BEFORE YOU READ: This is the sequel to The beginning of the beginning. If you have not read that I suggest you do that or else some of the things might be a little hard to understand.

Warning: Light bashing, confused Weasleys (I think) Dumbledore bashing. Character death (I am not telling who) Pain, sickness, and perhaps also a little torture.

Disclaimer: Nothing has changed from the last story to this sequel. I do still not own the rights to Harry Potter.

I got a beta. Her name is angelhitomie. All mistakes there might be is solely mine.

On with the story.

Pain.

That was all he was aware of. It was ripping through his body and made his blood burn and lungs feel like they could not fill with enough air. He wanted it to end; carved for it to stop so he could get the peace he wanted.

Perhaps it was because he was in Hell. He was not sure if the Wizarding world believed in God and the devil. The Dursleys had often brought him with them to the church before he started at Hogwarts. Perhaps they had believed that God would get rid of his freakiness for them, when they seemed unable to do so.

Until now it had not helped.

Suddenly the pain vanished and Harry was once again able to breathe normal. He did not hesitate to fill his lungs with several mouthfuls of fresh air.

As he lay panting for air Harry slowly became aware of his surroundings. Birds were singing somewhere above him and further away he could hear children's voices. Harry smiled at the peacefulness until he realised that something was wrong.

It was not supposed to be this peaceful. He had just been fighting against one of the biggest dark lords in history. Last time he checked he had been in Hogsmeade which had been turned into a battlefield when Grindelwald and his followers decided to pay a visit.

Harry had headed into the fight, not knowing that Tom and other Hogwarts students would be there. When he had found out about it, he had tried to get as many as possible, including Tom, back to the safety behind Hogwarts' wards.

Realising that he did not yet know whether or not Tom had arrived to Hogwarts, Harry opened his eyes and sat up, only to fall back again when pain shot through his body.

Waiting for the pain to lessen so he would be able to move Harry looked up at the blue sky over him. Around him stood trees and he could hear cars driving past far away. Far more cars than he was supposed to hear when he was fifty years in the past. Actually, there was not supposed to be any cars nearby since he was supposed to be in a Wizarding town. Muggle technology and magic never worked well together.

Harry felt drained from energy. Not only because of the fit, he had grown used to it, but also because of the amount of magic he had used on a wandless killing curse.

He turned onto his side and vomited over the ground. When he was only dry-heaving Harry rolled onto his back again, making sure he did not lay on the vomit. He felt disgusting enough as it was.

Feeling slightly better Harry opened his eyes, sat up and ran a hand through his hair. He had killed more than a handful of people but could not find it in him to regret his doings. Grindelwald had been pestering his life ever since the man learned of his existence.

Besides, it had been a situation where either of them had to go down. And Harry was not willing to leave Tom not as long as the boy wanted him by his side.

Looking around Harry frowned. He was no longer in Hogsmeade that much was for sure. Instead he was in a park which seemed strangely familiar to him. He was sure he had been there before though he was not sure when it had been.

Harry's Avada Kedavra green eyes widened when he remembered he had been hit by the killing curse, again. He was supposed to be dead, but there he was, still breathing though it was a little painful at the moment.

"Guess I am just not able to be normal, am I?" Harry mumbled to himself, seeing that there was no one around to hear him. Rubbing his eyes Harry sighed. "Well, I better get up, I have to go and make sure that Tom is alright."

It took him two attempts before Harry got on his feet. Swaying back and forth Harry tried to keep staying on his feet. He banished the cat ears from the top of his head. He did not need the attention people would give him should they see him with cat ears. Harry had gotten enough attention for his whole life as it already was.

Breathing deeply Harry looked around. The air was warmer than it should be this early in the summer. The sun was looking down on him from the middle of the sky. It was only midday and Harry knew it had been much later when Hogsmeade was attacked. "Just how long have I been knocked out?" Harry rubbed the back of his head, sighing. "I guess there is only one way for me to find out."

Harry reached down for his wand, only to have his hand close around empty air. His eyes widened when he remembered what had happened to his wand. "That fucking bastard, he broke my wand, if he was not already dead, I would gladly kill him again."

Harry's voice was laced with badly hidden anger. It hurt to lose his wand. It had been a solid part of his life ever since the day he had first entered the Wizarding world.

Running a hand through his hair, which reached down to the lower part of his back, Harry sighed. It seemed he had been doing that a lot lately. "I better get going if I shall find Tom. I bet he is worried for me."

Harry smiled at the thought of the possessive Slytherin who had been a part of his life for nearly five years. Had someone once told him that he would fall in love with Tom Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, he would have laughed at them and afterwards he would have sent them to St. Mungo's to get their brains checked.

Harry walked away from the spot he had awoken on. It would do him no good to stay there. He had no way of knowing who would find him if he stayed where he was. Besides, he needed to find someone who could tell him where he was.

He moved in the direction where the children's voices and laughter sounded from. Children usually meant adults who would be able to answer his questions. It did not take long before he came to a muggle playground. Harry stood frozen at the spot, unsure of what he should do.

How he had moved from Hogsmeade to a muggle park Harry had no idea about. One thing he knew, the wizard robes he wore would not help him with hiding in the crowd. He already felt like one of those purebloods who had no idea about how to dress when they were among muggles.

A toddler, no more than two years old, waddled over to him. Harry greeted the child with a smile but did not do anything else. He had no experience with small children other than knowing that they had really good lungs and they were not afraid of using them.

It did not take long before a young girl with pigtails joined them. She took the boy's hand and glared at him. Harry smiled to her and looked around in hope of seeing her parents or guardians somewhere.

There were roughly twenty children at the playground. The smallest were mere toddlers while the oldest were around seventeen years old. Harry realised that the children were orphans since they were dressed in the same grey uniform.

"Just what do you think you are doing to those children?" Harry stepped away from the boy and the girl, when a woman, who reminded him of Molly Weasley, only with brown hair, came towards him. He knew the others' attention was on him now and felt himself blush.

"Sorry, I just wanted to know what the date was." Why he asked that question Harry did not know. Perhaps it was because of the feeling that if he did not say something the woman would knock him to the ground and then call for the police. The way she was build made him not doubt that she would be able to do just that.

The woman stopped when she was right behind the children and placed a hand on each of their shoulder. "It is July 31." Harry blinked in surprise. It was his birthday. "Ehm, what year, if you do not mind I ask?" The woman looked at him as if he was mad. "It is 1996"

Harry knew he was gaping. "Are you sure?" The woman raised an eyebrow very similar to how professor Snape would do and Harry wondered if the two of them were related. At least he would now have a chance of asking the potion master the question. "You know what? Never mind. Some of my friends are waiting for me and I do not want to be late. Thank you for the help."

He hurried away before the woman could ask him any question, mostly about why he was dressed in what looked like a dress to her.

It did not take long before he had gotten a good distance between himself and the group and was sure that no one would be able to see him.

His legs gave out under him and Harry hit the ground. He did not try to rise from the ground but instead rolled over onto his back and stared up at the blue sky.

He was back.

He was back in his own time.

Harry was not sure what to think. On one hand he was happy. He had never thought he would be able to return to his own time and had accepted the fact that he would forever stay in the past.

On the other hand he was guilty about having left Tom. Did his lover believe that he had died that day with Grindelwald? Harry wondered what Dumbledore had told the Aurors. Honestly, he doubted that the professor would have told them the truth but would have come up with some lie which would give him all the honour.

Resting a hand on his forehead Harry blinked. He had killed Grindelwald, one of the greatest dark lords ever. Did that mean…? Harry shook his head, deciding to think about it another day. Right now he had other things to think about. He needed to find Tom and tell the boy that he was alive.

Harry laughed. "Well, I can not really call him a boy any longer, can I? I mean it has been over fiftty years. I wonder if he will be able to recognise me."

He jumped up and started running. Now he knew where he was. It was the same park where he had awoken when Dumbledore had sent him back in time by an accident. Harry wondered what the old goat would say when he realised that Harry was not as dead as he was supposed to be.

"I wonder how Hermione and Ron will react. No matter what Dumbledore has told them they will know the truth. We have been friends too long for them to believe in any of the lies about me."

Though he felt a little doubt in the back of his mind Harry decided to push it away from him. He could trust his friends. After all what they had been through, something really had to be wrong if they were not able to trust each others any longer.

Humming Harry continued out of the park and into London. He was well aware that several people were looking at him with wide eyes and some walked a big circle around him, making sure to avoid him as much as possible. Harry frowned until he looked down at himself and realised what it all was about.

He was still dressed in the robes he had been wearing when Hogsmeade had been attacked. Even though his robes were in dark green the blood and dirt could not be hidden. A glance in a window where he could see his image told Harry is hair looked messier than usual.

Before he ventured to Diagonal Alley he needed to do something about himself. If he stepped into the Leaky Cauldron looking like this the Aurors would be on him faster than he could say firebolt.

The thought of his broom made Harry sigh. He wondered what had happened to his belongings when he had left the past. He hoped Tom had taken care of them. His trunk still held the only things he had about his parents and the broom had been from Sirius.

What had happened to Tom when he disappeared? Harry knew that there had been no one else to take his lover in. The only other opportunity was that he had gone back to the orphanage. Harry hoped that was not the case. Instead some of Tom's followers should take the boy in. He should stay in the Wizarding world instead of returning to that awful place.

He stopped walking when he found a news-stand. Making sure the owner was not looking Harry took one of the news papers and hurried on. He swore he would go back and pay another day but right now he had no money on him, neither muggle nor Wizarding.

Getting a safe distance between himself and the news-stand Harry allowed himself to stop up and take a look at the newspaper.

Terrorists attack London.

Several places have been attacked by terrorists through the whole summer. Police stand without a clue to who the guilty are.

Harry looked down at the pictures to the article and for a short moment he was sure his heart had stopped beating. The pictures showed the crime scenes from the attacks but that was not what caught Harry's attention.

Above each of the crime scenes, where the sky was on the picture, he saw the dark mark. It was the mark Voldemort used to leave to tell people who was behind the attack. Harry knew that no muggle would pay any attention to it but anyone from the Wizarding world would know what it meant.

Feeling his knees become weak Harry was forced to sit down on a bench so he would not fell.

Nothing seemed to have changed.

His hands started shaking.

Voldemort was there.

He could hear someone talk to him but could not hear what they were saying.

Tom was gone.

The person was speaking louder, but Harry could still not hear what was being said.

His Tom was not there.

It had been futile.

Someone grabbed his arm and Harry snapped out of his panic attack. He pushed the person away from him, fearing that they would attack him and reached down for his wand before he remembered that he no longer had one. Grindelwald had broken it.

"Are you okay, mister?"

Harry blinked, confused, and looked up at a man about his own age who was watching. The lad was kind of good looking though Harry was not interested. He had just found out that Tom was gone.

When he realised that the muggle was still waiting for an answer Harry blushed. "Yeah, sorry. I kind of just zoned out for a short moment and forgot where I was."

He did not move when the man sat down next to him on the bench. "Did you know any of them?"

"Huh?" Harry tilted his head to the side, not really understanding what the man was talking about. "You were looking at the pictures about the terrorist attacks. Did you know any of the victims?"

"…My lover."

It was not a lie. Tom was a victim. Harry refused to believe that his lover was evil. The Tom he knew would be able to do such a thing but he would not do it. That much Harry knew.

"What about you tell me about it?" Harry frowned. "I do not even know you."

"That is easy enough. My name is Casper, I am a journalist. Please tell me, is it only now that you find out that your lover is dead? How do you feel? How come that no one has told you before now? Did you have a lovers' spat and did not manage to clear up before he died?"

Harry stood and hissed at the man. "How dare you. I hate your kind. You make a living out of others sufferings." He thought about the Wizarding world and how they had made everyone turn against him time after time. "Say one more word and I will tell you just what I feel. And do not think that you will like what I have to tell you."

Ignoring the people staring at him Harry stamped away. He wanted to get away before he did something stupid. In this time the ministry would be able to find him if he did magic in front of muggles. He was not sure if that would be the case with wandless magic but he doubted it. It had not happened whit Tom and the Wizarding world was so slow in changing that it would take years before anything changed.

He found a small blind alley where he cleaned his robes with a spell. Harry had to use it several times before he was satisfied with the result. When he finally felt as clean as he could for the time being Harry left the blind alley. He would take a bath later so he could feel really clean. Magic did wonders but it was nowhere as good as the real thing.

Stepping into the Leaky Cauldron Harry kept his head down and his scar hidden behind his fringe. He had no idea about what Dumbledore had told people and until then he would do as little as possible to be seen. Maybe he would even stay hidden afterwards, that time would only show.

Tom stood behind the counter and Harry could not help but smile. It was funny to think that he had know the man both as a grownup but also as a child, even funnier was that he had seen Tom as a man before he saw him as a child.

Not wanting anyone to take note of him Harry hurried through. He was not surprised that there only were a few guests. After all people had just found out that Tom had returned, thought Harry and Dumbledore had been saying so for a whole year beforehand. Harry wondered what people would do now to keep themselves safe now where they knew the truth.

He for one knew that he would not try and help them unless it was happening right in front of him. The Wizarding world had done nothing to deserve his help and Harry felt no need to fight against Tom. If it was possible he would just live in peace with Tom.

Harry refused to think of Tom as Voldemort. For him it was two entirely different persons. One had taken his family away from him while the other had given him the chance of having a new one. So Tom and Voldemort would never be the same. Tom was his lover while Voldemort was a heartless killer who enjoyed torturing other people.

His steps halted when Harry arrived at Diagonal Alley. Harry had forgotten that today was usually the day where the Weasleys and Hermione shopped for school things. A part of him wanted to join them while another, and perhaps stronger, part wanted him to turn around and run away before they could get a chance of seeing him.

Harry decided on a third opportunity, he kept his head low and walked down Diagonal Alley. If he was lucky none of them would pay him any attention.

Mrs. Weasley's voice cut through the air like a knife. "Well, it is only good that headmaster Dumbledore got rid of that boy. Can you imagine how dangerous it would have been if he had been allowed back to school? It was a good thing the headmaster found out that you-know-who still was inside the boy. It is a shame that he had to kill the Potter boy but it was for the greater good, as Dumbledore himself said."

Not wanting to believe what he had just heard Harry stood like frozen and watched as Hermione, Ron and Ginny followed Mrs. Weasley into a shop.

They really believe he was evil?

Well, not evil. But they still thought it was okay to kill him just because Dumbledore said that he housed Voldemort? Ginny had been host for Voldemort's soul for nearly a year and no one had tried to kill her for that. Well, other than Tom Riddle, but that did not count.

He felt tears falling and wiped them off. He would not stand and cry. They could believe what they wanted to for all he cared. But it still hurt to find out that the ones he considered his family were willing to think such about him.

Harry wondered if Remus did believe what Dumbledore had said. Perhaps he should try and find the werewolf to explain what really had happened. But nearly all of the marauders had been loyal to Dumbledore and Harry would not risk Remus telling Dumbledore that he was still alive. Then he would have to flee somewhere and hide. He doubted very much that either Dumbledore or Voldemort would leave him alone.

The only place he would be left in peace would be the muggle world where no one besides his relatives knew about him. There he could move into a little house and play the mad man on the street that all the kids were scared of and dared their friends to go in and knock on his door.

The thought made Harry smile when he stepped into Gringotts. At least the bank did not change no matter how much time passed. Thought, when he looked closer, he saw that a few more humans were working among the goblins. Perhaps the goblins had learned that not all humans were as bad as they thought.

Harry snorted at the thought, gaining the attention from several people around him. He just shook his head and waited until they moved on. Harry was thankful that he had changed when he was back in time. As it was right now people would not be able to recognise him After all, they thought Harry Potter was dead. And even if they did not think so Harry had changed a great deal. His hair was now long and reached the end of his back. Without his glasses he did not look as much as his father and the scar was hidden from view. And no one would expect Potter to wear something else than his school robes or muggle clothes.

Knowing he better had to get over with this Harry walked up to one of the counters with a goblin behind. He did not trust a human to be able to keep their mouth closed. At least the goblins knew when to speak and when to keep silent.

The goblin was currently writing something and Harry waited for it to finish. He knew that they hated being interrupted and though he wanted to get out of view it was better to wait until the goblin was ready to help him. It would be hard enough to convince it to help him as it was.

Harry used the time to observe the goblin. It was a fairly young male. Now where Harry thought about it he could not remember seeing any female goblins. He would have to talk with Ragnok about it once he got to see the goblin again. If he was lucky it would only be in a few minutes.

"May I help you with something?" Harry sent the goblin a warm smile, ignoring the sneer, and the goblin nearly seemed surprised though it managed to hide it before it broke though. "Yes, I was hoping you would be able to tell me, if Ragnok is here today?"

"Who is asking?"

"An old friend. You can say that Evan James has returned."

The goblin frowned as if it actually had heard the name before, before nodding. "Very well, I will send a messenger to him but do not expect anything. You can wait until he has time to send you an answer."

"Actually, I will bet that when he hears about whom it is he will ask me to come to him. Just to be sure, please tell him that I know he worries about me, no matter what he says."

Again the goblin looked confused but Harry was already on his way over to the seats where he would be waiting. Other people were already there but they ignored each other. Harry sat down on a free chair a little away from them and leaned back in the chair.

He felt tired to the bone and wondered how long he would be able to go on. He knew he should have waited a day or two before seeking out Ragnok but Harry wanted to know what had happened and currently Ragnok was the only one he trusted enough to ask.

While he waited he would just rest his eyes for a little while, it was not like it would hurt anybody.

Harry had fallen asleep because the next moment he opened his eyes he found a new goblin in front of him, dressed in Gringotts' uniform. "Mr. James?" Harry nodded and sat up in the chair. "That is me."

"Please follow me; lord Ragnok is ready to see you."

Wondering for how long he had been asleep Harry stood to follow the goblin. Looking around he decided it could not have been for long. The others who had been waiting glared at him. It was clear that they were not happy that he was getting in before them when they had waited longer.

Unable to resist Harry made a mock bow before he disappeared out of view together with the goblin.

While they walked none of them talked. Harry was busy looking around; trying to see how much had changed since his last visit. As he had expected not much had changed. One thing was different though. There were fewer humans deeper inside of Gringotts. Harry guessed it was because of the war or perhaps humans and goblins were less friendly than they once had been.

He followed the young goblin through corridors he had not wandered in, in more than fifty years. Harry smiled at the thought. To him it was only yesterday he had met Fudge and now the child was a man and the minister of magic. Harry wondered if the minister's mother still was alive. Perhaps he should pay her a visit. After all, it did not seem like she had taken his warning to her heart.

They stopped outside a familiar door and the goblin knocked. When answer came the door opened and Harry stepped inside the office, leaving the goblin out in the corridor.

Not much had changed inside Ragnok's office. A few more things had been added but everything else was as it had been last time he had been on visit.

Ragnok sat behind the desk, working on some papers. Harry did not bother trying to look into them. He still remembered that curse Ragnok had sent after him when he had been a little too interested in the goblin's work.

The goblin looked older but not by much. Other than more winkles Harry could not say that anything had changed about Ragnok and for that Harry was thankful. At least someone looked like he remembered them from fifty years ago.

"Hello Ragnok, I think I am in need of a little help."

First chapter finished. Please tell me what you thought about it. Many reviews is equal to long chapters.

Until next time.