When We Were Young

C H A P T E R F O U R

September 4th, 1942

With nothing to interrupt his thoughts and with Tom away at Hogwarts, Harry had more time to reminisce and think.

The memories of his first life were dull and boring. There was an occasional flare of accidental magic that made him laugh, but it was rare. He was ignored by the Dursleys and rather lonely in his first life, and maybe he was so attached to Dumbledore because he was so lonely.

Dumbledore was not, by any means, good, but he wasn't exactly evil either. Albus Dumbledore was a mass of grey.

He did what he thought what was best, and he didn't give a damn about who didn't like his methods or ways.

Dumbledore wanted what was best for the Wizarding community, and he was obviously a strong believer of the good of the many over the good of the few (after all, he raised Harry like a pig for slaughter). However, he was much too biased and interfering. He stuck his crooked nose were it didn't belong, and he never got the consequences of his actions because of how many people support him and his higher up positions in the British Ministry.

Dumbledore was strong, but not untouchable. Harry planned to knock him down a few pegs, teach him some humility.

As for Tom, he honestly felt bad for what he became. Tom was so afraid of dying that he mutilated himself to avoid Death, his handsome features turning into ones of a snake. The Blitz must have ingrained that fear of Death in Tom, but Harry hoped that he could guide Tom away from that path before it was too late.

Even now, Harry knew that Tom would never sit on the sidelines. Tom would take charge, one way or another, and Harry wanted him to go the legal way about it this time.

Of course, all of this took much consideration as Harry did not have full access to his first life's memories, and no matter how much he begged Death, he would continue to remember his past life day by day through his dreams.

Death said that the full memories of his past life had to be remembered this way since the overload of memories would basically fry Harry's brain if he remembered everything all at once.

This left Harry at a major disadvantage. Instead of having first hand experience with Dumbledore, he had to guess Dumbledore's reactions to things and estimate what he would do if he knew someone was conspiring against him.

Death reassured Harry that he would help him with Dumbledore when the time was right. Death asked Harry to put his worries behind him until he got his letter to Hogwarts. Then, he could build a solid foundation against Dumbledore, with Tom.

Although, keep in mind that while this is Harry's second life, he is still only 10 years old and knows nothing but the first 10 years of his last life. His memories match his physical maturity, and he might be more mentally mature than other children, but he is still a child at heart.

Going away from that topic, Harry found himself lonely without Tom at his side.

He enjoyed all the letters Tom sent him- even if they were rants about what he learned and what spells he preferred- and he was happy to see that Tom was liking being at Hogwarts, but he didn't like feeling alone.

The children at the Orphanage provided company, but they were much too dull compared to Tom's brilliance and whip-lash wit. The adults were worse, always cooing over him as if he were their personal pet.

Death accompanied Harry from time to time, but he couldn't be by Harry everyday because of all the souls he needed to transport and all the paperwork he needed to file and give to his counterpart, Life.