History Repeats Itself
A mere five days after Harry Potter's return from his haunting past, he finds himself desperately trying to make something he had been greatly lacking for 10 years since the defeat of Voldemort—a home. All he wants is to settle back, have some time to think, make amends with his old friends and maybe even find a few new ones. But fate isn't done with him yet...
Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, I would be a multimillionaire (which I'm not). If I do own something, believe me, you'll know. You'll know...
~
A/N: Hello all! It's the long awaited for sequel! This begins in future (now present) Harry's time and I think it would be prudent to clear a few things up. I tried very hard to stress that Harry would go back to his own time with his own people and with no new ones. Actually, it was more subtle hints. See, if Harry went back and found everyone alive, then he shouldn't have even existed! Then he never would have gone back and yadda, yadda, yadda. You know the rest. Messing with time is tricky business.
Gilthas: Of course it is! Remember when Caramon brought Tasslehoff back in time and he wasn't supposed to because Tasslehoff was a kender and had the ability to change time and because of that time was changed and it had all those side effects and... *trails off*
Me: Of course I remember! But odds are, most of the people reading this fanfiction will not remember because they have never read Dragonlance.
Gilthas: *grumbles something*
Me: Anyway, I'm terribly sorry if I disappoint anyone, but I couldn't do it! Besides, Harry would have been thrilled to go back through the portal if he knew all his friends would be alive and there would have been no sacrifice. I can't belittle Harry like that! He's been through so much and he's finally ready to go back and put it right again! I can't have anything too easy, can I?
Gilthas: Er...yes?
Me: Don't start that! You're my muse, remember, if the story sucks, it's your fault.
Gilthas: Crap.
Me: Yeah. Anyway, I just want to say sorry that it's taken so long to pull up. I honestly can't believe I'm even putting it out yet, but I don't think any harm can come of the first chapter. I've been doing a lot of cutting and pasting and I think I like the way the introductory chapter has turned out. So, if you like it, say so! If you don't, say so! I'm not picky really.
Gilthas: I just want to point out that this is a sequel though I have tried hard—
Me: —with my help—
Gilthas: —to explain what happened in the last story.
Me: Actually, it was more like I tried hard because I was the one actually writing and you were just watching over my shoulder, telling me to look for passive sentences!
Gilthas: Which you didn't.
Me: Yeah, so I bet everyone's just skipping this anyway, so I'll let you read the story now! Thanks to everyone who stuck with me! Oh, and at the end of the last story, Harry mysteriously shows up at Ron's Halloween party which he's been invited to for the last 10 years and has always refused to go to. Just to kind of fill you in. Now read!!!
~
If shame had a face, I think it would kinda look like mine.
If it had a home it would be my eyes
Would you believe me if I said I'm tired of this?
Now here we go now one more time
—Life House
~
Chapter One: Halloween
The room was creepily quiet. The music blared unnaturally loud. Harry felt himself shrinking with so many eyes on him. He fought back the calm, the void that would block everything he had been working so hard to achieve.
This wasn't right.
They shouldn't be staring at him like this.
Why didn't they look somewhere else?
Why didn't someone say something?
Harry fought back the urge to turn tail and run and by doing so, he suddenly felt a surge of annoyance. Why should he run when they were the ones in the wrong?
He felt a hand grip his upper arm and he looked sharply to see Ron looking at him. Ron smiled encouragingly. He suddenly let go and looked around at the other people as though surprised to see them all there.
"Why are you all just standing around?" He asked, managing a grin. "I think Ginny's making food in the kitchen."
"Right enough," said a voice. "And you had better eat every bi—" Ginny Weasley walked into the room and froze when she saw Harry. The bowl she was stirring slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground with a crash. Her eyes were wide and wondering. "H—Harry?"
Again the spotlight was on him. He had to do something! Everything in him told him to do something, that he was standing there like an idiot with everyone watching him, but his feet were rooted to the ground. Mobility wasn't exactly an option.
Why had he even come? It was stupid! He should have come when there weren't so many people. And everyone was looking at him!
Harry's hand found its way into his pocket and he found his wand. He gripped it hard—not even thinking of using it, but gaining some comfort in the fact that he had something to hold onto.
"Maybe I," Harry began. His voice cracked. He winced and tried again, his voice stronger this time. Everyone seemed to be hanging onto his every word. "Maybe I should leave..."
"No!" Ron said. He grabbed Harry's arm as though Harry was about to bolt at any second—which he was seriously considering. "Why should you leave? I sent you an invitation and everything! I want you here just like I want everyone else here!"
Harry wished Ron wouldn't talk so loudly.
He wished Ron would let go of his arm.
He wished that the people would stop looking at him...
He swallowed hard.
"Food's in the kitchen," Ginny said suddenly and loudly. She pulled out her wand and Harry felt himself tensing in spit of himself. She waved it at the fallen bowl muttering, annoyed at herself, "Butter fingers..."
The bowl reformed in her hand and the mess on the floor vanished with another wave.
With the only obstacle—the spilt food—out of their way, the other guests moved to the kitchen, sneaking glances at Harry as they left. Ron and Ginny remained. There was a moment of silence.
"Oh, Harry!" Ginny said suddenly. Setting the bowl on a nearby table she suddenly ran at him and caught him in a hug. "I'm so glad you're back!" she muttered into his shoulder.
Harry felt distinctly self conscious. He suddenly wished quite a lot that he had waited to come back. That he had waited just a little longer...
Ginny broke away, her eyes staring at him in wonder. "But why?"
Harry shrugged, not liking their scrutiny. "Just felt like the right time," he muttered, knowing that he sounded stupid.
"Well I'm glad," Ron said, clearly sensing Harry's discomfort. "Would you like to come have something to eat?"
Harry took a step back. "I'm okay, really."
"Don't be ridiculous, Ron!" Ginny said sharply. "He doesn't want to go in there with all those people! They have no manners!"
"They're my coworkers!" Ron protested.
"I rest my case," Ginny said, giving Ron a look. "Maybe he can go somewhere quieter. You know they'll just stare at him."
Harry was looking between Ron and Ginny. He suddenly remembered just how tall Ron was.
"Maybe I shouldn't have come," Harry muttered. "It was stupid. I probably just ruined your whole day. I didn't mean to—"
"Don't be stupid," Ginny snapped good naturedly. "This is the one thing in the whole world that we've wanted more than anything else."
"Why?" Harry asked, taken aback.
"Harry!" Ron said exasperatedly. "What does that mean? You think it's been easy for us the last ten years, hearing about how you're still out there, all alone, single-mindedly hunting down Death Eaters? It would have made Mum cry!"
Harry felt a jolt in his stomach and suddenly he found that he couldn't look at either of them.
"That was horrible, Ron," Ginny said softly. "Harry's just now coming to terms with it..."
"I'm fine," Harry snapped. He wasn't sure what it was, but suddenly he felt an overwhelming desire to be anywhere in the world but in the one place he was. He could feel the walls rising and for once he didn't fight back. "I'm perfectly fine."
"Harry," Ginny said soothingly. "We didn't mean anything! Please don't be like that! We're thrilled to have you back! You have no idea how much we've been wanting this!"
Harry took another step back, towards the door. He was shaking his head. It was hard to breathe. He had to get out of there or he would suffocate. He couldn't be there!
"Harry!" Ginny practically yelled. "Stop!"
Harry had turned around now and was heading toward the door. "I shouldn't have come," he said over his shoulder.
"Harry!" Ron said loudly.
"Please don't leave," Ginny said. Harry paused suddenly. He could hear tears in her voice. "Not again."
"After all I've done," Harry said softly, not turning around. "You would forgive me so easily?"
"There's nothing to forgive, mate," Ron said. "You never did anything to us! You've made yourself believe that you have, but never once, in all these years!"
"You don't care at all?" Harry asked, turning slowly. "That I killed all those people?"
"You didn't!" Ginny said.
"It wasn't your fault that Voldemort had you marked out," Ron argued. "You did what you could!"
"I certainly didn't do enough," Harry said quietly.
"There's nothing more you could have done!" Ginny argued fiercely. "And I for one am getting a little tired of your pity fest!"
"Ginny!" Ron hissed.
Ginny pushed him away with a glare. "That's just about enough, Harry James Potter! I don't know who you think you are, but you're certainly not God! You've been forced to do more in a few years that any person should be forced to do in a lifetime! Now I know that you feel sorry for yourself, but at some point you have to move on!"
"It's not that easy!" Harry found himself shouting. "Do you think that after all this time I can just walk in and say I'm sorry that I was such a jerk? I'm sorry that had a hand in killing all your families? I'm sorry for everything?"
"Yes," Ginny said forcefully.
"Well I can't," Harry said. "It's not that easy! It's never that easy!"
"Because you're making it hard on yourself!" Ginny insisted. "You've known all along that we forgave you for what you claim to have done and we never blamed you for in the first place! Do you honestly think that we would invite you for every holiday if we hadn't?"
"You don't know!" Harry snapped. "You don't have any idea what it was like! You couldn't possibly! How would you like to have witnessed first hand what the world could have been like but to know in your heart that soon it would all be gone? That you would have to come back?"
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked.
"It doesn't matter," Harry snapped. "Maybe I'll see you around."
Harry pulled the door open and left Ron and Ginny standing there.
He closed it hard behind him. He stood outside the door for a moment, breathing hard, knowing that he had just made a mess of things.
The sky was crystal clear as he set out, walking, just trying to distance himself with no real place to be. He sent an angry glare upward as though mad at the sky for being clear when he was in such a foul mood.
Finally he came to a stop and sank down onto a bench. He had found his way to a park, another peaceful place. He seemed to be finding his way to such places regularly though at the moment, he would have liked nothing better than to encounter 10 Death Eaters, all bent on ripping his guts out so that he might have had something to take his mind off what was happening to him. His life was so screwed up...
Harry rested his head against the back of the bench and closed his eyes, mulling over everything that he had done. Why did he have an uncanny ability to mess things up? He had had his first chance to make things better again and he had royally screwed things up.
He didn't realize that he was exhausted. Perhaps if he had known, he would never have closed his eyes. But like a lion pouncing on its prey, sleep claimed him on that little bench in the peaceful park.
In his pocket, a small talisman began to glow...
A/N: Yay! Absolutely nothing happened in the first chapter that's going to have a lot to do with the plot. Well, except for a few things that did.
Gilthas: Yes.
Me: Anyway, I want to thank sara*magic here really quickly for nagging at me constantly to put out the first chapter of the sequel. That's about it really.
Gilthas: What about 3003? Are you just going to leave that hanging?
Me: *looks disbelieving* You're kidding, right? If anything, I'm going to be exceptionally slow putting THIS one out! I've barely even finished the second chapter!
Gilthas: Then why didn't you wait and post another chapter of 3003?
Me: I...er...felt kind of like I was procrastinating with this one and people—not to say any names—like sara*magic have been bugging me for ages to put it out and I figured it was either now or never. Maybe this will give me more incentive to type up more chapters.
Gilthas: If you weren't so busy reading that book about that drow elf, you might have time.
Me: Drizzt? Drizzt rules!
Gilthas: *glares*
Me: He's not better than you, of course. You're my muse! And Drizzt's a little psycho...
Drizzt: Hey!
Gilthas: You're not allowed in here! Only I am! I'm her muse!
Drizzt: Sorry. I heard my name.
Gilthas: *grumbles* I bet you did...
Me: Please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!
A mere five days after Harry Potter's return from his haunting past, he finds himself desperately trying to make something he had been greatly lacking for 10 years since the defeat of Voldemort—a home. All he wants is to settle back, have some time to think, make amends with his old friends and maybe even find a few new ones. But fate isn't done with him yet...
Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, I would be a multimillionaire (which I'm not). If I do own something, believe me, you'll know. You'll know...
~
A/N: Hello all! It's the long awaited for sequel! This begins in future (now present) Harry's time and I think it would be prudent to clear a few things up. I tried very hard to stress that Harry would go back to his own time with his own people and with no new ones. Actually, it was more subtle hints. See, if Harry went back and found everyone alive, then he shouldn't have even existed! Then he never would have gone back and yadda, yadda, yadda. You know the rest. Messing with time is tricky business.
Gilthas: Of course it is! Remember when Caramon brought Tasslehoff back in time and he wasn't supposed to because Tasslehoff was a kender and had the ability to change time and because of that time was changed and it had all those side effects and... *trails off*
Me: Of course I remember! But odds are, most of the people reading this fanfiction will not remember because they have never read Dragonlance.
Gilthas: *grumbles something*
Me: Anyway, I'm terribly sorry if I disappoint anyone, but I couldn't do it! Besides, Harry would have been thrilled to go back through the portal if he knew all his friends would be alive and there would have been no sacrifice. I can't belittle Harry like that! He's been through so much and he's finally ready to go back and put it right again! I can't have anything too easy, can I?
Gilthas: Er...yes?
Me: Don't start that! You're my muse, remember, if the story sucks, it's your fault.
Gilthas: Crap.
Me: Yeah. Anyway, I just want to say sorry that it's taken so long to pull up. I honestly can't believe I'm even putting it out yet, but I don't think any harm can come of the first chapter. I've been doing a lot of cutting and pasting and I think I like the way the introductory chapter has turned out. So, if you like it, say so! If you don't, say so! I'm not picky really.
Gilthas: I just want to point out that this is a sequel though I have tried hard—
Me: —with my help—
Gilthas: —to explain what happened in the last story.
Me: Actually, it was more like I tried hard because I was the one actually writing and you were just watching over my shoulder, telling me to look for passive sentences!
Gilthas: Which you didn't.
Me: Yeah, so I bet everyone's just skipping this anyway, so I'll let you read the story now! Thanks to everyone who stuck with me! Oh, and at the end of the last story, Harry mysteriously shows up at Ron's Halloween party which he's been invited to for the last 10 years and has always refused to go to. Just to kind of fill you in. Now read!!!
~
If shame had a face, I think it would kinda look like mine.
If it had a home it would be my eyes
Would you believe me if I said I'm tired of this?
Now here we go now one more time
—Life House
~
Chapter One: Halloween
The room was creepily quiet. The music blared unnaturally loud. Harry felt himself shrinking with so many eyes on him. He fought back the calm, the void that would block everything he had been working so hard to achieve.
This wasn't right.
They shouldn't be staring at him like this.
Why didn't they look somewhere else?
Why didn't someone say something?
Harry fought back the urge to turn tail and run and by doing so, he suddenly felt a surge of annoyance. Why should he run when they were the ones in the wrong?
He felt a hand grip his upper arm and he looked sharply to see Ron looking at him. Ron smiled encouragingly. He suddenly let go and looked around at the other people as though surprised to see them all there.
"Why are you all just standing around?" He asked, managing a grin. "I think Ginny's making food in the kitchen."
"Right enough," said a voice. "And you had better eat every bi—" Ginny Weasley walked into the room and froze when she saw Harry. The bowl she was stirring slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground with a crash. Her eyes were wide and wondering. "H—Harry?"
Again the spotlight was on him. He had to do something! Everything in him told him to do something, that he was standing there like an idiot with everyone watching him, but his feet were rooted to the ground. Mobility wasn't exactly an option.
Why had he even come? It was stupid! He should have come when there weren't so many people. And everyone was looking at him!
Harry's hand found its way into his pocket and he found his wand. He gripped it hard—not even thinking of using it, but gaining some comfort in the fact that he had something to hold onto.
"Maybe I," Harry began. His voice cracked. He winced and tried again, his voice stronger this time. Everyone seemed to be hanging onto his every word. "Maybe I should leave..."
"No!" Ron said. He grabbed Harry's arm as though Harry was about to bolt at any second—which he was seriously considering. "Why should you leave? I sent you an invitation and everything! I want you here just like I want everyone else here!"
Harry wished Ron wouldn't talk so loudly.
He wished Ron would let go of his arm.
He wished that the people would stop looking at him...
He swallowed hard.
"Food's in the kitchen," Ginny said suddenly and loudly. She pulled out her wand and Harry felt himself tensing in spit of himself. She waved it at the fallen bowl muttering, annoyed at herself, "Butter fingers..."
The bowl reformed in her hand and the mess on the floor vanished with another wave.
With the only obstacle—the spilt food—out of their way, the other guests moved to the kitchen, sneaking glances at Harry as they left. Ron and Ginny remained. There was a moment of silence.
"Oh, Harry!" Ginny said suddenly. Setting the bowl on a nearby table she suddenly ran at him and caught him in a hug. "I'm so glad you're back!" she muttered into his shoulder.
Harry felt distinctly self conscious. He suddenly wished quite a lot that he had waited to come back. That he had waited just a little longer...
Ginny broke away, her eyes staring at him in wonder. "But why?"
Harry shrugged, not liking their scrutiny. "Just felt like the right time," he muttered, knowing that he sounded stupid.
"Well I'm glad," Ron said, clearly sensing Harry's discomfort. "Would you like to come have something to eat?"
Harry took a step back. "I'm okay, really."
"Don't be ridiculous, Ron!" Ginny said sharply. "He doesn't want to go in there with all those people! They have no manners!"
"They're my coworkers!" Ron protested.
"I rest my case," Ginny said, giving Ron a look. "Maybe he can go somewhere quieter. You know they'll just stare at him."
Harry was looking between Ron and Ginny. He suddenly remembered just how tall Ron was.
"Maybe I shouldn't have come," Harry muttered. "It was stupid. I probably just ruined your whole day. I didn't mean to—"
"Don't be stupid," Ginny snapped good naturedly. "This is the one thing in the whole world that we've wanted more than anything else."
"Why?" Harry asked, taken aback.
"Harry!" Ron said exasperatedly. "What does that mean? You think it's been easy for us the last ten years, hearing about how you're still out there, all alone, single-mindedly hunting down Death Eaters? It would have made Mum cry!"
Harry felt a jolt in his stomach and suddenly he found that he couldn't look at either of them.
"That was horrible, Ron," Ginny said softly. "Harry's just now coming to terms with it..."
"I'm fine," Harry snapped. He wasn't sure what it was, but suddenly he felt an overwhelming desire to be anywhere in the world but in the one place he was. He could feel the walls rising and for once he didn't fight back. "I'm perfectly fine."
"Harry," Ginny said soothingly. "We didn't mean anything! Please don't be like that! We're thrilled to have you back! You have no idea how much we've been wanting this!"
Harry took another step back, towards the door. He was shaking his head. It was hard to breathe. He had to get out of there or he would suffocate. He couldn't be there!
"Harry!" Ginny practically yelled. "Stop!"
Harry had turned around now and was heading toward the door. "I shouldn't have come," he said over his shoulder.
"Harry!" Ron said loudly.
"Please don't leave," Ginny said. Harry paused suddenly. He could hear tears in her voice. "Not again."
"After all I've done," Harry said softly, not turning around. "You would forgive me so easily?"
"There's nothing to forgive, mate," Ron said. "You never did anything to us! You've made yourself believe that you have, but never once, in all these years!"
"You don't care at all?" Harry asked, turning slowly. "That I killed all those people?"
"You didn't!" Ginny said.
"It wasn't your fault that Voldemort had you marked out," Ron argued. "You did what you could!"
"I certainly didn't do enough," Harry said quietly.
"There's nothing more you could have done!" Ginny argued fiercely. "And I for one am getting a little tired of your pity fest!"
"Ginny!" Ron hissed.
Ginny pushed him away with a glare. "That's just about enough, Harry James Potter! I don't know who you think you are, but you're certainly not God! You've been forced to do more in a few years that any person should be forced to do in a lifetime! Now I know that you feel sorry for yourself, but at some point you have to move on!"
"It's not that easy!" Harry found himself shouting. "Do you think that after all this time I can just walk in and say I'm sorry that I was such a jerk? I'm sorry that had a hand in killing all your families? I'm sorry for everything?"
"Yes," Ginny said forcefully.
"Well I can't," Harry said. "It's not that easy! It's never that easy!"
"Because you're making it hard on yourself!" Ginny insisted. "You've known all along that we forgave you for what you claim to have done and we never blamed you for in the first place! Do you honestly think that we would invite you for every holiday if we hadn't?"
"You don't know!" Harry snapped. "You don't have any idea what it was like! You couldn't possibly! How would you like to have witnessed first hand what the world could have been like but to know in your heart that soon it would all be gone? That you would have to come back?"
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked.
"It doesn't matter," Harry snapped. "Maybe I'll see you around."
Harry pulled the door open and left Ron and Ginny standing there.
He closed it hard behind him. He stood outside the door for a moment, breathing hard, knowing that he had just made a mess of things.
The sky was crystal clear as he set out, walking, just trying to distance himself with no real place to be. He sent an angry glare upward as though mad at the sky for being clear when he was in such a foul mood.
Finally he came to a stop and sank down onto a bench. He had found his way to a park, another peaceful place. He seemed to be finding his way to such places regularly though at the moment, he would have liked nothing better than to encounter 10 Death Eaters, all bent on ripping his guts out so that he might have had something to take his mind off what was happening to him. His life was so screwed up...
Harry rested his head against the back of the bench and closed his eyes, mulling over everything that he had done. Why did he have an uncanny ability to mess things up? He had had his first chance to make things better again and he had royally screwed things up.
He didn't realize that he was exhausted. Perhaps if he had known, he would never have closed his eyes. But like a lion pouncing on its prey, sleep claimed him on that little bench in the peaceful park.
In his pocket, a small talisman began to glow...
A/N: Yay! Absolutely nothing happened in the first chapter that's going to have a lot to do with the plot. Well, except for a few things that did.
Gilthas: Yes.
Me: Anyway, I want to thank sara*magic here really quickly for nagging at me constantly to put out the first chapter of the sequel. That's about it really.
Gilthas: What about 3003? Are you just going to leave that hanging?
Me: *looks disbelieving* You're kidding, right? If anything, I'm going to be exceptionally slow putting THIS one out! I've barely even finished the second chapter!
Gilthas: Then why didn't you wait and post another chapter of 3003?
Me: I...er...felt kind of like I was procrastinating with this one and people—not to say any names—like sara*magic have been bugging me for ages to put it out and I figured it was either now or never. Maybe this will give me more incentive to type up more chapters.
Gilthas: If you weren't so busy reading that book about that drow elf, you might have time.
Me: Drizzt? Drizzt rules!
Gilthas: *glares*
Me: He's not better than you, of course. You're my muse! And Drizzt's a little psycho...
Drizzt: Hey!
Gilthas: You're not allowed in here! Only I am! I'm her muse!
Drizzt: Sorry. I heard my name.
Gilthas: *grumbles* I bet you did...
Me: Please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!