This story has been abandoned and is up for adoption for anyone else to finish.

Chapter 1: A New Reality

May 2, 1998: Hogwarts

Explosions rang around him as Harry rushed towards the Great Hall. He had just ended Voldemort's life and was running to where his friends were most likely at. Harry had heard from other injured students along the way that the professors and other students were making their final stand them. With Voldemort gone, most of the Death Eaters had begun fleeing the battle, especially after they watched Harry dispatch him in single combat.

Ginny! Hermione! Ron! You guys better be-

It was as if time stopped at that moment, Harry's eyes widened in shock and horror as he watched Bellatrix Lestrange strike Ginny down with an all too familiar sickly green light.

"NOOOOOO!"

Harry was about to scream again when words failed to leave his mouth. Near Ginny's body was the lifeless form of Molly and Ron Weasley. For a split second, Harry's mind short-circuited, before an overwhelming surge of anger and hatred roared back into his mind. Harry instantly shot a whip of blazing hot fire right at Bellatrix who was still drunk on her recent kill. The fire collided into her back, burning a large hole through her torso as the rest of her body lit up on fire. After unleashing his anger on a few more Death Eaters and helping the surviving students and Professors to clear out the Death Eaters, Harry then sank to the ground, breaking down in tears as he rested onto his knees next to the three lifeless Weasleys. Harry reached over to Ginny, brushing off the rubble and dirt on her face before pulling her body close to him.

"Gods… Ginny… I…"

"Harry! It's Hermi-"

Luna stopped mid-sentence as she saw the scene in front of him. Harry, however, caught the incomplete name that was about to leave Luna's mouth. The desperation and sadness in Luna's tone already told him the answer. Harry whipped his head around to look at Luna whilst clutching Ginny tightly. Harry only need to look at Luna's teary and swollen eyes to get his guess confirmed. Harry at that moment had never felt more alone, he remained in the Great Hall, holding onto Ginny for hours and hours. Arthur Weasley, George Weasley, the last two remaining Weasley's came and joined Harry as well. The three of them absolutely devastated and sat there with their now-dead loved ones until Professor McGonagall came to pull Harry and the rest of them away.

August 21, 1998: Ministry of Magic

"OI! PLEASE STOP HIM!"

"SOMEBODY HELP! YOU CAN'T LET HIM ENTER!"

George Weasley and Angelina Johnson ran down the hallways of the Ministry, getting whoever they could to try to listen to them.

"KINGSLEY!"

Kingsley Shackelbolt, now Minister for Magic was slightly disturbed that George Weasley so unceremoniously yelled his name across the Ministry Hallways, but assumed it was very important.

"Mr. Weasley, what may I-"

"IT'S HARRY! HE IS HEADING FOR THE VEIL! YOU NEED TO STOP HIM!"

Kingsley's eyes instantly widened in shock and he whipped his wand out and tapped a circular pin on his robes.

"All Aurors to the department of mysteries, lock down the Ministry and have all personnel guard the Veil."

Kingsley then quickly swirled around and began running towards the elevator.

"Come on! We must get their before Harry!"

As the three of them rushed down to the Veil room at full speed, Harry already stood in front of the Veil. The grey souls within the ancient gate swirled around in front of him began to whisper even louder, as if they were trying to pull him in.

"Guys, I will be with you all soon. Ron, Hermione, Remus, Tonks, Sirius… Ginny… Dad… Mom... "

The door to the Veil then slammed open. Then without any hesitation, Harry jumped through the Veil. The last thing he heard before his vision went dark was Kingsley Shacklebolt yelling his name. He didn't feel any pain as the magic of the Veil enwrapped around him.

November 21, 1990: Godric's Hollow

Harry woke up suddenly in a bright room. His eyes completely unused to the bright sunlight. He was underneath a very warm blanket, lying in bed. He could hear laughter in the distance and the sound of birds chirping. Huh, I guess this is the afterlife?

Harry looked around him, for some reason he was in a typical wizarding children's bedroom, with Quidditch Player posters and a Cleansweep broom leaning against a closet. There was also a table with a few notebooks and quills lying around, along with a calendar and clock and-

Wait… why is this room so detailed? It is as if someone was actually lived here… that motherfucker Voldemort and Belatrix Bitch better not have an afterlife like this...

Harry then heard footsteps closely approach him. Before he could even react his room door slammed open and he lost all sense of reality and froze.

"Finally you are up, Jasmine, Liam and Leon both came up to try wake you up, hurry up young man! It is almost lunchtime young man! I know you had a hard time yesterday after your Grandparents but you still need to eat-"

Lily then stopped talking as she realized the gobsmacked expression on her son's face.

"Harry? What is wrong? Are you okay?"

Harry barely managed to utter out his next words as his eyes remained glued to the redhead with the same emerald green eyes as him.

"Mom?"

Lily quickly then sat down next to Harry on his bed and embraced him in a hug.

"Oh, sweetie are you okay? Is this about yesterday? Are you okay?"

Harry instinctively hugged his mother back. He couldn't believe it!

The warmth and the smell of freshly baked cookies whilst hugging her made the hug seem so real… this was-

"Honey, are you okay? Don't listen to your Grandparents, I am sorry that-"

Harry however only tightened his grip on his mom, tears began to flow down the side of his eyes. Harry didn't care if this was a trick or an illusion, it was a damn good one, he would simply let go and not think about how this was possible after jumping through the Veil. Despite never knowing his mother, Lily Potter at this moment felt too real. Harry couldn't control himself as his tears rolled down his cheeks uncontrollably.

"Mom…"

Lily was so surprised to see Harry in this state, as much as she hated to admit it, Harry rarely showed any emotional states like this aside from being brash and prideful or playing pranks. He was borderline annoying and arrogant majority of the time.

"Mom… please, promise not to leave me… I don't want to be alone."

"Oh sweetheart, Mom with always be there for you."

Lily then tightened her hug around Harry. She then slowly loosened the tight embrace and looked at Harry.

"Harry, are you okay? Is this about the formal dinner we attended with your Grandparents yesterday?"

For a moment Harry didn't know what to answer. Why did his mother ask him about his Grandparents? He met them yesterday? At a formal dinner? What is going on? If this is the afterlife, why isn't she asking me about my friends… or… unless…

Something then clicked in Harry's head, this wasn't the Lily Potter he knew, although he desperately wanted her to be. She looked exactly like what he saw in the photographs Hagrid gave him, she also had this motherly aura around her that he felt. I'd better play along and find out more right now… Harry was a bit guilt-stricken that he would have to lie to his mother right after meeting her for the first time, but this was important, he didn't want to muck things up yet. Trouble always had a way of finding him.

"Harry?"

His mother then snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Yes, Mom… this is… this is about them yesterday."

Harry then noticed that his voice wasn't as deep. Was he a child yet? How old was he?

"Oh sweetheart, it is okay. Do you want to talk about it now? Or come down and eat breakf- brunch first?"

Harry immediately seized upon the chance to move away from the uncomfortable topic.

"Food!"

His mother smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Alright, come down now then. I made your favorite."

Harry then followed his mother down the hallway. This was like the burrow, he was in a magical home! Harry looked around in slight awe at the moving magical paintings in the hallway, as well as some of the photos of their family. Yes, family, and apparently there were more than just the three of them, there were seven Potters! Harry could recognize his Dad, Mom and himself. What baffled him was the other four children. He had siblings! This didn't happen back then! If memory served him correctly, he just remembered the names his Mom mentioned, Jasmine, Liam and Leon… Harry gazed at the family photograph and saw the two younger boys who looked similar to one another, both had sea-green looking eyes, a different shade of green than his and his mother had. That must be Liam and Leon… twins huh? Then Jasmine is one of these girls… probably the older one because-

"Harry? Are you coming?"

Harry then realized he had stopped walking to stare at the family photo. He realized how dumb that must have looked. Harry just scratched his head and gave a small smile.

"Sorry Mom, I was just thinking of some things… about family."

Lily looked borderline shocked at Harry's statement. One, he was thinking about family and two, he voiced out his thoughts quite honestly. Lily thought she went crazy, she heard her son heartfully say sorry? What happened over one night? Lily didn't know what was going on but chose to let her son come clean later on, if he would that is. Based on his previous track record he would throw a temper tantrum and just bottle things up.

Harry then quickly followed his mom downstairs, making notes of all the details around this homely house, reminding himself constantly to not stop now and come check back on it later. Everything felt too surreal, too warm, too welcoming. Just as Harry sat down at the table near the kitchen in the living room he heard a click, along with with the sound of a door being yanked open, a bunch of heavy and loud footsteps began approaching the table.

Liam and Leon ran into the kitchen first and quickly seated themselves, looking as if they had done nothing wrong. Which in Harry's book, was definitely a giveaway of pulling a prank or something else.

"MOM! Liam and Leon took my hair tie and they made a slingshot to hit me!

Harry had almost been hit with dejavu when he saw the small redhead girl with her hair flying around as she ran into the house. This reminded him so much of his time at the Burrow… Harry struggled not to show any emotion of pain and loss on his face. He pushed those memories down for now. Guess his Occlumency was better than he gave himself credit for… better have been, he worked on it every day and night during his training in the summer after Sirius had died because of him- now now Harry, those thoughts later, gotta focus on the here and now.

"Liam, Leon."

Lily said it in a warning sort of voice. Harry saw Liam sweat slightly but both twins held on.

"Mom we-"

"Didn't do such a thing."

Harry meanwhile gazed over at what he hoped to be Jasmine and saw her with a triumphant smile, like she knew how this was all going to turn out.

"Come on Honey, I am sure the boys are telling the truth."

Harry whipped his head around to see his Dad, James Potter walked into the room, whilst holding a smaller girl in his arms. If Harry had to guess, she was about three or four years old. Harry watched his Mom give his Dad a glare. James chuckled to himself slightly before seating down the little girl.

"Alright there Harry? Bit late today aren't ya? Your Mom was going spare in the living room."

All the other kids laughed and snickered slightly at his Dad's comment whilst his Mom blushed a bit before glaring at his Dad. Harry meanwhile was doing his best to shrug it off and play cool, but in reality, he was on the verge of tears of joy, seeing his Dad alive.

"Yeah I'm fine, was just thinking about a lot, didn't fall asleep until quite late."

James gave a look of concern before shrugging it off and looking at Lily. The two exchanged something between their quick glance before Lily flicked her wand to bring the cooked dishes onto the table.

After the meal, Harry quickly excused himself before retracing his steps throughout the house and back to his room.

"Hey Dad, Harry okay? He was a lot quieter during dinner today. He is usually talking Quidditch. Well, more like bragging about his Quidditch skills."

Lily was thinking about what to tell Jasmine when both the twins spoke up.

"Come on-"

"Sis"

"It is obviously because-"

"Of how Grandma-"

"And Grandpa"

"Acted yesterday at Dinner."

James and Lily both turned to look at the twins, with glares to tell them to zip it. Both boys instantly got the message and shut up instantly.

"Really? Why? They seemed quite nice to me."

James and Lily exchanged another glance before both of them sighed in unison.

"Come Rosie, I'll take you back to your room first."

James stood up to take Rose, their youngest daughter, back up to her room whilst Lily no doubt explained to Jasmine about the situation with Harry.

Harry meanwhile sat back down on his new bed. His thoughts were complicated as they ranged from aren't I dead, I jumped through the bloody Veil, to other thoughts like where am I, why does my Mom, Dad, family feel so real. Harry then snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed the sound of birds chirping outside his window suddenly stopped. The wind blowing in from outside had also stopped, his curtains were suspended in motion. It was as if all time had just stopped. Harry looked around warily, he could still move, but everything seemed... frozen.

Harry jumped off his bed and looked around his room. However, when he turned back to his bed he saw a woman with white ethereal light surrounding her sitting cross-legged on his bed.

"ARGGGHRAA!"

Harry did a double-take and jumped back quickly. His war honed reflexes telling him to draw his wand but realized he didn't have his wand with him for some reason. He then quickly outstretched his hand and pointed a finger at the mysterious being that came into his room. The tip of his index finger glowed blue and sparked with a bit of energy. A few static whips of electricity could be seen.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Harry could tell that the time freezing was this person's doing, she was abnormally strong. He could feel her magic around the room. It was unlike anything he had ever felt, way above the power levels of both Voldemort, Dumbledore and even the Flamels.

"Have you enjoyed your day so far Harry Potter?"

The mysterious being's voice echoed throughout the room. Harry thought about her words for a second. He was hoping this all-powerful being could tell him what was going on, but then again, his whole life had been people coming to him to either kill him with deadly magic, or endless fawning and small talk to get to know the Boy-Who-Lived.

"How do you know my name?"

Harry decided to be cautious instead.

"Why I am slightly surprised that you haven't figured it out, being a fellow mage as well."

Harry's mind was stumped for a second. She knows I am a Fire Mage? Only three people knew of Harry's fire abilities during the war with Voldemort Hermione, Nicholas and Pernelle Flammel. He was trained by the Flammel's during the few months in his summer holiday between fifth and sixth year, that was how they knew. Well, technically it may have been longer, the Flamels did have Harry use time turners daily to train him faster. Harry also had been quite surprised that Nicholas and Pernelle were mages as well. Nicholas was a Blood Mage, that was no surprise to him, as he infused the real philosopher's stone with his blood properties. This was how he could let Pernelle live forever as well. The shocking discovery was Pernelle, who was a Mind Mage. Needless to say, she had teased Harry relentlessly about girls, wet dreams and the sort before he managed to get his Occlumency shields up to par. Pernelle could still penetrate his mind if she really wanted to then, but couldn't without effort. She could no longer just look at him and figure out his entire thoughts. Apart from the two Flamels Harry also told Hermione about him being a Fire mage back then during their hunt for Voldemort's Horcruxes. He didn't get the chance to tell Ron as he had been influenced by the Horcrux Locket at that time and ran off, ditching the hunt.

Harry looked around his room before slowly turning his head back to the ethereal glowing being in front of him. He lowered his hand and has the electric strand circling around his index finger dissipate.

"Not to be rude, but I am guessing you are a Time Mage? From the way the room froze."

The glowing being smiled.

"You are correct Harry Potter, Fire Mage."

"Okay… I assume then you freezing time around us and appearing out of nowhere means that you are going to explain to me what is going on? Am I dead?"

"I don't know Harry Potter, are you dead?"

Harry Potter's face blanked for a moment before the mysterious Time Mage smiled slightly.

"No Harry Potter, you are not dead, in fact, you are very much alive."

Harry was about to interrupt her and ask how that was possible, as he went through the death gate when the time mage spoke up.

"Don't you think you will be seeing Death instead of me if you had truly died?"

This time Harry was stumped and didn't feel the itch to ask or interrupt.

"I transported you here, to an alternate timeline, one in which your family survived…"

Harry sucked in a breath of air as he sensed there was more to the time mage's sentence.

"And you are not the Boy-who-lived."

Harry was a loss of words. I am… I am not the Boy-who-lived?

The Time Mage cleared her throat to snap Harry out of another daze. This had been a day for getting lost in thought many times.

"I am sure you are no doubt trying to compare your previous timeline to this one at this moment… I'd advise against it. Yes, certainly you may see similarities, many of the same people and the start of events may occur around similar time frames, but there are differences from this reality to your previous one."

Harry then focused in on the Time Mage, she had his full attention.

"You will no doubt realize the subtle and monumental differences in this timeline soon. I'd advise doing anything drastic immediately, get a good understanding of this wizarding world first before doing anything."

Harry had a million questions to ask her.

"Why me? Why pluck me out of the timeline? Out of all people?"

Harry then noticed that she had gone silent. He was about to press for an answer when she spoke up just in time.

"The honest answer? It was because this timeline was doomed Harry."

"WHAT!"

Harry's brain ran a thousand miles a minute, processing those words, his stomach bubbled with anger as he came to a quick conclusion.

"You brought me here to save this timeline! You brought me because you want me to save everyone isn't it! You want me to beat Voldemort… AGAIN!"

Harry was red with rage, he was still depressed over the loved ones that had died for him to succeed. All the people who died just so he could even fight Voldemort in a one versus one. A duel that he'd only manage to win due to the sacrifices his friends made to help him hunt down the Dark Tosser's Horcruxes. The temperature around the room began to increase, a fire could be seen burning in Harry's eyes.

"Let me finish!" said the Time Mage with a deadly calm.

Harry gritted his teeth, barely keeping the flames that so desperately wanted erupt from him.

"Yes, I wanted to save this timeline, at first I wouldn't even consider bringing someone from an alternate timeline, as that has only ever been done twice before, second I noticed how lost you were in your reality!"

Harry stayed silent, the fiery flames, however, were still threatening to explode from within him.

"I saw what you wanted! I saw what you lost! I saw what happened to you back there! I knew you wanted a family! So I gave you a chance! A new start!"

The fire within him slowly began to shrivel down. A new start… do I deserve it? Why am I placed with this burden… this burden of-

"And Harry Potter…"

Harry looked back up at the Time Mage.

"You were the only option as well, had I replaced anyone in this timeline with anyone else, Voldemort wins… this is a chance, a chance for you to find happiness, and save those who would definitely perish IF all-out war breaks out again."

Harry wanted to hate the Time Mage for putting him here without asking his permission, for taking the choice out of his hands… but he could admit to himself that she was indeed telling the truth. He had always longed for a family, and now he had one. He had watched their conversations during lunch, how cheerful everyone was, and how the dynamic between his Mom and Dad were. It was everything he could have ever dreamed of. However, it was down to him again to save this timeline… this reality, despite not being the Boy-who-lived here. Harry signed, all traces of the building up explosion now vanished. Sometimes, he really didn't know what he should. Despite his differences with Dumbledore and how Harry grew to slightly dislike how he planned out the conflict between him and Voldemort, Harry did often abide by a quote in which Dumbledore had once said. Do what is right... not what is easy...

"I understand… I'll do it."

Ugh, His saving people thing that Hermione always told him about was acting up now.

"Thank you Harry Potter, I am very grateful that you have accepted this."

"Yeah... let's not call it that yet. I am still getting around to it."

The Time Mage, however, gave him a sad smile. At least she knows what she just did and has a conscience to feel guilty… sigh… is this what Dumbledore said when after life, the next great adventure begins?

"That reminds me."

She then snapped her fingers and all of a sudden Harry had a slight headache. Then it came to him. He had just gotten bombarded by a huge amount of memories, memories of his first birthday with his parents, messing around with his Dad, Sirius and Remus, the times he went outside to play with the twins… and being an absolute dick to his youngest sister Rose. WHAT!

Harry stopped recounting his old memories as he saw himself play a prank on a 2-year-old girl. Harry looked at the Time Mage.

"Why is this Harry such a prat? I never thought I'd be so disgusted with myself."

The Time Mage laughed slightly at Harry's shocked expression.

Harry then went back to viewing his memories from this reality. He still seemed to be good at Quidditch, in fact, he would probably be better now, looking at the memories of him to curls and barrel rolls in the air. Practicing with his Dad and Sirius' son, Oliver. They all probably got him into Quidditch earlier, but it also created this big ego, and arrogant brashness that Harry greatly disliked. Harry then got to the most recent memory, the one of his grandparents again scolding him for being an improper Heir to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Potter. It revolted Harry to watch how much they were like the Dursley's, calling him "boy" as well as verbally slandering him.

"Seems you are caught up. Then I shall be going now."

The Time Mage then took a heavy breath and began to float off Harry's bed.

"Wait!"

She then paused to look at Harry.

"This might be a stupid question, but should I let anyone know? You know, that I came from an alternate reality, or timeline."

"No, wouldn't that be quite weird, telling people that you are actually an older, 19-year-old Harry Potter, instead of the 10-year-old boy you are now? And on top of it, from a timeline where you were the Boy-who-lived. Are you looking to muck things up so soon?" said the Time Mage with a roll of her eyes.

Harry opened his mouth to retort, but slowly closed it again.

"Jokes aside, preferably you don't, the Flamels should be fine, they would understand. No matter which timeline they are in, they are placed on the path to become cursed with immortality… much like me… but anyway. Aside from them, do what is necessary to keep this a secret, obliviate and use legilimency to destroy their minds. Use anything at your disposal to maintain your cover. It is for your safety. You have retained your previous magical core and abilities so you must be careful to not draw too much attention. You wouldn't want Dumbledore or those at the Department of Mysteries to catch on to you because you are a powerful alternate timeline dimensional traveler now would you?"

Harry nodded as she began her ascent again, glowing brighter and brighter.

"Thank you. For this chance."

Just before the light became too bright, and Harry had to turn away, he heard her final words to him.

"It is the least I could have done for you… Harry Potter."

When Harry reopened his eyes, his curtains began to blow slightly to the wind coming through the open window. The birds chirped outside.

I guess I gotta make the best of what I've got now…

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Harry then turned around as his mother opened the door and came into his room. Even though he had just met her not too long ago, he already wanted to come clean to her and tell her the truth. Harry had to hold himself together to not spill. Especially with the memories of how kind and caring his mother had been to him in this reality, despite this reality's him being an absolute ass.

"Harry, you okay? You were very quiet at Lunch today. Is everything alright?"

Harry didn't like that he was about to lie to his Mom again, but he didn't want to continuously act like a pompous and arrogant brat, like he was specially designed by God to play Quidditch, he needed to give her a reasonable explanation as to why he was going to change from the previous Harry. If he changed personalities just like that, it would look way too suspicious.

Harry looked down at the ground and didn't want to meet his mother's eye.

"Mom… am I a horrible person?"

Lily immediately kneeled down on one knee and embraced him in a hug.

"No Harry, your not a bad person."

Harry then was torn with what he was about to do. He then forcefully removed himself from his mother's warm embrace.

"No Mom you are lying!"

Lily looked shocked and didn't know how to answer him.

"I know how bad I was! And I am so stupid… and sorry Mom…"

Harry had already begun to fold, he didn't want to see his mother hurt like this.

"It's just… I realized how I was no different than Grandpa and Grandma yesterday…"

Lily's eyes widened in horror as she grabbed Harry into another tight hug, with tears rolling down the side of her eyes.

"Oh Harry, you're not-"

"But I was… I pranked Rose… at the age of two… and made her cry... I left Jasmine out of many times me and the twins were having fun… I talked down to her, went on about Quidditch… I was no different from how Grandpa and Grandma talked about Pureblood society and left you out of many conversations at dinner... and how they think everyone else is lower than them…"

Lily didn't know what to feel, she could only grip Harry into a tighter hug, as she struggled to find the words to comfort him.

"I… I don't want to be like them Mom... It scares me... I- I- I didn't even realize I was like that until I got scolded again by Grandma and Grandpa… Mom, I'm sorry that-"

"It's okay Harry… It's okay."

Lily managed to get those words out in between her tears.

"Mom… I don't want to be like that… I want to be more like you… like Dad… I want to be better"

Lily just managed to stop even more tears from coming down the side of her eyes.

"It's okay sweetheart, you are already are better for wanting to be better."

Lily then moved Harry from the floor and onto his bed, with him still hugging her tightly. Meanwhile, James stood on the other side of the wall, listening to the rest of Harry and Lily's conversation, well, it was more like a confession from Harry. James couldn't help but smile, despite his son crying. Lily had kept telling him how Harry was getting out of hand. James had even admitted that he might have some blame as he always talked him up in Quidditch, but then again, Harry's skill with a broom was almost as good as his! And he was only 10! His arrogant and brash behavior reminded him of himself when he was in his Marauder days. He was still a prankster at heart even today, but back then, he had been more of a borderline bully pranker. Scratch that, he was bullying people through pranks.

Whilst he wanted his kids to get into pranking as he had, Harry had taken it to an extreme and much like him, was beginning to become difficult to draw the line between pranking and bullying, especially after that Rose incident. Although James was still angry at how his parents, Charles and Dorea Potter treated his firstborn son and would never ever admit it, he was glad it made Harry realize the effect of his own actions on others.

Once James heard how Harry wanted to change, he was satisfied. It was kind of ironic to him at that moment as well. The reason he didn't act like a pompous typical Pureblood and wanted to be different and change was also because he himself didn't like his parent's, and didn't want to become like them. It was why he became a prankster at heart, as a way to show him rebelling against the status quo.

James then began to walk back to his and Lily's bedroom under the silencing charm on his shoes, proud of the steps his son had taken to become a better person.