Chapter Text
Chapter 01: Limbo
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31 July 2003 – Limbo, the Crossroads
When Harry blinked his eyes open, the familiar sight of King’s Cross Station, with white background illumination, made him moan in frustration. He was dead... again. For whatever messed up reason, his mind always pictured the transition from life to death as King’s Cross Station. Death just called it the crossroads. There was likely a spiritual metaphor for it, but Harry was just too damn tried to care.
“Happy fucking Birthday,” Harry groaned to himself as he slowly pulled himself to a sitting position. He tiredly stood and sank onto a nearby bench seat. It was more comfortable than lying on the stone floor (or whatever it was). He sank his head into his hands and blocked out the sight of the station around him. He tried to recall his last moments.
Harry was working with a Gringotts’ curse-breaking team on a hidden temple complex in Peru. His birthday was going to be celebrated by the team later that evening. He was looking forward to the novelty of his birthday not being celebrated alone. He usually celebrated in the dark, alone, at Grimmauld Place. The depressing nature of the building seemed to fit his birthday spirit.
Unfortunately, Chal... Qualchi... Chalchiuhticue... Whatever the hell her name was… Jade Skirt. From now one, she will be Jade Skirt… Merlin, the people of the magical world were fucking weird.
Anyway, Miss Jade took offense at the curse-breaking team destroying the lethal curses she placed around several tourist attractions. The buildings weren’t magical. They were just cursed. This assignment was one of Harry’s more laid-back curse-breaking assignments. Jade Skirt's sudden appearance was unexpected. She started throwing around curses and apparently killed him. He doesn't really remember. He was diving for cover when he showed up here.
When Harry joined the Gringotts’ curse-breaking team as an apprentice (read: enslaved to the goblins after that whole dragon escape thing instead of returning to Hogwarts for 7th year), he had some reservations. The goblins didn’t give him a choice. Luckily, the work was pleasant. Dangerous as all hell. Potentially lethal… But pleasant. Granted, he earned slave’s wages (read: Nothing!). However, he was given invaluable learning experience. He liked the work enough that when his debt to the Goblin Horde was repaid in three years, he stayed (read: this time he was fucking paid).
According to Death, this would be the seventh time he arrived at the crossroads. Limbo. Crossed the Veil. Took the greatest adventure… Blah, blah, blah. The fifth time he died, Harry was met by Dumbledore’s spirit (something that ticked off Death to no end). The sixth time, Death met him, and elaborated on Harry’s death count, Dumbledore’s punishment for making assumptions, and an explanation for why this kept happening to Harry [1].
Yeah. Death count. That blew his mind a bit too.
Harry expected the death count to include the first time Voldemort killed him... and the second. He just didn’t realize the Dursleys succeeded in killing him twice... and the Basilisk (phoenix tears applied too late didn’t help, thank you very much Dumbledore). He didn’t remember the first four times. Didn’t even realize he died. It’s not like the Dursleys noticed him not moving after that beating... or how unnatural it was that he was locked in the cupboard for two weeks with no food or water and just went to work when he was let out (To be honest, he didn’t really notice either).
No. The first time he remembered dying was actually his FIFTH death. That’s when he got the full King’s Cross setup. Like some kind of fancy play. Complete with dead headmasters pushing him to go back and kill Voldemort. Granted, if Harry waited around a bit more, he would have enjoyed watching Death ream out the old man. As it stands, he went back. Made sure the snake horcrux was dead and then killed the Dark Tosser.
The SIXTH time Harry died wasn’t as impressive as killing Voldemort in some grand duel. No. He got cursed by wards of a tomb in Egypt. He dropped dead in front of his team. Luckily, his body fell inside the wards when he died. Made his 'coming back to life' a bit easier to deal with... and the wards were easier to take down from the inside. Then he talked down his team. They were very freaked out (who knew goblins could squeal like that).
“Do I want to know why you are back?” Death’s quiet voice asked next to him.
Harry sighed in resignation. He raised his head and turned to look at the god. “Not really,” he replied. “I don’t suppose I can ask to just ‘move on’, can I?” he asked hopefully.
“No,” Death replied gently. “I told you that old age is the only death that earns the afterlife for you.”
“I hate this,” Harry told Death with a tired sigh.
“So, you have said,” Death replied.
“I mean,” Harry collected his thoughts. “I figure this... whatever... would make it easier to help people. I want to help people. This curse-breaking thing... totally helping people. Top notch work... But... I’m tired. I just... want to stop... and I don’t think I can.” He turned to Death. “Do you know how guilty I would feel in the afterlife if I could help and I didn’t? It would totally suck.”
“I think you would feel less guilt and more peace,” Death replied gently. “Although I would miss our little talks.”
“It’s... It’s not like anything I do is helping either,” Harry stated tiredly. “Magic is dying. I can feel it. I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do to fix it. The problems... They’re systemic. The system broke a long time ago.”
“You were chosen as Mother Magic’s champion,” Death replied sadly. “She felt that by combining Magic, Death, and Fate you would have enough power to overcome… To repair what humans broke.”
“Perhaps,” Harry replied sullenly. “I just... I learned too little and too late to make a positive influence on the magical world. I’m just so tired. So alone. I want to give up... I hate that about myself.”
“How will this change when you return again?” Death asked.
“No,” Harry replied forcefully. “Not again. It’s insanity to keep doing the same thing and expect something different. I’m done being insane. I can’t fix the world as it is. If it’s my job to fix it, I can’t do it now. It's too late. I’m a failure in this time. There has to be another way.”
“Something different,” Death’s voice trailed off. “Today is your twenty-third birthday and your seventh death. The magic is strong for divine intervention.”
“What do you mean?” Harry asked in confusion.
“Divine numbers allow divine intervention [2],” Death lectured. “It is the reason you died after your first birthday when the Veil was the thinnest. Magic, Fate, and Death intervened.”
“Divine numbers?” Harry asked. “I didn’t take Arithmancy.”
“Divine numbers are those numbers with primacy. The numbers one, three, five, seven, eleven, and so on... The numbers cannot be divided evenly. One death, three deities, five souls, seven rebirths... You get the idea. Today... This death... is a convergence of divine numbers.”
“What will we do different?” Harry asked. “I mean, I died, obviously… going back won’t work. What other options do I have? You won’t let me move on.”
“The goal of Mother Magic, Lady Fate, and myself was to repair the magical world. Return it to balance,” Death replied sagely. “At the time, we felt it could be repaired.”
“Well, it can’t happen in the here and now,” Harry replied with derision.
“Nor can you go to a time before you exist,” Death answered sagely.
“I can go back… like into the past?” Harry asked in shock.
“Yes, during your lifetime,” Death responded.
“Time travel,” Harry sighed. “Hermione said that bad things happened to people who changed things.”
“Those wixen angered Lord Time,” Death replied with a chuckle. “They tried to change too much in too little time and were punished by Chronos. In this instance, you have permission. The death of magic will destroy all the gods. Your trip is endorsed by Magic, Fate, and me. You are our champion.”
“Okay. When should I go? It will have to be before Hogwarts. Can I leave the UK?” he asked firmly. “No. Wait. America is too isolationist. Asia is to insular. South America is mostly ruins. I don’t even want to think about the Middle East and Africa. As bad as Britain is, it’s not the worst, and most of Europe follows Britain’s example, as poor as that example has been. So, I stay in the UK.”
“You can only return to your previous deaths,” Death added. “Those are the points where I can intervene.”
“Oh,” Harry sighed softly. “I can’t save my parents then.” He paused. “If I went back, I would be stuck with the Dursleys again. My knowledge would be useless. Not to mention that I will have a hard time verbalizing…. I have to learn to talk again. That’s going to suck.”
“It will be easy enough to fix when you return,” Death replied. “Your knowledge and vocabulary will still be present. You will simply have to retrain your vocal muscles to speak properly.”
“How can I stay away from the Dursleys and Dumbledore’s well-meaning torture?” Harry asked with frustration.
Harry loved Dumbledore, but the man did not understand how to take care of children. His understanding of families was very poor. Some families weren’t loving. Blood didn’t fix anything in those families. No matter how much you wished. After the summer of Fifth-Year, he was certain he twould have easily killed the Dursleys to be free of their form of physical love. Hell, the only reason they restrained themselves after Third-Year was the threat of Sirius. With his death, they would have killed him. Probably a good thing he never returned after Fifth-Year.
“I have to go back, but when would be the best?” He speculated aloud. “At one, I’m too physically young to do much. Age five… after the starvation thing? I can run away. I would be less obvious with my knowledge. I could speak. I could use my knowledge to evade Dumbledore.”
“Your last death at the Dursleys was at age nine,” Death told him. “Not the best number to allow divine intervention.
“If we can keep me away from the Dursleys, then my first death gives me time to make the changes you want,” Harry told him. “How will we stop Dumbledore’s interference?” he asked.
“Another divine number,” Death replied smugly. “I can return one, three, or five souls to the same point in time. They would have all the worldly knowledge from before their deaths.”
“Do they need to be dead?” Harry asked painfully. While many of the dead could help him, he trusted the ones still alive as well. In some cases, better than the dead. Hermione. Ron. Luna. Neville.
“They do,” Death replied. “I can only return souls that are in my care.”
Harry sighed in defeat. Not the living then. He lost quite a few people in his short life. He started to turn over the dead in his mind. Weighing the pros and cons for including them.
Sirius. Remus. Fred. Dumbledore. Moody. Snape. Tonks. Cedric. Colin Creevy. All of them died before their time. All of them deserved to live. To get a second chance.
Colin was younger than him. He may not be born yet. Fred would want to share everything with George. Which would gain an ally, but George would feel left out not knowing and sharing memories with Fred. Alastar deserved to rest... Not to mention he was a touch too paranoid to really help. Suddenly being alive again... Yeah. Not Alastor. Dumbledore would make a bigger mess of it than he did the first time. Most of the man’s meddling caused more problems in the magical world than they solved. Snape… he really, really didn’t like Snape.
“Do they have to be human?” Harry asked quietly. Kreacher passed last year. Dobby and Hedwig died before his last year at school. They were all firm allies.
“They do not,” Death replied. “They need to be already born. Depending on the soul, they may count as an avatar for the other deities... Dragons represent Magic. Seers represent Fate. You, of course, represent death.”
“That Master of Death thing? [3]” Harry asked with a defeated sigh. He hated to think that he could somehow command a deity. He didn’t know any dragons and Luna was the only seer he trusted… and she wasn’t dead.
“That is the general human interpretation of the Peverell legend,” Death replied, chuckling in humor. “A Peverell is considered to have ‘Mastered Death’ when they have collected all three hallows and died at least once and returned without assistance... Resurrection is a bloodline skill. One you possess.”
“And the Potters descended from the Peverell line,” Harry replied with a sigh. “So, me and two others?” he asked.
“Two or four others,” Death added.
“Sirius,” Harry stated firmly. He was ready to defend his selection if he needed to. Sirius got a raw deal last time. He was there at Godric’s Hollow that night. “He’s in a position where he can help immediately. Plus, he’s my godfather... So legal custody is easy,” Harry replied. In his mind, Sirius was a given. If he can’t have his parents, then he wanted to save Sirius.
“He is a good choice,” Death agreed.
“Kreature?” Harry asked. “I know he and Sirius don’t get on, but I don’t want to go through years of trust building again. He was a good companion once I got the rest of the Order out of Grimmauld.”
“The elf could represent Magic,” Death relayed thoughtfully. “Have you considered Charon?” Death asked.
“Who?” Harry asked in confusion.
“Charon is a guardian of Hogwarts. She was slain in your Second-Year at Hogwarts,” Death replied.
“Charon... Charon...” Harry repeated trying to associate a name with that year. The diary. The basilisk. “The BASILISK?” Harry exclaimed in shock. “It has a name?”
“Indeed,” Death replied blandly. “Charon is one of mine. A guardian and a ferryman. She travels the path between life and death to escort souls to me.”
“She,” Harry replied. “I never would have guessed that the giant, homicidal serpent was a she.”
“You never truly knew her,” Death replied sadly. “She knew you were one of mine. She could feel my touch on you. You were young and didn’t recognize my touch yet. You only knew the twisted beast under Riddle’s control. Lord Slytherin would not have placed her in his school if she was not reliable.”
“So, she’s... not... evil?” Harry asked carefully.
“No, she was controlled with Parselmagic cast by the Riddle Horcrux in your Second-Year,” Death replied. “
“So, she’s was fine when Voldemort killed my parents,” Harry surmised. “Well, I can see the benefit to having a sentient... non-homicidal... source of basilisk venom available,” Harry replied cautiously. “It will make destroying the horcruxes safer than FiendFyre. But I definitely want to bring back Sirius.”
“Three of my avatars,” Death agreed with humor. “My Champion. My Grim. My Ferryman. A being of fate. A being of death. A being of magic.”
“Your Grim?” Harry asked. He knew Sirius’ animagus was a black dog, but a Grim was a magical beast. People weren’t supposed to turn into magical animals for their animagus.
“The Black Family serve me as the Shadow Lord,” Death chuckled. “The Blacks are dedicated to my shadow aspect. Those Blacks patronized by two of my aspects are granted the Grim or Odin's Raven animagus. They act as my avatars in the mortal world. Your Sirius is patronized by three of my aspects.”
“I thought Trelawney was cracked,” Harry said with a sigh. “I always saw the Grim in my tea leaves.”
“Fate was trying to get you back on track,” Death laughed. “She is usually not impatient… However, as a Peverell, you would always see one of my symbols in your leaves... usually a raven or a grim.”
Death waved his hand. Sirius and Charon, the basilisk, appeared before them. Sirius seemed to blink a few times trying to process where he was and how he got there. Charon, the basilisk, seemed smaller than she had in the Chamber. She was coiled in a pile and her head rose to Harry’s eye-level. Then Sirius noticed Harry and focused on him in shock and delight.
“Harry?” Sirius asked, barely containing his excitement. “Please tell me that's you. You look older.”
“I am older,” Harry replied with a grin.
“You died,” Sirius stated as his smile fell. “You are still young. You are too young to die!”
“I know,” Harry replied. He was still grinning. Dying was old hat to him, but seeing Sirius again… Seeing his family again. He would cherish that.
Sirius frowned and then took in the figure of Death sitting on the bench next to Harry. Casually. Friendly. He scrunched up his face and then started to look around. He jumped back as soon as he noticed the giant snake coiled not far from him.
“I am sorry, Master Death. I have been unable to assist,” Charon said as she rose up before Death and Harry. “I’m afraid a creature corrupted my duty.”
“You did no wrong,” Death told the basilisk. “The creature was stopped and you tried not to kill my champion.
“I’m sorry,” Harry apologized. “I didn’t know. Riddle possessed an innocent student and cast Parselmagic on you.” Harry paused in anguish. “I was too young… too ignorant… to understand or help. You were not under your own command. Please forgive me.”
“If you can forgive me for killing you in return,” Charon countered.
“You are forgiven,” Harry answered regally. It was an old death and his anxiety over being a parseltongue was in the far past.
“I... I can understand the snake,” Sirius replied with shock.
“All spirits speak the same language at the crossroads,” Death replied. “You will not understand parseltongue in the mortal world.”
“Why have you summoned us, Master?” Charon asked Death.
“We... talked,” Harry started. His hand waved vaguely between him and Death. “In our opinion, magic will die out in the mortal world… likely within the next few decades. Magical creatures are already disappearing. Dragons are dying. Magical places are turning mundane. Wixen are breeding themselves out of existence.” He paused and looked first at Death, then to Sirius.
“My year group at Hogwarts was the smallest in generations. Most likely due to the Blood War,” Harry told them. “The numbers never went up. The damage from Grindelwald and Voldemort crippled the magical world… Apparently, I was chosen as the champion for magic, fate, and death… to restore balance to our world. Unfortunately, I was kept uninformed, sheltered, and abused. By the time I reached Hogwarts and was introduced to the magical world, it was almost too late. After Voldemort returned… that was the killing blow to magic. I failed in my task even as Voldemort died.”
“The problem isn’t just Voldemort, is it?” Sirius asked.
“No,” Harry acknowledged. “Voldemort was a huge factor, but the people who were supposed to help me. Train me. Guide me... Didn’t. Dumbledore didn’t create a balanced magical world… he doubled down on eradicating dark magic and cloaking the young in ignorance. Wixen have responsibilities to magic and balance. They are ignoring them or intentionally destroying them.”
“I’m sorry, Harry,” Sirius said morosely.
“It’s not your fault,” Harry reassured him. “The ignorance of youth goes back to your grandfather’s time. You never knew.”
“But I could have learned,” Sirius said grumpily.
“Today, on his seventh death on his twenty-third birthday, you three have been chosen to return to the past.” Death announced. “You will be returning to the first death of my champion. At this time, you have all experienced my touch. You will become my avatars on the mortal realm.”
“First death?” Sirius asked in shock. “of SEVEN?”
“The Halloween my parents died,” Harry replied. Old pain and grief passing through his eyes.
“Shite!” Sirius whispered. “You’re a baby. What the hell? Can we save them?” he asked. Pleading. “His parents?”
“Sorry,” Harry replied. “We go back to my death. They both died before me.”
“James Potter sacrificed his ability to return to ensure his child was safe,” Death explained. “A sacrifice ward was placed around your crib.”
“That Samhain ritual?” Sirius asked. “I knew it was different than the usual rituals. I figured it was a Potter thing.”
“It was a combination of rituals created by Lily Potter,” Death elaborated. “It combined a bind rune in the Peverell grimoire, death magic, and blood magic.”
“Dumbledore always said I was protected by a blood shield created by my mother,” Harry replied in confusion. “That’s why he insisted I return to the Dursleys every year. He said that without my mother’s family, my mother’s love couldn’t protect me.”
“But the blood wasn’t just your mom,” Sirius replied in anger. “It included your dad and me. You would have been just as safe with the Blacks. At least my family would have taught you about magic… I can’t believe that old man. He always hated my family. Pushed me to rebel against them. He’s the damn reason I was expelled from my family… but blood magic fueled by sacrifice would have kept you safe… even in their care.”
“Did he know?” Harry asked. Thinking about how he could have grown up in a magical home.
“I… I don’t know,” Sirius replied. “He may have made assumptions. Noticed Lily dead in the room and just assumed she use blood magic as a last-ditch effort to save you. It’s not a farfetched scenario.”
They settled into silence as they thought through the various scenarios. Tried to parse what Dumbledore knew, what he assumed, and what he fabricated from the sparse facts.
“I was sleeping until the evil one came to my chamber and cursed me in Parselmagic,” Charon replied. “I will be of sound mind before the evil one returns. Your Champion was young, but not an infant.”
“I was twelve,” Harry supplied. “We will wake when I am one.”
“I was awake that night,” Sirius replied trying to think of what he was doing that night. “Not far. I flew to Godric’s Hallow. I didn’t know anything was wrong until I was at the traitor’s hidey-hole.”
“Now, we know how things went. Time to change things,” Harry stated firmly. He was determined to keep Sirius out of Azkaban. “We will all return with our full knowledge until the time of our death. Charon, we will need a place to hide from Dumbledore. Is your chamber livable... for humans?”
“It is,” Charon replied. “Salazar often kept quarters in the chamber. They are near the exit to the forest.”
“You can exit the chamber?” Harry asked. “To go to the forest?”
“Of course,” Charon replied. “That is the easiest path for me to enter the chamber. There are many entrances throughout the castle, the forest entrance is the preferred entrance. This was the preferred entrance the Headmasters used to recharge the ward stone. The others are for evacuating the students from the castle to safety.”
“That was not taught at Hogwarts,” Sirius replied. “Slytherin used the Chamber of Secrets as a threat to the rest of the school.”
Charon hissed in anger. “Salazar would not stand for this blasphemy,” she hissed. Her whole body tensed and twitched in frustration. “The chamber is a secure escape for the children. The students. Only the headmasters know how to access it without Parseltongue or Parselmagic. The ward stones are kept safely hidden away from…”
“Wait,” Harry called out confused. Hand waving frantically. “The headmaster knows about and can open the Chamber of Secrets?... What?... Why?...”
“I have not met with a headmaster for two hundred years,” Charon replied. “None have come down to the chamber to renew the wards.”
“That’s why Riddle was able to attack the school,” Harry replied with dawning realization. “The wards are failing. Hell, we had trolls inside the castle in First-Year.”
Charon hissed in agitation and her body rolled in her frustration with the endangerment of her charges.
“Alright,” Sirius stated to get them back on topic. “We return. Rescue Harry. Secure Harry in the Chamber.”
“Clear your name,” Harry told Sirius. “You are absolutely not allowed to hunt down Peter or get arrested. I’m a helpless toddler. I need you to stand guard against Dumbledore and Voldemort.”
“I can do that,” Sirius said firmly. “I already know how it went last time. I don’t fancy another trip to Azkaban.
The three avatars of death plotted their return and tasks. They had the time in Limbo. It would be foolish to rush forward without a plan. They discussed the various problems and potential issues at each stage while Death witnessed their collaboration.
As they plotted their tasks for returning balance to the magical world, Charon brought up how the old rituals were no longer being honored. How she no longer felt the magic of the festivals and holidays in the castle’s magic. Sirius brought up that his family had books on the old rituals. He needed to learn what was missing from the magical world with Dumbledore’s reign of ignorance. Harry pointed out that Hogwarts was right there for them to access the library. Between the Hogwarts library and all the books lost in the Room of Hidden Things, they would have enough reading material for a lifetime. The three of them plotted their approach as Death watched. He could feel the approval of magic and fate as his avatars plotted their return.
~AU~AU~AU~AU~AU~AU~