Let's Try That Again Redux

Harry settled into his favorite chair. Some days he wondered why he had decided to be an Auror. It seemed like an adventure when he was younger. In truth, everyone looked to him for answers. Sometimes he thought he should have just faded out of sight. Maybe travel the world for a few years instead of becoming the youngest Head Auror ever.

Something tingled in the back of his mind, but he pushed it aside.

What was he thinking about? Probably nothing important. He had a good life. It was probably just melancholy from an empty house. This was the first year that all of the kids were in Hogwarts. He and Ginny would have the manor to themselves until the holidays.

The manor. Why did they ever move into the manor? It felt pretentious. He wasn't some Pureblood Lord that needed a mansion to feel superior to others. That familiar tingle tickled the back of his mind. He rubbed a hand through his hair.

What had been doing? He made a note to go to the healers soon. Losing his train of thought happened a lot these days. Harry gave a wicked grin as he stared at the unopened bottle of fire whiskey. Technically, it was a Christmas present from Ron, but he felt like he needed a good drink right now. He didn't know what Ron had decided to hide the bottle in the manor. Harry would have to apologize when he saw his brother-in-law next. Or he could charm the lid to look like it hadn't been opened. It was an easy one that no one would think to check for once it had been opened again.

Harry took a sip of the whiskey. It burned nicely as it went down. He took another sip. His brow scrunched a little as the effect wasn't as strong this time. It must have been some good whiskey to go down so smoothly after two sips. His eyelids felt heavy. He blinked slowly. It took a concentrated effort to open them again. He had to hand it to Ron, this stuff packed a punch.

He tried to set the glass on the table next to his chair only to realize he couldn't feel his fingers. His head flopped forward to find that the glass had fallen to the floor. The tingle in the back of his mind receded just enough for his memories to connect. Poison. This wasn't the first time he had been exposed, but it had never been this bad before. Someone had done their research. The first time someone had slipped him poison the healers had found that his exposure to phoenix tears meant he had a hardy resistance. It wasn't an immunity, it just meant that most poison would have a minor effect on him.

Ron had poisoned him? That didn't make sense. Someone had planted the bottle. Someone wanted to frame Ron. He had to fight. Impending death was a feeling as familiar as thirst, but he wasn't going to let whoever did this blame his friend.

"Harry." Ginny spoke from somewhere in the room. "Can you hear me?"

A spark of hope pushed against the darkness. He could see her moving nearby. She kneeled in front of him. The shape of her was vague, her voice was muffled. Distantly, he felt her shaking him.

"Damn it, Harry." She yelled at him. "You weren't supposed to drink that until Christmas."

What?

"I had it all planned out." She whined as she let him go. "Hold it together, Gin. This can still work."

She had planned this? Ginny had been the one to poison him? That damn tingle started along the back of his head. Of course, his wife wouldn't poison him. This had to be a mistake. He fell onto the floor with only one eye clear enough to see his wife.

Ginny picked up the bottle and smiled. She flicked the little gift-tag attached to it.

"This can still work." She muttered.

Ginny rushed out of the room. The feeling returned to his body. He pushed himself up to his hands and knees, steadied himself on the chair, and then stood. That was close. Whatever poison that had been was something else. The moment of relief was flooded with dread as he looked down to see his own crumbled body on the floor.

"That was underwhelming." A female voice from behind him said.

Harry turned toward the speaker. A young woman stared back at him. She looked familiar in a way like he had seen her around many times throughout the day but had never spoke. An accidental shared look in the lobby or a silent ride on an elevator. He wouldn't have given it a second thought on a normal day. This was anything but a normal day.

"I know you." The words came out slowly and haltingly.

Their eyes met. A flood of memories sprang to mind. She was there in the room when his parents died, she took Quirrell as Voldemort fled, she watched as Harry stumbled away from the basilisk corpse, she glared at the dementors as they attacked. Time and time again she appeared through his life, always a step away.

"Death." Harry stated.

"Nice to see you again, Harry." She smiled back at him. "We seem to keep running into each other." She dropped into the chair near his body. "There are the big ones, of course. I thought I had you with the basilisk, that cost me a few Obol. But it's the little ones that everyone forgets. You have no idea how many times you almost died during Quidditch. Or how often the basilisk venom running through your veins saved you from poison. This isn't the first time that your beloved wife has tried to dose you."

"When was the first time?" Harry asked, for once the tingle didn't derail his train of thought.

"Your honeymoon." Death replied. "She is really sold on the tainted gift idea."

They were interrupted as Ginny entered the room. She had a wand he had never seen before. A few small spells later had removed all aspects of her magical signature from the room. Ginny went through the process with practiced ease before she apparated away.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"She's been dosing you with love potions for years." Death hopped up then she patted him on the shoulder. "Memory altering ones too. The kids are yours, but not hers. She didn't want to ruin her figure."

"Who's the mother?" Harry asked.

"Hermione." Death stated.

Harry's heart sank. "She stole that from us?"

"No." Death started to walk away. "She was in on it."

Harry turned to look at her. "What?"

"Her kids are yours too." Death said. "A little blood magic and their hair turned out red instead of black."

"Ron?" Harry asked.

"He's clueless." Death waved a hand at him to follow. "He'll probably be dead within a year. I think they're trying to pin this on Ron, and have it come out that he discovered the truth about you and his wife." She shrugged. "It's not the most elegant plan, but it fits Ron close enough so no one will ask too many questions."

Harry followed her for a bit. He realized a moment later that the room wasn't big enough for the distance they had traveled. Pulling himself back to the present he found that they were in a different kind of study. It was a mashup of the Gryffindor common room and the break room at the Ministry during his training days. Death flopped down into a comfy chair.

"What happens now?" Harry asked.

"That is up to you, oh Master of Death." She giggled. "You can move on from this mortal coil, or I can send you back."

"Send me back, how?" Harry sat in a chair facing her. "Going back to a murderous wife and someone I thought was my friend isn't something I find appealing."

"I would hope not." She rolled her eyes. "I can send you back to any moment you have died before."

"You said I had almost died." Harry narrowed his eyes at her.

"Almost died." She wiggled her fingers. "Dead for a moment or two. Same difference."

Harry sighed. "Fine. What are my choices?"

"That's what I like about you, boss." She hopped up. "You roll with the punches. Think on your feet."

Harry lifted his glasses and pinched his nose.

"Look here." Death pulled a book from a nearby shelf. "These are your options."

Harry opened the book. Instead of a list like he had expected each was a snapshot in time. The first was him as an infant, the air around him was tinted the telltale green of the killing curse.

"No thanks." He flipped to the next page.

"I cut out the little moments." Death added. "It would be a waste to send you back to that time you almost choked on oatmeal."

"A waste?" Harry asked. "That sounds fine to me."

"I might make this look easy, but it takes a lot out of me." Death huffed. "The Deathly Hallows channel a small portion my power. Such a small moment would have devastating consequences."

"How?" Harry asked. "I'm choking on oatmeal one moment, and the next I'm fine."

"I'm sending your essences, your soul as it is now, back to a point in time. Not only that, but dying has removed all those blockages, potions, and compulsions. And, that chunk of Tommy Boy is going to burst once you head back. Shoving all of that into a mostly full you would, for lack of a better analogy, pop you like an overfilled balloon."

"I get what you're saying about potions, but compulsions and blockages?" Harry asked.

"One second." Death turned back to the nearby bookshelf. She flipped through some before pulling out an ancient book that looked like it was about to flake away. "Here."

Passive Magical Core Syphon - Horcrux (Tom Riddle)
Core Output Limiter - Spell (Albus Dumbledore)
Loyalty Compulsion (Weasley) - Potion (Albus Dumbledore)
Loyalty Compulsion (Dumbledore) - Potion (Albus Dumbledore)
Disparagement Compulsion (Lordship) - Potion (Albus Dumbledore)
Love Potion Poisoning - Stage One - Potion (Molly Weasley)
Love Potion Poisoning - Stage Three - Potion (Ginny Weasley)
Family Magic Limiter - Spell (Albus Dumbledore)
Active Magical Core Syphon - Spell (Albus Dumbledore)
Residual Memory Damage - Spell (Albus Dumbledore)
Emotional Focus - Contempt - Aura (Albus Dumbledore)
Emotional Focus - Apathy - Aura (Albus Dumbledore)
Emotional Focus - Impulsive - Spell (Albus Dumbledore)

"Fuck. Shit. Merlin." Harry whispered.

"Fuck, shit, Merlin, is right, boss." Death nodded.

"Can you explain some of this?" Harry motioned to the book.

"Which parts?" Death leaned closer so she could see the list as well.

"Most of it." Harry leaned back in his chair.

"The horcrux was blocking your magic." Death pointed at the item. "There was a constant part of your magical core that was fighting against it. As you can see, Dumbledore didn't help things. His spell not blocked more of your growth but actually stole some of it. It's impressive spell work honestly. A little slip up would have made you a squib. That really would have messed up his plans."

Harry gave her a blank look.

"Here." She pointed at the other list. "All of the effects by Dumbledore were done with master level implementation. His potions left no residual damage, his limiters didn't raise any alarms, and his auras are so subtle that no one would even question it. You aren't the first person he's done this too. This type of proficiency only comes from a lot of practice. The only reason you left any memory damage was due to Ginny and Molly poking around."

"What is an emotional focus aura?" Harry asked. "I've never heard of that kind of magic."

"It's like a cloud that surrounds you." Death explained. "Anyone who comes in contact with it will have their contempt and dismissal enhanced. It won't make someone who was in love with you suddenly hate you. It locks onto those small doubts, those little annoyances, and feeds them."

Harry blanched. A flood of moments in his life rushed to the front of his memory. Every time teachers and neighbors just ignored the signs when he was at the Dursleys. How often the entire student body of Hogwarts turned on him for any reason. As much as he hated to admit it, he could understand the Ministry wanting to discredit him. They were scared but sending dementors after him and allowing Umbridge to torture students was so far beyond that.

"All of that will be gone when I go back?" Harry asked.

"Yep."

"And how do I stop it from happening again?" Harry looked up at her. "Dumbledore will notice something has changed. He will want to fix it as soon as he could."

"You're the Master of Death." She stood up, spreading her arms. "You are beyond mortal men."

Harry looked up at her.

"Fine." She grumbled. "Now that you have properly activated your privileges as 'the master of death' you will be protected from such meddling. Just say your Potter Family Ring has mental shields."

"The 'master of death' stuff will stop Legilimency?" Harry asked.

"Hard to read the mind of a dead man." Death grinned.

Harry put the book down. He began to flip through the options again. The next choice after his baby picture was the time he choked on the snitch. It was tempting, but he did not want to deal with Quirrell again. Oddly enough, the next choice was a moment after killing the professor. He showed it to Death.

"The specter of Tom hit you full force." Death explained. "For a moment, you were mine."

Harry nodded and turned to the next page. A broad smile played along his lips. Young Harry was hanging from the door of a flying car. He had forgotten about that. Second year was tempting. He could stop the basilisk before it got too far. However, death did say the venom running through his veins had actually prevented him from getting poisoned.

He looked at the next point in time. It was one he remembered well. The younger Harry held the diary in his lap, Fawkes sat on his shoulder. A tear was suspended in the air between the phoenix and the open wound on his arm. He slipped his finger onto the page, bookmarking it for later.

The moments after that were moments that stuck out in his mind, but slightly altered. A dementor held him by the shoulders, Wormtail ripped gnarled fingernails along his throat, Remus as a werewolf had ripped his arm from its socket, a spell from a Death Eater at the World Cup hit him square in the chest, the dragon was faster than he expected, the gillyweed didn't kick in fast enough, then the killing curse hit him instead of Cedric. He stopped there, any time after that would be too late.

Harry took a deep breath. He tore his gaze from the book, trying to bring himself back to the moment at hand. It didn't help much, he was dead, looking through the worst moments in his life. He flipped back to the page with the basilisk. It was tempting, but the idea of being that young again was a little too much. He flipped through third year.

The search stopped in the Shrieking Shack.

"This one." Harry tapped the page.

"Are you sure?" Death asked.

He nodded in reply.

"Brace yourself." Death raised her hands with her palms open toward him. "It was nice to finally meet you. Just do me a favor."

"What's that?"

"Don't hurry back." Death smiled at him.

Author Note -
I've been debating on a sequel or reworking the original. I've decided to give it a rework. This time with plot planned in advance! There will be changes to the story, but I'll try to keep the moments that I liked the most. Certain things weren't handled in the best way and I'd like to try again. Hopefully, you'll enjoy the ride.