The Deal
Normal Speech
Thoughts
/Parseltongue/
*Mind Speech*
Prologue: Meeting Lucy
Quick A/N: Rated M for language and potential future depictions of violence or adult themes. Future entries may contain light to heavy bashing of certain characters, I haven't decided yet. This is my first story I've published, and it hasn't been beta read yet. I apologize for any mistakes made, if they're pointed out to me I'll fix them up, but I think I caught all of them. I hope you enjoy!
A flash of green light pierced the night sky. A young, raven-haired, emerald-eyed man fell to the ground, dead. Laughter erupted from the circle of masked figures in dark robes, as they followed their pale leader out of the forest to conquer the world.
Harry Potter awoke to a bright, white light. The last thing he remembered was being struck by the Avada Kedavra curse, then falling as he blacked out. He sat up, trying to get a sense of his surroundings. He felt like he was in a purely white, misty train station- King's Cross, perhaps? he thought to himself. As he turned around, he noticed a shadowy figure standing behind him, wearing a pitch black cloak that seemed to be made of darkness.
"Who… Who are you?" Harry asked the figure. It glided towards him, slowly, and his hand instinctively went to his pocket to try and grab his wand, the Patronus Charm already on his lips, when he found that his wand was gone. He tried to back away, but the figure was still steadily gliding towards him. Harry soon decided to accept his fate, as he knew he was already dead.
The figure stopped in front of him. Its arms reached up to the hood of its cloak, revealing slim hands gloved with black leather. It lowered its hood, and Harry saw that it was actually a she. The woman had pale, white skin, crimson eyes, and piercings on her nose, lower lip, ears, and eyebrows. Her hair was long and jet black with streaks of purple, except for the sides, which were shaven and entirely purple. Harry also noticed that she had two small horns protruding from the top of her skull.
"You ask me who I am?" the woman asked with an American accent. She continued, "I have been given many names throughout my existence. You might recognize some of them, such as Hades, Beelzebub, Loki, Set, Mara, Death… Most recently I believe they call me The Grim Reaper, Satan, La Diabla, and Lucifer. You may call me Lucy at the moment. I rather like that name." As she was speaking, Harry noticed that her teeth seemed to be sharpened into points, with her canines being slightly longer than the rest, and that she had a split tongue, with a blood red tongue ring pierced through each half. Surprisingly, her voice was light and cheerful, and almost sounded like she was singing.
"Death..? So, you created the Deathly Hallows?!" Harry exclaimed.
Lucy chuckled. "We'll get to that bit at a later time. Right now we need to address the fact that you are, in fact, dead, and that I am in need of your services."
Harry was silent for a few minutes, trying to let the fact that he really was dead sink in. Then, realizing something, he spoke up. "Wait… You said you were Satan. I've never been a religious person, but I know enough to know that you're an evil being. Why should I trust you?"
Lucy laughed again. "Well, it's not as if you really have a choice. You are dead, after all. I'm just here to give you a second chance. Besides, if those stories were actually true, you would be going to Hell to be tortured for all of eternity for being a nonbeliever, so there's really nothing worse I could do to you. The truth of the matter is that I'm the Goddess of the Dead. My job is to guide those who have died to the afterlife, and to be the primary caretaker of the Underworld, or the Spirit Realm. It is true that some of the more evil souls receive punishment, but that isn't for me to decide. Though it is true that I am a bit of a mischievous trickster, and I have a fairly dark side, those stories about me being evil are completely misconstrued. Also, technically the gods can no longer interact with the Physical Realm, long story, but since I have to be able to collect the souls of the fallen, I'm the exception. My prankster side combined with the fact that I don't follow the gods' Rules have given many of the modern religious members the idea that I'm an entity of Evil."
"Oh. Well, I don't really have a choice other than to trust you, I suppose. So, what do you want from me?" Harry asked.
"Oh, quite the same as what you want from me." Lucy smiled at him. "I want you to go back to the Land of the Living. and complete your mission of obliterating that abomination Thomas Marvolo Riddle. No man is meant to live forever, and the rest of the gods agree that I should restore your soul and give you a second chance. Naturally I'm going to use this as a chance to mess with the Mortal Realm more than usual without them being able to do anything about it, but that's beside the point."
"So, you need me to return to my body so I can defeat Voldemort. What happens after that? Am I to just die again? Sacrifice myself? I can't kill Voldemort if I'm the one keeping him alive, can I?" Harry slumped against a wall, sliding down until he was sitting on the ground.
SMACK!
Harry looked up at Lucy, startled as he felt the side of his face burning in pain.
"You fucking idiot! Pay attention, will you? Didn't I mention that I'm planning on interfering? Or that I happen to be the Goddess of Death and that I'm upset that such an unnatural soul is wandering around, stealing the lives of innocents who weren't supposed to die yet? Of course you'll succeed, you'll have my personal help." With a satisfied nod towards him that implied that that was that, she took Harry's silence as a chance to put her glove back over her slender hands. Harry noticed that he fingernails were somewhat long, pointed like claws, and were the same dark purple as the streaks in her hair. Not that you'd know this," she continued after replacing the glove, "but we can't even begin to work towards defeating old Tommy boy until after we make a Contract, which both of us have to agree to. So you can make sure you'll have all the time and help you need, and you'll be able to check to make sure I'm not going to screw you over in the end. How's that sound?"
"Well, alright then. I guess that makes sense. But how am I supposed to kill him without killing myself first? And did you really have to slap me? That bloody hurt!"
"Yes." Lucy smirked down at him before lending Harry her hand to help him to his feet. I'm sending you back without that piece of his soul connected to your's. So you won't have to willingly walk to your death this time around, hoping someone else will finish him off for you. You need to go back and survive. With you dead, the Light side of the Wizarding World would have become disheartened and broken, allowing Tom Riddle to take control, and gain enough power to make himself nearly invincible, even without his horcruxes. So, we need to send you back to guide them on the right path and, with my help, defeat Riddle."
"Okay, okay, i get it. So, Lucy, what and where is this contract we need to sign?" Harry asked.
"Not contract. It's a Contract. Put some emphasis into it. It's important and deserves a capital letter."
"Alright, fine. What and where is this Contract we need to sign?"
"Much better. To answer your question: we need to create it. First we need to go over some details, then we write them down once we've decided on them, then we both read it over and sign it if we agree on them. You'll get your own copy, of course. The terms we agree to will be in effect for all of eternity, including after our goal is completed and after you eventually die. Now, here are the terms I suggest:
"One, I will return your soul to your body some time before your Fifth Year, the exact time is up to you, and you will remember everything that has occurred. Two, I will assist you in any way that I can, including, but not limited to, helping you in battle, giving you advice, letting you know others' true motives, and improving your personal knowledge and skills both related and unrelated to our goal of kill Tom Riddle. Three, I will never lie to you, and I will answer any and all questions you have for me. In addition, you will never lie to me, and you will answer any and all questions I have for you. Four, I will protect you and a select few of your closest allies to be protected from Death until you would normally die of old age. After you and your selected companions die you will be taken to the Spirit Realm and judged just as any Soul would. I will not own your soul or anything like that. The exact number of allies and who to protect will be decided after our goal is completed and will be added to our Contract. Until then, I will help protect your most important and closest allies, but those you do not select will lose that protection after we update our Contract. Five, I will grant you some special powers to aid you in reaching our goal, which you can keep for the rest of your life, and even in death. These power are allowed to break certain physical and magical laws, however because you are a Mortal there will be limitations. These powers will be chosen by you and, if I accept, will be added to our Contract throughout our time together. Powers to others can and will be granted, however they will have more restrictions that your own will. They will also last beyond death. Six, you will not be able to speak to anyone about our Contract, or even my existence, unless I give you explicit permission first.
"Those are my initial six terms. If you would like to alter, add to, or subtract any of these terms, you're free to do so. We will continue going back and forth until we reach an agreement and begin to write the Contract."
Harry stood for many minutes, contemplating each and every term, considering any disadvantages to him, or if there was anything he'd like to change or add. He wished Hermione was here with them, she would be better at thinking things through than he was. After approximately ten minutes of thought, he finally decided that there was only one thing he'd like to add to the Contract.
"Well," he said, "I can't find anything I'd like to change about your terms, except that I'd like a few others to remember what's happened so far as well, and to be allowed to know about what happened to me."
"Hmm..." Lucy thought for a moment or two. "I accept, but I can only allow one other person to remember. Oh, and no one who has died yet for two reasons. First, if they remember being dead then suddenly come back to life, it could be enough of a shock to damage their minds. The only reason it won't damage your mind is because we're still in the Purgatory Realm, and therefore you're still experiencing your existence as a member of the Living rather than the Dead. Secondly, they would know too much about the gods and the afterlife, and the other gods don't want that getting out. Like I said before, I'm the only god who can interact with the Physical World, therefore I'm the only one Mortals are really allowed to know anything about. Also, this person will have to be agreed upon by both of them, and before I allow them to remember I will have to judge them to make sure I agree they're trustworthy."
"I accept," Harry replied.
Lucy reached into her cloak and pulled out what seemed to be a white, glowing parchment and what Harry recognized as a blood quill. He instinctively cringed and rubbed the back of his hand where the words I must not tell lies were still inscribed.
Lucy, noticing this reaction, spoke up. "Don't worry, mine is a painless blood quill. If everything goes right, we'll be able to prevent that from ever happening. I'm sure that bitch will get what she deserves in the coming years." At this it was Harry's turn to smirk, his darker side showing as he imagined being able to take revenge on all those who had abused him throughout the years. Lucy took notice of this and grinned at him, showing off her sharp teeth.
"Well, I certainly hope I'm not rubbing off on you too much. But, it should be fun seeing the Wizarding World having to deal with a much stronger Harry Potter than they're used to. Now, what time would you like to go back to?"
"My Fourth Year, towards the end of the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament."
"Ah. To save Cedric, I assume?"
"Yes. But also to catch Wormtail and Voldemort by surprise."
"Well now, that should be interesting. You won't be able to kill Voldemort, of course, but you should be able to stop him from receiving your blood and get revenge on the rat while you're at it."
"I plan on getting Sirius freed before that happens."
"Oh, but of course. Well, the Contract is all written up. The special powers and protection of allies will be addressed at a later time, as I mentioned before. Care to take a look?"
Harry took the parchment from Lucy's hand and examined it. The wording was almost exactly what she had said earlier when listing her suggested terms. He made sure to check for any small print or phrasing of words that could come back to bite him in the arse later on, but he couldn't find anything.
"It looks good to me. Where do I sign?"
Lucy took the parchment from him, then drew two lines next to each other beneath to terms of the Contract. She then signed her name (or, at least Harry assumed it was her name. It was written in strange, ancient looking symbols that he didn't recognize.), then handed it to Harry. he signed on the second line, then he felt the parchment heat up and flash bright white, except for the glowing crimson that marked their signatures. He then saw that both he and Lucy were holding identical copies of the same parchment, which was no longer a glowing white page, but instead an old, yellowed piece of parchment.
"Don't worry about how it looks," said Lucy. "It's indestructible, and is invisible to everyone other than the parties involved. Keep it folded up and in your pocket, and you'll always be able to find it on you, no matter what, even if you change clothes."
"Thank you, Lucy. I'm counting on this to work."
"I am too. Now, let us let this adventure begin." She took off her glove again and waved her hand in front of Harry's face. He immediately blacked out, then his body slowly dissolved into ashes and disappeared. Then she placed the glove back on her hand, and her hood over her head, and walked off, her body fading into the mist as she left the Purgatory Realm.
A/N: No, Lucy will not be Harry's love interest in this story. I think they'll become close friends/allies, but Harry's love interest, if he has one, will most likely be Hermione. And no, Lucy won't betray Harry. She's going to be a hero/anti-hero with a bit of a dark side, not the typical bad guy devil.
A/N 2: I don't plan on going too deep into the gods aspect of this story. Lucy's the only god we'll see. As interesting as it would be to get into some kind of history of the gods or the different Realms or whatever, I feel like it'll just be too much for the story. While we're on the topic of gods, note that this is fiction, and I'm not saying that anyone beliefs are right or wrong, Personally I don't believe in any gods, and you shouldn't be offended if I make the villain of your story the hero of mine. Just because you consider that character real doesn't mean I can't create a fictional version of that same character.
A/N 3: I'm not sure how much of a regular updater I'll be. This is my first published story, I have a few drafts saved on my computer for other stories, so I haven't really gotten into any sort of flow yet. This is just the first one I feel like I have a good enough idea of where to go with it in order to actually be able to publish it. Also, any criticism or advice is appreciated, as I'm sure I've missed a few mistakes I've made or I worded something in a strange way that makes it hard to understand. In any case, if you've made it this far, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy the story so far and that I'll be able to finish it and many more for those who do.