Growing up with the Dursleys, Zephyr Potter learned early on that crying doesn’t help. It only made things worse. So he stopped doing it. No matter how hungry, sad, or scared he was, he never let a single tear slip. But on one day, during his first year, laying on his bed in the dorms after he excused himself from class, he let the waterworks flow. He couldn’t help it. What looked like the turning point in his miserable life turned out to be the exact opposite. He thought he could become a powerful wizard and go on exciting adventures. Leave the pitiful Zephyr at Privet Drive behind, and embrace the new, powerful one. A hero that experiences all the pleasures life offers.

But it was not meant to happen.

His magical aptitude was terrible, needing a tremendous effort to perform the school spells, even on the most pathetic level. In fact, if he wasn’t so good at the theoretical part in his studies, Dumbledore would have no justification for keeping him at school. And if that wasn’t enough, exerting himself too much in magic caused him great pain. The reason? A mysterious disease that only got deadlier as time went on, which caused many professionals to predict his death before he even reached adulthood. And the year got even worse when his sister talked to a snake during duelling class, which caused the entire school to call her evil, and all his “friends” to distance themselves from him.

All this was too much for the eleven-year-old boy, which led to him breaking his self-imposed rule. He remembered ranting in the empty diary he found in his belongings, after his tears dried out. Just to be surprised when the diary talked back and offered him help. He remembered how he foolishly accepted out of desperation, unable to cope with his fate. When he asked the diary who it was, it simply told him to call it Tom.

- - -

“We finally meet, Zephyr Potter…”

Zephyr whirled around towards the voice in alarm. His eyes laid upon a handsome, dark-skinned man wearing colourful, expensive looking robes. Silken, brown hair was framing his face as he was haughtily glaring at Zephyr with his ember eyes. He was sitting on a simple chair in front of an old-looking stone table. The table, besides a carved in magic circle, and a plain stone urn, was bare. There was nothing else in the room.

Without realising, Zephyr was staring. Seeing someone that looked like some middle eastern royalty sitting in the most spartan room he ever saw painted a bizarre picture.

The man took the silence in the wrong way. “Hmm… did my beauty blind you? I can’t fault you. You are not the first man that desired my touch. Though few of them were as… captivating as you, I must admit.”

His words broke Zephyr out of his stupor. Ignoring the weird and ambiguous compliment he just received, he couldn’t help but grew concerned. He was just yanked into a different place, unarmed, with an unknown man that immediately flirted with him. No matter what he told himself, the situation looked grave. He was fearing for his purity.

“Nobody will ever invade my back-door!” He said swiftly, glaring defiantly at the man.

The man rose a brow in amusement. “Oh? You would reject someone like me?”

“Did I stutter?”

At that, the man laughed loudly, needing some time to calm himself. “Do not worry, child of Venus, my intentions have nothing to do with your… back-door. Sadly, our meeting is not one of pleasure…”

Child of Venus? He shook his head and focused on more pressing matters. “Who are you?” He looked around exaggeratedly. “And what is this place?”

“This is my punishment.” The man said, losing all his amusement. “And my name is Enuma.”

“And why am I here? I doubt I have anything to do with your… punishment.” Zephyr said cautiously, cursing the Dursleys for locking his wand away.

“That’s where you are wrong Zephyr, my punishment will end with you and nobody else.”

This was only getting more confusing. “I do not remember ever hearing anything about this, so please explain.”

“After being defeated and caged like an animal, I’ve been forced to nurture a promised hero. They said I would recognise him the moment I lay my eyes upon him. And I guess they were right…” Enuma said, eying Zephyr with some interest.

Zephyr frowned and asked, “You need a hero? For what?”

“Tell me, child of Venus, how many worlds you think are out there?”

Worlds? Confused, Zephyr went to open his mouth but was interrupted by Enuma. “I am sorry, that was foolish. Of course, you don’t know how many there are. To answer your unasked question, there are countless worlds out there, each with different versions of them, called parallel worlds. Some of these parallel worlds are the same, some are different, and others are completely unlike the original. But that does not matter, the important thing are the original worlds. Unlike the parallel worlds, where their continuing existence doesn’t matter, the wellbeing of the original worlds very much do. Unfortunately, those worlds are the most prone to cataclysmic events. To counteract this, each world chooses a champion to bring back stability. They are like the main characters in the books you like to read.”

Zephyr was listening to Enuma spellbound. While his first instinct was to call the man crazy, the last years he experienced in the wizarding world made him not immediately dismiss the him. After a momentary pause, Enuma continued. “At one point, an enemy appeared and cursed the original worlds for their own gain. The worlds were thrown in to disarray, and the chosen champions either do not exist anymore, are incompetent, have not the right mindset, personality, and skills, don’t possess enough luck, or simply just die because of many reasons. Either way, the original worlds will be plunged into chaos and destruction.”

Enuma stood up and looked solemnly into Zephyr’s eyes. “As I said, after my defeat, I have been condemned to raise and help a hero in order to save many worlds and defeat the ultimate enemy.”

Skeptical or not, Zephyr felt a chill when he heard his words.

“Well, at least, that is how it was meant to go. You see, I am not really fond of following rules.”

“Huh?”