"HP: Birth of Devotion"
- Samhain -
A/N: Don't own squat, 'cept the plot.
Canon, What Canon?
This was in my Bits and Bobs, but can stand alone as a one shot.
I am intrigued by The Endless, but I haven't had the pleasure of reading the originals. That being said, this was inspired by "Path of Decision", by lulu42. While that was a fantastic read, the ending wasn't what I was prepared for. I won't spoil it if you wish to read it.
Rather than let the reader guess about what's going to happen, I'm going to simply spell it out: The title is literal. The Endless are seven 'known' personifications. Death, Destiny, Destruction, Delirium (or Delight), Despair, Dream and Desire.
This story will be the journey of the birth of Devotion, the Eighth Endless, formally known as Harry James Potter.
He even has the proper hair for it. *snorts*
History of The Endless
Contrary to whatever has been written down by those who think they know what The Personifications of Existence are all about, the eight siblings were not born in the same instant. Well, insofar as linear time would measure things, at any rate.
Destiny was first with the birth of the omniverse, and was given knowledge of how creation would play out by The Creator. Everything that would happen, he was aware of. Unfortunately, the drawback would be in not being surprised about anything whatsoever. If something went astray, he would prod things along until it was back to where it was supposed to be. All in all, a rather boring existence.
Death was second with the advent of life. As ironic as it was, she was born with the first spark of life, as opposed to the first living organism's death. As she's been known to say, she'll be there to turn the lights out and put the seats up when things were done.
Dream was third. First going by Morpheus, he eventually became tired and wanted dreams of his own. To that end, he made himself forget and became mortal for a while. After that life was over, he kept his mortal name of Daniel to remind himself of the frailties of mortal existence, and to keep himself humble. He became more kind as a result of that.
The twins Desire and Despair came next. While Despair immediately identified herself as female, Desire couldn't make up hir mind for quite some time. However, shi played the role of a seductress more often than not, and actually came to like thinking of herself as female. On the other hand, she had no qualms performing as a male to get what shi wanted either.
As for Despair, the more in tune she became with her domain, the more she became her 'name'. Over time, her tall proud form reduced to a squat, obese woman who tended to cut herself with various sharp and not so sharp implements. She also became quieter as time rolled on.
Destruction was next with the first supernova, born screaming. With his first steps, war was felt in the omniverse. After revelling in the chaos of violence, he eventually became disillusioned with it all and stepped back. Dream intrigued him with his tales of life and tried it himself, then retreated to his own realm when that was over. Whenever his siblings would visit, he could be seen doing various acts of creation, but wasn't very good at any of them. The only one who liked his music was his baby sister, but then she could be considered tone-deaf, so her praise was suspect.
Delight came into things with the birth of creativity and abstract thought, dancing as she went. Her flower flew away and became a fish, and she eventually got lost in her own world, eventually becoming Delirium and following the sparkly fishies wherever they went in a happy daze.
The youngest? Well, that's a bit of a story...
12 Westeros Lane, Godric's Hollow – 31 October 1981
It was Death's day out. She did this on a regular basis, taking a form for twenty four hours. She called it 'getting in tune with the mortals'. Dream and Delirium would stare at each other, shaking their heads every time she said that.
Desire would always chide her with 'Oh, admit it. You want to feel something other than what you do for a living. How many times have you copulated on those days? Don't lie. I know better.'
Death would never admit it, but they were right. She needed to feel something. Her aspect was an absence of feeling. If gone unchecked for too long, her apathy would turn to cruelty with those she took. That happened a few times in her existence, and she always felt guilty whenever it happened. So, she needed to remind herself of what the mortals do, think, and feel.
Not to mention that the sex was fantastic.
It was a few minutes before midnight when she approached her next haunt. This choice was twofold. Lily was quite beautiful with her deep scarlet hair and full figure. Death always saw herself as petite, so 'wearing' someone as svelte as this one was always an eye opener. It usually made her quite randy, too.
The other reason was the fact that Lily was her little brother's mortal mother, and she thought it would be nice to give the lady some hope for her son's future.
Surprisingly, Despair met her at the door. Then again, it wasn't all that surprising. Lily and her husband were full of despair as they hid themselves away, in an attempt to avoid Destiny's final line for them in his book.
They didn't say that much to each other, save for a sallow 'hello' to one another. She felt her big brother waiting upstairs, while he watched their baby sister make faces at their baby brother. It was one of the few times that Delirium was lucid, returning to her original Delightful self in her attempt to distract the small family from their misfortune. Desire and Dream were in the corner of the living room, bickering as usual.
Rather than spend days arguing with someone who's time was nearly up, Death simply pulled the mortal's astral self out of time and had an honest discussion. That way, it wouldn't matter how long it took, and she would have a full twenty four hours.
Like normal, Lily screamed in terror for over an hour, wailing about how unfair everything was. Death simply held her in an embrace as she cried. Eventually, as always, Lily agreed to the merger and allowed herself to sit back in her own mind and watch the last day of her life unfold. It was only Death's assurance that her son would survive, that she would agree to this. Lily didn't even mind that Death would seduce her husband multiple times over the course of the day.
That part was funny.
After spending three hours exhausting James in the middle of the night, Death stayed up and tended her little brother, holding him as he slept, and cooing and playing with the toddler when he awoke.
The rest of the day was different iterations of boffing James into various stages of bliss and stupor, and playing with Harry.
That evening, the seven siblings all paused as they felt their wayward brother approach, and could tell he was angry as he followed the madman to the house. And yes, all seven felt him. Little Harry actually flinched as he felt the time coming. Death sighed and spent several minutes simply holding Harry while snogging James.
Then the wards on the house crashed.
James was off the sofa like a shot. "It's him! Lily, take Harry and run. I'll hold him off!" Death kissed him once more and rushed to the nursery.
Despair was the only one remaining downstairs, and stood behind James with her hand on his back. 'Fight like it's your last, because it is,' she whispered to him. 'Hold nothing back, for he shall not.'
Despair watched as the front door blew apart, and witnessed James throwing everything he had at Voldemort. Lions of all sorts and sizes came from the furniture and other debris, only to be cut down. Spells, light and dark, were all deflected by the madman as James went insane in his protective rage.
Destruction stepped through the door behind Voldemort, glaring at the monster while giving energy to James, fuelling the father's spells. Voldemort's cackles were debilitating to hear as he eviscerated the conjured and transfigured objects and animals, while deflecting curse after curse. He was simply terrifyingly fast.
"You will fail, Potter!" Voldemort hissed at him. "You should have joined me. We would have been glorious together!"
James never paused his wand, but was able to get out a rather verbose "Fuck you, Moldy! CRUCIO!" as he actually cast his first cruciatus.
"Oooh," Voldemort cooed as he ducked aside. "There it is! That darkness!" he cackled. "I knew you weren't Dumbledore's golden boy."
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" James screamed.
A silver coloured shield sprang up between them, taking the death curse with the sound of a gong. "Better, Potter," Voldemort tittered, returning an identical curse without saying the spell.
James' conjured slab of marble came up a split second late, and his surprised face fell backwards as his conjuration shattered. The pieces flew over his falling body and took out the wall and banister behind him.
"But not good enough," Voldemort sneered in triumph.
"No!" James bellowed, then blanched as he saw two others in the room appear. He turned around and saw his body on the floor. "Shite! RUN LILY!" he shouted upstairs.
'It's too late, James.' Destruction said. 'This is over for you, but your son will survive.'
Paling, James shook as phantom tears went down his face. "Swear it. Please, swear it."
Destruction gave him a grim smile. 'I, Godric Goldwyn Gryffindor, swear on my existence as Destruction that your son will survive this night, grandson.'
"Gryffindor?" James asked with wide eyes.
Destruction nodded. 'I was bored and wanted to see what the fuss of living was about. Row was a beast in bed,' he smirked. 'So was Helga.' James laughed like a madman as Destruction followed Voldemort up the stair. 'Come along, James. You don't want to miss this. Salazar is going to be so disappointed.'
"Salazar?" James asked as he followed.
Destruction nodded. 'This was his last chance, and he blew it.'
'His agony will be exquisite,' Despair said, startling James as he noticed her following them.
"Endless," James realized aloud.
'Yes,' they both replied.
"Why are you here?" James asked, before he heard his wife begging. "Oh Merlin," he breathed. "Please don't let him torture her. Please!"
'This is the fulcrum, James, and I promise,' Destruction swore as he stepped behind Voldemort, placing his hands on either side of the monster's head, inflaming his mind.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort bellowed.
James cried out in anguish as he saw his wife fall, only to become confused. Instead of Lily's ghost standing there, he saw a tiny pale teenager that was dressed in black. The ankh around her neck told him who she was. Someone grabbed a hold of him from the side, and he was surprised when he saw that it was Lily. "Lils?"
"Hello, darling," Lily said as she wept.
He held her as he watched the teen. "Is that who I think it is?"
Lily chuffed a snort through her tears. "Yes."
"I was shagging Death all day!?" James shrieked like a little girl.
Lily laughed, along with Delirium, Death and Dream. Destruction just snorted while the others smirked.
'If it makes you feel any better, James,' Death said with a wry grin, 'I haven't been shagged like that in centuries. Thanks, stud,' she winked at him.
"Yes, uhm, well," James stuttered as Destruction moved himself between Voldemort and their son. "Lily, please don't kill me. I had no idea," he babbled rapidly.
"We're dead, you idiot," Lily said with a pensive grin. "Besides, I gave her permission and felt everything. So, technically, you didn't cheat. And she was right. Today was fantastic."
"Oh. Well. Okay." James sputtered out. "Little weird, though. Dunno if Paddy will clap or laugh at me."
Lily snorted. "Both, most likely."
"True," James smirked.
Time seemed to slow as Voldemort raised his wand once more. 'Move out of the way, you two,' Destruction ordered.
Seeing the defensive posture of Destruction, Lily and James stepped further into the room and stood next to the head of the cot that Harry was standing in. To their astonishment, he wasn't crying and was watching them as they stood beside him, only to turn his little green eyes towards Voldemort with a hateful glare.
"I've never been more proud," James said as he watched his son stand in defiance.
"Aaaaavvvaaaadddaaaa Keeeddaaavvrraaaa," Voldemort's distorted and slow voice incanted. The Endless and the Potters watched as the green beam of death slowly came from Voldemort's wand.
"Mummy loves you, Harry!" Lily shouted.
James was just as loud. "I will always be proud of you, son!"
Destruction's right arm cocked itself and swung, hitting and reflecting the curse with his bare hand. 'Goodbye, Salazar,' he said flatly. 'I loved you like a brother, you moron.'
Voldemort's red eyes went wide as he saw the beam hit nothing and bounce back at him. Since the beam was still leaving his wand, he didn't have time to dodge or conjure anything. The beam hit him with the force of a miniature magical atomic bomb, causing him to explode.
Desire, Despair, Delirium and Dream surrounded their little brother with all forms of shields: The red haze of lust, the black mist of anguish, the sands of sleep, and a multitude of fish and flowers all protected Harry and his cot from the debris of the explosion, as the roof of the cottage detonated.
'GOT YOU!' Death shouted in triumph as she snared a rather ugly soul. Seeing it, and barely managing any sort of grip on this travesty, she was surprised. 'What the hell?'
'Soul Jars,' Destiny stated flatly.
Death was beyond livid. 'CHEATER!' she bellowed.
"You'll never catch me!" Voldemort shouted as he wriggled free of Death's grasp. He flew away cackling and screaming. They all heard him shout, "I am the Greatest Wizard of All Time!" as he departed.
'You had fun with him, didn't you?' Despair said dryly, rather than asking her brightly dressed sister.
'Didn't have to,' Delirium shrugged. 'He twisted himself into my domain alllll on his own,' she said with a sigh.
As the only one paying attention, Destiny stepped forward and swung his book. 'Oh no, you don't,' he stated. Everyone flinched as a dark wisp screeched when the book struck it.
"What was that?" Lily asked in a whisper.
Death nodded to her brother in gratitude. 'It would appear that Tom Riddle shredded himself so much that this caused him to fracture. The screech was that fragment's… well… death cry, if you'll pardon the pun.'
"Peter," James growled, drawing everyone's attention to the rotund man as he stumbled into the room.
Pettigrew looked about the destruction in dumbfounded shock. His typical expression, really. After a bit, he shook himself and stared at the empty robes of his master. Seeing what he was after, he snatched Voldemort's wand and changed into his rather appropriate animagus form. This was just before someone else rushed into the room.
James and Lily were stoic in their scowls as they watched Severus Snape come completely unhinged. He didn't say anything as he knelt beside Lily's body, then broke into horrific sounding sobs as he half fell over her.
"No touch mummy," little Harry said, glowering. His head flicked backwards slightly, and Severus Snape flipped off of his mother to impact the wall.
Severus looked at the child in fearful awe, then snarled his outrage.
"GO 'WAY!" Harry screeched. "NO HURT MUMMY!"
Standing, Snape stared at the child's vibrating form. The glare of hatred the toddler was giving him made him shudder. He shouted his anguish as he twisted in place, disapperating from the cottage with a loud crack of noise.
"Good boy, Harry," James praised. He was surprised again when his son turned to look at him and Lily.
Lily's eyes widened. "He can see us," she whispered.
Death nodded. 'Of course he can. He's one of us.'
"I beg your pardon?" James blurted.
Gasping with wide eyes and a smile, Lily was incredulous. "Is he really?"
'Yup,' Destruction nodded, popping the 'p'.
"I don't get it," James said in his confusion.
Sighing, Lily looked at her befuddled husband. "James, these are Death, Destruction, Destiny, Delight, Desire, Despair and Dream," she introduced, pointing at each one as she did so.
He shook his head. "I got that part."
Snickering, Lily kissed him. "Harry is their youngest brother."
"Pardon?" James blurted, even more confused.
Destiny turned to look at the mortal. 'Devotion.'
Blinking rapidly, James didn't know what to think. "Truly? Our son?" he whispered.
'Indubitably!' Delirium said with a happy smile as she twirled in place. 'And he's so adorable! I could get lost in those eyes forever! I'm not the youngest any more!' She squealed as she bent down and kissed Harry on the top of his head. He looked up at her and smiled sadly, his lips quivering.
Seeing that, Lily knelt in front of him and looked through the bars of the cot. "No, no, baby. It's going to be okay. I promise. Sirius and Remus will take care of you, I promise."
"Pa'foo?" Harry asked, tears going down his face.
Seeing that, Despair backed away with a frown. She chastised herself, and reigned in her aura. It didn't seem to help, and she gave Delirium a pointed look. 'Do something,' she ordered. 'He's still mortal.'
Before anything else could be said or done, everyone heard a mournful howling from downstairs. "Nooooo! James!"
"Sirius," James said. "Oh, brother, I'm so sorry."
Lily looked to the door, hearing her friend sobbing, then turned back to her son. "Harry. Call Padfoot. Shout for him, baby. Shout Loud!"
Harry turned his head to the door, panting. "Pa'foo," he mumbled.
"Louder, baby," Lily encouraged him. "Make him hear you!"
Panting louder, Harry breathed in and screeched. "PA'FOO!"
"Yes, baby!" Lily praised. "Very good!"
Sirius' sobbing stopped abruptly, and they heard, "Harry?" There was a clatter on the stairs. "HARRY!"
"Pa'foo!"
Sirius stopped at the door and braced himself against the doorway. "Oh, Merlin. Lily." Looking up, he saw his godson panting and keening. "Harry," he breathed. Stepping carefully around Lily's body, he reached into the cot and gently lifted the toddler out, holding him close to his chest. "Got you, Pronglet. It's gonna be okay," he said shakily, before he rocked back and forth, crying again.
"We should've listened to Lily, Padfoot," James said, wiping his eyes. "She was right. She's always right. We double-bluffed ourselves. Peter was the traitor, not Remus."
Rocking his godson, Sirius was slowly becoming enraged. "Peter," he snarled under his breath.
"Don't you dare, Sirius Black!" Lily screeched in his ear. "You take care of our son! You swore!"
Closing his eyes, Sirius shook his head then looked at Harry. "I swore," he whispered. "I swore," he repeated, "and I meant it."
"Can he hear us?" James asked.
Death shook her head. 'Not exactly. To him, it's like he's talking to himself.' She turned to look out the window. 'We're almost done, here.'
"Who's coming?" Lily asked, moving to look over Death's shoulder. "Hagrid? What the hell is he doing here? He can't even do magic!" Closing her eyes, she quietly cursed. "Dammit. Damn that goat fucker." Turning, she looked up at James. "Dumbledore Lied To Us!" she shrieked. "This was a Trap!"
Completely pissed off at himself, James stepped forward and put his mouth to Sirius' ear. "SIRIUS ORION POTTER-BLACK! APPERATE TO GRINGOTTS! RIGHT NOW! ACTIVATE THE WILL! DO IT NOW!"
"He lied," Sirius whispered. "That goat fucker lied to us." He paced for a bit, then heard Hagrid wailing downstairs. Turning wild eyes to the door, he paused.
"YOU SWORE!" Lily screeched in his ear. "GRINGOTTS! ACTIVATE THE WILL BEFORE DUMBLEDORE DOES ANYTHING! DO IT NOW, YOU IDIOT!"
"Gringotts," Sirius whispered as he looked at Harry. Hearing heavy footsteps on the stairs, he steeled himself.
"APPERATE!" James bellowed in his other ear.
Giving a firm nod, he decided and spun on his heel. He was so focused that there wasn't even a whisper of noise as he left.
"Oh, thank God," Lily exhaled as she put her hands in her hair. James stepped forward and held her close. She nearly collapsed into him as she sobbed in relief. "Thank God."
"Lily," Hagrid said as he came into the room. "Oh Lily, nooo," the half giant mourned. Wiping his eyes, he looked up at the sky in the destroyed room, then down at the cot. His head turned this way and that rapidly. "'Arry?"
Stepping gingerly over Lily's body, he bent to look under the cot. "'Arry?" Not finding him, he stood up and turned around. "'ARRY!"
'Time to go,' Death said quietly. As she stepped toward them, Hagrid's frantic yelling became somewhat muted.
"Will Harry be all right?" Lily asked through her tears.
'Yes,' Destiny nodded once.
James turned to the Eldest of the Endless with hope in his eyes. "Sirius succeeds?"
Destiny nodded once more. 'Yes.'
Everything caught up to him then, and James smiled through his own sobs. "Thank you," he wheezed.
'We'll do anything for our brother,' Delirium said with a wide grin.
Nodding, Desire agreed. 'Yes, we will.'
'Family is everything,' Dream said. 'Without Devotion we're meaningless.'
Lily looked up as the cottage faded from around them. "Will he find love? Will he get married? Grandbabies?" she babbled.
'Oh yes!' Delirium said as she danced around them. 'One of mine! She's wonderful!' A clown fish swam after her, with a blue tang bopping behind and around the clown fish in circles.
James could swear the blue fish was singing 'Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming,' as it went by.
'One of mine as well,' Death said, causing the deceased parents to gape at her. 'What? I'm not all about the end of things. I'm bloody smart, too!'
"So," James said as they faded into the afterlife, "Does that mean Harry's going to have two wives?" he smirked.
"JAMES CHARLUS POTTER!" Lily scolded, outraged.
James laughter faded away as they went to the beyond.
Destiny looked about the cottage and nodded with a smile. All was well. He then smirked as he heard a roar of outrage in the distance. 'No one outdoes me, 'goat fucker',' he chuckled dryly at the insult as he followed his youngest brother to the bank.
The empty cottage was smouldering, but the fire wards were suppressing things nicely.
A house elf popped into the nursery and nearly broke down on seeing her mistress on the floor. Bending over, she closed her mistress' eyes, holding back a sob. "Tibby loves you, mistress," she sniffled. "Tibby takes good care of young master and Siri, don't you be worryings. Tibby promises."
Looking into the cot, Tibby spied a stuffed black dog and a stuffed brown wolf. "Be joinings Prongsy, you will," she said with a firm nod, snapping her fingers. The two toys were banished to her young master's old room. Blinking rapidly, she saw the stuffed grey rat and scowled. "You no be goings anywheres, Wormy." Snapping her fingers again, the stuffed rat exploded in cotton and polyester, before vanishing.
Nodding again with a huff, she turned to her mistress and fought her tears again. "Takes youse home, Mistress." Moving over, she crossed Lily's arms over her chest, then took a hold of her wrists. Sobbing once, she snapped her fingers and popped away with her.
Downstairs, a similar thing was occurring with James. This house elf wasn't as successful in holding back his tears though. "Dobby promises to take care of Master Harry Potter, sir. Tibby and Dobby both takes cares of young master. Dobby promises!"
Standing, he held his hands up and pulled the Potter family magic, closing the wards and sealing the summer cottage. Another elf was popping about the house, collecting belongings. Looking back down, Dobby blubbered and wiped his nose with a hanky. "Dobby takes you home, Master James. Dobby takes cares of everythings!"
"Mitzy!" Dobby called out.
The other elf popped in front of him, with tears going down her face. "Mitzy done, Dobby."
Nodding, Dobby looked down at James. "Takes you home, Master James. Ta-takes you home."
The two elves closed James' eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. Together, they held his hands and popped him away.
The youngest birth was the most difficult in that he was mortal first: Foretold in Destiny's ledger; which was pilfered by drunken sot with delusions of adequacy; that brought about the desire for obliteration; which would live in agony in the remembrance of death, wishing for something better – only to find faith in his own convictions, and discovering the strength that comes from within. The Devotion of the eighth would be the foundation for the other seven.
While a few could call him Love, Loyalty or 'Devotion', (the new age god of love and forgiveness for some) his siblings would always simply call him Harry. It was the only thing he really wanted, and they were happy to do so.