something Harry could only guess at. "…Riddle," he finished. He trailed a finger up Harry's jaw line. "Place him in Slytherin."

"But my Lord!" the smooth-voice man argued, "Slytherin is the house of Purebloods. Their education will be over this mudblood's head!"

"Do not argue with me, Lucius," the Dark Lord answered strongly. "Slytherin is the house of power, and need I remind you that your own son could only use 17 of these wands? Acrux will be in Slytherin with my personal permission. Anyone who attempts to hamper his progress will be tutored in the way of torture by me, and they will be the subject of study. Is it understood? If he Acrux fails, then like any muggleborn, he will be eliminated." The Dark Lord didn't have to turn around to know that everyone agreed. "Now, Regulus, you will take Acrux to the rest of Process."

A black-haired, man stepped up and led Harry out by the arm, but they hadn't made it out of the room before he heard the Dark Lord's voice again. "And, Lucius? Crucio! For questioning my judgement." Harry could hear the man's screams even at the end of the hallway.

The man he was with patted him on the head when the screams finally subsided. "The Dark Lord will tolerate no disobedience. You are lucky. I can tell he favors you. He fixed your eyesight and it is rare in itself that the Dark Lord will even come to a Process. You would do well not to disappoint him. His grace is magnificent, but his fury is deadly."

Acrux was led into another chamber in the dudgeons. Everything down here was dark, and moist. The air was cold and heavy. Regulus removed his mask revealing a handsome face and grey eyes. A knock on a heavy door later, and another tall, dark-haired opened the door. He was thin and sinewy, with deep black eyes that shined like ice, a strong nose, and curtains of shiny, straight black hair.

"Regulus," he greeted in a deep, serious voice.

"Severus, I have a new house member for you to process."

Those black eyes found and seemed to stare right through Acrux. "You must be mistaken, Regulus. All the purebloods were processed a week ago."

"I am not mistaken," Regulus said. "This is Acrux Cirrus Riddle and he was just Retrieved today. The Dark Lord gave his personal permission for the boy to be in Slytherin. His papers, if you have questions. I'm sure you know how to do the rest." Regulus shoved the papers into Severus hand and left. Acrux was left standing awkwardly outside a half-opened door with the man named Severus glaring at him.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" the man finally asked hypothetically. "Get inside and stop wasting time."

Harry was ushered into a room cramped with shelves holding vials and jars of stuff that made him queasy just to look at. He tentatively took a sit on a stern, wooden-backed chair. The man took a seat behind a giant mahogany desk, throwing the papers down on the desk, not even looking at them.

He studied Acrux for what seemed like hours, but was more likely seconds.

"Does your head hurt?"

Acrux gingerly touched the bump on the side of his head that was the reason for the sticky blood running down the side of his face. "A little," he admitted.

The man tossed him a vial of liquid that had been sitting on his desk. "Drink this."

Acrux caught it with his lightning reflexes and eyed it suspiciously.

"It's a healing potion," the man said agitatedly.

Acrux popped it open and downed it. He head felt immediately better. He looked up in time to see the man had his wand pointed at him. He instinctively flinched.

"Scourgify."

It felt as if someone had just scrubbed him raw with soap and water. He looked at his arms and noticed they were clean.

Acrux looked up to find the man staring at him intently again.

"You're eyes are very green," he finally said.

"Than –, " Acrux began.

"They're annoying," the man cut him off.

Acrux glared at him, but the man escaped his glare by searching through the papers.

"…Retrieved yesterday… …named Acrux Cirrus Riddle by..the Dark Lord…11-years-old…my, my you're certainly very interesting…you got all 20 wands to work? Very interesting…" now he addressed Acrux, "But all of this means nothing. You are a muggleborn, and though it amuses the Dark Lord to see you in Slytherin, you are the lowest of all Slytherins. You're blood is dirty but I will not allow you to dirty the noble house of Slytherin. You will not set a toe out of line, nor will you speak out of turn or disrespect, and you will keep ahead of the course work, or I will throw you out of this school and you can be guaranteed the Dark Lord will kill you then. You have no allies here, Mr. Riddle." He paused to seemingly catch his breath, but he quickly stood up and motioned Acrux to do the same.

"Remove your shirt." Acrux looked alarmed, but followed the orders, slowly taking his shirt off.

"Turn around."

Acrux did.

He saw the man pick up something that looked like an ink stamper. The man spoke softly, "The Dark Lord started a ritual of having every male child mark with the symbol of their house, because one can tell much about a person by the house they are in. The mark is supposed to go over the child's heart, but you are not a true Slytherin, so you will receive no such honor." He pressed the stamp to the back of Acrux's shoulder, and Acrux was hard-pressed to keep from screaming out in pain as he was branded.

The man sat back down while Acrux's shouldered his shirt back on.

"The Slytherin common room is down the hall – the picture of Salazar. The password is Ashwinder. Your room is labeled and the house elves have supplied all your needs as they will continue to do so. Get out of my office."

O0o.o0O

It was done all in black, a crest with an ornate letter "S" in the middle. A snake was entwined around the crest. It was a piece of Great artwork, but Harry couldn't help but find it hideous.

"But I'm not Harry anymore," he said to his reflection in the mirror in his room. The room held more items than he had ever had before, but it seemed so empty, so foreign. And now, his body even looked foreign with the brand on his shoulder.

"What have I got myself into this time…" he wondered aloud to himself.

He put his shirt over his still aching shoulder and looked at the clock on his bedside. 7:00. He had missed dinner and he wasn't about to ask for something. This land of fairytales had already turned into a nightmare.

Tbc…maybe

Plot thoughts:

Order members die

Harry is left with his muggle family

No protections b/c he's just ordinary

Family are Houndies: Dark sides name for magic-haters, the worst of all muggles

Years later, ministry is taken over by Voldemort

New protocols bring all magical children out of muggle world –

Harry is brought in kicking and screaming

Fred and George tell him to use the Dursley's last name- b/c Potter is a light family and he'll be killed

Harry is given new magical name, ministry thinking he is muggle-born: Acrux Cirrus Riddle (bright southern star)

Voldemort has named Harry/Acrux as his heir when he gives him his last name

Makes it through several years of schooling

At first, he doesn't do so good, but when Voldemort personally threatens him with death, he goes to Snape for help

Eventually becomes a top student and Voldemort begins special training to make Acrux his heir

Meanwhile, Voldemort is training his own expendable army to take over muggles

Harry starts to figure this out

He wants to fight back so learns more, acting the true slytherin to get what he wants

At the same time, he's attracted the romantic attention of School Teacher Severus Snape, trusted Death Eater

Purebloods are aristocrats, schooled together, but different classes and living quarters.

Muggleborns are repressed and made to feel inferior

Harry finds out about how his real parents died, from portrait painting of Dumbledore, hidden to keep Voldemort from destroying it

Eventually dark lord finds out about him and snape, Voldemort decides to make an example out of them, b/c homosexual relationships "will destroy their society"

Right before their drug out into public to made an example of, Harry admits his love and tells Snape his real name

Voldemort tries to AK Snape (and will only torture Harry because he's his heir)

Harry jumps in front of lover

Killing curse bounces off Harry, Leaving a lightning bolt scar and many questions

Voldemort is far enough away to be able to duck the rebounded curse, but it strikes Bella behind him

Not being able to kill him, Voldemort sets out to tame/break Harry

Severus and Harry are safe for the moment in all the confusion – thrown into dudgeons for safe keeping

Escape and try to right society

…