Disclaimer – It has come to my attention recently that I unfortunately do not own Harry Potter. Who knew.

Author Note – I enjoy writing short stories for my own enjoyment but at a suggestion from a friend, I have decided to start posting some of my stories that I am working on or have completed. All feedback is welcome (hopefully constructive!) Looking forward to what you think!

Harry was unsure how long he sat in silence, thoughts running at unbridled speeds through his mind. Weighing the benefits and drawbacks of the options. Trying to determine the odds of the outcomes. He had never been freer but he had never felt such pressure of a decision he might make. However, Harry realized he had made his mind and knew what he must do.

Looking at Death, Harry firmly started, "I have made up my mind, I know what I want to do. I want…"

"…to go back in time. I want to go to my fourth year. I want to go back to the Goblet of Fire. That was one of the worst years of my life but I feel there is so much I could do to help out and fix things, or at least change things."

Saying that aloud, Harry knew he was choosing the right choice for himself.

Death looked at Harry expectantly without saying anything, as if waiting for Harry to explain his reasoning behind his decision. He felt the need to explain himself.

"While the three years of my magical education were definitely filled with horrible moments. I think my fourth year was the worst for not only myself personally, but for the wizarding world as a whole. That was the year that the Daily Prophet first started being used against me and there has to be a way to stop that. I know Rita Skeeter's secret and there has to be some way to prevent all the fake stories she had printed about me, which I have no doubt made it easier for people to believe the lies that followed. And even if they did not fully believe the lies in the following years it is a lot harder to stand with someone who was portrayed as such an attention seeker or someone who was so easily manipulated."

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself remembering stories that Rita had written about Hermione feeding him love potions and how Harry was nothing but a thrill seeker trying to gain attention in the absence of losing his parents.

"But more importantly this was the first year I lost someone who died for me. While I do not believe that I am strong enough to save everyone and I don't know if I will ever be strong enough to fight or defeat Voldemort, definitely not without help at least, I do know that Cedric did not deserve to die in the graveyard that night."

"Of course, on top of that, that year was the year Voldemort came back and while each previous year had very significant moments, honestly, I managed to luck through them and for the most part we came out significantly better than should have. In my first year, I managed to prevent Quirrel and Voldemort from retrieving the stone. While a best-case scenario, would have resulted in possibly the Flammels not having to give up the stone. I do not know if Voldemort would have kept going after it if it was not destroyed. In my second year, I managed to save the school from the Basilisk without anyone dying while also destroying a Horcrux in the process…and saving Dobby from the Malfoys. In my third year, we managed to save both Sirius and Buckbeak, while it would have been nice to catch Pettigrew, I managed to reconcile with my godfather and save his life."

Death nodded along allowing Harry to continue.

"Now I don't believe any of those years were perfect, but they ended up alright and I believe largely contributed to the development of the people my friends became. Who would Ron be if he didn't stand up to his fear of spiders and come with me into the forest or selflessly come with me to fight the Basilisk? Who would Hermione be without going back in time to save Sirius? I believe these were defining moments for them and I don't want to…I can't take those moments away from them."

"I also believe going back to this year will allow me to help Sirius. Why would anyone have any reason to help a 12-year-old who sought freedom for a man everyone believes murdered his parents. What motivation would I have. But at least in my third year I will be able to the excuse of developing a relationship with Sirius over the previous year to get Dumbledore to help. I do not know if we will be able to get him freedom or how that process would look. But I can't let him be sitting in a cave for the entire year just so he feels he is near me."

"There are so many people who have suffered for the "Boy Who Lives", Harry spat out the title. "I will do everything I can to stop this cycle. I need to help them."

Death looked at Harry weighing his reasoning, "I will not deny those are valid reasons and I support your decision."

Harry smiled, before noticing the pause.

"I must warn you again that as soon as you start making changes to the timeline there will be immediate effects and the more changes you make the less easily you will be able to predict what will happen down the road. Events will stop overlapping and you will be the cause of a completely new timeline."

Death held up her hand noticing Harry was about to interject. "I know that is the point of this entire endeavor and your reasoning behind going back to your fourth year. However, I must stress the importance of changing how you approach situations. You have been moderately successful just brashly charging into every situation and luckily coming out on top of every situation. It is admirable but you need to change your approach and start thinking about how your actions will affect not only the immediate outcome but also how it might affect what happens down the road. I ask you once more is this truly what you want? To suffer through your fourth year with only the chance of improving thigs?"

Harry though on everything Death had said holding it up to his reasoning.

He remembered the fear going through his body after the World Cup when the Death Eaters were attacking, the isolation experienced when his name was drawn from the cup, the injury received when fighting the dragon, the horror after watching Cedric die in front of him and then Voldemort rising from the cauldron.

Would he be strong enough to go through these events again if his actions were unable to affect the outcomes.

And the more Harry thought, he remembered things that happened beyond that year. He remembered Sirius being continuously put down while living in Grimmauld Place and his feelings of worthlessness before the look on his face as he fell into the veil. He remembered seeing Dumbledore's rotten and decaying hand before it was replaced with images of his body lying at the base of the Astronomy Tower. He remembered the years of torture Draco had inflicted on others before it was replaced with the images of him crying in the girl's lavatory and then being forced to kill Dumbledore before realizing that was not the person he would become. He remembered watching and often not doing anything as Neville was bullied, before becoming one of his staunchest friends, somehow protecting the students after Death Eaters had taken over the school.

A feeling of warmth brought on by renewed sureness in his decision flowed through him. Harry was confident that he could and would bear any hardship just for the chance to try to help change those moments.

As if reading his mind, Death smiled. "I see you have made up your mind. And for what it is worth your parents would be so proud of you."

Harry felt his eyes begin to tear up.

Death continued, "Now I probably could just snap by fingers. But..." gesturing to her outfit, "I am a fan of theatrics so I will give you this and all you have to do is think back to the year you wish to return to."

And out of the folds of her robe, she pulled out… a boot. Handing it to Harry. And not just any boot, a mangy, beat-up boot that looked as if it had been left outside in the elements.

However, there was something about the boot that struck a chord of familiarity with Harry, although for the life of him could not remember when he had seen this beat-up old boot before. Glancing up at Death, he noticed her smirk as she stepped back.

Not getting any explanations or further directions, Harry immersed himself in his memories of the year.

Again, reliving the fateful night in the graveyard, hearing the haunting words, "Kill the spare" moments before he was forced to unwilling participate in the resurrection of Voldemort.

He could remember the feeling of nerves as he entered the maze and it closed up behind him leaving him isolated and alone, a feeling he had become all too familiar with up till that point in his life.

He felt the indecision as he remembered himself in the bottom of the Great Lake, trying to determine if the other heroes would make it in time to save their hostages.

He remembered the awkwardness of coming down to the Yule Ball, where he escorted Parvati. And he remembered the feelings of wonder upon seeing Hermione coming down the stairs. That was truly her coming out moment and he felt so bad he had done nothing to make sure the evening had not been ruined... Much less the embarrassment he felt as to the way he treated his own date.

Thinking back further, he remembered the exhilaration of outflying an actual dragon. Smiling at the memory. He wished Sirius had been able to see that. While he had no doubt no sane individual would have wanted to do something like that, he felt Sirius would have loved watching it.

He could hear the collective intake of breath and then the absolute silence as the Goblet of Fire spit out a fourth name, seeing the look in Dumbledore's face moments before he uttered his name.

When Harry started recalling events of the World Cup, he started feeling a tingling and pulling sensation. Almost as if there was a hook, somewhere behind his navel pulling him forward…

And it was at that moment Harry recognized the boot.

SLYNNR – Luna in Gryffindor would have been great but of all the Ravenclaw characters we get to meet I believe that Luna best reflects the traits, although getting to the train on time would have been a neat continuation.

Anonymous – I had originally planned on sending Harry back as early, but this chapter basically describes why sending him to the fourth year would be best. But most important reasons are that I found it difficult coming up with reasons to explain Harry's behavior if he was a 12 yo and more importantly I felt that there was a lot of character development for Ron and Hermione in books 2 and 3 and without those moments would they have turned into the people they eventually did. Harry was unwilling to take that risk.

Isabelahemmo - Sorry! the story is mostly completed (just working on an ending) so I promise to keep posting the next chapters at regular intervals while I am working on other stuff. I solemnly swear that I will do my best to avoid cliff hangers like the last chapter! Hope this was a good follow up.

Kind Regards,

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Again appreciate all feedback whether positive or positive! Haha but seriously constructive criticism or suggestions are welcome!

All the artwork I use is mine, thanks for the compliments!