The battlefield was silent.
Smoke choked the air as ash drifted like snow across the broken ruins of Hogwarts. Corpses littered the grounds—friends, mentors, enemies—all gone.
Harry Potter dropped the Sword of Gryffindor beside him, his chest heaving with shallow breaths. Beside him, Hermione Granger clutched a broken wand, her face streaked with blood, eyes glazed with shock.
Everyone was dead.
And standing before them—no longer a monster, but a man—was Lord Voldemort. Only, the name no longer felt right. The glamour faded, and Tom Riddle's true face was revealed: tired, pale, regretful.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice raw and real. "I never meant for it to end like this."
He fell to his knees and, with a final breath, collapsed.
Harry screamed.
Not because he hated Tom Riddle—but because when he died, something inside both him and Hermione shattered.
"Help!" Hermione cried, her voice cracking with panic, even though she knew no one would come. "Please—someone!"
But no help came.
The world flickered and fell to black.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
Everything was black.
Not the darkness of night. Not the shadow behind closed eyes. No—it was deeper. Complete. Endless. It was the darkness that came after life ended.
Harry drifted in it, suspended in weightless nothingness. There was no pain here. No war. No blood. No Voldemort. No friends. No family.
Just silence.
And then… he wasn't alone.
A faint echo stirred the black, like wind across still water. The darkness pulsed, shimmered, and from the abyss stepped a figure cloaked in robes that shimmered like the cosmos itself—woven of stars, time, and death.
His presence was immense. Not heavy. Not suffocating. But ancient. Eternal.
Harry tried to breathe but realized he didn't need to.
Beside him, Hermione hovered, her wide brown eyes fixed on the being before them.
"I am Azrail," the figure said, voice layered with both thunder and lullabies. "You know me as Death."
Hermione instinctively reached for Harry's hand. He took it, grounding them both.
"You are not meant to be here," Azrail said. "Your threads were twisted by mortal hands. Your lives stolen. Your names false. Your destinies… derailed."
He circled them slowly, his fingers ghosting through the void like ink trailing through water.
"But you are not lost. Not yet."
Harry swallowed hard. "Are we dead?"
"In a sense," Azrail answered, pausing before them. "But death bends to me, and so now… so do you."
Hermione flinched. "Us?"
"You are the Masters of Death. Its children. Its chosen. Do you think you bore the Hallows by chance?" He stepped closer. "I marked you long ago."
Harry felt a pulse in his chest, like a hidden heartbeat awakening.
Hermione's lips trembled. "Why us?"
Azrail's eyes—piercing silver pools of starlight—softened. "Because you were wronged. Because you were lied to. Because your pain was not fate—it was theft."
His voice deepened, like ancient stone cracking beneath a mountain.
"I offer you a choice."
A stone archway shimmered into existence behind him—one side glowing with warm golden light, the other with the same vast blackness they'd awoken in.
"One: remain in this shattered world where your loved ones are ashes and your souls drift without purpose. Or two…"
He extended his hand, palm open, glowing faintly.
"Return. Go back before the first stone was laid. Rewrite your stories. Uncover every secret. Expose every lie. Reclaim your truth."
Silence.
Hermione's grip on Harry tightened. "What would happen if we went back?"
Azrail's eyes darkened, burning with the weight of ages. "You will remember everything. But more than that… you will become what you were always meant to be. Children of Time. Heirs of Fate. Champions of Death."
Magic curled in the air like smoke.
"You will be given gifts to aid your journey. Power. Clarity. Truth. But it will not be easy. There will be enemies—old and new. And the greatest threat will not be war… but the truth itself."
Harry looked at Hermione.
She nodded.
He turned to Azrail. "We choose to go back."
Azrail's lips curled in the faintest of smiles.
"Very well."
The stars in his cloak rippled. Time shuddered.
"Your new journey begins the summer before your first year. Your false names will stay until your blood reveals otherwise. You will awaken to pain, for your bodies will begin to reject the bindings forced upon them."
He touched each of their foreheads.
Harry felt cold. Then warmth. Then nothing.
"Hadrian Elias Riddle. Livia Seraphine Riddle."
"The world forgot you. I did not."
He stepped back. "You are not alone now. I will be watching. Call, and I will answer."
With a surge of blinding light, Azrail disappeared.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
July 30, 1991 – Little Whinging, Surrey
Harry jolted upright, gasping for air.
The cupboard ceiling stared back at him.
Sweat soaked his skin, and his heart hammered like a drum. But it wasn't fear—it was knowing. Remembering.
It was real.
He could feel the threads of time winding around him again. Azrail's touch had changed him. His body felt… wrong. As if his skin was trying to stretch and shift into something new.
He peeked out of his cupboard. Vernon and Petunia moved robotically. They didn't even shout at him for making noise.
Even Dudley, once a loud and proud tormentor, sat blankly watching the television, smiling too politely.
Harry's breath caught.
They're not normal. They're under something. A spell.
He clenched his fists. "I'll figure it out. After tomorrow."
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
July 31, 1991 – Midnight
The Dursleys were asleep.
Harry sat alone, curled on his cot in the cupboard, staring at the dusty ceiling.
Midnight struck.
He whispered, "Happy Birthday, Harry."
Nothing answered.
Then the pain hit.
He cried out, clutching his stomach as burning, twisting agony raced through his bones. His eyes flared green, glowing in the dark. Veins pulsed with magic. Blood sang with something ancient.
Just as he was about to black out—pop!
A letter and a golden key fell into his lap.
Gringotts Wizarding Bank
To: Harry James Potter
RE: Urgent Inheritance Evaluation
You are hereby summoned to Gringotts for emergency verification of bloodline and magical identity. Bring this key. Do not delay.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
– Diagon Alley
Harry stepped through the towering marble doors of Gringotts, heart thudding.
"HARRY!"
He spun—and there she was.
Hermione Granger, pale, wide-eyed, and trembling.
"You got one too," she whispered.
Harry nodded, holding up his letter.
"I felt this pain… then the key appeared… and now…"
"I know," Harry said, voice shaking. "I remember everything."
A goblin approached them, eyes sharp and knowing.
"I am Griphook. Come. Your inheritance awaits."
They followed.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
The Ritual Room – Deep within Gringotts
"Blood first," Griphook said.
The parchment shimmered with runes. "Eight drops. No more, no less."
Hermione glanced at Harry. He nodded.
Together, they cut their palms and let their blood drip onto the parchment.
Gold fire exploded across the paper.
The ink wrote itself.
Name Given: Harry James Potter
True Name: Hadrian Elias Riddle
• Date of Birth (False): July 31, 1980
• True Date of Birth: October 31, 1980
• Biological Parents: Tom Marvolo Riddle (Father), James Potter (Mother)
• Aunt: Lily Evans
• Godfather: Severus Snape
• Bloodlines: Riddle, Potter, Malfoy, Lovegood, Prince, Weasley, Evans
• Creature Inheritance: Death-born Vampire / Wolf Hybrid
• Hogwarts Houses: All Four
• Vaults:
• Riddle: 1,275,000,000 Galleons
• Potter: 945,000,000 Galleons
• Malfoy: 800,000,000 Galleons
• Lovegood: 510,000,000 Galleons
• Prince: 640,000,000 Galleons
• Weasley: 420,000,000 Galleons
• Evans: 400,000,000 Galleons
• Magical Tampering Detected:
• Memory Alteration
• Binding Charms
• False Soul-Bond (Ginny Weasley)
• Loyalty Curse (Albus Dumbledore)
• Suppression Spell
Name Given: Hermione Jean Granger
True Name: Livia Seraphine Riddle
• Date of Birth (False): September 19, 1979
• True Date of Birth: October 31, 1980
• Biological Parents: Tom Marvolo Riddle (Father), James Potter (Mother)
• Aunt: Lily Evans
• Godmother: Lily Evans
• Bloodlines: Riddle, Potter, Malfoy, Lovegood, Prince, Weasley, Evans
• Creature Inheritance: Thestral / Werewolf Hybrid
• Hogwarts Houses: All Four
• Vaults:
• Riddle: 1,275,000,000 Galleons
• Potter: 945,000,000 Galleons
• Malfoy: 800,000,000 Galleons
• Lovegood: 510,000,000 Galleons
• Prince: 640,000,000 Galleons
• Weasley: 420,000,000 Galleons
• Evans: 400,000,000 Galleons
• Magical Tampering Detected:
• Identity Mask
• Memory Bindings
• Suppression Curse
• Subjugation Charm (Dumbledore)
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
Griphook looked at them gravely. "You are twins—Riddles by blood, Potters by love. What was stolen from you will now be reclaimed."
The next ritual began. Magic surged. They screamed as their bodies changed, power flooding into them.
When it was over, they stood in front of a mirror.
Hadrian was taller, leaner, with sharper features and striking green-and-blue eyes. His hair was still messy, but regal.
Livia mirrored him—softer features, smaller frame, but the same ethereal beauty. They looked like siblings born of shadow and moonlight.
They turned to each other, eyes wide.
"We're twins," Hermione—no, Livia—breathed.
"And we're going to take our lives back," Hadrian said.
Their next stop: Number 4 Privet Drive.
It was time to remove the spell that had caged the family.
End of Chapter 1.