[[!meta title="Contingency"]]

Near the end of the war, Hermione was worried that Harry wouldn't be able to
fulfill his destiny. She performed a ritual giving him a second chance should he
fail.

Now, it's over a hundred years later. Harry is alive, having defeated Voldemort
and saved the world, but unhappy. Hermione married Ron and wasted her potential,
Harry was never really in love with Ginny, and wizarding society hasn't really
improved since his childhood. Harry dies in his sleep, and the forgotten ritual
kicks in.

Harry awakens as a child once again, and decides to change the future.

* The return-to point could be either the time of the ritual (for a lame
  nothing-really-changes redo fic) or much earlier. Personally, I prefer the
  pre-Hogwarts period, like age 7.
* Need some excuse for why it can't be done more than once. I suppose it
  suffices that the time travel was accidental and they really don't want to do
  it *again*.
* Should Hermione come along for the ride? It'd probably make more sense than
  some arbitrary limitation of the ritual to only work for Harry.
* How to excuse the age 7 arrival date? "I made a mistake building the ritual; I
  was aiming for year 7 of school."
* State of the Horcrux in Harry? Probably there when he arrives, and easily
  removed with future knowledge.
* This is clearly a manipulative!Dumbledore and possibly love potion fic. Harry
  is out to change the whole wizarding world.
* If they're arriving at age seven, then Hermione arrives almost a year early.
  She's got time to set the groundwork for rescuing Harry.

There are a few pages of handwritten notes for this in my journal; check that
as I have not transcribed them yet.