Summary: like in all those fics, Harry has a choice to go back in time to stop Voldemort from ever appearing and actually does it. But there's a catch – he has to live out the life in a body of a stranger. He is not allowed to kill himself, purposely die, etc. He has to live a full life, otherwise, all his efforts would be for naught, and that is the Death's condition.

Chapter One

Arrival

It was strange, waking up in an unfamiliar body for the first time, Harry decided as he slowly opened his eyes… or stranger's eyes.

He was told he had a choice to go back in time and change history, destroy Voldemort before he even rose to his power. He would have a choice to make, but he had to live out the entire lifetime in the body he would receive, so no matter what the choice was, he couldn't go back.

Harry wondered what the choice was. Everything sounded pretty straightforward to him: go back in time, kill Voldemort, live out full life, die. Easy.

That is until he actually got up, got dressed (figures he would end up a Slytherin) and looked into the mirror. The reflection that stared back at him haunted him in the dreams when he was twelve years old, going on thirteen.

Tom bloody Riddle.

Now he understood.

However, how could he live in this body? Judging by the age, and the number on the dormitory doors, he was 16. That meant he had already killed his dad, and Morphin was already in Azkaban, rotting away.

Harry shuddered and turned away. He couldn't stand to look into the murderer's face. His face.

He should have known there would be a catch. A huge catch at that.

When he died, at the age of 87 (which was pretty young for a wizard), Death greeted him at the crossroad to another world, and extended a gift for its master. A choice between going very far back in time and changing the events that lead to Wizarding World getting almost destroyed, or move on. He couldn't move on with knowledge that everything could turn out for the better. He never could stay away from trouble as a child, and with years he hadn't wisened up all that much.

And now he ended up in this cursed body.

Figures.