My Time

Chapter 2

"Merlin's hairy ball sack!" Harry cried out, jerking into sitting position, blinking in confusion as he stared around the very vaguely familiar white vastness. He half expected Dumbledore to meet him again in a sense of Deja vu. Yet there was nothing but empty whiteness surrounding him. "Bloody hell, I can't believe she actually killed me." He muttered, a pained grimace twisting his features, as he slowly got to his feet.

'Has she killed me?' he thought, he was in the same place as before. When he went back the first time, after he spoke to Dumbledore. He'd actually forgiven the old man, that was before he realized just how severely child abuse was penalised in the magical world.

Like a flickering movie, a figure on a horse appeared, dressed in black and green apparel. Sort of like the fashion clothes of old, that he'd seen in portraits, the horse itself didn't seem to move, the flickering just got steadily closer and close to him until he heard galloping and whining.

Harry froze, shielding his body with his hands but nothing barrelled into him. Instead, a figure was standing before him. The same figure he was sure had been on the horse.

"You have many of Ignotus' characteristics," the figure spoke, his voice almost alluring, as if enticing him in, calming him.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" Harry asked, his heart pounding dangerously fast in his chest. He had an inkling; he just didn't want to admit it.

"You may call me Mort," he informed the youngling, as he removed his hood. His visage of a young man in his prime, all of twenty, when he was the oldest thing in all of creation.

"Death," Harry breathed, not at all stunned, despite his wish to be. Licking his lips, he gulped softly, "I guess…she actually did kill me then…stupid bitch," angry beyond anything he'd ever felt. He should have been free to live his life, but now? Now he was dead, all because Ginny felt wronged because he refused to date her again.

"Oh, yes," Mort agreed, smiling a smile that looked way too innocent, his black hair tied up, aristocratic features highlighting and accenting everything making him look incredibly handsome. In a way that hardly any pureblood could claim, the inbreeding made them – most of them – rather unsightly in his time.

Harry grunted in disgruntlement, there was no need to look so happy in his opinion. "What will happen to her?" rather viciously hoping she didn't get away with it…but he honestly didn't expect much of the magical world. It was stagnant, had been so for eight decades, they were ruining everything and they just didn't care.

"Oh, she'll be ever so excited to hear the will reading," Mort claimed, laughing softly, eyes gleaming with vindictive pleasure. "It's just too bad that you removed the Potter estate from Gringotts and there's nothing to be found, don't you find?" that also included the Black estate, which had naturally merged with the Potter estate since Harry was Lord Harry Black-Potter.

"She was after my money?" Harry asked, hurt swirling in his chest. He'd thought it odd that she was so desperate to get back together with him. He hadn't thought for a second though, that she'd been after his money. She hadn't mentioned being married and seemed against having a family so soon…his stomach churned. Licking his lips again, "Were…were they all after my money?"

"Of course not," Mort declared, "The rest of the family genuinely care, there are always a few rotten eggs in families, you should know that by now."

Harry thought of Petunia, and couldn't help but nod resignedly. From all he'd been told, Petunia and Lily couldn't have been more different. Unfortunately, nobody had ever told him about his maternal or parental grandparents, he only knew their names from what he'd read in journals. Inhaling sharply, "Does she get caught?" does she get punished for killing him he thought sourly?

"Oh, of course, the Aurors aren't that incompetent," Mort said, mouth stretched out, showing more teeth than necessary. "She gets the Dementors kiss for her troubles, they're quite furious with her actions." Considering who Harry Potter is.

Harry nodded, he had so many questions he wanted to ask. Yet he had to wonder…was it only to delay the inevitable? He'd never been afraid of dying, spending the first ten years of your life the way he had…it was hardly surprising. He'd gladly walked to his death to save everyone he loved at seventeen…he just hadn't expected to die this way, after finally coming back. "It is time, isn't it? to move on?" he'd had so much he wanted to do, and poor Kreacher…he probably knew already, they'd bonded, he and Kreacher, as Master and House-elf.

"That's entirely up to you, where you move to," Mort chuckled, watching those green eyes widen in astonishment. "There was nothing more important to Ignotus than his family, to know it ends with you breaks his heart. Ignotus is a very good friend and I dislike seeing him so upset." Ignotus had stayed with him for centuries, the books were quite correct that Ignotus had left the mortal coil he had left with Death without a fight.

It was such rare thing.

Go figure the last of his family would be the same way.

"I can go back?" Harry gawked at Mort, surely, he misunderstood? "I'm not really your Master, am I?" he wasn't some sort of immortal, was he?

Mort laughed, but it was a kind one, not at all derisive, "Death has no Master, Death needs no Master," he said teasingly, Harry burst out laughing, grinning widely, Dobby had said something similar.

Harry relaxed, feeling much better, but still so very curious… "You're doing this just because of Ignotus?" he wasn't anything special? He felt much better about that.

"Oh, no, you have been death touched," Mort informed him, not doing the discourtesy of lying, "Three times as a matter of fact, but this favour is something I am doing for Ignotus."

"What's the favour?" Harry asked, pensively, wondering what he meant by death touched, because he'd died?

"To allow the Peverell name to flourish, as it should be," Mort said fondly, "All we shall have to do is make your hair straight not wavy, and alter your features to be more like the Peverell line, and nobody would liken you to the Potter family."

"What? Why? Why can't I just go back to being Harry Potter?" Harry asked loudly, confusion clouding his features, all thoughts of 'death touched' left his mind as he tried to figure out what was going on and what 'Mort' was trying to say. Death presumably had all the time in the world, so he could spend eons explaining…he just knew time wasn't moving at the moment and it was rather a disconcerting piece of knowledge to have.

"Because I can see your hearts innermost desires," Mort said with a seductive rumbling purr. "I see what you really want, what you see in the mirror of Erised the people might have changed…but the desire remains the same."

"Family," Harry murmured, glancing down at his feet, he'd always only ever wanted a family of his own. People who would love him unconditionally, who didn't care that he was Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived or all the things he'd done…just simply loved him because he loved them in turn.

It made him wonder why he was so desperate to cling onto Harry James Potter. The name had brought him nothing but misery since he was born. Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be a bad thing at all, to be someone else, someone different…it made him long for it strangely enough.

Maybe he should agree to this insane plan, he'd be left alone…he could continue his life as someone anonymous. Blend in for the first time in his life, he could just see it and it made him so incredibly excited.

"I'll be the same age, right?" Harry questioned, wanting to be sure, "I wouldn't like…have to go to Hogwarts again?" now that thought filled him with dread.

"Institutional learning definitely wasn't for you, but you hid your intelligence from everyone, even your own friends." Mort agreed, giving him a shewed look, too used to it by the time Hogwarts came around. Exceptionally more so when it came to actually performing magic, naturally. He came from exceptionally powerful lines, added with a dash of new blood, it was expected. "And yes, you'll be the same age as you are now."

Harry relaxed, he could just take his exams at the Ministry, nobody would blink an eye, it was done all the time.

"There is one thing you have to know," Mort commented, sounding deviously more amused.

Harry gulped, jerking his head up, staring at Mort who looked way too please with himself.

"You cannot go back to your time," Mort explained, waving his hand, and chairs appeared, he sat down, gesturing for Harry to do the same.

Harry frowned, as he sat, more grateful when he realized just how much he was beginning to ache. Was this his real body here? He'd just sort of assumed his body was, you know, below like before. Was that not the case this time? He couldn't recall feeling any aches and pains the last time, when he stood for ages talking to Dumbledore. "What do you mean I can't go to my time?" dread squirming in his stomach, "So, I'll what? End up in the future?"

"Oh, no, the future is currently being re-written as we speak," Mort said in fascination, and what a beautiful world it was, but it was also in constant flux. It would be until those events actually happened – if they actually happened – but the fact he could see them, spoke a great deal of what may come.

The boy might thing he'd ever fit in and be a nobody, but regardless of where he went, he would always stand out in a crowd. Draw people to him, they would desire him, be charmed by him, and his powers…would always make everyone be in awe of him.

Harry stared at him caution warring with confusion. "I don't understand," but he did, he suspected, he just knew.

"Oh, but you do, don't you, young one?" Mort murmured, and Harry was so very young, just a toddler to him in his infinite wisdom and presence. He might look like someone barely out of his twenties but he was old and wise enough to know when he was being lied to, when someone was in denial.

Harry let out a shaky breath, "The past," he conceded, "I suspect much further than just twenty years. You've already sent my body, there haven't you?" the longer he was here, the more he felt, the more he realized. It was odd for an 'out of body experience' so to speak.

Mort just watched over the fledgling in pride, giving him a nod when the boy glanced at him. Yes, he had that same insatiable intelligence as Ignotus, his old friend would be so proud of him. It was overwhelming just how much he looked like Ignotus too.

"When?" Harry asked, mentally preparing for anything sent his way.

"Why, 1945, of course," Mort said, showing both rows of pearly white teeth.

Harry's jaw dropped in incredulity, "Only 45? Why not 42? I could have stopped Voldemort entirely." He already had Horcruxes, at this point, like three or four? He was already slowly declining into insanity.

"So eager to kill," Mort said painfully proud, "Would you blame a Muggle for their actions when they were clearly mentally incompetent?"

Harry startled, "What? Well, no, but this isn't the same thing…"

"Isn't it?" Mort said wryly, smirking a little, "How many of his belief's do you agree with?"

Harry licked his lips, "That doesn't matter, he's going to destroy everything…if a Muggle did the same, I'd kill them too."

Mort just continued to look at him with a delicate brow raised in doubt.

"I would," Harry argued, he'd do it, he wouldn't like it, but he'd do it.

"Perhaps," Mort agreed, inclining his head, perhaps he would. "There is a way to fix his soul, to merge it once more."

Harry laughed, it was sarcastic and dark, "Yes, remorse," he snorted, "I don't think he felt remorse in his life, knew the word but doesn't know the emotion."

"Really? You were connected to him, you know he can feel emotions," Mort pointed out calmly. "You felt his fear, his elation, his excitement, admittedly his cause did end up askew towards the end.

"Why are you telling me this?" Harry asked suspiciously, "You want me to save him?" he'd killed his parents! Killed hundreds of other wizards and witches, all for his so-called goals, which were such rubbish. Ah, but were they? In the beginning they had been…something he would have personally wanted. He wouldn't have killed anyone yet who didn't deserve it…would he have? At least his ledger wouldn't be dripping red yet. "What sort of spell? And why didn't we know about it?" it would have made everything significantly easier.

"It's not of any magic known, it has long since been lost and forgotten," Mort informed him, and not of this universe, but there was no need to overwhelm the boy. He was after all still in his own universe, giving him information, he didn't need would just make this conversation significantly longer.

Harry leaned forward, green eyes staring intently into dark ones. "Tell me," his decision made. He'd do what he had to…but he wasn't going to become involved in a war…there was no way, he'd been through two already.

"Figite me totum et anima una," Mort informed him, watching as he murmured it to himself, trying to memorise it.

"You'll be stripped of the Potter features and inheritances and fully take up the Peverell name." Mort explained, "And you'll meet someone very, very compatible with you, magically and physically."

Harry's breathing hitched, "Who?" compatible, Mort was basically telling him it was a wizard, someone who could give him a family. Longing shot through him so viciously that he couldn't contain it.

"That you'll figure out on your own," Mort informed him, fondness enveloping him. Ignotus had met his perfect match too, both living to old age and happily too. Only he had chosen to pass on past the veil of death and be reincarnated.

"Oh," Harry murmured, his mind pouring over who his potential match could be. "It's not Voldemort is it?" he yelped out sounding like a strangled chicken.

"No, it is not Voldemort," Mort chuckled, the look on his face, he was tempted to tell him yes, but he couldn't bring himself to deceive the boy that way, not even on a whim or joke.

Seeing the pleading look on Harry's face, he caved, too much like Ignotus, who was his only friend these past centuries, he was weak for those features. "It's Orion Black."

Harry's face fell, "But Sirius…" he said, Sirius and Regulus wouldn't exist…they wouldn't…exist.

"Oh, they'll exist, but with a different parentage," Mort said wryly.

That eased some of the anxiety, but not all of it, it just didn't seem right to him. "Who will I become?"

"And so, it will be, you will become Hayden Ignotus Haidar Peverell, a pureblood, the background you come up with will be your own." Mort informed him, allowing him some measure of control over his history. "Go to Gringotts, claim the Peverell Lordship, and the estate. You still have the Potter and Black estate in your trunk, add them to the accounts." It would make him the wealthiest wizard in the UK and possibly nearly all of Europe. All of the Black and Potter memorabilia had disappeared, they couldn't have anyone wondering how they got there after all.

Harry felt a shiver run down his spine.

"Go with our best wishes, Harry," Mort said, clicking his fingers, Ignotus appeared beside him, as they both watched Harry fade into nothingness.

In 1945, Hayden Ignotus Haidar Peverell woke with a gasping choke.

A/n – ugh dealing with a pooch that has a UTI is no fun! Constantly wanting out! Don't blame her mind but I can't leave the door open (1 degree outside!) and I'm not leaving her outside. So, I'm getting a lot of exercise :P haha and barked at every few minutes for the toilet :D Got an appointment at the vets tomorrow so antibiotics for her and more time for writing for me 😉 so if this chapters small we can all blame her :D and unfortunately, I was quite right! Small chapter it is!

So, Will Orion marry Walburga first? Have Regulus and Sirius? (bear in mind he's 18 in this timeline, finished with Hogwarts but not yet married 😊 and have Harry waiting and pining after him for years? Or will we sacrifice the possibility of Regulus and Sirius and have Harry going after what he wants for the first time in his life? And marry Orion from the get go? R&R please