Repaying the Debt
The war had ended. To all that survived, it felt like a breath of fresh. To Harry Ron and Hermione, it meant that they could finally relax. Harry had the thought of taking his friends to the bridge and snapping the elder wand before throwing it over the edge to show them that there would be no more fighting over it.
But before he could do that, a commotion occurred in the great hall. Seeing everyone raise their wands and point them at the centre of the room, he turned around to see black wisps of smoke rise up from the ground. Believing it to be another Death Eater, Harry raised his own and prepared to fire off an expelliarmus. That is until he noticed that the wisps of smoke weren't forming the shape of a person as it would do for a Death Eater. Instead a figure slowly rose out of the darkness that the smoke created, cowl pulled over his head, but unlike any of Voldemort's followers, this being had no skull-like mask on and part of his face could be seen.
When the being rose all the way out of the ground, all could see that he stood over six feet tall, his cloak covered all of his body with at least a half a metre laying on the ground. He held no wand within the confines of his hand, though that didn't stop anyone from taking a step back from the intimidating thing.
He turned his head to the right, eyes focusing on each and every person in that direction and lingering on the Malfoy family for a moment longer. He then turned his head to the left, eyes lingering on Neville for a moment longer as well.
It was when he looked in front of himself, did all of his attention stay focused on one person and one person only, Harry Potter.
Even after just fighting the world's most feared wizard, Harry felt even more intimidated by this unknown being, enough to look down, away from its piercing gaze of which he could not see. He noticed that the beings cloak looked to be made out of the same material as his invisibility cloak. That is until he noticed something no one else had noticed. The being's cloak had a hole in it, the same size as his cloak.
It took Harry a moment to realise just what that meant. It meant that this being had come to collect what was rightfully his. Harry reached into his pocket and slowly drew the stone and wand out and took a cautious step towards the being, gaining the attention of everyone.
"Mr Potter! What are you doing?" whispered/yelled one Minerva McGonagall, voice full of worry.
Ignoring the worried looks on everyone's faces, harry stood in front of the being and raised his hand, still holding the stone and wand and spoke.
"I believe that these are yours." He told the being.
Harry heard gasps from the older witches and wizards, as they had heard the story of the Deathly Hallows and who had made them as well as the confusion that was being voice by the younger generations that didn't know what Harry was taking about. He noticed from his peripherals that Ron and Hermione were looking at the being in fear.
McGonagall's shock wore off first and she spoke, a light tremble in her voice.
"Mr Potter, you are not insinuating that… that being is Death, are you?"
Harry allowed himself the courage to look up at the being he believes without a doubt to be Death and told his professor, "Yes." He continued to look upon Death and asked him, "You are, aren't you?"
All in the great hall held their breath as the being slowly stretched out his hand, gloved in an extremely dark black material, before first removing the elder wand with his index and thumb. He held it closer to his face, shadowed by the darkness of his cowl, as if inspecting it before nodding slightly and snapping it in half by slightly squeezing his thumb and finger. All watched as the two halves of the wand fell to the ground and shattered into tiny particles.
Lowering its head to look at the destroyed remains, he then revealed a black dress shoe with a pointed tip, which he then pressed down on the little remaining pieces of wood, erasing the elder wand from existence for good.
Death raised its head and took the stone out of Harry's hand with his thumb and index finger and held it slightly above its head. It slightly squeezed them together and it started to crack. Everyone expected for the stone to crumble to pieces but were surprised when Death kept the stone still in its hand and when the last of it crumbled away, they saw that underneath it was a purple sphere.
They all felt the power radiating from the stone and was not expecting for Death to remove its finger and thumb from it. They also weren't expecting that the stone would stay in the air as if held in place by some unseen power.
Death turned its attention away from the stone and towards the Weasley family, who stiffened as he took a couple of steps in their direction. Molly stood in front of her family, wand at her side but ready none the less.
Death stopped less than a metre away from the Weasley matriarch, turning its head in the direction of her son's dead body. Nodding slowly, it turned in another direction before it started to walk out of the circle that had been formed because of its appearance.
Harry watched as Death travelled around the great hall, stopping at every dead body of every individual, even the death eaters. At the first body it stopped and leaned down before raising its arm and placing its hand above the body. Everyone watched as a glowing white wisp left the body from its chest and into Death's hand.
Harry watched Death most likely take the souls of everyone that died in the battle. Though he didn't take the souls of a couple of people. Colin Creevey, Fred Weasley and surprisingly Nymphadora Tonks were the ones that death didn't take the souls of. It even took Remus Lupin's soul.
After doing all this, Death walked back past the floating purple stone and stood directly in front of Harry. They were all surprised when they heard a deep gravelly, male voice come out from beneath the cowl.
"Yes… I am." Confusion ran through everyone, but Hermione cleared it up for them as she asked him a question.
"So you are Death?"
"I am indeed what you mortals call death. Though Grimm Reaper is what I am used to, I was considering a change of name. Yes, Death does sound nice." He told her.
"You were collecting their souls, weren't you?" Harry asked.
The Reaper looked at him and spoke with no emotion in his voice.
"I was indeed collecting the souls of the dead."
"But why leave three?" McGonagall asked.
"The deal was for three." Death spoke cryptically.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
It was then that a new voice called out from the other side of the hall, deep and gravelly but with an echo to it.
"He means that he had lost a bet and owes some lives,"
Everyone turned with wands at the ready, not expecting to see a replica of Death leaning against the wall. Though instead of black, this beings cloak was coloured white and he was surrounded by wisps of thick, bone-white smoke.
"White." Death nodded in the new arrivals direction.
"Oh mighty Death." The now known White spoke with a dramatic bow. "Still have that gambling problem?"
Gambling problem? The witches and wizards were not expecting Death to have a problem with gambling.
"I do not have a gambling problem. If one is willing to make a bet and if I were inclined to accept it, then I would." He told the opposite coloured being.
Ron, not being able to keep his mouth shut, asked Death, "Is he also Death?"
Death looked at Ron and said in a voice that travelled around the great hall.
"He is Death and he is not. He is a part of my power given form to do my duties as the Grimm Reaper when I am otherwise occupied."
"What he said is true." Spoke White.
They all turned their attention to White, only to notice that he was looking somewhere else. Removing himself from the wall he strode a couple of metres in the direction he was looking and spoke calmly.
Orokana jōmyō no jibun jishin o akiraka ni shimashita. (Reveal yourself foolish mortal.)(Used google translate. If you know the real translation, please tell me.)
Upon those words being spoken, his arm shot out and his hand looked to grip around nothing. That is until the air cracked and shattered, revealing Bellatrix Lestrange with a shocked expression on her face.
Molly was the most shocked as she thought that she had killed the deranged witch.
"H-how is she alive?" she asked.
"Illusions." Spoke Death, his voice filled with disgust.
No one wanted to say anything as long as Death was looking not to be in the mood.
White leaned towards Bellatrix, his sadistic smile showing now that the shadows of his cowl were not covering his white chin.
"Now… what to do with you. Do I just take your soul… or do I send it straight to hell." His voice sent chills down the spines of all in attendance. The most notable was Bellatrix, whose body was shaking in fear.
His other hand slowly removed itself from his cloak and was reaching for the middle of her chest, her heart to be precise, but it was not to be as suddenly Bellatrix Lestrange was no longer in his grip.
Hearing a gasp of breath, everyone looked towards Death and saw that the crazy death eater's wrist was now in the Grimm Reaper's grip.
He slowly used his other hand to slide her sleeve back, revealing her dark mark to all. The only ones to have any worry for the dark witch were her sister Narcissa and surprisingly Hermione.
"How interesting," spoke Death with what all could identify as intrigue in his voice. "Your mark is different than the ones on the others. I wonder why."
"W-what a-are you t-talking about?" Bellatrix asked with a stutter.
"This mark has been modified to change the bearer, make them submissive, take away their morals and be given joy in pain." He told her.
"I was right!" Hermione whispered under her breath, though Harry was just able to hear her.
"What do you mean Hermione?" he asked her just as quietly.
"After Dumbledore died, during the holidays I researched most of the death eaters before they joined Voldemort. When they were still attending Hogwarts, I had found out that Bellatrix Black was protective of her family members and was an independent witch, she never was submissive to anyone." Hermione would have continued had the crowds gasp not caught her and Harry's attention.
They turned to see that Death's cloak was being held in his hand as how he looked was bared to all.
He wore a black suit, black pants, white shirt with a red tie hanging loosely from under the collar and the top button undone as well as sharp-pointed, sleek black dress shoes. His orange hair was tied at the back, part of it was braided and hanging down to his chin on the left side of his head. His irises were brown but his sclera and pupils were pitch black.
"Well… I definitely wasn't expecting you to show yourself Pātonā (partner)." White said before reaching up and removing his own cloak, revealing that he looked exactly the same as Death but was white.
His suit was the same, fully white, while the shirt was black and was not buttoned at all, revealing a body many would consider perfect as well as having no tie. His white hair was done the same way, even the braid and his eyes were the same except for instead of brown irises, his were a sickly yellow.
Both of them would definitely be considered handsome.
Death lifted up his black cloak and slid it softly over Bellatrix's dark mark saying, "With this, you no longer are under control."
When he removed his cloak, they saw that the dark mark was no longer there. She suddenly fell unconscious and would have hit the ground, had Death not caught her and laid her down. He then turned towards the Malfoy family and walked towards them and did the same to them that he had done to Bellatrix, though they did not pass out.
"Why did you do that?" McGonagall asked with confusion clear in her voice.
"If one were submissive of their own free will, I would not do anything about it… but if one were made submissive, then I would change that." He told her.
He walked back to the middle of the great hall, where the purple stone was still floating in the air. He rose his hand and snatched it out of the air before turning to everyone else and speaking.
"You may have only known of this as the stone, but what it is really called is the Hōgyoku or Breakdown Sphere in your language. It is an ancient stone that has the power to grant wishes. Even bring back the dead."
As Death said this, three different coughs were heard in the hall, each one belonging to Fred Weasley, Collin Creevey and Nymphadora Tonks.
The Weasley family quickly got over their shock and crushed Fred in a group hug, tears falling from their eyes. Even Ron had run over to join them. Colin was helped up by Professor Sprout and quickly given a blanket to keep warm. Tonks looked towards her dead husband and had tears in her eyes.
"Why am I here? I thought I died." She asked.
"You did." Replied White, before continuing, "You just so happened to have been picked as payment."
"Can you please explain what this bet was that is making you bring people back to life." Harry asked Death.
"The deal was for three as I said. A man that had passed through the gates to my realm made a bet that I could not resist. His soul would reside in my realm anyway and since his body had passed through with it, if I had won, I would have had a new member to collect souls with. If I lost, I would allow some who had died to come back to the realm of the living."
"And what was the bet?" Harry asked.
"If he could guess three or more paintings out of fifty that had significant meaning to me, he would win. Each one he got correct past three would add one more soul to the ones that I would revive. He was just lucky to guess the third one, so he won… and here I am paying for it." Death told him.
McGonagall cleared her throat, gaining Death's attention.
"Where is this gate to your realm that you speak of?" she asked
"It, I believe is within what your kind call the Ministry of Magic." He answered.
Harry was shocked, as he believed that he knew exactly who Death was talking about.
"W-who made the bet?" he asked.
Death looked straight at Harry, before speaking in a clear voice that echoed around the great hall.
"Sirius Black."
EXTRA
"So… you want me to tell you why these paintings are significant and if I get three or more, you will allow some that will die to continue to live?" Sirius Black asked death.
They were standing in a room with fifty paintings hanging on the walls of either side.
"Yes. But know that if you do not get three correct, your soul and body belong to me." Death responded.
"Well… this should be easy." Sirius said sarcastically.
Walking around the room, he spotted a painting of three people together, a man with dark hair and a beard, holding two girls in his arms. One resembled him a lot, with hair the same shade as his, though she had a scowl on her face and the other had a lighter tone of hair colour, with a big smile on her face.
"This is your family, isn't it?" Sirius asked Death.
"When they were alive… yes." He replied with an emotionless voice, holding up a finger. "One down, two to go."
Sirius got the next twenty wrong before he came across one that interested him. It showed a horned demon ripping the arm off of a winged demon, while standing protectively in front of a man and a woman.
"You were protecting them. But you lost yourself." It wasn't a question and all he got in return was a nod from Death and the raising of a second finger.
Sirius got all the rest wrong except the last one.
"I… I… don't understand. What is this?" he asked but received no answer from death.
What he was looking at was a blank painting, no colour at all. Yet when he walked closer to it, he saw that there was a thin layer of water covering it. He reached out to touch it, only to find out that his arm went all the way through it. He felt the liquid surround his arm and could taste a saltiness on his lips. Realising that it was tears, he quickly turned towards Death and asked.
"Is this… is this your despair?"
He didn't get a reply as Death only raised a third finger before disappearing in a swirl of darkness.
Sirius allowed a small smile to grace his face and spoke to no one.
"So I guess I won."
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[A.N.]
So I'm guessing that no one was expecting another new story. Well, as I have said in one of my other stories, I work better when I have more stories to work on.
Another thing to mention is that I am trying not to have the same kind of Ichigo in my stories. All should have differences, things that make them more different than the others.
Like this one, where Ichigo is Death/Grimm Reaper.
I will be putting a little something about each Ichigo from my different stories in my Bio. They won't be spoilers, just something to look at.
Also within my Bio, I will be adding ideas for new stories, so check it out and leave a review on any of my stories on if you would like to see it done.
Also when you give a constructive review, it would help me a lot as it would get me thinking of other ways to write these stories.
In other words, reviews would be really appreciated. Also please mention if I have made any mistakes.
Also how do you feel about Hermione x Bellatrix or Hermione x Tonks being in this story?