Disclaimer: I am not JKR, I am not even female. The characters and canon events do not belong to me, some non-canon events also do not belong to me, but to other fan fic authors, as there are several things I have probably stolen from other stories (consciously or unconsciously) so to those authors who recognize elements from their stories this is not a blatant attempt to steal from you, but an acknowledgement of your great writing, which I use to try to make mine better.

P.S.-sorry for the long disclaimer but I wanted to cover all angles.

Warning: This story is AU, characters will act OOC, and there may be other warnings latter in other chapters that I will add in as I go. This will be a Harry/Hermione ship. Dumbledore will be manipulative but not evil, from a point of view. May be bashing of some Weasleys, haven't decided yet. I think that pretty much covers everything…

Cah11 humbly presents:

Boy Soldier

Prologue: The One is Chosen

It was Halloween, 1981, and silence had fallen upon the town of Godrics Hollow. All the families had finished their trick or treating, so there were few people out in the streets. Suddenly a road that had been vacant had a traveler that seemed to appear from nowhere and nothing. The figure was very oddly dressed in a long cloak, so black it seemed to absorb the little light there was right into the fabric. The figure made no sound as he moved from where he had appeared up the lane toward a specific house that no one should have been able to see.

As the figure walked up to the front step, their hand reached into a pocket in his robe, and withdrew a frail looking piece of wood. Waving the stick in an intricate pattern the figure pointed it at the door; the stick released a bright light that impacted the solid wood of the door, causing it to shatter to splinters. The figure heard a woman's scream and a man yell for her to get out, seconds later there was a flash of green light and the man's voice fell silent. The woman, Lily, cried out in anguish for her husband, who now lay dead at the foot of the stairs. But the vary enchantments they had erected to protect them and their home, now prevented anyone from hearing her calls.

If one could have penetrated the protections surrounding the house, they would have heard Lily begging with her attacker to spare their son, to kill her instead. They would have heard a high clear voice order her to stand aside, or her life was forfeit. They would have heard Lily's last desperate plea with her assailant to have mercy on her son, before the second voice intoned two of the most dreaded words in the magical world "Avada Kadavera." Once again, a flash of green light emanated from the house, this time from a second story window. If one could have pierced the enchantments further and actually entered the house, they would have found the tall figure that had suddenly appeared on the street, staring at a one year old child, who stood in his crib crying, not knowing why his mother was no longer standing, not understanding that he would never be held by her again, Only knowing that something bad was happening, and that the tall man was the cause of it.

Once again, the man pointed his wand at the child, and whispered, "So young, and yet, such a threat, I regret I must do this, but you stand between me and immortality. Therefore you must die." And with that, the man intoned the two words that had ended the lives of thousands of wizards and witches throughout time. However, this time something different happened, the spell left his wand and flew toward the boy, but suddenly, a solid seeming shield the color of quicksilver appeared between the boy and the death spell, which reflected off the shield, shattering it. The tall man had only enough time to flinch and gasp before the spell hit him full in the face. It was pain beyond imagining, more painful even then the experiences of all of the dark rituals combined he had used to attain his greater power. The figures soul, what was left of it, was ripped violently from his body, and cast into the ether of magic that surrounded all things.

Dumbledore was sitting in his office, anticipating what would happen later that night. The only other things in the room with him were a candle, a table, the chair he sat in, and two spindly little instruments that sat very still on their points, like toy tops the muggles used. The two instruments were connected to two wards that he himself had cast, one surrounding the Potter home at Godrics Hollow, and one surrounding the home of the one year old Neville Longbottom in the West Country. His suspicions that it would be tonight were confirmed when the instrument connected to the wards on the Potter home began to spin on its point and emit a shrill whistle. Standing, the headmaster swept from the room until he was outside the school wards, once he was, he apparated to the front of the Potter home and then waited.

He watched, hidden from sight by long shadows cast by inadequate lighting from the street lamps, as a green light claimed the life of first James Potter, than his wife. A solitary tear made its way down the old headmaster's face as he was forced to watch two people he counted as good friends be sacrificed for the greater good. He wished this didn't have to happen, but he had to know, which boy was the one spoken of in the prophesy. Suddenly green light was seen once again from the house, and as Dumbledore realized what was happening and had begun to run for the door, there came a shriek of agony that told of pain beyond the scope of anything a mortal could possibly withstand. As Dumbledore climbed the stairs to the second level, he was surprised to hear the sound of a young boy wailing coming from what he knew to be Harry's room. 'No, it can't be' the headmaster thought, the idea that a one year old boy could survive a curse that had ended the lives of wizards tens if to hundreds of times more powerful than him was ludicrous.

But there before him was the evidence in that Harry Potter, the one year old son of James and Lily Potter was not lying silent and dead in his cot. He was in fact screaming at the top of his lungs due to the fact that there was a huge gash across his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt, which was leaking blood of a darker hue than normal blood. Moving closer, Dumbledore waved his wand over the babe, testing him for evidence of possession, or what would be even more troubling, the presence of an alien soul in the boy's scar. Dumbledore gave a huge sigh of relief when both scans came up negative, but now he had a different problem, what to do with the boy. Dumbledore's brow crinkled in thought, he had two options now: one, he could take a gamble and assume that Lily had used an old light soul ritual to protect her son and leave Harry with his last remaining relatives, the Dursleys, using Lily's sacrifice, Dumbledore could establish blood wards around the house that would protect Harry better than anything. But that was risky; if Harry had survived some other way then Dumbledore would essentially be leaving Harry completely defenseless as the Dursleys were muggles.

His only other option would be to take Harry with him and raise him at Hogwarts, where he would be protected by the castles ancient wards, and by the headmaster's power. The more Dumbledore thought about it, the more the second option made sense, if he kept Harry at Hogwarts, he could control every aspect of the boy's life from a young age, who he interacted with, what he learned, how he reacted to situations. I short, Dumbledore could turn Harry into the perfect savior, the perfect killer, the perfect soldier.

Decision made, Dumbledore gathered Harry up in his arms and waved his wand over the boy, casting a healing charm on the cut on his head, which healed instantly leaving a long thin scar behind. Then he waved his wand over the child once more and whispered a sleeping charm, immediately Harry fell into a deep restful sleep. With that Dumbledore walked out of the house at Godrics Hollow. Once he was beyond the wards that protected the now uninhabited property, Dumbledore turned on the spot and apparated away to Hogwarts. Upon arrival, he made his way up to his office, careful not be seen by any of the other teachers, or Filch. Entering his office, Dumbledore walked straight into his private quarters and conjured a crib for Harry. Dumbledore then set Harry down in it so he could sleep, and looking at the boy, felt sadness in his heart for what he would have to do to the boy. His only chance of survival against Tom if he ever came back was if he was hard and ruthless, a soldier with nothing to lose, and everything to gain. He didn't want to do this, but the greater good demanded it, someone had to stand against Voldemort, and Dumbledore's time was approaching, Voldemort was very nearly equal to him in power before tonight, the only thing that saved Dumbledore recently was his greater knowledge of spells and greater experience. But when Voldemort returned, Dumbledore was sure he would be even stronger than he was now. Harry could have no friends, friends would be a distraction, and something that could be used against him, he could have no parental figures, if they were to die, Harry's psyche could be negatively affected, above all, Harry could not feel important, the boy would have to understand, as all soldiers understood, that if your name came up, and you were called for duty, even if it was for a suicide mission, you had to answer the call. Dumbledore would not strip his self-worth completely, but Harry would have to understand that sacrifices had to be made.

Just another reason he could have no friends, and no parental figures, he had to be alone.

All these thoughts and more flew through the headmasters mind, and he looked one more time at the son of two of his best friends and Dumbledore whispered "James, Lily, forgive me, but it has to be done. For the Wizarding World, it must be done. With that Dumbledore turned away to start making plans for Harry training regimen, it would have to begin immediately so Harry was ready in time for when he was needed.

Warning, long but informative authors note, skip it if you don't care.

AN: Ok, here's the deal:

Salvation- this story is finished, I'm going to be writing the sequel soon, but you won't see anything for a while as I'm actually going to be prewriting most the chapters before I publish this time, that way there is a more consistent update rate.

Sacrifice and Redemption- help me out here guys, I got some ok reviews, but what feels like many more flames than anything else, and this story didn't really have a huge following to be honest. I'll admit, I screwed up Gabrielle's interaction with her mom pretty badly, all I need to know is should I even try to fix it, or just take it down? Leave your answer in the review, or pm me, which ever you prefer. After two or three weeks I'll tally the votes and make a decision.

Boy Soldier- This story will have sporadic updates, essentially this will be my test case for new ideas I have like Sacrifice and Redemption was. Let me know what you liked and disliked, but try to do it without flaming me please…

Oh, by the way, this is unbetaed, anyone who would be interested in betaing for me just send me a pm.

Till next time.