Chapter Text
Harry stood in the clearing, facing his prophesied end. As Voldemort raised his wand, Harry stared into his eyes and wished to anyone who was listening.
He wished for the new generation of magical children to grow up safer than he did, never again used as puppets in wars. He wished for the world to rebuild after the battle, trusting that his friends would permanently end the fight after his death. Most importantly, he wished to see Sirius and Remus again. He would welcome the chance to truly know his parents, but he longed more for the two people who were the closest things to dads that he ever had. He only hoped that Remus would forgive him for leaving little Teddy so soon after both Remus and Tonks had died.
Before the cease-fire, he had felt his godfather oath activate. He had seen infant Teddy’s parents side-by-side on the floor of the Great Hall, only two of the dozens of fallen. That had solidified his decision to make this final sacrifice. If it made Voldemort mortal and gave Teddy a chance to grow up in a world without oppressive dark forces, he would do anything. He would not allow these latest in a long line of dead friends to have died in vain.
Harry saw a flash of green light rushing towards him, and then there was… not darkness? And also not an afterlife full of smiling (or potentially furious in Remus’ case) relatives? In fact, he didn’t really notice any differences from a second ago. Harry might not be the smartest wizard to ever wave a wand, but he was pretty sure of three things. One: No one knew how he had survived the Killing Curse as an infant, which meant that it was likely a fluke. Two: Life-saving flukes did not tend to happen twice to the same person, so it was likely he was dead. Three: Dead people usually fell to the ground in the living world, so he likely was in the afterlife, more specifically hell, and was going to be forced to watch Voldemort’s life (and hopefully soon death and afterlife) for the rest of his afterlife. Harry wasn’t sure what exactly he had done to deserve this especially evil version of eternal damnation, but at least the sacrifice had presumably worked.
“Wowww, that’s a surprisingly sedate and accepting mindset for a newly severed,” a voice drawled from behind Harry’s head. Harry spun around, fumbling in his pocket for the wand he hadn’t drawn in his last moments. Surprisingly, it was there, even though he was dead and therefore should not be able to touch physical objects. He found a chest clothed in black directly in front of his eyes.
As he lifted his chin, he came face to face with a surprisingly androgynous face surrounded by a halo of darkness. Harry wanted to determine the stranger’s gender simply because that would clarify the pronoun situation. He would hate to offend who may very well be his personal demon, or something like that. However, before he could pick out even one slightly gender-specific feature, he became distracted by the unique eyes looking at him with something surprisingly close to mirth. What should have been the whites of their eyes were pure black, and their irises were gold and seemed to shift as if made of molten metal rather than the simply pedestrian single hue of humans. Harry found himself unable to speak. Luckily, Golden-Death-Demon (working name, give him a break, he just died) decided to fill the silence.
“I can see the thoughts filling your mind. This is my base form, and I am by design separate from something as mortal as a gender binary, but I can change form as you desire, so if you prefer me to pick one, you may command it.”
“N-n-no,” Harry stuttered out as he found his voice. “If this is your natural form, I see no reason to change it. But… who are you, exactly?” His mind was racing. The use of the term ‘mortal’ implied this stranger was immortal, but how? They couldn’t be a vampire, because it was daylight. Other magical beings could have incredibly long lives, but true immortality wasn’t very common.
“That is a good question, young severed. I am Lord Death, but you may call me Death.”
Harry’s brain stopped running through different magical beings as he stared at Golden-Death-Demon, renamed Death (which was even less creative than the one Harry-who-had-just-died had come up with, but who was he to judge?).
“Ok. I’m talking with death personified. That’s fine. Totally fine. Okay. Lord Death, I would assume I am dead, but you have used the term ‘severed’ for me twice now, so is that something different than dead?”
“Just Death, young severed. And yes, severed is distinctly different from dead. Death occurs when the soul is severed from the body and either moves on to the afterlife, or forms into a ghost. However, there is a time between the severing and the soul’s decision to move on or remain as a ghost. This time is normally very brief. There would be no time for this conversation. But you, young severed, are special for two reasons. First, you spent all but the first year of your life with part of another’s soul attached to yours. You never had a chance to live a life purely your own, and your soul is displeased by this. This would not be enough to keep you here on its own. This is where the second reason becomes relevant. You collected all three of my Hallows before your severing. You, young severed, are my Master. Your soul’s displeasure and your authority over me as my Master allow you a third choice.”
Death’s words ran through Harry’s head over and over. Unhappy soul, Hallows, Master of Death, unhappy soul, Hallows, Master of Death, unhappy soul, Hallows, Master of… “Wait. What is my third option? Can I bring someone back to life? I pick Remus John Lupin, father of Teddy Lupin. Sorry, Edward Remus Lupin-Tonks. If I am dead, Teddy has no one to look after him. He needs his father.”
“Stop, stop, young Master. Resurrection of others is not your third choice.”
Harry’s heart sank. Teddy would be all alone.
“You do have a very good point about young Teddy, however. You swore an oath to care for him should his parents be unable to. I may need to amend my plans slightly, since you have displayed a willingness to honor this oath even to your own detriment. Slightly temperamental things, magical oaths.”
“Please, don’t hurt Teddy. Just tell me what this third option is.”
“Very well, Master. I can send your soul back in time, giving you a chance to live a different life. This time, you would have more information and could stop certain events from happening or change things entirely. However, this would completely erase everything that happened after the point to which I send you. That includes the birth of your godson. Typically magical oaths are nullified at death, but you held onto your duty. Sending you back would harm your godson by wiping him from existence, breaking your oath in the process. Therefore, to keep him safe and by extension you alive, I must send him back with you if you choose this option.”
“How far back would you send me? I would say I want to save my mom and dad, but I doubt I could change enough as a one-year-old to save them anyway. And I couldn’t take care of an infant if I was a toddler myself.”
“Very good points, young Master. I would send you back to a time right before you displayed some accidental magic. Sending your soul back will force your soul to recombine with Tom Riddle’s. Your soul will be very upset and try to lash out. If you are already working up to a magical outburst for a specific purpose, the soul’s lashing out will be given direction, diminishing its destructive power and redirecting the remaining power to something that would help you. I am not sure which incident would work best for this scenario, however.”
Harry stood and pondered this information. He needed to be old enough to take care of an infant. He hadn’t really done accidental magic after he started Hogwarts, so the oldest he could be was ten. At ten, he knew how to cook, clean, garden, and sew. It couldn’t be that hard to learn how to make a baby’s bottle or change a dirty diaper. Honestly, he could learn all those things at a younger age too, but he had a specific magical outburst in mind. He couldn’t very well bring a baby into Petunia’s house, especially one whose hair and eyes were likely to change color on a whim. They would need to move to a safe place. Sirius was still in Azkaban, and all the other Blacks except Narcissa were either dead, disowned, or also imprisoned. Narcissa had Malfoy Manor, so she wasn’t likely to need Grimmauld Place. Harry remembered that Sirius had made him his heir by the time he died. Considering he was a fugitive until that point and couldn’t very well sign paperwork, he had to have made that decision before his stint in Azkaban. Between Harry being Heir Black and Teddy having Black blood (albeit disowned) through Tonks, the house and Kreacher should accept him.
“Death, when I was ten, I was running from my cousin and accidentally Apparated from the ground to the roof of my school. I was trying to get to safety. With the extra boost from my soul’s outburst, do you think that would get me enough power to Apparate all the way to 12 Grimmauld Place? Or at least to London, if I can’t get inside the house? As Heir Black, charged with taking care of a child with Black blood, that house should qualify as relatively safe. Also, Remus will still be alive. I could contact him. Even if I don’t tell him that Teddy is his, he would probably help take care of him.”
Harry swallowed hard as Death stared at him consideringly. He hoped he hadn’t just made a fool out of himself in front of an immortal being in charge of his and his godson’s fate.
Death nodded and spoke. “Very well-thought-out, young Master. Your soul will be placed back in your ten-year-old body, so no issues there. However, since young Teddy’s body doesn’t exist in the time you are going to, I am not sure exactly where he will end up at first. Apparating to London for safety will bring him to you, but before that, he could be anywhere. It will be what it will be, I suppose. At least it will be a short period of time before the magical outburst.”
Harry very much did not think that was an appropriately concerned state of mind, but he figured he was already pushing his luck taking a whole second soul and a body with him for what he assumed was meant to be a one-soul situation. His thoughts were interrupted as Death spoke again.
“There is also the question of how to handle your memories. Your soul wants a chance to live unimpeded by a shard of another. That would suggest that you shouldn’t have any memories of this future that will be lost to you. However, you need to have some knowledge so that you can remove the Horcrux from your soul earlier and without dying and make changes that will make a happier new future. Let’s see, let’s see,” Death hesitated for a moment. Then their eyes brightened, and they nodded and continued. “Any memories that are relevant to defeating Voldemort or preventing the alarmingly regular crises at Hogwarts or in your personal life will be written down and added to a book. Once you need the information, it will become legible to you. This way, you hopefully won’t be overwhelmed with all of what amounts to war strategy at once. However, your knowledge of everyday happenings and everything else you learn during your coursework will be removed from you entirely. Retaking first year with the knowledge of a sixth year would be quite boring, I presume. This will fulfill your soul’s wish for a semi-normal life. You will be a very normal ten-year-old wizard boy excited for Hogwarts, who occasionally spends his holidays and weekends clearing the names of those falsely accused, destroying Horcruxes, and keeping Hogwarts safe for its students and staff. Because apparently that is a child’s job,” Death finished with a huff.
“Okay,” Harry agreed. He ran through the plan in his head. Get sent to his body being chased by Dudley and his gang. Teddy would be somewhere random. He’d Apparate to Grimmauld, and Teddy would join him there. He’d try to convince Kreacher not to kill him. Then he’d probably go to Diagon Alley so that he could visit Gringotts and buy some books, an owl for mail, and baby supplies. He’d figure out the rest from there. Remus and Tonks would both be alive, and so would Tonks’ parents, Andromeda and Ted. Tonks would be in school, but Remus was old enough to help. Sirius was also alive, and if Harry could manage to nab Scabbers from Ron during first year, Sirius could get free almost two years sooner. With Remus’ help, he could get the Gaunt ring horcrux before the Hogwarts year started. The Slytherin locket was in Grimmauld. He could get Ravenclaw diadem from Hogwarts during his first year. The diary was the most difficult, since it was in Malfoy Manor. He couldn’t rely on Lucius Malfoy making the same choices as he had before. Maybe Harry could temporarily sacrifice his sanity and become friends with Draco to secure an invite to the Manor.
Harry was ripped from his planning as Death cleared their throat. “I will try to visit you when I can, young Master. I wish you well.”
They waved their hand, and Harry’s surroundings began to spin.
The spinning began to slow and Harry could hear his heart beating fast, could see Dudley chasing behind him, and could feel the fumbling steps as he ran. Just as the spinning stopped and Dudley caught up to him, Harry felt a massive surge of anger and fear and disappointment and desperation, and he found himself spinning again, this time struggling to breathe as he felt a squeezing sensation.