Ye Old Disclaimer:Harry Potter and associated milieu, characters, and situations are owned by J.K. Rowling and her licensees. This is a work of fan fiction, produced solely for enjoyment. No infringement of rights is intended. J.K. Rowling owns it all; I am just playing with the Story. No money is being made by me in any way shape or form.

Betas:

KennethRose, Jacobite, Me, myself, and I. Pretty sure we still managed to get it wrong…

Notice: Normally I would wait till the note at the bottom but this story is a special case. Just Harry is the last and final installment of the series I started called 'The Eight Shades'. As such, at the time of this posting The Fallen General is in Rewrite and the Marauders Vanguard is incomplete as well waiting for the last few chapters to be completed. The only story that is listed in its entirety is Master of Assassins. This does not mean these stories are not finished; they are just in rewrite as I fix plot holes, and other things. So, this story has mad spoilers, especially for any readers of the Marauders Vanguard. I have many chapters done, and will post them based on Reviews. The more reviews, the fast I will post. Thank you.

Prologue

"I always hear, 'Going back in time to your old self would be brilliant, think of all the things you can redo and make better!' What a load of shite. Yeah, you get to change things, but what people don't realize is the first thing to change, is you. After that happens, everything goes straight down the loo."

Excerpt from the Book of Pestilence, Tale of an Ill Touched Man

The Marauders Vanguard, The Seventh Shade

Thanks to Dobby and Winky the full Marauders Vanguard, sans Harry Potter, was able to meet within the confines of Chamber of Secrets, their unofficial headquarters. A place where in the few times they all gathered was the only place Harry trusted for meetings to take place. Harry had keyed them to the wards he laid down on top of the original set that were created by Salazar Slytherin himself. Ordinarily they would not have done such a thing without his approval or orders, but they also took direction from Neville and Hermione who was the one to call them together, and as they all knew it was the only place they could talk freely about anything they wished without risk of being eavesdropped on.

Harry's place was empty within the circle of settees, chesterfields, and armchairs occupied by the Vanguard; notably empty in fact, and everyone was sending sad looks at it occasionally. The rest of the members sat in their usual places with long faces, dark bags under their eyes from lack of sleep, and shoulders slumped as if from defeat - despite the victory that they had achieved not long ago.

Neville Longbottom, Harry's left hand, sat leaning forward on the chesterfield with Susan Bones and Ginny Weasley beside him; his fingers steeped and his unshaven chin resting on them. Across from him sat Luna Lovegood and Hermione Granger. Luna appeared focused, which was odd in itself and everyone around had taken particular note of this fact, whereas Hermione seemed very distracted by something. None of them needed to guess why that was; Harry hadn't yet awoken from the coma caused by his failed suicide attempt.

"Okay Hermione, we're here, what's going on?" Neville asked.

Luna looked about at everyone before she spoke. Her tone, normally hazy as if touched by daydreams only she could imagine was one of command, a voice that demanded you listen, and everyone did.

"Harry is not improving. Madam Pomfrey is planning to have him committed to the long-term spell damage ward at St. Mungo's later this week. No one has been able to figure out what is wrong with him. He will likely never wake again."

Fred and George Weasley bowed their heads at the news. They had harbored hope that Harry, who had done all manner of impossible things already, would somehow beat whatever was ailing him. They hoped that when he woke they could help him through what ever had driven him to leap from the astronomy tower to his death. The news he was not going to recover was very difficult for them. They thought of Harry not just as their leader, but also as a brother in all but blood.

Susan sniffed. She had been in an almost complete state of tears since the battle where her Aunt had died. Ginny laid her head on Neville's shoulder silently shaking; she too had thought of Harry as a brother, once she had gotten over her crush on him. The four Slytherins were stoic at the news. Even amongst friends they refused to show emotion. Everyone knew them well enough however, to know that they felt his loss as much as the rest did.

Luna tucked a strand of loose blond hair behind her ear as she resumed speaking. In harsh contrast to the calm tone to her voice, her expression and face were filled with anguish and misery. Swollen red eyes and a slight shake to her hand were the only giveaways to her own pain at Harry's condition. "The problem is that Harry is disconnected within himself. His body, though repaired, is constantly fighting the taint of the Lycanthrope infection, his mind is broken and his soul is burdened. He is without harmony, and without it his magic has become unstable. It is also possible Harry himself does not wish to be healed - hence the imbalance. There is no real treatment for this condition as it has never existed before." She tilted her head slightly, "That, and his healers will not listen to me when I try to explain what I see in his aura."

Neville nodded his head. This was Luna's way sometimes. They all had just excepted that Luna just knew things and not to question it much when she was serious, but when she was explaining things like this it meant she needed people to understand why she was about to say something insane. "We follow you. What don't we know?"

"We can save Harry. But it's complicated." Hermione sniffed. Neville waved his hand for her to continue. At this moment she had everyone's attention. "Hermione has an idea. However, it involves an illegal, untested Ritual and breaking Ministry and Natural Laws."

Susan looked at Luna a bit funny before turning to Hermione. "What's your idea Hermione?"

Hermione looked up for the first time and Neville almost flinched. Her eyes were swollen from crying and she looked dreadful, as if she had not slept in weeks. Considering how long Harry had been in a coma, it's was possible she hadn't. "My idea was to send Harry back." Her voice was broken from disuse and she had to clear her throat a few times.

"Wait, you mean back in time? Are you serious Hermione?" Susan looked at the sniffling brunette with wide, shocked eyes, and the others listened, intrigued at the possibility; Hermione rarely came up with ideas that did not result in what she wanted, were not ridiculously researched, or well thought out. If nothing else this was the first time she had spoken to anybody since she read his final letter.

Hermione smiled just a tiny bit at Susan's words but nodded. "I have actually been working on this Ritual since third year when McGonagall gave me the Time Tuner to attend all my classes. My idea was that if Harry ever got in a bad way I could use the spell to change things up or do like we did with Sirius; things unfolded the same way, but not the same. However, I couldn't find a way to make the spell do what I wanted. I had more success once I reformatted the base idea into a Ritual."

Hermione took a moment to straighten out her legs a bit. "I managed a working model by mid-5th year but it did not work right. It was not until I joined the Vanguard and Harry had me doing all that research with Luna that things started coming together.

"Largely thanks to the Book of the Martyr and Luna's knowledge of Runes we are pretty sure we can send Harry back to the beginning of Sixth year. We could save everyone who fell in the battle, end the war earlier and save Harry all at one go."

Still with her head on Neville's shoulder Ginny asked the question on everybody's minds, "How?"

"If it works Harry will have all of his memories when he goes back. With the Horcruxes we spent most of this year trying to figure out what they were and where they were hidden, not to mention how to destroy them. He could gather them all up, destroy them, and then simply wait in ambush at the first location Voldemort shows himself and… well, assassinate him."

Fred looked around and asked the question that was bothering all of them. "What about us? Harry does that and none of us will be friends anymore. He won't form the Vanguard."

Luna had a sad smile on her face but nodded. "Yes. Nothing in the last year will ever have happened for any of us. None of us will have become friends. Our loved ones will not have died. At least those that have died in the last year." Luna dropped her eyes down whispering just loud enough for them all to hear. "Never loved…"

Neville looked at the fragile Ravenclaw sympathetically. Of those here he was the only one who knew of her secret relationship with Harry, or rather the secret of just how far and deep it had gone for Luna. He didn't know why they broke up, just that one day Luna told him they were no longer seeing each other. He had a feeling it had something to do with his fellow Gryiffindor sitting next to her but whatever the answer, it was only known to the three of them. At his side Susan spoke into the sudden silence following Luna's statement.

"I should mention that if this conversation is ever discovered all of us will be spending at the least a dozen years in Azkaban. The penalty for what you are talking about doing is life in prison. If caught, we're all looking at being thrown through the Veil of Death, especially as this would be taken as an effort to resurrect Voldemort in a roundabout way. Not to mention even the Unspeakables are banned from practicing time magic because of the theory that it could unbalance the very fabric of our world and lay it to ruin."

Everyone had a thoughtful look on their faces as they all fell silent once again. It was Hermione who broke it this time. "He would do it for any of us… he almost killed himself healing me last summer. I... I want to do this. I know it will work."

Daphne Greengrass spoke for the first time. "The question is should we?" At the look everyone gave her she lifted her chin defiantly. "Someone has to say it. If Harry was here and this was about any of us and no one asked that question he would have. Should we throw everything we have right now away for the hope it could be better?"

Neville nodded in agreement. "Daphne is right. We are literally talking about destroying the current timeline if we succeeded or ourselves if it fails." He gave them a moment to digest what he said. "I think we need to do this together or not at all. A vote to decide then."

Neville stood up drawing all eyes to him. "Harry." Hermione and Luna rose silently adding their votes to his. Fred and George quickly rose along with Ginny and Susan but not quite before the Slytherins stood themselves making the vote unanimous amongst the surviving Vanguard. Neville looked around and nodded once more. "Okay then, it's quite clear that we're going to do this then – consequences be damned. What do we need to do Hermione?"

xxxxxx

Through some rather elaborate trickery the entire Vanguard managed to get the Hospital Wing to themselves. Hermione and Luna were just about done feeding Harry the potions he needed for the Ritual when the door burst open and a disheveled Ginny rushed in. She was gasping for breath with her hands on her knees for several moments before she looked up at the two others. "We've been found out. Every Auror who survived the war is here with Kingsley at the head. They told Neville they were here to arrest you and the fight broke out. Neville's got them bottlenecked at the stair way leading up here and the rest of the Vanguard has taken up positions along the corridor."

It was the worst-case scenario they had worried about the most. Hermione turned to Luna when she felt a tap on her shoulder and saw that she had determination burning in her eyes; her jaw set. "Go, I can take care of the runes while you stall for time. I need about fifteen minutes and everything will be ready for you."

"You sure Luna?"

The young blond nodded. "Yes."

Hermione grabbed her wand and with Ginny leading the way she rushed out the doors. She could see several fortified positions along the hallway as they rushed to help Neville at the stairs. Fred, George, Susan, Daphne, Lisa, Tracy, and Sam were all bunkered down; wands and other odds and ends at the ready as they whispered amongst themselves, making plans.

As they were rushing to Neville they noticed him bunkered down behind what looked like a four foot tall steel plate. Spells of all kinds flew up the stairway from their attackers below. They had almost reached the safety of Neville's cover when they heard a shout far too close. An Auror canceled his disillusionment charm and stood between Neville and them with his wand raised.

"Granger's here!" with that he slashed his wand downward and a purple flame spell began to race toward her. For the first time since the Department of Mysteries battle, Hermione froze. It was the same spell that almost killed her before and all she could think about was what it was like the last time it hit. Suddenly Ginny had thrown her to the ground which broke her out of her fear and spurred her to action. Twin voices shouted the same spell and two killing green curses struck the Auror dropping him to the stone floor under his feet.

Hermione only just noticed the spell meant for her had struck Ginny. Hermione was shaking while Neville crawled over to them with a disbelieving look in his eyes while tears fell from them all. The curses and spells from below had stopped the second the attackers heard them use the Unforgiveables.

Ginny looked in pain when they rolled her over but her eyes where clear. "Don't…worry about me. You're going to fix everything…"

Hermione couldn't speak but nodded. She watched as Ginny turned a bit raising up her hand to cup Neville's cheek. "Love…you…" As she said the words her breath become more of a ragged gasp as she fought to draw breath.

Neville leaned down and gently kissed her lips. "Love you tiger…" His words barely heard over Ginny rattled breathing, and last exhale.

Hermione felt her tears falling when she heard McGonagall's voice from below at the bottom of the stairway. "Ms. Granger. Call off this foolishness, please before someone gets hurt! By Circe you're using Unforgivables now!"

Hermione replied from Neville's conjured cover, her rage over Ginny's death clearly heard in her voice. "Ginny's DEAD McGonagall! By the wand of an Auror! You stand there preaching to me over using Unforgivables when an Auror just killed a Sixteen year old Girl?"

A Second voice was heard only seconds after she ended her rant. "Vanguard, we have over fifty Aurors down here, surrender! We are only here to stop Ms. Granger from tampering with Time; there is no reason for anyone else to get hurt! Throw down your Wands!"

Hermione heard the beastly growl from Neville as she watched him pick up the body of the Auror they killed and throw it down the stairway to land in a heap at McGonagall's and the Auror who was talking feet. She watched as Neville uttered one of the darkest curses they had ever researched. The Vanguard did not use such spells; they had researched it to find a way to defend against it because Death Eaters were known for such things.

The corpse of the Auror suddenly flared up and exploded sending both Auror and McGonagall out of sight in a shower of blood, bone shards, and gore. Neville's defiant cry echoing along the stone counterpoint to the explosion below. "COME AND GET THEM!"

Neville knelt down behind the cover with Hermione. "You make this right Hermione. I'll hold them here as long as I can. You make this better. For everyone's sake. Go, we'll buy the time you need."

"Neville…" he just nodded grimly at her. Hermione gave him a quick bone crushing hug before she started rushing back to the Infirmary where Luna and Harry were.

As she was making her way along she heard Neville give a great beastly cry and the last look she gave to her friend before she ran through the doors was of the huge Bear that was his Animagus form, and the screams of pain has he rushed down the steps tearing into the enemy ranks.

Those she past nodded their commitment. They had all seen Ginny fall; the Vanguard now regarded the Aurors as no better than Death Eaters, and that meant the gloves were off.

Hermione for her part rushed back into the hospital wing. Luna was just finishing the last of the section of the ritual circle around Harry's bed. Luna looked over her shoulder at her. "It's ready." Behind her the sounds of battle started to grow closer mingled with explosions and the screams of the dying.

Hermione nodded her head. The rest was purely on her now. Luna rose to her full height before she walked directly in front of Hermione. Outside they could both hear the sounds of the battle getting even closer.

Luna looked directly into Hermione's eyes for a moment before she spoke. "I love him even knowing he couldn't love me the way I wished. I am not sure any of us who loved him could compete with his first true love."

Hermione wrinkled her brow in confusion. Of all the mysterious things Luna has said in the years of their friendship none of them had confused her more than this. "Luna…"

"I will hold them at the door for as long as I can. You will not waste this chance Hermione. Even if the road is darker than you realize or could imagine. Good luck."

Hermione nodded grimly at the quirky blond. "Thank you Luna."

After a quick hug they separated with Luna leaving the room and Hermione setting herself within the Rune Scape. When she began chanting the walls of Hogwarts trembled, were unbeknownst to anyone, the semi sentient castle helped rescue one of her favorite children.

Just Harry, The Eighth Shade

In the perfectly normal country of Great Britain there existed many normal places. One such place was called Surrey, where there was a perfectly normal district known as Little Whinging. Like many similar suburbs this one had many normal homes housing many perfectly normal people. One such home was located on Privet Drive - number Four to be precise. The owners of said home would have been the first to inform any who asked they were perfectly normal people, thank you very much. This however, was not a complete truth. On this particular summer evening 'normal' was not something that could be said about one young man who also lived in Number Four Privet Drive.

Said young man lay in a small camp cot barely long enough for his frame. He was dressed in pants that would have fit three of him if not for the belt wound twice around his waist, his chest bare to the summer night and covered with a light sheen of sweet. Had anyone been watching, the perspiration could easily have been put down to the warmth of the air that stifled the smallest bedroom of the house… at least until the young man's body twitched. A moment later he twitched again. It was peaceful for a few moments until the young man's body stiffened, and then started convulsing violently. For over half an hour the black-haired, fifteen-year-old's body flopped about. Thick foam spilled from his tightly clenched mouth. His limbs flailed about without direction in the small bed, hitting the walls and floor of the room as his head rocked about randomly. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the body stilled. All remained quiet in the house for several minutes until the sound of something breaking in the kitchen shattered the stillness.

Harry Potter opened his eyes at hearing that something. His breathing was rapid from a massive surge of adrenalin that seemed to have replaced his blood. Harry found his head clouded with too many thoughts each screaming for his attention. Battles; loves; hates; sorrows; deaths… Several lifetimes of experiences exploded about in his skull fracturing his mind as if it was a glass plate just run through by a lorry.

The sound of the lock unlatching on the door in the room he was in managed what he himself could not do thus far: focus himself. Harry sat straight up in his bed and watched what appeared to be his old bedroom door swing open revealing the darkened hallway on the other side.

Harry fought for breath but only managed short quick jerks of his lungs. He could feel his heart pound madly in his chest while he tried to focus through the red haze that seemed to cloud his vision. With a shaking hand he reached to his night stand quickly put on his glasses. He barely noted it did nothing to clear up the haze. He vaguely heard voices coming from somewhere outside the door.

Where am I? Harry looked around taking note he appeared to be in his old bedroom at his Aunt and Uncles house. He narrowed his hearing and clearly heard the sound of light footsteps coming up the stairway. The creak of the third step past the first landing, a step both Dudley and himself knew to avoid when they snuck through the house at night. The creak didn't sound so deep for him to think that his uncle made the noise and his Aunt never wandered about at night thanks to the valiums she took each night to sleep. Neither did the voices belong to his 'family'. His flight or fight instincts kicked up a notch. His breathing quicken even more and his eyes darted side to side as he attempted to figure out what was going on. Unknown voices… I'm not supposed to be here… I don't know how I got here… I SHOULDN'T be here… Have to leave… Voices not going to let me... Not in friendly hands… In Dangerous hands… Voices must be enemies… Harry looked up still breathing hard as the soft footsteps sounded just outside the door about to enter the room. Soft footsteps… creeping… someone attempting stealth… Escape… Harry thought. He had to escape.

Cautiously he eased out of the bed as quiet as an owl swooping in for its kill. His bare feet slid across the floorboards beneath him silently. Harry watched as the tip of a wand slowly inched into view. Time seemed to slow. Seconds felt like minutes and the red haze around his vision seemed to deepen narrowing his vision while he silently moved into position. His entire being focused through the visions of battles past as they blew through his mind. Actions, counteractions, how to fight, dodge, incapacitate, and kill. When he saw the arm holding the wand come into view he acted.

Harry reached out to grab the wrist of the arm holding the wand, quickly striking upward with his left hand to shatter the bones in the arm. With a quick tug he jerked the body attached to the arm into the room with him spinning quickly; going back-to-back with whoever his attacker was. Quickly giving a reverse elbow into the soft tissue just below the figure's ribcage dropping the figure from the fight. The strike quickly silenced the screams of pain that erupted just a moment prior. The shattered arm and scream told him the fallen woman was not used to receiving pain nor did she expect any resistance. By the way she fell unconscious after the strike to the body she folded easily which told him she not a veteran or tough fighter.

Harry's assessment barely registered on his conscious mind as he completed his spin and snatched the forgotten wand out the air. He threw a silent banisher into the newest target to present itself a millisecond later. Harry reasoned that they must have been right behind the first one. Whoever it was seemed completely unprepared to get hit by the over-charged spell. The body flew directly into the wall adjacent to the doorway in which Harry stood, tearing through drywall and wood as if it was merely tissue paper. They landed somewhere in what looked like Dudley's bedroom. It didn't move so Harry turned to the next threat. Someone was running up the stairs and he could hear others below. Two down…

"What the bloody Hell…" The masculine voice didn't get further as it rounded the first landing of the stairway. Using a wandless banisher to propel him forward Harry used his body as a battering ram and threw himself into the very tall robed figure, leading with his elbow. Harry took slight note of the air evacuating the man's lungs at the mammoth impact as they both collided with the wall counter pointed by the breaking of wood and drywall. The sounds of several bones breaking and more than a few fracturing were the only signs that this opponent was out of the fight and no longer a concern. Very few beings would be willing to keep fighting after having half their ribs broken. A quick roll on the rebound carried him down the remaining steps; barely missing several flashes of red spellfire that arched over his quickly moving form. He rolled once more on the ground before throwing another wandless banisher to give him greater speed. Uncoiling from the roll Harry jump-tackled the opponent in front of him. The speed and force carried them both into the living room shattering the coffee table. Harry had only a moment to spin the opponent he was holding into the wall to soften the impact he would feel. As the air left his lungs and momentarily stunned him he realized it was not nearly enough. His cushion was considerably more aware of this fact.

Harry shook the cobwebs from his head. Four… He heard people rushing from the kitchen and the hallway into the living room. Somewhere in his roll he lost the wand he took from the witch upstairs. Fuck! How many do I have to kill to get out of here? Harry grabbed two of the table legs from the broken coffee table before picking himself up and rushing toward the hallway to his next opponent.

Faster than his opponent could blink he brought the first leg down onto the hand of the witch before him. Harry ignored the sound of bone breaking while he continued one of the many combinations of Eskrima that flowed through his memories. Before his opponent was able to hit the floor Harry managed five more strikes ending with the last to the back of the head.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the stunner erupt from the wand of an older wizard kneeling next to the one he rode into the living room wall. He bent his knees and back low, bringing him down and allowing the spell to speed over his chest before straightening up. Wandlessly he summoned a second target that appeared before him then banished them into the kneeling figure in the living room. Seeing the front door unguarded he made for it. A thoughtless and wandless summoning charm armed him with the wand of the witch at his feet. As he dashed for the door and his freedom he threw a silent exploding hex behind him. Screams sounded behind him when he burst through the portal and the freedom he hoped it offered. The red haze that surrounded his vision seemed to be slowly overtaking him. He knew instinctively he didn't have very much more time available to him. He was fading fast.

A large figure appeared with a pop before him in the moon light. A fleeting thought of how his Uncle would feel about the damage to the house not to mention the wizard standing in his yard floated through his mind before Harry banished himself sideways. The unsteady figure before him moved strangely but his spells came with lethal accuracy. Here was an opponent who knew what they were doing. Harry kept wandlessly banishing himself in random locations to keep moving. With each burst he gained more speed; carrying him from the side of the house, off a light pole, bouncing off the ground, a tree, or a mail box. He kept moving, leaving scorch marks, ropes, chains, and other incapacitating remnants of his opponent's spellfire in his wake. He finally spotted a hesitation in the wizard's form and took advantage of it because he knew this skill foe would not make a second mistake. He had to capitalize on it now.

Harry banished himself directly into the wizard keeping him from his freedom.

Harry wrapped his legs around the figure lacing one arm around his torso while the other grabbed ahold of its head. The force of his charge picked them both up and spun them toward the street while Harry dug deep with his fingers ripping out his opponent's eye. Once they hit the pavement Harry released the screaming figure kicking out with his bare feet into his back throwing it off him. A hard banisher sent the figure through the living room window of his relative's house. Seeing his freedom close at hand Harry picked himself up and apparated away. His exit created a noise so loud it woke the entire neighborhood and shattered the windows of every adjacent house on the street.

There was only one place he could think of going to that he actually knew how to get to through Apparating and there was no question of safety. Through the jumble of all the multiple lives and experiences ringing in his head there was only one person who was alive through them all that he felt he could trust right now. Harry's arrival in front of the estate was announced in a similar way he exited Private Drive. The shockwave broke across the old manor and only the wards saved the windows from shattering.

Covered in blood, some of it his, shirtless and bare foot Harry staggered drunkenly toward the great double doors. His fatigue started getting to him and he could feel the icy bite of his sweet on his skin and the fire as that same sweet ran into the open wounds over his exposed body. Harry marveled at icy burn he only just allowed himself to feel. He managed to do more harm to himself in his rolls over carpet, pavement, and other such surfaces than his opponents did. His trousers were ripped and threadbare he trailed blood from his bleeding broken feet marking his way forward. By the time he mounted the last step one side opened showing the confused face of someone the same apparent age as himself. It was the first welcome sight since this entire ordeal started.

The last of his strength finally gave way as he approached. His falling body was barely caught by the resident of the manor who instantly recognized him thanks to the lamp light held by the houses fraternal grandmother.

"Harry?"

Listless and more than a bit out of his mind Harry looked up at the young man holding him up. Seeing his confused face but not seeing him either. "Can you hear it Longbottom…" Harry wheezed.

Neville Longbottom looked down at his classmates blood splattered face in complete confusion. "Hear what Harry?"

"The bugles Longbottom… Can you hear them?" Harry felt his eyes roll back in his head and welcomed the blackness that surrounded him.

Authors Note:

Thank you all for reading and Please Review. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.