Well here is another story that has been playing out in my head for ages. The great response I have received to homeward bound has inspired me to post this one as well. Don't worry this will not affect my posting of updates for any of the other stories and I am hoping it will have regular updates around every 2 weeks. Thank you so much for reading please let me know what you think!-Dayin
The white walls of the familiar train station greeted Harry for the second time that he could remember in his life. The fog around his feet gently swirled as it came into contact with his skin.
At that he had to let loose a chuckle, he was dead again? Or was this a dream perhaps he wasn't normally the lucky type and what exactly had killed him if he was dead? The last thing that he remembered doing was head out on his shift to investigate another death eater sighting. Their anonymous tips helpline normally has a lot of false leads nowadays so he hadn't been too concerned; clearly he had been drastically wrong.
Remembering the last time he was here his eyes automatically began scanned the surrounding columns, benches and tracks looking for any sign of Dumbledore hoping that he would not have to see the manipulative bastard again or else he would be forced to find a way to kill someone in the afterlife and there was no way that would bring good Karma. Luckily there was no sign of the elderly wizard or his obnoxiously colourful robes to be found.
The Screech of train breaks drew his attention to his right where a simple steam train much smaller than the Hogwarts express was pulling into the station the steam cleared as it came to a slow stop. As the doors hissed open he moved forward to board. Was this finally the end? Could he finally find peace with his family? As angry as he was at ending up here again so soon the thought of seeing them again did a lot to cheer him up.
He turned right, moving to find a compartment to sit in and stopping abruptly when his gaze fell upon the cloaked figure sitting comfortably on the bench in the first compartment. The cloak was a deep black that appeared to be composed of the night sky itself, the stars twinkling and blinking at him. He had to wonder if he looked for long enough if he could find and familiar constellations
The figure waved to him graciously "Welcome Harry it's so wonderful to have you here long time no see" it greeted, its voice taking a sarcastic turn on the last part.
"Hello? Who are you, are you death?" Harry asked, getting straight to the point. He was eager for this part to be over so he wouldn't make the mistake of choosing to go back a second time.
All going back had allowed him to save evil people that didn't deserve his help and just prolonged his own suffering for even longer.
Between his awful marriage to Ginny and his tireless job as an Auror fighting the remnants of the death eaters he never got a moment's peace. Ginny had rushed to spend as much of their money as she could manage and had filled their house from top to bottom with tacky knickknacks they had no use for. And when she wasn't out gossiping with her friends she was whining and belittling him for not doing more.
"Why yes I am you clever boy you, what could have given it away" death joked while waving at his cloak offhandedly with a good-natured grin on his taunt leathery face.
"I actually died?" he questioned in wonder.
"I'm afraid so master but don't worry I've no plans to leave you that way, in fact quite the opposite!" he crowed his cloak billowing out as he said it and his eyes filled with mirth.
"What, what do you mean master and what do you mean I'm not staying dead I refuse to go back!" Harry said, jumping up in surprise his voice filled with anger.
"You managed to acquire all of the hallows so yes you are my master, or well at least that's the closest word for it, you can't really tell me what to do but you do get some special perks from me and I can't fully tell you what to do either though I do hope you would be willing to listen to me so we can come to an agreement." Death motioned his hand towards the bench encouraging Harry to sit back down.
Harry moved over, taking a breath and doing his best to calm down and hear what death had to say feeling a bit more put at ease hearing he would be given a choice.
"How did I even die anyway its all so hazy?" Harry asked tiredly, all he wanted to do was rest.
"It was actually a combination of things, Ginny had been dosing you with so many love potions your body stopped producing a lot of essential chemicals which lead to your reflexes being a lot slower then you needed and your blood a lot thinner, that anonymous call received was actually her as she wanted you out of the house to brew more the fact it turned out to be true was surprisingly just a coincidence she didn't account for. When facing your final death eater, Walden McNair, while on duty a bad dodge and a quick slicing hex was all it really took once you started bleeding it was over I am afraid."
"Love potions?! She was dosing me?" He shouted out in horror, not even bothering with the second part of what death had told him. His entire relationship was a lie based on the same foul magic that created monsters like Voldemort.
"Yes she was, she along with her mother and Dumbledore have been giving you potions and spelling you to gain your cooperation since you were 11 years old." Death said sympathetically, there was nothing he or the other beings in charge of helping the humans stay on their destined paths hated more than love potions and mind altering spells, the moron wizards arrogantly believed they knew better than the deities themselves on how to guide their peers.
"I have been in discussions with Fate all morning while I waited for your Soul to fully arrive and we are in agreement that your time is not up by a long shot yet. Fate is also furious that so many have meddled with your actions and have driven you away from her initial design. So a course correction is in order if you will agree to it"
"What do you mean by a course correction?"
"Excellent question Harry!" Death clapped joyfully " Fate and I would like to send you back to the point in your life just before things started going to absolute shit for lack of a better word. Some of the manipulation will still have already happened but in order to correct this you will be returning with all of your memories of the future as well as your memories of this conversation."
"What point exactly would that be" Harrys broken voice just about broke Deaths heart and filled him with very alien guilt, he was normally not one to get involved but there were not many souls within any of the realms who had done quite so much for others despite the constant torment it caused them and now he was about to ask the poor boy to take another chance at it.
"There's really nothing exact to it. It's not a science but likely sometime just before your fourth year, we need a time when your soul was weakened in the year we drop you; when that will be depends on you." Death had a few guesses over what times that summer would have been likely for the boys soul to choose but there was no way to be sure.
"Why are you sending me to fourth year, why not right at the beginning or much closer to the end?" He questioned imagining getting to go back to third year and get his hands on Pettigrew before he had any idea his cover had been blown.
"The other chap that was in the tournament with you was never meant to die, Fates hoping to prevent a lot of path diversions with this one fix; sort of a cure all if you will and any earlier and the changes may be too great along with your body not being able to handle your adult magical capabilities if we send you too late the changes won't be great enough." he explained patiently and slowly as if he were speaking to a small child.
"Cedric was not meant to die? How do I go about preventing that? How do I fix any of it?" his voice shook at the weight of just exactly what death was saying Cedric's death was the first he had witnessed that he could fully remember and the guilt of getting him to grab the trophy that took him to his death had never dissipated.
"No he was not Harry, in fact most of the innocent lives lost were not ever meant to be, it was Dumbledore and his cronies secret keeping and manipulations that kept Voldemort around much longer than needed and cost countless lives including your own."
"You will prevent this by taking back your life for yourself, we will send you back to your 14 year old body and with your memories of the future and your entry into the Triwizard tournament you will free yourself from Dumbledore's control and vanquish Voldemort. Then you will live out the rest of your life in the peace you rightfully deserve with the family you have fought for if I have anything to say about it. I will be there to help as much as I can but most of it will be up to you and it will not be easy." He said warningly not wanting to hide anything from the boy he had had enough lies filling his previous lifetime, Death would not begin his potential next one with any falsehoods.
"So if I do this they get to live? I get my family back and it goes better than before?" He questioned allowing himself to picture the world Death was selling in which he could save everyone he cared about and punish those that had gone out of their way to ruin his life.
"Yes Harry, I know what a sacrifice it is returning back to the living again but your parents will be here when you return and you will not be alone, Fate and I will be present and assisting you along the way, we may not be able to communicate directly but if something is going wrong or you need a push in the right direction we will find a way to help." he promised his words filled with sincerity.
"Okay, I will do it but this is the last time I am willing to go back to help anyone; next time I move on, damn the consequences for anyone else!" he said, holding up his hands in surrender.
"I wouldn't have it any other way Harry." Death said with an amused chuckle.
"Before we send you back I must show you the extent of the manipulators in your life so it can be prevented; when you arrive back you must contact the goblins and tell them you need all potions, spells and blocks purged from your body everything Dumbledore and the Weasleys have been using to make you pliable to their whims needs to go, in order for the plans to come to pass properly you must have full control of your mind. Also please keep an eye out because you are not the only one being controlled in this way." not able to delve into details much further than that without risking Fate falling out of balance, Death told him as much as he dared.
"You must also spend your summer preparing and reading up on as many spells and wizarding customs as possible. Knowledge is power and many people in your life have done their best to keep you weak. Fate and I have agreed upon a list of books that we will ensure goes back with you." he lifted his hand over to Harry and placed a long list of what appeared to be the aforementioned book titles into his hand.
"Finally when your name comes out of the Triwizard cup you must contact the goblins and notify them that you are being forcibly entered into a magical contract for adult wizards, they will be able to utilise Dumbledore's manipulations against him and emancipate you which will help you to fully gain control over yourself and your inheritances."
"Once you have all that information destroying the horcruxes should come fairly easily, have already disposed of the soul fragment you brought here last time and it will not be returning with you." Unfortunately, that is the extent of what we are able to do for you before you actually arrive back. We are already bending a lot of rules, removing it and giving you a physical list.
"Okay, that all makes sense so far, I think I can do that" he said letting out a long breath, he felt like he was signing on to a long shift at work with no end in sight.
"I know you can, Harry, because we will be there helping you do it. Once the Goblins have removed the blocks you will also have a much easier time of it and more of this will make sense." Death reassured him.
"If you are ready it is now time for you to go back, good luck master and I wish you a long and happy life until I hopefully collect you as an old friend." he said reaching his hand out in a long sweeping motion causing his black cloak to expand and take over the room in a sea of stars.
The room swirled around Harry and he felt a familiar pull on his navel as if he was using a portkey before it all went black.
And there is the end of the first chapter, the second is already nearly done. Just like the rest of my stories there is no beta reader so please forgive any mistakes. thank you for taking the time to read and if you have a moment to let me know what you thought or any ideas you have for the story I would love to implement them!-Dayout