A/N's Of course as always: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters found within those books. That belongs to JK Rowling, Warner Brothers and plenty of others, but not me.
Hey guys! Its been a while since I've written anything but I got bit with the writers bug so you've got a long one coming. I plan on bringing Severus in on chapter 3. That's when you'll get smut. I think I'll follow through with this storyline even after potter chooses his fate. We'll see….
Harry sat on his couch staring at the fireplace. After we war he decided to live at Grimmauld Place for the time being. As he sat thinking about his future he was pulled from his thoughts as a bright light erupted in the room. He immediately went on the defensive and stood guard with wand drawn. Before him stood an old lady in a gaudy flowery robe. Her hair was a nest of grey curls and she looked not unlike a distant cousin of Dumbledore.
"Put your wand down, I mean you no harm. In fact I am here entirely for your benefit." She calmly explained. The light had all but disappeared to a faint glow that surrounded her.
"Who are you and how did you get through my wards?" Harry demanded with wand still raised.
"I am Lachesis." She responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Who?" Harry asked.
"Oh come on! Didn't they teach you anything at that school of yours besides how to hex the shit out of people when you get yourself in dumb situations?"
"I was kinda busy defending myself against a maniacal snake-man and being manipulated by a crazy old cook to focus too much on anything other than defense. Now can you please explain what you are doing here?" Harry demanded.
"I am one of the three fates. Normally my job is to simply measure your life thread; decide your destiny for you."
"My life thread?"
"Oh hell, this is going to be along night! Do lower you wand and provide me with a cup of tea if I must explain everything." The fate said matter of factly.
"Um, ok. Sure. You, just um, take a seat and I'll be right back." Harry said before going to the kitchen to make tea. There was something reassuring about her presence that made Harry not worry about his safety as he turned his back on her to leave.
HP…
After handing her a cup and returning to his place on the couch he waited silently for her to continue.
"Everyone has a life thread, Harry. My sister Clotho spins the thread of life. I measure the thread and my sister Atropos is the cutter of the thread. Atrospos will choose the manner of your death when the time comes. Normally it is as simple as that. However are one of those rare humans that pull at our hearts. Those that are so important to history or are so loved that we have to deviate from the norm." She explained before taking a sip of her tea.
"Do you mean that I'm different? " Harry asked.
Lachesis didn't even bother to contain her snort of laughter. "Aren't you always my dear?" She said with a smirk on her face.
"Please, I just killed Voldemort not even a week ago. Can the fates not let me have a moment of rest before barging in again? My life has already been about my destiny. I was the bloody chosen one! Are you saying that I still don't get a choice about how I live my life?" Harry asked as the annoyance started to rise within him.
"You are correct and that is exactly not what I'm saying."
"Come again?"
"Since you are so special, important and loved not to mention the great ability in you to love unconditionally, you have been given a choice." She answered as if her statement would be followed by a duh!
"I'm sorry, I still don't understand."
"No you certainly do not. You have no understanding what your choices are and how greatly they will affect your life. You have lived a life that keeps you from seeing the possibilities of your future. That's what I'm here for. To show you what options you have. If I sat back and did nothing it could be tragic. Your life harry, can go on three paths; the good, the bad and the ugly."
"Well, can't you just tell me what the good is so I can go on about my life and you can go do the fate-y stuff that you do?"
"Then that wouldn't really be giving you a choice now would it? No. Tonight I will show you your life based on a very important decision you have to make."
"And what decision is that?" Harry asked. He caught himself about to pinch the bridge of his nose out of annoyance much like he had seen professor Snape do a number of times.
"What would be the fun in just telling you? Now come child! Take my hand, your journey awaits!" She exclaimed with giddy joy as she stood and held out her hand to Harry.
FATE 1: THE UGLY…..
After some hesitation he took the old lady's hand and immediately was hurled forward. After using the floo and apparaiting he should be used to the feeling, but he found that after all these years, he still was not.
When he finally stumbled forward he found himself standing in the living room in Grimmauld Place not 15 feet where he had just been sitting.
"Um, I don't think it worked." He said to the fate. She only smirked in response.
"Patience, it worked just fine." Not a minute after she said that Harry saw himself enter from the kitchen. He was taken aback by how he looked. His normally sun-kissed skin was pale and he had dark circles under his eyes.
"Is that me? I look like shit!" He exclaimed. He usually wasn't pre-occupied with his looks but he couldn't help but see the sad expression on his own face.
"I have to agree. This is you in only a couple years."
"But I have grey hair! " He couldn't help but exclaim.
"Yes. And that's whiskey in your hand. You drink quite a lot of it." Just then the floo flared as both Harry's turned to view Hermione stepping through.
"What do you want?" Harry, the one in real-time going on this journey was quite shocked at the bitterness in his imaginary's voice.
"I just wanted to check on you. Everyone's a little worried cause you didn't come to dinner at the borrow even though you said you would. " Hermione explained.
"I'm sure you all had just as good time without me. You don't need me bring down your little get togethers." Imaginary Harry responded.
Hermione looked as though she was on the verge of tears as she sat in the chair across from him. "We have tried, Harry.." She said choking down a sob. "We have tried to get you out of this house, I have recommended outside help."
But imaginary Harry cut her off. "I don't need a shrink Hermione! I'm perfectly fine! I was just fine relaxing with a drink before my know-it-all best friend decided to show up and lecture me about not getting out enough. Here I don't have to have anyone fawning over me. Here I don't have to deal with people whispering about me becoming the next dark lord. Here I'm perfectly content, thank-you-very-much."
Real harry was in awe. "This can't be a possibility! I would never treat her that way! Where's Ginny? Did she leave me? I would never be that bitter! Harry asked Lachesis looking absolutely horrified.
"Anyone who wallows in their own self-pity for too long can become bitter. Isn't that exactly what you were doing when I found you?"
"No, I was just reflecting on my life. That's not self-pity!"
"There was celebration held in honor of those that fought in the war. Even Severus, the hermit that he is, attended. But you did not."
"Is it too much to ask for a little time alone! It doesn't mean I want to end up like that!" He said pointing to his imaginary self.
"Harry, no one wants to end up like that. It just happens. "
"You didn't answer my question before. Where's Ginny?" He asked, very worried. In fact, it was one of the things he had been thinking about before Fate appeared in his living room. He thought about how he should call Ginny and apologize for not talking to her sooner. She had visited him after he failed to show for the celebration. Her face had been a mix of anger and concern. Rather than rush up to her, hug her and tell her how that he had missed her, he simply stood there and let her yell. He had no desire to comfort her; only to be rid of her annoying screeching. Even when she returned two days later to apologize for her previous fit of anger he merely brushed her off. He gave her a small chaste kiss on the lips and told her he would call her soon and they would discuss things. But he hadn't called her as of yet and was feeling pretty crappy for not doing so.
"Ginny, dear, sweet Ginny. I have to admire the girl's determination. She put up quite a fight to get you out of your funk. But you refused to marry her. You refused to open your heart up enough to let her in."
"So that's the lesson? To open my heart up to Ginny?" He asked, relieved that it could be that simple.
"When is anything with you ever that simple?" Lachesis answered him with a smack upside his head.
"Ow! Was that necessary?"
"Necessary for me!" She answered.
"So what happens to Ginny?"
"Well let's take a look shall we?" Again Harry found himself being hurled forward. This time he landed in a very cozy looking kitchen. He could smell the delicious looking food that was spread out on the dining room table. As he approached the table he could see Ginny. She looked radiant with her hair down around her face. There was a glow to her face as she laughed with what could only be her family. A knot twisted in his stomach when he saw her husband which was not him. I found himself stumbling backwards and almost fell if it were not for Lachesis taking hold of him.
"This is impossible! First you show me being a complete arse to my friends and now you expect me to believe that Ginny could be happy with Draco!" Harry sputtered.
"He's not the Draco you once knew Harry, take a closer look.
Harry was in complete shock as he watched three small children run down the stairs. Two boys and one girl. They immediately ran up to their mother and father and gave them a peck on the cheek each, before taking a seat at the table. The five of them laughed and spoke to each other as they passed around the food. He saw Draco reach over and give his daughter a bear hug before brushing Ginny's hair behind her ear before she got it in her mash potatoes.
"They all look so happy! Draco actually looks like he cares! I would picture him getting furious if he children ran through the house like they did!" Harry exclaimed to the fate.
"Draco is determined not to be the kind of father Lucius was. I think Ginny's strong will and delicate touch has softened Draco over the years."
"I think I'm going to be sick." Harry said. His head was spinning as he tried to organize his thoughts. It wasn't every day when your perceptions of others got turned completely upside-down.
"I get it. I shut everyone out, make myself miserable and in retribution Draco gets to have the life I should have had. I'll stop wallowing in the past, and call Ginny and make amends."
"This brings us to your next thread." Rather than tell harry if this were the right choice or not she decided it was time to move on and show him.
"What do you mean?
"If you follow through with making amend to Ginny, this will never have happened. Come Harry, there are still two more paths your thread could take. You've seen enough of this one, let's move on to the next shall we?" Lachesis asked holding out her hand once again.
Next Chapter: The Bad…