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Chapter 1
Harry Potter fell into the white void and felt shooken, miserable. Had he just died? This didn’t feel like death. He could move his body, his throat felt dry - unlike a ghost, and he looked perfectly healthy - not even pale. A voice spoke, making his inside shake as he fell to the ground. It was dark and deep, velvety and sweet. It sounded familiar, similar to his own.
“Harry Potter,” It began, “It’s been too long.”
His eyes darted throughout the void. He didn’t see anyone. Not anyone at all. He rubbed his glasses clean, and looked again.
Nothing.
“Who are you?” He stood his ground, his hand itching for his wand but he didn’t grab it. Not yet. There was no need to grab a weapon when a threat wasn’t clear, when it wasn’t obvious. Sirius had told him that. The memory was one of bittersweet, and made his eyes blurry but he quickly whipped away the tears. No use for crying now.
“I’m something called death.” The voice began, obviously lying about the death part. There was a light tone to the voice. A joking tone - it was like Ron trying to prank Fred, but he couldn’t say his line without cracking up. “Of course this can be avoided.”
“What do you mean?” Harry asked, his hand hovering over his wand. How was this person even talking to him? Was he going Insane? Was this the joke they played on every kid who died?
“A new life, basically. You start over, a new family, some new friends. Basically you may become a different person.” The voice explained. The way the voice said it - whoever it was had recited this speech to perfection. There was an obvious curtness in his voice. “Who knows, you might change the course of history.”
“What….? What do you mean by that?” Harry asked, taking a few steps back. His hand was removed from his pocket and dangly aimlessly. It made no sense - changing history? He’d already done that once and look how that turned out. Lupin was dead, Fred’s ear had been sheared off, Sirius had died, and everyone was already in war. What would changing history do for him this time?
“For a golden boy who knew you could be so dumb.” The voice said, as a silhouette showed a tall person - one he presumed to be a man based off of the body shape - slapping his forehead. It seemed sarcastic, like something Harry should be getting, but he couldn’t get it.
“I….um…” Either Harry’s heart thought he was jogging or it just wanted to be a pain. His heartbeat got loud, very loud. He was near his breaking point - showing his emotions was never his strong suit but sometimes it was hard not to. He felt like that same little boy as he was at age four. Scared, afraid, and quiet. What would he do? What should he do? What can he do?
“Look kid, I’ll give you options.”
“And why should I listen to you?”
“Do you want to die?”
“Isn’t that why I’m here?”
“Kid. Harry. Look. I’m here because Sirius wants me here.”
“Sirius?”
“Sirius. Sirius Black.”
“I…”
“Come on. Just listen Harry, don’t be oblivious.”
“Fine.”
“Thomas or Malfoy.”
“Huh?”
“Which family, Thomas or Malfoy?”
“Why?”
“Just choose.”
“Thomas...”
“Not Malfoy? You two have quite the bond.”
“Shut up. Leave me alone.” Harry didn’t feel like answering that. Malfoy and him had problems in the past but during the war they were sort-of able to get past them. Still, rivals are rivals and he and Malfoy definitely weren’t on the up and up.
“Do you want to die?” The voice was getting repetitive, and it was irritating Harry a lot. Why repeat something so many times when it’s obvious the person got it the first time?
“Do I even get to choose?” Harry grimaces. He’s supposed to be dying. Like, dead - gone off into the underworld. Why was he here? Of all places, he was here.
“Of course! Harry, for once in your life, use your head..” The voice said. Harry liked the phrase use your head, but in this stance, he didn’t like the phrase, use your head, as it meant he needed to think. He didn’t want to die. He chose to die, because if he did, the war would stop. No one else would die.
“What’s the other option?” Harry questioned. He was nervous. Very
nervous. Sirius. He thought, seeing in Godfather’s disheveled hair. It seemed to be the only thing he could think of. The only thing that could seem to get him to listen. The only thing. Sirius.
“You fight - and die, giving up your life up to this war.” The voice sounded more harsh. Almost as if it had seen Harry grow up on the sidelines, as if it watched Harry from below. As if it helped Harry along his adventure. The voice itself sounds so familiar, so deep.
“....I..” Harry’s head pounded as the gears shifted and twisted, got stuck and unstuck, mixed and mashed.
What if I did do this? Could I still be friends with Ron and Hermoine? Who will I choose for whatever I get to choose?
The final question in his mind was enough to make Harry decided:
Will Sirius be proud?
“Option…” Harry paused. He asked himself one more time, if he actually wanted this. If Sirius would’ve wanted this. “Option one.”
“So the golden boy isn’t going to fight? What a shocker.” The voice laughed, hearty and meaningful. It wasn’t teasing, no, it was trying to make Harry laugh, but it still made Harry regret his decision, as if he’d made the wrong choice.
“Just ask me the questions.” Harry stated calmly.
“Which family do you want to be your new family?” The voice asked and five names appeared up in bloody red.
Malfoy,
Ganger,
Weasly,
Riddle,
Diggory.
“D-Diggory…?” Harry asked. It had been so long since he’d heard - or seen for that matter - Cedric’s last name. It had almost been three full years, and he still couldn’t believe that Cedric was gone - poof, just like that.“You mean Cedric Diggory?”
“Who else do you know with the last name Diggory?”
“Wait..” Harry’s voice trembled and he stood up straight, his hands were squeezing his arm tightly - a new habit of relieving stress. “I want to know what will happen with each and every family.”
“Whatever.” The voice said and went on explaining anyways. “If you chose Malfoy, you will be the little brother of Draco Malfoy, you’ll have a close bond and Draco wouldn’t be a stick up like he is. However, you’d have to give up your Gryffindor house for Slytherin.”
“What about Snape?” He was in shock that his professor, the person who had seemed to have hated him the most, gave up his life - for him!
“Snape is still alive, and he is your Godparent. Draco’s as well.”
“What about-”
“You don’t want Ganger’s family, do you?”
“I guess not, I’d never get used to it. Not that I don’t love Hermoine as a friend, it’s just, her family is a bunch of smart people and a dentist Next?”
“Weas-”
“No. Ron is my best mate but I could never live with him, Fred, and George, they’d get on my nerves. Especially with all the pranks they pull constantly on Ron? That has to suck.”
“Riddle?”
“....What would happen if I chose that?”
“You stop Voldermort.”
“How?”
“Look, basically by taking the Riddle’s name you stop Voldemort because he has some meaning.”
“Will…” Harry gulped. This determined who he picked. Who became his new family. If he even stuck with this choice. “Will that happen in any other life…?”
“Malfoy’s or Diggory’s” Harry thought for a moment. Who do I know better? His mind simply answered, Malfoy. Even though they were enemies. He knew him the best. More than Cedric. But…. The voice interrupted his thoughts.
“Choose Malfoy and get it over with.”
Bossy. Harry thought, twisting from toe to toe. Then it made him think. The voice went into so much detail to explain Malfoy. The voice only did stuff that was practical. It wants me to pick Malfoy, Harry thought.
“Malfoy.”
“Correct choice.” A flash went through Harry as his eyes turned gray, his hair turned a darker shade of blond and his mind erased past memories and created new ones - ones that fit his new life. A boy unrecognizable had left the void and vanished into Malfoy Manor.
Daiki woke up in a bunk bed unrecognizable as the golden boy, but more like Draco Malfoy’s little brother. He had no memory of anything that happened that last hour and a half. He was no longer the golden boy.
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