Chapter Text
The Boy Who Lived Again
Author’s Notes
Disclaimer: I asked Santa for the Harry Potter rights last Christmas. When he saw my letter, he laughed his fat bottom off and now he’s dead. That’s why this year you’ll see the presents come from Mrs. Claus through the mail because, Yes, she doesn’t have a sleigh license.
My story will have a plot inspired by many fics I have read by other authors, all of whom will be credited, and they will be combined into one long story. I want to start with Reptilia28's Don't Fear the Reaper Challenge with a twist and inspiration from Vance McGills's "A Time for Harmony and Vengeance" and my own twist. It will have the Ancient and Most Noble House system meaning Harry will at one point become Lord Potter and will be a politically powerful figure. Sirius will have a starring role in any story I write, I just feel that Sirius deserved more than what JKR gave him. The Lord system and political part of the story will be inspired by "A Marauder's Plan" meaning Sirius will be Lord Arcturus 2.0. Pairing will be H/Hr obviously. Plenty of Dumbledore and Weasley bashing (That is to say Molly, Iclke Ronniekins and GinGin). I am planning on this becoming a pretty long fic, at least 150k words. Updates will be pretty slow, but I will try to update weekly, what with A/Ls next year pfft.
Challenge rules are as follows. I’ll mention the twists in there as well.
Reptilia28's Don't Fear the Reaper Challenge
*) Harry is killed at 17 during the fight with Voldemort. He's sent to his Death's office (explained later) and finds out that this isn't the first time that this has happened. {Well…… here is the deal. In my story Harry will die some 5 or 6 years after the Battle of Hogwarts. You’ll see why later.}
*) Harry's Death (who can have a human name) is mad at his arrival. Apparently, people dying before their time is a black mark on the various Deaths' records, and Harry is getting perilously close to getting this particular one fired. {Accepted}
*) When Harry asks what was supposed to have happened, Death goes off on a rant saying how he was supposed to have killed Voldemort, found his soulmate ("Some Granger girl…") and lived to be a centennial age. But since Harry keeps getting into life-threatening situations for one reason or another, he keeps dying before that happens. Harry is surprised about the soul mate part.
{Accepted although not entirely… You’ll see. Just read it.}
*) Death gives Harry a paper to sign that allows him to retain his memories (the previous times, he wasn't given this option for some reason). Harry is deposited to a previous time of the writer's choosing. {Bloody well accepted}
*) Eventually, Harry gets it right. He kills Voldemort, gets the girl, and lives to a ripe old age of whatever. And Death doesn't get fired. {Sure}
REQUIREMENTS:
*) Harry must have died at least three times before this one {Accepted}
*) The memory keeping contract must be included {Accepted}
*) Death must refer to Hermione as "some Granger girl" when Harry's soul mate turns up in his rant
{Accepted}
*) Obviously, must be H/Hr {DUH}
*) Have fun {Oh I will!}
OPTIONAL:
*) Dumbledore's manipulations can be a factor in Harry's premature demises {Definitely}
Disclaimer : I asked Santa for the Harry Potter rights last Christmas. When he saw my letter, he laughed his fat bottom off and had a heart attack. That’s why this year you’ll see the presents come from Mrs. Claus through the mail because, yes, she doesn’t have a sleigh license. So, no. I don’t own Harry Potter.
Author’s Note: This is my first fanfic, so the start may be a bit cheesy, but please don’t judge it because of that. The chapter will get interesting round the middle. If you enjoy, a follow and a favorite would be appreciated. Please try to review, regardless of whether you like it or not. Feel free to mention any ideas or thoughts on how to improve the story. That being said, let’s move on, shall we?
Chapter 1: Soul Bonds & Betrayals
…
31th October 2003- MoM
Twenty-two-year-old Lord Harry James Potter walked down the halls of the Ministry on cloud nine. Five years ago, he had ended the Second Wizarding War with the help of his friends. True, he still felt extremely guilty about all the lives lost, but his life had taken a turn for the better during the past few months.
He had helped raise his godson, Teddy, become a senior auror in the DMLE, found out about his lordship by chance (A friend had told him to summon his ring and accept his head of house position because the goblins still gave him disgusted looks whenever he entered Gringotts, and he was only allowed to withdraw money from the counters. Heck they didn’t even let him visit his vault anymore! So, any chance of the goblins telling him about his inheritance was down in the drains), and just a week ago he had proposed to his girlfriend of seven years, Ginny Weasley. They had resumed their relationship after the war and had come a long way since, hence the reason he was there at the ministry at all on his off day, to get the registration papers for their marriage, which was supposed to take place in December. “Maybe the Potter luck isn’t that bad after all”, he said to himself as he walked along the path to the Department of Marriage Registries.
Five minutes later, Harry found himself at the registry desk chatting with Hannah Abbot, fiancée of Neville Longbottom and head of the department.
“So, what can I do for you Harry?”, the blond asked with a smirk. “Finally gonna tie the knot?”
“As a matter of fact, I am!”, Harry said with a grin.
“Oh, well let me guess. Hermione?” Hannah asked with another one of her blasted smirks.
Harry gave her a cold look, before answering, “No, I’m marrying Ginny Weasley.”
Hannah looked surprised for a moment. “Oh, sorry! I suppose you wanted to register?”
“Yeah”, Harry said. “And I want it done quickly. It’s my day off you know.” Not caring about being a bit rude. She had insulted him anyway.
“Merlin! Alright!”, she said, summoning some forms. “Here fill these and I’ll sign them. Then you’re free to go home to your oh so wonderful fiancé ”
Harry barely refrained from giving this woman a piece of his mind about work ethic before quickly filling the forms and shoving them onto her desk.
Hannah hastily started signing the forms when the shit hit the fan.
“Harry, I’m afraid we have a problem.”
“Well what is it?”, Harry asked impatiently. This girl was getting on his nerves. How Neville could stand her, he didn’t understand.
“It seems you have a soul mate and it’s not Ginny. Meaning by law and magic, it is impossible for you to marry her.”
“WHAT?” he asked before springing up from his chair. “Hannah Abbot this is not a joke! I swear I’m going to report you to the minister!”
“The nerve of this git’, Hannah thought before answering. “I am not joking Potter! Just wait a minute until Croaker gets here. Then we’ll see who’s joking!”
“Fine” Harry said while plonking himself down on his chair. ‘We’ll see what Croaker has to say. The man isn’t the DoM head for nothing’
As if on cue, there was a knock and the door opened revealing Bertie Croaker, a very intelligent man in his mid-fifties, who just so happened to be the head of the Department of Mysteries. “You called Miss Abbot?”
“It’s Hannah please. And yes, we have an issue. ‘Lord’ Potter here came to register his marriage, but it turns out he has a soulmate. He refuses to believe it!”
“Is that so?”, Croaker muttered thoughtfully. “Lord Potter, Miss Abbot if you would follow me please.”
“It’s Harry, sir. Just Harry”
Croaker nodded and motioned for them to follow.
Amidst all the madness, nobody noticed the all too familiar water beetle on Croaker’s shoe, feeling like it had just won the Daily Prophet lottery.
A few minutes later, they were all sat in Croaker’s sealed office. Harry drinking a calming draught to keep his temper in check while Croaker reached for a device which looked surprisingly like one of those devices his uncle Vernon had used to check his blood sugar after which he cleared his throat to gain everyone’s attention.
“Lo-Harry, if I may ask. Who do you intend to marry and why?”
Harry looked rather taken aback at that. This was not at all what he had been expecting. “Well, I’m marrying Ginny Weasley. Why? Because I love her because she’s perfect in every way.”, he answered in a quick tone as if he had been commanded to do so.
Croaker, ever the genius, noticed this and picked up the device before asking, “Harry if you would please press your finger on the metal part here? It will draw a few drops of your blood.”
“And what, pray tell do you need my blood for?”, Harry asked slightly irritated. ‘And here I was thinking Fudge’s government was bad.’
Croaker sighed. This was going to be a long day. “Harry, I must ask you not to overreact.” One hesitant nod from Harry later, he continued “It is my belief that you have been love-potioned. Not just any love potion, a very powerful one. I have studied soul bonds, Harry. My research on them was what got me into the DoM, and I can tell you, a simple love potion is not enough. Just please press your finger here then we can have the issue resolved.”
Harry was hesitant at first, but he wanted to prove these dunderheads wrong, so he stuck his finger on the device, winced slightly as a needle pricked his finger and healed it after pulling back.
Croaker, meanwhile, was staring wide eyed with disbelief at the screen of the small device in his hand, which was displaying “Expand Screen”. So, he did. After the screen had expanded, the same message was still on display. Croaker furrowed his brow and proceeded to expand the screen three more times, before the results started pouring in. To say he was gob smacked would be the understatement of the century. There on the screen were dozens of potions, some of which he hadn’t seen in years. After recovering from the initial shock, he turned to Harry before saying, “Harry, it seems like your body has been subject to years’ worth of potions. Some of which are: an advanced love potion, loyalty potion and lust potion keyed to Ginevra Weasley; a love repulsion potion keyed to Hermione Granger and a loyalty potion keyed to the Weasley family, all with the magical signature of one Molly Weasley.”
Harry was both stunned and offended at the same time. ‘What was she thinking?’ he thought before wondering out loud, “She shouldn’t have bothered really, it’s not like I don’t love her or anything” and muttered something about ‘stupid devices’ and ‘Department of Dunderheads’.
Croaker, having confirmed his suspicions offered harry a vial of clear liquid. “Drink this. It’s a neutralizer potion we developed. It will erase the effects of all the potions you’ve been given over the years including any obliviations you may have received.”
Harry raised his eyebrows in at the potion, before downing the liquid in the vial. Suddenly, his body started convulsing and he began to feel thoughts and emotions he hadn’t felt in years before his body shut down and was placed in a magical coma.
Croaker, having expected this outcome, levitated him onto the sofa before turning to Hannah, who was utterly shocked and confused. “Hannah, if you would, please tell me who Lord Potter’s soulmate is?”
After recovering from the shock, Hannah answered, “It’s Hermione Granger, Sir. They’ve been best friends and attached at the hip since first year! That’s why I asked him if it was her he was marrying. Hell, even an idiot would’ve been able to tell they were perfect for each other! Then in fifth year, Harry started dating Cho Chang, which surprised everyone. I think Snape and Dumbledore won the betting pool cuz everyone else had bet on Harry and Hermione getting together, but when they broke up it was because Harry was defending Hermione for something. Then in sixth year, things got even weirder. All of a sudden, Harry was chasing after Ginny and Hermione was poring over Ron, even when he got together with Lavender Brown. I mean Ron’s a good guy, but I never thought someone like Hermione would like him, considering they used to have huge rows every day and usually the source of lunch entertainment. Harry and Hermione also grew further apart. I dunno, this is weird. But I guess the love potions make sense.”
“Indeed. Although love potions aren’t the only ones at play here. The other potions I got readings about were set to last for years! Well, considering who brewed them, it’s hardly a surprise. They were loyalty potions tied to Albus Dumbledore. A minor love potion keyed to Cho Chang and also a minor revulsion potion set to last a few months tied to Hermione Granger. This time with the magical signature of one Severus Snape. Considering they have been giving him potions which are supposed to last ten years each month, it’s no wonder he’s acting like this.”
Hannah just sat back and sunk low in her armchair. Slowly, it started to dawn on her that the poor kid had been manipulated for nearly all his life. She was horrified and immediately felt sorry for shouting at him earlier. Weakly, she gulped before speaking, “Shou-Should I call Hermione. She works as an apprentice in the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Maybe she was also potioned?”
“Highly likely”, Croaker replied. “Send her a patronus to come to my office immediately.”
Hermione Granger was confused. She had woken up with a slight headache and had started feeling things she hadn’t felt in a long time. She had woken up in bed with Ron Weasley, who she remembered was her boyfriend (How that had happened she didn’t know. Come on! There had to be better men than Ron Weasley of all people.) and had felt slightly disgusted to learn that he was naked and relieved that she wasn’t.
When she had got to work, she had seen her once upon a time best-friend, Harry Potter, walking down the halls like he had just won the lottery. Seeing him had made her happy, which was again something she found unusual. Whenever he and Ginny came over for dinner, she had pretty much ignored him and focused on showing off her cooking skills and (according to Harry) her Aunt Petunia-esque kitchen to Ginevra. The very thought of it would’ve had her eleven-year-old-self screaming in horror.
One hour later, she found herself doing her usual paperwork for her boss, ‘So much for the apprenticeship’ she muttered to herself, when a silver otter came with a message from Hannah Abbot to come to Bertie Croaker’s office. ‘I never realized we had the same patronus. Well you can’t know everything Granger.’ she thought to herself while opening the door and heading towards Croaker’s office.
Meanwhile, back in Croaker’s office, Hannah asked “How are you going to tell her this? She’ll go ballistic!”
“I have my ways.”, came Croaker’s reply before spilling the contents of another vial into a glass. “Pumpkin juice?”, he asked waggling his eyebrows.
Hannah burst into laughter before answering with a smirk, “Very Slytherin Mr. Croaker.”
Croaker grinned. “Well, the sorting hat insisted on Ravenclaw.”
Just then, there was a knock on the door. “Come in.”
The door opened to reveal twenty-three-year-old Hermione Granger looking quite nervous. “You called sir?”
“Yes, Miss Granger, do take a seat. Pumpkin Juice?” Hannah barely suppressed a snigger at that.
Hermione nervously nodded as she sat down and accepted the drink. “What can I do for you sir?”
“Actually, Miss Granger, I called you in here to help you.” Croaker wanting to distract her long enough until she had drunken all the pumpkin juice, kept going. “You see, it is my belief that you have been love-potioned. But to confirm that I’m going to need you to place your finger on this device here. It will draw a bit of your blood.”
Hermione looked pensive for a moment before placing her finger on another one of the miniature devices and proceeded to gulp down the rest of her pumpkin juice. Seconds later, she too started convulsing madly and was moved over to another conjured couch by Croaker.
Hannah and Croaker made small talk till both the others started stirring, still not noticing the same beetle on Croaker’s shoe.
Meanwhile, said beetle was having a field day. She, of course had experience with printing shit on Lord Potter and his so called best-friend-only Hermione Granger. Now she had not shit on Lord Potter, but his soon to be bride Weasley and his other so-called best mate Weasley. Hell, she even had more dirt on Dumbledore and his “boy” Snivellus Snape. ‘The Life and Lies of Albus “too many middle names” Dumbledore: The Second Coming’ was going to be a bestseller’ Rita mused to herself. She had already decided that she was going to speak the editor to print a special edition prophet in the evening for the soul bond story. Yes, Rita Skeeter was going to be rich.
As Harry Potter stirred on his couch, a number of long-lost memories made their way into his mind.
Seven-year-old Harry Potter had just been visited by one of his father’s best friends, a man in his late twenties wearing shabby clothes and scratches on his face called Remus Lupin. He had just been about to take Harry to Gringotts to see his parents’ will, when a tall man wearing very… odd looking clothes and a beard that would rival Gandalf’s, burst through the door. “Remus, old friend! We can’t have you taking Harry, now can we. And just to make sure you won’t do this again. Confundus! Now, Remus, you will forget what happened here today, and you will never try and visit Harry again. Understood?” Remus nodded his head dreamily.” Good now get going.” Turning around to face Harry he said, “Ah Harry, we can’t have you remembering this little incident now, hmm? Yes, it’s all for the greater good. You’ll understand. Obliviate!”
Eleven-year-old Harry Potter was in a girl’s bathroom, standing in front of the troll he had just blasted into smithereens, holding the crying girl whose life he had just saved. Suddenly, the door swung open and in walked the whiskered wanker with the weasel in tow, followed by Professor McGonagall, Snivellus and Quirrell. With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore had put McGonagall and Quirrell to sleep. Pointing his wand at Harry, he said, “Harry m’boy, we can’t have you killing trolls and leaving out Mr. Weasley, now, can we? Don’t worry this is all for the greater good. Obliviate!”
So, and so, the memories continued, up until mid-sixth year. But one particular memory in fourth year made his blood boil.
Fourteen-year-old Harry Potter was in a quandary. He was working up the courage to ask his favorite person on earth to the Yule Ball, his best friend, Hermione Granger. He wanted to ask her, not only because she was the most loyal friend a person could ask for, but he had recently started harboring feelings for his female friend. Once he reached the library, he dashed straight to the desk where Hermione was sitting and tapped her on the shoulder.
She looked up at him questioningly, a bit annoyed that she had been distracted from her book. “Yes Harry?”
“Hermione I…”, he started to ask somewhat sheepishly looking at his shoes.
Hermione’s expression immediately changed to one of concern as she asked, “Harry, what’s wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong Hermione, it’s just, I was hoping…” Harry sighed. “Hermione, do you want to go to the ball with me?”, he asked hopefully.
Time stopped at that instant for one Hemione Jean Granger. “Yes! Harry I would love to go to the ball with you!”, she answered happily.
“Really?”, Harry asked, his expression looking hopeful.
“Really”
Harry’s heart soared above the skies shouting in victory. “Well, then Miss Granger, I believe you were…” Before he could say any more, Albus ‘I wear odd robes’ Dumbledore burst into the scene and put everyone in the library to sleep.
“Ah, Harry m’boy. We can’t have you having a relationship with Miss Granger, now can we. No, I believe Mr. Krum here would like the honor of escorting Miss Granger to the ball, so you will have to make do with someone else. Pity that Miss Weasley already accepted an offer from Mr. Longbottom.” Dumbledore sighed. “Alas, we do not always get what we want. Well never mind m’boy, Obliviate!”
By the end of it Harry was fuming. “Bastard!”, he swore loudly, startling everyone, including Hermione, who was equally fuming. Moments after seeing her, Harry did the unthinkable. He shot out of his chair and knocked Hermione backwards with a bone-crushing hug.
She hugged him back just as fiercely, albeit her surprise. Remembering the date that they had supposedly missed because of Dumbledore and the news of the soul bond, she pulled back a little, not wanting to let go, and asked, “Harry, do you trust me?”
“No one but you Hermione!”
Satisfied with his answer, she leaned in and crashed her lips onto his. Harry was stunned but kissed her back after a moment. No one but the heavily kissing couple missed the golden ball of light that surrounded their bodies, signifying the initiation of the soul bond.
Four minutes later they pulled back, breathing heavily, with silly grins on their faces, looking into each other’s eyes. A cough from an amused Croaker brought them back to reality.
“Well, now that our job here is done, here are your marriage certificates. Two ministry owls dropped them off during your little make out… or should I say make up session here”
Shaking just shook his head. “Croaker, how you became a departmental head is beyond me.”
Croaker feigning hurt replied, “Hey, just because you’re the Head of Department doesn’t mean we have to be boring old toads!”
They all shared a laugh at that, before Croaker started explaining to Harry and Hermione. By the end, they were both very angry and upset at the same time, knowing that their lives could’ve been so much better if it hadn’t been for Dumbledore. After taking some time to calm down, they came to the decision that they would not dwell on the past and move on, but they would press charges for line theft on the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter for Harry, and manipulation assaults on a war hero for Hermione.
Harry then made the decision to leave, claiming it was time to buy his wife a wedding ring, for which he earned a peck on the cheek. They thanked Croaker profusely before Harry apologized to Hannah for his earlier attitude and outburst.
“It’s okay, Harry. You weren’t yourself! Just invite me and Neville to the wedding, well if your having one that is.”
Harry laughed before hugging her. “Oh, we will, tell Neville to start preparing his best man’s speech!”
They shared another laugh at that, before Harry and Hermione apparated to Diagon Alley, where he bought Hermione an engagement ring, gold with emeralds on it, which according to Hermione, matched Harry’s eyes. The newlywed couple spent the rest of their time, randomly shopping in Diagon Alley, when they discovered that they had telepathic abilities from their soul bond and had to have contact with each other for their bond to stabilize. Finally, they decided to head back to Harry’s home for their weekly dinner and confront the Weasleys, although there was no chance in hell they were going to eat any of their cooking again!
Meanwhile at Harry and Ginny’s house, two red heads were fuming after reading Rita “The Bug” Skeeter’s article.
Boy Who Lived becomes Man Who Wed!
by Rita Skeeter
In an interesting turn of events, Lord Harry James Potter, Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter discovered that he was soul bound to his childhood sweetheart, muggleborn war heroine Hermione Granger, now Lady Potter after the activation of their soul bond. They also discovered several acts of betrayal conducted by…
The article went onto explain in detail the events of that morning and accused the Weasleys, Dumbledore and Snape of line theft and abuse to the heir of a major house. Skeeter even went as far as to accuse Dumbledore of intentionally sending Sirius Black to Azkaban, so that he could gain custody of the boy who lived! All in all, it was a very accurate article, a very rare occurrence when it came to Rita Skeeter.
“Potter! He gets every bloody thing he wants! He took my girl! I’m gonna kill him Gin! This can’t go on.”, raged one Ronald Bilius Weasley to his sister.
“Relax dear brother.”, replied said sister with an evil smile on her face. “I made the half-blood write his will yesterday. He left everything he had to me! You can do anything you want.”
Bilius was impressed with his sister. “You take the mudblood, I’ll kill Potter!”, he exclaimed before cackling with evil laughter along with his sister, reminiscent of the late Bellatrix Lestrange.
It was to this sight that the Lord and his new lady arrived entered the kitchen. As soon as the evil siblings saw the couple, they bound them together in heavy chains with an “Incarcerous Metallicus” and kicking them onto the kitchen floor without giving them as much as a chance to react.
“Crucio!”
A beam of red light exited both of the Weasleys’ wands before the couple started writhing to the pain of a thousand nails demolishing their nerves cell by cell.
“Why are you doing this Ron?” Harry asked, starting to foam at the mouth. “I thought you were my friend!”
Ginny laughed evilly while Ron replied, “Your friend Potter? I’m not your friend. Dumbledore paid me to spy on you since first year, from your account too! Your whole life was planned out Potter! Don’t you see? The troll, the stone, the basilisk, Lupin’s transformation that night, the Goblet of Fire, your bitch of a godfather’s death, sixth year, the hunt, Lupin and Tonks’ deaths! Yeah, we planned them. The hunt was especially hard to pull off. You see I had some fun with your mudblood bitch here, against her will of course every bloody time you had to burst into the tent! Good thing Dumbledore developed that new memory changing spell before he died. I was never your friend Potter, now that you’ve decided to bequeath everything you have to us, we’ve decided to kill you! Let’s see who gets the fame and money now!”
Both Harry and Hermione were visibly crying now. Both of them grieving for the planned murders of Sirius, Remus, Tonks and so many others and all the years of abuse they had suffered at the hands of Dumbledore and the Weasleys.
Finally, they stopped the torture curse before Ron kicked Harry in the shins and Ginny spat at Hermione’s feet.
“It’s time to end this Potter!”, spat Ginny. “Thanks for the money! Do it Ron.”
Harry knew his end had come. ‘I’m Sorry Hermione. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it up to you. I love you!’ he thought to his wife through their soul bond. All the times they spent together flashed before his eyes. An eleven year old Hermione entering his compartment on his first ever train ride to Hogwarts, Hermione giving him his first ever hug right before facing off with Lord Voldemort, a twelve year old Hermione hugging him in Diagon Alley before their second year, telling stories of his adventures to a petrified Hermione in the hospital wing after sneaking out past curfew, a totally cured Hermione hugging him in the Great Hall after being given the mandrake draught, Hermione helping him rescue Sirius by breaking the laws of time, Hermione helping him prepare for Triwizard tournament and comforting him after Cedric’s death, Hermione helping him run the DA under Umbridge’s nose and helping him keep sane after Sirius’ death, the list went on and on. By the end, emerald eyes were full of tears of regret.
As Ron raised his wand, his last thoughts were of Hermione. His wife, his best and most loyal friend, the one person who had stuck by him through thick and thin, her untamable hair, her beautiful chocolate-brown eyes, the feel of her lips on his-
He saw Ron’s mouth move, and a flash of green light, and everything was gone.