Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or its characters, a misguided author called JKR does...

I took the liberty of deleting my story 'Enough is enough' because to be frank, I couldn't see a funny and entertaining path for it as I intended for it when I started it. Initially, I thought of giving it a dark beginning and then slowly turn it into an amusing and entertaining story, so that I thought of capturing the entire sequence of Harry's change from his dark ruthless attitude to a tired yet amusive 'not again' sort of attitude.

As I was thinking of ways to correct it, I came up with a new concept that could capture my intentions for Harry and Hermione's character development as I intended for it. But, I wanted it to be more realistic and entertaining than any of my former attempts at fanfiction stories with more heart to heart conversations and action sequences than just a basic outline of a story that I usually give. To turn a genuinely 'unbelievable' concept into a convincing story, if you know what I mean. So here I am again, trying to give you all another time-travel story that I'm hoping would be a fun read for tired evenings. By the way, this is also indirectly a 'what if' scenario, I decided to give it a try since I've always found the notion of it being a path to a rather sensational plot.

Warnings: An alternate universe which will closely resemble the canon… Mildly Dark beginning… Minor to 'maybe major' bashing of Dumbledore and Weasleys… Snape bashing… Unique yet Grey Harry Potter and it will definitely be an eventual Harry/Hermione pairing… And fair warning, it may sound very weird at the beginning, but I'm hoping it will turn out fine later.

Little Whinging (1987, August 6th)-

'Privet Drive' a peaceful looking neighbourhood it was, or so it seemed to be. There were a number of similar looking houses in the same line, each of those houses spaced equally between each other with cars in the driveway and small, neat and well-maintained lawns on the front. As ordinary as this neighbourhood seemed to look, an unusual man was speeding towards the fourth house, something that went completely unnoticed by the inhabitants of the locality.

This man stood over six feet tall, wearing a rather very used looking business outfit; he had dark raven hair that was rather long as it fell over his eyes. Beneath the hair, if one would be to look they would see a long trace of a deep yet faded scar that seemed to range right over the man's right eye. An eye that remained tightly shut, while sporting an intense penetrating look through his other.

This man walked over to the fourth house from the left side entrance of the street and peered through the windows of each room as he walked around the house as a whole. After a few minutes of peering in through the house, he immediately turned around and moved to the left side entrance of the street. He quickened his pace and soon he disappeared from the street as he moved towards the nearby park.

The mysterious man reached the park, a park that was barely furnished with obstacles for children to play. The park itself looked as if it had been neglected for a while, but the man himself was uninterested about the state of the park. The man's left eye landed on a thin, unassuming, raven-haired and green-eyed boy, who was silently sitting on one of the lone swings. This boy was none other than the wizarding world's saviour, Harry Potter. Meanwhile, Harry, who was slowly swinging on his swing, was more interested in the blue sky above than his surroundings, as he was viewing it with his eyes that were filled with both curiosity and wonder.

Harry's life was anything but a life, he was more like a slave to his relatives. He was often starved, verbally abused and sometimes even physically abused for just being unusual or in their terms a 'freak'. Harry was a brilliant and keen boy; he knew that something was wrong with him because strange accidents often happened around him when he was sad, annoyed or terrified, accidents that were anything but normal. Harry was also very cautious, having lived his life with the Dursleys; he was an expert at hiding himself, as such it made him very adept at recognising dark emotions. Years of living with the Dursleys, Dudley in particular, had conditioned Harry to internalise his feelings. A target that refused to react wasn't as much fun to torment, so he had learned how to keep his behaviour neutral even when he was practically seething with bottled-up emotions. Only his eyes would betray him, glinting dangerously whenever he became agitated.

His seventh birthday was only a few days ago and he couldn't help but think of a life with his parents. He had no idea about anything regarding his parents, but frankly, he hoped that anything could be better than the Dursleys' treatment of him.

Subsequently, the man moved towards Harry and spoke as if he certainly knew, "Harry Potter…"

Harry looked up at the voice and his eyes met with the man's single left eye. Harry was instantly scared stiff by this stranger's gruff voice and intense yet eerie stare, as it were something that reminded him of uncle Vernon. All the warning lights blinked in his head, something about this man unnerved and frightened him; however, he kept his reactions neutral.

The man sensing the young boy's fear, the man spoke evenly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"Who...are…you?" Harry stuttered back to the man with a gulp.

"Before we get to that, can we go somewhere private and have a chat?" The man asked him evenly.

And that was the last straw for him, this stranger was trouble and somehow deep in his heart, he knew it. He remembered aunt Petunia's warnings to Dudley about interacting with strangers. He slowly stood up from the swing, as if agreeing with the strange man and when the stranger turned to move away, he took a bold start and ran towards his house as fast as his legs could carry him. Meanwhile, the stranger stood there in the park and simply pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, as he watched the waning silhouette of the child, soon he too faded and vanished into thin air.

Next Morning (Ten O'clock)-

Next Morning, the seven-year-old boy was weeding the lawn in front, there was barely any weed among the lawn's grass, but his aunt didn't want him 'freeloading' inside the house, hence she made him weed the lawn again. Last night his sleep was restless, yesterday's encounter with that stranger had terrified him so much that his paranoia had gotten the best of his much-needed respite.

As he was weeding the lawn under the lukewarm sunlight, he felt a cold breeze pass over him that seemed rather odd for a summer breeze. Something instinctively made him look up and search the surroundings only to find the same scary stranger from yesterday, standing there leaning on the fence while staring at him intently. In fear, Harry's heartbeat sped up instantly, as he watched the man walk up to him as soon as he noticed the man's presence.

"Stop walking…or I'll scream." Harry spoke in a frightened yet brave tone.

Immediately the man stopped at a distance and kneeled one of his legs and then he spoke with a smile, "If I truly meant you any harm, would I risk engaging with you in public while exposing myself like this near your house?"

Harry couldn't understand some of the man's vocabulary, but he did realise the man's general intent. After some deep thought, he decided to give the stranger a chance to explain himself rather than scream and earn his aunt's attention, which will undoubtedly get him in trouble for disturbing her. And above all that he had every reason to suspect that his aunt will most likely just give him up to this stranger and gladly be rid of him, as he knew for a fact that she disliked him.

"Who are you, what do you want?" The child asked loudly trying to overcome his fear.

"Who I am is complicated, while what I want is simple. I want to help you, Harry. I'll explain everything to you and I will make you aware of the truths that were hidden from you."

"What truths…?" Harry again had trouble understanding what the man said, but somehow he found the man's tone to be rather reassuring and the meaning to be innocuous.

"To further explain that…, we really do need to have a talk, alone." The mysterious man replied back to him in a desperate yet urgent tone.

And that again made his suspicious, but since he was giving the man a chance he demanded, "No, not alone. You tell me now."

"Okay, since you're suspicious, I think it's fair enough." The man sighed and then spoke.

"First of all your full name is Harry James Potter, you're the son of James Fleamont Potter and Lily Evans Potter and most importantly you're a wizard, Harry."

"Wizard…? Like a magical wizard?" The young boy asked back astonished by what he has heard.

"Yes…" The man replied sternly.

After a long pause the seven-year-old suddenly shouted out, "You're lying…" and he immediately ran inside the house and almost slammed the door shut.

The mysterious man stood up and again sighed very deeply and then ran both his hands through his messy hair and slightly shook his head in disappointment. And again he simply faded and vanished into thin air. Meanwhile, Harry, who was watching through the gap of the door, looked dumbstruck at the man's sudden disappearance.

That Night (Eleven O'clock)-

Harry laid thinking on his mattress in the cupboard under the stairs. He was filled with many doubts and questions, questions like 'what the stranger meant by him being a wizard', he thought and 'how was the man able to disappear like that all of a sudden'. 'If he being a wizard was true then does that mean magic indeed existed' and somehow if that was actually true, then all of the unusual things that happened around him were in a way 'justified'. And above that, the man somehow knew his parents' full names which were something even he didn't know. It was all too much for the boy's seven-year-old mind to digest because the boy often kept wondering about his own sanity.

"You're not insane you know." Suddenly the seven-year-old child heard a voice that was too real for him to be imagining it.

Harry sat up on his mattress and pulled the cord of his pull cord light and switched on the lights of his 'makeshift cupboard bedroom'. And when the lights turned on, the first thing he saw shocked him to his core and he screamed like there was no tomorrow.

"You can scream all you want; no one's going to hear." The stranger from the previous instances was sitting cross-legged in mid-air as if levitating.

"Are you going to kill me?" Harry asked terrified by this man, who had extraordinary powers.

"No, I'm here to help you."

The levitating man came down and settled in front of him on top of his legs and that's when he realised that this man was intangible, because his legs went straight through the man's legs.

Now, he had all the more reason to be terrified, "Are you a ghost?"

"I wouldn't call myself a ghost, but more like a wraith that is temporarily bound to this earth."

Harry who was previously terrified was now overly confused, but as instincts took over he screamed again. He still couldn't understand what the man meant to say, but once he stopped screaming he was steady enough to ask another question, "Who are you?"

The man sighed with a smile and replied, "That...is a little complicated to explain, but I really can't see another way to put it. I'm you, thirty years from now."

"Thirty years? Like…from the future…?" The seven-year-old asked in an obvious statement like tone.

"You know, you're very keen for a seven-year-old. And yes, like from the future."

"How do I know that you're speaking of the truth?"

The mysterious man, who just established to young Harry that he was the Harry Potter from the future, said, "What's the colour of your eyes?"

"Green…?" Young Harry spoke unsurely because he has never given himself enough attention to scrutinise his eyes.

"Emerald green, to be precise…" The older Harry then slowly shifted away from his hair from his left eye line and showed the exact same green eye to his younger self.

"Many people do have green eyes, you know." Young Harry said meekly, still sceptical about this ghost being himself who came from the future.

To this, older Harry simply lifted his hair further and displayed the famous Z-shaped scar on the right side of his forehead. "Do the 'many people' have this too?" Older Harry asked rather amused by his younger self's scepticism. He knew that most children at that age wouldn't even understand the notion enough to react to it, but his younger-self was a special case, a rather clever child raised in an abusive environment which made him self-dependant.

"Wow, so you are from the future. How is this even possible?" The child looked at his older self in absolute wonder.

"Well…" As he was about to begin explaining, he was cut off again by yet another question.

"Why did you come back in time?" The boy asked excitedly, as he was fascinated by everything that has transpired.

"To change the course of history…"

"What…?"

"I need to explain, but the explanation is very long and very complicated, so I suggest that you get comfortable because you're in for a very long night." The older man said sporting an amused smile.

And then he placed his intangible right hand on his seven-year-old counterpart's head and used his Legilimency abilities to enhance certain parts of his younger self's mind, in order to give him the ability to understand the complex conversations that they were about to have. It was nothing but a simple matter of adding advanced vocabulary and their corresponding knowledge about those vocabulistics into his younger self's subconscious mind. He did this because he got the feeling that his younger-self had some difficulty understanding his words and his manner of speech. And then he slowly activated certain parts of his younger self's brain, to make sure that his counterpart can understand him. Once it was done he began with his explanation.

Four Hours Later-

For the last four hours, our time-travelling hero explained many things to his younger counterpart. The thirty-seven-year-old man started with explaining the basics of what happened in his entire life from his birth to Voldemort's attack and then he continued through until his Hogwarts letter. And then he continued with the events from his first year in Hogwarts to his sixth. He then gave a basic outline of the events that happened in his six years of magical schooling. During his explanation, he explained everything about magic, about Dumbledore, Voldemort, the Weasleys, the Order, the Death Eaters, the wizarding world, about its society, about its prejudices and it ideological aspects. He also explained about the Ministry and its various sections, the ICW, Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, Horizont Alley, Carkitt Market, St Mungo's hospital and much more. After that, he came to the concept of the mundane world, how well the worlds are connected and how well they're hidden in the shadows of one another. And how the pureblood fanatics of the magical world fancy the concept of oppressing and mistreating the muggles and muggleborns and he went on by explaining it from various perspectives.

At first the seven-year-old Harry was really excited to hear about his life, but eventually, the excitement waned as he realised that the magical world wasn't as magical as he thought it might be. And finally he felt like he needed a breather and above that, he felt like he wanted to just sleep as it was a little over three in the morning.

As such the young boy was really annoyed, "It still doesn't explain why you came back in time."

"I haven't come to that part yet." Older Harry admitted and the seven-year-old whined back due to being too tired to listen anymore.

The seven-year-old whined with a rather cute yawn, "Can't we talk again tomorrow?" In return the time traveller simply placed his intangible hand on his younger self's head again and the tiredness and mental exhaustion of the child disappeared almost instantly, and then the man replied, "I only have a couple of days left here, once my magic is spent I'll disappear forever, thus I intend to make the most of this."

"What did you do to me?" The child asked in obvious surprise feeling invigorated.

"It's called Legilimency, I convinced your subconscious mind that you've just woken up from a very restful sleep and that's why you're feeling fine, it's almost like therapy via hypnosis. However you'll have to compensate for it by taking a long, deep and restful sleep later, so keep in mind that you'll have to be in bed around eight tonight."

"But aunt Petunia won't…"

"Don't worry about her; I'll take care of her." The child looked at him in scrutiny but finally agreed with him.

After a short pause, the child asked, "What did you mean by having only a few more days here?"

"To travel through time, I had to push my soul and all of my magic out of my body in one push and then I had to bind them both together and then travel back in time. It's a one-way process, you can push your soul out, but you can't reverse it, so once it's done, it's done. Hence as I travelled here, my body in the future died, therefore my magic won't replenish itself, so once the magic that I have expires, I'll have to move on from this earth."

His younger-self looked down very sadly at his revelation, but he still had a lot to explain and so he decided to change the topic immediately and he asked, "Now where did I leave it?"

The excited seven-year-old who was more than happy about being distracted, he instantly filled in for his older self, "You, Ronald and Hermione retrieved one of the 'cursed objects' (Horcrux) from the Ministry employer Umbridge and made it out, but Ron was injured."

"Yes…, on our way out, Yaxley, a death eater followed us through the floo to the Grimmauld place, as a result, the location's safety was compromised, hence as we escaped again, we had to camp outside in a forest. And since Ron was injured, we had to stay in one place and not move around. During the next few days, we learned that we couldn't destroy the object with any curse whatsoever. Henceforth we took it upon ourselves to keep this object safe until we could find a way to destroy it, so we took turns keeping it amongst ourselves."

"Why take turns?"

"The cursed objects that were Voldemort's source of Immortality had some traps set in them too. This cursed item that we were carrying with us at the time; it brings out a person's most negative emotions…, strong feelings like despair, anger, hatred etc. And then it slowly influences them and inclines their personality towards these feelings, making them behave with their worst qualities ever."

"As such two weeks after our skirmish in the Ministry, one morning I had an argument with Hermione; I was keeping the object with me at that time. Due to Ron's injury we couldn't move and we had to cover for Ron with his work and I complained to her about how she wasn't doing enough and that obviously angered her, because she was actually the one who was doing the most work among us all. Bloody hell, she was the sole reason for why we survived that long out in the field. Naturally, she argued back and then finally she made me give the object back to her and she kept it with herself. That very evening she made a breakthrough, she found out how to destroy the cursed object." He then paused for a second and asked inquiringly, "Do you remember me telling you about how I used the sword of Godric Gryffindor to kill that bloody huge snake in my second year?"

"Yes, and you destroyed that cursed diary with one of its teeth."

"Precisely, you see that sword had the snake's venom embedded in it, so it could technically be used to destroy the cursed object and it also explained why Dumbledore left it to me in the will, even when it wasn't his to give, it was a clue. Meanwhile, as I was about to celebrate this discovery, Ron had enough of the quest. Ron yelled at me saying that Dumbledore gave them nothing worthwhile and had us chasing our own tails and among other things he voiced his frustrations, his frustrations were valid because the sword was back in Hogwarts and we were stuck outside, I defended Dumbledore and unsurprisingly the argument escalated very quickly. Before it could turn physical, Hermione interfered and stopped us, but by that time Ron had already made up his mind to leave the quest midway. He quickly packed his things and left, Hermione went after him to try and convince him otherwise, but that's when something expected happened in the most unexpected way."

"What happened…?" Young Harry asked with complete interest.

"Ron was angry at the lack of progress that we were making and also with me. As I told you before, Ron had an inferiority complex due to being born with five brothers and one sister who were all overachieving than him in their own way. Due to him being injured, I and Hermione had to do a lot of his work to compensate for him and so we spent a lot of time together and that made him very jealous of me. Obviously, he mistook our friendship in a totally wrong way, and so as Hermione was trying to convince him, he gave her a choice, to either walk away with him so that they can have a life or to stay with me and fight a war unprepared and most likely die."

"What did she do?" Young Harry asked hoping for the latter.

"She came back to the tent, handed over the cursed object and apologised to me. And then she packed her things...and left with Ron."

"Oh…" Young Harry felt sad at the revelation.

After a short pause, the curious seven-year-old asked in a confused manner, "Why would she leave?" It didn't make any sense to the confused boy, according to his older counterpart's story, Hermione Granger was the most loyal friend he ever had and a friend like that leaving him was impossible.

"I think it was the cursed object's fault, she was keeping it with her at that time, so it must have influenced her thoughts. She definitely wasn't appreciated enough for the amount of work that she was doing and it must have made her choose the easiest way out, which was Ron's offer."

"What happened then?"

"After they left, I started thinking and I had no other choice but to realise just how bloody alone I really was. I was furious and I didn't want to stay there; hence I packed the tent and my things and I too left in a matter of hours making sure not to leave behind any trail whatsoever. The next day, Hermione and Ron obviously felt guilty about their actions and realised their mistake, they tried to find me for the next few weeks, but they couldn't. Hence, at Ron's frantic insistence they both went back to the 'Burrow' to meet with the other Order members, so to ask for their help in locating me. But the Order members didn't want Hermione or Ron going back out to the field, fearing the possibility of them leading the death eaters to me, due to their title 'undesirable' branded by the ministry."

The thirty-seven-year-old man took a deep breath and continued, "I was on the run for the next eight months, even the Order members couldn't find me. Meanwhile, without Hermione to help me with the research on the cursed objects, I had no choice but to carry on with what I knew and so I did my best at adapting and surviving, as you might say. I resorted to doing immoral and cruel things to get my information as it were. Finally, on the eighth month, I had a duel with a death eater who was also Voldemort's top enforcer Bellatrix Lestrange and when I managed to defeat her by the skin of my teeth, I forced her into revealing the location of one of the objects she knew off. According to her one of the objects were hidden in Hogwarts. I trusted the information that I had acquired as it made perfect sense, to Voldemort Hogwarts had a huge impact on his life and it was only logical that he hid one of those items there, soon I went to Hogwarts, to search for it. There was no clean entry or exit, but I decided to take the risk nonetheless and I went in, I was spotted on my way in and a fight broke out the moment I set foot into the castle. I fought many death eaters on the way and when it was clear that I can't search for anything in that atmosphere, I tried a tactical retreat, but I realised that I couldn't escape because the entire castle was sealed and Voldemort had already arrived to finish me off once and for all."

"I hid and I fought and again I hid and was spotted yet again. And when I was fighting a downside battle against the death eaters and Voldemort with no whatsoever chance at victory, fortunately, I was rescued in time by a brave friend of mine named Luna Lovegood. When we were safe and secure, she told me that the cursed objects that I was looking for were moved by Voldemort barely a month ago, and how she knew of this, that I have no idea. Voldemort somehow found out that I was hunting for his very source of immortality; naturally, he took the necessary steps to ensure that it didn't happen. Luna also informed me that Hermione was missing and that she snuck out of the Burrow and went looking for me. Then Luna took me to the Grey Lady, the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower, and the ghost led me out of Hogwarts through a secret layer of catacombs created by the founders of the school. The catacombs can only be opened by someone blood related to any of the four founders, but not the descendants, the Grey Lady's name was Helena Ravenclaw otherwise the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, who was one of the four founders of Hogwarts. As such, ghost or not, it opened in her presence and she safely led me out of Hogwarts, on my way out I was able to convince her and she also informed me where Voldemort hid the cursed object again after retrieving it from 'the room of hidden things' in Hogwarts a month ago."

The time-traveller paused for a moment and then continued again, "As soon as I escaped from Hogwarts, I went to the place Helena informed me about and I retrieved the object. Now I had two cursed objects and no way to destroy them. I needed to find a way, hence I went with what I knew and for the next month I searched, found and planned a trek down in through the rift canyon leading into the 'Chamber of Secrets' from the outside, an alternate entrance that Fawkes used to get us out back in my second year. After a rather very long and dangerous hike down, I was able to get in and recover several teeth from the dead Basilisk's skeleton. And with that, I destroyed both the cursed objects that I had at hand, stepping several steps closer to making Voldemort mortal again."

Seeing his older-self hesitating to continue, the seven-year-old asked, "After that, you went onto finding Hermione didn't you?" The time-travelling ghost looked at the young boy in surprise because he still had trouble digesting that his younger-self was even keener and smarter than he himself was when he was at the beginning of Hogwarts, it reminded him just how much he had fallen.

"Yes…" He agreed to the child in front of him.

"Did you find her?"

"In a way, yes…"

"Where…?"

"At the very same cemetery, our parents are buried in." The time traveller replied sombrely.

"Was she…?"

"Yes…"

"Did the death eaters…?" The seven-year-old never finished, as he was interrupted by his older counterpart.

"No, to avoid being captured she took her own life."

Seeing the shocked and inquiring look of the boy sitting in front of him, he sighed and began to explain further, "As soon as Hermione and Ron couldn't find me, Ron apparently insisted to her rather very assertively that they both must head back to the Burrow. There, they were both reprimanded and were put under house arrest by Molly. In the coming months, Ron somehow convinced his mother and went on missions with the remaining Order members to keep track of Voldemort's movements, but Hermione was confined to the house doing chores for Molly. Eventually, Hermione and Ron had several huge arguments because Ron had no whatsoever idea of joining back with me on the quest, but Hermione, on the other hand, yearned for another chance at correcting her mistake. Hence, during their final argument, she gave over her relationship with him permanently and snuck out of the Burrow, in search of me. She knew better than to follow my trails, which is, in other words, impossible and also because the chances of running into death eaters and snatchers were rather high. Therefore she waited for me in 'Godric's Hollow', she knew that it was a place with sentimental value for me and that me visiting the place was a good possibility, but so was the chance of a trap. She hid there and waited for months despite the growing risk of encountering death eaters, but however, I never went there because I strongly suspected that the place would most likely be a snare. A month before I went to Hogwarts in search of the cursed item, a month before I even found out that she was missing, she was ambushed by several death eaters and Voldemort himself came there to witness her fight and that's how Voldemort learned about what I was hunting after. A muggleborn witch being captured by death eaters is the worst possible fate any woman can suffer, so before they could completely immobilise her and take her away, she managed to wiggle herself out of their grasp and killed herself."

"Meaning…" His seven-year-old counterpart pushed for an answer.

"Meaning that you'll understand when you're older." He replied quickly and the seven-year-old wisely accepted the answer and nodded in understanding.

"What happened then?" The curious boy asked him.

"The world became a much darker place, as things kept getting worse and worse...and worse." He spoke tiredly as if reliving a terrible memory.

"Didn't you and the Order do something?"

"Within the next year, all of the Order members were eliminated." He briefed sadly.

"Even the Weasleys…?"

"They too, it was ultimately Ron's fault that they all died." He replied nonchalantly.

The younger counterpart couldn't piece together the logic of the story, as it didn't make any sense for it to be Ron's fault. "Why was it Ron's fault?" The young Harry asked in a confused manner.

"You see after Hermione's death, one of the pureblood sympathisers who lived in Godric's Hollow buried her in the cemetery using one of his family's spaces. And when I found her there, I investigated into what had happened and through that man I learned of many things, then when I was sure, I informed the Order of what had happened to Hermione. This led Ron to go into a mental depression. After the news of Hermione's death spread, we finally started coordinating our efforts to improve our progress, we came to an agreement, the Order members wouldn't engage themselves in combat, but they would collect valuable information for me, while I would do the field work. This turned out to be a boon for me because I succeeded in destroying another one of Voldemort's cursed objects of Immortality within the next few months. With that, five out of seven objects were destroyed, Voldemort realised that he needed to change his tactics if he were to survive. Hence, instead of concentrating his sole attention on finding me, he approached Ron and threatened to kill his family. Ron, being the most idiotic and foolish mug he was, made an agreement with that monster, a pact to give up the other Order members to ensure the safety of his own family members."

"He gave them up?" The younger Potter asked in pure shock, it was even obvious to him that it was a very bad idea.

"Yes…, he did." He replied in a tone consisting of disgust, disappointment and latent anger, but he didn't stop there and kept continuing, "Voldemort was too smart to leave any loose ends, so once the Order members were eliminated; he obviously murdered Ron's family members too. And then Voldemort purposefully left Ron alive to lure me into another one of his traps, to capture me, as it were. Soon, ignoring the risk of a trap, I confronted Ron and he blamed me for the deaths of Hermione, the Order and his family. He seemed to think that if I hadn't kept going on with my quest and returned home, Hermione wouldn't have gone looking for me and that she would've been alive and that he wouldn't have made such a deal with Voldemort. And then out of his foolishness, blind rage, and his delusions, he tried to kill me, hoping to spare the world from any more pain."

The child asked intently, "What did you do in return?"

"I took his head." The seven-year-old Potter gulped at his older counterpart's crude statement.

"Why didn't you spare him?"

"Because of him, I lost my only connection to a family, Harry. I lost my surrogate uncle Remus, his wife and a close friend of mine Tonks and their son Teddy, who was my godson and above all that if it wasn't for him Hermione wouldn't have left me and she would've solved all mysteries and we would've won against Voldemort a long time ago. You won't understand this now, but one day you'll be able to comprehend just how much they really mean to you and I genuinely hope that you won't have to feel what it's like to lose them."

He paused for a moment to watch for his younger self's reaction and then he continued, "With that, the 'Order of the Phoenix' was no more and the only resistance that remained in Britain was forever lost. Since I was the only threat left in Britain; Voldemort concluded that it was time to expand his empire. He violated the 'Statute of Secrecy' and he proclaimed himself and the existence of the magical world to the mundane world. He then took over the UK quite easily and then he used the arsenal of muggle weaponry of our country to keep the other countries from retaliating and successfully stalled for precious time. And that 'precious time' proved to be useful because all over the world, many countries had to come up with ways to explain the existence of magical people and their community to the citizens of the normal world. Soon after that, chaos erupted and that ultimately led to various civil wars in respective countries. The countries and the governments that survived their war, lived, and the others that didn't survive were easily conquered by Voldemort. By the year 2014, the only countries that were coordinating with the ICW were Russia, China, Japan, South and North America, Australia and New Zealand, whereas everything else was under Voldemort's control."

"What were you doing by then?" The smart seven-year-old Potter asked his counterpart.

"Whereas by then for me, I was the only man in all of Europe to fight against Voldemort and never to be captured, not even once, I was the symbol of hope."

"What about the cursed objects?"

"About that, I hope I didn't have to tell you, but I don't see a choice. You see I was never able to destroy the last cursed object and there is a reason for it. The last two cursed objects weren't objects per se, they were living beings."

"What…? How can this 'objects of immortality' be living beings?" The younger Potter again asked being unable to see the logic behind it.

"To explain that I would have to tell you what the objects are and what the process itself does and believe you me I have no intention of explaining these things to you."

"Why not…?"

"Because the process we are talking about is one of the darkest forms of magic ever to exist, and I don't want you researching on it when you go to Hogwarts."

"Hey, don't judge me." The seven-year-old boy yelled back angrily.

"Let me ask you a question, why do you think I came here to 1987 and not somewhere along the way? If I was trying to simply change the course of history, I could've very well done it anywhere along the way, couldn't I?" He asked his younger counterpart. The seven-year-old thought for a while but he couldn't come up with an answer.

"It's because I'm hoping that you'll become a smart, calm, steady-minded person who can make completely rational decisions even when under excessive pressure. I couldn't do this during my schooling years; only after years of living in a war-torn world did I become capable enough of this. And I don't think any of my counterparts in my respective schooling years can develop such steady mindedness without the corresponding side effects that come with their age, so I came here to correct myself at the very root of all problems." He explained to his younger counterpart, who was listening very carefully.

"What root of all problems?"

He sighed and began hesitantly, "The event that changed my life. Next year, you'll score top marks in a test, while ousting Dudley who will score the least in the whole class. For this, uncle Vernon will whip your back with his belt until his arm weakens due to pain and ache. After that, to avoid such events, such pain in the future you'll simply give up on learning and on sports and by the time you get your Hogwarts letter, you'll comply with their every request with minimal resistance. You turn out to be an immature, weak-minded boy who enters Hogwarts with an excessive fame that only further hinders you from developing yourself. And when you do go to Hogwarts, you'll be manipulated by a fucking headmaster who thinks he knows what's best for everyone and a stupid best mate who holds you back at every turn and keeps you isolated from making other potential friends who could've helped, who would've helped if only you have gotten to know them better." The thirty-seven-year-old ghost yelled back losing his temper for the first time in the entire time.

"I gave up when I was your age and the result of it is a one-eyed ghost sitting in front of you, now. Do you want to live your entire school life while being in constant peril and then fighting a war that you never really understood or to live a normal life with a loving family? It's up to you, Harry. And today, here, if my intervention changes you then what may happen next is for the better or the worse. And if you turn out to become how I want you to be, there is a particularly high chance that you may grow into an ambitious, cold-hearted person like Voldemort at his starting years at Hogwarts. And if by chance you turn out to be anything like a young Tom Marvolo Riddle then I don't want you knowing much about Immortality, do you understand?" He asked the child sitting in front of him and the said child nodded vigorously being afraid of his older self.

He sighed at the child and spoke softly, "I didn't mean to scare you. This period of time, now, this is where I can actually make a change. This is where all the problems of my future began, me giving up on life just to spare the pain of my uncle's whipping. If only I had persevered through for a few more years, how my life could've been changed, it was something I wished for every day in the later years of my life."

"Now, I'm going to give you some pieces of information and I need you to promise that you'll not go looking for ways to undo this, okay?" He asked his younger counterpart in a brotherly manner.

"I promise…"

"Good…" He didn't really believe that his younger self wouldn't go looking for such intimate information about Horcruxes, but now he was sure that at least his younger-self would exercise caution while doing so and that was all he could really expect of 'himself'.

"Almost six years ago when Voldemort tried to kill you with a killing curse, it backfired onto himself and his body was destroyed. I told you that our mother's love saved us from instant death, but something else happened that night. As Voldemort's body was destroyed by the backfired curse, we became one of his objects of Immortality. It's not entirely clear what happened or how it happened, however, I know for a fact that Voldemort himself didn't mean for it to happen, it was entirely accidental."

The seven-year-old looked at him wide-eyed and muttered, "Oh…"

"I know you have many questions, so ask away." He prompted the boy to clear the doubts.

"Does this mean that I have to die for Voldemort to become mortal again?"

"Technically, yes, but there are ways to bypass this…"

"There are…?"

"You see one of the reasons for why I confidently came back in time was because that I was sure that I was no longer one of Voldemort's cursed objects for maintaining immortality. There is also a reason for why I survived that many encounters with Voldemort over the years, it was because I couldn't kill him as he was immortal and very strong, but also because of the fact that he didn't want to kill me because he knew that I was one of his sources of immortality. He knew this because Hermione suspected that I was one of the cursed objects due to the psychic link I and Voldemort shared and since Voldemort read her mind, he too began to suspect and eventually he also concluded in favour of Hermione's logic after he scoped through all of Ron's memories via Legilimency and validated all his doubts. I couldn't just kill myself to try and make Voldemort mortal again because his snake/familiar Nagini was the last cursed object and I couldn't kill it, and if I died and Voldemort lived, then there would be no one else to stop him."

"And I know there is a way to bypass this, because once I was stabbed in my right lung and technically, I was dead for three minutes, until a…, an acquaintance of mine revived me back. Once I was revived, the curse that maintained Voldemort's immortality was undone, of course, Voldemort didn't know any of this and frankly, I exploited his unawareness of the fact to my advantage countless times."

"Does that mean Voldemort was almost mortal when you came back?"

"Yes, I tried to kill his familiar snake on various occasions over a seven-year period, but I couldn't succeed."

"If you had kept trying would you have managed to kill it?"

"Hard to say, maybe…I could've, maybe I couldn't."

"If so, then why did you risk everything by coming back in time?"

"Good god, I'm tired of explaining. Don't you understand, yet? I came back in time just because I could…, and I thought a different start in our life would help the future of the world." He groaned and replied back to his younger counterpart.

"Why?"

"In 2013 the ICW started conducting ventures with squads that contained both hit-wizards and muggle military men for support and they were systematically recapturing the countries that had fallen into the hands of Voldemort, this was possible because both magical and non-magical people had a common enemy and the struggle against this enemy, united them. And Voldemort was obviously alarmed by this and so in January 2014, Voldemort captured many scholars who specialised in various fields of magical arts and he had them build a magical time-travel device. In February 2017, just over three years later, the device itself was complete; once it was done Voldemort destroyed all the research and eliminated the researchers to ensure that they won't create another such device for anyone else, to tie up all loose ends as it were."

"Let me…let me guess. You created a time-travel device of your own to counter against Voldemort's time travel plan?" The seven-year-old asked excitedly.

"NO…, Harry, it took three years for more than three hundred magical scholars to create that device, do you really think I could've done that by my own?" He deadpanned back logically.

The seven-year-old boy thought for a moment and realised that his theory was unlikely, "Probably not…"

"Precisely, instead of going through all the trouble of creating that device, I went undercover as a death eater and patiently yet silently waited a few years until the device itself was complete and when it did, I stole it from Voldemort and by some miracle, I was able to escape out of there alive. It was a brilliant plan because Voldemort himself wouldn't be able to recreate the time travel device again because the research and the researchers were eliminated, and the data itself was too big and complex for even Voldemort's Legilimency skills."

"If the time travel device was made for Voldemort, then why would he want a device that would kill him if he used it?"

"Good question. Voldemort thought of himself as immortal despite my efforts at making him mortal again. And if it worked, then he wouldn't have to worry about me and my attempts to kill him anymore. And even if it didn't, he would still be alive because of the snake." And the answer vaguely made sense to the child.

"And you came back here to help me." The seven-year-old claimed it with some level of certainty.

"I came back to help us."

"Us…?"

"Yes, us, you and me both… You, to put you on a healthy path that I'm hoping will save the world. And me, to clear my conscience and do one good thing that's useful to people, before I move on from this earth." He provided a slightly cryptic answer to his younger counterpart, hoping that one day he will understand the meaning of his reply.

"It's almost around four; you should try to get some sleep. I'll wake you up when it's time. And don't be surprised if you can't sleep well, the effects of my Legilimency still remains." He said to his younger self and he switched off the light.

Two Days Later (Evening)-

During the course of the last two days, the thirty-seven-year-old wraith had to explain everything to the young child once again, who had thought of everything as a dream when he had woken up the following morning. The time-traveller had also made sure to play with Vernon's, Petunia's and Dudley's minds. He effectively used his Legilimency skills to stretch their thoughts of distaste regarding him a little and then placed some lasting beliefs in their minds. And on top of that as a safety measure he placed some 'compulsion spells' in the house, he did this so to make his supposedly 'civilised relatives' into ignoring his younger-self in the coming years, so to facilitate his younger-self's magical development before entering Hogwarts. Being a wraith wandless magic came easily to him, even though he had extraordinary control over his own magic sometimes he needed his wand to cast complex spellwork, but now it was unnecessary.

He also used his Legilimency skills coupled with his immensely strong intent to manipulate his younger self's own magic to literally shatter Voldemort's consciousness that was inside the soul piece. And then, once he was sure that Voldemort can't influence his younger-self with the Horcrux, he gave some 'minor' access to Voldemort's knowledge and information bank, more like inducing artificial instinct into the young mind. He then taught his younger self's mind to reason with every logic and permutation before coming to a conclusion, to use such methods to look at life. It was a gamble on his part, but he couldn't see another way to ensure that his younger-self would grow stronger both magically and mentally before entering Hogwarts despite whatever the impacts his 'timely intervention' may accomplish.

Despite what others may say, there were some things no one can deny about Voldemort. Tom Marvolo Riddle was a lethal combination of brilliance, ambition and intellect. And since Voldemort had an extraordinary level of control over his magic even at a young age, he found it requisite that his other-self too will need to have such a level of control to match the tyrant in terms of raw power. It was one of the many things he lacked when he began his journey to fulfil his destiny at the beginning of Hogwarts and as such in the years to come he ended up fighting an impossible war for two decades seeing no eventual destination on the horizon.

At the moment, he was sitting with his younger-self on a bench in the park watching the sunset. There was an awkward silence between them, his magic was depleting and he had no choice but to leave this world forever and his counterpart felt like he was abandoning him with only leaving a burden to bear.

He looked at the sad child sitting beside him and he began with a smile, "I've left you a diary with insights and opinions on individuals and on events that you may meet or experience over the years. And dense information about the basics of magic and some simple yet effective exercises for you to practice and trust me practising it without a wand will do you wonders. The diary is enchanted in a way that new passages, more information and new memories will appear on it with time and you'll be able to view the memories as if you were there. A part of my consciousness is embedded in this diary, so if you want any advice then you can ask by writing diary entries. I hope you find it useful."

There was no immediate reply from the seven-year-old, but a few minutes later the child slowly asked, "Why didn't you just give me all your memories and knowledge?"

"First of all, it wasn't because I didn't want to, but rather it was because it's impossible."

"Why?"

"Harry, think of your mind as a magical pot that can hold seven units of water, which resembles your age. This pot is magical because it's charmed in a way that it'll never lose any of what's poured into it and also because it grows in size with enough time. Now, my mind is a subsequently bigger magical pot that can hold up to thirty-seven units of water. What would happen if I were to pour all the thirty-seven units of water into your pot, which can only hold only seven units and remember this magical pot would do everything in its power to not waste the water?"

"The pot would rupture…?"

"Precisely…, your mind won't be able to hold the stress of a memory transfusion and believe me I fancied about it a lot. However facts are facts, if I wanted to give you all of my memories and everything, I'd have to do it piece by piece and it would very well take years and unfortunately for us, we don't have years."

There was a long comfortable silence, but the young child wasn't finished yet, he asked again, "If there was another way to save the world, would you have still chosen to travel back in time?"

"Another way, huh…? It would depend on what way it is."

"What if it is a much better way? Would you have given it over for a fresh start?"

"No, I wouldn't have."

"Why not…?"

"You do understand that the only thing that stood between me and my victory was a pet snake named Nagini, which I couldn't locate even after years of searching. If I had a better way to save the world, then I definitely wouldn't have risked everything on a gamble." He replied back seriously.

"A gamble…? What gamble?" The child looked at him giving a confused and inquiring look.

He sighed softly and corrected, "An act of faith perhaps, but I'd still prefer calling it a 'gamble'."

"Why do you call this plan a 'gamble', don't you trust me?" The child asked confused by the man's intent.

"No, it's nothing like that… I do trust you, if I'm not going to trust myself, then whom am I going to trust? It's the world that I don't believe in. I call this plan a gamble because by coming back in time to change the course of history, I've given you resources and I've paved way for future opportunities for you to acquire and build upon. Everything that I didn't have during my childhood, which is intelligence, wisdom and talent. You see people with excessive of all these in them, they usually find an ambition and eventually to fulfil their goals they would at one point find themselves falling to a darker path. Now that I've given you all these qualities, there is a particularly high possibility of you inclining towards evil in the future. And that's why I prefer calling this a 'gamble'."

Suddenly, he stopped smiling at the child sitting beside him and he spoke urgently, "I'm glad you brought this up, my magic is almost depleted and I'll pass on any moment now. Could you do me a favour, consider it a man's last request?"

"A-a-anything…" The young Harry stuttered back hesitantly.

"I want you to promise me that you'll never lose your compassion."

"What difference does it make?"

"It makes all the difference in the world, Harry. A single moment of compassion to others could very well change everything that would mean anything to you."

"I know that I have no right asking you this, having already placed an incredible burden on your shoulders, but I'm asking nonetheless because you've felt more pain than most your age and that makes you one of the only people who can understand the pain of others. Will you promise me this, Harry?" He desperately asked this to his younger counterpart.

"I promise…"

"Thank you." He replied with a heartfelt tone of gratitude.

Harry looked at the sky above and spoke serenely, "I've gambled with death all these years, being the 'master of death'. I thought that I was ready and now at death's door, I find myself 'scared', the irony of it." He barked out loud with a gruff laughter. The young Harry Potter who was sitting beside his older-self too looked up at the sky wondering in confusion and then he turned to his side, only to find that his older-self had disappeared from reality and passed on to the afterlife.

He sombrely looked up at the sky again hoping that his older-self may find peace wherever he is. His very first friend was gone and he had no idea how to feel about all this and all that's ahead of him in the future.

"Goodbye, brother…" He whispered to his first friend and a brother figure. And for some reason that he couldn't explain, he felt like everything was going to be just fine.

People this is officially my fourth attempt at fanfiction and third attempt at Harry Potter fanfiction. This is another time-travel story and I'll be continuing this in tandem to my 'Time-Warp' and please be a little more patient. I've been trying to re-inspire myself and when I do, and then you'll have all the chapters that you want.

This story is an alternate universe, starting from the point, 'what if Hermione had left with Ron that day', and how the world would have turned out to be kind of story. Feel free to review and point out any mistakes that I've made and I'll do everything to correct it.

Until next time,

Thank You…