A/N Well then. This is a complete one-shot written in one evening to weed out one my excess plot bunnies. I have no intention to continue this story, but if there is anyone who wants to, go ahead. I know this is far from original plot concept, but as the saying goes, There is nothing new under the sun. Also the usual I don't own anything disclaimer, I write purely for my own and (hopefully) your enjoyment.

12 Grimmauld place was silent. That by itself was not surprising, it had hardly ever been visited since the war ended. And with how many members of the Order died at the final battle, there weren't that many people who even knew about the place. But, for the last week and a half the old house had been a bustle of activity, with the two young teens staying there going through their NEWT tests. Harry had been content to wait for the results to be delivered by owl, but Hermione... well... she had spent most of last two days camping at the ministry, waiting for their results to be processed. Harry smiled to himself when she announced her intention, it was so 'Hermione'.

Harry sat in one of the few comfortable chairs in the house, gazing into the fire of the sitting room fireplace, his fingers playing with the ornate ring on his left hand. He had really wanted to get rid of the stone. Really. He had even readied himself to throw it into the undershrub of the Forbidden Forest. But he didn't. Harry had originally thought about just keeping it safe, locking it away in his vaults or something. Oh yeah, the goblins had been pissed that he broke a dragon free and caused a lot of property damage to their bank. They practically emptied one of his vaults with their fines, but, well... One of his vaults. He was still filthy rich. And somewhere along the way Harry had summoned the spirits of his parents again. And, when the mind magic Hermione used on her parents turned out to be malfunctioning, Harry actually summoned Merlin to help fix them. Long story short, Dan and Emma got their memories back and Harry got the stone embedded into a new ring. That he hasn't taken off once.

A slight warming of the ring told Harry that someone from 'the other side' wants to talk to him. It was a surprisingly useful little charm Salazar had come up with. With a practised movement Harry called forth whatever spirit wanted to talk to him now. To his surprise, James Potter appeared on the chair facing him. "Dad? You are a bit early to discuss my NEWTs."

Even more surprisingly, his usually jovial, despite being dead, father looked at him with a sad expression on his face. "This isn't about that." he sighed, "This is such a mess..."

Harry was immediately put on alert, "What's wrong?"

With another heavy sigh James looked at his son, "Hermione."

"No. No, no, no..." Harry could think of only one reason why his dead father would bring him news of his girlfriend.

"She's not dead." Harry collapsed in relief and started to get some colour in his face back. "But that is not the point." Harry was ready to explode, "Don't interrupt me. This is important." After Harry nodded his understanding James continued. "Now, normally we are not allowed to talk about any of the 'destiny' stuff, you know that." another nod, "But... The fates came to us, and ordered one of us to come here and prevent the calamity that is about to happen. To that end I am permitted to... reveal things that normally mortals aren't supposed to know." He paused and looked Harry in the eyes, "But this only applies to you and Hermione. No-one else must know." After another nod he continued, "Alright, here's the short version: You and Hermione have completely fucked up the life Fates had planned for you. Not so short version... You were supposed to hook back with Ginny and Hermione with Ron." Seeing the outrage in Harrys eyes he quickly continued, "Within a year both of you would have broken up with your respective partners, permanently this time, and gotten back together. Then you find out you two are soulmates, marry, have lots of kids... Oh and also lead the magical world into the greatest golden age since Camelot." Harry was doing a marvellous imitation of a fish, "And when you two die a few centuries later UN makes a 'Potter Order' in your honour. The UN, because ICW was integrated into it when the Statue of Secrecy was finally ended." James finally paused.

Harry sat still for several moments before his brain finally kicked back into gear, "But... How would us getting together early mess up any of that?"

Once again James' face took on a sad expression, "There is a darkness in you both."

"There is in everyone." Harry countered instantly.

"Not like this. And... while you have plenty of experience of keeping it locked away, Hermione doesn't. Her time with Ron would have revealed that part of her, allowed her to understand that she needs your help controlling it. Without your help she will fall to the Dark, and she would only accept the need for help after almost killing Ron during one of their dates. That is actually what would cause them to break up." the two sat in silence for several minutes, as Harry was wrapping his mind around the whole situation. Finally James deemed Harry recovered enough to continue, "Now we come to the crappy part, the timeline Fates sent me to prevent." Harry had the momentary thought that for a spectral manifestation his father sure needed a lot of air. "No doubt your first thought is to explain all this to her and teach her to control her dark side anyway. It won't work. The Fates were very explicit in stating that without the confrontation with Ron she could never gain control of her dark side. And eventually it will drive you apart." James raised his hand to stop the protest already of Harrys lips, "You wouldn't get a choice in the matter. She would run away believing that you are wasting away fighting a lost cause. And when she returns years later, the girl you fell in love with is all but gone." James seemed to blink away tears, "And after another devastating war that leaves Britain, magical and not, in ruins, Statue of Secrecy stretched to the limit and the world at the brink of another World War, you perform a mutual kill when you finally face her." James took another pause, "According to the Fates, that timeline would end with all life on the planet dead before the end of the century."

To say Harry was shocked would be the understament of the century. In one timeline He and Hermione would lead the world into a golden age, in the other, they would bring it to ruin. He had never wanted to be important, to have the future of others depend on his decisions. But it was painfully obvious that it would never happen, one way or another Harry Potter held the future of the world in his hands. Now that was a scary thought... "Then... What.. what do I do?" he finally spoke.

"I don't know." was all his father had to offer.

"Don't know or can't tell?" Harry had gotten used to getting the 'you are not supposed to know' answers, but at this occasion...

"Don't know. Really. Even the Fates said this was out of their hands..." seeing the look on his sons face James shrugged, "I thought it weird too." he got up from the seat he had spent the last half-hour in, "Well, as much as I wish I had something more to tell you, I don't." he looked around the room and took a deep breath. "They are calling me back. I hope you can figure this out, for all our sakes..." with that he disappeared.

Harry sat nearly motionless as his mind processed all the information, looking for any loopholes, flaws or missed details. He found only one. 'Without dating Ron she will never learn to lock it away and if I try to teach her to control it anyway she goes off the deep end... But there is one path he didn't mention... because I would never do that, right?' Harry didn't need to think long on that, he would do anything for Hermione. By the time the wards reported someone using the Floo, Harry had made his choice.

"Harry, where are you!?" her voice sounded thought the empty house.

"Sitting room." he answered in much the same volume. Not many moments later Hermione entered the room and collapsed into the chair that had been occupied by James less than an hour ago. Harry took in her appearance and smirked, "Rough day?" he chucked.

Hermione nearly growled in response, "Bloody Malfoys. I can't believe they got off, Again!" she shouted at the end.

Harry grimaced , he had forgotten that the trial of Malfoys was today. "They actually got off? What the hell..."

Hermione looked at him, "And the best part? When the Ferret was walking past me he actually dared to insult me... Said I would 'learn my place'!" she jumped up and started to pace, "Oh I so wanted to..."

"Draw your wand and eviscerate him?" Harry finished in a calm voice.

Hermione stopped and turned to stare at him, "What? No, I..." Harry could easily see that he had been spot on.

"How long do you think it will be before the Malfoys become 'upstanding pillars of wizarding society' again? How long before their blood money begins to fill the ministers pockets? How long until all we have fought for, what our friends have died for is undone?" By now Hermione had sat back down, her face slowly becoming paler.

"You don't really think it would get that bad, do you?" she asked in a small voice.

"No." he paused and Hermione seemed to light up, he crushed the thought, "It will get worse." Seeing her get ready to argue, Harry cut her off, "How many Purebloods have I killed? How many have you?" he paused, giving her a moment to think, "I know the exact number." he looked her in the eyes, "Not enough." ignoring her gasp of surprise, he continued, "Malfoy isn't the only one to get off without so much as a slap on the wrist. And he and others like him will spend a lot of money and time trying to make life hell for anyone who opposed their master, especially us." he smiled sadly, "How many years will pass before one of us gets brought before the Wizengamot, charged with murdering all those 'upstanding citizens'?" he sighed, "Fame is fleeting and when large amounts of money get involved even Merlin himself could be made into a terrible dark lord."

Harry got up and left the room Hermione hot on his heels. "Where are we going?" He had to smile at her use of 'we'.

"Armoury. I have a feeling that Malfoy Manor might experience a tragic fire during the party they are having tonight." his voice was cold, but, to her surprise, Hermione did not find the idea Harry presented unsettling. "For years we have fought Dark with Light, fire with water... I didn't work out well for us. I intend to fight fire with fire. I will understand if you want to walk away..." Harry knew this was the deciding moment. If she walked away...

"You are right. Following Dumbledore's ideals of mercy and forgivingness has only caused more death and suffering. You can't cure a cancer, you cut it out. And it seems like we will have to do the cutting."

Walking into the bedroom-come-armoury Harry paused, wanting to make sure his plan would succeed, "You do understand that there will be no going back? If we do this we will most likely have to go all the way." his expression left little doubt on what 'all the way' meant.

Hermione easily caught his meaning and found herself agreeing, "Harry, if the ministry remains this bigoted and corrupt after two wars against blood-supremacists, there is no saving it. Besides, look on the bright side." Hermione paused putting on her basilisk-hide suit and turned to face Harry, "It's not like we will face a lot of civil unrest. Most of the people who would want to rebel we are going to be killing anyway. And the rest will easily buy the story of 'Saviour of wizarding world overthrowing corrupt government'." she finished putting on her armour and grabbed her cloak.

"And you really think we can do this on our own?" Harry smirked. He already knew the answer.

"Most of the DA will probably join us once we explain our goals. Hell, most of the Auror force probably will." she turned to face Harry, "You have been building an army of highly loyal followers for quite some time. We won't be on our own for long."

Harry had put on his armour and, in a spur of the moment, replaced his phoenix-feather wand in his main wrist holder with the Elder wand and instead of wearing a normal cloak he put the cloak of true invisibility around his shoulders. Reaching out with his magic he let the power of the Hallows leak into his aura, giving him a truly menacing appearance. With a smile Hermione reached out her hand, "So, shall we go crash a party, oh Master of Death?"

"Indeed we shall, Reaper my beloved." Harry's voice had taken on an otherworldly quality, somewhat what one would expect, well... Death to sound like. Hermione found it surprisingly attractive.

Without another sound the two two disappeared from 12 Grimmauld place.

"You knew this would happen."

"No. We hoped, but there was no knowing."

"The Fates were hoping something would happen. That's a first."

"For us as well. Your progeny is most... unusual."

"Well, you won't hear me apologizing."

"Oh... My sister meant that in a good way. This is the first time anyone has managed to defy our will."

"And in such a spectacular way as well. It is truly a pity."

"What? Hasn't he suffered enough?"

"It is a pity we shall never meet them. But there is a question you all must answer."

"What will you do when he calls you next."

"I almost forgot! I got our NEWT scores!"