Nec mortem effugere quisquam nec amorem potest
-No one can flee from death, or love...
Prologue
And so they waited,
Witness from conception,
In silence bated.
Companion through life,
More constant than any lover;
In peace and in strife.
Our suffering, ameliorated;
With humbling consolation,
Until the hour fated.
And so they waited,
Now and forever,
In silence bated.
-The Companion, Death and Bad Poetry
~
And he remembered what it was that he had forgotten, that caused such a nagging sense of longing.
It was a lock of red hair...
~
As Harry vanished, what was once Albus Dumbledore looked upon the Master of Death.
"I trust that was to your satisfaction." He said in an almost diffident manner.
What was the Master of Death, toyed with a lock of red hair. "Yes, thank you Albus, that was the simplest way to do it. I can wait a lifetime, for that part of me to return, a lifetime of love, struggle and mortal woe..."
His lips were quirked in a buddha's smile, neither effusive nor grim, but rather the faintest trace of what could be either the begginings of amusement or the start of a scowl.
He spoke softly, in a voice not meant to intimidate yet did. His green eyes cool. "It matters not how long a wait, a hundred lifetimes if need be...if that is what it takes to settle my affairs then so be it. In the end, I will return to myself... it is, inevitable..."
The wizard with him smiled, "If I may ask, what do you intend to do in the meanwhile?"
Harry shrugged, "The next universe over seems mildly interesting, I think I'll go there... But enough about me, it's time."
The old man smiled, "I must admit that I been looking forward to this," He hesitated, "Do you think..."
"Don't worry," Haary patted the man on his back as a train pulled into the station, "Sometimes, princesses do marry their prince."
The smile he earned in return for that unspoken assurance could have illuminated a city.
Alone again once Dumbledore was away, Death's master looked from at the babe squalling on the floor of the station, to the ticket counter at the shadowed end of the platform.
Past the counter, was a locked gate...
Idly, he fished through a coat pocket, "What to do..."
THE SEVEN LAWS OF MAGIC
1. Thou shalt not kill by use of magic.
2. Thou shalt not transform others.
3. Thou shalt not invade the mind of another.
4. Thou shalt not enthrall another.
5. Thou shalt not reach beyond the Borders of Life
6. Thou shalt not swim against the Currents of Time.
7. Thou shalt not seek beyond the Outer Gates.
Ar-Rashid, the Gatekeeper went rigid so suddenly that the rest of the Senior Council, with whom he had been meeting, noticed it immediately. He did not acknowledge Ancient Mai's concern, nor the Merlin's demands for answers but instead gaped in horror.
In the back of his mind was an ominous sound that filled him with what could at best be most charitably described as dread. He was terrified.
That sound, it was the turning of a key...