With the wave of a wand everything could be different.

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“You’ll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there.” He held out his hand to shake Harry’s, but Harry didn’t take it. “I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks,” he said coolly.”

There's just something about this scene in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that set the scene from the start, in declining Draco's offer of friendship he gained himself an enemy before he'd even got himself into the main castle. What happened in that little room off the great hall could have changed Harry's entire life, well maybe not the entire life as his seemed to be destined from the start, but his Hogwarts life with Draco would've been entirely different than with Ron and Hermione.

It got me thinking last night about times in my life when things like this has happened and if I'd have done the opposite of what I'd done then my life could be totally different. I in fact had this same exchange as Harry in year 8 when I'd just moved to a new school. I'd been placed with these two girls in my class to hang out with and learn where my new classes were and some other girls in the class came up to me and asked me to hang out with them instead. They included the fact that they were more popular in the class and that I shouldn't be hanging out with the people I were at the time. I declined their offer choosing to stay with the two girls I'd been making friends with, even though they seemed a little weird they seemed more like me than these popular girls. When I think about it now I wonder what my life would be like if I'd have said yes and hung out with them. I probably wouldn't have lasted, I'm not exactly the coolest person on the planet but maybe I might have, maybe I might have stayed friends with them up until now partying every weekend. Maybe I would've dropped out of school in year 11 or 12 to pursue a job rather than getting into University. It's a scary thought. 

This is one example that stood out to me in my brain as it was so similar to Harry's but I wonder what else in my life would have been different if only I'd chosen a different answer...