A/N: This is a story I had posted under another username. I had only three chapters posted and I am editing those three chapters and posting them here before continuing with this story. I hope you all enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I do not make any money off of this story.

Harry James Potter had been known by many names over his last twenty-eight years of life. The Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, Savior of the Wizarding World - they just seemed to keep coming. But even when the Wizarding World considered him a liar, or an attention seeking brat, none of them ever referred to him as stupid.

This would be why Harry was currently standing in his kitchen, wand drawn, staring at the strange thing rising from his floor with narrowed eyes. The thing in question was a strange black mist, strangely enough reminding Harry of Dementors. Ginny, Harry's wife of eight long - very long – years, was beside him, her own wand pointing toward the mist.

"What is it?" Ginny questioned her voice hard.

Harry felt a flash of annoyance at her tone, knowing that this was just another thing she was going to blame him for. "I don't know," he replied.

Ginny opened her mouth, probably to make some comment about what good it was for him to be an Auror if he didn't know anything, when the mist slowly began to take on a form. It grew tall, taller than Harry, and started to resemble a familiar form. A human from. Harry's hand tightened around his wand as the thoughts began flying through his head. He thanked Merlin that Lily had been asleep when this had started and Teddy had instantly grabbed James and Albus and ran the boys up the stairs to hide.

Only seconds later, a man stood where the mist had been only moments before. He was pale, with dark hair and unnatural black eyes. He wore a black cloak - one that reminded Harry of the Death Eater robes. "Who are you?" Harry questioned the man, his voice hard as he pointed his wand at the stranger.

The man slowly rose a black eyebrow. "No need for that," he said in a raspy voice, waving his hand slightly. Harry desperately tried to hold onto his wand, but ultimately failed and watched in dismay as it flew from his grasp moments behind Ginny's. Ginny gasped, instantly taking a step back away from the man. "Come on now, Mr. Potter," the man said, staring down at the wands in his hand in disgust. "You, who had control of all three of my gifts, chose to give them up for this?" he demanded, holding Harry's wand up with a scowl. "I'll never understand you humans."

Harry's brain frantically caught up to the information he was just provided. His gifts? What was the man talking about-

"Your gifts?" Harry asked, his eyes widening in understanding. "The Hallows?"

The man let both of his eyebrows raise as he regarded Harry with a small smirk on his face. "Very good, Mr. Potter."

"That means that you're-" Ginny started.

"Death," the man said, sweeping into a mocking bow. "Pleased to meet you both."

"But you're-"

"Human?" Death asked, his black eyes making a shiver run up Harry's spine. "Not at all. I'm just... borrowing this form for a moment." He turned his head to stare straight into Harry's green eyes. "Mr. Potter. I have a deal for you."

There was silence for a moment as the words sank into Harry's mind. "A deal? Like the deal you made with my ancestor? I don't think so."

"Ah, but I think you'll greatly enjoy this deal...most of it anyway," Death told him, slowly looking around the kitchen with a scowl on his face. Harry's mind instantly flew to his old school rival, Draco Malfoy. He imagined the exact same look on Malfoy's face if he ever set foot in Harry's home.

"What is it?" Harry demanded.

"No, Harry," Ginny hissed from beside him, shaking her head. "He's Death. You can't listen to anything he says-"

"I'm growing tired of you," Death said quietly, turning his head sharply to stare at Ginny. "I did not come to speak with you. Keep quiet." Ginny let out an indignant huff, but Harry ignored her, keeping his eyes on Death. "Here is my deal, Mr. Potter. I will allow you to bring four people back into this world - four people who mean a lot to you."

Harry thought of his parents, Sirius and Remus wistfully. Of all the people he had lost in the war. "And what would I have to do?"

"Tom Riddle," Death said, making Ginny gasp once again, "I will agree to bring back your parents, your godfather, and your godson's father, as long as you agree to raise Tom Riddle."

There was absolute silence in the room as the words sank into Harry's mind. Tom Riddle? Raise him? Raise him along beside Harry's own kids? The same man that killed his parents in the first place?

Ah, but he won't be a man, a voice inside his head pointed out, he said he wanted you to raise him. That means he'll just be a boy.

The same boy who used to torture kids in the orphanage.

But Dumbledore always believed in second chances, the voice continued. You said yourself on more than one occasion that you and Tom Riddle had a lot in common. Maybe if he had been raised in a more stable environment, he wouldn't have chosen the path he did.

"NO," Ginny said, breaking Harry out of his thoughts instantly. "No. I absolutely refuse. We will NOT bring that monster back into this world. No."

Death didn't even look at her. "I'm afraid I wasn't offering the deal to you, Mrs. Potter. You do not matter to me. Tom would only be seven years old, the same age as your oldest, if I am correct."

"Why?" Harry questioned his brown furrowing. "Why would it matter to you if he was brought back here? Why go to all of this trouble?"

Death merely let out a sigh. "The reasons are my own, Mr. Potter. I will not share them." Those black eyes traveled over Harry once again, sizing him up. "I can see that this will need some thinking over. I will return to you in three days time. Whatever answer you give to me at that time will be final." He tossed Harry his wand but left Ginny's sitting on the floor. "I will not give you another chance, Mr. Potter."

With those words, his form disappeared in black mist and disappeared through the floor.

"No," Ginny said instantly, walking over and picking her wand up off the floor angrily. She turned back to face Harry, her face bright red. Harry briefly wondered how he had ever thought her to be attractive, and then felt guilty at the thought. "I refuse, Harry. There is no way you are going to agree with... with that thing."

"You heard Death, Ginny," Harry said, turning away from his wife and heading up the stairs. "It's my decision."

"They're my children, Harry!" Ginny yelled, following him.

"And it's my parents, Ginny!" Harry snapped back. "And Sirius. And-"

"My dad," a new voice broke in, making both Harry and Ginny turn to the top of the stairs.

A young boy stood there. He was tall for his age, with amber eyes and dark blue hair. Those eyes went from Ginny to Harry and back again quickly. "I put James and Albus in Lily's room and listened from here."

"Teddy, that could have been really-" Ginny started to lecture.

But Teddy wasn't having it. "Harry, this is a chance for me to get to know my dad. For you to know your parents. I've been hearing about Sirius for years. This could be my chance to know him. Please, Harry."

"Teddy, go to your room," Ginny snapped, glaring at the eleven year old on the stairs. "You're going to go to Hogwarts in a month, anyway. It won't matter then either way."

Teddy glared at her but Harry saw the tears welling in his godsons eyes. "It will always matter, Ginny," Harry said softly, shaking his head at his wife and hurrying up the steps to his godson. He instantly knelt beside the boy, placing his hand on the small shoulder. "I want them back too, Teddy," Harry told him softly, "but we have to think of the consequences."

"Tom Riddle," Teddy acknowledged, completely ignoring a still ranting Ginny. So was Harry. "But, Harry, if you raised him with us, don't you think he'd be better? I mean, he'd be with me, and James, and Albus. We would help. Please, Harry."

Harry stared into his godsons amber eyes, desperately wanting to tell him he would do it. But he knew it wouldn't be that easy. Not with everyone involved. Nothing was ever that easy - not for him.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Ginny yelled once again, making Teddy jump slightly and back away until his back hit the wall.

"Teddy, go into Lily's room with the boys," Harry told his godson. Teddy nodded quickly, shooting Ginny one last glare before heading toward his god sisters bedroom.

Ginny waited until the door closed before turning on Harry once again. "Harry, I'm only going to say this once," Ginny hissed, advancing on him with her eyes narrowed. "If you agree to Death's deal, we are over. I will take the kids, and you won't see them again. This will end everything."

Harry stared at her in shock, his mouth hanging open and his eyes blinking frantically. "They're my kids, Ginny. If you think I would just let you take them, you don't know me at all."

But Ginny didn't back down. "That's my deal, Harry."

"Harry? Is everything okay?" Hermione asked later that afternoon as she opened her door and saw her best friend standing there. Harry barely shook his head before Hermione urged him into the house. "What's going on? Is it you and Ginny?"

Harry didn't say a word, instead just sank down onto his best friends couch and placed his face in his hands. "This wasn't how it was supposed to go," he finally said, his voice cracking slightly. "I did what I was supposed to do. I killed Voldemort. I married Ginny. Why can't it be over, Hermione?"

Hermione didn't say anything for a few moments as she stared at Harry. Slowly, she sank beside him and placed her hand on his back gently. "What happened?"

Harry took a deep breath, and, without looking up, told her the events from earlier that day, starting with what happened in the kitchen, the offered Death's Deal, Ginny, and Teddy. "I don't know what to do, Hermione."

Hermione mind was working frantically. She knew that both Ginny and Harry had reasons for acting the way they did, but she didn't agree with Ginny's way of handling things. Hermione had known Harry for years and she knew it was his greatest wish to know his parents. Death had given him a chance to do just that - and bringing back Remus and Sirius made everything even more tempting. And, it gave Teddy the chance to know one of his parents. And that was something Harry had always wanted to give him. He told that boy every memory he could about Remus and Tonks. The chance that Teddy could actually have one of them returned to him? That wasn't something Harry would want to give up.

But it was Tom Riddle. Voldemort. Harry had told her about the memories he had seen of the boy at the orphanage, and it was obvious that Tom had always had problems. Hermione wasn't sure it was something that could be cured from a different environment. But if anyone could change him, it would be Harry.

And this time, they all knew what to look for. They would be watching him.

But if Harry did bring them back, Hermione had no doubt in her mind that Ginny would do exactly what she said she would do. Which meant that was what Harry had to deal with first.

"Harry, I think you should go talk to someone," Hermione said slowly, knowing that Harry wouldn't like what she was going to say.

"I am talking to someone," Harry muttered, his head still buried in his hands.

"I mean someone that can tell you where you stand with Ginny," Hermione continued, her hand making soothing circles on her best friends back. "Because I think both of us know which choice you're going to make."

The words made Harry turn his head to look up at her and stare straight into her eyes. Slowly, he began to nod his head. "Where should I go? To a lawyer?"

Hermione nodded and braced herself before continuing. "If you're going to do this, you're going to need someone that will be able to put up with the media and the fight Ginny is going to put up. Someone who doesn't like to lose."

Harry slowly nodded, seeing the look on Hermione's face. "Ron won't like this, you know."

"Ron doesn't control me," Hermione stated, rolling her eyes at the mention of her husband, "I've heard of a lawyer that is supposed to be one of the best. Someone we went to Hogwarts with, actually."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows as he thought about his old classmates. He hadn't heard of anyone that had studied law. "Who?"

"Draco Malfoy."

Draco Malfoy nearly fell out of his chair when he got the owl from Potter requesting a meeting. It wasn't a secret that the Potters had been on the rocks for years, but that Potter would willingly come see Draco? That was surprising.

"Mr. Malfoy?" His secretary said, knocking on his door softly. "Mr. Potter is here."

Draco nodded and stood from his chair as Harry Potter walked into his office. "Potter," Draco greeted coolly, his eyes trailing over the figure in front of him. There wasn't any question in his mind that Harry had grown into an attractive man. He was still slim, but much more fit than he had been in school. His dark hair, still a mess, was now shorter, making it easier to manage. And finally, gone were the big, round glasses, now replaced by small black frames.

Harry nodded in reply, his eyes quickly skimming over the blond in front of him. He felt his mouth go dry instantly, and he quickly cleared his throat. It wasn't anything new for Harry to think that Draco Malfoy was attractive. If only he had the personality to go along with it.

"So," Draco said, sitting back at his desk and keeping his eyes firmly on the man in front of him. "What can I do for you?"

Harry paused for a moment as he took his own seat. He wasn't even sure where to start. He let out a deep sigh. "It isn't a secret that Ginny and I-"

"Aren't as close as you used to be?" Draco asked diplomatically while on the inside was cackling with something close to glee. He had never liked the youngest Weasley.

"That's a nice way of putting it," Harry chuckled, rolling his eyes. "But I guess I have to tell you about this morning."

Draco sat forward his eyes showing his interest in the dark turn Harry's voice had taken. Hesitantly, Harry told his story once again. Draco listened, his expression growing darker and darker as he learned the newest information. When Harry finished, Draco sat back in his chair contemplatively.

"And, since you are here, I'm guessing you have made your decision?"

Harry let out a deep sigh. "I've always wanted to know my parents, Malfoy. And Sirius was the closest thing I had. Then Remus - Teddy has lived with me since his grandmother died three years ago. But before that, he was over every weekend and at least twice during the week. I've told him everything I could, but it isn't the same as actually knowing them."

Draco nodded slowly, his mind frantically processing what he just heard. "In regards of your wife, she can threaten all she wants, but there is no way the wizarding world would allow her to completely take your children. I will do everything I can to make sure that they stay with you. What about bank accounts, the house, items?"

Harry shook his head. "The Potter Vault and the Black vault are mine, I never put Ginny on either of them. We have a joint vault that I put my Auror money in, and her money from Quidditch goes in there also. She can have the entire thing for all I care. The house is also mine. I had it built before we were married and her name isn't on it either. She can have any of her items or whatever. I don't care."

Draco stared at him for a moment once again, nodding his head. "You do know, with Sirius and your parents coming back, they'll have their vaults back?"

Harry shrugged. "There's enough for all of us." He flashed Draco a grin. "I probably have more money than you."

Draco let a smirk overtake his face. "I doubt that."

Harry just shrugged. "Just a guess."

Draco let a chuckle fall from his lips as Harry grinned back at him. "Now, about Riddle. If you're going to do this, you have to make sure the Wizarding World doesn't know who he is. Keep his name Tom if you want, but the Riddle part will have to go. If people find out he's back, even as a seven year old, they will kill him. Say you adopted him if you want. Just keep it a secret. Ginny, well, that will be something I'll have to look into. She can't be allowed to speak of it."

Harry nodded, his mind whirling once again. "What about my parents?"

Draco paused for a moment before shook his head. "There isn't any way around that one. When they come back, make a public announcement. Say you don't know how it happened, but let everyone know they are who they say they are. No one will question you."

Harry nodded once again, thinking that Hermione was right in having him come here. Draco was more help than Harry had thought possible.

"Go home, tell your wife your decision, and let me know if she makes good on her promise," Draco said, standing.

Harry shook his head as he stood and moved toward the door. "Even if she somehow changes her mind, which I doubt, I want to go through with this. It's been a long time coming."

Draco froze for a moment at the words, his breath catching is his throat. This was it, Harry Potter was getting a divorce. He had hired Draco Malfoy to be his lawyer. Draco wasn't sure if this was a dream or not, but if it was, he was certainly enjoying it. "Then I will get things started."