Unofficial Portkey Archive

Title: Year of Discovery

Chapter: (2) Making the Decisions

Author: Laen

Beta: hazeleyes15

Summary: When given a chance to embark on a new journey away from the Wizarding world once and for all, Harry takes it. However, each hero has a task, and Harry learns the hard way that he can't escape his destiny.

Disclaimer: If you honestly think I'm J.K. Rowling, I'll take it as a compliment.

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In life, people are rarely given a chance to change their destinies. They grow up the way they do, struggling through the curve balls life has thrown at them.

The Elders were the ones that were supposed to be in charge of people's chances. How destiny dealt the cards (pun intended), how much luck was to be presented, and should certain things would occur so that the world could be a better or worse place. Made up of four beings, three of the four Elders represented good, while the last represented evil.

Van was the Elder who represented evil, and like the others he too possessed the same abilities to grant chances and change destinies. The Conductor, the all powerful mighty being who created the Elders, included him in the group to help balance the good and evil in the world. However, because the ratio was 3:1, Van would often take his chances and battle it out with the others when it came to any decision making; dealing the cards was how he rolled:

"Full house, let's see you beat that," Van said, revealing his cards to the other three Elders.

The three beings flinched and shook their heads while Van thought about what his request would be. After a few seconds he announced whose destiny he was going to meddle with.

"I'm revoking Spear's innocence," he sad, ignoring the cries from the others.

"Now is that really necessary?" Mae, one of the other Elders, asked.

"I was getting sick of her music," Van explained before continuing with the game. "Who's turn is it to deal?"

Several minutes passed before one of the other Elders had the better hand and won; she then continued with her request.

"Europe is in chaos right now. The prophecy's finally been revealed to Potter and I think it's time we stepped in before anything bad happens."

The other two Elders shrugged before turning to Van, who nodded his head. Gwendolyn, the Elder who had won this round, snapped her fingers; immediately a man appeared out of thin air.

"You called, my lady?" the man bowed as a sign of respect.

"Yes, Kazu. It's time to approach Potter. Give him the opportunity of living life as a normal kid. See if he'll take up the offer of freedom." Gwendolyn instructed.

"Is it the usual ten years?" Kazu asked for confirmation.

"No, just offer four and a half. Van decided to kill Spear's popularity four and a half years early," Gwendolyn paused to throw Van a glare, "so we have some extra magic for him to use."

"I see, I'll leave right away," Kazu said, giving another light bow before disappearing.

"Alright then, new round," Van said, grabbing the cards and beginning to shuffle them, "everyone still wanna play this or switch over to another game?"

"Another game's good," an Elder named Akane answered.

A few seconds passed as the cards were re-dealt, and soon the game started up again.

"Mae, you got a two?"

"Goldfish."

The game continued for several minutes before Van slaughtered the Elders again.

"Hah, hm... Let's make Potter spend three of those years training."

"What?!" The Elders cried out, ignoring the look on Van's face.

"Oh come on, we can thrown him in the Time Chamber next door. Chuck him back into regular time afterwards and have him attend a mortal school for a year or so before re-entering the war. You honestly think I'll let Riddle hang around for four and a half years before taking over the place?"

"I honestly don't understand why you're still rooting for the guy. Didn't he try to kill you to get your powers?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Oh, yeah. I banished him back to spirit mode," Van growled. "It's the bad guy thing to do though! We're supposed to help each other... since the overall goal's the same."

Van suddenly sighed as if he was hit with an epiphany, "But I admit, I never should have let Flamel escape with my immorality information."

The three elders rolled their eyes, before they all simultaneously snapped their fingers. Kazu was going to go insane from the amount of work they gave him.

Day one

Harry James Potter was officially free. Under a new alias, Nicholas Cliffmore, he was now residing in a small town somewhere in Wales. After removing the tracking spell from his wand, Kazu had set him up with a small flat, and he was to spend the rest of the summer on his own before going to a muggle school and continuing his education.

The flat Kazu had set him up with was a nice place. It came equipped with a telly, a fridge, and several other muggle electronics that Harry had learned to use at the Dursleys; it even came with a laptop! Harry had woken up that morning around ten, and after making a huge birthday breakfast and stuffing himself (getting sick in the process from the huge amount of food he ate) he decided to head into the village to explore.

It was about half past noon by the time Harry had finished his walk around the village. He had stepped into several stores, as well as restaurants, just to get a taste of the atmosphere. Simply from what he had experienced in the short amount of time, Harry had a feeling that he was going to like the town very much. Kazu had explained to him that it was a very popular town for teenagers and tourists, due to the collection of popular shops in the area. Personally, Harry thought the town was like a mix between Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.

Sipping on a drink he had purchased earlier from what looked like a popular coffee shop (the people there called his drink a 'frappuccino'), Harry decided he needed do a bit of shopping for some new wardrobe. He was currently wearing his school pants, and a t-shirt he had received from Dean the Christmas before - sporting Manchester United, of course.

Entering into a fancy looking store that had the words 'French Connection United Kingdom" shown outside, Harry soon found a saleslady approach him.

"How are you diddling? Anything I can help you with?"

"Erm yeah," Harry ruffled his hair, "It's my birthday and... I'm looking for a new wardrobe. I'm not sure if I have enough pounds on me but... do you guys take these?"

Pulling out a card from his pocket, Harry flashed the front of it at the saleslady.

"Blimey, Coutts & Co! Of course we take that here! Give me a mo', I'll call Dylan over to help you. Dyl!" The saleslady waved a man who had been folding clothes over.

"This gentleman here's lookng for a new wardrobe..."

Close to two hours later, Harry stumbled out of the French Connection store, several hundred pounds lighter. He had purchased what seemed like a month's worth of clothes, now that the shopping part was over, Harry decided he should be heading back and taking a break from all this spending. Carrying four bags in each hand, he began the walk back to his flat.

That was when he heard the screams and noticed the smoke a distance away. Ducking into an alley he pulled out his wand and shrunk his purchases and pocketed the bags, and then ran back out to see what the commotion was all about.

The screams were horrific; men and women were shouting at one another, telling their families to fun, while children screeched and bawled their eyes out. When Harry first turned the corner and saw the scene, he didn't quite understand what was going on.

Then he saw the figures in black robes.

"Crucio!"

"No!" Harry cried out as whipping his wand out and sending a stunner at the closest Death Eater.

The stunner caught the attention of the other Death Eaters, and many of them froze, as if in shock that a wizard would willingly step out to help muggles. Harry took the chance to take down two more Death Eaters. Almost immediately, flashes of green, red and more shot towards him. Diving behind a car, Harry just barely missed an 'Avada Kedavra'.

"Bloody hell," Harry muttered as he caught a quick breather. Just his luck, he finally gets a chance to start new and the death eaters come knocking at his door.

Casting a disillusionment charm on himself, the teenager exited from the other side of the vehicle and then sprinted into action to defend the villagers. Although he had only been in the town for a few hours, he felt a connection to the place, and he wasn't about to let the Death Eaters destroy his new home.

"Impedimenta," Harry whispered, pointing his wand at a Death Eater who was setting flames to a nearby store. The Death Eater fell and Harry sent an "Aguamenti" spell at the store to help the flames die down, but his activity once again did not go unnoticed. More curses and hexes were shot in his direction, and the birthday boy was soon forced to defend himself.

"Protego!"

"Crucio!"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Harry ducked and flinched as the building behind him was destroyed. Flying pieces of debris collided into him, leaving small scrapes and tears in his clothes, but he did not care. Getting up from where he was, he raised his wand once more to continue the battle.

"That is enough!" A voice cried out amidst the fighting. Several heads turned to see who had spoken, and Harry looked over as well.

It was Kazu.

"Somnus," the Dragon Master said, giving a light wave with his hand.

Bodies around Harry collapsed to the ground, and the Gryffindor was suddenly hit with a sense of tiredness.

"Fate has decided to give you a different path, Mr. Potter," ; darkness soon filled his world.

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