Albus Dumbledore is a powerful wizard. Many considering him the greatest wizard of his time. Yet, here he was sitting in his office with tears rolling down his face. He had never felt more like a failure then today, except for when Ariana had died. His blacked hand was an emblem of his death as he starred at it and realized he had limited time left for this world. He wondered if in the end, would it all have be enough? Would he save Harry, Severus, and the rest of the wizarding world... himself? He didn't know anymore, but he had been on this path for to long and now, there was no turning back.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Leaning over on all fours and crying into his beard, he knew he had done wrong as he cried out for Ariana to forgive him for his mistakes. He felt a horrible, thick liquid go into his mouth and down into his stomach as someone forced him to drink it. The memory of his father going to Azkaban, his mother dying in the accident, his sister being killed in the cross-fire, and finally of Grindelwald and his final fight for the wizarding war played through his mind again.

"no more...please...stop...I'm sorry...so sorry," he pleaded with the person who was hurting him.

Finally the potion stopped and all he felt was thirst, a never ending thirst. He needed water and he needed it now. He crawled to the water and started to try and drink it, but was pulled away as he hear a familiar voice yelling in obvious fear, "No! Get back!"

As his mind cleared of some of the fog, Albus could see Harry getting pulled into the water by the Inferi. Albus concentrated and cast fire at the Inferi and as the way became clear, he told harry that he trusted him to get them away and not to worry.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As Albus stood staring at Severus's wand pointing at his face. He welcomed death. It was time. He had done all he could to prepare Harry and hopefully it had all been enough and hopefully, when he got to the afterlife, Ariana would be there to greet him and forgive him.

"Avada Kedavra!" Severus yelled and the last thing albus did was whisper, "thank you," as the green light filled his vision; he smiled.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Waking up, that was something he never thought he would do again, but when he opened his eyes, all he seen was white. Sitting up, Albus looked around in shock at what appeared to be a white version of the great hall that had a lot more doors leading off of it then usual and a person walking though one of them. Looking up at him, she smiled.

His heart stopped, at least it would have had he been alive, and he ran with more energy then he had felt in years and grabbed her up in a hug, spinning her around, "Ariana!"

Her laughter rang out in the massive hall and brought a smile to his face.

"Alby," she said smiling wide and hugging him as he brought her back to the ground, "I missed you."

Albus hugged her harder and felt tears on his face.

"Oh, Ariana, i'm so sorry...," he finally said backing up and holding her at arms length looking at her sadly.

She smiled at him and cupped his cheek, "I know, I was never mad at you," she said quietly, then backed out of his grasp and sat at a long student table that he had some how missed till now.

Albus sat on the opposite side so he could see her face and watched as she continued to smile, then sigh and give him a look he had never seen her use when she was alive.

"Albus, i'm here to let you know, some of us and I feel the same, did not like the way you handled your life. You ignored the plight of a child and drove him to darkness, then when you couldn't defeat him after he became an adult, you manipulated a child's life so that he could be your perfect weapon. You, you did wrong, Alby, you did wrong," she said still giving him a serious and intelligent look.

He starred at her in shock and felt the tears renew, "I, you've changed since you died, and I know I did wrong..., but by the time I realized that it might have all been a mistake... it was to late." he said looking down.

She just sighed and gave him a piercing look, "Death his given me what was taken away during my life, my reasoning and control of my mind. I have watched you and as you did more and more that was hurtful to others for your own needs and wants, it hurt me... So, I decided you needed to have a chance, to fix it."

He stared at her in confusion, "what do you mean, fix it?"

"You will have the chance to go back and fix the wrong that you have done. All these doors will take you to a moment in your life when you made a choice to hurt someone or just a moment that defined your life. You will be able to start your life from that moment over again with the knowledge and foresight you have now and some of your power intact. The other choice is to head through the double doors and move on. The doors are random, but you get to choose," she finished giving him a sad but happy smile.

Standing up slowly, Albus frowned looking at all the doors in the hall. There were so many and he was afraid, afraid to pick the wrong door. What if it only took him back a few years? What if it was somewhere were he didn't know what to change?

"I..., I'm afraid, Ariana. I don't want to make the wrong choice.

"Nothing will be the wrong choice, Alby, as long as you feel it is right."

Looking at all the doors and thinking of all the things he had done wrong in his life or had gone wrong around him, he felt a pull to a single door at the back of the hall behind were the student tables would have been.

"I've made my choice," he said looking at her and nodding.

"Be careful and don't forget everything you have learned, brother, I love you," she said standing and hugging him one last time.

As he turned and walked to the door, she felt her heart rising in glee and knew that he would be changing the whole world for the better this time. When he opened the door and stepped through, looking back at her one more time, she smiled and faded away.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This time, when Albus woke up, he was looking at bright blue skies and tons of plants around him while laying in the grass. Sitting up and feeling better then he had in many a year, he looked around and stared in shock. This was his childhood home. How old was he!? Looking down at himself, Albus realized that he was in the summer before his first year at Hogwarts. His auburn hair was still bright and he was still short and very young. Then he heard something he didn't expect, the laughter of a young girl playing. He would know that sound anywhere.

Standing up fast, Albus looked around frantically, and finally spotted her near the back garden hedge. She was making bubbles with her magic and giggling at them. It made a bright smile light his youthful face, but nothing was ever perfect in the world and the next thing he seen made him rear back in shock and then start running in fear toward her.

There were three young boys, a bit older then Albus, looking through the hedge at her. Adrenaline coursing through his veins, Albus felt his magic rising as the boys climbed though the hedge and stopped in front of her and started talking, then getting upset with fear in their eyes as she looked up at them and the bubbles just stopped moving, then popped.

NO! This would not happen again! He would not let them hurt her, he could save his family and he would not be stopped!

He ran in front of his sister right as the leader of the boys brought back his fist to hit her for not casting the magic again and he screamed, "NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" as a blast wave of magic sent the boys sailing over the hedge and onto the ground, knocking all of them out cold.

Albus slowly calmed his breathing down, then turned toward Ariana to find her looking at him in worry and a slight bit of fear.

"Ariana?" he said reaching for her.

The tears started pooling up in her eyes as she looked at him and then throw herself into his out streaked arms and cried saying, "Thank you! I was afraid, I couldn't call the magic back..., I couldn't get it back..." the tears continued to fall down her face as pops sounded around them and people in deep red robes started to appear.