His trial had taken place while Hogwarts was still a ruin. The Wizengamot wanted a culprit for the misery of wizarding Britain, and the Death Eaters, infiltrated among them, sought revenge. Thanks to Harry's luck, he was the perfect scapegoat. His sentence: Azkaban for life.
The court members would have wished a more radical resolution of the matter, but when none of the executioners agreed to carry out the original sentence (fearing that the killing curse might turn agaisnt them too) and the Ministry abrogated its contract with the Dementors, they all had to concede.

It was only several decades later that Death finally knocked on the door of Harry's cell. Since then, even after different lifetimes, Harry had not forgotten. His heart remained secretly burdened by the ghost of his first life and his thoughts clouded by his bitter failure.

"They are still trapped here," confided Death long after these events. "You can still find them. They can help you."

Determined to close the book of his first life, Harry decided to follow Death's crazy plan: use Voldemort's horcruxes scattered throughout limbo to return to his original timeline. He hoped to simply change the outcome, but Death had other plans.

Rating: Mature

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Categories: Gen, M/M

Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Relationship: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort

Characters: Harry Potter, Tom Riddle, Voldemort (Harry Potter), Albus Dumbledore

Additional Tags: Angst, Master of Death Harry Potter, Horcrux Hunting, Limbo, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Time Travelling Harry Potter, Unstuck In Time, Temporary Character Death, Harry Potter & Tom Riddle Grow Up Together, Wool's Orphanage (Harry Potter), Slow Build, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Emotional Roller Coaster, Creepy Tom Riddle, Morally Ambiguous Character, It Gets Worse, Plot, Magical Theory (Harry Potter), Necromancy, Riddle at Hogwarts Era, Cliffhangers, Soulmates, kind of?, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence