This fic came about from a thought I had while editing Just Add Water. Essentially, the Kitsune OC I created had a prophecy hanging over her head just like Harry did, and her early years were just as unpleasant. Without the Empire invading they would never have met so I decided to write a fic where they did. Do I have too many fics started already? Yes. Do I have even more started in my writing folder? Oh yes.

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Children of Prophecy

Chapter One: To the Land of the Rising Sun, Eventually

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Two days into summer break after an 'eventful' fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Harry's depressed brooding was interrupted by a banging on his door. Without waiting for permission to enter, Vernon Dursley barged into the bedroom he'd moved his nephew into after Harry's first Hogwarts letter arrived, addressed to 'Harry Potter, Cupboard under the Stairs.' Harry looked up at his uncle from his position prone on his bed, barely able to feign interest in what his uncle wanted. To say the last year had been traumatic would be an understatement and now his friends weren't writing back; even his godfather, after living in a cave and eating rats just to be close to him wasn't telling him anything of note, only saying that Dumbledore was responsible for the lack of support when he needed it most.

Finally, his uncle spoke up. He'd been building up a head of steam for a while apparently, given the dark red color his face had become. "Boy! Your people are refusing to let my family leave on a business trip! Grunnings has to seal a major deal in Tokyo and I've already arranged to fly there in five days; they're selling us machines for a new production line and we're selling them specialized mining equipment. This is something that will make or break my career and those freaks just took our plane tickets and made them disappear. I already agreed to be the face of Grunnings for this: If I back out now I'm out of a job, twenty years of loyal service or not. This deal is that important."

Despite the danger his uncle posed Harry couldn't help but laugh derisively. "What… What makes you think I can do anything about that Uncle Vernon? I know we're being watched but the watchers refuse to speak to me, even when I throw sand at their invisibility cloaks. In the last year I almost died more than once after I was forced to participate in a deadly tournament, I saw a good man die, I was forced into a ritual to resurrect my parent's murderer, and now they won't even let me see my godfather or friends. All these people watching us were perfectly happy to watch me fight for my life in an arena because Headmaster Dumbledore said it was okay, now they're isolating me because he ordered it. I'm not a person, just a pawn to them."

Harry felt his heart beat a little faster as his rant came to an end. It took a moment of thought but now that he thought about it… he really was nothing but a pawn to Dumbledore and his flunkies. It was unpleasant but if he thought about it even Molly and Arthur Weasley didn't put his well-being above Dumbledore's orders. In fact, the only person who really seemed to put him before anything else was his godfather… And Sirius is still a wanted criminal with a Kiss-on-Sight order, Dumbledore's done nothing to help him. Is that why? He won't write to me any more than my friends. I know Hermione and Ron would listen to the Headmaster above everything else, but Sirius wouldn't. Why… Suddenly, Harry got a sick feeling in his gut. Oh. He can't help me if he's dead, and I bet any help he's getting from Dumbledore isn't free. He's tangled in strings.

Vernon watched his godson come to a realization and ruminate for a few moments before he spoke again. "Boy, how do we get rid of them? I need to visit Japan for a week with my family to settle that deal. I can't back out and keep my job, and I'm not losing decades of work at Grunnings for nothing."

Harry was thoughtful for a moment as a plan began to form in his head. He wasn't terribly invested in his relative's financial welfare but he was well aware that Vernon could make his life at Privet Drive even more unpleasant if he wanted to. As Harry thought, he realized this was a chance to get out from under Dumbledore's thumb and see the world before Voldemort killed him. It wasn't like Dumbledore had a great record of keeping him safe; Hagrid's claim of Hogwarts being the safest place in Britain had turned out to be a lie, at least for him. After a few moments Harry glanced at the window meaningfully, then tapped his ear before he spoke. "I'm sorry Uncle Vernon, but there's nothing I can do." Hoping Moody wasn't watching through the walls with his enchanted eye, Harry tapped his dark hair and the scar on his forehead. "The Headmaster decided I need to sit here until he decides I can see my friends again but at least Petunia can still spend that day at the hairdresser on the A501 in London tomorrow. Wasn't she thinking of buying makeup and trying a new hair color?"

Of all his many faults, Vernon Dursley was not a complete idiot. The highway Harry mentioned was very close to the entrance to the magical enclave in London. "Yes, she's been talking about it for a while now. Between you and me, she's been waffling back and forth on whether or not to try something new." Vernon paused and swallowed thickly. "Boy, you're looking sickly. I'll pick up something for dinner and have Petunia bring you something to eat in here. No chores for a few days, you should sleep in tomorrow."

Harry spoke up before Vernon left. "You know, I've never flown before Uncle Vernon. Just out of curiosity, where were your layovers going to be?"

Vernon, faking an angry growl, answered his nephew. "We were supposed to leave in four days, with layovers in Istanbul in Turkey and then Mumbai in India, not that we can get to Istanbul without our plane tickets."

Talking to Harry politely seemed physically painful for Vernon so Harry simply nodded in response as his uncle left. Unlike every other waking hour since the Triwizard ended, Harry found the fog of depression and fear lifting, just a little. Dumbledore refused to let me learn magic over the summer, and when I asked for permission to hire a tutor to learn how to fight he just sent me a ten-word note to refuse. Dammit, I know Voldemort is beyond me, I know I won't ever be able to take him in a straight fight. But why should I ever give him a fair fight? Even if I only get good enough to hold my own against the Death Eaters, that might help me survive. Harry rose from his bed and looked out over Little Whinging. If I remember right Istanbul isn't the safest place for a lone wizard, but luckily I've overheard enough about Magical India from Parvati to know it's at least reasonably safe. If I hide my identity I bet I can pick up a few books of local spells while I'm there. I don't know much about foreign magic but I can find out, I'm sure I can find something to help me survive Voldemort.

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The next morning Harry left Number 4 bright and early, leaving behind a Harry-shaped pile of pillows in his bed. It was slightly awkward climbing over Petunia into the car's passenger seat without letting his invisibility cloak slip, but somehow Harry managed. Twenty minutes later, just before Petunia turned onto a motorway, Harry slipped her a small note. 'I need: Hair dye, something to conceal my scar, a place to change appearance, two or three hours in Diagon Alley to get magical travel to Mumbai, and a way to get back without letting anyone know I was gone.' Petunia started to speak but Harry pressed a finger across her lips. Giving a scathing look where she guessed his head was, Petunia pulled onto the larger road.

An hour later in London, Petunia slipped back into her car and pulled out of the drug store's parking lot. Another fifteen minutes later she had rented a hotel room at a hotel that barely qualified as 'one-star.' When they got into the room, Harry finally took off his cloak and spoke up. "I think we should be safe to talk now. We were probably safe in the car, but there's a chance they have a spell to listen in." Harry lifted the box of dye that promised to lighten his hair color to a dark blonde. "If you help me with this, we can get done faster. We need to hurry and get back before they notice I'm gone."

Grudgingly Petunia followed Harry into the bathroom. Together they worked the chemicals into his hair, changing the color dramatically. Before too long, Harry stepped out of the shower and looked into the mirror; it was jarring how different he looked without his father's black hair. Soon he was dressed again and Petunia helped him apply enough makeup to hide his scar, assuming no one looked too closely and it didn't decide to bleed. As they took the elevator down, Petunia spoke up. "On the way I'll mention a restaurant. I'll go shopping for a few hours and then have lunch there, you'll need to meet me there in three or four hours. Just tug on my sleeve so I know you're there."

With that out of the way, they got back in the car and Petunia mentioned that a restaurant a few blocks from the Leaky Cauldron looked like it was worth trying. Petunia got out to browse a shop four blocks away from the entrance to Diagon and Harry swiftly exited the car under his invisibility cloak. Carefully slipping through the crowds on the sidewalk, Harry slipped into an alley to remove his cloak. Then, taking a deep breath to steel himself he stepped into the Leaky Cauldron once again. What surprised him the most was that life was going on as usual. There was no aura of fear, no panic in the air. Harry felt more than a little down as he realized that the public had chosen to believe the Minister and ignore his warnings. Shaking his head, he walked up to Tom when the barkeeper had a spare moment. "Excuse me, do you have a map of businesses in Diagon? My Da's not feeling well so he sent me to run some errands. He needs to rest, but I don't actually know where all the shops are."

Tom smiled at the teen in front of him and pulled out a thick piece of parchment with a map of Diagon and the intersecting alleys on it from under the bar. "Here you go. Press your wand on the parchment and say what you're looking for and the businesses that can help you will light up, along with a dot that shows your current location."

Harry smiled and replied. "Thank you. That's dead useful."

"Sure is. A good bloke taught me how to enchant these maps years ago. Just be careful, the shops in Knockturn Alley tend to cheat people whenever they think they can get away with it."

Harry nodded. "I'll remember. Have a pleasant day Sir."

With that, Harry stepped behind the pub and used his wand to open the archway. Harry tapped the map and whispered into it. "I need an enchanted money pouch."

To his surprise, the only business that lit up was Gringotts bank. Harry shrugged and a few moments later he walked into Gringotts and stepped up to the teller. "I would like to purchase something to carry my galleons in and visit my vault."

With a grunt, the teller pulled out a sheet of paper listing the different options, from a simple leather pouch to something that claimed to be both bottomless and entirely thief-proof. "Make your selection and tell the cart driver you want to visit the tannery."

Harry nodded and moved on, spending a few moments looking at the different options. Getting in line for one of the bank's carts, Harry spoke to the driver. "To the tannery, then to my vault please."

The cart driver, who didn't give his name and Harry didn't ask, guided them to a stop further back from the bank's entrance in the opposite direction of the vaults. In the tannery, Harry spoke to the goblin behind the counter. "I'd like to buy a simple leather bag with no decorations but with all of the anti-theft charms and an expansion. The less it stands out the better."

Harry received a pouch about twice the size of his fist made of simple dark leather; it looked like it wasn't enchanted at all, but the moment Harry picked it up, he could feel the enchantments binding to him. After a good bit of time spent digging through the piles of gold in his vault to see if there was anything in the vault besides coins, Harry walked out of the bank with about a tenth of his inheritance sealed into his new money pouch. I can't spend anything if I'm dead, so I might as well get some use out of it while I can. Now I'll have some funds to buy interesting books even if I get ripped off with the exchange rate.

As he walked out of the bank, he considered something he'd heard about Barty Crouch Senior the previous summer. Harry thought for a moment, then pressed his wand to the map again. "Learning new languages with magic."

When a business lit up, Harry smirked to himself. I knew it. Two-hundred languages? No one could learn that many the muggle way.

Harry carefully followed his map to a business on one of Diagon's side alleys, and found the shop waiting for him. Harry stepped into the right store and was surprised that there were no shelves, only a small waiting area and a counter. Harry stepped up and rang the bell; as he waited he glanced at the display that promised to teach any wizard to speak a new language for twenty galleons, or to speak, read, and write for thirty-five. After a few moments the shop's owner, a rotund man with intelligence in his eyes, came out and greeted him. "And what can Magical Polyglot offer you, young sir?"

Harry replied quickly. "I would like to learn Hindi and Japanese, or whatever language magicals speak in India and Japan."

"You've got the right languages. Some magical countries have a different language than the muggles, but that's rare." The shop owner nodded. "I have the potions for both of those in stock. Be aware that to get the most out of a language potion you need to use it often in the first two weeks. Ideally that means speaking as well as reading and writing if you go for the more expensive option. If you buy a potion and don't use the new language, you've just wasted your galleons."

Harry nodded. "That won't be a problem. Do you know where I could get something to read in those two languages?"

The shopkeeper smiled. "We sell workbooks that help cement the knowledge for every language we teach for a galleon, but those only work if you spring for reading and writing too."

Harry smiled and started counting out seventy-two galleons. "It's a good thing I'm getting the full potion then. Speaking, reading, and writing for both please, along with the two workbooks." Harry paused and glanced at the shopkeeper. "If this works I'll be back for more, I'll buy both languages for a friend and a few others. Do you happen to have a potion for Latin or 'Old English?'"

The shopkeeper matched Harry's smile. His shop wasn't one that did business frequently, but he was the only one in Britain that provided this service and he made most of his money on big orders. "We do indeed. I assume you want to read old books easier, but you should know that Old English tends to bleed through when you're speaking for a few months. A muggleborn customer said he had to keep telling people he was auditioning for a Shakespeare play."

Harry laughed, and kept pulling two or three coins out of his new pouch at a time. (There was a trick to reaching in and pulling out exactly what you wanted, but he didn't have the hang of it yet.) Once he had the correct number, the proprietor collected the galleons and moved back deeper into the shop. After a moment he returned with two vials of a blue-white potion and two inch-thick notebooks. "Here you go sir. I recommend the potions be drunk just before bed, then the next day be spent with the workbooks."

Harry nodded. "Thanks. And like I said, if they work I'll be back."

Stepping out of the store, Harry placed the vials in a pocket before he had his next idea. A few stops later, Harry had purchased both a one-room, self-shrinking expanded trunk with an interior space about the size of the Dursley's living room and a magical tent. The tent wasn't anything special as far as magical tents went; he didn't purchase anything close to the most expensive model that was essentially a small manor on the inside. Instead Harry chose one that was solid, rugged even. Inside it resembled a cabin with a warm living space, magical kitchen with a magic-powered stove and icebox, a comfortable master bedroom and two guest bedrooms. The salesman also convinced Harry to splurge for interior lights that mimicked natural sunlight, meaning he could grow whatever plants he wanted in the living room or spare bedrooms.

As he walked through the Alley, Harry even went to a magical second-hand shop and found an old amulet that kept owls from finding him. It was old, ancient even, and the amulet hadn't sold because it constantly drained a bit of magic from the wearer to function. Harry briefly tried it on and found he barely noticed the drain. Before he left, he leaned in and spoke quietly to the clerk. "Do you happen to have something a muggle could use for defense? I don't know if I believe the rumors or not, but I'm worried about my family."

The clerk, an old weathered man with wrinkled tan skin and white hair, looked at Harry for a moment before deciding he wasn't an Auror. "Nothing I can sell you kid. That kind of thing, the Ministry would be all over my ass if I had anything like that in stock."

To Harry's surprise, the old man started gesturing with his hands and Harry took the hint. Five minutes later, he found himself in a narrow alley behind the store and the old man sold him what at first glance was a normal twenty-two caliber pistol, but once the man opened the magazine, Harry saw it was an enchanted weapon. While he was examining the pistol with a closer eye, the old man spoke again. "Boy, you didn't buy this from me and I never sold it to you. The Ministry doesn't like the idea of muggles that can fight back, and with this they can do it. This won't save anyone if You-Know-Who or his better duelists show up, but it'll do against the rabble. Shield charms get stronger the more you push into them and the more precise you are. This will penetrate weaker shield spells and the potion-treated bullets will do terrible things to anything they hit. This ain't no toy. It's a tool for killing, but if things do get bad again, better them than you. Now get out of here."

With everything else taken care of, Harry used the handy map to find the most reputable portkey shop. In an orderly store about halfway between Gringotts and the Apothecary Harry visited every year Harry was surprised to learn that International Portkeys didn't require any special documentation. (They were more than a little pricey at thirteen galleons for the trip to magical India's international Portkey terminal in Nagpur, however.) "Oh yeah, it isn't like muggle travel at all. All the magical nations have heavily warded portkey arrival points. Not only do they protect against any kind of attack, but they also have intent-based wards. If someone shows up with hostile intentions the wards alert the guards and the poor sap gets dosed with Veritaserum."

Harry shrugged. "Good thing I won't be causing any trouble then. Thanks for the info." He nodded at the short coil of rope. "When is the best time to use the portkey? I was planning to leave tomorrow night."

The clerk, a bubbly mousy woman, replied quickly. "There's a five-hour difference, so I'd recommend leaving by four in the afternoon, you'll get better service at the hotels. And you will need to head to a hotel to recover, a portkey that long is rough even on wizards, muggles will need to sleep it off for a while. Remember that the portkey won't work at all unless a magical is touching it."

Harry nodded and checked the cheap watch Petunia had picked up from the drugstore. He quickly ducked into a shadowy corner and slipped under his invisibility cloak. Moving through Diagon without bumping into anyone was a little difficult, but he managed to escape into the muggle world without much trouble. Soon he made his way to the restaurant Petunia had mentioned and found her picking at her chosen desert. Harry slipped in behind her and tugged lightly on her sleeve before he spoke quietly enough no one else could hear him. "I used some money my dad left me to get us a ride and a big trunk. Get your passports and the luggage together when we get back, then have me lug them into the attic, I'll carry them until we arrive in Nagpur. That was as close as I could get to Mumbai, but if we leave tomorrow afternoon around three we can arrive there in a few minutes, that gives us plenty of time to make your connecting flight."

Petunia nodded and paid her bill. As they were walking to her car, she spoke in a whisper. "How do we get past your watchers?"

Harry shrugged under his cloak. "I bet they'd let you leave for a bit. Say you've got dinner or tea with a friend and take Vernon and Dudley, but sit with him in the back seat and drive to a place where you can leave your car for a while. I'll get in under my cloak again just to be safe."

Petunia nodded. "There's a cheap long-term parking lot on the edge of Little Whinging by the tube station. Is whatever you bought… safe?"

"It's safe. Not the best way to travel, but it probably beats sitting in an airplane for hours. After we land I'll get us a hotel for the night and we can take a train or bus or something to Mumbai. Uh… You should probably pack something to settle your stomach, maybe some tea or something." Harry had one last thing to say as they headed into the car. "I uh… I bought something else too. It's horribly illegal, the Ministry would snap my wand if they knew I'd bought it, but if you're attacked by dark wizards it might save your life. It won't… It won't kill the more powerful ones, but these bullets will take down Voldemort's cannon fodder. I doubt you'll need it outside Britain and trying to get it through customs would be stupid, but it might save your family when you're back home."

As Harry shuffled into the car, Petunia gave him a scathing look even through his invisibility cloak. Even so, everything went to Harry's plan. Vernon forced Harry to load the fully loaded luggage into the attic, where Harry simply walked everything down the stairs into his expanded trunk. (Harry had seen the models that used a rope ladder to get into the trunk. Then he remembered that Moody had been locked in his trunk for the whole school year and he promptly purchased one with permanent stairs built in.) Harry also left the box containing the pistol in Vernon's sock drawer. He certainly wasn't fond of his relatives, but he also didn't want them to die if Dumbledore put as much effort into protecting them as he did his own school. Once everything was safely in the trunk and the Dursley's passports were in easy reach, Harry went downstairs and helped himself to a filling meal and then got ready for bed before the sun had even set. With a shrug, Harry put the workbooks on the rickety desk and pulled out both potion vials. With the ease of long practice, Harry knocked back both potions and focused on relaxing as his head seemed to swarm with strange words, as if he were caught in a literary typhoon. Before he even knew it, he'd fallen asleep.

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With how early he'd gone to sleep, Harry woke up early. His head felt strangely full, but it was only a small distraction as he threw together a big breakfast and went back to his room. He sat down at the small table and opened the Hindi workbook; it wasn't anything too complicated, in fact it reminded him of a reading comprehension test he'd taken before Hogwarts, only it involved basic information about Magical India. Page by page Harry read and wrote in India's most common language for the first time and tried to absorb the basic information on the magical nation; as he went he realized he knew how to pronounce every word he read or wrote down.

Even though the book was over a hundred pages, Harry managed to finish it not long after lunch. He ended up heading downstairs and doing some watering in the yard but mostly that was just an excuse to spray water until he found his current watcher hiding under an invisibility cloak. Harry didn't recognize the voice, but he was absolutely sure it wasn't Moody. With a smile on his face, Harry finished, went inside to take a quick shower, then he tossed his Japanese workbook into his trunk. As he got out of the shower, he spoke up as he took the trash out to the bin. "Aunt Petunia, didn't you mention getting tea with your friend across town? You wouldn't want to be late."

Petunia nodded and shouted for Vernon and Dudley to dress up for tea. Harry wished them well and announced he was going to get some rest, then quickly threw a Harry-shaped mound together in his bed. He tied a note to Hedwig for her to deliver to whatever Professor was at Hogwarts explaining that since his friends couldn't write to him he was sending his owl to enjoy the grounds and Owlery. Taking a moment to gently stroke Hedwig's feathers, Harry whispered in her ear. "Go enjoy Hogwarts girl, don't want those dirty rats taking over while you're gone. You'll know when to find me."

Harry let Hedwig hop onto his arm, then brought her to the back porch and let her fly. Heading back upstairs, he donned the little amulet that would hide him from owls and hopefully other methods of tracking until he could find something better. Then he slipped under his invisibility cloak, double checked that his trunk had everything in it, and slipped into the empty front seat in the car. Pulling out, Vernon followed Petunia's instructions and paid for two week's parking once they arrived at the long-term parking lot. Petunia was having a lot of trouble keeping Dudley quiet, but eventually they followed Harry's tugs at Vernon's sleeve to an alley where no one would see them leave. Once they were all together, Harry folded his invisibility cloak and pocketed it. He looked rather out of place standing there in the plain gray robe he was wearing, but shrugged it off and pulled a length of rope out of his pocket. "This is a portkey. Everyone needs to tie a section of the rope to themselves and hold on tightly while we're in transit. Do not let go while we're in motion; I have no idea what would happen but it wouldn't be good. We're heading for the International Portkey Terminal in Nagpur, India."

It took a few moments for the hesitant Dursleys to all grab on, but in the end they did. With one last look around Harry drew his wand and touched it to the rope. The activation phrase was a bit whimsical, but Harry couldn't help but smile as he said it. "Onwards, to adventure!"

And with that, Harry and the Dursley family vanished from Little Whinging on the longest portkey journey any of them had ever experienced.

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A/N: I meant to write more of this story out before I started posting it, but I have the first arc written out and mostly polished. Since I don't have anything else ready to post, I'll start posting it now. I hope everyone enjoys it!

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