A/N: thanks to great reviews I've fixed some continuity errors about ages and other matters – thanks for catching the slip! ~Anjalyn
Harry found himself in a white room, a white desk and chair sitting in one corner and a white bench sitting in front of the desk. He, himself, was wearing a white robe; with a shake of his head, he sat on the bench and waited to see what was going on. Time passed – how long he wasn't sure and finally a part of the wall opened to a door and a tall, lithe man with dark eyes and hair came in and sat behind the desk. The man cleared his throat and sat a file folder down on the desk before tapping it with his finger. Harry watched as it enlarged itself to twice its size before the man opened the folder.
"Harry James Potter, age seventeen. Well, Mr. Potter, to be blunt, you are here because you are dead."
"Shit, please tell me I took Tom out with me." Harry said with a sigh.
"I'm sorry to say, no, you did not. You died from a cursed knife that hit you while escaping from Malfoy Manor, thrown by Bellatrix Lastrange. "The man in white told him with a small frown. "Because this not the time you were fated to die, you were collected and brought to my office for… processing."
"What do you mean, processing?" Harry asked; his eyebrows nearly at his hairline.
"First, allow me to introduce myself, I am Zane or Thanatos, the incarnation of Death. I am doing something I shouldn't with you. I am sending you, with help from Norton or Chronos, the incarnation of Time, back to the month before the end of your third year of schooling. This is done in attempt to change things for the better of the world and for yourself and your soul mate."
"You mean my godfather won't be dead? Wait – who's my soul mate?" Harry asked with a smile.
"Yes, Sirius will still be alive and Peter will still be hiding at Hagrid's hut. And as for your soul mate, it's Miss Hermione Granger. You would have found this naturally, however, due to interference by three particular Weasley's, you and Miss Granger both were fed lust, love and loyalty potions. Yours were keyed to Ginny, while Miss Granger's was keyed to Ronald. Both of the mentioned Weasley's knew about the potions and with the help of their mother, sought to have you both under their thumbs. I'd like to see you and Miss Granger come to be together, as things are supposed to be. Which is another reason for you going back sooner, it gives you time to right some wrongs of your forth year – particularly with Miss Granger in mind." Zane explained in gentle tones.
"You mean those two prats and their mother drugged us?! That's horrible and pathetic. I'm guessing by you telling me about Peter means I can go down and get him and expose him before the shack incident?"
Zane smiled and nodded, "Also, since you are thirteen, you can owl Gringotts and as the last of your noble line, can see yourself emancipated. I would recommend contacting them as soon as possible– there are many things they can do to help you. The biggest thing being, their 'shaman' know how to destroy horcrux's. They can also help with some of the spells already placed on you and with healing your stunted growth, as well as a few other things. I'd recommend asking them about their eidetic memory ritual, it will help you retain and recall everything you read, write, hear or experience. And yes, it will help you remember your previous memories. I do have a few gifts for you…"
Harry looked shocked at all this information but nodded and sat forward slightly to see what 'gift' Death was talking about.
Zane reached out with one boney-looking finger, touching Harry in the middle of his forehead, gifting him with the ability to shield his mind. With this touch-gift done, he leaned back and pulled out a small book, the size of a dime store romance novel. He passed the small, old tome to Harry with an explanation, "This book will teach you and your soul mate how to better protect your mind and read other's thoughts with much practice. It can be duplicated once, but it can only be read by yourself and Miss Granger. If you touch your right forefinger to the spot I touched you and do the same to her, she too will be gifted with the basic shielding abilities. This is to protect your future knowledge and anything you might wish to tell her about. I'd recommend taking the 'time' to talk to her as soon as possible. As for your second gift" he lifted a small hourglass with two extra knobs on it, hanging from a chain over to Harry.
"Go ahead and put it on. The one Miss Granger has must be returned at the end of the year, whereas this one is yours. You will notice it has your crest on it, I took the initiative to have it applied to the metal and the clasp so that none should question to whom it belongs to. The two extra knobs have a "d" and a "w" on them. This will allow you to go back both days and weeks, up to a max of five weeks or a maximum of thirty five days. Spinning the hourglass itself end over end allows you to go back hours. It is different from the hourglass that Miss Granger has, as hers only allows her to go back a max of 8 hours in one twenty four hour period. You can take up to four people with you by tapping the clasp and enlarging the chain to fit around everyone. If Dobby is in the middle of the four, he will be transported with you. Also, if your familiars are held, they too can go with you, as well as anything held by you, such as trunks or book bags."
Harry slid the hourglass on around his neck and tucked it inside his robes. "Why are you doing all this for me?"
"Simply I don't want evil to take over the world. Despite being Death, I am not an evil creature; I merely weigh souls and see they go to Purgatory, Heaven or Hell. Parry, the incarnation of Evil rules hell and he's been waiting a long time for Tom. He has a special section set aside just for death eaters, wannabes and Tom. They will not be happy campers once they take up residence. Then again, given the trouble they have caused, they do not deserve to be happy."
"So" Harry said, "I get to redo things and fix things. What's the catch?"
Zane threw back his head and laughed. "You don't pull any punches, do you Harry. Keep that attitude and you will do well. The catch is; you no longer have a get out of death card. You see, you had a horcrux inside of you, anchored to your scar, when you died, it was destroyed. I'll not put it back, as it has already been sent to Hell, so if you die again, that's it. I can't help you a second time."
Harry blinked, raising his hand to touch his scar with a reverent 'oh' sound. "So I better not mess up this time around. I get to keep my memories, so I know what to change, right?"
Zane blinked his eyes and nodded. "Yes, you do, Harry. That's why you needed the shield and why you might need time to explain things to Miss Granger. I also recommend taking Dobby into your employ. House elves can do all sorts of magic that wizards and witches can't, his magic is different."
"Okay. You've given me a lot to think about and do. What do I do about Dumbledore? He's not going to like that I'm not following his every command."
Zane tapped his fingers against his chin in thought before saying, "I think the best thing to do with him would be a: kill him with kindness, b: use the laws in your defense, c: gather advisors and high profile friends to keep him in check and lastly d: don't tell him about the future if you can avoid it. There's no telling how he will respond to the knowledge. He may be all for changing things; or he may say: "do it all over again the same as before". I can tell you that unless you change things, you'll not make it to old age. You need to train up and to do that; you need to be proactive rather than reactive. Does that make sense to you?"
Harry nodded as Zane spoke, silently agreeing with him on the Dumbledore front. "Yes sir, it does make sense. With the way he handled things the first time around; I don't see future knowledge making anything better with him. I think I'll keep it just between Hermione and myself, at least to start with. I definitely won't be trusting Ron or Ginny this time around, not like I did before, that's for sure. Is there anyone besides Hermione that I can trust? Or can you tell me?" Harry asked.
"Think back to when you stormed the Ministry, who was with you? Now omit the Weasleys and who do you have left?" Zane hinted with a hint of a smile.
"Um… Luna and Neville went with us… oh, I can do that. Can I share knowledge with them as well? They will guess that something is up if I make them close friends, especially Luna, she's sharp, that one is." Harry told Zane with a hopeful expression.
Zane steepled his fingers, tapping them against his chin in thought. "I will allow this." He leaned over and touched Harry's forehead twice more with his skeletal looking fingertip. "I'd suggest telling them your story all at the same time, better to do it all at once." He took out a sheet of paper and a small earthenware bowl and passed them over to Harry. "You'll need this. It's a viewing pensive. You don't stick your head in it; instead memories are displayed outside of the bowl, like a movie screen, or if you tap it with your wand and hold it there, it will show or download the memories directly into your mind. This will help you with your story telling. One more bit of advice, you should demand the Veil for him; otherwise he'll slip out and cause havoc again."
"That's wonderful, I'll do that. And thank you for the pensive, it will come in handy. When do I go back?" Harry wondered aloud.
"In just a moment, remember all that we've talked about, it will serve you well. Good luck, Harry, it was nice to meet you, though I do hope it's a couple of hundred years before we meet again." Zane stood, coming around his desk and dropped a sparkly gold powder over Harry, chanting as he held his hands over Harry's head. In a flash, like a photo being taken, Harry disappeared, leaving only a faint trace of gold dust behind. Zane smiled to himself and took up the folder, shrinking it and left the room.