A/N: I decided to start this project since it's almost summer and one of my other stories is near completion. The next chapter for this won't be up for a couple more weeks when my finals end, but after that, they should come every few days or so.

Lily's Second Chance

Prologue:

"What-What are you saying? You're saying my son, my baby, he has to die? Because of me? Because I died for him? He-he defeated Voldemort, but Voldemort has to kill him? He has to kill my child before he can go down? No, no, this isn't happening." Lily's soul paced the thin floor, resembling wood.

"I'm afraid that's the case." A tall soul man spoke, his voice booming in the room that made Lily think of a mental institution with its floating pale yellow cinder block style walls that seemed to close in on her though they never moved even a millimeter forward.

"No. No, I died to protect him. He can't die."

"Lily-" James's soul started to speak behind her.

Lily looked at the man's white and transparent eyes. "Please? I'll do anything. I want to fix this whole thing."

"You can't."

"You've sent people back. I know you have. Please? Just to the time of the prophecy's revealing, when the seer spoke it. Just let me stop it before it's ever spoken. If no one knows, no child can be targeted and maybe even the Longbottoms can be spared their fate in St. Mungo's." Lily would have choked if she had a throat.

"Just to the time of the prophecy? Voldemort won't be defeated. Your child could still be a target at some point."

Lily raised a translucent eyebrow. "Not if I stop her from saying the prophecy to Dumbledore. I can-I don't know…have her tell me instead?"

"Is that the only thing you wish to change? The only regret you have?"

"Yes." Lily stated quickly. "I want to save my baby."

"I think there's a lot of things you could change if you went back."

"I want this prophecy to never have existed."

"You can't stop prophecies from existing."

"But we can stop them from coming true." Lily narrowed her transparent eyes.

"Only if you change the course of your life entirely. You'll have to be set back much further to fix this. I can tell you that once the person who spoke that prophecy in the first place knows you're dead, he would be very happy to have it all taken back as well. You can go back, but to the start of it all."

"Then I will. I'll do anything to save my child."

"Going back to where things can be changed will change the course of everything." The voice roared. "You must understand that. What you had moments ago at age 21 you may not have age 21 the second time around. I rarely ever give second chances to souls. Messing with time like this, the course of life will never be the same when it happens. Second chances are only for the most passionate, understanding and willing to do whatever it takes to change their circumstances, even if it means losing everything good they had before. Are you willing to do that?"

Lily did not hesitiate. "Yes. I'll do anything for Harry. I'll change anything to make sure he never has to face what he will have to face now."

"Lily, don't!" James finally spoke. "You can't do this."

Lily turned to him. If souls could cry, she would be sobbing. "I have to do this. For Harry. I love you, James. No matter what happens, know that. I have to save Harry. I have to do this. Please understand and let me."

James said nothing. "I can't let you go too."

"It'll be fine. We're meant to be. We'll be back together. But Harry needs us. His life is at stake. He deserves better than what he'll get now." Lily turned back to the man. "I accept. I will accept whatever happens. I want to save my son from this fate."

The man sat there for a moment before pulling out an orb. "Do you promise to accept whatever fate happens this time, even if it means life as you knew it before will not turn out the same?"

"I accept."

"Last chance to back out. Once I let you go back, you cannot come back to your current fate. You have to live life second by second and continue forward at that pace. You must understand what you're doing. Memories you have now will disappear. You'll only remember bits and pieces of the future as you knew it. Any deep memory you have know, of marrying, giving birth, specifics of anything will not exist. With time and changing circumstances, all your future memories will disappear completely. You will not remember any details of anything, you will be just like everyone else your age."

"You're saying all my memories will disappear?"

"Yes. New ones will replace them all. By the time you reach your age now, you will not have one single memory of the former life you once had. You may feel a twinge of forgetting something for the rest of your life. You will not remember this granted request if you succeed in not giving your son, Harry James Potter, the fate he has at this very moment."

"What will happen to him before he will be killed? Will Sirius take good care of him?"

The man sighed heavily. "No. He will live with your sister and brother-in-law until he's eleven. They will give him just enough to survive, giving him their cupboard under the stairs as a room."

Lily and James both gasped.

"She'll what?" Lily exclaimed. "How can she do that? I'd never-if her son came to us-I could never do such a thing!"

"I never liked your sister." James grumbled.

Lily let herself calm down and focused on why she was here in the first place. "So, if I do this, I'll be saving him from that awful childhood as well?"

"You would, but only if you are willing to possibly never remember anything or have anything you had just before your death."

Lily paused for a second, but only a second, before giving the man a nod. "I'm not going to back out. I want to do this. It's the only way to stop my son's current fate."

"Very well then. Your wish has been granted." The man laughed once. "Get it? Like I'm a genie." Lily and James did not laugh. "Your wish-granted. Er, never mind. I've been at this position for far too long. Just a joke. Your request has been processed. You are going back in time and changing your life's circumstances."

Lily nodded. "Thank you, sir."

"Don't thank me. Just do what you need to do to make you content in the afterlife when you arrive again. Hopefully not for a long, long time. Now, sir, you must leave the room."

James stood there a moment before finally sulking out. "I love you, Lily. Save our son." The door shut behind him.

"Lily Potter nee Evans accepts a return to make things right this time around and change the fate of her son, whatever she has to do. She accepts all the responsibility that awaits her. Now shut your eyes."

Lily closed her eyes, listening to the man chanting. "Whatever it takes, Harry." She said to herself. "I'll do whatever it takes to save you from your fate."