this one is from a reddit post on the hpfanfiction subreddit. the prompt was:

Harry's always just a bit too late.

prompt post found on hpfanfiction subreddit posted by u/cat_intrigue. For full prompt please read their post.

what follows is my response. please enjoy this small snapshot.

Harry Potter only knew four things absolutely. Everything else was up for debat in his fifteen year old mind.

Those three things were, in order, Love was what made you strong. He remembered talking to his mum in his third year after the Dementor Debacle. His mom speaking to him for hours while Inbetween about love, power, magic and hope. He had experienced it himself. He was always late, it was as if the universe twisted so it would be so. But he may have always been late... But sometimes he wasnt too late. That power that love gave was something that did what even magic couldn't. It made him swim faster, trying to get to Ron in the lake last year. He studied harder after second year... Vowing that next time it wouldnt be blind luck that saved his loved ones. That was love.

The second thing was that just because they passed on, didn't mean they left you. Harry would likely be described by his classmates as a loner. After third year, he did not reconnect with Ron, nor did he forge new connections with anyone. He studied, he disappeared to practice magic, he gave small pieces of advice when asked and occasionally showed up to quidditch practice and never missed a game. His professors would all state that he was a loner because everyone he cared for died or dies. Both would be correct. Harry knew the truth. Just because they died didnt mean they left you; they just went on another adventure. His mum was clear on that.

The third thing was a realization from his previous year. Magic was and is the power of possibility, and that power will never, ever leave its children. He learned that from that piece of lake scum Voldemort. He disagreed with ninty-nine percent of the scum's philosophy, but he will not deny that Voldemort stating that magic was the greatest thing to ever happen to him was not wrong.

The final thing was that Albus Dumbledore was an empathetic man. This was the newest fact of the universe that Harry Potter added to his catalogue. He added it mere moments ago.

It wasn't the worst night of his life, Harry knew that. Sure, Remus was injured, may never walk again. Sure Bellatrix had blasted Lavender through the Veil and that hurt so damn much. But that bitch will never hold a wand again. And Voldemort was forced into the open in order to save his death eater from Harry's wrath. Harry knew how to improve himself. Had practiced for years to get to the point that Voldemort couldn't ignore him in favor of just dueling Dumbledore. He knew he was far from the headmaster's level, but he knew he could get there.

Most of these meetings didn't have that layer of hope deep in the sorrow and pain.

Dumbledore was crying freely, knowing he had to explain. "Harry, my boy I want to first say I am so very sorry. I want you to understand that I only wish to tell you things of which I am certain. So I must preface this and say that I am about to dive into the realm of magic that is speculation and guess work. You asked after your first year-" a shuddering breathe shook Albus's beard as he steadied himself. " Why Voldemort kept coming after you. You were but a mere boy. I did not wish to ruin your childhold just yet. It was after the chamber that I told you of the prophecy's existence. I refused to tell you the words, knowing that such wordings do not truly matter. Its mere existence would be enough to drive you. And oh it did. My boy your next two years of magical study were magnificent. At thirteen years old, you attacked and held off nearly one hundred dementors before succumbing to their effects. At fourteen you saved Gabrielle Delacour, a veela child, from over three hundred merpeople in their own territory, with only a single injury." Albus' eyes flicked to the left shoulder that he knew held a star shaped scar from the trident that nearly took Harry's arm. " You burned through the Victrius Hordreas hedges, using a technique that was created by Gellert Grindlewald, which you perfected the use of, a feat that only he had accomplished. You did so to save Mr. Cedric Diggory from the acromancula that was going to take his life. You survived an encounter with a fully bodied Voldemort and then further torture by Barty Crouch Jr. I could have told you the prophetic contents then. However I refrained. Believing not that you could not handle it, but that the time was not right, that you should recover."

Harry was silent, knowing how his summer went. The Kissing of Dudley was the lowest point of the summer that ended his stays at Privet Drive.

"This year... I had so much planned. I was to tutor you directly, teach you myself. Yet the ministry's interference required more attention than I expected. Especially with Delores' presence in my school. And each time I looked, you stood brightly. Taking a leadership role amongst your peers, teaching them and mentoring them." At Harry's slight surprise Dumbledore chuckled.

"Harry, Delores was not an educator. She did not notice the subtle things that us professors see constantly. The added flicks, swirls or grip choices of a student mimicking another. The nuanced viewpoint of how a spell or ingredient functions. All of these are obvious to the Professors who make it their life to educate the youth. So yes, we knew of your study group, though we did not expect it to be named Dumbledore's Army."

Harry's smile was small, but it was there. That was Lavender's suggestion. She didn't talk as much as she used to after Hermione's death... She had laughed with Ron after calling her a know it all. But she was still smart at times brilliant.

" Now... I know you are ready and have been for a while. I can tell you the wording. And then we can dive unto speculation-"

" I don't care about the prophecy. It says what it says and I will not change how I go forward because of it." Harry's voice was firm. Albus was quiet for a moment before nodding.

" That is exactly what I would do. Prophecy is a fickle and cruel dream to chase and comprehend. So we move forward. While away from the castle, I was not idle. I had long speculated on the magic used by Lord Voldemort to cheat death. I discovered many a dark magics, some so dark even previous dark lords would have balked at their use." Albus remembered Gellert's grimace and spit of disgust at the mere mention of lichhood and the use of horcruxes vs phylacteries. "With my knowledge of Voldemort's character, his accolades and achievements along with knowledge of how he operated during his previous attempt at domination, and with the use of various memory dives and coersion techniques, I have discovered that he likely utilized a magic known as a horcrux. Likely several times." Albus took a breath," I do not know details of how one is created, my sources would not tell me. Nor have I dove into the history of the magic beyond a mere academic cursary skimming. However the results of the use of a horcrux are what I understand to match Lord Voldemort more than any other option I am aware of. His magical capability has not increased substantially, nor decreased in any substantial measure.This factor eliminates lichhood. While cruel, he has not become a massacruing murderbeast that is hell bent on consuming the flesh and or body fluids of those magicals around him, eliminating hybridization with any of the known immortal magical beings. And while subject to a Prophecy, Voldemort is not Prophetically Immortal. At least not in any way I can deem from the words as Told. That leaves a horcuxal solution to this horrid logicial connundrum."

Albus peered at Harry, ensuring that he was paying attention and following along. " It was a horcrux that you destroyed in the Chamber of Secrets."

Harry spoke up," I was one as well I assume. Its how I was able to feel where Ginny was. It was removed in Third year by the dementors. Its why I was able to come back. "

Albus nodded. " Yes. In light of your return to the living, I had to investigate Prophetic Immortality. IE, functional immortality so long as the circumstances of the prophecy are unfulfilled. An uncommon, but not unheard of magical phenomena."

" So. Find the horcuxes remaining because there is at least one more. Destroy it. And then hunt the bastard down and end him."

Harry's words were soft spoken, as if he were creating a to-do list. Albus did not grace him with a response allowing Harry the ability to continue his thoughts.

"Okay. So the same plan, just a few extra steps."

thank you for reading! Until Next time!