Summary: It was three years after their marriage that Harry realised that he really didn't like Ginny as much as he should and that there were many things that should be fixed. With questionable sanity, Harry broke into Time-Turner room at the Ministry and ate the sands of time. HPSS. Slash.

Beta: ReenanLefey

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All belongs to JK Rowling, Warner Bros and any other affiliates.

The Iterum Effect

Prologue

"A life without love is no life at all." ~ Ever After: A Cinderella Story.

At a Weasley family gathering, Harry Potter became quite aware of a sudden reality known as denial. This denial takes the reluctant form of a marriage, more specifically a marriage to Ginny Weasley. Unbeknownst to many, love was not present in their bonding, not on the heart of either spouse. This epiphany had come to light at the announcement of a possible path to an unwanted future, for Harry at least.

The announcement itself, while unsurprising, was a joyous occasion indeed.

"I'm pregnant!" Hermione gushed, unprompted.

At that moment the whole table erupted into cheers and Ron, loyal husband and proud father, placed his hands on the not-yet-baby-bump. Christmas had come early, it seemed.

It was then that Ginny looked over to Harry with a look quite recognisable but completely undesired. Her smiling face did not hide her latest plans. In the face of such unwelcome attention, Harry came to the abrupt but strangely creeping realisation that he did not love Ginny as much as he should, and certainly not enough to share a child with her.

A sudden uncharacteristic feeling of detachment set into Harry's heart, turning it cold, in its decisions. The indifference, in which his heart dwelled, pulsed with memories of his once vibrant enthusiasm for a family. Rita Skeeter's controversial report on his marriage being a perverted, desperate desire for his mother suddenly came to the forefront of his thoughts, weighing his mind with the stones of truth he had continuously denied. In the article there had been many similarities that connected Ginny and Lilly. It was apparent in the tones of Ginny's shining red hair that often reminded him of his lost mother and in even smaller observations like the way Ginny held her wand in a way reminiscent of Snape's memories of Lilly. It was disconcerting to say the least. But unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Fate had decided reality needed a good whip back into place, consequently making Harry Potter painfully aware of his newest dilemma.

Looking around at a family he loved, one quite full to the brim with red-heads (and strawberry-blonde children, much to their mother Fleur's horror), he could honestly say he did not regret becoming a part of it, only the manner in which he became so.

Harry's young mind sprang into life with mechanisms of boyhood adventures, in which Harry decided he could do with a re-do, so to speak. I certainly deserve one, he had reasoned to himself. And so Harry made a rash and a somewhat stupid decision, which as it so happened was also totally illegal.

Later that night, his heated body cooling in the air of his bedroom beside his now sleeping wife (and after a carefully cast contraception spell), Harry stood putting on fresh clothes and his faithful glasses. With nothing but his wand and a lingering afterglow, Harry left his house in Godric's Hollow for what he knew would be the last time.

Harry's heartstrings tugged at his mind persistently, but he had already made his decision. And he was nothing if not a stubborn Gryffindor, so he would see this misadventure to the end.

Apparating to the entrance of the Ministry of Magic, Harry gained special admittance into the deserted halls. His mind blank of thought and filled with questionable sanity, Harry Potter broke into the Time-Turner room and ate the sands of time, a decision both reckless and potentially fatal, but the theory behind it was stable enough, after all Hermione had been the one who had authored it.

While he knew what he was doing was considered wrong in many ways, both legally and morally, he found comfort in the certain knowledge that at least Dumbledore would have approved, to some extent.

"Do not pity the dead Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love."

Pity was a powerful force and within himself Harry found it in abundance..

This is just a prologue to ascertain the reaction of readers. I don't want to write a story not worth writing. If this receives well I will be putting it in the place of my other story 'In The End' which I only posted because I found myself strangely fond of the Harry I had built in the prologue but am reluctant to continue on the basis of unoriginality and absence of a foreseeable plot. In other words, writers block.

Now would be a good time to advertise the fact that myself and a small team are putting together an archive/website of sorts that deals with the recording and distributing of Harry Potter fanfiction of all genre and pairing. If you are keen to have your fic considered or would like to join the team and read aloud, it would be greatly appreciated if you were to inform me in a PM or review. Thank you.