When Harry wakes up in his almost-eleven year old body, it is both a blessing and a curse. There he is, in the hut on a rock, his aunt screaming at him, his uncle glowering at him, with Dudley blubbering something in the back - and suddenly he has the chance to make things right. He can save Remus and Tonks and Fred - he can save Sirius, save Cedric, save everyone.
Sisyphus is a Harry Potter fanfic by esama, in which Harry gets a second chance to relive his life after dying in the final showdown against Voldemort. Seeing his predicament as a blessing, he eagerly decides to make changes in order to save those he had loved and lost, but not all goes according to plan...
Compare Oh God, Not Again! for another take on a Peggy Sue. In fact, it may help after this one.
Sisyphus can be found here
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There is a Fan Sequel, Being Harry Potter. Not to be confused with Lily and the Art of Being Sisyphus, which which is an unholy fusion of satire and crack.
This story provides examples of:
- Beige Prose: How the writer wrote the fic, short but witty.
- Blessed with Suck: Harry quickly comes to view his situation as this.
- Deconstruction Fic: Of Peggy Sue, Ground Hog Peggy Sue, and Set Right What Once Went Wrong.
- Death Is Cheap: No matter how many times he dies Harry will come back sooner or later.
- Death Seeker: Harry, by the end. Oblivion Seeker would be a more accurate term, as death is meaningless and an utter curse for him.
- Diabolus ex Machina: Whenever Harry tries to change something for the better or otherwise act differently, sooner or later he ends up dead for his troubles and at the start of another loop.
- Downer Ending: After a hundred loops' worth of failing to escape or save anyone who died in the original timeline, Harry finally gives up and does everything the way it was originally. He defeats Voldemort, marries Ginny and has children with her, lives out his life, dies of old age...and then wakes up on the morning of his eleventh birthday, again.
- Fate Worse than Death: Harry is condemned forever to relive his life, even when he finally GETS IT RIGHT. There is no escape.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: Every time Harry dies he goes back to the beginning — rinse rise and repeat.
- Lighter and Softer: The loops that Harry spends pranking Hogwarts, some of them with Fred and George.
- Mind Screw: The ending.
- Peggy Sue: What Harry wants to do.
- Railroading: Whatever's behind the loops, it doesn't seem to like it when Harry consciously tries to abort from The Stations of the Canon - he usually winds up brutally murdered for his efforts.
- Riddle for the Ages: Who or what is forcing Harry to continue reliving his life and waking up on his eleventh birthday every time he dies?
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Subverted. Any attempt to deviate from how things went on the first loop quickly gets Harry killed. Part of what makes him start to lose hope is that he has to relieve all the horrible events of his life without any chance at improving them.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Harry finally defeats Voldemort, goes on to marry Ginny and have a family, and dies of natural causes in his old age. If you think that the loop is finally broken, you are wrong.
- Stopped Caring: After living through dozens of loops and hundreds of years, Harry stops caring about wanting to save anyone who died in the original timeline.
- The Many Deaths of You: Shadowgate would be impressed by the myriad ways that Harry meets his demise, several of which are repeat offenders:
- Voldemort. (at least four times)
- The Basilisk. (more than four times)
- Quirrell. (at least three times)
- Dementors. (more than four times)
- Overdosing on potions.
- Suicide. (more than twice)
- Fenrir Greyback.
- The Ring Horcrux. (twice)
- Being literally stabbed in the back.
- Toxic smoke.
- Being mauled to death by Remus.
- Executed by (presumably) the Ministry of Magic.
- A backfired spell.
- Walking through the Archway of Death.
- Burning himself and the Dursleys alive.
- Burning the Forbidden Forest down with himself in it.
- Being killed by Dumbledore himself.
- Putting himself into a coma and later being taken off life support.
- Old age.
- Time Loop Fatigue: After a while, Harry just gives up and starts looking for ways to die permanently.
- You Can't Fight Fate: The ending revealed that even when he wins he loses. Harry is bound to come back alive no matter how many times he dies, in no matter how many ways. Harry will never be free of dying and then repeating his life.
