Harry stretched his hand and felt the pieces of stone touch his skin. It was cold. Yet the boy did not feel anything special, only the sad gaze from the headmaster's eyes, lingering at the stone betrayed its nature as something special - not just a random pebble from the road.

Dumbledore pointed his wand to the boy - Harry initially flinched, before calming down and reaching his own arm to grab it, yet as he pulled away, it remained firmly in the headmaster's grasp. Confused, the boy turned his gaze towards him and arched his eyebrow.

"Headmaster? Weren't you saying you would pass this wand to me?"

Albus shook his head as if he was waking up from some memories - granted he used the Elder wand ever since taking it from Grindelwald and it kept his company for decades. Even at the end of his life, he still felt somewhat reluctant to let it go. Initially he thought the bloody history of the wand would end with him, yet if there was even a glimmer of a chance for it to help the poor boy with his scar issue, he was willing to try.

"Ah! I am sorry, my boy. You see, I forgot to mention, that this wand is special in multiple ways - not only it is the strongest wand I have ever seen, but for it to truly acknowledge a new master, you must beat me in a fight - just disarm me with your magic for the wand to acknowledge the new owner"

It did not take long for Potter to wave his arm as a wandless red beam grabbed the wand from the headmaster's healthy hand and brought it in the boy's palm.

Harry twirled the wand, the texture was certainly weird, not like any other wand he ever held - which amounted to a lot of death eaters wands he disarmed as well as dozens of wands from Olivanders store.

Yet that was it - there was no special feeling. No fireworks. Nothing at all.

"So, I am supposedly now, Master of Death? How does that work exactly?"

Dumbledore looked as confused as he was. He spent years with Gellert searching for Hallows, chasing the dream that collecting all three would give them enough power to usurp the wizarding world, to change its rotten rules and regulations, for the greater good. He thought he could see something happen, after all he could clearly see with his magic vision that Harry was bonded to his cloak and saw him bond with the stone as well as with his former wand. Yet nothing extra was happening, so Albus let out a deep sigh.

"Perhaps it was all just a fairy tale…. Peverell brothers were quite geniuses of their time - perhaps rather than meeting Death, they simply created the artefacts and the people around them spread the tales out of jealousy…"

Harry meanwhile tried a few simple spells, only to be surprised by their power - it was like the magic he poured in was multiplied compared to his own wand. Or perhaps it just had a higher efficiency?

"Headmaster, I do not feel any different, but how about my scar? Is there truly no way to remove Voldemors piece from my head?"

Albuses gaze fell towards the floor - "I am sorry Harry, yet with all the books I have read… I have not once encountered anything even remotely close to a situation such as yours. Even the dark wizards who actually created the Horcrux or even died trying are so few in number, I am not optimistic in finding an answer anytime soon…. If ever"

A silence followed as the headmaster looked sad and Harry was desperately trying to find something - anything - even a direction for his scar problem. He read countless books himself and he mirrored Dumbledore's worries. Heck the only dark mage that made a horcrux successfully and was written about was Herpo the Foul - it came from a thick dark arts history tome Sirius sent him a while back.

"So what should I do? Should I just wait for Voldemort to come back and try to kill me again? To welcome incoming Avada Kedavra hean on, only to test your theory of it only killing the weaker soul?"

Dumbledore looked somewhat guilty - he was proud of himself for being a talented mage, always guiding others and resolving their worries… Yet now he could do nothing to help a young child.

It took a few minutes for the boy to calm down. If the answer was never found by others this did not mean there was no answer at all. After all he had all the time in the world - he was sure after countless researching he would be able to find a way to get rid of this… parasite inside of him.

Then the boy bid the headmaster farewell as he walked down the stairs and moved towards the seventh floor. Daphne should be there, waiting for him. The boy debated whether to tell her about all of this dark lord business, yet he knew there was not much time left before his return - as well as not that much time left for him to spend with his girlfriend, so he wanted to make the most out of it - after all, the next loop might not be the same.

He felt a pain in his heart as he thought about the future - it was a nice change of pace, compared to decades of losing fights against Dumbledore or repeatedly dying to dementors out of uncontrollable negative emotions. Yet now… He would keep the memories of the fun he had with his friends. Of the new friends he made… But for his girlfriend, only sorrow would accompany him - knowing that specific version of her would be lost. Yes, he could use the knowledge to try to replicate the same situation - but that would feel somewhat fake - as it would be essentially manipulation. After all, with an extra year of memories he was different from himself from the past - who knows if he simply approached the girl again, would he even catch her eye without replicating exact encounters they shared?

Of course, there were ways of implanting memories - he could just smuggle them back in the time loop - yet unlike oblivion, implanting memories was quite risky - especially such large amounts. It was one thing to just change a face of a person in all the memories, but way more difficult to add entire months of memories of daily life - the few successes he found that were used on slaves, which usually first obliviated the victim to oblivion, before crafting some sugar coated story of 'who' they were - Harry was never going to use that, even if succeeded, it would just feel morally wrong - it was not like connecting with a person, rather forcing a person to be your friend and rewriting their whole life…

The following weeks passed quickly - Harry was happy with his new wand, all thought he still kept the old one as a spare one, safely kept in a wand holster wrapped on his calf.

The boy stopped his regular pranking of Snape - the twins had run out of lessons to give, and Harry, while happy with the knowledge received, could not get into mood of more pranks, without any purpose of learning in them - there were better uses of time, for example spending the precious remaining time with Daphne, or just some combat training and reading.

The dark lord's constant battering of his defences left Harry somewhat tired, yet his defences held strong - most likely Tom Riddle had nothing better to do other than to invade Harry's mind every day. While his attacks initially got stronger - perhaps he learned how to exploit the connection better, it recently reached a limit, not getting significantly stronger every day.

And eventually the day of the third task had arrived. Last time on this date Harry entered the maze and took the portkey cup to participate in the dark lords revival. Only to barely escape and wake up in the hospital the next day… And then the start of his problems happened - the time loop.

Of course, now he considered the dark lord's soul piece in his head a much larger issue at hand, or perhaps more relevant for the current him.

Daphne felt her heart tremble like never before, she was watching Harry as he walked into the maze - while the girl worried for her friend during the first task, they hadn't been dating at the time, and she was asleep or together with him during the second one…

Yet now she was once again, but a spectator. Having read about various past tournaments she knew that the third task was usually the most dangerous, having the highest mortality rate…

She knew Harry was worried as well - he was extra sweet and caring during the past few weeks, spending more time with her than usual.

A sudden stretched arm pulled her into a hug - it was Treacey Davis, her best friend who sat by her side to enjoy the show.

"Cheer up Daph! You remember how easily Harry took care of a dragon, surely a measly maze would not stand in his way!"

Daphne escaped from her bestie's clutches and fixed her hair - "I suppose you're right, that would be a rational thing to say, yet I cannot help but worry…. "

Tracey put her index finger on her mouth as if in thought - "Hmm, I suppose that's right" - a cheeky grin spread on her face - "How about we chat to ease your worries, it's not like we can see anything other than a hedge anyway?"

And truly, not long after Harry's entrance to the maze, the other champions soon followed - now all spectators could see was a green hedge…

Daphne let out a sigh as she nodded and moved her gaze towards her friend - she knew a distraction would help - after all her being here could not help Harry in any way.

"So how is your progress with Harry?"

Heat rose to Daphne's cheeks as she certainly did not expect such a question. Her bestie did ask a few times on how far they had gone, yet she always had an excuse to dodge the question - yet now it seemed there was nowhere to escape so she decided she would just share a bit more about their live as a couple - of course while withholding Harry's secrets.

Harry was rushing through the maze at a quick pace. While he had memories of the correct path towards the centre - it was not such a simple thing as following the same path. After all it was a magical hedge maze, it sometimes reformed, with walls shifting, rotating, appearing and disappearing randomly, yet always keeping the remainder of the maze connected, never truly trapping the wanderers inside - a truly wonderful piece of magic!

And now Harry rushed around looking for another way forwards as the path he knew had a hedge blocking the way, even though he could already feel the sphinx nearby - it had quite a unique magical presence.

He saw Victor Krum coming from the distance as he clutched his wand harder - he never beat the Drumstang champion in a duel, yet he got close, and now that he had the Elder wand, which he refrained from using in their duels, perhaps the tables would turn.

Yet coming closer he knew something was very wrong. Fleur Delacour lay on the floor together with Cedric Diggory, unconscious, their wands in Victor's hands, his body calm and ready to duel, yet a glint in the eyes betrayed his condition - it was a sign of resistance from imperius.

It did not take Harry long to connect the dots - it was that fake Moody - suspected Bartemius Crouch Jr!

Having a magical eye he could see through the maze and move his imperiused victim as a pawn - which would take care of threats too strong for him and other competitors….

Having experienced both mind attacks and imperius curse himself Harry knew, that while they were very similar, it was also different - if caught unguarded, leggimens could easily read a few memories - like it happened to even the dark lord, after that it was not too hard to fight back with all your occlumency skills. Yet imperius was different - it bound your will, making it significantly harder to resist if not anticipating such an attack.

Harry initially thought there were more magical beasts and traps around because he ventured at the path at a different time and much earlier than last time…. But perhaps last time as well it was death eaters pawn who cleared the way for him…

"Let them go, Barty!"

A surprise showed on Victor's face, followed up by an evil chuckling.

"So we meet at last, Potter, imagine my surprise when dark lord contacted me once again, emphasising to be very careful about you, I would say you certainly showed great skills during the first two tasks and even now - taking care of all those creatures, without getting even a speck on dirt on yourself, I dare say you would be just a shy below top ten of the dark lords followers in skill!"

Harry's eyes widened - he had no trouble taking care of death eaters during the Quidditch world cup - yet there were ten more, actually stronger than him after training for all year? He wanted to retaliate, yet he could feel enemy mana wrapped around tightly on unconscious bodies of his friends, he even recognized the simple levitation charm on them - as soon as he engaged, Bart would use them as meat shields… It seems he was still too weak…

"Well if you're not in the mood for a quick battle, let's cut to the chase" - He motioned with his wand and the cup quickly floated from behind him, then launched at a quick speed towards Harry, who quickly stepped out of the way - he knew encountering Voldermort seemed inevitable, yet he could just not leave his friends behind in danger.

*Tsch* - "Do not dodge, Potter! You would not want to keep the dark lord waiting, would you?" - an evil grin spread on his face - "Perhaps a little motivation would do wonders for you! I would not be doing this if you had shown me some more… motivation in winning"

Just a wave of his hand and a spell launched towards Fleur and Cedric - Harry acted as well, sending shielding charms of his own, alas, Barty levitated the duo out of the way and let the spell hit them. Harry grimaced as he saw countless bleeding wounds appear on their skin, before bleeding like fountains. If it kept you, he doubted they would survive for long.

He shot the sparks towards the sky, yet there seemed to be an array blocking them out.

Bary chuckled again at his attempts - "Now now Potter, It was I who set up this array, you wouldn't think you actually had a chance to lose the tournament, did you? Even if you could send the sparks, what would that even achieve? You do know the one assigned as the leader for the retrieval team… is me!"

The boy who lived could only curse as he realised his shortcoming - all the time he trained to become a better fighter - which he did - yet he never practised to fight while protecting someone important - with the elder wand, he could perhaps go toe to toe with the mind controlled Victor, yet the life of two others was bound to expire in that case. He gritted his teeth and turned towards the death eater.

"Fine, I will win this damned thing, just let them go"

No words were said as the cup floated towards him and upon contact the surroundings wrapped and the boy was sent flying far away from the school. He felt sad for leaving his friends behind, but there was no other choice - if he fought, they would have died, he knew death eaters words could not be trusted, perhaps they were still bleeding at this moment. For once Harry was happy that the time loop was there - they would be back as soon as the loop restarted.

The portkey has reached the familiar graveyard as Harry was trashed to the floor. Before grimacing in pain - someone just bit his leg. He quickly cast a spell as a whirlwind of mana pulsed strongly outwards from him, pushing the rat away, yet he realised something was wrong as the dirt all around him was filled with runes of various languages, before eventually glowing and closing in towards him.

The boy cursed again as he tried to escape the encirclement, yet it was like a barrier, holding him in place. He tried blasting it with spells, yet somehow his output was weaker than usual. Feeling the mana around he noticed it was very thin, and not recovering around him.

His eyes shone as he realised the purpose of the array - it was an ingenious design of feeding mana from outside the circle and not letting mana recover inside. No matter if with wands or not, wizards were not dangerous in a place without enough mana to cast spells!.

The boy tried overpowering a cutter spell - the strongest single point of damage he knew, yet the result barely shook the barrier for the moment - the mana inside the circle had already run out… if only he started this as soon as the portkey journey was over….

"Harry Potter, the boy who lived, the only one to survive against me, welcome, welcome"

Harry shuddered hearing the dark lord's creepy voice, somehow mingled with a baby accent, seemingly coming from inside the cauldron. The already recovered Pettigrew was dropping various magical ingredients inside yet it seemed not to affect Voldemort's speech in any way.

"I had to go to so much trouble to bring you here, Potter, yet imagine my surprise when I came to know that one average student managed to jump to the top of the class so suddenly! And then to learn of the connection we share! Perhaps you are a late bloomer, but we truly are alike, Potter"

"You even managed to sneak into my mind, learn my deepest secret - of course it was thanks to you I managed to learn of Severus' betrayal as well as making that old fool Dumbledore get cursed for good!"

A string of curses followed as Pettigrew accidentally spilled some unicorn blood on top of his master's frail body, a minute of quiet followed before the dark lord resumed his monologue.

"Back then during the first year of your schooling I failed as I could not touch you due to your mothers protection, yet now… this would change! Wormtail, it is time!"

The rat-like man squealed as he started chanting - "Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son." - a bone shaped like a rib dropped inside the cauldron - "Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master." - there was a brief hesitation and screaming as he cut his own arm off, and it fell into the cauldron.

It took some time and more Voldemort's urges for him to continue - "Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe." - then a small drop of blood dropped inside the cauldron - the same one that got stuck on Wormtail's teeth as he bit Harry in the leg earlier.

While Peter wailed in agony, freed of his chanting duties, the cauldron bubbled as one adult body of Voldemort rose from its depths. The dark lord robed himself and picked up his wand Pettigrew placed nearby before the ritual. He then gifted his follower a new arm - a silver one, as well as briefly touching the death mark - just to inform his minions of his return, before walking towards the runic array and standing in front of Harry.

"We are so much alike, Harry Potter, so similar, now even your blood is flowing in my veins!"

Dark lord's eyes glinted as he stared Harry straight in the face.

"Of course, even if I have morals, you can go out in a grand duel against yours truly, rather than dying defenceless. This array was just to account for wormtail's incompleteness"

Various popping sounds resounded as death eaters answered their master's call. The dark lord waited a few minutes, yet after a few dozens arrived…. No new arrivals happened.

"I am disappointed. To think so many of you refuse to celebrate my return. Of course I am aware that the majority of death eaters are in Azkaban, yet there should be more than two dozen of you roaming free…"

The death eaters flinched, expecting the cruciatus strikes from their lord - a common occurrence, when they failed to meet his expectations. Thankfully this time his anger was more directed towards the ones who missed the invitation - he knew that some of them had important jobs, hence they likely could not discreetly leave at such short notice - yet for all the other ones who could simply apparate there from a few steps outside their homes…

The dark lord turned back to Harry and cast a spell on the floor - the runes started spinning as the mana blocking array disappeared. Harry was finally free to fight, well as soon as previously blocked mana could finally flood the space around him.

And similarly like last time - Voldemort proposed a duel, yet unlike last time, Harry knew all the customs and bowed properly. He knew the dark lord might be dirty and strike him - yet he did not care much about it. He wanted to test headmasters theory - of avada kedavra consuming the weaker of the souls. As well as wanting to see just how wide the gap was between him and Voldemort. At least his mind defences held strong - Voldemort was battering them with all his might during his speech with his followers and Harry had to focus and keep renewing his shields every minute to keep him at bay. Still the fight would start soon and neither of them would have enough mental capacity to weave and dodge the spells at the same time as fighting inside their minds.

"It seems like young Potter at least read a book on manners, colour me impressed! It always pains me to put down magical talent such as yours. Let me offer you one more time - join me, together we can change the wizarding world for good! I would even forgive your little mind invasion!"

"I will never stand on the same side as the murderer of my parents!"

The dark lord's polite smile disappeared as he started shooting green bolts of death - "so you choose death, Potter!"

Harry countered with his own spells - Avada Kedavra was deadly upon contact, yet at the same time it was very easy to block. Water droplets from the atmosphere were collected together, before condensing into bricks of ice. Upon contact with the spells, they broke from the sheer impact - yet the green spell similarly dissipated into air.

Voldemort heard the reports about the boy's abilities - yet was surprised nonetheless, even though he was not that good during his fourth year at school, especially those occlumency skills.

Alas Harry was not his opponent - his quick casting of overpowered spells made quick work of Harry's shields, then his animated flame burned his hand so painfully, his wand dropped to the floor.

Perhaps Harry was good, one could say on par or even above Victor Krum after relentless training and obtaining the Elder wand - yet the dark lords had a few decades more of experience - be it combat or knowledge Harry was inferior to the talented wizard.

Harry could only helplessly watch as a familiar green spell hit him straight in the chest. The same spell that took his parents away. His lifeless body fell and hit the floor as death eaters cheered.

Voldemort cast a crucio just in case - after all, the boy was fine after first killing the curse when he was the child, and was satisfied seeing his body just fly up and down, with no signs of life. He grinned evilly as he similarly felt the weird mind link with Potter disappearing - the door that connected their minds crumbling.

It seems his plan was a success and from reports from Barty he knew Dumbledore fell into his trap when getting the ring horcrux - perhaps the horcrux was gone - he did not doubt the old man to be capable of destroying it. Still with that curse on his arm… the old man was as good as dead. He would wait for a few months more for the curse to progress before revealing himself and usurping Hogwarts. After all, letting the old fool die by himself was nothing great, but getting killed by his hand had some fame to it. Getting to deal with traitor Severus was just a cherry on top.

Harry meanwhile was confused - he thought either the spell would fail like when he was a child. Or perhaps Dumbledore was right and only Voldemort's own soul piece would get consumed by the spell… Or maybe he would simply die and wake up at the start of the loop again.

Yet now… He was in some sort of white place which looked very similar to a Kings Cross station….

Walking towards it he looked around, curious about this place. Noticing a reflection in the mirror, he smiled - his scar was gone. Double checking in his mind's library he could see that the door that Voldemort kept tackling every day was now gone.

Harry wondered what the hell happened to him as he walked forwards, until a small figure caught his eye, walking closer he realised it bore striking resemblance to Voldemort's baby form, yet it was thrashing and slowly disappearing.

Harry wondered if this was a reflection of the piece of dark lord's soul that was in his forehead… Or used to be. He spent a few dozens of minutes just standing here. Watching as the figure turned to particles and disappeared completely.

Then Harry wandered around, yet he could not find anything about this weird place, until eventually his vision blurred - as if waking up from a dream. His eyes slowly opened as he realised he was still lying in mud, Voldemorts followers still cheering, as if just a moment had passed inside the white station.

Harry wasted no time, trying to apparate away - yet he realised the area was warded. Cursing he reached for his wand - it was not here! The same for his spare wand! Heck, even his pocket trunk and wand holsters were gone! A dark lord in rising, certainly needed all the funding he could get his hands on…

His enemies no doubt already noticed his movement, as he felt various spells coming towards him. The boy put up some shields while deflecting weaker spells to the side as he focused to summon the cup back to his hand - he still remembered his first time escaping this place.

Yet Voldemort was faster - before the cup touched the boy, black flames in the form of a serpent escaped his wand and overtook the cup to reach the boy - Fiendfyre. Avada Kedavra has failed him twice now, and the dark lord decided to switch to another powerful spell - sure it was harder to control, but if mastered, a single cast of fiendfyre could take way more lives than a single Avada Kedavra ever could.

Harry gritted his teeth from pain as the black flames consumed him - he was in so much pain he could not even pay any attention to the dark lord or his minions around him, until it happened again… The time slowed down once more.

Back in the spectator stands Daphne realised something was very wrong. It was as if… her world suddenly slowed down - everything moved in slow motion. And there was something looking like a wall of different clocks in her vision.

She felt scared for what was happening, trying to shout, yet no voice came out, or more likely, her body too slowed down for her mouth to even open.

Then the time started flowing again, first slowly, then faster and faster.

Yet not forwards like it used to be, but backwards towards the past.

Eventually Daphne felt that she could move again. First she cast a healing spell that got rid of her nausea, while thanking Harry for taking her along for a broom ride on one of their dates outside the castle. Her boyfriend did quite a few tricks, yet the girl was not used to it, luckily he noticed her face gaining a green hue and slowed down then healed her, while she took the time to memorise the spell as it seemed useful for all sorts of situations.

Shaking her head and pushing the memories back the girl checked the time - it was late evening.

Confused due to the weird phenomena she walked towards the bathroom to wash her face, yet the full length mirror stopped her mid-track.

The girl gazed at her reflection, realising that something was off. She looked… younger. Like about a year younger.

With horror, she looked around the room, noticing neatly arranged piles of books, homework parchments and research material… that she used during third year of Hogwarts, then at her timetable - which was outdated as well and finally at her memories and compared her current image to that of a year ago - it was a perfect match.

Hoping it was a bad dream, she went back to the bed and tried to sleep - or rather wake up from this nightmare - it couldn't be that she travelled a whole year in the past could it? If so, why? What caused it? What would happen to her now?