Battle Dawn

Summery: At the end of 2018, Harry and Hermione finally kill Voldemort for good, but at the cost of the world being burned to ashes around them. Invoking an ancient magic, Harry and Hermione travel back in time to set things right.

Chapter 1- Worlds End

December 2018

Ruins of Hogwarts

"It's over Voldemort," Harry said calmly as behind him Hermione battled the last two Death Eaters. One way or another it was going to end here, where the war was lost in the first place. Losing Dumbledore had been a blow they never recovered from.

Hermione threw up a shield spell, blocking the curse of one, returning fire with a blasting curse that threw him through the wall. Diving to her left to dodge the spell from the last remaining Death Eater she disarmed him in a literal sense with a spell that cut his wand arm off. Climbing back to her feet she slowly approached the sobbing Death Eater with her wand pointing at his face. "You are pathetic. To think I once was afraid of you," Shaking her head with a grim smile she cut him down with a quick piercing spell to his neck.

They had long since given up the idea of not killing, as the war had dragged on for twenty years after the destruction of Hogwarts and the reveal of magic to the muggles that had been the results of the magical wards in the UK dropping at the exact moment that Hogwarts was blown to pieces.

Since then the entire world had become involved in the magical conflict. At first, things went really poorly for the muggles, they struggled to adjust to the things that even a half trained wizard or witch could do. But, with help from the Order members who had lived through the Battle of Hogwarts, the muggles quickly got their act together and began to push the forces of Voldemort back.

The real issue was Voldemort. It turned out the prophecy about Harry and Voldemort was literal. The only one would could kill Voldemort was Harry, his body healed from any other would be fatal attacks or they simply just inexplicably missed. Harry did defeat and kill Voldemort. Twice. The problem was that Voldemort had a Horcrux that nobody knew about at first, that being Harry himself.

It had been Hermione who had figured it out after the last time Voldemort had returned from death. It had also been Hermione who had created and took part in the sex ritual that ripped the Horcrux from Harry. As the inverse of the murder required to create a Horcrux was an extreme act of love.

But, by that point the damage had already been done. After having his soul ripped from his body the first time, Voldemort had taken steps to ensure that any further "deaths" would be temporary at best. He had hardened his spirit, learning the ability to transfer his magical core into different bodies and gain control of them. This came at an extreme cost as the body he inhabited degraded quickly, but it was usually enough time to restore his actual body.

By being able to change bodies at will, Voldemort had gained access to the Russian launch codes and launched all of the Russian nukes at muggle cities around the world. Safe behind his wards, he had watched the world burn. Already the climate was changing because of all of the fallout and the world was on the verge of an ice age according to the few muggle experts that had lived through the worst day in Human history. Magic had been used to allow a few hundred thousand to survive, out of billions. Of those only a small handful were not Wizards or Witches. Muggles as a species were finished, Voldemort had purified the Wizarding bloodlines the easy way, all at once.

"Over Harry?" Voldemort cackled with laughter as they stood facing each other wands out as they had many times in the past. "Foolish boy, it is never over. You will fail as always, knowing I have killed everyone you ever loved or cared about. And then, maybe then I will allow you to die." He suited his words to actions as he raised his wand and sent a killing spell at Hermione.

A chunk of concrete flew up as the spell struck it, blasting the chunk to pieces, and saving her life.

"Sectumsempra!" Hermione shouted as she slashed her wand at Voldemort. She was aware that even if the spell struck him, it would only wound him at best. Hermione knew aware that her role was to help Harry by keeping Voldemort occupied as long as possible while Harry ended things. They had played this situation out to perfection in past battles against Voldemort.

Harry took that slight moment of distraction as Hermione's spell struck the magical defenses of Voldemort, blowing through his shield spell and sending him staggering back a step as his magical robes absorbed the force of the blow. Raising his wand, Harry cast "Fiendfyre!" directing the flames at Voldemort. Absorb that asshole, he thought as he moved his wand to cause the flames to swirl around Voldemort.

Already he could feel the spell struggling against his power, trying to direct the flames back at him to consume him as well. Because that is what the spell did, it consumed everything in its path. This was advanced dark magic, but Harry was beyond the point where he cared about morality. Trying to win the right way, Dumbledore's way had only gotten everyone and everything he cared about besides Hermione destroyed. The world had burned because he hadn't been strong enough to do what was needed to ensure victory.

Swishing his wand forward, Harry forced the flames to take the shape of a Griffin, diving down to further attack Voldemort. They had to make sure that this time there was no escape, no way out for Voldemort. And it had to be Harry that made sure Voldemort burned.

"We have to go now!" Hermione screamed as she did her best to shield them from the raging flames. But the shield charm only allowed for moments of relief as the flames shattered it and roared back towards them. She ran forward, grabbing his arm and pulled him backwards.

"No, I have to make sure!" Harry shouted back as he tried to shrug off her grip. Taking his focus off the flames for just one moment caused them to roar back in their direction, the Griffin flying out of the flames and dive bombing them.

"Finite Incantatem" Hermione called out as she pointed her wand at the approaching fiery Griffin. She felt the spell resist, but in the end her magic won out and the Griffin turned to smoke. Not wasting anymore time she apparated away, still clutching Harry.

They fell to the floor of the living room in their current hideout. Harry stood up, shoving her away from him. "Why did you make me leave before I was sure he was dead?" he questioned her.

"Because, if we had stayed any longer we both would have died," Hermione said as she calmly stood up, brushing her robes off. She had gotten used to the displays of Harry's temper as the war dragged on. She was aware that his anger was mostly directed at himself for the many failures that he believed he was responsible for.

"It would have been worth us dying if we had put an end to Voldemort," Harry all but spat, disgusted that she would forget the priority of the war and put their lives over ending it. "What if he managed to live through that?" Harry questioned her. "That tactic won't work twice, you know that he will find some way to guard himself against it."

"Then he would be the first, but it doesn't matter either way," Hermione responded still calm. "I finally have a long term solution to our problems, to the problems of the world."

That got Harry's attention and he sat down on the couch, his eyes firmly fixed on Hermione. He had learned not to doubt her when she said she could do something. No matter how insane it seemed on the surface or at the time she spoke. She was the greatest witch of her age, maybe ever. It was too bad that she had to rise to greatness in the ashes of the world.

"Time travel," Hermione told him, with a look of glee on her face as she started to explain a magical theory. It was the only thing that ever made her happy these days. The killing she did because it was needed, but she didn't enjoy it, not like Harry had come to.

"But the time turners...you said..." Harry protested. They had looked at using time turners to reverse the fall of Hogwarts and the loss of their friends, but Hermione had said that wouldn't work the way they wanted it to. And could create a paradox that would rip all of space and time apart.

"Not time turners, physically sending someone...sending you...back through time to change the past and make things right," Hermione clarified. She remained standing so that she had easy access to her wand.

"But if I go back, I won't be strong enough to defeat Voldemort. Not until I reach my full growth. I needed that Horcrux removed to have full access to my magical core," Harry reminded her.

"No, you still aren't getting it," Hermione said with a sigh as she raised her wand and gave it a quick flick. Numbers and dates appeared in the air in front of them. "Look, calculating your current power level as compared to his..." she stopped at the blank look on Harry's face.

"Sorry, classical reference, never mind. The point is you are more than strong enough to defeat Voldemort as long as you don't try and tackle him at the prime of his power. And you have the advantage of actually being able to kill him because for your the prophecy has been activated and you come from a time where it was for him as well. I will be sending you, current you back through time. Not into your younger self but as you are."

"But how can we both exist in the same timeline at once? When we used the time tuner in our third year, we were in a closed loop. So we never really existed in two places at once because we always existed in two places at once," Harry reminded her.

Throughout the war, he had overcome any dislike he had for research and understanding how things worked. They needed knowledge and they found it through any means required. Those who didn't had long since died. "Wouldn't our magical cores clash, weakening both of us because we don't both belong in a single timeline?" Harry questioned her. He was pretty sure that if left untreated that would end in death for one or both of them. And how could any healer no matter how skilled possibly treat cascade failure due to time travel?

"Well," she began with a sigh. "That depends on what theory you subscribe to. The Many-worlds theory of quantum physics suggests the existence of an infinite number of alternate realities that co-exist with our own. Meaning that everything that could possibly happen has happened, just in the different universes. When a time turner is used, the user steps out of our own universe and steps into a very closely aligned parallel universe. While their they do whatever the events are they are meant to do, such as attending extra classes, and then at the end, they step back into their universe carrying the changes they made with them. Which causes a ripple effect and makes those changes concrete in the universe they are from. The universes accessed by the time turner exist in close proximity to their universe, which is why it is only possible to go back a limited number of turns with the time turner."

Hermione waved her wand again, and a bunch of labeled graphs appeared, forming themselves into two diverging timelines. "My plan is to send you back a limited number of years. This should prevent timeline events from diverging beyond your ability to predict them and influence them."

"And the cascade failure?" Harry questioned her. "Because that sounds like a really slow and painful way to die."

"Actually I don't think it would be that..." Hermione cut off what she was saying as he shot her a dirty look.

"Moving on," she said with a slight grin. "One theory is that the closer the universes are in terms of events, the worse the entropic cascade failure. I believe that the time turners account for this, stabilizing the life force of both the traveler and the copy. But, we need a close universe both in terms of events and in terms of ability to access. And I need to send you back to exactly the right time or this long term plan won't work," she explained as another wave of her wand zoomed in on the second timeline she had displayed.

"As you can see I want to send you back to the night your parents died," Hermione told Harry. "Not to save them. They must die in order for the killing curse to rebound onto Voldemort."

Seeing the look of pain of Harry's face as she said this, Hermione hurried on. "You need time free of worry about Voldemort to establish yourself, and you also need time to hunt down his Horcruxes. The reason I am sending you back to that exact night is two fold."

A third flick of her wrist caused the timelines to fade and a checklist simply labeled THE PLAN to appear. "Step one is for you intercept the piece of Voldemort that would otherwise attach itself to baby Harry. It will naturally go for the strongest living thing in the room, that would be you. When Voldemort attacks the charm protecting the house will shatter upon James death, allowing you to slip in under your cloak. With your mental defenses and magical ability, you will be able to crush the fragment of Voldemort as it tries to enter your body. Because it wasn't a fully formed Horcrux, you won't be at risk of being infected by it in the same way that it didn't infect you in our universe. Otherwise Voldemort could have done more then just send you visions, he could have reached through your link and controlled you directly."

"This will leave baby Harry with a magical core that will grown unimpeded by the fragment of Voldemort that was feeding on it to survive," Harry said with a nod and a smile. "Well reasoned as usual Hermione," he complimented his best friend/lover and only remaining ally.

"This is assuming it works," Hermione said with her typical modesty.

"And assuming I don't die of entropic cascade failure," Harry reminded her.

"Well I think that can be gotten around by remaking your magical identity slightly" she told him. "It is a complex process that can't be reversed, but I think we can do it. The only problem is it if I don't do it correctly then it invalidates our plan for you to kill Voldemort. If your magical identity is changed too much then the prophecy won't apply to you any longer. Hopefully this won't be an issue, but if it is I have also planned for it," she explained to him calmly.

"This means that younger Harry will have to kill him. You will have to see that the factors are in place so that he can and does," she explained further as she used her wand to draw up a new outline to the PLAN. " You will cease to become Harry Potter and instead become..." she paused here to see if he had any suggestions.

"Axel Sparks," Harry said without hesitation, using his undercover name from past missions. He had grown quite fond of that name, viewing it as almost a second name.

"And don't worry I think this actually works out better because Dumbledore correctly believes that Harry must be the one to end Voldemort," Harry told her with a smile. "I had been wondering how I was going to explain having the power to kill Voldemort anyway. Now I can play a support role and just clear the way for young Harry to kill him."

"Yes, Axel Sparks," Hermione agreed. "Just remember that this is your actual identity, and therefore you have to be careful what actions you take until open warfare breaks out. If you are going to hunt down Death Eaters and kill them, make sure you are fully justified in the law in doing so."

"I will be careful. I can always arrange a series of life and death situations where I had no choice but to use lethal force," Harry affirmed.

"Step two is to save Sirius," Hermione told him. "Make sure he is not framed for Wormtail's death and betraying your parents."

"Doing so will provide a safe and loving environment for baby Harry to grow up in," Harry said with a nod. "Okay after I do that then I go hunt down Horcruxes?"

She shook her head at that. "Not alone, and not right away. Doing so is far too dangerous even for someone of your skill and magical ability. The traps on them are legion, they even mortally injured Dumbledore remember. The next thing to do is to establish yourself. You need money, resources and a base of operations. Your cover is the same, you are an American Wizard currently living in the UK. You will have the forged school records for an American magical school, but it won't matter because you can easily pass the OWLS and NEWTS required to get you into the Auror corps. Serve as an Auror, make allies and when the time comes you can apply to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. That time being little Harry's first year. Be aware that the events of the stone will likely still happen as long as the stone stays at Hogwarts. Little Harry will still have his mother's protection, so he will be safe if directly attacked by anything that Voldemort inhabits."

"And I can use my teaching post and field experience to teach the students how to actually defend themselves. No more bumbling defense teachers or uneven lessons," Harry reasoned out loud. "I like this plan let's do it."

Two Months Later

"Got the Elder Wand?" Hermione asked Harry.

"I do," he responded holding it up. His old wand was far too distinctive, and so he had discarded in it favor of a different wand. He was actually using the Elder Wand, magically disguised as a different wand, a wand he won the right to use all those years ago when he defeated Draco after Draco won it. This would allow him to preform even more amazing feats of magic then usual after he got adjusted fully to using it.

It was disguised because if it wasn't Dumbledore would know it right away. Which would raise more questions then Harry cared to answer. He wanted to tell Dumbledore as little as possible beyond what was required to earn his trust and work along side him. Events needed to go as closely as possible to what he had actually lived through so that he didn't lose the ability to predict what would happen up until the point where he made so many changes that it no longer mattered.

"Just remember that it is overpowered. Your regular spells will be more effective unless you make an effort to dial down the power," Hermione said as she reached back to rub her sore back. They had sparred one last time and Harry had blown her into wall with a stunning spell. Even though her shield had held the spell still threw her physically backwards. Neither of them had counted on the extent that the wand overpowered his spells.

"Got it. Don't worry I won't turn eyes in my direction with my magical ability. Not until it is needed. I will be good enough to get top marks and top assignments, but I won't be special," he assured her. Even though with this wand he could challenge Dumbledore in duel and have a realistic chance at winning. Only Dumbledore had decades more experience and spell crafting ability. Not to mention his transfiguration abilities were legend and rightfully so.

"One last thing then. You scar has to go," Hermione told him. She raised her wand and spoke a healing incantation. Moments later his scar vanished for good. When the ritual had removed the piece of Voldemort from his scar she had taken the moment to also leech all of the dark magic out of the scar. That made it possible to heal just like any other scar.

"I am aware of that. But, it is still going to feel weird looking in the mirror and not seeing it. I am going to miss it for all the trouble it caused me," he told her with a smile. "Besides you have to admit that if you did get stuck with a scar, it could have been worse then being stuck in the shape of a lightening bolt," he said as he stuck her tongue out at her.

"Yes it could have been in the shape of a penis or even worse a snake," Hermione teased him. God she was going to miss him and this closeness.

Harry laughed at that, before getting serious again. "I still wish you could go with me," Harry said as he stepped inside the rune carved circle that Hermione had drawn up. Lit candles were at the points of the circle.

"I don't have the magical power to send both of us back," Hermione told him for at least the dozenth time. In fact, she might not even live through the attempt to send him back in time, a possibility that she had kept from him.

"And we agree you are the better choice. For many reasons and not just that you can match Voldemort. You are also the better tactical fighter, and quite frankly the more powerful Wizard. You were always able to pull off amazing feats of magical ability even with a core that wasn't growing as it should," she reminded him.

"I know," he grumbled, still not liking it.

"Remember should you make it and win, bring back help using the reverse of this spell. With many casting it shouldn't be a problem making the return trip. Our universes should now be linked so traveling back should be much simpler."

"Got it. I will save Dumbledore this time, we will need him for the final battle and Horcrux removal," Harry assured her.

"Not to mention he is one of the few with the magical power and knowledge to restore our world. If this works you should be able to return mere minutes after I send you," Hermione said hopefully.

"Good luck and see you in a few minutes!" she exclaimed as she began to cast the spell that would activate the time travel runes.

Harry faded away several minutes later as she started to sink down onto the floor. She was too tired to even transfigure something into a couch. As her eyes closed for a moment she noticed she thought the runes still glowed even after Harry had been sent. They shouldn't do that, but she was too tired to investigate why. Hopefully she would be awoken by...

Hermione didn't get to finish that thought as her world went black. Thus she didn't notice that as she pitched forward that she fell into the still active circle causes it to flash and explode in a massive show of power that consumed the house and everything around it for half a mile.

Harry awoke suddenly. Did it work? Why did he feel so weird? It felt as if a weight was attached to his...oh no! As he looked around his room he spotted the calendar he had marked as he counted down to his first year at Hogwarts. Sitting in the corner of the room his trunk was packed and ready to go.

"Boy, if you aren't ready to go in five minutes you can walk to King's Cross," his Uncle called up to him.

Shit! Something had screwed up. That meant it was all up to him again.

Hermione awoke as a knock sounded on her door. Instinctively she reached for her wand, only to find that it wasn't there.

"Sweetie it is time to get up. You have to get ready for your first day at Hogwarts," her mom said with a sad sigh.

Mom? No, it can't be! You are dead. Hermione remembered that she and Harry had arrived too late to save her parents, but not too late to avenge them. And then Harry had held her close as she struggled to come to come to grips with her parents death.

She glanced down at her hands. Instead of seeing adult hands, she saw the hands of a child. Well fuck. This shouldn't have happened. Had Harry also been sent back? If not it was all up to her. She needed to revise the PLAN as quickly as possible.

A/N: Let me know what everyone thinks of the twist at the end of the first chapter.

This is one of two first chapters of Harry Potter stories that I am putting up. Whichever one gets a better response will be the main story that I write, with the other one getting updates whenever I finish chapters for them.

Harry and Hermione have serious PTSD from over two decades at war and this story will be written to reflect that. They has ZERO problems with killing or extreme methods to achieve their goals. Dark magic is just a tool, and they gives two shits about the effect on their souls or any of that nonsense that is often sprouted.

Fighting the way Dumbledore wanted caused them to lose mainly because in Harry's eyes Dumbledore didn't do everything he was capable of to win. Dumbledore holds back a lot, only letting his power out in spurts. Of course we know this is because canon Dumbledore is scared of what he is capable of, and what he was willing to do in the past. That is why he chooses to set aside his power and teach instead of getting directly involved. Harry and Hermione don't see the world that way, not anymore.

This isn't a story about a Godlike Harry nor will it go into the Harry or Hermione solves everything trope. Having knowledge of what happens doesn't mean you can't fail, sometimes that knowledge can be the reason for failure.