538*A/N* I know that there are many bashing fics out there that have the same plot line, so I tried to make mine different. I have never seen one done like this so I hope you all enjoy it! If there is one out there like this one then I'm sorry! If you don't like Weasley and Hermione bashing fics then don't read this one because you may not like it! Also Dumbledore is a dark wizard! I'm just warning you. This fic is Rated T because of language. I dont own the HP universe! I hope you all enjoy, and please remember to leave a review!
*I just want to add one more thing. For those of you reading The Founders of Hogwarts, I just want to let you know that i have not abandoned it! I will be writing both of these at the same time!
Brothers
Chapter 1
Tom's Change
Death looked down over the scene that was playing out before him, then sighed and started pacing back and forth in his office. Fate and Destiny had given him full control over Harry because, after all, Harry was his Master. Well sort of. You see, Harry wasn't Master of much, if anything, at this point, because the stupid idiot boy was fixing to walk right in front of a killing curse sent by Lord Voldemort.
"Who does that!? The boy has no common sense! How am I supposed to work with him!? This is outrageous!" Death shouted.
The two ladies standing behind him grinned wickedly.
"You have your orders. Go make it right." Fate said smugly, as she smiled at him.
Destiny sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's his destiny to defeat the Dark Lord. We have to make this right or the whole world will be destroyed."
"So make it right. I'll be handling your normal job until your mission is finished." Fate laughed, and the two ladies disappeared.
"Make it right, make it right." Death grumbled to himself in a sing song voice, as he sat down at his desk.
As soon as he sat down, one Mr. Harry James Potter fell through the ceiling of his brightly lit office. He glared at Harry as he drummed his bony fingers on the top of his desk.
"Where am I?" Harry asked, as he stood up and looked around.
Death sighed with exasperation. "Hello Harry. How are you? Is the weather nice on Earth this time of day? Oh that's right, you wouldn't know, because you're dead." He said, glaring at the confused boy.
"Dead?"
"Yes, dead. You did just walk in front of a killing curse, or have you forgotten already?"
"Who are you? Where is my Mum and Dad? Where is Sirius, Remus, Fred, Mad-Eye, and Tonks?"
Death sighed in annoyance. "First, who do I look like? Second, they will be along shortly, and third, you will see them again soon. BRING IN LILY AND JAMES POTTER!" Death bellowed, startling Harry as he rapped the end of his scythe on the floor.
A door appeared on the right side of his office, and Lily and James burst through it.
"Harry!" Lily cried rushing over to her son.
"Mum!"
"Oh Harry! I'm so happy to see you, but I'm not so happy to see you." She said suddenly, pulling back to glare at her son.
"What were you thinking son?" James asked, pulling Harry into a rib crushing hug.
"Why did you let Tom kill you?" Lily asked, prying Harry out of James's arms, and giving her son another rib crushing hug.
"Huh?" Harry asked, stepping back and looking at his parents.
"Why did you let Tom kill you? You were supposed to be working with him." James said.
"Where is Dumbledore? Can I strangle him now?" Lily asked, rounding on Death.
Death sighed. "No, because Dumbledore is in a holding cell at the moment. He has to be sent back too, so that this whole mess can be straightened out."
"What about Tom? Is he ok? Is he still alive?" James asked.
"Yes, Tom Riddle is still alive, but no, there is no hope for him now. All but one of his horcruxes has been destroyed. I'm afraid he is a lost cause at this point. Especially now that he has killed one of his own horcruxes." Death said, gesturing to Harry.
"Huh?" Harry repeated, looking from his Mum, to his Dad, then back to Death. "What?"
"What do you mean, huh what?" Death asked, glaring at Harry. "You knew you were a horcrux."
"Harry honey, perhaps you should sit down." Lily said, motioning towards a chair.
"We will explain everything." James said.
"BRING IN TEA!" Death bellowed, rapping his scythe on the floor again.
"You know, you might get better service if you weren't so angry all the time." Lily huffed.
Death just glared at her, but a tea serving tray and table appeared in front of them. Lily and James got Harry settled down, and began to explain everything.
A few hours later, the Potters sat with Death, who by this time had calmed down considerably, and looked at Harry expectantly.
"So it's all been a lie." Harry said through gritted teeth.
"Yes." They all said sadly.
"Even Ron and Hermione's friendship was a lie, and Ginny's too."
"Yes."
"And Mrs. Weasley's."
"Yes."
"WHAT THE HELL IS DUMBLEDORE PLAYING AT!?" Harry screamed, jumping out of his chair. "Where is he? I'm going to kill him!"
"You can't." Death said. "He is in a holding…"
"I DON'T CARE! I WANT TO SEE HIM!"
"Sweetheart calm down." Lily said trying to console her son.
"You know what to do know. So go make it right." James said, as Death sighed.
"There is that annoying phrase again." He grumbled.
"How am I supposed to convince all of them that they are following the wrong Dark Lord!?" Harry asked. "Everyone will just think I have been cursed, or that I'm not me, or…"
"I will be having a word with all the others, including Severus. When you get back you will have to explain all this to them. You are the only one that will know the details, but the only thing they will have is their memories. They will know that they have already died, and that you will have all the answers." Death explained. "You have to make this right." He said, gritting his teeth.
"With the help of Voldemort." Harry said pointedly.
"You have him all wrong son." James said.
"And his name is Tom. He hates being called all the other names." Lily said.
"Does Snape know all this?"
"No." Death said. "Severus is completely clueless."
"Figures." James snorted.
"James." Lily warned. "Not now."
Harry sighed. "What about all the ones who haven't died, and don't know the truth? How will I, we, convince them?"
"Just do what we told you to do." Death said. "They will realize it. BRING ME THE HORCRUXES!" Death bellowed, as Lily sighed and rolled her eyes.
A black bag landed with a loud clunk on his desk.
"Take these back with you. They have all been gathered from your timeline, except the diary which was removed from another timeline. They are all intact." Death said. "Tom will know what to do."
"And the one in my scar?"
"It will be restored upon arrival. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to speak with the others." Death said standing up and walking out the door.
"I still don't understand why you can't come back too." Harry said sadly.
"Because it was our time. We understand why we had to die." Lily said.
"Well I don't." Harry said flatly.
James sighed. "Harry our deaths started the ball rolling. If Dumbledore hadn't meddled, you would be where you were supposed to be. As would Tom."
"Fine." Harry said shaking his head. "I have no choice I suppose. It seems even in death, I have the weight of the world on my shoulders."
"We know son, and we are so sorry." Lily said, drying her tears.
They sat there talking and making final plans for a little while, until Death reappeared.
"Ok Harry, everything is all set. You will be returning to the summer before 5th year, that way Sirius is still alive, and you have time to plan. Fate has informed me that Dumbledore will have no memory of his death. He will simply continue on with the timeline, so going back to the summer before 5th year gives you time to plan. You will wake up on the Hogwarts Express, and go back to the Dursleys. Once there, you will apparate to Potter Manor. You are not to declare that Privet Drive isn't your home, because that will cause the blood wards to fall and it will tip him off. Dumbledore doesn't have any surveillance set up at Potter Manor, nor does he have a reason to believe that it is being used, but I do advise you to get help with setting up a Fidelius Charm A.S.A.P. It's best not to take chances."
"How do you know all those terms? Surveillance A.S.A.P." Harry asked, looking up in confusion. "And if I apparate, won't the Ministry know due to the underage magic thing?"
Death sighed. "I am Death Harry, I don't just deal with witches and wizards. I deal with muggles too, so of course I know what 'all those terms' mean. As for your second question, since your body and mind is that of a seventeen year old, you will not be tracked. However, for the brief moment that you are with people that have known you all year, you will look like your fourteen year old self. After summer you will look like you do now. All the charms Dumbledore placed on you such as the tracking charm, redirect mail charm, and monitoring charm have been removed, but he won't realize it until the blood wards fall. Any other questions?"
"How will the others find me?"
"Fred will be getting off the train just like last time, but the others will be waiting for you at Potter Manor."
"But Dumbledore's stooges will be on the train and on the platform."
"Correct." Death said with a confirming nod. "So act normal."
"We love you Harry." Lily said, hugging her son.
"We know you will make us proud. Catch our real killer, so we can have justice."
"I will. I love you Mum. I love you Dad."
"We love you too son." They said.
"Are you ready Harry?" Death asked, and Harry nodded. "Remember, just act as normal as possible until you get to Potter Manor."
And with that, Death waved his scythe through the air and Harry disappeared.
"Harry! Harry!"
Harry woke with a start, and jumped so badly he banged his head on the window.
"What Hermione?" He growled.
"Wake up. We are at Kings Cross."
"Oh." Man that was a weird dream.
"H-Harry?" Fred asked nervously, peering over to look at him. "Is-what-is…uh…"
Harry suddenly jerked again and looked up into Fred's face.
"Fred." He breathed, as tears started to form in his eyes.
"F-Freddy? W-Wh…"
"Not now George." Fred said, as he helped Harry to stand up.
They all made their way off the train and onto the platform. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had already went through the barrier, but Harry, Fred, and George held back.
"Bloody hell Harry. What is going on?" George asked.
"George wait…what…how…"
"Death said it's a twin connection thing. George knows something is wrong, really wrong, but he doesn't know what yet."
"Oh ok. Umm…I will just tell your Mum that you'll apparate to The Burrow, but go straight to Potter Manor instead. Tell the others what you told me about George, and that I'll be there soon. Oh, and just like last time…take this." Harry said, taking his Triwizard earnings out and handing it to Fred. "You know," Harry said, stopping suddenly to stare at him. "This may explain why Voldemo…err…Tom, never attacked your shop. Every other shop in Diagon Alley was either attacked or shut down, but yours never was."
"You'll have to explain that line of thinking Harry, because I don't know how you came to that conclusion, but now that you mention it…our shop was never attacked. Even though we had all those items making fun of the Dark Mark and You-Know…err…Tom." Fred said.
"How much do you know already?"
"Well Death said it was something to do with Dumbledore, and that we should call You-Know-Who Tom. He told me that things aren't what they seem and that Tom is actually the good guy. Ron and Hermione are spies, and Mom and Ginny are too, amongst other things."
"Ok then, I'll explain everything in detail later. Oh, and skip the new dress robes for Ron." Harry said with a growl.
"Either that or we charm them to strangle him." Fred said scowling.
George looked around nervously. "We better get going before Mum comes looking for us."
"Ok, see you both soon." Harry said, stepping through the barrier.
Once he stepped through the barrier, Harry took in the scene around him. Everything looked like it did last time. Mrs. Weasley was rushing toward him, and Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were grinning at him. Mrs. Weasley gave him a hug and told him that she would try to get Dumbledore to let him come and stay for the summer.
Fat chance you old cow! Harry thought, as he tried to remain calm and not hex the old bat in front of the muggles. He also tried not to cringe when Hermione kissed his cheek, but this time he caught the scowl on Ginny's face. He turned and began walking toward his Aunt and Uncle, and for the first time in his life, Harry Potter was thankful that they were there to take him away.
After the hour or so drive from Kings Cross to his Aunt and Uncle's house in Surrey, Harry was ordered to go to his room, and told that none of his freakish was going to be tolerated. Thankfully for Harry, his so called family was still scared of Sirius showing up on their doorstep so they let him have his trunk and Hedwig. Once he got to his bedroom, he finally had a moment to think about all that happened.
"Hedwig." He said tearfully. "I don't know if you can tell, but a lot of stuff has happened, and I am so glad you are here. I missed you so much."
The snowy white owl hooted softly, took flight, and landed on his knees as he sat on his bed. She gently raised herself up and rubbed her head on his cheek, drying the tears that fell past his glasses as she did so.
"Hedwig." He sobbed, wrapping his arms around her.
They gave us a second chance. A little voice in the back of his head said. It was soft, almost whispery, but he had definitely heard it.
"Hedwig?" Harry asked, looking at his pleased looking owl.
Yes, it is me. I was dead. I know everything that you do. Death doesn't just handle people you know. He knew that this would help us, so he gave us this ability. No one else can do what we do.
Harry was certain that if owls could look smug, that Hedwig would look smug right about now, but he caught the laughter in her voice.
Shall we go then? I have been to Potter Manor many times so I know the way. Just please don't forget my cage.
Harry gave a little laugh. "I won't. How long will it take you to get there?"
A day at the most. I'll fly fast.
"I'll see you then." He said drying the rest of his tears. She took flight and disappeared into the setting sun.
Harry smiled as he watched her go, and then flicked his wand at her cage, which shrunk down, and stuffed it in his trunk. Then he shrunk his trunk and stuck it in his pocket. He looked around the room one last time, sighed, then he disapparated.
When he landed in the foyer at Potter Manor, he knew instantly that his parents had been right. The house elves really had kept the place up. They had looked through Death's viewer and been able to look at it, but he didn't want to believe that it was so richly decorated. Just by looking around he knew that, despite his mother's pleading, he would never redecorate. He liked just the way it was.
Sorry Mum. I know you hate it, but I like it. He sniggered to himself.
"Harry?"
He spun around and launched himself at the man that had called his name.
"Sirius!" He cried, as he hung onto his godfather tightly.
"Harry, everyone is waiting. There will be plenty of time for reunions." Sirius said, but Harry knew Sirius was glad to see him too from the way he hugged him so tightly.
"I missed you." Harry said pulling back and grinning happily.
"I missed you too." Sirius said with a grin of his own.
Harry followed him into a large dinning room were the others had gathered, and had already been served food by the elves. Chatter immediately stopped when he walked in.
"Harry!" Remus cried, as he rushed over.
"Hey Remus!" He exclaimed as he gave the werewolf a hug.
"Guess what? Dora and I have already made plans to get remarried."
"Really!?"
"Yeah." Tonks said with a laugh. "I want Teddy back as soon as possible."
"Apparently I've missed a few things." Sirius laughed.
"Just a few Padfoot." Harry said grinning, but then he caught sight of two people whom he didn't expect to see. "Mr. Weasley? Bill? What are you doing…?"
"Death told me that they can be 100% trusted." Fred said. "So I brought them."
"I have always suspected Dumbledore was up to something, but I never could place my finger on it." Mr. Weasley said shaking his head.
"Harry, I also know that Dumbledore is hiding something. I know that scar is a horcrux, and I went to speak to him about it at the last Triwizard event. He told me that he would look into it and have it removed, but I take it he never did. I'm a curse breaker, so I have seen these things before, and had to deal with them. It's a feeling that I am trained to look for. It's actually more common in ancient Egypt though."
"He must have obliviated you at some point in the last timeline then." Harry said with a scowl. "Then he must have done something to make you not notice it, because we hung out for a while last year at shell cottage. Well not last year but…nevermind." Harry said with a sigh.
"Do you want me to remove it?"
"No!" Harry exclaimed quickly. "No just leave it. It's ok. I suspect it will be gone soon."
"What do you mean?" Mad-Eye asked.
"Well I guess I should explain all that I know, but I only want to do it once. Professor Snape, could you go and get Voldem…err…Tom?" Harry asked, looking in his direction.
Snape stared at him blankly. "And risk getting killed again? Potter you have…"
"No, sir please for once trust me. Tell him you must speak with him privately. When you and he are alone, tell him that I have the rest of his horcruxes and that I know Dumbledore is the real Dark Lord. Tell him that I know he was Imperiused. I guarantee he will come with you. Apparate him straight here."
"Imperiused!" Snape said with a shock. "What…?"
"Please Professor." Harry said with a pleading look. "The faster I get this bloody piece of soul out of my head the better off I will be, and he is the only one that can do it. He needs to. Oh and don't call him My Lord or anything like that. Call him Tom when you're alone."
"Fine." Snape said curtly. "I'll be back shortly."
Snape stood up and apparated on the spot, but no one expected him to be back in a mere five minutes. As soon as they landed in the dinning room, Harry's scar burst open. He hit the floor writhing and screaming in pain.
"It…it's ok." Harry gasped through the pain, as he tried to simultaneously crawl over to a very shocked Voldemort, and hold his friends back. "Tom…please…the one in my head first. There is a horcrux in my head…Please." He begged, flipping over on his back and staring up at the man.
Voldemort's piercing red snake like eyes narrowed as he looked around the room carefully, but he knelt down beside Harry. He took out his wand, and waved it over the scar while he muttered an incantation. A greenish glow sprang up around Harry's head, then suddenly a black cloud filled the gap between the two men. Tom breathed in deeply, and the soul entered his body through his mouth. Harry lay on the floor gasping for air as he looked into the face of Tom Riddle.
"You have a nose now." Harry gasped.
Tom smiled. "Thank Merlin. Mr. Potter, I do believe we need to have a talk."
"Yeah, now that I am not screaming in pain." Harry said with a smile twitching around his lips. "I want to try something if it's ok. Will you speak Parseltongue to me? I want to test a theory." He asked, as he stood up.
"What is your theory?" Tom hissed in Parseltongue.
"That the barmy old manipulative codger lied to me." Harry hissed back. "He lied to me. Dumbledore I mean." He said in English, and turning to his friends. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised though." He sighed. "Tom, please join us at the table. I asked Professor Snape to ask you to come here so I only have to explain this once."
"Very well." Tom said sitting down. Though he made sure he sat in a corner so that he could see and watch everyone carefully. Mad-Eye didn't take his eyes off of him.
"I realize that you may not believe what I have to say at first, so I'm going to come straight out and tell you that I am rubbish at Occlumency. Please feel free to use Legilimency on me at any time you desire. Even Professor Snape can tell you that I am horrible at it."
"He is My Lor…Tom. Forgive me." Snape said with a sigh.
"It's ok Severus, bad habits are hard to break." Tom said dismissively. "You were saying Mr. Potter."
"Please call me Harry." He said with a smile, but then took a deep breath. "Tom, we are all dead. Well with the exception of Mr. Weasley, Bill, and George. All of us have died and come back to life. Death himself has sent us here because Fate and Destiny want the mistakes that have been made corrected. I realize that is hard to believe, but it is true. When I died, my parents told me the truth about what happened that night. I know you killed them, but you did not do it willingly. Dumbledore had Imperiused you. I know for a fact that the only people you have willingly killed is your own followers. I know the others you have killed is only because Dumbledore had Imperiused you. Fate and Destiny have sent us back to this day for a number of reasons. One is to stop you from killing a muggle woman and turning Nagini into a horcrux."
"No! I would never turn Nagini into a horcrux! Or kill a muggle woman. My father was a muggle!"
"I know. Tomorrow night Dumbledore will find you at Riddle Manor, use the imperius curse on you, and force you to kill a muggle woman in the village. Now, I realize that to you it's only been a few short days since you have been back, but to most of us, it's been over three years. Well except Sirius. He dies at the end of the year, which thankfully won't happen now."
"By the way, who did kill me? I know all about the fight at the Ministry, but I don't know who killed me or how I died." Sirius said.
"You're killed by Bellatrix." Several people said.
"Bella…Damn that woman." Sirius said pounding his fist on the table.
"She shot you with some kind of curse, it knocked you off balance, and you fell through The Veil." Tonks said quietly.
"Note to self, stay out of the Death Chamber." Sirius said dryly, which caused everyone to laugh.
"Which leads me to the second reason for why this day was chosen. You're planning a mass breakout of all your old followers that are in Azkaban, but you haven't told anyone yet. Please don't go through with these plans. It only means more people will be killed. Besides, now you have us to help you take down Dumbledore."
Tom sighed. "Thank Merlin. I really did not want to set those idiots free."
"Well now you won't have to. Let's just keep them there." Harry said with a laugh. "Now, my last reason for why this day was chosen. You're going to start going after the Prophecy, am I right?"
"Yes, but I have a feeling I won't have to now." Tom said with a smile.
"Correct." Harry said. "The Prophecy says this… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ..." He said.
Tom stared at Harry. "Oh Merlin." He whispered.
"Yeah tell me about it." Harry said dryly. "Death said he will explain what the prophecy really means, but at a later time. He wants to wait to make sure everything is on track first. Now, Dumbledore follows a pattern, but the pattern and his plans got shot to bloody hell the night he sent you to kill me."
"Because the curse rebounded?" Tom asked.
Harry nodded. "Yeah not even Dumbledore expected that. You see, my mother had become suspicious of Dumbledore when he told them to move out of here, and find a quiet cottage in Godric's Hollow, so she searched for days in the Potter library and found the ancient spell for Love Protection. It was simple. You have to sacrifice yourself in order for a loved one to survive the killing curse. When you told her to back down and get out of the way, which I thank you for being able to do, she couldn't because she wanted to protect me."
"I tried. I was trying so hard Harry. I had gotten use to feeling of the imperius curse by that point, and I was starting to be able to shake it off, and he knew that. But that night I couldn't. I tried so hard." Tom said with a sigh.
"I know you did." Harry said. "I don't blame you."
"Harry what do you mean Dumbledore follows a pattern?" Mad-Eye asked.
"That's what I was going to explain next. Ok, if you look back a Dumbledore's history, you will see that all his adult life there has been a dark wizard running around. First Grindelwald, then Tom, it was supposed to be me next, but that plan has now failed."
"You?" Everyone asked in shock.
"Yeah, me. I was suppose to be Dumbledore's next dark wizard. Poor, poor Harry Potter, family dead, lost his mind, harbors feelings of hatred, blah, blah, blah." Harry mockingly moaned. "I was actually supposed to survive Tom's third killing curse, but Fate and Destiny had other plans. They killed Dumbledore."
"Wait, third killing curse!?" Tom shouted.
"Yeah, but that was supposed to happen three years from now. Dumbledore was dead by that point, because he slipped on your horcrux ring. That was a plan cooked up by Fate and Destiny. In essence you killed him by default, but by that time things had gotten too out of hand. You made Draco Malfoy a Death Eater…"
"What! A CHILD!" Riddle shouted. "What the BLOODY HELL!"
"Yeah, it shocked us too at the time." Remus said.
"I'm sorry Harry, please continue." Toms said, pinching the bridge of his nose and leaning on the table for support.
"Well you made Draco a Death Eater at the age of sixteen and sent him to kill Dumbledore, but he was already dying because of your ring. Even with Dumbledore gone, you were still hell bent on killing me, because your soul was so bloody mangled by that point you didn't care about anything. Two of your seven horcruxes had been destroyed by then."
"Oh Merlin. Dumbledore forced me to make those."
"I know. He wanted to experiment with horcruxes so he made you create them. Anyway, as I was saying, you attacked Hogwarts…"
"What?" Tom gasped jerking his head up. He looked a little green and started to sway a bit.
"Yeah." Harry said quietly. "That's where a lot of us died."
"Harry I'm sorry, I can't listen to any more about what I did in your future past life thing. I think I might get sick." Tom said with a sigh. "I don't want to know, but I have a feeling that stuff won't happen now."
"It won't, not now." Harry said.
"I'm sorry, please tell me about Dumbledore, Grindelwald, myself, and you, and how it all relates."
"Well, Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald in 1945, two years after you opened the Chamber of Secrets. It was at that moment Dumbledore knew that you would be his next dark wizard. He didn't care how many people Grindelwald killed, he just wanted the attention and the fame because everyone knew they had been friends, and he was afraid that if he killed Grindelwald, that the fame would eventually die down and people would forget. So when you opened the Chamber, he started grooming you to be the next bad guy."
"But he didn't kill Grindelwald." Tom said.
"I know, he kept him alive on purpose. He pretended to be the savior of the wizarding world, but was prepared to free Grindelwald, and turn him loose in case his plan for you failed."
"But I was easy to manipulate." Tom sighed. "Is Grindelwald dead yet?"
"No, he is still locked up in that prison of his, but you killed him in my future past life." Harry said with a grin.
"Really?" Tom asked perking up a little. "Why?"
"Because you wanted to know about the Elder wand." Harry said.
"The Elder Wand…oh Merlin. I had just started to wonder about wands and how they react. I was planning on finding out everything I could about them. I want to know how our wands did what they did."
"Well that's easy. Our wands are brothers, and they share the same core. A tail feather from a phoenix. Fawkes to be exact."
"Fawkes?" Tom asked.
"Yeah Dumbledore's phoenix." Harry said. "So now you don't have to kidnap and torture Mr. Ollivander."
"What?" Tom asked startled. "Nevermind I don't want to know." He said waving off Harry's answer before he could even speak.
Harry grinned. "But if you still feel the need to ask Lucius Malfoy for his wand, feel free, and accidently snap it."
"Is there a good story behind that?"
"Well sort of. You tried to kill me with it, but it shattered and broke because of the horcrux in my head. We fought in the sky over Surrey and London. Oh which reminds me, if it isn't too forward, can you teach me to fly unsupported?" Harry asked hopefully.
Tom's mouth twitched in amusement, then he smiled. "I can Harry, and all of you if you like. I told Severus how to do it. It's simple really. All you have to do is tap the bottom of one foot and say the incantation 'praeveho'. It's Latin and it simply means 'fly'."
Tom took out his wand, tapped his foot, and he rose up into the air. He flew around the room for a minute and came back down.
"I wouldn't try it during the day time though." Tom said with a grin. "Who knows how many muggles will spot you. Dumbledore doesn't know I can do it, but the Death Eaters do."
"What about if you combined it with a simple disillusionment charm?" Sirius asked.
Tom stared at him. "I have never thought about that. I'll have to test that out tomorrow." He said with a grin, as Sirius laughed. "Go ahead Harry. You were saying something about Dumbledore being savior and Grindelwald."
"Right." Harry said scratching his head. "I got side tracked. Anyway, once you opened the Chamber he knew you could be the next dark wizard, so he forgot all about Grindelwald. You were from a muggle orphanage, so he knew you would have no contact with the wizarding world during summer. He could walk in there, fiddle with your mind, and walk out without you, or anyone else being the wiser. I know you found the Chamber but you didn't mean to kill Myrtle. You were Imperiused to set the basilisk free. You were just searching for Salazar Slytherin's hidden office. You wanted to see if there was anything left in there that might be interesting. Your part was innocent, Dumbledore however, turned it into evil. By that time, he already knew you had found out about your family. See the way Dumbledore told it to me in my future past life was, you went to Little Hangleton, killed your father and grandparents, framed your Uncle, stole the ring, and made a horcrux. What he failed to mention to me was that he made you do all that after you had the talk with your Uncle. You walked away from that first talk quite happy. Then you went to see your father and grandparents, who welcomed you with open arms. Dumbledore couldn't have that, because it would destroy his plans. So he made you go back and kill them all. That is what started your spiral out of control, and you got deeper into the dark arts. He made you rip your soul in half for the first horcrux which was the diary, but he realized that wasn't enough of a push, so he made you spilt your soul in half again with the ring. After that Dumbledore didn't have to do much else, but he used the imperius curse to force you to kill a bunch of people, build an army, and create havoc. He made you create more horcruxes as an experiment for his own personal study. Once everyone turned to him to stop you, he became the savior again. He was going to destroy all your horcruxes and kill you. Well, all was on track until that bloody damn prophecy came up. He made you start calling yourself the 'Dark Lord' way back in the beginning because that's how he thought of himself, but when the prophecy mentioned 'Dark Lord' and not 'Voldemort' he panicked. He made you try to kill me, but when the curse rebounded, he changed tactics. Pit the two of us against each other, have me kill you, and because I have been brought up much the same way as you were, because he bloody went against my parents will, he was going to turn me into a dark wizard just like he did with you. He made me go to the Dursleys because he knew they would treat me bad, and he hoped that I'd hate muggles because of it. Sirius was supposed to take care of me according to my parents will, but Dumbledore couldn't have that because it wouldn't set with his plans, so he made sure Sirius stayed in Azkaban without a trial. He was happy when Sirius was killed, but his plans got squashed because he died the next year, but the damage had already been done. A few of your horcruxes had already been destroyed and the whole wizarding world was out to get you. You attacked Hogwarts, and killed even more people. I was supposed to kill you, but I ended up a drunk miserable old Auror with Ginny Weasley for a wife, and that's only because she doused me with love potions. Death, Fate, and Destiny were bloody pissed, so they put a stop to it." Harry finished, with his eyes flashing with anger.
"Bloody hell Harry. That's just…that's just…wow." Sirius said leaning back in his chair.
"Ginny is doing what?" Mr. Weasley asked.
Harry looked at him. His face had gone white with rage, and he was squeezing and twisting his hat so tightly his knuckles were white.
"She doesn't start doing that until 6th year though. She starts doing it because I don't show any interest in her. Your wife helped her, and speaking of your wife, she knows everything and is in Dumbledore's back pocket. He's paying her with funds from my vault, and she is keeping them in a muggle bank account. From what Death showed me, she had saved up over eight million pounds by the year 1998, but right now it's more like five or six. Ron is being paid to spy on me, as is Hermione, and they too are being paid from my vault. He tried to get the rest of you Weasleys, but you refused, so he obliviated you."
"I swear to Merlin, that man is a dead man on the next full moon." Remus growled.
"Can I watch?" Tom asked.
"I don't know if you'd want to." Remus said.
"Oh, I do." Tom laughed. "I am so sorry this has happened Harry. I really am, and I hope you believe me."
"It's ok Tom, and I do believe you. I know it wasn't really you. It's not your fault. It's all bloody Albus 'to many names' bloody Dumbledore's fault." Harry said, pounding his fist on the table with each word. "We both have been manipulated by him."
"And the rest of us just fall in line." Mad-Eye said shaking his head.
"He turned you into a monster." Tonks said softly. "I am so sorry. I am so sorry." She said through tears. She jumped up from her spot at the table, and walked around to hug Tom. He looked shocked, but returned her hug with a smile.
"I wish I could say I could feel the love from you, but with my soul the way it is, I can't. I know enough to know what it is supposed to feel like though."
"You poor thing." She said, and squeezed him tighter, which made his red eyes bulge out for a moment.
"Thank you." He said quietly, when she let him go.
"Well Tom, what do you say we fix that little problem?" Harry asked with a grin.
"Harry, as the muggles say, now you're talking." He grinned back.
Harry ran into the foyer to grab the black bag with the horcruxes in it. When he came back, he plunked them down onto the table and started taking them out one by one.
"Now, I know I already destroyed the diary, but Death collected it intact from another timeline."
"Timeline?" Bill asked.
"Yeah there are seven of them. Death, Fate, and Destiny keep watch over all the timelines. Seven is the number of completion, and in each one a different outcome happens. They intervene when one goes off course, such as ours did. The rest of the horcruxes are from our own timeline, and since you haven't killed the muggle woman to make Nagini a horcrux, that one doesn't matter. And now, your diary." Harry said with a grin.
"I feel like it's Christmas." Tom said with a laugh.
He took out his wand, and just like with Harry, a green glow surrounded it and black smoke rose out of it. He sucked it in through his mouth, and shuddered for a moment, but right in front of everyone's eyes, his outward appearance started to change. His hair grew back, and his face took on a much more human, and youthful look.
"That feels so much better. I can even feel my insides beginning to heal, and my mind as well." Tom said as he slowly leaned back in his chair. "I have indeed, missed my soul." He said with a satisfied sigh. Then his eyes fluttered open. "The ring please."
One by one Tom repeated the process with the ring, the locket, and the cup. By this time, he looked exactly like Harry remembered from the diary memory, except his eyes were still blood red, and the pupils were still snake like slits. When they came to the diadem though, he stopped.
"I think I want to leave this one alone for now." He said. "If something happens to you or me, at least we know that I can still carry on and finish what we started. This piece contains a very small portion of my soul, the smallest piece actually, except for the one that was in your head, so it won't affect me too badly to not have it."
Harry nodded. "Yeah, Death said you might say something like that, and I think it is wise."
"So what now Harry?" George asked.
"I don't know. I'm not good at planning things. Every time I try, the plan gets shot to pieces and it never works."
"Yeah like the time you broke into Gringotts and escaped on a dragon." Tonks snorted.
"What!" Sirius and Tom cried.
Harry started laughing. "Well by that time Dumbledore had told me about your horcruxes, so during our 7th year, which we skipped because you were still trying to kill me and the fact you had taken over Hogwarts, Hermione, Ron, and I went looking for your horcruxes. Now mind you, Dumbledore couldn't be bothered to tell us, well me, where they were. He told Ron and Hermione, but they were instructed to lead me on a wild goose chase that lasted for about nine months. Well we had to get Hufflepuff's cup out of Bellatrix's vault so we broke in, were caught, and escaped on a dragon."
"He wanted you to be downtrodden as much as possible." Tom said.
"Yeah. He had died, so his plan to turn me dark failed, but knowing what was going to happen to me, Death, Fate, and Destiny just let you kill me so the whole thing could be restarted. Another reason why this night was chosen to send us back, is because you have just regained your body. You're fresh, so to speak, and Dumbledore hasn't had time to track you down yet and get you back under his control."
"Well I for one am grateful." Tom sighed. "After hearing all the things I would have done, I'm so glad they stepped in."
"What about Bertha Jorkins?" Mr. Weasley asked. "What really happened to her?"
Tom sighed. "I cracked her mind open by using the Cruciatus to get past Crouch's memory charm, and her mind was damaged very badly because of it. I told Wormtail to keep her prisoner, but to treat her well, until I found a way to heal her. Unfortunately she escaped and Wormtail tracked her down and killed her. I didn't want to kill her because she was innocent. I tried to help her, after I tortured her for information. I do admit that guilt, but I wanted to try and find a way to heal her." He sighed. "Wormtail paid dearly for killing her though. I made sure of it."
"Good." Sirius and Remus said.
"In my future past life, Dumbledore lied to me and told me you killed her out right and made Nagini a horcrux. He actually lied about many things. He made up stories about your past. He told me you were an evil child, and he even showed me a bunch of fake memories." Harry said.
"I was not an evil child!" Tom shouted. "I was very happy actually. When I found out about magic and after attending my first year, I knew right away what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a healer."
"I know that now."
"Dumbledore will pay dearly for what he has done." Mad-Eye growled. "I can't believe we have all been hoodwinked by him."
"That's what makes him so dangerous. He is good at what he does." Tom said. "Harry, you said you are bad at Occlumency, but our plans are in danger with you running around knowing what you know. Who tried to teach it to you?"
Snape shifted around uncomfortably. "Me, my Lor…Tom. I must confess that I wasn't very easy on Mr. Potter, and looking back, especially knowing what I know now, I should have taught him correctly."
"And why didn't you teach him correctly Severus?" Tom asked coldly.
Snape winced as if he were expecting something. "Given his father's and my past, I harbored ill feelings toward Mr. Potter and I wanted to make him suffer." He said quietly, and wincing again.
Tom glared at Snape, which made Snape squirm slightly under his gaze. "And your feelings toward Harry now?" He asked even more coldly.
"Have changed My Lor…Tom." He said nervously.
"Good. Normally I would torture you for this displeasing information Severus, but thankfully for you, I am not that man anymore. I never wanted to be that man in the first place."
Snape visibly relaxed and let out a breath that he had been holding. "Thank you My Lor…Tom." He sighed.
Tom's lips twitched in amusement. "I was hoping that because of my physical change that it would be easier for you to get past the 'My Lord' business. I see that is not the case."
"It's your voice My…Tom. It's still the same. Your…mannerisms as well." Snape said cautiously.
"Hmm…" Tom said thoughtfully. "My voice is not something I can help, but perhaps my mannerisms I can try to alter."
"The eyes don't help." Tonks said. "Bloody hell, even I'm squirming over here."
Tom laughed loudly. "My apologies Miss…I'm sorry but I don't know your name."
Harry smacked his forehead. "I'm sorry Tom. I forgot you wouldn't know who some of them are. I'm used to you knowing. Anyway, this is Nymphadora Tonks…"
"Harry…" She warned, turning her hair a firey red.
"I was getting there." He laughed. "But don't call her Nymphadora. She prefers Tonks."
"I'm also a metamorphmagus." She grinned. "And an Auror, so I can come in handy."
Tom laughed, and Harry continued the introductions. They all continued to talk some more, but after an hour or so, the Weasleys headed for The Burrow, and everyone else headed off to bed. After all, there was still so much planning to do.