Hi, new story that just popped into my head. I hope that it won't interfere with my first story... I will look forwards to hearing your opinions.

THE END OR IS IT THE BEGINNING?

Harry opened his eyes and blinked slowly.
Was this death then? The killing curse had just left Voldemort's wand and now here he was, in this empty hall all alone.
Harry sat up and looked around more carefully and realised with a start that he was at Kings Cross Station. A very tidy and clean King's Cross station.
Surely the afterlife wasn't at the train station, perhaps he was to wait for a train, he thought.

He stood up and blushed when he noticed that he was naked, he yearned for clothes desperately, even though he was alone. No sooner had the thought appeared before he was clothed in a robe.
A small sound made Harry turn expectantly and he spotted a baby, lying a small distance from him. Making a motion to move closer to the baby he felt strangely creeped out by the baby's appearance and backed away feeling both relieved and ashamed of himself.
He wondered if the others would be able to rid the world of Voldemort now that the Harry-Horcrux was gone. Hermione and Ron knew what to do and he'd sent Neville on the path as well, he was sure that they would win.

Sitting down on one of the benches he let out a sigh, not sure if he was happy that his part was over or sad that it had ended as it had.
He wished that he had been able to start the journey to end Lord Voldemort sooner, rather than this late in his life. It was one of his biggest regrets, he decided as he sat there in silence, half listening to the sounds made by the baby.

All of a sudden the baby gave out a piercing screech, inhuman and shrill.
Harry turned and watched, as what looked to be a web of black ink spread out on the baby's skin, before its body disintegrated and disappeared altogether. The station which had been serene and peaceful before, even with the whimpering's of the baby, suddenly felt brighter.
Harry eyed the spot where the baby had laid and just knew, that Voldemort was gone. They had succeeded.

The Dark Lord was gone.

Harry let out a sigh of relief, he was ready for the next stop in the journey now that he knew that his friends would be safe from Riddle.
He only wished that he'd been able to end it sooner, he thought again closing his eyes.
Perhaps things would have worked out better if he'd had more time.

Harry opened his eyes a moment later and froze.
Where on earth was he now, he wondered, he hadn't even noticed himself moving.

"Get up!" A shrill voice called and Harry grimaced.
"I said, get up!" The voice called again before banging on his door a couple of times for good measure.
Harry slowly reached out a hand and carefully pushed the door to his cupboard open.
Giving his small hand a pensive look as he got out, he failed to notice his cousin's pudgy form quietly sneaking up on him.

A hard push later and Harry found himself on his back, on the thin mattress that lay on the floor inside the cupboard.
"Too slow you freak, I got you!" Dudley called with a smirk, banging the door hard on Harry's legs which stuck out into the hall.
Harry stared in stunned fascination, at the mini Dudley, as the boy stood laughing at him with malice on his face.
"What are you staring at you freak?" Dudley asked after a moment, finally noticing that Harry neither reacted to having been pushed or getting his legs bruised by the door.
"Mum, the freak is staring at me!" Dudley called before slamming the door on Harry's legs a last time, just because, before moved towards the kitchen. Harry finally sat up again, blinking in surprise and slowly rubbed his leg which was hurting.

What in Merlin's name was going on, had he ended up in hell, Harry wondered.
Perhaps he'd been wrong in thinking that he'd finally get to be with his parents.

"Boy, get yourself in here at once! I won't stand for your laziness." Aunt Petunia called from the kitchen. Harry snorted at her words and rolled his eyes, as if anyone else here ever did anything other than laze about.
Standing up with a deep sigh, he moved towards the kitchen and prepared himself for whatever punishment hell had in store for him.
Was it to be an eternity of scrubbing dishes, frying bacon or pruning the garden he wondered, as he shuffled into the kitchen.
His aunt stood with her hands on her hips and gave him an icy stare.
"Well? Get to it, I won't have Dudley late for school because of your laziness." She hissed, motioning for the frying pan and bacon.

After having made breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen, Harry found himself pulling a few weeds out of the Dursley's front garden before it was time for school.
What kind of crazy afterlife was this, he wondered.
He'd been made into a little boy and his aunt and cousin were treating him as they always had. Sure it was bad but not nearly as bad as hell could be.
Where were the fire and brimstone, Voldemort cackling on a high throne and Umbridge issuing detentions? That was in Harry's mind, the perfect hell.

Harry went to bed that evening feeling rather confused.

After being dropped off at his muggle school, he'd suffering a whole day of being around, twenty-something, ten year olds. Then he'd been given food at dinner, a small portion of course.
His uncle had come home from work and barked at him to get his hair in order and his aunt had smacked him on the back of the head for moving too slowly.
Dudley had tried his best to insult Harry by calling him a freak, taunting him about not having any friends to play with and mentioning his upcoming birthday which Harry was uninvited to.
"We're going to the zoo and you're not coming!" Dudley had taunted, looking happy at the small frown that had appeared on Harry's face, before he'd moved on to demand an ice-cream from his mother. Uncle Vernon had of course driven to the shop and bought Dudley the biggest cone he could find, without even giving Harry a glance as usual.

The Dursley's were all acting as normal, so the thought of this being hell didn't make any sense. The only thing that would make sense, was if he'd been sent back in time rather than thrown down into hell.
Sitting up he looked around his tiny room with a frown. How could he find out which it was?
He spied one of his old little broken toys, a little tin soldier from Dudley's collection that had lost its leg due to a temper tantrum.
Harry placed it at the end of his feet and held his hand out. Knowing that he had summoned his wand on more than one occasion before, it should work on the little toy too he hoped.
The soldier haltingly inched closer to his hand before finally lifting into the air with a small jolt and landed in his outstretched hand.
Harry blinked.
"No…it can't be true." He muttered under his breath, staring at the toy. He couldn't have ended up in the past, that was just…crazy.
His heart started beating at an increased rate and he slumped onto his back and grumbled as his head hit the wall.
What to do, he wondered.
If he had indeed travelled back in time, which he wasn't entirely sure about, it meant that he could change things.
He could leave now and get the Horcruxes, Voldemort would be dead and gone before he even got to Hogwarts. Harry could grab Pettigrew and Sirius would be set free and they could live together forever.
Everything would be perfect, he thought, rubbing his head absentmindedly.

"Boy!" Harry woke with a start the next morning and scratched his head.
"Boy! Don't make me get down there, start the coffee!" Uncle Vernon called from upstairs again, pulling Harry from his thoughts.
Today was a Saturday then, Uncle Vernon didn't eat breakfast with them on weekdays.
"Boy, you had better be in the kitchen or else!" His uncle called again and Harry reluctantly got up from his hard bed.

His aunt entered the kitchen just as the coffee machine started spluttering, signalling that the coffee was ready.
She sent him a glare and pulled out some bread from the breadbox, handing him two slices.
"Marge has cancelled her visit as one of her dogs has taken ill, you'll undo the bed in the guest room and then spend the day outside. I won't have you lazing about in the house, god knows what trouble you'll get yourself into." She snapped, narrowing her eyes at him.
Harry felt his mouth drop at the mention of Marge and thanked Merlin for missing out on that woman visiting them.
"Well get going!" Aunt Petunia ordered, pushing him out of the kitchen as his uncle entered.

"Do something about that hair!" Uncle Vernon barked as Harry made it up the stairs. Dudley pushed him into the wall as they passed and Harry grunted as his arm throbbed rather painfully. Dudley chuckled at the sign of weakness and lumbered on downstairs for breakfast, humming the theme from one of his cartoons.

Harry was in the park, after having sorted out Dudley's second bedroom, and eyed the other children as they ran about playing innocently.
"What am I doing here?" Harry muttered, standing up.
He was going to go to London today he decided, he needed money and his wand if he was to collect the Horcruxes, staying here wasn't going to solve anything.
Making it to the other side of the park before realising that he needed muggle money if he was to make it to London, he stopped in the middle of the path frowning for a moment.
He decided to raid either his aunts or uncle's wallet, it wasn't as if he was stealing really, he was just going to collect on years of missed out ice-cream money.

Getting the money proved to be easy, Uncle Vernon always kept some bills in his work trousers which conveniently were left hanging on the banister for aunt Petunia to iron and Harry found the money he needed. Grinning at the sudden windfall he snuck out of Privet Drive in a good mood and headed for London.

A couple of hours later he sat fuming inside his locked cupboard, rubbing his shoulder.
He'd been approached by a policeman at the train station, who'd wondered where his parents were. Apparently a ten year old was too young to travel on his own the man had decided, ignoring Harry's words to the opposite.
When he'd found out that Harry was carrying over seventy pounds in his pocket, he'd just shaken his head and eyed Harry disappointedly. Running away from home wasn't going to solve anything, Harry had been told.
He had been driven back to the Dursley's in the police car and was now serving a lifetime sentence, for having brought said car to the Dursley's doorstep and for his theft. Uncle Vernon had all but imploded as the policeman handed him his money back.
Harry was furious at the way he'd been treated by the policeman, as if he was a small child to boss around. Honestly, he would have been just fine.

He wasn't let out of his cupboard, other than for school, until long after Dudley's birthday. Aunt Petunia had stayed at home with him as uncle Vernon had refused to take him to the zoo. Mrs Figg had been booked to babysit but just as last time she'd broken her leg, tripping over one of her kneazles.
Harry had wondered at the change and questioned if he shouldn't be more careful of what he was doing and how, who knew what could go wrong if he messed up after all.

School had finally finished, thank Merlin, and Harry was counting down the days until his Hogwarts letter would arrive.
Time moved ever so slowly, especially now that Harry wasn't being chased around by Dudley and his gang. He had discovered that if he went to the library as soon as it opened and stayed as long as he could, he didn't have to worry about big D and his gang.
Harry unfortunately didn't have a library card, which meant he had to stay in the building and read. He would need his guardian to sign the card application form if he wanted one, according to the friendly librarian. He didn't think either of the Dursley's would let him get one though.

Harry was bored, it wasn't easy being ten again, and he had taken to reading books just to get away from the mindless chattering of his peers in school. His teacher had eyed him surprised when he pulled out The Fellowship of the Ring during silent reading in class, but he needed a challenge or he'd go mad.
He'd started studying French on his own in the library much to his French teachers delight, they had cassettes which you listened to, and it gave him a bit of an extra challenge in addition to reading everything he could get his hands on. Harry figured the French would come in handy in his fourth year, in case the tri-wizard tournament happened again.
He really hoped that it wouldn't but knowing his luck, he wouldn't be surprised if it did.

Finally the morning he'd been waiting for arrived, uncle Vernon ordered him to collect the mail and Harry, after avoiding Dudley's smelting stick, went to get the mail. He spotted his letter at once and snuck it in under his jumper and delivered the other letters into his uncles waiting hands, without anyone being the wiser.
Soon he was sent out to fend for himself as usual and Harry hurried outside, least he be caught by Dudley and his gang and made his way to the library.

He got seated at his usual table and carefully slid the envelope open. The feel of the parchment under his fingers made his stomach clench, it was true after all.
Quickly scanning the letter, to make sure it was legit, he pulled out the pen and paper which he'd asked for from the kind librarian and started writing.

Harry had already written the letter of acceptance, several times in his head so he had an idea of what he was going to write. He was a little worried about how to make it sound like something from a soon to be eleven year old, rather than an of age wizard but figured that whatever he wrote would have to do in the end.

Dear Professor McGonagall
Thank you for the invitation to attend Hogwarts, I am definitely accepting.
My aunt told me a little about magic and says that she'll take me to Diagon Alley where my mum bought her wizard things.
She wonders if I have an account at the wizard bank as my mum did, if so, do you know what I need to bring in order to make a deposit or withdrawal?
I don't have a passport so I don't know what I can bring as proof that I am, who I am.
Harry Potter

Harry read the letter several times and wondered if it would do, It wasn't overly childish or grownup. With any luck he'd get his key sent in a letter or be able to pick it up at the bank. Hopefully he wouldn't set off any of her alarm bells and be able to go shopping on his own.
He would keep a good lookout for the muggle policemen this time as he wasn't going to be caught again, even if he had to walk to London.
As soon as he left the library for the day, a small owl swooped down from a tree and let him tie the letter to it and Harry watched it until it disappeared from sight with a slightly wistful feeling.
A couple of days later he was sent a reply from his old head of house with instructions for how to access his account and his plans could finally be put in action.

What do you think? Elerosse