Tightrope

“I choose…” Harry looked at the many paths before looking at his parents again with their friends and one of his heart brothers beside them. Taking a deep breath, he looked back at the different paths. The ones that lead from his known worlds to the ones that lead to those of a new change, a new life, a new home. He huffed out a breath of air as he looked between the worlds again. “Can you tell me more about the other earth…” He looked at that path before looking at the others on the side away from the world he knew.

“What do you wish to know child?” Lord Fate stood and came up beside Harry.

“Is there just one or…because it looks like there are several paths leading away from that gate.” Harry asked looking at the arch carefully with his expression blank.

“That’s because there are many different universes out there…So there are many paths…some have no magic but elementals. Some have those with extra gifts called Metas. There is even a few worlds where the Ancient ‘Gods and Goddesses’ are actually real people…There are different areas and lives that can be lived that are all parallel but still different, one choice can lead to different outcomes…It’s similar to the world with the Heralds and Hawkbrothers…one decision could lead to one being chosen or not by a Companion while in another it would decide if you fell in battle or survived…that sort of thing.” Lord Fate said with a shrug having trouble explaining the idea of the multi-verse clearly. “It’s something that can cause so many changes…”

“I understand…it’s like the Robert Frost poem about the path…and taking the one less traveled by.” Harry said with a small smile touching his lips looking back at the gate, some of the paths looked cultivated like one would find in an English garden, others looked wild like one would find in a jungle, while yet others looked paved as if in the middle of a city.

“YES! Exactly like that!” Fate snapped his fingers and pointed at Harry all but dancing in place glad that the kid understood what he was trying to say.

“The ones that have the Elementals in them…what would…would I…” Harry looked and smiled as he saw the many paths condense down to only three, one English Garden, one Wild, and one Urban.

“Because of how Fawkes saved you from the Basilisk you have a touch of fire element in you already. Meaning that it would be much easier to give you that gift.” Lady Magic stepped forward with a gentle look on her face.

Beside the gate that had drawn there attention two bodies formed a male and female both clearly Harry though altered slightly. The male was taller and healthier looking and had highlights of red and white through his short crazy hair. While the female was still petite, though healthily so, and had the same hair only down to her waist and in loose waves. Both were eye catching in beauty but in an understated sort of way as if they were trying not to be, something that Harry had always felt. Harry couldn’t help stepping forward and studying the two figures head cocked to the side with a slight smirk as the others watched some of the image change so it wasn’t so twin like instead the female had his mother’s hair color, though stick straight like Severus with brown highlights that matched Remus’s tone, and his father’s eyes edged with the grey of Sirius. The jaw of the young man took on the slight edge that Remus always hid, while the eyes took on a mix of Sirius and Severus, the hair had the same color of his father but the length and waves of his mother.

“Even in that world I’d have my soulmate…” Harry asked carefully as he looked back at the arch before him.

“Of course…Like I said the only place you wouldn’t is the one you came from.” Fate said softly stepping up and placing a gentle hand on Harry’s shoulder studying the boy before him. “You would face challenges I won’t lie about that…but you’d find a family and love that would make it all worth it in the end.”

“What of the…” Harry looked behind him at the middle path of the other side where there was the mix of different types of life and magic. “Is there any world that is similar without the magic…Is there…”

“You want someone to protect you?” Fate looked at him carefully. “One of the paths with the elementals also had a grouping called Dominate and Submissive…with different degrees of that depending on what one prefers in their life. There are also those that are Switches…they can be either depending on the person. And that doesn’t mean that it is all sexual in any means. Some just need that extra…”

“Care and love?” Harry asked carefully. “The relief of knowing they don’t need to make the decisions in some things and the relief of letting someone else take control?”

“Exactly…” Fate nodded looking at the paths before them again. “There is some aspects of it that everyone has in their day to day lives, though most are considered switches, but there are always those that need to be able to give up control and those that need to have someone to take care of. Though that doesn’t mean that the one giving up the control doesn’t have any control for they have the most in the fact that they are giving that control over to someone else.”

“That sounds wonderful…” Harry winced after he whispered that fearfully looking at his parents who were watching with sadness in their eyes.

“It does sound wonderful baby…don’t be scared about needing that.” Lily walked up and wrapped her baby in a soothing hug. “You have had so much shit piled on you that if you need the feeling of being taken care of or the other way around then that is what you do…We would never judge you for any of that.”

“Your mum is right.” James stepped over and placed a soft hand on Harry’s cheek as he tipped his head into his hand. “Whatever is needed you worry about you not how we view you, though we’d never judge for that.”

Harry only nodded and nuzzled into his mother’s hold with tears on his lashes. He took a deep breath before looking at Fate and Death. “I won’t have them will I…” He continued to accept his parents projected love.

“I’m sorry…but even I can’t change that path.” Fate said with sorrow on his face.

“I figured that…” Harry took a deep breath before looking back at the different paths. “Would I have to grow up again or…”

“I could send you through at the age you are now…change a few things so that you’d truly exist in that world.” Fate chuckled at the thought of having to have the kid be reborn as an infant.

“I’d still have the old memories, or could you make it seem dreams…or something…” Harry looked at Fate with questions clear in his eyes.

“I’d allow you to have your own memories of the new life and the memories of your old would’ve been only a dream and nothing more.” Fate whispered.

“Okay…” Harry nodded before looking at the arch and then back to the others. “I choose this path but…” He looked at Lady Magic and Lord Fate. “Could the both of you chose how I am on the other side and where I am…I…” He looked back at the path. “I’m tired of making choices that have such an impact on lives…”

“Of course, child…” Lady Magic walked up and hugged him. “We’ll make sure that you’re happy and loved…that you’re perfect as you are…It will be alright.” She kissed his forehead. “You just live for you…”

The others came over and gave Harry some final hugs and well wishes telling him how proud of him they were before watching as he took another deep breath and stepped forward onto the path that led through the gate, he chose which had changed to show just one path before him. As he walked, they could watch as the change flowed over him from behind, but they couldn’t see what Lady Magic and Lord Fate decided on for the child.