The Possibles

Chapter One:

Soon to be the Day

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July 29, 2002
2300 hours (11:00 pm)
2 days to Cain
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His powers held him high in the sky as he searched for where, in the near future, his troops would settle down, and in a short time kill hundreds of people on his command. It would be his very first massacre and he hoped that everything would go well so that absolutely none of his 'pawns' would be taken down. He looked around briefly for a moment more. He looked at the full moon hanging heavily in the sky and the millions of stars surrounding it. A small flicker of hope, resentment, and grief clouded his eyes, but just as quickly as it moved in, it disappeared. He looked back down at the city. He concentrated a moment longer, then with a wave of his tense and sweaty hand, Harry Potter disappeared from the sky.

o * o * o

He swaggered down the heavily lit, yet still dark hallway. Black boots hit the thinly carpeted floor with a dull thud at every step. As he moved under a light on the roof, his spiked hair smacked the dangling bulb. The yellow tips shone like gold, making his hair appear as if it were on fire. The neon yellow arrow on his NOFX tee shirt flashed dangerously in the dark as the unidentifiable-blonde-haired-ditz hanging onto his arm giggled. His brown eyes blinked in her direction as his boots thudded with a last step towards his dorm door. He stopped at the door and just stared at the molding around the frame, and the thoughts came to him again.

Why am I here?

Oh, right. Because I can be.

Yeah, and because of that damn Harry Potter.

He scowled inwardly and unlocked the door, letting the blonde past him. He looked up and down the hall before stepping through the door. Closing it behind him, he flicked the lock into place.

o * o * o

Her thin arm reached around the door frame. She was reaching for a light switch that she knew wasn't there, but still did so out of habit every time she opened the door to her apartment on the fifth floor in New York. She struggled with the books in her arms and the bag on her shoulder as her left hand jiggled the keys in the lock, fighting to get them loose. Successful, she shut the door behind her and locked it, finally turning the lights on. She blew the hair out of her eyes and looked quickly around her before setting the stack of books on the small table in her kitchen. She set her keys in the cupboard and her book bag on the extra chair, as per usual, before sitting down and opening the first book.

"I'm so close to the answer..." She mumbled out loud to herself and her aged cat Crookshanks.

"If only he hadn't..." Her sentence was cut short when Crookshanks, her huge ginger cat settled himself onto her resting book.

Hermione looked around her apartment quickly before staring at the cat. She started to talk to Crookshanks, and as he listened, he thought to himself...

This is certainly going to be a long night.

o * o * o

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July 30, 2002
0700 hours (7:00 am)
1 day to Cain
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Salazar Slytherin's castle, located approximately 36 miles North-West of Hogwarts, wasn't as bad as his followers made it out to be. Harry Potter sat stiffly in the stone chair in his bedchambers, staring at what was once a raging fire set in the grate in the wall. Even with the fire long gone, Harry still felt fine. It was as if the weather did absolutely nothing for him. He sat pondering this fact as a gray house elf appeared next to the grate and shoved at the still glowing embers, piling more wood logs and kindling in. When the fire was yet again burning high, the house elf turned to his master, bowed low, and disappeared with a slight pop. He stood, glanced once at the fire, then left the room to gather the Death Eaters in the fields surrounding for their final days of practice.

o * o * o

Ron awoke, arms wrapped dangerously around the sleeping form of the blonde he had picked up the night before. She was in his Muggle Theories class, and she didn't quite get what they were doing. He knew she had jumped at the chance for his help because according to popular opinion, he would "fuck anything that walked" and was rather good at it, too. But that was just a rumour, although he wasn't about to stop it. He had helped the blonde witch, instead of trying to get into her pants, which, he thought now, would have been rather easy. But he hadn't. He ran one rough ink stained hand over his face, being a little gentler as to not catch the ring on his eyebrow bar or lip stud. He opened his eyes and blinked, glancing quickly at the clock. He shrugged his arm away from Stacey (the blonde) and groaned.

Just two more hours until Advanced Potions. Just two.

He set his alarm for 8:30 am and fell asleep again.

o * o * o

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as she shut the door to her temporary office and set her bag down. She left for the library with the stack of books to take back. After dropping them off with the librarian, she headed back to her office when her partner on the assignment, Nadine Nox, stopped her in the hall.

"Any further?" She asked simply.

Hermione glared at Nadine. Everyone in the building knew that Nadine never did anything but sit in the lounge and yell at everyone to do something useful or to get her something. The only reason she still had a job there was that her uncle was the Assistant Director and he wouldn't let them fire his "precious niece". Hermione, unfazed, walked past her and into her office, shutting the door behind her. She sat down huffily at her desk, where a green lamp glowed, and began to go through her books again. She didn't move at all until she woke up the next morning to find her face stuck in the cover of "Time Shifts, Rifts, and Mechanisms: A Guide to Space and Time".

o * o * o

Chapter Two:

Just That Feeling

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July 31, 2002
1700 hours (5:00 pm)
Cain
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His broom held him high up in the sky this time as he scanned the city below. He just had to make sure that there were enough people. And that there were no Wizard Officials. Everything had to work. If absolutely anything went wrong, he knew they would all go to Azkaban. If any escaped or if anything went wrong, he would have to deal with them. He looked around at his surroundings again. He could see the ATIC Building, the Wizard University, as well as Central Park, where it would all take place.

o * o * o

He swore. Loudly, in fact. The professor, standing across the room glared at him. All his professors knew that, that happened to everyone, once in a while, though. But still, during a History final? That would piss them off. He, of course, didn't care. He had written the wrong answer and his wand was in his book bag... that had, conveniently, fallen down the steps. Knowing he couldn't do anything, he dipped his quill in the ink well and ran it furiously across his last sentence. He sighed, dipped his quill again and set off to finish his exam. In a dazed stupor, as it was. One not unlike that you would get in Professor Binns' class. He stayed in the stupor, even while the whispering went on in his ear.

o * o * o

Hermione, who finally caught up on her sleep, stumbled back to her office with a cup of strong tea in hand. When she sat down in her chair again, door locked and blinds down, she stared into the swirling pool that always made her wonder. It sloshed around as she sighed, but she still followed the swirling patterns. After a few minutes, it was rather clear that she was hypnotized by the motion, but she was brought out of her state by soft tapping near her hands. The noises were brought and stopped at the side of her cup, only to be replaced by tiny grunts. All sounds dissipated, though, when ripples of tea hit the edge of the cup. The tea continued to ripple, and she was, yet again, hypnotized by the movement. The whispering that broke the silence, she listened to, though.

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July 31, 2002
1800 hours (6:00 pm)
Cain
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"Harry Potter, soon to be Dark Lord... If I pull this off..." He mumbled out to the gargoyle statue that sat at the entrance to his room.

His army was ready, all they had to do was Apparate. He turned to look out at his troops assembled below the window. The North fields were always best for apparating, it seemed. A grin spread across his face.

"The fate of the world will be mine!" He said to no one in particular.

As he turned to descend the stairs, his conscience whispered in his ear. It continued to whisper, but he looked unsure.

"Fine." He mumbled.

"15 more minutes. That's all."

His conscience spoke, though louder this time.

"Be sure it is no less than 15 minutes, or all will go wrong." The voice ended in less than a whisper.

Harry Potter once again turned to the window for the 15-minute wait.

o * o * o

Ron sat, idly drumming his fingers on the desk. Stained with ink, as always, he noticed. For the last two hours, he had been writing an essay on everything he could remember about Ian the Exuberant and his experiences with the Elves and Eskimos in Northern Egypt. He had found History of Magic interesting since taking it up here, and was glad. It had been another successful class choice. When the last quill stopped scratching nearly five minutes later, the professor motioned them towards the door, yelling that marks would be posted in a week. Ron gathered up his things, dumped them inside his book bag that was now hanging over his shoulder, and made for the door. His boots thudded heavily on the carpet as he raced through the building and out the front doors. He moved along the streets, trying to seem casual, but in the back of his mind, he knew he had to be in Central Park at 6:15 pm today.

o * o * o

Because of the way the traffic was moving, Hermione decided that taking a taxi to Central Park was out o the question. She had forgotten the reason why she was going there a while ago, but she was still going to be there at a quarter after six, whether the pedestrians liked it or not. She had headed out of her office nearly ten minutes ago, but alas, she had only gotten through two blocks. She worried about this, as usual. She didn't like being late. After a few more blocks and manoeuvring around a hot dog vendor, Hermione finally set foot in the park. It was crowded as it usually was at this time. She wandered over to a bench near the middle of the park. Settling the books on her lap, she listened to a saxophone player in front of her blow out both Muggle and Wizard songs.

o * o * o

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July 31, 2002
1825 hours (6:15 pm)
Cain
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Running his hands along the now familiar walls of the old castle, Harry finally made it out to the North fields where his Death Eaters quickly assembled into groups.

"Remember!" He yelled out loud.

"Stay invisible. And don't do anything until you see my command, or there will be consequences!"

He waved a hand over the group and they were invisible. He waved his hand again and he was gone.

o * o * o

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July 31, 2002
1836 hours (6:25 pm)
Cain
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Ron, who was watching a saxophone player belt out "She's a Warlock" by the Angry VAMPIRES, was tapping his foot to the beat while he was waited for whatever it was he has here for. He scanned the area for what might be something familiar when he saw her.

o * o * o

She sat, drumming her fingers on her books to the music being played before her. She knew the song being played and sang gently along with it. She looked around her, noticing something familiar about the punk rocker walking towards her. Maybe it was the hair, or the eyes, or maybe just the way he walked, but she knew him.

o * o * o