The River Styx

by Mal'Ra

Leo Potter-Black, Lord Peverell, is the chosen one, destined to strike down 'those who defy death.' What will he do when he finds himself in another world; one where no one knows 'The God Slayer,' and his half-brother is fates whipping boy? AU story which begins shortly after Sirus' death, sort of... May be some bashing, IDK yet. I wont be bashing Albus, but he won't be perfect.

1. The River

Authors Note:

Firstly, I don't own the Harry Potter franchise or any of the content, characters, ect that exist within that world; It all belongs to people much richer then me.

With that out of the way I'd like to welcome you to my first ever Fan Fic and my first attempt at a story longer then 12 pages. I've written a lot of short stories because of punchlines i couldn't get out of my head, but this will be my first shot at a longer story.

Some of what follows will be a bit graphic, I started writing and the descriptions of some of the dark arts got away from me. I made up, and will continue to make up, a lot of spells and kinda got too creative for my own good.

Also the story wont get into the world you know and love until the second chapter. I planned on making the transition in this one, but i feel it flows better if i end it as is.

Hope you enjoy...

Chapter One: The River

Shards of ice crystals and a cold mist stung Leos face as he dived through a heavy cloud on his Firebolt aerocycle. The sleek black and red body of the aerocycle looked like the bastard love child of a muggle motorcycle and a fighter jet, with a motorcycle styled seat and body honed to aerodynamic perfection and modified to house two short wings. The underside of the Firebolt resembled that of a fighter jet, complete with retractable landing gears. The frame was made from a lightweight goblin alloy, not as strong as their steel, but still remarkably more resistant then its human fabricated equivalent. The Firebolt was a top of the line aerocyclye, enchanted to be the best of the best in flight and stability, coming complete with an unbreakable breaking charm. It was largely considered the fastest cycle on the market, more then capable of shattering the sound barrier with ease; Which was good for Leo as it lacked the armaments of its military counterparts and he had a desperate need to escape at the moment.

Leo broke the bottom of the clouds and glanced back trying to spot his pursuers. Two Schwalbe 460 fighter cycles broke cloud cover hot on his tail, while three spiraled out of control, their riders dead or too injured to fly.

For a moment he let himself feel satisfaction before Leo swore and barrel rolled to his right just in time to avoid a spray of machine gun fire from the pursuer on the left and a sickly green killing curse from the one on the right. Leo responded with a high powered cutting charm over his shoulder before conjuring a field caltrops before his enemies.

The two remaining pilots weren't going to fall for the same trick that eviscerated half their unit in the clouds, and the wizard on the left banished the caltrops out of the way of him and his partner. This break from fire was all Leo was really aiming for though as it allowed him time to preform a complicated spell that called two bright bolts of lightning from the clouds above to strike his airborne foes. The clap of thunder was deafening, even through the sonic charms Leo applied to protect his ears at supersonic speeds, the explosion that followed as the bombs attached to the two cycles detonated even more so.

Leo was jarred in his seat and had to fight to re-stabilize his Firebolt and pull up from his dive. He leveled off among the streets of London and was forced to throttle down or risk smashing to bits when he turned at the end of the street. On lookers in the street below pointed up at him with exclamations of surprise at seeing him flying so recklessly and with no regard for speed limits or flight restrictions. Leo didn't care that he was breaking dozens of laws and flying so recklessly, he was a fugitive and a rebel, its not like he could be in more trouble. Besides, he had a damsel to save and a fate to spit in the eye of, prophecy be damned.

As he weaved through buildings, diving and swerving around other fliers and blowing past the occasional blockade, Leo brooded on this mornings revelations.

He had awoken to a frenzied knocking on his door and the frantic calls of Xenophilius Lovegood beyond it. Rushing to admit the panicking man, Leo felt a growing feeling of dread upon seeing the mans tear streaked face.

"It's my Luna, she spoke another prophecy!" the man had wailed, clinging to Leo as if he were the only buoy in a tremulous sea, "You need to save her, please you need to go!"

Leo experienced a sensation not unlike the effects of a dementor as his mind began to race, "What prophecy, where is she?"

"She left me a note, she told me not to open it until after her group returned from their supply run, but she didn't come back, please you have to help, shes all I have, if she, I don't, you need to..." Leo back handed the ranting man before sizing his shoulders.

"What note, do you have it with you?" Leo shook the man as he shouted out his question, a note of panic entering his voice as well. Xeno nodded rapidly, drawing a crumpled note from the pocket of his patchwork cloak. Leo snatched it from the other mans hand and unfolded it quickly, reading its contents he paled before tossing it away and rushing to throw on his battle gear.

Leo was out the room in an instant, charging down the the stone halls of the resistance headquarters. Other freedom fighters and warriors called out to Leo as he ran, but he continued rapidly his mind on one thing; defying fate.

He reached the hanger in moments, but his sprint through the corridors did not go undetected and he was met with a small crowd when he got there.

"Leo," he turned his head to see Rose Snape, his wing woman and partner in crime rushing to his side. Her features were exactly like her mother Lilys, but with the jet black hair and eyes of her father Severus, "Whats going on?"

"Ya, wheres the fire!" Nathaniel Tonks, Leos cousin and the final part of their trio joined them by Leos firebolt as he mounted.

"Lunas been taken to the department of Mysteries, I'm going to get her back." Leo activated the cycles hover charm and prepared to jet out of the hanger, Nathaniels grip on his arm halted him.

"Not without us your not!" in a rare display Nathaniel spoke with none of his usual devil may care humor in his voice. Rose didn't speak, she just rushed to mount her Nimbus and pull up in line with Leo.

"You're not going at all." A strong cold voice called out from the entrance to the hanger. Leo turned in his seat to see Lord Gaunt, his mentor and gaurdian entering the spacious room, Xeno in tow.

"I have to go, Lunas in danger!" Leo replied with a rising anger for the rightful Minister.

"No, Lunas doomed, and if you go after her so are you." Lord Gaunt replied, "The prophecy was quite clear, and your too important to lose."

"Prophecy?" Rose asked from Leos side, sounding uncertain.

"Oh, did he not tell you he wants to fly you into a deathtrap to save someone fated to die?" The minister stepped forward, drawing his wand as he walked, "He wants to risk the fate of the world over a teenage infatuation; No, I can not allow this."

"Go." Nathaniel released Leos arm and, drawing his wand, stepped towards the much more powerful and experienced minister.

"Nate!" Rose looked about to protest.

"Go," Nathaniel said louder, "prophecy or no prophecy, if there's anyone who can kick fates ass its Leo. Now go!"

"Thank you." Leo set off like a bolt of lightning. There was a momentary stall in his cycles magic as Lord Gaunt muttered an anti flight jinx, but Nathaniel distracted him long enough for Leo to wiz off out of sight.

"Leo," Rose called out to him as she came level to his right wing, comfortably flying closer then most professionals would dare, "What prophecy?"

Leo was brought back to the present by his arrival outside the bombed out ministry of magic. Its once mighty atrium had been blown open by Axis forces and though there had been little activity there over the past two years, it was currently surrounded by the muggle and magical forces of Grindelwalds army. They milled about like ants whos nest had been kicked, obviously aware of reports that Leo was in the area.

Landing stealthily upon a roof top down the street from the old ministry, Leo donned his fathers invisibility cloak and crouched low. He withdrew a pair of omnioculars from his bottomless courier bag and surveyed the entrance. Cycling through the view modes showed a powerful magical dome around the building, likely the old anti-apparition wards, as well as another smaller field around the hole in the roof which Leo suspected was a detection ward.

After carefully surveying the guards and wards about the building, Leo crept from the edge of the roof top and used his Firebolt to descend the far side of the building where he would be out of sight. He crept past the guards at the front gate as quickly as he dared, and drew a sigh of relief when he had passed without incident.

Once within Leo hastened his approach to the lifts, remembering the last time he had been here with Lord Gaunt, then Prime Minister Riddle, nearly three years ago. He passed the security desks where once he had joked with the guards he knew so well, but now he crept by soldiers with assult riffles and wondered if it would be wiser to put knives in their backs to ease his escape later. He did. Then there had been civilians and servicemen alike gawking at 'The Chosen One,' now he crept invisibly towards the same lifts he had been escorted to before, dispatching a patrolling wizard with a slash to the throat and a silent scourgify to hide the blood evidence.

The lift brought Leo to the down to the department of Mysteries, where he marked the door he came through as he had seen his mentor do on their first trip down here. One spinning room and a short time later, Leo was walking through what was once the time room, before Axis forces had stripped it of all its research materials and time turners.

The hall of prophecy beyond was the only department not stripped of everything useful. The magics that protected the orbs within prevented any but the subject from withdrawing it's contents, so it had been left largely untouched. Of course, every spell has a counter, but no one had found one yet. With halls of prophecy in every major magical nation, all recording the same prophecies from around the world, the only reason to try and steal all the orbs from one would to be to rob a nation of access to them. Unless of course a small strike team of rebels from the country your currently occupying sneak into your capital and destroy your hall with 20 tons of C-4. Then you might want to do it to restore your shattered hall to some semblance of what it once was.

The question that stuck with Leo as he crept deeper into the hall was why? Not why the enemy was here, that would be due to the aforementioned op, but rather why bring Luna here? Was this just a trap set for 'The Chosen One,' or was there some deeper purpose to bringing a seer to the Hall of prophecy. While experience told Leo it was the former, his intuition was telling him it was the latter. It was just too... poetic, that a seer would predict her own death and be taken to the place where that prophecy would be stored, and if there was one thing Leo knew about magic it was that it loved this kind of poetry. That or his Black madness was playing tricks on him.

The time for contemplation came to an abrupt halt when Leo heard the sound of chanting from before him, "By the blood of the seer,"

Leo began to rush forward not liking the sounds of the ritual he was hearing, "by the air from her lungs,"

Leo reached an aisle down which the voice was coming. More then half way down the long aisle Leo could see Luna, her eyes blank as she stood with her bloody hand upon one of the orbs. Between them stood two wizards in the long red capes that marked Grindelwalds elite, behind Luna was one of the three men Leo hated the most in the world, Albus Dumbledore.

"By the soul that speaks fates decrees,"

"Sectumsempra, Lacerovisera, Sanguis-Acidum, Sangus-Acidum!" Leo launched a vicious spell chain at the two guards, who were taken by surprise by the invisible attacker. The left guard took the full brunt of His old potions instructors cutting curse, his face arms and torso seemingly sliced open by a storm of razors. The rightmost guard raised his shield just a second too late and took an organ shredding curse to the chest but blocking the acid blood curse, forcing Leo to reapply it; he was dead before he hit the ground.

Albus however did not stop his chanting, merely flicking his gaze to Leo while he tried to finish his chant, "free the fates as I shall free her soul, as she has seen it so mote it be!" There was a hum all around him, "Avada..."

Leo banished the body of the second man towards Dumbledore, who stopped his killing curse mid spell to turn and banish the man back. However as Dumbledores banishing charm hit him the second man exploded in a rain of acid blood, his shredded and liquified organs allowing the acid blood curse to spread rapidly, turning the man into an acid filled balloon. Leo knew the effect in theory, but seeing its effects was something else entirely; sometimes he sickened himself.

Dumbledore didn't recognize the blood to be acidic but still tried to vanish it away, he was slightly too slow though and ended up passing his wand hand through the blood before it disappeared. The old wizard screamed out in pain and dropped his wand in shock, pulling his hand back to cradle it against his side.

Leo seeing an opportunity to possibly end the old goat let lose, "Sectumsempra, cor-impedimentia, confringo!"

Dumbledore was not one of the most feared wizards on the world for nothing however. He called his wand to his left hand and blocked the first two spells with little difficulty before conjuring a stone to block the blasting curse. The stone was shattered at which point the tricky bastard banished the shards back at Leo.

Leo transfigured the stone chips to ball bearings, which he caught in a magnetic shield designed to stop gunfire. He was about to return the volley when Dumbledore wrapped his injured arm around Luna, trapping her in the crook of his elbow against his body. Leo froze.

"Hello, Leo my boy," The old man greeted him as if they had run into each other at the park, the bastard knew how much it grated him, "glad you could make it, and you brought the cloak too, how thoughtful."

Leo knew Albus could sense him even under the cloak, but he also knew it took some of the old mans concentration to do so; meaning he couldn't put all his concentration into the spells he cast, making them weaker as a result. Thus Leo didn't drop the cloak, even if the goat knew where he was, "You know I can't resist a party Albus," Leo responded, his voice equally cheery despite his rage, just another trait of the black madness, he couldn't resist the repartee, "Wheres the husband, Gillert working late again?"

Albus' face turned stormy for a moment at the jab before the mask dropped in place again. Leo had learned in one of their mental battles, the literal kind where each tries to rip the others mind and memories to shreds, about Albus' unrequited love. It was Leos favourite piece of ammunition because it never lost its sting. "Didn't your mother teach you words could be hurtful Leo, that was quite unkind."

And there it was, the jab at Leos dead mother, the Ying to his Grindelwald barbs Yang. Leo felt his wand hand twitch slightly but it wasn't the time to attack, Albus still had Luna in the spell path. "My mother taught me all about how words hurt Albus, you know how much she liked crucio!" He shouted the spell but didn't cast it, instead sending a wordless summoning charm on Lunas robes, as one could not Accio a living thing.

Dumbledore responded as Leo had expected, he turned sideways behind his shield to make himself a smaller target. This loosened his hold on Luna enough that the blank faced blonde flew right into Leos waiting arms.

Realizing the ploy to late, Albus launched a string of silent curses at Leo, who responded with a clearly incanted, "Protego Maxima!" which shivered but held under the powerful wizards barrage.

Luna seemed to be under the effect of a confundus or possibly even an Imperio, so Leo found himself half carrying her as he retreated from the powerful wizard. Leo did his best to get the cloak around both of them, but was unable to hide them entirely, leaving Dumbledore free to focus entirely upon his spell casting and battering down Leos shields.

As they reached the end of the stacks Leo dropped his shield for a moment between Albus' spell chains, "Vigilus Immortui, Sanguninus lamina, Protego!" His first spell animated the remaining corpse to attack Albus, while the second would momentarily cause the pool of blood to leap towards the elder wizard in a hail of blood red daggers. Leo blocked two spells from Albus with his protego before his inferius gained the old mans attention.

Albus predictably went for his favourite whip of fire to deal with the Inferius, only to have to abort that when the daggers flew at him. When Albus released the whip spell to turn the daggers to mist, the Inferius lunged him and seized his acid burned arm, snapping the bone with its unnatural strength before Albus severed both the undeads arms and banished it away from him, finishing it off with an overpowered incendo.

By the time that was done, Leo had carried Luna away from the old mans line of sight and ducked down one of the aisles. With his cloak wrapped Around as much of Luna and himself as he could manage, Leo took care to ensure that anything not covered would only be visible from his front, not his back.

"Come now Leo," Albus seemed to speak from everywhere at once, "You know you can not hide from me. Hand over the girl, its for the greater good."

Leo bit back a retort, knowing the old coot was using that hated phrase to get a rise out of him and make him reveal his position. Rather then rising to the bait, Leo took this temporary reprieve to delve into Lunas mind, carefully unraveling the confundus and compulsions that clouded her mind. When he withdrew his mental presence Lunas eyes sharpened back to their usual alertness.

"Leo? Where..." He cut her of with a finger on her lips before he brought that same finger to tap his ear twice. Seeming to get the message she nodded to him.

"Thank you, Miss Lovegood."

"Protego!" Leo whipped about, throwing up his shield just in time to stop a purple and yellow curse which hissed against his shield before extinguishing, "Protego Maxima!" His shield jumped in strength as a long spell chain of concussive, explosive, and piercing curses bore down on him. The chain was clearly intended to batter an enemies shields down and Leo thanked Lord Gaunt for his years of magical strength and endurance training.

Luna shifted Leos cloak to the side to access his courier bag. Withdrawing a handful of spare wands from the side pocket, Luna quickly found one that matched her best and returned the others before stepping to Leos side.

"Luna go, I'll hold him off." Her response was to shake her head while muttering a long complicated incantation in what sounded like an Asian dialect while weaving her wand and open hand in a complicated pattern. There was a sound like a crash of thunder before a thousand spectral horses appeared before her, rushing through Leos protego and stampeding towards a stunned Dumbledore with a force that shook the earth.

"Now, love, we run." Luna told him in her musical tone, always thick with the mischief of her Faerie ancestors. True to her words, she turned and sprinted away in her wonderful way that almost looked like a skip. She turned mid leap to look back and make sure he was following, backpedaling a step before she turned about again to face were they ran.

"You will not escape!" all pretense of pleasantness was gone from the old sorcerers voice.

"You weren't supposed to come." Luna called back to him, a touch of sadness lacing her melodious voice.

"Merlin and Morgan couldn't keep me away." Leo responded as they came upon the door to the time room.

"You don't understand," Luna blasted the door open and ran past shelves that had once held time turners and other mysterious devices, "There was a forked prophecy, if you had stayed away you'd be safe, now..."

Her thought remained unfinished, as the door they were running to burst open to reveal the intimidating form of Gridelwald, resplendent in robes of midnight blue and silver, a well trimmed goatee and mustache framing his pleasantly smiling lips, "Avada Kedavra."

Leo called upon an old Peverell family magic and turned Luna and himself into a black mist, which swirled away from the curse that would mean death in any form and towards a door to the side of the room. When he reached the door his mistform slid under the crack at its base, emerging in a room that seemed like some kind of naturally occurring cave. He reformed and spun to face the door, throwing up a rudimentary ward a moment before the door shuddered with the force of a powerful blow.

"Leo," Lunas voice was soft and tinged with fear, "I saw this."

Leo didn't respond, a fear was rising within his own chest at the words. He knew this room, Lord Gaunt had spent countless hours in here before the invasion; studying the arch way, the Veil.

"Ah, the death room," Albus had somehow managed to reach the other entrance to the room, how he got there so fast, Leo did not know, "How fitting."

Leo dragged Luna into the cover of a boulder as Albus' wordless spells, gouts of flame and multicoloured flashes filled the air where they once were. Leo realized he should have tried to block instead as the impact of the spells upon the door he had just warded shattered his quickly erected protections. A moment later the door flew open and Grindelwald stepped through with a look of triumph on his face. True to form, the man never hesitated, "Avada Kedavra, Avada Kedavra, acio."

The killing curses were stopped by Leos two hastily conjured steel disks, which Luna banished back at the dark wizard while Leo resisted the tug of the summoning charm on his cloak. When he was wearing the cloak Gillert was the only one who could summon it, Leo was clueless as to why.

"Fulmena Globus!" Leo didn't recognize the Albus' spell but he recognized the latin roots and he could feel his hairs stand on end.

"Fulmena Lancia!" Luna incanted in response with a twist and flick towards Gillert, who was raising his wand to cast again. For an instant the air around Leo and Luna filled with electric flashes that Leo realized was an orb of lightning Albus had created, then from Lunas wand a stream of lightning speared forth, gathering Albus' electric charge and redirecting it into a spear towards Grindelwald. Leo could have kissed Luna for her brilliance when she turned the much more powerful wizards attack into a counter attack of her own, but now was not the time.

"Draconis!" Leo cast the spell towards the elder wizard that was attempting to turn Lunas electric stream away. A pair of Dragons the size of horses sprung into existence at the same time that Albus conjured a large lightning rod to assist his comrade. The dragons opened their maws and released great jets of fire to take the place of Lunas lightning as a distraction.

Leo and Luna dashed from behind the boulder that hid them from Albus to try for a new strategic location. Gillert slayed the two small dragons with little difficulty, and quickly joined Albus in blasting apart every piece of cover the teens attempted to take refuge behind. The Dark Duo stood out in the open, side by side as if taunting their outclassed opponents, who were forced to use every trick both tactical and magical they knew to survive.

A bandoleer of active grenades was captured and contained effortlessly within a orb of energy, a hail of enchanted gunfire was met with a chuckle and a steel wall from Albus. Leos Bottomless bag of tricks was quickly being exhausted; months worth of enchanted weapons, incendiary potions, and temporary shield arrays were depleted in minutes. All just to keep the two teens alive in the face of the most feared Duo on earth. Then...

"The parties started without me I see." Leo laughed out loud from behind the last of his shield bubbles when he heard the voice of his mentor, "Drop the wands and we may let you live." Standing in the doorway across the chamber from where Leo and Luna were backed into a corner was Lord Gaunt with the inner circle of the resistance.

Kingsley Shacklebolt, 'Shaq', stood to the ministers right, a gatling gun engraved with a runic array for cooling and recoil control held at his hip and pointed at the two older wizards. The giant of a man seemed quite taken with the enchanted weapons that most wizards scorned as tools for muggles and squibs. He had taught Leo to use and maintain a wide array of armaments and ordinances.

To lord Gaunts right was Lupin, no first name, the man was an animal; he had completely given in to his werewolf side and whether as a wolf or a man he had no qualms about tearing out an enemies throat when wands failed. Leo still felt sore remembering sparing sessions with the lycanthrope.

To Lupins side was Fenrir Greyback, former alpha. The eunuch was once public enemy number one but was tolerated now that Lupin had taken his revenge and made him the half man he was today. Fenrir was kept on a tight leash, but when let off it he was a one man wrecking team; it was a mystery how he grew more dangerous and aggressive now that he was ball-less.

Beside Shaq was Lily Snape, Charms and Defense master, dark arts expert, and spirit of vengeance. The woman was once never seen without a smile on his face, but after the death of her husband she had become a shell of her self, possessed by the thought of tearing Gilert apart; only her daughter Rose could bring a smile to her face these days. Her lessons in charms and defense had become brutal after Sev' passed away, like she thought that by pushing Leo as far as he could go she was indirectly striking at Gridelwald. She was clearly hoping her most hated foe would keep hold of his wand.

For a moment Lilys eyes met his, conveying a silent question. Leo shook his head once, watching his one time tutors face fall, before it twisted into a look of fury which she directed at the Dark Duo. Later he would tell her how Rose had taken fifteen fighters down with her, but that story would have to wait.

Behind lord Gaunt was Danniel Granger, SAS and the only muggle to ever be admitted into the inner circle. He was a mystery to Leo. He barely spoke and never showed any emotion, he just ate, slept, and lived for the war. He had been in charge of teaching Leo stealth, reconnaissance, and 'information gathering.' Leo still had nightmares about their 'teaching sessions' with captured enemy officers. Granger had explained that wizards could prepare mentally for a Cruciatus but that pliers and drills unnerved them. That had preceded the most sleepless night of Leos life.

"All three in one place," Gillert smiled warmly, "I love it when a plan comes together." The old spider flicked his wand and explosions rocked the ministry.

"Avada Kedavra!" the spell came from three wands at once. Gillerts curse dropped Shaq, who was off balance from the quake, before he twisted fluidly out of the way of Lilys. The final spell sped toward Lord Gaunt, who was pushed out of the way by Granger, who took the spell.

A second later there was utter chaos. The two Lycanthropes turned to face a group of ambushers in red cloaks led by the traitor Malfoy, while Lily, Lord Gaunt, Leo, and Luna rained spells down on the Dark Duos position between them.

The Dark Duo were of mixed reactions; Albus became uncharacteristically serious as he mounted a steadfast defense, while Gillerts smile turned predatory as he dedicated all his attention to an unmatchable offense, his trust in his partners defense absolute. The two were awe inspiring in their synchrony and power. They acted like they were of one mind; a sword and a shield wielded by a single master.

Even when joined by two of the most powerful magicals in England, Leo and Luna were only now just overpowering the elder wizards. Lord Gaunt was considered one of the 'Great Seven,' the seven greatest magicals in the world, and Lily and would have a good chance of taking position eight, but their co-operation was nowhere near the level of the two they confronted.

Leo could sometimes anticipate his mentors strikes and compliment them with attacks of his own, but he had never formed a true master apprentice bond with the older man. Their co-operation was purely intellectual, not on the level of the seemingly psychic wizards before them. He also tried to sync his attack and defense with Lily, but the woman was fighting in a manner that was much more feral then usual. He could never tell when her feint would turn to a defense and when she was truly abandoning defense to get one extra strike. Lord Gaunt seemed to be in a similar position to Leo, except it seemed to fall to him to try and guard Lily when her reckless attacks left her wide open.

The battle progressed, pushing the Duo out of the center and towards one of the doorways to the death room, where the cross fire of spells on them was on a less obtuse angle. Meanwhile, the Duos flanking forces had pushed the lycanthropes back into the death room and diverted some of Lord Gaunts attention. Lupin summoned Shaqs gattling gun, but with the sheer number of enemies they were facing it was not doing much to turn back the tides.

Luna slowly inched towards Lord Gaunt and Lily, attempting to pick up the slack in their defense left by Lord Gaunts split attention. This left Leo to abuse his invisibility and strike at the duo and their reinforcements freely, while their counter attacks were limited to wide area spells due to an inability to pin point his location in the chaos.

However this shift in position resulted in the duo circling to the position previously held by Leo and Luna; reversing the original crossfire to the duos advantage. Soon Leo found himself joining Lord Gaunt, Lily, Lupin and Luna in a defensive position around the veil. Lily and Lupin carried with them many enchanted weapons and shield stones that Leo had, and took this opportunity to deploy them. They could all see that the end was drawing near, and if not for the battle holding his undivided attention Lord gaunt would surely be telling Leo 'I told you so.'

"Leo smoke out." Leo glanced at Lord Gaunt out of the corner of his eye before dropping his shield, launching a bone burning curse and raising a new shield again.

"We wouldn't make it out, I'm not fast enough to avoid them all."

"You are if you go alone." Luna put in with a determined edge to her voice.

"No." was Leos equally stubborn response.

"She's right," Lily put in between a string of some of the most complicated curses and charms Leo had ever seen, "You and Lord Gaunt are more important then the rest of us. Get out."

"I won't leave you all to die!"

Lord Gaunt hissed in anger, a string of what were undoubtedly curse words issuing forth in parseltounge. Leo wasn't a parselmouth but he thought he caught; idiot child, dead, listen, girl, and like I told you, between expletives Lord Gaunt had never taught him.

"Leo if you die for me I'll never forgive you." Leo could tell from her tone that Luna meant it.

"If I leave you to die I'll never forgive myself."

"Stay and we all die, leave and we can avenge her! Come!" With one last command the other Peverell descendant turned to a black mist and shot up into the air, weaving around the curses that could harm him and ignoring the rest on his way to the door.

The loss of the powerhouse was felt immediately by the strain on their defenses. Not a single offensive spell left the group as they dedicated their power to self preservation.

"Go!" Lily shouted dropping her shield to conjure a large stone, stopping a killing curse a few feet from the group.

"Leo..." He didn't see who fired the banisher, but it zipped through the temporary gap in Lilys defenses and struck Luna on her side, knocking the air from her lungs and interrupting her plea.

Time seemed to move in slow motion for Leo. Luna became airborne, twisting as she lifted from the ground and flew towards the veil. He might have shouted something, he wasn't sure, but when she passed through the misty white gateway Leo felt like all the air had left the world. He lunged after her, not caring about the gap he left in their defenses.

Something tugged on his invisibility cloak, but Leo was moving too fast and the near liquid cloak, smoother than silk, slipped their grasp. In a moment Leo was through the veil, a reductor destroying the archway behind him.

There was a sensation almost like walking through a spider web, as if a thousand near intangible silken threads were drawn across every inch of Leos skin. The sensation lasted just a moment, but it made Leos skin crawl. When it passed it was replaced by a painful tugging in his chest, as if someone slipped a fishhook under Leos iconic lightning bolt scar and was trying to reel him in. The pain made Leo stagger but years of fighting through worse kept him on his feet. The next sensation that Leo experienced was crushing the sound of countless, discordant, ethereal voices, as if the whispers from around the veil had turned to shouts.

Leo had stepped into a world of bright whites and greys. A forest of white barked elder trees with grey leaves and shining white flowers spread to his left and right, lining the bank of a whitewater river which churned violently as its waters rushed past.

The cacophony was so loud that Leo couldn't even hear himself think, but when he called out, "Luna!" his voice was more... real; so much so that it made the others sound like the whispering mice.

"Leo?" Luna voice held a sad quality that broke Leos heart.

"Luna, I'm here where are you?" Leo reached to pull off his cloak before he realized it was no longer invisible, further where it was once silver it was now a deep black that seemed to pull in the bright light around him.

"Leo," the spectral form of Luna drifted towards him from out of the river, "you shouldn't be here, you need to go."

"What do you mean, where are we?" Leo reached out to pull Luna to him but she stepped away from him, seeming to float. A feeling of dread began creeping up within him, like the icy aura of a dementor, except this came entirely from with.

"You know where we are," Luna scolded him lightly, "you know I hate when you ask stupid questions."

Leos mouth had gone dry and his words scrapped in his throat like sandpaper, "We're in the veil... we're dead."

Luna gave him an odd look, as if he had said something confusing, "You really don't know?"

"Now who's asking stupid questions?" Leo quipped weakly, trying and failing to inject his trademarked humor into his tone.

"Well your half correct; I am dead," Luna cocked her head to the side as she looked at him, "but you're not. You're ancestors cloak protects you."

"My cloak?" Leo looked back at his now quite visible cloak, "how does an invisibility cloak protect me?"

Luna shook her head, "Not an invisibility cloak, the invisibility cloak, the one that came before all others. It's not like all the imitations because when you're wearing that even death cant see you."

"You mean like in the fairy tale, The Tale of The Three Brothers?" Leo asked, thinking back to the days before his parents died. His mother wasn't the type to tell bedtime stories, but she had a soft spot for that one, she would tell it with excitement in her voice and a manic gleam in her eyes; though truthfully she had done most things with a manic gleam in her eye.

"Yes, but it isn't just a fairy tale. The brothers in that story were the Peverell brothers, and your cloak is one of their deathly hallows." She paused to look at him oddly again, "No one told you?"

"Who would have told me?" the moment he asked the question he realized it was a stupid one, "Wait, you mean Lord Gaunt don't you?"

Luna nodded, "He came to my father asking about the Hallows years ago. He had found Grindelwalds symbol in an old Peverell journal and wanted to know what my father knew about it. My father told him the story and explained that he thought it was about the Peverell brothers. After that he took you to claim the headship of the Peverell family; we thought he told you."

"I never heard a thing about it, till now." Leo shook his head, "He told me the prophecy, and he never tried to take the cloak, why wouldn't he tell me?"

"I don't know but..." Lunas head snapped to the side and she surveyed the forest wearily, "You have to go, leave here."

Leo followed her gaze and saw a figure in a black cloak like his own striding towards them. In its feminine hand was a foot long helve topped with a wicked blade, like that of a German war scythe, that was half again that length. The figures other hand was almost skeletal it was so thin and bony, and it held a lantern that swung on a short chain, filled with a silver flame.

"Who..."

"It's Death. Leo, you need to go, If she catches you..."

"Death? She?"

"Yes Leo, focus." She snapped her fingers to draw his eye, "You need to go back to your plane before she realizes your not one of hers."

"On..."

"The dead," she answered before he could ask, "go now, I don't want to see you until your old and have stories to tell me about your dozens of grand kids."

Leo hesitated as he looked into her tear filled eyes. He was possessed of the sudden urge to toss off his cloak and just let himself be taken, but she seemed to sense his thoughts, "On the life debt you owe me, you will never just let yourself die! Your not allowed to give up do you hear me!"

Leo flinched, he always did when he got her angry enough to yell about something. He felt that calling on the life debt was a low blow but he couldn't deny the request after his magic deemed it acceptable. One absolute command, that was all she had ever, would ever, asked of from the debt, whats more it was a command to save his life once more, and so he was compelled to obey.

"Luna?" the one word conveyed an ocean of sorrow

His body turned against his will to survey the gate at Leos side. The archway was empty, the connection on the other side no longer active. For a moment he tasted victory, before his body turned on its own and spotted another archway across the river; a spirit ejected from its misty opening, flying swiftly into the churning waters. A passenger in his own body he began to run.

"Luna, please!" he couldn't stop running up river, but he could turn his head enough to see her watching him. She wasn't alone.

"Don't do it cause it's easy," She called out to him, her tears flowing freely, "do it cause it's worth doing."

Luna turned from him then, turned into the waiting arms of Death. The cloaked woman swept Luna up in her arms almost comfortingly, like a mother would her child. Then Leo lost sight of her as he reached to edge of the river. His body forced his sight to the edge of the embankment, where the grey grass of the washed out world turned to black gravel and sand. His wand moved on its own to conjure a bridge across the rapids, which up close he could see was a torrent of wailing souls, and the source of the cacophony that assaulted him.

He managed to force himself to look back as he crossed the river. Death was looking right at him, the gaze made his heart jump in his chest. She released Luna from their embrace and swept around her, moving rapidly towards the bridge. She reached it as Leo made it across and his body began to run towards the archway before him.

"Where are you son of Peverell?" it was not a voice, it was an angles choir speaking in perfect harmony, "again you tread where you do not belong."

Leo had reached the other archway and managed to force himself to pause once more. This compulsion was stronger then an imperious as it came from his own magic, but his will was iron, and he just wanted one last glance. He turned his head, and was face to face with death.

Within shadows of her hood a pair of golden eyes stared out at him. Her face was frightening, one half too beautiful to be human, the other boney and fleshless like that of an inferius; but yet somehow even the undead side held a twisted reflection of its mirrors beauty. That face held a triumphant smile, one which only curled the lips of the living side, "You can hide your soul, but not the other!"

Her hand swept up and bore back down swiftly with its wicked blade, but Leo was already leaping away. Once more something tugged at his cloak as he approached the veil, but this time it was the drag of a scythe as it tore into his cloak. The blade caught in the fabric and twisted from its owners grasp as Leo again felt the sensation of a thousand silken threads on his skin.