Always.
That had been the promise. He had sworn his whole life to the ideal. Then again did it count now that he was back from the dead? Having been resurrected had been hilariously awkward. It was funny he thought how quickly life could change. His previous life had been relatively static in those last seven years. Secret meetings with Dumbledore, those hushed interactions with the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. And teaching a class with that boy had been his whole existence. It was funny he thought how much hatred he had managed to inspire. He wondered how his death would be remembered.
Would he be the shallow pathetic man that had never been able to recover from his first friendship? A coward who had never been able to decide what side he had been on? And a pathetic bully to children who had never done anything against him? Or would he be remembered in a different light. A man who had been the right hand of the two greatest wizards in the past thousand years. An individual who had done more for the cause than anyone except Dumbledore. He may have been a man who was impatient with children, but he had stared into the red eyes of the worlds greatest Leglimens and walked away. Except of course for the end he reflected wryly. Perhaps the biggest shock had been seeing Lilly, once the initial shock had worn off he had experienced an odd mixture of emotions rage, despair, anger, and incredible joy. It had been odd he thought that he would have been happier and yet now the only thing that he could feel was confusion. It was strange talking to the bright intelligent girl who would grow to up to be the brightest witch of the age. But she was still a child and children surrounded him. It was obvious that he would have to do something different. He could not stay here. But what to do?
There were obvious goals that he should accomplish. Destroy the horuxes of the dark lord, prevent war, save people. But that could not be the reason that he was sent back was it? In the time that he had come from the whole war had been going down to its conclusion, even if he had lost there would have been more simple ways of defeating the dark lord. Simply going back a year or two would have been sufficient. No he decided he would do whatever he wanted. The only problem he mused was deciding what was the goal. Was it marrying Lilly? Achieving success and fame? To be actually be regarded with something like adoration instead of hatred? Or maybe it was all of the above. Maybe it was time to make a new promise. To achieve freedom from all those that would seek to chain him.
Always.