AN: I'm writing this story for my pleasure alone, so I don't really care if you want to flame me. Whatever,

I borrowed idea's and occasional quotes from a number of Fanfic's I liked, along with quoting a lot from cannon. Just assume I don't own anything, and If and when I can remember what I am quoting I will reference them.

I started writing this a long time ago, So i'll post entire school years at a time, then take time off between years. I'm currently in the third year, So i'm going to post the entire first year after I see what kind of reception this first chapter gets.

Chapter 01

Eleven year old Harry Potter was excited. In days he would be going to a school to learn magic. After so many years of his uncle denying the very existence of anything magical, the idea that he was a wizard amazed him.

Little did he know it was going to be a very, very long time before he started his first year at Hogwarts.

"Boy, get down here!" Came the shout from the ground floor of number four Privet Drive. Figuring that his relatives were home early from Vernon's family work luncheon, Harry quickly leapt out of bed, not wanting to give his uncle a reason to not take him to Kings Cross Station on September first. He hurried down the stairs, but what he found there was not what he was expecting.

"Who... Who are you?" Harry asked the strange man waiting in the sitting room. He was approximately six feet tall, lean with black hair hanging to his collar, and brilliant green eyes. He wore deep red robes, not unlike those Harry had bought weeks before at Diagon Alley, yet of much nicer fabric.

"Sorry about calling you 'boy', Harry. I know how much you hate that. I personally hate sounding like that fat tub of..." The man stopped to calm himself, making Harry grin slightly at the thought of someone insulting his uncle. "As to your question... I'm you, Harry."

After opening his mind to magic, accepting this as fact wasn't a stretch for the child. "Are you from the future?"

"No, I'm sort of from the past… blimey, this is complicated. No wonder I didn't understand me."

Young Harry was quite confused at this point. "If you're me from the past, shouldn't you be younger then me?"

"See what I mean? Complicated." The older man ran his hand through his hair, trying to work out how to explain. He suddenly threw his hands out wildly, trying to will the younger Harry to understand. "Okay I'm you. I'm older. A lot older. Granted I don't look it, but-"

"You look a lot older to me." Interrupted younger Harry, with just a bit of snark.

"Oi!" Older Harry exclaimed. "Fine, is this better?"

His features suddenly blurred and he quickly shrunk, leaving two identical eleven year old Harry Potters facing each other. With a wave of his hand, the older Harry's robes shrank and adjusted to fit.

"How… how did you do that?" younger Harry asked, his voice filled with amazement.

"We are a metamorphmagus… Well, that doesn't quite describe it. More of a shape-shifter."

"Wow." Harry had a huge smile on his face. "So that means I can do that too?"

"You'll need to be trained first. Sadly, not by me, sorry kiddo. It's going to take some time. Come with me." Older Harry led younger into the kitchen, where the dining table had been pushed back, leaving a large open area. On the floor where the table previously sat, was a large circle drawn in what older Harry knew to be fairy blood. The circle was surrounded by long twisting sequences of runes and glyphs in multiple ancient languages.

"What's that for?" Younger asked. "Aunt Petunia won't like this in her kitchen."

"Don't worry," Older replied with a grimace, thinking of all the things he wanted to do to 'Aunt Petunia's kitchen,' not limited to setting it on fire. "I'll clean it up, she'll be none the wiser. As for this, it's a ritual circle. I'm going to use it to send you back in time."

"What!?" Younger Harry exclaimed with an equal amount of fear and excitement. "Why? And how far?"

"Far enough." Older replied cryptically. "Harry, you're going to Hogwarts this year, and they may have told you that the school is the safest place to be, but that's not entirely true. The magical world is a dangerous place, and there are people out there who want to hurt you for things that we can't even remember. People who have many years of magical training on you. Sadly, you are woefully unprepared for entering that

world."

"Who would want to hurt me? I thought that the guy who wanted to kill me was dead himself."

"I don't know, Harry." The older man with the younger face looked worried. "You have to understand, I'm you. When I was eleven, an older me came and sent me back in time. After I send you back, I'm taking your place, going to Hogwarts. In the past, I left England so I wouldn't be tempted to interfere with certain events I knew had happened. You can be part of history, but you can't CHANGE history. A fine distinction, I know, but you need to be careful."

"How am I going to know what not to do?" The young boy asked.

"Don't worry, kiddo, I'm you, remember? I've already done what you're about to do. You'll be fine. That's the fun part about time travel. You can't actually change anything, because anything you do in the past, I already did when I was you."

The boy-who-lived gave his older self a look he recognized all too well. "I know. It's all real confusing. Don't worry, it'll work itself out, just kinda go with it. Anyway, when you arrive, you'll meet someone who will begin training you. Are you ready?"

"I guess so." Younger Harry replied nervously. "Do I need anything?"

"No. Wait! Yes. Maybe. Where's Hedwig?"

"Upstairs in her cage. Uncle Vernon won't allow me to let her out."

The older Harry growled, with a deep grimace that showed he seemed truly offended by that fact. "Bring her down here. Don't worry about clothes or your wand, they'll get you kitted out after you arrive."

Younger Harry ran up the stairs, and carefully carried Hedwig in her cage back down. Smiling, older Harry opened the back door of four privet drive, and with a soft hoot a second Hedwig flew in the house, landing on his shoulder. She looked the same, yet seemed somehow sleeker to the younger Harry.

Older Hedwig looked at younger. "Hoot."

"Hoot hoot." Said younger, surprised at seeing two Harry's and a second of herself.

"Hoot hoot hoot." Replied the older owl.

"Enough of that." Said the older Harry. "We don't have time for you flirt with yourself."

"Is that what she was doing?" The younger Harry asked.

"I forgot," Said the older. "You can't understand her yet. Oh well, that will come later. Let's get you on your way."

Before he could ask any more questions, younger Harry was ushered into the runic ritual circle by the older. "Hold tight to the cage, this is going to be a bit... swirly."

"Swirly?" Harry asked, mystified.

"You'll see."

Older Harry knelt before the circle, placing his hands on two of the larger rune sequences, and began chanting. The circle started to glow, first a soft pinkish red, quickly brightening to a blinding white. Magic filled the space, the air starting to feel like thick syrup. The syrupy air began rotating, slowly at first, then faster and faster, matching the increasing chanting speed. The spinning air glowed brightly as the magic gained more power, blocking the younger Harry's view of anything outside the circle. Hedwig let out a strangled hoot, frightened by the swirling magic. With a blinding flash, the magic dissipated, leaving young Harry panting, feeling oddly drained.

"Oh… Swirly." He muttered to himself, looking around. He was standing in a dark hallway, the walls made of black stone. "Well, I guess it worked."

He picked a direction and started to walk, but didn't get very far. Out of thin air, with a soft crack sound, a man appeared. He had short black, slightly graying hair, and sharp features. He was wearing what appeared to be a collaboration of leather and metal armor, holding a long wooden staff in one hand, and a wand in the other. The wand was pointed unerringly at Harry.

"You there, boy. What are you doing here? Don't you know it's dangerous?"

"I'm sorry sir," Harry replied. "I was sent here to meet someone who is supposed to train me in magic."

The man was looking at him suspiciously. "What's your name, boy?"

"Harry Potter, sir." He expected the man to recognize him, after the greeting he received in Diagon Alley.

"Well met, child. My name is Merlin."