Choice in the Cavern

"Your choice, Mr. Potter."

How it all started. I can only wish a thousand times for a thousand souls to not be where they are now. I can only hope now for the best although I know the worst is yet to come. But wait, how must I tell you, the reader, about my useless wishes if you do not know the tale? Well, let me take you back to 1991.

"Anyone sitting in there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite me. "Everywhere else is full."

Fourth biggest mistake of my life: Allowing a Mr. Ronald Weasley to sit with me on the train, heading for my first year of Hogwarts. If I had even the slightest hint at what I know now, that Ron would be crammed in a compartment of Slytherins for all I care, just not here, not now. If I hadn't opened up my lonely, abused arms to that little red haired boy, then the abused red haired teenager would not be here, and my task would not be as unfathomable. Let us adjourn, once again, to 1991.

"But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became our friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them."

Third biggest mistake of my life: Saving Hermione from that troll. If I hadn't been so concerned for that bushy-haired girl and that stupid troll, there would not be a lank, brown haired young woman staring at me with haunted eyes, and she could be with any other friends in the world, and her presence would not be as frightening. However, it puts tears in my bleeding eyes to read off the second one. Let us go back to1996.

"I looked around; there was Ginny running towards me; she had a hard, blazing look in her face as she threw her arms around me. And without thinking it, without planning it, without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, I..."

Must I really continue? Second biggest mistake of my life: Falling in love with Ginny Weasley. Sure, everyone says that you can't plan who you fall for, but if Ginny could have had any other man in the world, any other hero, any other Boy Who Lived but me, I would be happier knowing that we would be doomed to be apart rather than face the challenge now ahead. But hey, by now you must be thinking what the biggest mistake of my life was, am I right? Well, let us travel up to...erm...right now.

I am in the cave where bodies float and a small boat has taken me to an island, upon which is a pedestal. Not anymore. I found myself on a big stretch of land. How did I wind up here? I knew that something just beyond my grasp still lay here, and that those I loved were in danger. I did not foresee my undoing, but alas, it came. I got through every obstacle in my way, and it was all for naught.

Have you ever done something, said something, or began something that you knew was doomed to fail? It is like suicide; acting on spur of the moment, following your instinct, but realizing halfway to your end that you should not have gone? Well, I admit that this action was completely different, despite what you may think. Anyway, the island was no longer an island, but a grand peninsula, stretching out across the remainder of the cavern. I traveled across it, the blood thumping in my ears, and my heart pounding in my throat. I knew something, somewhere, was left out here, a mystery yet to be solved.

As I crossed the stretch of land, I saw a fissure in the cave floor. There was a bright light emanating from it, and I could hear screams. It chilled my bones down to the marrow, yet I crawled on my belly to the site and peeked in. The light blinded me, and just as I began to lean closer in, I fell. At first, I thought it was a Pensive, but after a look around the illuminated room, I gasped, realizing that my assumption was too wrong to be true.

Torches, lit with bright white light were dancing all around the room. In the center of the room was an enormous tall structure, and about twenty people were standing around it. I heard a few spells shooting off from the tips of their wands, and tortured screams following, like thunder and lightning. I ran to the center, and suddenly, all eyes turned to me.

The people were death eaters, as you may very well have suspected, and there were three silhouettes hunched over, heaving in pain. The gruesome masked figures began to shoot their curses at me, and I managed to escape them all for a moment, until an all-too-familiar voice rang out.

"STOP! DON"T TOUCH HIM, FOOLS!" It was the voice of Lord Voldemort, and as he swooped down from his throne-like seat, and slithered over to me, those cold red eyes burned with the intensity of every torch in the room combined.

"Harry Potter."

"Look, we start out every menacing conversation with you saying my name in that threatening way. Can you change it up for once?" I asked, unaware of the seriousness of the situation.

"Hmmph. How rude of you, boy. Well, I suppose I don't need to tell you who these people are." I turned in the direction of his spidery finger, to see Hermione, Ron, and Ginny.

"HARRY! HELP!" they screamed as loud as their aching lungs would allow. They were hurt and disfigured so much that they were barely recognizable. I ran up to them, and to my surprise, nobody stopped me. As soon as I reached them, however, I heard applause.

"Well done, Harry. I knew you would come, and now I can make you finish the job for me," Voldemort drawled. He grinned, and I never liked it when Voldemort grinned.

"What are you talking about?"

"You see, I have the three people that mean the world to you. I would not have had a fun time killing them myself."

"If you brought me here to kill my friends, you know I won't do it."

"Ah, but alas Harry, you must. If you destroy the three of them, the charms I have placed on them will destroy me and you as well," Voldemort replied.

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Because, if you recall, the prophecy says that only you have the power to defeat me. If you don't, then you will be the one to die, and imagine what a toll that will take on them..."

"STOP MESSING WITH ME! Nobody would make a deal like that, especially not you."

"I have motives, as well as you. Death is, in as few words as possible, the end. Nothing more, nothing less than no more. If you are to fulfill your destiny, you must destroy your friends. If you wish to save them and sacrifice yourself, so be it."

"Don't...Harry, don't..." Ginny muttered.

"SILENCE, CHILD!" Voldemort yelled.

...............................................

"Your choice, Mr. Potter."

The biggest mistake of my existence was... well... I suppose I don't have to say. What is important is to know what you are doing, never to back down, to be loyal to everyone you know, and above all, to never abandon love. As I sit here in front of my water-logged typewriter, I wish that you will never be faced with a choice like mine, to kill your friends or to kill yourself. I am no Peter Pettigrew; alas I am no James Potter. No matter how much I look, or sound, or act like my dad, I will never be him. Or mum. Nevertheless, what I did was wrong, and as I lie here in shambles waiting for all those to judge me as they will, I want you to know how Mr. Harry James Potter was no hero, no killer, no lover, no friend, and no one.