Summary: This story will follow Harry as he steps into his next life with the memories of his old one just within his reach. Between making new friends and reminiscing the past, he will discover how much one can change when going through life a second time. Warning: Will contain slash.

An end and a beginning.

Harry smiled as he took in the sight of his three beautiful children, now grown to be respectful individuals that filled him with pride each and every day of his life.

James, his oldest, now father of four and grandfather of seven and counting, had been the first to bring a light in his very being that had managed to partially heal the wounds that the war and his troubled youth had inflicted on him.

He remembered it as if it was yesterday, holding him in his arms for the first time, feeling his heart expanding in order to contain the parental love surging through him.

He remembered how much trouble he had given to Ginny and him as a teenager. She would worry so much about her firstborn, because he was too carefree, too reckless, and not nearly responsible enough to make the right choice most of the time.

When he had graduated Hogwarts (to Ginny's great relief) they had expected him to join uncle George's expanding chain of joke shops as his second hand. And George had been ready and happy to welcome his favorite nephew with open arms, considering how close the two were.

James, however, had decided instead to pull off a disappearing act for a year, during which they received many postcards from all over the world.

He came back the same cheeky boy he had been, but somehow a little more mature. To everyone's shock, and aunt Hermione's immense satisfaction, he had enrolled in wizarding law school, managed to finish his curriculum a year in advance, and proceeded to become not only one of the best experts in creature law, but also the main advocate that pushed for creature equality rights until they were achieved.

To everyone's shock, but not Harry's. He knew his boy's heart better than anyone else.

Moving his gaze to his second son, Ginny's boy, he thought with an amused smile, he could not help the wave of tenderness that engulfed him, as it always did, when taking in those eyes.

Albus was his spitting image and, truth be told, even their personalities were so similar that Harry sometimes had had trouble seeing him like the child he had been back in the days.

He had loved Albus just as dearly as he had loved James, but he had not been the same kind of father to them. With Albus, curious and wise beyond his years since before he even got his Hogwarts letter, Harry had always been straightforward and had never sugarcoated anything. He liked to think that that had been what Albus had needed from him.

He had been Ginny's weakness, her sweet boy that reminded her so much of Harry, the man she loved. She had tried her best to spoil him rotten and still to this day Harry was surprised how that had not caused his son to become like a Dudley Jr.

Albus had been instead, in a very unique way, their family's pillar. He had been the one James had kept in touch with while away Merlin knows where, the one by Harry's and his siblings' side with the right words and the right silence when they all went through the grief of Ginny's passing, the one to help Lily out when she went through her divorce, the one to who each of them looked up to whenever times were particularly tough or quite happy.

Albus had not married, saying it just wasn't for him. Harry knew better than to believe him, but couldn't do much more than silently empathize with his son's heartbreak that had followed the Malfoy heir's wedding to Rose.

Albus insisted his job as a mind healer was highly satisfying and fulfilling and all that he needed in his life to feel complete. Harry knew that he had repeated it enough times to himself for it to have eventually become true.

Finally, he looked at his Lily, whom he had continued to call little princess up to this day, that she had her own little princess, who in turn had her own little princess. James would always joke about his sister being so vain that she had decided to produce clone after clone of herself, to which Lily would laugh wholeheartedly and say that it had actually started with mom and she was but a mere clone herself of the original perfection.

Ginny had not lived to meet the niece that resembled her so much, even more so then her daughter, who other then appearance had had little in common with her. Where Ginny had been hot headed and decisive, Lily had always been quiet, almost shy, and in a world that was out of the reality everyone else seemed to experience.

Lily was a writer in the muggle world. She loved magic dearly and had gone through her Hogwarts years smoothly, easily achieving excellent results. However, her career of choice had happened to be unrelated to magic. Harry had heard her confess to Albus once that she enjoyed writing novels for muggles because she liked the idea of delivering some truth about magic to them in the form of her stories.

Her husband had had trouble understanding her, regardless of how much love there had been between them, so in the end it hadn't worked between them and they had decided to part as friends rather then push themselves to the point where they would've ended up hating each other. Her daughter, Helen, at that point, had become her life and the special bond between the two was nothing short of extraordinary.

Helen was a professional seeker, to her grandpa's immense pride, and had just recently sent her own little princess to her first year at Hogwarts.

Harry was most proud of Lily, out of his three children, because she possessed an inner strength like no one he had ever known.

With a last sigh, he took the sight of them in one more time, their aged faces and teary eyes, before closing his own, ready to greet Death like an old friend, after a life fully lived.

He found himself weightless and senseless, yet still conscious of his own existence. This doesn't feel so bad, he thought to himself, before giving out a mental sigh, I see how it could become boring soon though.

While wondering how long this state of things would last, he started to perceive a beam of light in the distance. Just as he was about to will himself to somehow make for the light, his view of it was blocked by more whiteness.

Looking at it more carefully, he realized that it was white hair. Just as he reminded himself of the concept of hair, he started to perceive his own on top if his head, towards which he moved his hand, thus becoming conscious of it as well. As Harry slowly became reacquainted with the rest of his body, the white hair in front of him started talking.

"It's been a while, my boy. Sorry I had to come in the way of you and the light at the end of the tunnel. They thought it best it be me to inform you of what's to come beforehand."

Harry smiled, slowly lifting his eyes up the length of the white beard to meet those of Albus Dumbledore.

"Hello, Sir. Good to see you again."

Dumbledore smiled.

"Good to see you too, Harry. Although, to be fair, I've been keeping an eye on you all this while. You've done well."

"I did my best," Harry shrugged. It was as simple as that.

Dumbledore nodded, took a deep breath, and decided that there was no better way to say what he had to anyway, so he might just go ahead and drop the bomb.

"And I'm sure you'll do your best again, dear boy."

At that, Harry's eyebrows furrowed with confusion and a tiny bit of justified worry.

"You are about to go through rebirth, Harry. And before you loose your calm, it is something completely natural that every living being goes through upon the end of their current lives. The only difference, in your case, is that your memories of the life you are about to leave behind will remain intact in the new life you are about to start."

Dumbledore remained silent for a few moments, allowing him to process what he had just heard. In the end, Harry appeared to have resigned himself and shook his head.

"But why? And if it so natural for everyone to make this transition, how come you are here?"

"First things first, you are the owner of the Hallows, therefore Master of Death. Death is just a moment in which your memories of one life are mostly removed, before you continue onto your next hoop in the endless chain of reincarnation. Being the Master of Death means simply that you are the master of your life's memories and this moment has no power over them. As for me being here, time is nonexistent in this moment. When you passed away, I had not been reborn yet, however, once you will be reborn, I have been already for some time."

"What?"

Harry could not follow him, but somehow, deep in his being, he understood. There was something in his essence that reassured him, as if it was saying that there was nothing new with his current situation, as if it was suggesting not to worry too much about it, because he had done this numerous times, although he didn't know.

Dumbledore seemed to read his facial expressions well enough, for he smiled warmly and put a hand on his shoulder, gently squeezing.

"Don't worry, Harry. I can come find you. As owner of one Hallow at a certain point in time, I will also retain a few memories in this new life. I am sure you will be one of them. Unless you do not wish me to, I'll come to find you."

At that, Harry smiled and nodded. Then, abruptly, a terrifying thought occurred to him.

"Wait! Does that mean Voldemort will also remember? And Grindelwald?"

Then a sparkle of hope.

"My father?"

Dumbledore shook his head, smiling sadly.

"Your father will not coincide with you in this new life. He was already reborn in the life you are about to leave. He was but a kid when you were in your death bed though, and not fully conscious that what he had were memories of his past life, so you have to forgive him for not being able to reach out. And the same will happen for the soul that was once Tom Riddle. He will be approximately born in the same year as you will, however his memories will be too confused and foggy for him to figure out most of it. I don't know the future, but I daresay that unless you search for him, neither of you will realize who the other is if you ever were to cross paths. As for Gellert, I plan to search for him too. I have to make amends and I know he wishes the same. You don't have to worry, Harry. Live this new life carefree and happy, and I'll make sure our paths cross one day. I am convinced that having been in contact with all three Hallows at different moments in time will allow me some leeway in this matter."

Harry listened to every word attentively, then nodded. He felt sad at the thought of being unable to find his loved ones from his most recent life, but then again, a new life would give him the opportunity to love new people and, who knew, unknowingly some of the old ones possibly.

As Dumbledore gave him a last squeeze on his shoulder, Harry smiled.

"See you on the other side, Sir."

"See you soon, Harry."

Notes

Thank you for reading! This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction, so reviews and criticism are more than welcome!