Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no copyright infringement intended.
The poisonous green light streamed towards Harry, as though in slow motion. His heart beats calmed and time slowed. He could have closed his eyes, but it felt right to look death in the face as the spell overwhelmed him, completely engulfed his vision and the piercing green was enveloped by darkness.
Harry became aware that he was lying on something cold, it felt like smooth stone, like the marble in the Prefect's Bathroom.
Surely, he couldn't be in the Prefect's Bathroom, however he could hardly remember ever feeling this rested, nothing hurt for once. Not even his scar.
Opening his eyes, he saw nothing but pure white mist mixed with shades of palest grey, at least at first. The mist seemed to swirl and solidify into objects and walls until it made a large room which seemed to stretch beyond his eyesight, with a domed glass ceiling.
This place seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place it yet, it seemed that his memories were somewhere in the mist that still curled around the edges of the room, still waiting to be formed into something he could comprehend.
Sitting up, Harry became confused. Wasn't he supposed to be dead? Yes, he had definitely heard Voldemort speak the Killing Curse and seen it shoot towards himself, it should have been a direct hit.
He heard a whimpering behind him and spun around in surprise, though he found he didn't feel the usual urgency he had become accustomed to recently. Wherever he was, the place made him feel safe and calm.
However, he couldn't help but cringe a little in disgust when he saw what was cowering under the nearby bench. It looked like a naked child, but it's skin was flayed and raw, like it was diseased. The thing, whatever it was, made him feel unmistakably wary despite his soothing surroundings.
He wanted to get closer to investigate but as he stood up he realised that he was naked. Strangely, this didn't bother him much, perhaps because he was the alone, apart from the thing which had it's back to him. Still, he would feel better if he was clothed, and as soon as he had had the thought a folded white robe materialised at his feet.
He gratefully put it on and was surprised by how warm and soft it was. He took a hesitant step towards the creature but was stopped by a very familiar voice.
"There's nothing you can do," the old Professor said calmly, as though they were discussing the weather.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed, "Aren't you dead? Wait, aren't I dead? Is this the afterlife?"
Dumbledore chuckled softly, "As inquisitive as ever, Harry, though valid questions none the less. Come, this is a better discussion to have while seated," he gestured to another bench which materialised from the mist at his motion.
They sat and Harry looked at him expectantly though the Professor didn't seem to be in any rush, he continued to smile benignly as he took a look around until he finally spoke.
"Well to answer your questions; yes, I am most definitely dead. Whether you are dead or not, depends entirely on you, Harry, and no, this is not the afterlife, this is a kind of limbo or waiting room between life and death," his smile didn't waver, in fact it grew.
Harry's confusion also grew, "Explain," he said simply, not able to find the patience or the energy to figure out Dumbledore's riddle's.
The old man sighed and his expression fell, as though he'd been afraid of this part, "Well, it's a rather long story. You learnt everything from Severus' memories, except for one thing. The part that gave me hope that you could live, the fact that as long as your mother's sacrifice lived, so would you. Therefore, even if you had to let Tom kill you, as he has, to destroy the final Horcrux, that would be all the curse would be able to do. It would not harm you, only the Horcrux, since you are protected by your mother's blood, which flows in Tom's veins."
"So, I'm not dead?"
"As I said, that depends entirely on you,"
"…And what do you mean by that?"
"That you have a choice, Harry. You could return to the realm of the living, or you could go on."
"On?" he questioned.
"On," Dumbledore confirmed but didn't elaborate and seemed to feel that this answer should make perfect sense.
Harry took a deep breath trying to marshal his waves of thoughts into coherent questions, "So- so if I went back, could I kill Voldemort? I mean, if my mother's blood kept me alive, won't it keep him alive too?"
"Ah, but you see Lily's protection comes from the love and sacrifice of a mother for her child, you are Lily's child, not Voldemort, so the protection is solely for you. With this last Horcrux destroyed, Tom is simply a mortal man, and can be killed. Nevertheless, you mustn't forget that, mortal or not, Tom is still a wizard with prodigious and unrivalled skill, though I do have strong faith that you can best him," Dumbledore finished his explanation with a grandfatherly smile.
Harry again took a moment to process the new information, "So, I've got to go back?"
"No, Harry, this is entirely you're decision, you can go back, you can go on, or…" Dumbledore seemed to hesitate for a moment, "you could go even further back."
"What do you mean?"
"This would be extremely risky, but it could potentially save many, many lives..."
Images of Remus, Tonks and Fred flashed through Harry's mind. The idea that he could be able to save them almost overpowered him.
"Explain," he repeated.
"It seems the normal rules never apply to you, Harry," the Professor's chuckle was rather sad, "there is a third option available to you. You could go back in time to the day before you're parent's death,"
"Why would I do that?"
"Because, Harry, you could prevent their deaths, you know where all the Horcruxes are and how to destroy them, you could defeat Voldemort before Wormtail has the chance to betray them."
"It's taken us both years to destroy all of Voldemort's Horcruxes, how do you expect me to do it in a day?"
"That is up to you, Harry. But you must understand that if you choose this option then you give up your chance to return to the living, you will cease to exist once time has been changed, for better or worse, as will everything in the current timeline as the new timeline takes over, however if you succeed you could make the present so much better," Dumbledore said gently, and Harry could tell that he wanted him to choose the third option.
Harry had a lot to think about though, what if he went back to 1981 but failed? Everything could get so much worse, hadn't Hermione always said that meddling with time was extremely dangerous, it was an all or nothing situation. He could go back in time and try to save all the people he had lost, he could go back to the present, defeat Voldemort, and learn to live with the guilt of the war, or he could go on and be with his parents in the afterlife.
The only thing he knew with certainty was that he couldn't go on, not yet.
He thought of Ginny, what would she tell him to do? Probably to go with his instincts, but his instincts didn't know what to think. Could he leave her in this time to take such a large gamble? The Voldemort in his time was now mortal surely he should just go back and defeat him. But he had no assurance that he would succeed, Voldemort was desperate in his time, knowing that all his Horcruxs' have been destroyed, and desperation made him even more deadly, it made him unpredictable. He could easily fail, not only losing the war but giving up the one chance he had to save everyone.
Maybe it was time to be selfish, to do something for himself for the first time, maybe he should take a chance on a better life for himself. If he had grown up with his parents how different would he be?
What about the prophecy? Would this still fulfil it?
Do things happen by chance or by choice? Does he have control of his own destiny? Or should he rely on prophecies to tell him how things should be?
He remembered the sounds of anguish and pain he had heard coming from the Great Hall on his way to the Forest, earlier that night, he remembered all the faces of those he had been willing to die for, he remembered Ginny's blazing look, he remembered Colin Creevey and Ted Tonks and Cedric Diggory, Dobby and even Hedwig. If he had a chance to save all these people, shouldn't he take it, no matter how hard or dangerous it may be?
Yes, it seemed there was no other choice, he would give up everything for a brighter future than the one he knew.
"I'll do it."
Hi all,
Thanks for reading, I hope you've enjoyed it, I've had the idea for this story for ages and I'm so happy I've finally got to a point were I can publish! I know the idea isn't necessarily original since I've seen others like this on here (but haven't read them) but hopefully my take on this will be new for you all.
Reviews are greatly appreciated and please let me know if there are any spelling/grammer errors since I have no Beta but I would like to keep my stories as error free as possible.
Thanks again,
TheOracle18