Hey guys! So, I would not consider this a a response to the Don't Fear the Reaper challenge. You are welcome to think it is, but that is entirely up to you. This will be a Harry/Multi fic. I will reveal who they are as the chapters progress.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, the only character I created so far is Leara. Otherwise, I own nothing.
"Harry Potter?" Harry opened his eyes looking around. The room he was in was pure white. After a moment the bright white was hurting his eyes. He took a few breaths to calm down before opening them again. "Harry Potter?" He turned to see a young woman at a desk. He wondered why he hadn't noticed her before.
"Yes? That's me." He said standing. His war torn clothes had been replaced by a navy blue robe. Finally something that wasn't pure white.
"Fourth door on the left, and, well, good luck." She said as a pointed to a hallway. "Off you go Mr. Potter." With a shrug he walked down the hall, when he came upon the door he knocked. After being bid to enter by another woman's voice he walked in.
"Have a seat. I will be with you in a-" said a young woman from the desk. She was half buried by scrolls. She looked up at him. "No. No. No!" She stood pushing him into a chair. "Do you hate me Harry? Are you trying to get me fired? Do you want me to bring dishonor to my family?"
"I don't know you, so I can't hate you." He said. "Same can be said for getting you fired." He looked around curiously. "Where am I exactly? I remember facing Tom-"
"Yeah, he killed you." she went over to her desk dropping into the chair. She sifted through the scrolls before turning to a wall of books. "Harry Potter." A book came off the wall landing in her hand. "Lets see, right, so you have been killed by Tom Riddle twelve times, Albus Dumbledore has killed you nine times, Ron Weasley four times, Vernon Dursley has killed you an equal four times. In total you have died twenty-nine times. Each one long before your destined time."
"Wait, how is that possible?" Harry asked.
"Okay, let me start from the beginning. My name is Leara. I am your soul manager, in your world I suppose I would be called a grim reaper. With me so far?" she asked. Harry simply nods letting her continue. "Good, you are dead. You have died twenty-nine times for various reasons. What I have in my hand is your Book of Life. Basically it is your story." she looked around. "Ah, here we go, Abigail Faith." Another book came off the wall. Harry could hear the scratching of a quill coming from the book. "This person's story is still being written." She cast it back onto the shelf before showing Harry his book, there was no sound coming from it. There were a lot of blank pages. "Your book is unfinished. Meaning you have not completed your destiny. When a- watch carefully Harry." She pointed to a book, the scratching stopped and the book turned to stone then vanished. "If you had died when you were suppose to," She picked up a scroll. "At the ripe old age of four hundred and seventeen, your book would do he same thing." He handed her his book back and looked around at the other books. "Each time you have died you come here and we have the same conversation. I wipe your memories then send you back to try again."
"Okay, so now what? By the way your talking my chances have run out." Harry said with a sigh.
"Not quite, you have one more chance. I managed to cash in a few IOU's last time you were here, just in case. This time however you are going back as far as I can send you." She explained sifting through the scrolls again. "Ah Ha! Here it is." She took out a scroll smiling. "By signing this contract you accept that this is your last chance. This will allow me to bypass the memory wipe. You will go back with all of the knowledge you have gained up to this point. As a bonus I can give you nudges in the right direction once in a while. You are allowed to tell one person about the future you came from. I would recommend one of your soul mates. Only after being absolutely sure the secret will be protected." Leara sifted through the scrolls looking for something. Finally she stood stepping away from the desk. "Everything not involving Harry Potter get off my desk." she ordered. The scrolls sorted themselves and moved into empty holes in the walls until only four scrolls remained.
"I love magic." Harry said. "Okay, for a moment let's say I believe all of this. Tell me everything I need to know in order not to face your wrath."
"Fine." She opened a scroll. Glancing at it. "According to this your destiny is to go to Hogwarts, meet your soulmates, stop the Blood War, have a lot of children, and die peacefully in your sleep with your wives. Doesn't sound too bad does it?"
"No, not bad at all. Now, you said soulmates? And Wives? Did you mean to say those as multiple?" Harry asked. "I mean, a person only has one soulmate, right?"
"Normally yes. But Harry James Potter is not normal, is he?" she said with a laugh. "I meant what I said. You have four soulmates." A shadow pulled away from the wall forming a figure by Leara. It leaved down seeming to whisper in her ear. "Yes, thank you. I will take care of it shortly." The shadow figure nods once before shrinking back where it came from.
"Suddenly I am afraid to ask." Harry said. "Bad news I'm guessing?"
"You could say that. Two of your soulmates just crossed over into the waiting room. No, I cant let you see them. Mostly because they need to meet with their own soul manager. And by the time they have done that I will have already sent you back. I do not know if they are on their last chance or not, besides, we are not allowed to get involved with other manager's souls."
"Poor Ginny. I hope she wasn't one of them. She deserves better than that." Harry said. Leara looked at him sadly.
"Harry, I plan on covering this later, But Ginerva Weasley was not meant for you." Leara said. "Now, you have multiple soulmates because of Ronald Weasley." Leara stood again taking a book from the shelf placing it on the desk. Once she opened it she turned back to the shelves. "I am sending you back to July 24th 1991. I am doing this to give you a little time to study before being introduced to the magical world. With me so far?" All of a sudden she pulled a book off the shelf tossing it behind her. It landed on the open book and vanished.
"What the-?" Harry asked. Leara turned to look at him. "The book you tossed just vanished."
"Of course it did. The book on the desk is a blank. It will absorb and copy all of the contents of any other book it touches. In a minute it will spit the other one back out." she started picking through the other books tossing them over her shoulder into a pile on the blank book. "Now, when you get back you will find this book in your cupboard. Your muggle relatives wont be able to see it. Once you have a wand use it to pierce your finger and put a drop of blood on it. That way only you can read its contents. Unless you add someones blood." one by one the book at the bottom vanished. On the other side of the desk another pile appeared. It was the books that had already been copied.
"You said that the Headmaster killed me a few times?" Leara hung her head sighing. Harry wondered if he had said something wrong. "And what about Ron?"
"Harry, first of all I need you to understand something very important." Leara turned to him and leaned against her desk. "I want to see you succeed at this. I want you to grow really old with your wives and have lots of great grandchildren. In order for me to help you, I need you to trust me."
"Okay, I can't say I fully understand what's going on but I would be a fool not to trust you. You haven't exactly given me a reason not to." Harry said. "But I want the truth."
"Always Harry." She went back to the other side of her desk looking out the window. "Albus Dumbledore is, without a doubt, a powerful wizard. I will not deny that. What I will tell you, is that he climbed a mountain of bodies to get to where he wanted to be. Your parents were among them." she turned to face him. "He may not have killed them Harry, but he is part of the reason they died." She could tell Harry was struggling to process or accept what she had said. "Albus Dumbledore is not the Leader of the Light everyone thinks he is. I do not know what truly caused him to break, but I know it started with an idea. 'The Greater Good' they called it."
"Do you have another of those blank books? I think this is the kind of thing I should be taking notes on." Leara took out another book from the shelf handing it to him with a muggle pen. "Thank you." he took a moment writing everything down. "I had heard him say that line before, doesn't it mean to sacrifice the one to save the many?"
"It is close. It means that no matter the cost, the end result is the only thing that matters." Leara reached up to a shelf taking down a small box. Placing it on the desk. "You know the prophecy, think about it very carefully for a few moments while I find a few more books." she tossed a few more books into the pile. Harry wrote out the prophecy into his book word for word. "I know its confusing, but that prophecy holds a lot of answers. You're whole life has been dictated by those words."
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies." Harry recited.
"Right, so lets break this down a bit shall we?" Leara said with a smile as she went to lean on the desk again. "I know you think Divination is a rubbish class but given your situation there are some things you need to know. For example, did you know there are two kinds of prophecy?"
"No. All we learned about was tea leaves, crystal balls, and interpreting dreams." Harry said looking up from the book.
"Okay, one kind of prophecy is really rare. There is only one or two every few hundred years. Those are called Pure prophecies. The other kind is Self-fulfilling, meaning that an action or situation will cause it to become active." She said. Harry was nodding as he wrote down everything she said. "You know, I think I have something you will find useful. It's a magical skill." She touched his forehead passing her skill to him, there was a tingling from his temple down to his hand. "There, now you can set the book and pen down and the pen will still write your thoughts or you can have it write what we say as a script, word for word."
"That will be useful, especially in classes." Harry said with a smile. "Thank you. I am normally rubbish at note taking."
"I noticed. The pen I gave you will go inside your notebook to go back with you. It will never run out of ink." she said. "Ah! I knew I was missing one." She beckoned a book off the top shelf with her finger. It fluttered for a moment but didn't move. "Come on now. Don't be so stubborn."
"What kind of book is that?" Harry asked. "It looks really old."
"It is, this book was the blank book the higher-ups gave Merlin Emrys. I figure you could use it's contents to understand magic better. He brought it back here when he reached the end of his life. I was still a new soul manager at the time. He said that I would know what to do with it when the time came. I think this is what he meant. All of his notes, his life's research lies within its pages." Leara said. "What do you think?" She asked the book. It flew down to Harry like a bird dropping into his hands. "Astounding. Looks like it doesn't want to be copied. You will take the original with you."
"Thank you." He said to the book, admittedly feeling a little foolish. "I will not dishonor what has been given to me."
"I think, Harry, that you will do just fine. Now, back on topic. The prophecy, the one about you is considered Self-fulfilling. It means that something was done to mark you as the Dark Tosser's equal." Harry put his fingertips to his scar gently. "I don't think so Harry. This realm is full of gossips, it had come to my attention that Tom Riddle may not be the 'Dark Lord' from the prophecy. Don't get me wrong, you do have to beat him. There just may be someone else you have to worry about as well."
"You mean Dumbledore?" Harry said with a sigh. "I get it, I suppose part of me always knew there was something wrong with things, but I always just chalked it up to knowing nothing about magic."
"Okay? Why don't you explain and I will try to fill in the blanks?" Leara said. "It is always better to have someone to bounce ideas off."
"Well, first year for example. Who tells a school full of children that an area is forbidden? He was practically inviting people to investigate it. Each of the challenges were faced by three first year students. I would like to think it was just a way to protect the stone but if that was the case it should not have been that easy to get it from the mirror." He explained. "If he didn't want people poking around he should have just asked Hogwarts to seal the area."
"So what do you think it was meant for?" Leara asked. She was impressed with his organized train of thought.
"I think it was a test for me. Same with second year. He was there when the chamber opened the first time. He knew Hagrid was innocent because Hagrid would have explained Aragog to him. He had to know that Tom opened it while he was in school. The portraits and ghosts are his spies. Anytime the basilisk came out of the pipes to attack someone it had to be seen by something. I know for a fact that anything with a Dark Magic taint is recognized by the schools wards, Hermione said so herself. He had to know when Ginny brought in the diary." Harry paused to take a breath. Seeing the pen writing away he stood pacing a bit.
"Right, and since he already suspected Tom had been looking for a way to be immortal he would have researched Horcruxes." Leara said. "Keep going, I like where this is going."
"He had to know that Lockhart was a fraud. I am glad of the horcrux in my head, it allowed me to speak parseltongue. I suspect Fawkes brought the sorting hat to me because I asked for help." Harry looked at the book before continuing the pacing.
"The soul fragment in your head was not the cause of your parseltongue ability, you got that from the Black side of your family. You were born with it." She said.
"Good to know. Third year Sirius escapes and starts hunting for Peter. I am told he is hunting me down because he betrayed my parents. From what I have heard he never had a trial. So no one ever knew the truth about what happened." Harry stopped and sat down thinking. "I would kill for something to eat. Is it possible for the dead to be hungry?"
"Well, considering you are not entirely dead, yeah. It is. Dobby?" A eager little house elf appeared.
"DOBBY!" Harry threw himself at the little elf hugging him tightly. He looked up at Leara with tears pouring down his cheeks. "I don't care how, but thank you!" He pulled away from the little elf wiping his own tears away. "I never meant for you to get hurt Dobby. I promise."
"It was Dobby's own fault. Dobby ignored his promise to The Great Harry Potter." He said.
"What do you mean?" Harry thought back to second year. "Oh Dobby! I didn't mean to force you to make such a promise. I did not realize what it would mean to you."
"What promise is he talking about Harry?" Leara asked.
"Just after Lucius Malfoy tried to attack me I made Dobby promise not to try to save me again. Magic has a strange way of keeping us to our promises." He said. Looking at his book he smiled seeing the pen make a note about promises and elves.
"I see, Dobby, Harry needs something to eat. Think you can find something for him? Something small though. He has a long trip ahead of him and it wont be pleasant on a full stomach." Dobby thought for a moment before nodding to Leara and popping away. "I quite like that little elf. I will give you a hint though. If you bond with him, I do not see him dying. Except of old age of course. Not to mention he will be a great asset to you later." Dobby popped back in with a plate of ham sandwiches and iced tea.
"Dobby, I doubt you will remember this when I get back. I promise to bond with you. I have a feeling that's what you wanted all along. I was just too much of a dunce to realize it. Can you forgive me?" Harry said hugging the elf one more time.
"You have done nothing to be needing forgiveness. Dobby is honored to help The Great Harry Potter." Dobby said. "I need to go back now. I will see you again soon." He snapped and popped away again.
"The thing you should know about house elves Harry, they have a magic that even Lord Death can not figure out." Leara said. She picked up a sandwich and bit into it with a happy sigh. "I have missed the taste of food."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked. "Were you a- um, living person?" he struggled to figure out the correct way of saying it.
"Yes, I died a very long time ago. Unlike you I only got one chance. However, I ruined my soul to the point where I could not pass the Gates of Judgment. Lord Death put me here to redeem me."
"That's not fair." Harry said munching away on the sandwich. "Is there no chance for you to try again?"
"No, my soul didn't have a Greater Purpose." She said with a smile. "Not like you. Let's get back to work shall we?"
"I guess, but I still don't like it." He said. "Okay, I get that Dumbledore can't be trusted. Do you really think he is a Dark Wizard?"
"It is possible. The only way to know is to destroy Tom Riddle, then look at the prophecy. If it is still glowing then it is not complete." Harry nods accepting her words. "Now, lets work on the Weasley family." Harry let out a disappointed sigh. "Not all of them are against you. Fred and George are loyal to you. William and Charlie would be too if they knew about their mother's crimes against you."
"So that leaves, Mrs. Weasley, Ron, and Ginny. What about Percy?" Harry asked. "I mean, he is a prat but I don't think he is that bad."
"no, Percival is just obsessed with his own success. His only crime is climbing over his family to achieve his success." She grabbed another sandwich and picked up a scroll looking at it. "So, Ronald killed you four times. Twice in fits of jealous rage, once because he crashed that stupid flying car. Personally I think he did it on purpose. There is one time that caused us a lot of extra problems. How he managed to learn it I will never know. Ronald tried to annihilate your soul. What he ended up doing was shredding it instead. Now, in doing that your soul split off in a million different directions. Took us quite a while to collect as much as we did. However four pieces of your soul had found their way into four young ladies."
"My soulmates?" Harry asked. "That's why I have so many."
"Right. Now, he was getting paid money, candy, and good grades to spy on you. I'm sure you can guess the mastermind behind that." Harry nods. "He was born jealous of everyone and everything they had. When it came to you it was a lot worse. You had money, fame, and power."
"I guess, but he had something I would give all of that up for." Harry said looking up to the ceiling. "He had a mother and father, siblings who loved him, and a loving home to return to." He took a deep breath relaxing for a moment. "Okay, so I avoid making friends with the prat. Mrs. Weasley?"
"That woman could have been a world renowned potions mistress if she didn't believe a woman's place was in the home caring for the children. She wanted the perfect family and prestige." Leara sat on the edge of the desk. "She got the family she wanted through potions and charms, but the potions fried Arthur's brain to the point he would never raise above where he was. She thought he would be Minister for Magic one day. She accepted the results of what she did. When Ginerva was born she was brainwashed to think like her mother. She planned on getting her family the same way her mother did. Her target was one Harry James Potter."
"So she planned on potioning me?"
"Not just planned it, she did it. Third year on she was potioning you on top of the ones Molly was giving Ron to dose you with. Those combined with the ones Severus brewed for Dumbledore make your core a lot weaker than it should have been." Leara turned to see a golden scroll appear on the desk. "Oh hell."
"I'm going to guess that gold scrolls are important." Leara looked at Harry barely able to nod.
"Think of them like divine intervention." She opened it with shaky hands. "Well, that's not too bad. Seems one of your soulmates who died is also on their last chance. She will be sent back with her memories. However I am not allowed to tell you who she is." She smiled. "That means you can pick someone else to know about what happened."
"Hmm, can I pick someone who has already died? What I mean-" He sighs. "You are going to think I am crazy. Completely off my rocker. I want Severus Snape to retain his memories."
"Okay? I would be willing to listen to your reason before I deny or approve it." She said sipping on a glass of iced tea. "But I want you to really think about it. He was brewing the loyalty and admiration potions you were dosed with since your first meal at Hogwarts."
"True, but he also saved my life more times than I know. Not once has he lied to me. Not once did he give me false hope. He hated me because of my father, granted I never did anything to prove I was not his exact copy." He stood looking around. "It would be so much easier if I could talk to him." Dobby popped into the room with none other than Severus Tobias Snape.
"Potter, is this your elf?" Harry bent over laughing. "I do not see what is so damned funny Potter."
"Well done Dobby. Thank you. Next time though, let me ask for him to be brought to me." Harry said once he finally calmed down. Dobby only shrugged and vanished.
"Severus Snape, where were you exactly before that lovable house elf grabbed you?" Leara asked.
"I was in a conversation with some of the greatest potions masters in history. I demand to be returned there." He said with a snarl.
"No." Harry said plainly. "I have something to offer you. Something I think you will find both useful, and perhaps profitable in the process."
"No harm in listening I guess." Snape said sitting down. "Well Mr. Potter?"
"I am on my last chance. Meaning I am going back with my memories intact. I had planned on telling one of my soulmates my secret but two of them have died and entered this place. One of them is also on her last chance and will return with her memories. I am not allowed to know who she is until she approaches me. Given that she is going to know everything, I am allowed to tell one other person. I want it to be you." Severus stared at Harry in shock.
"What Harry is offering you is a chance to rewrite the last seven years. Not everyone gets that chance."Leara explained.
"Why me?" Severus asked. "Considering you are here then you know about Albus, and even the Weasley family. Which means you also know I was brewing the potions the headmaster dosed you with."
"Exactly, which attests to your skill as a potions master. Going back with your memories means that you can avoid potentially life ending issues. It would give us time to find a way to take that mark off your arm." Harry said. "Besides, despite what you may think of me, I am not a carbon copy of my father. He was an arse. I may attract trouble, and I may break the rules, but I am not him. You have to agree to that before Leara agrees or denies my idea."
"As much as it pains me to admit, I haven't thought of you as James's copy in three years. When I went to Godric's Hollow that night and found their bodies," he turned his head away. "I swore to your mother I wouldn't fail you like I did her. For years she was the only friend I had, and I betrayed her."
"Then help me. Help me make things right." Harry pleaded. "I can't- I can't do it without help. You know that. If you agree to help me then I will do whatever I can to help you."
"Which is a lot. If Harry claims all of his inheritance on his 11th birthday then he has the power to protect you." Leara stated. "I am sending him back to July 24th 1991. This will allow him a week to study and prepare before going to Diagon Alley. The only problem is that Dumbledore will have Hagrid bring Harry to do his shopping."
"I have no problems with the half-giant, but he sticks out like a sore thumb. If this works I will meet Potter at Gringotts and take care of things from there. Now, Mr. Potter, you mentioned profit?"
"Right, in my second year I killed a basilisk with the sword. Meaning I can legally claim the corpse. Had I known about it, I would have done it a lot earlier. All potions ingredients will go to you. To get dis of the Horcruxes we will use the fangs." Harry explained. "I had been looking forward to potions until you singled me out in my first class, believe it or not I was writing down your every word."
"The goblins would be best for rendering the corpse. You could offer the meat to them to cover the rendering costs. I would advise having the skin made into armor. The bones are not used in much." Severus said thinking about it. "The potions would turn a decent profit."
"Plus half the profits gained from the meat. I would however require your measurements for one of the sets of armor." Harry said. "There is one other stipulation about your memories."
"I am listening." Severus said. He had already planned his entire future in a matter of minutes. He would honor his promise to Lily.
"There is no doubt you earned your title, but your teaching is not the greatest. I would ask that you spend the first two weeks teaching proper cutting, safety, and storage. Telling students that the instructions are on the board and a time limit is not teaching. I highly doubt Professor Slughorn taught you that way." Severus wanted to deny his request, but he knew it would save on a lot of accidents.
"Very well, I agree to your conditions. I will help you where ever I can. I know enough about your inheritance to know you can protect me. In addition, in the week you are studying, I will prepare potions to help you grow to where you belong for your age." Severus knew the boy was far to small for his age. "I do, however, have a condition of my own. In your studying you must learn how to properly greet or dismiss other people."
"Taken care of." Leara said grabbing another book off the shelf dropping it on the blank book. "Now Harry, all you need to do is sign the contract. I have one here for Severus as well. You will not discuss what you have seen or heard here to anyone except those who are already aware. I may pop in once in a while to guide you in the right direction." with a wave of her hand the piles of books soared back where they belong. Harry picked up his pen reading over the contract carefully. He signed his name and smiled. Leara watched her pen write out another contract for Severus. After reviewing it Severus signed it.
"How will I be sent back?" Harry inquired. "We never discussed that."
"Oh, right. Sit in the chair, grab your books, your pen, and hold on tight. It's a long way down." she said with a laugh.
"Wait, down?" The floor below him turned into a black vortex. "Not fair!"
"Never said I was." As he started to sink she decided at the last moment to be nice. "I just remembered! One of your soulmates it's some Granger girl!"
"Oh hell." Severus mumbled.
"What?!" Harry looked at her in shock before he was pulled through the vortex.