SECOND CHANCE

A/N: Sorry for the very long wait for the next chapter only to see a rewrite notification and other chapters deleted in its place; I have tried to write my story in a better way than the previous time. Once again thank you for all your support and encouragement, I hope you guys like this one better.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the other characters; they are the property of J. K. Rowling and the Warner Bros. Inc. I am merely using and playing with them in this piece of fiction.

No money is being made by me or any other person related to me by any kind through the means of this fanfic.

Chapter 1

The temporal Jump

Harry Potter was sitting on the threadbare bed in his room at No. 4, Privet Drive; and for the first time in his life and certainly for the first time since Snape's Occlumency lessons, he was sitting with a clear mind.

That is not to say that Harry had suddenly made a huge jump in Occlumency or he was even practicing it, but his clear mind was due to the fact that he felt nothing, numb. No pain of Sirius' death, no guilt, anger, anything.

Unlike with Cedric's just a year ago, when Harry had been guilt-ridden and his nights riddled with nightmares and his uncle's screaming for him to 'stop the bloody noise'; this time Harry did not have even a single nightmare, and as for guilt he knew damn well that there were many people who shared a larger burden for Sirius' death than him.

His relatives had not bothered him all summer as the threat given to them by the Order members had worked spectacularly and they were more than happy to believe that he was not even in the house.

Harry could not be any more happier to live at 4, Privet Drive and not face his 'family' but it was as if like his happiness had been sucked out of him after the death of Sirius but he was too tired emotionally to feel pain and sadness so the place where Sirius lived in his heart was now a void.

Sure, he still wrote the Order every three days that he was really fine and the Dursleys need not be threatened again but a lack of letters from his friends and even from Remus had hit him hard; only Tonks wrote to him and that too was sporadically as she was really busy with her auror duties now that the ministry had agreed that Voldemort had indeed come back.

Speaking of Voldemort, things had not been going well for the light side now that his return was in the open; in the next month after the Ministry fiasco, Voldemort had attacked and killed Director of DMLE and a prominent candidate for minister post, Amelia Bones and Order member Emmeline Vance; apart from these he had broken out the captured death eaters from Azkaban, these failures had resulted in the removal of Fudge from the Minister's post. Rufus Scrimgeour, previous head auror had been named the new Minister of Magic in the place of Fudge.

The only good thing that had happened after the Ministry debacle was that Sirius was proven innocent and was granted posthumous exoneration after the trials of the captured death eaters. That meant that his will was valid and he had left everything to Harry along with a request to adopt him by blood and magic. Dumbledore had granted the request after much consideration of the effects of the adoption ritual on the blood-wards at Privet Drive. Thus Harry James Potter was now known as Harry James Potter—Black.

Harry was going towards the play-park in Surrey to get away from the oppressive feel of the Dursley house for a bit, he had just rounded the corner from Wisteria Walk when he felt a tingle up his spine and the hairs at the back of his neck prickled. The feeling was vaguely familiar to that he had experienced when he had entered Ollivander's shop and Hogwarts for the first time. He tried to back away but found that he could not move his body at all, it was as if someone had cast a full body—bind at him.

He could faintly see the outlines of a number of runes and was just berating himself for not listening to Moody's advice of 'CONSTANT VIGILANE' when his scar burst open in pain, he instinctively reached with his hand to cover his scar but what he saw made his blood run cold.

Lord Voldemort Apparated just 15 yards from him with a very pleased gleam in his eyes.

"Well, well, well; Harry Potter, once again walking unsuspecting straight into a trap laid by Lord Voldemort." Voldemort spoke silkily as he waved his wand and the runes disappeared and Harry's body regained its ability to move.

Harry, on the other hand was panicking and berating himself for forcing Dumbledore to stop the Order from guard duty at Privet Drive. 'Looks like my time has come at last, sorry Ron, Hermione; I could not escape this time. I am coming mum, dad, Sirius.' Harry thought.

"Well boy, here is no way that you are escaping me alive this time. But worry not; this would not be for the lack of trying. Lord Voldemort would grant you a fair chance.

"Take out your wand boy; let's see what have you learned from the last time we dueled." Voldemort spoke with a sneer and a grandiose wave in Harry's direction.

Harry took out his wand and immediately had to dive out of the path of a twisting red bolt of Crucio straight into the path of a purple beam which hit his left shoulder and broke it with a loud snap.

Harry bit back a scream and stood up again as Voldemort waved his wand and three unknown curses sped into Harry's direction at a great speed, somehow Harry was able to dodge the curses and sent a Stupefy and a Reducto at lord Voldemort who swatted the stunner aside like an insect but the Reductor hit the ground in front of him sending debris some of which hit and drew some blood from the Dark Lord.

Voldemort was enraged now; 'how dare this filthy half-blood stand up to the powers of the dark lord.' "AVADA KEDAVRA" he screamed.

To Harry it happened in ultra-slow motion, he knew as soon as the killing curse erupted from Voldemort's wand where it would impact and neatly sidestepped it sending a severing curse and a Reductor in Voldemort's general direction who merely deflected them back at him with a sneer and sent another killing curse at Harry.

"Who is going to save you now Harry; both parents and a godfather, you would not have a godmother lying around waiting for the chance to jump in front of a curse for you, would you?" Voldemort taunted as Harry dodged the spells.

Harry was enraged by Voldemort's taunts and made a deadly mistake in his anger as he could not react to another bone shattering curse which impacted on his ribs collapsing his left lung.

Voldemort wasted no time in asserting his advantage and sent another killing curse to end the life of his arch nemesis but Harry reacted quickly and sent a disarming charm just like the graveyard and again the phoenix song and golden cage thing happened.

"Oh, I am ready for this thing this time Potter" Voldemort hissed as he brought out another wand and sent another curse which Harry failed to see straight at him. The new killing curse was however sucked into the connection between the two brother wands and a golden light impacted Harry in the gut and he vanished from sight.

Voldemort felt the familiar apparition signature of his old teacher and now the most hated enemy, Albus Dumbledore, and disapparated from the street even as the old Headmaster started to fire curses at him without losing any time.

Dumbledore arrived at the scene to find the remnants of a battle lying around the street without any sign of the saviour of the wizarding world, Harry Potter.

A series of pops announced the arrival of other people. He whirled around to see a team of three people in grey cloaks with their faces concealed by some sort of shadowing and obscuring charms woven into the hoods.

He knew instinctively that these people were Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries and went towards them to figure out why they had arrived here.

"Hello, may I ask what is the Department of Mysteries doing at the site of the battle between Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter so soon after the Disapparition of Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked very suspicious of the grey cloaked people as he knew Voldemort's death eater Rookwood had been an Unspeakable during the first war and did not know how many people in that particular department were sympathizers or in league with the dark.

"The Department of Mysteries recorded a temporal disturbance at this site just a few minutes ago and we were dispatched to find out the cause." A person in the centre of the group said his voice distorted by some spell making it nearly impossible to discern whether they were male or female.

"Temporal disturbance?" Dumbledore said a bit shocked though the twinkle in his eyes increased a bit to see that Harry had survived and just lost somewhere in time.

The person just nodded and they started waving their wands in complex patterns and muttering something under their breath.

"May I help you in your investigation?" Dumbledore asked to grasp as to the state in which his favourite pupil should be (past or future).

Again the person who was obviously the leader of this group just nodded and Dumbledore started to wave his wand and muttering spells under his breath.

They soon figure that there were two apparition signatures in the alley which Dumbledore supplied came from him and Voldemort; also they found three magical signature one belonging to Dumbledore, another to Harry and the last one to Voldemort.

"In addition to the magical and apparition signatures we have also found the remnants of a petrifying ward and a strange signature with large amount of dark magic in the area." The leader of the Unspeakables said to which Dumbledore waved his wand once more and the results even stumped the most knowledgeable wizard on earth.

"The results of my scan are a bit baffling" Dumbledore started; "the closest I can say is this that the peculiar signature matches to that of a phoenix and is closely related to the temporal disturbance that you have mentioned."

The Unspeakables nodded again and disapparated away leaving Dumbledore to his musings. He knew that Harry had somehow disappeared about ten years in the past but 'No need to tell the Ministry of this.' He thought as he too disapparated to call a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix and formulate a plan to counter these events.

Harry felt like he was being stretched and shrunk simultaneously while falling through a rainbow tunnel. He was finding it very hard to breathe which was worsened by the fact that his lung had collapsed during the battle with Voldemort and a number of other injuries sustained by him.

As he was feeling a little lightheaded the fall stopped and he found himself on a street remarkably similar to the one he had disappeared not too long ago. As he lost consciousness a trio in grey cloaks Apparated in a series of pops of varying intensity and portkeyed him away.

Harry woke up to a sensation of sterile smell assaulting his nostrils and someone prodding him with a stick 'or a wand' he thought as an afterthought. He could not help but groan as the wand poked a tender spot alerting the persons in there to his conscious presence.

The healer poured a clear blue potion into his throat which tasted quite disgusting but worked at once and soothed away majority of his pain.

As Harry opened his eye for second time he noticed that there were two persons in the room standing on either side of his bed apart from the healer.

"Um…Hello." He spoke unsure how to address them.

"Hello, may I know your name?" the person on the left side of his bed spoke in an oddly distorted voice.

'That's a first' Harry thought but spoke nonetheless "Harry Potter"

"Thought so." The person spoke and then continued "Mr. Potter, I am agent Smith and this is agent Brown and healer Murton; we are from the Department of Mysteries."

Harry panicked 'Shite, guess the Unspeakables are angry at me for breaking into their Department. Can't even run away, don't have my wand and don't know how many are guarding me apart from these three.'

"Uh… what do you want from me?" he asked nervously.

"We were dispatched to investigate a temporal disturbance in Little Whinging, Surrey; when we arrived there we found you badly hurt, lying in the middle of the street in a smoking heap with a large concentration of dark and unknown magic in the area. Can you tell us what happened?" this time the one on the right asked.

"Temporal Disturbance? You mean time—travel right?" Harry asked confused.

"Yes, Mr. Potter time—travel; now please tell us what magic did you use to have travelled in time?" the person asked again a little more forcefully.

"I don't know." Harry replied confusedly. 'I did not use any unknown magic, did I?' he thought.

"Very well, you will submit to a Veritaserum testimony to make the events clearer to us?" though it was asked in a questioning tone; it was more of an order than a request and Harry nodded knowing that he had no chance to escape without the will of these people.

The healer pulled out another vial, this time filled with a colourless liquid that Harry could remember Snape threatening him with during his fourth year, and poured five drops in his mouth.

Harry felt a curious sensation, it was like an imperious curse but at the same time quite stronger than the one used at him by even Voldemort. It was like his own senses were urging him to tell them the truth honestly to all their questions but he could fight it down so that he can withhold some information and give them answers honestly at the same time.

"What is your name?" the Unspeakable asked when Harry's eyes glazed over.

"Harry James Potter." Honest but not the whole truth.

"What is today's date?"

"16 June 1996"

"How did you travel in time?"

"I don't know."

"What happened prior to the time travel?"

"I and Voldemort dueled."

There were a few flinches and a scream (healer) at Voldemort's name but the unspeakable continued. "Tell us everything about the duel."

"I was walking from Privet Drive to Wisteria Walk when I stepped in a warded area and was petrified instantly; Voldemort arrived and made me duel him. The golden cage thingy happened again but he somehow hit me with another curse and I woke up here."

"Describe the golden cage, why does it happen?"

"It is golden, it has phoenix song in the background, and it happens because my wand has the same core as Voldemort's"

The unspeakable scowled a little at the obvious pun even under Veritaserum but did not say anything. The healer administered the antidote at the gesture from the Unspeakable.

"So, what happened?" Harry asked once he was free from the influence of the truth potion.

"We do not know for sure but we can tell you that since you did not use any known spell or even magic we cannot send you back to your time." The one on the left answered.

"So what is the date today and what happens now?" Harry asked slightly more scared than he would ever like to admit.

"Today's date is 19 June 1990, and as for what happens now; you will have to make an oath to never reveal your true identity to anyone and to not change the timeline as you know. Also you will be given a new identity and a new wand and we can enroll you into Hogwarts under the guise of a transfer student."

Harry thought about it for a long time. 'Damn, I have arrived six years back in time. I can save Cedric, Sirius. It's like a Second Chance; I can rectify my mistakes from the first time around. But how to get out of this oath? Damn, out of one problem straight into another.'

"Okay, what do I have to do?" Harry asked.

"Hold your wand aloft and say 'I, Your name, solemnly swear upon my life and magic to not reveal my true identity to anyone and not change the timeline until 16 June 1996. So mote it be.'" The unspeakable told and looked at him expectantly.

Harry waited for them to give him his wand but inside his mind was racing 'How to get out of this? Think Potter, Potter? That's it, I am Potter—Black now, not Potter, thanks Sirius, I will not let you down.'

"Well?" the unspeakable snapped.

"Well what, give me my wand." Harry retorted and the Unspeakable reached into his robes and pulled out his wand as the healer and the other unspeakable tried to stifle their laughter.

Harry took the wand from his hand eagerly and held it aloft as the unspeakable had showed him and spoke, 'I, Harry James Potter, solemnly swear upon my life and magic not to reveal my true identity and not to change the timeline until 16 June 1996. So mote it be.'" And forced his strongest Lumos silently.

"Very Good, Mr. Potter. But unfortunately we would have to get you a new wand while this one and your other possessions will be held in a secure vault at Gringotts till 16 June 1996. We cannot have two identical magical signatures running around now, can we?"

Harry grudgingly gave the wand back to him and asked the question that was burning him since he had learned that he will enroll at Hogwarts under a new identity. "Wait, do I have to take my OWLs again, I mean I had completed my fifth year at Hogwarts when this happened."

"Yes, Mr. Potter; you are going to have to retake your OWLs after your new identity is generated in a couple of days. Rest now, we will discuss the rest tomorrow." The unspeakable said and the three of them left the room leaving Harry alone to his thoughts.

A/N: So, how was it? Better than the first draft? I sure hope so.

Updates will be erratic due to my busy schedule at least for another week so please bear with me. Let me know what you think of this one by either reviews or PMs.

Once again, I thank you all for all your encouragement and support.