"What's that?"
Harry's eyes widened, his whole body flinching back as something collided with his chest, a dull thud echoing off of it. Sharp pain radiated from where it touched him, making him grunt and rub his poor wounded chest. Taking his wand, he quickly cast a lumos, revealing the source of his discomfort... It was a locket. Picking it up from where it slid to his stomach when he sat up, Harry looked at the miserable thing.
It was green and silver, Slytherin colors, only the shade of green was the same as his eyes... and it was warm, really, really warm. He could feel the heat radiating off of it, into his arm leaving him oddly tired, more so then he already was...
"Who threw this at me?" He kept his voice low, looking outside of the curtains of his bed to see everyone was firmly asleep... even Ron, the dull berk who refused to believe that he didn't put his name into the Goblet of Fire. Just looking at his friend brought a wave of pain and anger to his chest, leaving him almost breathless... but Ron was snoring as loudly as usual, it was pretty obvious that he had nothing to do with it.
Pulling back into the bed, he took a closer look at the damned thing, and realized it had a snake deco for a chain... looking into its eyes, green gems, sent a ripple through his body, leaving him almost gasping for breath before a word in perfect parsletongue passed his lips.
"Open!"
A wave of cold exploded from the locket as it opened, slamming into Harry, freezing his muscles in place worse then when Moody used the Imperious curse on him. His mind clouded instantly, and everything went dark... and then it was light again, like someone had flipped a light switch, only now he wasn't on his bed or in his dorm at all.
He was in a library, massive and unending. Bookshelves in countless directions, rising high into the air, covered end to end in books of all different colors and sizes.
"Hermione would love it here."
Laughter, warm and abundant drew his attention and made him leap into action, his wand almost at the ready... or it would have been had he had it in his hand. It was no where to be found on his person, and he looked with shock and discomfort to find it entirely missing.
"Don't worry, Harry, your safe here." He finally looked up, admonishing himself for not doing so before, only to freeze as he saw... himself? "Yeah, time travel is weird like that. Don't think about it too much and come sit down." The other him wave to a seat in front of him, which was made of comfortable leather like his own seat both of which were separated by a coffee table covered in books. All of which was in front of a fireplace, roaring with comfortable warmth.
Slowly, Harry obeyed the other him, not that he had much choice what with the powerful painful compulsion causing his muscles to ache with the urge to move. The time it took gave him a moment to really look at the other him, taking in their varied differences. For one the other him was older, his face more mature and wide but also far more muscled, something that fit all of him. He was thicker, his body covered in a layer of muscle Harry just didn't know was possible for him to develop.
He had scars on his face, two just under the hair line leading towards his eyebrows and one on his jaw leading towards his lips. His hair was filled with silver and black, mixing perfectly and really highlighting the green of his eyes and the dark tone of his skin. It was like looking into the future and Harry had to admit that he liked how he looked.
He was even dressed dapperly in a dark muggle suit with green tie... the lack of glasses really sold it though and made him seem somehow more mature and even happier.
Harry liked that on him, no matter how foreign it seemed to him.
"Who are you?" He asked, trying to keep his tone low, respectful of the person who had him so easily disarmed and controlled.
The familiar handsome stranger smiled deeply, showing laugh lines. "I'm you or I am what you could be... and what I beg of you to ensure that you never become."
"What?"
"Sigh... why was I so dull as a child..." Young Harry frowned at that insult. "Let me be simple, I am a piece of your soul sent back in time via the magic of this talisman I crafted. As for why... well there are a million reasons. First and foremost is to prevent muggles from discovering us, ever. Second is the stop Voldie and ensure you actually have happy life... and lastly, because I am tired of letting the world decided shit for me. I wanted to take control and by Merlin I will."
Harry's head swam. "Can you explain... like any of that?"
"Gladly... where to start... well, first I should explain that I am a hundred years old but due to being pretty powerful and some interesting magic I will be teaching yo, I stopped aging so much... actually let me just explain from the beginning. Voldemort is the reason you are in the Triwizard Tournament, he is using it as a convoluted means to not only bolster your power but to use your blood to resurrect himself." Adult him stopped for a minute... then smirked. "Better yet, I can show it to you."
Harry had no idea what the other him did, but when he said he would show him, he meant it.
He saw the Dragon, the Lake, the Maze, Voldemort coming back. Ron being his friend again. A summer of misery and the Order of the Phoenix, the Dementor attack and the failed trial to expel him. Abuses abound at the hands of Delores Umbridge and the scars on his hand, Sirus' death and the Attack on the Ministry. Another summer of misery, Dumbledore's pointless lessons on Voldemort's life, Snape killing Dumbledore after the cave... Draco being forced into monstrous acts, acts that changed his soul for the better as he would later see.
He saw the wedding of Bill and Fleur, a year of camping and hunting Horcruxes... Ron's betrayal again... breaking into the Bank... Fighting and Dying against Voldemort before finally he fell but at great cost.
The Marauders, killed in reverse order. Tonks dead, Collin Creevey dead, countless nobodies and somebodies dead...
He saw his friends taking the Ministry by storm, revitalizing old laws and outdated systems. He saw The House Elves gain freedom due to the actions of Kretcher and Dobby and the sacrifices of the Hogwarts House Elves... He saw Ron suffering from depression even as he married Hermione, who flipped many of the laws on her own before becoming Minister of Magic. He saw himself marrying Ginny and having three kids, he saw himself leading the DMLE and excelling at it...
He saw Muggles finding Collin's Cameras and photos and discovering magic, he saw years of conflict ending in a new culture of peace and happiness... integration somehow becoming possible. He saw himself in therapy at the behest of his son Albus who realized how depressed he truly was, learning of the resentment that came with a lifetime of abuse and mistreatment that law dormant in his heart, his falling out with McGongall and Hagrid whom he realized were some of the most damaging and neglectful people he knew. He saw himself divorcing Ginny and going on a journey of self discovery along side Luna Lovegood, who had a similarly vile past and becoming the closest of friends far surpassing what he had felt with Ron or Hermione whom he had fallen out with due to his newly discovered self...
He saw himself leaving the DMLE when he realized how tired he was of living his life in service of others. Years of studying to master advanced magics, learning he did love to learn and in fact excelled at it when motivated especially at potions oddly enough and magical history.
Then he saw the war, one where Muggles and Magicals worked together in each country creating weapons of such devastation that nothing could survive it... he saw Nuclear war and total annihilation of countries and people... He saw nothing but pain... loved ones lost, friends destroyed... He saw himself and Luna Lovegood working together to find a mean to undo it all, the horrors of war and the scars it cost as humanity was the on the brink of destruction...
He saw himself, breaking off his own soul as his great enemy once did, sending it back in time far back to when he could make the most difference... to a time when no one would question him gaining strength and growing, where he could use the tournament to develop as a person and a wizard under perfect disguise... where he could start to make changes that would save the world he lived in... and gain the independence he had discovered so late in life...
"How..." Younger Harry shook, wanting to scream. "It was too much, so many of the details I can't..." He coughed into his arm, shuddering as his mind ached, screaming at him as he attempted to recover from the horrors he had seen.
His older self sighed. "That is because I only let you see things, not embrace them. I will be teaching you Occulemency before you absorb me so you can handle the influx of information. As far as Luna and I could tell, you won't be gaining my PTSD or other emotions just my memories. It will take a month for you to absorb me... and I want to prepare you as much as I can for that."
"Absorb you?"
"Sigh... I am not meant to be separate, you are going to consume my essence so I can be whole again but in doing so you will gain my magic and memories but not my skilled. It is all pure detail no context unfortunately... so I am going to spend the next month getting you started. We are going to be working out, learning advanced magics, making you a better student, wizard and person. I am going to prepare you to take over when you gain all of my memories so you aren't just jumping into the water without a lifejacket...
First and foremost we will be learning Occulemency, or mental defense. It has the side effect of making your mind stronger, your memories better, and your control over your emotions superior... you will need it to maintain what I am telling you. A month isn't enough time to be a master of it, specially as Dumbles and Snape are Legiments, or mind readers... but the talisman I sent back is spelled to protect you from undo influences so you should be fine for a while..."
Young Harry just looked at his older self. "How are you so calm about all of this?"
"I've had two decades to prepare and I am a master of Occulmency, calm is my default. Why do you think Dumbles is so calm all of the time?"
Oddly that got through to the younger incarnation. "So... how do we start?" And he believed the man, having felt... and saw so much, it was impossible to fake so many memories, it had to be true... and more then that he just sensed something between them, an understanding that only one could have with themselves...
"Well, since I only have a month we will be working on Occulmency in your dream state, like now... I removed the Horcrux from your scar, it's sealed into and is powering my talisman, so your mind should be healing. Occulemency was impossible before because of it, something Dumbles knew before but never decided to tell us."
Harry frowned. "You really hate him, don't you?"
"We should, trust me when you learn of all of the things he did... but no, I don't. He was desperate and I think he lacks true empathy... anyway, for the time being, we should get started as soon as possible... "
And that was how Harry Potter, age fourteen, started on the path to save the future, one corrupted by the best of intentions as it wove a path to hell...
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.
I have been wanting to write this for so long!
Check me out in Inkitt under the name Michael Rauch for my story Cursed by Blood which I just updated today!
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.