Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you for all the people who have reviewed. It means a lot to me to hear your feedback. In one of my reviews I was asked how Dumbledore could be there if his soul was destroyed. The answer is that the soul is only destroyed when the person uses the killing curse with the horcrux ritual. Otherwise when a person is normally hit their soul is pushed out of the body and moves on. Sorry if I wasn't clear with that. Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it.

"Ow. Can't they warn a guy before they do something like that?"Groaned Harry.

He stood up and looked at the area around him. It looked like he was in a muggle residential area. The houses were not as close as the houses on Privet Drive but not too far apart that you had to walk to far. Harry could see leaves blowing in the wind but he couldn't feel the wind. The area looked vaguely familiar to him but he couldn't remember from where.

"Where the hell am I?" he questioned out loud.

"Godric's Hollow, Mr. Potter." Said a voice behind him.

Startled, Harry turned around instinctively reaching for his wand but feeling nothing but air turned to see the face of the Old man who was at the trial.

"DON"T DO THAT." Harry screamed. A second later he registered what the Old man said and stammered, "G-G-G-oodric's H-H-H-o-o-llow-w-w?"

"My apologies Mr. Potter and yes we are at Godric's Hollow. "Said the Old man calmly starting to walk away.

Now that he knew where he was it made sense that he thought the area looked familiar. It looked different than the last time he was here but then again it was Christmas and it was snowing.

"Why are we here? I thought I was going back in time." Harry asked falling in line with the old man.

"You did go back in time. Today is October 31, 1981 approximately 6:30 A.M."

As soon as he heard the date Harry froze. It was the day Voldemort attacked the Potter's and killed his parents. But the old man said 6:30 A.M so that means they're still alive. HOLY FUCKING HELL!!! MY PARENTS ARE ALIVE!!

At that realization, tears of joy started falling from Harry's face. The prospect of actually seeing his parents alive was a dream come true. Before he could start looking the Old man snapped his fingers and froze Harry.

"HEY! What are you doing? I want to see my parents. Let me go." Harry growled angrily.

"Not before you hear what I have to say. Time passes much slower while I am here. You will see your parents soon so be patient. There are a few things I need to discuss with you that I was unable to tell you before." The Old man stated.

"Fine." Harry resignedly said. "Make it fast." With another snap of his fingers Harry was unfrozen.

"Thank you. The first thing I would like to tell you is that you have two paths that you can take at this point. the first path is that I can return you back to the forbidden forest right after Tom Riddle shot the killing curse at you and you take your chances with him or I can let you merge with your younger self in this time and you can live your life from here. But know that whatever choice you choose will be final and cannot be changed. Also you will not remember your former life if you do choose to merge with your younger self. Incidentally, if you do choose to go back to the forest you will not remember any of the conversations we had." The old man said as he started walking again.

"If I don't remember then how will I know what to do? Won't I just do the same choices over again if I choose to merge with my younger self?"

"We will from time to time give you visions about what needs to be done at a certain time. Also remember that the Horcrux affected your reasoning and thought process. If you do choose to merge the Horcrux will not be there anymore."

"And if I choose to go back to my time?"

"The Horcrux in your head will be gone and Voldemort will be mortal. You two will most likely have to duel each other and though Voldemort has the Elder Wand in his possession."

"What does Voldemort having the Elder Wand mean? I thought I was the Master of the Deathly Hallows." Harry said bemusedly.

"Yes you are the Master of Death but Voldemort is also the master of the elder wand and has some power over the wand. The Horcrux in your head gave him partial possession of the wand as well. When he shot the killing curse at you he killed his Horcrux and you. As of this moment Tom Riddle has possession of the wand but if you go back it will be up for grabs between the two of you as to whom the owner is. The wand can only be passed on when a person is defeated. You willingly gave up without a fight transferring the wand to Riddle but when he killed the part of his soul attached to you he also defeated himself at the same time and the wand changed owners again. As of this moment nobody is the Master of the Elder wand." Explained the Old Man.

"Oh."

"At any rate you don't have to decide till after Riddle attacks tonight."

"Is there any way to save my parents? Anything?" Harry desperately asks.

For the first time an expression of sadness is seen on his face.

"There is nothing that can be done to save them. I'm sorry."

"YOU'RE SORRY? THAT"S IT! IT"S NOT FAIR. WHY SHOULD THEY DIE WHILE PEOPLE LIKE MALFOY AND LESTRANGE LIVE? TELL ME HOW THAT IS RIGHT AND DON'T TELL ME IT'S FOR THE GREATER GOOD. THE GREATER GOOD CAN KISS MY ASS FOR ALL I CARE." Harry Yelled.

"IT'S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT YOU. DID YOU EVER WONDER WHY THEY FOUGHT SO HARD? SO THAT YOU CAN LIVE. INSTEAD OF HONORING THEIR SACRIFICE YOU INSULT THEM BY ACTING THIS WAY. BUT YOU'RE SO BLINDED BY YOUR OWN PAIN THAT YOU CAN'T SEE THAT OTHERS SUFFER AS WELL." The Old man yelled back losing his patience with him.

The shock of him yelling stopped Harry. His voice when he yelled was full of power and felt ancient. For the first time he saw a glimpse of his power and it was mind boggling. Realizing that the being in front of him could kill him quite easily he quieted down.

The Old man seeing him listen immediately calmed down.

"I apologize for my outburst young Potter. I had no right to yell at you like that. I should have realized that for a person who has constantly wished for his parents to be alive it would be most distressing to find out that no matter what you do they will die. For that I apologize."

Watching him apologize took all the anger out of Harry and made him see that he was acting like a brat throwing a temper tantrum.

"Your right. I'm sorry for acting like that. It just hurts to know that I can't save them. The two people I want the most and I can't do anything. It's just not fair." Harry said crying.

The old man pulled him in his arms and gave him a hug. The feeling that he was giving off made Harry finally break down and mourn for his parents.

He cried for all the lost experiences they would never share, for all the love they will never see, for all the times they would never be there. He cried for all the pain in his life and all the suffering and betrayal that has happened to him and all the people associated with him. He just cried.

After crying his eyes out Harry felt lighter, freer. It felt as if there was an unknown weight on him being lifted off of him. The pain was still there but dulled and he knew that only time would fix it.

Sheepishly he moved out of the Old man's embrace and straightened up.

"Thanks….for …you know. I mean…. for….letting me….." Harry trailed off embarrassed at his reactions.

"Your welcome." the Old man replied sparing Harry the embarrassment.

"Now if you have any questions to ask me now is the time to ask." the Old man asked

Grateful for the change in conversation he eagerly took it.

"Now that you mention it there are a few things I would like to ask. "

"Ask away. We have all the time in the world."

"First off do I still have the imbalance between my soul and essence in me and what about the Horcrux that was attached to me?" Harry asked hoping that it was gone.

"The Horcrux that resided in your scar was destroyed when you were hit with the Killing curse. Remember I told you that whatever choice you make the Horcrux will be gone from you."

"And the imbalance?"

Here the Old man hesitated.

"It's gone right? I'm in harmony with my soul and essence. Tell me I'm right?" Harry questioned feeling panicked that he might not be right.

"You have to understand that your soul was oppressed for almost all your life. It would take time for it to fully grow and right itself." Seeing Harry's expression he hastened add that it would eventually fix it self.

"If you were to go back to your time it could take years for you to heal and by then you might not want to live the life you are living then. You might be married to Ginny Weasley in that time and might even name a kid of yours after your headmaster or potions professor. It might even be a combination of the two."

The look on Harry's face was priceless. It was a cross between shock, disgust, and horror. It was quite funny looking which caused the Old man to laugh.

"That's not even funny Old man." He continued to laugh.

"Stop Laughing. Please?" by the end Harry was pleading.

"I'm sorry it's just the look on your face was hilarious and I haven't laughed like that in a while." He was still chuckling though.

"What would happen if I merged with my younger self's soul?"

"You would be reborn so to speak. You would not be the Harry you are now but you would be the Harry you should have been if you didn't have a soul piece in you. Not to say that the you of now isn't how you're supposed to be but it's not your true self. Understand?"

Seeing the lack of understanding he tried a different route.

"Take for example your wearing a mask. When you put it on it cover's your face and hides your identity. In your case the mask you're wearing is only covering half your face. The other half that is not covered is your true self but part of you is still covered. When you do take it off it takes you some time to adjust to the feeling of not wearing a mask on your face. It may feel unnatural at first but after a while that feeling would fade and eventually you will forget the feeling of having a mask on your face." Finished The Old man seeing Harry understand.

"Okay. That makes sense. Next question. You said that the Weasley's betrayed me but the way you said it sounded as if they were following Dumbledore's orders. I want to know how and why." Harry said determined to know why they would betray him.

"I'm afraid I don't quite follow. I thought I explained my self at the courtroom." Said the Old man perplexed.

"I can understand and believe why Ginny would make me fall in love with her. I can even believe that Ron would be jealous and only want me for money and fame. The same with Molly and Percy but its Arthur, Fred, and George that is making me hard to accept it."

"What about Bill and Charlie?"

"I don't know them really all that well so what they did or did not do wouldn't really matter to me. It's those three that I'm wondering about. Arthur's been nothing but helpful to me and even if the twins tricked me for the money I can understand. Doesn't mean I have to like it but I understand why they would do something like that."

"Let's start with the twins. When their business started booming they wanted to expand but they needed more gold than they have. They overheard the plot to get you to fall in love with their sister and provided the potion ingredients and even had the finished potions delivered to Hogwarts under their disguised programs to smuggle objects into Hogwarts."

Harry was again stunned that the twins would do something like that. Its one thing to trick someone but quite another to rob a person of their own will just for their own gains.

He never expected for them to be like that.

"And Arthur?"

"In a pureblood household whenever a person joins the family either through marriage or birth they have to pledge an oath of loyalty to the head of the family for the rest of their life. This is to make sure that any actions they take that can have a huge impact on family must be approved by the head. That is why there is no divorce in the Wizarding world and also why marriage is so important. Once you are married it is for life."

"So basically in order for any of the family members to do something that can have a big effect it has to be cleared by the head of house?" Harry inquired.

"That's the gist of it." Was the answer he received.

"So then why did Arthur act the way he did? Why did it look like Molly was the one in charge instead of Arthur?"

"Appearances. Arthur has a reputation as a meek mild mannered man but it is only a front. He chooses to act that way so when something does happen they would never think that he is capable of it." Answered back the Old man.

Makes sense in a way. Dumbledore put on this grand fatherly act to get people to trust him so why wouldn't Arthur do something like that as well. Every other pureblood male believes themselves to be superior to all other beings that were magical and muggle so why didn't he act like all the others. Even his own kids had some arrogance to them. Some were more pronounced than others but it was there. Harry thought.

"I know it hurts to find out that people you trusted betrayed you but it's better to find out when you can do something to change it than when you can't." The Old man said wisely.

"Your right but it still hurts and will hurt for a while." Countered Harry.

For a while neither said anything but walked in silence. Harry lost in his own thoughts and the Old man patiently waiting giving him the time he needed to assimilate the information. The sun was starting to rise higher and signs of life were beginning to show around the area.

"I was wondering…..if I do choose to merge with my younger self what will happen to the timeline that I am from?" probed Harry curious.

"If you do choose that path the timeline uyou just came from will be gone. It will never exist." Replied the Old man.

"WHAT?! I don't want to be the reason for all those people dying. If that's the case then I'll just go back." Declared Harry stubbornly.

For the second time in an hour the Old man laughed again.

"HEY. This is not a laughing matter. I'm dead serious about it."

"I'm sorry. It's just too funny. Have you ever thought of being a comedian? You'd make a killing if you did." Wisecracked the Old man.

"Eh?" was Harry's oh so brilliant counter. "I'm missing something aren't I?"

"Do you actually think you would be responsible? It's not the first time we've done something like this."

"You've done this before?" exclaimed Harry.

"Yes but not too often. We try not to meddle too much in the affairs of your world. Only if the situation calls for it." Parried the Old man.

"What kind of situations?"

"Mass genocide, disasters that affect massive areas, deaths of particularly important people that affect the world, stuff like that."

"Oh."

"You see when we meddle we change only one choice a person makes. We try to make the best choice that has the most impact on the world without causing it too much harm. The people who lived in your time will still exist here but they won't be the same in your interactions. Close but not exact. Sometimes minor changes have the biggest impact. Remember that." Uttered the Old man.

"Why won't they be the same?" questioned Harry.

"Because you won't be the same. A person is based on their interactions with everything. Since you will be different your interactions should be different as well." He lectured.

"I guess." Replied a perplexed Harry.

"Don't worry you'll see soon enough. Anything else you wish to know?"

"Will I be able to save the people who died before?" Harry questioned having the idea in his mind for a while.

The Old man gave a sigh before answering.

"Depends. Theoretically if they died of an unnatural death then yes but for some people it just might be there time. Or someone else might take their place. It's one of those what if situations. What if I did this instead of that? All of it hinges on how different the time line would become."

Harry was disappointed that he couldn't get a more definite answer.

"Thanks. I guess I'll just have to see when the time comes."

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you a more exact answer."

He truly did look sad.

"So when do I merge with my younger self if I do choose that path? It'll be weird being little again. Not like I remembered the first time." Harry skillfully changing the subject.

"Tonight after Riddle's attack."

"So what should I do in the mean time?"

"We thought it would be a good idea if you were able to see your parents the day they died just to have something to remember them by."

"Seriously? I can see my parents."

"Yes but they can't see or hear you at all. Consider it a wish fulfilled for all the times you desperately wanted to see them."

Harry was at a loss of words. One of his fondest wish was to actually see his parents with his own eyes even if it is for a day.

"Thank You. You have no idea how much this means to me. Can I see them now?"

"Were already here. Look to your right." The Old man intoned.

Baffled, Harry turned to his side. In front of him was a beautiful two story house. The grass on the front lawn looked parched. There was a big apple tree on the side. The leaves were falling off in a myriad of colors. Without even having to ask he knew that this was where his parents lived.

It's my home.