Dumbledore strode swiftly into the room, his eyes quickly finding Harry. He seemed to relax when he saw him sitting up on a table, chatting casually with Sirius.

"Harry, I'm glad to see you're alright. Snape had me worried with his message. What happened?"

"I wouldn't say alright, Albus," Snape muttered. Dumbledore turned towards him, his eyes full of concern. Snape had seen a lot in his life, and for someone to 'not be alright' in Snape's eyes was saying something. He slowly turned back towards Harry, whose head was pointed down towards his lap. Dumbledore watched him play with his hands, before gasping. Quickly approaching Harry, he took Harry's small hands within his own. Harry watched the Headmaster try to hold back the tears forming at the edge of his eyes as he examined the dead fingertip on his left hand.

"How…" Dumbledore stuttered. This was the first time Harry had seen the man at a complete loss for words. He typically was very composed, even in the most dire of situations. But, he seemed to have lost his nerve tonight.

"I was going through some things upstairs, and I found a locket hidden in the back of a drawer. Well, I could see the chain at least, the rest of it was wrapped in cloth. I thought it would be a nice surprise for Sirius… I thought I'd put a picture in it so he wouldn't miss me when I came to Hogwarts. The second I touched it… well, it hurt..."

"I heard him screaming… Kreacher and I found him at the same time… When Kreacher saw the locket lying next to him, he began screaming about Regulus and Dark magic… I didn't know what to do… I knew the clock was ticking, and the first person that popped into my head was Snape… he was friendly with Regulus and if this was a Dark spell that he learned as a Death Eater, Snape would know it also. I had Kreacher use elf magic to bring us here, apparently your wards aren't secured against it."

Dumbledore nodded, accepting the explanation while noting the major flaw in Hogwarts' security. He looked towards Snape, "It is the Darkened Soul, correct?"

Snape nodded grimly.

Dumbledore hesitated, looking towards Harry. Harry watched the man struggle with the situation, determining whether or not to ask how long Harry had to live. He did not want to lie to the boy about his disease, but at the same time how do you tell a child that his life has an expiration date…

Dumbledore sighed, deciding that it was not his place to tell Harry. He would leave that decision up to Sirius. He would have to reconvene with Snape and Sirius later to discuss exactly how much time Harry had left.

Dumbledore turned towards the locket sitting on the desk beside him.

"I've neutralized the curse, Albus. You can touch it."

Dumbledore took the locket into his hands, and ran his fingers over the metallic frame. Harry watched the Headmaster's jaw open and close several times, as he examined the locket closely. He had opened his mouth to speak a few times, but no words came out. Finally, he seemed to find his voice.

"This… this is the object you touched?" Dumbledore asked, looking at Harry.

Harry nodded, "Is something else wrong?"

Dumbledore shook his head, "No… no don't worry… it's nothing."

Harry smirked inwardly as Dumbledore seemed extremely discomposed. He must have realized that he was holding a Horcrux, and knowing Dumbledore, already deduced that it was housing a piece of Voldemort's soul.

Dumbledore folded his hands together, and straightened his posture,"I think it best that you stay in the hospital wing for the night. Madame Pomfrey will take care of you, and Severus will be close by. Sirius, you're more than welcome to stay the night also, I can have the elves prepare a room."

"I'll stay in hospital with Harry, if that's alright with you," Sirius replied quickly.

"Very well, I will walk you upstairs," Dumbledore offered. "Severus, can you whip up a quick calming draught and send it up to Madame Pomfrey. I want Harry to get a good night sleep."

Snape nodded, knowing Madame Pomfrey had all of the calming draught she needed already. Dumbledore was telling him to stay awake, they had much to discuss.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"What happened?" Sirius whispered from the bed beside Harry's. The hospital wing was empty, as Madame Pomfrey just retired to her chambers. Dumbledore had simply told her that they would be requiring a calming draught, and that he would be providing it to her shortly. She had told Dumbledore she had whipped up a new batch of it for the first-years that would come to her heartbroken from being away from their parents.

"The ring… it was cursed…" Harry whispered back.

"No shit, just look at your finger. " Sirius replied.

"I mean cursed in a different way… I saw… well, stuff… it made it seem logical to put on the ring," Harry said, trying to forget the fact that it was a form of Ginny that told him to put on the ring. He was sure that he would be having many nightmares of that moment.

Sirius decided not to press Harry about what he saw, since Harry obviously wasn't in the mood to share his experience. However, they still had much to discuss. "Four years… I should have reached you sooner… Before you touched it at all."

"It's not your fault…" Harry immediately replied.

"I'm your guardian… and I allowed an expiration date to be put on your life…"

"It's not your fault…" Harry said once more.

Sirius was silent for a few moments, before continuing, "Well, I'm going to make these last four years the best of your life, I promise. We can play Quidditch everyday… You can stay home, you don't need Hogwarts… Ron and Ginny can visit you whenever. Plus, you'll have Ginny's undivided attention for a full year before she goes to Hogwarts."

"No Sirius, we can't..." Harry said, with a pain in his voice. "I want that… but we can't do that… My best chance to defeat Voldemort lies from manipulating the timeline based on my knowledge of events… And all of my old experiences lie within these walls. If I leave, we lose a lot of our advantage."

"I know... " Sirius replied, defeated.

"Ever since the prophecy, I knew that I would reach my end before growing old. It was only for a moment, right when I arrived in this timeline, that I ever dreamed of living a long life surrounded by friends… But this isn't a fairytale. I'll fight like hell for these four years, and I'll leave this world better than I found it." Harry said, his voice sad but full of determination.

"And I'll be at your side the entire way," Sirius replied.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry awoke before Sirius, and found himself staring at the clock ticking on the opposite wall. The clock no longer simply displayed the passage of time, but was more like a countdown. Each tick brought his soul slightly further towards destruction. Eventually, Sirius woke up and Dumbledore sent them back to Grimmauld Place after a nice breakfast in the Great Hall.

Walking in the door of Grimmauld Place, they were greeted by a bowing Kreacher.

Harry bowed to Kreacher, saying, "You saved me last night… You have done that a couple times now… Thank you."

Kreacher's eyes filled with tears at his Master's words, along with seeing his Master bow to him. "Kreacher is sorry… about his Master's soul… Kreacher is looking into any elf magic that may help… Up all night trying to find anything that may work… But, fruitless..."

"Dumbledore would have found a cure if there was one… he is very friendly with the elves at Hogwarts. I'm sure he consulted with them in the last timeline when he was diagnosed. Get some rest Kreacher, that's an order."

Kreacher bowed low, before departing to his cupboard.

"So, shall we invite the Weasleys over for dinner tonight?" Sirius asked.

Harry nearly said yes, but hesitated. Sirius wanted to move past last night and act like everything was the same as before, and Harry wanted to do that as well… but if he was going to be honest with himself, everything had changed.

"I'm not in the mood," Harry admitted, sighing.

"What do you mean you're not in the mood? Bet you never said that to Ginny in the last timeline, eh?" Sirius said, his voice lined with suggestiveness.

"I'm not feeling very well," Harry lied unconvincingly.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked.

"I just need some rest," Harry responded.

"You just slept for ten hours!" SIrius replied.

"It's just a headache," Harry said.

"Well, why didn't you say anything to Madame Pomfrey? It could be some part of the curse lingering…" Sirius asked.

"It's not the curse, and I was feeling fine when we left. It's nothing." Harry said.

"Well, maybe we should take you back to Madame Pomfrey," Sirius suggested.

"I'm not going back," Harry replied, growing annoyed.

"But what if it's the curse… Snape could take a look at you," Sirius replied.

Harry's patience found it's end, and all of the emotions he had been holding in over the past day seemed to boil out at once."YOU'RE EXHAUSTING! I JUST WANT TO BE ALONE FOR TWO BLOODY SECONDS. PISS OFF!"

"Shouting match? I think your ten-year old is showing," Sirius replied snarkily.

"Piss off," Harry said, turning on his heel and marching upstairs before slamming the door.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next few days came and went, with Harry not leaving his room very much. He would train with Sirius in the morning before returning to his room. He wasn't quite sure why, but he just wanted space from the rest of the world. The Weasleys had invited him over multiple times, but he told Sirius to just make up an excuse. He was sick of being Harry Potter, sick of the drama, sick of his life being in danger for as long as he could remember. Sirius tried to get him to do something nearly everyday, but he declined each time claiming he had headaches. Sirius knew this was not true, but gave him space nonetheless. There was no large trip to Diagon Alley, and all of his school supplies were purchased via owl post.

After saying a quick goodbye to Kreacher, Sirius escorted Harry to King's Cross Station. Harry rolled his trolley up to the brick wall separating platforms 9 and 10. He gave a small smile towards Hedwig, whom Sirius had surprised him with a few days ago in an effort to cheer him up.

Harry took a deep breath, looking towards the solid brick wall before him and thought of what lay beyond this wall. On the other side, he would find Hermione… Neville… and the rest of his Gryffindor House. He was even excited to just see Seamus, whom he had never been all that close to.

A small voice whispered beside him, "It's not a real wall, you know."

Harry continued looking at the wall. That voice beside him was the younger version of the one that told him to put on the ring… It had caused him so much pain, but he knew it would bring her even more pain in the future. He will die, it was just a matter of time. Why should he continue growing closer to Ginny if it will only break her heart more later on? He wanted to look into her beautiful, innocent eyes more than anything, but the truth was that there was no future for them. He had no future. He had felt the unbearable pain of losing her before, and did not want to put her through the same pain when she lost him.

His face hardened as his hands tightened around the trolley, hoping that she wouldn't notice them trembling. His foot felt like it was full of lead as he moved it forward, trying to hold in the tears that would inevitably escape from him later that night.

Before Harry made a break for the train, Sirius put an arm on his shoulder and pulled him in close, "Don't forget the people who care about you. I love you kiddo."

"I love you too," Harry mumbled into Sirius' chest, before Sirius ruffled his hair and walked him to the train.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Oy, Harry, wait up!" Ron's voice shouted down the hallway of the train. Harry paused, allowing for Ron to catch up. He could avoid Ginny since she wouldn't be at Hogwarts until next year, but he couldn't just ignore Ron. Plus, this train ride was the moment in which they would meet Hermione, and he didn't want Ron to muck that up too much without him.

Harry had given Hermione a lot of thought over the past few days, and his decision was that he would let this year play out as similar to the last timeline as possible. He knew this would put her through some emotional stress during the first month of school as she adjusted to the wizarding world, but he didn't want to manipulate all of his friendships. Plus, this was the avenue that ensured that they would become friends. He and Ron would solidify their friendship with Hermione by defeating the troll that Quirrell let's in the school in October. Until then, they would be on speaking terms, but he wouldn't put any more effort into forcing the friendship than last timeline.

He and Ron found a compartment, and the train ride went by without any conversation regarding him blowing off Ginny at the station. Ron had asked him where he had been over the past week, but Harry simply said that he was feeling under the weather. Hermione popped in for a few moments and watched Ron miserably fail at changing the color of his new rat, Blisters, to yellow.

All in all, it was a relaxing ride. Draco had stopped by momentarily to try to recruit Harry away from Ron, but was sent back to his compartment disappointed. Before long, they were pulling up to Hogsmeade and the first years were being greeted by Hagrid, who gave Harry a large pat on the back. It had been a few years since Hagrid had last seen Harry, and it was obvious in his eyes that he remembered the beaten and bruised boy he had guarded at the Muggle hospital. Harry gave him a large smile before climbing into the small boat that would take him to his second home.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Potter, Harry!" Mcgonagall shouted, her eyes locking on the familiar boy who had visited the castle a few years ago. The Great Hall became eerily quiet, as students and teachers alike waited in anticipation of which House Harry would be sorted into. Even Dumbledore seemed more engaged than ever, as he leaned forward in his seat. Professor Mcgonagall slowly lowered the Sorting Hat onto Harry's head. Harry's eyes grew wide, as he realized that the Hat would likely be sorting through his memories in order to determine which house suited him best. Harry frantically began putting up every Occlumency shield he knew.

The Sorting Hat remained uncharacteristically quiet for a solid three minutes, before it said, "Mr. Potter, it seems we meet again."

Harry sighed in defeat and thought in response, "It seems so…"

"Well, I won't be wasting your time then… Your secret is safe with me. I cannot consult anyone regarding what I see in students' minds anyways. I've seen the risks you've taken in order to come to this moment. While some may say the manipulation makes you a great choice for Slytherin, you are a true Gryffindor," the Sorting Hat said, to his mind.

Harry thought that he would be excited to hear that news, but there was a sinking feeling within him. This was the path that would lead to his friends suffering in the future. Whether it be at Voldemort's hands, or at the grief from his eventual death, they would suffer. Hermione would suffer… Neville would suffer... Ron would suffer… Ginny - well, he would make it as easy on her as possible…

But, he had to go down this path if he wanted his foreknowledge to have much value. He had already deviated significantly from the last timeline with Sirius, and he wanted to have at least some knowledge of future events. Plus, a selfish part of him wanted his old friends back in his life. He would not let Voldemort touch them.

"It is not selfish to love," the Sorting Hat said, within his own mind.

His mind wandered back to Ginny, and he closed his eyes tightly. He was leading her down a dangerous path, and one that could not have a happy ending. Even if she was safe, what if she fell in love with him? He had felt the grief of losing her, and it drove him to kiss a Dementor… He wanted her so badly, just another time to hold her in his arms. But, ever since he was hit with the Darkened Soul, he realized there is no chance at the future he had always been holding on hope to. Harry tried to control his shaking hands, as his eyes remained tightly clenched.

I can't do that to her… It is selfish to love… Not Gryffindor… Not Gryffindor… Not Gryffindor

"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter," the Sorting Hat thought, before shouting to the Great Hall, "GRYFFINDOR!"

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