Summary: Harry Potter is an empath, he can sense other people's feelings and intentions. Follow him to Hogwarts and his destiny. Lily is alive. Intelligent powerful Harry. Harry/Hermione

Age: Mature to be safe

Pairing: Harry/Hermione, Sirius/OC, only ones planned so far.

AN: Welcome to my story about Harry's life when he was born an empath and what difference that will have on events. No horcruxes, Voldemorts immortality will be delt with in another way. Harry has no connection to Voldemort and the curse in his scar is removed early on. Lacks the ability to speak parseltounge as well. This will be a Harry/Hermione story from the start. Some Weasley bashing and same with Dumbledore who is trying to meddle too much for his own good.

The Empath

Chapter 1: Childhood

Being able to sense other people's emotions can be both a blessing and a curse. You would probably know if a person is truthful towards you, but at the same time you would know if your friends and family lied to or if they were feeling any other negative feelings towards you. It takes a special kind of person to handle all of this, only time would tell if Harry Potter was that person.

A background on Empath's

An Empath is rarely born and there is next to no information available on them because they rarely tell anyone of their ability or how it works. One thing that is known though is their advanced Occlumency shields that they gain at birth already, it's a way for them to block emotions that they don't want to feel since otherwise they would be overrun by them in large crowds, and quite possibly go insane.

They also show an amazing control over their own feelings, and it's very rare hard to read their feelings and it takes a great deal for them to lose this control. Considering their ability to feel people's emotions and intentions they usually make a very good friend to have with an incredible sense of loyalty.

Also they have a sixth sense when it comes to danger, and also being able to sense how spells and attacks will work out. This makes them very good fighters and they are often found in some form of organization or law enforcement where they can use it for right and protecting others. Due to magic being connected to a person's feelings as well they often find themselves excelling in their magical education and after.

All this considered it's not weird that this ability is not found in many people since being pure of heart and mind is needed for it to work correctly. These people are always found on the side of light since they lack any real wish for power over others.

Now the first Empath in over 150 years have been born and we are now about to follow his life and fate when he finds friends, family, love and his destiny in this world.

31 October, 1981

James and Lily Potter was sitting in their living room in front of the fire and watching their small 1 year old boy playing with his toys. This was a usual occurrence for them nowadays since the most powerful Dark Wizard in centuries had forced them into hiding over a year ago. It was a hard life to adapt to and both of them wished for a time where they could give their only child a normal childhood and watching him grow up and then go to school.

As any parent though they put the welfare of their son above all which forced their hand in this matter, but all was not bad. Several of their close friends had the ability to visit and they did so often, mostly to keep the couple connected to the outside world in some way.

At the moment they were discussing their good friend Peter who had been acting a bit weird recently. Both of them guessed it was the added stress of being secret keeper for their location, and hoped he wouldn't have to keep the secret for much longer. Little did they know the real reason for his behavior, but they would very soon be aware of it.

Another common discussion was their child who acted more grown up then most children at his age. He almost never cried and often he looked at his parents with love and understanding which made both of them feel extremely happy, but still slightly unnerved since they were sure this wasn't normal behavior. Also he was very uncomfortable around Peter who only added to the confusion since he seemed to really like their other friends, Remus and Sirius.

Suddenly the young child stopped playing and raised his head slightly while looking out through the window at the blowing storm outside in this depressing autumn day. After a few seconds he narrowed his eyes and turned his head around to look at his parents who both gave him a startling look in return.

"I think he noticed something Lily, take him upstairs while I check it out." James said to his wife before picking up his wand and walked over to the door. Lily gave him husband a worried look, but picked up harry and walked over to the stairs. Just as she reached it the door blew open and Lord Voldemort was standing where it used to be. Lily gave a gasp and looked over at her husband who had managed to cast a Shield Charm.

"Lily!, run upstairs and take the emergency port key, I will keep him occupied." James yelled and his eyes never left the Dark lord who stood before him.

Lily gave her husband a last look filled with love and worry; she knew his chance of staying alive more than a minute was very small. "I love you" she whispered loud enough for him to hear and received a quick look that said the same without needing any words. He quickly turned back and she ran up the stairs knowing she would never see the love of her life alive again.

When she reached the room with the portkey she activated the timer right away, it would take them away exactly 30 seconds after it started. This was so everyone would have enough time to reach it, but at the moment she realized it was a bad choice. She heard the killing curse and something hitting the floor and knew her husband was no more. With tears falling down her cheeks she looked at the clock, 24 seconds left.

There was too much time left, he would reach them, but if she was lucky she could protect Harry long enough. With 17 seconds left he stood there before him with a very unpleasant look in his twisted face.

"You have evaded me for way too long Lily Potter, but I was very lucky that you choose my own spy as secret keeper." A gasp from Lily was all he got in response, for she was unable to say anything after that revelation. "I do hate long goodbyes though, it is time for you to join your husband." He continued and raised his wand. "AK" He yelled and the sick green light flew not towards her, but at the child in her arms.

Before she could react it hit with full force and a moment of pure panic, fear and terror filled her, but only a second later she saw the light rebound back towards its caster and she saw his eyes widen slightly before it hit him and he was ripped from his body.

Lily stared in shock at the explosion that followed, but before the burning fire reached her the portkey reached 0 and she was transported away together with her son. On his forehead a lightning bolt scar now existed where the killing curse had hit before it rebounded. Thanks to a loving sacrifice from his father he now lived on and (V) was reduced to a spirit.

Lily arrived at their second hiding place that neither she nor James had told anyone about as an added precaution. After collapsing on the sofa crying over her lost husband she finally managed to collect herself after half an hour and sent a letter to Dumbledore.

To Professor Dumbledore,

As you probably know by now our house has been destroyed in an explosion. Earlier this evening Voldemort arrived at our hiding place and killed James who fought him giving me and harry time to escape upstairs to an emergency portkey we had created without anyone's knowledge. Before it activated Voldemort arrived and threw the killing curse at Harry, and it somehow hit him and rebounded leaving just a lightning bolt scar on his forehead while Voldemort was thrown out of his body.

Also, Peter was the secret keeper; we switched from Sirius at the last moment to create confusion. Apparently he is a spy and betrayed us to Voldemort, please make sure he pays for it and that Sirius doesn't get blamed.

I will not contact you again before Harry's Hogwarts letter, I'm going to keep him in the muggle world for protection against death eaters and prepare him for Voldemort's return. Nothing you say can change my mind and you won't be able to reach me before Harry's eleventh birthday, our current hiding place has me as secret keeper. I'm sorry that it has to be this way, but my son's safety is more important than everything else.

Lily Potter

She sent the letter with an owl and then activated the unplottable charm, so that owls wouldn't be able to find them. After that was done she went back to her son and lifted him up in her arms. "One day he will pay my son, but for now, we have to hide. Your father's sacrifice won't be for nothing I promise you that." She said with her voice going stronger the longer she went on.

Harry just stared up at her with a sad smile; he sensed his mother's pain and somehow knew his father was no longer with them. She smiled back with the same sad smile and then put him down in bed. "Time to sleep now Harry, we will need our rest." She kissed his forehead and lay down next to him and closed her eyes. I know you're looking over us, I will take care of him James, and we will live through this and the damn prophecy. I love you always, goodbye my soul mate. She thought before falling asleep.

July 12, 1987

Much had happened in the last 6 years for Lily and Harry. The only two people who knew where they were located were Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, not for the lack of trying from others. Especially Dumbledore had been trying to find their place and get them under his watch and control again. Lily and the others realized that he had spent too much time in power and was too used to having things his way.

This created much distrust in a man they had all respected above all else, but they handled it as well as possible. Sirius had been contacted by Lily just three days after the attack had occurred and he had right away moved in with them, but he was often seen in the wizarding world tracking down the latest news. With Voldemort's destruction Harry had become famous as the Boy-who-lived as soon as Dumbledore reported who was responsible for his defeat.

Most people assumed Voldemort was dead and no one who knew the truth did much to contradict that since either they wouldn't be believed or it would just cause panic without a reason. In the following weeks after his destruction many Death Eaters were caught and sent to Azkaban, though some of the more influential and wealthy managed to escape by pleading the Imperius defense, this included Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle among others.

Severus Snape was also freed thanks to Dumbledore who claimed he had turned spy long before Voldemort's defeat, and he was given a place at Hogwarts teaching Potions to the students dislike since he was very biased.

Peter Pettigrew, or now known as the traitor of the Potters was captured only 2 days after he was found out, and thanks to his many crimes against the light side he was given the Dementor kiss. Lily, Sirius and Remus was all saddened to here this because despite what had happened he was once a close friend and his betrayal hurt them all deeply, especially Sirius who had suggested the switch of Secret Keeper which lead to the death of his brother in all but blood. A few weeks after Sirius moved in Remus was invited to do the same and the four of them quickly became a family that depended and trusted each other.

All of them developed there Occlumency shields so Dumbledore couldn't penetrate them even If he tried all his might, Lily did this because she knew that one day she had to return to the wizarding world together with her son.

At the age of three all of them realized Harry's empath abilities and he was given training by Remus in controlling his gift more expertly and not just by chance or instinct. At the age of six Harry had managed to control his gift completely and could use it not only to read emotions and intent, but also he could sense magical power and presence which was very useful in detecting pranks his Uncles had set up for him.

Now closing in on his seventh birthday they had decided to give Harry a wand to start his magical training early considering what he was future would hold. Sirius and Harry were both in glamours when approaching Ollivander's in Diaon Alley, since it was Harry's first visit here he were looking quite shocked at everything around him. When they entered the store Ollivander stepped forward at once.

"Hello, I don't regonize either of you and isn't that boy a little too young to buy a wand?" he asked, not inpolitely, but in a tone that was way too curious to Sirius liking. Harry sensed suspicion radiating from Ollivander, but remained calm and let Sirius do the talking.

"Hi, well, I'm John and this is my godson Mark and we wanted to get a wand for him early since he is going to be home schooled. We are moving to Canada in the fall and we didn't find any Magical Schools worth going too there." Sirius replied smoothly while thinking that not even he would buy that story.

Ollivander didn't show any disbelief though and started showing wand after wand to Harry to whom none worked until finally. "Ahh, at last, a tricky customer but those are the best in my opinion" Ollivander said. "It's curious though he added."

"What is?" Harry asked, but wasn't sure if he wanted the answer or not.

"Oh, it's just that your wand is Ebony, Unicorn hair and and a feather from a Japanese Phoenix. You must be very pure of heart to get that kind of combination." Ollivander said with a small smile. Neither Harry nor Sirius was sure on how to respond, so they just thanked Ollivander and walked outside again.

"I'm not really sure I liked him, he was kind of creepy, and way too suspicious for his own good." Harry said as soon as they were out of reach. Sirius merely nodded and dragged Harry towards Gringotts.

"What are we going to do here Sirius?" Harry asked curiously. He knew what Gringotts was, but wasn't sure why they needed money since they had already bought everything.

"We are going to make you untouchable by Dumbledore when you finally go to Hogwarts, and that will happen by you taking the House of Potter ring and becoming emancipated." Sirius said to Harry with a smile. Harry had been informed of their plan before, but thought it wouldn't happen until he had reached his eleventh birthday; apparently his family had other plans.

When they came inside Sirius walked up to a goblin and told him firmly that he needed to speak to a manager in a highly confidential matter. After they had been escorted inside Sirius removed their glamours and then explained to the goblin that they just wanted the emancipation by Harry taking his Lord Potter title. It was rare that someone so young became Head of Family, but it had happened before, so the goblins had no objections.

After promising full secrecy until the time came that Harry wanted to reveal this information the goblins led them to the family vault where Harry took his ring and also on Sirius insistence brought a betrothal ring with him. Sirius said it would all be explained in time. After a quick detour for ice cream with glamours activated again they arrived back home and set to work.

31 July, 1991

It had been another four years and today Harry Potter would receive his letter from Hogwarts. During the past years Harry had been trained by all of his family in different subjects and dueling. Thanks to the house being unplottable they could let him use all the magic he wanted without any problems to speak of.

Remus had been Harry's teacher in Defense against the dark arts and Herbology, while Lily had taken him through Potions and Charms with Sirius teaching him Transfiguration and Dueling. Harry had shown that like most Empaths he was prodigal in magic and had already covered all seven years of Transfiguration, Charms, DADA and Potions while having some problems in Herbology with only reaching 5th year level there.

In dueling he had become so good that he was now beating Sirius around half of the times and Remus almost every time despite his young age. With his Empath abilities and amazing reflexes and well trained body for someone his age he was quick to avoid spells and rarely relied on shields even if those where very good as well. His offensive abilities were varied but he had a fondness of using charms since this came so easy for him.

His born with knowledge of Occlumency and Mind Arts had made him able to discover certain dark magic in his scar two years earlier and after visiting a healer they had managed to extract and remove it after a fairly painful operation.

Lily had been horrified for not taking him on a checkup earlier, but the healers had informed her that the magic hadn't crippled Harry in any way thanks to his apparent natural mind defense, but would have with time diminished Harry's ability to use magic.

Harry who was mature for his age for obvious reasons had felt his mother's emotional pain and comforted her explaining that he had never shown any signs of being hurt by it, so she couldn't have known.

After this occasion the scar had faded and now it only show a thin lightning bolt shape on his forehead. Another good thing was that this had made his glasses useless since the magic apparently had affected it someway, so he could again see perfectly.

Sirius and Remus still lived in the house with them, but a year earlier Sirius fiancée Rebecca had moved into the house as well which now had five people living in it, but they were so close to each other so it didn't cause any problems. Rebecca was a 28 year old squib who ran a book shop in the neighborhood where they lived.

Sirius had run into her picking out a birthday present for Remus three years earlier and after two years of dating he had asked her to marry him and move into the house with them. Rebecca was very understanding of the situation since she already knew who Harry was and they had told her about a prophecy, but not exactly what it entitled.

Harry already knew the prophecy of course and had taken it with a shrug of his shoulders; he had already guessed something similar given their fear and worry when talking about Harry's future or Voldemort. He wasn't that concerned at the moment since Voldemort was temporarily gone and he already knew what the power he knows not was after all. He could only train and live his life hoping that in the end he would come out as the winner.

Thanks to a present from Rebecca at his 9th birthday Harry had also developed a strong interest in reading which was something he could do with incredible speed with his well-organized mind. He had already read dozens of book above NEWT level in Charms and DADA, and was now reading about basic healing spells which could be useful during his school years.

Lily thinking all this through didn't notice at first that the owl carrying the Hogwarts letter had arrived. They had removed the wards against them only today for this letter and they would now remain opened so Harry could send letters to them. It was the standard letter and Remus had already taken care of robes, books and getting Harry an owl which he had named Maria.

She sent her reply that Harry would be attending Hogwarts and went to inform him about the letter. Despite there being little the education had to offer him none of them ever considered Harry not going to Hogwarts. You could always learn more and Harry would at last be able to get some magical friends, and as Sirius put it, a girlfriend would be nice as well.

Two weeks before Harry reached his most impressive achievement yet, at least according to Sirius, when he managed to completely transform to his Animagus form, which in Harry's case was a white panther. A magical creature known for its intelligence and pure heart, an animal well suited for Harry in everyone's opinion. He was nicknamed Whiteclaw by Remus and Sirius and also given the invisibility cloak that had been taken back from Dumbledore at Lily's request and also a new version of the Marauder map. Remus said. "Now, you're ready for everything Hogwarts has to offer."

Two weeks later harry woke up with a small smile on his lips, today he was going to Hogwarts.

AN: First chapter is now finished; next one will deal with the train ride, meeting people, sorting and perhaps first day of school. Reviews are always welcome and the next chapter should be up this weekend at the latest.