Harry Potter stood back as he finished the last line of his ritual circle. Checking his runes and arithmetic placing one last time, he set down the chalk before going to stand in the middle. As much as he was skeptical about this specific ritual, he knew he had to go back. His world wouldn't survive the next muggle attack, the first one having already wiped out thousands.

Taking a deep breath, Harry smashed his time turner onto the floor, watching as the white grains of sand flew to the edges of the circle.

The circle powered up, a golden ring of light surrounding him.

With one more glance towards the cold stone walls of Grimmauld Place, Harry grabbed the Elder Wand out of his wand holster and without hesitation, stabbed himself in the heart.

Crimson blood flew to the floor before being purged from the circle, lying outside the golden lines like some twisted embroidery.

The last thing Harry saw before dying were the sands of the Time Turner flying outside the shimmering golden lines...

"It is time to send in the nuclear bomb", Prime Minister Emmit said coldly, finger hovering over the red button that would trigger the bomb's launch.

But the bomb never reached its target as the Prime Minister suddenly fell dead, wand embedded in his chest.

Death always had a weird sense of humor.

Harry could tell something was off as soon as he woke up. He felt out of sorts, kind of like that feeling when you're in a room but not registering anything that was happening around you. It was an out of body experience.

It also wasn't helpful that he came into being in the middle of the Great Hall, Harry thought, his eyes taking in the long tables around him extending the whole length of the Great Hall.

He immediately clamped down on the panic bubbling inside of him, face shuttering down until it sported a neutral expression. He didn't know what was going on right at this moment. The ritual hadn't let him pick where and at what exact time he would go back to (it was sketchy) but he definitely didn't expect the Great Hall.

Never mind, he would just make some excuse eventually to get the hell of here and figure out what was wrong.

"Hey Charfus", A voice came from his direct right. Turning around, Harry saw his bestfriend, Ron, with his mouth full of food that spewed in all different directions as he spoke.

Staring at Ron in nostalgia, Harry took a moment to realize that Ron was speaking to himself as the ginger continued to look at him pointedly. Ron along with his pregnant wife, Lavender had died early in the Wizarding-Muggle war and Harry hadn't seen his best mate in a long time.

"Sorry mate, got distracted", Harry hastily replied. His mind was in a whirlwind as he finally registered what Ron had said. Why was his name Charlus? I mean, he definitely travelled back in time but was it the correct... universe?

Harry had read of parallel universes when he was looking for information on time travel. He didn't really consider it at the moment, focusing on figuring something out on time travel before his imminent demise but now that he thought about... it was possible. Harry didn't know the limitations on magic though perhaps time travel is one of them. Because he might have travelled to another universe where the timeline was slower than his own.

Or perhaps he just invaded a poor stranger's body, who knows.

"Distracted by those Hufflepuff girls?" Ron pointed at a cluster of second year Puffs that were currently giggling at each other, casting not-so-subtle glances towards Harry.

Harry realized that when he blanked out, he was accidentally staring at the girls. He gave them an awkward smile in apology. It only made the giggling increase.

"You're so lucky being the Boy-who-Lived", Ron groaned. "Everyone has a crush on you".

Harry only replied with a bitter smile.

Romance hadn't been on his mind in a long time. The last person he really considered was... Ginny? Oh jeez that was a long time ago. But who really had time for that when they were in the middle of a war.

Fucking on the other hand was another story. Good stress reliever. And Harry wasn't about to turn to drugs or alcohol. That was more Draco's thing. Though Draco wasn't opposed to a good shag either when Harry asked.

"Do you want to beat up Malfoy and Jackson again? I'm pretty sure they got away last time because of luck..." Ron grumbled as he stared at two Slytherins sitting at the other side of the hall. But Harry's eyes were narrowed at his friend. Did he and Ron participate in beating people up?

"Or Longbottom really. Pathetic excuse for a wizard, the Squib", Ron laughed cruelly. He said it unnecessarily loud and Harry felt anger at himself and his best friend as Neville- strong, leader Neville- shriveled into himself in shame. Yes, Harry himself didn't say or do these cruel things but whoever body he possessed (that was most likely a version of himself) did and those actions were now Harry's own as he now occupied it.

"Or Granger as well, little know-it-a-".

"That's enough Ron", Harry said coldly, cutting Ron off as Hermione- smart, brave, amazing Hermione- tried to make herself as scarce as possible at the very edge of the table, looking as if she wanted to bury herself in her book.

Ron looked shocked for a moment but quickly recovered, "Yeah hah, can't give too much information away or they might slip away like that Jackson kid, slimy thing. Though Longbottom wouldn't have much luck, if you know what I mea-".

Harry suddenly stood up, "I'm not feeling well, stomach bug or something, I'm heading back to the dorms".

Ron looked like he wanted to come with him but he must have decided that food was more important as he shrugged in mild confusion and waved him off.

As Harry looked in the bathroom mirror, he scowled. He was right, this was the body of alternate himself and he couldn't believe his actions. He was a bully! The same kind of people who pushed him to the curb when he was little and laughed as he cried. He was like Dudley! And that was one of the last things he wanted to be other than... Voldemort.

"Well shit", Harry laughed self-deprecatingly.

And not only was he one of types of people he hated the most, he was in an alternative universe! Were other things even the same? Were the Horcruxes different? Did Voldemort decide on a different amount?

Well, a trip to the library it is then.

Madam Pince looked at him suspiciously as he entered the library but other than that, it was a pretty successful venture.

He had found a bin of Daily Prophets that dated back to the 1800s in the library. He skimmed through most of them and learned that Voldemort's timeline of power was still about the same.

Regulus Black was alive though and that put a damper on Harry's plans. Not that he wanted the man dead (for he apparently wasn't a Death Eater according to the Prophet) but having the locket in Grimmauld Place would be ten times easier to access (Sirius was still his Godfather according to the 1981 papers and he would have helped Harry if he was informed of the situation. Though was he disowned at the moment? Harry remembered something about how his mother had disowned him at one point before reinstating him after finding out about him being "Voldemort's right hand man" and all that clap trap).

Or it would have at least been easier to steal it from Grimmauld Place!

Either way, Regulus Black was apparently a renowned Charms Master and respected member of society at this point. He did become a Death Eater but publicly opposed the Dark Lord and joined the Order at around the same time he was supposed to have died in Harry's universe.

Well, a trip to the damn cave it was then!

Harry was so excited.

Groaning as he rubbed his eyes, Harry blearily looked up at the time.

He saw that the library would be closing soon so Harry put the Prophets back into the bin and headed to Gryffindor tower.

RNL

P.S. Do people even read A/Ns? I'm genuinely curious.