This is my Attempt answer to Reptilia28's challenge; even if they are a lot of this time travel fics, I have read other and hope this one makes to their standard.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and its series; they belong to JK Rowling (even if the books 6 and 7 were the worst deception I had, needed to read Arthur Conan Dyle to recover)
"If you can live a hard life, it means you have to ability to smile"….. Master Makarov – Fairy Tail
************************************************************* Chapter One: Death is not like they paint it
Coldness, loneliness and despair were the emotions that flowed through the body and soul of certain teen. Harry James Potter lay on the floor as the feelings and bearings returned, to his body
"I am sorry Harry." a feminine voice sounded in his head and hisgreen eyes immediately opened at the sound. He knew it from somewhere but couldn't place where.
Searching the area for her, maybe she will have an answer for him. Instead he discovers that he is alone. Looking around gives the impression that he is in what appears to be the entrance of a mixture of a Greek and Scandinavian temple, when he is about to stand up another memory hits him with brutal force.
Her body was pale, blood dripped from her chest while her breathing was shallow, but still her eyes were concentrating on the person that was holding her tight to his chest.
"I'm sorry," She says, her voice cracking while he stares into her eyes. "I should have been stronger."
"No! You don't have anything to be sorry about Mione, please don't say anymore you're going to be alright." He responds, with a strained voice from the tears that flow from his eyes, tears for his friend.
He wants to say more but the image of a red haired girl appears in his mind trying to distract him. He is soon able to push it aside as his resolve returns. However before he can continue she speaks, what will be her last request.
"Don't say anything. I know I will leave soon…please do me a favor?"
"Anything!" came his whispered reply.
"I always longed for this, please kiss me?"
He tried to say something, anything. That she was the girlfriend of his best friend. That he had another in his life, but when he stared into her brown eyes, eyes filled with something he searched for all of his life. Pure love, his resolve cracked.
He responded by leaning forward and placing his lips on hers. The first sensation was the taste of blood, then for a moment, revulsion, which vanished quickly replaced by the feeling of her soft and warm lips.
One part of him was afraid. Another was trying to make him back away, telling him that this was wrong but that feeling was wrong, artificial even. Another part of him enjoyed it and wanted it to last forever. Yet another was crying and suffering because he couldn't comprehend why he was both torn and happy.
The last sensation actually scared him. It was the loss that came when the warmth of her lips started to fade. In that instant was when it finally hit him with full force. He stopped kissing her and swallowed while tears continue to stream from his eyes. She smiled and her soft hand caressed his cheek mouthing three words, words that illuminated his world before it came crashing down around him when her hand dropped and she lay there cold and lifeless with a ghost of a smile on her lips.
Tears flowed as he remembered that moment, he failed her and because of that she was dead, a chill formed in his chest along with the guilt, and doubt. He would have just sat and cried. When a sound nearby made him glance up.
"You again?" came a female voice from the bushes, full of annoyance. "How many times do you need to come here before you manage to get it right?"
He was on his feet searching for the source of the voice. What he found was a cat, sort of. It was a kind of black cat with little bat like wings on its back and a green ribbon around its neck. Used to strange things he didn't bat an eye but still asked the question that came to mind when he heard the voice
"Who are you? Where am I, and how are you able to talk?"
The cat assessed him for a moment, spotting the tracks of drying tears. She realized antagonizing him again wouldn't help.
"My name is Black Rose," But you already knew that. She thought to herself before calming down a bit, "You're in the DDO, the place between Earth and the Afterlife, home of the grim angels and where souls are judged to determine the next place they travel. As to why I talk well I am special." She said with a feline smirk, before moving closer to him.
"DDO? Afterlife? Grim Angels?" seven years of magical schooling didn't prepare him for any of this.
Seeing the confusion on his face Black Rose couldn't help but giggle a bit. Well at least he isn't boastful like other souls or cursing the air like last time. That was enough for some trainee angels to learn new methods of cussing. She thought. "DDO or Death Destination Office is like your veil, some people call it The River Styx and it is the place were the dead come and are judged by their grim angels, or as people call them death angels, before joining the Afterlife, now follow me we are going to be late."
It took almost a minute for all the information to sink and when it did, well it wasn't pretty.
"What, land of the dead? Am I dead? What happened to the war? Where is Hermione?" he asked before Rose's last statement became clear. "Did you say grim angels as in more than one?"
Sighing Black Rose simply stared at him making the boy stop talking. "We will answer that in a moment, now follow me we are now late." she said in a tone that McGonagall would have been proud of, and the implied 'Now!' before she moved in the direction of a Temple.
Following the cat closely, deciding he had already done stranger and more dangerous things like stumble upon giant spiders, undead, a basilisk and chase the eventual female teenager, so following a talking cat wasn't a reason to be worried, at least he didn't think so.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"To see your grim Angel" Rose replied as they walked through the doors of the temple. That is if he hasn't lost his job thanks to you, she added silently.
Confused the young man looked around while following Rose, the interior of the building was a bit abstract, like a mixture of an ancient temple with statues, paintings, armors and high chandeliers and a office building with the doors, name plates and a strange center desk with a bubbly orange haired girl as the secretary.
"Rose back again? Don't you ever rest?" came from the girl behind the desk. When she looked up from Rose and noticed him she said in an amused tone "You again, you know Fia might get jealous that you get visit Ein more than she does during work?" and broke into a fit of giggles "Are you sure you don't swing for the other team?"
Before he could respond, a little angry about what she implied especially since she doesn't even know him, the cat beat him to it. "Lina this is not the time for that kind of joke, and yes we came to see Ein." Before adding with a mischievous smile "Besides you know that Fia will get very angry if she finds out about this."
Noticing the tone she suppressed another giggle before responding "Well come in before he is drowned in paperwork….again!" Lina said and a set of doors changed color and opened. Black Rose entered while the Harry silently followed, this time his silence wasn't because of anger at her comments but when the doors opened he remembered an important fact, he was dead, but at that moment he wanted to know how?
A dark haired person was seated at the desk in the center of the office; he appeared to be average height, and had a focused look in his eyes while working on the documents on the desk. He didn't seem remarkable, well except for the two dark feathered angel wings sprouting from his back.
He was so engrossed in the papers that he didn't detect the two enter his office. A minute later while the green eyed teen continued to stare at the wings while trying to remember something Rose stopped becoming amused and started getting annoyed.
"Ein, Ein!" sighing Black Rose jumped onto the desk and yelled. "EIN!" The shout was enough to break the concentration of both males and it worked so well that the angel jumped back toppling the chair and falling to the floor landing on his back
Harry was about to go help and check if he was ok, remembering the time Hermione did the same to him in the library, and told him it was a bit painful. When a groan from behind the desk indicated that at least he was conscious.
"You don't have to shout Rose, I was only working on some transfers from heaven to earth." the winged man said while standing up and rubbing the back of his head. "So what's new?" he asked giving the cat a pleasant smile
"Well you know soul 33354… he is back" she remarked casually. While the boy who didn't survive looked around his body for any number to identify him
"Mmm 33354…..isn't that?" raising his eyes in order to lock gazes with green eyes, suddenly recognition dawned on him while his blue eyes widened "Oh crap…" came like a soft murmur along with Ein running his hand down his face in frustration.
Making signals for the both of them to sit down while he picked up his chair, once he was in it a cup of tea appeared for the human, and angel and a saucer of cream in front of the cat.
"Ok so how did this happen…again?" Ein asked in a neutral tone.
Rose responded "I still haven't asked" before sighing "But from his physical appearance I can tell some time later, around six months later." She continued before sipping some of the cream.
"Wait six month since last time, what are you talking about?" was the thought of the green eyed teen
The grim angel turned his head to the teen in front of him before sighing "Harry, do you hate me, do you really want me fired?" this was not an attempt to guilt him, the question sounded sincere.
"I don't think so, I don't even know you well except that your name, is Ein I believe, and you are supposed to be a death angel, my death angel." Harry responded trying to processes everything that was happening.
"Right then…" Ein paused a bit to take a deep breath before. "Then could you please tell me WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DYING BEFORE YOUR TIME?" this time he was actually screaming in his face, the calm an aloof look he had earlier was replaced by a glare. "You know the mess we have too clean up every time you fail in life, not only my job as a grim angel is in danger, but also your failure means the death of so many other people before their time!" he finished in a cold tone.
Rose was looking a bit startled, normally Ein was calm, and if Fia was in the equation a bit goofy, so it was rare for him to lose his temper.
Harry on the other hand wasn't one to leave this, in the past he would only nod and accept the responsibility but right now he was annoyed. He was dead and most importantly he was too much in the dark for his liking.
"Look I have no idea but I have been hearing that I died and have come here many times. The problem is I don't even remember so could you please stop telling me it's my fault and explain me what the hell is going on?" he asked the normal friendly tone that was always present on his voice was now missing.
The grim Angel blinked at the controlled and frosty tone, before pondering a bit. "You don't remember…. Oh, right they always erase the memory of the people that enter here to prevent massive religious outbreak and similar" this time his tone was sheepish while he scratched the back of his head " Sorry I forgot about that, well let me explain a bit then."
"Good" was the simple response, At last some answers. "Could you please explain to me what you meant about me dying before my time?"
Ein saw his face and decided to tell him, even if he won't remember it at all in a little while. "Look do you know what destiny is?" seeing the boy nod he continued "Well let me tell you that what you know about it is pure bullshit, Fate doesn't control everything, many can fight their destinies and choose their lives, but some times there are some conquest or events one must do in order to live a plentiful life, do you follow me?"
This time Harry hesitated a bit, ok so there was no destiny but there is, that is a bit confusing.
Seeing the confused look on his face Ein decide to explain a little more. "Yes is a bit confusing, but what I'm telling you is that everyone has the ability to choose how they live, but sometimes there are things that only they can do?" sipping a bit of tea he let the information sink in. "Or in your case, you are supposed to be raised by your godfather, allied to other families I don't even remember the names of, kill the self-proclaimed Dark Lord, find your soul mate and live until your two-hundred and fifteenth birthday, along with you wife and your children and grandchildren and so on."
"Soul mate?" this time Harry's tone was a bit skeptical, he may live on a magical world but that doesn't mean he knows about them
"Soul mates are what you would call a marriage made in heaven, is the other part of your soul, with her (or sometimes him) you fill complete, you feel each other's pain, know what the other wants or thinks with only a glance. Many don't fall in love directly but if it happens it is a bond almost unbreakable." this came from the Cat that had been silent, it was said in a wistful tone.
"Oh, so you mean Ginny?" this time the teen responded in a happy tone, but something inside him was a bit hollow.
"No she isn't the one I was talking about." responded Ein while checking his files looking for the name of the girl "I think it was some Granger girl, I don't know."
"Granger girl, wait does he mean" he though before asking "Wait are you telling me my soul mate is Hermione, but she was with Ron, and what about Ginny?"
Ein Sighed, he forgot about that, pressing a button to call some one while he tried to explain, every time he died after his fourth year he had to do this. "Look, tell me what you feel for this Ginny?" before Harry could respond "Doesn't it feel a bit hollow like something is missing?" seeing the wide eyes gave him his answer.
Before Rose or Harry actually spoke the doors opened and a cloaked figure passed though them, the figure was tall male, the cloak covering his body and a hood covering his face, the only thing visible were his eyes in a cold green/aquamarine color, his hands carrying a vial with a smoking substance and the last thing a lone Silver feathered wing on his left side.
"Harry meet Jimmy" the teen shyly waved but when he meet his could eyes he pulled back a bit, Jimmy only grunted before putting the vial in front of him.
"Drink it." a harsh tone came from Jimmy.
Harry actually hesitated, looking at the vial in front of him it made him a bit nervous so he raised his eyes and received a nod from Ein and Rose "Well I am already dead, so dying isn't a possibility." He thought with a shrug and grabbed the vial. "Well Bottoms up." He said and drank the contents of the vial.
What happened next was something he wasn't expecting, normally when downing a potion the bad taste along with the mixture of liquid magic flows through the body, this time was different, first a warm sensation flooded his veins before the temperature increased almost as if instead of blood it was hot water inside his body. Similar to drinking a pepper-up potion, he feels a lump in his throat, opening his mouth releasing a steam of three colors, one was grey another was green and the last one was pink.
Falling back in his chair more tired than before and with a heavy breath he tries to ask what happened "What was that?" the tiredness obvious on his voice.
"That was a Soul Purifier Compound, or SPC for short, or as it is vulgarly known as Soul Bleach, it is used when potions or spells are still on the soul after death so that it is easier for the person to know what their mistakes and what had been potion induced mistakes." replied Ein with a frown at the quantities of the pink steam.
"In your case there where three colors, each for a different potion, the Grey was an Obedience Potion fortunately it was only a bit so you would only follow suggestions from the one that it was keyed to."
Rose picked up the explanation quickly. "The green one is a brain confounder potion, it would slow your thinking and reduce your concentration; it is like having been hit with a Confundus charm but it isn't strong enough so that you wouldn't think normally in stressful situation but calm thinking would be very hard." this time she hesitated on the next words.
She hadn't had to worry for that since Jimmy decided to be blunt. "The Pink one was a Love potion, something stronger and more specific than Amoretia, the quantity of it would indicate that you had been dosed for almost two years. That and it was strong enough to ignore the most powerful of the feelings." the disgust in his voice was evident. "Your true love can die in front of you but with that dosage you wouldn't have cared, That is why the feelings coming from it can become hollow, here it is classified as one of the worst soul poisons." he practically spit the last part with enough venom to kill a small country.
Before he had time to respond, Ein took the word "Those potions were given to you in order to control you, one alone can make a mess, but combined well you see the results, the worst of all of them had been given to you from people you trusted, if you don't believe me then think about how you feel. Review your life and tell me who did you really love?"
Harry frowned a bit, not wanting to believe them, but thinking back he noticed some things. First it was easier to think, as he started to blink he discovered that the foggiest parts of his mind began to clear including some of his past decisions that had brought trouble and would have been safer if he thought about them a bit more. He started questioning why he followed Dumbledore in some instances, why did he forgave Ron so easily or why he didn't follow the advice of some friends, but that was in order to prevent himself from looking into his feelings. He was afraid of the truth.
A minute later he gathered his courage and explored his feelings, a hollow sensation appeared whenever his love for Ginny came up. It was even substituted with some annoyance but the friendship of others actually changed, and this new feeling was strange since he hadn't felt it before.
The three present waited expectantly for his conclusions, two had feared that this time it would be too much, but the Jimmy smirked knowing what would happen. Another minute passed and the others in the office managed to see Harry's face contort into disbelief, hurt, happiness, confusion and annoyance, finally to settle in a tired sigh before rubbing his head, trying to clear the migraine that appeared.
"Ok, that hurt, but I am still confused, I am dead, SO what happens next?" he asked.
A small smile appeared on Ein's lips, the look on Harry's face told him this was a time for no nonsense "Ok, first of all let me tell you, many of the failures of your life weren't your fault, but of those in charge and manipulating you, even though you killed yourself twelve times." this time he let it sink in.
"Wait!" paling a bit the teen actually trembled "What do you mean twelve times, how did that happen?" he knew he had made many bad decisions but to actually die a dozen of times really showed him how much he had fucked up.
The Grim Angel replied nonchalantly while reading his folder "Yup after your supposed cousin's birthday when you received your letter, well you managed to get it into the cupboard." at this he remembered that event, his uncle had beaten him and then retrieved the letter before destroying it, but he still couldn't think why Ein said supposed cousin. "Well your supposed uncle didn't grab the letter but instead gave you a hard jerk enough to brake your neck." this time he finished coldly remembering the frightened ten year old kid that entered after that and how hard it was for him to send the kid back and not to send him to heaven with his parents and unborn brother.
This time Harry was trembling "So the bastard actually killed me, should have let the death eaters take him, wait another supposed?" this time he gathered his wits before the angel continued, "Excuse me, what did you mean by supposed cousin and uncle, aren't they my relatives?"
"Well they aren't your real relatives, your supposed aunt isn't your mother's sister, she was kind of adopted when the real Petunia died at birth. So there was no relation from blood between you, and that was a secret your grandmother took to the grave."
"Why? I mean if my real aunt died why?" the disbelief clear in his tone.
"Well," Ein's voice was soft. "I can only tell you some things but it would be best if you explored your mother's family including your grandfather's parents, but to put it simply your grandmother adopted Petunia in order to prevent your grandfather having a breakdown from losing more family." the sadness was obvious, even the cold one-winged grim angel seemed sad about it .
"How can I learn about that, and what about my Other deaths?" he asks in a subdued tone, while trying to discover more of his demises, but still having a question in mind that he would ask later.
"Well…." Started Ein "you could ask the goblins for your mother's personal vault, she had one for herself but couldn't check it because it brought back painful memories. It was set up by your grandfather when they entered the magical world on her eleventh birthday and yes the marauders had one too." He added seeing the question form. "The grief of losing her parents and being in a time of war prevented you or them from searching for it." He finished while looking over his archive, passing the pages at top speed before pausing on certain section.
"A here it is, your second death was three month later in a girls bathroom, with your chest and body crushed by a club of a troll." he raised his hand to stop the teen before he spoke. "The red head actually screamed and escaped annoying the creature so it decided to crush Hermione first and then you, but this time instead of jumping on his back you jumped into his path pushing her out of the way as the club descended." remembering now how he had to return the kid to make sure she was saved, of course the fact that the first words Harry had said to him were: It was worth it, as long as she is safe.
"Lets see, ah yes second year the bastard red headed pushed you directly into the Acromantulas before you told him about the charm and then ran away." he became a bit green remembering that, "Third year dementors didn't kill you but the fall from when you clashed with them did, fourth year was a mess, tried out flying the Chinese fireball and became eaten, drowned when you tried to save Fleur, again drowned when tried to save Hermione and Krum attacked you binding and wounded you." the disbelief on his face showed really nice, how did one person could go back and die again fifteen minutes later .
"The one in the cemetery you jumped in front of Cedric before the AK hit its target, you survived that but then you were hit by a severing charm to the neck effectively killing you. Then on summer break you didn't think to use the lumos spell and got the soul sucked out of you before finding your wand, the tenth was in the department of mysteries, your soul mate wasn't stricken but instead captured and when you tried to save her the red headed imbecile shoved you again so the two of you ended in the Veil with Neville before the Order of the Royal Turkey reached you." Oh yeah he remembered that one very well that was the first time he saw the betrayal of Ronald and ended up shouting curses in English, Latin, Parseltonge, Mermish and Roanoric the trainees of that day learned new words and that was when Jimmy started joining them in the debriefing because of the potions. "Then the mess of the Inferi, you got too slow when the old man told you to wait a moment and the potions made you wait even longer slowing you down enough to be caught and no it wasn't his intention to do that." At this Rose bit a wince remembering the cleaning duty of all Grim Angels when dealing with hundred Inferi, it seemed that when an undead kills a magical being with enough power like this boy they come with him to the after life.
"The last one was six month ago, more or less, the plan with the polyjuice was good, but in the end nobody knew who to save and the death eater didn't know who to kill so a well placed blasting curse brought down the house in a spectacular explosion." oh yeah that day was a mess how many grim angels had to work extra hours sorting the different souls. "And this is well the thirteenth time so we'll need a bit on help on this one."
"Wait, what do you mean help, and it seems that you left some holes in the explanation?" Harry asked quickly, years of being left in the dark causing him to question everything now, even more so with the potion out of his system.
"In reverse order, those are for a later time, and yes we need help, you're magical and you may know that thirteen is more than an odd number but it is also a Chaos number. Along with the fact that you partially completed your soul bond may give us a little leeway," Ein said before adding in a muttered tone "that or I ended up sacked."
Without another word the grim Angel got to his feet and motioned them to a door that wasn't there a minute ago. "The other Door goes to the lobby, this one will let us go to the SDD or Soul Disciplinary Department, but then again you know it as HELL" he stated at the confused look on Harry's face before leading the way through the door.
"Well" this time Harry turned to the cat "are you coming or not?" and received the answer as the cat followed Ein through the door.
Standing up he also followed, even if each time he had more questions that didn't have any answers. His gaze then turned to one winged hooded angel, who he believed was smirking at him from under the hood.
"This is going to get interesting." said the angel known as Jimmy before putting a hand on the Boy-who-finally-died and lead him through the door the door.
The path to hell wasn't paved with good intentions, Harry could claim those stones in the corridor and the hall they just passed through were a mixture of coal on the walls and floor, quartz forming a pathway on the floor, and bloodstone on the ceiling that is reflected by the quartz giving the corridor an interesting look.
"It there, an attack now dood?" the sound of struggle came from a door to the left. Checking the others and noticing that Ein seemed lost and was struggling with a map on the wall that had a big red point saying –Thou art here-. Harry decided to investigate the room the noise was coming from.
Opening the door he was trying to mentally prepare himself for whatever was on the other side, before he stopped in thought. Was he really that curious? Why wasn't the other checking this out or why hadn't the impulse been there before? The answer slammed into him, his childhood with the Dursleys and their don't ask questions or else along with the potion stopped him from having bouts of curiosity, unless it was an extremely stressful situation,
Remembering the potion he grabbed the door and swung it open, gazed inside and got the shock of his afterlife… "Penguins?"
Yes the struggle came from chubby penguins in different colors from red to blue with front bags fighting a white rabbit?
"We cannot let him escape dood." shouted a green penguin while it dashed at the rabbit with two daggers, only to be tossed aside.
"Dood he is winning, we need to return it to Caerbanong before the hi ops discover it!" this time it was a black one with a pair of glasses, before said bunny hoped in his direction with a vicious look on its face.
Before the rabbit attacked it was knocked back by a sword wilding red penguin, this one had blue eyes and silver… hair? In a cropped style "Not a step closer….dood." the last added with uncertainty as if it wasn't on its nature.
Before Harry's brain rebooted at the strange sight a blue penguin with a red scarf jumped with a sack and captured the white menace, only to struggle with it before another one, this one having a red and white cap, came closer and started pulling a lot of spheres from his front pack, a canon ball, a black bomb, a basketball, a red and white ball, only to settle on a silver ball with a cross imbedded on it, before throwing it inside the sack with the hare and at last the struggles finished, with a collective sigh signifying the end of the battle.
"Oi Harry, are you ready?" Ein called him, before noticing that the boy was pointing inside the room.
"What are those" Harry asked warily while eyeing the red one with the sword.
Instead of Ein it was Black Rose who answered, "Those are repenting souls, but we call them prinnies, come on we found the place." She said before turning around and walking down the hall followed by the three men.
Right now the four of them were in front of a white oak door with a metal plate the said "REPENT", the sound of a curios tune came from inside but neither had knocked or tried to open the door, seeing this as a chance for some sort of answer, before returning to the important subject Harry asked the question that had been bothering him.
"What were those penguins back there? And what did you mean when you called them repenting souls or pinies?"
"Actually they are called prinnies, and are the souls of people that because of their actions can't go neither to heaven or hell" answered Ein with a sigh.
"Wha…?"
"It is because in their life they committed crimes but repented before death like Grindelwald. They are some sort of antiheroes or good people that went too far with their dealing and forgot the important things, and lastly those that committed the greatest sin with good intentions, in other words they weren't evil enough to be sent to purgatory but their good couldn't out weight the bad, so they are give a chance to redeem themselves and after working hard in here, depending on their actions they can reincarnate if they earn it, go the heaven if their intentions are good or if they really meant good but had no other choice and to hell if they don't put enough effort into redeeming themselves completely." that is without mentioning that your parents served 6 months as them, The Old Man has a special one reserved and if you weren't so needed you would have been one after the lake fiasco. Were the thoughts of the Grim angel before Knocking the door
AUTHOR NOTES: Ok this is the end of chapter 1, lets hope you like it, I know I tend to babble a bit, but believe me some of the information I introduced here will be of importance later.
-For the Prinnies, well since is a department of the after life I figured what happen for those that stay in the middle while I was playing "Can I really be the Hero", they will be part of the Story, more as a comic relief… A cookie for the one that can guess who the prinnies were in past life
-I will take a Page from the Paladeus and his fic, introducing a bit of crossover, but I will introduce abilities from the Series Fairy Tail, like the Ability magic, Dragon Slayers and something else
-This will be rated M for future dialogs, lemons or more as the story progresses
-thx to Narugirl2003 and Celex Draconia for beta of this chapter
NEXT CHAPTER: Contracts and Songs
"Mister Potter you are in serious trouble."
"British Wizards, a bit more ignorant of the times and I think you are still in the stone age."
"What happened to my power?"
"Well you see, sending you back had a bit of complication."