Summary: Harry's life didn't go as he wanted, but he was alive. And then he died. Again. But this time he learned what it really means to be the Master of Death.

Pairings: Not yet decided.

Disclaimer: This is fanfiction. The actual fiction of Harry Potter is J. Ro.'s work. I'm merely a fan paying a tribute. So in other words, don't sue me. On another note, the plot will have some similarities with other writers, since I was a reader long before I started to write, but I didn't cheat. If you can name whose idea it was, I'll give due credit here.

Warnings: Adult language, some bashing, slash.

Updated: 24/06/13

Edited: 27/09/13

Recently beta read by BadGirlgoesworse. A warm thanks for her.

"Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
so make the best of this test, and don't ask why
it's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life."

-Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by Green Day.

Chapter One:

It felt like Harry took a Portkey through the Floo Network without a specific destination. When the spinning stopped he felt violently ill, like he used to be all those years ago when he first learned to use those means of transportation. Thus, it took Harry quite some time to get back some semblance of control through the nausea and the steady stream of swear words he was directing at Death for this abrupt journey, until he realised that he had landed in his very first and only memory of his mother - her death - a nightmare he had lived through hundreds of times before and had been just as unable to stop as he was now.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please, not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl . . . stand aside, now."

"Not Harry, please, no, take me, kill me instead –"

"This is my last warning –"

"Not Harry! Please . . . have mercy . . . have mercy. . . . Not Harry! Not Harry! Please – I'll do anything –"

"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"

The green light of Avada Kedavra flashed in the room and between the screams from Voldemort and wails escaping his own mouth, Harry lost consciousness again.

The next time he regained his consciousness, he found himself on the doorstep of No. 4 Privet Drive. For a moment Harry contemplated running away before they even found him. He was nearly certain he could live on his own and he would not have to live with them.It was certainly a very tempting idea, but he considered the reality and found that he was still groggy (as if someone had put a sleeping charm on him - probably Dumbles), and his arms and legs felt heavy (like when he used a lot of magic in a short amount of time – probably from the time jump), and most important of all, he did need the protection of the wards (that were based on his blood). He would have to stay here for the time being. So, Dursleys it was. But who said he would have to repeat the childhood he had the first time? He started shifting ideas in his head as to how to change it when sleep claimed him again.

The first weeks and months that he stayed at the Dursleys after they found him followed a curious pattern. Harry was yet again put in the cupboard and he mostly slept through the nights and days, except when Petunia fed him three times a day as opposed to Dudley's six - but Harry didn't mind. He was content that they left him well alone to plan and plot whenever he was not sleeping. Harry searched though his memories for anything that might suggest why he was sleeping so much through the days, but to no avail.

It took Harry an accident to realise the reason. It was a Sunday and Dudley was being extra fussy that morning. When the time came for Petunia to feed Harry, Vernon started muttering angrily about him and freaks and how they were wasting good money on ungrateful brats, and everything in between. So when Petunia took Dudley upstairs, Harry knew Vernon would come thundering at his door to shout at him some more. Like the last time, Vernon had already started venting at him for any and all things that dissatisfied him. Harry desperately wanted to avoid another confrontation and to his surprise Vernon just passed his door and went upstairs. It was then he sensed that he had put a mild notice-me-not charm on his cupboard door unconsciously powering it, so that the Dursley's didn't bother him outside of the daily tasks of feeding and taking care of him. With the help of his now fledging magic sensory abilities (in his adult body before his death his senses were acute) Harry also found his invisibility cloak at the foot of his cot.

It took another two days for Harry, in-between his sleep, to put together the whens and hows and whys. He came to the conclusion that after James Potter died the cloak automatically passed on to him. The last time he didn't know about it for a long while and bonded with it the hard way by using it throughout his teen years. But this time he knew consciously that after his father's death he was the owner of it and accepted his responsibility as the Heir of his family. In addition to that he was the Master of Death, so when he was facing death the cloak came to its master to protect him. Now, while it was a powerful object, it was still just an object and to protect Harry from harm it took magic from him. So, the time jump followed by surviving an AK, along with the charm Harry put on his door were making him weak and taking a long time to recover. Figuring it out took off the worry of his shoulders, seeing as Harry was starting to get concerned about his constantly tired state. But now that he knew why, he was certain that by the time his birthday rolled around in six months he would be fit as a fiddle, even if he maintained the charm on his door all the time.

With not having to worry about his health anymore Harry's mind drifted towards the cloak and why it did what it did. He had learned many things in the later years about his Potter legacy in general and about the cloak specifically. When Harry became Lord of The Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter at the age of 21, he had the Potter manor with all of its books and portraits at his disposal. But at that time he was busy masquerading as the Saviour-turned-Auror and by his 24th birthday he was a married man and a father. The thirst he had for learning about his origins (as all orphans have) had subdued by then, as he was busy with managing his present and future. He also never settled down at Potter manor, rather he had rebuilt the two storey cottage in Godric's Hollow and lived there with his family.

But after he retired, he had free time in abandon and he invested it in pursuing the tomes and journals at Potter manor. From them and the portraits he learned many things. But some were more interesting than others. One of those was that the invisibility cloak was tied to the Potter family Magics and passing it down meant that the current owner, the Lord of the family, had chosen his heir. It used to be a coming of age tradition. But Charlus Potter, his grandfather, had James when he was in his late forties. So he gave James the cloak early, on his eleventh birthday, as a precaution. He had planned to tell its full legacy to James on his seventeenth birthday (Charlus' portrait had said so), but he and his wife died before then and as the war started in earnest James had only visited them on the day of his wedding to let his parents meet his bride. James had settled at the manor for some 10 months after his wedding with Lily, but he was quite busy and he never took the mantle of the Lord of the House. Then, one day they left for Godric's Hollow and never came back - and so James had never learned the truth and with his death the legacy ended. Harry was supposed to take the mantle on his 15th birthday being the last Potter, if he had been told and if he had learned everything about the wizarding culture as was his birthright, but he hadn't and it had cost him the chance to talk to his parents' portraits, seeing as portraits need to be activated within 15 years after the time of the subject's death.

Another thing he learned was that Potters were never a large family - their numbers varied within 1 and 12 from time to time. But whenever there was only one Potter left (that had happened half a dozen times over the centuries), he or she never died before having a progeny to pass their legacy on. Sometimes they had accidents or someone deliberately tried to off them, but they always survived. It was mostly a singular incident - never told of or publicised, even when they had family later. And since there were hundreds of years between them they never realised that it had happened before. Most of them also never knew of the connection between their cloak and Ignotus Peverell. But Harry knew about it and he had come to the conclusion that his survival on both October 31st, 1981, and May 2nd, 1998, was largely due to it. He was the last Potter and thus he couldn't die. Had Voldemort's attack not been made known to public at large, no one would have learned about the first time he had survived death, like with his ancestors - it was the power he knows not- the Potter Legacy. And it was evident in all his death-defying adventures later on – the sheer dumb luck - it was called. And by May, 1998, he was already on his way to become the Master of Death. But it was all theoretical when he had concluded it. Though now he was almost sure, since his meeting with Death and having summoned the cloak during the attack lent credibility to his theory.

The last time, he was saved for the sake of the Potter family legacy, but this time around the cloak had responded because he was the Master of Death and it had recognised him as such. It seemed that the cloak took a lot more magic this time around too and that made Harry wonder if he was a Horcrux this time as well, or if the magic of an activated Hallow had been powerful enough to protect him. It only took five minutes for him to call on Death and confirm that he wasn't. Death also said that the other Hallows would recognise him as the Death's chosen and may very well not work against him. It could only be a good thing and may become helpful for him in the future (due to their current owners) - Harry decided.

By the time spring rolled around Harry was a lot less tired, but he still kept to himself and was always stealthy when he ventured outside his cupboard for bathroom and such. He was almost certain that by his 2nd birthday he wouldn't have any fatigue left. But that bore the question of how to live with them for the next eight years. Harry wanted to have a peaceful life here - one that didn't include being their slave or punching bag. And he had absolutely no qualms using magic to make it happen. But being invisible wasn't feasible for the entirety of eight years. Should he resort to violence and intimidation then? Harry could see that just remembering the last time was making him lose control of his magic.

Wait, what?

It had been years since Harry had blown up anything. He still had his temper - make no mistakes - but his subordinates and his children could attest to the fact that he didn't blow up or lose control like a volcano anymore. Rather he became ice-cold and might very well freeze you for real when giving you a dressing down.

Harry took a deep breath and stared meditating to regain control on his magic, and found that his occlumency shields were almost nonexistent. He was entirely dumbfounded that the shields he had painstakingly built up over the years with self-study and hard work had practically vanished. In near panic that without his shields to maintain control he may very well blow up the whole house (which would be very inconvenient) he set out to rebuilt them. Halfway through the work he had settled down and was no longer in a panicked frenzy, coming to realise that the occlumency shields were a part of his physical body and not his soul or magic that had travelled with him. Thus, the remains that were left were only imprints from his memory, not the actual shields. It took Harry a week to rebuild his shields to an acceptable level and organise his memories. It was a tiring process, since one had to relive one's memories when organising them within one's mindscape. What Harry found most curious was that the emotions that usually accompanied a reliving of experiences were missing. He concluded that like the occlumency shields, these experiences were not of this physical body and as such they were merely an echo of those actual experiences - like memories taken from someone else's brain.

And amidst his 43 years of memories of the Old Harry he found the mind of the 18-months-old whose body he was inhibiting. Finding it and intentionally absorbing it (not absorbing might have caused problems later on) was an amazing experience on many levels. It was not overly hard - simply dissolving the mind Magics with the pressure of the same but his more experienced one (they were the same). Not only had it given him a couple more memories of his parents that had been lost in his own mind due to time, it also gave him a unique perspective, an amalgam of experiences and optimism to see the whole world from.

For so long Harry had been merely surviving - just to be different from both Dumbles and Voldie, who had wanted him either dead or a pawn, to pass on his legacy to his children (that neither wanted or was able to - both their lines died with them), to survive beyond the expectations and assumptions the wizarding world had of him - that he had simply lost the will to live fully and wholly. Even when Death gave him this opportunity, he had thought of it only as another thing to overcome and survive on the long list of events he already had. However, now with his new view of world he could appreciate the chance to do it over on his own terms where he held all the cards and had the time to plan for it. It was a fresh start.

One of the first things Harry decided that he needed to do was to devise a plan of action as to how he wanted to present himself here at Privet Drive - both to the Dursleys and the neighbours. And more importantly, how he would want to handle his re-introduction to the wizarding world at the age eleven. Though, the Dursleys should be easy to control through fear and violence, Harry didn't want to resort to it. Without magic it would be difficult and rather hard to get away with, but with magic, however easy it would be, it might later become his undoing (like it had been for Tom Riddle. Especially, since Dumbles would definitely come to investigate, once he realised that his pawn had become a queen of his own). Mind Magics, however small or faint, would leave a trace in one's mind, which was rather easy to find for someone like Dumbles, and Harry didn't like to warn his opponents before he took them down. He had always thought later in his life that had Riddle been a bit more Slytherin in his approach and a bit less insane and irrational, wizarding Britain would have been his without them even realising. What Harry wanted to do with his new chance was to initiate a revolution from within.

But to appropriately catch the world unawares, he needed to not be seen as a threat. Moreover, he needed to have the Dursleys on his side or at least neutral towards him, and the best way to do so, was to emotionally manipulate them - something that no one could detect or would even suspect a child like him of doing. Now, Dudley himself was only a month older than him and while Harry could easily make him putty in his hands when growing up together, that wouldn't help him with the other two. As a matter of fact, Vernon was much too bull-headed to bother making him Harry's focus. That left Petunia. Petunia Dursley née Evans, who had brought him up once was a complex woman. Harry remembered very clearly the heart-to-heart he had with her after the funeral service of Vernon that he had attended.

Growing up Harry always thought that once he got out of their house he would never look back. The events before his seventeenth birthday also suggested so. But after the war, when Harry himself and his whole world were changing – and not for the better at that - Harry became aware of many hard truths in his life. One of them was that the Dursleys were never given any choice in taking him whether they wanted him or nor - he was left on their doorstep. Petunia hadn't had even so much as a passing communication with her sister for years before her death and suddenly she had to take care of her son. They weren't nice. They had been rude to him. They had resented him and were hateful towards him. They had worked him like a slave. But they did take him in, fed and clothed him, however abysmally. They could have abused him far worse; they could have left him on the streets or in an orphanage. So yes, his life had been hard and without them it could have been better. Then again, it could have been much, much worse. In the end, however he might despise Vernon and Petunia Dursley for being immature enough to hate a child for something it had no hand in, he was thankful towards them. And since she was of his blood that had protected him in spite of her hatred, Harry had kept tabs on them over the years. As a result, when he learned of Vernon's death by cardiac arrest he sent her flowers to express his condolences and to inform her that he would attend the service, but they wouldn't have to acknowledge him if they didn't want to. Harry fully expected them not to.

But Petunia had asked him to wait and accompany her home (they had moved years ago) and then point blank demanded to know why he had come. Harry could see she genuinely wanted to know and so had told her everything he thought about them. Concluding, "No matter how hateful and miserable you two were towards me, you were the only parental figures I had and that is why I wanted to show respect today."

Harry had thought that it would be the end of his visit, but Petunia surprised him by breaking down in front of him, as well as with the words that came tumbling out of her mouth. He learned how Petunia had always wanted to be a big sister, to have someone to nurture and protect, and how happy she had been when Lily was born. But as they grew up, everyone wanted Lily more than her, because Lily looked more beautiful, she was more intelligent and talented, more outgoing too. Other children, neighbours, teachers - everyone always liked and praised only Lily. But Lily and their parents loved her, so it was okay. But then came her Hogwarts letter and suddenly even their parents preferred Lily more, seeing as she undoubtedly was more special than Petunia, and by then Lily was already leaving her behind on the playground to go and play with that Snape boy. So in her hurt, anger and jealousy she had lashed out, said hurtful words. Her parents had been disappointed and Lily was gone for most of the year, and when she returned she was already out of her reach, as were her parents who spent the whole summer spoiling their better daughter. So she nurtured the hurt and anger and started to hurt them back. Years had passed, Lily got married and left them behind for good, and then their parents died. Petunia had thought that part of her life to be over and she locked her heart and started anew with her own family. But then, one day she found Harry on her doorstep and saw those green eyes that he had common with his mother and grandfather. And no matter how much she wanted to love him and protect him, she knew once he learned of magic, which was inevitable, he would leave her behind as well. So she never opened her heart. She wanted him out and away from her family. She let Vernon rant and rave at him, because Vernon was the type who at least wanted it to seem like he was in control. She let Dudley bully him, so that at least her son would best Lily's. She knew it was wrong, but never stopped, because the ball was rolling long before he appeared on their doorstep.

That conversation helped Harry to understand his Aunt Petunia and for the next six years that she was alive they had exchanged holiday cards and semi-regular letters between them. And with that in mind Harry determined that this time around he would make nice with her, so that the already hurt and jealous woman wouldn't become guilt-ridden as well for something that was clearly a matter of circumstances. He was fairly sure that he could sway her to his side since he could talk already (he had practiced inside the cupboard). And if sweet-talking failed, he could use his passive magic as well.

Magic of above average powerful individuals saturated the air around their body and projected their aura, like Professor McGonagall's strict-but-fair vibe, or Snape's don't-cross-me-if-you-know-what's-good-for-you vibe, or Lucius Malfoy's I'm-powerful-and-your-superior vibe. It was subconsciously manipulating other people's perception of them, making others see them the way they wanted to be seen, but in their case it was also unconscious. On the other hand, those of immense power, like Voldie and Dumbles, could consciously manipulate their projection to their own end - to make them seem a harmless grandfather or a charismatic young man as they liked. And of course, Harry could do that as well. In his last life he had projected himself mostly as aloof or sincere, though he could present himself as whatever he wanted to be and the others wouldn't be able to help themselves but see him as such. Harry decided that he would wait for the summer to come and when Vernon would take Dudley out for a walk as he used to, and leave Petunia alone in house, Harry would approach her.

R & R pls!