Archive of Our Own

Work Text

It was the end.
 
Voldemort sat alone in his own prison, struggling at the mental bonds in constraining him. He was still unable to understand his loss. He had manipulated the manipulator, getting Harry thrown into Azkaban immediately after ensuring his immunity from the pitiful shields that he had neglected for 13 years.
 
How odd that his first true victim would be his first true captor. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, had been unable to destroy the Horcrux lodged inside his skull for just over 50 years. While he may have lost his form in the Battle of Hogwarts to Neville Longbottom, that was far from the end. His penultimate Horcrux had been destroyed merely an hour ago by Neville Longbottom, forcing him to run to his last resort.
 
Thinking back, it was a simple Confringo that had made Neville the second one able to fulfill the prophecy he fully heard almost 40 years ago…

Flashback

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
It was the easiest job he had ever been assigned, Lucius Malfoy thought. No killing, no failure, not even any problems. It only took a bit of gold to bribe the clerk in the Department of Transportation to set up an unrestricted loo between his Manor and the Ministry. They didn't even have to fight, for their Lord knew the Order had been weakened by the loss of their sole hope, sent to Azkaban a year ago. They didn't even bother putting a guard up and with memories from Nagini, they knew exactly where the prophecy was. Nott Sr., the resident Death Eater in the Department of Mysteries, was also there to guide them through the room of doors meant to confuse any outsiders.
 
The biggest secrets in the Department of Mysteries were all held under a Fidelius, with the Secret-Keeper being the first head of the Department. The note that was shown to all Unspeakables upon their hiring, read "The plaques holding the names to all rooms in the Department of Mysteries are next to the doors opposite those which they pertain to." They were called Unspeakables as they could not tell anyone about their work, protected by their contract forbidding them to talk about their work to anyone not also bound by the same contract. It was truly an amazing lapse in security that there was no restriction on actions.
 
The two waited by the Floo in Malfoy's office for their allies to arrive. Goyle Sr., Crabbe Sr., and Fenrir Greyback had also been assigned to help protect the Unspeakable and to guard the rooms against cleaners during the mission. While they were merely an extra precaution, they were honoured to have been picked for such a mission. In reality, Crabbe and Goyle Sr. were only there because they had sworn their houses to the Malfoy house in exchange for financial reasons that were in fact caused by the Malfoy house for this very purpose. Fenrir was the only one there of his own merit, sent exclusively for the purpose of turning any assailants into werewolves if necessary.
 
Their constraints were simple: no noise, minimal contact, retrieval of the prophecy, and no evidence left behind. While they could use Terego, the cleaning charm, it would leave a trail of magical use that gave everything away. Instead, they opted to rub an ointment on themselves that almost completely prevented hair from falling out, but the chance that a single hair could fall would mean their certain exposure if ever caught. They were to have no reason to be caught, and have no excuse if caught as motivation

.

Within half an hour, they had all arrived. With a nod from Lucius, all of the Death Eaters donned their masks as Fenrir morphed into his predator form. While it was painful to watch, they all knew they had to stay for the werewolf form to recognize them and restrain himself from killing or turning them. They were all resigned to this fact and watched as his bones and skin were contorted, his tail appearing from his spine, and his clothes being shredded by the size change.

Once Greyback had stabilized, Lucius ran a test by trying to pull a hair off of each of them. While Greyback was susceptible to having hairs fall out or be removed, those hairs turned to ash upon touching another solid object: Lucius's hands, the floor, even other hairs of his own. Satisfied, Lucius nodded and took out the more... specific instructions.
 
The instructions read: “

A prophecy orb is to be removed along with the shelf it rests upon from the end of row 97. Nobody is to know that you are there or even that our unspeakable was there. If any harm comes to yourselves or the prophecy, your heads will be mounted alongside your family’s.

”
 
Malfoy nodded and passed the paper to Nott. After reading the instructions, he nodded with a somewhat surprised and pleased look on his face. They waited for Fenrir to calm down and test for observers the non-magical way.
 
It was done. The werewolf sniffed the air and nodded with near-human intelligence. All was clear outside. The party slipped out of the office and made their way to the Ninth floor of the Ministry: The floor containing the Department of Mysteries.
 
Along the way, they very nearly ran into two cleaning house-elves and converted one security wizard, fast asleep at his post. The recruit shuddered through the transformation, then stood straight as he was taken over by Greyback’s bite. The party continued, arriving at the department in under twenty minutes.
 
Nott’s reason for looking pleased soon grew evident as he returned from his office with not only the prophecy in question, but multiple others concerning the Potter boy and their Lord.

Malfoy was extremely pleased. Not only was the heist an overwhelming success, but they had also acquired multiple other prophecies and gotten a new recruit to boot. Malfoy would be getting most of the credit, being the team leader, and he was also happy that his family could survive another generation without outside help.
 
As they Flooed back to their base of operations, Malfoy Manor, they were all feeling the high of a completed mission and were all busy imagining the repercussions this would have in their plans for the future.

End Flashback

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“IT WAS ALL PERFECT!” Voldemort raged inside his mental prison. Though he raged his hardest, he still couldn’t even get out of the Potter boy’s head. The mental arms race of Legilimency and Occlumency had led to the boy going to some extreme lengths, even making the inside of his mental fortress a prison. Even in his sleep, the boy was constraining the most powerful Dark Lord of all time and succeeding.
 
He thought back to his conquests and all of his victims. He smiled, remembering all of their painful deaths. He grimaced, remembering his own along with the others. Using the rage and pleasure it brought him, he used his last ace up his sleeves.

“Tenebris angelus!”

he shouted, drawing upon his wandless magic reserves to finally break through the barrier. A blank black rectangle appeared before him. A line of text appeared before him, with letters as big as his hand imprinting themselves on the screen.
 
But nobody came
 
His rage finally woke Harry, realizing the activity of the Horcrux was far beyond its usual levels, normally just distracting him from the dementors circling his cell, the final remnant of what used to be Azkaban. Sighing, he entered his mindscape to see the Horcrux raging at his standard response box.

Smiling, Harry removed the box and appeared in its place. It took the Horcrux only a few seconds to realize that it was no longer alone. Swiftly, Harry constrained the Horcrux and set up a mental study. “Welcome back, Tom,” Harry said. “Having trouble?” He asked innocently.
 
“Let me go now, Potter, and I might spare you a sliver of control over this mind when I take it over. I am Lord Voldemort and I cannot be defeated by anyone, no matter how powerful they are. Spare yourself the misery.”

“Bold words for a man on his last legs,” Harry said. “A shame that you aren’t your full self. The only part you didn’t retain post-destruction was the diary, right? Besides, if you’ll keep calling me Potter, I’ll need to create a true name for you. I like Tom, Shard, or Ghost. Which will it be?”
 
Voldemort hissed. “I was never any of those.”
 
“You were Tom once, and you were but a Ghost after your failed attempt on my life. But you are a Shard of your former self now. That’ll have to do. Who was it?”
 
The memories rushed back to the front of his mind. The Confringo, the years of maintaining his losses to the rebellion headed by Neville Longbottom. The final duel, where neither wand responded to the owner’s commands and the boy, realizing this first, moved in to brawl the muggle way. The slow death by asphyxiation, the look of triumph in his eyes during his opponent’s last breath.
 
Shard screamed in pain. His mind was being skimmed by the Potter boy.
 
“So it was Neville. Fate does seem to work in mysterious ways sometimes.”
 
Shard, coming back to his senses, seethed. “You dared break into my mind? When I take over this body, I will vanquish your soul more efficiently than the dementor’s kiss ever could. There will be nothing left to mourn. You will suffer beyond all … ”
 
Harry cut him off with a pulse of magic. “I have a deal to offer you. You will give me all of your memories, knowledge, and training, and I will give you a painless end. Deal?”
 
Shard was shocked. “Never.”
 
Harry was unsurprised. “Very well then. I’ll just have to do it myself. You know I can, and you will suffer for the duration. What will it be, Shard?”
 
“N E V E R.”
 
“Imagine the pain if I fully break in, to take even muscle memory from your soul.“
 
Shard hesitated.
 
“And as long as you resist, your pain will worsen. It will continue for months or years before I finish and eject you from my mind.”
 
There was a pause.
 
Voldemort broke.
 
“If I help you, would you be content with transferring me to a snake? I will not die at the hands of… you”
 
Harry smiled. “Of course. As Nagini is dead, do you have a preference?”
 
“No. Just one far away from Azkaban.”
 
Harry stood. “Always a pleasure, Shard. Lower your barriers and let's get this over with.”

Three Hours Later…

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Harry retracted his hand from Shard’s “head.” “It is done,” Harry announced. “Please enjoy the rest of your stay in my mind. I will now look through your memories to confirm my knowledge of the procedure.”
 
Shard smiled sardonically. “A pleasure doing business with you, Potter.”
 
Harry Lifted back to the real world.
 
The dementors had gone, abandoning the prison after their Lord’s death.  Harry smiled in relief. He dispelled his Patronus and went to work finding the way to rid himself of Shard. He entered his mindscape again.
 
“I am ready. The snake I have chosen for you is an old acquaintance of mine, currently living in South America.”
 
Shard grimaced. “Get it over with.”

The air around Shard started to glow as Harry chanted in Latin. Shard felt himself leave Harry and be shot across the Atlantic Ocean.
 
He was finally free, but that didn’t matter. He had a mission to complete. Several hours later, he had regained all of the Deathly Hallows. Suddenly, they started changing, each becoming a part of him. The true invisibility cloak melded to his skin, replacing it, healing all wounds from his many battles over the years. The Ressurection Stone became a replacement for his missing right eye, lost in the battle with the True Snake. Unfortunately, it was the only wound unaffected by the healing tears of Fawkes. The Elder wand holstered itself in the flesh of his right arm. Finally, his scar was changed from a lightning bolt to one resembling the Deathly Hallows.
 
He marvelled at the changes. He had become stable of mind and soul again, the Resurrection Stone “resurrecting” his soul from the eventual leeching by Dementor and his mind from the very depths of his own, banished there years ago by Lockhart, under orders from Dumbledore.

It was a wonderful feeling, having his mind back again. He had only been functioning on a fraction of his true capacities, and his mindscape was suffering from it. The mental shock from the freeing of his mind was enormous. The very structure of his mind threatened to collapse. His conscience waited, hoping that it would not have to work on repairs before even working.
 
Finally, it stopped shaking. He mentally moved to the memory room and went through all of the memories taken, hidden, and removed from this part of the mind. Unsurprisingly, it was much bigger than his current stash of memories.
 
Several hours later, Harry had finished. While he was disgusted with himself, he was also aware of the compulsions and bindings that had been placed on him since his parents had died, refreshed and added upon by his eternal torturers, Lockheart and Dumbledore, every week since his fight with the True Snake.
 
He’d need to remove them at some point, but he was willing to wait a while longer. He apparently was being moved in his physical form. He returned to the forefront of his own mind.

There was a woman there, dressed in green and black. Harry’ first thought was that Narcissa Malfoy had somehow survived the raids following the final Battle with Voldemort. Upon closer inspection, however, he saw the differences. This woman was much taller, had an aura that felt like Death itself.
 
The only giveaway was the skintight outfit. Narcissa would never deem to wear something so tight and potentially revealing, always having preferred the classic wizard robes. No, this woman was definitely

not

Narcissa Malfoy.
 
The woman stood up. “Finally, you’re awake. I was getting bored of just waiting here. I am Death.”
 
“Harry Potter,” He replied absentmindedly. ”Wait, Death? Why are you here? I’m not dead yet, am I?”

Death Chuckled. “No, Master. You are merely injured. If you wish, I will bring you to safety immediately. That, after all, is my biggest priority. If you were to die, I could not reach ascendancy.”
 
Harry looked shocked. He ran through his new memories for reasons why he had Death calling him her master. Only one memory made even a bit of sense to him.

“So the story wasn’t a lie. By claiming the Deathly Hallows…”
 
“One shall become the Master of Death.” Death completed.
 
Harry winced. “Can I call you something other than Death? It just sounds… wrong.”
 
Death smiled. “Certainly, Master. I have been known by many names throughout time. I would prefer Grim, Letum, Thanatos, or Hela. However, as my Master, you can change my appearance or name whenever you want. However, I shall be most powerful in the form and name you first choose for me. It is all a matter of preference.”
 
Harry’s head was spinning. There was too much to handle, to do right now. “I like Hela. Please take me somewhere safe. I’ll get better soon.”

Hela chuckled. “A you wish, Master.” Hela snapped her fingers.

Three days later…

Hela stood, waiting for her Master to awaken from her magically-induced healing sleep. It was curious that he had chosen to come now. In her universe, she had just been imprisoned after her father, Odin, had decided that she was too much of a threat to be allowed to even be confined to Asgard. The thought of everyone panicking as she had disappeared brought a smile to her lips.
 
“If only they knew,” Hela said.
 
“If they knew what?” Harry asked. While he had just awakened, he had spent most of the time reorganizing his mind, controlling his magic, and creating an alternate version of himself. “About me?”
 
Hela laughed. “Close guess, Master. I was actually thinking of their reaction when they realized I had disappeared. In my current universe, I am imprisoned after having been too efficient of a warrior.“
 
Harry grinned. “And you escaped? I should have expected you to be able to Apparate…” His voice trailed off. “Did you say alternate universe? Hermione was talking about that a while ago. She said that it was likely but the power required to travel between them was way more than even what Dumbledore was able to do. Are you… Am I really…”
 
Hela was surprised at her patience. “Yes, Harry. You are really my Master. I don’t know what you mean by Apparate, but I can travel through shadows. It is a unique trait in my universe, but you should be able to do so as my Master. I would never have been able to escape while my father was alive, but the call of my Master is more powerful than even his strongest protections and guards.“
 
Harry was confused, but relieved that he was actually able to control Death. He had easily a thousand questions, but he now had better control than when he had been an arrogant Gryffindor. “Do I exist in your universe? I know it’s unlikely, but it could be possible…” He trailed off.
 
Hela closed her eyes. While her universe was easily a thousand years behind her Master’s, she could clearly see his future life.
 
It was… troublesome to say the best. Checking against the current universe, she paled. It was a miracle that he had survived this long, even as her Master. Universe after universe, it was almost exactly the same tale.
 
They had all died. Killed by, almost invariably, by Voldemort, by the Dursleys, by the Weasleys, by Dumbledore, and even Hermione Granger. For his lordships, for his money, for the Dark Lord, even for not responding to Dumbledore quickly enough in one particularly horrible dimension.
 
“You should be dead. Not even one of the Harrys in the other dimensions survived past that age of 25. How, or better yet, why,” Hela cried, torn between sorrow for the infinite other deaths of her Master. “Are you still alive!”

Harry groaned. “This is going to take a while.”

Thirteen hours later…

Hela frowned. Her Master had just shown her the wonders of magic, but there was something wrong. It seemed… weakened, restrained. Unsure, Hela asked her master of it.
 
“Harry?”
 
“Yes, Hela?”
 
“Your magic is… off. It seems weakened, like there is something blocking it or something leeching it away. Is that normal?”
 
Harry was shocked. He had never before noticed anything, but something had seemed off for a while now. However, he had absorbed a way to check.
 
“I can find out, but I’ll need parchment and an obsidian dagger… ” The items immediately appeared in front of him, along with two chairs. “Where are we? I probably should have asked this earlier, but… ”
 
“I don’t know. I took you to a place that you knew was safe. If it helps, the building started changing when you arrived and we are now a good… 4000 feet in the air.”

Harry was unnerved. He hadn’t even noticed that he wasn’t firmly on the ground. “I’ll just… do this then.” He sliced his palm, letting seven drops of blood fall onto the paper. Immediately, the words started forming on the parchment, words the exact same green as his eyes.

Previous blood tests: 0

Name:

Hadrian Jasmine Potter-Black

Born:

July 31st, 1980, Godric’s Hollow, England

Parents:

James Hadrian Potter (Birth father)

Lily Arianna Potter nee Evans (Birth mother)

Sirius Orion Black (Blood Adopted Father, July 31st, 1980)

Hela Død (Magically Adopted Mother, October 31, 2045)

Titles:

Lord and Founder of the Most Ancient and Noble Family Ravenclaw (Acquired October 31, 204)

Lord of the Ancient and Noble Family Potter (birth)

Lord of the Ancient and Noble Family Black (blood adoption)

Goblin Friend (Earned August 10, 1994)

Master of Death (Earned October 31, 2045)

Lord of the Ancient and Noble Family Peverell (Acquired October 31, 2045)

Vaults:

Potter Trust Vault - 8,340 Galleons, 14 Sickles, 9 Knuts

Potter Family Vaults - 12,435,739 Galleons, 9 Sickles, 25 Knuts; 134 magical artifacts

Black Family Vaults - 69,546,039 Galleons, 15 Sickles, 1 Knut; 457 magical artifacts and 1476 books

Ravenclaw Family Vault - 1,000,000,000,000 Galleons, 1 Sickle, 1 Knut; 11643 magical artifacts

Ravenclaw Family Library Vault - 1 Knut; 45,378,392 books and counting

Peverell Family Vaults - 81,746,301 Galleons, 13 sickles, 28 Knuts; 1006 magical artifacts and 1920 books

Død Vault - 3 magical artifacts and 4 books

Magical abilities and blocks:

Core magic – Grey-Dark (95% blocked, Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)(Adapted

October 31, 2045; previously 45% blocked)

Parseltongue (Partial Block, Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)

Parselmagic (Blocked, Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)

Wandless magic (Blocked, Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)

Wordless magic (Blocked, Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)

Magic Sense (Blocked, Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)

Eidetic memory (Blocked, Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)

Natural Legilimens (Blocked, Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)

Hereditary blood magic (Blocked, Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)

Technomage (Undiscovered)

Edictic tongue (Undiscovered)

Animagus (Undiscovered)

Touch of Death (Undiscovered)

Properties:

House Number 14, Godric's Hollow, England

Potter Manor, Oxfordshire, England

12 Grimmauld Place, London, England

Black Manor, Wiltshire, England

Raven’s Perch, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Villa du Soleil, St Tropez, France

Peverell Manor, Edinburgh, Scotland

Magical bonds:

Soulbond - Luna Hollow Lovegood (Blocked, Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)

Magical compulsions/enchantments:

Blood Glamour (James Potter)(Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)

Loyalty Keyed to Albus Dumbledore (Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)

Obedience Keyed to Albus Dumbledore (Albus Dumbledore, November 1st, 1981)

Loyalty Keyed to Gryffindor House (Albus Dumbledore, July 31st, 1991)

Loyalty Keyed to the Order of the Phoenix (Albus Dumbledore, July 31st, 1991)

Loyalty Keyed to Ronald Weasley (Albus Dumbledore, July 31st, 1991)

Loyalty Keyed to Ginevra Weasley (Albus Dumbledore, July 31st, 1991)

Loyalty Keyed to Molly Weasley (Albus Dumbledore, July 31st, 1991)

Distrust Keyed to Slytherin House (Albus Dumbledore, July 31st, 1991)

Distrust Keyed to Severus Snape (Albus Dumbledore, July 31st, 1991)

Shame Compulsion Keyed to Home Life (Albus Dumbledore, July 31st, 1991)

Recklessness Charm (Albus Dumbledore, September 1st, 1991)

Anti-authority Charm (Albus Dumbledore, September 1st, 1991)

Selflessness Charm (Albus Dumbledore, September 1st, 1991)

Loyalty Keyed to Hermione Granger (Albus Dumbledore, October 31st, 1991)

Other controlling factors:

Love Potion Keyed to Ginevra Weasley (Amortentia)(Albus Dumbledore, Molly Weasley,

September 1st, 1993)

Hela was sitting patiently, waiting for her master to finish reading his results and possibly reveal them to her. Instead, she felt the air thicken with an energy that she had come to recognize as his magic. This time, however, it felt angrier. The magic was swirling, waiting for a target to strike at. Slowly, Hela pulled out a shield.
 
“Harry?”
 
He turned around, his good eye blazing. It was a green fire, one she had come to match to the green light from many of the recent fallen in her current dimension. Unlike the others, however, this fire was burning from his eye, rising to the side in a pattern like flame blowing in the wind.

Harry was not happy. He had just found out that his whole life had been a lie, that he had been controlled, manipulated, his body itself suppressed by magic. When Hela called his name, he was too far gone to think. He was ready to destroy anything that stood in his way.
 
His vision had tinged green. He took a deep breath. Slowly, the magical fire retracted into his eye, still ready to burst out at a moment’s notice.
 
“Yes, Hela?”
 
Hela stood still for a moment. She was not sure whether or not he would attempt to kill her or answer her. “Were those results… bad by any chance?”
 
Harry laughed. The so-called “Black madness” was starting to get to him.
 
“Define wrong, Hela. Is a blood glamour wrong? Is a 95% block on my core wrong?is having my very life and decisions controlled wrong? Is having my soulbond blocked wrong!”
 
He threw the paper at her. His arm felt sluggish. He was definitely going to… pass… out…
 
Hela caught him. It wasn’t hard. 40 years in Azkaban really took a lot out of someone, and it showed. He weighed just barely more than he had in the month before he started going to Hogwarts. Besides, she had some practice, having had to catch her Master the past few days.
 
It was odd, however, being able to touch a human without their immediate death.
 
The room, sensing the lord of the House’s needs, opened a door to the library. Stepping through, Hela’s jaw dropped open.
 
The Ravenclaw Library was massive, bigger than any other ever created. She had certainly been in bi libraries before, though not of this size. On one wall, there were easily over a thousand books with quills scribbling away in them. She would later come to learn that they were monitoring the current magical books being written by every author. In the muggle version of the library, there were over ten thousand times as many quills, working away until the real-life writer

stopped writing.
 
As Hela watched in the magical library, a book titled
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them:

Edition 84
detached itself from the wall, flying over to a section titled “Magical Creatures”. Soon, however, another sight drew her gaze. A book was floating through the library, entitled
The Goblin’s Guide to Magical Rituals: English Translation
. Landing on a nearby table, the book opened to a page entitled “Final Cleansing”. Hla took a seat, making sure her Master was comfortable in a nearby one. She cracked open the book and read about the ritual.

Final Cleansing

This ritual is only to be used to remove a number of magical blocks or charms greater than that of other rituals. While this ritual can remove any and all enchantments, it can sometimes cause irreversible trauma to the patient. This ritual is otherwise generally to be used as a last resort if the patient is about to die from a loss of magic or from an otherwise incurable poison. The Final Cleansing will remove curse magic and scars as well, though whether or not it can remove a Horcrux is still in question. To perform this ritual, the patient is to be enclosed in clay (not including the head) and have them bring their magic to the surface. If they are unable, bring their magic to the surface using more potent potion ingredients such as thestral hair. The magic should imprint the clay with all of the blocks/compulsions/charms in place on the patient. To remove them, merely wipe over the clay where the problem has been imprinted. This process should take up to an hour depending upon the number of blocks/compulsions/charms that are being removed from the patient. There should be other items imprinted on the clay that should

NOT

be tampered with at risk of harming the patient.

Hela kept reading. The ritual seemed risky, but it would help her Master and she could ensure that he would stay alive if need be. Finishing reading the more specific instructions, she woke her Master.
 
“Master, I have found a way to help.”
 
Harry groaned. He really needed to stop passing out. If he was to control death, he would need to always be aware of his surroundings.
 
“What is it, Hela?”
 
“Master, this ritual should be able to rid you of all blocks, compulsions, and enchantments. Give me the word, and I will rid you of  your bonds.”
 
Harry was relieved. He would finally be free.
 
“Do it.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Do it.”
 “Master… ” “What, Hela?” “I have no magic. Is there someone you trust to help you? A friend, a servant, one of the goblins maybe?” Harry thought. He had never had to suspect any of his friends before, but now he had reason to doubt them. After all of the compulsions, he didn’t know who he could trust. “I might have a house-elf or two… Kreacher?” A faint pop sounded nearby, telltale of an apparating house-elf. Kreacher was not doing so well after 40 years. He was sickly thin, with hair finally turned white. Just by looking at him, Hela could tell that he would die this year if he remained unbound, and would maybe last another 10 if he bound himself to a wizard again. When he spoke, his voice was raspy, as if he had not drunk water in the last 40 years. “The half-blood finally realizes his duty, yes, but almost too late for poor Kreacher. And for his new choice of company…” Kreacher stopped talking as he looked at the auras of his new company. The woman’s aura was black, darker than any he had seen before. Most interestingly, she had no magical core.  However, she was bound to his master, who… Kreacher had a double take. His master’s core was being leeched away by several enchantments, sapping his core and tying it to others, disguised by glamours and another, more treacherous block only visible to house elves. While rare, it was one of the most painful things one could do to a wizard: perverting their magic by artificially changing their core. Seeing through the binding, his master’s true magic was as black as the woman’s aura. Even as he looked, he could feel himself becoming used to the magic. Hoping for the best, Kreacher sent out a request to bond. Harry stiffened. It felt like something was probing his magic. Following it, he sensed that it was from Kreacher. One look in his eyes and Harry knew that he was trying to bond. Seeing him and knowing how House-elves functioned, he accepted the request. Hela looked on in amazement as Kreacher slowly grew muscles back, as his hair darkened a few shades, even as he grew a few inches. The bond was clearly helping him recover from the 30 years spent without a master. Shaking her head, Hela decided to speak. “Kreacher, we require your help to rid my Master of a blood glamour.” Kreacher turned. This woman was not his bonded. However, she had referred to his master as her master. It was a small struggle in his head, deciding whether or not to listen to the woman. Unfortunately, if his master was in need of aid, he was bound to help him in any way possible. Kreacher sighed. “Is there a runic circle for cleansing anywhere on the property? No, of course, there won’t be. Half-bloods have no sense, no need for ‘security’.” Sighing, Harry turned around. The path to the room of requirement was still open, waiting with a newly made runic circle imprinted in the stone floor. As they walked back through, Kreacher began to smile. His new master was even more prepared than the Black family. Harry groaned in pain. He had thought that the ritual with the clay would have been the only one necessary, but apparently, it was changing his bone structure. That would have caused rifts in the clay, almost ending the ritual entirely. He shuddered in pain again, growing another inch taller. This ritual also corrected the damage done to him by the Dursleys, the stunting of his growth Kreacher, however, was suffering immensely. He was deliberately causing pain to his bonded, causing him to experience the same pain. However, he just used this as motivation to work faster. Ten seconds later, it was done. Harry was a new man, several inches taller with even brighter green eyes and flatter, shorter hair. “Well, that was painful. How about we wait before we do the full cleanse?” Harry said in a raspy voice. Harry shook his head. “Well, maybe after I get some water. Maybe after a nap… ” Hela nodded, soon followed by Kreacher. The ritual was draining his energy, and he would have fallen asleep if not for the pain and thirst. Kreacher, seeing this, gave his bonded a bucket of ice water over the head. “AAAAH!” His voice was still new, and it cracked several times through the short scream. Hela chuckled. “A very manly scream, Master.” Harry grimaced. “Okay, I’m ready. Just… don’t do anything without my input on the next ritual.” 
Five minutes later…
 The clay was annoying, but Harry was able to deal with it. Coating his arms and legs, he was unable to move without truly focusing on moving. It was relaxing though, just being able to lie down. Slowly, he brought his magic to the surface. All sorts of traits and numbers began appearing on his new shell. With great care, Hela and Kreacher started removing the blocks and compulsions. “Love potion?” “Remove it.” “Parselmagic block?” “Could be useful later” After a while, Harry was getting tired of this. It had been almost an hour of fluff, but then they reached the core. “Master?” Harry looked down, wondering why Hela was surprised. “What is a normal magical core size?” Harry focused on the numbers. 
Core - Grey-Dark

Current Capacity: 37 M

Regeneration Rate: Max in 4 hours

Maximum Capacity: 150 M

Bind: 95%; Albus Dumbledore

Bind: Wand-based Magic

Bind: Aura; Albus Dumbledore
 “Well well, this should be interesting. Kreacher?” “Yes, master?” “You see that 37 Makt there?” “Of course, Master. My eyesight hasn’t failed yet.” “Can you change it instantly?” A spark appeared in all eyes present. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ He was not having a good day when he ran into Harry. While it was his only day so far, there were so many more that he had recovered from the animals, muggle and magical, collected by the squib Otto Octavius. It was a truly amazing host of abilities that he held in his genetic memory now, from the basilisk's death glare to the teleportation abilities of a phoenix to the camouflage of a chameleon. If only he had realized this, he could have evaded capture before the Parker brat had arrived in his costume, fighting the “evil menace” that had absorbed one of his most threatening enemies’ intelligence and left him as only an average scientist in the facility. While he took his abilities from his hosts, leaving them as only shells of themselves, they still survived. He wasn’t evil . If only Peter had realized this, he thought, falling through the air. He had made a mistake that could never be repeated. He fought immediately, without thinking. It had only ended badly… 
Flashback
  He had just gotten through the final security when the alarms started blaring. Still weak from having just been created, the product of years of work, he was carrying out his first intended purpose: absorb as much knowledge as possible. Then the security guards arrived. He had thought about absorbing their weaponry, but he possessed one and absorbed the entire stock in the armoury. Then someone just had to ruin his fun. One of the guards he’d missed had grabbed the still-in-testing sonic cannon, aimed it at him, and fired as the Spiderboy entered the almost empty room. The last things he saw before being launched away were waves of sound and the Parker brat, shooting a web at him to latch on before his impromptu flight across the Atlantic. 
End Flashback
  Peter also wasn’t having a good day. His aunt and uncle had died recently, leaving him to support himself with minimal help from the government. Harry Osborn, his best friend, had promised to get him a job at his father's company somewhat above the usual normal hiring level as a way to support himself for the time being. Peter had tried to refuse, being the saint he was until Harry had convinced him that he really did have friends that cared about him and wanted him to succeed. The last few weeks had been bad, sure, but his friends had supported him throughout everything. Until today, that had been enough for him. However, he was facing a much worse ordeal today than any other day.Today was his aunt and uncles’ funeral. 
https://forms.gle/5Teg92EVqRPB1FLx5

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Can you change it instantly?”
 
A spark appeared in all eyes present.
 “I can’t. However, it should only be a fraction of a second without master having any of his magic. The pain will be proportional to the amount lost.” Hela was visibly saddened at Kreacher’s words. It had been such a good idea, but She didn’t think the pain to her Master was worth the overall increase. Harry, however, was racing ideas through his mind faster than he ever had before. If the pain was proportional to the amount of magic he had, he simply needed to drain the rest of his magic. Well, strike that. No pain, no gain was a lesson that Shard had learned very well, according to the memories he had gained. “If it causes pain to lose my magic, then we should either increase the size of the block or have me perform a ritual to drain almost all of it,” Harry said with finality. Hela straightened. How had this not occurred to her? Her Master was already drained, as she had seen on the clay. However, there was something nagging at the back of her mind. “We also need to increase the capacity, Kreacher, or our Master will not be able to handle the increase. If we can immediately, The rune sequence is very short.” Keeping her hand still, she inscribed the sequence, ᚱᛈ, on the clay. Harry gasped in pain. For a second, it seemed like he had lost any stamina, was ready to burn up immediately from the uncontrolled magic flowing through his veins. Now, however, he felt empty, as though he had not just been full of magic ready to burn him up. Looking at the runes, he frowned. Seeing his expression, Hela explained the runes. “The first one is radio, and it represents the journey. The other is pertho , and what it represents is more fluid. Some see it as a cup that dice have just been thrown from, Some see it as a container, but here it is completely different. My favourite interpretation is that of a cup waiting to be filled. In combination with the radio, Your capacity is now something that can never be filled, no matter how much you put in. I recommend the increase and then the block removal as I suspect the percentage will stay the same through the change. Your regeneration rate, however, will be two of the uruz rune. This rune stands for life force, physical health, courage, healing, vigour, and endurance. Some other interpretations are determination, luck, and brutality. This will give you a faster regeneration period, Harry looked at Hela in a new light. She had just come into the magical world, but she was already smarter than most he had known and had come to that conclusion without any help. Even Hermione had had to look in a book to find answers. That reminded him, after all of this he had to go see them and have a chat about the compulsions and love potion. Telling Hela to wait subconsciously, he sent an owl to the Weasleys, letting them know that he had escaped and wanted to meet with his old friends. Suddenly, an idea about the magical blocks occurred to him. Jumping back to the present, Harry stiffened. Running through the idea, Harry grinned. “Okay. Kreacher, increase the block to a point where under a hundredth of a Makt remains. Also, set the regeneration to stasis. After that, Hela, change the core Makt to a 9 raised to half the remaining space of tightly packed ones, with that raised to the remaining space filled with tightly packed ones. We’ll go on from there. We can optimize it later. I’ll also want a way to mask my magic or control it. We have removed the blocks on wandless magic, but all some control buffs there too.” Just a few seconds later, the block read: 
Core - Grey-Dark

Current Capacity: 0.001 M

Regeneration Rate: Stasis
Maximum Capacity: ᚱᛈ Bind: 0.999996666667 %; Albus Dumbledore & Kreacher (Black Family House-Elf)
Ability: Magic Masking

Ability: Enhanced Magic Control

Ability: Magical Occlumency
 Harry raised an eyebrow. Hela truly never ceased to amaze him with her mind. About to praise her, Harry felt the drain. He slurred “Noowwww… ” as he fell into a magical coma. Hela looked at Kreacher. He had passed out as well. Holding the enchanted awl carefully, she made a last-second decision to replace the nine she was going to write with three ones. Immediately, Harry woke up. Hela quickly bound him to the table. She kept writing ones, packing the space. After the second, Kreacher seemed to de-age even more and woke up. He immediately Apparated away to avoid the possible death he would have faced. Hela, however, was already dead and could not die. In addition, Hela found her Master’s magic intoxicating. She kept writing. By the eighth one, Hela would have died. By the eleventh, the ward stones for the flying fortress were being powered by him alone. Hela took a break before raising the power again. Harry was grinning in anticipation. It was all of the exhilaration of using magic combined with a lack of tiredness. He was aware that he had transcended his previous power by levels previously unimaginable. (A/N: Calculations, for those of you who want to know: I had to use WolframAlpha. 111^111111111111111111111111111111) Knowing there was still more to go, the world wouldn’t know what hit it. 30 ones later, and Harry was forcing himself to use his newfound “Magical Occlumency” to keep himself from accidentally hurting someone or destroying the world. With a mere thought, he used his magic to create a form of harnessing itself. (A/N: 111^111111111111111111111111111111^111111111111111111111111111111) The text on his chest now read: 
Core - Grey-Dark
Current Capacity: 111^111111111111111111111111111111^111111111111111111111111111111 Regeneration Rate: ᚢᚢ Maximum Capacity: ᚱᛈ Bind: 0.999996666667 %; Albus Dumbledore & Kreacher (Black Family House-Elf)
Ability: Magic Masking

Ability: Enhanced Magic Control

Ability: Magical Occlumency

Ability: Magical Sentience
 After a few hours of practice, he was distracted by Hela screaming, falling to the floor, and writhing in pain. Seeing this, Harry rushed over to her. “Hela! Are you okay? What’s happening?” “Odin… summoning… permission... ” Realizing what she meant, Harry swore. “You can go. You don’t need to ask me for permission for this if you’re being summoned. We also need to keep up the cover, so please, Hela, go back.” Hela was instantly taken away. Walking through the flying fortress, Harry wondered what to do. He was surrounded by all these books, and one had floated up to him: the family grimoire. Opening it, he was pulled into his mindscape. The book was there as well, but this time it disappeared when he opened it, the knowledge flowing into his mind like Shard’s memories had. He was in the Ravenclaw ancestral home, a “normal” manor that could fly and was filled with every book ever written, magical or muggle. There was only a single spell with a description. It gave the caster the knowledge of all of the books in a library, without repeat, instantaneously. Realizing he was still under some blocks, Harry called Kreacher to finish the job. When Kreacher arrived, Harry was thoroughly surprised. He had known that house-elves mirrored the state of their masters, but Kreacher had actually de-aged a good thirty years since the ritual. Shaking this off, Harry asked Kreacher to remove the remaining blocks but to leave the core bind for now. It would definitely prove to be a shock to the Weasleys and Hermione if they truly had less then honourable intentions. Within another thirty seconds, Harry now had natural, mental, and magical Occlumency at a level previously unheard of, ready to take on the largest library in history. “ Scientiam meam, ” He intoned. The knowledge flowed into his head into the replica library he had created. This library, however, was a computer that translated all languages and even updated the English tongue. He merely had to think and all of the books related to the subject he had thought about would appear in front of him in his mind. Much like the grimoire, he could absorb these books with a mere touch. Thinking no more about that other than to mentally absorb everything in the background, he thought of Apparating. Several dozen books appeared in his mind, one describing an equally accurate way that was practiced before the Albion Laws of Magic had effectively banned it; Shadow Walking. Harry spent the next couple hours going through all of the books on Shadow Magic, even testing out some of the spells and seeing some of the flaws. Wanting to improve these flaws caused the entire Arithmancy section to appear in front of him in his mindscape. Absorbing the books, he tried the spells again, this time creating several minor improvements and one major improvement. Finally, Harry fell through his own shadow, practicing the skill until it was almost second nature. Choosing one near the Burrow, Harry appeared in the nearby forests of the Lovegood home. Changing his mind, Harry turned and knocked on the door to the house. An older Luna opened it, her ever-present smile widening when she saw him. “Welcome back, Harry. You finally found out.” “Luna, I… ” “We both know what you must do, Harry. You need to confront your past.” Harry nodded. “Is your father still alive?” “He passed away years ago. It’s been just me for a while.” Harry smiled. Calling upon his power as the Master of Death, Harry brought a dementor to the house. It truly was amazing that he could stand so close and not fear for his life. Slowly, he removed the soul of the dementor and replaced it with one that left this realm a long time ago: Pandora Lovegood, Luna’s mom. The dementor slowly changed into the form the soul requested, wiping away the shroud and revealing a young woman with Luna’s exact blonde hair. She fell to one knee before Harry. “Rise, Pandora. I have brought you here to protect your daughter while I am away. You may draw upon your inherent powers or my core at any time. Treat her as you would if you were still alive. She is your daughter.” The ex-Dementor nodded. Luna, finally getting over her shock, hugged Harry and then her reincarnated mother. Harry returned the hug, said his goodbyes, and turned towards the Weasley house. A few minutes later, he arrived. He stopped himself just before knocking on the door. Conjuring a mirror, he realized that it was a miracle that Luna recognized him at their earlier meeting. His clothes were torn, he looked so different after the blood glamour was lifted, and he hadn’t bathed in a good 40 years. After a second of thought, Harry banished his “clothes”, replacing them with fabric seemingly pulled from his own shadow. A quick Scourgify cleaned his body, and he applied a glamour that changed his features enough that it was reasonable that he changed to this after 40 years away. Satisfied, he knocked on the door. After some grumbling from inside, George opened the door. His jaw dropped. “Are you… Harry?” Harry pulled him into a hug. “George. Is Fred here?” With that, George gripped Harry tighter and started crying. “Dead… 35 years… ” He gasped out in between his sobs. Harry pulled back. “I want to make a deal, George. I can bring him back. Just… don’t break down.” George nodded. Harry repeated the process from earlier, this time with Fred’s soul. The new Fred, too, fell to one knee before Harry. “Rise, Fred Weasley. Join your brother, and continue the life you led before you lost it 35 years ago.” The Ex-dementor rose, hugging his twin. “Let’s go inside. I bet they can’t wait to see me again,” Fred said. The three turned and walked into the dining room. All activity stopped. An older Molly Weasley slowly approached them. “Fred? George? Is he… am I… How?” Fred laughed, the sound cutting through the silence. “I am Fred, and you have only Harry to thank for this.” All eyes turned to Harry. Ron was the first to speak. “Harry, mate… what happened? How’d you do that? Are you okay?” Harry chuckled, bringing the tension back to the room. It truly was amazing, that Ron was keeping up the facade so well. “I came into some new abilities recently, Ron. After 40 years, you make some friends. If those friends can control souls, well… They can put one into another Dementor and, to all effect, bring someone back to life. Before you stands the soul of Fred Weasley, inhabiting the body of one of the many Dementors assigned to torture me these past 40 years.” It was at this point that Arthur Weasley, Ginny, Hermione, Bill, Charlie, Fleur, and one other woman he couldn’t place, came through the Floo. Each of them had the same reaction, freezing in place at the sight of two people long gone from their lives. Fred, being Fred, decided to revert to his Dementor form to “inspire a reaction”. Unsurprisingly, everyone but Harry and George jumped back and screamed. “Really, my brother,” George remarked, “you truly are the same soul you always were.” Harry smirked at the truth behind that statement. “Hey, guys,” Harry called out. “Long time no see. How has life been?” Hermione was the first to break out of her shock. “Harry?” “It’s me. How have the past 40 years been, Hermione?” The background activities in the room resumed. Hermione grabbed a nearby Quibbler . “You absolute idiot! You spent 40 years with demons sucking your soul, and you are asking me how I am? Have you lost your mind?” Each syllable was punctuated with a hit over the head from the paper. Raising his hands in defence, Harry replied. “I’m not an idiot, Hermione. I went to the healers, and they helped me get my mind back. I’m still not able to do that much physically though.” Seeing that he was okay and that he was telling the truth, Hermione stopped hitting him and pulled him into a hug. “We need to talk,” Hermione whispered into his ear. “In private.” Pulling back, Hermione continued her rant. “And for some reason, you decided to turn a dementor into Fred? How did you pacify it!” Harry sighed. “I only want to say this once, and I don’t know everyone here.” Noticing the pointedness of his comment, the unknown woman introduced herself. “Hello. I am Elena Codreanu,” she said in a mild accent. “I am Charlie’s wife. I worked with him for many years. If you want me to keep a secret, I will.” Harry nodded. He had never met her or had any idea what motivated her, but maybe Hermione would know. Judging by the way she held herself, she had been either a medic or on the more political side of the war. Taking a risk, Harry decided that she would more likely have been a politician. Harry drummed his fingers on the table. “Before I do anything, I would like to know what happened during the 40 years I was stuck in Azkaban.” Hermione caught the signal. In their fourth year, they had developed a signal that they wanted to talk in private. This particular variation meant outside, usually by the Black Lake. It had been useful during the time between the drawing of names and the end of the first task, when Ron had been more annoying than usual. “I can tell you, Harry. It would be easier in the archives, but… ” She turned to look at the Weasleys. Molly’s eyes dawned with a look of recognition. “Of course, dears. Take all of the time that you need. We’ll still be here.” Hermione stood. Immediately, she dragged Harry to the Floo. Throwing a handful of powder in, she called out “Archive”. Harry followed her through the Floo. Before Hermione could start the tale, Harry took her arm and Apparated to the Ravenclaw Manor’s sitting room. Hermione looked around in bewilderment. “Where are we?” she asked. As far as she knew, Harry had never owned any houses other than Grimmauld Place after Sirius had died in the war twenty years ago. This, however, was a well-maintained, untouched sitting room that she had never been in, not throughout all of her visits as Minister. “We are at Potter Manor,” Harry replied. “I’ve been here the past few days, recovering. I need to get Luna as well, she’ll also want to hear this tale.” Hermione stood in silence. So much she hadn’t known about him, and about to learn all of it. Just… why did Luna Lovegood of all people need to be there? 
Input:

https://forms.gle/5Teg92EVqRPB1FLx5

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Harry arrived at the Lovegood residence to find Molly and Ginny Weasley at the door, shell-shocked at the sight of Pandora Lovegood alive again after all these years. Seeing Harry, Ginny jumped up and rushed him.
 
“Harry!”
 
Somewhere in Harry’s mind, a voice brought up the fact that he wasn’t supposed to know about the love potion. Holding on to that voice, Harry straightened. Pandora had just floated over to the boy-who-was-about-to-be-tackled and reverted to her Dementor form. This abruptly stopped Ginny, who reconsidered her approach.
 
“Harry? Is she like… Fred?”
 
“Always the quick thinker, Ginny. When I came to the Burrow, I arrived at Luna’s house. I had recently found out that she was my soulmate, and decided to protect her and give her some company. Her mother seemed the perfec… ”
 
Harry was silenced as a dagger flew into his throat. Ginny drew a second dagger from her belt.
 
“WE WERE GOING TO BE MARRIED! DUMBLEDORE PROMISED IT, SET UP A CONTRACT, EVERYTHING! AND IT’S HER?”
 
Turning, Ginny threw the knife at Luna only for it to be stopped mid-air. Ginny turned back around to a terrible sight. Harry had just pulled the other dagger from his throat. The wound was closed, but the blood was still there. Taking the dagger, Harry cut open the shirt over his chest. Over the still-visible core information.
 
Ginny was confused. Why did Harry have mud on his chest? How was he still alive? How had the wound closed? Why did the dagger stop?
 
Her answers were revealed with a flick of Harry’s hand. The projection spell revealed to all the damages done to him. Feeling nice at the moment, Harry used the blade to flatten only the seven on the end and the six sixes before it.
 
In that instant, Ginny and Molly fell unconscious from the wave of power that came off of Harry as the numbers changed. Luna was left unharmed, the dagger still in the air moving slowly to Harry’s hand. With a thought, he removed the curses from the knife and changed it into a blade of pure darkness, another spell he’d learned from his new mental library. Genty handing it to Pandora, Harry gave a new set of instructions.
 
“Pandora Lovegood, you are to use any and all necessary power to prevent the death of Luna Lovegood. In the event of an attack with a Patronus, alert me and do your best. I will return soon.”
 
Turning away, Harry took the unconscious forms of Molly and Ginny Weasley back to the Burrow. Ringing the doorbell to alert them, Harry fell into his own shadow.
 
Re-appearing at the Potter Manor, Harry held his throat in fake pain. Hermione was still there, after all. Upon seeing him, Hermione walked over. The last words she said before stabbing him in the heart were, “I’m sorry, Harry.”
 
Harry actually felt it this time when the blade entered him. Hermione had betrayed him. The one and only constant in his life, who had never left him, had just stabbed him in the heart. Just as Ginny had to his throat moments ago.
 
“Hermione… why?”
 
Hermione was in tears now.
 
“I’m so sorry, Harry. They already got to you with the throat, didn’t they? It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Harry. I was supposed to save you… ”
 
Harry looked at the clay. Slowly, he pulled out the knife and watched as his organs reformed, the blood stopped pouring, and his skin finally closing over the “fatal” wound.
 
Hermione gasped in shock. She had just seen the numbers on his chest and was goggling at the size of them and the fact that he was even still alive with such a block and such large numbers for his current core. She didn’t recognize the runes, either. Harry had never taken runes at Hogwarts, so who…  
 
“Hela?” Harry called. Immediately, she appeared in front of him, ready to decapitate Hermione for attacking her Master. Ginny Weasley was already on her hit list, but Hela was reasonable. Without her Master’s orders, she wouldn’t take a life without absolute need.
 
“Yes, Master? Have you finally realized the truth? Should I kill them yet?”
 
Harry grimaced.
 
“Tell me, Hela. Is it your fault that I can regenerate from a stab wound to the heart or is that just a side effect of the cleansing?”
 
“Well, Master, it is partly due to both. I have no powers related to healing; In fact, the very opposite. I am, however, keeping you from dying until you choose to die. No pesky blade, beast, or curse shall end your life.”
 
Hermione was standing very still. The knife against her throat helped, but the facts were starting to break through. The woman, Hela, with a Scandinavian accent, the chat about powers, the dying… it all painted a picture, one Hermione wasn’t sure she wanted to know about. Maybe, it occurred to her, she could ask a question about the situation.
 
“Ummm… Harry?”
 
The blade was pressed closer against her throat.
 
“Do not speak,

mortal

, for your life only continues because my Master has not ordered its end. All it would take is one word, one movement in the wrong direction, and you would bleed out. Choose your next words carefully.”

Mortal.

The one word out of place. If she was being referred to as such, It was therefore reasonable that the woman was not. Hela… the Norse goddess of death. Calling Harry her Master… at this point, it wasn’t too unreasonable that old Beetle was right. The Deathly Hallows were the cloak, stone, and wand. Harry had always had his Invisibility Cloak, and Voldemort had the Elder Wand and the Ressurection Stone. Now that Voldemort was dead, all it would have taken would have been to loot his corpse.
 
“Harry, are you, by any chance the Master of Death?”
 
Harry smiled.
 
“Finally asking the right questions, Hermione. I am the Master of Death, as of about four days ago. This is Hela, the embodiment of death. She has been… for Merlin’s sake, Hela, put her down. She was trying to save me from the Weasleys’ plot to force me into a marriage and then murder me… ”
 
Harry trailed off. “Pandora” had started pulling on his magic, and that could only mean one thing. Luna was under attack. The air thickened with his Magic in rage. Someone

dared

attack his soulmate?
 
“Hermione, how do you feel about killing someone? You fought in a war, but what do you think about it?”
 
Hermione gulped.
 
“I never liked killing people, Harry. I always fought on the political side, getting laws passed in the background to support the cause. I never killed anyone, despite the war.”
 
“What a shame. Hela, stay here and guard Hermione. Someone’s attacking my soulmate, with a” Harry winced “Patronus. I need to go.”
 
Hermione watched as Harry fell backwards, into his own shadow, and vanished. Sadly, that was about par for the course for today.

At the Lovegood house, five minutes earlier…

“Thanks, mom!”, Luna beamed. “Do you really have no magic, and just draw on Harry’s, or are you using your own core?”
 
The Ex-Dementor laughed. It was so nice to be alive again, and to be with her own daughter was the highest of honours, serving her Master above all others. Luna was a curious woman, and as they had been separated growing up, it was only right that they spend the most possible time together now.
 
This train of thought was, unfortunately, interrupted by the Fiendfyre that started burning the door, quickly spreading. Pandora reverted into her Dementor form, wrapped her daughter in her cloak, and burst through the remaining floors of the rook-shaped tower.
 
Setting her daughter down, she scanned the surrounding field. There were seven red-headed adults, each within the battle wards. Each was casting Fiendfyre at the house, and it wasn’t going to last much longer. Over the hill, another dementor appeared, flying directly towards her.
 
Upon arriving, the dementor knelt in front of Pandora. The distinctive aura that he was putting off meant that more dementors would be coming as soon as they possibly could. While easily defeated with the right spell, they would be the perfect guard for Luna.

Luna.

She turned around, expecting to see her daughter crumpled up, shaking from the terrible memories she had no doubt had since her first death. Instead, Luna was standing, as she was, observing the situation below.
 
“Definitely the Weasleys. The curse-breaker, Bill, the dragon scars on the other older one, Molly and Ginny, Ron in his armour, and Percy and Arthur with their identical glasses.”
 
Pandora swore. Just as her Master had left, she needed to protect her daughter. She grinned. She could prove her worth to her Master

and

embrace her heritage at the same time. Pulling from his core, she spread her aura of darkness over the entire plain. Bill, Percy, and Ron immediately cast their Patroni.
(A/N: Uhh… The plural of Patronus is now Patroni, the true plural form of the normal word. J. K. did some weird BS coming up with Patronuses.)
 
Finally feeling the drain on his magic, Pandora felt her Master pull back and move closer.
 
He appeared right in Luna’s shadow as a piercing spell from Ginny Weasley struck Luna’s forehead.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Luna, Pandora, and Harry laughed at the pathetically small hole slightly marked in Luna’s head, the only remnant of the original power of the piercing spell after its hundred-foot journey from the ground, far below.
 
However, soon they became slightly more serious. The Fiendfyre was still burning away at the foundations, and Ginny had just attacked Luna. After a quick briefing from Pandora and a scan of the battlefield, however, it became apparent that all of them needed to pay. However, It just wouldn’t do to use his shadow magic. It would become too apparent, could lead to others realizing a pattern, and left a possibility of his defeat.
 
The muggles, after all, had screens that could emit light. In a sphere of those, bound, there would be no chance of escape. Experimenting with the magic, however, was no doubt going to be useful. Maybe a couple of prisoners could be taken, or he could just hunt down some remaining Death Eaters.
 
The Death Eaters’ choice of name also offended him now. If he ever got the chance, he would have to pit one against Hela, maybe she would get her due vengeance…
 
Harry shook his head. He was getting off topic. The Weasleys. Bill, he could gain knowledge from about warding and curse breaking through his Legilimency. Charlie might be useful, what with his experience with magical creatures, but the others had no real skills. Bill and Charlie, depending on their willingness, could earn a swift death. The others, however…
 
“Luna?”
 
Luna had finished healing herself by now. It hadn’t been necessary, but it was a hole in her defences that could be exploited.
 
“Yes, my Lord?”
 
“Luna, you are my soulmate. I believe you can be above calling me your lord and use my name. While soon you may be one of few that follow me, I hold you above all others.”
 
Harry quickly cast a

Sonorous

charm on both of them.

“Tell me, Luna, what you wish of those who attacked you.”
 
Luna thought. Harry probably had his uses for not choosing himself, probably to gain her trust and give her the guise of making decisions. However, he read true on his intentions when he had asked. Maybe she did finally matter to someone.
 
“Ginny needs to live. She needs to stay, suffering, for everything she has done. The years of torture, of humiliation, of harassment for daring to look at you back when we were still in school. Percy, being marked, needs to suffer as his chosen lord did at the hands of Neville. Ron is also marked, but I’ll let you pick his torture. He, after all, abandoned you. The rest can die quickly, painlessly in comparison.”
 
“So be it, my beloved.”

Meanwhile, on the battlefield…

Ginny smiled as the Dementors began to cluster around the top of the tower. Her freak of a mother, if she could be called that, could only defend her for so long.
 
Luna, however, seemed unaffected as she looked over the ridge of the tower. The freak had probably done some ritual… that was it.

Rituals

. She had probably used one to make Harry her soulmate. Her blood boiled as she sent another dose of Fiendfyre into the tower.
 
Ron and Percy, standing beside her, cast another as well. Sadly, their Lord had been killed recently by Neville. After the victory, the two of them were shocked to find the Dark Mark still on their forearm. They had joined as spies and were stuck, as Snape had been, running interference between the sides.
 
Charlie shared a look with Bill at the ward line. The deal they had made with Fred and George was about to be followed up upon. With one step back and a final strike, the wards fell back into place. Now they just had to make it back to the Burrow…
 
As the Fiendfyre died harshly, Ginny grew furious. There was seemingly no end to the rituals that Loony could perform. She stared hard at the girl. Slowly, it dawned on her. Melee combat. Aiming carefully, a piercing spell fired at Luna’s head.
 
They all froze at that moment. It was a magical presence, actively hostile, and somehow… familiar. Ginny didn’t even notice the failure of the piercing spell as she tried to identify it.
 
Suddenly, she heard laughing. On the tower, there stood… Harry? It was hard to tell, but the hair and clothes looked close to what they had been earlier that day. Ready to cast another spell, she froze at the magically amplified voices.
 
Surely Luna couldn’t be holding a grudge from their school days, right? It had been fifty years, and they had worked together in so many battles defending their homes.
 
The rest of the family froze, bathed in fear that the new Harry would actually kill them out of spite. Ron actually turned to run, only to realize that Bill and Charlie had abandoned them, closing the “door” in the wards behind them.
 
Arthur summarized it in a word: “Shit.”

Back on the tower…

Harry smiled as he let the magic run through his body. His aura, quickly growing, was repairing the tower and the fields to their pre-Fiendfyre state. In the future, maybe he could further improve the warding currently in place around the tower. It was always a good idea to have a fixed point on the ground for an illusion. Maybe it could be used as a trap in the future. It had already proved so effective against the Weasley family, after all.
 
Raising his hand, the shadow of the tower spun around, leaving a trail. The shadow trail encompassed the center of the plain, almost to the positions where the remaining Weasleys were hiding.
 
Focusing, Harry created an illusion within the shadow that gave the impression of a rippling, fluid form on the ground. While they were already afraid, It was good to inspire as much fear as possible. That was one of the many lessons he had taken from Shard back in Azkaban. Now, to strike.
 
“What fate were you specifying for Percy, my dear? Would Basilisk venom suffice, or do I need to get the sword?”
 
“The venom will suffice, Harry.”
 
Several minutes later, all of the remaining Weasleys lay dead in the field.
 
(A/N: Time jumps here will be justified and written more about later as requested from the survey. I have chosen to give you some backstory, given that you have probably not played Idling to Rule the Gods, which will henceforth be called ITRTG. Link to full story:

https://itrtg.fandom.com/wiki/Story

)
 
One week later, every book in the world was processed inside his head. This led to not only increased intelligence but increased logic. He soon visited the Død vault and claimed the True Elder Wand, the Stone of True Resurrection, and the Cloak of True Invisibility. After all, there were three artifacts in the vault, and a truly unbeatable wand would never have let its owner die.
 
A month after that, after discovering the multiverse theory with Hermione, Harry began to create a way of traversing them. Throughout that time, Harry and Luna had found some very interesting resources for help in their new study of magic.
 
Later that year, Harry found a way to use Hela to traverse the death of all dimensions as an efficient way of travel and to use his magic to create shadow clones. He had gotten the idea from a game, but it worked just as well in real life. After he ended their existence, he gained all of their new knowledge and abilities.
 
Later, through his mastery of Death, he learned that he was now officially a god. After a bit of thought, he decided upon Erebos, God of Shadows. It fit well with his new type of magic, the era where he planned to start off in, and his plans for the future.
 
However, only technically being a god wasn’t enough. If the multiverse theory was true, then there was a realm where the game was the reality. Reality.
 
With a leap into the unknown, Harry went to the planet of Reality; the planet of Gods.

Four years, zero deaths, and 10,003 gods later…

At first, there were no problems. Everything was as predicted, and the gods he faced had been nowhere enough to hurt him in any real way. Except one…

Flashback

Magic had smiled as he lay on the ground, suffering from the effects of no longer having a magical core.
 
“Face it, Harry. You knew it was going to happen. Ever since you arrived, you knew I was here, waiting. You knew this was a possibility. You, Harry, have finally lost.”
 
Erebus smiled as he slowly rose from the ground. The Ressurection Stone glowed softly in his eye as he turned to face Magic. His voice grew deeper and he rose taller as he spoke.
 
“Foolish. You have effectively removed your only way to hurt me. Besides, I just have to kill a clone to get my core back. This time, however, there won’t be any of that pesky light.”
 
Magic screamed as her shadow became a hole that she fell into, never to return.

End Flashback

Harry smiled as he put Baal's 10,000th soul into his collection. While it was a boring task, he had finally reached his goal on Reality. The knowledge of Athena, the time from Chronos, and the soul of Lamia for Luna had been his first in his collection. It was now time to sacrifice it for a new universe.

Thirteen billion years earlier…

At the creation of the multiverse, there was always one node that linked all of the others. No other universe was connected to any other. Of course, if there was a reality where this was true, then there was one where it wasn’t. However, with this concerning universes, there had to be another multiverse connected to the first.  The paradoxes kept spiralling, trying to even things out. A pocket multiverse, connected to the other universes, would do quite nicely.
 
Harry only needed a copy of his original universe, a copy of Hela’s universe, and a copy of the planet Reality to exist. The nine realms could exist around a modified Midgard, and Reality could be put in an orbit directly opposite Earth.
 
Only a couple billion more years to train, build, and develop technology…

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It had been a very interesting billion years for Harry, now solely Erebus. Magic really had screwed him over in her last few moments before imprisonment. All of his clones had lost their magic just before she had been removed from Reality. Erebus had fused their souls, just as he had with Luna’s and Fate’s. 
 
After a couple of million years, however, Harry had grown into Erebus. Everything, after all, had a shadow or cast shadows. He had learned to use the power of his shadows to change the objects around them, even to create spells from creating their shadows. In some ways, they were even more effective than normal spells as Magic was no longer limited by his body, but by his shadow. 
 
Absently, Erebus stroked his latest creation. A metallic bird, with Luna’s soul stored inside. They were all that remained from the future. The bird could also perform high-level magic, using Erebus as the power source. Luna had refused to be brought back as a dementor, so Erebus had made this form for her soul. 
 
The bird could also kill with a single touch to the feathers. The neurotoxin on them was potent, and Erebus would surely have died were he still mortal. 
 
“This is a nice form, Erebus. Could we possibly skip the wait to get to the beginning of Earth? Waiting does get boring after this much time.”
 
Erebus laughed. There was always a way, but, like so many others, Erebus didn’t know yet. He could find a dimension where time magic existed and learn it, but that was going to be a very slow process. His clones, being influenced by his inner desires, would probably end up getting all possible knowledge from their universes. This would take almost as long as waiting for his target, give or take a million years. 
 
He’d do it anyway. After all, he could wait, and his clones could perfect his skills…

2000 BCE (A/N: I will use BCE (Before the Common Era) instead of BC (Before Christ) and use CE (Common Era) instead of AD(Anno Domini, or After Death) to avoid offending people based on Religion.)

It was a nice summer day on Earth. Erebus had just arrived in Greece, and all was right with the world. 
 
Erebus suddenly became slightly less happy, as the Greeks had just killed him after he appeared out of the shadows in a public square. His head was next to his left leg, and there was so much blood coating the rough cobblestones that even he was surprised. 
 The shadows, as always, were his friend, and all of his limbs, blood, and other parts sunk into the ground before returning. Casting a quick Sonorous along with a language charm, Harry spoke.  
“Good day, peasants. I am Erebus, God of Shadows.”
 
The citizens began to panic. 
 
“Don’t worry, I’ll forgive you all for the past couple of minutes. From your perspective, there really was no better choice than to kill a threat to yourselves. I respect you for that. Now, if you would, bring me your leader.”
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carnage~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prince Argeus was a reasonable man. He had been in control of the City-state of since shortly after his birth when his father was assassinated by a lowlife criminal. During his rule, the rates of crimes, especially violent, had become less and less frequent. 
 
Today, however, one of his advisors told him that a man had been killed in the most brutal way possible, torn apart by a mob, and then had reformed himself, claimed to be a god, and then asked for the presence of a leader. 
 
Going was either a terrible idea that would cost him his life, or an amazing one that could bring him and his city-state wealth, riches, and fame. 
 
Being the prince, he could be held accountable for the actions of his people, and would likely be torn apart or asked to pay for the misdeeds of his people. 
 
However, if he truly was a god, the people would benefit from having a patron god that could protect them from other city-states, especially Sparta. 
 
As he was debating whether or not to risk it, a commoner ran into the government house. 
 
“Prince Argeus! Did you hear? A god came to our city!”
 
The prince looked down. The speaker was a child, no more than five years old. He was one of the few orphans that lived in Argos. He had known this one for a few years, but the child had refused help from anyone. Maybe the child could ask the god. 
 
“Child, could you ask the god if he intends to hurt me? It would be unfortunate if-”
 
“He won’t hurt you!”, the child interrupted. “He won’t hurt anyone! He forgave everyone!”
 
Argeus considered this. If he had been attacked, he most likely would have had anyone who participated killed, and had he been killed, and somehow came back, he would have all of their families killed as punishment. To forgive being killed… Argeus didn’t know if he could do that.
 
He sighed and followed the child out of the building. 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carnage~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erebus’ POV

I had been waiting for just under five minutes when the Aurors and Obliviators arrived, or at least their Greek counterparts. The telltale pops of Apparation were coming in a pattern, surrounding the city square. It would be both amusing and informative to see their attempt to kill or capture him, in plain view of at least half of the mob still staring at him.
 
There it was. The first man in robes had walked into the square and was making a strong effort to be subtle, joining the mob and staring at me with the other citizens. Slowly, others arrived to follow him, and I wondered what was keeping them from attacking me or at the very least trying to restrain me. I could sense the power building in some of their wands, and it was only a matter of time before… 
 
A red jet of light flew at me from behind. It was, surprisingly, very underpowered. Maybe that was just my view of it from my years in isolation. I absorbed it, surprising the Aurors and causing the mob to stare at the person. As I turned, I let my shadow start to form a circle with a radius of at least four metres. The mob began backing up, pulling the wizards with them. 
 
They began firing the more serious spells just as I pulled my first ace out of my sleeve. The shadows rose around me and solidified into a replica of an image I had seen before I destroyed the old universe. Mostly, it was just for intimidation, but the runes I had carved into the sides of the tower before solidifying it were even more useful. Any spell sent against the tower would now provide a constant drain on their magic until they passed out. 
 
The first man to attack me was the first to try the tower. He collapsed in a little under a minute. The citizens were trying to escape, but there was some form of containment ward. I repeated my trick and spread the shadow of the tower, enveloping the wizards in prisons and freeing the other from the containment ward. Walking to the woman with the most badges on her uniform, he released her. 
 
“Hello. I am Erebus, and I would appreciate you bringing your leader and whoever permitted or approved of this to my new home. Should they fail to arrive, return and I will find them myself. ”
 
His voice became colder and darker as he kept talking. 
 
“After all, I’m sure your society values the lives of your warriors, don’t they?”
 
The woman left just as the prince arrived, trailing the only child who had been willing to touch him. The child ran up to him, and the others closed their eyes at what they knew, deep inside them, what would happen to the little boy. 
 
Several jaws dropped as Erebus hugged the boy back. Erebus seemed truly grateful as he spoke. 
 
“Thank you, child. Even without power, you managed to be better than a great many people I have known. Any gift you could ask for, if this meeting with your leader goes well, is yours.” 
 
Harry turned to the prince. “All I require from you is this plaza to build my home upon, and the role of your patron god. If you want, I’ll live here and if I’m feeling generous, I’ll even grant some wishes. You should have some time to think about it. If you want to test me, I’m willing to accept… to an extent. If you need some time, the rest should be arriving soon.”
 
No sooner had he finished the sentence when a circle of men surrounded him, wands out. Several wands had glowing tips, ranging from the telltale red of a stunner to the green of his own remaining eye. 
 
“Where is your leader?” Erebus asked. “It would be a shame if, despite my request, you chose to show up and attack me as you did before.”
 
A tall, lean man stepped out of the crowd. He immediately cast his pre-made stunner directly at Erebus. The spell worked properly, and Erebus went down. The tension from the magicals in the crowd lowered suddenly, as the non-magicals started backing away. The man who had stepped forwards spoke again. 
 
“Mission accomplished. Take him to the Athens base, and keep a constant guard on him.”
 
This mission had gone by a little too easily. 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carnage~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group arrived at the Acropolis and took their prisoner to the nearby entrance to the Greek Magical Democracy (GMD) headquarters. The stone pillar opened at the touch of a wand, leaving an elevator to the underground base located nearly twenty kilometres away from the outskirts of Athens. 
 
“Good job, men.” The Incident Coordinator said. “Take him to a holding cell, maximum security, and wake him up. Try to reason with him, and Barring that, just AK him. He is not to be needlessly antagonized. By our witness’s account, he performed a class six act of necromancy on himself. He is an unknown, and must be treated as such.” He turned to the Enforcer who escaped, rubbing her back gently. “It’s okay. I recommend some paid leave for you, and try to calm down a bit. Before you go, though, can you tell the IC what happened?”
 
The Enforcer nodded, shaking a bit. “We got there, and the people were staring at him. Enforcer Kefalas fired a moderate stunner at him, but he just absorbed it. We all started then but this creepy black spire rose around him. There were some runes on it, but I don’t know Runes well enough to decipher them. Kefalas fired again, but the spire absorbed the spell and he fell unconscious just under a minute later. We all started dropping. I hadn’t fired a spell yet, I was just there to supervise. I don’t know what he did next, but all of the others were on the ground and he sent me to get our leader.”
 
The IC frowned. “Did you see any cause for the others falling unconscious?” When the Enforcer shook her head, the IC slammed the parchment he had been recording this on down. “Did we send anyone close to a leader there?”
 
The lead Enforcer of the second squad shook his head. “Our squad was the brute squad, sir. We were… expendable.”
 
“Shit!” The IC swore. “Get someone to him when he wakes up.” At the looks from the others, he clarified. “This man revived himself. He knocked out an entire Enforcer team without any visible spells. Do you think he was really knocked out by that stunner? I bet he’s faking it.”

In the holding cell…

Erebus opened his eyes upon being set down, quickly freezing the shadows of his escort. “You really thought

that

would hold me? You honestly thought a mere stunner would hold me after I absorbed one earlier? Also, what is it with you people? Let’s not even try to reason with the target. That would make too much sense.”
 
He thought for a second. “You know, I really need some way to give an example to all of you.” Two metal cylinders appeared in his hands. “And you seem like a competent bunch.” A red and blue beam extended from the cylinders. “So I’ll give you a chance. Red is a stunner, blue is a defence. Easy enough.”
 
With a wave of his hand, the room became much bigger and the escorts became unfrozen. They immediately retreated, discussing a strategy. “You know,” Erebus called out, “If I wanted to attack you right now, you would all be out.” This was apparently the cue they had been waiting for, as they all sent their

Expelliarmus

at his red sabre.

Why not,

Erebus thought.

This will just be like single sabre mode.

The battle that ensued was chaos, freezing the Greek President where he stood. 
 
Erebus was a demon with the sabre, not even taking the time to dodge an attack in favour of parrying it. As he fought, the trails left by the blade were solid enough to stop most of the weaker spells sent at him. As the guards dropped, one picked up the other sabre. It was still on, not requiring any additional power. It was an excellent choice for someone who was losing magical energy quickly. Erebus quickly dropped into his third form. 
 
After having mastered the entirety of Beat Saber, Erebus had developed three forms: reverse, original, and combo. The original form was one of total defence; parrying, blocking, and sometimes evading the attacks. Reverse was an entirely offensive form, relying on speed and reaction to attack as fast as possible. The third form, however, was harder to maintain. It melded the two into each other, making a block and an attack in the same motion. Given enough time, however, his clones perfected that too. 
 
The

Deflectere

blade was also perfectly capable of knocking someone back, as the remaining two guards soon found out. He collected his second sabre as the IC ran into the room, wand drawn. “Sto-” His scream cut out upon seeing the fallen Enforcers. “Sir, I’m sorry. Whatever these guards did, we didn’t sanction it.”
 
Erebus waved it aside. “It was relaxing to fight someone other than myself for once. If you run, I’m going to send these fools” He gestured at the ground around himself “away. I recommend running. Anywhere important near here?”
 
The IC shook his head and began running away. With a wave of his hand, Erebus sent the fallen men back to the square he had arrived in. He almost absently summoned the Void. It had become so common that he no longer cared. 
 
The Void was the end of all things, and in a way, Erebus personified it. It became easier to summon the more he killed. After an entire universe, it was humming in his veins. Waiting to be unleashed. Like so many other things, the Void was not a property of magic. Anyone could do it, given enough victims. It killed all of his emotions almost as soon as they arrived, which had proven to be useful for his billions of years of training. It also stiffened his bones and killed nearly any magic that approached him. After millions of years of practice, he had learned to summon it physically and control it. 
 
The ball of darkness grew in size, until it as about as big as a baseball. As Erebus snapped, it broke. The entire area in a 100-metre sphere around him disappeared silently, consumed by the Void. 
 
Erebus sunk into his shadow just as the ceiling began to collapse above him. 
 
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carnage~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erebus reappeared in the town square, easily spotting the orphan and the prince.

Sometime later…

“So,” Erebus summarized, “I’ll move this town away from your enemies and protect it until my alternate self is born, and by that time, nobody will be able to find you, let alone hurt you if you don’t want them to. In return, you will let me live here until my future self is born. Deal?”
 
The prince shook his hand. “Deal. I must ask, how will you relocate us? Will our farming be affected?”
 
Erebus smiled. “Leave it to me.”

3,935 years later…

“Sir.” One of the many workers in the advanced society that was now located in Canada said. “We have another two who came through the portal. Both magical, Both High Sorcerer Tier,  says their names are Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore. Orders?”
 
Erebus looked up from his workbench. “Ask them why they are here. If they want to meet me, bring them to the seventh floor.”

Grindelwald POV

“We want to meet the god Erebus and request his help and advice for the future.”
 
The guard nodded, relaying this information to Erebus. “Gentlemen, please go to the seventh floor. Touch nothing, as almost everything in the Spire can and will kill you unless you are Erebus. Good luck, and don’t touch or insult the bird.”
 
With that, the guard pointed us to a door leading to the Spire. Seven floors later, we entered a workshop, clearly muggle in some aspects but also obviously magical. There was only one person in sight, what appeared to be a child working at a workbench. He was working on what looked like a medium-sized sword, etching runes into it that I bet even Albus wouldn’t understand. Whatever he was doing, the sword felt completely cold and normal. 
 
The child looked up, and I froze for a second. He had a stone for an eye. I had planned to replace my eye with a magical one that could see through walls, but I was now reconsidering. Albus began to speak. 
 
“Hello, my boy. I am Albus Dumbledore and he is Gellert Grindelwald. Do you know where Erebus is?”
 
The boy laughed. “This never gets old. I am Erebus. I usually pull that on visitors.” Seeing the look on Albus’ face, he defused the situation. “It’s fine. People have done a lot worse. One fool a couple hundred years ago tried to kill me when I told him I was Erebus. That was a fun day. Anyway, why are you here?”
 
I stepped forward. “We have come to ask about the Deathly Hallows. Do they really exist? We believe we have found the Elder Wand, but It refuses to work for anyone we have tried it on.”
 
Erebus paused for a second. He had never given up his hallows, but he had experimented with recreating them. “Hela?”
 
She appeared in front of him, kneeling as she always had. “Yes, Master?” Erebus had tried to get her to stop calling him that but had always failed.
 
I froze again. Hela… If I remembered correctly, that was the Norse personification of death. “You’re the Master of Death? That would explain it, but how did you lose the-”
 
Erebus cut me off. “Quiet. Hela, did you give away some of my experiments? Wand, cloak, stone?”
 
Hela nodded. “Yes, Master. You told me to keep the timeline similar, so I copied the Mark VII copy of the wand and the Mark II copies of the stone and cloak. Was I wrong?”
 
Erebus sighed. “Hela, the multiple-owner feature was implemented in the Mark XIV wand.” He turned to us. “Do you have the wand here?” 
 
Albus nodded, producing the white wand from his backup wrist holster. With a wave of his hand, the wand was dissolved. Erebus waved his hand, and several copies of himself appeared. Unlike him, however, they were a monotone shade of pure darkness that was hard to describe. It looked like the opposite of a Patronus, drawing in light from around it. However, they were humanoid and able to physically interact with things. Two went into a nearby room, while the third went over to the sword. 
 
Erebus called us over. “Gentlemen. While I respect that you found the wand, I would like to get a sense of your abilities. I’ll be fighting the two of you, sword and shield. You can use your wands, but I have a feeling that I’ll need to be able to fight well very soon. If you want armour or anything, just ask. The clones will only take a minute or two.”
 
Halfway through his statement, I had frozen again. We were to fight a god? This was either going to be supremely unfair, as we had our wands, or because he was a god. “Could we have armour? I feel like it would help.” If he was using a sword, we might as well not get stabbed. 
 
Erebus nodded. “Light, medium, or heavy?”
 
Albus and I immediately opted for medium. It was always a good option to take the average choice when you had unknown consequences in front of you.
 
“Alright, just stay still.” Another shadow being appeared and proceeded to make armour around us out of shadows. It was actually solid, but I couldn’t help but worry. The other shadows returned with the wand and some uniform. We waited while Erebus put on the armour, and then he turned to us. The final clone brought the sword over to him, and he used it to kill all three shades. 
 
“Now,” He said, “Let’s see just how good you are.”

Erebus’ Armour

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Erebus threw both sword and shield, almost catching Albus in the head with the butt of the sword and striking Gellert squarely in the chest with the shield, knocking him into the wall. Albus had transfigured a wall out of the ground, catching the sword. Gellert rose, starting to cast an array of spells. Erebus ran to the wall, grabbing his sword before jumping backwards off of it. The line carved into the middle of the blade glowed a brilliant green, and as he swung it towards the incoming barrage of spells. Their light broke, the magic having been torn into by the void. 
 
While Erebus and Gellert continued the fight, Albus was finishing his wall with the custom set of runes he had designed to allow himself and Gellert to fire through it, while rendering it otherwise unbreakable. Safely behind the barrier, the barrage doubled as Albus joined in with flying conjurations and illusions. 
 
Behind the skull-like face of his mask, Erebus grinned. Finally, after all these years, a true challenge had been willing to face him. Sadly, he would need to end it soon. The line suddenly turned black, leeching colour and light from the surrounding area. A single horizontal slash carved a line through the wall like the enchantments were paper and knocked the two unconscious. 
 
Erebus smiled as he woke them up. “Congratulations.” Seeing their looks of disbelief and confusion, he continued. “While neither of you possesses the killer instinct, you do have faster reaction time than most. You also work better as a team, though you are both too independent to stay together for long.” He turned to Gellert. 
 
“Gellert Grindelwald. You may have the Elder Wand, but I want a binding promise..” He turned to Albus. “Albus Dumbledore, you may have the life of your sister, Ariana, along with a location to find me at if you ever need to meet me. Good luck to you both.” He spread his hands, summoning two shadow clones to tell Albus the location and hand Gellert the Elder wand. 
 
Albus spoke suddenly as if just noticing the mention of Ariana’s name. “What do you mean? She’s dead. I have searched, and there is no magic that can bring someone back from the dead short of sacrificing millions of lives. I checked everywhere…” He trailed off. “Can you really do it?”
 
“Observe,” Erebus said. A dementor entered the room, carrying a glowing ball of light blue light. It dropped the light into a nearby warded container, then fled the room. Erebus pointed his sword at the area. Slowly, shadows from around the room came together to form the small body of a young teenaged girl. With another move of his sword, the body was robed and warmed. 
 
Erebus gently took the soul from the container and pushed it into her right eye. The body and soul fused, and Ariana woke up for the first time in her new body. She sat up straight, breathing heavily. Looking around the room, she saw one child and her older brother Albus looking at her. There were also two figures that were completely blackened, blurring at the edges. 
 
“Albus? Where am I? Weren’t you… who… can someone explain?”
 
Erebus stepped forwards. “Perhaps I can explain. Your older brother and his friend came here to ask me about the elder wand. I obviously can’t give out two, so I had to give your brother some reward. You died of magical backlash at the age of thirteen in this timeline, so I have given you a body to match that age. As to where you are, we are in the void.”
 
Seeing her shocked expression, he clarified. “Void is not exactly a place in terms of your traditional sense. When you entered the spire, you were brought here. When I rose from my first universe, Magic stripped me of my power. At the time, I was outraged. Now, however, I see that she was only preventing me from destroying everything. As a mixture of reward and punishment, Magic became Void. Void is bonded to me through my immortal soul. Soon you will return to your reality, and I will follow in about two months.”
 
He turned to Albus. “Make sure you tell the King of my arrival. I am sworn to his service throughout my life, no matter how long it may be.”
 
Turning back to Ariana, he continued. “As the god of souls, death, shadows, and determination, I restored you to this form. Do try not to die anytime soon. Albus, Ariana, you may go. Be sure to tell Aberforth.”
 
He pointed to a door marked “England” set in the far wall of his room. The two siblings walked through it, disappearing without a trace. Erebus turned to Grindelwald. “My conditions are simple. Never attempt to use the wand against me, and all destroyed knowledge will be sent to me using your own power.”
 
Grindelwald nodded. “I, Gellert Grindelwald, swear upon my soul that I shall obey the conditions currently given to me on the use of my wand by the deity known as Erebus.”
 
Then Grindelwald, too, left through the door marked “England”.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August 1, 1942

Erebus arrived before King George VI, dressed in his customary medium armour, kneeling as he was bound to bu his oath. “Your Majesty.”
 
The trained troops immediately started firing at him but to no avail. The bullets went through the cloth of his armour but were unable to pierce his shell. Erebus continued. “A man named Albus Dumbledore should have informed you of my arrival on this plane of existence. I am Erebus.”
 
The King sat there in shock. First, a man had appeared in some uniform and then had survived multiple shots that would kill any normal man. Then the conversation with a young man from two months ago came to mind. “Cease Fire!” the King commanded. The shooting stopped, and the man drew down his hood. His right eye was missing, just as she had been told, and his uniform matched the description he had been given. 
 
“Why are you here?” The king asked. 
 
Erebus thought for a second. He needed some cover story, but it needed to be believable. “Your Majesty, you have conscripted one of my high priests. I have chosen to go to keep him from the horrors of war.”
 
The king thought for a second. “What can you do for the effort?”
 
Erebus rose. “I will perform any single task you give me, no matter how impossible you may think it to be.”
 
“Get me Churchill!”
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
“Let me get this straight. We have a deity that we can ask any favour of, with guaranteed success?” Churchill asked. 
 
King George nodded. “I have said exactly that.”
 
Churchill nodded. “Bring him in here, let's see what he can do.”
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
“Erebus,” Churchill spoke into the silent room. “What exactly are you capable of? As a deity, what do you have power over or specialize in?”
 
Before any more questions could be asked, Erebus interrupted. “I am the aspect of many things. Death, Souls, Void, and Determination. I can create copies of myself that have free will and can fight almost as well as I can. If you wish to see my capabilities, give me a test.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

King George VI and Winston Churchill looked upon the wrecks of what used to be planes with a look of both horror and excitement. They finally had a plan, and it was going to be devastating.

Two days earlier…

“Bombers,” Erebus said. “I admire your commitment to the people. How do you want it done?”
 
Winston and the King shared a look. “Suprise us.”
 
“I’ll ask my wife when the next air raid shall be, and not a single plane will survive.”

Almost two days later…

Erebus looked at the incoming planes with a smile. In the ruins of a bombed airfield, he went over his plan one last time. “I just need to hit the bombs. Easier than the engine or the pilot.”
 
Knives appeared when he needed to throw them. The knives flew true, and within minutes, all of the planes were torn to pieces, falling to the ground. Erebus turned around and walked to where the King was waiting. “So,” Erebus said, “How did I do?”
 
Winston spoke up. “I never got the chance to ask you this, but how did your wife know the bombers would be here?”
 
“Simple. My wife, Luna, absorbed the soul of Fate. She knows almost everything.”
 
“Ask your wife what would help us win the war the fastest at this time, and do it.”
 
“As you wish, my King.”

Stalingrad, August 22, 1942

Erebus had brought a modified pistol to the fight. Piercing bullets, magical reloading, and no kickback made it a worthy weapon. The 280,000 men in tanks that would be arriving soon stood no chance.
 
The battle was a blur. The pistol kept firing, Erebus kept running, and the tanks kept missing.

August 31, 1942

The remainder of the German 6th army surrendered after just over 150,000 of their number had died. The Soviet armies that had arrived to reinforce their city had noticed Erebus fighting and had decided to stay away and relocate the citizens. Erebus returned to the city with his newly-acquired army of just under 130,000 troops to face the Russian general. After some discussion, Erebus convinced them to contact the King and wait for him to arrive. 
 
When the king stepped off the airplane, he saw Erebus kneeling in front of him with an enormous number of German troops doing the same, albeit reluctantly. 
 
“Erebus, report.” The king said. 
 
“150,243 dead, 128,901 surrendered, 856 unaccounted for. I used a modified pistol over 7 days with an average of just under 15 kills per minute. I request that I keep those who have surrendered and I also humbly request a knighthood.” Erebus handed the pistol to the King.
 
The king stood there, shocked that one man was capable of that much carnage. “How long would this battle have taken had you not intervened?”
 
“It’s hard to say. Luna thought it would have been at least six months of siege with the city being utterly destroyed. There would have been a casualty count approaching 2 million total with under 1000 civilian deaths.”
 
“Both of your requests are granted. Anything else?”
 
Erebus thought for a while. “I always wanted to have a physical house in England.” He said at last. “Is there any chance I could have that one bombed airbase?”
 
The king nodded. “We thank you for your service, Erebus.” Erebus nodded, and he and his new troops walked off into the distance.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Howard Stark was having a very strange day. He had received a letter from King George of England asking him for assistance examining a weapon that had apparently been crafted by a god and had been used to kill 150,000 men in a week. Everything was just impossible: the endless ammo, the lack of signs of use, even after he used it, and the seeming indestructibility of the weapon. He was tired of working on the pistol. He was telling the King what he had found, and he finally came to his conclusion. 
 
“This would be a lot easier if I could talk to whoever made it.”
 
The king perked up. “That I can help you with. He went to a bombed airbase and has set himself to restoring it. I can probably pull him away from his work for a bit to answer some questions.” 
 
The king turned and picked up the pistol from where Howard had set it down. He turned the safety on and pulled the trigger. A voice suddenly spoke. “Password?” 
 
The king sighed. “Beware the man who speaks in hands.” Erebus appeared though he was looking slightly worse for wear. He knelt before the king. “Rise, Sir Erebus. A man I brought here to examine your weapon has some questions for you.”
 
Erebus rose and looked at Howard. “Very well. Ask away.”
 
“How do the bullets not run out?” Howard asked. This was the most interesting thing, the thing that every army on Earth would want to know. 
 
Erebus laughed. “Are all of your questions going to be like this? Here is a blanket answer. When I made the weapon, I needed an easy-to-use weapon that would not stop working until I did. That’s why it doesn’t recoil, why the ammo never stops, why you can’t break it, and why it won’t overheat or lock up.”
 
Howard frowned. “It works like this because you want it to work like this?”
 
Erebus nodded. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to breaking my shell enough to remove my soul.”
 
Erebus disappeared before they could ask any questions. 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 14, 1980

“Albus, why are we here?” asked James Potter as he walked up a stone pathway towards a seemingly infinitely high wall. 
 
“James, my boy, you remember what I said about the state of the war during the last meeting. If I remember correctly, you were quite vocal about my opinions.”
 
James lowered his head. “You still didn’t answer my question. It's freezing here, and I could be spending this time with Lily, inside, next to a fire.” James took a breath. “And here we are, outside a fortress.”
 
“Correct, James. An old friend of mine lives here, and while I owe him a debt, I wish to inform him of the current situation.” With that, Albus knocked on the gate to the city. 
 
A tall man with a skull for a head appeared before them. The skull was cracked at one eye, leaving a rather disturbing image in James’ head. As he spoke, however, Albus did not doubt that this was still Erebus. 
 
“Hello, Albus. The last time you visited was a bit long ago. Who have you brought with you?”
 
Albus inclined his head. “Erebus. I have brought James Pot-”
 
Erebus snapped his head towards James. “If you return with Lily, Pandora, and Frank, then I will meet with you. If you want, you may contact them and have them apparate here.”
 
James shrugged. “Albus, are any of them on duty right now? I know Lily isn’t, but… ” A thought struck him. “How do you know their names?”
 
Erebus made no comment or motion. James sighed, calling his wife to him through a runic scheme she had just recently developed to help with apparating during pregnancy. Albus had already sent off two Patroni to Frank and Pandora, both of whom apparated there soon. 
 
Erebus opened the gate and walked them through. As they walked through the city, James noticed the abundance of technology and the fact that everything was written in what looked like German. They quickly approached a modern-looking house, though slightly larger than the rest. 
 
Upon entering, Erebus turned to face the newcomers. Frank was repulsed and Pandora looked upon the face in horror. Suddenly, Erebus knelt before Lily. “Mother.”
 
With that one word, the entire atmosphere of the room changed. Pandora fell into a nearby chair, and Frank and James nervously took seats as well. 
 
“I have waited so long for this moment.” Erebus looked up at Lily. “In my childhood, you died when I was no more than one year old. I created this universe for many reasons, but this was one of the most driving ones.” Erebus stood. “Thank you. Should you wish for help, I shall do my best. I am, after all, in your debt.” Erebus turned to James. 
 
“You also died. I owe you a similar debt.”
 
They were interrupted when Pandora started screaming. “The man who speaks in hands!” Erebus nodded. 
 
“Pandora Lovegood, you were the mother of my wife. Try not to die before she graduated Hogwarts this time, will you?”
 
Seeing Frank’s confused expression, Erebus elaborated. “Frank, you were the father of my best friend. He had to take my place for a while, and for that, I am forever grateful.”
 
He turned to Albus, who was frozen in shock from when Erebus had started talking. “I know your true intent, and if you wish for me to fight in the war, I cannot. However, I will move to my London property. If they attack… ”
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Erebus sighed, looking down at the Death Eaters killing people just outside the cafe he was in. He was under a notice-me-not, as he always was when he went out. He calmly stood up, letting the notice-me-not fall off of him as he exited the cafe. The people cowering inside looked just as afraid of him as they did of the Death Eaters outside. 
 
He pulled a coin out of his pocket, flicking it into the air with his thumb. The sound made all other sounds from the street slowly die out. They were minor Death Eaters, probably even unmarked. 
 
Suddenly, one of them shouted, “Avada Kedavera!” Erebus punched the spell, bending the light to make it seem as if it had been broken by the punch. In reality, the Void had absorbed the power of the spell into the exposed bones of his hands. 
 
He flipped the coin again, this time letting it fly high into the air. He snapped his fingers and the coin started to glow with purple energy. Suddenly, all of the Death Eaters were struck with beams of the same purple energy, and they slowly disintegrated into nothingness. Their only remains were their wands with their names engraved on them and a single pensieve strand, floating in the air. 
 
The Order of the Phoenix soon arrived, along with a squad of Aurors. They saw him sitting alone in the street and Pandora Lovegood immediately walked towards him. “Erebus?”
 
Erebus sighed. “Not for much longer. Soon, I shall fall to the eternal Void, be consumed, and reawaken.” He started. “Ah. There were some Death Eaters. Nobody important. How is Lily?”
 
As he asked the questions, the people started coming out of the shops. The Aurors immediately started to obliviate the people, and Erebus noticed the dead people on the streets. “Hold that thought.” 
 
Darkness began to move from the shadows of buildings, merging with the eternal Void that Erebus was the master and creator of. Whenever it touched a body, there was a flash of light as their soul re-entered their body. The people stood, confused, and were quickly obliviated by the Aurors. 
 
The Aurors then surrounded Erebus. “Sir, I’m afraid you will have to come with us. If you refuse to-”
 
Erebus laughed. “You seem to think that I can be arrested by you and your friends. How’s this?”
 
Erebus teleported them to the throne room, kneeling in front of the queen as he had always done. As always, the guards each shot him a couple of times to make sure of his identity. 
 
“Rise.” The queen sighed. “What is it this time? If you...” She trailed off as she looked at him. “What has happened to you?” 
 
Erebus sighed. “Your majesty, these wizards are trying to arrest me for killing members of a known terrorist organization and reviving the unfortunate people they killed. As for my appearance, well… it’s a trial run.”
 
The queen looked at the Aurors in shock. “He did your job for you and you try to arrest him?”
 
At this point, one of the Aurors tried to obliviate the queen. Erebus stopped the spell in mid-air. He grabbed the spell and

squeezed

. It shattered, dissolving into nothingness. Erebus pulled a shield out of the void, handing it to the queen. He then turned to the Auror responsible. 
 “How dare you.” He said, his voice projecting hatred. “This is your queen, and you try to modify her memory?” The man was lifted off of the ground, held tightly by the Void. Erebus turned to the queen. “Your orders?” 
The queen stood. “Erebus, set him down. We are not going to allow you to kill someone needlessly. Give me his wand.” Erebus complied, handing the wand to the queen. The queen immediately snapped it in half. “We are not amused by your actions today. Leave us.” Erebus sent them away, back to the scene of the attack. 
 
He took a bow and then left. 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

July 31, 1980

St. Mungo’s Hospital

Childbirth Wing

“It’s a boy, Mrs. Potter!” The healer said. There was a knock on the door leading to the waiting room. 
 
“Come in!” Lily called. James ran in, along with Sirius, Alice Longbottom, and Remus Lupin. Following them, almost unnoticed, was Erebus along with another strange man. After James and Remus had spent some time, Erebus made his presence known. Lupin jumped backwards, but the others were much less surprised. 
 
“May I introduce a friend from another world? This is Khnum, one of the many involved with the creation of humans. He, however, specialized in creating children. Funnily enough, one of his titles was the ‘Divine Potter.’”
 
Khnum stepped forwards. “So this is the one. Not sure why he warranted you calling in that big of a debt, but I can do it.” He raised his hands, clay appearing as he needed it. He sculpted the clay into the exact form of infant Harry before turning to Erebus. “A soul, please.” Erebus lifted his hand, and the Ressurection stone flew out of his eye socket.
 
Khnum took the stone gently, putting it into the unfinished skull. He quickly closed the skull, adding more skin and muscle to match that of Harry. “Well, Erebus, that was a fun experience.”
 
“Thank you, my friend. I would have done it myself, but it is sometimes better to let the professionals do their jobs.” Erebus turned to the rest of the room, most of whom were staring in shock. “I must, unfortunately, leave you now. I wish you all the best of luck with your future.” 
 
With that, Erebus, Khnum, and the newly made baby vanished without a trace.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Previously, I had been considering having a Harry Potter & Carnage story, one where Carnage bonded to Harry at a young age. However, a new idea sort of overtook that one, and I think it will be more interesting to have a more balanced character than an extremely overpowered one.I have decided that there are too many plotholes in this fic, and as such, I am going to leave this as a monument to my failure in writing. The new fic is called "Craftsman" and can be found on my profile. Thank you for reading, and I hope that you continue to enjoy reading what I write!