Intro: Well, I'd like to introduce a character made in the ninth grade, when I wasn't all that familiar with Harry Potter. Rihaan Shimomura III is an African American raised in Japan.

I'm very aware of the taboo surrounding both self-insertion fics and Mary-Sues. I fucking hate those stories. That being said, I wrote my own.

Rihaan's Bio:
Name: Rihaan Shimomura III (pronounced 'Ree-hawn Sheem-o-moorah')
Race: African-American, Raised in Japan (Area classified)
Birth Date: October 2, 1994
Age: 17
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 148 lbs
Occupations: Wizard, Swordsman, Martial Arts expert, professional Sniper, Author.
Hobbies: Fighting, wrestling, using a large array of weapons, writing, meditating.

Prologue – The Fanboy that Raised the Bar

If there was one thing that Rihaan hated, it was being told that he couldn't do something.

Usually, when people are told that they wouldn't do something, they do it anyway, to prove someone wrong.

But he was told he couldn't do something.

"Are you telling me," he said, his eyes boring into the withered old man before him, "that I am physically incapable of doing it?"

The man did not speak. He let him continue. "Because I can. You know I can. Don't patronize me."

The man finally chose to speak. "My boy, I have spent over a century, on and off, researching the very thing you, at a mere seventeen years of age, claim to have done. It won't work. It can't work."

There was that 'can't' thing again. "Dumbledore, you know my mind works in different ways. You helped me on the damn thing and you still don't think I can do it, because it didn't take a long time to make."

"It only took a year," Dumbledore countered.

"It is not the amount of time it takes to create a masterpiece, but the amount of discipline and skill," Rihaan shrugged. Then he blinked. "I have to write that down."

"But it should take more time. Something as complex as this should not have taken only a year. It cannot be as simple—"

"Please stop saying that word," he interrupted.

"What word?" Albus asked, though Rihaan was very sure he knew.

"Can't. Cannot. Could not. I can take won't. Because I know I will. But don't tell me I can't."

Albus decided to try another direction. "Rihaan, you are not yet prepared for the task ahead of you. You are too young."

"Should I remind you that it took a year for me to do what it took you a century?" Rihaan replied smugly.

"On and off," Dumbledore clarified, "and I supplied all my knowledge on the subject and I helped you."

Rihaan stared at him with a hint of a smirk. "I'll give you that," he said, "but I did create and form all of the runes, collected all the objects; I thought of every single detail... and, let's not forget that I thought of the idea in the first place. Logic dictates that if you aren't prepared for something, then don't suggest doing it."

Rihaan sat back. "Personally, I think that my age really shouldn't matter, after all the shit I've done in my life. It's the experience and knowledge, not the number years you had it."

"True, but with years comes experience and knowledge; more importantly, the experience of how to use that knowledge properly. One is never really sure when he or she is ready until they learn all that one can possibly learn. That is the only way you know if you can succeed or not."

"Just like how Harry killed Voldemort? He didn't know much."

"May I remind you how Harry killed Voldemort? The plan required neither knowledge nor experience."

Rihaan stared at him for another moment. "Because you never gave him the necessary knowledge," he said easily. "He had a helluva lot experience, but not enough knowledge to overcome those experiences. He didn't learn. Just like you had planned."

Albus sighed tiredly. "I see you are not going to let this go."

Rihaan stroked the light stubble on his chin ponderingly. "Well... not until I leave, of course."

"Rihaan, you cannot go."

He grimaced. There was that word again. "Why can't I?"

"Because of several reasons. Do you know what happens if you travel to the past? If you change one simple thing, the entire future may change drastically."

"May," Rihaan interrupted, "meaning 'might'."

"There is still a chance. You have no idea—"

"I know what the butterfly effect and the snowball effect is. I can accept that the future may change. But I'll try my damndest to change the future for the better."

He leaned forward, and took a lemon drop, staring at it for any colors, and when he did not see any detected charms or potionsexcept the usual non-sticking charm and small cooling charm, he put it in his mouth. "I've studied," Rihaan said, looking back at the light-blue, pleading eyes. "I know the chaos theory, the domino effect, chain reactions, paradoxes, causes and effects. I can handle it."

Dumbledore tried one more time. "Every decision you make, every word you say, every step you take; will drastically alter the timeline. Permanently. Rihaan Shimomura will—"

"—The third," Rihaan quipped.

"The third," Dumbledore said tiredly, "will truly be in The Magical World, and that cannot change from then on."

"And I'm aware of all that," Rihaan said, close to yawning. "But you have to remember that what I do will likely only affect the Wizarding World."

Dumbledore acknowledged that with a frown.

Rihaan stood abruptly. "I think I should start making the finishing touches." He quickly strode out of the room, turning back to raise his hand. The lemon drop dish sped towards him before Albus could reach for it, and he was out of the door, a bowl full of candies richer.

Rihaan Shimomura III felt a trill of excitement. It was finally time to do the real thing. Years of planning, a year of constructing, and it was finally done.

He had created the ultimate time-turner.

It could go back an unlimited number of seconds or years, to the beginning of time itself and beyond (if the 'beginning of time' ever existed) However, the time-turner could only work once. He could go to the age of the dinosaurs if he wanted to. That would be fun... for a second and a half. As much as it had intrigued him (after all, it was every child's dream to ride the back of a Tyrannosaurus) he had immediately discarded the possibly painful option and chose the simple, yet complicated, option.

He was going back to the time of the great Harry Potter.

Although, he wasn't going back to the time just to observe. He was actually going to take action.

It was something no writer or human should ever do. He was going to jump in the story and sneak his way onto the main character's stage. He was going to try to combine reality and fiction. If completed successfully, The Wizarding World would become more than just a story. Some people would call it skipping into another dimension. He would like to call it making another dimension.

Albus Dumbledore was a test subject he had made a while ago. Rihaan had gathered as much information as he could from the popular book series, including a number of websites, before conducting the experiment. The only information he hadn't entered was his death and his burnt hand. The creation turned out to be a success. While the machine had blown to smithereens, destroying all of his documents and computer files, he had gained an old man that was no longer fictional.

The ancient being had lain still for a moment before slowly opening his eyes. He quickly tried to reach for his wand, unfamiliar with the territory he was in, until he realized he didn't have a wand. Or anything else, for that matter.

Before the man could begin to think of words to say, or to form a coherent thought, a white robe was thrown his way. Wordlessly, with the skills a man his age shouldn't be able to do, he caught it and quickly stood up, wrapping the robe around him. He looked in the direction of where the robe had come from.

Rihaan turned his back towards the man, listening to the rustlings of the cloak being put on. Better safe than traumatized, he had his eyes covered. "Are you decent?" he asked.

Albus looked at the boy. He couldn't be older than his teens. So how did he himself get here? This boy couldn't have kidnapped him. "Yes," he answered, avidly curious as to why he was here.

Rihaan stared at the man. Truth be told, the old man was almost exactly what Rihaan expected him to look like. Waist-length silver hair, crooked nose, blue eyes with underlying creases, the shape fit for crescent-shaped spectacles. All of the physical details he had gathered were there. It was a success!

He looked around at the damage, realizing that he must have absently had a shield up. Shit. Everything was destroyed. All of his hard work, even his damningly expensive computers. He had to start over...

"Excuse me, Mister..."

Rihaan turned back towards the man, almost forgetting he was there. "Shimomura," he replied, shocked. He even sounded like Dumbledore would sound! A soft voice, but you could tell it could be very powerful if the need arose.

"Mister — Shimomura, you say? — do you have any idea how we appeared in this room?" He was also going to ask how the boy was fully dressed, and seemed to have a robe available, but he would rather not know.

Rihaan smiled. "No. but I know how you got here."

Dumbledore had been rather shocked at first, as Rihaan had no real evidence to how it could possibly happen, that he was created. Still, Dumbledore felt like his entire life was a lie when he saw the popular children's books. That was when Rihaan discovered that whatever happens in a story that is never revealed would automatically be filled out, like gaps sealed over. Any plot holes would have a logical reason, and any twists would have its own back-story. Unexplainable situations would be filled out conveniently, depending on the circumstances.

If someone's attitude were to change all of a second, there would be a logical explanation behind it all. In life, everything happens for a reason. His machine made life.

Rihaan looked at the rather large book before him and the giant hourglass he had hand molded. He grimaced. It was much easier making swords out of steel and other metals than a large structure out of glass. At least it required less heat for the glass, for which he was thankful. It was quite hard, making an hourglass larger than him, but magic was very useful for that part. He couldn't put it together with magic, of course; he didn't want any side-effects. The only measuring spell that existed in his mind was a simple levitation charm and a tape measurer, and he needed a mold to put the molten glass in, which was hard to do without measuring. He wanted the entire shaping to be perfect, meaning it had to be by hand and not by magic. While it was, most likely, not necessary, he had not wanted to laze about on any detail.

He took the seven books melded into one and stood on top of the table it was on, easily throwing it over into the hourglass. The necessary spells were on the book, as well as the sand in the hourglass. Sure enough, the book dissolved and the sand it touched turned green. The sand swirled around like a whirlpool, only stopping until there was a visible emerald swirl in the hourglass, visible from the outside.

Rihaan sat down closed his eyes. While he was mentally preparing himself, he was triple-checking his plans. Any small mistakes he made were going to be a hundred percent fatal. It had to be perfect. He had too many changes to make. Dying would just botch it all up.

With a steady breath, he opened his eyes. His jade green eyes stared at the emerald and light brown sand in the plain hourglass. He stood and picked up his bag, suitcase, and sheath. He placed and strapped the sheath to his back, after making sure his favorite katana was still in it. That would be embarrassing to forget.

He looked around, wondering if he was missing something. Something was nagging the back of his mind, as if it was telling him he was missing something vital.

"I believe that I have all of my weapons. I have more than enough money with me to convert into more than enough Galleons. I have enough hair gel." He fingered the dreadlocks on his head that led to his shoulder. He remembered when he was a small child, he had an unmanageable afro. Hopefully it could be managed now.

Rihaan finally remembered and looked down at his feet. While he wanted to bring a minimum of modern technology, he figured Air Force One tennis shoes would be a bit unnecessary. He quickly kicked them off, and decided that an old pair of trainers would suffice until he bought something new... or old... something from that time. He quickly dashed back to put them on and returned within the minute.

He found Dumbledore looking at the hourglass. "Are you really sure about this?" Albus pleaded, in an almost defeated tone.

Rihaan nodded soberly. "I will change things for the better. He's had a gruesome life. He has had bad minders." Rihaan stared at the old man. "And he had some pretty horrible relationships."

Dumbledore paled and turned towards him. "And what will you do to the Dumbledore of that reality?"

"Since you chose not to tell me your past plans, as you still claim it's for the greater good, I guess it can't be helped." Albus softly smiled until he heard, "I guess I'll have to break you the hard way."

"Rihaan, you can't—"

He gave an almost primitive growl. "Remember what I just said about that word? I told you so many times that I don't care about your 'greater good'. In fact, that's the main reason I'm going back."

"The Greater Good destroyed Voldemort," Albus replied, his grandfatherly smile forcing itself onto his face.

"And Harry's Godfather," Rihaan ticked off on his fingers, "and Remus, Tonks, Cedric, Dobby, Fred, Moody, and many others. But in the process, the 'Greater Good' kept people alive, such as the Malfoys, The Death Eaters, and a few others that don't deserve to live." He looked at Dumbledore pleadingly, as if wanting him to ask him who they were.

He wouldn't give the boy the satisfaction. "So you are just going to ignore me and possibly destroy the Wizarding World." It was supposed to be a question, but the man was convinced that his path was the 'Follow or everyone will die' route.

Rihaan shook his head. "I'm going to mostly ignore you, do things you won't approve of, and maybe piss you off a lot... well, more than I usually do now. I will say this, though." He looked Dumbledore square in the eye. Being of a slightly shorter height, an even six feet, he could play 'who has the more fearsome stare' with the man. "I don't want your other self to do something... unethical, such as try to attack me because of my influence on your Golden Boy. That means if there are any plots formed against me to either distract me or incapacitate me... I will retaliate before they are set into action."

Dumbledore nodded slowly. He knew that if Rihaan did do anything drastic that caused Harry to leave his alternate self's grasp, he would want to get rid of Rihaan.

Merlin help him.

Rihaan extended his hand. "I guess it's time for us to depart. You've always been a pain in the ass to everyone, and I'm sure I've been a pain in yours, but I thank you. If it weren't for you, it would've probably taken me another year. Probably."

Albus chuckled and returned the handshake with vigor. "My boy, I just hope you don't kill Severus the moment you get back." He knew of Rihaan's distaste of the man. In fact, he even knew that Rihaan had once heavily considered how Harry's life would turn out if Snape never existed in the Harry Potter world.

Rihaan shook his head, once again. "I'm not gonna kill him. That would be too easy. When I'm done with him, the only thing that's going to keep him sane will be his Occlumency."

"You're going to torture him?" Dumbledore gasped, for the first time losing his composure.

He smiled. "Snivellus will not be tortured. However, I will have to take him down a few pegs, you know."

Albus shook his head slowly. "Could you at wait until he gives you an excuse to?"

"Sure," Rihaan said, respecting the old man, "it'll start with 'Harry Potter, our new – celebrity.'"

Dumbledore didn't know if he should be increasingly worried or if he should thank his lucky stars that he was not going to be there. He did, however, have one more concern. "Rihaan, are you sure you are up to this? You could possibly go insane if you had to live what you once thought was fiction."

Rihaan shrugged. "My Occlumency will keep me intact. Besides, I'd like to think I'm insane enough. Don't you think?"

Dumbledore didn't look convinced.

"I suppose you will need this, then." Searching his robes, he eventually found a vial of pale yellow liquid. And the room was silent for a few moments. Rihaan didn't even reach out for it before checking it for spells. After he did that, with no questions asked, he uncorked the stopper and downed in one quick gulp.

The surprise on Dumbledore's face was quite comical. He had not expected him to drink the potion. He fully expected him to have a backup potion, just to spite him.

"You've helped me so far," Rihaan said, by way of explanation, "and even you have to admit that you're curious as to what may happen on my journey."

Dumbledore chose not to say anything, only the ghost of a smirk appearing.

Rihaan, not wanting to say goodbye to a man he might have to kill in another reality, turned away towards the hourglass and coolly placed on his sunshades; Jade, to match his eyes.

Albus nodded and walked out of the room without another word. Sure, all hell was going to break loose, but at least he wasn't involved. He would wish the boy good luck, but that would imply that he should kill those that would give him bad luck. Albus was sure his other self would be first on the hit list. He would prefer that to be later than sooner.

Rihaan slowly lifted his bags and closed his eyes.

This was it. There was no going back after this. Years of work would leave just a broken body if one mistake was made.

He jumped silently onto the table, then onto the rim of the hourglass, in nearly-perfect balance. He took all the time he had to take calming breaths. Despite his bravado, he was increasingly worried about what Dumbledore had said. He was not sure what would happen if he had managed to change anything, or worse, everything, just by his mere appearance.

But, first things first. As long as he didn't show up in front of Bellatrix LeStrange herself, he was going to be okay.

He wobbled a bit. The potion was beginning to work and churn his body. He cleared his throat and thought of the appropriate words to say for such an occasion. It always had to be something different, just to keep himself entertained. While he was, in his own unique way, writing yet another story, a simple statement didn't seem right to him. Given the time, he might have made a page long speech. But then, that would have made the entire beginning of his own trip a minor road bump in what he hoped to be an epic tale. So he decided that it would be best to make his speech short, sweet, and simple.

"I own nothing!" In hindsight, speaking in Latin may have just been showing off. But with that simple, yet tightly sealed disclaimer, he quickly sunk into the sandy surface. The moment his skin touched the emerald sand, it illuminated like small crystals. The room began to grow very bright. A high-pitched whirring echoed around the empty room as the sand started seeping to the bottom half of the glass, until the light slowly began to fade. All that was left in the hourglass was the once heavily enchanted light brown sand.

The entire process actually did happen in exactly one hour.

Dumbledore immediately reentered the room and aimed his wand at the hourglass. He quickly cleaned all evidence, countered runes, and banished the sand and the machines attached to the hourglass. He did not want anyone discovering the groundbreaking invention, and destroyed any trace of it. Even though it could only work once, it didn't hurt to make sure that it would happen only once.

The man looked forlornly at the now empty and plain hourglass.

Yes, he was sure; all hell was, indeed, going to break loose. But it was all in the past, now. With a smile at his small joke, Albus turned around to live out the rest of his years in retirement.

'I heard Boca would be nice.' That was Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore's last thought before he faded into nothingness.

Time was weaving past him, creating an intricate pattern of the space in his presence. He saw the stars spinning too quickly for his keen eyes, his body moving faster than any portkey could. He felt smaller... well, most likely, he was younger by this point.

A protective shield was surrounding him, impacting rocks and boulders as he sped through space, while letting nothing escape him, such as the lethal weapon on his back, or the bags that seemed glued in his hands.

He waited... and waited. And he waited some more. Only then did he let his mind wander. He wondered if he was moving to another universe, or an alternate universe.

And then, time stood still. Only, it took a moment for his befuddled head to realize that only he was still. He was floating in space, yet he could breathe evenly. He tried to turn around, but it seemed his body was frozen stiff. He couldn't move a muscle. His lungs couldn't expand, his eyes couldn't blink. But he didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable.

'Take a deep... mental breath. Don't freak out. You're stuck in space, you are surrounded by giant balls of gas and fire, and... holy... is that a meteor?!'

A large rock was indeed forming larger and larger in front of him. Yet moments later, he realized with a sigh that it was simply an illusion. The rock was in front of him, but it was... materializing... right before his eyes.

Rihaan's eyes widened in understanding. A new world was appearing in front of him. He looked though his peripheral and saw rocks forming from a distance.

A new universe was in front of him. At the very least, a solar system. He could even see a swirl of rocks that was sure going to make either the Asteroid belt or one of Mars's rings.

'So far, so good.' Before he could congratulate himself on a job well done, he had spied a group of stars that looked very familiar to him. The constellations. He had instant recall thanks to his Occlumency, so he could easily trace the dots of the famed Ursa Major and Minor, along with other Constellations that he spotted. Gemeni, Bootes, Virgo, and Draco. 'Hmm... maybe I could kill Malfoy with a poison arrow as well... '

He focused on the bright stars before him, mentally connecting dots. While normally a lot of the constellations couldn't be seen by the human eye, that was widely blamed on the bright lights of earth. Their assumption seemed to be right.

Earth... if he had used a telescope, he'd more or less have the exact picture he was looking at now!

And then it hit him.

While he was not exactly sure, he could surmise that he may have just made a huge mistake. The largest mistake anyone has ever made. A sense of pride may have kicked in if he were not preoccupied with one thought.

He just might have destroyed the entire universe, and created a completely new Big Bang (albeit faster) with a Wizarding World attached.

He didn't know if that would be considered an error, since he was still alive. Before he could come to a conclusion, one giant light exploded before his eyes.