Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or make money from this story.

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"-And...that's how I knew..." Harry finished. "That's how I figured out who Voldemort really was."

Luna tapped the Recording Quill and put it back into her bag. They were quiet a moment as Luna tried to comprehend the ancient evil that had been haunting them for so long.

Luna then reached out and pressed a cold hand against Harry's cheek. "Are you okay, Harry?" She asked softly.

Harry shook his head. "No." He replied. "No, I'm not. Seamus and Neville are a wreck and have been surviving on a steady supply of Calming Draughts. Dean will have a limp for the rest of his life. Hermione's parents had to be transferred to a mundane Intensive Care Unit because there is nothing a bunch of magical potions can do for a non-magical person. Sebastian is still bed-ridden. Sirius is livid. Ron is still in a coma and he's covered in scars and he's...he's..." Harry faltered. "...his mum..."

Luna put both hands on his face and made him look at her. "None of this was your fault, Harry. We wanted to fight for our homes and our families. This was not your fault."

Harry just gave her a grim smile. "But it was, Luna. This was my fault. This was my doing. It was." He said sadly.

Luna pulled away, seeing something in his eyes she had never seen before. "What...what happened to you, Harry?"

"What happened?" He repeated. Harry lifted his head and looked at her full on. "I died."

Luna stiffened in surprised. "Wha-?"

The door to Harry's room suddenly banged open.

"Time's up, Luna," Sirius said sternly. "I said half an hour. Harry's grounded and visiting time is over."

Luna opened her mouth to argue but the look on Sirius's face made her think better of it. "Of course, Mister Black," Luna said instead. "I have to get this Quill to my father anyway. He'll want to get this printed in the morning edition. People will be glad to finally know the truth." Sirius didn't respond so Luna waved to Harry and left.

Sirius made to leave himself but Harry called out to him. "Wait!"

Sirius paused with his back to the door.

"Please, Sirius. Can we talk?"

"You're not getting out of being grounded."

"I know." Harry walked over and reached out to his Godfather. "I know I deserve to be grounded. I just...want to talk about what happened?"

Sirius turned. "Okay." He walked back in.

They both sat down on the bed. They were quiet as Harry tried to think of where to start. "I..." He began. "I was in the Infirmary stock room when I was immobilized-"

Harry told him about the mysterious benefactor. He talked about being kidnapped by Dumbledore and what he had to do to get away and bring about Dumbledore's downfall. Sirius listened without interrupting. Harry then moved on to being woken by Dobby and taken to the battlefield.

Sirius's face looked like it had been chipped from stone at this point but he still just listened.

He told him about his run-in with Snape and Sirius finally spoke.

"That explains it, I guess," Sirius said. "We found him in the same place after the battle was over. He was muttering to himself and didn't seem to know where he was or what was going on. You really did a number on him."

Harry shrugged and Sirius could see that Harry honestly did not care. "You're different." He blurted.

Harry smiled. "Well...I have been away for quite awhile. I made peace with all that a long time ago. The place I was in...really provided some clarity and peace of mind."

"I...don't understand..."

"I died, Sirius." His Godfather flinched and his hands tightened into fists. "It's okay, Sirius. It was a good thing. It was the best thing that could have happened." Harry brushed his hand over his forehead and exposed his scar. "The Horcrux was claimed by Death in my place and I'm finally free. I feel like I can finally breathe...like that thing had been strangling me almost my whole life."

Sirius grabbed Harry's hand. "That's...that's good. I'm glad it's gone."

Harry smiled. "That's not all. When I was in the other place. I was with Mum and Dad."

Sirius reared back in shock. "But-but that's not-!"

"-Not possible?" Harry cut him off. "Neither is surviving the Killing Curse...twice."

Sirius grudgingly had to give him that one. Sirius went quiet for a moment and then looked at Harry with eyes filled with unshed tears.

"Do they-" A sob halted his words. "D-d-do they for-forgive me?" He cried.

Harry threw his arms around his Godfather. "Sirius, they never blamed you!"

"It was my fault! I made them pick Pettigrew as their Secret-Keeper. I let Hagrid take you to Dumbledore! Why should they forgive me?! I don't forgive me!"

Harry held him tightly. "But they do. They never blamed you. Honestly, they blame themselves for being fooled by Peter and taken in by Dumbledore. Those two are the real villains in this story, not the Godfather who has fought to protect me my whole life. They know you would do anything to see me safe and that's all they care about."

Sirius's tears were flowing freely now and Harry just hugged him until they slowed.

"So," Sirius eventually said. "Are they...happy?"

Harry beamed. "Yes, they are. They miss us and wish we could all be together but they have each other and they are happy."

"Good." Sirius smiled back. He looked away for a moment and cleared his throat. "So...what was it like...there?"

"It was...beautiful and peaceful and perfect, but we can talk about that later. I still have to tell you about Salazar and everything."

Sirius motioned for him to continue so he did.

"When I was taken by Dumbledore he finally saw fit to tell me what he knew. He told me about Tom Riddle's life and how he became Voldemort and again I was struck by how things really didn't seem to fit. Just like I was when I was reading about it in the books."

"You didn't think that Tom Riddle could have done the things 'Voldemort' did?"

Harry shook his head. "No, it's not that. I believe that Tom Riddle was a troubled boy. I believe he had a cruel streak. His time in the orphanage points to that but...his time in Hogwarts seemed to point to something else."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, look at how he changed when found out he was a wizard and about to enter a world that wouldn't look kindly on his behavior towards the other children in the orphanage. Tom had told Dumbledore more than he should at their first meeting because he assumed all magicals must be and think like him but instead Albus was unsettled by him and that bothered him. It bothered him enough to shut down and then come to school with this mask of the perfect child and student. That said to me that he wanted to be accepted. He wanted to be liked and admired, probably to feed his own ego but still, you don't go through a whole charade like that for years if you didn't care what people thought. I mean, he became Head Boy. His professors raved about him being the smartest and most talented and most handsome. He must have craved that and it must have bothered him to no end that Albus didn't do the same."

"So what did all that mean to you, Harry?"

"It said to me that Tom may have been, and most likely was, a twisted kid. But he was one that was smart and loved adoration. Even better than that he was a whiz at getting that adoration. He could fool pretty much everyone and collect all the awards and praise and accolades he wanted so, why stop? If what Tom Riddle wanted was to take over this world and rid it of muggleborns why not keep going as he had? Keep fooling everyone. Keep the fake charm and smiles and just rise through the ranks, collecting the influence and respect of the pure-blood masses. Why not be another Dumbledore?"

"It seemed like he could have. He could have taken a job at the Ministry like everyone expected him to. He could have acquired fame and positions, maybe be named Chief Wizard or Supreme Mugwump or got himself on the Hogwarts Board of Governors. It's not like bigotry and blood supremacy don't already have its hooks deep into this world. He could have easily exploited that while still holding on to that mask. But he doesn't. He finds the Chamber, opens it and suddenly the mask is gone and the homicidal manic emerges and risks everything to kill all the muggleborns he had always played nicely with before."

"I see what you're saying but you yourself said you believed Tom Riddle was twisted, and he must have still cared about his 'mask' as you say because he framed Hagrid and closed up the Chamber when the school was going to be closed?"

Harry inclined his head. "You're right. It's entirely possible that the real Tom would do that, which is why I accepted that version of events at first, but that wasn't the only thing that threw up a red flag. It was really a lot of little things that added up to a big problem."

"What were the other things?"

Harry absentmindedly swiped his hand over his forehead again. "The Horcruxes for one. Dumbledore said he choose the Founders and their legendary items because only they were grand enough to house his soul but...that never really quite fit. The Founders aren't the only famous, legendary figures in our world. We have dozens of Chocolate Frog cards that show that. Why infect only their famous possessions? Why not Merlin's staff? Why not Clagg's pendant? Why not Stump's broom? All people famous in our history and all have legendary items that he could have gotten to easily. But he doesn't do that...instead, he takes a job he his way over-qualified for and spends considered time and energy trying to track down the Founder's items because it had to be their items that he infected along with his own. Which made me wonder, why would Tom Riddle be so obsessed with the Founders in particular?"

Sirius blinked at Harry. How had been seen all this and no one else did? "Well, if Hogwarts was his first real home and-"

"But was it?" Harry interrupted. "Was Hogwarts where Tom Riddle felt at home? Was it where he felt safe? Where he felt he could be himself? Where he felt free?"

Sirius's mouth was opening and closing as he tried to form an argument but eventually, he said, "No, no it couldn't have been. Tom Riddle had to hide. He had to wear a mask and he had to attend a school full of prejudiced classmates and professors as a half-blood orphan who had been raised in the mundane world. He had to charm and lie and smile his way through school to survive so...so how could he have possibly felt at home there."

Harry nodded. "Exactly. I don't think Tom cared a whit about Hogwarts except that it kept him out of the orphanage for ten months out of the year and it was where he was taught magic."

"I admit," said Sirius. "That sounds a lot more likely. What else made you suspicious?"

"The Diadem." He replied firmly. "Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem. It's not just that 'Tom' knew to speak to the Grey Lady to find out where it was, it was that he was the only one to succeed. Plenty of people have figured out who the Grey Lady really was and have pestered her to tell them its whereabouts but only Tom was able to sway her. Maybe Tom was just extra charming but think about it..."

"Think about what happened with Helena Ravenclaw and her mother. Helena betrayed her trust, stole from her own mother, ran away and the man her mother sent to bring her back raped and killed her. The shock of this strikes her mother down and Rowena dies in anguish. Now if it was you...would you share that story? Would you share your greatest regret, your greatest shame, your reason for not being able to move on to the afterlife...with some kid just because he throws a few sweet words your way?"

Sirius didn't even hesitate. "No. I wouldn't tell some random person that. I wouldn't tell anyone that."

"Exactly." Harry echoed. "But what if he wasn't random? If he was someone who knew you well. Someone who knew your mother. Someone who knew exactly what to say and do to get you to open up because you have known him almost your entire life. I figured it was a lot more likely someone like that got to Helena Ravenclaw, not some random teenager with a nice smile."

"Wow...so that's how you knew?"

Harry shook his head. "It's when Dumbledore finally told me the truth and revealed that Salazar made a Horcrux. That's when I knew. The former Headmaster assumed it was a diary on how to make a Horcrux that Tom Riddle found but he actually found the Horcrux itself. He opened himself up to the malignant piece of trash known as Salazar Slytherin. He finally took his mask off and revealed his true nature and Salazar swallowed him whole. And then the mask didn't matter anymore, not to Salazar. What mattered was carrying out his homicidal goal. What mattered was conquering the school he was thrown out of. What mattered was tracking down all that remained of the friends that betrayed him and getting back at them by turning their Cup and Diadem into his Horcruxes. Except for the sword that is because it was the one thing he couldn't get to. No way he was Gryffindor enough to pull it out of the hat."

Sirius just stared at him for a while but then a question crossed his mind. "Wait...what about Slughorn? You told me the books said he was the one who told Tom about Horcruxes? For that matter, you told me Dumbledore was the one who set you onto him in the first place? That's what the books said right? So why did both of you turn to Salazar?"

Harry grinned. That was a good question. "Well, first. Dumbledore knew Slughorn was holding back important information about Voldemort but he didn't know what it was. If he did he wouldn't have had to 'set me onto him', and second, that did trip me up at first but then I went back and thought about it again. I thought about what young Voldemort was really asking Slughorn. He wasn't asking him what Horcruxes were, he was asking how-"

Sirius jumped up. "-How many he could make!" He cried. "Bloody bastard already knew what they were, he just had never heard of anyone making more than one! That's what he wanted to know!"

"Yep," Harry chuckled. "I guess in the future that would have been, Dumbledore would have seen that memory and have drawn the wrong conclusion. He would have given up the 'Salazar's journal' theory and just have laid the blame at Slughorn's feet because a theory was all he had. He had never been in the Chamber of Secrets and he had never seen the journal so when that started to seem implausible to him, he dropped it and never told me about it. Leading us both down the wrong path."

Sirius threw up his hands. "Good gravy! That all makes sense. That makes perfect sense!" Sirius looked at him. "And you figured it all out. You really are an extraordinary young man, Harry."

"Thanks, Sirius." He replied with a smile. "So that's it. Armed with the truth, I faced Salazar Slytherin and after destroying the Horcrux in the Chamber I finally ended Voldemort and his evil once and for all."

Sirius clapped him on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you. I truly am." Harry stood up and gave him a hug and Sirius buried his face in his messy hair. "You're still grounded though."

"Sirius!" Harry whined.

Sirius pulled away and grinned at him. "Until Hogwarts reopens you don't leave his house. And Headmaster Flitwick doesn't think they'll open until the next school year."

Harry's eyes bugged out. "But that's months away!"

"That'll teach you not to go running off and literally get yourself killed."

"But I saved the Wizarding World!"

"No one said it was easy being a hero." Sirius shrugged. "I'll go fix up some lunch, feed the baby, and then you can tell me more about the mystery person that cornered you in the storeroom. If he or she was able to get to you so easily in Hogwarts than we clearly need to think of more security measures. I'll Mirror-call Sebastian and we'll..." Harry didn't hear the rest because Sirius had already walked off and was mostly speaking to himself anyway.

Harry sighed. He turned around and locked onto Hedwig. His owl caught his eye and promptly turned her back to him. She was still frosty with him for going off to fight without her.

Njord flew off his perch and onto Harry's shoulder. He ran his beak through Harry's hair and did his weird little purr. He had taken to doing that every time Hedwig gave him a cold wing. Harry could tell that Njord was trying to comfort and reassure him and the dislike he felt for the bird finally disappeared.

Harry gave Njord a stroke and spoke to Hedwig's back. "You picked a good one here, Hedwig. Sorry, I didn't see that before."

That made Hedwig turn her head to look at him.

"I'm also sorry that I went off to battle without you. I love you, Hedwig. I just wanted to keep you safe."

Hedwig screeched at him and he walked over to the corner her perch was in.

"I know you can take care of yourself, it's not about that. Things just had to play out a certain way. I had to make the future I read come true and I know that you...that many people won't forgive me for that."

"You did the right thing, Harry."

Harry spun around with a shout and Njord was startled into flight.

Harry's wand was already in his hand but it slipped through his fingers when he got a look at the person.

He looked...and he looked...and then he rubbed his eyes and looked again.

"Hello, Harry." The person said with a wry grin.

"Hello..." he croaked back. "...Harry."

Standing before Harry Potter was...Harry Potter. It was him although much older. He had salt and pepper hair that was at this point more salt. He was taller, his face had wrinkles around the eyes and his voice had that deeper baritone that came with age.

Harry slowly stepped towards him. "I knew...I knew it!" He blurted. "It was you! Dobby and the Map and the-the Cully said- she said Master in room- I'm Master! You're-you're the one! And-and-"

"Yes," He said gently but it was enough to stop Harry's rambling. "I'm the one who left you the books. I'm your mysterious benefactor."

"..."

Older Harry laughed again. "I'm here to take them back as it happens...and to give you some much-needed answers."

That gave young Harry the jolt he needed. "Take them back? Why?"

"Because you've done it, Harry. You've done what you needed to do. You don't need them anymore."

Young Harry still looked confused. "Why did you give them to me at all? How did you give them to me?!"

Older Harry looked away. "It was the only thing we could think to do. We had no choice." He looked back at his younger self and sighed. He knew he had to tell his story but that didn't make it easier. "In my time...in the future that would have been yours, life would have gone on after our Seventh Year. Ron and Hermione get married and have a couple kids. I settle down with Ginny and we have three of our own."

"Ginny?!"

"Yes, Ginny. We, all of us, go on to have happy lives. Not perfect, but happy. Ginny, my Ginny, was my best friend and confidante. We raised our children as a team and basked in being grandparents." Young Harry was surprised to see a tear roll down Older Harry's face as he spoke. "That was until...until someone found their way into the Chamber of Secrets decades after I did. They found the Horcrux, the original Horcrux of Salazar Slytherin that I never knew about and-"

"-he came back."

"He came back." Older Harry stated. "He came back with a vengeance and he...he killed them. All of them. My children, my grandchildren, my Ginny. He murdered them all. Then he went after my friends. Ron was already gone by then. He died of a massive heart attack when he was 38 because he never told anyone about his dyslexia or found out what really caused it. So it was just Hermione and her children and their children. The bastard got them when they were all gathered at Hermione's childhood home in the mundane world. Murdered every one of them...on Christmas. Everyone died except for Hermione, he wanted her to live with the pain of losing her whole family."

"It all started back up again. The death and destruction and chaos." Older Harry's eyes were unfocused and he recalled the horrors. "Eventually I figured out what happened. I found out about Salazar and the other Horcrux and I defeated him but...but-"

"-but what did it matter." Young Harry finished.

"Exactly. What did it matter? They were all gone." Older Harry paused and just took a minute to breathe. Then he went on. "So Hermione and I got to work. We had to fix things, put them back to rights. She got her hands on a Time-Turner and doing what only the Brightest Witch of her Age could, she modified it. She made it more powerful and enabled me to go back farther than anyone ever had before. All the way to right before I turned fifteen. And while she did that I wrote. I wrote those books I gave you. I wrote about our life in the Wizarding World from fifteen to seventeen. I hoped that if you read them all and saw it all laid out like that coupled with a little hint to look closer at the people around you, that you would see that things didn't add up, and thankfully, you did."

"Why go through all that? Why not just tell me?"

"I couldn't directly interfere with my own fate like that. Who knows what kind of consequences that could have had? And if I had just appeared out of nowhere and told you I was you from the future and that you shouldn't trust the man you looked up to for years and that a man that had been dead for centuries was scampering around killing everyone, you would have thought I was an impostor or that you were mad."

Harry couldn't argue with himself on that one.

"So instead I showed you what you would do. All the decisions you would make of your own free will and I hoped that you would then make new decisions, again of your own free will. You had to be the one to change your fate. I...already had my chance."

"It all makes sense now." Young Harry said incredulously. "There wasn't some secret, impossible magic. Just a Time-Turner and a brilliant witch. And when the facts of my future changed...the books changed because I...you...wrote something else in their place. You would know how my actions affected the future because you are my future and when I didn't know what I was going to do the books went blank because I hadn't picked any particular path yet."

His older self nodded. "Yes, Harry."

"When you visited me in the storeroom Cully said that 'Master Harry was in room.' She was answering my question, I just didn't realize she was talking about the other Harry. And when Dobby woke me up with the Pepper-Up and brought me to the battle it was because you sent him for me."

Older Harry shrugged. "I didn't want to get involved like that but Sirius and Sebastian were making things rather difficult with their wards and sleep spells."

"So I went back and carried out the destiny I was truly meant for before Dumbledore could lead me astray. I went to the battle, died and then came back for the Horcrux and the books. The books I had left in the storeroom and that showed me the way to win." Young Harry's voice went cold. "That's why I went back for my friends and the Sorting Hat. Why I let them fight with me even though I knew Dean would get hurt and Mrs. Weasley would die...because I knew if I tried to change that future we would probably lose so much more." Harry pinned Older Harry with a hard look. "We'll have to live with that. I let this future play out. I didn't try to stop or change it and...I'll always have to live with that."

"I'm sorry to say you will and I know myself well enough to say that it won't be easy."

Young Harry nodded. "What will happen to you?" He questioned.

Older Harry put his hand over something on his chest. "When I take this Time-Turner off, I will cease to be. My world is gone now. I will go with it and you will build a better one in its place."

"What about...your family?"

"I had many wonderful years with them. Now you will have wonderful years with yours."

Harry walked over to his bed, lifted the mattress and watched as Older Him took the Harry Potter books.

"Goodbye, Harry."

"Goodbye," Older Harry replied. "And good luck."

He reached into his shirt and pulled out the Time-Turner, with a twist of the crown, he was gone.

When Sirius finally joined Harry a half hour later his tears had already dried up.

He had baby Seraphina in one hand, his Mirror in the other and was floating his and Harry's lunch behind him.

Harry got out of bed and took the baby while Sirius and Sebastian bickered about something.

Seraphina's flailing limbs accidentally whacked Harry in the face and he made a show of being hurt. Seraphina giggled so he tickled her tummy which made her squeal happily.

"-so what do you think, Harry?" Sirius was saying.

"What?" Harry got back into bed and settled Seraphina in his lap. "I missed that."

"Do you think the Queen went overboard with her Decrees?" Sirius said as he placed Harry's lunch next to him. "She decreed that Wolfbane had to be available free of charge and gave Giants and House Elves citizenship."

Sebastian spoke up from his sick bed. "There will be some growing pains but we will make it work. It will help that the Queen gave us the right to seize the monies and properties of the Death Eaters, that will go a long way towards helping us rebuild and fund the mass production of the Wolfsbane."

"What about the children and families of the Death Eaters?" Harry questioned. "What will they do if the government takes everything?"

"As I said," Sebastian responded. "There will be growing pains."

Harry sighed. "Things won't necessarily be easier from here on out, will they?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, but we all have our parts to play and we are all committed to making our world better. Sebastian will see to it that our government adapts to these changes. My time leading the Order helped me discover what I'm meant to do. I want to get involved in the rebuilding of Hogwarts and our society. We can do so much good when we work together. And Harry, well, you can finally start being a kid. Just study and have fun with your friends."

Harry glanced away and his eyes landed on the Elder Wand. He thought back to what his ancestor Ignotus told him.

"All the good that I had wanted to do was never realized in my lifetime, but it can be realized in yours. You'll be able to rejoin the world of the living and share the true purpose of the Deathly Hollows. They are your inheritance, your birthright. I think...it was always meant to be you."

Harry grinned. "I don't know, Sirius. I don't think being normal was ever in the cards for me. Besides, I have plans for the Wizarding World too."

"What kind of plans?" Sirius and Sebastian said at the same time.

Harry laughed. "You'll see."

THE END!

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A/N: Yay! My first ever fanfic is complete! Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Until next time!