The Dark Lord's Equal…
The moment Harry was marked, the prophecy came into play.
The forces of Fate can be an incredibly powerful thing. Once such forces finally come into play, they can sweep away even the most powerful beings in their wake, like a tidal wave carrying away a shivering Chihuahua balanced on a precarious surf board.
Despite how powerful the forces of Fate are, the one drawback They suffer under is that They are not fast acting. They can't just shove the accumulated power and knowledge of a dark lord into a toddler without exploding that toddler. They need certain preconditions fulfilled to even begin to work, and They need time to build up to a certain effect.
For Harry Potter to even meet the qualifications so he could be marked in order to be considered the Dark Lord's equal and set the prophecy in motion, his parents had to defy the Dark Lord thrice, which they did.
Then Harry needed to be born at a very specific time, which he was.
And finally, with all that pent up potential Fate energy, the Dark Lord needed to make the decision to attack the chosen one, thus marking him. Which he did.
The very moment that Voldemort attacked Harry, he marked him as his equal.
Time was frozen as Fate watched in satisfaction as the mark appeared on the chosen one's forehead. Fate contemplated how to go about setting up events to fulfill this prophecy.
The chosen one needed to be counted as the dark lord's equal, but how could a 15 month old toddler equal a 55 year old dark lord? The scales needed to be balanced, but Fate would need time to build Harry Potter up into something that equaled the Dark Lord.
Even if Fate could build an instant hero, It wouldn't. That wouldn't make for a very good story to inspire people and reinforce the concept of the hero's journey. And more importantly to Fate, It's job of creating chosen ones to counter dark lords was made easier when the stereotypes were already there, imprinted on humanity's consciousness, for Fate to make use of.
So while Fate wasn't capable of building up a hero instantly, It was amazingly good at tearing powerful people down. So Fate twisted things, just a little bit, and instead of a killing curse landing on Harry Potter, it was bounced off the prophecy mark and destroyed Voldemort's body, trapping him as a shade for the foreseeable future.
While Harry Potter was free to grow up, Voldemort was stuck as a shade, unable to grow, unable to improve.
Fate stared at the small child and contemplated. Throughout history the difference between a hero and a villain was as simple as their choices. One person, when faced with tragedy, would choose rage at the world and seek to inflict their suffering on everyone around them. Another person would choose to better themselves and the world so others don't suffer like they have.
In order for Fate to ensure that Harry Potter had a similar background to Voldemort so he could choose to be a hero, Fate twisted a little thing here and there so that Dumbledore thought he was exceedingly clever to set up blood wards around the Dursley home and place Harry in a home with his closest living relatives to protect him from his enemies.
Dumbledore didn't realize at the time that he was placing Harry in a home that had no love for him, similar to what Tom Riddle grew up with in an orphanage so long ago. If Dumbledore knew what the Dursleys would be like, he would have done nearly anything other than place Harry with the Dursleys. The old man had no desire for another child to grow up to be a dark lord. It would have been especially easy to prevent since all Dumbledore had to do was ensure the boy had a loving home, unlike Tom Riddle.
Unfortunately by the time Dumbledore knew about how Harry was treated at the Dursleys, the blood wards were active and prevented him from doing anything that would negatively impact the lives of those living there. Taking away Harry would dispel the protections that were protecting the Dursley family from dark wizards and witches, which would be detrimental to the Dursley's well being, so Dumbledore was stuck with what he had built.
But at least there was one sinecure to ease the old man's worry. No matter what means Voldemort's followers tried, they were simply unable to find any sign of Harry Potter to retaliate against. He was at least safe to grow up, no matter how miserable his life would be. Hopefully the child would not become a second Riddle.
Dumbledore decided that once Harry came to Hogwarts he would introduce a wonderful loving family to him, to help guide him away from the dark that would make him like Riddle. Yes, the Weasley family was a well grounded and light family that would counteract the pain of Harry's early childhood.
After seeing to Harry's placement with the Dursleys, Fate twisted a few strands here and there to ensure that none of Voldemort's followers were able to find their sworn lord and help him regain his body. It was too soon for that. The chosen child needed time to grow up.
By the time Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts rolled around, he was beginning to grow quite a bit in magic and skill. He was able to cast a patronus that repelled a hundred dementors. That meant the scales of equaling the dark lord were tilting too far Harry's way. It was time for Voldemort to be re-embodied so that they could be equal once more.
But of course when the dark lord regained his body, the scales were tilted too far in Voldemort's directions. Fate huffed, annoyed that this balancing act was not cooperating. So Fate twisted chance once more in Harry's favor so he could escape the graveyard and grow further. The balance needed to be there for the prophecy to be fulfilled.
Voldemort was wary of the incredible happenstances that kept occurring to save the hated brat from him. Being stymied from killing the brat due to an unknown effect of his wand made him seek more knowledge to counteract whatever kept happening to stop him in his goals.
Instead of blitzkrieging the Ministry and taking over everything right away, even though his minions had done a wonderful job of preparing society for his eventual return and triumph, Voldemort took time off to research. He hatched a plan that would indirectly use his enemy to learn more about the prophecy that was getting in the way of his ultimate triumph.
The delay that Fate engineered for its chosen hero allowed Harry a chance to grow in power and skill, but Fate just kept being annoyed by its chosen one. Time and again its chosen Hero kept backing away from the tools it gave Harry to succeed.
Harry had been given time to frantically study and train his magic so he could equal the dark lord, but what did Harry do instead? Play quidditch, date girls, and generally try his hardest to be a normal boy. Ridiculous! The boy was touched by prophecy, he would be extraordinary no matter what! If Fate had to drag Harry kicking and screaming to his destiny, that's what would happen!
Even after Fate manipulated things so that Harry gained an army that could triumph over the army of Voldemort so the two can be "equal" in that respect and have their epic confrontation while their armies battled, Harry never took the final step to accept the army he built as his own. He even called the army "Dumbledore's Army", as if the old man was the one who gathered and trained the army, as if the useless old man was the one to inspire Harry's Army.
Utterly ridiculous.
Fate decided that this hero was far too focused on being normal, being "just Harry". Maybe dropping him off with the Dursleys to temper him had been a mistake. Fate would have to take another look at the Dursleys to see if there was anything that made them special in an anti-extraordinary way. Their aggressive dedication to normalcy had even infected and brainwashed a child touched by prophecy, one that was destined to be extraordinary!
It was seriously impressive, even though it interfered with Fate's attempts to mold Its hero.
Fate sighed in exasperation at Its chosen hero in his sixth year of schooling. How many bloody events would it need to arrange to get this hero off his butt and get moving? Fate began thinking of the mess that was Harry's hero journey so far.
In his first year at Hogwarts Harry had a confrontation with Voldemort, so he knew his enemy was still alive and he should be able to figure out that he needed to study and train madly to catch up. Instead Harry fell right back into the lazy attitude that his friend Ron had. Even the inclusion of the very studious Hermione didn't push Fate's chosen one to do anything more than finish his homework.
Second year Fate had caused another confrontation between Harry and Voldemort to push the Hero onto his journey. Sure, Harry stepped up to the plate and succeeded. He even saved the girl. Granted, Harry needed a lot of help from Fate to succeed. But he wouldn't have needed that help if he would stop being lazy and train! But still, Harry was still growing, still learning, so Fate couldn't expect him to be perfect.
And yet the boy kept falling back to "being normal", which apparently he thought meant acting like that lazy slob Ronald Weasley!
Fate decided It needed to get do something different. Maybe getting the chosen boy away from the Dursleys would do some good? So Fate engineered an escape for the boy's godfather and a confrontation with the true betrayer of the Potters…and then Dumbledore ruined the plan and didn't help the innocent godfather that had spent so much time in jail, even though he had the power to call for a trial for Sirius.
In fourth year Fate ensured that Harry was signed up for the death tournament and ensured his lazy friend Ron would leave him alone for a while so he could focus on training like a proper hero should. Fate sighed in relief as Its chosen hero finally, Finally, got off his butt and began training.
And then the lazy friend came back and Harry returned to his old habits.
Fate was just about ready to pull out Its metaphorical hair in frustration at the intransigence of this chosen one!
Fate decided that maybe the death of an innocent friend would push Its chosen one onto the proper path to being the Hero, so Cedric Diggory was sacrificed. That should have inspired Harry to be the proper hero he should be, and yet it still seemed not to be enough to get him on the hero's journey.
In Fifth year, as previously mentioned, Fate had arranged for an army for its chosen one, but he rejected the army. Hell, even when he was going to save his godfather, Harry didn't stop to think that maybe, just maybe, he should bring his army with him to fight the army of the dark lord he was sure to meet. But, no, he only brought 5 friends with him.
'Fine,' thought Fate back then, 'Harry needs something to kick his butt and motivate him to train and fight? One dead godfather coming up, gone straight through the veil, nothing but net! That grief should create a burning coal of anger that Harry uses as motivation to train and kick butt.'
And yet Fate was proven wrong, again. It was so infuriating! Fate was never wrong! Fate was Fate because everything went Fate's way! This chosen one was ruining Its perfect record!
In Harry's sixth year he went right back to trying to act like a normal school boy. Yet again! The chosen one was wasting all the time Fate bought for him to equal the dark lord by playing schoolyard games! Even after hearing the prophecy, the chosen one refused to step up to the plate!
'Fine,' thought Fate, 'none of My subtle hints are pushing Harry to action? Time to kill the grandfather mentor. Goodbye, Albus. Death of a loved one, especially that of a respected mentor is a time honored tradition to call the chosen hero to action. I should have done this years ago!'
And yet Harry still puttered around with his friends. He planned to attend a wedding, hang around and act normal.
'Still not going to step up, Harry?' Fate gritted Its metaphorical teeth in anger. 'Fine, it's time to take off the leash on the Dark Lord and have him take over society. This will push the chosen one to be on the run. That'll get him to finally train like mad…'
Fate watched the wedding reception be crashed with satisfaction and waited for Harry to start training like a hero should, finally.
'Oh, come on!' Fate cried when Harry didn't train while on the run during his seventh year. 'This is the perfect training time for chosen ones! All the conditions are met, all he needs to do is train and his gains will be magnified by a hundred times so he can catch up with the dark lord! Instead he focuses on a scavenger hunt that Dumbledore set for him!'
Fate froze time when Harry and Voldemort faced off against each other. Fate was almost tearing its metaphorical hair out because the conditions of the prophecy were still not met thanks to Harry not training! He still wasn't equal to the dark lord.
Fate looked at the Elder Wand in Voldemort's hand and thought that if It could finagle the ownership of the wand, that would weaken the dark lord and strengthen the chosen one enough so that maybe, possibly, if Fate squinted just the right way, the chosen one would equal the dark lord and the prophecy could be fulfilled.
The problem was that Harry's belief that just by disarming Malfoy who had disarmed Dumbledore he won the allegiance of the deathly hallow was rubbish, of course. That wand was also known as the Deathstick for a reason.
Even though Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald by imprisoning him and tearing down his legacy, Dumbledore only ever wielded half of the wand's power because he didn't kill Grindelwald so the ownership didn't completely transfer to him.
Technically the ownership of the wand was split 50/50 between Dumbledore and Grindelwald for a long time. When Snape killed Dumbledore, Snape became half owner.
When Voldemort killed Grindelwald, he took over half ownership.
When Nagini killed Snape, she took over half ownership. It didn't matter that Voldemort commanded her to do it, she did the deed so she got ownership.
Then Harry let Voldemort kill the portion of Voldemort's soul that was lodged in Harry's scar, so the ownership of that half becomes a little fuzzy. Technically Voldemort killed himself so his half ownership would go to himself since he was still alive. But Harry let the soul shard die in his place, so he might, maybe, could have a small, but shaky claim on having used Voldemort to block his own spell, thereby killing him.
So it could be argued that the half ownership was split between Harry and Voldemort.
Then Neville killed Nagini and took over that half ownership.
Under that view of things, Harry had 25% ownership, Voldemort had 25% ownership, and Neville had 50% ownership.
But once again, this was the Wand of Destiny. Fate had a bit of control over this deathly hallow. So Fate twisted the rules a bit. He was sure that Neville, if given the chance, would have passed his 50% ownership to Harry so that Harry could kill the dark lord.
If Fate thought about it in just the right way, it could be counted as the chosen one beign equal to the dark lord. Finally the long awaited confrontation could happen!
By this point in time Fate had given up all cares. It didn't care who won. If Voldemort won, Fate could just get a different chosen one later on to overthrow the dark lord. If Harry won, Fate could stop playing nursemaid to get the chosen one to the goal line.
Whichever way this final confrontation went, Fate could finally be shot of the single most irritating, uncooperative chosen one in the history of reality!
Fate let time continue as normal and watched.
When the chosen one didn't even use a lethal spell against the dark lord, despite how many people that dark lord had killed and how many lives he had ruined, Fate rolled its metaphorical eyes and sighed. It would need to work on forging another chosen one soon. Thankfully Dumbledore was dead so he couldn't influence the next chosen one, and Fate was keeping any future chosen ones far away from anything with the name Dursley.
And then…Luck intervened and the dark lord's killing curse bounced off of the chosen one's disarming charm and struck the dark lord dead.
Fate froze time once more and just stared at the scene in disbelief. Fate hadn't caused that to happen. While Fate had a lot of leeway with getting the chosen actors to the confrontation, Fate had absolutely no sway over the final outcome. But its sibling Luck had just…That really just happened…
Fate sighed in relief, even while being offended at how it happened.
Fate wasn't going to contest it, though, even if the dark lord didn't exactly "die at the hand of the other", but at his own spell. Well, Fate had messed with who owned the Death Stick, so technically it was owned by the chosen one, 75% being as good as 100% under the right mind set. And since the spell came from the wand owned by the chosen one, the prophecy's clause could technically be fulfilled…
In the end Fate sighed and washed Its hands of the whole matter. At least now Fate wouldn't have to be associated with Harry James Potter anymore, that most infuriating hero who wasn't a hero due to refusing to follow the tropes laid out for him.
Every once in a while Fate looked in on Harry's life and shook its head in dismay. It really didn't understand this chosen one that was infected with ordinariness by the Dursleys. Instead of marrying his smart and passionate crusading friend and having an extraordinary life, he chose to marry the youngest Weasley and have a…ughh….relaxing life of normality, family, and love.
Fate shivered in disgust. It couldn't understand this chosen one. If Harry had chosen the Granger girl he would have had a passionate love life filled with all kinds of role playing excitement. He would have become the minister for magic within a few years and ushered in change for the entirety of the world as he merged the magical and muggle worlds together. He would have been remembered alongside Merlin as one of the greatest wizards ever.
Instead he settled for a comforting life of family and ordinariness, being forgotten in time as things just sort of…puttered along.
'Ughh!' Fate gagged at the sheer normality that this ex-chosen one wallowed in like a happy pig in the muck. Fate vowed once more that It would allow no chosen one to ever, Ever, EVER get close to a Dursley again!