Chapter 1- Valhalla awaits

White.

A flash of deathly green, and then nothing but white.

Why did it always have to be white? Why not red, or blue, or even pink? Surely black would make more sense?

These were the thoughts running through the head of one Harry James Potter as his body fell to the ground in the Forbidden Forest; Bellatrix's manic cackle and Voldemort's agonising scream echoing in his mind as his soul began rapidly moving on into the afterlife.

At least he thought that's where his soul was going. After all, he thought, where else would it go?

As the bright white started fading from his vision, his surroundings started to take shape. Nothing was white at all. In fact, everything started to oddly look a bit like the Great Hall of Hogwarts, but for one glaringly obvious fault. The tables were piled with food for a feast, and yet there was not a single soul in sight. Everything was still. Too still. Even the ceiling, normally bewitched to look like the sky during a feast, showed no movement, despite the angry looking clouds. It was almost as if the scene was frozen in time like a muggle photograph.

The whole scene confused Harry. What was he supposed to do now? Did he sit down and eat the food, or was he supposed to go looking for someone? What if his soul had been damaged by the Horcrux lodged behind his forehead and he has ended up in some weird sort of Limbo?

The Horcrux! Had he managed to destroy it? Harry quickly grabbed one of the shiny gold plates from the table nearest to him, and used it as a mirror to inspect his face, expecting to see some evidence of the familiar lightning bolt scar, and being greatly surprised when he was met with smooth unblemished skin.

"Normally I'd accuse you of being incredibly vain, checking out your face as soon as you could, but this time I think it's the smartest thing I've ever seen someone do as soon as they'd arrived." a voice sounded from nearby.

As Harry whipped his head around towards the voice, he was greeted by a sandy blond man with wavy hair, dressed in casual clothing. What made it obvious though that this was no ordinary man was the three sets of golden angelic wings protruding from his back. Despite being surprised by the sudden appearance of the man, Harry couldn't help but wonder why the man seemed familiar to him, as though he has seen the man's face in a dream before.

Instinctively, Harry reached for his wand, prepared to defend himself, but finding only cloth and lint in his pocket. Maintaining a defensive pose, ready to run and dodge at a moment's notice, Harry did what he always did when confronted with a potentially deadly foe. He started to talk.

"Sorry, who are you? Where am I? I assume that I'm dead, but I kind of thought that there would be more dead people in the afterlife." he said, while trying to subtly locate a potential exit. Harry never was particularly good at being subtle though, and the mysterious man starting chuckling at the battle-hardened teenager's antics.

"You can stop looking like a deer caught in headlights kiddo. Or rather, a stag. See what I did there? That was funny. As to where you are, well it kind of looks like your Great Hall doesn't it? It looks a little different to everyone, and everyone has a different name for it, but I believe the Vikings called it Valhalla. Always liked those Vikings, they sure knew how to throw a party. Even though they were a bit rough, you know, with the whole pillaging and raping thing they had going on," the man prattled, causing Harry to lift an eyebrow. "Ah. Sorry, I tend to prattle on a little bit when I know I have important things to do. Serious things make me nervous. Except Sirius. He just kind of made me feel a bit gooey."

"Sirius? As in Sirius Black, my godfather?" Harry questioned, wondering how the man in front of him knew Sirius.

"The one and only," the man started. "I was his angel too since he was connected to you by magic. Oh! I always forget that I have to explain this all to you. I mean, I've had to do this seven times for you before, but for you it's seems like the first time doesn't it?"

"Seven times? Are you telling me that we have met seven times before and I don't remember a single time?" Harry exclaimed, as he felt his panic levels begin to rise.

"Ok, let me explain from the beginning. My name is Gabriel, and I'm an angel, or rather an archangel, which really says something about how important you are kiddo. The only other time that someone has had an archangel as their personal angel of death was Merlin himself, and he got stuck with my dick of a brother Michael. Excalibur was actually the Sword of Michael. Pretty neat huh? So, since you are so important to the fate of the wizarding world, the three sisters of Fate have blessed you with three lives each, giving you a grand total of nine lives, which gives you eight do-overs. And I hate to say it kiddo, but you just hit your ninth life. You had already died seven times before tonight, but you wouldn't remember any of them since we managed to patch it up every time by sending you back a couple of hour or days before your unexpected death and gave you a bit of a mental nudge so that you would avoid your untimely death. Any questions so far?"

"Yeah, how have I died before? And why nine lives?" Harry asked.

"Well to be honest, it's nine lives because Atropos has a thing for cats. As for your previous deaths, the causes have been fairly varied. You might think that the first time that you died was that night in Godric's Hollow when Voldemort attacked your parents, but that was actually your second death. Your first death occurred when you were just a few months old actually. Lily left you alone for a little bit while she chased a muddy Prongs and Padfoot through the Manor, and you choked on a building block of all things. That was a simple fix, we just went back an hour and swapped the building blocks with a fluffy stuffed dragon."

"The third occurred when you were five, and Vernon Dursley punched you so hard in the head that he snapped your neck. In case you were wondering, that man definitely doesn't have a seat anywhere upstairs. In fact, I'm sure my brother Luci will have lots of fun roasting that fat pig over a hot fire for the rest of eternity. We fixed that one up by making him so drunk that he missed you and punched the wall instead."

"The fourth death was actually kind of funny really. You choked on a chocolate frog on your first train ride to Hogwarts. We made sure that that bugger jumped right out the window to stop that one."

"Your fifth death wasn't really a death, but having your soul ripped out by dementors wasn't going to help you at all, so we might have kind of been the ones that created that annoying time loop that you got stuck in during third year, so really you ended up saving yourself from that one."

"Your sixth death was so preventable that it pained us. You drowned in the Black lake during the second task of the Triwizard tournament because your gillyweed was stale, and you lost your gills just as you were fighting off the grindylows. We replaced the gillyweed with some fresh stuff and you were good to go."

"Your last death before this one was quite tragic really. Draco Malfoy managed to fire off a weak killing curse during your brawl in the bathrooms last year. But because his heart wasn't really in it, it just knocked you back a bit. Right into the edge of a sink. I have to say Harry, while you have a lovely brain, I really wish that I hadn't actually seen it. All we did to fix that one was slip a bit of a pepper up potion in your last meal so that your reflexes were a bit sharper. Malfoy walked away with a few curse scars, but at least you lived. And obviously, you remember what happened this time."

"Yeah, still hurts a little actually. Did it work though? Can he be killed now?" Harry asked with hope in his eyes, his defensive stance relaxing as he began to accept what had happened.

"Sadly kiddo, that's why we are still here. We are at a standstill, and it is driving Clotho insane. If you were to pass on into the afterlife, Voldemort would win. Still has the snake left remember? As soon as you died, he realised that you were a Horcrux and that he only had Nagini left, as he portkeyed her back to a secret room in Malfoy Manor. He even sent Bellatrix with the snake as an extra safety net. With his last Horcrux safe and nothing to lose, he slaughtered every member of the light left at Hogwarts, and took over magical Britain. Soon though, that wasn't enough, and he thought he would try and take the muggle part of Britain as well. He didn't realise that magical shields don't work against bullets, and Nagini was dropped into a nuclear reactor. Not even a Horcrux could survive that. In the process of world domination though, the wizarding world was exposed to the muggles. The muggles don't really like anything that they can't explain with science or religion, and so the wizarding world was destroyed, and magic herself withered and died."

"On the flip side, if we were to send you back and try to prevent your death, the same end result would occur because of the damn Horcrux lodged in your skull. Removing it would have killed you anyway, and whether it took an extra month, year or even decade, Voldemort would still win and every magical being would die." Gabriel explained, his seemingly constant smirk disappearing as his brows furrowed.

Harry's mind was racing from all the information. Was there nothing at all that could be done? Was magic going to die no matter what they did? "So what do we do now?" Harry asked in a small defeated voice.

Gabriel tilted his head to the side, as though he were pondering the question. Harry could hear him start to make noises, as though he was agreeing with something that he was hearing, punctuated by the occasional snort or flat out grunt of disapproval. After a couple of minutes of this strange behaviour, his face suddenly lit up in a huge smile and he started giggling manically like a child.

"Oh that's brilliant! Simply brilliant! "Gabriel practically squealed. Seeing the confused look on Harry's face, he began explaining. "Clotho and Lachesis have been studying your thread and those attached to yours and have found a way to potentially fix things, and even make your life better in the long run. Oooh so much better. We will have to send you back further than we have ever gone before and break a couple of the rules so that you retain your memories of this death and everything that you have learnt, but Clotho says that the potential tapestry looks beautiful, and Lachesis says that your thread will be at the longest it could ever be at. That means a full life kiddo! You could die as an old man! Even older than that idiot Dumbledore!"

"What do you mean that Dumbledore is an idiot? He is the reason I have made it this far at all!" Harry yelled, his magic sparking at the tips of his hair and his eyes turning a deadly shade of green.

"Now Harry," Gabriel began, putting his hands up and using a soft tone. "Dumbledore is the reason why you are in this mess to begin with. After he defeated Gellert Grindelwald, he was praised for years, respected by all and amassed so much political power. But not enough to sway everyone. As the years went by, his power waned. Sure he was still respected but he came to crave the power that he had over people. And so, when he first met Tom Riddle, he began to stoke that dark flame that he sensed in the child, rather than snuffing it out. If Tom Riddle had been placed with a magical family rather than being forced back to that dilapidated orphanage every year, the boy would have learnt compassion and what it meant to be loved unconditionally, potentially becoming one of the greatest wizards of our time. Instead, Dumbledore fashioned himself his own little Dark Lord, not realising the potential that Tom Riddle had. Not realising that he was digging his own grave. When Dumbledore realised how powerful Tom Riddle had become, it was too late. He was already on his way to Godric's Hollow to kill your family, and in Dumbledore's own home too."

"In Dumbledore's home? I thought the house belonged to my parents?" Harry questioned.

"No, it was definitely Dumbledore's. Your parents used it as a safe house after Dumbledore himself suggested it. I never understood why your parents didn't stay at Potter Manor. The wards on that place are some of the finest that I have ever seen, and that's just the regular wards. Once the war wards went up, nothing was getting into Potter Manor without the Lord of the Manor saying so. And the reason why you don't know about Potter Manor is because of Dumbledore. Since he illegally claimed himself as your magical guardian, he has been stopping Gringotts from contacting you about your true heritage since the day that he handed you over to the Dursley's. Despite the fact that you should have been given to about one hundred other people before the Dursley's should have even been considered." A small frown appearing on the angels face as he contemplated all of Dumbledore's meddling.

"So Dumbledore has been fucking with my life since before I was born? He's the reason that I've had to deal with years of abuse, instead of having a family that actually loved me and didn't think I was some sort of worthless freak?" Harry reasoned, becoming angrier by the second with the deceased wizard. They say that is doesn't bode well to speak ill of the dead, but that wasn't going to stop Harry from tearing Dumbledore's magical portrait a lovely new asshole. And by the looks of things, the archangel in front of him might just join him in that endeavour.

"The first person that should have been raising you was Sirius Black, since he is your true magical guardian. Dumbledore had to use a lot of favours to get himself instated as your magical guardian on paper, since he would normally have to go through a whole Wizengamot session, which would have caused a lot of issues for him. First he would have had to reveal that Sirius Black was your godfather, which means that it is magically impossible for Sirius to have directly or indirectly harmed you or your family at all, even if he wanted to. That would have led to questioning of how Sirius was thrown into Azkaban without a trial. And it would have been the shortest trial in history, since Sirius would have allowed the use of Veritaserum immediately, which would have not only cleared him of all charges, but would also have incriminated Dumbledore since he had told Sirius that you were dead and that Peter Pettigrew had your body. It is considered a crime of Line theft to not only knowingly lie about the death of an heir, but to also kidnap an heir from their rightful magical guardian? Dumbledore would have been in Azkaban himself if that knowledge ever came to light with enough evidence to incriminate him. "

"After Sirius, you should have been immediately taken to your other magical guardian, one Alice Longbottom. But again, Dumbledore interfered when he sent the Longbottom's to another one of his not-so-safe safehouses's. Despite the fact that Longbottom Hall is almost as well warded as Potter Manor, since it was actually a Potter that designed the wards for the Hall. At this point, I'm beginning to think that a lot of foul play was involved to move the families out of their relative fortresses. Regardless, your godmother and her husband were tortured a full week after the attack on Godric's Hollow. The Longbottom's spent a full week waiting for your arrival at any moment, but it never happened."

"Next would have been your uncle in all but blood, a Remus Lupin. But shortly after Voldemort's downfall, Dumbledore managed to help pass laws that restricted Remus's ability to ever be able to care of you due to his lycanthropy. Which is preposterous. Moony would never have been able to harm you due to the pack bond that he shared with both Prongs and Padfoot. Even in werewolf form, Moony would have doted on you as though you were his own cub. And since he was the mate of Sirius, you practically were his cub anyway."

"Did you just say that Remus and Sirius were mates? As in, a couple? I thought werewolves mated for life? How did Remus end up with Tonks then?" Harry questioned. The more he thought about it, the more Remus and Sirius together made perfect sense. They had each others animal form as a patronus after all. Two halves of the same whole, they complimented each other perfectly, both in wit and magical power.

Gabriel blushed and scratched his head, looking embarrassed as he began explaining to Harry, "It became a broken bond kiddo. In most cases werewolves mate for life, but that mate bond needs to be renewed every couple of months with well… coupling. And marking. The Moony in Remus would demand it. Since Sirius was in Azkaban for 12 years, there was no opportunity for Remus to renew the mate bond, and so it withered and eventually died. Sure, they could have started fresh when Sirius escaped, but there were more, ah, pressing matters at hand. Like keeping you alive. When Sirius went through the veil, Remus was finally free to move on, though he didn't exactly move far. Nymphadora Tonks is more like Sirius than she will ever know, and not just in blood. Ah but speaking of blood, you should have ended up with Andromeda Tonks, since she was your closest magical blood relative through your grandmother Dorea Potter nee Black. And I think that we should stop there since after that would have been Narcissa Malfoy nee Black and one crazy bitch Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black. But you get the idea. So many people that you should have ended up with, and that's even before we look at the Last Will and Testament of Lily and James Potter. Which again, was never read because of, you guessed it. Dumbledore. And every time the goblins at Gringotts tried to contact you about the will, Dumbledore got in the way. Ever noticed how you always seemed to deal with the same group of goblins at the bank? That's because Dumbledore had blackmail on each of them, and so they had no choice but to do his bidding or else be banished from the goblin kingdom."

Harry pondered all of this new information, when a thought occurred to him." Gabriel… you said that the Fates were sending me back further than ever before, with all of this knowledge. Is it far enough to change some of these events?"

A mischievous twinkle appeared in the archangel's eyes. "Oh kiddo, play your cards right and you will be able to change a lot of things. But, I think you might need some help. Which is why I've had my favourite little brother explain all of this to a special little friend of yours that died shortly after you did. And wow. This little firecracker is giving my dad a run for his money on the whole holy wrath thing. I like her."

With a snap of the angel's fingers, Harry's vision was filled with a sea of mousy brown curls, with a scent that he could only describe as being home.

Hermione Granger.

A/N Thank you for joining me on this wonderful journey. This is my first ever piece of fanfiction, and I truly hope that I can do it justice.

There will be a few cameo appearances throughout the story, but please keep in mind that they will be exactly that. I have no intention of bringing any other story lines into this work. It is not necessary for you to know the cameo in order to understand the character. These cameo characters will simply add their name and some of their individual quirks to the story, with the exception of Gabriel, whom will add a little bit of angelic magic to the story.

I already have the next few chapters written and ready to go, but I will try and stick to a weekly update schedule as much as possible. This will help provide a bit of a buffer for me in case I get a case of writers block, or if life just simply happens and throws a spanner in my works. With that being said, I could be persuaded to post an extra chapter per week if this story is well received.

This is a pretty long chapter, and will possibly be one of the longest in the story. I have no idea how long this beast will be in the end, or how many chapters in will encompass. All I know is that I am committed to seeing it though until the very end, and I hope you will join me in that endeavour. There will be times that we cry, times that we laugh, and times that we might be frustrated, but I hope that it will all be worth it in the end.

Hopefully this will be the longest author note I will have to write, and I don't intend on writing them every chapter.

Welcome to Harry Potter and The Last Life.

Live long and prosper my nerds.

Xo Saftimus.