Chapter Two: A New World…Sort of
Lissianna groaned, her eyes flickering open, she'd just had the strangest dream.
"Gah!" She flung herself backwards, recognizing the Kings Cross Station platform from when she destroyed the horcrux and entered limbo.
"Goddammit! I thought I was done with this shit!" She roared at the empty train station in a fury to rival Mrs. Weasley's own temper.
"My my, such language for a lady." Lissianna screamed, whirling around, belatedly realizing that she was naked as the day she was born. Her jaw dropped and all thoughts of modesty went flying out the window to commit suicide. In front of her was a being that could only be Death, and he was grinning rather maniacally at her as well.
"Mom!" Lissianna had no time to turn around before a small rocket bowled her over.
"Ow, Teddy why do you always tackle me?" Lissa shamelessly whined, not bothering to try to get up, as she didn't want her son to see her naked.
"Uh...mom, why are you naked?" Lissa popped open an eye, glaring at Death who was snickering and then switching her attention to Teddy, who seemed oblivious to his own state of dress, or lack thereof.
"I'm not the only one who is naked." Teddy frowned at her, his ten-year old mind struggling to comprehend what his mother had just said. It clicked suddenly, and he made a strange squeaking sound, attempting to cover himself up. Lissa suddenly remembered how to fix the issue at hand and simply wished for some clothes.
"Now, Death, if you could be so kind as to explain why my son and I are in limbo before I have a panic-attack; that would be great." Teddy, previously occupied with examining his new clothes turned his attention to his mother. He noticed with alarm that her normally copper red hair was turning fire engine red. He felt a brief stab of pity for the being she'd referred to as Death.
Death was a rather tall being, covered in a rotting black cloak reminiscent of a Dementor's cloak. He had the legendary scythe, but looked nothing like a skeleton. He was androgynous, with white skin, purple-gray lips, white hair, and had milky white eyes with dark circles underneath. He reminded Teddy of a Thestral.
"So demanding Mistress." Death teased lightly, watching in amusement as his Mistress's face rivaled her hair and her eyes, not wanting to be left out, also burning red. She growled, heaving herself up from the ground. She reached back and grabbed Teddy's hand, almost crushing his bones.
"Don't call me Mistress!" Her screech echoed loudly through the empty space, prompting a grimace from the two males.
"That is your title, after all, you were the one to unite my Hallows. If you didn't want to become my Mistress, then you shouldn't have combined them." Death's voice was icy, his hand clenching around the scythe. Teddy was surprised that steam wasn't coming out of his mother's ears, or smoke from her nose. She looked ready to tap into her dragon animagus and smite Death.
"I don't want to be anybody's Mistress, much less Death's!" Her statement started out as a snarl and ended as a roar. She suddenly appeared to loom over Death, who actually took a couple of steps back before catching himself and stood his ground…barely.
"There is nothing I can do to change what has been done. The Hallows live inside of you, and to some extent your son from the magical backlash. Look at it this way, you're immortal now and so is your son and any future children or mates that you may have."
"What do you mean they live inside of me?" Lissa was obviously beginning to hyperventilate at the idea of something like the Deathly Hallows living her much like the horcrux once had.
It took some time before Lissianna was calm enough to listen to anything important that Death had to say. After some deep breaths and fortifying her Occlumency shields, Lissa was ready. Her emotions were locked behind strong barriers until she could settle Teddy and their affairs, then she'd properly have a complete mental break down and grieve.
Death, waited until his Mistress gave the go ahead before launching into a long explanation.
"Now, the world your bodies are currently in is one where you Mistress were killed by Riddle on Halloween. Teddy has never existed, and will now never be born in this dimension. Voldemort is still at large and was never defeated, so the first war never really ended. Your mother was never captured by Voldemort, so he never fathered a child. Ironically he wants an heir, so do try to avoid demonstrating that he's your father. Oh, your magic will need to be retrained seeing as it's been mutated by the Hallows entering your core, it will be nearly impossible to control for a while."
"What!" Before Lissa could begin her rant, Death cut her off.
"So, due to the fact that you are legally dead in this dimension, you will be more Riddle's daughter than James's. If one were to perform the parternalis spell, the results will show you to be Riddle's daughter. As for your mother, I've messed around with your blood a bit to bring out the Cedicit and Pendragon genes, so the results will show you to be the daughter of a squib descended from both lines and distantly related to Lily Potter. Normally you would not be eligible to claim the Ladyships that you have, but since your magic is stronger than your parents', you will remain the head of those families since the family magic will choose you over them. The only ones that I will block from doing just that are the Black and Potter family lines."
Lissianna's eyes had grown wider and wider, her horrified expression saying all that was needed about her thoughts on the matter. Teddy, having grown bored with the subject, decided that examining Death up close was a brilliant idea. Poking at Death, he jumped back when the icy cold feel of his body rushed up his arm. Scuttling back to his mother's side, he glared at Death, who had begun laughing at him mockingly. Teddy stoically endured his mother coddling and fussing over him. He tuned her out when she started yelling at Death about hurting her baby. He was resented that remark. He was nearly a teenager dammit! He was no baby. Pouting, he zoned out as the argument grew fiercer. He had little interest in listening to his mother yell at someone else when he knew how it felt to have her temper turned on him.
"Mom, can we just leave?" Teddy, fed up with the arguing and being in the creepy place called Limbo, wanted to leave. His mother stopped mid rant and looked down at him to say yes, but Death beat her to the punch.
"No." Death, quickly realized that he shouldn't have said that and held his hands up, palms facing outward in a sign of 'hold it'. Lissa's mouth shut with a click, her jaw clenched tight.
"I need to finish giving you the information that you'll need when you wake up before you can leave." Lissa eyed him through narrowed red slit eyes, nodding slightly to show that she was listening.
"Right then, you will need to retake your NEWTS and set up a background for both yourself and your son. I've also messed with his genes to match yours, so you won't have to worry about anyone finding out the Potters his grandparents. Though, it will show that Severus Snape is his father, but that can easily be explained away as a one night stand with a Metamorph who was not in her base form. Now, I mentioned earlier that your magic will be on the fritz for a while, I'm not sure how long, but at least a month. You will be unable to shift into a different form other than your base form. I'm not sure about the glamour's, but you might be able to do those."
He paused for a moment to let her digest what he'd just told her before continuing.
"Once I let you go, your bodies will appear at some random place in the world with high concentrations of magic, so I have no control over what happens when you fully reach the new dimension. Right now your bodies are between worlds, and will remain there until I let your souls go. So no, this is not in your head."
The last was said with mild amusement when Lissa looked ill at the fact that her and her son's bodes were currently sans their souls.
"I can't think of anything else off of the top of my head…oh I almost forgot, as my Mistress, you are responsible for restoring the balance between life and death. Your magic, once it's back under control, will guide you. The Dementors are also at your disposal, along with all other creatures associated with me. I look forward to the reactions you'll garner when the Dementors perform your every whim."
"Not on your life Death…wow that was a poor choice of words." Teddy giggled as his mother grimaced, while Death narrowed his eyes.
"Indeed." Death drawled, doing a scarily similar impression of Severus when less than pleased.
"So, is that all, or do you need to inform me about some other fact that is liable to make me have an aneurysm?"
Death shook his head in amusement. "No that is all, I will come if you call for me Mistress. Until next time Mistress, Little Master."
With a wave of his scythe, the two wayward souls shot off back to their respective bodies, ready to embark on a second chance at life.
The two dimension travelers were less than pleased to find themselves slamming into an unyielding surface, and even more so at the frantic screaming and yelling.
Lissa's last thoughts were of what she was going to do to Death the next time she saw him, none of them appropriate for innocent ears.
Beta by Eternal Blood Love. Thank you so much for your help.
