James Potter called on his family magic as he shouted for his wife to flee with their child. His own father, Fleamont, had passed it to him at his birth. His parents had been so pleased with his mother, Euphemia's pregnancy after giving up on children that the protective magic almost could not be passed on quickly enough. James himself had not called it before because his son was behind powerful wards while he was still running missions for The Order.
James felt a sense of loss and a vulnerability that was completely foreign to him. He was ready to greet Death though. His son would be protected, it was the last thing he would do. The Potter family usually held a ceremony to present the heir with the Cloak of Invisibility, but thankfully it was not a requirement. The physical item itself was not needed either, it was tied to Peverell blood and would always find its way to its willed owner.
James' last thought was a hope that Lily would live too.
Lily Potter was trapped with her son. James had told her that should the worst happen, Harry would still be well protected. She hoped desperately that it was true. It was not in her nature to stand by idly even if Harry truly would be invisible to death. James had, perhaps foolishly, lent the Cloak to Dumbledore so she would not count on its effects without solid evidence. It was no matter either way, she would never offer her son up to obtain proof. That fact meant she would die.
Lily did not believe in Death as he was personified in the story her husband shared about his ancestors. Most of the magicals had written the tale off as a fable, so it stood to reason that it was not a widespread belief. What she did believe in was the power of magic. She had done some things as a child that did not have wanded spells in any records she found thus far. It proved that magic could be called in response to desire even without wands and words. Though years had passed since she had done magic of that sort, Lily focused on her desire for her son to be protected. She imagined a veil draping over Harry that had the family magic James described and willed the protection stronger, offering all of her magic to see her son live a long life with good health.
The whole process only took a few moments and after Lily leaned against her son's crib feeling drained. Even in her exhaustion, she felt grim satisfaction. Wish magic had unpredictable consequences, but she was confident that Harry would be living to see the effects.
A powerful entity was drawn into watching the events at Godric's Hollow when it felt the transfer of the Cloak of Invisibility. The being was not, as the Peverells had assumed, Death. It was more of an All. The cycle of life as a whole, it was present, in a small part, in every being. It was the Truth of the cycle and the eventuality of death. It was the World filled with those carrying the pieces of itself. It was the Universe and its parallels that had sentient life, again holding parts of the whole. Even in all of All's expansive presence, it was One. Each individual was linked and All helped maintain the balance. The Peverell brothers had met with the Truth after they almost destroyed the balance.
The story passed down only said that they had created a bridge over a river. It was an apt metaphor. They had joined their considerable magic to resurrect the middle brother's lover. They had succeeded, but the dead are not meant to return and they all were cursed. Truth had to step in personally. The brothers did not feel the curse upon them though the woman was easily seen to be an abomination. The curse would cause them to almost actively seek their own demise, hastening to their deaths with a subtle urge towards life-threatening situations.
The nature of the death bridge caused the suffering woman to be unable to return to the afterlife without the brothers' cooperation. They were naturally suspicious of cooperating with the mysterious being that appeared after the resurrection so All had granted each of them a boon. It reasoned that their deaths were close at hand and the gifts would fade when the bloodline died. The wand was a masterpiece, the oldest brother, Antioch, had meant it to deal death. Instead the wand would serve as a beacon to call it, further accelerating Antioch's demise. The stone would allow the middle brother, Cadmus, to believe he had not lost out in the deal. Cadmus would recall his love and in calling her from the next realm, death would beckon to him. The youngest, Ignotus, sensed a trap in the offering and asked for a shield from death. The cloak would hide from enemies, but as the curse was already on Ignotus's person, it would not save him from his end.
The cloak had an unforeseen ability, Ignotus felt the pull of death when he wore it. At first he thought the cloak was the origin, but he carefully considered the pull while wearing the cloak in a safe place. He found that assessing it allowed him to faintly feel the sensation without being covered. Though the feeling was muted when not amplified by the cloak, it was clear that while hidden the call of death was much lessened. Being able to sense danger was an added bonus. He stayed under cover almost constantly trying to sever the connection while avoiding troublesome situations. When his brothers died, he did not try to claim the items they had held. It was the most difficult of the tugs to resist and therefore the quickest path to destruction. He instead continued focusing all of his talent into finding a way to at least negate the call.
After years of living near constantly under the Cloak, Ignotus became so attuned to avoiding the curse that he was able to find its anchor. He studied the origin and determined that the Cloak was disrupting it which was why he had been able to resist. Eventually, he found that the cloak was attached to his bloodline where the curse was not. With that distinction and his powerful magic, he was able to attach the Cloak even more firmly to himself and future bloodline by utilizing the disruption to anchor the cloak in place of the curse. The curse dissipated being unable to maintain its hold and without it, Ignotus was finally able to settle down and raise a family. Throughout the generations the magic around the artifact grew as the ceremony to pass it down caused the heirs' magic to attune to it on receipt while the bequeather sealed some of their own magic into the heirloom.
All had not anticipated the turn of events, but only found regret in the continued presence of the Elder Wand and Resurrection Stone. Alone, they were not causing any concern. All did not care if the Wand was killing and bringing death, the Stone's purpose had been lost with the death of Cadmus. What was worrying was what would happen if they were united by a Peverell, now Potter. With the addition of all of Lily Potter's magic and the failed killing curse, it was likely that Harry would be all but fated to do so. Dumbledore was already plotting the advancement of a prophecy which would put the toddler in the perfect place to access the Stone and the Wand. Dumbledore would be able to keep the Cloak until Harry started pursuing his fate. The connection would keep him safe enough without its physical presence as Lily and James had hoped.
All resigned itself to the eventuality and went back to normal levels of monitoring. It was like the world went out of focus, it still observed everything and gained any new knowledge, but was not looking in on any one event particularly.
I hope I did okay. I don't have a beta so please let me know if you notice any mistakes. Or, you know, just to let me know what you thought. Thanks for reading.
For those that don't know, the God figure is almost completely from Fullmetal Alchemist, only not completely because it is much more God-like in that series I think. I had already used it in my other story and it spawned the idea for this prequel.