Chapter 1: A New Pathway

"Lily! It's him! Take Harry and run!" James Potter stared into the red eyes of the Dark Lord. Peter Pettigrew had betrayed them.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort yelled. There was a flash of green light. Then James felt no more.

"James Potter," called a loud voice.

"Professor Dumbledore?" James asked, tired. He opened his eyes.

Dumbledore was standing over him. "James," he said, sternly, "we need to talk."

"Wait," said James. "I'm dead. You-Know-Who used the Avada Kedavra on me. And where are we?" He surveyed his surroundings. There were none. He and Dumbledore were on a white sheet of solid, hard, material, like rock. It stretched out for miles every way.

"In the afterlife," said Dumbledore calmly.

"No! You died too?!" James collapsed. "And Lily and Harry... PETTIGREW!"

"Let me explain. You died. You would have gone to the afterlife immediately, but a coincidence occurred. A sort of... update... was being made on the afterlife at that time, adding a new pathway after death."

"What?" James demanded. "What's the new pathway?"

"To relive your life. To create a new, alternate existence where the world has been restarted. But this time you can make new choices. You can begin your new life at any point in your life you wish. The other option is simply moving on to a new world. I know not what it is like, I have stayed here, speaking to new arrivals, since my death two years ago, in 1997."

"It's 1999?!"

"Yes. I think you should relive your life. I will educate you on things you should know. Then I will leave."

"What horrible things happened because of my choices?"

Dumbledore stared at James. He felt a rush of wind, and then images flew past him. Lily screaming in a flash of green light. A boy who looked like James, a boy who was most certainly a Weasley, and a girl with bushy brown hair, all being attacked by a werewolf. The boy who looked like James, and Sirius Black, attacked by dementors. Peter Pettigrew, pulling a newborn Voldemort out of a cauldron. Sirius Black, flying through the air before vanishing, as six kids, including the three from before, and Order members fought Death Eaters. Snape using the Killing Curse, green light sending Dumbledore flying off the roof. The girl with brown hair, being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. Hogwarts in flames, full of Death Eaters. A masked Death Eater killing Lupin. Hagrid tied to a tree by Death Eaters. The Sorting Hat in flames. These and so much more flashed by James.

"I will explain," promised Dumbledore.