1. Slaying the Snake

"The Hell!" Harry's unexpected squeaky voice rang through the chamber of secrets, as he found himself armed with a sword as Fawkes the phoenix attempted to claw out the eyes of gigantic basilisk.

Harry was sure he wasn't supposed to be here, or at least not at the time. He was supposed to be brooding and regretting not asking Hermione out when he had the chance. Then what was he doing in the chamber of secrets, a place where he hadn't been for 9 long years and doing something he had already done years ago? Yes, he had wished for it to happen, but was it supposed to be so easy? Then he remembered meeting Lady Death and Lady Fate and coming to some kind of accord with them, which was a bit fuzzy in his memory, and then he was supposed to go back. He didn't think it would mean back with capital B.

Instinctively, he dodged a green spell and snarled in the direction it came from. The sneering shade of Tom Riddle was grinning cruelly at him as he shot two more spells at his person, one crimson-black, that Harry recognized as Blood Boiling curse and second purplish black that was Flesh Rotting curse. Annoyed, Harry channelled some magic through the Sword of Gryffindor and batted it aside, completely surprising Riddle.

By then, Harry had enough idea of what might be going on, after all, he wasn't just Master of Death, was he? He was also 'Fate's plaything'. Shaking his head, he concentrated on the present. If Lady Fate had thrown another oddball at him, he will make damn it damn sure to take every advantage he could gain from it. He would lament his situation later.

"Fawkes, Stop!" Harry called out, "Onto me, now!"

Fawkes suddenly flamed at his side, pushing him down with his surprising weight as a green life-snuffing curse passed through the position where Harry was a moment before.

"Thanks, Fawkes!" Harry said gratefully receiving a welcoming trill from the said phoenix. He again swiped his wand in Riddle's direction and used the overcharged smoke-screen spell to completely blind shade of Riddle. He might be spectral and able to walk through solid, but that didn't mean he didn't need to see.

"Flame me on the top of Snake's head. I will take care of it!" With a trill of affirmation, Fawkes got a hold of Harry's robes and flamed him above the Basilisk's head.

He started channelling his magic through the sword reinforcing it enough to pass through the nearly impenetrable scales of Basilisk, especially a thousand-year-old one, which led to a whitish aura surrounding the sword.

"Now!" Harry shouted and Fawkes dropped him on the top of Basilisk's head

"Rahhhh!" Harry shouted as he increased his magical output to increase the power of the sword and impaled it through the thick scale of Basilisk. He was rewarded by pained hissing shriek which died down gradually. Harry Potter had brought an end to Slytherin's Basilisk which had been lurking below Hogwarts for nearly 1000 years.

He changed the direction of his wand and pointed it at unconscious Ginny, his mind filling with hate for the bitch who tried to ensnare him using potions before he calmed himself. A blue spell shot off his wand and slammed into Ginny, sending her flying away, leaving the Diary 'Horcrux' behind.

By then Riddle had got rid of Smoke-screen, using an averagely powerful Ventus.

"How dare you!" Riddle's shade shrieked as he saw 'his' Basilisk being killed at the hands of his nemesis.

"I am a Lion Riddle, of course, I dare!" Harry snorted pissing the brat form of Dark Lord badly.

With a frustrated scream, Riddle sent a chain of Flesh Rotting, Blood boiling and Organ Liquifying curses at Harry, which Harry shielded by taking cover behind Basilisk's corpse.

"Glacius!" Harry shouted, cringing for currently not being strong enough to cast silently. He was sure that he could do the 'Disarming charm' silently and hoped that with enough practice, he would be stronger than, he was last time around.

Riddle's shade stopped, confirming Harry's theory of 'spectral' beings being susceptible to 'cold'. It didn't stop Riddle for long as the conjured Ice started to fall apart, but it gave Harry enough time to do the necessary thing to put the Riddle-shade down. Permanently!

Yanking the Sword of Gryffindor out of Basilisk's head, he raced towards the diary. He heard a fearful shout of 'No! What are you doing!' followed by 'Avada Kedavra!', but before the green curse, could slam into him, he had stabbed the sword through the diary.

Harry fell down like a puppet with strings cut as soon as Killing Curse hit him, so he couldn't hear the tortured screams of Riddle's shade as its anchor was destroyed in a shower of blackish ink.

--X--

Harry opened his eyes and groaned as he looked around to find himself at King's cross replica in white.

"You are really something Mr. Potter," He heard a melodic voice which he recognised as Lady Death's.

"Ugh... I am sorry. I know I was supposed to do something that I don't remember but I mucked it up, didn't I?" Harry brooded sadly.

"Not quite, Mr. Potter! It wasn't as bad as you think," Lady Death soothed him or tried to.

"Umm... How come, my Lady? I am dead, aren't I?" Harry asked a bit briskly.

"On risk of repeating myself Mr. Potter, not quite!" Lady Death replied pleasantly.

Harry's memory throbbed for a second as he remembered asking the same question from a dead Dumbledore and getting the same answer in return. He perked up as he connected the dot.

"Ah! I see you have figured it out," Death smiled, pointing towards a deformed homunculus screeching silently under the seat.

"The Horcrux..." He whispered.

Death nodded, "Now I had only one reason to meet you up here. I know you don't remember our agreement from last time, so I will say it to you again. In return for me sending you back to redo your Life, you Harry James Potter had to follow these three conditions. First, you have to throw all of the 'Deathly Hallows' through the veil, within the span of seven years. Secondly, and very strictly, you could not share any of your 'time travelling' experience with others. You may share the knowledge gained through it, but never how you came to be about it. Third, you have to get rid of Tom Marvolo Riddle and ensure that he is removed from the plane of living by your hands. If you back out of any of these three, the results won't be pleasant for you."

Harry's eyes glowed emerald before he suddenly remembered the agreement. The first condition was from Lady Death herself. He had no problem with it. Being with Hermione would always top Being the master of Deathly Hallows, for him. The second condition was from Lord Time, who was strongly against sending Harry back in time. He relented after Harry agreed to never mention it in front of anyone and Harry had no problem in following through. The third condition was a bit hectic and Harry was a bit annoyed about it, but he agreed to it. After all, It's not like Voldemort was going to leave him alone. The condition was from Lady Fate, who didn't want her words to be lie.

Harry nodded in acceptance, and a moment later he was back in the chamber of secrets, looking into the brown eyes of ginger bitch Weasley, who was probably trying to kiss him out of consciousness. He felt a bit hypocritical as he had tried to do the same to Hermione when she was petrified, but quickly shrugged it off. Her eyes widened as a red spell washed over her and she fell unconscious with a grunt. Harry scrunched his nose as he avoided the daughter Weasley from falling down on him. 'Thankfully, she would just put it away as a dream', Harry murmured and started to prepare to take her out of the Chamber of Secrets.

--X--

With that, he held Ginny's robe and Fawkes flamed them to the cave-in, where Ron and obliviated Lockhart were waiting. Soon they were out of the chamber of secrets with Ginny holding Fawke's tail feathers, Ron holding Ginny's leg and Harry doing the same with Ron along with grappling Lockhart's robes.

Ginny straightaway ran to Molly Weasley who decided to hug Harry in gratitude, only this time instead of warmth Harry felt anger and hatred towards the woman who was an accomplice in him being almost raped by her daughter. He didn't react much, his body language though, clearly showed he was uncomfortable making Molly let go. He nodded in response to the gratitude of the twins and went on his way to Gryffindor dorms before the headmaster could stop him. He did try though, only to be distracted when the sword of Gryffindor disappeared from Harry's hand in front of his eyes.

--X--

As Harry was drying his hair after taking a shower, he bemoaned the loss of the solid physique he had before transcending back in time. He vowed to take better care of himself and looked through his belongings to find something better to wear than the rags he got as hand me down from Dursleys. After the war, when their respective Weasley partners were grieving the loss of one of their own leaving Hermione and himself to help each other out of trauma, they had come to appreciate some luxuries of life, especially clothing, food and muggle vehicles. With how rich both their families were, Harry being of old money and Hermione's mother inheriting her parent's Estate business, they had no problem pampering and treating themselves with aforementioned luxuries.

Sighing, he collected all of the hand-me-downs and vanished them using a silent 'Evansaco'. He put on the black school pants, transfiguring them to be fitting, matching the attractive fashion sense of the early 2000s. He then put on a plain-looking full-sleeve black t-shirt, transfiguring it to look a bit better. He didn't make it to 'fit' like his pants because he didn't appreciate everyone noticing his 'scrawny' physique more than they already did. Feeling that he looked adequate, he pointed his wand at his hair and silently cast 'Crinus Muto', a hair styling spell which he modified himself from one of the twins' pranking spells, to style his untamable hair in a wavy curtain, which he used frequently in future. His scar now faded being on display didn't bother him as much as it did when he was really a kid, first insecure from the deformation on his face and later annoyed by the unwanted attention it garnered. With that, he left for the Hospital wing, intent on meeting Hermione.

It was then he remembered Dobby. He rushed towards the Headmaster's office, hoping to catch Malfoy before he left and fortunately, he did so as Malfoy was exiting the office while flexing his cane that held his wand.

He could see Dobby there being kicked by Malfoy and trying to hide his eyes from him. Cursing, he summoned the destroyed diary of T.M. Riddle and then conjured a sock to hide it in the journal. He then called out to the Death Eater, "Mr. Malfoy!"

The platinum blonde man stopped and turned towards him, looking at him with a sneer. However, he also saw a flash of surprise in his eyes, which he guessed would be due to a change in his attire and demeanour from what he had witnessed in Diagon Alley.

"What is it, Potter?" Malfoy sneered at him.

Unfazed, Harry just held out the destroyed journal to him, "You seemed to have left something of yours behind," he replied in a cool voice.

Malfoy Senior looked at the diary nervously before taking it and handing it to Dobby. He gave Harry a stink eye and said in a gruff voice, "We are leaving. Come elf!"

By then, Dobby had opened the journal and held the sock in his hand almost reverently.

"Elf! What are you-" Lucius turned around and started to shout only to be cut off by Dobby's rambling.

"Master had given Dobby clothes... Dobby is free!" The house elf seemed to be in a trance.

Lucius turned towards Harry, his wand raised toward him. Already having a bad day and now having lost a servant, he snarled in rage, "Y-You... You cost me, my elf boy! Avada Ke-"

Harry's wand was already in his hand and before Malfoy could even finish the curse, Harry's signature red spell, shot towards Malfoy, as fast as lightning and slammed into him. His wand was ripped away from his hand and he himself found himself afloat a few feet in the air. What increased his agony was a fierce cry from an enraged house elf who shouted, "You shall not harm Harry Potter!" and snapped his fingers.

Malfoy, who was already in the air, picked up extra momentum and got slammed into a nearby wall, letting out a groan of pain. Harry made a face at him and looked him dead into his eyes, "I was able to deal with your master when I was just fifteen months old, albeit with lots of help from my parents. You don't stand a chance against me. Do not do it again, you might not be able to keep your well-being intact."

With the warning, Harry went away followed by Dobby, who was even more in awe of Great and Strong Master Harry Potter.

--X--

Harry sighed as he ran his hand through petrified Hermione's hair. The mandrake draught wouldn't be ready for a day, so he had to wait some more before he got to talk with his lovely, beautiful girlfriend-to-be.

He was sitting beside Hermione's bed for a few hours and had read quite many stories from Tales of Beetle and the Bard, including the famous story of The three brothers. Now he had to leave the hospital wing because Madam Pomphrey had started to huff and puff. Well, he did have to prepare a gift for Hermione to give after she woke up.

He dropped a kiss on Hermione's forehead and conjured red, white and yellow roses along with lilies and placed them by her side, before asking his new house elf- Dobby to bring him Ink and Parchments and meet him on the seventh floor. As Dobby popped away, Harry used his invisibility cloak to avoid attention from students, who would be no doubt hounding him for answers. Not that he was afraid of that attention. In future, he had understood why fame in the magical world wasn't a bad thing. The faith of other wizards somehow strengthened their magic, given the wizard should be extraordinary and playing in leagues of Dumbledore, Voldemort, Grindelwald and himself, or Lockhart would also have been a fearsome Wizard with the kind of fame he had. It certainly explained why both Dark Lord and Leaders of Light sought out fame and following. He himself had understood it after Dumbledore's death and especially on the day of the final battle. The power boost he had suddenly started to get was nearly overwhelming with hundreds and thousands of Wizards placing their trust and hopes onto him. Given it did nothing more but even the field with Voldemort who himself had an enormous following, but it gave him the advantage, nonetheless.

Following that, he had started to avoid the press less and less. He took credit for what he had done, be it him completing his mastery in Transfiguration or becoming an animagus within just a month. He still vowed to stay true to himself and not become a peacock, like Lockhart.

He just hoped Hermione would be able to adapt to his 'sudden' change in personality soon. Not that it would be difficult to explain with 'life-threatening situation' and 'destruction of scar-horcrux'.

--X--

As he levitated the Ravenclaw's diadem from the broken vanishing cabinet, he felt a strong pull on his occulmency shield. The horcrux wanted Harry to wear it. Scoffing at the repulsive object, he wished for the Room of Requirement to provide him with empty room with sound-dampening enchantments.

He willed the Sword of Gryffindor to appear before him and lo, the goblin-crafted sword fitted with egg-sized ruby, made an appearance. Wielding it, he raised his hand to stab the horcrux out of existence, only to be distracted from black vapour pouring through it.

Harry slammed down his occulmency shield, completely unwilling to give the vile thing a chance to deter or worst manipulate him, he jumped through the vapour and brought down Godric Gryffindor's sword with such force that it separated into two. The horcrux tried to desist but was completely unsuccessful and Harry watched in triumph as he sent one more part of Voldemort to the next great adventure. Although from what he had heard from Death, there would be no 'adventure' for Voldemort. He would be wasting away in limbo like others who had dared mutilate their soul in such a way to resist death.

With that, Harry had destroyed three of seven anchors of Lord Voldemort that kept him immortal.

--X--

Asking Dobby to bring him water, he took out the parchments and quill and began to prepare his 'gift' for Hermione. It was actually the process to become animagus in just a month, which he himself had designed in the future modifying the means by which the Marauders became animagus, which had gained him the Mastery in art of Transfiguration. Of course, he wouldn't be able to claim it as his after he gave it to Hermione saying that he had found the method in the 'Restricted section' of the library.

His animagus form had been that of a larger-than-average Siberian tiger. Unfortunately, outside intimidation, it was quite useless. However, it did come in quite handy when he and Hermione had happened to face the rouge Werewolf pack, under the leadership of Michelangelo, the right hand of Greyback, whom Hermione had killed in the final battle. Though it was not quite happenstance as it smelled of foul play. Somebody, probably a sympathizer of Voldemort or inheritor of a death eater, holding a grudge.

Fortunately, their pack was mowed down to 4 standing werewolves and four creatures just somewhat stronger than the normal wolves weren't going to be a match for a Siberian tiger. Even then, one of the kills was stolen by Hermione, who had proceeded to riddle one of the werewolves with conjured silver spears, before it even knew Hermione's position, on courtesy of her scent and sound masking artefacts.

Harry, on the other hand, didn't take much time to put down the rabid wolves. A particularly strong swipe crushed the skull of the first one killing it on the spot. The second werewolf joined the first soon when the bite force of 1050 psi, snapped its neck. Seeing all of his packmates dead the last werewolf sort of went fight and flight, which made it difficult to kill but it was finally put down when Harry in his animagus form used his claws to literally tear out its heart.

Hermione on the other hand found her form to be a cat, a brown house cat to be exact. She was quite happy with it as she loved cats, and it was damn sight useful than being a tiger.

Thinking about her he didn't even know when he fell asleep. He snuggled into the sofa comfortably as the Room of Requirement conjured a blanket over him.

--X--