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*Voldemort and Harry looked at each other, and now Voldemort tilted his head a little to the side, considering the boy standing before him, and singularly mirthless smile curled the lipless moth. “Harry Potter,� he said very softly. His voice might have been part of the spitting fire. “The Boy Who Lived.�

None of the Death Eaters moved. They were waiting: Everything was waiting. Hagrid was struggling, and Bellatrix was panting and Harry though inexplicably of Ginny, and her blazing look, and the feel of her lips on his –

Voldemort had raised his wand. His head was still tilted to one side, like a curios child, wondering what would happen if he proceeded. Harry looked back into the red eyes, and wanted it to happen now, quickly, while he could still stand, before he lost control, before he betrayed fear –

He saw the mouth move and a flash of green light, and everything was gone. *

As suddenly as everything had gone, it reappeared. Instead of the forest, Voldemort, and jeering Death Eaters, he was in a room. The room had only one door, which was closed. He couldn’t see the floor either, or feel it for that matter. It looked rather cloudy. Where there should have been a wall facing the door on the opposite side of the room, there was an opening. It led to a great expanse of – nothing. Just more of the same cloudy white stuff the floor was made of.

The walls were a rather dark, worn burgundy, and the door was made of old wood, and it looked like it could use some fixing, but it was a comfortable room. Harry sank into one of the many comfortable looking armchairs lining the walls next to the door.

He wondered what this place could be, but then found that he really didn’t care to find out. His curiosity had led to nothing but trouble in his life. He knew he had died, but he didn’t want to think about that now. He would have all of eternity to think about that. For now, he really wanted to sleep. He hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours.
He adjusted himself into a more comfortable position in the armchair, and fell asleep.

What felt like moments later he was roughly and rudely shaken awake. He was so tired though. He tried to tell whoever was waking him that, but they didn’t seem to hear him. After a moment, Harry realized he hadn’t heard himself either. He opened his eyes and saw his godfather standing above him.

A wide grin spread across Sirius’s face. “About time, Sleeping Beauty,� Sirius said. “Actually, I was just about to pretend I was in one of those Muggle fairy tales your mum used to tell me and give you a kiss.�

He laughed at the expression on Harry’s face. Harry couldn’t help but grin to. Sirius’s elation was so contagious. “Sirius,� Harry finally managed to choke out, glad to know that he still had a voice.

“Well, well, I see you can state the obvious. You always were good at that,� Sirius told him.

“Sirius, what just happened? Where am I? Where are we? Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be dead? Am I dead?�

“Harry, so many questions, as always, but I’m afraid I can only answer a few. I am dead, or as dead as possible. You see Harry, you can never really die, because well, I’m not allowed to tell you,� Sirius said. “You see, I was sent here to give you a message. I can’t answer to where we are, or as to what just happened, but the question is are you really dead?�

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.�

“Well, who could expect you to? Harry, you have three options. You can either choose to go back, but I must warn you, if you go back, so does Voldemort, and you will not be able to defeat him. He will take over if you go back. However, you do have another shot at life. The higher powers that sent me to tell you this feel bad about all they put you through.�

“You can choose to relive your entire life, but without the prophecy. Again, this comes at a price though. The prophecy would fall onto Neville, but there is no guarantee he will succeed, even in the way that you did. In fact, he might die at the first attempt at the age of one. You would not remember any of this life at all, and you would be powerless to help, to destroy Voldemort, and your parents still might die, working for the Order.�

“The last option is to choose death. It will also keep Voldemort from power. While you choose Death, he will be dead. However, I must warn you that death is not what humans expect it to be. I can’t tell you much, but I can tell you that I am more like a ghost only in the clouds instead of on Earth. I’m not a soul. More of a vague imprint of a copy of a soul. I know that this is a lot to think about, and I can answer any questions as much as I’m allowed, but you have to decide.�

Harry thought it over. He had no questions, because he knew Sirius could not help. This would be his choice, his decision, as it was to walk into the woods, into the hands of Voldemort and die. He realized that his friends, the people that were like family would be able to survive, and live long, happy, full lives. Ron and Hermione had finally realized they like each other, he didn’t want to be so selfish to live, and destroy that. He thought about his life, and knew that after all the pain, he wouldn’t want to put anyone else through it, much less one of his good friends.
But death. Harry wasn’t sure he wanted it, or was ready for it. He felt like after all he had given up, all the pain he had gone through, he should be entitled to a happy long life with Ginny. To have kids, and watch them board the Hogwarts express.

Sirius was watching him intently. “I know that whatever choice you make Harry, you will choose right. I know all of them require sacrifice, and none sound too great, but I know you will pick the best one for you.�

Harry looked up into Sirius’s eyes, and Sirius knew that he had decided.

“Sirius, I choose death, to help save my loved ones. I couldn’t live with the guilt of killing them.�

Sirius smiled on the outside, and knew that Harry had made the best decision, but there was a sadness about it, which went completely unnoticed by Harry. Harry had no idea what lay in store for him.

Sirius put the doubts aside though, gave Harry a huge hug, and together, they walked through the door into the unknown.

Harry blinked his eyes in the sudden neon light and vivid colors. Then, he thought about it, and wondered why there was so much brightness. And was that plastic? What?


He remembered walking through an old wooden door with Sirius. But, instead of another cloudy room, he now seemed to be in ... Well, that was the entire problem.


He was waiting in a line. There was a counter with three people behind computers, and a glowing sign behind them with words, pictures, and prices of different foods. Beyond that were giant, metal machines and a few teenagers bustling amongst them grabbing things, and shouting at one another. The machines looked rather scary, actually. Against the wall, there were two windows with two more people standing in them, one next to a computer with a headset on, and the other next to a soda machine. To Harry�s immediate left, there was a little plastic display of cheap plastic toys for kids held by a strange, plastic clown. Outside there was a little plastic playground. The place smelled heavily of grease and oil. It almost seemed to be dripping of the stuff. Had petroleum taken over the Earth? Where on Earth was he, anyways? Scratch that. Was he still, in fact, on Earth? Wasn�t he supposed to have died?


Suddenly, it was his turn. The lady behind the computer asked, �What can I get for you?� and stared at him expectantly, waiting him for him to respond. When he said nothing, simply staring back at her, completely lost, she said, �Sir, are you going to order or not? There are other people too, you know.� Her voice was weird; it had an accent that he couldn�t recognize. It certainly could not have come from anywhere in England. It didn�t sound like any accent he had ever heard either, and he had heard quite a few throughout his travels while hiding from Riddle. Where could she be from? Actually, more importantly, where was he?


�Sir, you need to order or leave.� Her sharp words cut into his speculation.


�Ummm, I think I�ll just have a �� he searched the glowing menu for anything familiar behind her, �a hash brown, pancakes, and a small glass of orange juice.� Just as he finished saying that, the menu changed. The people behind him groaned, and half the line left. He couldn�t understand what had just happened. He had just ordered food; he had not insulted them, or said anything vulgar. But now that he was thinking about it, he realized his voice had the same accent as the lady. What was going on?

�Okay, that�ll be four-fifty,� she said.

By this point, Harry had figured out that he was in a Muggle restaurant. He reached into his jeans pocket, and pulled out his wallet. It looked different than what he remembered, but he did not stop to dither. There were more pressing problems on his mind at the moment. He pulled some bills out, and this time he stopped.


This was not money he had ever seen before. Where had it come from? He couldn�t wonder for long. The lady was waiting impatiently for the money. He hastily examined the numbers on the bills, and handed the lady a green bill that had the number five on it. She took it, put it in the cash register and handed him two silver coins back, as well as a receipt. He tried to figure out how to balance it and where to put everything, but it was too complicated. With a sigh, he shoved everything into one of his pockets. When he looked up, his food was sitting on a tray in front of him.


Cogitating how Muggles could make food so fast without magic, he grabbed the tray and carried it to a table in a corner, away from everyone else. What had happened? Where was he? He had chosen death. Why was he in some strange, English speaking, greasy, Muggle restaurant? Sirius�s words floated back to him�� I must warn you that Death is not what humans expect it to be.� Was this what Sirius had meant?


Realizing that his last meal had been some food in the Hog�s Head, he began eating. He examined his receipt, and found that the restaurant�s name was McDonalds. He made a mental note to not come back. He got to the bottom of the receipt, where the date and time were stamped. His blood ran cold, his pancake fell to the floor, and his body slumped back into the seat, shaking uncontrollably.


This said that it was 10:01 AM, July 31 2009! That couldn�t be right. That had to be a misprint. There was no other explanation. He could not have missed over a decade, could he? No, it was impossible. He had been absolutely absurd to even have considered such an idea. Hadn�t he?


Feeling around in his pockets, to make some sense of things, he found a set of keys. Finally something that sort of made sense; he was acting as a Muggle now. He needed to inconspicuously travel in the Muggle world. His wand was missing, but he figured he had probably just put it somewhere less noticeable. Since Mad-Eye Moody�s warning about the possibility of losing a buttock the summer before fifth year, Harry had made sure he kept his wand somewhere much safer. Moody. Godric, Harry missed him. All of a sudden Harry remembered another bit of Moody�s advice. �CONSTANT VIGILANCE!� He almost jumped at the mere memory of Moody shouting it. He hastily looked around for anything out of ordinary, but found nothing. Good old Moody - always looking out for Harry. He felt the tears begin to come to his eyes, so to distract himself he pulled out his wallet. He came across a hard plastic card with a picture and a name on it.


He looked at it, realizing that something was wrong. His name on the ID said Kyle Landry. Now, why wouldn�t he have used his real name? He moved on to the picture, and almost passed out again. Instead of messy, jet-black hair, emerald green eyes, glasses, and his famous lightning scar, he instead saw someone completely different: dirty blonde, slightly wavy hair, brown eyes, and just about the goofiest smile he had ever seen. Why would he have changed his appearance simply for a picture?


Reaching up, he felt for his glasses, and attempted to calm his hair out of habit, only to find the glasses gone and his hair already smoothed.


What had happened?