Summary
Death has watched their master walk to his grave one time too many. When their master end up in their domain - because purgatory belong to the dead - Death sees an opportunity and decides to take it. There's no place for morals if you're Death, and purgatory visits only gives you so much time to plan.
Harry James Potter wakes up not on the floor of the forbidden forest, but in 1938, de-aged, lost and perceived as female. He can't use his true name, but why does the name he chose have to be that one? The name that Tom Riddle once mentioned in the Chamber of Secrets...
Teaser
Once you hear something strange, it can be very hard to forget. For Harry James Potter, it were the words of a memory; of someone less than a shadow. Of course, when he had heard the words at the mere age of twelve, they made no lasting impression. Now on the other hand…
"You look remarkably like someone I knew… James, Evan James. Any relation?"
James, Evan James
Evan James
Evan
James
Of all the names that he could have chosen for himself to get through this new predicament, why did he have to chose that one?
But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Let's go back, to before the predicament. Back to when Harry James Potter had a choice to make.
"I've got to go back, haven't I?"
"That is up to you."
"I've got a choice?"
"Oh yes." Dumbledore smiled at him. "We are in Kings Cross, you say? I think that if you decided not to go back, you would be able to… let's say… board a train."
"And where would it take me?"
"On." Dumbledore said simply.
[...]
"I think," Dumbledore said, "that if you choose to return, there is a chance that he may be finished for good. I cannot promise it. But I know this, Harry, that you have less to fear from returning here than he does."
Perhaps Dumbledore already knew that Harry would not wake up on the floor of the forbidden forest, perhaps he had no idea that his student Evan James was the same as Harry Potter. Nonetheless, Harry cursed Dumbledore's words when he woke up.
Had this been another universe, perhaps the one where Harry was destined to marry Ginny and end up a copy of his parents for all intentions, then he would likely had woken up on that forest floor. As this is not that universe, and as Dumbledore is not the omniscient old man that he pretends to be, he does not.
Death, tired of being only a figure mentioned in children's stories, manipulated purgatory as was their right, and sent back their master not to the battle of Hogwarts in 1998, but to another time.
And that is where our story begins.
A/N: Obviously I don't own the scene between Harry and Dumbledore. It's taken from the book, with minimal changes made to fit the plot and my writing style.
If you dislike trans characters or self inserts, this is a good place to stop reading.
And if you read my other works, feel free to yell at me for starting something new.
My planned updates for October are as following (in no particular order):
The essence of red poppies
Riddle's Evil Inc (AO3 only)
Flight from Death (AO3 only)
and this one