An Opportunity for More

by Wasteman

After a torrid life of torture and defeat at Voldemort's hands, Harry is sent back to his younger self, with the help of an unexpected friend, Harry traverses this new life as best as he can, all the while trying to focus on his mission on defeating the Dark Lord once and for all. !PowerfulHarry !HarryxMulti !Lemons

1. Chapter 1

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my new story! I've been writing like crazy again and it feels really good to see how much I've been getting done. On that note, After writing on and off for 4 years now, I finally gave in after one of my friends told me to try it out, here I will be uploading all my stories early, have polls, conversations, commissions and more, I plan on continuing to work on a few select stories while closing others out. Chapter Two of this story is already uploaded, and I hope you all enjoy it. You can find all of this here on my twitter at the link in my bio /wasteman77

Apologies for the re-upload, If anyone is curious as to why it got re-uploaded you can PM me.

Remember to drink some water,

More Life,

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Harry woke from the comfort of a bed for the first time in a while, it had been mostly sleeping bags and dirty blankets on forest floors for a while now. It was a comfort that was unexpected, as what he had last remembered was being alone and in hiding and struggling to fall asleep on the dirty floor of an abandoned home. Harry looked around the room, it was a room he recognized, the guest room at 12 Grimmauld Place, the ancient Black home. How did he get here?

Everything seemed and felt strangely normal, Harry's hypersensitivity wasn't acting up, and neither was his magic. Those were good signs as it meant that he wasn't in immediate danger, but from experience Harry knew that danger was always near. Looking down at his hands, they were clean and lacking the wear and tear that Harry had put them through over the years but his scars remained. The scar from where he had sliced his finger was there on his index finger, the scar from when one of the Carrow twins had nearly taken off his thumb with a cutter, the scar on his wrists from when he tried to end his suffering. They were all there, but the use was not.

Harry rose from the bed, letting his feet touch the floor, he realized that his proportions were off, his hands and feet were smaller than they should be, he grabbed his cock and felt it was slightly smaller. This was weird, it was like he has not grown. Harry spoke aloud for the first time, his voice feeling unique and different, "Mother Fucker." He said, his voice sounding nearly the same if not slightly higher.

"What the fuck!" He said, raising his voice, trying to get used to it. He could feel and hear the differences, and recognized them for what they were but he didn't want to accept the reality. Standing and hearing his bones crack, his muscles felt refreshed, his lungs clear, yet he could see and touch the scars from before. Harry was dressed in only a pair of boxers and walked over to where the mirror sat in the bedroom. Looking into it, Harry gasped in shock, staring at himself in disbelief, he was young again, roughly around 16 years old if he had to guess. A 76 year old man in a 16 year old body. Wow. Magic really fucking hated him.

Harry began touching his face in the mirror, it was so odd feeling the scars on his face but not the fatigue. He touched the scar above his right eye, the cut from when his glasses shattered when punched by Voldemort. The scar was there and still thick, but the bags under his eyes were not, and neither were the age wrinkles. His scars had come back with him, but the age did not.

Why did magic do this to him? Why? Had he not suffered enough? Did it not have it's fill of him?

Harry heard a pop from behind him, and Kreacher appeared, the House Elf looked shocked, but hopeful, "Young Master?" He asked, and Harry shook his head, "no, I'm not your master."

Kreacher quickly denied, "yes, you are, yes, you are, yes, you are!" His voice rose as he spoke.

Harry put both hands in front of him, signalling defence, "Kreacher, I have no idea what's going on, I'm…." Harry hesitated, he did not want to say anything about what had happened to him, especially to this absolute grouch of a House Elf.

Kreacher spoke again, "you are Harry Black, Kreacher found this," he held a page up, "in my room this morning."

Harry reached out and grabbed the note from the Elf. It said "Harry Black, your new master, heir of House Black, Hogwarts Student, born April 17 to Sirius and an unknown woman, he is now 16 years old, going into his third year at Hogwarts. Be kind to him Kreacher, he will need your guidance."

Kreacher quickly snapped it from Harry's hands when he finished reading, "this makes no sense Kreacher!" Harry said, "Who sent you this?"

Kreacher shrugged, "the magical signature is unknown, but I know it is certain, my magic knows it to be true, which means it is."

Harry groaned, "what the fuck." Collapsing on the bed behind him, Harry ran his hands over his face. He was fed up with this shit, why did this happen, did he really have to re-live through all of the bullshit? All of the fighting, the non-sense, why? And by himself?

Kreacher started tapping his foot on the floor, so Harry looked over to him, "where is Sirius?" He asked.

"Died in Azkaban a few years ago," Kreacher said casually, as if he was happy about it.

"Are the Potters alive?"

"Lily and Hardwin live, James died when Sirius went to prison." Kreacher replied.

"They fought Voldemort?" He asked.

Kreacher shivered from the name, "yes."

"For fuck sake." Harry ran his hands over his face, in complete disbelief that this had happened. Magic had taken him from his life and sent him to a completely different one, where he was the heir to House Black, his Mother lived, Sirius was dead, and he was 16 in 3rd year. So many differences and changes from his previous life, he would need to test things and see things differently. Harry leaned forward to look at Kreacher seriously again, "is Voldemort alive?" He asked.

Kreacher's face remained impassive, "yes."

Getting on the train to Hogwarts to attend his 3rd year of classes was not something that Harry was expecting to happen to him again. It was always supposed to be a one time thing, but was it weird that it felt kinda good to be able to do it? Instead of being the pathetic, poor, boy who lived, he was now the heir of House Black. His heirship ring on his finger, robes and clothes that actually fit, a hairstyle that was not terrible, his confidence was certainly higher then when he had done this previously.

Harry walked through gate 9 ¾, into the train station where the express would take him back to school, and was immediately hit with a massive wave of nostalgia. It was to be expected, but it still hit him like a ton of bricks nonetheless. He became rather emotional quickly, and hid away from the station's occupants, ducking his head and making his way to a compartment at the back of the train, remaining as hidden as possible. Harry did not want to run into anyone he knew, so he had arrived early, he had mentally prepared to see his friends, his Mother or even Hardwin, but he knew that seeing them would still be difficult and it would make him sentimental.

Putting his bag away and setting up a privacy charm on the door, Harry looked down at his hands, Sirius had a nice collection of jewelry in his bedroom, rings, bracelets, watches, Harry had taken a few, just to remember him by. Two solid silver rings sat on each of his index fingers, a gold bracelet on his left wrist, and a watch that he now looked at. it was rather early, and the train would not be moving for a while, so Harry settled in for the long haul. Sirius' clothing was rather nice too, if not colourful. Harry found the stuff he liked and with a quick enchantment of a needle had everything in his size, and it made for a rather decent wardrobe, Sirius did have good style.

The last week of his life had been the strangest he could ever dream of. After becoming 16 again, Harry had to completely reevaluate himself, he knew he had to lay low, so he had to change his appearance. First things first, Harry had needed a haircut, so now the hair on the sides of his head was shaved short, while the top remained long, so that he was able to at least style it accordingly. Days like today where he just let it loose, it curled nicely and created a nice spiky look on the top. He needed to look different from Harry, and thankfully his scars really did help with that, especially the ones on his face. The scars above his eye, lip, eyebrow, and cheek were small and faded but there, but the large one on his jaw was still obvious and it disguised him nicely. The one thing that was noticeably missing was the scar in his forehead, the lightning bolt being gone meant for a great many things, and it confused and intrigued him both at the same time.

Finding clothing that fit him was not difficult, but finding the Black family heirlooms was, and only having a stubborn House Elf for company made it all the more difficult looking through Grimmauld Place for supplies. Kreacher kept him fed and made sure to actually clean up, now that he was obligated to, but he still remained grouchy and a nuisance more often than not with him harping words from the old paintings. Needing a wand, Harry had forced Kreacher to find him one, and surprisingly a powerful wand that belonged to one of the Black ancestors was kicking around, it felt rather natural in Harry's hand so he didn't question it. It was about 12 inches and solid black, it had a gnarly, curved look to it that Harry liked and it added to his intrigue.

Harry tested his magic, surprisingly his magic had not diminished from before, it was an absolute welcome surprise to know he was just as powerful as his 76 year old self, which made him one of the greatest magical powers this world had ever seen. He knew he had surpassed Dumbledore by the age of 40, he had just never been able to kill off Voldemort. Never being able to find and destroy his last Horcrux as the man just kept making more and more. It haunted Harry to this day, that freak of a man had taken away everything from around him, killing all of his friends and family, wreaking havoc and taking control of magical Britain. Mentally and physically torturing Harry for years before he allowed him to escape, just to chase him down again.

Harry shook himself from his thoughts, he had another chance here to do right, he could fix his wrongs, and at least try.

It seemed like the train was going to start moving soon, judging by the noise increasing from the areas around him. Harry did not want to be bothered, but a knock on his door had him waving away the privacy charm and pulling his sweater's hood over his face. "Come in." He called out.

A beautiful woman with white blonde hair wearing Ravenclaw colours opened it, she peeked her head in, and the high ponytail she had up fell over her shoulder, "Hello," she said before she paused. "You're too old to be a first year student."

Harry smiled at her charmingly, "I'm a transfer."

Her eyebrows furrowed, "a transfer? From where?"

Truthfully, Harry did not know, all he knew was that his Hogwarts letters had shown up, and his train ticket was legitimate, there was nothing much he could really say. "From somewhere else." He said with a tight smile.

The furrow in the girl's eyebrows deepened, but she shrugged, "if you have your ticket, I guess you're okay." She said, so Harry handed his ticket to her. He was a little bit skeptical handing it over because it had his name on it but he knew she would not leave without checking. "Harry Black?" She said in disbelief, "you're the missing Black heir everyone has been wondering about?"

She stared at him, really taking Harry in this time, her blue eyes looking at his face, hands, scars, wand, everything. "Pleasure to meet you, Miss..?" Harry asked, fishing for her name.

The woman blushed, "I'm Cassandra Malfoy, 5th year prefect of House Ravenclaw."

This time it was Harry's turn to be in disbelief, another change from his world, Malfoy had a sister. A very beautiful sister. "You're a Malfoy?" He immediately asked.

Cassandra turned defensive immediately, "yeah, and?"

"Nothing, nothing." Harry replied, but in his head his mind was racing, Draco's sister, was a Ravenclaw prefect, which meant she was fifth year. Was she different from Draco? Harry could never fathom a Malfoy being a Ravenclaw, they were Slytherin through and through. Harry looked over at her again, she had the same white blonde hair as Draco, and the facial features were similar, she had an aristocratic look that made for a pretty picture, Harry could tell his 16 year old self liked her.

"No, no, no, no, you definitely have something to say." She said boldly, her eyes hardened in defiance and Harry raised an eyebrow at her.

"I meant no disrespect, you do know of the rumours surrounding your family, correct?" Harry replied, knowing the reputation of House Malfoy.

Cassandra raised her chin in defiance, "House Malfoy is an upstanding house within wizarding society, and within the Wizengamot."

Not exactly sure how to react to her clearly rehearsed statement, Harry just let it be. "Lovely to meet you Miss Malfoy." Harry then looked away from her, towards the window, signalling his intent to end the conversation, but Cassandra spoke up again. "Why does your wand look like that?" she asked.

Harry was getting rather annoyed, he did not want to be disturbed in the first place, now Cassandra was fishing for information, obviously wishing to be the first person to get to know more about this mysterious Black heir. Harry pulled down the hood of his sweater, so that his face and in turn all of his scars were on display, Cassandra's eyes widened in surprise, seeing the violence on his face always disarmed people, and it clearly had its effect on Cassandra. "Why do you think?" Harry replied, not exactly rude, but not welcoming either.

Cassandra nodded her head slowly, "I see, sorry for bothering you Harry," she said kindly. "If you need any help at school please feel free to approach me."

Harry nodded back to her, "will do."

Cassandra departed quickly, moving on as other students passed by Harry's door. Harry quickly closed it and set up a new privacy charm hoping to be left alone. It had done the trick for a couple of hours at least, where Harry was practicing his magic within this new body, when another knock sounded out, this time, it was louder and heavier, and sounded far more urgent. Quickly thinking about it, there was no way the Dementors could be on this train if Sirius was dead. What could the urgency be?

Harry pulled his hood back up, and called out "Come in," again. A face that Harry would never forget opened the door, Cedric Diggory, looking as handsome as ever walked in. He looked more haunted now, gaunt and skinny compared to before. What surprised him more, was Cedric was wearing green, his robes in the colours of Slytherin. Cedric looked absolutely stunned, his eyes widened in surprise, his nostrils flaring. There was a tense standoff between the two as Cedric simply stared at Harry. Unsure what to do or say, Harry held a hand out, "nice to meet you," he said slowly.

Cedric slapped Harry's hand away, before he caught Harry off guard and swung a swift punch at him. Harry dodged immediately, his wand fluttering to the floor beneath the both of them. Cedric pulled his wand, but Harry caught his balance on the seat across from him and dodged forward, tackling Cedric to the ground, the both of them landing on their sides in between the two seats. The fight continued, the two of them grappling with each other, trying to gain the upperhand. Harry landed an elbow to Cedric's stomach that winded him, while Cedric jostled for position on top of him.

"Cedric," Harry said, as Cedric tried to wrap his hands around Harry's throat, Harry reached up to grab Cedric's face, while he used his other hand to hit his elbow, trying to dislodge the hands that were choking him. Harry felt the hands squeeze and recognized the bloodlust in Cedric's eyes, so Harry wandlessly cast a Flipendo, knocking Cedric into the air, and smashing him into the window behind them.

Struggling to breathe, Harry watched as Cedric's eyes met his. "You killed me, you got me killed, cursed me to this life again!" Cedric screamed.

Harry cast his strongest privacy charm around them and their compartment. "Cedric, what the fuck." Harry said, stunned, running his hands on his neck where Cedric had gripped.

Putting the pieces together, Cedric had returned from the future as well, but it made no sense. Cedric had died at the age of 17, how was he back?

Harry stood, and kneeled in front of the still slumped Cedric, Harry knew his Flipendo hit hard, so Cedric would be down for a bit. "When did you come back?" he asked.

Cedric, still looking as angry as ever, replied firmly, "6 years ago."

Harry looked at him in confusion, "you've been back for 6 years?"

Cedric nodded, "I woke up when I was 10," he leaned forward to try and punch Harry again, but his movements were slow and weak, so Harry smacked his hand away easily. "If i help you up, do you promise not to hit me again?" Harry said.

Cedric groaned, but rolled his eyes before he nodded. Harry cast a light Rennerverate on him, helping Cedric to get up. He did so slowly, while angrily staring at Harry the entire time. Harry grabbed his wand and kept it in his hand, in case Cedric tried anything else. "How old are you?" Harry asked.

Cedric replied grumpily, "I was 17 when I was originally killed, and I've been in an endless loop of this life for YEARS!" Cedric's words had him completely shocked, he had been in a loop? "A loop?" Harry asked.

Cedric's eyes turned hard, "this is the seventh time i've gone from being a 4th year student in the Triwizard Cup, to being a ten year old!" Cedric pointed a finger at Harry, "each time, we somehow get Portkeyed to the graveyard where I get hit by a killing curse, and then I am once again ten years old." he rubbed his eyes viciously, trying to stop himself from crying.

Harry counted it up in his head, that must've been brutal, being taken back as your 10 year old self after being hit with the killing curse over and over and over. Harry took a moment to let Cedric compose himself, before he calmly asked, "how old are you?"

Cedric sighed, "58." he replied before he then asked, "How old are you?" Cedric asked.

Harry then sighed, he sagged into his seat when he saw Cedric became more relaxed. "I'm 76, I woke up a week ago in the Black manor."

"Hmph, lucky you." Cedric looked at the heirship ring on his hand, "Harry Black, heir to House Black, there are a lot of stories about you, you know? When Sirius died, no one could take the mantle of the heir of House Black because there was nothing in writing. The news ate the story up, 'The Lost Black Heir' people tried but no one could claim it. It is strange that it is you."

Harry shrugged, "I have no idea how any of this happened, I am so confused about everything, the only information I received was from a crazy House Elf, and the brief conversation I had with Draco's sister earlier, which was very weird by the way."

"Yeah, she's nice though, somewhat like the other Malfoy's but she's better than Draco, that's for sure." Cedric replied.

Harry smirked, "would it be extremely petty of me to try and fuck Draco's sister, just to hold it over his head?"

Cedric snorted, "petty? yes. Would it be entirely satisfying seeing Draco's face when he finds out, absolutely."

Cedric then turned rather pensive, "In all my years you've never returned, I hope this is a good sign." he continued, he looked rather downtrodden but there was hope in his eyes, "at least I am finally not alone." he said.

Harry asked quickly, "how did you know it was me?"

Cedric shrugged, "Hardwin Potter exists in this life, and as soon as you spoke to Cassandra you should have known everyone in Hogwarts would know of your status, there had never been something like this happen before, so I just had to double check and see if it really was you." Cedric smirked at Harry, "Sorry for fighting, I just sort of saw red when I saw you."

Harry returned his smirk, "I won't be caught off guard next time."

Cedric rolled his eyes good naturedly, "good, because we need to fix this loop, I can't wait another 50 years for you to run your cycle again."

Harry nodded, "We're going into third year, we have nearly two years to prepare for his return, with the knowledge we have, we can kill Voldemort before he comes back."

Cedric nodded seriously, "it's good to have you back Harry."

Harry smiled, feeling a bit of a brotherly bond form with Cedric, they were in this together now, for good. "Can you tell me about this life? The differences from before? We need to be forthcoming with each other if we are going to work together." Harry said.

The atmosphere between them changed, it didn't take much for the two of them to realize that they needed each other, and that they needed to be able to work together if they wished to escape this hell that magic had put them in. Truthfully, Harry was rather happy it was Cedric, out of anyone, at least it was someone who he knew to be a good person.

Cedric began, "There are so many differences I may get some mixed up, I have a hard time remembering which life is which sometimes."

Harry intervened, "is it accurate enough that the knowledge we have will still be relevant? Or are we sitting on information that could be detrimental to us."

Cedric shook his head, "from what I know, only small changes ever happen, the timeline remains largely the same when it comes to Voldemort."

Harry nodded, "small changes such as you being Slytherin?" he asked.

Cedric shrugged, "my worldview has slightly changed since I was first killed Harry, sue me."

Accepting that answer for what it was, Harry decided, "I'll try and get into Slytherin as well."

Cedric snorted, "you? A Slytherin? Dumbledore's golden boy? As if."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Dumbledore can suck my dick for all I care, nothing is going to get in the way of us killing that vile fucker." Harry stated passionately.

Cedric smiled at him, "good, we're gonna need that energy because it's going to be far more difficult than you think."

"I've been trying to kill him as he hunted and tortured me for 60 years Cedric, I think I know how difficult it is." Harry replied.

Cedric raised a pointed eyebrow, "fair point, but I have lived 5 different lives where he has prevailed, I know of different situations and how to navigate through them."

Harry nodded, "Okay, so what is this life like?"

Cedric sighed again, he looked demoralized, "this life has been the worst so far, there's a lot to get into, but i am rather desensitized to it now."

Taking that to note, Harry knew he would need to somehow get more information from Cedric about his past lives, if there was something, even the smallest of things that could possibly help them kill Voldemort, then it was important information. Harry knew he could wrench these things from Cedric's brain with ease and then Obliviate him, but relationships needed to be built on trust and even now there were some moral lines Harry did not wish to cross.

"Any key differences I should know now?" Harry asked.

Cedric nodded, "Voldemort and his minions have a stronger hold within the Wizengamot, Dumbledore tries his best but there's nothing he can do when the votes are 2 to 1."

Damn. Cedric then continued, "The Houses within Hogwarts are extremely divided, Slytherin is a Death Eater academy, some of the shit that happens in the dorm is fucked up."

Fuck sakes. "This doesn't seem good." Harry said, "Who are your friends?"

For the first time Cedric laughed, it was rather forced, and seemed tortured. "Good one, friends are not something I dabble in right now."

Harry looked at him suspiciously, "you have…. No friends?"

Cedric flipped his middle finger. "You try growing close to someone only to die and have to see their face again and again."

Harry nodded, "fair point. Why are we 16 going into 3rd year? Is there a time difference in this life?"

Cedric shook his head, "that is something I do not understand, every life i've been in, we start at Hogwarts at 11 and make our way through our years as normal. In this life, I got my letter when I was 12, and started first year at 13. This change must be because of you."

"This shit is making less and less sense, this does not feel like a new life, this feels like a whole new world." Harry replied.

Cedric cracked his knuckles, "yeah I guess, this has happened so many times now that nothing surprises me anymore."

Cedric made a good point, this was what, his sixth life? Seventh? Things would blend together for me too. For them to move forward from here, they would need to plan, and come up with a way to neutralize Voldemort before his inevitable rising at the Graveyard. If they were able to prevent his minions from making it happen, then they would not even have to fight him at all. Harry's third year at Hogwarts was entirely dominated by Sirius and what had happened to him. He had learned his Patronus, and had fought Dementors. Since no Dementos had shown up on the train so far because Sirius was dead, it seemed like magic had given them third year to get things in motion, and to get their feet on the ground before they were inevitably pulled into the Triwizard tournament.

Starting from the beginning Harry asked, "what do you know about Quirrel? Has he died? Has he revealed himself? Where is the Philosopher's stone?"

Cedric looked at Harry crazily, "what? Quirrel always fucks off after 1st year, no one ever says anything about it. It's something I could never figure out."

That was unexpected, "Wow, I killed him. In the back of his turban was the ghost of Voldemort, hoping to use the Philosopher's stone to revive himself."

Cedric's jaw dropped, "are you serious?"

"Yeah, I was 11."

Cedric's look of shock did not diminish, "do you think Hardwin could have killed him?"

"I'm not sure, since Voldemort has not come back at this point, I think they failed or that the Stone didn't have the capabilities to bring him back." Harry replied.

Cedric looked shellshocked, but remained silent so Harry continued, "did the petrifying still happen last year?"

Cedric nodded, finally looking at Harry again, "was there a resolution?" Harry asked.

Cedric shrugged, "I don't know, one day everyone woke up and it was all swept under the rug."

Harry looked at him funny, "all of your lives ended like that? You never found the Chamber of Secrets? Figured out it was a Basilisk? Is Ginny Weasley alive?"

Cedric continued to look at Harry in confusion, "please tell me you at least figured that out?" Harry asked.

Cedric shook his head, "I haven't, this is all brand new to me."

Harry was surprised by that, "what happened in your other lives? Nothing different?"

"Everything was normal, I investigated but could never put the pieces together, and then every year I got picked to participate in the triwizard cup." Cedric said, "I swear, Harry, I investigated as best as I could, but the most I could figure out was that the Roosters had been killed and I guessed a Basilisk, it is not like I am a Parseltongue, like you."

"Alright then," Harry said after the momentary silence, he was rather disappointed at that, Cedric didn't have any information on Voldemort's whereabouts other than the current happenings within this life, it was a setback but it didn't make that large of a difference in their mission. "what's the plan moving forward?"

Cedric looked puzzled. "I don't know enough about this life to even plan anything, I would normally spend the first few months at Hogwarts just noting down changes and how I could try and change things. Most times I was unsuccessful as it was literally only me that would try and do anything."

That was slightly demoralizing, the only thing they could do for the moment was sit and observe. "You have me now Cedric, you're not alone anymore." Harry replied.

Arriving at Hogwarts was just as he remembered, and seeing the castle again in all its glory brought a smile to Harry's face. When he had last seen it, it had been completely destroyed, nothing but a ruin for animals to take shelter in. Seeing it once again filled with life made Harry feel warm inside, like there once again was hope for him to actually live, and not be stranded alone with his thoughts.

Him and Cedric walked over to the Carriages, there was a lineup so they waited at the end of the line. It was a little bit awkward now as they had others around them, it was hard to find something to speak about when nearly everything they could speak about had to be a secret.

Harry did notice the strange looks he was getting, and the whispers that followed, but he didn't care. He knew that everyone was going to find out as soon as he put the hat on that they would know who he was.

Up at the front of the line, one of the carriages was refusing to move, and it was confusing the students as many of them could not see the thestrals pulling them. One of the two thestrals had its hoof caught in the spokes of the wheel. When the carriage went to move, it would roll onto the thestrals leg, causing it pain.

Harry looked over to Cedric, who was looking up at the castle, not paying attention to the situation at hand. Sighing to himself, Harry put his hood up and made his way to the front of the line. "Hey! No cutting asshole!" he heard from the line as he passed by. Looking over his shoulder, Draco had his hand pointed at him menacingly. Harry rolled his eyes and kept walking.

The Thestral whinnied as Harry got close, it was an eerie sound, but Harry could tell it was in pain. Running a hand along its snout, Harry gently pet it, "shh, shh, shh," he whispered softly to it. "Relax, I need you to relax, and I'll fix the problem, alright?"

Listening to Harry's soothing voice and soft words, the Thestral did relax, Harry saw it calm itself down, taking deep breaths before it shook its head and bumped Harry on the shoulder. "Good, good," he said, gently soothing the misunderstood beast.

Harry went over to the side of the carriage, bending down and gently gripping the thestral's hoof, dislodging it from its position between the carriage wheel. The hoof had a little bit of damage, but nothing major and Harry patted the thestral on it's hip before he returned to its snout. "We're okay, you're okay," he said, running his hands through its ears, scratching gently.

The Thestral whinnied happily, before it bumped Harry's head with its snout, that was a sign of affection if he had ever seen one, and it made him smile. Harry moved away from the Thestral and it kicked off, once again pulling the carriage forward. When Harry turned back around again, the crowd waiting for their carriages was silent, all of them staring at Harry in confusion and disbelief.

Harry simply nodded to them, then made his way back to Cedric, who was smirking at him. "Can't help but be the centre of attention huh?" he teased.

Returning his smirk, Harry chuckled, "how crazy do you think I looked to them?"

Cedric chuckled too, "Harry, you just spoke to an animal that they cannot see. They went from being mad that you were cutting the line, to wondering who you were, to believing you were bat shit crazy in less than a minute."

"First impressions are important, right?" Harry joked.

Cedric shook his head, but remained silent. The pair of them watched as the other carriages were loaded up with students and brought pulled along by thestrals. When it came to their turn, they had a carriage to themselves, this was a good thing as it gave Harry a few moments to compose himself and get his Occlumency ready. He knew he would need it, seeing the people he would see in the Great Hall's opening feast.

Closing in on the school grounds had Harry feeling the nostalgia, he had so many good memories with friends in this place, as well as so many bad ones with enemies. It made for a weird contrast, but Harry put it to the edge of his mind, he needed to compartmentalize his emotions for now, until he had some time to actually break them down.

The carriage arrived at the front gates, Harry hopped out of the carriage, making sure to follow Cedric so that it seemed like he had never actually been in Hogwarts before. He spotted Minerva leading the first years through the motions, leading them through the halls and it hit Harry's heart. The last time he had seen her, was when Voldemort dropped her head in his prison cell. It was certainly nice to see her whole and healthy once again.

Cedric led him to the Great Hall, and Harry pretended to be shocked by the size of everything. Cedric gestured towards the Slytherin table where he would need to go and sit, but Harry waved him off. "I'll stay here for now, I want to see how Dumbledore plays this."

Cedric nodded, "you're gonna try and get into Slytherin?"

"Yeah, I might as well try and get as close as I can to the future Death Eaters. Plus, I'm sure as soon as the hat looks into my brain it will see I need to be there." Harry replied.

Cedric shrugged and walked over to the Slytherin table, sitting towards the end with the other third year students. Harry stood at the back and leaned against the wall, just waiting and observing the people around him. The Gryffindor table had most of the people he recognized, the Weasleys, his old Quidditch team, and Hardwin Potter. Hardwin looked similar enough to him, but the scars and Harry's harsh haircut made for it to be different enough that unless you looked very closely you would not be able to tell the similarities.

Next, Harry eyed the teachers table at the front of the hall, and Harry recognized most of them from his days. Dumbledore, Snape, Babbling, Bethsheda, Flitwick, Trelawney, Sprout, and surprisingly Lupin. There were a few that Harry did not recognize, one who looked rather familiar but Harry couldn't put a name to. There were so many names and faces that Harry knew who had been killed or tortured because of him. Most of them were in this room, and it hurt to see their faces but it brought happiness to see them alive and whole.

Harry then looked around for Hermione, she had to be alive right? Hogwarts would not be the same without her. Eyeing the Ravenclaw table, Harry spotted some more familiar faces, but then landed on Hermione. He almost needed to double take as Hermione had somehow fixed her hair. Instead of the huge mess it had always been, she had it down in a ponytail, where it went straight down her back. Harry could not help but grin seeing her, his best friend, alive and well, chatting with Luna Lovegood as she read the book in front of her. Harry would need to be careful socializing with her as he felt she would be the person to break him if she ever questioned him.

McGonagall then marched the first years in, organizing them for their sorting. Calling them up alphabetically, Harry was surprised when his name wasn't called going through the B's. He remained waiting and he quickly realized that Dumbledore wished to make a spectacle out of this. The lost son of the ancient and Noble House Black was now a Hogwarts student. It will be in the news tomorrow.

The names were finished, with all of the first years at their sorted tables, the hall's populace waited in anticipation for Dumbledore to speak. Harry noticed that he was getting looks and confused glances, he was still standing there with his robes completely blank.

Dumbledore stood, and everyone in the room felt his presence. The crowd quieted, and Dumbledore took a few moments to let his weight be felt before he spoke. "Welcome new first years, I hope you enjoy your time at Hogwarts. Now, Before we continue on with this feast, we have a surprise for everyone! A new transfer student, who is a third year student, still needs to be sorted!" he paused, to let the anticipation build. Harry did not like how big of a spectacle Dumbledore was making this to be.

Dumbledore nodded to McGonagall, and she read off of her list. "Black, Harry." causing the students to begin to murmur.

Harry stood straight and took a deep breath, he took a step forward and Dumbledore called out again, "with your hood off, young man!"

Hating his manipulations already, Harry pulled his hood back, letting everyone in the school to get a good look at his scars. The murmurs and gentle clapping all immediately quietened, the students stunned by the violence on his face. The silence was heavy, but Harry did not falter, keeping his chin up and walking up to where McGonagall was standing, she held a stern smile, holding the hat for him to put on. Sitting on the stool, Minerva smiled gently before she placed it on his head, Harry felt his occlumency shields would at least disway the hat, but it crashed through them easily, showing the power of the magical object.

"Jeez," the hat said, "what in Merlin's name is going on in here?"

Harry snorted, "yeah, I was rather expecting this, is there any way you can just put me in Slytherin?" he joked.

The Hat laughed, "Hmmmm, no, no, no, that is not how this works, I need to decide, not you."

"I can't sway your decision at all?" Harry asked.

"I do see how much trouble you have gone through within your life Harry, I was also able to see all of Cedric's lives, you being here now feels like prophecy.

"Prophecy?" Harry asked.

"Indeed, Cedric has lived through this multiple times without you, something within magic had to have changed for you to be here, now. It is the only thing I see making sense." the Hat replied.

"What magic though? Who could have done this?" Harry said, asking another question, he needed answers and was not going to be afraid to ask the Hat.

"Not who, but Magic as a whole, as an entity, it sees the negativity in the future, it sees the pain the world will go through if Voldemort prevails and it sends you back. It is a sign, a sign that you are the one who must defeat Voldemort."

Harry shook his head, "then why would they send Cedric back too? If it is I who has to kill Voldemort, then can't Hardwin Potter do it? He's technically the same as me? Right?"

"No, not at all, it has to be you, Harry Black."

Harry sighed, "I wish I understood any of this."

"It is hard for a human like you to understand but there is a prophecy surrounding you and your being. Rowena did not charm me to understand but in all my years I have never seen something like this. This is the way it must be." The Hat replied, it sounded as if it was saddened for Harry, as if it felt guilty that it had to be the one to tell Harry this.

Harry was simply resigned to it, "Alright, Thank you, I guess. So, Slytherin?" he asked.

"I will not simply allow you to pick your house, but you can make your case." the Hat responded.

"Okay, well, I can feel you poking around in my mind, you see the evil and terrible things that Voldemort did to me, and the life I lived. I was a Gryffindor and was unable to defeat him, despite multiple tries with multiple brilliant wizards helping. You can see how powerful I am, and even with my power and skill, I was unable to overcome the obstacles that were placed in front of me. I am scarred and tortured, yet, I remain optimistic that this time, with the knowledge I have as well as the knowledge Cedric has, that together we can prevent the known magical world to become what it was in my previous life. The best way for me to do that would be to be in Slytherin, where I can learn and track about the future Death Eaters and their parents. It would be much easier for me to gather information about them, when I am living with them, befriending them, fuck, even eating with them, I will be able to learn their habits and their ways. I will be able to infiltrate them from the inside. Information will be key in this war, and there is no better way then for me to be a basilisk among snakes."

Silence followed between Harry and the hat, and Harry could tell that the hat was struggling to make the decision. It went silent for a few moments, and Harry looked out over the hall. His entire conversation with the hat was silent as normal, but the hall was eerily silent, anticipation building on which house the Heir of House Black would be sorted.

There were a lot of political ramifications within the sorting of a person in House Black. The family was notoriously dark, but Sirius was a Gryffindor and took the side of the light. With this one action, it could either open or close a lot of doors for Harry.

The hat spoke up again, "this is an easy decision Black, in this life you will reach your full potential as a snake. It is odd to me, that despite your torrid past, you remain so good hearted and optimistic."

"I feel like there is a difference, I am hopeful. This could be an opportunity to change the terrible reality that I had fallen into." Harry replied.

"Your experiences would have turned a good man jaded, yet your heart remains pure." the Hat said.

Harry shrugged, "No matter what has happened to me, or what will happen to me I refuse to bend to their will. I must remain a beacon of light for others, as they look to me as their leader."

The hat quickly responded, "you are not their leader, not yet in this life."

"There can never be enough leaders." Harry retorted.

If the Hat could smirk, Harry bet it would be. "Good. you must lead from the front Harry. Your power alone will gain followers, make sure you are ready for when Voldemort gets things in motion."

"Thank you Hat." Harry said with a smile.

The Hat did not hesitate. "Slytherin!" it called out loud, speaking for the first time since he had sat down.