Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe and anything recognizable belongs to J K Rowling.
Chapter 2: Meeting Death.
The spinning slowly stopped and Alexis landed on solid ground. She could see the bright white light through her eyelids. Her eyelids slowly fluttered open, for a moment everything was a blur and then her vision gradually came into focus.
The first thing she saw was a golden staff. She followed the length of the staff to the hand holding it. It was aged and wrinkled. She got up and looked at the man standing in front of her. He was wearing white robes and had a jovial face with kind, warm eyes.
She studied him for a while before looking at her surroundings. She was standing in a white room. There was nothing and no one inside the room apart from herself and the man standing in front of her.
She turned back to the man and he gave her a warm smile.
"I am sure you're wondering where you are." He said, finally breaking the silence.
Alex just nodded dumbly. She really didn't know what to say. There were a lot of things going through her mind right now, 'was she dead? If so, where was she?'
"You will find out in time, young one." The old man said kindly, almost as if he had read her thoughts.
"Can you please tell me what is happening?" Alex asked the man. She needed answers or she would go mad. The old man nodded slowly.
"Of course, young one. I think we should sit down as this is going to be a rather long conversation." He said and immediately two large armchairs appeared in the room.
Alex stared at it in astonishment before shaking her head and walking towards it. She sat down on the armchair and the man copied her actions.
He looked at her for a few minutes; it felt like he was looking into her very soul. But she was determined not to turn away from his gaze.
"You must be wondering who I am?" he stated more as a fact than a question. Alex nodded and looked at him expectantly. What he said next almost had her falling off her chair.
"I am Death." He said. She just looked at him and opened and closed her mouth several times. She was at a loss for words. Surely this man was joking.
"But…t-t-that's n-not po…" she began but was cut off mid-sentence by jovial laughter.
"I assure you that it is very much possible my dear." He said with a kind smile.
She searched his eyes and when she saw complete sincerity in them, she nodded for him to continue.
"You see the future is very bleak for the British magical community. I will now show you a little bit of the future and then explain everything." He said and then moved his fingers in a circular motion and a big opening appeared in the center of the white room.
Alex looked at curiously and tried to make out what it was. She could suddenly see something through the opening. Death waved his hand towards the portal so she went closer to it and looked through. Scenes flashed by quickly but slow enough for her to make out what was going on.
She saw the Dark Lord and Harry Potter dueling and then she saw the Dark Lord being defeated. She felt her heart beat increase rapidly in her excitement. He was finally defeated. This called for a celebration. Then she looked through the portal again and realized something, there was no one left to celebrate the defeat of the darkest wizard in modern history. Almost everybody was dead. Harry Potter was lying unconscious on the ground. She didn't know whether he was still alive or not.
The remaining wizards and witches who were alive did not have much hope as there was no one to tend to their injuries and they would most likely die of blood loss. She felt tears well up in her eyes. It was all over.
"You need to remember that the future is not set in stone." The wizened old man said, startling her.
"What do you mean?" she asked, sitting back in the armchair.
"It can always be changed can it not?" he asked her with a twinkle in his eyes.
The realization of what he meant suddenly dawned on her.
"But we cannot meddle with time." She said matter of factly. She remembered reading it in a book on the sands of time. It was terribly interesting. But she quickly brought her mind back to the present.
"I have been given permission from the fates to change the timeline, so yes, I think we can meddle with it, just this one time." Death said with a grin.
"But won't it prevent some important events from occurring. It could also stop some people from being born." Alex said. She wondered why Death was showing and telling her all these things in the first place.
"Yes it could. But the fates can erase the current timeline so it won't matter." He said after some contemplation.
"Why are you telling me this?" Alex asked him bluntly.
"I have a special task for you. That is if you are willing to take it up." He answered.
"What kind of task? And aren't I supposed to be dead?" she asked him and looked at him curiously.
"You are not exactly dead. You are in between the land of the living and the land of the dead. This task is a very important one and if you accept it, the future of the wizarding world will be in your hands." He said gravely.
"Wonderful. Just wonderful!" she said sarcastically.
Death ignored her and continued speaking.
"I want you to go back in time and fix things. It is a very dangerous task but I think you are the most capable out of everyone else." He said.
"How far back am I going to go?" she asked. She wondered if she would ever see her family again.
"You will be going back to 1940. To Tom Riddle's third year." He said as if he had just said that it was a rainy day.
"Who the hell is Tom Riddle?" she snapped. Why wouldn't this man just come out with it?
"Tom Riddle is the birth name of Lord Voldemort." He said with a small chuckle as if he had just told her a very funny joke.
Alex nearly fell off her chair. She looked ready to faint.
"Are you delusional old man? You want me to be in the same vicinity of the darkest wizard in history? What is wrong with you?" she ranted.
"Ah, but that is where you are wrong. At that time he was not the darkest wizard in history yet."
"I am sure he was still a dark lord in the making then." She said.
"At this time, he was just a normal teenager like you. He was a very promising boy." Death said.
"So what do you want me to do? Kill him?" she asked him sarcastically.
"No, I want you to be his friend. While growing up Tom Riddle never had any friends, he only had followers."
"I wonder why." Alex said sarcastically.
Death ignored her and continued his speech.
"If you become his constant and turn him away from the dark path, you would be able to save hundreds of lives including his. I think he was just a young boy who made a wrong turn." Death finished and looked at her expectantly.
"So will you do it?" Death asked.
"Why should I do it?" Alex asked him. It would endanger her life and she would get nothing in return.
"Isn't it enough that you will be able to save many lives, including your brother's?" Death asked her.
Alex stared at him for a long time before finally relenting.
"Fine I will do it. But don't blame me if something goes wrong old man." Alex said with a glare.
"Of course not…" Death said with a merry twinkle in his blue eyes.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review and tell me what you think.