"Oi would you wake up?"
I jolted awake, except, I wasn't in the cupboard anymore.
Instead, I was floating in a vast white void, nothing above, nothing below. Just endless blankness.
In front of me stood… Harry Potter. Well maybe not HIM.
I blinked, looking down at myself. My own body—5'9", olive skin, light beard, messy hair, white clothes—stood there, perfectly clear. I wasn't Harry here.
Same messy black hair, same scar, same face—but his presence was different, heavier, older, like the body was just a costume he wore.
"You look like your trying to understand quantum physics and failing" he chuckled, his voice sound heavy like an adult man "I'm not the boy you think I am. just call me ROB, if you like."
"Where the hell am I?" I asked, keeping myself calm like I am not have a chat with a godlike being.
"In your mindscape," Rob said, casually posing his hand like tony stark showing Jericho missiles at the endless white. "Think of it as the waiting room of your soul. Leaving that aside you adapted quickly after your death I am actually kinda impressed"
My chest tightened. "So I did die, huh?" looking around see my Mindscape , huh so occlumency type shi.
Rob look at me with pity, shrugging. "Ceiling fan. Dropped on your head while you were asleep. Quick and painless, at least."
I felt my stomach twist. "That's it? That's how I go out?" I was disappointed a ceiling fan of all things well it kinda makes sense that fan was making creepy noises for far too long but well shit happens.
"what? Disappointed that truck-kun didn't visited you like most people." Rob replied amused. "But when I saw your soul drifting in the void, I saw in your head that you wished for a life full of fun and adventures and figured… why not? Harry Potter's body had just given out. Hunger, neglect, the usual Dursley cruelty. So I slipped you in."
My shoulders relaxed like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders "So I didn't steal his body… he really…"
"He really died," Rob said sadly "But I gave you his memories. His pain, his struggles, his childhood. So you can carry them with you. So you'll understand."
The moment I let that sink in, a sharp ache echoed through my head.
Images too many, too fast—poured into me like an expanding infinity castle.
A cupboard door slamming shut.
Petunia's cold eyes narrowing with disgust.
Dudley's fists pounding into a small, helpless body.
The gnawing emptiness of going to bed hungry, night after night after night after night after night.
I staggered, clutching my head in pain like my head is being splited apart by moses.
"These memories" I croaked. "They are-"
"They're his," Rob interrupted softly, though his face remained unfazed. "Harry's. I didn't bring you here to erase him. I brought you here to carry him. To live his story, but with your will behind it."
The flood slowed, settling into cracks of my mind, becoming part of me. My heart raced with anger, pity, and something else I couldn't name.
Rob's green eyes glowed faintly. "Now you know the truth. The Harry Potter of this world was broken before his tale even began. You, however… you might just change everything."
I clenched my fists so tight my nails dug into my palms.
"You had no right," I spat. "No right to play god with me… or with him."
Rob tilted his head, still wearing Harry's familiar face. "And yet, here you are. Alive. Breathing. With power in your veins. Do you wish I had let you drift into nothingness instead?"
"That's not the point!" My voice cracked, fury boiling under my skin. "You just… plucked me out like some piece on a board. You let a child die just to stick me in his place."
Rob's expression softened, though the weight behind his words didn't. "The child was already gone. I didn't kill him, and I didn't save him either. His story ended that night. All I did was stop you from fading."
My chest heaved, anger battling guilt, confusion, and a sharp stab of helplessness like someone kick my dog and ran away.
"Then why me?" I demanded. "Why not someone stronger, smarter… someone who actually deserves to carry this? I am just your avg. joe."
Rob smirked faintly. "Because you'll ask those questions. Because you care enough to rage at me right now instead of bowing down. That… is exactly why."
Rob's gaze sharpened, almost clinical, as he studied me.
"There's one more matter to deal with before you can truly begin," he said.
Before I could ask, a searing pain stabbed through my scar. clutching my head, the void around us rippling like water disturbed by a stone.
From the white nothingness, a shape began to crawl into existence.
A small, twisted child's body, skin raw and gray, limbs too thin, red eyes like burning coals.
as I steady my head I saw the figure.
I knew instantly what it was. Him.
The malformed child hissed, a sound more animal than human, and its red eyes locked onto me with hatred so deep it burned.
My knees buckled. "That… that's—"
"Voldemort," Rob finished flatly. "Or rather, the fragment of his soul lodged inside you. A parasite you were never meant to carry."
The Horcrux-Voldemort screeched, scrambling toward me on its frail limbs.
But Rob simply raised his hand.
The creature froze mid-motion, suspended in the air as though invisible chains bound it. Its face twisted, eyes wide with pure terror, for the first time looking less like a demon and more like a cornered animal.
"Ugly, isn't it?" Rob muttered, his voice calm, almost bored. "All that power, reduced to this pathetic scrap."
The Horcrux thrashed soundlessly as light gathered in Rob's palm.
Then, with a snap of his fingers, the twisted child erupted in a blinding flare like sun breathing, obliterated in an instant, leaving not even ash behind.
The void fell silent. The pressure in my skull vanished. I gasped, realizing for the first time how heavy that presence had been… and how light I suddenly felt without it.
Rob dusted off his hands as though it had been nothing more than a chore. well more like demon slaying.
"There. No more passenger in your soul. That weight was his, not yours. Now, you are only you."
I stood there, chest heaving, still stunned by the sudden silence inside my head. For the first time, the scar didn't burn. The constant, gnawing static at the edge of my mind was gone.
But as I steadied myself, I felt something else.
The magic inside me—warm, flowing like a hidden river—had changed.
Now it pulsed, heavy and vibrant, filling every inch of me. My veins felt alive, my skin tingled with energy, my breath itself seemed charged.
Rob watched me carefully, lips twitching into a faint smile. "Noticed it, did you? With the parasite gone, your core can expand freely. No more leaks, no more interference. What's left is yours—dense, potent, and stronger than before."
I flexed my hand, willing the energy forward. It surged instantly, eager, responsive like it had been waiting all along.
A small orb of light flickered to life above my palm, brighter, steadier than before and also chantless.
My eyes widened. "It's… different. Stronger. Cleaner." I thought i was already talented but this is even more broken.
"Lily's sacrifice gave this body a reservoir, a protection baked into the soul," Rob explained, his tone almost admiring. "But with the Horcrux clinging to you, that gift was suffocated. Now that I've burned away the rot, her blessing shines through. It amplifies your magic, makes it denser, purer."
I stared at the glowing orb in my hand, feeling its warmth seep into me.
For the first time since waking here, I didn't feel cursed. I felt… chosen.
The orb in my palm flickered once before dissolving back into my skin, leaving a faint hum of power behind.
Rob folded his arms, his borrowed face unreadable. "Consider this your true beginning. No Horcrux. No chains. Only your will… and the path you choose."
The white void around us began to ripple, thinning like mist in sunlight.
My heart pounded, not from fear this time, but from the weight of possibility.
For the first time since waking in this nightmare like dream, I felt something new.
Hope.
And with that, the void swallowed itself, and I was gone.